Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Xizang's Nagqu City grows trees at 4,500 meters after decades of practice Xinhua) 09:00, April 27, 2025 A staff member trims saplings at a tree cultivation base in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje) Students take part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) People take part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje) This photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows a trial base for tree planting in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) This drone photo shows people taking part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) Staff members inspect the growth of trees in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) Staff members inspect the growth of saplings in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) Staff members inspect the growth of trees in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje) Students take part in a voluntary tree-planting activity in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) A man transport saplings in Nagqu, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, April 25, 2025. Nagqu City has an average altitude of 4,500 meters. Due to the unfavorable conditions for tree growth, such as permafrost, low temperature, frequent strong wind throughout the year, it was once the only prefecture-level city in China without trees used for urban greening. In 1998, people of Nagqu started the trial of planting trees. After more than 20 years of continuous practice, Nagqu has gradually established a trial planting system, with trees of many varieties being planted in the city. (Xinhua/Tenzin Nyida) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) No talks on tariffs between China, US: Chinese Foreign Ministry Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 11:35 AM A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday that there had been no talks between Beijing and Washington on tariffs. "As far as I know, there have been no consultations or negotiations between China and the US on the issue of tariffs, let alone any agreement being reached," a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the US said on Friday in response to media queries in the regard. The spokesperson insisted that US President Donald Trump had unilaterally launched the trade war and any calls and claims of talks going on in this regard were misleading. The tariff war was unilaterally provoked by the US, and "whoever caused the knot should be the one to untie it," the spokesperson clarified. The embassy spokesperson pointed out that if President Trump genuinely wanted to resolve the tariff war through dialogue and negotiation, he would correct his past mistakes and abandon coercive tactics, including removing all the unilateral tariffs slapped against China. The spokesperson added that meaningful dialogue between two countries can only take place on the basis of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. The embassy spokesperson reiterated mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation as the proper safe way for two global powers to get along in the new era. The Trump administration must not expect to work with China if it continues to exert maximum pressure on the country. China's ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, had earlier warned the Trump administration against an escalation of the trade war. In this regard, China's President Xi Jinping also issued a warning to his American counterpart, reminding him that "there are no winners in a tariff war." Xi urged the European Union to cooperate with China in resisting what he termed "unilateral bullying," emphasizing the importance of maintaining economic globalization and international trade norms. On April 11, 2025, China responded to Trump's China tariffs by increasing tariffs on US imports from 84 percent to 125 percent NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran and the U.S. conclude third round of 'more serious' talks in Muscat IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Apr 26, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- Top Iranian and U.S. negotiators have ended a third round of indirect negotiations in Oman, centered on Iran's nuclear program and lifting of sanctions. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi headed the Iranian delegation while U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff represented the American side. The technical and high-level talks were facilitated by Omani mediators, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as "constructive." Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, and Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, who engaged Michael Anton, the U.S. State Department's head of policy planning, in the expert-level talks. 'More serious talks' Speaking to reporters after the talks, Araqchi expressed satisfaction with the progress and pace of the negotiations while noting that further examination of differences was still required. "The negotiations are proceeding well and satisfactorily, in a good atmosphere, with both sides being serious," Araqchi said after the talks. He extended his gratitude to Oman's government and its foreign minister for facilitating the discussions in a calm and constructive environment. "This round of talks was much more serious than in the past, and we gradually moved into more detailed and technical discussions," he remarked. Araqchi emphasized the precision required in technical discussions, explaining that the two sides exchanged their opinions in writing several times. "It was quite evident that both sides were serious about the negotiations, creating an atmosphere that gives us hope for progress," he added. He also noted that the respective teams would return to their capitals to further evaluate the issues until the next meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for the following Saturday. Both Iran and the U.S. had described the first two rounds of negotiations as "constructive and promising," but Araqchi expressed "cautious optimism" about the process this week. 4399**4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A deal with the U.S. requires respect for Iran's legitimate rights: Foreign Ministry spokesperson IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Apr 26, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei says that the success of the talks between Iran and the United States requires respect for the Islamic Republic's legitimate rights to use nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the effective lifting of sanctions. "The Islamic Republic of Iran remains steadfast in its principled positions on the necessity of ending oppressive sanctions and its readiness to build trust regarding the peaceful nature of its nuclear program," Baqaei briefed reporters on Saturday afternoon amid a third round of indirect negotiations between the Iranian and American delegations in the Omani capital, Muscat. He said the talks were being carried out in separate rooms, as in the previous two rounds, facilitated by the Persian Gulf state of Oman. Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi leads the Iranian delegation in high-level discussions, while U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff represents the American side. This round of talks includes expert and technical discussions, which are being led by Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, deputy foreign minister for political affairs, and Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Baqaei said. The spokesperson pointed out that experience has shown that reaching an agreement requires respect for Iran's legitimate rights under the NPT and the effective lifting of sanctions. 4399**4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Third round of Iran-U.S. talks begins in Oman IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Apr 26, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- The Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, and the American delegation, headed by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, met on Saturday in the Omani capital, Muscat. Oman's Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi is mediating the discussions, which center on disputes related to Iran's nuclear program. This round of talks includes expert and technical discussions. The expert delegation is being led by Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi, Deputy for Political Affairs, and Kazem Gharibabadi, Deputy for Legal and International Affairs, both from the Iranian Foreign Ministry. Scheduled as a one-day negotiation, the third round of talks may extend due to the importance of technical issues being discussed. The first round of talks took place in Muscat on April 12, followed by the second round in Rome, Italy, on April 19, both mediated by Oman. Following the second negotiations, Araqchi said that this session was productive and the discussions were progressing. Both sides were moving toward a better consensus on a series of principles and objectives, he said. 4208**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry condemns action by Paraguay against the IRGC IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Apr 26, 2025 The director-general of the America Department of the Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Paraguayan government for humiliating action against the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran. Issa Kameli, Director General for the America at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, considered Paraguayan action illegal, unjustifiable, and in violation of international legal rules and norms. He expressed regret over adherence by Paraguay to the anti-Iran policies of the genocidal and occupying Israeli regime, and emphasized the international responsibility of the Paraguayan government for this unlawful act. Kameli said that the political action by the Paraguayan government is a dangerous heresy that was designed and implemented at the insistence of the Israeli regime to distract public opinion from the genocide in Gaza. He added that therefore, it constitutes the complicity of Paraguayan policymakers with criminals who are being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. 2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran, Russia agree to transfer gas via Azerbaijan: Minister Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 6:34 PM Iran's oil minister says that the country has reached an understanding with Russia for the transfer of Russian gas to Iran via the Azerbaijani territory. Mohsen Paknejad said late on Friday that Iran and Russia had explored various routes for the transfer of Russian gas to Iran, adding that they had agreed to use the land pipelines that pass through Azerbaijan. Paknejad made the announcement after co-chairing a key intergovernmental economic committee in Moscow. Iran and Russia signed an agreement in June last year for the transfer of up to 55 billion cubic meters per year (an average of 150 million cubic meters per day) of Russian gas to Iran. Iran is a global gas powerhouse by producing nearly 1 billion cubic meters per day of natural gas and exporting nearly 80 million cubic meters, mostly via pipelines to Iraq and Turkey. The country hopes to use imports from Russia to boost supplies to its domestic industries and increase exports. Paknejad said that Russia and Azerbaijan are concluding coordinations for the supply of Russian gas to Iran through the existing infrastructure. He said that under the understanding reached with Russia, Iran will take delivery of the Russian gas in Astara, a region on the border between Iran and Azerbaijan. Russian authorities said that gas exports to Iran could begin in the coming months and as soon as Russia's Gazprom and the National Iranian Gas Company agree on prices. Russia has been facing an oversupply of natural gas since early 2022, when its exports to Europe came under sanctions because of the war in Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's foreign minister says 'satisfied' with progress in talks with US, more consultations necessary Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 4:57 PM Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has expressed satisfaction with the progress made in indirect nuclear talks with the United States. Araghchi made the remarks while speaking to reporters after the third round of indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States in Muscat, Oman. "I am satisfied with the progress of the negotiations and their pace. They are proceeding well and remain satisfactory," he told reporters after the talks on Saturday. He added that both parties are determined to reach an agreement. "It was quite evident that both sides were serious and entered the talks with determination. This creates an atmosphere that gives us hope for progress in the negotiations." The top Iranian diplomat noted that the sides had agreed to hold further consultations in their respective capitals to explore ways to resolve differences. He explained that Tehran and Washington should first establish a general understanding on certain issues before moving on to detailed negotiations. "There are differences between the two nations, both on key issues and their specifics," Araghchi said. He noted that Oman, as the facilitating country, would determine the details of the next round of the talks, which is likely to be held next Saturday. Araghchi said the fourth round of the talks would also be led by him and US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in the presence of both sides' experts. IAEA experts likely to attend fourth round of Iran-US talks As the sides are gradually entering more detailed and specialized topics, experts will be invited to the talks accordingly, the Iranian top negotiator said. In today's talks in Muscat, economic experts were present for the first time, he added, noting that experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are likely to take part in the next round of the negotiations. Three rounds of talks focused on nuclear issue, sanctions removal Araghchi once again reiterated that the three rounds of talks between Iran and the US only focused on the nuclear issue, and no other topics have been included. He clarified that by the nuclear issue, he meant building confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions. Past experiences accelerate negotiations The Iranian foreign minister said there are some "very serious" differences between Tehran and Washington and some others with less seriousness and expressed hope that the two sides would be able to move forward quickly. "The past experiences help us to make our progress easier and faster, but I believe that so far, our progress has been good," Araghchi added. The Saturday indirect talks between Iran and the US in Muscat were led by Araghchi and Witkoff. Earlier in the day, technical-level talks between Iranian and American experts also took place in Muscat. Michael Anton, the State Department's head of policy planning, led Washington's expert-level delegation, while Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi led Tehran's team. The expert-level discussions focused on details of expectations and demands. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran, US conclude third round of indirect talks in Oman Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 2:18 PM The third round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States has concluded in Muscat, the capital of Oman, with both parties agreeing to continue consultations. The discussions began on Saturday and were facilitated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi. As in the previous two rounds, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff led the negotiations. Earlier in the day, technical-level talks between Iranian and American experts also took place in Muscat. The primary goal was to establish a framework for a potential agreement on Tehran's civilian nuclear program. Michael Anton, the State Department's head of policy planning, led Washington's expert-level delegation, while Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi led Tehran's team. The expert-level discussions focused on details of expectations and demands. Both delegations are set to return to their respective capitals for further consultations as part of the negotiation process. Next round of talks to be held next Saturday: Oman FM In a post on his X account, the Omani foreign minister said today's talks between Iran and the US identified a shared aspiration to reach an agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments. "Core principles, objectives, and technical concerns were all addressed," Busaidi wrote. He noted that the sides agreed to continue the negotiations "with a further high-level meeting" provisionally scheduled for May 3. Iran insists on its peaceful nuclear right: Foreign Ministry spokesman Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei reiterated Tehran's insistence on its legitimate right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes during the indirect talks with the United States. In a post on his X account on Saturday, Baghaei said the Iran-US talks were proceeding in a "serious" atmosphere. He noted that the parties exchanged views on terminating sanctions effectively, building confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, and safeguarding Tehran's right to civilian nuclear energy, facilitated by Oman. Baghaei also dismissed claims from certain Western media outlets, emphasizing that Iran's defense and missile capabilities were not raised in the talks and will never be a topic of negotiation. The previous rounds of indirect talks between Iran and the United States were held in Muscat and Rome on April 12 and 19, respectively, and were similarly aimed at finding common ground on Tehran's nuclear program. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran, Russia strategic partnership put in fast lane Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 9:50 AM Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law ratifying a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Iran for closer cooperation in trade, defense, energy, and regional infrastructure projects. The signing and its ratification provide a solid framework for the long-term development of relations between the two countries and pave the way for deepening cooperation in various fields without much ado. This was in full view on Friday when Moscow and Tehran reached a deal on 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas supplies a year, while Russia also pledged to fund construction of a new nuclear power plant in Iran. Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad, who had traveled to Moscow for the signing, further said Iran will sign a $4 billion agreement with Russian companies to develop seven Iranian oilfields. Formed on the basis of developing relations between the two countries in the last few decades, the agreements are another step in their bid to remove barriers in all spheres of their cooperation. Both Iran and Russia are under Western sanctions - a casus belli which motivates them as two major players in the current situation to work closely together to create a balance against the unipolar system. This strategic convergence in various areas, including against the unilateral economic policies of the West, sends a strong message that Iran and its neighbors, especially Russia, can take outside pressures in their stride and play a role as an effective power in the new world order. Their military and security cooperation, on the other hand, creates a counterweight that will help maintain and strengthen stability and peace in the region and the world against common threats. A key feature of the strategic partnership agreement is its provision for a balanced and profitable cooperation for both parties, without the unctuous reliance of one side on the other. Russia's capacities and its serious need for cooperation with Iran, especially in the fields of energy and transit, underpin the contours of balanced bilateral engagement between the two countries. Iran, with its strategic position at the crossroads of energy and international trade networks, and Russia, as a country with endless resources, a developed industry, and extensive influence, have tremendous potential for cooperation. Their partnership is not just a tactical or short-term measure, but is designed as a long-term strategy to develop economic and political relations with a view to strengthening their global position and breaking the unipolar system created by the Western powers. Developing a north-south trade corridor, with a view to align the global south against the West, is a centerpiece of Russia's geoeconomic and geopolitical program. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared this corridor the foundation of a new strategic alignment with Iran. The economic dividends Russia and Iran will reap once the corridor comes to life are abundant. With its completion, trade routes between the two countries will be shorter, and costs will be reduced significantly. Trade and investment is another priority area, where the agenda includes the development of joint markets and investment in infrastructure projects. Last year, trade between Iran and Russia grew by 15% to $5 billion, with Paknejad saying Friday that the potential is far greater and that the two countries will aim to double it. The two countries have already switched to trade in their national currencies and joined the free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran. Russia's card payment system MIR, intended as an alternative to Western payment processing systems, is about to become available in Iran in the summer of 2025. Another area is technology and science, where both Iran and Russia have extensive potential for scientific research. The comprehensive partnership agreement provides a platform for sharing knowledge and collaboration in such fields as nanotechnology, aerospace, artificial intelligence, and medical sciences. Russia could use Iran's advancements in certain types of technologies, such as gas turbines that are essential for Russia`s oil- and natural gas-producing industries. One of the overlooked aspects of the Iran-Russia relations is cultural exchanges. Culture and tourism is another area which their strategic agreement is to cover, facilitating tourist travels and joint cultural programs. Their participation in organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the BRICS group of emerging economies, and the Eurasian Economic Union further offers new model of regional and global cooperation. These important economic blocs provide a platform for greater synergy and coordination between Iran and Russia and represent their opposition to the unipolar order. Simply put, the strategic agreement between Russia and Iran is the most important milestone in their bilateral relations, pivoting from cautious engagement to fuller collaboration across a range of dimensions. The most crucial aspect of this collaboration is the development of economic ties in which they have begun to invest substantially. The agreements signed in Moscow Friday are the clearest testament to an evolving landscape where unilateral sanctions are set to lose their viability and the affected countries will find a path to economic prosperity.T NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Third round of indirect Iran-US talks mediated by Oman kick off in Muscat Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 8:44 AM Technical negotiations between Iran and the United States, involving experts from both nations, have commenced in the Omani capital, Muscat, with the primary objective of establishing a framework for discussing a potential agreement on Tehran's civilian nuclear program. Michael Anton, the State Department's head of policy planning, is leading Washington's expert-level delegation, while Iranian deputy foreign ministers Kazem Gharibabadi and Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi will lead Tehran's. According to reports, the technical negotiations will precede the high-level talks, establishing a foundation for the subsequent discussions. The previous round of indirect talks between Iran and the US was held at the Embassy of Oman in Rome on April 19. Iran has emphasized that the success of the negotiations relies on the demonstration of goodwill, seriousness, and realism from the other party. According to the spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, the Iranian delegation will adjust every step of the talks based on past experiences and the behavior of the US. In a post on X on Friday evening, Esmaeil Baghaei said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and his accompanying delegation have visited Muscat for the third round of Iran-US talks to be mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi. "We are resolved to secure our nation's legitimate and lawful right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes while taking reasonable steps to demonstrate that our program is entirely peaceful," he said. "Termination of unlawful and inhumane sanctions in an objective and speedy manner is a priority that we seek to achieve," the spokesman stated. "We'll see how serious and prepared is the other side to go for a fair and realistic deal," Baghaei noted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Tehran slams Paraguay's blacklisting of IRGC as illegal, tied to Israeli agenda Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 8:30 AM Iran's Foreign Ministry denounced Paraguay's decision to blacklist the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as illegal, asserting that it aligns with Israel's anti-Tehran policies and aims to divert attention from the ongoing genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip. Issa Kameli, the director general for the Americas department at the Foreign Ministry, said the Paraguayan move is "illegal, unjustifiable and in violation of international legal rules and norms." Paraguay designated on Thursday the Iranian elite force as a "terrorist" organization and expanded its previous blacklisting of Palestine's Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah to encompass the military and political arms of the two resistance movements. Expressing disappointment with Paraguay's alignment with the occupying and genocidal Israeli regime's anti-Iran policies, Kameli emphasized Paraguay's global accountability for its illegal action against Iran's IRGC. "The political action undertaken by the Paraguayan government sets a dangerous precedent, orchestrated at the behest of the Zionist regime to distract public attention from the genocide in Gaza, thereby implicating Paraguayan policymakers as complicit in the crimes currently under prosecution by the International Criminal Court," the Iranian Foreign Ministry official said. Kameli pointed to the lofty, empowering, and honorable position of the IRGC as part of the country's official armed forces, and said the force has played an unparalleled role in defending the integrity of Iran and confronting terrorism, including Daesh. He further emphasized the Iranian government's unwavering commitment to undertaking all essential measures to safeguard the standing and reputation of the nation's armed forces in the face of any "belligerent labeling." Announcing the designations in a statement, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena claimed that the move was a reaffirmation of Asuncion's commitment to the "global fight against terrorism" while strengthening its strategic allegiances with the United States and Israel. Pena accused the IRGC of "systemic involvement in human rights violations and participation in terrorist activities," without providing any evidence. The Latin American country had blacklisted Hamas and Hezbollah in 2019 but extended the designation on Thursday to their military and political arms. The US State Department and Israeli regime praised the Paraguayan government's anti-Iran action, with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar urging more countries should follow suit. Paraguay's relationship with the illegal regime has improved under Pena, who reopened his country's embassy in the occupied al-Quds in 2024 after it was closed by his predecessor. The reopening made Paraguay the sixth nation with an embassy in the occupied al-Quds, joining the United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo and Papua New Guinea. Last year, the Islamic Republic demonstrated its military might with Operation True Promise I and II, which included hundreds of retaliatory strikes by the Iranian Armed Forces against the occupied territories. The operations manifested Iran's finesse to pummel Israeli military and intelligence targets with surgical accuracy, filling with awe the regime's military experts and international sympathizers. Iranian officials have underscored that the country only deployed a fraction of its firepower during the dual reprisal. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Massive Blast At Iranian Port Leaves 14 Dead, 750 Injured Amid US-Iran Talks In Oman By RFE/RL's Radio Farda April 26, 2025 A massive explosion purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant killed at least 14 people and injured more than 750 others in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The April 26 blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the United States met in Oman for the third round of talks over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, also in Oman. While no Iranian officials have suggested that the explosion was due to an attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading Tehran's delegation in Oman, said earlier this week that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response." Authorities in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the blast. Some 10 hours after the initial explosion, state TV reported the fire was still intensifying and in danger of "spreading to other areas and containers." Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran's crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the Shahid Rajaee port. "The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers," he told Iran's ILNA news agency. "Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger," Zafari said. According to the private security firm Ambrey, the port had received a shipment of "sodium perchlorate rocket fuel" in March, which was going to be used to replenish Iran's missile stocks after being depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas -- which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union -- in the Gaza Strip. Tehran has not acknowledged taking the shipment, but ship-tracking data obtained by the Associated Press shows vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity of the port in March. US-Iran Nuclear Talks In Oman Meanwhile, Iran and the United States held negotiations in Oman over Tehran's nuclear program on April 26. The talks ran for several hours in Muscat, the Omani mediators said of the indirect sessions between Araghchi and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East. "The negotiations were conducted very seriously and professionally," Araghchi without providing full details. "We are cautiously optimistic." Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of US-Iran talks in Muscat and Rome, offered a positive note at the end of the negotiations. Iran and the United States "identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments," Busaidi posted on X after the conclusion of talks in Oman. "Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3." The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the United States has imposed on the country. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran's program if a deal isn't reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels. Iran Launches Investigation After Port Explosion Iran's Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation into the port explosion. Deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years -- such as gas explosions and oil refinery fires -- with many blamed on negligence. Tehran, however, has also blamed some incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting the country's nuclear program. Last year, Israel also bombed Iran's air defenses. Iran accused Israel as being behind a February 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, as well as a major cyberattack on the Shahid Rajaee port in May 2020, causing transport chaos for days after crashing the facility's computer system. The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's largest and it mainly handles large volumes of container traffic and also has oil tanks and other petrochemical facilities. The port is some 1,050 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf where 20 percent of all oil traded globally passes through. Local officials said that all schools, universities, and offices in Bandar Abbas will be closed on April 27. With reporting from Reuters and the AP. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-explosion-nuclear- talks-oman-araqchi-witkoff/33397512.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iranian Foreign Minister Says Oman Talks With US 'More Serious' Than Previous Rounds Sputnik News 20250426 TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that the third round of indirect talks with the United States in Oman were significantly more "serious" than earlier discussions. The third round of US-Iran talks on the nuclear issue took place in the Omani capital of Muscat on Saturday. Iran's delegation was led by Araghchi and the US's delegation by special envoy Steve Witkoff. "Current talks had a more serious atmosphere than previous rounds. We have gradually started more detailed discussions," Araghchi said on Iranian television. The minister expressed cautious optimism about the process, stating that "both sides were serious" and Iran hopes the negotiations will be successful. The first round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran took place in Muscat on April 12. The second round was held in Rome last Saturday, April 19, with the mediation of Oman. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan carried out US 'dirty work' for 30 years: Defense minister Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 11:20 AM Pakistan's Defense Minister, Khawaja Asif, admits the country's past error in supporting terrorist organizations as "dirty work" for the West, acknowledging that this mistake has caused suffering for Pakistan. In an interview with Sky News presenter Yalda Hakim on Saturday, Asif responded to a question regarding Pakistan's history of aiding terrorist organizations. "We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about three decades, and the West, including Britain," he said. "That was a mistake, and we suffered for that, and that is why you are saying this to me," Asif noted. He went on to say that if Pakistan did not join the war against the Soviet Union and the war after 9/11, Pakistan's track record was "unimpeachable." "It was convenient for the big powers to blame Pakistan, which 'fought' the wars on their side in the 80s against the Soviet Union. All these terrorists of today were wining and dining in Washington." Asif's comments have come days after a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir left at least 26 people dead. India has accused Pakistan of funding and harboring the terrorist organization (The Resistance Front) which has taken responsibility for the attack and has suspended diplomatic ties with Pakistan. Although Asif recognized the existence of terrorist organizations in Pakistan's territory, he denied his government's involvement in the attack in the Indian-administered Kashmir and said TRF does not exist. Asif's remarks are among the clearest acknowledgments by a Pakistani official about the country's role in helping the US to use terrorism as a tool of foreign policy. While past Pakistani governments have admitted to supporting Mujahedeen fighters on behalf of the US during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, few have linked that policy to the US involvement in the creation of major terrorist organizations in the region. The US has not responded to Asif's latest comments about the two countries' cooperation in creating terrorist organizations. The previous Afghan government accused Pakistan of financial and logistical support of Al-Qaeda and Taliban. Pakistan has denied the accusation but its officials celebrated the Taliban's return to power in August 2021. In recent years, Pakistan has faced a surge of terrorist attacks, primarily carried out by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan ROC Ministry of National Defense 2025/04/26 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1. Date 6 a.m. Apr. 25 (Fri.) to 6 a.m. Apr. 26 (Sat.) (UTC+8) 2.PLA activities 1 sortie of PLA aircraft, 8 PLAN ships and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected as of 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 1 sortie 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. 1140426_PLA activities [Open a new window] 1140426_PLA air activities in the vicinity of Taiwan [Open a new window] NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov The Supreme Commander-in-Chief heard a videoconference report by Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov on the final defeat of the Ukrainian formations which had invaded the Kursk Region. April 26, 2025 13:35 Novo-Ogaryovo, Moscow Region President of Russia, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin: Mr Gerasimov, I know that you have the latest update on the developments on the Kursk track. What are the results of the fighting performance over the last day and the entire preceding period? Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Today, we liberated the village of Gornal, the last populated area in the Kursk Region, from Ukrainian units. I Units of the 22nd Motor Rifle Regiment of the 72nd Division, the 810th and 40th Separate Marine Brigades, the 177th Separate Marine Regiment and the 1427th Motor Rifle Regiment have particularly distinguished themselves in this regard. The defeat of the armed formations of the Ukrainian armed forces that invaded the Kursk Region has thus been completed. The plans of the Kiev regime to create a so-called strategic bridgehead and disrupt our offensive in Donbas have failed. At the initial stage of the operation the enemy advance inside our territory was stopped and then the penetration area was reduced. The Ukrainian units had to assume defense. Later, flanking encounter assaults along the state border by two airborne divisions, the 76th and 106th, and actions by the 155th and 810th Marine Brigades, isolated and subsequently dismembered the main grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces, which was then destroyed piecemeal. The most active phase of the operation began on March 6. As a result of the simultaneous offensive by the Kursk group units and formations in all directions, as well as the breakthrough into the enemy's rear by the underground landing force comprising the Veterans volunteer force, 11th Airborne Assault Brigade, the 30th Motor Rifle Regiment and the Akhmat Special Forces unit through the gas pipeline, the defence of the Ukrainian armed forces collapsed. The Ukrainian units began a chaotic withdrawal. And the penetration area was reduced by 2.5 times within five days. In the course of further actions, the scarce remnants of Ukrainian elite units were defeated and knocked out of the Kursk Region. The enemy suffered significant losses during the operation and had to constantly transfer reserves and units from other areas to the Kursk front in order to maintain the strength of its group at about 60,000 troops. The total losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to more than 76,000 servicemen, killed and wounded. In fact, the enemy lost the original grouping and even more. We destroyed more than 7,700 pieces of military equipment, including 412 tanks, 340 infantry fighting vehicles, 314 armoured personnel carriers and about 2,300 other armoured combat vehicles. I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk Region's border areas, who, in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries, provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces. Soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army, carrying out combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism in repulsing the Ukrainian invasion. Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Currently, measures are being taken in the liberated areas of the Kursk Region to identify single servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces trying to hide in Russia. Forest areas, basements and abandoned buildings are being checked. Local authorities get assistance in restoring peaceful life. Engineering units of army group North and the International Mine Action Center of the Military Engineering Academy are conducting continuous mine clearance of the territory and destroying explosive devices. Nineteen settlements have been fully checked and cleared. Some 110 mine clearance teams have been engaged in these efforts and this is more than 1,000 personnel. Pursuant to your instructions, creation of a security zone in the border areas of Ukraine's Sumy Region continues. Four settlements have been liberated. The total area of the controlled territory amounts to more than 90 square kilometres. Additionally, units of army group North in the Belgorod Region have finished eradicating Ukrainian sabotage groups in the vicinity of the Popovka settlement. A search and liquidation of individual Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen hiding in the border forests is underway. In other areas, the Combined Group of Troops (Forces) continues to carry out tasks in accordance with the concept of the special military operation. This concludes my report. Vladimir Putin: Mr Gerasimov, over the past few months, you have been regularly reporting to me on the situation in the Kursk Region and highlighting our most efficient units. I can't help mentioning them again today. These are: the 76th Airborne Division and its 234th Airborne Assault Regiment, the 237th Airborne Assault Regiment and its 104th Airborne Assault Regiment; the 106th Airborne Division and its 119th Parachute Regiment, the 137th Parachute Regiment, and the 51st Parachute Regiment. These are the 56th Airborne Assault Regiment of the 7th Airborne Assault Division; two Akhmat regiments - the 204th Akhmat Special Forces Regiment and the 1434th Akhmat Motorized Infantry Regiment; the 22nd Motorized Infantry Regiment of the 72nd Division, the 11th Airborne Assault Brigade, the 83rd Separate Airborne Assault Brigade. Finally, our marines, our glorious marines - the 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, the 810th Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet. And of course, as you have just mentioned, the Veterans volunteer force, which carried out a daring underground landing in the area of Sudzha and created conditions for its complete liberation. I would like to congratulate the entire personnel of all military units who took part in the defeat of the neo-Nazi formations that invaded Russian territory in the Kursk Region. The affair of the Kiev regime has completely failed and the huge losses suffered by the enemy, including most combat-ready, trained and equipped - using, among other things, Western models of equipment - units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including assault units, special forces, will certainly affect the entire line of engagement. The complete defeat of the enemy in the Kursk border area creates conditions for further successful actions by our troops in other important sectors of the front, bringing the defeat of the neo-Nazi regime closer. Congratulations to the entire personnel, all soldiers and commanders on this success and victory. Thank you for your courage, heroism, and service to our Fatherland and the people of Russia. Thank you. Valery Gerasimov: I serve Russia! NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senior NATO advisors meet in Kyiv to discuss priorities for joint NATO-Ukraine lessons learned centre NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 25 Apr. 2025 Last updated: 26 Apr. 2025 The Senior Advisory Board (SAB) of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC) met in Kyiv, Ukraine on 25 April 2025, to discuss key priorities. Since its opening in February 2025, the Centre has already carried out its first projects focused on air defence, protection of critical infrastructure, and resilience and total defence. For this second SAB meeting, NATO senior representatives were invited to Kyiv by Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Serhiy Boyev. Assistant Secretary General for Operations Tom Goffus chaired the meeting with representatives from Ukraine, NATO and Poland. ASG Goffus said that hosting the meeting in Kyiv not only highlighted JATEC's importance but also demonstrates NATO's continued and steadfast support to Ukraine. NATO leadership discussed JATEC's Programme of Work, priorities and next steps. They agreed to deliver concrete and actionable combat lessons for both Ukraine and NATO, whilst embedding civilian-military aspects within the JATEC organisation. NATO continues to provide political and practical support for Ukraine. In the first three months of 2025, Allies have already pledged over 20 billion euros in security assistance for Ukraine this year. In Wiesbaden, Germany, NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) is coordinating the delivery of training and security assistance to Ukraine. And in Bydgoszcz, Poland, JATEC is analysing crucial lessons from the battlefield in Ukraine. The first civil-military organisation to be jointly run by NATO and Ukraine, JATEC and its work will help further strengthen Ukraine's defence sector, enhance its deterrence and defence, and reach full interoperability with NATO. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump, Zelensky hold 'productive' talks ahead of Pope's funeral in Rome Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 3:19 PM US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have met one-on-one inside St Peter's Basilica, minutes before the start of the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday. The two leaders spoke for about 15 minutes while seated in St Peter's Basilica with no aides around them. The White House said in a statement that Trump and Zelenskyy "had a very productive discussion. More details about the meeting will follow." The Ukrainian leader's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, described the meeting as "constructive." He said the two agreed to further talks. Zelensky later thanked Trump for the "good meeting" in a post on social media platform X. "We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered." He wrote, "Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results." The meeting at the Vatican comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia. Trump on Friday wrote on Truth Social that Kiev and Moscow "are very close to a deal" on a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict. His comments came hours after his special envoy Steve Witkoff met with President Vladimir Putin of Russian in Moscow. "Most of the major points are agreed to," Trump said, adding that Friday was a "good day" of negotiations between the US and Russia. The Kremlin has also described the talks as "constructive." Tensions between Trump and Zelensky were high since their last meeting in the Oval Office in Washington in February, when the Ukrainian president faced criticism from Trump and Vice President J D Vance over what they saw as a lack of gratitude for Washington's support. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump, Zelenskyy Talk Peace Deal On Sidelines Of Pope Francis Funeral By RFE/RL April 26, 2025 US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, as the two leaders look to make progress on high-stakes peace talks for the war in Ukraine. Steven Cheung, the White House's communications director, said on April 26 that Trump and Zelenskyy "met privately today and had a very productive discussion." This was the first face-to-face meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy since their explosive Oval Office shouting match in late February, which led to an unprecedented diplomatic crisis. Their talk on the sidelines of the funeral comes amid Trump's calls for a high-level summit between Russia and Ukraine "to finish it off" and get a peace deal. "Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out," Zelenskyy wrote on X in a post shared after the funeral. "Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results." Zelenskyy added that he thanked Trump for the "good meeting" at the Vatican, and his press secretary, Serhiy Nykyforov, said the two presidents talked for around 15 minutes. Nykyforov had said earlier that Trump and Zelenskyy would meet again the same day, but later said no second meeting took place due to a tight schedule for both leaders. Trump had earlier claimed that a deal to end the war is "very close" in a social media post and he had previously warned both sides that Washington was prepared to walk away from US-led efforts to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow if an agreement was not reached soon. The two presidents also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the funeral. Zelenskyy's office said that the meeting between the four leaders "was positive." Trump presented a "final offer" to Ukraine and Russia last week to end the war. The US proposal was described to RFE/RL by a European diplomat familiar with the details and a former US diplomat familiar with the proposal also confirmed its contents. It includes US recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and unofficial recognition of Russian control of nearly all areas occupied since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. That proposal has had led to differences between not only Washington and Kyiv, but also European governments who hold additional concerns on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated. Whether those details were discussed at the Vatican is unclear, but Trump criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin in a post on Truth Social after he left the pope's funeral, saying that recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets may require him to implement bank or secondary sanctions against Russia to achieve a lasting truce. "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along," Trump wrote. On April 26, three people were killed and seven wounded in Russian shelling of the Donetsk region, local authorities said. Eight bombs were air-dropped by Russian forces on the town of Kostyantynivka, said Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, via Telegram. "Russians don't need peace -- they just want to destroy us all," Filashkin added. Trump and Zelenskyy's talks on the sidelines of the funeral came after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin at the Kremlin on April 25. As the funeral proceedings were under way, Putin said in a speech that Russia had regained control of Kursk, the border region where Ukraine launched a surprise offensive last year. "The Kyiv regime's adventure has completely failed," Putin said. The general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said Ukrainian troops are still operating in Kursk and called Putin's statement untrue. RFE/RL was not able to independently verify the battlefield claims. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 26 that Putin told Witkoff during their meeting that the Kremlin is ready to talk with Ukraine without preconditions. A High-Profile Funeral For Pope Francis Trump and Zelenskyy were among more than 50 heads of state gathered for Pope Francis's funeral as Roman Catholics paid tribute to a pontiff who was a humble leader and a champion of the poor, migrants, and other marginalized people. More than a dozen royals, including Britain's Prince William, and more than 150 country representatives were also present along with some 224 cardinals and 750 bishops and priests. China, which does not have formal relations with the Vatican, did not send a representative due to presence of an high-ranking officials from Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own. The Vatican is one of only a handful of nations to have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Israel, which was angered by Francis's criticism of its conduct in Gaza, sent its ambassador to the Vatican. The pope died on April 21 -- Easter Monday -- at age 88 following a stroke. The Vatican said around 250,000 people filed past his body laid out in a wooden coffin in St. Peter's Basilica over the three days leading up to the funeral. The pope's body was dressed in red robes, a bishop's pointed miter, and his well-worn black shoes, including scuff marks on the toe. After the service at the Vatican, his body was brought to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome's Esquilino neighborhood, which lies outside the Vatican, in a procession that was greeted by crowds of supporters. During his papacy Francis, who was selected to lead the 1.4 billion-member Roman Catholic Church in 2013, sought to create a more open-minded Church. He often advocated for the poor and marginalized, while challenging wealthy nations to help migrants and address climate change. "He was a simple and much-loved pastor in his archdiocese, who traveled far and wide, also by subway and bus," read a one-page account of his papacy placed inside his coffin before it was sealed. "He lived in an apartment and he prepared dinner alone, so he could feel like an ordinary person." The secretive conclave is unlikely to begin before May 6 to allow cardinals time to hold regular meetings, sum each other up, and assess the state of the church, including its financial problems and ideological divisions. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pope-funeral-vatican- francis-trump-world-leaders/33397353.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's comment on liberation of the Kursk Region 26 April 2025 18:16 710-26-04-2025 On April 26, with the liberation of the village of Gornal, the Kursk Region was cleansed of the Ukrobanderite occupiers and foreign militants. It became possible thanks to the unbending strength of spirit and heroism of many people who selflessly, day after day, did their best to defeat the enemy who had treacherously invaded our land. This is not the first time in history that the Kursk Region has become a theatre of military operations, whose outcome determined so much. More than 80 years ago, in the summer of 1943, Hitler's Germany, in an attempt to defeat the Red Army, concentrated here a significant strike force. The Nazis threw their, as they thought, best forces into the battle, including SS tank divisions. It did not work. The failure of the Kursk Bulge battle for the Nazis is well known to everyone. In August 2024, the Kiev regime, following the same schemes as its ideological idols, also decided to put its fate to the test. The terrorist attack on the Kursk Region involved elite units of Ukraine's armed units supplemented with Western weapons and armoured vehicles. Its preparation and execution were carried out by foreign military advisers. This barbaric attack was presented to the international community as an operation to "demonstrate the combat capability of the Ukrainian army" and "improve Ukraine's negotiating positions." The enemy faced the unwavering steadfastness and courage of our soldiers and officers, who, at the cost of their lives, did not allow the Ukro-Nazis to penetrate deep into the region, and then liberated it metre by metre. As a result, the enemy was completely defeated and the remnants of its troops were thrown out of the Kursk Region. We admire the valour of the Russian Federation servicemen who took part in combat operations in this area. Their unequalled valour, bravery and readiness for self-sacrifice made it possible to successfully carry out combat tasks assigned to them. A new page has appeared in the glorious chronicle of the combat brotherhood between the Russian and the Korean peoples. The soldiers of the Korean People's Army, in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Russia and the DPRK, which entered into force on December 4, 2024, fought shoulder to shoulder, in the same trench and shed blood with our soldiers and officers in the Kursk Region and made a significant contribution to the liberation of the Russian land from the enemy invaders. The Kursk people, who were forced to leave their homes, lost contact with their relatives and were subjected to atrocities and torture by Ukrainian militants, bore an enormous burden of the invasion. We pay tribute to those of them who, in the first days of the tragedy, did not tremble in the face of heavily armed thugs and stood up to defend their land, often at the cost of their own lives. The Russian law enforcement authorities are carrying out a thorough investigation into all crimes committed in the Kursk Region by Ukrainian militants and foreign mercenaries. Those involved will be identified, prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law. Following the Kursk Region, all territories of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation still under the Kiev regime's control, including the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, will definitely be liberated. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address N Korea's Solidarity on Liberating Kursk Region Demonstrates High, Allied-Level Relations - Moscow Sputnik News 20250426 North Korea's solidarity regarding the liberation of Russia's Kursk Region reflects the allied level of bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday. "The solidarity demonstrated by our Korean friends exemplifies the high, essentially allied, level nature of our relations. We are confident that our ties will continue to strengthen and develop in line with the agreements between our nations' leaders," Zakharova said. The diplomat added that while Pyongyang's official response to Russia's high appraisal of its military's contribution has yet to come, there is no doubts it will be positive. Zakharova said that North Korean soldiers made a "significant contribution" to the liberation of Russia's Kursk Region. "The soldiers of the Korean People's Army, in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Russia and the DPRK [North Korea], which entered into force on December 4, 2024, fought shoulder to shoulder in one trench and shed blood with our soldiers and officers in the Kursk Region and made a significant contribution to the liberation of the Russian land from enemy invaders," Zakharova said in a statement published on the foreign ministry's website. Ukrainian armed forces militants and foreign mercenaries involved in crimes in Russia's Kursk Region will be identified and subjected to punishment, Zakharova said. "Russian law enforcement agencies are conducting a thorough investigation of all crimes committed by the militants of the Ukrainian armed forces and foreign mercenaries on the territory of the Kursk Region. Those involved will definitely be identified, held criminally liable and subjected to punishment to the fullest extent of the law," Zakharova said. Earlier in the day, Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said that the Kursk Region was fully liberated, as the last of the settlements had been cleared of Ukrainian military presence. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Makes Move Toward Europe in Ukraine Peace Deal Push Sputnik News 20250426 Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff presented Europe and Ukraine with a list of proposals for a Ukrainian settlement at talks in Paris on Friday, while the EU and Zelensky's regime outlined their key provisions aimed at resolving the conflict . The US is dangling security guarantees, intelligence, and logistical support as potential leverage with its European allies in the push for a Ukraine peace deal, The Telegraph reports. The US message behind closed doors is, "We won't put boots on the ground but could support UK and European forces to back up a Ukraine peace deal from land, air, and sea." This support has been central to the "coalition of the willing" plan led by UK PM Keir Starmer and France's Emmanuel Macron, who are pushing for European troops on the ground in Ukraine. The response to this plan has been tepid, with only a few willing to get on board. Russia has repeatedly emphasized that the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine is totally unacceptable. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Says 'Most Major Point' on Ukraine Agreed Sputnik News 20250426 US President Donald Trump has called on Russia and Ukraine to hold high-level talks to conclude a peace deal, with "major points" already agreed to. "Just landed in Rome. A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to 'finish it off.' Most of the major points are agreed to," Trump said in a Truth Social post. Trump arrived in Rome late on Friday, to attend the funeral of Pope Francis. After the memorial service on Saturday, Trump will head back to Washington. Earlier on Friday, Trump said on Truth Social that the work on the overall peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine was progressing well. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin. The possibility of resuming direct talks between Russia and Ukraine was discussed, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said after the meeting. Trump told reporters on Friday that it was possible that he could meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his visit to Rome. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets with the Secretary of State of the Holy See President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 21:55 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Head of State expressed his condolences over the passing of Pope Francis and noted that Ukraine values his prayers for our country and for peace. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pietro Parolin paid particular attention to the path toward a just and lasting peace. The President informed about the joint diplomatic efforts of Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and other countries around the world aimed at achieving a full and unconditional ceasefire, which must be the first step. The Head of State thanked the Secretary of State for his position regarding Ukraine's right to self-defense and the inadmissibility of imposing peace terms on a country that has been attacked. Ukraine counts on the Holy See to continue playing an important role in uniting international efforts to achieve peace, facilitate the return of Ukrainian children illegally displaced and deported by Russia, and secure the release of prisoners. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The President Discusses the Return of Ukrainian Children with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 21:33 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi at the Embassy of Ukraine in Italy. The Head of State expressed condolences over the passing of Pope Francis. "It is very important for us to be here today and to unite with the whole world. We have always had great respect for Pope Francis. He always fought to ensure peace for people around the world, including in Ukraine," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted. The President also expressed gratitude for the assistance provided by the Vatican, personally by the Pontiff and by Matteo Zuppi, in facilitating the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported and displaced by Russia and in the release of prisoners. This was one of the key topics discussed during the meeting. "The most important thing is to bring more lives home, to their loved ones, to their families. That is why you have already helped us with children, and we are turning to you today. Unfortunately, there is still a reason for this. This means that there are still very many children who are being held against their will in the territory of Russia. We want to bring them home, and that is why we are once again turning to the Vatican for such help," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted. The Head of State also thanked for the opportunity to meet with President of the United States Donald Trump at St. Peter's Basilica. The President of Ukraine said that this meeting was very positive and noted that the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States of America is extremely important. "This is exactly what Pope Francis wanted - for dialogue to happen, for the main actors to be able to meet and resolve all issues. He always said that more needed to be done for Ukraine and for peace," said the Cardinal. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military Support for Ukraine and Preparation of a New Sanctions Package Against Russia: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets with Ursula von der Leyen President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 20:59 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The Head of State expressed gratitude to the European Union and its member states for their support to Ukraine, especially in the military sphere. The President spoke about the situation on the battlefield and Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities. Despite all diplomatic efforts by Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and other global partners to establish a full and unconditional ceasefire, Russia continues its aggression. Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined Ukraine's defense needs to protect its people, particularly the need for air defense systems. In addition, they discussed the implementation of the ReArm Europe plan, strengthening security cooperation between Ukraine and the EU, and collaboration in defense innovation and technology. Ukraine's unique experience can enhance the defense capabilities of the entire Europe. The President also noted that Ukraine values the support of the European Union on its path to EU membership. That is why it is so important to do everything possible to unblock the opening of the first negotiating cluster. Our state is taking all necessary steps and expects further assistance. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ursula von der Leyen additionally discussed the preparation of the EU's 17th sanctions package against Russia. The President noted that it should target key sectors of the Russian economy: metallurgy, nuclear and chemical industries, IT and financial sectors, as well as the shadow tanker fleet. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Guarantees and Continued Military Assistance: President Meets with Giorgia Meloni President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 20:45 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Giorgia Meloni held a meeting in Rome. The Ukrainian leader informed Giorgia Meloni about the consequences of the massive Russian attack on Ukraine on the night of April 24. In Kyiv, 12 people were then killed and 87 others injured. The President noted that 46 days ago, Ukraine agreed to a full, unconditional ceasefire, and for 46 days, Russia has continued to kill Ukrainians. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about the constructive meetings held by the Ukrainian delegation with representatives of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany in Paris and London. There is a shared position that an unconditional ceasefire must be the first step towards achieving sustainable peace in Ukraine. The leaders also discussed the importance of increasing pressure on Russia and ensuring security guarantees. The President commended Giorgia Meloni's principled and clear stance. The Head of State emphasized that strengthening air defense remains a priority for Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Joint Diplomatic Efforts, Pressure on Russia, and Strengthening of Ukraine's Air Defense: President of Ukraine and President of France Hold Meeting President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 20:25 In Rome, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron. The Ukrainian leader briefed President Macron on his meeting with President of the United States Donald Trump, which took place earlier today. The leaders discussed the path to a full, unconditional ceasefire and the need to apply pressure on Russia to establish it. The presidents also summarized the outcomes of meetings between the teams from Ukraine, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany in Paris and London, which focused on developing proposals and aligning positions. They agreed to continue their joint efforts to achieve a just peace and coordinated the next steps for the near future. Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined the consequences of Russian strikes on Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, and Kyiv, emphasizing the critical need to strengthen air defense to protect the lives of Ukrainians. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Keir Starmer Discuss Steps Necessary to Establish an Unconditional Ceasefire President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 18:11 In Rome, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer to discuss the steps necessary to establish a full, unconditional ceasefire and develop further security guarantees. The leaders summarized the outcomes of meetings between representatives of Ukraine, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany in Paris and London, and agreed to continue their work within the Coalition of the Willing. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Keir Starmer agreed that an unconditional ceasefire must be achieved in the air, at sea, and on land, and must serve as the first step toward establishing a just peace with reliable security guarantees. The President emphasized that only strong security guarantees can ensure a lasting peace and prevent possible Russian aggression in the future. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine Meets with U.S. President Donald Trump President of Ukraine 26 April 2025 - 15:46 In Vatican City, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the United States of America Donald Trump. The meeting took place one-on-one at St. Peter's Basilica, where both leaders had arrived to participate in a Mass honoring the memory of Pope Francis. The Presidents discussed a range of important and urgent issues. Ukraine is counting on results regarding the matters raised: protecting lives of Ukrainians, a full and unconditional ceasefire, a reliable and lasting peace that will safeguard against a repeat of the war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that this was a symbolic meeting with the potential to become historic if joint results are achieved, and expressed gratitude to Donald Trump. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address After US Snubs London Meeting, What's Europe's Game Plan For Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks? By Rikard Jozwiak April 27, 2025 Over the past week, European nations largely represented by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have tried their best to engage in talks between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia. There were a number of rather successful high-level meetings in Paris on April 17 and one in London six days later that ended up being politically downgraded after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out. The snub reportedly came over Kyiv's unwillingness to agree to a peace plan involving the recognition of Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. On April 26, US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the funeral for Pope Francisat the Vatican, but no breakthroughs were reported. After speaking with several European diplomats familiar with the matter, it's clear that something of a game plan has emerged in response. What Is Europe Doing Toward Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks? The first priority is keeping the Americans onboard and keeping them talking to the Ukrainians. Exactly how successful this aim can be is up in the air, as Washington has threatened to walk away if no progress is made soon. The officials I talked to, however, believe this could be a negotiation tactic aimed to pressure Ukraine, saying Trump has a penchant for playing tough in public only to go back to the negotiation table later -- as evidenced by the way he has enacted and retracted sweeping trade tariffs in recent weeks. The Europeans are keen to secure what they call a "sequencing," meaning first a cease-fire observed by both sides followed by lasting peace. The belief is that this could ensure more of Ukraine's security interests are guaranteed and that not everything is on Moscow's terms. There is hope that Ukraine's willingness to observe a cease-fire in the past month -- and Russia's failure to do so -- shows that Kyiv is acting in good faith and not Moscow. This would also buy the Europeans time to assemble a "reassurance force" in the Western part of Ukraine with at least some sort of American political backing, even though American participation seems off the table, according to the European diplomats I spoke with. The current thinking is less of a "boots on the ground" presence and more toward air patrolling with the aim of securing Lviv airport and the surrounding areas as a transport hub for Ukraine. The Europeans are also keen to continue military aid to the country. Although there is an understanding that it might be impossible to completely fill the void left by the United States, there's hope that European money will keep flowing and the new German government in place in early May will be more forthcoming, notably on providing Kyiv with long-awaited Taurus cruise missiles. What About The US Call To Recognize Crimea As Russian? As for some of America's demands for a potential peace proposal, the Europeans are also crystal-clear. There will never be a de jure recognition of Crimea as part of Russia -- unless, of course, Ukraine agrees to it. De facto recognition of the lands currently under Russian control is another matter. Ukrainian NATO membership being off the table can also be swallowed. Several European states hid behind the United States when, under the Biden administration, it nixed the prospects of inviting Ukraine into the military alliance at both the NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023 and in Washington a year later. Eventual EU membership, though, is another matter. Brussels and all key European capitals are adamant Moscow has no say in that. According to diplomats familiar with the proposed American peace deal, Russia accepts that Ukraine could join the bloc. A so-called Cyprus scenario, which means all of Ukraine could at some point be considered part of the club whereas in fact only those parts under Kyiv's control would be, is the most likely solution. One thing that appears off the table for now, to much European relief, is the call for new elections in Ukraine, a point that diplomats told me has quietly disappeared from American talking points after it was initially mentioned as a potential condition. I have heard that Russia still might want to push for it. Could Europe Relax Sanctions On Russia? Then there are the sanctions. While the United States has offered Russia sanctions relief, the Europeans are not in favor. You would need unanimity to lift the measures now, and that unanimity simply doesn't exist. In fact, I was told Paris and Berlin want to pile up pressure on Russia and, in particular, enact more restrictive measures in the coming weeks. A 17th round of restrictive measures against the Kremlin was in the works already after the deadly Russian attacks on the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Kryviy Rih earlier in April, and Brussels will now speed up those efforts. The EU is also finalizing asset freezes and visa bans against 15 Russians accused of carrying out hybrid attacks on the EU in a separate sanctions package. As with all things related to Russia, EU officials admit it will be hard to get Hungary to give the green light and that is why the next package is likely to be symbolic rather than hard-hitting. They also need to secure Budapest's consent to roll over sectoral sanctions on Russia in July. There are plenty of worries that this won't happen and that even other member states will start picking out sanctions measures they don't like, hence the scrambling for alternatives to keep the sanction measures alive. The one item that most countries want to save are the near 200 billion euros of frozen Russian assets in the bloc, not least of all because the EU would like to use this sum as a bargaining chip against Moscow to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. The windfall profits from frozen assets currently bankrolls Ukraine's military needs, and the 45 billion euro G7 loan propping up Kyiv's macrofinancial needs for 2025 is backed up using frozen assets as a collateral. So Europe will want to sustain at least some sanctions on Russia going forward. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/jozwiak-europe-ukraine- russia-talks/33396839.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New York, April 26, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In This Article, Youll Discover: How digital payments and the rise of contactless technology have made credit and debit cards more vulnerable to unauthorized scanning devices and RFID skimming. The latest risks of digital pickpocketing in 2025 and why identity theft protection is now an essential part of personal financial security. What RFID skimming is, how it happens, and why even traditional wallets or basic sleeves may not fully block signals from modern scanning devices. The key pain points that consumers experience from identity theft and card fraudincluding the financial and emotional costs. What sets the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card apart, including advanced signal-jamming technology, military-grade durability, and universal compatibility. apart, including advanced signal-jamming technology, military-grade durability, and universal compatibility. A full product breakdown: how the Credit Guard card works to block signals from unauthorized credit and debit card scanning devices, and why it is designed for maximum ease and convenience. Real-world usage tips for achieving the best results, whether at home, while commuting, or traveling abroad. An objective, side-by-side comparison of RFID Blocking Cards versus sleeves, wallets, and other identity theft protection solutions. Transparent details on business and purchasing options, including current pricing, bundle discounts, warranty, and 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Frequently asked questions about using RFID Blocking Cards for credit and debit card security and travel. Why proactive digital security with the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is the best way to block signals, prevent unauthorized scanning, and protect your personal data in 2025. TL;DR Summary As contactless credit and debit card transactions become the global standard, the threat of RFID skimming and digital pickpocketing is rapidly increasing. The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card offers a simple, military-grade solution to block signals from unauthorized scanning devices, providing instant identity theft protection for all your RFID-enabled cards. Unlike bulky wallets or fragile sleeves, this ultra-slim card fits seamlessly into any wallet and works passively to shield your informationno batteries, apps, or setup required. With features like advanced signal-jamming technology, universal compatibility, and real-world lab testing, Credit Guard stands out as the most convenient and effective way to stop digital thieves. Choose from flexible bundle options, enjoy fast shipping, and buy with confidence thanks to a 30-day money-back guarantee. Protect your financial data and enjoy real peace of mindCredit Guard RFID Blocking Card is the proactive identity theft protection you need for 2025 and beyond. Introduction: Digital Payments & the Rise of RFID Theft The Evolution of Credit and Debit Card Payments The world of personal finance has rapidly evolved, with contactless payment methods like RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and NFC (Near Field Communication) becoming standard on credit and debit cards. This evolution has brought about a new level of convenience, allowing millions of consumers to simply tap their card at checkout, making quick purchases possible with just a wave of the hand. In 2025, more than 70% of card transactions in developed countries are now contactless, highlighting the demand for speed and simplicity. The Hidden Risks: Digital Pickpocketing and RFID Skimming With every leap forward in technology comes new risks. Unfortunately, the very wireless technology that makes shopping seamless can also leave your sensitive financial information exposed. Digital pickpocketingalso known as RFID skimmingis on the rise. Thieves can use inexpensive scanning devices to capture card data from a distance, sometimes without you ever noticing. This is possible because RFID technology allows data to be transmitted wirelessly from a chip embedded in your card, and these signals can be intercepted by a skimming device. Unlike traditional theft, theres no physical contact, making this form of identity theft hard to detect and even harder to stop once your data is compromised. Why Identity Theft Protection Matters Now More Than Ever Financial fraud and unauthorized card scanning are not just minor inconveniencesthey can be devastating. Victims of identity theft may face drained bank accounts, ruined credit, and hours spent trying to recover their financial health. In todays environment, where personal and payment data is more valuable than ever, protecting your cards from wireless attacks isnt just smartits essential for your digital safety. Introducing the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card was created as a modern, easy-to-use solution to the growing problem of RFID and NFC skimming. Designed to fit seamlessly in your existing wallet, this advanced card provides passive, military-grade protection against unauthorized scanning devices. Whether youre traveling, commuting, or just going about your daily routine, Credit Guard acts as a digital shieldblocking thieves from accessing your contactless credit and debit cards. While the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is a powerful tool in your arsenal, it's important to remember that it's just one part of the solution. It's intended to add a layer of physical security to your wallet, but it should not replace general cybersecurity best practices such as monitoring your account activity and securing your online accounts. By staying informed and taking proactive steps, you can significantly reduce your risk of falling victim to digital theft. Understanding RFID Skimming: What, How, and Why It Matters in 2025 What Is RFID Skimming? RFID skimming refers to the unauthorized capture of data stored on your credit cards, debit cards, passports, or other contactless cards using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Most modern payment cards are embedded with tiny RFID chips that transmit payment information wirelessly. This allows for fast, tap-to-pay convenience at stores, restaurants, and public transport. However, the same convenience can be exploited by criminals using portable scanning devices, known as RFID readers or skimmers. These scanners can pick up your cards signal from several inches awayeven through purses, pockets, or walletswithout your knowledge. This data, once captured, can potentially be used to clone your card, make unauthorized purchases, or steal your identity. How Does RFID Skimming Happen? RFID skimming is surprisingly easy for a determined thief. Criminals often use small, commercially available scanning devices to search for RFID signals in crowded places such as airports, shopping malls, or public transit. They simply walk by their target, and in less than a second, can intercept card information by wirelessly reading the RFID chip. This ease of theft, combined with the lack of obvious signs during a contactless transaction, should raise concern and encourage caution among consumers. Unlike traditional card fraud, where a card must be physically stolen or swiped, RFID skimming can happen even when your card never leaves your possession. This type of attack is particularly troubling because it is silent and invisiblevictims often discover the crime only after unauthorized charges or identity theft occurs. The Scale of the Problem: Why This Risk Is Growing Contactless payments are now the global standard, with billions of cards in circulation and widespread acceptance by merchants. This convenience has created a new opportunity for tech-savvy criminals. As more banks, businesses, and governments embrace RFID-enabled technology, the number of potential targets increases daily. This growing scale of the problem is something consumers need to be aware of and informed about. Recent reports show a significant rise in digital pickpocketing and contactless payment fraud, as skimming devices become cheaper, smaller, and more accessible. The proliferation of online tutorials and marketplaces for illegal card readers has made it even easier for criminals to carry out RFID skimming attacks. Key Facts for 2025 Most new credit and debit cards are now issued with RFID or NFC technology. Skimming attacks are most common in busy public spaces, but can happen anywhere. Victims may not realize theyve been targeted until financial losses or identity theft surface. Traditional wallets, purses, and even some RFID-blocking sleeves do not always guarantee protection against modern skimming devices. Why Prevention Is Better Than Recovery The impact of RFID skimming goes beyond immediate financial loss. Victims of identity theft may face credit score damage, months of paperwork, emotional distress, and ongoing fraud risk. However, prevention is always easier than recovery. By taking proactive measures, such as using an RFID blocking card, consumers can create a barrier between their personal information and would-be thieves, empowering them to maintain control over their digital and financial security. Take control of your digital safety. Protect your credit and debit cards todayorder Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card and keep your information safe from digital theft. The Real Pain Points: Why Consumers Are Suffering Identity Theft and Card Fraud Everyday Vulnerabilities in a Contactless World: Urgent Action Required As digital payments become the default for everyday transactions, new vulnerabilities have emerged for ordinary consumers. Every contactless credit or debit card stored in your wallet is continuously broadcasting data, even when youre not making a purchase. This constant signal can be intercepted in public spaces, leaving your personal information exposed without any physical theft or warning. Many people are surprised to discover that the risks arent limited to big cities or crowded airportsRFID skimming can happen anywhere, from coffee shops to grocery stores. This widespread threat is a stark reminder of the relevance of this information in your daily life. Even brief encounters in a busy line or on public transport create opportunities for thieves equipped with scanning devices to capture card information in seconds. The Emotional and Financial Cost of Card Fraud The aftermath of identity theft and card fraud often reaches far beyond the financial loss. Victims may spend weeks or even months dealing with banks, restoring their credit, and trying to recover their stolen identity. The emotional toll of unauthorized charges can freeze access to personal funds, delay bill payments, and create ongoing anxiety about future attacks. For many, the stress and time spent on damage control are as frustrating as the loss of money itself. Why Traditional Security Solutions Fall Short Conventional approaches like physical wallets or basic RFID sleeves can offer some degree of defense but are rarely foolproof. Many RFID sleeves wear out quickly or fail to block advanced scanning devices. Traditional wallets are even less reliable against sophisticated, high-frequency skimmers now in use. Most people also underestimate how quickly and quietly card data can be stolen without ever removing their wallet from a pocket or purse. Once your card number is compromised, criminals may use it to make unauthorized purchases online or clone new cards, sometimes before you even notice something is wrong. A Growing Threat That Demands a Modern Solution With RFID skimming devices becoming cheaper and more common, digital pickpocketing is now a threat facing everyoneregardless of age, tech experience, or lifestyle. For consumers who rely on contactless payments, traditional security methods are simply not enough to guarantee peace of mind. In fact, [insert statistic or case study here] highlights the growing prevalence of this issue. In this environment, a new generation of protection is neededone that blocks signals at the source and doesnt require you to change how you shop or carry your cards. This is where solutions like the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card, a card-sized device that blocks RFID signals and fits easily into your wallet, become not just helpful, but essential for modern digital security. What Is the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card? Full Product Breakdown Overview of the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is a cutting-edge security device designed to shield your credit cards, debit cards, and other contactless payment cards from unauthorized scanning. In the digital age, your personal and financial information is at risk of being stolen by skimmers who use RFID and NFC signals to access your cards. This card creates a barrier that blocks these signals within your wallet or purse, providing instant, passive protection. Unlike bulky wallets or fragile sleeves, this card is slim, durable, and effortless to usesimply slip it in next to your payment cards and it goes to work immediately. How the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Works Utilizing advanced signal-jamming technology, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card emits a protective field that disrupts scanning devices attempting to read the data stored on your cards RFID chips. The moment a skimmer tries to access your information, the blocking card absorbs and neutralizes the signal, preventing data transmission. This process happens automaticallythere are no batteries, no apps, and no user setup required. Product Specifications Size: Standard credit card dimensions to fit seamlessly in any wallet or card holder Standard credit card dimensions to fit seamlessly in any wallet or card holder Thickness: Ultra-slim profile (approximately 1.1 mm), designed for minimal bulk Ultra-slim profile (approximately 1.1 mm), designed for minimal bulk Material: Waterproof, tear-resistant, and engineered for long-term use Waterproof, tear-resistant, and engineered for long-term use Compatibility: Works with all major contactless credit and debit cards, as well as ID cards, transit passes, and passports using RFID or NFC technology Works with all major contactless credit and debit cards, as well as ID cards, transit passes, and passports using RFID or NFC technology Lifespan: Built to last for several years without replacement or recharging Who Should Use the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card This blocking card is ideal for anyone who wants to upgrade their financial security without hassle. Its especially valuable for frequent travelers, commuters, busy professionals, and anyone using contactless cards in public places. Whether you carry one card or several, the Credit Guard provides protection across your entire wallet, covering multiple cards at once. Unique Selling Points Instant setup just place it in your wallet and youre protected just place it in your wallet and youre protected Works passively without any maintenance or electronics without any maintenance or electronics Protects multiple cards at once, eliminating the need for individual sleeves at once, eliminating the need for individual sleeves Designed for modern lifestyles slim, stylish, and nearly weightless slim, stylish, and nearly weightless Lab-tested and reviewed for effectiveness by independent security experts Why Its Different from Other RFID Solutions Unlike single-use sleeves or specialized wallets, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card offers a universal solution that fits into any existing setup. Its innovative technology provides active, wide-range protection, making it a standout choice for those seeking simple, effective, and lasting security for their payment and identity cards. Dont wait for a security breach to act. Dont leave your wallet exposedbuy Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card now and block RFID skimming instantly. How Credit Guard Solves Your Digital Security Problems Immediate Protection from Wireless Threats The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card stands out with its unique ability to neutralize the threat of digital pickpocketing as soon as its placed in your wallet. It forms a defensive shield that intercepts scanning signals from any unauthorized device trying to access your credit cards, debit cards, or IDs. This proactive approach ensures your personal and payment data remains secure in real time, no matter where you go. Wide Coverage for Multiple Cards A single Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is powerful enough to safeguard every RFID-enabled card within your wallet or purse. This means theres no need for individual sleeves or bulky specialty walletssimply add the card to your regular wallet, and all nearby contactless cards are protected simultaneously. This comprehensive coverage ensures that your entire wallet is protected, making it an effortless upgrade for anyone concerned about digital security. No Change to Your Lifestyle or Routine Unlike traditional security solutions that disrupt your daily routine, Credit Guard seamlessly integrates into your life. Theres no learning curve, no maintenance, and nothing to recharge. Whether youre traveling, commuting, shopping, or just running errands, you gain security without sacrificing convenience or style. Designed for Modern Payment Technology The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is optimized for the newest generation of payment cards and NFC-enabled devices. As contactless payments and tap-to-pay systems continue to evolve, this card keeps pace by providing a future-proof solution to modern security threats. Its compatible with all major credit cards, debit cards, passports, and even some digital transit passes. Tested and Trusted Protection Every Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is independently lab-tested for signal blocking effectiveness. Security experts and real-world reviewers have confirmed that it performs consistently against a range of scanning devices, from entry-level skimmers to sophisticated hacking tools. Peace of Mind for Every Situation With digital theft a constant threat, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card provides peace of mind in every situation. Whether you're in a busy city center, a local cafe, or traveling abroad, you can carry on with confidence, knowing that your personal information has an extra layer of defense against evolving digital threats. Features & Technology: What Sets Credit Guard Apart? Advanced Signal-Blocking Technology The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card utilizes state-of-the-art E-field technology to create a strong, passive shield around your contactless payment and identity cards. This electromagnetic barrier interferes with any external attempts to scan or access the data stored on your cards RFID chips. The blocking field is effective in a range wide enough to protect all cards within your wallet or card holder. Military-Grade Materials and Durability Engineered using military-grade components, the Credit Guard card is designed to withstand the rigors of daily use. Its core construction is waterproof, dustproof, and tear-resistant, making it ideal for people on the go. This durability ensures your security investment provides long-term, maintenance-free protectionno batteries or replacements needed. Ultra-Thin and Lightweight Design Measuring just over 1 millimeter thick, the Credit Guard card is as slim as a standard credit card. It fits into any wallet, cardholder, money clip, or even the tightest card slots without adding noticeable bulk or weight. This allows for everyday use without any inconvenience, preserving the look and feel of your current setup and providing you with a sense of ease. Universal Compatibility One of the standout features of the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is its universal design. It is compatible with all major credit cards, debit cards, bank cards, transit passes, government-issued IDs, and even some key cards or hotel access cards. Whether you have a minimalist wallet or a traditional bifold, this card integrates effortlessly, making you feel included and catered to. Passive, Maintenance-Free Security Unlike electronic devices, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card works passively, drawing no power and requiring no recharging or upkeep. Its security function is always on, providing continuous protection against unauthorized RFID or NFC scans, day and night. Tested and Certified for Performance Each Credit Guard card undergoes independent laboratory testing for effectiveness in blocking a wide spectrum of RFID signals. Certifications and third-party reviews attest to its reliability and signal-jamming performance in real-world conditions. Eco-Friendly and Safe Materials Constructed with environmentally conscious, non-toxic materials, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is designed with both user safety and sustainability in mind. It contains no harmful chemicals and is manufactured according to modern quality standards, making you feel responsible for the environment while ensuring your personal security. Key Features at a Glance Advanced E-field signal-jamming technology Military-grade durability and waterproofing Ultra-thin, lightweight construction Universal fit for all wallet types Passive protection with no power source required Lab-tested and certified Safe, eco-friendly materials Keep your loved ones protected every day. Secure your familys financial datachoose a Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card bundle and get peace of mind for everyone. How to Use the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card for Best Results Simple Setup for Instant Protection Starting with the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is a breeze. No need for complex installations, registrations, or technical expertise. Just slip the card into your wallet, purse, or card holder alongside your credit, debit, or identification cards. The protection kicks in immediately, thwarting any unauthorized scanning attempts. Where to Position the Card For optimal results, position the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card in the middle of your stack of payment and ID cards. The blocking field radiates outward, creating a security zone that covers all cards within a typical wallet. If you use a larger wallet or carry many cards, consider adding a second blocking card to ensure complete coverage at both ends. Everyday Use: No Change Needed Unlike some RFID protection options that require you to remove cards from sleeves or cases to make purchases, the Credit Guard card works passively. You dont have to do anything differentyour cards remain just as accessible for legitimate tap-to-pay and contactless uses. The blocking card only interferes with signals when unauthorized devices attempt to scan your cards from outside your wallet, making it a seamless part of your everyday routine. Works with All Types of Wallets and Card Holders Whether you use a classic leather bifold, a minimalist metal card holder, a zipped pouch, or even a money clip, the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card fits right in. Its slim design ensures you wont notice any extra bulk, making it convenient for everyday carry. No Maintenance or Replacement Needed The card is designed for years of use without any battery changes, recharging, or software updates. Its performance does not diminish over time, providing long-lasting protection for as long as you need it, giving you peace of mind about your card's security. Perfect for Travel and Commuting If youre traveling or commuting, especially in high-traffic locations like airports, train stations, or city centers, the Credit Guard card offers peace of mind. Just carry it as you normally would, and your cards remain protected from digital theft wherever you go. Tips for Maximum Security Always keep the blocking card close to the majority of your RFID-enabled cards. For wallets holding a large number of cards, consider using two blocking cards for complete coverage. Keep your wallet closed when not in use, so the protective field remains uninterrupted. Side-by-Side Comparison: Credit Guard vs. Other RFID Solutions Comparing RFID Blocking Cards, Sleeves, and Wallets With the growing awareness of RFID skimming, a form of digital theft that uses radio frequency identification to steal information from your cards, consumers are presented with several choices for digital protection. Heres how the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card stands up against other popular methods. RFID Blocking Sleeves RFID blocking sleeves are thin covers designed to protect individual cards. While they can be effective, they have several drawbacks: Require inserting and removing cards for every use, reducing convenience. Often wear out quickly or tear, leading to inconsistent protection. Only protect one card per sleeve, so multiple sleeves are needed for multiple cards. RFID Blocking Wallets RFID blocking wallets use special lining materials to shield all contents from radio signals. Tend to be bulkier and more expensive than standard wallets. May not always offer 100% signal blockage if the lining is damaged or compromised. Limit personal style choices, as only certain models offer RFID protection. Electronic or Active Blockers Some solutions rely on electronic jamming devices. Require batteries or recharging, adding maintenance and potential for failure. Bulky and often impractical for everyday use. Not widely available or easy to use for the average consumer. Why the Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Stands Out The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card offers a unique blend of convenience, effectiveness, and value: Universal Fit : Compatible with any wallet, purse, or card holderno need to buy new accessories or change your style. : Compatible with any wallet, purse, or card holderno need to buy new accessories or change your style. Protects Multiple Cards : A single card covers all RFID-enabled cards within its range. : A single card covers all RFID-enabled cards within its range. No Maintenance : Passive protection means no batteries, no recharging, and no ongoing hassle. : Passive protection means no batteries, no recharging, and no ongoing hassle. Long-Lasting Durability : Built to last for years, resistant to water, tears, and everyday wear. : Built to last for years, resistant to water, tears, and everyday wear. Sleek and Slim : Adds virtually no bulk to your wallet, maintaining comfort and ease of use. : Adds virtually no bulk to your wallet, maintaining comfort and ease of use. Cost-Effective: Provides all-in-one protection at a lower overall cost than buying multiple sleeves or a specialty wallet. Real-World User Feedback Customer reviews and independent tests consistently rate the Credit Guard card higher for ease of use, reliability, and satisfaction. Users appreciate not having to change how they carry their cards, the instant setup, and the long-term performance without any upkeep. Choosing the Best Solution for Your Needs When it comes to RFID protection, convenience and confidence are key. The Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card is designed for modern users who want reliable digital security without sacrificing their everyday routine or wallet preferences. Avoid the stress of stolen card data. Dont wait until its too latepurchase Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card and stay a step ahead of digital pickpockets. Business & Purchasing Details: Pricing, Discounts, Warranty, and Returns The Safe Card Package Options and Savings The Credit Guard (RFID Blocking Card) offers several package deals to meet every security need, from individual protection to complete coverage for families or businesses. Each package is currently available with substantial savings and a further 10% discount, making now an ideal time to invest in digital security. Best Deal 9 Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Price: $129.99 (regularly $306.60) $129.99 (regularly $306.60) Savings: 53% 53% Highlights: Full protection for family and devices. Ideal for those wanting comprehensive security across multiple wallets, purses, bags, or for giving as thoughtful gifts. Starter Pack 3 Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Price: $45.99 (regularly $102.20) $45.99 (regularly $102.20) Savings: 50% 50% Highlights: Perfect for personal protection. Great for individuals or those who want to protect a few essential cards and wallets. Family Pack 6 Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Price: $89.99 (regularly $204.40) $89.99 (regularly $204.40) Savings: 57% 57% Highlights: Safeguard your loved ones effortlessly. Perfect for families or for use in multiple locations like home, office, or travel. Ultimate Security 12 Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Price: $159.99 (regularly $408.80) $159.99 (regularly $408.80) Savings: 51% 51% Highlights: Complete security for every need. Designed for large families, businesses, or anyone who wants to maximize card protection everywhere. All packages are designed to provide value, scalability, and peace of mind, and each includes a clear breakdown of savings to help you choose the best fit for your lifestyle. 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Act now and upgrade your wallets securityorder Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card and prevent identity theft before it happens. Company : Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card : Credit Guard RFID Blocking Card Email : support@trendsandfinds.com : support@trendsandfinds.com Order Phone Support: 1-800-381-6346 Disclaimers and Disclosures The information presented in this article is intended solely for general informational and educational purposes. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, reliability, and completeness, the publisher and all contributing parties make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the contents completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the article or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained within. Any reliance placed on such information is strictly at the readers own risk. 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NEW YORK, April 26, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of Ibotta, Inc. (NYSE: IBTA) pursuant and/or traceable to the registration statement and related prospectus (collectively, the Registration Statement) issued in connection with Ibottas April 18, 2024 initial public offering (the IPO), of the important June 16, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased Ibotta securities 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 Ibotta class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=36526 or 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 June 16, 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 firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers. DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, the Registration Statement contained false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose the risks concerning Ibottas contract with The Kroger Co. (Kroger). Krogers contract was at-will, and Ibotta failed to warn investors that a large client could cancel their contract with Ibotta without warning. Despite providing a detailed explanation of the terms of Ibottas contract with another large customer, there was not a single warning of the at-will nature of Krogers contract. Rather than disclosing the very real risk of a major client walking away at any time, Ibotta provided boilerplate warnings concerning the importance of maintaining ongoing relationships with their clients. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages. To join the Ibotta action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=36526 or call 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 investors 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 Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com BEIJING, April 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On April 25, 2025, the 66th (Spring 2025) National Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition & 2025 (Spring) China International Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition (hereinafter referred to as "Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition") successfully concluded its three-day run at Chongqing International Expo Center. The exposition was organized by HAINAN JING-BO-XIN EXHIBITION CO., LTD. This year's exposition attracted a total of 1,686 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions, showcasing over 10,000 products across the 180,000-square-meter exhibition space. Numerous internationally recognized brands made their product debuts, while the event drew more than 60,000 visitors from 88 countries and regions. The opening day included a Malaysia-China procurement matchmaking session, where over 20 Chinese manufacturers held one-on-one meetings with six Malaysian pharmaceutical companies. The organizing committee hosted three thematic forums and 93 technical exchange sessions throughout the exposition. Renowned experts, scholars, and industry professionals delivered keynote speeches. The Second CIPM Synthetic Biology and Biomanufacturing Industry Development Conference was a notable highlight, drawing over 1,000 professionals from sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food, cosmetics, and pesticides to participate in discussions and exchange insights. First held in the 1990s, the China National Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition is held biannually. Recognized as a key exhibition supported by China's Ministry of Commerce since 2004, it expanded in 2008 to include the China International Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition (CIPM). The event covers production, processing, packaging, testing, and auxiliary equipment for industries including chemical drugs, traditional Chinese medicine, biopharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, pesticides, health products, and food. Over the years, CIPM has evolved into a premier global event integrating trade, technology exchange, and industry dialogue. Company: HAINAN JING-BO-XIN EXHIBITION CO., LTD. Contact Person: Mingyang LI Email: limingyang@cipm-expo.com Website: http://en.cipm-expo.com/ Telephone: 13910398688 City: BEIJING A photo accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/518e4410-6211-4988-87d6-4ba54b388c34 WASHINGTON, April 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Long before Silicon Valley and Wall Street, American wealth was rooted in something more foundational: the land itself and the resources hidden beneath it. According to former CIA advisor Jim Rickards, a largely overlooked piece of that legacy may be coming back into focus. Theres a stretch of federal land policy that goes back over 160 years, Rickards says. Its been largely untouched and most people have forgotten why it was put there in the first place. Rickards is referring to federal laws and land management practices dating back to the postCivil War era, during which large swaths of resource-rich land were brought under government control. While often associated with conservation, Rickards believes these lands may now represent one of the countrys most undervalued strategic advantages. A POLICY ROOTED IN POWER REEXAMINED IN MODERN TIMES Rickards views this legacy of land management as more than historical footnote a deliberate effort by past generations to preserve physical leverage for the future. This wasnt just about preserving landscapes, Rickards explains. It was about maintaining control over what was in the ground, and the power it could represent someday. Today, the materials buried beneath those federally controlled lands including copper, lithium, silver, and rare earth elements have become essential to Americas defense posture, energy transition, and digital economy. But much of it remains legally restricted, unmined, and unmonetized. A SUPREME COURT RULING BRINGS IT BACK ONLINE In 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron Doctrine, a legal precedent that gave federal agencies sweeping powers to block access to land and resources. Chevron gave the bureaucracy veto power over Americas inheritance, Rickards says. The Court just took that veto away. With that barrier gone, Rickards believes we can finally tap into this rich land. NOT AN IDEA. A LEGACY. Unlike proposals or programs, this asset is already on the books. Already mapped. Already backed by legal precedent. This isnt a theory or a pitch, Rickards explains. Its a real resource that no one has activated in over a century. Thats about to change. A RETURN TO NATIONAL ROOTS Rickards says the moment calls not for innovation, but restoration a return to the national playbook that built Americas power from the ground up. Our founders didnt speculate their way to strength, he says. They used the land. They built things. They controlled what mattered. Thats the system were going back to now not by choice, but by necessity. About Jim Rickards Jim Rickards is a lawyer, economist, and former advisor to the CIA, Pentagon, and U.S. Treasury. With decades of experience in global strategy, crisis forecasting, and legal intelligence, Rickards has helped guide the U.S. through major financial and geopolitical inflection points. He is the author of numerous bestsellers, including Currency Wars, The Death of Money, and Aftermath. BOSTON, April 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Risk Strategies, a leading North American specialty insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting firm, announced today that it has acquired GMC Advisors, LLC., based in Houston. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Headed by owner Greg Chubon, GMC Advisors is a specialist in commercial lines insurance products, with a focus on the construction and manufacturing industries, as well as companies in the energy sector. Founded in 2003, the firm has built a record of consistent growth propelled by specialty knowledge and a focus on helping middle-market companies in target industries. It is great to add such deep industry expertise to our West Region as we continue to build out our national capabilities in key industries, said Pat Roth, West Region Leader, Risk Strategies. Our firm has built its success on the strength of its people and their specialty knowledge. Greg and his team bring additional expertise to Risk Strategies, and were excited to have them help drive our growth and meet evolving client needs. In addition to construction and manufacturing, GMC Advisors counts clients among engineering, oil and gas, and petrochemical-related firms in the region. Chubon is a 37-year industry veteran who, prior to founding GMC Advisors, held a number of positions for regional and national brokerages including new business development. Joining Risk Strategies is a fantastic opportunity to scale our specialty focus while retaining our high-touch client service philosophy, said Chubon, Founder, GMC Advisors. Im excited to be able to offer new and expanded capabilities to our clients, as well as new career path opportunities for our people. The acquisition of GMC Advisors adds to the broader specialty expertise cultivated by Risk Strategies in its West Region over the preceding decade. In 2016, for instance, Risk Strategies acquired Dallas-based McLaughlin Brunson Insurance Agency, a leading specialist in architects and engineers professional liability insurance. In 2020, it acquired Colorado-based Transport Risk Management, a leading specialist in aviation insurance. The 2021 acquisition of Fournier Group of Portland, Oregon brought expertise in the restaurant and hospitality industries, as well as aviation. Bringing in New Mexico-based Burke Insurance Group in 2022 brought deep expertise in construction surety bonds. About Risk Strategies Risk Strategies, part of Accession Risk Management Group, is a North American specialty brokerage firm offering comprehensive risk management services, property and casualty insurance and reinsurance placement, employee benefits, private client services, consulting services, and financial & wealth solutions. The 9th largest U.S. privately held broker, we advise businesses and personal clients, have access to all major insurance markets, and 30+ specialty industry and product line practices and experts in 200+ offices - Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Grand Cayman, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington, DC. RiskStrategies.com Media Contact Alana Bannan Senior Account Executive (720) 400-8025 Rsc@matternow.com Perth, April 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PERSEUS MINING PROCEEDS WITH DEVELOPMENT OF THE NYANZAGA GOLD PROJECT overview Perth, Western Australia/ April 28, 2025/ Perseus Mining Limited (ASX/TSX: PRU) is pleased to announce that a Final Investment Decision (FID) has been taken to develop the Nyanzaga Gold Project (NGP) in Tanzania, following an update of the NGP Feasibility Study (FS). Perseus has committed to invest approximately US$523 million (including contingency) to develop and prepare for the operation of the mine that is expected to produce first gold in Q1 2027. The NGP development will be solely financed via interest free, intercompany loans provided by Perseus from its existing cash and bullion balance of US$801 million as of 31 March 2025. In anticipation of an affirmative FID, Perseus has spent approximately US$27.5 million to date to build project team capacity and commence early works that include site establishment, installation of temporary construction accommodation, and bulk earthworks as well as implementing the Relocation Action Plan (RAP) to construct new dwellings for people impacted by future construction and operating activities. The updated FS incorporates findings and recommendations from a range of comprehensive technical assessments made by Perseuss technical team. Notably, Perseus has opted for a large scale, wholly open-pit mining operation, for the first phase of development, in preference to a smaller scale, combined open pit - underground option contemplated by the previous owners. Key metrics associated with the NGP include the following: Production & Cost Metrics (100% basis): Total gold production over an 11-year, Phase 1 mine life is currently estimated to be 2.01 Moz based on a JORC 2012 Probable Ore Reserve of 52.0 Mt @ 1.40 g/t gold for 2.3 Moz . based on a JORC 2012 Probable Ore Reserve of . Gold production averages over 200,000 ounces of gold per annum from FY28 to FY35 , with peak production of 246,000 ounces in FY28. , with peak production of 246,000 ounces in FY28. Over the life of the mine, the estimated average All-In Site Cost ( AISC ) is US$1,211/oz . ) is . Capital cost for the plant and site infrastructure is estimated at US$472 million inclusive of US$49 million of contingency, and pre-production capital of US$51 million, giving a total capital cost to first gold pour of US$523 million. Investment Metrics (100% basis)1: Applying Perseuss assumed long-term gold price of US$2,100/oz, the NGPs investment metrics include: Undiscounted free cashflow pre-tax of US$1,133 million and post-tax of US$706 million , (or US$2,252 million pre-tax and US$1,471 million post-tax at a gold price of US$2,700/oz .) and post-tax of , (or pre-tax and post-tax at a gold price of .) Net Present Value (NPV 10% ) of US$404 million pre-tax and US$202 million post-tax, (or US$1,010 million pre-tax and US$617 million post-tax at a gold price of US$2,700/oz ). ) of pre-tax and post-tax, (or pre-tax and post-tax at a gold price of ). Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 26% pre-tax and 19% post-tax (or 45% pre-tax and 34% post-tax at a gold price of US$2,700/oz). The FID to proceed with developing the NGP builds upon Perseuss demonstrated capacity to successfully develop and efficiently operate modern gold mines on the African continent. Perseus has previously successfully developed, and is now operating three gold mines including Edikan, Sissingue, and most recently, the Yaoure gold mine that was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget in 2020, using many of the same team that will be deployed on the NGP development. The FID also comes following constructive engagement with the Government of Tanzania to clarify terms of an existing Framework Agreement that sets out the basis on which the NGP will be developed and operated, as well as the Shareholders Agreement between the Tanzanian Government and Perseus.1 A second phase of resource definition drilling is currently underway at the NGP with the aim of converting Inferred Mineral Resources into Indicated Mineral Resources, which would potentially enable the Ore Reserve to be materially expanded and the life of the NGP operation extended during the second phase of the Project, beyond the currently projected 11-year mine life. 1 Note: Perseus owns an 80% contributing interest in the NGP together with the Government of Tanzania who owns a 20% non-contributing interest. This announcement was approved for release by the Managing Director & CEO, Jeff Quartermaine. Technical Disclosure: All Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources were calculated as of 28 April 2025 and have been prepared in accordance with the standards set out in the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves dated December 2012 (the JORC Code) and in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators (NI 43-101). The JORC Code is the accepted reporting standard for the Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX). The definitions of Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources as set forth in the JORC Code (2012) have been reconciled to the definitions set forth in the CIM Definition Standards. If the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources were estimated in accordance with the definitions in the JORC Code, there would be no substantive difference in such Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources. Competent Person Statement: All production targets referred to in this report are underpinned by estimated Ore Reserves which have been prepared by Competent Persons in accordance with the requirements of the JORC Code. The information in this report that relate to Mineral Resources for the Nyanzaga Gold Project is based on, and fairly represents, information and supporting documentation prepared by Mr Daniel Saunders, a Competent Person, a full-time employee of Perseus Mining and Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Saunders, has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Mr Saunders consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. The information in this report that relates to Ore Reserves for the Nyanzaga Gold Project is based on information compiled by Mr Adrian Ralph, a Competent Person who is a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Ralph is a full-time employee of Perseus Mining. Mr Ralph has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activities which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. Mr Ralph consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears. Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information: This report contains forward-looking information which is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management of the Company believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made by the Company regarding, among other things: the price of gold, continuing commercial production at the Yaoure Gold Mine, the Edikan Gold Mine and the Sissingue Gold Mine without any major disruption, development of a mine at Nyanzaga, the receipt of required governmental approvals, the accuracy of capital and operating cost estimates, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used by the Company. Although management believes that the assumptions made by the Company and the expectations represented by such information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the actual market price of gold, the actual results of current exploration, the actual results of future exploration, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Perseus does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. ASX/TSX CODE: PRU CAPITAL STRUCTURE: Ordinary shares: 1,365,414,823 Performance rights: 10,056,681 REGISTERED OFFICE: Level 2 437 Roberts Road Subiaco WA 6008 Telephone: +61 8 6144 1700 www.perseusmining.com DIRECTORS: Rick Menell Non-Executive Chairman Jeff Quartermaine Managing Director & CEO Amber Banfield Non-Executive Director Elissa Cornelius Non-Executive Director Dan Lougher Non-Executive Director John McGloin Non-Executive Director CONTACTS: Jeff Quartermaine Managing Director & CEO jeff.quartermaine@perseusmining.com Stephen Forman Investor Relations +61 484 036 681 stephen.forman@perseusmining.com Nathan Ryan Media Relations +61 420 582 887 nathan.ryan@nwrcommunications.com.au Attachment CYBER HEIST play slated for May 2 Business Desk Report Business News Apr - 27 - 2025 , 20:59 The scale of cybercrime in Ghana has become a growing concern. In 2023, the country experienced a staggering loss of over GH59.9 million, with 35 per cent of these cases attributed to online fraud. By April 2024, reported losses had already reached GH10.7 million, with investment scams soaring from GH421,621 in 2023 to over GH1.9 million in 2024. Scammers continue to adapt, deploying tactics such as fake investment websites, phishing scams, and deceptive social media campaigns to trick unsuspecting victims. In response to the growing threat of cybercrime in Ghana, the Ghana FinTech and Payments Association, in collaboration with CyberBells Foundation, FinTech Management Solutions, and Village Minds Production, presents CYBER HEISTa theatrical production designed to educate Ghanaians about the dangers of digital fraud. Slated for May 2, 2025, at the National Theatre in Accra at 6:00 PM, it blends comedy, drama, and real-life scenarios to shed light on the dark world of online scams, cyberattacks, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The production comes at a crucial time, as cybercrime continues to plague both individuals and businesses in Ghana. CYBER HEIST directly addresses escalating threats, offering viewers a unique opportunity to gain insights into how common scams work, including phishing, insider threats, and fraudulent investment schemes. Ghanaians will learn practical cybersecurity tips to protect personal identities and financial information and be empowered to take action and protect themselves from the ever-evolving world of cybercrime. The play uses humor, drama, and reflection to effectively communicate the vital message of cybersecurity, making it an engaging and accessible experience for audiences of all ages. With its timely release, CYBER HEIST aims to equip Ghanaians with the knowledge and tools to fight back against the growing menace of digital fraud. Next article: Ghana seeks stronger ties with IFC to boost key sectors Previous article: CYBER HEIST play slated for May 2 IMF Chief praises Ghana's economic reform efforts under Finance Minister's leadership Kester Aburam Korankye Business News Apr - 27 - 2025 , 18:55 The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, has lauded the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, for his government's "strong commitment" to economic reforms under the IMF-supported program. The endorsement came during a high-level meeting last Saturday, where Ms. Georgieva acknowledged Ghana's "significant progress" in restoring macroeconomic stability despite challenging conditions. "The IMF remains a strong partner of Ghana," she stated, reaffirming the Fund's support for the country's recovery efforts. The meeting followed Ghana's recent achievement of a staff-level agreement on the fourth review of its $3 billion IMF program. Pending Executive Board approval, the agreement will unlock approximately $370 million in critical financing for Ghana. This milestone marks a notable turnaround from earlier setbacks under the previous administration, when several program targets were missed. The current government's aggressive reform agenda has accelerated structural adjustments, with some benchmarks originally due in late 2024 and early 2025 already completed ahead of schedule. Key to the administration's strategy has been addressing the 2024 payables accumulation that contributed to a primary deficit. The government has implemented stringent spending controls and fiscal measures to restore budget credibility and debt sustainability. The delegation included Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Johnson Asiama, Senior Economic Advisor Seth Terkper, and National Development Planning Commission Chairman Dr. Nii Moi Thompson. Next article: King Paluta not underdog in TGMA Artiste of the Year race Manager NFA to revoke licences of TV stations airing content without authorisation Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Apr - 27 - 2025 , 21:03 2 minutes read The National Film Authority (NFA) has warned that it will revoke the licenses of television stations found airing content without proper authorisation. This move aims to enforce compliance with broadcasting regulations and protect intellectual property rights. The NFA's strict stance seeks to curb unauthorized broadcasting, ensuring TV stations adhere to legal requirements NFA to revoke licences of TV stations airing content without authorization after expressing deep concerns about the increasing unauthorized use and broadcast of creative content on various Ghanaian television stations. The Authority in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, , Kafui Danku Pitcher said the practice violated copyright laws and threatened the integrity and sustainability of the countrys creative ecosystem. The NFA has received multiple complaints from local and international content owners regarding unauthorised broadcasts of movies, series, and other creative content on Ghana's traditional and digital TV platforms. These infringements violate content creators rights and discourage investment and creativity in Ghanas creative industries. The NFA reminds all television stations that the Copyright Act, 2005 (Act 690), and other applicable laws provide clear guidelines on using protected works. These laws explicitly state that any public performance or broadcast of copyrighted content without the rights holders permission is illegal and punishable by law, it said. Earlier this week, Kafui Danku and the Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Sam George promised to step in to help Nigerian producer and actress, Bimbo Ademoye over unauthorised broadcasts of her movies on local TV stations. (Related article: Kafui Danku, Sam George pledge support for Nollywood actress Bimbo Ademoye's copyright woes) This comes after Bimbo Ademoye shared her frustrations on Instagram, tagging the officials to intervene. The National Film Authority (NFA), as regulator of Ghana's film and audiovisual industry, reaffirms its dedication to safeguarding content creators' rights. Collaborating with relevant bodies, the NFA will probe and penalize TV stations airing unauthorized content, ensuring accountability and protecting intellectual property. Offenders risk having their licenses suspended or revoked, NFA declared. See full statement below: Next article: Two-year-old US citizen may have been deported without 'meaningful process' Previous article: U.S. colleges warn international students not to travel overseas this summer Featured Namibias president announces free university education from 2026, says 'fees have fallen' BBC International News Apr - 27 - 2025 , 09:51 2 minutes read Namibia's new president has announced that university fees will be scrapped from 2026. President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the country's first female president, made the announcement during her maiden state of the nation address on Thursday evening. Addressing lawmakers, Nandi-Ndaitwah said that students would pay "no registration [or] tuition fees" at all public universities and technical colleges. However, she said there would not be "significant" extra funding, raising questions about the scheme's feasibility. Nandi-Ndaitwah said free university education would be phased in gradually and that the only "contribution as families and students for now will be towards accommodation and other related costs". "We have heard your cries: 'the Fees have Fallen'," she said, a reference to previous demands by university students in Namibia, as well as neighbouring South Africa. She said the money would come from the subsidies already given to some of the country's public universities and the money allocated to the student financial assistance fund. "If we are going to add, we are not going to add a significant [amount of funds]," she said. Primary and secondary education is already free in all the country's public schools. While some student organisations welcomed Nandi-Ndaitwah's announcement, others have criticised it as unfeasible and vague. One of these is the Affirmative Repositioning Student Command (ARSC), which said it was just an attention-seeking ploy by the Namibian government. "There is no plan, it is just a confused announcement which raises [the] question of what [Nandi-Ndaitwah] means by tertiary education," the organisation told the BBC. Elaborating, the ARSC questioned which students would benefit - post-graduates or only undergraduates - as well as where the funding would come from. This echoed sentiments expressed by Tannen Groenewald, an economist who spoke to local news site the Windhoek Observer. He suggested that scrapping fees without providing extra funding could lead to student numbers being capped. He also speculated that it may eventually only apply to students from low-income households. This is what happened in neighbouring South Africa. In 2017, the government gave in to calls for tertiary education fees to be scrapped which were made during what was known as the #FeesMustFall protests - but only a small number of students benefited. It has since been criticised as being too restrictive because as the so-called "missing middle", were excluded - those considered too wealthy to qualify for financial aid but who struggle to afford tuition fees. Previous article: Conclave to elect new pope to begin on May 7 - Vatican says Featured U.S. colleges warn international students not to travel overseas this summer nbcnews International News Apr - 27 - 2025 , 09:55 3 minutes read Universities are continuing to warn international students about travelling abroad this summer as the Trump administration said Friday it would restore legal status to those whod had it revoked. The University of California, Berkeley, reiterated hours after the announcement that overseas travel by international students remains a high risk because immigration policies can change rapidly. Many universities nationwide have cautioned international students about traveling abroad this summer, fearing many will not be allowed to return. Due to the increased risks involved in re-entering into the United States, we are advising members of the Duke international community to avoid international travel unless essential, the university wrote last week in a memo to students and faculty. A valid visa does not guarantee entry to the U.S. The administrations change in policy came after thousands of international college students had already had their visas, legal statuses and immigration records terminated. But that does not change the imperative to exercise caution when deciding whether to travel abroad, said Jeff Joseph, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Traveling outside of the country can be risky, he said, adding that international students should consult with a lawyer. The fact is the Department of State has unilateral authority to revoke visas for any or no reason. It was unclear how many campuses had issued warnings about leaving the United States, but at least five campuses, including Duke University and UC Berkeley, sent notices this month to their international communities. A recent college graduate from China who is living in Washington, D.C., said he had to think twice about going back home in December, knowing then-President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to severely curtail immigration, would soon take office. I was worried that I wouldnt even be allowed back in this country, even though Im perfectly authorized to work and live here, said the recent graduate, who was granted anonymity because he feared being targeted for deportation or having his visa revoked. He booked a flight to return to the U.S. before the Jan. 20 inauguration. International students who are under a lot of stress must make their own decisions about whether to go home and visit their families, some of whom they have not seen for two or three years, said Fanta Aw, CEO of the Association of International Educators. You have to understand what students are going through, and they may want to go home, Aw said. Thousands of students at college campuses nationwide have had their visas revoked in recent weeks by the Trump administration, which says it must protect U.S. citizens from immigrants who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten national security or espouse hateful ideology. The administration said Friday that international students visas would be restored while ICE develops a framework for revoking immigration records. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that the State Department had revoked 300 or more student visas, as the White House increasingly targeted foreign-born students whose main transgression seems to have been activism. Yet many of the targeted international students said they had not participated in protests around the Israel-Hamas war or political speech, and they do not appear to pose a threat. Stay here, no question, said Joseph, the immigration attorney. If you leave, the only remedy you have is to go to the Department of State and get a new visa, but when youre outside the country, you dont have the same protections of the courts that you do when inside the country. Otumfuo marks 26 years transformative reign today Kwame Asare Boadu Apr - 26 - 2025 , 09:57 4 minutes read Today marks 26 years since the enthronement of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II as the Asantehene. Widely regarded as a pillar of peace and economic development, the 16th Asantehene succeeded the late Otumfuo Opoku Ware II and adopted the name Osei Tutu II in honour of the founder of the Asante Kingdom, Opemsuo Osei Tutu. Ghana's leading newspaper, Daily Graphic, in its April 27, 1999 edition brilliantly captured his swearing-in event. The front-page headline read, New Asantehene Swears Oath. He is Otumfuo Osei Tutu II. The story detailed how the then Barima Kwaku Duah, 49, holding the Mponponsuo sword in his right hand and the kuntunkuni (black cloth) draped around his waist, swore the Great Oath (Ntamkesie) before a large assembly of chiefs and people at Dwabrem in Manhyia, pledging to rule with truth, honesty and fairness. While the 26th anniversary is not being celebrated on a grand scale, it nevertheless offers Otumfuo and his people an opportunity to reflect on the achievements during his reign. Keeping faith to oath Raised with meticulous care in preparation for leadership, the Asantehene has faithfully upheld his pledge, demonstrating truth, honesty and fairness in every aspect of his rule. He has been a true champion of peace, education, health and economic development, among other things. Foundation The establishment of the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation shortly after his enthronement has been a significant milestone in his progressive reign. The Foundation seeks to improve the lives of Ghanaians by implementing the ideals, values and vision of its patron, the Asantehene. It focuses on Water & Sanitation, Health, Culture & Heritage, Education and Entrepreneurship. To date, the Foundation has supported the education of hundreds of thousands of Asantes and non-Asantes at both secondary and tertiary levels. Currently, the Foundation is building a 700-bed girls' hostel for Sefwi Wiawso Senior High School, the Kings alma mater. In 2013, Otumfuo secured a scholarship package for Ghanaian students to study at the University of Memphis, USA. Under this agreement, qualified Ghanaian students travel to Memphis to pursue their undergraduate, masters and PhD degrees, with up to 70 per cent of the scholarships reserved for those studying courses in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Pillar of Peace For 26 years, Otumfuo has dedicated his energy and resources to resolving conflicts, notably the challenging Dagbon chieftaincy dispute. As a result of his peace initiatives, he was awarded the prestigious Pillar of Peace award at the Africa Premier Leadership Awards (APLA) in 2020. A year later, the Bank of Ghana authorised the E ON 3 Group, a Ghanaian-based investment and business solutions company, to mint and issue a 24-carat commemorative gold coin to celebrate Otumfuo, recognising his peace initiatives, particularly his leadership of the three-member Committee of Eminent Chiefs that restored peace to Dagbon after years of conflict. His Majesty is currently engaged in efforts to address the Bawku crisis, with the entire nation looking to him to help restore peace in the troubled area. Economic contributions Otumfuos contributions to the countrys economic development have been significant as noted by both President John Dramani Mahama and former President John Agyekum Kufuor. During the presentation of the commemorative gold coin to Mr Mahama in 2022, he highlighted that the Asantehene played a crucial role in securing an Extended Credit Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2016 to bolster the economy. Mr Mahama explained how the implementation of the single spine salary policy from President Mills' administration had led to financial burdens due to rising wages and salaries. To gain credibility with international investors, it became necessary to have the IMF support the governments home-grown fiscal programme. One day during a visit to Kumasi, Mr Mahama said he asked Otumfuo whether he could engage with James D. Wolfensohn, the then President of the World Bank, to facilitate discussions with the IMF and the Asantehene readily accepted the request. As a result, Otumfuo flew to Washington to discuss the programme with Mr Wolfensohn, and together they went and spoke with the IMF Director, Christine Lagarde, ultimately aiding the government's efforts to secure the Extended Credit Facility in no time. That was the programme which turned the economy around. Under it, in 2016, almost for the first time in our history, we did not overspend the budget, Mr Mahama stated. Mr Kufuor also highlighted the Asantehenes crucial role in Ghanas exit from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, particularly at a time when the IMF was hesitant to offer support. Clearly, Otumfuos leadership has been instrumental in fostering unity, progress and pride in Asante identity. His influence has further elevated the Asante monarchy on the global stage, with engagements involving world leaders and institutions further reinforcing Ashantis rich heritage. Featured Police arrest company driver, accomplices over gold robbery, seize guns and cash Mohammed Ali Apr - 27 - 2025 , 00:49 2 minutes read The Ghana Police Service has arrested three suspects in connection with a robbery at Wassa Afransie in the Western Region, involving the theft of gold valued at GHS199,000 and other items. In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Saturday, April 26 2025, the Police said the Western Central Regional Command conducted an intelligence-led operation which led to the arrest of Felix Adjei, also known as Africa or Nana Adjei; Emmanuel Kelvin, a Nigerian national; and Kofi Appiah, alias Kesse. Initial investigations revealed that on 4 April 2025, Mr Appiah, who worked as a driver for Mas Palasco Gold Buying Limited, and another employee, Emmanuel Adu, were returning from Wassa Ayiem after collecting gold from a client when they were attacked by armed men who emerged from nearby bushes. The attackers fired warning shots before making away with 14 pounds of gold, two mobile phones, and an unregistered Toyota Corolla, which was later found abandoned in a nearby community. Following further investigations, Mr Appiah was arrested at his residence in Wassa Akropong on 21 April 2025. The two other suspects were subsequently arrested at different hideouts. During the operation, the Police retrieved a Jojeff pump-action gun with butt number 168316, a Calymm PDS pistol without a serial number, twenty-five rounds of 9mm ammunition, an AA cartridge, two G3 ammunitions, a locally manufactured pistol, and an amount of GHS65,000 in cash believed to be proceeds from the robbery. The three suspects are currently in Police custody and are assisting with ongoing investigations. Next article: Nene Drolor Bosso Adamtey I: Council of State member calls for unity over Greater Accra MMDCE nominations Featured Tamale Teaching Hospital doctors call off strike Mohammed Ali Apr - 27 - 2025 , 00:49 2 minutes read Doctors at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) have called off their industrial action and resumed full services following an intervention by the Ya Naa Abukari II, the Overlord of Dagbon and discussions with the Minister of Health, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh. The doctors withdrew their services on April 23, 2025, after an incident during the health ministers visit to the hospital the previous day. The disruption occurred when members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) raised concerns about longstanding operational difficulties and other challenges affecting healthcare delivery. The suspension of services affected both routine and emergency operations at the facility. Following the development, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health and a delegation from the Overlord of Dagbon, Ya Naa Abukari II, engaged with the leadership of DATTH in an effort to resolve the impasse. After consultations with the National Executive Council of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), emergency services were partially restored at TTH from 2pm on Friday, April 25, 2025. On the same day, the GMA facilitated a meeting between the doctors and the health minister. At the meeting, the health minister, Mr Kwabena Mintah Akandoh conveyed his regret over the challenges faced by the hospital over the years and the events that triggered the industrial action. He assured the doctors that steps had been taken to address their concerns, including the provision of medical equipment and supplies to the hospital. Following these developments, the doctors held an emergency meeting on April 26, 2025 and resolved to call off the suspension of services. In a statement issued after the meeting, the association directed all doctors to resume full duties with immediate effect. The association also indicated that it would continue to engage hospital management, the Ministry of Health, and other relevant parties to tackle the long standing difficulties affecting healthcare delivery at the facility. It urged the hospitals leadership to be more open with the public regarding the challenges faced by the institution. They also called on the media to be fair and circumspect in their reportage on health-related matters. It cautioned that should logistical and equipment challenges persist in the short to medium term, the association would consider further action. The association acknowledged the role of Ya Naa Abukari II in helping to resolve the matter and pledged to work towards improving healthcare delivery at the Tamale Teaching Hospital. Read the full statement below: Previous article: A delay in declaring state of emergency in illegal mining fight could have consequences for President Mahama - Inusah Fuseini Featured Bawumia draws inspiration from former President Kufuor; Urges NPP to unite for 2028 victory GraphicOnline Politics Apr - 27 - 2025 , 14:58 2 minutes read Former Vice President and 2024 New Patriotic Party (NPP) Presidential Candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has drawn inspiration from words of encouragement shared by former President John Agyekum Kufuor in the aftermath of the 2024 general elections. Addressing party stakeholders during a thank-you tour stop in Enchi, Western North Region, on Sunday, April 27, Dr. Bawumia revealed that former President Kufuor had urged him to remain hopeful despite his electoral defeat. "After the 2024 elections, President Kufuor shared some inspiring words with me. He told me not to despair because when he contested the first time as NPP Presidential Candidate in 1996, he had 39 per cent, but he and the party worked hard and came back strongly to win four years later in 2000," Dr. Bawumia recounted. He explained that former President Kufuor had reminded him that securing nearly 42% of the votes in his first attempt was a strong foundation to build on, especially considering historical patterns in Ghana's Fourth Republic. "He encouraged me and said I had nearly 42% as a first-timer and he had 39%. He also said nobody in the 4th Republic, especially in the NPP, has won on the first attempt," Dr. Bawumia added. Drawing further parallels, he noted that former President John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) also failed in his initial two attempts before winning the presidency on his third try, while President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo achieved victory on his third attempt as well. "If you look at the history in the NDC, former President Mills didn't win it on the first attempt. He won it on the third attempt and President Mahama lost twice before coming back to win again," Dr. Bawumia pointed out. He urged NPP members to remain steadfast and united, assuring them that the party could return to power in 2028 if they built on the momentum and lessons learned from 2024. "President Kufuor's words are encouraging, and with unity, the NPP will come back strongly in 2028 just as we did in 2000 with President Kufuor after he had 39% in 1996," he said. Dr. Bawumia is undertaking the thank-you tour alongside NPP National Executive Council members, including National Chairman Stephen Ntim and General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong. The tour is part of efforts to energize the partys grassroots and lay the foundation for a renewed push towards electoral victory in 2028. Week 17 was filled with new phone announcements and one of them ended up topping our trending chart. The Motorola Edge 60 Pro took victory, ahead of the Samsung Galaxy A56, while another rookie rounded up the podium - the OnePlus 13T. Samsung Galaxy A56 The Galaxy S25 Ultra managed to somehow retain its fourth position, despite all the surrounding action. The next three positions bring three more new faces. The Redmi Turbo 4 Pro narrowly edged the Honor GT Pro for the fifth spot, while the vivo X200 Ultra is not far behind in seventh. The Poco X7 Pro is all the way down to eighth this week, while the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and last week's champion - the Galaxy M56 complete this edition of the chart in that order. Week number seventeen was quite a busy one in terms of phone announcements. Let's start with the OnePlus 13T - OnePlus' new compact flagship. It brings a 6.3-inch display and a 6,260mAh battery - that's nearly 1 amp per inch! Also on board is the Snapdragon 8 Elite and two 50MP cameras on the back - a wide and a 2x zoom. The OnePlus 13T launched in China, starting at CNY 3,399 ($446) - sales start on April 30. The vivo X200 Ultra is also official in China. It too has the Snapdragon 8 Elite and a big (but smaller than the 13T) 6,000mAh battery. Camera-wise, the vivo X200 Ultra swaps the 23mm 1-inch main camera for a 35mm 1/1.28-inch unit. The 85mm 200MP zoom was upgraded with a brighter f/2.3 lens. The ultrawide is a 14mm f/2.0 with the same, very large 50MP 1/1.28-inch imager. Vivo will offer an add-on teleconverter, which adds an extra 2.35x zoom on top of the telephoto, resulting in a 200mm effective lens. The vivo X200 Ultra will likely remain a Chinese exclusive. It starts at CNY 6,499 ($900/775). Motorola unveiled the Edge 60 and Edge 60 Pro, as well as the Razr 60 Ultra (known as the Razr Ultra in the States). The Edge 60 series brings a 6.7-inch 1220p p-OLED with a 4,500 nit peak brightness, and a triple camera system. The Razr 60 Ultra is IP48 rated and packs a Snapdragon 8 Elite and a larger, 4,700mAh battery. The Realme GT7 is also official - a more affordable version below the GT7 Pro. The GT7 has a Dimensity 9400+ SoC and a mammoth 7,200mAh battery. Camera-wise, it has a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide. There's a 16MP selfie unit on the front. The GT7 is also a China release, starting at CNY 2,600. Realme GT7 goes official with Dimensity 9400+ chip and 7,200mAh battery Despite having a larger battery than the GT 7 Pro, this model is both thinner and lighter - and it is still rated IP69. A hands-on video with a purported iPhone 17 Air mold, giving us an idea of how it stacks up to the rest of the iPhone 17 family. The video shows a 5.65mm thick device - a bit thicker than the previously rumored 5.5mm unit. You can also check out our versus of the Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A35. Attorney General Douglas Moylan opposes Gov. Lou Leon Guerreros attempt to block the $1.5 million Dignity Project, set to launch on Monday afternoon, for 20 of Guams opioid-addicted homeless and poor residents. Moylan and Assistant Attorney General James Glober filed by the Saturday deadline in local court an opposition to the governors motion for a temporary restraining order that would pause the AGs office Dignity Project. Moylan has accused the governor of sabotaging the project. The governor on Friday filed a lawsuit accusing Moylan of corruption and intimidation. The governors complaint alleges illegal procurement of the $1.1 million contract with a hotel in Tamuning, and not obtaining the approval and signature of the governor as the law requires for all contracts. The governors complaint also claims the AGs office threatened to prosecute a Department of Administration employee who questioned the contracts legality, pressuring them to process the agreement. Dignity Project, backed by $1,497,997.22 in opioid settlement funds, is set to provide 20 beds at the Tropical Palm Hotel in Tamuning, meals, and services for 365 days. Aid is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. April 28 with persons already identified and scheduled to receive assistance, the AG said. Moylan said the governors motion for a temporary restraining order, through her counsels, was rushed and its untimely application fails to satisfy the requirements of a TRO from the court. Irreparable injury will occur to Guams homeless and poor residents who are in dire need of immediate aid services provided by the Opioid Council members, not to Movant, Moylan stated in his April 26 court filing. A real and present danger exists that if any TRO issues that the Hotel vendor will immediately terminate the contract in order to mitigate their damages. The AG said the governor did not object to the procurement processes during the publicly published request for proposals, RFP, approved by the governors two Opioid Council voting cabinet officials, nor the invitation for bid, IFB, processes that were overseen by the movants own General Services Agency, nor the subsequent sole source procurement process, Moylan stated in his April 26 opposition. The opioid crisis has fueled homelessness across Guam, prompting the Legislature to establish an Opioid Recovery Advisory Council made up of 11 members, including five cabinet-level or appointed representatives of the governor. The Opioid Council voted unanimously on Aug. 29, 2024 to approve the AGs Dignity Project. Voting members included James Cooper-Nurse, Terry Aguon, Sophia Diaz, Jason Boyd, Andrea Andros, Brian Han, Duane Calvo, and Stephen Hattori, the AG stated. Despite numerous attempts to solicit for hotel and other services as authorized by the Opioid Council, no hotel vendors wished to participate, Moylan stated. Apparently due to the problems and negative perceptions associated with homeless occupants conflicting with their other paying guests. After two failed procurement attempts through an RFP and an IFB, the AGs office secured a willing hotel Tropical Palm Hotel in Tamuning through a sole source procurement method. The AG signed a contract and forwarded to Leon Guerrero for signature last Friday. As of the filing of the opposition, the governor had not signed, the AG stated. Superior Court Judge John Terlaje initially issued a TRO last Friday but later rescinded it to allow for an expedited briefing. The AG met the 8 p.m. Saturday deadline to file an opposition, with the governors reply due Sunday night. A hearing is set for 9 a.m. Monday. In his Saturday response, Moylan said the governor had eight months to raise concerns but remained silent while her own cabinet members participated in project development, procurement drafting, and the unanimous approval. The AGs filing argued that while the governor faces no irreparable harm if the TRO is denied, homeless and addicted beneficiaries of the Opioid Councils Dignity Project would suffer irreparable harm if the order is granted, continuing to live in untreated misery on the streets as the case moves through litigation. The filing also warned that death is a foreseeable risk, not only from overdosing on illicit drugs but from exposure to the elements and diseases linked to unsanitary conditions, including hepatitis and leptospirosis. The AGs office requested the court to deny the TRO to avoid disruption to emergency services set to launch Monday afternoon. The government of Guam collected about $47.3 million more in taxes and fees than expected halfway through fiscal year 2026, but nearly half of that money is either already accounted for or needed to cover shortfalls in other areas, latest revenue reports show. Legislative budget chairman Sen. Chris Duenas says he believes the historic excess revenues that the government has been raking in for the last several years have finally leveled off. As senators move into budget talks this year, Duenas said he will not raise revenues any higher than the already historically high $1.357 billion budget request the governor has asked for. That means government agencies seeking budgets above and beyond what the governor has asked for in fiscal 2026 will have to live within their means. GovGuam collected $545.7 million as of the close of March, some $47.3 million higher than was projected in the fiscal 2026 budget, according to latest reports from the Bureau of Budget and Management Research. But of that $47.3 million in excess collections, senators have already appropriated $15.3 million, reports show. The biggest appropriations against that money are: $9 million so the CHamoru Land Trust Commission can install infrastructure for 166 house lots in Yigo A recently passed $5.75 million to keep the University of Guams payroll afloat through the end of the year. After those costs are accounted for, collections for the governments so-called special funds face a $6.3 million shortfall, Duenas noted. Special funds reserve different taxes for specific projects, like street lights or road repair. Here are big notable shortfalls, according to BBMR reports: $3.17 million short in the Tourist Attraction Fund, which collects taxes from booked hotel rooms $1.6 million in the Guam Educational Facilities Fund, which comes from real property taxes General Fund collections will have to cover those shortfalls, if the special funds dont catch up, Duenas said. With that in mind, actual excess revenue in the General Fund is closer to about $26 million, he said. Duenas added that Gov. Lou Leon Guerreros budget request for fiscal 2026 asks for even more, seeking a full $44 million above fiscal 2025. Finally, uncertainty around federal funding, continued cash problems at Guam Memorial Hospital, and a potential $20 million subsidy needed to get the F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School re-opened will all weigh on the budget, he said. GDOE, GMH will be hardest Duenas said GMH and the Guam Department of Education will likely be the two most difficult areas for senators to iron out appropriations for this year. This is going to be a very, very tight budget session, Duenas said. The budget chairman said executive branch agencies will have to work closely with Adelup to see where funds can be moved around, through the governors 15% transfer authority. The government cannot continue to grow. And in fact, we need to start looking at possibly a hiring freeze on all non-essential positions, the senator said. Duenas said he will rule any attempts to tack on additional spending to the miscellaneous provisions section at the end of the fiscal 2026 budget. He called moves by senators to tap into unaudited excess revenues, or even future revenues in past budget cycles a circus. $90M tax rollback Duenas said a public hearing will be held around June on Sen. Shawn Gumataotaos Bill 11-38, seeking to roll the business privilege tax rate back from 5% to 4%. Rolling back the BPT has been a longstanding aim for the Republican Party of Guam, which regained a legislative majority for the first time in 16 years this January. That 1% rollback represents about $90 million in annual revenue for the government, according to Duenas. That level of a cutlets just be honest with ourselvesthat would be another possible catastrophic event with regard to whats going on, he said. At the same time, GovGuam had hiked revenues by about $400 million in the years since the pandemic, without a noticeable improvement in services. Duenas said his priority is to get Bill 11-38 a public hearing. Everybodys just going to have to sit down and talk about it and figure it out. It may be a graduated walk back of some sort, the senator said. There may be considerations for large off-island contractors for the military buildup, whose tax obligations on Guam are footed by the federal government, he added. In the meantime, he said, Im going to continue with a very disciplined budget and then see where we go from there. The Guam Power Authority has claimed a $4.6 million bond from the contractor that failed to come through on a new Inalahan solar farm, but GPA must now work with the federal government to meet requirements in a 2020 consent decree. A contract with Hanwha Energy Corporation for the 60-megawatt solar facility in Dandan, Inalahan is officially terminated, GPA legal counsel Marianne Woloschuk told the Public Utilities Commission on Thursday night. GPA needed that solar farm to meet a promise to add 100 MW of solar power to the grid, which GPA agreed to after being sued by the federal government for Clean Air Act violations in 2019. Woloschuk on Thursday said GPA is working the matter out with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Hanwha previously failed to meet a December 2023 deadline to finish the solar project. GPA gave the company a two-year extension, but Hanwha again failed to order solar panels and modules for the project by a Feb. 28 deadline. Because of the failure, the power authority has claimed a $4.6 million performance bond Hanwha posted for the project, Woloschuk said Thursday. GPA chief financial officer John Kim said the money is set aside, with no decision on what to do with it, yet. We gave them several options, Woloschuk said of Hanwha. We tried to work with them. We met with them many times. We kept in touch with them, and it was just all to no avail. GPA has informed the U.S. EPA of the situation, Woloschuk told the PUC. The 2020 settlement, or consent decree, with the U.S. EPA required the power authority to add 100 MW of solar power to the grid by Dec. 31, 2023. But a number of projects fell through due to issues with contractors, including Hanwha. To date, only the 60-MW Mangilao solar project was completed on time. Fines According to the consent decree, GPA will be fined for every day that it fails to meet the solar requirement. Fines accrue at a rate of $500 per day for the first 30 days, and go up to $1,500 a day afterward. At that rate, GPA would have accrued $691,500 in fines as of Friday. But Woloschuk told the PUC that the power authoritys consent decree is not currently a priority for the U.S. EPA. Weve been told that they are otherwise occupied. They have a lot of things on their mind right now over there. So theyre not giving our consent decree case any priority, she said. Eventually they will get to it, and we think it will be favorable, she said. Woloschuk said GPA has proposed the planned 132-MW Yona solar project as a solution. She noted that the consent decree was mainly filed to get GPA to close down the old Cabras power plants, and not over renewable energy. Cabras units are scheduled to be shuttered once the new 198-MW Ukudu plant is commissioned in September. This project was sort of like icing on the cake for EPA, Woloschuk said about the solar power projects. So now that icing is gone, but weve offered some other icing. And so, were hoping that they will accept that. Japan has opened scholarships to qualified undergraduate and research student applicants. The first program is offered to qualified applicants who wish to study at Japanese universities under the Japanese governments Monbukagakusho Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, MEXT, Scholarship Program for 2026. The Consulate-General of Japan on Guam, in a release, said applicants must: Hold U.S. citizenship and live in Guam or CNMI. U.S. citizens who hold dual citizenship with Japan may apply under the condition they relinquish their Japanese citizenship upon selection. Be born on or after April 2, 2001. Have either completed a 12-year regular course of school education or graduated from a school equivalent to senior high school in Japan. Be willing to learn the Japanese language and receive university education in the Japanese language. Be able to leave for and arrive in Japan between the 1st and 7th of April 2026. All applications submitted to the Consulate-General of Japan by the June 2, 2025 deadline will be screened. Candidates who pass the initial screening will be invited to take the writing test. The candidates who pass the writing test will have the interview at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hagatna. Completed applications must be received by the Consulate-General of Japan no later than June 2, 2025 in order to be considered. For further information and an application form, visit https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/smap-stopj-applications-undergraduate.html. Research program The Japanese government is also offering the Research Students scholarship to qualified applicants who wish to study at Japanese universities under the Japanese governments MEXT Scholarship Program for 2026. To apply, applicants must: Hold U.S. citizenship and live in Guam or CNMI. U.S. citizens who hold dual citizenship with Japan may apply under the condition they relinquish their Japanese citizenship upon selection. Be born on or after April 2, 1991. Be an university graduate (at the time of participation in the program). Be able to leave for and arrive in Japan between the 1st and 7th of April 2026, or within two weeks of the date set by the receiving university for the beginning of the semester. Conduct research in the same or related field majored as an undergraduate. Be able to contact and obtain a letter of acceptance from a professor at the Japanese university they wish to enter. All applications submitted to the Consulate-General of Japan by the June 2, 2025 deadline will be screened. Those candidates who pass the initial screening will be invited for the first screening at the Consulate-General of Japan in Hagatna. Completed application must be received by the Consulate-General of Japan no later than June 2, 2025 in order to be considered. For more information and an application form, visit https://www.studyinjapan.go.jp/en/smap-stopjus-applications-research.html. A government witness in the federal bingo proceeds criminal case made it clear on Friday that she did not understand much about what she signed when she signed her plea agreement in 2023. Minda San Nicolas is on the witness stand in the District Court of Guam, testifying against a trio of former bingo colleagues. This is a case against Michael Marasigan, Jose Arthur D. Chan Jr., and Christine C. Chan who all face charges of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling operation, money laundering and fraud 61 counts in all. The government contends that between 2015 and 2017, the three defendants conspired with a handful of others to operate an illegal gambling business in Tamuning under the Guam Shrine Clubs Hafa Adai Bingo operations using the clubs non-profit status to collect money for personal gain. San Nicolas, along with Juanita Capulong, Won Sun Min, and Alfredo Leon Guerrero, signed plea agreements in 2023. Min testified early this week, and San Nicolas took the stand Wednesday afternoon. Attorney Michael Phillips, representing Marasigan, handled the afternoon cross examination on San Nicolas. He had little success eliciting confident, clear answers from her. She wore a facemask, which muffled her answers enough for attorneys to ask her to repeat what she said, louder. Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood said she would not order San Nicolas to remove her facemask. That led Phillips and co-counsel David Lujan to file a motion for mistrial, saying the right to confront ones accuser was compromised and the ability to see facial expressions was impossible in some cases. When Phillips asked a question, San Nicolas would often be silent for a few seconds, then speak: Could you repeat the question? and the court reporter would repeat what was said. San Nicolas would answer the question, or often, ask the meaning of words. Phillips asked her about the plea agreement she signed. She was clear when she answered, I dont understand it multiple times. Mask or not, she was loud and clear when Phillips again asked her about her amended plea agreement and if she was worried that she might not be able to pay off a fine, or end up in jail. Im not worried, she declared. And why not? asked Phillips. Because I just leave it to God, she said. The trial resumes at 8:30 a.m. Monday. Undergraduate and graduate students passionate about mathematics are encouraged to apply for the University of Guams two distinct programs that would allow students to receive $4,800 in stipend and research assistants, $5,400, for the eight weeks they will be in the program. These summer programs are supported by the National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Guam NSF EPSCoR. UOG, in a release, said applications are now being accepted for both the Summer Math Research Assistant, SMRA, and the Summer Math Research Experience, SMRP, programs. These programs offer a unique chance for motivated students to engage in cutting-edge mathematical research under the guidance of UOG faculty, the university said in a release. Participants will gain invaluable hands-on experience, develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and contribute to ongoing research projects with real-world applications. Interested students are encouraged to visit the Guam NSF EPSCoR website at guamepscor.uog.edu for information about each program. Applications are being accepted until May 9. Summer Math Research Assistant Program This program is open for college sophomores and juniors looking to immerse themselves deeply in a specific research area. SMRAs will work closely with a faculty mentor on an existing research project, contributing to data collection, analysis, modeling, and potentially even manuscript preparation. This intensive experience provides a strong foundation for future graduate studies or careers in STEM fields. This is an incredible opportunity for undergraduates to get their feet wet in the world of mathematical research, said Leslie Aquino, PhD, a mathematics professor at UOG and a faculty member for the Guam NSF EPSCoR program. Aquino said students will not only learn advanced mathematical concepts but also develop the crucial skills of collaboration, communication, and independent inquiry. Summer Math Research Experience Program This program offers a broader introduction to mathematical research. College seniors and graduates will work in small groups on focused research questions, exploring different areas of mathematics and their applications. This program emphasizes collaborative learning and provides a supportive environment for students to develop their research interests. Franki Guerrero, Guam NSF EPSCoR project associate, said the Summer Math Research Program is more than just an academic experience; its a chance to explore science, technology, engineering and math, STEM, in action, and build lasting mentorships. In addition, SMRE students receive a $4,800 stipend, and SMRAs earn $ 5,400 for the eight weeks they will be in the program, making it both educational and financially supportive, Guerrero said. Earlier this year, Sen. Chris Barnett criticized Del. James Moylan for losing federal funds for Guam. These included millions for Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency equipment and vehicles, $2 million for police cars, funds for Todu Guams medical center, and money for a shelter for at-risk youth. This is because our congressman was missing in action. Congressman Moylan lost millions for airport X-ray scanners to detect drugs and remained silent as the U.S. Department of Education was dismantled and Guams funding vanished. Funding for an ambulance was also lost, and with ongoing talks to dismantle FEMA, Guam might receive nothing in the event of a major typhoon due to the congressmans poor track record. When I say lost, its because he claimed during the election that he secured the funds for all these things and then last month he released a video claiming all of this is now lost. What concerns me more is that he has not answered Sen. Barnetts questions, and the voters of Guam deserve to know why he lost all these funds after claiming he secured them. Also, what is he doing to fight for more funding for Guam? Guam will definitely get tens of millions of dollars for military construction, but that will be provided regardless, but Congressman Moylan needs to tell us what funding he is actually working on which will directly benefit our people. By the way, this is the first time I experienced a politician actually admitting that he lost funding for the island, and he did so with a smile. He also told people to apply for federal grants instead. Very strange. With his track record of losing funds, lying to veterans, abdicating his duties to honor a deceased son and soldier of Guam, not understanding that a ship repair and shipbuilding industry are two different things, not holding a town hall, and so much more, the question is, should Guam be worried? Earlier this month, Guam Boonie Stompers (of which I am a member) hosted two content creators, Ken Hagen and Anton Hugo, who were visiting our island to produce videos about our hiking trails to a broad range of unique destinations. With the coordination of the Guam Visitors Bureau, a team of leaders from Guam Boonie Stompers took the duo on four of our islands best hikes. Their hiking journeys led first to Pagat, on our islands eastern coast noted for its ancient CHamoru village, underground swimming pool, limestone forest, and spectacular rugged coastline. Then on to Mount Jumullong-Manglo, where the crosses are on the crest of the southern mountains and to witness another usual spectacular Guam sunset. Third was the epic beach trek from Tanguisson to Hilaan, our islands best coastal hike, past the mushroom rocks at Guam Fahou, and on to the ancient village at Hilaan and further on to Lost Pond and Sharks Hole, great for snorkeling, and the scenic view all the way north to Ritidian. Their final hike was to Tarzan Falls, in central Guam, just one of our countless scenic Guam waterfalls as I have lost count of how many waterfalls we have on the island. Certainly, this is a welcome trend for GVB to break their mold that has limited our tourist attractions to just Tumon. Guam has much more to offer of our uniqueness. Our CHamoru heritage, the legacy of Spanish rule, American colony remnants, and World War II history are all preserved in a broad diverse heritage of ancient villages, forts, churches, buildings, historic sites, and places to explore. Our natural features include our reefs and offshore waters for those to snorkel and scuba dive. Further offshore are the dolphins and scenic views of the island. On our island, we offer rugged coastlines and beaches, waterfalls, freshwater ponds, streams, mountains, caves, beaches, geological features, and forests to discover. Perhaps GVB should establish special incentives for visitors to dive all four of the Japanese World War II shipwrecks in our waters that include Tokai Maru, Nichiyu Maru, and Kitsugawa Maru in Apra Harbor and Aratama Maru in Talofofo Bay. How about a tour of our underground water attractions of the underground beach, underground river, underground swimming pool, and underground waterfall? Certainly, we should provide rewards to our visitors who visit 10, 20, or 30 of our waterfalls and all six Spanish forts and five Spanish bridges. Other possibilities exist for rewards to those who have explored the islands unique attractions of our geology, including caves, rock arches, and sinkholes; beaches; and mountains. To revitalize our tourism, get our visitors out of Tumon to see the real Guam! Haiti - FLASH : Haiti repatriates 720 volunteer compatriots with dignity after the destruction of Pequeno Haiti Haiti conducted a voluntary repatriation operation for 720 of its compatriots with the help of Dominican authorities. The repatriation took place after the Dominican government ordered the complete demolition of the houses in the illegal Haitian ghetto of Mata Mosquito, better known in the Dominican Republic as "Pequeno Haiti," whether or not these houses belonged to Dominicans, some of whom showed their property titles. The demolitions were carried out without warning, resulting in the loss of numerous household belongings, motorcycles, money, and clothing. According to Protestant pastor Wilson Chal, Haitians used to keep their money under their mattresses because they were unable to open bank accounts due to the lack of identification. The Haitians, who had taken refuge in rugged terrain and ravines to escape harassment by Dominican immigration agents, were able to travel to their various encampments and board comfortable buses in a relaxed atmosphere for their voluntary return to Haiti. Wenceslas Lambert, the Haitian consul in Higuey, coordinated the details on the ground until the nine buses departed along Boulevard de l'Est, heading towards the official border crossings of Dajabon, Comendador, and Pedernales. "Pequeno Haiti" after its demolition in the Dominican Republic : Lambert filled out the registration forms that their compatriots were carrying with them. The operation benefited from the support of the Zile Foundation through former Ambassador Edwin Paraison and Dr. Joseph Cherubin and his team from the Social Movement for Sociocultural and Environmental Work (Mostha). Nearly 300 agents from the Directorate General of Migration (DGM) were deployed to "facilitate" the departure process of Haitians in irregular migration situations. Similarly, a DGM unit was placed at the front of the bus convoy to prevent them from encountering any difficulties with authorities along the way and allow them to reach their destination safely and without incident. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-44759-haiti-flash-demolition-of-pequeno-haiti-in-the-dominican-republic-leaving-thousands-of-compatriots-homeless.html SL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - New York : Haiti supports the entry into force of the treaty for the protection of the high seas (BBNJ) Joseph Emmanuel Philippe, Director General of the Ministry of the Environment, accompanied by Eric Junior Prevost, Director General of the Maritime and Navigation Service of Haiti (SEMANAH), represented Haiti at the first session of the Preparatory Commission for the Entry into Force of the International Treaty for the Protection of the High Seas and Marine Biodiversity (BBNJ) (outside the Exclusive Economic Zones and the Continental Shelf of Coastal States). This session was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from April 14 to 25, 2025. During the closing plenary session, Philippe delivered a speech reaffirming Haiti's commitment to an inclusive, equitable, and effective approach to the implementation of the historic agreement, unanimously adopted in June 2023 and since signed by 113 states. Joseph Emmanuel Philippe praised the spirit of consensus that characterized the proceedings. He fully endorsed the positions expressed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). He also supported phased implementation, with flexibility for small delegations, and emphasized the need for balanced representation in subsidiary bodies, for the benefit of developing countries. Haiti also supported the establishment of a Secretariat linked to the United Nations system to ensure transparency and legitimacy. It supported the creation of a robust trust fund to facilitate access to funding and expressed support for an accessible, multilingual, and secure Clearinghouse. In conclusion, Haiti emphasized that the swift and equitable implementation of the BBNJ Agreement is not only an environmental necessity, but also an ocean justice imperative, particularly for small island developing states. The Haitian delegation benefited from the support of officials from the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations, notably Dr. Wisnique Panier, Minister Counselor, who actively participated in strategic discussions on the sidelines of the sessions. This close collaboration between the Ministry of the Environment, SEMANAH, and the Permanent Mission made it possible to effectively defend Haiti's position in international negotiations on marine biodiversity. Learn more about the BBNJ : The BBNJ Treaty is an international instrument adopted under the auspices of the United Nations on June 19, 2023, after 20 years of negotiations. Open for signature since September 20, 2023, it has already been signed by 113 countries. The agreement aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It represents a major step forward for the protection of the oceans, strengthening international cooperation in the face of growing threats such as pollution, overexploitation of marine resources, and climate change. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... New attack in Gran Hatt, 13 houses burned Thursday evening, Savien's "Gran Grif" gang launched a new attack in "Gran Hatt," a town located between the 4th communal section of Dessalines and the 3rd section of Petite Riviere de l'Artibonite. Fortunately, no deaths were reported, but two people were shot and injured, and at least 13 houses were burned by gang members. 1,318 Haitians arrested On Friday, April 25, 2025, during migration control operations conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, the Specialized Corps for Land Border Security (CESFRONT), the Dominican National Police, and other state security agencies, 1,318 Haitians in an irregular migration situation were arrested in Greater Santo Domingo, Santiago, Mao/Santiago Rodriguez, the Eastern Zone, Azua, Barahona, Puerto Plata, and Montecristi, and another 1,146 were deported the same day. Intensification of the fight against gangs On Saturday, April 26, 2025, Rameau Normil, Acting Director General of the Haitian National Police (PNH), received a visit from Presidential Advisor Leslie Voltaire. Accompanied by several members of the High Command, Normil discussed strategic issues with the Presidential Advisor, including the intensification of the fight against insecurity facing the country. Registration of preschool centers The Ministry of National Education is launching a registration campaign for preschool center managers in the country's ten departments. This campaign will run from April 28 to May 28, 2025. Preschool center directors are invited to visit the Departmental Directorate of Education (DDE) in their area. They must provide a copy of their National Identity Card (CIN), a rental agreement or deed of ownership for the premises, as well as a detailed list of educational staff and their qualifications. This information will help improve planning, monitoring, and educational supervision nationwide, the Ministry specifies. Canne Film Festival : Haiti in Competition The short film "Cur Bleu" (Blue Heart), by Haitian director and producer Samuel Suffren, will be screened at the 78th Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24, 2025 in France). This film, which has been screened and awarded at numerous international festivals, is the final installment of his trilogy on migration and is inspired by the story of his father, who dreamed of moving to the United States. "Cur Bleu" will be presented in the Filmmakers' Fortnight category. Smuggling of Inverters and Batteries During a check on April 23, 2025, near the Massacre River, Ouanaminthe customs officers intercepted a three-wheeled utility moped with an open cargo area, coming from the Dominican Republic, carrying inverters and batteries hidden under sand. HL/ HaitiLibre The government allocated 20 million euros for initial planning in its mid-term budget talks this week. Transport Minister Lulu Ranne described the rail project as a strategic move to improve Finlands military readiness and commercial transport capacity. Finland is moving ahead with plans to build a new standard-gauge railway connecting the northern town of Kemi to Swedens Haparanda, setting the stage for a future link to the Norwegian port of Narvik. "This is the most urgent major European military mobility project, according to the European Commission, Nato, and the Finnish Defence Forces," Ranne said. The planned 30-kilometre railway between Kemi and Haparanda would use the standard European 1,435 mm gauge, compared to Finlands current 1,524 mm Russian gauge. The broader transition toward European standards has been urged by the European Commission and Nato to enable faster cross-border military logistics. The change comes under the EUs TEN-T regulation, which enters into force this summer and requires affected member states to plan for gauge transitions. In the longer term, the government envisions extending standard-gauge tracks from Kemi south to Oulu and east to Misi, near a major Defence Forces depot in Rovaniemi. Early Transport Ministry estimates suggest extending the gauge to Oulu could cost over 1.5 billion euros. "This is planning money for a few years. There are plenty of gauge-switching plans for the whole of Northern Finland into the 2030s," Ranne said. Authorities in Sweden and Norway are involved in planning to ensure full interoperability with existing lines from Haparanda through Kiruna to Narvik. Security officials stressed the importance of the project. Ari Mure, deputy commander of the Lapland Jaeger Brigade, said current rail connections at the northern border are inadequate for rapid equipment transport. "Now nothing can cross the border without special arrangements," Mure said. A direct rail link to Narvik would allow Finnish and allied military forces faster access to the Atlantic Ocean. It would also boost commercial exports through the ice-free port, which remains operational year-round. Lapland Regional Governor Hannu Takkula called for swift action. "The Narvik rail connection is part of our regional plan. The connection is important for security of supply," he said. Beyond defence and security, Ranne said the new rail network would strengthen business, logistics, and employment prospects across Northern Finland. HT Luke estimates there are now around 2,400 bears in Finland, an increase of 1020 percent over recent years. The population had previously dropped to between 1,740 and 1,925 bears in 2022, following several years of expanding hunting allowances. Finlands bear population is growing steadily following a decision to cut hunting quotas in 2022, according to new data from Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). The turnaround came after authorities revised hunting policies to support the bear population, which had declined by about 20 percent between 2021 and 2022. Luke said in a report on Tuesday that it expects the bear population to continue growing over the coming years. For the first time, the institute used a new model to estimate the bear population. Katja Holmala, Lukes Programme Director, explained that the model incorporates reproductive biology, lifespan data, and a broader database than earlier methods. Unlike the previous model, which relied solely on litter observations from a single year, the new system combines sighting data collected since 2004 and information about the age and gender of hunted bears. Holmala noted that the model is still under development but will be refined further to strengthen its accuracy. Bear populations in Finland are particularly dense in the eastern regions, near the border with Russia, where natural habitats provide favourable conditions. HT The flat-rate deduction has typically applied to employees who use their own homes for remote work. It allows for a simplified deduction because separating actual work-related costs from general living expenses is often difficult. The Finnish government has decided to abolish the flat-rate home office deduction used by many remote workers, following talks during this weeks mid-term budget framework meeting. In 2024, the maximum deduction was 960 euros, available to employees who performed remote work for more than half of their working days. The deduction reduced taxable income by up to 960 euros, depending on salary and tax rate, thereby lowering the amount of tax owed. From now on, this specific deduction will no longer be available. Workers will not be able to claim the simplified tax relief for working from home unless they can demonstrate actual expenses. However, the government confirmed that deductions based on actual expenses will remain in place. This method is typically used by individuals who rent workspaces outside their homes, allowing them to deduct costs such as rent or maintenance charges. For example, Annukka Vahasoyrinki, Executive Director of the Finnish Artists Association, said the change will not directly impact most visual artists, as they usually rent separate studios. This does not really concern us, Vahasoyrinki said. Still, she pointed out that the government also decided to cut four million euros from investment aid for the renovation of cultural spaces. According to her, this aid has helped to keep studio rents affordable even when major renovations were required. "It has been an important way to support artists' workspaces and studios, especially when facing costly repairs," she added. HT Travel from Finland to the United States has declined by 9 percent year-on-year, as more Finns cancel trips citing political and border-related concerns tied to Donald Trumps presidency. New figures from the US Governments Travel and Tourism Office show a marked drop in arrivals from Finland this March compared to the same period last year. The downward trend aligns with broader falls across Europe, including Germany (down 28 percent), Denmark (down 34 percent), Sweden (down 17 percent), Norway (down 25 percent) and Iceland (down 35 percent). In Finland, some travellers have voiced personal and political reasons for cancelling plans. One South Ostrobothnia woman, Amanda, told Yle she called off her visit because she feared issues at the US border due to a past visa overstay. She said the tightening of entry procedures under Trump made her uneasy about facing problems on arrival. I dont want to get into any kind of problems at the border, she said. Amanda had worked in the US as an au pair but returned to Finland seven years ago. She now avoids travel to the US altogether and asked to be identified only by her first name. Similar decisions are being echoed elsewhere. Marketing director Jaana Aalto Srensen from Albatros Travel noted a decline in bookings to the US for the coming autumn. Sales director Pia-Noora Rautio of Kilroy said customer interest is shifting toward alternative destinations, including Canada. Some travellers are driven by political motives. Amanda said she would not support a criminal-led country that tramples on womens rights. A Helsinki-based woman in her 40s said she was embarrassed to travel to the US under Trumps leadership and has opted instead to stay in Europe. Not a single euro there, when the global situation is what it is, she said. Others described a social stigma around travelling to the US, with one traveller explaining that people are less likely to talk about American trips among friends and colleagues. Increased scrutiny at US borders has also become a factor. According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finnish travellers have recently reported longer or more invasive questioning upon arrival. Jussi Tanner, Director General of Consular Affairs, said there are signs that conversations at the border are becoming more thorough. The ministry has updated its travel guidance to advise that even a valid visa or ESTA does not guarantee entry. Entry decisions are made at the point of arrival. Despite the drop in Finnish travel, the ministry stressed that outright denial of entry remains rare. Still, many travellers are deterred by the perception of uncertainty. A broader economic context may also be playing a role. Rising travel costs and a weaker European economy could be discouraging long-haul travel in general. Easter holidays falling in April rather than March this year may have also skewed comparisons. Goldman Sachs has estimated that the combined impact of falling tourism and boycotts of American products could cost the US economy as much as $90 billion. While Eastern European countries have shown a small increase in travel to the US, Western European interest appears to be receding under the current administration. HT TDA presents Heart for Hospitality Award to county manager Mitchell Debi Smith presents the Debi Smith Heart for Hospitality Award to this years recipient, John Mitchell. [PHOTO BY JIMMY BRISSIE] For monumental efforts to lead Henderson County through floods, fires and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene while simultaneously helping sustain the local tourism economy, County Manager John Mitchell has received the 2025 Debi Smith Heart for Hospitality Award. The award is given annually by the Henderson County Tourism Development Authority to a tourism champion who works closely and collaboratively with leaders and partners in the industry. TDA chair Richard Rhodes presented the award to Mitchell at the Henderson County Board of Commissioners meeting on April 16, praising him for guiding the county through trying times. He noted Mitchell set up a countywide distribution site for relief supplies, opened a FEMA office and efficiently redeployed county employees to frontline rescue and recovery roles. In addition, Rhodes thanked Mitchell for his ongoing support of the tourism industry. John has promoted Henderson County everywhere he goes, he worked with the TDA to get the Ecusta Trail developed here, and hes also communicated well with our director on many occasions, Rhodes said. What sets John apart is his ability to lead and to draw up others around him to perform the tasks needed. Mitchell, unaware the award presentation had been added to the meetings agenda, thanked Rhodes, Smith and tourism director Michelle Owens. I very much appreciate our friends at the Tourism Development Authority, Mitchell said. I see many people in this room whose good works were just listed. I have the unique privilege to be at the front of all these people who have done the heavy lifting. I accept this on their behalf. Mitchell is the third recipient of the Debi Smith Heart for Hospitality Award, joining previous winners Barbara Hughes (2024) of Narnia Studios and Mike Burnette (2023) of The Waverly Inn. Rhodes created the award to honor Smith, his predecessor as TDA chair. During a career in which she held many high-level roles in the tourism industry, Smith always found time for volunteer positions with the tourism authority before joining the organization last summer as deputy director. For all of her contributions to our industry, Debi Smith is the perfect namesake for the award, Owens said. And this years honor couldnt have gone to a more deserving person. Land art event kicks off in Donglin Town, China's Zhejiang Xinhua) 09:03, April 27, 2025 This photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows art works displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) This photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows an art work displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) An aerial drone photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows an art work displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) An aerial drone photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows an art work displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) An aerial drone photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows art works displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) An aerial drone photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows art works displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Staff members experience an art work in the shape of a seesaw in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, on April 25, 2025. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Villagers walk past an exhibited art work in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, on April 25, 2025. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) This photo taken on April 25, 2025 shows an art work displayed in the fields in Donglin Town, Huzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province. A land art event kicked off in the wheat fields in Donglin Town on Friday. Teachers and students from many Chinese fine arts academies formed the core creative team, producing 42 land art pieces here. Taking the vast land as canvas and natural elements as medium, the artists skillfully integrated various art forms such as art installation and landscape art into the fields and villages, allowing tourists and local people to enjoy the art works in the countryside. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Chinas 31 provinces all show positive Q1 GDP growth, laying good foundation for whole-year target, despite headwinds 09:14, April 27, 2025 By Yin Yeping and Ma Jingjing ( Global Times All of China's 31 provinces have released their economic growth statistics for the first quarter of this year, all showing positive GDP growth, with 21 provinces meeting or exceeding expectations, signaling a good start for the world's second-largest economy. Performance in major sectors such as industrial investment, consumption, and foreign trade demonstrated the nation's economic resilience despite both external and internal challenges, a Chinese expert said, expecting stepped-up policies to address rising drastic changes in the external environment so as to ensure the annual GDP growth target is achieved. In terms of GDP rankings, Shanghai rose two places in the first quarter, moving from 11th to 9th nationwide. In the first quarter, Shanghai achieved a GDP of 1.273 trillion yuan ($174 billion), an increase of 5.1 percent year-on-year at constant prices, surpassing the annual target by 0.1 percentage points. The total output value of Shanghai's three major leading industries grew by 7.2 percent, driving the city's industrial output value above designated size by 3.5 percent, a 2.8 percentage point acceleration compared to the full-year growth rate last year. Meanwhile, the ranking of the GDP growth of Northeast China's Liaoning Province rose from 18th to 16th nationwide, reflecting the progress of the revitalization of Northeast China. As the economic leader of the Northeast region, Liaoning has seen increased investment in recent years, a manufacturing revival, and an improving economic recovery, according to media reports. In the first quarter, Guangdong's GDP grew by 4.1 percent. Although this growth rate was below its annual target, it still marked a 0.6 percentage point improvement over last year's full-year figure, ranking first among all provinces with a GDP of 3.352 trillion yuan. Jiangsu ranked second with 3.308 trillion yuan, followed by Shandong with 2.346 trillion yuan. The majority of provinces and autonomous regions achieved over 5 percent GDP growth in the first quarter, with the Xizang Autonomous Region particularly notable for its 7.9 percent year-on-year growth. "The economic data of 31 provinces and municipalities is in line with the national performance in the first quarter, showcasing that the economy is posting overall recovery, with a strong resilience for growth," Xi Junyang, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Saturday. With a 4-percent deficit-to-GDP ratio and a government deficit of 5.66 trillion yuan in 2025, China's fiscal policies have stepped up in the first quarter, providing support for local economic growth, Xi Junyang said. Moreover, the GDP growth across provinces and cities reflects the continued rise in industrial investment, the expert said. In the first quarter, national fixed-asset investment reached 10.317 trillion yuan, up 4.2 percent year-on-year. By province, 29 provinces achieved positive growth in fixed-asset investment. Notably, many provinces, especially major economic ones, saw rapid growth in industrial investment. Among the 24 provinces that published industrial investment data, 18 achieved double-digit growth, with provinces such as East China's Shandong, Central China's Henan and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region all recording growth rates above 20 percent. In terms of consumption, in the first quarter, total retail sales of consumer goods nationwide reached 12.467 trillion yuan, an increase of 4.6 percent year-on-year. By province, 28 provinces recorded positive growth in retail sales, with 18 provinces surpassing the national growth rate. As an important driver of the economy, foreign trade also performed generally above expectations in the first quarter. There were 20 provinces that achieved positive growth in imports and exports. Taking Guangdong the province with the largest foreign trade volume as an example, in the first quarter, Guangdong's total imports and exports reached 2.14 trillion yuan, with growth rebounding to 4.2 percent year-on-year, 2.9 percentage points higher than the national level. Guangdong achieved positive growth in trade with its top five trading partners including ASEAN, the EU and the US. "In the first quarter, China's provincial-level economies kicked off to a good start, with industrial investment, consumption, and foreign trade all exceeding expectations," Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin School of Administration, told the Global Times on Saturday. This reflects that the incremental policies rolled out since last September are starting to produce effects, laying a solid foundation for addressing challenges posed by increasing external uncertainties, Cong said. Looking ahead, challenges remain, for example, the country's export sector may face some pressure due to the US' tariff policies, while consumption momentum should continue to be stimulated, the expert said. Since April, some government departments and local authorities have been actively responding by promoting export diversification, exploring new growth in other overseas markets and further expanding domestic demand. Moving forward, accelerating the implementation of already announced policies to ensure early results will be critical for stabilizing economic growth, Cong said. (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) A mother and son who were part of a civilian group searching for the disappeared in Jalisco were shot and killed this week in a residential area near Guadalajara just weeks after helping uncover a mass grave site now under federal investigation. Maria del Carmen Morales and her son, Jaime Ramirez, were members of Guerreros Buscadores, a collective that brought national attention to the Izaguirre Ranch in early March. They discovered over 200 pairs of shoes and human remains in a hidden crematorium used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Authorities later confirmed the site had been used by the cartel as a training ground and cremation center. According to the Jalisco state prosecutor's office, Morales and her son were shot by gunmen on a motorcycle while collecting water from a park fountain in Tlajomulco. No suspects have been identified, and the prosecutor's office said it found no link between the murders and Morales' involvement with the search group, Reuters detailed. However, Guerreros Buscadores representatives told El Pais that Morales had received multiple threats since February 2024, when she began searching for her son Ernesto, who was forcibly disappeared from the same neighborhood. "She was told to stop looking. First in a note left at her door, then by phone," said Raul Servin, a spokesperson for the group. "They said there would be no third warning." Following the threats, Morales stopped leading searches but continued to support the group. The fear within the collective has intensified since the discovery of the ranch, which they say was long controlled by the CJNG and used to lure people under false job offers before forcing them into criminal activity or executing them. Morales is the 28th search activist killed in Mexico since 2010, according to A donde van los desaparecidos, a journalistic project that tallies disappearances in Mexico. Another woman linked to the Izaguirre Ranch discovery, Teresa Gonzalez Murillo, died earlier this month after being shot in the face by armed men who entered her home. Murillo, also known as "Teresita" belonged to "Luz de Esperanza Desaparecidos Jalisco" (Beacon of Hope for the Disappeared) and had received threats from criminal organizations as a result of her activism. Over 124,000 people are currently missing in Mexico according to Reuters. Jalisco, a stronghold of the CJNG, remains one of the hardest-hit states. Originally published on Latin Times Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and a friend of the late Princess Diana, has suggested that Prince Harry, 40, misses his royal role, claiming he was once successful at adding a "sizzle" to the Royal Family. In a conversation with The Telegraph, Brown explained that Harry once enjoyed playing the role of a prince, despite his earlier discontent with royal life. "He really knows how to play the role of the prince," Brown said. "I think he really likes it. That's what's so ironic. For a bit he thought he didn't because the Palace is boring and oppressive and so on. Now he's had a few years doing it without them, I think he really misses being a prince because he was good at it." Brown also criticized the impact of Harry and Meghan Markle's philanthropic work since stepping back from royal duties, claiming their public appearances have become less impactful, as replied by Daily Mail UK. She described the couple as "disaster tourists," citing their visit to victims of the Los Angeles fires in January, where they handed out food parcels at the Pasadena Convention Centre. "I think Harry feels it keenly. But he's obviously loyal to his wife," Brown added. In the interview, Brown also addressed the possibility of a royal reconciliation. While she believes Harry might be open to mending his relationship with his family, she argued that Prince William is unlikely to reconcile due to the revelations in Harry's book "Spare." Prince Harry Unlikely to Reunite With Prince William Brown believes the memoir was driven by the couple's "appetite for money" and has made a reunion with William more difficult. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have continued their charity work, with their most recent endeavor being the unveiling of a memorial in New York City dedicated to children lost to online harm. The "Lost Screen Memorial," which features 50 illuminated smartphones displaying the photos of deceased children, was part of the Archewell Foundation's campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of social media. Speaking at the memorial, Harry emphasized the need for stronger protections for children online, stating, "Life is better off social media." He expressed gratitude that his children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, are still too young to be exposed to social media's pressures. While some praise their efforts, Tina Brown's comments reflect the challenges the couple faces in balancing their charitable pursuits with their celebrity status. Originally published on Enstarz Fires were blazing Sunday a day after a massive explosion tore through Iran's largest commercial port, killing at least 18 people and wounding 800 others, according to state media. The blast occurred Saturday at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of world oil output passes. The port's customs office said in a statement carried by state television that the explosion probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. The New York Times quoted a person with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, saying that what exploded was sodium perchlorate -- a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles. Iranian state TV on Sunday gave an updated toll of 18 people killed and 800 injured, with thick black smoke still visible in live footage from the scene. Three Chinese nationals were "lightly injured", China's state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate. The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, Fars news agency reported. Images from IRNA showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast at Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran. Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers. Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that "hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres", while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had "issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes". Speaking later at the scene, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni told state TV: "All resources from other cities and Tehran have been dispatched." With choking smoke and air pollution spreading throughout the area, all schools and offices in Bandar Abbas, the nearby capital of Hormozgan province, have been ordered closed on Sunday to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort, state TV said. Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the province's crisis management authority, told state TV that "the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area". "The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged," Tasnim news agency reported. Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with employees. The United Arab Emirates expressed "solidarity with Iran" over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences. The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that the explosion "has no connection" to its facilities and that "Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption". The explosion comes several months after one of Iran's deadliest work accidents in years. The coal mine blast in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people at Tabas in the east of the country. Saturday's explosion also came as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran's nuclear programme, with both sides reporting progress. Bard College Alum to Speak at Simon's Rock Final Commencement GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. Chloe Demrovsky, class of 2001, will address graduates at the 56th commencement ceremony of Bard College at Simon's Rock on Saturday, May 17, at 11 a.m. The ceremony will be held on the Blodgett Lawn. Additional seating will be available in the McConnell Theater. The event will be live-streamed for those unable to attend in person. Seating will be on a first-come basis. More information here. Demrovsky is an experienced executive leader with a career advising Fortune 100 companies, startups, consortia, and government on all aspects of emergency management. Recognized for her forward-thinking approach, she leverages present market fundamentals and technological innovation to drive transformation across industries. She is currently Executive in Residence in Global Business and Economy at New York University, where she oversees research on topics from geoeconomics and weaponized interdependence to emerging advanced technologies and cryptocurrency. She is also the founder of Edgewood Insights, an advisory firm at the nexus of risk and resilience. From 2017 to 2024, she was the president and CEO of Disaster Recovery Institute International, the global leader in operational resilience and business continuity training and credentialing after having served since 2014 as executive director. Under her leadership, the institute doubled in size to support over 20,000 certified professionals in operational risk, business continuity and cyber resilience across more than 110 countries, including at 95 percent of Fortune 100 and 60 percent of Global 2000 companies. She provided training services primarily for financial services, technology, healthcare, government, and consulting. She built strategic partnerships and represented the brand in important forums including ISO Technical Committee 292 for Societal Security and Resilience and annual research with Harvard University's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. As a senior Forbes contributor, Demrovsky's insights have been featured across major media outlets like Fox News, CBS News, CNBC, Newsmax, News Nation, CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, and Sky News. She's also been a source for leading publications, including The Financial Times, AP, BBC, USA Today, and ABC News. She has presented at more than 150 events on five continents and briefed government bodies such as Congress, the European Commission, and the United Nations. In 2024, she served on the FEMA National Advisory Council, evidencing her impact and recognition in her field. Demrovsky's affiliations reflect her dedication to global and community engagement. She is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Crain's New York 2023 Notable Leader, and holds fellowships with the U.S.-Japan Foundation, the French-American Foundation and the British-American Project. Her work has been recognized with current board appointments at the French-American Foundation as vice chair of the Executive Committee and Tier 1 automotive supplier OPmobility's (EPA: POM) Global Advisory Board and previously at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Global ARISE private sector partnerships board (2020-23) and vice chair of the Board of Oversees at Bard College at Simon's Rock from 2019-24. She holds a bachelor of arts summa cum laude from Bard College at Simon's Rock and a master of science with distinction in global affairs: international business, economics and development from new York University. Fluent in four languages and a world traveler with visits to more than 55 countries, Demrovsky resides in New York with her husband and family. Simon's Rock looks forward to honoring this year's graduating students. This will be the last commencement held at the Great Barrington campus, which will close this year and shift to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. domenica 27 aprile 2025, 00:18 - Last updated: 07:57 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This article is automatically translated The primacy of evangelization. Mercy as a key word. The countless appeals for peace and human fraternity. In the homily of Pope Francis's funeral, Cardinal Giovan Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, outlines twelve years of pontificate, retracing its key signs and words and outlining the legacy that Francis leaves for the future of the Pope. As a good diplomat, Re does not fail to highlight the difficult facets of the pontificate. But he does so with grace. He emphasizes that Pope Francis 'maintained his temperament and his form of pastoral leadership, and immediately imprinted his strong personality on the governance of the Church, establishing direct contact with individuals and populations, eager to be close to everyone, with particular attention to those in difficulty, spending himself without measure, especially for the least of the earth, the marginalized.' And then, he also highlights 'the vocabulary that was characteristic of him,' and 'the language rich in images and metaphors.' Translated: it was difficult, at times, to understand Pope Francis, his actions, his vocabulary was sometimes disconcerting. But one could only understand the Pope by looking at his unfiltered being, in direct contact with people. THE MESSAGE The dean's homily does not reflect the ongoing debate in the general congregations. The real exchange of ideas on the future of the Church will take place starting next week. Yet, in some way, it marks some points of no return. And it does so starting from the last image of Pope Francis, who, after the Easter Urbi et Orbi, 'descended into this square to greet the large crowd gathered for the Easter Mass from the open popemobile.' It is a Pope who - notes Cardinal Re - has already shown with the choice of the name Francis 'a program and a style on which he wanted to base his pontificate,' and who 'has truly shared the anxieties, sufferings, and hopes of our time of globalization,' highlighting 'his charisma of welcome and listening, combined with a way of behaving typical of today's sensitivity,' emphasizing that 'the primacy of evangelization has been the guide of his pontificate, spreading, with a clear missionary imprint, the joy of the Gospel.' The cardinal adds that the guiding thread of Pope Francis's mission was 'also the conviction that the Church is a home for everyone; a house with always open doors,' a 'field hospital' that takes care 'with determination of the problems of people and the great concerns that tear the contemporary world.' 'A Church - he says, also indicating a program for the future - capable of bending over every man, beyond any belief and conviction, healing their wounds.' Pope Francis's 'countless gestures' for refugees, displaced persons, and the poor are remembered, citing the first trip to Lampedusa and the trip to Lesbos with Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Athens or the mass at the border between the United States. THE MISSION Among the 47 trips, Cardinal Re particularly remembers the one to Iraq in 2021, 'undertaken defying every risk' to bring comfort to the population 'that had suffered so much from the inhuman work of ISIS,' but also the one to Asia-Oceania in 2024, towards the 'most peripheral periphery of the world.' Another pillar, which will remain so in the future, is the 'Gospel of mercy,' which Cardinal Re considers at the heart of Pope Francis's message along with the joy of the Gospel. And then, the culture of encounter and solidarity opposed to the culture of waste, because 'the theme of fraternity has traversed' Pope Francis's entire pontificate 'with vibrant tones,' culminating in the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, but also in the document on Human Fraternity. Cardinal Re cannot fail to recall the ecological commitment (with the encyclical Laudato Si), and above all the commitment to peace. 'In the face of the raging of the many wars of these years, with inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destructions, Pope Francis has incessantly raised his voice imploring peace and inviting reasonableness, honest negotiation to find possible solutions.' domenica 27 aprile 2025, 00:13 - Last updated: 28 aprile, 18:26 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This article is automatically translated The typewritten note, which would have been signed on March 24, was the means by which Pope Francis informed Cardinal Pietro Parolin, then Vatican Secretary of State, of his wish that Cardinal Angelo Becciu could not participate in the Conclave. The document, which does not yet appear to have been circulated in its entirety to the cardinals, would be signed with an 'F'. On March 29, in the only interview given during the Pope's illness, Cardinal Parolin revealed that Pope Francis had never stopped governing and that he signed the dossiers with an 'F', precisely. The issue of Cardinal Becciu's participation in the conclave will probably be the most heated topic of discussion at the general congregations resuming tomorrow. On one hand, there are cardinals who argue that in the face of a 'de facto' reinstatement of Cardinal Becciu into the College of Cardinals (the Pope invited him to consistories and celebrations, where he dressed in red and sat among the cardinals), nothing would prevent Becciu's participation. Especially since the cardinal would have renounced the prerogatives of the cardinal, but not the dignity, and the dignity also includes the duty to elect the Pope. On the other hand, there are those who believe that the Pope has expressed his will and that therefore the cardinal cannot be admitted to vote. According to Becciu, the Pope had told him that he had resolved the matter in his favor. Cardinal Parolin then produced papal documents on the matter, never promulgated, but which nonetheless reflect the Pope's will and must be considered. Among other things, point 13 of the Universi Dominici Gregis, the constitution regulating the vacant see and conclave, states among the various tasks assigned to the cardinals in the first general congregations, that of 'reading, if any, the documents left by the deceased pontiff for the College of Cardinals'. The typewritten sheet by Pope Francis that Cardinal Parolin produced only on the third day of the congregation was therefore addressed directly to the College of Cardinals? Otherwise, its value could be questioned. One of the topics of discussion also concerns the validity of Becciu's resignation. There is no written document, because the cardinal presented his resignation to the Pope only orally. But the Pope accepted the resignation, and made it known clearly by dictating a statement from the Holy See Press Office immediately after the audience with Becciu on September 24, 2020. Then, from 2022, Becciu was able to participate in public events. However, the Pope's decision would not override Becciu's resignation, which was accepted. In fact, it is said, when a bishop reaches retirement age, and sends the resignation letter, it is accepted by the Pope with a communication from the Holy See Press Office bulletin. It makes little difference if the resignation is presented verbally. A cardinal, who asks to remain anonymous, also raises another crucial issue. The reasoning is summarized as follows: the Pope accepted Becciu's resignation because the cardinal was involved in the investigation into the purchase of a building in London with Vatican Secretariat funds, and wanted the cardinal to be tried in the first instance in the Vatican City State by a state court. This has never happened before, because a cardinal is judged only by cardinals. But the conviction, among other things still in the first instance (the appeal begins on September 22), is that of the state, it is not canonical. And therefore, continues the prelate, 'we risk excluding Becciu for criminal and state matters, but without there being any canonical impediment or sanction. The Vatican City State would thus have predominance over the Apostolic See. And it would be a step back in the history of a century and a half'. This will be the great topic of debate, in the general congregations where the date of the conclave will also be decided. The novendials end on May 4, and this means that from May 5 onwards any date could be good to enter the Sistine Chapel. The cardinals could, however, decide to discuss for longer outside the Sistine, also to analyze any papal documents left without promulgation. Certainly, this controversy is destined to influence the next conclave. Cardinal Parolin's decision to disclose the letters only on the third day of the congregation may cost him many votes. The question arises, in fact, why he did not immediately show the cards, waiting for the moment when the debate seemed to be going in favor of Becciu. Perhaps, an attempt was first made to exert moral suasion on the Sardinian cardinal, without effect, and then it was decided to produce the documents. But, even if done in good faith, there is a shadow on the transparency of the operation. And now, what will happen? The cardinals will have to decide by majority how to proceed, and who to allow into the conclave. A conclave that, from today, promises to be increasingly divisive. Whoever enters as Pope might come out as Pope. But maybe not. domenica 27 aprile 2025, 00:03 - Last updated: 12:48 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This article is automatically translated Two simple golden metal chairs with red satin backs, facing each other. Two men looking into each other's eyes, leaning forward, hands between their knees, in the intimate pose of a confessional. Behind them, a prelate finishes arranging a third chair in a niche, which was probably prepared for another interlocutor, kept out of the conversation: French President Emmanuel Macron. The two men are Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky. A few meters away, outside St. Peter's Basilica, preparations are underway for the funeral of Pope Francis. History is theatrical. The wooden coffin of Francis. Tens of thousands of faithful waiting. The greats of the Earth in the front rows on the parvis, according to Vatican protocol. The protocol of the funeral violated by the Vatican, so Zelensky and his wife Olena found a place in the front row (like Trump) The Baptism Chapel History is made here, in the Baptism Chapel, left nave, under the breathtaking vaults of the Basilica, the heart of Christianity. Two men who seem small, overshadowed by the Church and by the spirit of Francis who often preached peace from that altar. The chairs, dragged by the prelates, screech on the precious marbles. In the center, the red porphyry lid of Hadrian's sarcophagus, which became a baptismal font at the end of the 1600s. There is the breath of the centuries, the spirit of the philosopher emperor who erected the Wall in Britain to fortify the Empire's borders against the barbarians. Europe, the West, are still trying to forge the shield that will defend them. Ukraine is the limes, the border. The Ukrainian leader and the American president meet again, for the first time after the catastrophic visit to the White House on February 28, when the breakfast prepared for the guests remained on the set table because Zelensky, "mistreated" in worldwide vision by Trump and his vice, Vance, was accompanied to the door and sent back to Kiev. Donald announced he would suspend military aid and intelligence and logistical support. His special envoy, Steven Witkoff, went twice to the Kremlin for direct talks with Putin for many hours, the last on Friday. The Americans have become carriers of a peace proposal that actually bears Putin's signature: freezing the front line, recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, a veto now and forever to enter NATO, downsizing the Ukrainian army, and elections that should precede the overthrow of the current government. An unacceptable proposal for Zelensky. But now with Trump, it's one-on-one. And the Ukrainian brings Kiev's latest counterproposal. Which calls for an unconditional truce and security guarantees: deployment of Anglo-French and not only troops, with American support. The meeting lasts fifteen minutes, preceded by an unforeseen curtain: a video released by the Ukrainian presidency shows how the Vatican prelates arrange three chairs, meaning they have received the indication of a trilateral. Macron approaches and greets Zelensky. Even now he places his hand on his shoulder, to physically confirm France's support. The protection of the Force de frappe. But this time it is also Trump who puts a hand on Macron's shoulder, and the meaning is different: the meeting must be between him and Zelensky, without the other Europeans. Without Macron. The exchange of phrases between the three is evident. With a smile, for the cameras. Trump explaining, Zelensky with his usual quickness grasping the point and confirming to Macron that the meeting does not include him, it is between him and Potus. The uniforms Trump is comfortable in his Tycoon blue suit, Zelensky in mourning attire: not the usual t-shirt with military green pants, but a black buttoned shirt with external pockets. "A very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve common results," Zelensky will write on X. And he does not forget the reason why he was "expelled" from the White House last February, the lack of expression of gratitude to America. "Thank you @Potus". An act of deference because Potus is the nickname in US President jargon. An almost affectionate thank you. That recognizes Donald's global primacy. Not surprisingly, after the meeting, Trump himself will post on Truth an unusual criticism of Putin: "There was no reason for Putin to launch missiles on civilian areas. This makes me think that he does not want to stop the war, that he is just biding time with me and that he must be dealt with differently, with banking or secondary sanctions." That is, hitting the countries that import gas from Russia. For Zelensky, the meeting was "constructive", so much so that a second one was looming during the day, before the Air Force One took off. Already in November 2022, a few months after the invasion, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary of Pope Francis for Relations with States, had publicly expressed the Pope's desire to "make available the environments" of the Vatican for "dialogue and the end of the war". Yesterday the "miracle" was accomplished. lunedi 28 aprile 2025, 00:04 - Last updated: 20:14 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This article is automatically translated Being reborn a second time by mixing water with flour. The recipe for social redemption is based on a few simple ingredients, like those that shape pasta. This is the lesson that Pope Francis gave to the young people of the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison during his first visit to the institution in 2013. The same message that today, thanks to the last donation made by the pontiff before he died, continues to nurture the hopes of the young inmates. We are at Casal del Marmo, in the northwest outskirts of the Capital. If there is a place that more than any other is able to represent Francis's pontificate, it is this building of the penal institution which until a few years ago was abandoned, where today a pasta factory is active. A place that gives a second chance to young people with criminal convictions but was in economic difficulty. Today that place is saved thanks to the last wishes of Pope Bergoglio, who decided to allocate 230,000 euros from his personal account to the 'Pastificio Futuro' to pay off part of the mortgage that still weighed on the artisanal company. A project born precisely following the first visit of the pontiff to the Roman juvenile prison. This is, in fact, the first place visited by Bergoglio immediately after his election, in 2013. On the occasion of Holy Thursday, when the Church remembers the Last Supper and the washing of the feet, Francis knelt to wash the feet of the young inmates. Then he said to the boys: 'Do not let anyone steal your hope.' And he invited the operators to do something concrete for the young inmates. The one who immediately received this message was Father Gaetano Greco, the then chaplain of the juvenile prison, now deceased. 'It was from there that the idea of a pasta factory was born,' says Elio Grossi, vice president of the pasta factory and volunteer at the juvenile penal institution. 'We thought of pasta because it is a simple, everyday product. And we thought that an artisanal workshop could involve our boys, teach them a trade and give them a job opportunity.' The place was already there: an unused building of the penal institution. But it needed to be redeveloped and converted into a pasta factory. So, once the funding was obtained (part from Caritas, part from a loan contracted with the Ministry of Economic Development), restoration and adaptation activities began. It took 10 years to complete the project. Then, in 2023, the inauguration. The same year in which, again 10 years after the first time, the pontiff returned once again to Casal del Marmo. 'And on that occasion,' explains Elio Grossi, 'the pope blessed one of the bronze dies we use to make pasta. But the pontiff already had mobility difficulties, and this prevented him from physically visiting the entire pasta factory.' However, he never stopped thinking about the boys in prison. So much so that he addressed his last legacy to them. 'The Pope continued to follow the events of the pasta factory through the information he received from Monsignor Benoni Ambarus, known to all as 'Don Ben.' And when he learned that we were having economic difficulties in meeting the mortgage payments, he wanted to give us his help.' Now, thanks to the pontiff's contribution, it will be possible to lower the price of pasta, increase sales, and in this way, also increase production. 'Our goal,' the volunteer explains again, 'is to offer this job opportunity to many more boys and girls.' Today, only four young people are employed in the pasta factory with regular contracts. But the laboratory is designed to accommodate up to 20 workers and thus support a considerable increase in production. When they learned of the donation, 'the boys were very happy. For them, this place is the future,' says Grossi again. 'Thanks to the work in the pasta factory, the inmates interact with a working reality, respect times and schedules, and this makes them very responsible.' The pope's death also marked the inmates of the prison, for whom Bergoglio had particular attention. 'They will never forget the gaze that the Pope cast on them,' says Elio Grossi. 'He wanted to greet them one by one, exchanging a sincere hug with them. He left a mark on their lives.' On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A man has been shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Kashmir, just days after a terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people and sent tensions between India and Pakistan soaring. The victim, identified as 44-year-old Ghulam Rasool Magray, was attacked at his home in the Kani Khas area in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Saturday night. Police said unidentified gunmen barged into his house and opened fire, hitting him in the abdomen and wrist. Magray was rushed to the District Hospital in Handwara and later referred to Srinagars Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The killing comes as Kashmir remains under heightened security following Tuesdays deadly assault on tourists in Pahalgam. Indian security forces have launched a wide-ranging crackdown across the valley in response, detaining over 2,000 people and raiding the homes of those accused of sympathising with a separatist insurgency. Kashmir is administered in part by India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. Attacks by violent militants seeking independence for the region have dogged the Indian side of the de facto border since at least 1989, and India accuses Pakistan of backing the insurgency. The two countries have fought multiple wars over the region. Police said an investigation into Magrays killing had been launched, but no arrests made so far. An intense security operation has been taking place in Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam attack, according to authorities in a region that was already one of the most highly militarised on Earth. Security forces have been raiding the homes of terrorists and their sympathisers, Indian media reported quoting officials. Police have detained hundreds of people for questioning, according to the Press Trust of India. Five houses that Indian authorities say belonged to terrorists or their associates have been demolished in the past 48 hours, with officials warning that similar action will be taken against others involved in terror activities, according to the agency. Tensions are also particularly high between India and Pakistan, amid an expectation that New Delhi will order a limited military strike on its neighbour as part of its response to the Kashmir killings. Islamabad has denied any involvement in the attack, but India has severed diplomatic ties and threatened to end a decades-old water sharing agreement. Border skirmishes have been reported between the two neighbours in recent days. None of the Pahalgam gunmen have yet been apprehended but India claims at least two of them were Pakistani nationals. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has said his government will pursue the attackers and their backers to the ends of the Earth. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Chinas coastguard has seized control of a disputed reef near a key Philippine military base in the South China Sea, according to state media reports, a move that adds to rising tensions between Beijing and Manila. Photos published by Chinese media show members of the coastguard planting the national flag on Sandy Cay, known in China as Tiexian Reef. The small sandbank lies close to Thitu Island, also known as Pag-asa Island, where Philippine forces have maintained a long-standing outpost. The Global Times newspaper, an English-language outlet run by the Chinese Communist Party, ran photographs of the operation and said it took place in mid-April. The coastguard, it said exercised sovereign jurisdiction, displayed the Chinese national flag and cleaned up plastic bottles, wooden sticks, and other debris. They also carried out video-recording of illegal activity by Philippine forces, the report said. The development comes amid growing tensions between Beijing and Manila, who have blamed each other for environmental damage to disputed features across the South China Sea. Philippine officials told the Financial Times that Chinese personnel appeared to leave the reef after planting the flag. There was no indication that China had established a permanent presence or constructed facilities on the reef. Sandy Cays proximity to Thitu Island, which hosts a Philippine military facility and a newly inaugurated coast guard base, makes the incident particularly sensitive. The Philippines has accused China of escalating maritime aggression, while Beijing continues to dismiss the allegations and assert it sweeping claim to most of the South China Sea, despite an international ruling rejecting its sweeping territorial claims. File image from 21 March, 2024 shows Philippine scientists inspecting Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in Spratly Islands, in disputed waters of the South China Sea. The Chinese coast guard seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, according to state media ( Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)/AFP ) The Trump administration said reports of China seizing Sandy Cay were deeply concerning if true. James Hewitt, spokesperson for the National Security Council, told the Financial Times: Actions like these threaten regional stability and violate international law. We are consulting closely with our own partners and remain committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The incident also coincided with the ongoing "Balikatan" joint military drills between the Philippines and the United States, which Beijing has criticised as a destabilising move. The exercises run from 21 April to 9 May and were set to involve more than 14,000 Filipino and American soldiers. Chinas foreign ministry said this week that the joint exercises undermine regional strategic stability and accused the Philippines of collusion with countries outside the region. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Catholic church may soon have its first Asian pope as cardinals prepare to elect the next leader of 1.4 billion faithful. The Christian world is mourning Pope Francis, the Argentine who died on Monday aged 88 after suffering from a serious bout of pneumonia in recent weeks. His death could pave the way for Luis Antonio Tagle to become the first pope from Asia, home to the worlds fastest-growing Catholic population. The former archbishop of Manila was once considered Francis preferred successor but reportedly fell out of favour over alleged shortcomings during his leadership of the Vatican charity Caritas International. Tagle, 67, was created cardinal by Franciss predecessor Benedict XVI in 2012, making him one of the youngest cardinals at the time. Given the nature of cardinal appointments made by Francis, there is some expectation that his successor will be another non-European and hold progressive, liberal values similar to his. open image in gallery Luis Antonio Tagle at a mass in the church of Saint Ambrogio ( EPA ) However, the election process that will take place once Francis is buried is highly secretive and nothing will be certain until white smoke pours from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, telling the world that a new pope has been picked. Electing a pope from the Philippines could give the Catholic church access to China, where they have been eager to expand, analysts say. On paper, Tagle, who generally prefers to be called by his nickname "Chito", seems to tick all the boxes to be the next pontiff. He comes from what is called "Asia's Catholic lung" the Philippines has the region's largest Catholic population. His mother was an ethnic Chinese Filipino. He speaks fluent Italian and English. He has had decades of pastoral experience since his ordination to priesthood in 1982. He also has administrative experience, first as bishop of Imus and then as archbishop of Manila. Tagle is known for his progressive views on homosexuality. He has spoken against abortion in the past, however. open image in gallery Austrian cathedral pays tribute to Francis ( Reuters ) In 2019, Tagle was called by Francis to stay in Rome as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, which is responsible for missionary work. In 2022, however, Francis fired the entire leadership of Caritas International following accusations of bullying and humiliation of employees and appointed a commissioner to run it. Tagle, who was also removed from his role, had been nominally president but was not involved in daily operations, which were overseen by a lay director general. Announcing the pope's dramatic decision, Tagle told a meeting of the confederation that the changes were a moment for "facing our failures". It remains to be seen how the saga will impact Tagle's chances at the papacy. Cardinals are the popes closest collaborators, running key departments at the Vatican and dioceses around the world. When a pontiff dies or resigns, cardinals aged under 80 enter a secret conclave to choose the new head of the Catholic church from among themselves. There are a total of 252 cardinals, 135 of them cardinal electors under 80. As many as 108 of the electors were appointed by Francis, 22 by his predecessor Benedict and five by John Paul II. The complex vote will reveal if the cardinals believe Francis embrace of liberal social values and his progressive reform agenda have gone too far and whether a period of retrenchment is needed. While Europe still has the largest share of cardinal electors, with about 39 per cent, it is down from 52 per cent in 2013 when Francis became the first Latin American pope. The second largest group of electors is from Asia and Oceania, about 20 per cent, who could be paramount in choosing Tagle as the next pope. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Devastating tornadoes cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and dozens of deaths across the U.S. each year. They upend homes and lives. They remain a constant weather threat for a large swath of the country. While much is known about twisters - such as how they work and their signature - forecasters admit they are missing a key part of the data. "We've gotten really good at forecasting where tornadoes are likely to happen. The missing link is in the last minute or so right before the tornado develops, Dr. Robin Tanamachi, an associate professor at Purdue University, told The Independent. She said that while mobile radars have been most effective, every time we improve the technology, we increase the resolution, increase the frequency of the observations, we find that those processes are happening at time and space scales that we're still not able to resolve well." "It's very hard to pinpoint exactly when and where those tornadoes will occur, Dr. Jason Naylor, a professor at the University of Louisville, added. open image in gallery National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research scientist Dr. Sean Waugh and his colleagues look for storms that are poised to produce tornadoes. While scientists know a lot about them being able to predict exactly when or where they form remains elusive ( NOAA/NSSL: Sean Waugh ) In just a matter of decades, scientists have made major strides with forecasting, learning about supercell storms and the importance of factors such as instability and wind shear. Supercell storms, which are the least common type of thunderstorms, have a tendency to produce severe weather. Most tornadoes are spawned from these rotating thunderstorms, which are characterized by the change in wind speed and direction with height. Tornadoes also need atmospheric instability, or the tendency of the air to rise. It provides the fuel and energy for its formation. As warm, humid air rises inside thunderclouds, cool air falls with rain or hail. The conditions can cause spinning air currents inside the cloud, which start out horizontal and then can become vertical, creating a tornado in just a matter of seconds. Currently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center is able to identify broad and potentially tornadic environments up to four days in advance. But, its those last 10 minutes that remain elusive to forecasters. open image in gallery Dr. Karen Kosiba says theres a gap in the knowledge of small-scale processes related to tornados. ( The FARM Facility ) Some of the tornadoes that look ripe for production still dont perform in the moment. "So, these small-scale processes that might be happening very near the surface or might be happening at really fast timescales aren't being captured by our observations and that really gives us a gap in our knowledge of what's happening potentially very near the surface and potentially happening very quickly, Dr. Karen Kosiba, a research scientist and the managing director of the Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets Facility at the University of Illinois, said. Sometimes, two nearly identical storms within a few miles of each other will both produce a tornado or not. "it's wildly frustrating sometimes, said Dr. Sean Waugh, a research scientist at NOAAs National Severe Storms Laboratory. His colleague, Dr. Mike Coniglio, noted that identifying why that happens is where we're really struggling right now. open image in gallery Dr. Bill Gallus poses in front of a storm. Gallus said he used to refer to determining tornado formation as the Holy Grail of meteorology ( Dr. Bill Gallus ) "And, another part of that is that there's a lot of ways we're realizing, 'Oh, you know, research the last 10 years or so shows that there are a lot of ways you can get a tornado to form. There's no one magic bullet for this, he said. Thats something Dr. Bill Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, echoed. He told The Independent that he used to refer to figuring out how a tornado forms as the Holy Grail of meteorology. "And, I finally realized about five or 10 years ago there's some good evidence for a lot of the different theories that there is no one way to create a tornado. I believe there's multiple mechanisms that can give us a tornado, he said. Because tornadoes are so small - in the scheme of weather patterns - they do a good job of hiding, and can destroy pretty much almost all weather instruments. While weather balloons arent intentionally launched next to storms, having data from them to input models is critical to improving forecasting, Dr. Chris Nowotarski, an associate professor at Texas A&M University, said. open image in gallery Dr. Chris Nowotarski poses with his students out in the field. He noted that have the right data is critical to be able to predict tornados and their formation. ( Dr. Chris Nowotarski ) "So, if that forecast from the model has less accuracy, then that will feed back to our ability to understand the potential for storms and also potential for those storms to produce hail or winds or tornadoes, he said. Naylor said finding the parent storm is the big issue. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the opposite direction recently. With layoffs at the [National Weather Service], we're collecting even less data than normal, he added. Over the past couple of months, NOAA has taken hits from the Trump administration, with layoffs in meteorology and many other fields. Critical weather balloon operations have been suspended at National Weather Service offices across the country. Now, a new report from ProPublica suggests cuts to the agency could slash its overall funding by as much as 27 percent. Potential budget cuts to NOAA could be disastrous, Gallus noted. And, work to improve tornado warnings and reduce false alarms may be in jeopardy, according to Naylor. While the false alarm rate of tornado warnings is 70 to 80 percent, not responding can be life-threatening. "And, that's why we need to keep doing the research that we're doing is so that those effects continue to pile on going forward into the future, so we can continue to see improvements to that warning process and to that forecast process and our ability to understand everything that's happening in the world around, said Waugh. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Its spring, and like they had done for the past 150 years, the leaves of the Sycamore Gap tree should be unfurling to give yet another seasonal colour change to its most historical landscape. But the world-famous tree, once prominently located in a natural dip of countryside along Hadrians Wall, is now only a single stump, fenced off to the public, after it was felled one night in September 2023. Today, 18 months on, local and visitors remain angry, upset and frustrated over the loss of one of the countrys most famous and beloved trees. Its why on Monday, attention in the region will be turned on Newcastle Crown Court, where two men will stand trial accused of chopping it down. Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, are charged with causing 622,000 in criminal damage to the tree, along with 1,100 in damage to Hadrians Wall, which was hit by the falling tree. Both have denied the offences. open image in gallery Adam Carruthers is one of the two men accused of felling the Sycamore Gap tree ( Owen Humphreys/PA Wire ) Less than 35 miles westward from the artificially lit courthouse rooms where the trial will play out, the scenery could not be more different along the idyllic section of Hadrians Wall, near Crag Lough, where the tree once stood. A symbol of pride for Northumberland and the North East, the Sycamore Gap was a testament to natures resilience and a beloved part of many peoples lives, exemplified by countless marriage proposals and scattering of ashes. open image in gallery The Sycamore Gap tree filled a natural gap in Hadrian's Wall but now it is a stump fenced off ( The Independent ) open image in gallery Hikers along the wall stop to view the stump, which is now showing shoots coming through ( The Independent ) It earned fame after featuring in the Hollywood film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991, and visitor numbers soared in the subsequent decades. Helped further by the dawn of social media, the unmistakeable image of the tree spread across the world. But today, its remains are a sign of mankinds cruelty to nature. Why would anyone want to ruin something so beautiful, said Michaela Prandi, a 41-year-old Italian living in Edinburgh. Last Tuesday, she was among a steady procession of hikers clambering down the steep banks to view the jagged base of the tree. Like family paying respects to a dead relative in an open casket, many walkers bowed their heads as they forlornly inspected the crime scene. Such a wonderful tree loved by so many people it just doesnt make sense what has happened, said John Simon, a 63-year-old retired accountant from Perth, who wanted to make the tree part of his walk along sections of Hadrian's Wall. We all saw it on the news. Everyone was shocked. And now you come here, you see the beauty, and its even harder to understand. open image in gallery John Simon is among those questioning why the tree was felled ( The Independent ) The question of why seems to be on everyones lips. A short walk from the stump is the Twice Brewed Inn, a country pub that leaves no doubt of its geographical link to the tree. The tree is featured on its logo while a pint of Sycamore Gap pale ale is the best-selling beer, sold at 4.40 a pint. Like a shrine, the walls of the busy pub are covered with large prints of the tree. The question I get asked the most is why it happened, said pub manager Steve Blair. Trees get blown in storms, come down because of disease or just fall over. The fact the tree was cut down, people are still in shock, especially as there appears to be no reason why. I think its search for closure; a reason to make sense of what happened so people can move on. open image in gallery Steve Blair, manager of the Twice Brewed Inn, close to the Sycamore Gap, says people need closure on the loss of the tree ( The Independent ) At the nearby Herding Hill Farm, where hikers staying in five-star lodges can soothe weary legs in hot tubs, manager Sue Humphreys said visitor numbers remained stable despite the loss of the tree. With its logo and office pictures featuring the tree, Ms Humphreys said she also gets asked why it was felled. We just have to say that they have got some people coming for trial, and we just dont know why, she said. I think if people knew why, it wouldnt excuse anything, but at least people would have an explanation, rather than just a random act of vandalism. There is hope, however, that the trees legacy will continue. open image in gallery Herding Hill Farm manager Sue Humphreys said visitor numbers had remained stable despite the felling of the tree ( The Independent ) Saplings from the tree are being grown and will be planted at sites across the UK, with the first already gifted to King Charles for planting in Windsor Great Park this winter. Shoots have also emerged from the base of the Sycamore Gap tree. Part of the tree will also be displayed at The Sill visitor centre, located close to where the tree stood, as part of a permanent exhibition to be unveiled this year. But for now, the focus will be on Newcastle Crown Court amid a continuing search for answers over the destruction of a regional and national treasure. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice British scientists could experiment with techniques to block sunlight as part of a 50 million government funded scheme to combat global warming. The geo-engineering project is set to be given the go-ahead within weeks and could see scientists explore techniques including launching clouds of reflective particles into the atmosphere or using seawater sprays to make clouds brighter. Another method involves thinning natural cirrus clouds, which act as heat-trapping blankets. If successful, less sunlight will reach the earths surface and in turn temporarily cool the surface of earth. Its thought to be a relatively cheap way to cool the planet, but critics have warned it could cause catastrophic disruption to weather patterns and even shift rain from areas that are vital for food production. In a document published by ARIA last year for the project it gave examples of climate tipping points including the melting of the Artic winter sea ice ( Getty Images ) Other scientists say geo-engineering could reduce the drive to stop burning fossil fuels, which is the root cause of climate change. The project will be funded by the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, known as ARIA. The government has set aside 50 million for the controversial experiment, but in total it has been given 800 million of taxpayers money to use over the next four years. Professor Mark Symes, the programme director for ARIA, who is heading the geo-engineering project, said: Decarbonisation is vital, but our current progress puts us at risk of triggering a large number of temperature-induced climate tipping points. This programme will explore critical unanswered questions as to how (or whether) we might cool the Earth safely and responsibly on the timescales required to avoid climate catastrophe." In a document published by ARIA last year he gave examples of such tipping points including the melting of the Artic winter sea ice, loss of the Amazon rainforest and consequent ecosystem loss, and collapse of the major land-based ice sheets, leading to significant global sea level rises. He explained that although the solution is to cease the burning of fossil fuels and eliminate excess greenhouses gases, this may not happen fast enough to prevent the onset of these tipping points. Instead, he hopes this project will help us buy time to decarbonise. Professor Symes said the project would not use toxic substances and that an environmental impact assessment would be published before any outdoor experiments and that communities in the area would be consulted. Further details of the projects are expected to be published in the following weeks. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Abusive ex-partners of victims of the UK's biggest health scandal could be handed thousands of pounds in compensation even if they have a conviction and the government has admitted it has no power to stop it. Under new legislation rolled out in March, partners, siblings, children and parents of the 30,000 people infected with HIV or hepatitis C during the 1970s and 80s can apply for Infected Blood Scandal compensation in their own right as an affected person. Campaigner Jackie Britton flagged her concerns to the government that there was nothing to stop domestic abusers applying to claim, which in some cases could see people handed up to 86,000. She was shocked to be told that while they shared her concerns, there was no provision to exclude them due to a loophole in the law. It added it had looked to prevent those with relevant convictions, but could find no practical way of doing so. Domestic abuse campaigners said they were alarmed by the issue, which they said allowed perpetrators opportunity to further exploit their victims. A letter from the Cabinet Office to Ms Britton, seen by The Independent, confirmed the governments hands are tied. It read: The minister for the Cabinet Office shares the concerns that you and others have raised on abusive family members. open image in gallery People holding up copies of the Infected Blood Inquiry report (Jeff Moore/PA) ( PA Archive ) That is not the loving and caring relationship upon which the claim of the affected to compensation is based. The government has considered options for how it could provide IBCA (Infected Blood Scandal Authority) with the ability to take this into account in assessing affected claims. Unfortunately it has not found a way of doing this in law. The letter continued: I am afraid there will be no provision to exclude abusive family members in the upcoming regulations. The minister has, however, written to the interim chair of the IBCA to emphasise the importance of protecting vulnerable applicants to the compensation service, particularly those who have suffered domestic abuse and other serious harm. This includes making sure that claims managers are properly trained to spot the signs of domestic abuse and embedding the necessary procedures to raise safeguarding concerns within the organisation. open image in gallery Jackie Britton's compensation payment was viewed as a marital asset during her divorce ( Supplied ) Ms Britton has called for the government to ensure each claim is stringently reviewed. The 62-year-old from Fareham, Hampshire, was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2010 after four decades of ill health, and has been left with liver cirrhosis, which requires regular check-ups. Why should they get a free pass to claim thousands under the heading of affected when many of them played no positive part in the lives of those that were infected? she said. Rachel Buckley, joint managing director at The Family Law Company, said compensation under the scheme would likely be treated in the same way as a personal injury compensation award. She said even in cases involving domestic abuse, it would be considered inequitable to disregard a persons entitlement to claim. open image in gallery Campaigners have been calling for compensation for decades (Victoria Jones/PA) ( PA Archive ) Many family law professionals including the Family Law Company agree that there needs to be change and there is growing recognition of the impact of domestic abuse, including coercive control on divorce and finances matters, but the law has yet to fully evolve to reflect this," she said. Sophie Francis-Cansfield, Head of Policy at Womens Aid, said: Womens Aid are alarmed to learn that because compensation is viewed as a marital asset, there are circumstances in which perpetrators of domestic abuse are entitled to the funds awarded to their ex-partners. This is yet another example of the way in which our society is not set up to support survivors of domestic abuse, despite the fact that one in four women will experience it in their lifetime. Instead of having a system that supports survivors of abuse, who have also had to deal with the devastating impact of the blood scandal, we have created one that perpetrators can exploit to inflict further harm. A spokesperson for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority said it was recruiting 500 claim managers to support those making claims and all were trained on the safeguarding of vulnerable people and trauma. We are working closely with partners such as the National Domestic Violence Helpline and Respect Men to ensure support is in place for anyone who shows signs of abuse or raises a concern to their claim manager," they added. A Government spokesperson said it acknowledged the concerns raised and the minister for the Cabinet Office had met victims in this position. We are committed to delivering compensation which is why 11.8bn was set aside in the Budget for this purpose. The Infected Blood Compensation Authority is working to deliver compensation as quickly as possible. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice King Charles has said he was profoundly saddened after learning that nine people were killed when a car drove into a crowd in Vancouver. Festivalgoers were attending a street party celebrating the Filipino Lapu Lapu Day on Saturday night, when a black SUV ploughed into the crowd at 8:14pm, police said. Authorities arrested a 30-year-old man at the scene. Charles, who is the King of Canada, said: Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. Follow the latest updates about the incident here. open image in gallery Vancouver Police forensics officers investigate the scene of a suspect vehicle and bodies of victims lying covered on the ground ( REUTERS ) Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada. Multiple others were injured during the celebration of Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous Visayan Chieftain from Mactan, Philippines, described as the countrys first national hero. The crash is being treated as a mass casualty incident, police said - but they are not treating it as a terrorist attack. At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism, Vancouver police wrote late on Saturday. Only one driver and one car drove into the festival at E. 41st Avenue and Fraser Street, Vancouver Police said. The police did not clarify whether the suspect had a criminal record. Vancouver Coastal Health, the regional health authority for the city, has confirmed a code orange mass casualty event according to The Canadian Press. open image in gallery Charles said he was deeply saddened ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Set by the British Columbia Ministry of Health Services, the code is put into place when extra support is needed to respond to a large scale health event. The colour indicates the type of event, rather than how serious it is. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney - who is hoping for re-election when the country goes to the polls on Monday - said: I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you. We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action. Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr, better known as Bongbong Marcos, said he was "shattered to hear about the terrible incident" in Vancouver. Mr Marcos said the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver was working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident would be thoroughly investigated. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Steelmaking in Scunthorpe will continue after the government confirmed the arrival of a new shipment of raw materials on Sunday, crucial to helping ensure the blast furnaces at British Steel keep running for the coming months. The shipment of 55,000 tonnes of blast furnace coke has arrived in the UK to fuel the Scunthorpe plant in North Lincolnshire, and more than 66,000 tonnes of iron ore pellets and 27,000 tonnes of iron ore fines are soon to arrive. It comes after ministers used emergency powers to take control of British Steel and continue production at the site after what was thought to be a plot to sabotage the Scunthorpe plant by its Chinese owners Jingye. After a scramble over the Easter holidays to obtain the coal and iron needed to keep the plant going, the company confirmed earlier this week that both the Scunthorpe blast furnaces will continue to operate. open image in gallery Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds at British Steels Scunthorpe plant ( POOL/AFP via Getty Images ) Meanwhile, a so-called salamander tap, where one of the furnaces would be drained of molten material to safely shut it down, will no longer go ahead, British Steel said. The latest shipment will allow British Steel workers and their families to breathe a sigh of relief, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said, emphasising that the government is on the side of British workers and British industry. The action weve taken to secure primary steelmaking at Scunthorpe will not only support our national security but help our steel sector supply the construction of the homes and infrastructure of the future, as part of our Plan for Change. By securing the raw materials we need to keep Scunthorpe going for the foreseeable future weve helped protect thousands of crucial steel jobs, said Mr Reynolds, who led the government in its take over of the plant. British Steel has meanwhile appointed more new executives, including an interim chief operating officer and HR director, after ministers passed an emergency law to take control of the company from Chinese owner Jingye. open image in gallery The arrival of raw materials has secured the continued operation of the site ( PA ) Alasdair McDiarmid, the assistant general secretary of the Community Union which represents steelworkers, welcomed the shipments saying they provide much-needed assurance for our members on site in Scunthorpe. He added: We are grateful to British Steel and the Government for the decisive work they have undertaken to secure a future for the business we have seen their commitment and dedication first-hand. After years of neglect, we now have a UK government which understands the vital strategic importance of steel, and is backing this up with action. It comes after British announced earlier this week that it has ended a consultation on up to 2,700 staff redundancies launched in March by Jingye, securing thousands of jobs. The shipment of more than 55,000 tonnes of blast furnace coke arrived in the port of Immingham from Australia on Saturday aboard the merchant vessel Navios Alegria. It will now be transferred by rail to Scunthorpe. The shipment of iron ore, in the form of more than 66,000 tonnes of iron ore pellets and 27,000 tonnes of iron ore fines, is due to arrive from Sweden next week. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Fewer people than ever are prepared to vote Tory or Labour as Reform look set to claim hundreds of seats at this weeks local elections, polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice has said. Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Prof Curtice said less than half of voters are telling pollsters they will vote for one of the two main parties, in a historic shift in voting patterns. He said: Fewer than half of the people who tell pollsters how they are going to vote say they are going to vote either Conservative or Labour. It has never been quite that low before. The big winner from the shift in voter intentions is Nigel Farages Reform UK, which Prof Curtice described as having already won next weeks elections before a single seat is declared. The professor said that while Reform, along with its predecessor parties Ukip and the Brexit Party, has previously eaten into the Tory vote, it is now taking thousands of Labour votes as well. open image in gallery Britains top pollster says Nigel Farages party is the big winner already ( BBC ) He also predicted that the Liberal Democrats will do well in places including Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, due to Reform having murdered the Tories, enabling Sir Ed Daveys party to slip through. The leading pollster said the Lib Dems have eclipsed Mr Farages former challenger party Ukip in standing candidates in more than 99 per cent of the seats up for grabs on 1 May, contesting more wards than Labour or the Conservatives. At its peak, Ukip managed to fight in 75 per cent of available seats in the 2013 local elections. Stressing the highly uncertain nature of next weeks vote, and cautioning against drawing conclusions from how many seats each party wins or loses, Prof Curtice told The Independent: Reform, in a sense, have already won these local elections. One of the targets they set for themselves is to create local party organisations. Evidently, in the limited number of places we have elections, they have managed to create enough of an organisation to find 1,600 candidates, and they are fighting for more seats than any other party. Ukip never got to fighting more than 75 per cent of the wards in 2013, so they have already won an organisational battle. open image in gallery Kemi Badenoch has already admitted these elections will be very difficult for the Tories ( PA Wire ) Prof Curtice said Reform will end up winning probably a few hundred seats across the country, a significant step towards Mr Farage convincing voters that his party is the real opposition to Labour. In a dire assessment of the Tories prospects, echoing a warning from their leader Kemi Badenoch herself, Prof Curtice said the baseline for the party is May 2021. It is the day Boris Johnson won the Hartlepool by-election. It is a high Tory baseline in predominantly Tory areas. Even if the Tories were to achieve something of a recovery from last year, they would still lose heavily in these elections. And despite Sir Keir Starmers party having collapsed in the polls since the general election, Prof Curtice gave a less bleak view of Labours prospects next week. open image in gallery Keir Starmers party could actually gain seats next week, despite its collapse in the polls ( PA Wire ) It may well be that Labour end up making net gains, he said. This is because, while Labour are still polling well below their own May 2021 benchmark, Reform will take more seats from the Conservatives and allow Sir Keirs candidates to hold on. But, in a warning to the prime minister, Prof Curtice added: The problem for Labour now is that whereas Reform, at 15 per cent, was great news for Keir Starmer, because it murdered the Tories and enabled a Labour Party with just 35 per cent of the vote to [win the general election], Reform at 25 per cent at the same level as Labour are in a position to take loads of Labour seats. We are in very uncertain territory ... partly because Reform are intervening virtually everywhere. There is no baseline against which to measure them. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Rachel Reeves has insisted she wants Britains young people to be able to work in Europe, amid growing pressure on the government to agree to a youth mobility scheme with the EU. The chancellor also said she's "determined that we can get there" after talks about a trade deal with her US counterpart Scott Bessent in Washington DC. Asked about the prospect of a youth mobility scheme, Ms Reeves said: Were going to bring down net migration and we arent going to return to freedom of movement. But we are hosting the summit next month. We do want to see better trading relationships between our countries and we do want to enable young people from Europe and the UK to be able to work and travel overseas. Speaking to The Sunday Times, she added: But weve got to get the balance right, because I do not want to see net migration increasing. I want to see net migration falling. open image in gallery Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just met her US counterpart ( PA ) It comes after the chancellor said Britains relationship with the EU is arguably even more important than trading links with the US, ahead of a meeting with her US counterpart. A youth mobility scheme, which has become a major sticking point between the UK and EU, would allow 18- to 35-year-olds to move and work freely between countries for up to two years. EU officials see such a scheme as a key aspect of closer ties with Britain, but so far, the UK government has publicly opposed it amid concerns it would breach the partys manifesto pledge not to return to freedom of movement and could drive up net migration. Britain already has a similar agreement with Australia and 12 other countries, including New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland, Uruguay, Hong Kong and Taiwan. But Downing Street has repeatedly ruled out such a scheme with the EU. However, Ms Reevess remarks signal a softening of the governments position. It comes ahead of the EU-UK summit taking place on 19 May seen to be a key part of Sir Keir Starmers reset of relations with Brussels. Supporters of the agreement insist that freedom of movement is not on the table, as the scheme would have clear limits including on the length of time individuals can stay and their age. Earlier this week, more than 60 Labour backbenchers urged the government to negotiate a youth mobility scheme as part of the desired reset with the bloc. In a letter to Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister in charge of negotiations with the EU, 62 MPs and 11 peers called for a new and bespoke youth visa scheme for UK and European citizens under 30. open image in gallery Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds ( PA Archive ) But asked about the letter, environment secretary Steve Reed said that it is right to say there are no plans for a youth mobility scheme, adding: Were not going to breach our manifesto commitments. Speaking to The Sunday Times, the chancellor also said she is sure she can get a trade deal with the US over the line, but admitted there is some more detail to work through. It comes as ministers scramble to secure a carve out to Donald Trumps sweeping tariffs, which are wreaking havoc on the global economy. Asked about the challenges ahead following her trade talks with Mr Bessent, Ms Reeves said: "Both of us want to see trade barriers fall. There's still some more detail to work through. Both of us want a deal, but it's got to be a deal that is in our national interest. I'm determined that we can get there. I know we can get there. There's some more detail to work through." She added: "Britain is an open trading economy. We benefit when trade barriers fall, and we want to see trade barriers fall with all of our trading partners. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Following the death of Pope Francis, the eyes of the world will turn to Rome, where a papal conclave will decide who will become the next pontiff - but could the world see its first American pope this election? The simple answer is unlikely, but its not impossible. This enormous decision will be made by cardinals from all over the world. Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, 138 are currently eligible to elect the new pope. Though the American Catholic Church is one of the biggest and richest in the world, there has never been an American-born pope. The idea of an American pope has often been dismissed, given the geopolitical influence America already has across the globe. There are currently nine U.S. cardinals that are expected to take place in the 2025 conclave, according to the list of cardinal electors. open image in gallery Following the death of Pope Francis, the eyes of the world will turn to Rome, where a papal conclave will decide who will become the next pontiff. Could that person be American? ( Getty Images ) They are: Cardinal Robert Prevost, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Cardinal Wilton Daniel Gregory, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Cardinal Sean Patrick OMalley and Cardinal Raymond Burke. With nine U.S. cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave out of 138, the mathematical possibility of the next pope being American is around 6.5 percent. Bookmakers odds are also unfavorable. According to Online Betting Guide, none of the Americans are considered favorites. According to William Hill, Luis Antonio Tagle and Pietro Parolin are currently front-runners to succeed Francis with 7/4 odds followed by Cardinal Peter Erdo at 8/1. However, as fans of the Academy Award-winning movie Conclave know, the process of selecting a new pope is political and anything could happen. Even so, John Allen Jr., a Vatican expert and author of All the Popes Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks told The New York Post, that the prospect of an American pope is slim. open image in gallery Appointed Archbishop of New York in 2009, Dolan is one of the most recognizable figures in the U.S. Catholic church known for his charisma and media savvy. However the possibility of him being made pope is a longshot ( Spencer Platt/Getty Images ) Appointed Archbishop of New York in 2009, Dolan is one of the most recognizable figures in the U.S. Catholic church known for his charisma and media savvy. However, one of the main issues, according to Allen, is that Dolan may simply be too American. Hes seen as charismatic, articulate, and someone certainly capable of holding his own on the global stage, having served as the chief shepherd of the media capital of the universe, Allen told The Post. Nonetheless, I suspect youd have to rate Dolan as a long shot, not a favorite. Americans, often seen at the forefront of global culture clashes and with stereotypically brash attitudes, would need to demonstrate other skills such as experience abroad and capacity with languages to take on the role. open image in gallery Illinois-born Cardinal Robert Prevost has extensive experience in Peru as both a missionary and then an archbishop. He is currently prefect of the Vaticans dicastery for bishops, which handles various administrative and pastoral responsibilities of the Holy See, including the vetting nominations for bishops around the world ( Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Illinois-born Prevost may fit this criteria, with extensive experience in Peru as both a missionary and then an archbishop. He is currently prefect of the Vaticans dicastery for bishops, which handles various administrative and pastoral responsibilities of the Holy See, including the vetting nominations for bishops around the world. At the age of 69, Prevost is younger than many of the other cardinals, which may count against him being selected if others do not wish to risk having another lengthy tenure. Burke, who was born in Wisconsin, has already been touted by some as a possible successor to the pontiff, having participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. open image in gallery Burke, who was born in Wisconsin and made cardinal in 2010, has already been touted by some as a possible successor to the pontiff, having participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis ( Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Regarded by critics as an outspoken traditionalist he was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Burke publicly clashed with Franciss more liberal philosophies, particularly regarding his willingness to allow divorced and remarried couples to receive the Eucharist. He has also called the churchs new language around artificial contraception, civil marriages and gay people objectionable. He previously said that Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion, such as former president Joe Biden, should not receive the Eucharist. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice At least 11 people were killed and over 20 injured after a man drove a vehicle into a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in the city of Vancouver, Canadian police said. Authorities described the crash as a mass casualty incident but ruled out terrorism. At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism, Vancouver police wrote on X late on Saturday. Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said they were monitoring the situation closely. Police described the incident as the darkest day in Vancouvers history and said it would mark a watershed moment for future operational changes. A 30-year-old male suspect was taken into custody soon after the incident, interim police chief Steve Rai said. He confirmed that only one vehicle and one suspect were involved. Kai-Ji Adam Lo was subsequently charged with eight counts of second-degree murder. Mr Lo was initially detained by people at the scene. Footage shared online showed a young man in a black hoodie, backed against a fence, apologising as bystanders shouted at him. Mr Rai said the person in custody was a lone male who was known to police in certain circumstances and had a history of interactions with professionals related to mental health. He did not clarify whether the suspect had a criminal record. It would be inappropriate for me to get into those kinds of details at this point, Mr Rai said, adding that it would be unfair to make comments on whether the suspect was on bail. In a post on X earlier, police had said a car drove into a crowd at a street festival at E 41st Avenue and Fraser shortly after 8pm local time. We will provide more information as the investigation unfolds, they had said. open image in gallery Vancouver police secure the scene after a car drives into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver ( AP ) Some unverified videos and photos showed injured people lying on the street amid chaos and a heavy police presence. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in one of the still photos. The crash occurred during the Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture. The event featured live performances, food vendors and cultural displays, drawing thousands to the Sunset on Fraser neighbourhood. This years festivities were part of the broader recognition of 27 April as Lapu Lapu Day in British Columbia, officially declared in 2023 to acknowledge the significance of Filipino Canadians in the province. The day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous Visayan chieftain from Mactan in the Philippines. According to the street partys website, Lapu-Lapu is regarded as the first national hero of the Philippines. He is described as an enduring symbol of unwavering resistance and indomitable spirit during the Age of Exploration and the first to rise against the tide of Spanish colonisation. The festivals website posted a map of the area where the event was being held, matching the spot where the incident took place. Mr Rai said the victims were all young men and women. He could not provide details about their ages, he said, calling it a tragedy all around for many families. open image in gallery Police say incident took place on E 43rd Avenue and Fraser St ( Lapu Lapu Festival ) When asked whether the incident had anything to do with the upcoming federal election, Mr Rai said: I don't know anything about that. An eyewitness, Yoseb Vardeh, a co-owner of the Bao Buns food truck, told BBC World Service that the driver appeared to be going for maximum damage as he went completely straight, right through the crowd at about 100kmph after the final live performance of the day. He said the car struck several of his customers. The driver tried to flee but was caught by people nearby, Mr Vardeh said. I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, and husbands crying out for their wife, or their kids. It was just horrible. open image in gallery Police work near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver ( REUTERS ) NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who was at the Lapu Lapu event before the incident took place, said he was horrified to learn that innocent people had been killed and injured. As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience. Vancouver mayor Ken Sim said in a statement on X that he was shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time. The prime minister said he was devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, Mr Carney said. We are all mourning with you. We are monitoring the situation closely and thankful to our first responders for their swift action. Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, called the incident a senseless attack while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was shocked and heartbroken. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau shared his condolences: My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims of the tragic attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver, he said. I join all Canadians in standing with the Filipino community at this difficult time. Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was shattered to hear about the terrible incident in Vancouver and noted that the Philippine Consulate General was working with Canadian authorities to ensure a thorough investigation. In the UK, King Charles III said he and Queen Camilla were profoundly saddened by the dreadful attack and tragic loss of life. British foreign secretary David Lammy said he was shocked and deeply saddened and expressed that his thoughts are with all of those affected, their families and loved ones. French president Emmanuel Macron conveyed condolences. Following the tragedy in Vancouver, I extend our solidarity to Canadians and the Filipino community. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice More than 300 federal agents raided what the Drug Enforcement Administration called an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs early on Sunday morning, arresting at least 114 people. The operation involved agents from the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the IRS, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and even the U.S. Postal Service, along with local law enforcement, CBS News noted. Firearms and drugs were also seized in the raid, which took place around 3:45 a.m. President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to celebrate the raid, writing that it was conducted against some of the worst people illegally in our Country Drug Dealers, Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes, and Judges dont want to send them back to where they came from. Deputy White House chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, an architect of Trumps anti-immigration agenda, claimed the underground nightclub was used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, he said on X. The raid was a joint operation between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. open image in gallery Dozens of people streamed out of the underground nightclub as federal agents conducted their nighttime raid ( DEARockyMountain/X ) Part of busting up the underground nightclub in Colorado Springs included the arrest of 114 illegal aliens, the DEA said on X. The agency added that federal agents placed patrons (in the U.S. illegally) on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation. Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, the agency said in a separate post. Attorney General Pam Bondi also praised the raid, claiming that the club wasnt only frequented by Tren de Aragua but also by members of the MS-13 gang. Bondi referred to them as terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized. Two people were also arrested on existing warrants, she added before praising Trump. As we approach his 100 days in office, @POTUS Trumps directive to make America safe again is achieving results! she wrote. open image in gallery At least 114 people were arrested and placed on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation, DEA said ( DEARockyMountain/X ) Law enforcement officials claimed that more than 200 people were inside. DEA shared footage on X showing agents in tactical gear smashing a window as dozens of people exit the building, with some initially attempting to leave the area before being told to get on the ground by agents with weapons drawn. Many of them complied and raised their hands, the footage shows. DEA officials also said active-duty U.S. military personnel were at the party, some taking part as patrons and others working as private security personnel. Its obviously concerning to have active duty military involved, DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said. Federal agents are working with the Armys Criminal Investigation Division, he said. There's a lot of military bases here, so it's not necessarily surprising, but we're going to take that very seriously, he added. No one detained during the Colorado Springs raid has been publicly identified so far. open image in gallery Active-duty military personnel were found to be at the party, both as patrons and working as private security ( DEARockyMountain/X ) The arrests follow weeklong raids in Florida with ICE officers working alongside local police to make nearly 800 arrests in what officials called a first of its kind operation and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation. Arrests were carried out Monday through Saturday for Operation Tidal Wave, ICE said in a statement. The agency called the operation a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown. The Trump administration has deployed federal law enforcement agencies into communities throughout the United States to speed up removals as part of the presidents mass deportation agenda. The agreement between ICE and local law enforcement relies on ICE's 287(g) authority, which allows the agency to delegate immigration-related arrests to local police. Roughly 200 Florida law enforcement agencies including sheriffs offices, city police departments, and college campus police departments have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, the most out of any state. On Truth Social, Trump suggested that his administration will continue to fight a legal battle over the use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deported alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. The justices said targeted immigrants must have the chance to challenge the accusations against them, in the districts where they are being detained, before they can be removed. If we dont win this battle at the Supreme Court, our Country, as we know it, is FINISHED! It will be a Crime ridden MESS, Trump wrote. Trump also commented on the arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, who was accused of obstructing justice after allegedly directing an immigrant out of her courtroom to avoid federal agents, who arrested the man moments later. "What happened was terrible, Trump told reporters on Sunday. That that could happen with a judge is so ashamed ... Look, we have to bring our country back from all these criminals that Biden allowed to come in. These are world-class criminals and people that are insane, people from jails, murderers, drug addicts, drug dealers. The president appeared to suggest that he views judges and the legal system as obstacles to his deportation agenda. And you know, we have a country. We have to be proud of our country. We can't let these people stay, and the courts are allowing them to stay, he added. We're just not going to allow it so, hopefully, the Supreme Court will come to the rescue of our country. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers worked alongside local police to make nearly 800 arrests in Florida this week as part of an operation law enforcement officials called the first of its kind and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation. Arrests were carried out Monday through Saturday and dubbed Operation Tidal Wave, ICE said in a statement. The agency called the operation a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown. The operation played out as Donald Trumps administration deploys federal law enforcement agencies into communities throughout the United States to speed up removals as part of the presidents mass deportation agenda. open image in gallery ICE worked with local Florida police to arrest nearly 800 people this week in a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown ( Immigration and Customs Enforcement ) The agreement between ICE and local law enforcement relies on ICE's 287(g) authority, which allows the agency to effectively deputize local police to carry out immigration-related arrests. Some 200 Florida law enforcement agencies including sheriffs offices, city police departments and college campus police departments have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, the most out of any state. Nationwide, there has been a 371 percent increase in the number of 287(g) agreements signed by local agencies, acting ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News. The operation is the first of its kind and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation, Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. Immigrants rights advocates fear the scale of arrests will result in so-called collateral arrests that allow officers to detain immigrants who were not initially targeted but got caught up in raids. Its going to break up families, Tessa Petit, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, told The New York Times. And that is not the welcoming state that Florida has been for immigrants for decades. The operation targeted people in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers, according to records reviewed by the Tallahassee Democrat. Local officials opposing the administrations push to partner with local law enforcement have also faced threats from Trumps allies. Floridas Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier opened an investigation into the Fort Meyers city council when members voted against an agreement to train city police on how to partner with ICE, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis also had a stark warning for local officials following the no-vote: Florida will ensure its laws are followed, and when it comes to immigration the days of inaction are over. Govern yourselves accordingly." These federal-local partnerships are set to continue, ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan told ABC News. Weve seen historic partnerships with the state of Texas that has been going on and being able to expand. We've seen historic partnerships in Virginia as well as many other states that are coming to the table, even states that you wouldn't necessarily always think of as border states, Sheahan said. open image in gallery Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported by the U.S. Now, many are calling for the Trump administration to bring him back ( AFP via Getty Images ) Trumps immigration approval rating fell from a net score of plus 18 points to a net score of just plus 10 points since mid-March, according to a poll by Echelon Insights released earlier this month. Similarly, a New York Times/Siena poll released this week shows the majority of voters believe Trump has gone too far on immigration enforcement. The drop follows legal and public backlash against a series of high-profile immigration enforcement actions, including the Trumps administrations refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father and Salvadoran immigrant who was living in Maryland and deported to a notorious prison in his home country. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the government must facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. A federal appeals court said the removal of U.S. residents without due process should be shocking to Americans intuitive sense of liberty. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he will not make efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States while lawyers for Abrego Garcia continue to fight for his return in court. Trump administration officials were reportedly planning to seek Abrego Garcias return, but the White House performed a dramatic U-turn soon afterward, The Atlantic reports. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denies that there was ever an effort to bring Abrego Garcia back. I have long been a Michelle Obama fan: impressed by the the grace with which she handled being first lady, and her extraordinary autobiography Becoming, which revealed her to be as funny and opinionated as she is whip-smart. I was also once lucky enough to witness her mesmerising a class of girls in east London, as she told them about growing up poor, sharing a bedroom with her brother in a deprived part of Chicago. When I see you I see myself, she told them, saying that if they worked hard and seized the opportunities that education afforded them, they too could flourish and make something of themselves in the world. Her talk centred on deferred gratification, working hard for the long term, duty, and doing the right thing. This is a woman who has grafted for everything she has in life. Which is why I cheered while listening to her latest podcast, IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson (Craig is the brother she shared that tiny bedroom with). No is a full sentence, she proclaimed. Its so important to give ourselves permission to make decisions that protect our peace. Michelle, now 61, was properly explaining for the first time in public why she decided not to attend Donald Trumps inauguration in January (nor Jimmy Carters funeral the week before) alongside her husband, former president Barack Obama. For the sin of not showing up, she had to contend with months of rumours about the state of her marriage, and vicious, unfounded gossip about her husbands supposed affair with Jennifer Aniston, with commentators taking her absence as proof that the couple were divorcing. However, Michelle says the real reason was much more mundane: she didnt go because she didnt want to. It was that simple. And after decades of taking one for the team putting her own career on hold to support her husband and daughters she finally did what she wanted to do, put her own needs first, and said no. But it wasnt easy My decision to skip the inauguration you know, what people dont realise or my decision to make choices at the beginning of this year that suited me were met with such ridicule and criticism, she said. People couldnt believe that I was saying no for any other reason; they had to assume that my marriage was falling apart. While Im here really trying to own my life and intentionally practise making the choice that was right for me. open image in gallery A lone Obama pictured at Donald Trumps second inauguration earlier this year ( AFP/Getty ) She added, It took everything in my power not to do the thing that was perceived as right, but to do the things that were for me that was a hard thing for me to do. When we fall into the trap of serving others instead of ourselves, as her co-host notes, women become shock absorbers absorbing the needs of our partners, our children, our family and our bosses. It is both exhausting and unfair. Michelles generation of women have been bred to please (dont believe me? Just read the Girl Guides manual from the 1980s its all about being good hostesses, and above all, never seeking credit or praise). We were taught that being a good woman meant prioritising everyone else over ourselves. If we worked, then we worked harder than men to prove ourselves, and being Superwoman meant not having it all, but doing it all too. The double shift home and work is all too real, as Michelle Obama documents in Becoming. In midlife, that finally begins to change. Research conducted by Noon.org.uk The Secrets of Midlife Women found that 43 per cent of ABC1 UK women aged 45-60 agreed that this period of my life is finally about looking after me, not everyone else its finally MY turn. Midlife, as Michelle is now discovering, is when we can finally put our own needs first. open image in gallery The Obamas pictured with Donald and Melania Trump during the latters first inauguration in 2017 ( Getty ) For the former first lady, this was a conscious and intentional decision. Not just for herself, but to model putting her own needs first finally to her daughters Malia and Sasha Obama. I want them to start practising now the art of saying no, she said. Its a muscle that you have to build, because if you dont constantly build it, you dont develop it. This is not a one-off. Earlier this month, on Sophia Bushs Work in Progress podcast, she talked about how women are often criticised for putting themselves first. So much so that this year, people... they couldnt even fathom that I was making a choice for myself, that they had to assume that my husband and I were divorcing, she said. This couldnt be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But thats what society does to us. We start actually finally going, What am I doing? Who am I doing this for? she continued. And if it doesnt fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labelled as something negative and horrible. She added, I feel like its time for me to make some big girl decisions about my life and own it fully. Its a sentiment that I see echoed by the community I run for women in midlife. Many of the women talk about feeling lost, having put their own needs, dreams and wishes at the bottom of the pile for so long theyve forgotten what they are. open image in gallery Obama: People couldnt even fathom that I was making a choice for myself, that they had to assume that my husband and I were divorcing ( Michelle Obama/YouTube ) One woman said she looked at her life and felt, I havent chosen any of it its like Im sleepwalking through my own life. When I ask them what they love doing, what reliably brings them joy? Many look blank often they have spent so much of the last 25 years looking after everybody elses needs, theyve forgotten their own. My kids have both gone off to university, said one. I was walking around the supermarket buying food, and Im so used to getting everyone elses favourites that I had no idea what to buy for myself Recovering a sense of who we are as grown-up women, with our own agency not as mums, partners, daughters or employees is crucial. Life spans have doubled in the last century the average 50-year-old now can expect to live into their late eighties, nineties or even to 100. Yet there are very few models in our culture, or maps to show what the later stages of womens lives might look like. Thats why Michelle articulating putting herself first matters so much. And there is a biological imperative, too. As women hit midlife, the hormonal changes of menopause mean the pleasing, love hormone oxytocin wanes in our bodies. Oestrogen goes down and testosterone increases. We stop being primed for love, nurture, and doing what everyone else wants and start naturally leaning into our own needs instead. open image in gallery The couple pictured at a campaign event at the University of Iowa in 2012 ( AFP/Getty ) Midlife isnt a crisis its a chrysalis. Everything begins to shift: by 50, over half of women have been through many of the big life events, be that divorce, bereavement, redundancy, caring for a dying or elderly parent, raising a child with anxiety, facing an empty nest, or dealing with their own health issues. But Ive found the women who have been through the most who have shed the most end up the happiest. They end up with a life they have chosen, one which matches on the outside who they feel they are on the inside. But to get to that point takes a lot of sloughing off the dead wood, a lot of pruning what no longer serves us. It takes a lot of saying NO. Eleanor Mills is the Founder of Noon.org.uk, the UKs premium community for women in midlife, and the author of the Times-bestselling book Much More to Come: Lessons on the Mayhem and Magnificence of Midlife, published by HarperCollins Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A Trump-less White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD) was a night of both celebrating Washingtons journalist elite and, for some, reflection upon the failure of the D.C. press corps to cover Joe Bidens frailty throughout his presidency. The black tie dinner on Saturday featured no host after comedian Amber Ruffin was dropped from the gig only weeks in advance. The focus beyond the usual party atmosphere was the state of journalism under Donald Trumps second administration at a time when the White House is exerting an unprecedented amount of control over Oval Office and briefing room coverage. Also in focus was the annual awards of scholarships to young reporters and recognition of some members of the press corps for coverage in 2024. ABCs Rachel Scott was the first to be recognized for her on-the-scene reporting of the Trump rally-turned-assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. But it was the award of the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence to Axios reporter Alex Thompson which provoked a moment of self-reflection for the attending journalists. NBCs Kristen Welker, introducing Thompson, quoted the Correspondents Associations judges to a crowd that cheered his name: Thompsons aggressive reporting ... revealed [that] the presidents cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job, information the White House tried to conceal. Thompson himself delivered a brief speech moments later. President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception, said the Axios reporter. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it." Members of the former Biden/Harris administration have faced tough questions about the extent to which Bidens cognitive decline was apparent throughout 2024 and before in the wake of the November election. Harriss brutal defeat across the battleground states followed a sprint to the finish line the vice president only began after taking over Joe Bidens place at the top of the ticket in July. The 46th president was forced out of the race after enduring weeks of calls for him to step down. In interviews, Biden has admitted that he is unsure that he was physically capable of serving another four years in office. But a disastrous debate in June at which he appeared soft-spoken to the point of whispering and at times seemed unable to follow what his opponent was saying triggered a series of calls for a new candidate from Democratic members of Congress terrified of polling that projected a bloodbath for the party in November. open image in gallery Kamala Harris had to run a truncated campaign after Joe Bidens late withdrawal, which ended in heavy defeat at the polls. ( Getty Images ) Now, the ex-president and members of his former team continue to face scrutiny over why they put up so much resistance to the president stepping aside and allowing a formal Democratic primary process to play out in 2024, while Republicans argue that Bidens frailties left him unfit for office entirely. Progressives, meanwhile, continue to fume at both their ideological rivals in the party itself as well as the mainstream media for allowing the concealment of those issues displayed by the president to persist as long as they did. Reporting from The Wall Street Journal in December of 2024 revealed that Bidens aides and campaign officials first began managing the perception of his stamina and physical capabilities in 2020, when he came from behind after a victory in South Carolina to win the Democratic primary, buoyed in part by a consolidation of support around him. Thompson, for his part, reported in late June of 2024: From 10am to 4pm, Biden is dependably engaged and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours. Outside of that time range or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued. The Biden campaign would go on to use the latter reason as an excuse for his disappointing debate performance. But many Democrats (both Biden loyalists and others in the party) continue to feel betrayed and let down by the manner by which Biden was forced to step aside and, in general, the urgency with which the party treated Donald Trumps third presidential campaign. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Officials from the Justice Department who manage grant distributions are brainstorming ways to clear homeless encampments and increase the involuntary hospitalization of individuals with mental illnesses, according to an email obtained byThe Washington Post. This represents the latest indication that the Trump administration is following through on commitments to aggressively remove homeless people from public spaces, as President Donald Trump spoke of during the 2024 campaign. Just last month, the president issued an executive order aimed at making the District of Columbia safe and beautiful, which instructed the National Park Service to remove all homeless encampments from federal land in the capital. In the past, he has spoken of housing the homeless in tent cities on inexpensive land on the outskirts of cities and jailing those who refuse treatment. The email was sent on Thursday evening to employees in the Office of Justice Programs and included eight questions asking for input on how best to direct resources to issues concerning homelessness and mental illness. Recipients have until Wednesday to submit their responses. What can DOJ do to more efficiently shift chronic vagrants away from the public square and into a more concentrated space so that order can be restored and resources and services can be deployed more effectively? one of the questions read. The email stated that the White House had directed the department and other agencies to provide legislative, funding, and other solutions for issues related to homelessness, mental health, and more. Washington, D.C., city officials and law enforcement clear out a homeless encampment near the State Department on March 07, 2025 ( Getty Images ) Many email recipients in the Justice Department work with grantees and specialize in implementing the departments policies aimed at improving public safety through research and community support. What can DOJ do to increase the availability and use of involuntary commitment for individuals with serious mental illness who, otherwise, cannot or will not receive care? another question read. Alternatively, what can the Federal government do to shift state and local governments policies and behavior on this issue? Staff were also asked for ideas on how to decrease panhandling and increase resources available to incarcerated people who face addiction and mental illness in federal prisons. Another question asked staff how to prioritize mental health resources for people who suffer from the most serious mental illnesses: What federal resources should be redirected from supporting mental health treatment toward supporting the treatment of serious mental illness, for the sake of prioritization of limited resources and efficacy? Traditionally, both Republican and Democratic administrations have focused on a Housing First approach to homelessness and mental illness get people into stable housing and then direct them to mental health services or help with drug addiction. The email asked which federal programs should maintain such an approach. There have already been deep cuts to the homelessness efforts of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which could worsen the number of unhoused people, advocates warn. Speaking to the Post, Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, expressed concern that the involvement of the Justice Department by the administration could lead to the criminal prosecution of people who live on the streets. My immediate reaction is that they are talking to the wrong people for finding solutions to homelessness. The criminal justice system and DOJ cannot solve homelessness, he told the paper. The real solution is housing. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled to allow the criminalization of homelessness after the conservative majority said it would allow laws that permit police to ticket, fine, or arrest those who sleep in public areas. The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates policy across the federal government, was effectively shut down in the name of cost-cutting by Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency earlier this month. With fewer than 20 employees and a budget of just over $4 million, Congress created the agency in 1987 to make sure that the federal response to homelessness was coordinated, efficient, and reduced duplication across federal agencies. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice President Donald Trump this week addressed an unexpected question from a reporter about whether he intends to release more information on Jeffrey Epstein. His remarks came just days before Virginia Giuffre, one of the first and most prominent survivors of Epsteins abuse to speak out, died by suicide. Epstein, a sex offender accused of orchestrating a massive child sex trafficking ring with his associates, died by suicide in 2019 while in custody on federal sex trafficking charges. He was associated with dozens of celebrities and powerful politicians, bringing international interest to the case. open image in gallery President Donald Trump says he doesnt know when the next round of Epstein files might be released ( AP ) Much of this interest centered around redacted court documents naming alleged associates and victims known as the Epstein files. Attorney General Pam Bondi moved to release some of these documents in February in what she labeled the first phase of declassified files but much of the information was already public. Trump, when asked by a reporter on April 22 when the public could expect to see the release of more documents, said he would speak to Bondi. I dont know, Ill speak to the attorney general about that, I really dont know, Trump said. On January 23, Trump signed an executive order directing the declassification of records surrounding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. I do know that weve done the RFK, the Kennedy, Martin Luther King is out there very shortly, so well find out, Trump added. Weve really announced were doing them in full transparency. What did Attorney General Bondi release in phase one of the Epstein files? Bondi moved to declassify several documents from Epsteins criminal prosecution, many of which were already published. The files previously published pilot logs related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epsteins close associate, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. The files also included redactions from prosecutors to protect victims. Bondi also published Epsteins little black book, containing names of his alleged associates. However, that too was already published. One never-before-seen document was an "Evidence List," a catalogue of evidence obtained by investigators. Items included a LSJ logbook, believed to refer to his private island Little St. James, and a CD labelled girl pics nude book 4. open image in gallery Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges ( New York State Sex Offender Registry ) Several big names had already been linked to Epstein through previously released documents, including Trump, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. Bondi had invited several prominent right-wing influencers to the White House including Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik and Republican activist Scott Presler to see the documents the day they were released. But virtually all of that information was already public, and many Republicans turned to social media to criticize Bondi. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press, far-right Representative Anna Paulina Luna wrote on social media at the time. Luna, who chairs a House Republican-led Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, said the Justice Department did not provide her or her committee with the documents. 1) If the Epstein files are out, where do we find them? (2) Whats the difference between phase 1 and phase 2? asked Republican Senator Mike Lee. Will the Epstein files tell us whether he killed himself? Far-right influencer Laura Loomer raged that THERE ARE NO EPSTEIN FILES!!! open image in gallery Attorney General Pam Bondi saw backlash after many realized the first phase of the Epstein files released included little new information ( REUTERS ) What have officials said about the Epstein files? Bondi said releasing the first-phase documents sheds light on Epsteins extensive network and begins to provide the public with long overdue accountability. This Department of Justice is following through on President Trumps commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators, she added. Following the release of phase one, Bondi reportedly pushed the FBI and her own agency to urgently review and declassify more files, according to ABC News. The FBI enlisted thousands of agents to help with the effort, the outlet reports. Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to declassify documents in several high-profile cases during his second term. This includes the release of 2,200 files related to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, which critics blasted as just another nothing burger that revealed little new information. Trump also promised to release sealed files about the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. A key suspect in Kim Kardashian's Paris robbery ordeal has died. A suspect in Kim Kardashian's robbery ordeal has died Marceau Baum-Gertner was set to face trial on Monday (28.04.25) over his alleged involvement with the gang that held the 44-year-old reality star at gunpoint in her hotel room in 2016, but it has now emerged that the 72 year old - who was said to have been responsible for finding buyers for Kim's stolen possessions, including her $4 million engagement ring from Kanye West - passed away suddenly last month, MailOnline reports. The suspect, who was nicknamed Nez Rape, passed away on 6 March but legal authorities had still named him in an operational note on 14 March as the fourth key defendant due to appear for trial at the Paris Assizes next week. A source told MailOnline: "Mr Baum-Gertner had been released on bail following his arrest over the Kim Kardashian robbery eight years ago, and was living in Paris, while regularly reporting to police. "His name was on the defendants' list for the trial, and he was very enthusiastic about clearing his name in court. "This was until he died suddenly in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on March 6. "He was suspected of liaising with mafia gangs from across the world over the Kardashian jewellery, and criminals are known to have issued threats against him following widespread publicity connected to the case.' The defendant had refused to name any associates during multiple interrogations ahead of the trial. Baum-Gertner was first arrested in January 2017 following regular meetings with Aomar 'Old Omar' Ait Khedache, 68, who has already confessed to being the ringleader of the gang after his DNA was found at the scene of the crime. The pair were caught on surveillance cameras at service stations in Paris, prompting cops from the Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB) of the Paris Judicial Police to bug Baum-Gertner's phones and put a GPS tracking device on his car. He regularly drove from Paris to Antwerp with Old Omar and Christiane 'Cathy' Glotin, 78, the only female suspect who will face trial next week. The trio were filmed meeting up with known "faces" from the criminal underworld in a joint operation between Belgian and French detectives. Kim is expected to fly to Paris from Los Angeles for next week's trial. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Donald Trumps chaotic approach to the U.S.-China trade war took an odd turn this week, with the president claiming that trade negotiations are happening every day, with Beijing responding that they have no idea what hes talking about. To recap, the United States has put an import tax of 145 percent on Chinese goods coming into America. As inventories already in the country deplete and new stock arrives, Americans can expect to pay more for products or find shelves unstocked. China responded by putting a 125 percent tariff on U.S. imports. Officials warned other nations striking trade deals with Trump that there will be consequences if they come at the expense of Beijings interests. The president has softened his rhetoric over the past week saying he planned to be very nice to reach a deal, calling the current tariff on Chinese goods too high and vowing it would come down substantially. This came after a meeting with major retailers who are believed to have sounded the alarm over what the tariffs mean for their businesses. Nevertheless, no formal talks with China appear to have either been arranged or have taken place, no matter what Trump claims. On the Sunday morning talk shows, Trump Cabinet members were asked to clarify who was talking with China. Things did not get any clearer. ABCs Martha Raddatz asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about China on This Week. He began by explaining that the Chinese business model is selling cheap goods to the United States, and if that were to suddenly stop, they would be forced to negotiate. President Donald Trump during a meeting with Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Store, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC ( EPA ) President Trump, again, said he's spoken to President Xi of China, and negotiations are ongoing, but China has firmly denied this, saying that China and the US have not consulted or negotiated on the tariff issue, Raddatz said. So are negotiations actually happening? Who is talking? Bessent replied: This was IMF, World Bank week, in D.C., as you know, and I had interactions with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings. He continued: I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi. I know they have a very good relationship and a lot of respect for each other, but again, I think that the Chinese will see that this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business. Why would they deny the negotiations? asked Raddatz. I think they're playing to a different audience, Bessent replied. So they're actually going on, there are actually things happening, but the Chinese are just denying that it's not true? Raddatz asked by way of clarification. We have a process in place. And again, I just believe these Chinese tariffs are unsustainable because of the Chinese business model, the Treasury secretary reiterated. Turning to another Trump statement that trade deals could be arranged with multiple countries in a very short space of time, Raddatz asked about a timeline for an agreement with China, noting Bessent has told Bloomberg it could take two to three years to forge a comprehensive deal. At the IMF meetings, he called it a slog. Well, look, I think that there is a path here. So the first will be again a de-escalation, which I think the Chinese are going to have to have. Then I think there can be an agreement in principle, he said, saying that other trade talks were following a similar trajectory. Raddatz also pressed Bessent on Trumps claim he's made 200 deals on tariffs: Who has he made deals with? Is there actually any deal at this point? Bessent didnt give specifics but said he believed the president was referring to subdeals within the negotiations. He also defended the presidents seemingly chaotic tactics as strategic uncertainty. Nobody's better at creating this leverage than President Trump, he said. On CNNs State of the Union, Dana Bash pressed Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on the alleged China negotiations. You said that there are talks with China every day, Bash said. Who are the talks with and at what level? Because the Chinese are saying that's not true. Rollins responded: Well, according to our team in Washington, the conversations are ongoing regarding multiples of trade, but here multiples of the trade goods that are coming out and going in. But, the bottom line with China is this: they need us more than we need them. They need our money. They need our markets. They need our consumers and all of the above. She called the president the ultimate deal maker working to hold China accountable. And in agriculture, year upon year, decade upon decade, our goods have been taken advantage of, she said. The trade disparity, the non-trade barriers on top of the tariff numbers, are insane, whether it's Argentina, or China, or Brazil, or the UK. On Thursday, He Yadong, Chinas Ministry of Commerce spokesperson, said: Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis. Similarly, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China is prepared to negotiate only under certain conditions. Chinas attitude is consistent and clear: if you want to fight, we will fight to the end, if you want to talk, the door is open, he said. That same day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: Well, they had a meeting this morning, so I can't tell you. It doesn't matter who they is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Charlotte Pohl and Maria Leperes first night in Honolulu was not how they intended. The jet-setting high school graduates from Rostock, Germany, had envisioned island-hopping across Hawaii before flying inland to California. Instead, they woke up from their fever dream on a moldy mattress in a frigid, dilapidated cell, detained by authorities when they arrived at Honolulu airport and had attempted to go through U.S. customs. Pohl and Leperes experience is one of several harrowing, high-profile accounts from tourists who have had their vacations derailed at the hands of border officials since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January. Ever since the president promised to stage the largest deportation operation in American history earlier this year, international tourism to the U.S. has plummeted amid reports of detained tourists and travelers. Total foreign visitors were down 12 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. That drop marked one of the steepest declines on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. Western European visitors experienced a 17 percent drop-off last month, spearheaded by fewer British and German visitors 14 and 28 percent, respectively. Here are some of the tourists that did try and visit but instead had their American dreams dashed. Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepere, 18, from Germany Pohl, 19, and Lepere, 18, were denied entry into the U.S. on March 18 despite holding the required documentation, including the electronic visa required by most visitors. The teens said that they wanted to travel spontaneously, and subsequently hadnt booked accommodation for the entirety of their five-week stint on the archipelago, Pohl told German newspaper Ostsee Zeitung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham countered this week that the tourists were attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses, and claimed they admitted they intended to work without the appropriate visas. The travelers told the newspaper they were stripped and searched before being given prison garments to wear and locked in a double cell. After three days detained, they returned to Rostock via Tokyo, Qatar, and Frankfurt am Main. We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive, Lepere reflected. open image in gallery An aerial view of the Maui coast, where two German tourists say they were handcuffed and forced to wear prison uniforms ( Getty Images ) For tourists like Pohl and Lepere, and others legally in the U.S. and subsequently removed, that so-called privilege was not afforded. Rebecca Burke, 28, Wales Welsh graphic artist Rebecca Burke was detained on February 26 after she embarked on the trip of a lifetime across North America. open image in gallery Rebecca Burke, left, has warned Britons not to go to the US after she was detained for 19 days (PA) ( PA Media ) The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was reunited with her family this month after spending 19 days in a processing center after being denied entry at the border between the U.S. and Canada over a so-called visa mix-up. Burke had been residing with host families in Portland, Oregon, whom she helped out with chores in exchange for her accomodation. As she attempted to cross into Canada, border officials informed her that her living arrangements would mean she needed a work visa, not a tourist one. She was sent back to the U.S. where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. Burke was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She was not allowed to fly home to the U.K. despite having the funds to pay for a plane ticket. Burke was detained while attempting to leave the U.S., not entering it. As she was ushered to the plane before finally being flown back to Britain, her father told the BBC she had been taken in leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs like The Silence of the Lambs serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. Lucas Sielaff, 25, Germany German Lucas Sielaff spent more than two weeks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a prison in San Diego, California, after trying to cross the southern border from Tijuana in Mexico in February with his fiancee, Lennon Tyler, an American psychologist. open image in gallery Lucas Sielaff was detained for more than two weeks after attempting to enter the U.S. from Tijuana ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) The couple, who were on vacation, allegedly drove to Tijuana for medical treatment for Dr. Tylers dog. Tyler, who was handcuffed before being released, said she was chained to a bench and had her arms twisted by border agents, she told the New York Times. Reportedly because of a language barrier, Sielaff, 25, got an answer wrong regarding where he lived as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. The man said he shared a cell with eight other people and shared one microwave oven with 120 people to heat his food. He was eventually allowed voluntary deportation on a flight that cost him more than $2,700. Sometimes I just wake up because I have nightmares of this situation and what happened, he told The Times. And I just try to go for walks and calm down. Jessica Brosche, 29, Germany open image in gallery Jessica Brosche, a tattoo artist, was traveling with tattoo needles, which made customs officials believe she was planning to work ( GoFundMe ) A German tattoo artist spent more than six weeks also at the Otay Mesa Detention Center after officials believed that she was trying to illegally work in the U.S. At least eight days of her time in custody were reportedly spent in solitary confinement. Jessica Brosche, 29, was on the trip with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program when she attempted to cross the southern border into San Diego in late January. Brosche was traveling with tattoo equipment, leading border officers to believe that she was trying to work unlawfully in the U.S., according to The Guardian. She is said to have planned to tattoo Lofving in exchange for some clothes. She says it was like a horror movie, Lofving told ABC 10 News of her friends experience. They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then shes got blood on her knuckles. Travelers are now avoiding heading to the U.S. An Australian man was detained last month for eight hours in John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving in New York after a 24-hour flight from Sydney, via Hong Kong, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The traveler, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said he intended to board a cruise in Florida but was questioned by border officials after taking what he described as a very unusual route from Australia via Asia for cheaper air fare. After having his laptop and phone searched, the man said he was deported back to Australia, thousands of dollars out of pocket after his cruise line allegedly refused to refund him. I feel like returning to the US under the current administration would be the equivalent of going back for your hat after escaping a devastating house fire, he said. I have no wish to be burnt again. Stories of distressing detentions, stricter border controls and the Trump administrations imperialistic rhetoric are seemingly only part of the puzzle. Tourists also appear to be repelled by consequential changes in foreign diplomacy, not least the president attempting to foment a global trade war as he aggressively attempts to pursue his America First agenda. When pressed on the steep drop-off of tourism in the U.S. in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump retorted: Its not a big deal. Two weeks earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed that visiting America is not an entitlement. It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values, he added. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A woman who came to Canada in search of a better life and a mother, father and their little girl are among the 11 people killed in the Vancouver festival attack. A black SUV plowed into crowds who had gathered for a Filipino street festival in the city on Saturday evening, with casualties aged from five years-old to 65. More than a dozen people were also injured in the attack with many taken to hospital. A 30-year-old man, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder over the incident as investigations into the tragedy ongoing. open image in gallery Liberal Leader Mark Carney at a vigil on Sunday ( AP ) Below are some of the people who were killed or injured in the attack, as families and friends raise funds to help their recovery or support their loved ones with funerals. Click here if you wish to donate. Parents and five-year-old daughter killed open image in gallery Richard Le, Linh Hoang and their five-year-old daughter Katie Le were all killed on Saturday ( GoFundMe ) Richard Le, a dedicated father and real estate professional and his wife Linh Hoang, a mother known for her kindness and gentle spirit were killed after the SUV drove into the crowd. Their five-year-old daughter Katie also died, Richard Les brother Toan Le said in a GoFundMe post. His loved one said that his 16-year-old nephew Andy was the familys sole survivor because at the last moment, he decided to stay home to finish his homework instead of attending the event with his family. Toan said his brother had devoted his life to teaching young people the values of sportsmanship and team spirit as a badminton and tennis coach, while Linh had been planning a visit to see her family in Vietnam. Toan said his niece was just about to graduate from kindergarten. She was vibrant, joyful, and full of life, he said. We hope you cherish your loved ones every single day, as Andy and many others no longer have that chance. Woman who came to Canada for a better life open image in gallery Tributes have been paid to Rizza Azzir ( GoFundMe ) A woman who was killed in the attack has been remembered as the sweetest soul, who was a kind-hearted and hardworking person. Rizza Azzir had moved to Winnipeg with her husband from the Philippines in search of a better life, her sister Shelby Anne Marie Pacumio wrote on a GoFundMe appeal. Ms Pacumio shared details of her sister on the online fundraiser, trying to raise money to return her Ms Azzirs body home. So far the family has raised over $43,000 (CAD), more than double the $20,000 goal. We are mourning the tragic and unexpected loss of my dear cousin, Rizza, a loving wife, devoted sister, and cherished loved one to so many, Ms Pacumio wrote. To know Rizza was to truly love her. She was the sweetest soul, kind-hearted, humble, and hardworking person. We are doing everything we can to reunite Rizza with her loved ones back home in the Philippines, to lay her to rest with the family who raised her and loved her deeply, Luis AP, another relative, said on Facebook that the funds raised would help Ms Azzirs family with funeral and other urgent expenses. Any help, big or small, would mean the world. Thank you for your prayers, love, and support. Tributes to teacher-counsellor who was full of light, joy open image in gallery Kira Salim was a valued member of the community, colleagues said ( GoFundMe ) A school district has paid tribute to teacher-counsellor Kira Salim, who lost their life in the attack. In a statement, New Westminster Schools said: It is with profound sadness that we share news that Kira Salim, teacher-counsellor at Fraser River Middle School and New Westminster Secondary School, was among those who lost their lives in the April 26 Lapu Lapu Day tragedy. Kira was a valued member of our community whose wisdom and care for our middle and secondary school students had a powerful impact. Their work, and the great spirit they brought to it, changed lives. The loss of our friend and colleague has left us all shocked and heartbroken. We extend our deepest condolences to Kiras family, friends, and all who were fortunate to know them. Patricia Avelino said she met Kira almost 20 years ago, and reconnected a few years ago in Canada. She is now raising money in a GoFundMe for Kiras partner. Kira was a person full of light, joy, and deeply loved by friends, family, and colleagues, Ms Avelino added. Their departure leaves an immense void. Mother killed while her son tried to save her open image in gallery Helgi Bjarnason pictured with his mother Maria Victoria (Vicky) Bjarnason shortly before the incident ( GoFundMe ) Maria Victoria (Vicky) Bjarnason was visiting her sons from the Philippines, and had gone to the Lapu Lapu festival when she and her 27-year-old son Helgi Bjarnason were hit by the SUV. Helgis brother Kristjan Bjarnason said on Facebook that Vicky had been a big part of raising him as a stepmother. In a GoFundMe he started for Helgi, Kristjan said Vicky had been due to return home later that same day. Helgi was holding his mother's hand and attempted to pull her away from the car, but unfortunately she was ripped away from him and tragically killed, he said. Helgi was also hit by the car and sustained injuries including a broken leg, for which he was rushed to hospital for surgery. Helgi's friend was also hit by the car and tragically killed. Kristjan said Helgi and their brother Thor were experiencing an unimaginable loss. They wish to take their mother back home to the Philippines for a proper memorial service where she can lay to rest surrounded by her family, he said. Kind-hearted and beautiful soul among those killed open image in gallery Jendhel May Sico was killed at the festival ( GoFundMe ) Jendhel May Sico was her sister Maydhel Sicos best friend. She was also among those killed on Saturday during the Filipino festival. Jendhel was kind-hearted with a beautiful soul. She lived her life to the fullest. She always had a smile on her face and everyone who knows her would agree that she brought positivity to everyone she met, Maydhel said in a GoFundMe. Sharing the GoFundMe she created on Facebook, Maydhel Sico said it was heartbreaking to be in this position. Weve never imagined to lose my sister this early in life, she said. Help for the injured open image in gallery Candles sit near flowers and other objects left by community members at the makeshift memorial ( REUTERS ) Relatives of people who were injured in the incident are also appealing for help. Mary Nor De La Cruz said both her brother Val De La Cruz and his son Jeb, who is almost two, had suffered multiple fractures and were fighting for their lives in hospital. Val is a devoted and loving father, whose world revolves around his son. His bond with Jeb is unbreakable he cherishes every moment spent with his little boy, she said, in a GoFundMe appeal to help the family with medical expenses. Jeb is a sweet, easygoing, and remarkably intelligent baby, always eager to explore and learn new things. His bright curiosity and gentle nature light up the lives of everyone around him. Mary said her brother was his familys sole provider, and the money raised would go towards their care and the support of his wife and their five-month-old daughter. In an update, she said her brother had been transferred to a High Acuity Unit and was showing signs of improvement, but Jeb remained in intensive care. His condition is still critical, and he continues to be closely monitored, she said. So far the appeal has raised over $100,000, again more than double the target. Relatives were also trying to raise money for Roland Nulada, who was also injured in the incident. His sister Pinky Nulada said Roland had attended the festival to share his Filipino heritage, but is now in hospital suffering from serious injuries that will require ongoing treatment. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Eleven people are dead after a car ploughed into a crowded street festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 26. More than two dozen others were injured in a mass casualty incident at an event organized by the local Filipino community. While Canadian authorities say they are confident that it was not an act of terrorism, Prime Minister Mark Carney said they are monitoring the situation closely. Police have called the incident the darkest day in Vancouver's history and said it would be a watershed moment for operational changes. open image in gallery At least nine people, although authorities say they believe it was not an act of terrorism ( REUTERS ) What happened? According to Vancouver Police, at approximately 8 p.m. on Saturday evening local time, a car was driven into the crowd celebrating the annual Lapu Lapu festival, a Filipino community event celebrating Lapu Lapu Day. At least nine people were killed and multiple others were injured as the driver struck pedestrians. The incident occurred at E 41st Avenue and Fraser Street after the final live performance of the day on the grounds of a local high school by Apl.de.ap, a Filipino American rapper and a founding member of the Black Eyed Peas. An eyewitness, Yoseb Vardeh, who is a co-owner of the Bao Buns food truck, told BBC World Service that the driver appeared to be going for maximum damage as he went completely straight, right through the crowd at about 100kph (62mph). open image in gallery First responders at the scene in Vancouver after a car ploughed through crowds of festival-goers ( AP ) He said the car struck several of his customers, adding that the driver tried to flee but was caught by people nearby. I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, and husbands crying out for their wife, or their kids. It was just horrible, he said. Some unverified videos and photos show injured people lying on the street amid chaos and a heavy police presence. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in one of the still photos. Who was the driver? Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department. More charges are expected, according to officials. Only one vehicle and one suspect were involved. Lo was initially detained by people at the scene. Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. I'm sorry, the man said in the footage, holding his hand to his head. Steve Rai, interim police chief, declined to comment on the video but said the person in custody was a lone male who was known to police in certain circumstances and had a history of interactions with professionals related to mental health. Rai said the man in custody had a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health. Earlier, police did not clarify whether the suspect had a criminal record. It would be inappropriate for me to get into those kind of details at this point, Rai said, adding it would be unfair to make comments on whether the suspect was on bail. Vancouver police said a at this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism. open image in gallery Vancouver police secure the scene after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver ( AP ) What do we know about the victims? At a press conference on Sunday, officials confirmed that the number of fatalities had risen to 11, with dozens injured. Their ages range from 5 to 65, according to Vancouver police. Said Rai: We believe dozens more are injured more seriously, and the number of dead could rise in a matter of days or weeks. As yet, no details of those killed or injured have been released. It is expected that many will be from the Filipino Canadian community. Rai said the victims are both male and female and are young people. He added that he can't give further details on ages but calls it a tragedy all around for many families. This year's festivities were part of the broader recognition of 27 April as Lapu Lapu Day in British Columbia, officially declared in 2023 to acknowledge the significance of Filipino Canadians in the province. The day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous Visayan Chieftain from Mactan, Philippines. According to the street partys website, Lapu-Lapu is considered the first national hero of the Philippines. He is described as an enduring symbol of unwavering resistance and indomitable spirit during the Age of Exploration, and the first to rise against the tide of Spanish colonisation. open image in gallery Map of the area where the festival is taking place. The Police said the incident took place E 43rd Avenue and Fraser St ( Lapu Lapu Festival ) What has been the reaction from Canadian officials? The incident comes less than 48 hours before Canadas federal elections. At the moment, there is no suggestion of a connection between the incident and the election. Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was monitoring the situation closely. I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening, he wrote. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you. We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action. Carney has cancelled the final election day rallies in Calgary, Richmond and British Columbia. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, called the incident a senseless attack, while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was shocked and heartbroken. New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, who was at the Lapu Lapu event in Vancouver before the incident took place, said he was horrified to learn that innocent people have been killed and injured. As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience. Governor General Mary Simon and her husband extended their deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragic attack that occurred at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver. A joyous celebration of Filipino culture, community and heritage ended in loss of life and serious injuries as a result of a horrific act. I also want to express my gratitude to all the first responders who rushed to the scene of the incident; your courage, dedication, and swift action in the face of such devastation are deeply appreciated. David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, said he was shocked and heartbroken. We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed, he added. Vancouver mayor Ken Sim said in a statement on X that he was shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau has shared his condolences: My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims of the tragic attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver. I join all Canadians in standing with the Filipino community at this difficult time. open image in gallery Police work on Fraser street, near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people ( REUTERS ) What has been the international reaction? President Ferdinand Marcos Jr of the Philippines, better known as Bongbong Marcos, said he was shattered to hear about the terrible incident in Vancouver. Mr Marcos said the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver was working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident would be thoroughly investigated. In the United Kingdom, King Charles III has said he was profoundly saddened to learn of the incident in Vancouver, extending his deepest possible sympathy. Charles, who is the King of Canada, said: Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also said he is deeply saddened by the incident in Vancouver. I am shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible events at Vancouvers Lapu Lapu festival last night, Mr Lammy wrote on X. Our thoughts are with all of those affected, their families and loved ones. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences, saying on X: Following the tragedy in Vancouver, I extend our solidarity to Canadians and the Filipino community. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The sister of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent survivor of Jeffrey Epsteins sexual abuse who died by suicide this week, said she was a fierce warrior who wished for all survivors to get justice. Giuffre, 41, was among the first people to call for criminal charges against Epstein. Other survivors credit her with giving them the courage to stand up against Epstein and other abusers. Now, her sister Amanda Roberts has told People she was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet. open image in gallery Amanda Roberts said her sister Virginia Giuffre, pictured, wished for all survivors of sexual abuse to receive justice ( AP ) We lost our sister, Roberts said. Her children lost their mother, and her mother lost her daughter." Giuffre was found dead in her home in Neergabby, Australia this week. She was the mother of three children. The world lost a fierce warrior, Roberts added. "She wished for all survivors to get justice. That is who she was. Giuffre founded the organization Speak Out, Act, Reclaim, which is dedicated to providing a safe and empowering space for survivors of sex trafficking to reclaim their stories and stand up for themselves and each other, according to the groups website. It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia, Giuffres family said in a statement provided to The Independent on Friday. She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Giuffre was the light that lifted so many survivors, her family said. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure. open image in gallery Giuffre, right, was among the most prominent survivors of Jeffrey Epsteins abuse and a vital voice for other survivors and law enforcement investigating allegations into the financier and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell ( Reuters ) In 2009, Giuffre (then identified only as Jane Doe) sued Epstein and his associate, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, claiming they recruited her to join a sex-trafficking ring as a minor under the false promise of becoming a professional masseuse. Giuffre said she was recruited by Maxwell while working at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Giuffre said Maxwell had approached her while she was reading a massage therapy manual and asked her to become Epsteins traveling masseuse. Giuffre went on to say Maxwell groomed her to be sexually abused by Epstein from 1999 to 2002. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 after he was charged by federal authorities with sex trafficking and conspiracy. She also said Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew and others. Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, has denied all claims that he assaulted her. He resigned from his public duties in 2020 after she went public with her accusations. Prince Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022 after she sued him the year before that, stating at the time that he hoped to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims. Giuffre went on to provide key information to law enforcement that helped prosecutors ultimately convict Maxwell in 2021. If you are based in the U.S. and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can also speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken survivor of Jeffrey Epsteins sexual abuse, has died by suicide at the age of 41 after troubled years at the heart of a notorious sex trafficking ring. It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia, Giuffres family said in a statement provided to The Independent. She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. Giuffre was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking, the statement continues. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure. open image in gallery Virginia Giuffre is pictured with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre, who said she was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew, died by suicide at 41 ( PA ) Giuffre was one of the first people to call for criminal charges against Epstein. Giuffre recounted how she was groomed by Ghislaine Maxwell to be sexually abused by Epstein. She also accused Epstein of trafficking her to Prince Andrew when she was 17, which the prince has denied. Heres what we know about Giuffre and her fight against sexual abuse: Giuffre grew up in Florida, worked at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate Giuffre, who reported suffering sexual and physical abuse as a child, was born in Sacramento, California and moved with her parents at the age of 4 to Palm Beach County in Florida, where her father was a maintenance manager at Mar-a-Lago. While a teen, Giuffre got a job at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate as a locker room attendant. Giuffre said she was recruited as a teenager by Maxwell, a British socialite and Epsteins associate, while working there. Giuffre recounted Maxwell approaching her while she was reading a massage therapy manual, and asked her to become Epsteins traveling masseuse. They seemed like nice people so I trusted them, and I told them Id had a really hard time in my life up until then Id been a runaway, Id been sexually abused, physically abused, Giuffre said in a 2019 interview with The Miami Herald. That was the worst thing I could have told them because now they knew how vulnerable I was, she added. Giuffre went on to say Maxwell groomed her to be sexually abused by Epstein from 1999 to 2002. She also said that Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew and others. Prince Andrew, the younger brother of King Charles, denied all claims that he assaulted her but resigned from his public duties in 2020 after she went public with her accusations. open image in gallery Giuffre (pictured) met Ghislaine Maxwell while working at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate ( US District Court ) Giuffre sues Epstein and Prince Andrew In 2009, Giuffre (then identified only as Jane Doe) sued Epstein and Maxwell, claiming they recruited her to join a sex-trafficking ring as a minor under the false promise of becoming a professional masseuse. Giuffre went on to identify herself publicly in 2015. She then went on to sue Prince Andrew in 2021 accusing him of sexually assaulting her. Giuffre said Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew when she was 17. Giuffre also provided key information to law enforcement that helped prosecutors ultimately convict Maxwell in 2021, NBC News reports. Epstein, 66 at the time, was charged by federal authorities with sex trafficking and conspiracy, but was found hanged in his cell after his arrest in 2019 in Manhattans Metropolitan Correctional Center. His death was ruled a suicide. Prince Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre in 2022, stating at the time he hoped to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims. The settlement helped support Giuffres advocacy organization, Speak Out, Act, Reclaim. The organization is dedicated to providing a safe and empowering space for survivors of sex trafficking to reclaim their stories and stand up for themselves and each other. open image in gallery Prince Andrew settled with Giuffre (pictured) in 2022. The money went to support her organization Speak Out, Act, Reclaim ( Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Health problems following car crash Late last month, Giuffre posted a photo of herself with a bruised face in a hospital bed on Instagram, explaining that doctors told her she had four days to live due to kidney failure following a car wreck. She was discharged from the hospital six days later. This year has been the worst start to a new year. I wont bore anyone with the details, but I think it important to note that when a school bus driver comes at you driving 110km as we were slowing for a turn that no matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can, she wrote. Im ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time, but you know what they say about wishes, she added. S*** in one hand and wish in the other & I guarantee its still going to be s*** at the end of the day. Giuffre had three children with her husband, Richard Giuffre. A spokesperson for Giuffre said the Instagram post was made in error. On March 24, in rural Western Australia, a school bus hit the car in which she was riding, the spokesperson said. Virginia was banged up and bruised and returned home. Virginias condition worsened and she was admitted to the hospital. Concerning her Instagram post, Virginia thought that she had posted on her private Facebook page, the spokesperson added. Giuffre was supposed to appear in court on April 9 after being charged with violating a family violence restraining order obtained by her husband, People reported. She allegedly violated the order by calling her husband on February 2. However, her court appearance was postponed at the request of her attorney, and a judge granted her an extension until June to enter a plea. open image in gallery Giuffre (pictured) posted a photo of herself in a hospital bed following a car crash last month ( @virginiarobertsrising11/Instagram ) Loved ones react to Giuffres death Giuffres family said she will be missed beyond measure. The light of her life were her children Christian, Noah, and Emily, her family said in a statement. It was when she held her newborn daughter in her arms that Virginia realized she had to fight back against those who had abused her and so many others. There are no words that can express the grave loss we feel today with the passing of our sweet Virginia, the statement continued. She was heroic and will always be remembered for her incredible courage and loving spirit. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. open image in gallery Giuffre (pictured) will always be remembered for her incredible courage, her family said ( PA Media ) Giuffres attorney Sigrid McCawley called the 41-year-old a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims. Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring, McCawley said in a statement provided to The Independent. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel. Giuffres spokesperson Dini von Mueffling said her client was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honor to know. Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims. She adored her children and many animals, von Mueffling said. She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her. If you are based in the U.S. and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can also speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Millions around the world tuned in to watch as Pope Francis was laid to rest on 26 April, with 400,000 mourners alone paying their final respects outside St Peters Basilica. The late pontiffs coffin was transported outside Vatican City into Rome, where it was buried at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, with the inscription of his papal name in Latin: Franciscus. Franciss funeral marks the first day of the Novemdiales, or nine days of mourning, before the Cardinals can begin the papal conclave, a centuries old ritual to select the next pope. The Roman Catholic cardinals will begin their secret conclave to elect the new leader of the global Church on May 7, Reuters reported on Monday. open image in gallery Franciss coffin was brought to St Mary Major ( EPA ) Pope Francis, 88, died following a stroke that led to a coma and irreversible heart failure, the Vatican announced. The pope was hospitalised for several weeks in February, after suffering from double pneumonia. He returned to the Vatican in mid-March to recover. As the first pope from Latin America, Pope Francis had led the 1.4 billion-member church since 2013. Here is the timeline of events from the popes death and what will happen going forward. 20 April 2025 - the popes final public appearance The day before the pope died, he carried on working through Easter Sunday. Francis even made a public appearance, his first since he was discharged from Gemelli hospital after five weeks with double pneumonia, as he went out into St Peters Square in the popemobile. open image in gallery Pope Francis greeted crowds in his popemobile on Easter Sunday ( PA ) He was originally hesitant to make the surprise appearance, asking his 24-hour personal health care assistant, Mr Strappetti: Do you think I can manage it? But once he was in the Square, he embraced the crowd in a poignant moment of his last outing. He would say to Mr Strappetti: Thank you for bringing me back to the Square. open image in gallery The late pope broke from tradition with a burial at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome ( Vatican Media/PA ) 21 April 2025 - Pope Francis dies aged 88 on Easter Monday The Vatican announced that Pope Francis had died early on Monday morning at 7.35am. The camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, announced his passing two hours later to the rest of the world via the Vaticans news outlet. It was later revealed that the pope suddenly fell ill at 5.30am before slipping into a coma. His cause of death was due to a stroke and irreversible heart failure. Later that day, his death certificate was dealt with and the placement of the coffin was organised in the chapel on the ground floor of his residence in the Casa Santa Marta. They also placed seals on the papal apartment on the third floor of the Apostolic Palace and on the apartment on the second floor of Casa Santa Marta, where the pope had resided. As camerlengo, Cardinal Farrell will take care of the Holy Sees financial and administrative duties in absence of a pope while a papal conclave is underway. open image in gallery The pope died on Monday morning ( EPA ) 22 April 2025 - the first General Congregation of Cardinals takes place The first General Congregation of Cardinals took place, during which they decided when Franciss funeral would take place. This marked the beginning period of prayer, reflection and preparation following the popes death. In the evening, a Rosary took place in St Peters Square, inviting the faithful to join in prayer for Francis. 23 April 2025 - Pope Franciss coffin is taken to lie in state Pope Francis coffin was taken to St Peters Basilica to lie in state for three days, allowing the public to pay their respects. open image in gallery Pope Francis body lay in an open coffin at St Peters Basilica from Wednesday to Friday ( PA Wire ) 26 April 2025 - The funeral service and the nine day mourning period begins The funeral service took place in St Peters Square from 10am before he was taken to St Mary Major for burial. A nine-day period of mourning has started. The basilica was important to the pope because it was his favourite place to pray. He prayed there before and after every international trip. open image in gallery Pope Francis chose St Mary Major in Rome as his resting place ( AP ) I've always had a great devotion to St Mary Major, even before I became pope, he wrote in his 2024 book El Sucesor. The last pope who was not buried on Vatican grounds was Leo XIII in 1903. 27 April 2025 - Day two of Novemdiales with a Mass for the faithful of Vatican City Cardinal Pietro Parollin, Secretary of State for the Vatican, will preside over a Mass for the employees and faithful of Vatican City at St Peters Square on the morning after the popes funeral. 28 April 2025 - Day three of Novemdiales with a Mass for the Church of Rome Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, will oversee Mass for the Church of Rome on the Monday evening at St Peters Basilica. open image in gallery Hundreds of thousands gathered for the funeral mass in St Peters Square ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) 29 April 2025 - Day four of Novemdiales with a Mass for The Chapters of the Papal Basilicas Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican, will preside over a Mass for the Chapters of the Papal Basilicas on Tuesday evening. There are four Papal Basilicas in Rome, St Peter's in the Vatican, as well as St John Lateran's, Saint Mary Major's and St Paul's Outside the Walls. The chapters are responsible for the liturgical and sacramental care for each of the churches. 30 April 2025 - Day five of Novemdiales with a Mass for the Papal Chapel Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals, will oversee Mass for the Papal Chapel on Wednesday evening. The Papal Chapel assisted the pope in his functions as the spiritual head of the church, especially during religious ceremonies. 1 May 2025 - Day six of Novemdiales with a Mass for the Roman Curia Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside the Mass for the Roman Curia on Thursday evening. The Roman Curia comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See, which is the central governing body of the Catholic Church. 2 May 2025 - Day seven of Novemdiales with a Mass for the Eastern Churches A week into mourning, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches will oversee mass for the Eastern Churches on Friday evening. The Eastern Churches represents Catholicism across Eastern Europe, Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and India, with 18 million members. open image in gallery After the funeral, attention is likely to turn to the conclave of cardinals who will elect the next pope (Andrew Medichini/AP) ( AP ) 3 May 2025 - Day eight of Novemdiales with a Mass for members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, Pro-Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life will oversee a Mass for members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. 4 May 2025 - Day nine of Novemdiales with a Mass for the Papal Chapel group On the final day of mourning, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, will preside the Mass with the Papal Chapel group again on Sunday evening. 7 May 2025 - the earliest date the papal conclave can begin The conclave to elect a new pope typically begins between 15 to 20 days after the popes passing. Cardinals are expected to give an exact date after the funeral. The process of election is shrouded in secrecy, and its believed to be virtually unchanged in 800 years. Under the current rules, only cardinals below the age of 80 are allowed to cast a vote. Officially candidates for pope need only be male and Catholic, although in reality, pontiffs have only ever been chosen from the ranks of cardinals for centuries. The 135 cardinals of voting age will gather inside the exquisitely decorated Sistine Chapel home of all the Papal Conclaves since 1858, where they will whittle down candidates through successive rounds of voting. open image in gallery The conclave is a secret ritual ( Vatican Pope Conclave Movie ) When the cardinals have gathered, the shout extra omnes (everybody out) rings out and the cardinals who are sworn to an oath of secrecy will be locked inside the Conclave until they can choose a successor. There is no guarantee that the first round of voting will be revealed the same day. Through a mixture of speeches, prayer, reflection and intense political jostling. The names of nine cardinals are chosen at random to officiate and organise the vote. Three become scrutineers, whose job it is to oversee the vote. Three more collect the votes and three more revise them. During each ballot cardinals write the name of their choice, ideally in distorted handwriting to disguise their identity. The ballot papers are then burned in a small fire inside the Sistine Chapel. The black smoke which is produced by the fire tells the crowds waiting outside that a new pope has yet to be chosen. A pope is only elected when a single candidate receives a two-thirds majority. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice For the first time in history, an American has been elected as Pope. The idea of an American pope has often been dismissed, even by theologians in the United States in the run-up to this weeks conclave. So few expected Robert Prevost to walk out onto the balcony at the Vatican as the new head of the Catholic Church. And yet, on Thursday the Chicago-born cardinal-bishop, known by friends as Bob, made history after becoming the 267th pope the first time in the Churchs 2,000-year history that an American has been appointed to lead it. Prevost who has joint Peruvian citizenship and spent years living and working in the South American country has chosen to be known as Leo XIV. As Bishop of Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff once oversaw the largest Archdiocese in North America. open image in gallery Robert Prevost, from Chicago, Illinois, has become the 267th pope, the first time in 2,000 years that an American has been appointed to lead the Catholic Church ( Reuters ) Prior to his election, many observers had questioned him as a candidate, due to his relatively young age and inexperience. Some speculated that cardinals would also wish to select a European, following 12 years of tenure by Pope Francis an Argentinian and considered it unlikely a pontiff would emerge from the U.S. The Reverend James Bretzke, a theology professor at John Carroll University in Ohio, told USA Today this week that a diplomat was required to replace Pope Francis, adding: Americas image in the world simply is too powerful and to be blunt, ugly. Vatican insiders had described Prevost as a dark horse candidate who quietly rose to prominence in the days just before the conclave, having been made a cardinal-bishop in February this year. In terms of leading the Catholic Church, he has been described as a dignified middle of the road leader, compared with Francis, who was considered a progressive pontiff, and more conservative alternatives. Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. open image in gallery Prior to his election, many observers had questioned him as a candidate, due to his relatively young age and inexperience. Some speculated that cardinals would also wish to select a European, following 12 years of tenure by Pope Francis an Argentinian ( AP ) In early 2025, Francis again demonstrated his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals. He has championed the importance of on-the-ground work. In a 2023 interview with Vatican News, he said: One must not give in to the temptation to live isolated, separated in a palace, satisfied with a certain social level or a certain level within the church. He added: The authority we have is to serve, to accompany priests, to be pastors and teachers. However, Prevost has also expressed less progressive stances, including more negative views of the LGBT community. According to The New York Times, in an address to bishops in 2012, Prevost bemoaned the fact that western media fostered sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel, pointing to the homosexual lifestyle and alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children. While in South America, he told local media that the promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that dont exist. He has also been criticized by survivors of child abuse. open image in gallery Prevost, who holds both American and Peruvian citizenship, previously served as prefect of the Vaticans Dicastery for Bishops, which handles various administrative and pastoral responsibilities of the Holy See, including the vetting nominations for bishops around the world ( AP ) In 1999, Prevost was elected provincial prior of the Midwest Augustinians. A year into the role, he allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians' St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school. When Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, three victims reported to civil authorities in 2022 after there was no movement on their canonical case filed through the diocese, according to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass, attaching photos of the priest saying mass after their complaint to their letter. SNAP filed a complaint against Prevost on March 25, 2025. Prior to his ascension to Holy Father, Prevost served as prefect of the Vaticans Dicastery for Bishops, which handles various administrative and pastoral responsibilities of the Holy See, including vetting nominations for bishops around the world. Prevost was initially appointed a member of the Dicastery in 2020 before later becoming its head. He also served as the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, where nearly 40 percent of the world's Catholics reside. Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1955, Prevost grew up in the citys south suburbs, where he lived in Dolton with his parents and two brothers. Reports claimed he was a fan of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The record, however, was set straight on Thursday at least by his brother, who confirmed he had always been a White Sox fan. open image in gallery Onlookers wave American flags following the announcement that Chicago-born Prevost had been elected as the new pope ( REUTERS ) Growing up, a steady stream of priests passed through his family home, and the youngster reportedly had a positive experience of parish life, serving as an altar boy and attending school in the St. Mary of the Assumption parish on the far South Side. Former classmates shared how, even as a boy, he was destined to become pope. It was pretty apparent back then that was going to be his route, former classmate John Doughney told the Chicago Sun-Times, speaking before Prevost was elected. For him, I think it was a true calling, Doughney said. And, even as a young teenager, he knew what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. Others recalled a sense of humor in class. He was kind of a little trickster, too, Joseph Merigold, who used to sit near Prevost in class, said. Used to poke me in the back of the head with a pencil all the time because I was a kidder. So he definitely had a sense of humor that a lot of people wouldnt know because he wasnt really that outgoing. Merigold added that Prevost was the smartest person in the class and was in the No.1 seat, indicating his classroom performance. Prevost was remembered as a good singer from the choir who cared about people and looked for the good in things, according to Marianne Angarola, who also grew up in Dolton and went to school with him. He was the pride and joy of every priest and nun in that school, Angarola told The Chicago Tribune. Everybody knew he was special. open image in gallery Prevost leads the recitation of the Holy Rosary for Pope Francis' health in St Peter's Square prior to the last Popes death ( AP ) Prevost was sent to study canon law at the Angelicum in Rome and was ordained as a priest in the city in 1982. After completing his studies, he was invited to work in the Territorial Prelature of Chulucanas, in northwestern Peru, which held strong connections with the U.S. Augustinians. In 1999, he was elected provincial prior of the Midwest Augustinians, and two years later, in 2001, he was elected prior general of the worldwide Augustinian order, a post he held for two six-year terms. In 2014, he returned to northwestern Peru, after Francis named him apostolic administrator of the Chiclayo diocese. The Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, the communications director for the diocese in Chiclayo, recalled how the Prevost used to rise each day and have breakfast with his fellow priests after saying his prayers. No matter how many problems he has, he maintains good humor and joy, Purisaca said in an email to The Associated Press, following Prevosts appointment. After arriving in Rome, Prevost kept a low public profile, but was well known to the men who count. Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals. open image in gallery In 2014, Provost returned to northwestern Peru, after Francis named him apostolic administrator of the Chiclayo diocese. He was appointed a member of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2020, and later became its head ( AP ) Prevost is an expert in canon law, a system that functions like a constitution and legal system specifically for the Catholic Church, affording him appeal to the more traditional wings of the Vatican. However, it remains to be seen how he will respond to the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump, who posted his congratulations on his social media platform Truth Social after the announcement that Prevost was Pope. Congratulations to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was just named Pope. It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope. What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country, Trump wrote. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment! open image in gallery It remains to be seen how he will respond to the actions of President Donald Trump, who posted his congratulations on his social media platform Truth Social after the announcement that Prevost was Pope ( AFP/Getty ) Earlier this year, Prevost publicly voiced opposition to remarks by Vice President JD Vance on the theological concept of ordo amoris. JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others, Prevost wrote on X. Prevosts latest post on X was a repost of an account criticizing the Trump administrations policy on immigrant deportations. Additional reporting by Rhian Lubin On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Following the death of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church will now elect its new leader, in a process virtually unchanged in 800 years. The system is known as the Papal Conclave, and is a democratic process with a strong emphasis on working through multiple rounds of voting until a clear consensus emerges. Under the current rules, only cardinals under the age of 80 are allowed to cast a vote. Officially candidates for pope need only be male and Catholic, although in reality Pontiffs have only ever been chosen from the ranks of cardinals for centuries. Theres no age limit on who can become pope, but Francis was 76 when he took up the position, and held it until his death, aged 88. Benedict before him was 78, and was pope for only eight years before his surprise retirement aged 85. When will the Conclave begin? The popes funeral took place on Saturday, 26 April, starting nine official days of mourning called the novemdiales, which ended on May 5. According to Vatican rules, the process of electing a new pope should begin between 15 and 20 days after the pontiffs death. The Vatican confirmed the conclave will begin on Wednesday, May 7. It is the camerlengo, a cardinal selected by the pope, who is tasked with organising the Conclave election process. open image in gallery Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell is the camerlengo, a cardinal who is tasked with organising the Conclave ( Vatican Media ) The current camerlengo is Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-born American Catholic prelate who has held the position since 2019. His other responsibilities include sealing the door to the popes study and bedroom with a traditional red ribbon. How does Conclave work? To begin the Conclave process, there is a special morning mass, after which the 135 cardinals of voting age would gather inside the exquisitely decorated Sistine Chapel home of all the Papal Conclaves since 1858. New rules for the election of a pope were introduced in 1996 under Pope John Paul II, and the process has largely remained unchanged since then. After the death of a pope, cardinals hold a series of meetings called general congregations to discuss the future of the Church. open image in gallery 133 cardinals will join the conclave ( Getty ) While all 252 cardinals can participate in these meetings, only 133 are under the age of 80 and have been well enough to travel to participate in the Conclave. After the cardinals have gathered, the shout extra omnes (everybody out) rings out and the cardinals who are sworn to an oath of secrecy will be locked inside the Conclave until they can choose a successor. There is no guarantee that the first round of voting will be revealed the same day. Through a mixture of speeches, prayer, reflection and intense political jostling cardinals whittle down candidates through successive rounds of voting. The cardinals themselves sit on both sides of the Sistine Chapel. open image in gallery The Sistine Chapel, set up for the Papal Conclave ( VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty Imag ) The names of nine cardinals are chosen at random to officiate and organise the vote. Three become Scrutineers, whose job it is to oversee the vote. Three more collect the votes and three more revise them. A pope is only elected when a single candidate receives a two-thirds majority. Sometimes popes are chosen quickly, when a strong candidate emerges. However, from the 34th ballot onwards, the Conclave only votes between the two front runners who gained the most votes in the previous round. The longest Papal Conclave, in the late thirteenth century, lasted the best part of three years thanks to massive political infighting. Three voting cardinals died during the process. The ballot itself is secret and was introduced on 1621 by Gregory XV to try and avoid overt politicking, but the Conclave is inevitably a hotbed of competing factions who wish to see their man come out on top. open image in gallery Firefighters place the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, which will be used to signal that a new pope has been elected ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) During each ballot, cardinals write the name of their choice, ideally in distorted handwriting to disguise their identity. The ballot papers are then burned in a small fire inside the Sistine Chapel. The black smoke which is produced by the fire tells the crowds waiting outside that a new pope is yet to be chosen. When one candidate has finally won two-thirds of the vote a new pope is elected. The Cardinal Dean then calls the candidate to the front of the chapel and asks whether they are willing to accept. If the answer is yes, the new Pope is then asked to choose his new Papal name. Although the pope is seen as the successor of St Peter, none have chosen Peter for their Papal name, partly to avoid comparisons to the founder of the Roman Catholic Church and partly because of an ancient prophecy that a new pope called Peter will precede the end of the world. open image in gallery The "Room of Tears", a small room next to the Sistine Chapel, with the vestments of the next Pope displayed in three different sizes ( VATICAN MEDIA/AFP via Getty Imag ) With a pope now duly elected the ballot papers are burned once more with an additive placed in the fire that turns the smoke white, informing the world that a new Pontiff has been chosen. In the weeks leading up to the Conclave, Vatican tailors get to work on creating three Papal robes in small, medium and large. The new pope is led into the Room of Tears adjacent to the Sistine Chapel where he dons his new white robes and red slippers. The pope is then presented to the crowds who have gathered in the Vatican from the main balcony of St Peters Basilica with the famous words: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam! (I announce to you with great joy we have a pope.) On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A note placed in Pope Franciss coffin before he was buried paid tribute to his courage, his love of the poor and his dialogue with Muslims and representatives of other religions. It referred to the 266th pope as the beloved Shepherd of the Church. World leaders attended the funeral in front of St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, where hundreds of thousands of spectators and mourners gathered. open image in gallery The coffin of Pope Francis is carried into St Peters Square for his funeral (Gregorio Borgia/AP) ( AP ) The service, led by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, followed a private Vatican ceremony on Friday night to seal the coffin after three days of public viewings by 250,000 people. A white silk cloth was placed over the Popes face and his body was sprinkled with holy water. In line with tradition, a bag of coins and medals minted during his papacy, as well as a Rogito or deed summarising his life were also placed in the coffin. The deed, a type of obituary written in Latin and sealed inside a metal cylinder, said he left to all a marvellous witness of humanity, of holy living, and of universal fatherhood and that the entire Christian Community, especially the poor, praised God for his work. When he was a cardinal in his native Argentina, he was a simple and much-beloved pastor in his Archdiocese, it said. open image in gallery The note was placed inside the coffin ( EPA ) Francis, who died on Easter Monday, aged 88, was buried in the Basilica of St Mary Major after a procession through the streets of Rome following the requiem mass service. In his homily, Cardinal Re paid tribute to Pope Francis work for those in poverty or affected by war. He said the examples of his work to help refugees and the displaced were countless. War, he said, results in the death of people and the destruction of homes, hospitals and schools. War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone, Cardinal Battista Re said. The deed said Francis exercised the Petrine ministry with untiring dedication in favour of dialogue with Muslims and representatives of other religions, sometimes inviting them to prayer meetings and signing joint declarations for concord among the faithful of different creeds. It highlighted how he visited prisons and reception centres for the disabled and drug addicts. Before Pope Francis funeral mass began, diplomacy between world leaders took place on the sidelines. US President Donald Trump had a "very productive discussion" with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the funeral, a White House official said. Salma Hayek will forever be grateful for the support she received from Penelope Cruz when she first tried to make it in Hollywood in the 1990s. Salma Hayek has spoken of her gratitude to Penelope Cruz who supporter her as she tried to make it in Hollywood in the '90s The 58-year-old actress enjoyed career success in her native Mexico, namely in the title role in telenovela in 'Teresa' which ran for two years and 125 episodes, before she made the move to Los Angeles in 1991. Salma can remember how difficult it was to land roles as a Latino actress during the decade but she was lucky to have Penelope - who moved from Spain to America to make it in Hollywood - to lean on, and vice versa. In an interview with Italian publication IO Donna, Salma said: "In the 1990s, there were no roles for Latinos, I had to fight for every opportunity. It's true, luckily I was able to count on a community of extraordinary women at my side. Penelope Cruz ... We were refuge and strength for each other. "Female solidarity has been my strength, my inspiration, my safe space. Without this network, I don't know if I would have had the same resilience. I think that friends are food for the soul, you learn from each other's courage." Salma's first big screen roles saw her star opposite Antonio Banderas in Robert Rodriguez's 1995 action film 'Desperado' and playing a vampire in Rodriguez's cult horror film 'From Dusk till Dawn' (1996), which also starred George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis and Harvey Keitel. It was the role of surrealist painter Frida Kahlo in Julie Taymor's biographical film 'Frida' - released in 2002 - that earned her critical acclaim and recognition and her performance made her the first Mexican actress to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Salma - who can be seen in war drama 'Without Blood', which is written and directed by Angelina Jolie - creates her own stories for Latin audiences via her own independent production company Ventanarosa, which provided viewers with hit series 'Ugly Betty'. The Hollywood Walk of Fame honouree says she created Ventanarosa in 1999 so she could create roles for other actresses like her. Discussing opportunities for Latino performers, she said: "There has been progress, but there is still a lot to do. This is why I continue to produce stories for Latin audiences, Argentina, Mexico. In 26 years of production, I have never thought only of myself. I wanted to create spaces for other artists, to bring work to Latin American countries. "Our latest project is a television adaptation of the popular 1989 novel 'Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquivel: it took us six years to complete and when we consider that there are 600 million Spanish speakers in the world, it is easy to see the potential." On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Vatican has released images of Pope Franciss tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome, where he was laid to rest on Saturday. Inscribed on the tomb is the papal name of the late pontiff, and a single white rose sitting under a crucifix, with light casting a warm glow over the tomb. Around 400,000 people attended the funeral, a grand yet solemn ceremony in the Vaticans St Peters Square, with world leaders including Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer, Prince William and Volodymyr Zelensky among those watching on. The casket of Francis, who died on 21 April at the age of 88, was then transported to the Santa Maria Maggiore church where he was buried in a private ceremony in St Mary Major Basilica, becoming the first pontiff to be buried outside the Vatican in more than 120 years. open image in gallery The Pope was laid to rest at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major on Saturday ( EPA ) On Sunday, Roman Catholic faithful began to visit Franciss tomb, bidding a final farewell to the Argentinian, who was known for his humble approach to the role and for championing the worlds poorest and most needy throughout what was a modernising papacy. Mourners had queued outside the church since early on Sunday to pay their respects. Pope Francis for me was an inspiration, a guide, said Elias Caravalhal, who lives in Rome but had been unable to see the Pope while his body lay in state after his death on Easter Monday. Franciss will stipulated a simple burial in the earth, without particular decoration, marked only with his papal name in Latin: Franciscus. St Mary Major, around 2.5 miles from the Vatican, was dear to Francis because of his devotion to Mary, Mother of God. He prayed there before setting off on and returning from each overseas trip. open image in gallery People queue to visit Pope Franciss tomb ( EPA ) The tomb was opened on the second of nine days of official mourning for Francis, preceding the conclave which will be held to select the next pope. A date has not yet been set for the conclave, but it must begin by May 10, with cardinals due to meet regularly this week as they begin to plan the next steps for the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church. As millions mourned worldwide, yesterday also set the stage for critical geopolitical developments. Shortly before proceedings began, Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky sat face to face inside St Peters Basilica, meeting in person for the first time since the latter was thrown out of the White House by the furious US president in February. The Ukrainian president described the meeting as potentially historic, after the pair discussed the future of Ukraine. Posting to X, Mr Zelensky reported a good meeting with Mr Trump, adding: We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The head of Pope Franciss medical team has revealed new details about the pontiffs final moments. The 88-year-old died quickly on the morning of Easter Monday, Dr Sergio Alfieri, who oversaw the Pope's treatment for pneumonia earlier this year at Rome's Gemelli hospital, said in interviews published on Thursday. Francis died without undue suffering and medical intervention could not have saved him, Dr Alfieri said. He recounted receiving an urgent call around 5.30am on Monday, summoning him to the Vatican. Arriving about 20 minutes later, he found the Pope conscious but unresponsive. "I entered his rooms and he (Francis) had his eyes open," Dr. Alfieri told Corriere della Sera. "I ascertained that there were no respiratory problems. And then I tried to call his name, but he did not respond to me." Dr Alfieri said he recognised the gravity of the situation. open image in gallery Pope Francis died quickly on Easter Monday ( AP ) "In that moment I knew there was nothing more to do. He was in a coma." In another interview with La Repubblica, Dr. Alfieri mentioned that some officials present suggested immediately transporting the Pope back to Gemelli hospital. However, given the circumstances, it was determined that further medical intervention would have been futile. "He would have died on the way," said the doctor. "Doing a CT scan we would have had a more exact diagnosis, but nothing more. It was one of those strokes that, in an hour, carries you away." Francis had nearly died while fighting pneumonia, but his death came as a shock. Just the previous day he appeared in St. Peter's Square in an open-air popemobile to greet cheering crowds on Easter Sunday, suggesting his convalescence was going well. open image in gallery Pope Francis greets crowds in his popemobile on Easter Sunday Pope kept working After Francis returned to the Vatican on March 23 after a 38-day hospital stay, Alfieri and the pope's other doctors had prescribed him a two-month period of rest to allow his ageing body to heal. Francis, known to push himself hard, kept working. He met briefly with US Vice President JD Vance on Easter Sunday, and had visited a prison in Rome on April 17, Holy Thursday, to offer well wishes to the inmates. Dr Alfieri said the pope listened to his doctors' advice and didn't push himself too hard. "He (was) the pope," the doctor told Corriere. "Going back to work was part of his treatment and he was never exposed to danger." The doctor said he last saw Francis on Saturday afternoon. "He was very well," said Dr Alfieri, who said he gifted the pope some pie, in a flavour he knew the pontiff liked. open image in gallery Visitors queue to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis at the Vatican ( AFP/Getty ) He recounted the pope saying, "I am very well, I have started working again, and I like it." "We knew that he wanted to go home to be pope up until the last moment," said the doctor. "He didn't let us down." In the Repubblica interview, Dr Alfieri said Francis had shared one final regret with him. While he was happy to have visited the prisoners on April 17, he wished he had been able to perform a foot-washing ritual for the Church's celebration of Holy Thursday. "He regretted he could not wash the feet of the prisoners," said the doctor. "'This time I couldn't do it' was the last thing he said to me." On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Pope Francis was laid to rest in a location that reflected his humble approach to the grand office. Breaking with tradition, the pontiff, death at the age of 88 was announced on Easter Monday, chose a burial site outside the Vatican the first pope to do so in 120 years. The historic funeral service for Pope Francis brought closure to a 12-year papacy marked by what followers said was his humility and simplicity. Francis's final resting place was the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major basilicas of Christendom in Rome, situated on the Esquiline Hill. The last pope buried outside the Vatican was Leo XIII in 1903. open image in gallery Pope Francis at the St Mary Major Basilica in Rome in 2013 ( AP ) Franciss will stipulated a simple burial in the earth, without particular decoration, marked only with his papal name in Latin: Franciscus. This understated approach aligned with his efforts to bring a more humble touch to the papacy, often eschewing the Vatican's traditional pomp and opting for simpler rites. St Mary Major, around 2.5 miles from the Vatican, was dear to Francis because of his devotion to Mary, Mother of God. He prayed there before setting off on and returning from each overseas trip. I've always had a great devotion to St Mary Major, even before I became pope," Francis said in his 2024 book El Sucesor (The Successor), a long interview with journalist Javier Martinez-Brocal. Argentina-born Francis prayed in the basilica early on March 14, 2013, the day after he became the first Latin-American pope. The churchs gold-leaf ceiling is said to have been made from a batch of the precious metal brought back from the New World by explorer Christopher Columbus. Francis returned there at key moments in his papacy, praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic in a locked-down Rome in 2020 and after his abdominal operations in 2021 and 2023. After his funeral, the procession with the coffin travelled across Rome to the St Mary Major Basilica. open image in gallery The interior of the Basilica of St Mary Major ( Getty Images ) The procession passed the Colosseum, the ancient Roman amphitheatre that is one of Italys most iconic sites, tourists and faithful lined the route to snap photographs. As bells tolled, pallbearers carried the coffin past several dozen migrants, prisoners and homeless people holding white roses in front of the basilica. Once inside, the pallbearers stopped in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary that Francis loved. Four children deposited the roses at the foot of the altar before cardinals performed the burial rite at his tomb in a nearby niche. A venerated Byzantine icon of Mary is housed in the Pauline chapel in the left nave of the basilica. A vase of golden roses, donated by Francis in 2023, sits among candlesticks under the icon. Before reaching the chapel entrance, there is a statue of Mary, Queen of Peace, commissioned by Pope Benedict XV in 1918 to ask God to end the First World War. In May 2022, Francis led an international prayer service for peace in Ukraine and other war-torn places. Just beyond the sculpture of the Queen of Peace, theres a small recess, a door that leads to a room where candelabras were stored. I saw it and thought: 'This is the place, the pope said in El Sucesor, referring to where he wanted his tomb. His cypress coffin is not encased in lead with a further wooden outer layer, as has been customary for popes. In Ancient Rome, the Esquiline was used for the burial of slaves, the poor and those condemned to death. Nowadays, it is home to the Stazione Termini, Romes main railway station, and is a multi-ethnic, populous neighbourhood where many film directors and actors have settled. open image in gallery Faithful in front of the Basilica of St Mary Major ( AP ) Santa Maria Maggiore was founded in 432, a year after the Council of Ephesus declared Mary to be the Mother of God. It is the only basilica in Rome that preserves the primitive early Christian structure, although there have been many later additions. A legend, depicted on a 13th-century mosaic in the basilicas loggia, tells of a miraculous summer snowfall that occurred on the future site of the church. Romans gather every August 5 to celebrate the miracle of La Madonna Della Neve, or Madonna of the Snows. The basilica houses the bodies of seven earlier popes and several religious figures, including Cardinal Bernard Law, former Archbishop of Boston, who became infamous for his role in covering up child sexual abuse by priests. It is the burial place of Baroque sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A spiral staircase named after him connects the five floors of a building attached to the church. Its shell shape is said to symbolise the Christian journey from earth to heaven. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Kings, queens, princes and presidents were obliged to follow orders for the seating plan at Pope Francis' funeral playing second fiddle to the Argentines and Italians, and dictated to by the French alphabet. Some 55 heads of state, 14 heads of government and 12 reigning monarchs joined mourners for the open-air service in front of St Peter's Basilica, watched by millions of people worldwide. Pride of place at the top of the steps of St Peters Basilica went to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, sat in the front row. open image in gallery The coffin of Pope Francis is carried in front of dignitaries, including US President Donald Trump, centre, and French President Emmanuel Macron (Cecilia Fabiano/PA) ( AP ) Next came Italy, the nation surrounding the Vatican, which formally recognised its sovereignty in 1929. Italian dignitaries occupied the second-best seats, as Francis served as bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy. The rest of the seating was dictated by the French alphabet, still regarded as the language of diplomacy. Guests from Allemagne (Germany) were among those near the front, and the Etats-Unis (United States) delegation ensured President Donald Trump had a prominent seat, rather than being placed in the third row as some had expected. As a result, he did not sit near Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Within those ranks, royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium took precedence over other heads of state. Prince William was seated alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the third row, unexpectedly next to German chancellor Olaf Scholz. open image in gallery Britain's Prince William, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Jordan's King Abdullah attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis, at the Vatican ( REUTERS ) The prince, representing the King for the first time at an international funeral, had been expected to sit with fellow heir apparent Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit. However, this part of the previously announced seating plan did not appear to have been followed. Neither William nor Sir Keir had front-row seats, with Royaume-Uni (United Kingdom) coming late in the French alphabet. It was the first time the prince has represented the King at an international funeral. Prince William briefly spoke to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in the basilica before the service, and also exchanged words with French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. Jordans King Abdullah and Queen Rania were seated in the second row, ahead of Prince William. President Trump drew attention for breaking the dress code by wearing blue instead of black to the Vatican service. No distinction was made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty in the seating arrangements. Former US president Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic, was not part of the official US delegation and sat further back than the Etats-Unis dignitaries. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Donald Trump is taking a harder line on Vladimir Putin, doubting the Russian leaders willingness to end his war on Ukraine. The president noted that further sanctions on Russia may be needed. Trump made the observation in a Truth Social post from aboard Air Force One as he returned to the U.S., having attended the funeral of Pope Francis at which he held a one-on-one meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican. The president specifically called out the Russian leader for the continued bombing of civilian areas of Ukraine. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, Trump posted on his social media platform. He's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Too many people are dying!!! Meanwhile, in Moscow, Putin has reiterated Russias readiness for talks with Ukraine without preconditions at a meeting with Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday, citing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Witkoff met Putin for three hours in Moscow on Friday to discuss the U.S. plan to end the war in Ukraine, and Trump had previously said the two sides were very close to a deal, despite apparent differences in their positions. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, and US President Donald Trump, talk before the funeral of Pope Francis (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) ( AP ) Zelensky posted his account of his meeting with President Trump on Telegram, writing: Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about. He said those topics included: The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war. Zelensky added: It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump! French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, after a very positive exchange with Zelensky at the Vatican, that Ukraine was ready for an unconditional ceasefire and that the so-called Coalition of the Willing led by France and Britain would continue working on achieving that, as well as a lasting peace. Ending the war in Ukraine. That is an objective that we share in common with President Trump, Macron wrote in a post on the social media platform X. Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire. President Zelensky told me that again today. He'd like to work with the Americans and the Europeans to put it into effect. President Trumps latest remarks on Putin and the Ukraine war came at the end of a grievance-filled tirade, initially attacking The Failing New York Times for its coverage suggesting that Ukraine should get back territory taken by Russia. Including, I suppose, Crimea, and other ridiculous requests, in order to stop the killing that is worse than anything since World War II, wrote Trump. He attacked his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for their handling of Russias ambitions in Ukraine, saying the conflict was Sleepy Joe Bidens War, not mine, and calling Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea the Obama Crimea Giveaway. A bipartisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate at the beginning of April by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal that could introduce primary and secondary sanctions against Russia and actors supporting its war on Ukraine. These sanctions against Russia are at the ready and will receive overwhelming bipartisan, bicameral support if presented to the Senate and House for a vote, the senators said in a statement. We support an immediate ceasefire to secure a lasting, honorable peace. Following the Popes funeral, the president departed Rome on Air Force One shortly after 1 p.m. local time en route to Newark Liberty International Airport, where he is expected to touch down at approximately 5 p.m. ET. Canadas prime minister, Mark Carney, has said families are living every family's nightmare after a car ploughed into a street festival in Vancouver on Saturday evening (26 April). Nine people were killed, and an unknown number of others injured, in the mass-casualty incident at an event organised by the local Filipino community. Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter, Carney said in a statement on Sunday (27 April). Those families are living every family's nightmare, he added. While Canadian authorities have said they are confident the incident was not an act of terrorism, Carney noted that they are monitoring the situation closely. THE COMMUNICATOR Before she led one of Irelands most forward-thinking estate agents, Regina Mangan started out not with a business degree or seed funding, but with shorthand and a typewriter. I didnt go to university, she told me over Zoom from her home in Waterford, I went to secretarial school in Co Limerick because thats what you did if you werent going to college. Enterprise Ireland targets $500bn post-war reconstruction of Ukraine Rebuilding the country will be one of the biggest construction projects Europe has ever seen A Russian strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv last Thursday, April 24. Photo: AP Sean Pollock Sun 27 Apr 2025 at 03:30 Enterprise Ireland has appointed a Ukrainian market expert to help Irish companies win business for the post-war reconstruction of the beleaguered country work estimated to be worth over $500bn. Richard Curran: Paul Coulson can have few complaints as 28-year Ardagh odyssey from Ringsend to Wall Street looks like having a happy ending Retail Petmania managing director, Shane OKeeffe said the pet retailer was holding sales steady this year, despite an industry downturn. Picture by Mark Condren The parent company of Petmania recorded a dip in profits last year after sales at its homeware business Meubles took a hit. According to financial results for OKeeffes of Kilkenny, the company recorded a pre-tax profit of 1.63m in the year ended July 28, 2024. The figure was down from 2.46m the previous year, a fall of over 828,000. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley doesn't feel it is "necessary" to marry Jason Statham. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley doesn't see marriage to Jason Statham as necessary The 38-year-old model got engaged to 'The Meg' actor - with who she has Jack, eight, and three-year-old Bella - in 2016 after six years together but tying the knot isn't "massively important" to her, and if they eventually do exhange vows, it will be in a "low-key" celebration. She told the Sunday Times Style magazine: Maybe one day. Its not something thats ever been massively important to me. Throwing a big, fancy wedding is not something I feel is necessary at this point in my life. If we do, it will be low-key. At 57, Jason is almost 20 years older than Rosie but the 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' actress insisted their age gap has never been an issue and they have always just taken each day of their relationship "as it comes". She said: Im committed to my family. I value the family unit and hes just been such an incredible person in my life. We take each day as it comes. Theres a lot of love and fun and humour, and we just try to make it work. "Relationships go through many iterations. You just have to hold on. I try to show up as the best version of myself. You can only control your side of it, right? My happiness is not in his hands. I just try to do my part. The family moved from Los Angeles to London in 2020, in part so Jason could be around for his family more, and Rosis praised her fiance for being a "very involved" parent. She said: He was like, Im going to be away from you and the kids for big stretches [shooting movies]. If we move to London, I can make everything there. So that was a really big reason. He goes to work and comes home at the end of the day, which is pretty special for somebody in his line of work. "Jason is a very involved and super-hands-on dad and such a supportive partner to me. "I call him the human playground because hes constantly got the kids on his back, rolling around. Hes so playful. The man has insane amounts of energy, its boundless. "Hes a big kid himself but also an upbeat reinforcement and positive influence on them, and incredibly attentive, loving and capable. "I feel lucky that Im at work today and hes with them and I dont need to call and give him a list of things to do and remind him of this or that. And the kids adore him. Activist shareholder in Glanbia, Clearway Capital, may not succeed in breaking up the Kilkenny- based plc but it knows how and when to push the buttons to maximum effect. The company behind the Business Post newspaper and website saw losses widen in 2023 to 552,000, in part thanks to one-off redundancy costs. The most recent accounts for the business, filed this week, show revenue in 2023 was 8.35m, down from 8.6m a year earlier. Losses increased from 359,000 in 2022 to well over half a million euro in 2023. US judge blocks Musks X from using Ireland as venue in libel tourism action Media watchdog claimed X had placed ads for brands like Apple, Bravo and IBM next to content that 'touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party' Elon Musk. Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images Sean Pollock Sun 27 Apr 2025 at 03:30 Elon Musks X has been blocked from pursuing a defamation case in Ireland against a liberal US media watchdog after it claimed adverts on the social media site were placed next to pro-Nazi content. John T Dorrance III took a legal action against US attorney general Pam Bondi complaining he cant legally hunt with a firearm because he renounced his US citizenship. Photo: Stock image/Getty The Trump administration has shot down an Irish billionaires request to be excused from a law banning him from bearing arms in the US, saying the rules shouldnt change for him simply because he has money. Young man denies teacher 'groomed him as Leaving Cert student, but says they had sex in hotel after exams were over Gardai public order unit officers deploying pepper spray at protesters at the former site of the Crown Paints factory in Coolock, north Dublin, last July. Photo: Niall Carson/PA A government paper on the use of pepper spray in jails has warned some prisoners would become more violent and it should not be used on crowded landings, on females, or on inmates with mental health issues. The paper, released under the Freedom of Information Act, was prepared by the Department of Justice against the backdrop of an overcrowding crisis and an increase in violence in Irish prisons. It said there was a case for incapacitant spray and that prison officers in Ireland were unique among European jailers in not being allowed to carry defensive weapons or compliance tools. The policy paper was prepared last autumn, with then justice minister Helen McEntee giving the go-ahead for use of incapacitant spray. The submission suggested a pilot project take place, but that legislation would be needed for the introduction of pepper spray. It said the State Claims Agency had said the increase in prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and an increased risk of injury to staff justified its introduction. In the UK, children as young as 15 face being incapacitated with pepper spray after justice secretary Shabana Mahmood authorised its use at young offender institutions However, Department of Justice officials warned the project could take time. A note from one senior official said: Ive spoken to the director general [of Irish Prison Service] about this and she is supportive. The need for legislation means the running of a pilot is some way off. Last week, it was reported Justice Minister Jim OCallaghan would proceed with the plan with an announcement due in the next few weeks. To enable the change, Mr OCallaghan is preparing to amend the Firearms Act 1925 and the Prisons Act 2007 through the forthcoming General Scheme of the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025. Under current legislation, only gardai are permitted to use pepper spray. Gardai public order unit officers deploying pepper spray at protesters at the former site of the Crown Paints factory in Coolock, north Dublin, last July. Photo: Niall Carson/PA In the UK, children as young as 15 face being incapacitated with pepper spray after justice secretary Shabana Mahmood authorised its use at young offender institutions. The plan there has dismayed prison reformers, who say it will create further divisions between staff and minors in their care. The State Claims Agency in Ireland which manages compensation on behalf of the government advised spray could be used by appropriately trained personnel in the right circumstances. It said research showed it caused no long-term health effects and that its use by gardai had not led to any claims for damages despite being deployed over 1,000 times a year. However, the State Claims Agency said it was not without risk and after it was introduced it could lead to an increase in use of force incidents. The policy paper said: Where it is deployed too soon or too often this can have a detrimental effect on prisoners perceptions of legitimate authority. It said the use of spray would not work in every situation and that around 10pc of people would be unaffected and some would become more rather than less aggressive. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan The research also said prisoners would try to prepare for its use against them when planning a violent act. Prisoners, in planned violence incidents, will try to protect against it and/or mitigate the impact of the spray, said the paper. It said the Irish Prison Service would need to have a significant additional governance procedure for managing incidents. This would include healthcare for staff and prisoners as well as monitoring, debriefing, and secure storage of spray. It added: There are definite limitations on its use in certain circumstances: in crowded public areas; on female prisoners; on pregnant prisoners; in cases of passive resistance; on prisoners with mental health issues; on prisoners when at a height. An accompanying submission said most jails were operating well above capacity, with growing pressure from prison staff for personal protection. It detailed how at one stage the female prison in Limerick was at 150pc capacity, the womens Dochas centre at 124pc and the male facility in Limerick at 121pc. Throughout 2023 and to date in 2024, the Irish Prison Service has been operating above 100pc of overall capacity, reaching as high as 112pc, with certain prisons consistently experiencing overcrowding significantly beyond that, it said. In the documents, there was a separate discussion about the use of batons on prison landings with a warning they had the potential to introduce more problems than they would solve. A report from the State Claims Agency was quoted, which said: There are a number of known and possible unknown, unintended consequences which could worsen the situation in relation to the risk of staff being assaulted by prisoners. An Irish woman who has lived legally in the US for decades is being held in a detention facility in California over minor convictions from almost 20 years ago which her family say had been expunged from her record. Cliona Ward (54), originally from Dublin but living in Santa Cruz, California, was detained by federal authorities and brought to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility earlier this week despite holding a valid permanent green card and living legally in the US. The detention comes following a major crackdown on immigrants by ICE since Donald Trumps second presidency and a US politician has described her detention as cruel and unreasonable and appalling. Cliona Ward Today's News in 90 Seconds - April 27 Her family say Ward, who emigrated to the US when she was 12, was detained over minor offences from almost 20 years ago which they say have been expunged from her record. She had six convictions including two felonies for possession of drugs and four misdemeanours for minor offences including "failure to notify DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles] of address change within 10 days. However, her sister Orla Holladay, who is also originally from Dublin but living in the US, says those offences have been expunged from her record but because the cases had been expunged in the state of California and not by federal authorities she has been told she must be seen by a federal judge and her first court hearing will not take place until May 7. In the meantime she is being held in a detention centre. Shes terrified, shes distraught, shes scared, shes worried about her son, Holladay told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Shes just trying to hold it together. Shes afraid that shes going to get lost in the system. That was the one thing she said to me: Please dont let me get lost. She said her sister was a carer for her chronically ill son. Ward was first stopped by customs officials in Seattle when she returned to the US after visiting her dying father in Ireland with her step-mother in March. The officials brought up her six minor offences which stretch from 2003 to 2008 and detained her for two days. They released her after she told them her convictions been expunged and told her to get documentation and attend a meeting with customs officials in San Francisco last Monday. However, when she turned up with the documents she was detained again and charged with moral turpitude. Her sister said Ward, who has been sober for over 20 years, currently works at a non-profit Christian organisation teaching soil management and conservation to children. This has to do with a painful addiction and she did everything she could do to change that, said Holladay. Shes a viable, valuable part of this community. She described her as a gentle, loving and private person. Ward is a carer for her chronically ill adult son Malaki, who is now being cared for by Holladay and his grandparents, who are aged in their 80s. His birthday was on Wednesday two days after Wards detention. Ward is a legal permanent resident in the US but also retains Irish citizenship. A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said they were aware of the case and providing consular assistance. As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases. California US Representative Jimmy Panetta, a Democrat, said he was pressing customs officials for Wards release. It is unimaginable that reportedly expunged, 20-year-old incident could be used as justification for deporting a legal permanent resident who is a productive member of our community. But this is the cruel and unreasonable state of this Administration's deportation policy. As a former gang prosecutor, I understand and appreciate the need to remove hardened criminals from our communities, but the detention of Cliona Wardnow in her 50s and a Green Card holderfor decades-old crimes that have reportedly been expunged from her personal record is unfathomable and unacceptable." California State Assembly representative Gail Pellerin told the Santa Cruz Mercury that the case was a clear example of the falsehood were hearing from the (federal) administration that theyre only going after, you know, hardened criminals who are here undocumented. Here theyre clearly going after somebody who has been in this country, who has a green card, who 20 years ago had some offenses that were minor and she thought they were expunged from the record. But the fact that she is a person being held under this circumstance is just absolutely appalling. Dr Martin Mollhoff, director of seismic networks at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, installs a seismometer in the ground Scientists in Ireland have discovered that singing giant whales near the shore are causing the earth to move with their powerful bass notes. It has long been known in scientific circles that fin whales, the second largest animal on the planet, hit underwater singing notes as loud as the 190-decibel roar of a jet engine. Now, scientists in Ireland have discovered the songs from these sea giants are causing the earth to move under our feet up to five kilometres from shore. Physicists at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) have found the unmistakable, low-pitched notes, or calls from the whales, have been showing up not just on seafloor instruments, but on land-based seismometers that are also used for measuring earthquakes. Dr Martin Mollhoff, the studys lead author and director of seismic networks at DIAS, said: Literally, the ground goes up and down. You sit there in your house, and if youre close enough, within a few kilometres of the coast at Galley Head in Cork or Bunmahon in Waterford, then everything moves. Its so small that we dont feel it, but the seismometers are so sensitive that they do. A fin whale feeds in the ocean. Photo: Getty Today's News in 90 Seconds - April 27 The remarkable discovery, which has just been published in the Scientific Reports journal, was made following a passing comment at a meeting. Geophysicists were reviewing data from seismometers placed on the sea floor: deep-ocean instruments designed to listen for the rumble of earthquakes and the subtle tectonic shifts beneath the seabed. Dr Martin Mollhoff, director of seismic networks at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, installs a seismometer in the ground Seismologists are not looking for animal signals, but again and again, we would notice these whale calls, Dr Mollhoff said. At the end of the meeting, Chris Bean, senior professor and head of geophysics at DIAS, asked if a seismometer on land very close to the sea would pick up the whale songs as the notes travel vast distances underwater. Working with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Dr Mollhoff discovered that blue whales didnt come close to shore, but fin whales, which can grow to around 24 metres (the length of two double-decker buses), can be found on the southern coastline in autumn and early winter. I didnt realise the second largest animal on the planet comes this close, within a few hundred metres, Dr Mollhoff said. Looking at data from sensitive seismic equipment on machines at stations in Galley Head and Bunmahon, both whale haunts, he thought it was a false theory. But then the next day, I had another look and I could see these signals. Its very obvious, its a unique pattern. Its quite amazing, he said. Seismic instruments dont record sound the way a microphone does. They detect vibrations and tiny movements in the ground. The instruments are sensitive enough to pick it up, and the sounds are loud enough to be picked up, but you cant hear them as a human. Theyre too weak, Dr Mollhoff said. He added that the frequency of a fin whales sound is around 20 hertz, just at the threshold of human hearing. Along with finding whale song data recorded on land off the Cork and Waterford coasts, the study team also found data showing whale notes recorded offshore in Monaco and the Antarctic. In different regions of the planet, the fin whales have different kinds of songs its not really known whether theyre dialects or what the meaning is and this can change over time as well. But often in one population, they all do the same thing when they communicate, Dr Mollhoff said. The earthquake-monitoring machines, although limited to detecting whales within four to five kilometres from the shore, could prove vital in protecting the animals near the coast where they are most vulnerable to ship traffic and noise pollution. Analysing past seismic records around the world could also unlock fascinating new insights into the behaviour, and the song catalogue, of one of the giants of the sea. One probably should start looking now through the worldwide, global seismic data that was collected at stations close to the coast, and presumably, in some, you will find these whale songs, Dr Mollhoff said. Many tributes have been paid to John Mullins, including from the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste. Photo: Mark Condren Former chief executive officer at Bord Gais Energy John Mullins, who has died at the age of 57, was a leading figure in the business world. He also had a keen interest in politics and stood as a Fine Gael candidate in last years European elections. He became CEO of Bord Gais in December 2007, a position he held until the end of 2012. During those five years, Bord Gais set up an electricity unit and developed significant renewable and conventional power-generation assets. After finishing his time at the company, Mullins and Alain Desvigne co-founded Amarenco, a company in the PV (photovoltaic) sector focused on the use of solar panels to convert sunlight directly into electric power. He became executive chairperson of the company, which promotes the development, financing and ownership of solar PV assets in Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. In a wide-ranging career, Mullins held senior management positions with the ESB and its global energy engineering consultancy ESB International, the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (UK) and the renewable energy group NTR. He chaired the Port of Cork Company from 2013 to 2021 and was a director of the Cork-based Tyndall National Institute, a European research centre focused on integrated ICT (Information and Communications Technology) hardware and systems, cooperating with industry and academia to turn research into products. He was also a director of Pairc Ui Chaoimh as well as Wisetek Solutions Limited, also Cork-based, which specialises in IT asset disposition, data sanitisation and re-use, and was acquired by the Boston-headquartered company Iron Mountain in a major deal last year. Born in March 1968, John Mullins grew up in the Cork city districts of Knocknaheeny and Bishopstown, and attended the North Monastery Secondary School. He went on from there to University College Cork and acquired bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering, followed by an MBA from the UCD Smurfit Business School. A Fellow of Engineers Ireland and the Irish Academy of Engineering, he was awarded a Chevalier de la Legion dHonneur by the French government in 2015 the countrys highest civilian honour for his role in developing the solar energy market there. He joined Young Fine Gael in the early 1990s, serving as its national president from 1993 to 1995. In 1994, Mullins put his name forward as a Fine Gael general election candidate for Cork North-Central. He fell short of getting the nomination by a single vote. He was a Fine Gael candidate last year for the European Parliament in the five-seat constituency of Ireland South, hoping to succeed the partys retiring MEP, Deirdre Clune. He told the Irish Examiner that, if elected, his priorities would be to achieve a new rural contract with farmers in Ireland, the creation of pragmatic transitional environmental policies and a fair but firm approach to immigration. A visionary entrepreneur and a passionate climate protection advocate He finished in eighth position on the first count with 33,281 votes and was eliminated on the 17th count. John Mullins served as president of the Cork Chamber of Commerce from 2011 to 2013. He was also a member of the One Cork fundraising committee, dedicated to the promotion of Gaelic games in the county. He was a founding chairperson of the Anam Cara charity for bereaved parents, and he also chaired Energycloud, a charity for people facing fuel-poverty. In a statement, Amarenco described him as a visionary entrepreneur and a passionate climate protection advocate. John held executive roles within Amarenco until the end of 2024, driving the business forward in the face of many challenges. His dedication, vision and values have left a lasting mark and will continue to guide our company into the future. John will be greatly missed by all within our business, and our industry, for his leadership and friendship. Cork GAA said: John represented everything our organisation stands for a volunteer, a community man, a proponent of our games, and someone willing to go the extra mile for the benefit of others. John was a wonderfully gregarious character who had a huge impact in Cork and across the country The manager of the countys senior hurling team, Pat Ryan, said: John Mullins was a great supporter of Cork GAA and especially the Cork senior hurlers. Mullinss friend from his college days, Gary Murphy, now professor of politics at DCU, wrote in his Sunday Times column: Ultimately, Mullins simply wanted to make Ireland a better place for its people and it is a tragedy for the country, as much as his family, that he will not get the chance to continue his work of the past three-and-a-half decades. May he rest easy. Tanaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said: It was an honour to know John, to soldier with him in politics, to canvass with him. I always found it a joy to be in his company. For Fine Gael, he was a proud friend of so many and a party activist to his core. The Fine Gael family, especially across Cork, mourns his loss. He was kind, witty, intelligent, fundamentally decent and someone who always wanted to do right by his community and his country. His loss is immense and will be felt deeply by so many. Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: I am deeply saddened at the passing of John Mullins, someone who made such a distinguished contribution to public life, business, sport and politics. John was a wonderfully gregarious character who had a huge impact in Cork and across the country. John had a particular interest in sport, with his beloved Bishopstown GAA and as director of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, and I often enjoyed great banter with him over sporting rivalries. John fully realised his potential in public service and in business, but he could just as easily have realised his promise in politics with his deep and abiding interest and involvement with Fine Gael. A great strategist, you would see John at all the election counts over the years. John Mullins died suddenly after taking ill at his home on April 14. He is survived by his wife Siobhan, children Michael and Sarah, his parents Pat and Maureen, brothers Jim, Pat, Kieran and Brian, other relatives and a wide circle of colleagues and friends. A ceremony in the Church of the Holy Spirit at Dennehys Cross was followed by removal to the Island Crematorium in Ringaskiddy. Mystery over Sinn Fein decision not to reappoint formidable Mairead Farrell as chair of PAC TD had one of the shortest stints as chairperson of Dails most influential committee Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell and supporters celebrate her 2020 election win in Galway West. Photo: Andrew Downes/Xposure Gabija Gataveckaite and Mary Regan Sun 27 Apr 2025 at 03:30 Questions have been raised over why Sinn Feins Mairead Farrell has not been reappointed as chairperson of the Dails spending watchdog. Rupert Grint has quietly become a father for the second time. Rupert Grint is a dad again The 'Harry Potter' actor and his partner Georgia Groome - who already have four-year-old Wednesday together - have been spotted out and about in Hampstead, north London, with their newborn bundled in a blanket. In photos obtained by The Sun online, the 36-year-old star smiled broadly as he held the baby during a family walk, for which he dressed all in black. Georgia, wearing sunglasses, smiled at the tot and planted a kiss on her forehead. The baby appeared to have inherited their dad's distinctive red hair. A spokesperson for the couple has yet to comment, so no further details about the new arrival are available. The 'Servant' actor previously admitted he never stops worrying about his daughter and parenting has made him a "bit of a hypochondriac". He told People magazine: "I think becoming a dad forces you to discover things, and now I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. Having a baby, you're worried about her at all times. Everything seems dangerous. I bought a full-size ostrich skeleton. It's 8 feet tall and came fully assembled, but it's so delicate. It's really stressful to have in your living room, especially when we've got a cat and Wednesday running around!" And Rupert told how he found the first night he and Georgia brought their daughter home was "terrifying". He told Esquire magazine: "I don't want to go too into detail, but the first night was just terrifying. You can't sleep at all, just constantly checking that she's breathing. Sleeping, in general, for me, is something I've really struggled with. I think as a kid, people always said, 'They died in their sleep,' so I always thought sleep was a really dangerous, dangerous thing." The 'Snatch' actor also joked he had an identity crisis when his daughter arrived, as he thought he had to change his wardrobe so hed look like a dad. He said: "I struggle with that, being a dad. Had a bit of an identity crisis. I don't know, do I change the way I dress now?" Pilgrims, royalty, prelates and world leaders were among the 400,000 who gathered in the Vatican and Rome on Saturday to say farewell to Pope Francis. The mourners in St Peters Square at the weekend included a strong Irish contingent of bishops, priests and people, some of whom spoke to the Irish Independent afterwards about the funeral mass and their thoughts on Pope Francis. Hiring a car can transform a good trip into a great one or, if youre not prepared, into an expensive one... Its always best to book early, so try to organise car hire when youre reviewing flight options if not before. Photo: Getty Over the next three weeks, well share insider tips to help you book smart, dodge common pitfalls and travel with confidence. First up: what to know before you book. Booking Car Hire: How early is early enough? Its always best to book early, so try to organise car hire when youre reviewing flight options if not before. This is especially important during peak travel periods like summer, Easter and Christmas. Ideally, aim to book four to six months in advance to secure the best selection and rates. Comparison websites such as Skyscanner, Kayak, Rentalcars.com and Auto Europe are great places to start, letting you weigh up options quickly. But dont forget to check prices directly with rental companies too booking direct can come with perks like loyalty rewards, priority service or member-only discounts. Whichever route you choose, always read the fine print. Pay close attention to insurance coverage, mileage limits, fuel policies and cross-border restrictions these small details can cause big headaches if overlooked. Airport or City Centre Pickup: Is convenience worth the cost? Picking up your car at the airport is probably the most convenient but can also work out the most expensive as many rental companies apply premium location surcharges. If youre staying centrally or can hop on a shuttle, compare rates at city centre branches. Fuel Policy: Full-to-full or full-to-empty? Always go for a full-to-full fuel policy. You collect the car with a full tank, return it the same way and only pay for what you actually use. The alternative, full-to-empty means paying upfront for a tank of fuel, often with hefty mark-ups. Its also nearly impossible to return a hire car completely empty and theres no refund for unused fuel. What about car hire insurance? Buy excess insurance independently before you travel. Its cheaper than what youll be offered at the rental desk and usually covers more, including windscreen chips, tyre damage, lost keys and even misfuelling. The Irish publics relationship with the Catholic Church was ruptured by the clerical abuse scandals that began to break in the late 1980s, and the subsequent cover-up by a terrified hierarchy only deepened the fissure. Ireland was hurt, and yearning to be heard, but the church was not yet ready to listen. That wound has never properly healed. It would be too much to expect that the moving funeral of Pope Francis who believed himself to be no greater than the lowest of the faithful, even as he took on the responsibility of leading a billion and a half souls in search of meaning in a modern wilderness of secularism and materialism will bring about a symbolic reconcilement. It may already be too late. Yesterdays ceremony, marked as it was by a profound synthesis of simplicity and spectacle, remains all the same a solemn representation of what has been lost. Human beings need ritual and tradition to give shape to our lives. Through no fault of their own, too many in this country were cruelly excluded from the light in the darkness offered by faith. Its absence in their lives is a continuing grief. By definition, the death of every Pope marks the end of an era. The next Pope, whoever is chosen in the days to come, will put his own stamp on the institution. What is needed is a renewal of the radical humility that Francis brought to the role. Mocking his foes, communist dictator Joseph Stalin once infamously asked: How many divisions does the Pope have? An atheist, he could only see the world through that brutal lens. Pope Franciss life reminds us that power does not lie simply in political or military might, or economic strength vital as they are on an ever more insecure planet but in moral authority. The funeral homily delivered by Cardinal Re was markedly more political than those for the Holy Fathers predecessors, Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II, which focused on the message of the Gospel rather than more worldly affairs. That speaks to the fraught times we are in. Yesterday, there was a pointed remembrance of Franciss very first visit as Pontiff to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, to which thousands of desperate migrants had arrived in the months before, and where he decried the culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people. His words have only grown more urgent since. Striking too was the reference to his journey to the Mexican border in 2016, where he celebrated mass within a few weeks of President Trump taking office for the first time on a promise to build a wall to keep out those seeking a better life. It will always be a Popes sacred duty to exhort world leaders to show compassion and mercy to the most needy. They are tools which should be applied to every political problem, even if they are not solutions in and of themselves. The US presidents seeming indifference to either of those qualities remains a terrifying danger to all our hopes for a better world. One can only pray that the image of President Trump and Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky quietly talking with one another in St Peters Basilica will be the impetus to revitalise the peace negotiations from which the US keeps threatening to walk away. All proceeds will go to West Cork Sudbury School, a centre which encouraged play-based and experimental learning. GAMECON returns to Bantry Boys Club on May 10 and 11 and promises to deliver an action-packed weekend of all things gaming. Whether you're into video games, miniature games, chess, backgammon, board games or tabletop roleplaying games, there's something for everyone, with an exciting line up of game designers, artists, traders, game masters and innovators ready to showcase and share their hobbies and skills with you. Kilnamartyras own Toy Soldier Factory will bring the magic of miniature toy making to the masses during live five-minute demonstrations of using traditional rubber moulds and paint your creation. Bantry Chess Club will constantly plot your next move as they will run open chess games on Saturday and a competitive tournament on the Sunday. Tickets for GAMECON 2025 are available online on Eventbrite and at the door, 15 adult and 10 student day tickets, 25 adult weekend and 15 student weekend tickets. Children aged five and under can come for free and under 18s must be accompanied by an adult. All proceeds will go to West Cork Sudbury School, a centre which encouraged play-based and experimental learning. Potential traders, artists, volunteers and sponsors are invited to come on board by contacting the organisers through email: info@gamecon.ie. The Pike men and the Ennisocorthy re-enactment group marched through the streets. Minister James Browne also laid a wreath at the monument. Cathaoirleach of Enniscoryhy Aidan Browne laid a wreath on the statue in Market Square. The large crowd filled the Market Square to pay their respects. Locals, representatives, and various historical organisations gathered together in the Market Square to commemorate and pay their respects to the men of the 1916 Easter Rising. 108 years ago, the tricolour was raised on the Athenaeum as local units of the Irish Volunteers took over the town a position they would hold until they received confirmation in person from Padraig Pearse himself at Arbour Hill Prison that they were to lay down their arms and surrender. Enniscorthy was the last area to surrender in the country after the Easter Rising of 1916. Following a mass held in St Aidans Cathedral, a colour party from the reserve defence forces led the way to Market Squares to listen to some speeches and play the national anthem. The party was joined by St Colemans Pipe Band and the Enniscorthy Re-Enactment Society. Pat Nolan also gave an animated rendition of The Last Post and Judy Heffernan read the Proclamation out loud across the crowd. To pay their respects, both Cathaoirelach of Enniscorthy Aidan Browne and Minister James Browne left wreaths on the Seamus Rafter Monument in the square. Cathaoirleach of Enniscoryhy Aidan Browne laid a wreath on the statue in Market Square. St Colemans Pipe Band. The Colour Party led the procession. The Pike men and the Ennisocorthy re-enactment group marched through the streets. The local councillors joined the parade. The parade featured a number of flags. Pat Nolan played The 'Last Post.' The national anthem was proudly played. Minister James Browne also laid a wreath at the monument. In honour of World Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, Gorey Tidy Towns planted a grove of 21 trees on a green space. Gorey Tidy Towns planted these trees in the hopes they will add colour and biodiversity to the streetscape along the Paul Funge Boulevard. The centrepiece tree is a tall pin oak, the same variety as those on the Avenue. It is surrounded by two sweet gum, three Norway maple, nine Himalayan birch and six mountain ash. The sweet gum tree is native to Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. It is a broadly conical tree with young shoots, often with corky wings. Its green leaves will turn to orange, red and purple in the autumn. The pin oak or English oak, is a rugged, spreading, deciduous tree with fissured, grey-brown bark and dark green leaves and it produces acorns. The Norway maple has dark red-purple foliage, which matures into dark purple and red tinged yellow flowers. The silver Himalayan birch has beautiful white bark with green leaves that turn to yellow in autumn and it produces yellow-brown catkins in spring. The mountain ash or rowan tree is a native Irish tree which produces white flowers in spring followed by bright red berries in autumn. The ancient Irish druids believed this tree to be a protector of the family home. Billy Halford of Gorey Tidy Towns thanked Wexford County Council for their ongoing support and for their donation of the six rowan trees. This project was sponsored by Kinbark Nurseries in Camolin, which donated 15 trees, designed the layout, planted the trees and laid bark mulch. The six mountain ash trees came from Wexford County Councils Trees for Wexford programme. New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Declan Madden IRFU president makes the draw for the 300 club. Photo; Mary Browne New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Declan Madden IRFU president ceremonially turns the sod on the new dressing rooms. Photo; Mary Browne New Ross Rugby Football Club held an anniversary celebration for its 55th year and the 150th year of the IRFU which also saw the President of the IRFU, Declan Madden and his wife, Geraldine, breaking ground to mark the initiation of the clubs development. The event was attended by a large number of present club members including past presidents and captains of the club and their family members and friends. The New Ross RFC President, Brendan Roche, opened the event by welcoming all attendees and thanking Declan and Geraldine for their visit. The club captain, Emma Flood, and mens team captain, Rory Browne, gave a brief presentation about the development plans for the club and the motivation behind those plans. The development includes building new dressing rooms to support the growing numbers of female rugby players and teams in the club, and a new gym that will be fully accessible to all members, including for the Dunbrody Warriors, the clubs inclusive adaptive rugby team. A second phase of the project will deliver a 3G all-weather pitch at the grounds at Southknock. New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. From left; Andrew Halpin secretary, Seamus Doyle, Tommy McLoughlin, Declan Madden IRFU president, Derek Furness, Darren Molloy chairperson and Brendan Roche president. Photo; Mary Browne In the years since its founding, the club has developed, within the urban community of New Ross Town and the surrounding rural area, to have over 500 playing members across 20 teams. The demand on training and playing facilities is significantly higher than what was required before and therefore development is now progressing in earnest to address these needs. Following the presentation, the club held the second of its 300 Development Club quarterly draws. The 300 Development Club has been set up to allow members (individuals, organisations and companies) to support development through either lump sum payments or monthly payments of 30 a month for three years. Quarterly draws are held with prizes of 1000, 300 and 100. New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Declan Madden IRFU president and Cllr Brdn Murphy and daughter Ava. Photo; Mary Browne This was followed by a sod turning ceremony in which Declan, with the assistance of the club committee, broke the ground to mark the start of development for the club. Declan spoke at length about the importance of smaller clubs, such as New Ross RFC, to the development and sustainment of rugby across the country. In particular, he highlighted the contributions of all clubs to 150 years of the IRFU and to the huge success of Irish rugby over the recent years. He also regaled the attendees with stories about Dr. Mick Lucey who was one of the founders of the club in the early 1970s, whom Declan had known and played with. New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Rory Browne captain makes a presentation on the clubs development plans. Photo; Mary Browne The day was a huge success for the club and the gathering exhibited the community spirit built around the club and the encouragement continues among all teams. The senior mens and womens teams showcase their own success in performing well in the Leinster league this season, while there were great seasons for all the minis and youth teams also and in the Bank of Ireland NeverStopCompeting challenge. Individual accomplishments through their work in the local club were also acknowledged recently with the awarding of 2024 County Wexford Volunteer in Sport award to Nicky Haberlin and the awarding of the IRFU Service to Rugby medal to Seamus Doyle. The celebration was an opportunity for past and present members to reflect on the clubs success over the years and, while there was an element of nostalgia for some, it was also a proud day for all involved. New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Emma Flood captain makes a presentation on the clubs development plans. Photo; Mary Browne New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Declan Madden IRFU president and MArtin Kehoe. Photo; Mary Browne New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Declan Madden IRFU president ceremonially turns the sod on the new dressing rooms. Photo; Mary Browne New Ross rugby club presidents and captains reunion. Photo; Mary Browne Virginia Giuffre, who has died by suicide aged 41, spent four years as a teenager in the entourage of financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. She later helped to precipitate the Prince Andrews withdrawal from public life, when she alleged that she had been forced to have sex with him at the age of 17. Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. One person was killed and a 14-year-old girl was injured in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, regional governor Serhii Lysak said. Pope Francis, the humble pontiff whose acts of inclusiveness, modesty, and mercy rippled through his 12-year papacy, was laid to rest Saturday in a service he deliberately simplified. Hundreds of thousands of mourners and dozens of world leaders and dignitaries gathered in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for the funeral. Following the Mass, Francis' simple wooden coffin, adorned with a large cross, was placed on an open-air popemobile and transported through the streets of Rome, lined by cheering crowds, to the burial site. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, who presided over the funeral, praised Francis during his homily as "a pope among the people, with an open heart toward everyone." He added, "He established direct contact with individuals and peoples, eager to be close to everyone, with a marked attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, especially to the marginalized." The funeral Mass began with readings from Scripture as white-gloved pallbearers carried Francis' coffin into the square. Applause echoed through the vast crowd while bells tolled in tribute. Francis, who led the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, died Easter Monday at 88 following a stroke, after weeks of battling respiratory ailments. Just one day earlier, on Easter Sunday, the frail but resolute pope, often called "the people's pope" for his work championing the poor and marginalized, thrilled crowds with an impromptu popemobile outing into St. Peter's Square. More than a quarter-million people attended the funeral, according to Vatican News. About 250 cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, priests, as well as consecrated religious and lay people, joined Cardinal Re as he delivered the liturgy, the Vatican's news agency reported. After the service, Francis' coffin was carried by a white Mercedes-Benz popemobile bearing Vatican flags. The motorcade made its way approximately 2.5 miles to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where Francis was set to be buried in a private ceremony later Saturday. Along the route, thousands of onlookers waved and clapped. Pope Francis' funeral service lasted two hours, notably shorter than Pope John Paul II's three-hour service in 2005. In his final testament, Francis requested to be buried inside the burial niche between the Chapel of the Salus Populi Romani and the Sforza Chapel within the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, instead of in the traditional Grotto at St. Peter's Basilica. He is the first pope to be laid to rest outside the Vatican in nearly a century. Among the notable attendees were President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, seated in the front row for the service. According to the Daily Beast, this broke the precedent set at the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II, where non-royal heads of state, including the U.S. president, were seated in the third row behind monarchs. At that event, Catholic royals occupied the front row, followed by non-Catholic royals and then non-royal heads of state, ordered alphabetically by country. Trump's midnight blue suit stood out against the sea of black-clad mourners. The funeral drew dozens of world leaders and thousands of visitors from around the world. Security was intense, with about 2,000 local police officers and thousands more from national security forces deployed. Measures included patrols on the Tiber River, drones, snipers, and the closure of streets around the Vatican. Authorities also instituted a no-fly zone over Rome for the week. Among the world leaders in attendance were Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former U.S. President Joe Biden with his wife, Jill. Some leaders had past clashes with Francis and with each other. Pope Francis had previously called Trump's immigration deportation plans a "disgrace." Before the service, Trump and Melania paid their respects to Francis' sealed coffin inside St. Peter's Basilica. Zelenskyy and Trump, who had a tense Oval Office meeting in February over efforts to secure a Ukraine-Russia peace deal, briefly met again before the service. One notable absence was Russian President Vladimir Putin. Although Putin has long portrayed himself as a man of serious faith, he did not attend. The Kremlin cited his absence while noting that Putin is currently subject to an international criminal court arrest warrant over the invasion of Ukraine. A man takes photos of the tomb of Pope Francis in St Mary Major Basilica in Rome (Alessandra Tarantino/AP) Roman Catholic faithful have begun visiting the tomb of Pope Francis, filing past the simple white tomb in St Mary Major Basilica a day after he was bade farewell by the powerful of the world and a crowd of hundreds of thousands. The Heart Knows OTT Release Date: This Argentinian romantic drama, originally titled Corazon delator, is scheduled for a global release on Netflix on May 30, 2025. Directed by Marcos Carnevale, the film stars Benjamin Vicuna and Julieta Diaz in lead roles and is a slice-of-life tale that caters to audiences of all hearts. The Heart Knows plot overview The story follows Juan Manuel, a successful businessman who undergoes a heart transplant. Post-surgery, he experiences a profound emotional transformation, leading him to seek out the family of his heart donor. This journey brings him into contact with Valeria, the donor's widow, and the community they shared. As Juan Manuel becomes more involved in their lives, he conceals the truth about his connection to Valeria, setting the stage for a touching exploration of identity, love, and redemption. Stills from The Heart Knows | Credits: Netflix More about The Heart Knows Alongside Vicuna and Diaz, The Heart Knows features performances by Peto Menahem, Gloria Carra, Julia Calvo, Yayo Guridi, Bicho Gomez, Facundo Espinosa, and Veronica Hassan, among others. Filming commenced in June 2024 in Lanus, Buenos Aires, under the production of Sony Pictures. Whats more Argentinian available on Netflix? While you wait for The Heart Knows, there is a lot of Argentinian content available on Netflix to binge-watch. Films like Goyo, I Cant Live Without You, The Fantastic Sisters, The Woman in the Queue, Transmitzvah, Simon of the Mountain, Miss Coala, The Man Who Loved Flying Saucers, Camp with Mom, 27 Nights and Tell-Tale Heart are ready to entertain you. If you are into Argentinian shows and series, then stream El Eternauta, Caught (Atrapados), Envious (Envidiosa), Division Palermo Season 2, In the Mud (En la Cienaga), Mafalda (Animated Series), The Curses (Las Maldiciones), Love Is Blind Argentina, Edha and Puerta 7 on Netflix. For more news and updates from the world of OTT and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Varunan OTT Release Date: Dushyanth Jayaprakash recently headlined this Tamil film, which opened to mixed reviews in theatres on 14th March. Written and directed by Jaayavelmurugun, the movie is finally ready for its digital debut. Varunan will be streaming on Aha Tamil starting May 1, 2025. This Bobo Shashi musical is cinematographed by S Srirama Santhosh and edited by U. Muthayan. Varunans cast and crew Other than Dushyanth, the film also stars Gabriella Charlton, Radha Ravi, Charan Raj, Shankarnag Vijayan, Haripriya Isai, Maheshwari Chanakyan, Jeeva Ravi, Kaushik S, Arjunna Keerthivasan, Hyde Karty, Priyadharsan, Dumkan Maari and Sathyaraj among others. Varunan is produced by Karthick Sreedaran under the banner of Yakkai Films and Vaan Productions. Varunans review The Times of India rated the movie 2 out of 5, and a part of their review read, The God of Water deserved better than this tepid tale of men arguing over plastic cans. The plot, such as it is, escalates from petty territorial squabbles to predictable betrayals and eventual bloodshed, without ever making us care who controls which streets hydration. In its better moments, Varunan hints at the film it could have beena glimpse of clarity quickly muddied by convention. Like its water cans, the potential remains sealed. Varunans plot overview Varunan is a thrilling drama set in North Chennai, where two water supply groups lock horns over area control. On one side is the experienced Ayyavu (Radha) and his loyal boys Thillai (Dushyanth) and Marudhu (Priyadharsan), who just want to run their business peacefully. On the other side is the cunning John (Charan), backed by his greedy wife Raani (Maheshwari) and her rowdy brother Dabba (Shankarnag). But they're not just supplying water, theyre hiding illegal liquor inside the cans. As the rivalry heats up, fights break out, friendships break down, and a crooked cop adds more fuel to the fire. What starts as small fights soon turns into a violent war, with everyone out to survive and win. For more news and updates from the world of OTT and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Akshaya Tritiya 2025: Akshaya Tritiya, also called 'Akti' or 'Akha Teej,' is one of the most auspicious Hindu and Jain festivals. Akshaya Tritiya is seen as an auspicious time for fresh starts and endeavours. It's common for people to launch new ventures, plan weddings, or make investments in gold, property, and other valuable items. The belief is that starting something new on this day brings lasting success and prosperity. It falls on the third tithi (lunar day) of Shukla Paksha of the Vaishakha month, according to the lunar calendar. People believe this day is very lucky because the sun and moon are in important positions in the sky. When is Akshaya Tritiya in 2025? Akshaya Tritiya is considered an auspicious day for Hindus because it is believed that Lord Parasurama was born on this day. Who was believed to be the sixth form of Lord Vishnu. Hinduism has lots of festivals, but Akshaya Tritiya is one of the most important. In 2025, Akshaya Tritiya will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 30. For Hindus, it's also about celebrating when Lord Ganesha started writing the Mahabharata. According to legend, he took three years to complete. Jains see it as the birthday of Rishabhadeva, the first spiritual leader. They think doing good things on this day brings lasting happiness and success. Buying gold, starting new projects, or giving to charity are seen as good things to do on Akshaya Tritiya. People worship Lord Vishnu, who protects the universe, and goddess Lakshmi, who brings wealth and luck. Akshaya Tritiya auspicious timings - Akshaya Tritiya 2025 date - Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - Tritiya Tithi Begins - 05:31 PM on Apr 29, 2025 - Tritiya Tithi Ends - 02:12 PM on Apr 30, 2025 - Akshaya Tritiya Puja Muhurat - 05:41 AM to 12:18 PM (Duration - 06 Hours 37 Mins) Akshaya Tritiya gold purchase on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 - Auspicious time for buying gold - 05:31 PM to 05:41 AM on April 30 Auspicious Choghadiya timings overlapping Akshaya Tritiya - Evening Muhurat (Labha) - 08:16 PM to 09:37 PM - Night Muhurat (Shubha, Amrita, Chara) - 10:57 PM to 03:00 AM on April 30 Akshaya Tritiya gold purchase on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 - - Auspicious time for buying gold - 05:41 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious Choghadiya timings overlapping Akshaya Tritiya - Morning Muhurat (Shubha) - 10:39 AM to 12:18 PM - Morning Muhurat (Labha, Amrita) - 05:41 AM to 09:00 AM History & Significance Akshaya Tritiya is a day associated with Lord Vishnu, the preserver in Hinduism. According to Hindu mythology, it marks the beginning of Treta Yuga, the second age. It's also celebrated as the birth anniversary of Lord Parshuram, Vishnu's sixth incarnation. Parshuram, meaning "Rama with an axe," came to earth to protect it from the cruelty of the Kshatriyas. This day is known as Parshuram Jayanti in many parts of India. Legend has it that Sage Vyasa started narrating the Mahabharata to Lord Ganesha on Akshaya Tritiya. Some also believe that the Ganges River descended to earth on this day. Another story involves Sudama, a friend of Lord Krishna, who visited him in Dwarka on this day. Though Sudama didn't ask for help, he brought a small bag of rice as a gift. In return, Krishna blessed him with endless prosperity. There are also tales from the Mahabharata where the Pandavas received the Akshaya Patra, and Kubera was appointed as the custodian of wealth. In Jainism, the day marks the completion of the first Tirthankara's year-long austerity. It's celebrated by drinking sugarcane juice and observing fasts. Akshaya Tritiya is believed to bring good luck and success. Additionally, people purchase gold on Akshaya Tritiya because they believe it symbolises continuous growth and prosperity, never diminishing. Akshaya Tritiya celebration On Akshaya Tritiya, people engage in various activities to seek blessings and ensure prosperity. They offer prayers to God and extend help to the less fortunate by donating food, clothes, and money. Besides, many choose to invest in gold and other valuable items like property, vehicles, books, electronics, jewelry, and agricultural equipment. It's considered an auspicious time for new beginnings and investments, symbolising growth and abundance. Here's the Akshaya Tritiya Vrat and Puja Vidhi shared by Gurudev Shri Kashyap: Those fasting for the day should wear yellow clothing early in the morning. At home, bathe the idol of Vishnu with Gangajal and offer Tulsi leaves, a garland of yellow flowers, or just yellow flowers. Light a ghee lamp and incense, and sit on a yellow seat. Recite texts related to Vishnu, such as Vishnu Sahasranama and Vishnu Chalisa. Conclude with singing Vishnu Ji's Aarti. Additionally, providing food or donations to the less fortunate will yield excellent results. Akshaya Tritiya 2025: City-wise Shubh Muhurat for buying gold Auspicious time to buy gold in Delhi - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:41 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:41 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:41 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Noida - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:41 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:41 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:41 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Gurgaon - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:42 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:42 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:42 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Chandigarh - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:40 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:40 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:40 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Kolkata - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:05 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:05 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:05 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Mumbai - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 06:11 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 06:11 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 06:11 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Bengaluru - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:59 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:59 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:59 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Ahmedabad - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 06:07 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 06:07 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 06:07 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Hyderabad - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:51 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:51 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:51 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Jaipur - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:49 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:49 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:49 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Pune - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 06:08 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 06:08 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 06:08 AM to 02:12 PM Auspicious time to buy gold in Chennai - April 29, 2025 - 05:31 PM to 05:48 AM, April 30 - 05:31 PM to 05:48 AM, April 30 April 30, 2025 - 05:48 AM to 02:12 PM - drikpanchang Happy Akshaya Tritiya Wishes, Quotes and WhatsApp status May this Akshaya Tritiya bring you all the happiness and prosperity you deserve. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! May this Akshaya Tritiya bestow upon you endless wealth, prosperity, and success. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! May the divine blessings of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi be with you this Akshaya Tritiya. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! May this Akshaya Tritiya mark the beginning of a fruitful and prosperous year for you. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! "Akshaya Tritiya ki shubhkamnayein! Is din aapko dhan aur khushiyan prapt ho, aur aapka jeevan sundar aur sampann rahe." On this blessed Akshaya Tritiya, may Lord Vishnu grant you health, wealth, and happiness. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! As you celebrate Akshaya Tritiya, may you remember that life is full of opportunities and blessings May this Akshaya Tritiya bring boundless joy, prosperity, and success to you and your loved ones. Happy Akshaya Tritiya! May you thrive in both your personal and professional pursuits. Happy Akshaya Tritiya. May abundance of wealth and enduring good health be yours forever. Warm greetings on Akshaya Tritiya. May this Akshaya Tritiya fill your heart with hope for joyful times and dreams for a year full of smiles! Have a very Happy Akshaya Tritiya. "Akshaya Tritiya chya haardik shubhechha! Aajcha din tumhala navi udyogik avasar, samruddhi ani khushi deto." May the lord shower blessings on us all today! Wishing everyone luck and peace on this joyous occasion! Akshaya Tritiya 2025: FAQs When is Akshaya Tritiya 2025? This year, Akshaya Tritiya falls on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The Tritiya Tithi (lunar day) begins at 05:31 PM on April 29 and ends at 02:12 PM on April 30, 2025. What is Akshaya Tritiya, and why is it celebrated? Akshaya Tritiya symbolises eternal prosperity and abundance. It is believed that any auspicious activity performed on this day ensures everlasting success and fortune. The term 'Akshaya' signifies eternal, while 'Tritiya' denotes the third day of the bright fortnight. What to buy on Akshaya Tritiya? Akshaya Tritiya, which is on April 30, has always seen fervent gold purchases stemming from the belief that investments made on this day would never diminish, thus bringing everlasting prosperity. Which God got married on Akshaya Tritiya? As per a South Indian legend, Goddess Madhura married God Sundaresha, an incarnation of Lord Shiva, on the day of Akshaya Tritiya. What is the significance of Akshaya Tritiya? Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej, is considered one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. "Akshaya" means "eternal" and "Tritiya" refers to the third lunar day. It's believed that anything started on this day will bring everlasting prosperity. Here are some reasons why it's significant: Marks the beginning of Satya Yuga: According to mythology, this day marks the start of the Satya Yuga, the first and golden age of humanity. Birth of Lord Parasurama: It is believed to be the birthday of Lord Parasurama, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Descent of the Ganges: The holy river Ganges is said to have descended from heaven on this day. What are the puja timings for Akshaya Tritiya 2025? The ideal puja muhurat (auspicious time) for Akshaya Tritiya 2025 varies depending on location. In major Indian cities, it falls between: New Delhi: 5:41 AM to 12:18 PM Mumbai: 6:11 AM to 12:36 PM Kolkata: 5:05 AM to 11:34 AM To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes Trending. Bank holidays in May 2025: In India, banks normally stay closed on public holidays, which include both national and state-specific holidays. On national holidays like Republic Day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August), and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October), all banks across the country remain shut. Festivals like Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Guru Nanak Jayanti, Good Friday, and others are also considered bank holidays. Besides these, banks are closed on the second and fourth Saturdays, along with every Sunday each month. Earlier, we shared the list of bank holidays for April 2025. Now, as we move into May the fifth month of 2025 a new set of bank holidays has been released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In May 2025, banks will be closed for 12 days, though not in every state or region. This count includes public holidays, regional holidays, and closures on the second and fourth Saturdays and all Sundays. The list of holidays is decided by the RBI along with individual state governments. Even though the banks will be closed, services like Internet banking and ATMs will continue to work during these holidays. The first bank holiday in May 2025 is on 1 May, for Maharashtra Day/May Day (Labour Day). Other important holidays include Buddha Purnima on 12 May and Maharana Pratap Jayanti on 29 May. These dates might differ depending on the state, as holidays are planned based on local festivals. As per RBI rules, banks close on all Sundays and the second and fourth Saturdays. Under the Negotiable Instruments Act, the RBI has declared holidays on 1, 4, 9, 12, 16, 25, 26, and 29 May. Besides this, the Sundays fall on 4, 11, 18, and 25 May, and the second and fourth Saturdays fall on 10 and 24 May. According to the Reserve Banks holiday calendar, excluding weekends, there are nine official bank holidays in May 2025. Its a good idea to plan your important banking work in advance, keeping these holidays in mind. Here's a city-wise List Of Bank Holidays in May 2025: May 2025 Bank holidays list Date & Day Event City May 1 (Thursday) Labour Day/Maharashtra Day Belapur, Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad - Telangana, Imphal, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Panaji, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram May 4 (Sunday) Weekend holiday All over India May 9 (Friday) Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti Kolkata May 10 (Saturday) Second Saturday All over India May 11 (Sunday) Weekend holiday All over India May 12 (Monday) Buddha Purnima Agartala, Aizawl, Belapur, Bhopal, Dehradun, Itanagar, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Srinagar May 16 (Friday) Sikkim State Day Gangtok May 18 (Sunday) Weekend holiday All over India May 24 (Saturday) Fourth Saturday All over India May 25 (Sunday) Weekend holiday All over India May 26 (Monday) Kazi Nazrul Islam Birthday Agartala May 29 (Thursday) Maharana Pratap Jayanti Shimla Important Days and Festivals In May 2025 In May 2025, there are many holidays, which means it's a good time to take a break from your usual routine. You can plan your trip ahead with the holidays listed below: May Day: This national holiday is also called International Labour Day or Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas. It remembers the Haymarket incident that happened in Chicago on 4 May 1886, which is linked to the fight for workers rights. This national holiday is also called International Labour Day or Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas. It remembers the Haymarket incident that happened in Chicago on 4 May 1886, which is linked to the fight for workers rights. Maharashtra Day: This day marks the creation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960. The Governor gives a speech at Shivaji Park, and the state government shares new plans for the future. This day marks the creation of the state of Maharashtra in 1960. The Governor gives a speech at Shivaji Park, and the state government shares new plans for the future. Gujarat Day: Gujarat became a state on 1 May 1960. People celebrate with official events across the state, with a major one at the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad. The government also announces new plans for the people. Gujarat became a state on 1 May 1960. People celebrate with official events across the state, with a major one at the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad. The government also announces new plans for the people. Buddha Purnima: This festival celebrates the birth of Lord Buddha. It falls on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Vaisakh. A big fair is held at Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first sermon. This festival celebrates the birth of Lord Buddha. It falls on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Vaisakh. A big fair is held at Sarnath, where Buddha gave his first sermon. Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore: This day honours the birthday of the famous Bengali poet, musician, and artist Rabindranath Tagore. Cultural programmes are organised at different places to pay tribute to him. This day honours the birthday of the famous Bengali poet, musician, and artist Rabindranath Tagore. Cultural programmes are organised at different places to pay tribute to him. State Day: Sikkim became India's 22nd state, and this day celebrates that achievement. The state government holds special events and gives awards to people who have helped Sikkim grow. Sikkim became India's 22nd state, and this day celebrates that achievement. The state government holds special events and gives awards to people who have helped Sikkim grow. Birthday of Kazi Nazrul Islam: This day celebrates the birth of Bengali poet, musician, writer, and revolutionary Kazi Nazrul Islam. Various cultural events are organised in his honour. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes Trending. EMPs askto block new sales of Greek -owned ships, which are allowing the Kremlin to maintain its shadow fleet. They highlight the huge profits being made by some Greek shipowners following the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia A cross-party group of 36 MEPs from various countries sent a joint letter last Friday to the office of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, asking him to take all necessary measures to prevent any further sale of Greek-owned vessels to Russia. The MEPs warn that these transactions help the Kremlin to maintain its shadow fleet and circumvent the G7 price cap on Russian oil. The MEPs are also calling for additional measures to restrict ship-to-ship transfers, a practice used to hide the origin of goods, and to discourage Greek companies from transporting Russian oil. These actions are critical not only to curtail Russias financial means to continue its war against Ukraine, but also to prevent environmental and security threats, to which your country as a maritime nation has already been directly exposed, the MEPs write. They cite a recent study by the US think tank Brookings, according to which more than half of the ships in Russias shadow fleet came from Western European owners, with Greece being by far the single biggest supplier. They note that Greek shipowners have made around $4 billion from the sale of ageing ships that ended up in Russias shadow fleet. Take all necessary measures The findings are in line with a previous study by the European Parliaments research service, euronews reports. Such irresponsible actions, aimed at financial gain, not only directly contribute to the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but also undermine European and Greek security, including causing environmental hazards, said Petras Austrevicius, the Lithuanian liberal MP who promoted the joint letter. To date, the EU has blacklisted 153 ships from the Russian shadow fleet, forbidding them access to European ports and services. Despite the wide range of sanctions, the EU has not imposed a direct ban on the sale or transfer of ownership of tankers to Russia. Instead, EU companies and individuals are required to notify the competent national authorities of such transactions and await their approval. The MEPs are calling on the Greek government to take all necessary measure to prevent any further sales of Greek-owned vessels to third countries, to prevent further transfers to suspicious entities, and to continue its efforts to limit ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil in Greek waters. They stress that these revenues strengthen Russias war machine and thus threaten European security and the environment. The signatories bring their letter to a close by saying We are counting on you and your Government to encourage Greek companies to stand in solidarity with Ukraine. Kyriakos Mitsotakis office did not react to the letter immediately. A spokesman said: The Greek authorities are doing their utmost to ensure compliance with the sanctions and to prevent any circumvention of the sanctions within their territory. The shadow fleet Greece, a coastal nation with a strong maritime sector, is under scrutiny for the role it has traditionally played in the Russian fossil fuel trade. Although this activity has decreased significantly following the imposition of EU sanctions, it has not stopped entirely. The so-called shadow fleet refers to the ships the Kremlin uses to circumvent the price cap on Russian oil imposed by the Western allies to limit the funds available to finance a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. International oil and gas sales are Moscows most important sources of revenue. The fleet consists of old, uninsured tankers that engage in deceptive practices such as transmitting falsified data, disabling transponders to make themselves invisible, and making multiple ship-to-ship transfers to conceal the origin of the barrels of oil they carry. Such measures allow ships to evade monitoring, and thus the price cap. Political pressure to crack down on the fleet has increased over time following a series of incidents in the Baltic Sea, where Russian-operated vessels have been accused of sabotaging underwater cables. In its various sanctions packages, the EU has now blacklisted 153 ships belonging to the shadow fleet. All 153 are banned from accessing EU ports and EU services. The All Progressives Congress (APC) has demanded that social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, issue an apology within seven days for what it called disparaging remarks against Senate President Godswill Akpabio. VeryDarkMan, in a trending video, criticised the Senate President for travelling to Rome despite the ongoing insecurity in the country. He stated that Akpabio ought to have been paying condolence visits to Benue, Plateau, Kwara, Ogun, Enugu, and other states currently ravaged by killings. Advertisement READ MORE: 2Baba, Mother Reconcile Following Natasha Osawaru Relationship Controversy He argued that the Senate President was morally unfit to attend the Popes funeral while he should have been offering support to communities affected by violence across the nation. In response, the South-South Zonal chapter of the APC issued a statement on Sunday, giving the well-known social media influencer one week to apologise to the Senate President. The APC criticised VeryDarkMan for his statements. The statement, which included the warning, was released in Abuja by Blessing Agbomhere, the Zonal Organizing Secretary of the South-South APC. The statement by the APC read, VeryDarkMan is becoming notorious for blackmail, slander, and character assassination while pretending to be an advocate for the masses and a social crusader. The unwarranted verbal attack on the number three citizen of Nigeria, who did not send himself to Rome but was duly nominated by the President to lead a delegation to represent Nigeria what exactly is wrong with that? Upon his return from France and the UK, Tinubu met with the security chiefs, and during the meeting, he gave them marching orders to ensure that a different approach is deployed in the fight against insecurity. Does this sound like a man who is not serious about protecting the lives and property of Nigerians? The South-South APC emphasised that the countrys complex security challenges cannot be resolved easily with a simple solution. Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Adolphus Wabara, has dismissed concerns over the recent defections from the party, asserting that the PDP remains resilient ahead of 2027. Speaking in Umuahia on Saturday, Wabara said the departure of top figures like Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not diminish the PDPs strength. He maintained that defections were part of political life, noting, It was expected, and I think we should expect more. But theres nothing to worry about. Wabara further explained, Advertisement Some are doing so for second tenure, and some for protection. He predicted a looming crisis within the APC, saying, The PDP will laugh last because very soon, there will be implosion in the APC. According to him, old APC members displaced by new entrants would eventually seek new political homes, with many returning to the PDP. Reflecting on the political situation in Delta State, Wabara lamented the passing of elder statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, stating, I really mourn the death of Pa Edwin Clark because if he were to be alive, this political rascality in Delta wouldnt have taken place. Wabara, once again, accused President Bola Tinubu of undermining democratic principles. I have earlier warned against Tinubu turning Nigeria into one-party state and its all coming to pass now, he said. He added that Nigerians would resist any manipulation in 2027, stressing, The idea of the electoral body writing and announcing any results and asking aggrieved parties to go to court will not work again. The former Senate President encouraged party members to remain steadfast, declaring, Those who remain will support the on-going genuine efforts to rebuild PDP into a winning force before 2027. Senator Magnus Abe, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has expressed confidence that the defection of Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, along with his Deputy, the state cabinet, and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to the APC will greatly enhance the partys influence in the South-South region. He highlighted the development as a positive sign for Nigerias democracy, which he believes is flourishing under President Bola Tinubus leadership. Abe emphasised that democracy is best served when citizens have the freedom to make independent political choices. Advertisement He praised the current administration for increasing state resources, which he argued have empowered governors like Oborevwori to advance the interests of their people. According to Abe, this move is in line with efforts to bring Delta State closer to the center, facilitating faster development and improved governance. In his statement issued on Sunday, Senator Abe said, Under President Tinubu, Nigerians have seen a tremendous increase in the resources available to the states, and serious-minded Governors have been able to utilise that advantage to the benefit of their people. This is the merit that Sheriff Oborevwori and his team have seen and decided to take advantage of it, to move the people of Delta state closer to the centre to accelerate development. It is a step in the right direction and I commend him. The senator also addressed critics who accuse President Tinubu of promoting a one-party system, asserting that it is not the responsibility of the APC or the president to create opposition against themselves. He called on APC leaders in Delta State, including Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Festus Keyamo, to unite and support Governor Oborevworis team in their integration into the party, emphasizing that the APC is broad enough to welcome all Nigerians. Second China-Kazakhstan foreign ministers' strategic dialogue held in Almaty Xinhua) 09:16, April 27, 2025 Wang Yi (L), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, holds the second China-Kazakhstan Foreign Ministers' strategic dialogue with Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, held the second China-Kazakhstan Foreign Ministers' strategic dialogue here with Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. Wang stated that China and Kazakhstan are inseparable cooperative partners and genuine friends with an unbreakable bond. The traditional friendship between the two nations is deeply rooted and time-tested. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Tokayev, the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Kazakhstan has grown more substantial and enriched in content. Comprehensive cooperation between the two countries is accelerating and entering a fruitful phase. Bilateral trade volume continues to rise against global trends, setting new historical records. Numerous cooperation projects in fields such as new energy and connectivity have taken root. The positive effects of mutual visa exemption are being steadily released, and people-to-people exchanges have made breakthrough progress. China is willing to work with Kazakhstan to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, continuously strengthen strategic mutual trust, jointly build the high-quality Belt and Road Initiative, enhance multilateral international cooperation, and push China-Kazakhstan relations to open new horizons and achieve fresh outcomes. Wang Yi emphasized that the recent Central Conference on Work Related to Foreign Affairs with Neighboring Countries has clearly defined the direction of China's neighborhood diplomacy in the coming period. China will adhere to the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, as well as the vision of building a community with a shared future, to join hands with neighboring countries in building a common homeland, jointly pursuing development and prosperity, and creating a better future. China has always regarded Kazakhstan as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy and is willing to continue firmly supporting each other on issues concerning core interests, advancing the building of a China-Kazakhstan community with a shared future, and playing a leading and exemplary role in the region. Nurtleu said that Kazakhstan regards China as a trustworthy and reliable good neighbor, good friend, and good partner. Kazakhstan appreciates the proactive foreign policy direction established by China's conference on neighborhood diplomacy. The all-weather friendship and high-level mutual trust between Kazakhstan and China remain unaffected by any geopolitical factors. Under the guidance of the two heads of state, the permanent comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries has reached unprecedented new heights, with expanding cooperation content and increasingly close interactions and frequent exchanges across various sectors and departments. China has become Kazakhstan's largest trading partner, and bilateral trade volume has repeatedly hit new highs. Kazakhstan is full of confidence in the future of bilateral relations and is committed to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation to achieve common prosperity and greater well-being for both peoples, ushering in the next golden 30 years of Kazakhstan-China relations. The two foreign ministers conducted in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral and multilateral cooperation and reached a broad consensus. Both sides agreed that deepening the integration of interests and accelerating joint development aligns with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and the trend of the times. They will continue to expand economic and trade cooperation and strive to achieve at an early date the bilateral trade volume target set by the two heads of state. The two sides will also broaden energy cooperation, enhance collaboration across the entire industrial chain, strengthen connectivity cooperation, and accelerate the construction of cross-border infrastructure. Additionally, they will explore innovative cooperation in artificial intelligence and the digital economy to inject new momentum into their respective development, jointly combat the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, and build a solid security barrier for the region. Both sides believe that China and Central Asian countries are connected by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny. They will work together to ensure the success of the upcoming China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting, prepare well for the second China-Central Asia Summit, and promote China-Central Asia cooperation to reach new heights, building a China-Central Asia community with a shared future. The two sides will strengthen communication and coordination within multilateral frameworks such as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, support free trade and the multilateral trading system, oppose unilateral protectionism, uphold universally recognized international rules, safeguard international fairness and justice, and practice true multilateralism. Following the talks, the two sides signed documents, including a memorandum of understanding between the two foreign ministries. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, holds the second China-Kazakhstan Foreign Ministers' strategic dialogue with Murat Nurtleu, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) In a startling revelation, South Korea's data watchdog has accused Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek of harvesting private information from South Korean citizens and shipping it abroad without permission, dealing a blow to China's repeated claims that it respects data privacy. The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced its findings on Thursday following an investigation into DeepSeek's data handling practices and security protocols. The revelations come after South Korean authorities already forced the removal of DeepSeek's chatbot application from the country's app marketplaces in February on the PIPC's recommendation. South Korea Alleges Unauthorised Data Transfer PIPC made its official conclusions public after examining DeepSeek's data handling and safety measures. This development comes after DeepSeek's chatbot app was taken off South Korean app marketplaces in February, based on the PIPC's advice. South Koreas DPA has concluded that DeepSeek collected personal data and transferred it overseas without individuals consent. The PIPC has ordered DeepSeek to delete previously transferred AI prompt content and establish a legal framework for overseas data transfers. pic.twitter.com/c66fWdrVTO Luis Montezuma | @luismontezuma@mstdn.social (@montezumachavez) April 24, 2025 The agency noted that DeepSeek had pledged to work with them to address their worries. Despite its pledge, the PIPC asserts that DeepSeek, during its operations in South Korea, supposedly moved user details to numerous entities in China and the US without getting user permission or making this action known. Details Of Alleged Violations The PIPC pointed out a specific instance where DeepSeek transmitted data from AI requests typed by users, along with details about their devices, networks, and applications, to a Chinese cloud platform, Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co. Although the PIPC initially described Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co. as 'an affiliate' of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, the data protection regulator clarified in a statement that the cloud platform 'is a separate legal entity and has no relation to ByteDance,' as indicated by a Google translation. As per the PIPC, DeepSeek stated that it utilised the services of Beijing Volcano Engine Technology to enhance its application's security and user experience; however, it later stopped transmitting AI prompt data starting on 10 April. US Probes DeepSeek On Data Security Concerns When declaring a fresh investigation into DeepSeek, House Energy and Commerce Committee members wrote a letter expressing their worry that similar firms' harvest Americans' personal and proprietary information and introduce new data security vulnerabilities into the US economy.' 'DeepSeek admits to sending Americans' personal information to servers in China, where it is undoubtedly accessed by officials connected to the Chinese Communist Party,' Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said in a statement. 'We are concerned that this close relationship with agents having close connections to our primary adversary jeopardises our data and our national security.' The letter conveyed apprehension regarding how Chinese enterprises gain access to American technology to further their progress in artificial intelligence. Guthrie asked DeepSeek to provide the committee with details about the categories and origins of data employed to train its AI models, encompassing any American confidential or private information. Additionally, Guthrie sought confirmation on whether data gathered by DeepSeek is shared with any Chinese government organisation. Moreover, the letter seeks specifics on the AI system's training process and inquires if any measures are implemented to shape the system's output to conform to the Chinese Communist Party's political objectives. Fox News reports that a response is expected by 8 May. Beijing Responds To Seoul's Allegations Amidst the scrutiny from South Korea, the focus now turns to how Beijing is addressing these serious accusations levelled against one of its burgeoning AI companies. Addressing an inquiry about South Korea's assertion that DeepSeek moves user data overseas without user permission, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that he lacked knowledge of the particular circumstances the reporter mentioned. #FMsays Responding to heated discussions on #DeepSeek, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said China actively promotes the all-benefitting development of #AI, and it opposes the practice of politicizing economic, trade and science and technology issues. pic.twitter.com/NQ5U65dr4I China Daily (@ChinaDaily) February 10, 2025 Nevertheless, he stressed the need to highlight that the Chinese government highly values data privacy and security and rigorously enforces legal protections. 'We have never and will never require companies or individuals to collect or store data through illegal means,' Guo said. He pointed out that China consistently opposes the unwarranted expansion of national security concerns and the use of economic, trade, and technological matters for political purposes. He underscored that China will firmly safeguard its companies' lawful rights and interests. Originally published on IBTimes UK President Bola Tinubu has responded to criticisms from opposition factions regarding the growing trend of political defections, asserting that their failure to manage party affairs should not be blamed on his administration. He emphasised that party-switching is not a phenomenon unique to Nigeria, pointing to numerous examples from established democracies where politicians frequently change affiliations. He also rejected the claims that his administration is heading toward authoritarianism, affirming that Nigerias democracy remains strong and intact. Advertisement The President drew attention to the contrasting reactions to defections. While some members of his own party, such as former Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai, moved to other parties, these actions were viewed as acceptable. However, defections from opposition figures were met with criticism. Tinubu noted that the accusations of a one-party state were based on political frustration and lacked any substantive evidence. In his statement issued on Sunday, Tinubu remarked, The opposition cannot blame President Tinubu and the governing APC for their poor organisation, indiscipline, and gross incompetence in managing their affairs. It is certainly not part of President Tinubus job to organise or strengthen opposition parties. The President reiterated his commitment to multiparty democracy, stressing that democracy thrives when citizens are free to associate with any party of their choice without fear. He pointed out the hypocrisy of some opposition figures who had remained silent when similar actions were taken by members of their own ranks. Furthermore, he dismissed accusations of bribery, coercion, or blackmail as unfounded and lacking in evidence. Tinubu concluded his statement by urging Nigerians to respect political choices as part of the democratic process, emphasising that his administration remains dedicated to upholding democratic values and ensuring the continued stability and growth of the country. An explosion in a residential area of Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in Rivers State, claimed the lives of five people, including four women, on Saturday. Reports indicate that the explosion took place in one of the rooms of a residential building, which was being used to store illegally refined petroleum products. Dr Fyneface Dumnamene, an environmentalist and executive director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, confirmed the occurrence in a statement released on Saturday. Advertisement READ MORE: Body Of Missing 80-Year-Old Woman Found Dismembered In Ogun Farm Dumnamene stated that the residents typically purchased illegally refined kerosene and other products, stored them, and then sold them to the public. While condemning pipeline vandalism and illegal refining, he urged the Federal Government to legalise modular refineries in the Niger region to prevent such tragic incidents. The statement partly reads, The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has received and confirmed reports of an explosion and fire incident at a storage of illegally refined petroleum products in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State. The inferno is said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products, including condensate, for resale in the area. Members of the Advocacy Centre youth volunteers network under the auspices of the One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta in ONELGA told the Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, that the incident occurred in the late hours of Saturday, April 26 by about 11AM, killing five persons, four females and one male burnt beyond recognition. The environmentalist urged a full investigation into the incident and advised residents and youths to refrain from participating in pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, illegal refining, and the sale or storage of illegally refined petroleum products to avoid similar disasters. We also used the opportunity to renew our call on the federal government to legalise artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta through the establishment of its July 27, 2020, proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) and/or modular refineries for artisanal refiners in Nigerias Niger Delta region to mitigate incidents of this nature, the statement added. The spokesperson for the State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident and the fatalities when contacted, adding that an investigation is still in progress. She explained that the explosion happened while a resident was using a cooking stove to prepare noodles, and noted that one of the victims was a woman who had come to buy the product. Iringe-Koko stated, What really caused the fire was that a resident brought a cooking stove to the place and was preparing noodles, which ignited the fire. She and three other women were burnt beyond recognition, and sadly, they lost their lives, including one of them who came to buy condensate (illegally refined kerosene). Investigation is ongoing. Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party, Ayo Olorunfemi, has urged former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to ignore all calls to dump the party ahead of 2027 general election. Olorunfemi led this out on Sunday, during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria, saying that Obi should rather focus on rebuilding the party. He added that, even though the former governor of Anambra State was at liberty under the law to associate with any political party of his choice, said he needed to be wary of what he called dangerous advances. Advertisement Olorunfemi said: Now that he has contested and he has seen the LP force, if he decides to go to another political party, it will then speak volumes of his intention. READ MORE: Stop Demarketing Nigeria With Fake Statistics PDP Chieftain Tells Peter Obi It will tell whether he truly believed in the ideology of the Labour Party before coming to run, or he just wanted to use the opportunity of the platform. So, it will now be left for Nigerians to decide whether Obi, who got millions of votes under the Labour Party, can still be voted for under the PDP or another party. He (Obi) must use his tongue to count his teeth. If I were he, what I would be doing now is working to restore peace in the Labour Party and rebuild it. He should find a way to resolve the issues in the party and remain on the platform. He should remain in the party and restore peace. He should stay and resolve the crises he and others created in LP. Moving around will portray him as an opportunistic politician, not different from these politicians jumping here and there. Operatives of the Katsina State Police Command have rescued ten victims, said to have been kidnapped by bandits along Funtua-Gusau highway in the state. This was disclosed by Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement on Sunday. Adejobi noted that the effort underscore Nigeria Police Forces commitment to combat crime and ensure the safety and security of Nigerian citizens. Advertisement The statement reads: On April 19, 2025, at about 9:35 pm, acting upon information, operatives of the Faskari Division of the Katsina State Police Command successfully foiled a kidnap attempt along the Funtua-Gusau highway. They engaged the bandits in a fierce gun duel, causing them to escape with bullet wounds. As a result of the swift response, 10 victims, including two drivers and eight passengers, were rescued unhurt and reunited with their families. Adejobi added that one Umar Ahmad, 40, a notorious criminal who had been wanted by security agents for several months, was also apprehended at a roadblock in Jalingo on April 18, 2025, by men attached to the State Intelligence Department, Taraba State, in collaboration with local vigilante. The Lagos State Environmental Taskforce has apprehended 52 individuals during a late-night clean-up operation focused on clearing Lagos Island of criminal elements. Tokunbo Wahab, Commissioner of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, confirmed this in a statement issued on Saturday via X. Wahab stated that the taskforce began its enforcement operation around 12:35 a.m. on Saturday, April 26, 2025, targeting key locations including Lekki, Ikoyi, Falomo Bridge, Eko Hotel, and Ligali Ayorinde. Advertisement READ MORE: Vigilante Killed As Edo Police Rescue Six From Kidnappers Dens Complaints and distressed calls suggest that some of these streets are populated at night by unscrupulous elementsmiscreants, street urchins, pickpockets, and other suspected criminalsdenying innocent Lagosians of their hard-earned valuables and belongings, Wahab stated. He stated that during the operation, 52 suspects were arrested, comprising 51 men and one woman, and confirmed that order was restored in all the areas visited. The operation today on the Island was part of a series of enforcement and clean-up exercises slated for at least twice a week to gradually rid the area of criminal elements, the commissioner added. Wahab gave the assurance that the arrested individuals would face prosecution in court, as part of ongoing measures to enhance safety in Lagos. Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North, has urged Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State to leave behind old political habits following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). While Nwoko welcomed Oborevworis move in a press statement on Sunday, he cautioned that the governor should avoid bringing practices that had undermined the PDP in the past. Nwoko emphasised the need for a fresh approach to governance, stating that the transformation should be focused on building a lasting legacy rather than continuing outdated political practices. Advertisement He also reminded the governor that APC had already committed to creating Anioma and New Delta states, a process that had been discussed well before Oborevworis defection. Nwoko argued that these initiatives aimed at addressing long-standing issues of regional imbalance and marginalization in the state, particularly in Delta North. According to Nwoko, the creation of Anioma state would provide much-needed recognition for the people of Delta North, while the proposed New Delta state would focus on correcting internal imbalances and promoting economic development. Nwoko advised Oborevwori to ensure his move to the APC was transformative, stating, Leave behind the politics of survival and step into the politics of legacy. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Old habits, old politics, and the old deals that led to the gradual decline of the PDP in Delta must be left behind. He also emphasised that Oborevwori should embrace a new sense of purpose, lead the charge for constitutional reforms, and demonstrate renewed dedication to fairness, inclusive development, and progressive governance. Pope Francis has been laid to rest in Rome, outside the Vatican at the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the citys principal basilicas, marking a departure from a century-old Church tradition. Santa Maria Maggiore is a basilica that Pope Francis had a strong connection to and frequently visited for prayer. He had stated that he wanted to be buried there. The Pope died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, following a long battle with bilateral pneumonia. Advertisement READ MORE: Akpabio, Catholic Bishops Arrive Vatican For Pope Francis Burial In order to give the Pope their final respects, Catholics, world leaders, politicians, and royalty from all around the world gathered to St. Peters Basilica on Saturday. Francis was buried in a simple wooden casket lined with zinc, fulfilling his wish to skip the elaborate tradition followed by his predecessors, who were interred in three nesting coffins made of cypress, lead, and oak. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, presided over the late pontiffs requiem mass, joined by patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and priests from across the globe. After his burial, the Church will begin a nine-day mourning period, after which the College of Cardinals will convene to elect a new pope. A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Segun Sowunmi, has urged former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to stop demarketing Nigeria especially at international forums. Sowunmi led this out on Friday, while reacting to Obis X post on Friday, in where the former governor of Anambra State compared Nigerias economic growth with some countries. Obi had during his visit to Johns Hopkins University in the United States, compared Nigerias economic growth with China, Indonesia and Vietnam from 1990. Advertisement In his analysis,the LPs chieftain said that in 1990, when the Human Development Index, HDI, measurement started, Nigeria, China, Vietnam and Indonesia were all classified under the medium category of the HDI measurement. But between 1990 and 2025, the three other countries moved up to the high category of HDI, while Nigeria fell into the low category, according to Obi. However, Sowunmi was not pleased with Obis analysis, insisting that the measures are faulty. Sowunmi wrote on X: With due respect @PeterObi these measurements are faulty. Extremely skewed for those who manipulate these figures have no metrics to measure the informal sector in Nigeria. READ MORE: Nigerian Youths Are Paid N20,000 To Abuse Those Fighting For Them Peter Obi You need to stop this, especially at international forums. You ought to place the burden on them and their crazy neoliberal policy and its deep state manipulations that put undue pressure on Africa! No one who wishes to lead a nation called Nigeria must be the de-marketer on steroids of the same country he or she wishes to lead. Stop it immediately, Usman Yusuf, the former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has accused President Bola Tinubus administration of attempting to suppress dissent and silence critics. Speaking to newsmen on Saturday, Yusuf alleged that his detention earlier this year was part of a larger effort to intimidate opposition voices. Yusuf, who was charged with fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in February, described his time in custody as a period of reflection and reaffirmed his stance against the governments actions. Advertisement He recounted how EFCC operatives arrived at his home in January, storming the premises without an arrest warrant. Yusuf emphasised the arbitrary nature of his arrest, pointing out that he was not given the opportunity to change clothes before being taken into custody. He also expressed frustration at being denied bail, an act he viewed as a clear attempt to undermine him. Reflecting on the treatment he endured, Yusuf stated that the governments actions were designed to deter him from speaking out. He firmly rejected this, asserting that no amount of intimidation would silence him. He said, The whole purpose was the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trying to silence any form of dissent. This is coming from a president who himself was once a NADECO activist someone who fought against the military, who ran across the border, and fled to safety. Yusuf also made comparisons to President Tinubus own past as a fighter against military rule, highlighting the irony in a president now accused of stifling democratic expression. The former NHIS boss believes that freedom of speech and criticism of the government are fundamental rights in a democracy, and that the current administrations attempts to shut down opposition could lead Nigeria toward a one-party state. As the political climate continues to heat up, Yusufs accusations have added fuel to the ongoing debate over the state of democracy in Nigeria under President Tinubus leadership. Former militant leader from the Niger Delta, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, widely known as Tompolo, has urged Northern Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubus completion of his eight-year term, similar to the tenure of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking to news men in Sunday, Tompolo made a passionate plea for unity and cautioned against any actions that could disrupt Tinubus re-election bid ahead of the 2027 elections. In his statement, Tompolo emphasised his commitment to traveling across Northern Nigeria, seeking to build support for Tinubus second term. Advertisement He expressed confidence in the presidents ability to further progress the nation, describing him as a capable leader with the experience needed to drive Nigeria forward. Tompolo stressed, We will do our part, even go out of our boundary to the northern part of Nigeria to talk to our brothers so that he will get his second tenure. Tinubu is a good person; he has the experience to bring this country to a higher level. I am travelling across all the northern states to appeal to them. Buhari spent eight years now. So, we dont want anybody to cause any problem. Let Tinubu have his eight years too and go then we will look for another person. There is no need for anybody to say we have a monopoly of power. The Russian army has fully liberated the border Kursk region from Ukrainian control with the help of North Korean soldiers, Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Saturday, admitting their participation in the conflict for the first time. Gerasimov especially hailed the "heroism" of the North Korean soldiers taking part in the operation, who "provided significant assistance in defeating the group of Ukrainian armed forces". But shortly after the Ukrainian army denied Russia's claim to have driven Kyiv's forces out of Kursk, saying that "statements by the enemy leadership about the 'defeat' of the Ukrainian troops are nothing more than propaganda tricks". However, the Ukrainian Chief of Staff acknowledged the situation on the battlefield was "difficult", while insisting Ukrainian forces were still holding positions in Kursk. The Ukrainian army said it was also continuing operations in some areas of Belgorod, another Russia's border region. According to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, more than 10,000 soldiers from North Korea were sent to Russia last year to help Moscow fight Ukraine's shock offensive in Kursk. Kyiv had hoped it could use land in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip in future peace talks with Russia, which has seized parts of eastern and southern Ukraine since its offensive began in 2022. "Today, the last settlement in the Kursk region, the village of Gornal, has been liberated from Ukrainian forces," Gerasimov said during a video conference meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The Kyiv regime's adventure has completely failed," Putin told Gerasimov, thanking the soldiers for the service and saying that Kursk's liberation will create the conditions for further advances at other parts of the front. The news of Kursk's claimed recapture came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed efforts to reach a "full and unconditional ceasefire" with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral at the Vatican. Russian troops are now at the border and are poised to beef up threats to the Ukrainian region of Sumy, which faces Kursk, where Moscow has already carried out incursions in recent weeks. At least two children have died, following a measles outbreak in Unguwar Kanawa community, located in Zaria Local Government Area, Kaduna State. INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that misconceptions surrounding immunisation, responsible for the outbreak in the village. Speaking with newsmen on Sunday, Head of Unguwar Kanawa, Nasiru Yunusa, said that two children from the same family passed away just seven days ago. Advertisement He attributed the deaths to the communitys initial reluctance toward vaccination, saying that two-thirds of the villagers didnt vaccinate their children due to misconceptions. He said: Two-thirds of our people didnt like vaccinating their children due to misconceptions. But now, many are changing their attitude because of the sickness and deaths we are witnessing. Women now deliver at home because theres no clinic here. We are appealing to the government to provide a health clinic for us. Also confirming the outbreak, Director of Disease Control in the Kaduna State Primary Healthcare Board, Hamza Ikara, during a visit to the community, said that despite outreach by health workers in the state, some parents refused to release their children for immunization. READ MORE: Abducted Kaduna Catholic Priest Regains Freedom She said: As you have seen in the committee meeting, we have many children who have fallen victim to measles cases, because they have either never received any immunisation or missed the measles vaccination we conducted a few months ago. Despite outreach teams visiting them, many parents have not been bringing their children for immunisation. This situation stems largely from refusal and non-compliance related to immunisation. In this community, we have been making strong efforts to create awareness among committee members. They have shared reasons why they have not been taking their children for immunisation or accepting vaccinators when they come. A man allegedly wielding a knife was shot and killed by police in Ambler in one of two police shootings in the Philadelphia suburbs Saturday night. According to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, police in Ambler received a 911 call for a suspicious person at 7:34 p.m. Saturday. When police arrived at Forrest Avenue and School Street, they encountered Robert Aguilar Cholula, 43. Cholula, Steele said, was wielding a large, butcher-style knife and ignored commands to drop it. Advertisement When Cholula allegedly ran toward the officers, one fired his Taser, which did not stop him. Another officer fired a shot, Steele said Sunday, striking Cholula. He was transported to Jefferson Abington Hospital, where he later died. Earlier in the day, Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn provided few details about a police shooting in Buckingham Township that left a man hospitalized. That incident took place at 4 p.m. on Redfield Road, near Mead Drive. Schorn, in a brief news release, said one individual was receiving medical treatment for injuries sustained during the incident. Steele and Schorn said both incidents remain under investigation. Good news can be hard to come by in Chester, which operates in bankruptcy and where a third of the residents live in poverty. Just last week, the citys closest hospitals Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital began shutting down. All the more reason to be working in Chester, say chefs Stephanie Willis and Malik Ali. Advertisement Three years ago, they moved to the town south of Philadelphia International Airport to open Vittles, a nonprofit food hall, to combat food insecurity. Vittles also was the home base of Everybody Eats, a movement created by Willis, Ali, Kurt Evans, Aziza Young, and other Black Philadelphia chefs in June 2020, in the aftermath of the unrest following the murder of George Floyd. They hosted giveaways of food and household goods and used the space as a kitchen for their off-site activations. While Vittles was a great concept, said Willis, there just was not a lot of foot traffic around there. It was a complete desert every single day. A year ago, Willis and Ali found a former bar-restaurant at 16 W. Fifth St. in Chesters downtown, several blocks from its transit hub, and began fixing it up as Everybody Eats Cafe. It soft-opened last month for lunch, and recently began offering breakfast. An event space is being developed next door with a stage for live music, DJs, and parties. Weekend brunch will be offered as well. Were just trying to bring a vibe, said Ali, 34, a former sous chef at such Philadelphia restaurants as Noord, Neuf, and the Dutch, as 90s slow jams poured through the restaurant. Basically, theres not too many places in Chester where you can sit down and eat at. Everybody Eats Cafe is a for-profit business, Willis and Ali said, but they are committed to the city. Four days a week, the chefs prepare meals for 100 people served by Chester Eastside. We wanted to stay in Chester because we are very tied in with the community, said Willis, 39, who started in the business as a teenager washing dishes at a Friendlys in Mount Laurel and worked for Jose Garces. She became a caterer and private chef after her son was born. Once a month, Willis and Ali host a cooking demonstration class for children with the Making a Change Group. We teach them simple meals that can be made at home, like fried rice and ramen, Ali said. They also work with Chester CAAT Center, which runs family programs. Everybody is close here and grew up with each other, Ali said. We were like outsiders to them, so we just had to get to know the community and get to know what they like. The cafe is now home base for their catering company, Everybody Eats on Set, which prepares food for nearby film and television productions. Last year, Willis and Ali fed the cast and crew of the movie Breathe, a postapocalyptic thriller. They also worked on the Shane Gillis Netflix comedy series Tires and the Ridley Scott AppleTV+ drama series Dope Thief. At the cafe right now, theyre keeping hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. The breakfast menu includes Creole shrimp and grits ($16), fish and grits ($14), and the Exit 6 Platter (a tribute to the nearby I-95 exit) of eggs, breakfast meats (no pork, as most of the menu is halal), home fries, and toast ($10), plus corn bread French toast ($12) and chicken and waffles ($16). Theres a breakfast sandwich ($7) and a vegan version ($9). Lunch plates include a salmon burger with a side salad ($14), fish hoagie ($15), and beef or salmon cheesesteaks ($15). File: The Central Bucks school board has placed Superintendent Steven Yanni on leave after a report finding the district failed to adequately investigate abuse of special education students at Jamison Elementary School. Read more Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn and Warwick Township Police Chief Mark Goldberg are defending the decision not to bring criminal charges in a case alleging abuse of special education students at Jamison Elementary School. In a detailed statement, Goldberg said police conducted a thorough investigation into allegations that surfaced in November 2024 that students in a special needs classroom in the Central Bucks School District were being abused. The chief said he personally oversaw the investigation. Advertisement Goldberg noted that the district attorneys Special Victims Unit had assisted with the probe, in which the district attorneys office concluded that the behavior alleged did not constitute criminal activity. Having monitored this investigation, I fully support that decision, Goldberg said in the statement on Friday. Everything that could be done, was done. Schorn had issued a statement on Thursday reporting her offices conclusions. That same day, the Central Bucks school board placed Superintendent Steven Yanni on leave, citing a report finding the district failed to adequately investigate the abuse. That report, released Wednesday by Disability Rights Pennsylvania, found that students in an autistic support classroom at Jamison Elementary suffered abuse at the hands of a teacher and an educational assistant. The alleged abuse, first reported to the district by a personal-care assistant in November, included use of illegal physical restraints and creating a likelihood of sexual abuse and exploitation of one student, according to the report. It recommended the district consider disciplinary action against staff and administrators, along with training. READ MORE: Special education students in Central Bucks were abused, a disability rights group finds But Schorn said: As the district attorney, it is not my place to weigh in on non-criminal matters. To do anything beyond that would be beyond the scope of my statutory authority. The district has said that it found no evidence of abuse but that the report found that Yanni and other administrators failed to accurately investigate and disclose to authorities the assistants allegations. The report said that the districts investigation was faulty and that a culture of fear dissuaded staff from speaking up. In his two-page statement, Goldberg said a second investigation was conducted by the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office and attorneys there decided not to prosecute. I can assure our residents and our community that the investigation conducted by my officers was thorough, complete, and professional. I support them without reservation, Goldberg said. The school board hired a law firm to investigate the allegations in February. The findings from that probe have not been announced. A Wissahickon Charter School student participating in the Science Sleuths program at Awbury Arboretum in November 2024. Read more In 2023, Historic Germantown received word that it had won a two-year grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to pilot a new hands-on science program for middle schoolers called Science Sleuths. The size of the award was relatively modest $108,812 but the impact promised to be enormous. If the initiative was able to prove its worth, it could be replicated, bringing accessible science education to thousands of Philadelphia students. Advertisement Today, the program is calculating its losses. Historic Germantown recently learned the grant was one of hundreds across the country approved by the IMLS and the National Endowment for the Humanities that have been canceled by the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by billionaire Elon Musk. If leaders of Historic Germantown cannot find replacement money, in the next week or so, to fund the program through the rest of the school year, they say they have no choice but to shut it down. Continuing Science Sleuths without special funding would put us over the cliff financially, said executive director Tuomi Joshua Forrest. I am scrambling to find philanthropic resources to keep it running. The story of Science Sleuths illustrates a larger truth playing out at many cultural organizations whose IMLS and NEH grants have been canceled by the Trump administration. This was one award to one organization. But there is a ripple effect to every grant, and at Historic Germantown the ripples went far and wide. The program involved four schools the John F. McCloskey School, Anna L. Lingelbach School, Wissahickon Charter School, and DePaul Catholic School. It was set in historic sites, so the program introduced new generations to Awbury Arboretum, Historic Fair Hill burial ground, Grumblethorpe, Historic Rittenhouse Town, and Stenton. The grant enabled employment of five teachers, six teaching guides, two curriculum writers, one evaluation consultant, a graphic/web designer, and others. An advisory group of 22 people was engaged. Then there is perhaps the most significant ripple of all. These programs are the pipelines for the next generation of scientists and problem solvers, and not investing in them means that our future workforce, our communities, and our countrys ability to lead in science and technology and innovation are in trouble, said Larry Dubinski, president and CEO of the Franklin Institute. He called the cancellation of grants like these long considered bedrock funding a direct hit on this American exceptionalism that we have in science and technology. Science Sleuths has served about 175 students this school year, but Forrest expected the program would expand and follow the path of History Hunters, a social studies program administered by Stenton for Philadelphia fourth and fifth graders that has served more than 45,000 students from dozens of schools over two-plus decades. Science Sleuths brings students out of the classroom for hands-on experiences in places where history and science commingle. At Awbury Arboretum, whose 55 acres in East Germantown include a pond and meadow, lesson plans include learning about the importance of a watershed in maintaining biodiversity. At Historic Rittenhouse Town, steps from Lincoln Drive, students learn about flowing water turning mill wheels, a time when flax was grown in Germantown for use in linen, and how, when the linen was worn out, it was brought here to be made into paper sold in Philadelphia and New York. As much as we do in the classroom, to expand it where [students] can take that knowledge to things that are happening outside is just really powerful, said Brian Gallagher, who teaches science to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at the Lingelbach School. The great thing about IMLS was they were willing to fund a pilot, Forrest said. Others want something thats proven. Grants from the federal government also play an important role in leveraging private philanthropy. The one to Historic Germantown came with a matching component, so the group raised an equal amount in other donations, bringing the entire budget to about $217,000. These public-private partnerships set us apart in the world, Dubinski said. Its one of the reasons why this country is such a leader in science and technology. That loss, he said, is pretty devastating. Forrest said Science Sleuths needs about $30,000 to finish out the year, and that would be with shaved expenses. Ideally wed have 50% more than that. More ripples are all but certain. Forrest is conscious of the fact that all these grants dropping out at the same time means that private funders are being approached for replacement funding; and that the need for emergency funding likely puts those requests in competition with the more routine grants and gifts groups normally count on. The entire philanthropic landscape in Philadelphia will be changed, if not already, then in a couple of months, Forrest said. President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take the stage at his inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in January. At every turn during his first 100 days, the Editorial Board writes, Trump has created costly chaos for no good reason. Read more President Franklin D. Roosevelt coined the term first 100 days as he moved with warp speed to lift the country out of the Great Depression. As the 100th day of Donald Trumps second presidential term approaches, he has moved with haste and brute force. Advertisement But instead of building up the United States, Trump is tearing it apart. No elected official has done more damage to America in the half century or so since Watergate than Trump. In just a few months, his words and deeds have made the country weaker, poorer, and less stable. Trump has inflicted pointless pain and suffering on individuals, families, and businesses. He has made America less free, less efficient, less healthy, less respected, and more lawless. At every turn, Trump has created costly chaos for no good reason. Even worse, he has acted with a cruelty and vengeance that borders on pathological. The blitz has been so relentless that it is hard to believe he has only been back in power for roughly 100 days. Amid the tumult, one thing is clear: Trump is not making America great. In fact, his actions are un-American. Each day brings a fresh new hell. It started on Day One when Trump rewarded lawlessness at the highest levels by granting sweeping pardons to more than 1,500 of the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and assaulted police officers, defiled the building, and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence. It continued with Trumps torrent of executive orders that ranged from the ridiculous (renaming the Gulf of Mexico) to the unconstitutional (ending birthright citizenship). Then it morphed into reckless attacks on government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No doubt, the federal government could run more smoothly. But firing hundreds of thousands of federal employees with no rhyme or reason will make the government less efficient. Elon Musk, the unelected point person overseeing the government purge at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, slashed jobs and issued ridiculous edicts, while accessing reams of private information on nearly every American. Damage done, Musk will soon slink away to save his failing car company, while keeping the billions in corporate welfare his other businesses receive from the government. But after all the upheaval, Musk said DOGE will only reduce spending by $150 billion. In a government that spends roughly $7 trillion a year, thats 2% far short of Musks initial claim of cutting $2 trillion. Musks stated paltry savings cant even be trusted since the reports are riddled with errors. One of DOGEs biggest supposed savings involved a $1.9 billion contract that was canceled last fall by the Biden administration. Unaccounted for is the damage to peoples lives and the hollowed-out departments Musk leaves behind. It is easy to criticize the government until you need a VA appointment, Medicare coverage, a Social Security check, or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance. Firing air traffic controllers amid a run of airplane crashes is depraved. Closing embassies and ending foreign aid will destabilize hot spots around the world, turn countries against America, and lead to senseless deaths. One group estimated that 15,000 people have died from the administrations immolation of the international relief group USAID. Researchers say that number could climb to 25 million because of cuts to global health funding. Firing FBI agents, CIA spies, and U.S. Justice Department prosecutors benefits criminals and leaves the country more vulnerable to terrorist attacks and espionage. Then there are Trumps tariffs. Just check your 401(k) to see how that is going. Trumps on-again, off-again tariffs have whipsawed financial markets, upended small businesses, and raised prices on consumers. Over one three-day stretch, Trumps tariff moves sliced $10 trillion from pension funds, investment accounts, and retirement savings. Trump inherited an economy that was the envy of the world. But in just three months, he made America 20% poorer, and likely headed for a recession. Along the way, Trump has picked needless fights with our strongest allies in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. Hes threatened to take Greenland and the Panama Canal. It has been a disgusting display of arrogance, bullying, and imperialism that has made America less admired and respected. Even worse, Trump has switched sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump is in war criminal Vladimir Putins pocket where he has always been. The selling out of Ukraine and its valiant President Volodymyr Zelensky will go down as one of the most disgraceful and costly foreign policy blunders ever by an American president with a shameful assist from complicit Republican lackeys. Then, there have been relentless broadsides aimed at ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Sadly, many support the end of DEI without understanding the benefits for everyone. While perhaps imperfect, programs that strive for the fair treatment of all people, especially those who faced systemic discrimination for generations, are a worthy goal to live up to the founders vision of a more perfect union. The selling out of Ukraine will go down as one of the most disgraceful and costly foreign policy blunders ever by an American president Trump prefers to go backward, declaring, Our country will be woke no longer. Note that the opposite of woke is lulled. And the opposite of diversity, equity, and inclusion is homogeneity, inequality, and exclusion. In other words, Trump is at war with a bedrock principle in the Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal. He is also at war with higher education, science, public health, and the legal community institutions and bulwarks that have long distinguished the United States. Trump has spent the past few months threatening and bullying universities, law firms, and media companies. He appears to take sick pleasure in abusing his power, but the upshot of the attacks will weaken America. Cutting off research funding will jeopardize public health, slow discoveries for cancer and other rare diseases, while leaving the country less prepared to combat the next pandemic. Trumps assault on higher education despite his benefiting from an Ivy League degree will result in higher tuition and fewer college graduates to fill jobs in fields that face shortages like engineering, nursing, and teaching. It will lead to less innovation and more inequality, as only the wealthy will be able to afford tuition. Chasing away foreign students will also undermine Americas higher education dominance, while benefiting other countries like China, which will fill the void. Trumps roundup and deportation of migrants and foreign students including many who are in the country legally is perhaps his most un-American act. Instead of trying to fix Americas broken immigration system, Trump assaulted human rights, trampled constitutional protections, and defied court rulings. Many judges have done their job by applying the law and serving as a check on the executive branch just as the founders designed the system. But the Republicans in the legislative branch have ignored their constitutional duty and enabled Trump. As legal experts debate whether Trump has created a constitutional crisis, others say we have crossed the Rubicon. Former Vice President Al Gore compared the Trump administrations abuse of power and war on truth with Nazi Germany. A Harvard professor who studies how democracies slip into authoritarianism said, We are no longer living in a democratic regime. Much has been lost in Trumps first 100 days. It will be up to voters, lawmakers, and the courts to stop him before there is no turning back. The White House appears to have scant patience with peace talks that dont produce quick results and an instant photo op. As President Donald Trump threatens to walk away from his efforts to force Ukraine to surrender to Russia, he seems to have already abandoned his grandiose plans for the Mideast. I refer, of course, to his pledge to negotiate a quick return of Israeli hostages from Gaza, and build a Mideast Riviera there after Palestinians are voluntarily removed to other countries. (A less polite term would be ethnically cleansed by force.) Advertisement Diverted by Mideast complexity and his tariff war on the world the president has given far-right Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to continue policies that wont destroy Hamas, but are magnifying the humanitarian disaster in Gaza beyond any imaginable proportions. Israels retaliation for Hamas brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack has lost any strategic purpose in Gaza. It is headed toward a long-term occupation of the enclave a military trap that will get soldiers, hostages, and thousands more Gazan civilians slaughtered. Netanyahu wont destroy Hamas, but, beholden to the extreme right, he may shatter relations with Israels peaceful Arab neighbors. Trumps much-acclaimed Abraham Accords between small Gulf States and Israel that he hoped to expand to Saudi Arabia will wind up in historys dustbin. Unless, that is, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (and other Gulf leaders) can sell Trump on their alternative plan for Gaza when he visits the region in May. Otherwise, the great negotiator will fail again bigly. And the Gaza war will go on. Let me start with a brief recap: In his one diplomatic triumph, Trumps Mideast (and Ukraine, and Iran) negotiator, real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, pulled President Joe Bidens Gaza peace plan across the finish line in January. The deal had three parts: The first involved a ceasefire and partial hostage release. The second and third required Hamas to release all hostages and agree to a final political settlement for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. That final deal would include a non-Hamas government for Gaza, which would involve Palestinian Authority leaders from the West Bank (who have cooperated militarily with Israel). It would also bring in Arab Gulf countries to finance the rebuilding and possibly the policing of the Gaza Strip. Israeli troops would withdraw behind a fortified border. Netanyahu backed out after the first part of the deal ended. Critics of the Israeli government argue, with much evidence, that Netanyahu only accepted Part One under Trump pressure, but never intended to negotiate a military pullout from Gaza. His right-wing coalition partners would have brought down his government had he done so. Their open goal like Trumps is to expel much of Gazas population into Egypt or beyond, and build Jewish settlements in the strip. Trumps vision of a beachfront tourist paradise fortified the right-wings demands. On March 18, Israel ended the truce and restarted extensive bombing. Despite Israeli claims to the contrary, all rules of military engagement appear to have been lifted. A perfect example is the recent Israeli military killing of 15 uniformed Palestinian humanitarian workers in well-lit and marked vehicles by close-range fusillades of bullets. The dead and their crushed vehicles were then buried in the sand; the commando unit gave false reports of the incident, until press revelations based on recovered phone videos forced the Israeli military to recant. Yet, as the bombing kills more civilians and Israel announces permanent control of more and more of Gaza, the Israeli government has halted all humanitarian aid to the population. As long as our hostages are languishing in the tunnels, there is no reason for a single gram of food or any aid to enter Gaza, declared radical right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The cessation of humanitarian aid is one of the main levers of pressure on Hamas. Statistics and common sense prove this claim is flatly false. Only a few hostages have been rescued by Israeli soldiers, and more have been killed by Israeli attacks or mistaken fire on escaped hostages. Only negotiations have rescued large numbers of Israeli prisoners. This is why the families of the remaining 59 hostages, of whom only 24 are believed to be alive, are demonstrating constantly against the Netanyahu government. They argue he is deliberately sentencing their relatives to death in order to hold on to political power. Most Gazans, nearly all displaced from bombed homes, are now being forced to move from rubble to tent camp and back with dwindling supplies of food and water. They are trapped, with no way to feed their kids. Unless there is a permanent ceasefire soon, the situation is very bleak, I was told by James Sussman, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, which had been delivering water and medical supplies to the strip. So here are the choices Trump (and Israel) face, if the president will listen to an informed briefing, or even care to reengage. Give Netanyahu the green light for ethnic cleansing, as Trump has hinted he might do. But that option will fail. Just not going to happen, I was told by phone by the Israel Policy Forums Nimrod Novik, a member of the executive committee of Commanders for Israels Security, who is now touring the Arab countries to discuss Gazas future. Egypt and Jordan which border Gaza and Israel, respectively wont accept it, he said flatly. It would be politically fatal for either to admit hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced out of Gaza. Moreover, both countries are already sheltering millions of refugees. Turn his back on the whole Gaza mess. But this will also boomerang. Israel will be sucked into a high casualty guerrilla war that wont totally destroy Hamas. Meanwhile, the horrific civilian death toll of Gazans will drive more young men to join the group. Hostages will die. And no country will finance Gazas reconstruction. Gaza will become an open-ended bleeding occupation, in the words of Novik, destabilizing the region. World leaders (and Arab allies) will blame Netanyahu and Trump. Listen to moderate Arab leaders and do a U-turn on Netanyahu. The only way to destroy Hamas is via negotiations that offer Palestinians political hope for the future. Only then could small demonstrations against Hamas reach critical mass. This, too, is the only route to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi recognition of Israel. Trump has immense leverage on Netanyahu. Yet, we know he hates tough diplomacy, which demands knowledge and patience, so I doubt he will pursue it. Still, this is the only path forward that could help Israel emerge from unending war and free the hostages. Moreover, progress on Gaza would increase pressure on Iran to bend on its nuclear program. Its a long shot, probably far longer than the chance of Elon Musk being buried on Mars. But if Trump really wants a Nobel Peace Prize, its a chance he must take. The Medical Council has called for a hospital doctor who admitted harassing a young female colleague at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) through repeated, unwanted romantic overtures over a number of years to be struck off. Counsel for the Medical Councils chief executive, Hugh McDowell BL, told an inquiry last week that it was recommending that the registration of the former doctor at MUH in Castlebar, Co Mayo, should be cancelled. Mr McDowell claimed the case represented one of sexual misconduct which arose from an unrequited attraction which turned into an obsession and became a lengthy, intense campaign of harassment even after the woman had made complaints about him to both the Medical Council and gardai. However, the doctors counsel, Maura McNally SC, accused the regulatory body of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut by seeking the cancellation of her clients registration. At the outset of the inquiry which first opened in April 2024, the doctor had contested seven allegations of professional misconduct in relation to inappropriate behaviour and contact with a female intern and some of her friends. He was also accused of failing to comply with the requirement to undergo continuous professional development annually over a five-year period. Doctor admitting all the allegations In a dramatic U-turn, the fitness-to-practice committee of the Medical Council was told on the seventh day of the inquiry last February that the doctor was holding up his hands and admitting all the allegations. Although the doctor cannot be named as a result of a direction by the committee, it is expected the restriction will be lifted at the conclusion of the inquiry as anonymity was only granted on the basis of the presumed innocence of the doctor of the charges. On Friday, Mr McDowell called for the cancellation of the doctors registration as the only appropriate sanction for what he claimed was behaviour that represented a type of sexual misconduct". He claimed the nature and seriousness of the misconduct was a very significant attack on the personal and professional integrity of a young female doctor at the outset of her medical career. The barrister said the womans personal life and that of some of her friends had been seriously invaded and she had been made feel very unsafe for a period of years". The doctor now accepts that he repeatedly made inappropriate or unwanted contact with the young female intern, identified only as Witness A, who had worked with him in MUH in 2016. Evidence was heard that he had persisted with communicating with his colleague, even long after she had left MUH, despite being requested by hospital management in April 2016 that he should not contact or approach her. The request was made after he had asked the intern to marry him because he was living alone in Ireland and felt depressed. Doctor ignored requests by gardai He subsequently ignored instructions by gardai in May 2019 and Witness A herself not to contact her after it appeared he might have known her whereabouts after she moved. The doctor also admitted to sending inappropriate texts to colleagues of the young doctor in an attempt to contact her. The inquiry heard the inappropriate and unwanted contact continued at various periods right up until July 2020 when he declared in a text message that he would die without you". Mr McDowell said the doctor has engaged in the most egregious unwanted calls and texts to Witness A and noted he had accused her of ruining his life. He said there had been clear objectification of the woman with the doctor trying to access her social media accounts and photos. The doctors misconduct could not be characterised as an isolated incident as it was persistent and with a degree of pre-meditation. The inquiry heard that the doctor had used 10 different phone numbers in an effort to circumvent the womans request that she should not be contacted by him as well as travelling to a pub in Galway in the expectation of meeting her. Mr McDowell claimed the doctor had engaged in an abuse of process after he submitted a complaint to the Medical Council in August 2019 about her in retaliation to one that she had made against him to the regulatory body two months earlier. Woman subjected to rigorous cross-examination He noted the woman had also been subjected to rigorous cross-examination by the doctors lawyers before he finally made admissions at the eleventh hour and offered an apology. Mr McDowell said it would send the entirely wrong message to the public if the doctor was allowed to continue to practise. The inquiry also heard evidence from three other medics who provided character references for the doctor. Mr McDowell claimed there were stark similarities in the wording of statements provided by the witnesses for which he claimed unsatisfactory explanations had been provided. The doctors own GP, Yousuf Baig, gave evidence via videolink from Karachi that he had diagnosed the doctor with depressive psychosis in 2016. Dr Baig said the doctor had complained that malicious rumours were being spread about him in Ireland that he was gay and incapable of performing sexual acts. The witness said the doctor also told him that he was afraid of a girl who had made complaints about him and who claimed that he was her husband. When pointed out by Mr McDowell that he had been misled by the doctor who was now making admissions about his behaviour, Dr Baig replied: I dont think that can be true. Doctors inappropriate behaviour characterised as sexual misconduct Ms McNally claimed the Medical Councils chief executive was engaging in egregious behaviour in making a huge leap to try to characterise the doctors inappropriate behaviour as sexual misconduct. Ms McNally reminded the committee that it had heard evidence about the personal issues suffered by her client and how he was in receipt of treatment for which he would require lifelong medication. She also claimed he had demonstrated insight whether it was belated or not. Ms McNally said there were character references which showed he was a highly trusted and highly qualified medical practitioner who was respectful and empathetic to patients. She said the issues may have arisen from a misunderstanding of cultures and at a time when all the doctors friends were married and he was living in an isolated rural location. The inquiry heard the doctor, who has recently worked as a locum, got married last year to a trainee gynaecologist in Pakistan and hopes to work in Australia in future as a family doctor. Ms McNally said the Medical Council inquiry hung over him like the sword of Damocles which prevented him from progressing his career. The hearing was adjourned until a date to be fixed in the near future. A chilling 2019 tweet from the Virginia Giuffrewho publicly accused Jeffrey Epstein of grooming and trafficking her as a teenagerhas resurfaced in the wake of her suicide. "I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal," Giuffre wrote on Twitter in 2019. "I have made this known to my therapist and GPIf something happens to mein the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quieted," she continued. Conservative lawmakers including Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have called for further investigation into her death. This gave me goosebumps. https://t.co/pg3k6ZVvy5 Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) April 26, 2025 Giuffre, 41, was found unresponsive at her home in Australia, where police stated that their initial investigation indicates no signs of foul play, BBC reported. Her family confirmed the death in a statement, saying, "She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking." Giuffre became one of the most outspoken accusers of Epstein and his inner circle, including Prince Andrew, whom she accused of sexually abusing her when she was 17. Though Andrew denied the allegations, he paid Giuffre an out-of-court settlement in 2022. In the weeks before her death, Giuffre faced personal struggles, including the dissolution of her 22-year-marriage, with accusations of domestic abuse from both parties, and a forced separation from her children which she alluded to in an emotional social media post. Last month, Giuffre posted a photo from a hospital bed, covered in bruises, claiming she had only days to live following a collision with a bus. "I'm ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time." When a teenaged Giuffre met Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, while working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, she had already survived years of abuse. In interviews and depositions, Giuffre described being molested by a family friend beginning at age 7, prompting her to run away from home at a young age, leading to a series of precarious living situations, sometimes on the street, and for six months with a 65-year-old sex trafficker who also abused her, The New York Times reported. In 2015, Giuffre became the first Epstein victim to speak out against him publicly and went on to become an advocate for victims of sexual abuse. She founded the charity Speak Out, Act, Reclaim, which received a portion of the undisclosed settlement from her lawsuit against Prince Andrew. "Virginia's sunny strength was contagious and her smile spread hope to so many. She lifted us all to be better, and so we must be better," Giuffre's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley said in a statement. "The world has lost a light that shone bright." Originally published on Latin Times Footage of Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap allegedly calling for the death of British MPs is being assessed by counter-terrorism police in the UK. Video emerged of the band at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from Kneecap saying: The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP. Earlier in the week, footage emerged of another gig last year in November which seemed to show a band member shouting up Hamas, up Hezbollah at a performance at the Kentish Town Forum, and a Hezbollah flag being displayed. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are banned in Britain and it is a crime to express support for them. On Sunday, a Met Police spokesman said: We were made aware of a video on April 22, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required. Kneecap performing at the SSE Arena in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023. He also said the force are assessing both to determine whether further police investigation is required. The counter terrorism internet referral unit (CTIRU) is a national counter terrorism policing unit based within the Mets Counter Terrorism Command which is dedicated to identifying terrorist and extremist material online. Police will carry out an investigation if the material breaches UK law. A British government spokesman said: We unequivocally condemn threatening remarks made towards any individual. Political intimidation and abuse must have no place in our society. We recognise the chilling effect that harassment and intimidation of elected representatives can have on our democracy. All reports of intimidation, harassment and threats are taken extremely seriously. We work with the police and Parliament to do everything in our power to crack down on threats to elected officials. Following former The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne calling for Kneecaps US work visas to be revoked over their support for Palestine amid the Gaza war at US festival Coachella, the band was dropped by its now-former sponsor and booking agent Independent Artist Group (IAG). The visas held by the band members are understood to no longer be valid and they are in the process of securing a new sponsor ahead of its sellout October tour in North America. Kneecap members Mo Chara, DJ Provai and Moglai Bap (Ian West/PA) At Coachella, Kneecap displayed messages which read: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people, It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes and F*** Israel. Free Palestine. On Tuesday, Osbourne called the images at Coachella projections of anti-Israel messages and hate speech. The music manager and wife of Black Sabbath star Ozzy Osbourne wrote on X: As someone of both Irish Catholic on my mothers side and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage on her fathers side and extensive experience in the music industry, I understand the complexities involved. I urge you to join me in advocating for the revocation of Kneecaps work visa. Kneecap, made up of Liam Og O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, alleged on social media they have faced a co-ordinated smear campaign, saying their shows have previously called out the conflict in Gaza. They also appeared to suggest they would be taking legal action against the malicious efforts. Earlier in the week, Kneecaps manager Daniel Lambert said the band had received severe death threats after Coachella. Even among people who took the time and spent the money to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday and stay until Sunday, views on the future of the church and the papacy are mixed. Many who were in Rome for the funeral referred to expensive hotel rooms up to as much as 1,000-a-night; what it was like to see the inside of the basilica and the Pope lying in state; even the fact that Donald Trump wore a blue suit on the day. But when asked to home in on the future of the church, there were far more mixed views than one would imagine. Among those aged over 40 and under 20 more than others in or around St Peters Square, there was optimism and conviction about the church's continued relevance. Many over 40 could just about afford to leave behind their families and jobs to make the expensive trek to Rome for the funeral, spending thousands on accommodation, flights, and food over their days-long stays. There were a lot of teenagers many in long trains of scouts and like, those over 40, they seemed to have a profound but easy understanding of what their faith meant to them and what place a pope plays in it. For Palermo scout group member 13-year-old Gabreele Lubans, there was no doubt what the Popes legacy is. He and 19 other scouts had travelled to Rome on a 12-hour trip to attend the funeral. They arrived in the square singing loudly and giddy with their infectious and unbridled excitement and curiosity. To us, it was the hope that he left behind, he said enthusiastically while those to the left and right of him nodded emphatically. Mourners on their way to see the Pope lying in state by the tomb of St Peter. Picture: Neil Michael. Asked what exactly this hope was, he quickly consulted the group around him again and after a debate back and forth among themselves in Italian and many exclamations and nods of heads with the profundity of wise men and women, he turned back, motioning to the group to be quiet, and replied: He left us hope for ourselves and the end of war. Yes, that is it. To end all wars. Standing nearby was Andrea Salazar, from North Dakota. She was in the capital to meet her daughter who is studying to be a canon law lawyer. On the Popes death, she said: It was a sad day that he died but it was a blessing that he went quickly and did not have to suffer long with a great illness. On his papacy and what follows, she paused to think for a while, before replying: "I liked his stewardship and care for the marginalized. "He liked to mix things up and that sometimes made it difficult for him. Asked if the new Pope will be the type to build on what Pope Francis did and pick up where he left off or will he be more conservative? Itll probably be somewhere in between, she replied, again with a degree of hesitancy. I think a step back rather than a step forward and a step in a different direction. David Kavanagh decided to leave his home in Palmerstown in Dublin with his partner Michelle Cosgrove when the Pope died. Echoing an impression the Pope left in most people the Irish Examiner spoke to, he said: I thought he was a wonderful person and down to earth. He didnt stay in the Papal Apartments, and he basically looked after the homeless on the streets of Rome. I also think he was very progressive. Asked if Pope Francis had gone far enough with his reforms, he replied: I dont think he went far enough. He should have brought in more women and maybe women or lady deacons. Ms Cosgrove added: I also dont think he did enough. I dont think anybody does enough but hopefully the next person will. They need a lot more people than the power of the Pope, who will take on the responsibility to follow on from what Pope Francis started. Andrea Salazar flew in from North Dakota to visit her daughter, who is studying in Italy, but decided also to visit St Peter's Square to see the Pope lying in state. Picture: Neil Michael As he stood with the Colosseum behind him, Mr Kavanagh said part his belief there should be female priests is because the Catholic faith has fallen away. In Ireland, there are less practicing Catholics in their 20s. When asked what the Pope's death meant to her, 22-year-old Francesca from Florence spoke with brutal honesty, an honesty echoed by many her age in Rome over the last few days. He was a good man, so Im sorry for his loss, she said. But Im not really a good Christian, so Im here only to see the city and see the atmosphere around. A student herself, she was asked what if any appeal did the Pope have for her and her generation. Quick as a flash she said: None. Asked why not, she said: Because of their ideals and their way of communication is way far from our point of view. She said the church is out of touch. Bring up the thorny issue of abuse, and the faithful mostly winced, and tried to steer the conversation away. I dont think the funeral of the Pope is an appropriate place to ask anybody about that," said one middle aged woman who then turned her back. Sacred art student Elaine Falconer, who lives in Florence, had a more diplomatic way of dealing with the issue. Student Elaina Falconer, left, and Madeline Heun at St Peter's Square. Picture: Neil Michael The 24-year-old, from Wisconsin, said: I usually try not to think about the Catholic Church in the realms of the political. Of the Pope himself, she was clearly devoted to him. I attended the Jubilee for the World Youth Day he attended two years ago and in one of his homilies, he said young people need to understand that God is love, she said. That is something I think about all the time. Before we start being all political, and angry everyone has an opinion in all these voices we have to understand that Pope Francis understood that God is love. Its the most simple message you can think of and I think thats what attracts so many people to him. Roman Catholic faithful have begun visiting the tomb of Pope Francis, filing past the simple white tomb in St Mary Major Basilica a day after he was bade farewell by the powerful of the world and a crowd of hundreds of thousands. A single white rose was placed on the tomb that said Franciscus the Popes name in Latin. A light cast its warm glow over the tomb and a reproduction of the late pontiffs pectoral cross on the wall above it. A queue of people wait to pay their respects to the tomb of Pope Francis (Alessandra Tarantino/AP) People filed past, many crossing themselves or snapping photos with their phones. Pope Francis for me was an inspiration, a guide, said visitor Elias Caravalhal. Mr Caravalhal lives in Rome but was unable to pay his respects to Francis when he was lying in state in St Peters Basilica after his death on Easter Monday at the age of 88. He said he visited the tomb to bid farewell to him, and to thank him for what he has done. Hundreds of people were waiting outside St Mary Major Basilica for their chance to pay their respects to the tomb (Alessandra Tarantino/AP) The tomb was opened on the second of nine days of official mourning for Francis, after which a conclave will be held to elect the next pope. No date has yet been set for the conclave, but it must start by May 10. Cardinals who travelled to Rome for Franciss funeral will be meeting regularly this week ahead of the conclave as they start to chart a way forward for the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church. Pope Francis chose his place of burial in St Mary Major Basilica, near an icon of the Madonna that he revered, because it reflects his humble, simple and essential life, the archbishop who administers the basilica said on Friday. Its unbelievable that hes no more with us, said Susmidah Murphy, who visited the tomb during a visit to Rome from her home in India. Its sad that we dont get popes like this very often. Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. One person was killed and a 14-year-old girl was injured in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, regional governor Serhii Lysak said. The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing. Mr Trump said on Saturday that he doubts Mr Putin wants to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, expressing new scepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Just a day earlier, the US president had said Ukraine and Russia were very close to a deal. Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had no reason to target civilian areas of Ukraine (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) After his return to the US following Pope Franciss funeral in Rome at which he briefly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Mr Trump said on social media: There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. He also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. The Trump-Zelenskyy conversation on the sidelines of the funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February. Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was injured in drone attacks on the Odesa region and another in the city of Zhitomir, according to local officials. Russias defence ministry said on Sunday that air defences shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Five people were injured when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, the citys Russian-installed mayor Ivan Prikhodko said. Irans president has visited those injured in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republics main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. The visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturdays blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas, in southern Irans Hormozgan province, rose to 40 killed and about 1,000 others injured. While Irans military sought to deny the delivery of ammonium perchlorate from China, new videos emerged showing an apocalyptic scene at the still-smouldering port. A crater that appeared metres deep sat surrounded by burning smoke so dangerous that authorities closed schools and businesses in the area. Iranian state television described the fire as being under control, saying emergency workers hope it will fully be extinguished later on Sunday. Overnight, helicopters and heavy cargo aircraft flew repeated sorties over the burning port, dumping seawater on the site. Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Irans Red Crescent society, offered the death toll and number of injured in a statement carried by an Iranian government website, saying only 190 of the injured remained in hospital on Sunday. The provincial governor declared three days of mourning. Private security firm Ambrey says the port received the missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. A helicopter drops water on the fire, amid clouds of thick black smoke (Meysam Mirzadeh/Tasnim News/AP) The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ship-tracking data analysed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said. In a first reaction on Sunday, Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaeinik denied missile fuel had been imported through the port. No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port, he told state television by telephone. Men walk through debris following the massive explosion (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless but offered no explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. He said authorities would offer more information later. It is unclear why Iran would not have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel meaning potentially it had no place to process the chemical. Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the Beirut explosion. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide assistance, Irans state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday. 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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) partnered with Florida law enforcement to arrest 780 migrants in the country illegally during a four-day operation dubbed "Operation Tidal Wave," officials announced. Acting ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News that ICE can deputize state and local law enforcement to assist in immigration enforcement using 287(g), also known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, and use it as a "force multiplier. " "This operation is significant is because it's the first of its kind," Lyons said. "State troopers, local police officers, county sheriffsthey're our eyes and ears." Of the 780 arrests, 275 individuals had final orders of removal and are expected to be deported swiftly, ICE said. ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said the model will expand beyond Florida, utilizing state and local officers to identify and detain migrants during their routine duties. "We've seen historic partnerships with the state of Texas...in Virginia, as well as many other states that are coming to the table," Sheahan said. "Even states that you wouldn't necessarily always think of as border states." Since the start of President Trump's administration, ICE has signed 428 new 287(g) agreements, a 371% increase, according to Lyons. "We brought a 'whole the government' approach," Lyons emphasized, "With cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods." Originally published on Latin Times Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) Gaza by the numbers: The UN Relief and Works Agency reports about the situation on the ground: The agency says that since the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire on the night of 1718 March 2025, fighting has escalated sharply, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians, devastating infrastructure, and displacing thousands. Following the 2 March siege announcement no aid, including fuel, has entered Gaza, worsening a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. UNRWA reports that on 22 April, its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, called Gaza a land of desperation, accusing Israeli authorities of using aid as a weapon of war, and demanded action to end the siege. Denying a civilian, occupied population life-saving aid is a war crime according to the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute. Numbers: 51,266 Between 7 October 2023 and 22 April 2025, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports at least 51,266 Palestinians killed and 116,991 wounded, including thousands of women and children. Over 290 UNRWA staff have been killed since October 2023. 420,000 About 40% of Gazas territory is under active displacement orders, with roughly 420,000 people newly displaced. About 2/3s of the Strip has been declared a no-go area. 250 Critical supplies like food, fuel, medical aid, and vaccines are nearly exhausted; UNRWA has no more flour and only 250 food parcels remain. 3,000 On 22 April, Lazzarini warned that hunger is rapidly deepening, while almost 3,000 UNRWA trucks of aid are available at the border but blocked by Israeli troops from entering. Zero All UNRWA international staff have left Gaza and are banned from re-entry. Despite Israeli legislation targeting UNRWA, 12,000 Palestinian staff continue operating amid immense hardship. 1,400% A World Food Programme analysis showed food prices have skyrocketed by 150700% above pre-war levels and up to 1,400% over ceasefire prices. Cooking gas prices rose by 4,000%. One Third UNRWA medical supplies are critically low, with 66% expected to run out within two months and a third already depleted. Thirty Israeli strikes on 2122 April destroyed over 30 bulldozers and vehicles vital for search-and-rescue, waste removal, and water services. Via UNRWA . 90% Nearly 90% of Gazas population of 2.2 million has been uprooted, many multiple times. That would be 1,980,000 people deliberately made homeless. UNRWA shelters house over 90,000 displaced people. Fifty Million An estimated 50 million tons of debris now choke Gazas infrastructure, complicating recovery amid severe fuel shortages and insecurity. ( RFE/RL) A massive explosion purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant killed at least 14 people and injured more than 750 others in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas. The April 26 blast at the Shahid Rajaei port happened as Iran and the United States met in Oman for the third round of talks over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, also in Oman. While no Iranian officials have suggested that the explosion was due to an attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading Tehrans delegation in Oman, said earlier this week that our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response. Explosion at Bandar Abbas 4/26/2025. Via Tasnim News. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Authorities in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the blast. Some 10 hours after the initial explosion, state TV reported the fire was still intensifying and in danger of spreading to other areas and containers. Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Irans crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the Shahid Rajaee port. The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers, he told Irans ILNA news agency. Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger, Zafari said. (Warning graphic image below.) According to the private security firm Ambrey, the port had received a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel in March, which was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks after being depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union in the Gaza Strip. Explosion at Bandar Abbas 4/26/2025. Via Tasnim News. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Tehran has not acknowledged taking the shipment, but ship-tracking data obtained by the Associated Press shows vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity of the port in March. US-Iran Nuclear Talks In Oman Meanwhile, Iran and the United States held negotiations in Oman over Tehrans nuclear program on April 26. The talks ran for several hours in Muscat, the Omani mediators said of the indirect sessions between Araghchi and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East. The negotiations were conducted very seriously and professionally, Araghchi without providing full details. We are cautiously optimistic. Via RFE/RL Copyright (c)2024 RFE/RL, Inc. Used with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) AFP reports that Trump has said, American ships, both military and commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez canals! He went on to allege that both routes would not exist in the first place without the United States. News organizations have probably lost track of the tens of thousands of lies Trump has told while in office. As far as I can tell, most of the things that come out of the addled old lunatics mouth are either lies or falsehoods. As a historian, I particularly mind the lies and falsehoods about history. And as a historian of Egypt, I particularly mind lies and falsehoods about Egyptian history. I wrote a book about Egyptians attempt, in 1882, to overthrow their government, in part for being a puppet of the British imperial authorities, which had bought the Suez Canal for a song in 1876. The British invaded to stage a counter-revolution. Juan Cole, Colonialism & Revolution In the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypts Urabi Movement. Princeton University Press, 1993. Click here to buy an e-book. (See the AHR review here.) So, as you might imagine, the United States had nothing at all to do with the building of the Suez Canal. Interest in a canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean was expressed in the ancient world, but the only practical waterways that were dug connected the Egyptian Delta to the Red Sea. The Pharaohs undertook such works, as did Darius I of Iran, which ruled Egypt 525-404 BCE. Never miss an issue of Informed Comment: Click here to subscribe to our email newsletter! Social media will pretend let you subscribe but then use algorithms to suppress the postings and show you their ads instead. And please, if you see an essay you like, paste it into an email and share with friends. The first practical modern survey toward a Suez canal was conducted by the French after Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte invaded and occupied Ottoman Egypt, an occupation that lasted 1798-1801. If it helps establish my credibility versus Mr. Trump on Egyptian history, I also wrote a book about Bonaparte in Egypt (which is affordable and, Im told, very entertaining): Juan Cole, Napoleons Egypt. Click here to buy. The French were expelled from Egypt by an alliance of the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire in 1801. One of the Ottoman officers leading that effort, Mehmet Ali (Muhammad Ali in Arabic) managed to make himself viceroy, and to establish a hereditary dynasty ruling an Ottoman vassal state there. In France, the Saint-Simonian movement of utopian socialists had an interest in uniting the entire globe through vast engineering works. Before Marx, they envisioned a state-led economy. Like todays Silicon Valley, they thought scientists and engineers should rule. They developed a special interest in seeing a Suez Canal built. One of their leaders, Prosper Enfantin, came to Egypt in the 1830s to try to convince Mehmet Ali to build a canal, but could not pique the viceroys (or Khedives) interest. Enfantin was later involved in French colonialism in Algeria, and served as a director of the Lyon Railway. The Saint-Simonians had a fetish of large-scale transportation infrastructure. Another Saint-Simonian working in Mehmet Alis government, Charles-Joseph Lambert, did serious studies toward a canal. He forwarded them to Linant de Bellefonds, who had a higher position with the khedivial government, and who added to them. Ferdinand de Lesseps was also in Egypt in this era and became a tutor to Mehmet Alis son Said, after which he returned to France. Said came to power as viceroy or Khedive in 1854, and de Lesseps returned to Cairo to try to convince him to build a Suez Canal, which he did. Said Pasha was a modernist and something of a secularist, and also had the first Egyptian railway built. The canal was built with Egyptian labor, some of it forced labor (corvee) ordered by the Khedive, and working-class Egyptian lives were lost in the project. Donald Trump would later come along and take credit for this Franco-Egyptian project executed by Egyptian laborers. The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, under Saids successor, Khedive Ismail. Ismail held a huge international bash to celebrate the opening and commissioned Giuseppe Verdi (d. 1901) to write the opera Aida, which was performed first in the new Cairo Opera House. We are told that the operas scenario was provided by Auguste Mariette, the French Egyptologist and founder of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, although its fundamental love-triangle structure is common to many operatic plots. The Orientalist Bernard Lewis would later allege that no Arab capital had a symphony orchestra, even though one regularly played at the venerable Opera House in Cairo built to celebrate the opening of the canal. Ismail Pasha (r. 1863-1879) was also a modernizer. He once said, Egypt is no longer Africa. We are part of Europe. He initially benefited from the global Cotton Boom caused by the Norths blockade of the US South during the Civil War. Egypt had a valued indigenous strain of long-staple cotton. Ismail borrowed heavily to expand cotton cultivation and extend the railway, and built other infrastructure. But European banks took him to the cleaners with high Mafia-like interest and extra fees, and Egypt became heavily indebted to European banks and bondholders. The end of the Civil War brought a lot of cotton on the world market and prices plummeted, making debt servicing all the more difficult. Egypt became the most indebted country in the world per capita. In 1876 Ismail was forced to sell the Suez Canal to the British Empire for a fraction of its value, to pay off some of those loans, contracted at exorbitant rates. In 1882 the country revolted against European informal imperialism, but the British invaded, using a mix of British and Indian troops, and colonized Egypt 1882-1922. London wanted control of the Suez Canal and of Egypt because the canal was the shortest and cheapest route between Britain and the jewel in the crown of the Empire, India. By the early 1950s, Egypt was technically independent of Britain, but the British still owned the canal. Egyptians rioted over this remnant of colonialism in 1952, and Egyptian police and British troops traded fire. In 1952, young officers made a coup. On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had come to power after the coup, nationalized the canal. The British responded by conspiring with the French and the Israelis to retake the Suez Canal. The French were trying to repress the Algerian Revolution, and hated Abdel Nassers popular brand of Arab nationalism and anti-colonialism. Israel coveted the Sinai Peninsula for its Greater Israel project. The three launched their conspiracy and went to war late in October, 1956. They did not let President Ike Eisenhower know about their plans, though. He figured out the conspiracy and was furious, because they could have cost him the presidential election against Adlai Stevenson by making him look out of touch and not in control of world affairs. Eisenhower ordered the three right back out of Egypt, threatening to call in US loans and crash their economies. He appears to have used some salty language known only to an old soldier in some of those phone calls with naughty heads of state. Eisenhower believed that the 1956 Suez War was a grave threat to the post-World War II United Nations order in which aggressive warfare and conquest of neighbors land was outlawed. He also feared that French and British attempts to retain their colonial empires would drive the Egyptians and Algerians into the arms of the Communists, as had already happened in Vietnam. He thought they could instead be brought into the capitalist order. So the only thing the United States has had to do with the Suez Canal has been to preserve Egypts claim to it as a key pillar of the post-War world in which nation states are secure in their national assets. And now the shabby old Apricot Adolf wants to undo Eisenhowers accomplishments as vanquisher of fascism and upholder of a post-conquest world order to strong-arm Egypt into giving up some of its Suez Canal tolls. At about $16 billion a year, they are one of five major sources of Egypts income, and it is a desperately poor country. Of course, with another four years of Donald Trump at the helm, the U.S. may become a desperately poor country, too, and maybe Egypt will give us some charity. Creates powerful platform underpinned by a shared vision for growth. Three cash-generating mines in premier mining jurisdictions with strong organic growth. Projected gold equivalent production of ~160,000 1 ounces in 2025, increasing to over ~180,000 2 ounces in 2026. Robust proforma balance sheet: A$188 / C$167 million cash to fuel growth as at 31 March 2025 3 . Increased scale and trading liquidity anticipated to drive valuation re-rate. PERTH, Australia and TORONTO, April 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alkane Resources Limited (ASX: ALK) (Alkane) and Mandalay Resources Corporation (Mandalay) (TSX: MND, OTCQB: MNDJF) are pleased to announce that they have agreed to combine in a merger of equals transaction and have executed a definitive arrangement agreement (the Arrangement Agreement) whereby Alkane will acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Mandalay pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement (the Transaction). Following completion of the Transaction, the combined company will continue operating as Alkane Resources, remain listed on the ASX and is seeking a listing on the TSX exchange. Under the Transaction, Mandalay shareholders will receive 7.875 ordinary shares of Alkane for each ordinary share of Mandalay (the Exchange Ratio) held immediately prior to the effective time of the Transaction (the Effective Time). Upon completion of the Transaction, former Mandalay shareholders and existing Alkane shareholders will own approximately 55% and 45%, respectively, of the outstanding ordinary shares of the combined company, on an undiluted basis4. The implied market capitalization of the combined company is estimated at A$1,013 / C$898 million3. The executive team of the combined company will be Australian-based and led by Alkane Managing Director Nic Earner, an established executive with deep operational, management and corporate experience. Alkane and Mandalay will host a joint conference call and webcast today, April 28, 9:30 am Sydney / April 27, at 7:30 pm Toronto. Details provided below. The Transaction will create a diversified Australian centric gold and antimony producer with a portfolio of three operating mines and a strong balance sheet. Alkanes established Tomingley gold mine (Australia), currently ramping up after a major capital expansion, will complement the well-established and stable production from Mandalays Costerfield underground gold/antimony mine (Australia) and the Bjorkdal underground gold mine (Sweden). Strategic Rationale for the Transaction Combined forecast production of ~160,000 1 gold-equivalent ounces in 2025, growing to over ~180,000 2 gold-equivalent ounces in 2026. The combined company will operate three producing mines in premier jurisdictions - Costerfield and Tomingley in Australia and Bjorkdal in Sweden. The combined companys margins are expected to expand with 2025 AISC of ~A$2,750 / ~US$1,760 3 per ounce reducing to approximately ~A$2,160 / ~US$1,420 per ounce in 2026. 5 The combined company will operate three producing mines in premier jurisdictions - Costerfield and Tomingley in Australia and Bjorkdal in Sweden. The combined companys margins are expected to expand with 2025 AISC of ~A$2,750 / ~US$1,760 per ounce reducing to approximately ~A$2,160 / ~US$1,420 per ounce in 2026. Improved capital market positioning anticipated to drive valuation re-rate. The combined company is expected to benefit from a primary ASX listing valuation re-rate driven by GDXJ and potential ASX 300 index inclusion. Further value should be unlocked through greater trading liquidity, a larger free-float and a more diverse shareholder base as the combined company continues to grow. The combined company is expected to benefit from a primary ASX listing valuation re-rate driven by GDXJ and potential ASX 300 index inclusion. Further value should be unlocked through greater trading liquidity, a larger free-float and a more diverse shareholder base as the combined company continues to grow. Creates a powerful platform with a shared vision for continued growth. Robust balance sheet with a proforma cash balance of A$188 / C$167 million 3 at 31 March 2025 to pursue organic and inorganic growth. The combined company plans to continue to invest in exploration at all three of its producing mines and pursue other growth opportunities in addition to the Boda-Kaiser copper-gold project which adds future production potential with its significant scale. Robust balance sheet with a proforma cash balance of A$188 / C$167 million at 31 March 2025 to pursue organic and inorganic growth. The combined company plans to continue to invest in exploration at all three of its producing mines and pursue other growth opportunities in addition to the Boda-Kaiser copper-gold project which adds future production potential with its significant scale. Merged leadership focused on delivering re-rate and driving growth. The combined companys Board of Directors will consist of three Mandalay nominees (Brad Mills, Frazer Bourchier and Dominic Duffy), two Alkane nominees (Ian Gandel and Nic Earner) and a new independent Chair, Andy Quinn, a chartered mining engineer and highly credentialed investment banking and mining industry veteran. Management, led by Nic Earner, and including Mandalays operating team, provides operational continuity and foundation to unlock portfolio value. Nic Earner, Managing Director of Alkane, commented: The Transaction will take Alkane to a new level, bringing together two companies with complementary assets and a shared vision for growth. Mandalays two high-quality mines match the attributes of Tomingley: a proven history of consistent production, cash generation and exploration upside. The combination of assets, leadership, and supportive long-term shareholders enhances our scale and financial strength, and positions us well to continue to pursue additional growth opportunities. Frazer Bourchier, President and CEO of Mandalay, commented: The Transaction presents a compelling opportunity for Mandalay shareholders to accelerate value creation through increased capital markets scale, liquidity and a growing diversified asset base. We are excited to have found a like-minded partner committed to the same principles. The Transaction aligns with our vision to create a mid-tier gold and antimony producer with mines in premier operating jurisdictions and with our strategy for continued growth. I am also pleased to have gained support of our major shareholders, as we believe the combined company will be extremely well positioned for a valuation re-rate in line with ASX-listed peers, and for subsequent growth. Benefits for Shareholders Diversified production from three mines in premier jurisdictions reduces overall operational and financial risk. Larger equity free-float and greater trading liquidity driven by anticipated increase in institutional and passive index investment. Valuation expected to re-rate to higher ASX-listed gold mining company multiples. Mandalay shareholders expected to benefit from Tomingley gold mine production and the growth potential of the large Boda-Kaiser copper-gold project. Alkane shareholders expected to benefit from exposure to strategic antimony production from Costerfield and combined companys strengthened balance sheet. Market Metrics Based on the Exchange Ratio of 7.875 and the closing price of each companys shares on the most recent trading day, the Transaction implies a premium of 2% to Mandalays share price6. On a 20-trading day VWAP7 the Transaction implies a discount of 6% to Mandalays share price. The implied market capitalization of the combined company is A$1,013 / C$898 million3. Management Team Upon closing of the Transaction, the management team of the combined company will be led by current Alkane executives Nic Earner (Managing Director) and James Carter (Chief Financial Officer). Current Mandalay executives Ryan Austerberry (Chief Operating Officer) and Chris Davis (VP Exploration and Operational Geology) will join existing Alkane senior operational management to provide critical continuity for the Costerfield and Bjorkdal mines. The combined company will be headquartered in Perth, Australia. Transaction Details Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Arrangement Agreement, Mandalay shareholders will receive 7.875 Alkane ordinary shares for each Mandalay common share held immediately prior to the Effective Time. The Transaction will be effected pursuant to a court approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia). The Transaction will require approval by 66 2/3 percent of the votes cast by the shareholders of Mandalay at a special meeting of Mandalay shareholders. The issuance of the Alkane ordinary shares pursuant to the Transaction is also subject to approval by a simple majority of votes cast by the shareholders of Alkane at a special meeting of Alkane shareholders. Directors, officers and shareholders of Mandalay (including CE Mining and GMT Capital) who hold approximately 45% of the outstanding Mandalay common shares have entered into voting support agreements pursuant to which they have agreed, among other things, to vote their Mandalay common shares in favour of the Transaction. Certain Directors of Alkane who hold approximately 19% of the outstanding Alkane ordinary shares have stated their intention to vote their Alkane common shares in favour of the share issuance pursuant to the Transaction. In addition to shareholder and court approvals, the Transaction is subject to applicable regulatory approvals, including under the Australian and Swedish foreign investment approval regimes, ASX approval of the listing of the Alkane common shares to be issued under the Transaction and confirmation by ASX that Alkane does not need to re-comply with Chapters 1 and 2 of the ASX Listing Rules for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 11.1.3, as well as certain other closing conditions customary for a transaction of this nature. Subject to the satisfaction of such conditions, the Transaction is expected to close in calendar Q3 2025. The Arrangement Agreement includes customary deal protections, including reciprocal fiduciary-out provisions, non-solicitation covenants, and the right to match any superior proposals. Additionally, a termination fee in the amount of A$17 million is payable by Alkane and Mandalay, respectively, in certain customary circumstances. In connection with the Transaction, Alkane will apply to have the shares of the combined company listed on the TSX. Full details of the Transaction will be included in the Mandalay management information circular and Alkane notice of meeting, as applicable. A copy of the Arrangement Agreement executed between the parties has been lodged with the ASX and is available on SEDAR+. None of the securities to be issued pursuant to the Transaction have been or will be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), and any securities issuable in the Transaction are anticipated to be issued in reliance upon the exemption from such registration requirements provided by Section 3(a)(10) of the U.S. Securities Act. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. The latest respective reserve and resource statements for Alkane (JORC Code) and Mandalay (National Instrument 43-101) are set out in the presentation released today. The information that relates to Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates for Alkane have been extracted from Alkanes ASX announcement dated 4 September 2024, Annual Resources and Reserves Statement and was prepared and first disclosed under JORC Code 2012. The Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates relating to Mandalay contained in the presentation have been extracted from Mandalay's TSX announcement entitled Mandalay Resources Reports 2024 Mineral Reserves and Resources Approaching Two Million Gold Equivalent Ounces In Measured and Indicated Resources dated 20 February 2025, which sets out the mineral resources and mineral reserves of Mandalay as 31 December 2024. These Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates for Mandalay have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) standards and have not been reported in accordance with the 2012 Joint Ore Reserves Committees Australasian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code). Refer to Mandalay's website at www.mandalayresources.com or under Mandalay's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com for information in relation to the Mineral Resource and Reserve estimates prepared by Mandalay. A competent person has not done sufficient work to classify the mineral resource is in accordance with the JORC Code and it is uncertain that following evaluation and / or further exploration work that the estimate will be able to be reported as a Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve in accordance with the JORC Code. Please refer to the Mandalay Resource and Reserves table in the presentation for more detailed information, together with Schedule 1 of the presentation for further disclosure required by the ASX Listing Rules in relation to foreign estimates. Board of Directors Recommendations The Transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Mandalay and Alkane. Both boards of directors unanimously recommend that their respective shareholders vote in favour of the Transaction. GenCap Mining Advisory Ltd. has provided an independent fairness opinion to the board of directors of Mandalay stating that, as of the date of such opinion, and based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth therein, the consideration to be received pursuant to the Transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to the Mandalay shareholders. Haywood Securities Inc. has provided a fairness opinion to the board of directors of Mandalay stating that, as of the date of such opinion, and based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth therein, the consideration to be received pursuant to the Transaction is fair, from a financial point of view, to the Mandalay shareholders. Advisors Mandalay has engaged Haywood Securities Inc. as exclusive financial advisor, Goodmans LLP as Canadian legal advisor, Clayton Utz as Australian legal advisor and GenCap Mining Advisory Ltd. provided an independent fairness opinion to the board of directors in relation to the Transaction. Alkane has engaged Bell Potter Securities Limited and Euroz Hartleys Limited as joint financial advisors, HopgoodGanim as Australian legal advisor and Bennett Jones LLP as Canadian legal advisor to the Transaction. Conference Call Details Alkane and Mandalay will jointly host a conference call for investors and analysts to discuss the transaction. Investors and analysts wishing to ask a question verbally are encouraged to dial-in. The webcast will be listen-only, with questions submitted through the chat function only. Timing of the call is as follows: 7:30 pm Toronto Time on April 27 12:30 am London, UK time on April 28 9:30 am Sydney time on April 28 Interested investors and analysts may register and dial-in using the following dial-in link. Alternatively, the webcast and presentation slides may be accessed using the following webcast link. The conference call and webcast will be posted as soon as possible after the event for playback on both Mandalays mandalayresources.com and Alkanes alkane.com.au. For Further Information Mandalay investor contact: Edison Nguyen, Director, Business Valuations and IR +1 (647) 258-9722 Alkane investor contact: Natalie Chapman, Communications Manager +61 418 642 556 North America Media contact: John Vincic - Principal, Oakstrom Advisors +1 (647) 402-6375 Australian Media contact: Paul Ryan - MD Financial Communications Sodali & Co +61 409 296 511 About Alkane Resources Alkane Resources intends to grow to become one of Australias leading multi-mine gold and copper producers. The Companys current gold production is from the Tomingley Gold mine in New South Wales, which has been operating since 2014 and has operating plans extending beyond 2030. Alkane also owns a major porphyry gold-copper deposit discovered at Boda-Kaiser in 2019. Exploration is ongoing and economics demonstrated in a 2024 scoping study. Alkanes gold interests extend throughout Australia, with strategic investments in other gold exploration and aspiring mining companies. About Mandalay Resources Corporation Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia (Costerfield gold-antimony mine) and Sweden (Bjorkdal gold mine). The Company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow. Mandalay is committed to operating safely and in an environmentally responsible manner, while developing a high level of community and employee engagement. Qualified Person / Competent Person The information in this announcement that relates to Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates for Alkane was prepared and first disclosed under JORC Code 2012. The information was extracted from Alkanes previous ASX announcement dated 4 September 2024, Annual Resources and Reserves Statement, which is available to view on the company's website: www.alkane.com.au. Alkane confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the original announcement, and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the relevant market announcement continue to apply and have not materially changed. Alkane confirms that the form and context in which any Competent Person's findings are presented have not been materially modified from the original market announcement. Chris Davis, Vice President of Operational Geology and Exploration at Mandalay Resources, is a Chartered Professional of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (MAusIMM CP(Geo)), as well as a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (MAIG) and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific information provided in this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation and may include future-oriented financial information or financial outlook information (collectively "Forward-looking Information"). These include statements regarding Alkane and Mandalay's intent, or the beliefs or current expectations of the officers and directors of Alkane and Mandalay for the combined company post-closing. Actual results and outcomes of the proposed plan of arrangement between the companies ("Arrangement") and of the combined company may vary materially from the amounts set out in any Forward-looking Information. As well, Forward-looking Information may relate to: future outlook and anticipated events, such as the consummation and timing of the Arrangement; the strategic vision for the combined company following the closing of the Arrangement and expectations regarding exploration potential, production capabilities and future financial or operating performance of the combined company post-closing, including AISC, investment returns, margins and share price performance; FY2025 / CY2025 and FY2026 / CY2026 production and cost guidance; the potential valuation of the combined company following the closing of the Arrangement; the accuracy of the pro forma financial position and outlook of the combined company following the closing of the Arrangement; the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Arrangement; the success of Alkane and Mandalay in combining operations upon closing of the Transaction; expectations for the potential development of the Boda-Kaiser project; the potential of the combined company to meet industry targets, public profile and expectations; and future plans, projections, objectives, estimates and forecasts and the timing related thereto. Forward-looking Information is generally identified by the use of words like "will", "create", "enhance", "improve", "potential", "expect", "upside", "growth" and similar expressions and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", or "should", or the negative connotation of such terms, are intended to identify Forward-looking Information. Although Alkane and Mandalay believe that the expectations reflected in the Forward-looking Information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on Forward-looking Information since no assurance can be provided that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking Information is based on information available at the time those statements are made and/or good faith belief of the officers and directors of Alkane and Mandalay as of that time with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the Forward-looking Information. Forward-looking Information involves numerous risks and uncertainties. Such factors include, without limitation: risks related to the closing of the Arrangement; risks relating to changes in the gold and antimony price and the factors identified in the section titled "Risks Related to the Business" in Mandalays most recently filed Annual Information Form which is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and in the section titled "Risk Factors" in Alkanes Annual Report filed 16 October 2024 which is available at https://investors.alkane.com.au/site/pdf/f73e6e17-4884-40cf-b4de-67c965d62734/Annual-Report-to-shareholders.pdf. Forward-looking Information is designed to help readers understand Alkane and Mandalay's views as of that time with respect to future events and speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by applicable law, Alkane and Mandalay assume no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any change to any forward-looking statement contained or incorporated by reference herein to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the Forward-looking Information. If either Alkane or Mandalay updates any one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that either company will make additional updates with respect to those or other Forward-looking Information. All Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Non-IFRS Performance Measures This news release may contain references to gold equivalent produced and all-in sustaining cost all of which are non-IFRS measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Therefore, these measures may not be comparable between the companies or to similar measures presented by other issuers. For Mandalay, all-in sustaining cost per ounce gold equivalent equals the sum of cash operating costs associated with the production of gold equivalent ounces at all operating sites in the period plus corporate overhead expense in the period plus sustaining mining capital, royalty expense, accretion of reclamation provision and tailings dam amortization, divided by the total gold equivalent ounces produced in the period. For Alkane, all-in sustaining costs include total cash operating costs, sustaining mining capital, royalty expense, accretion of reclamation provision and tailings dam amortization. Sustaining capital reflects the capital required to maintain a sites current level of operations. All-in sustaining cost per ounce of gold equivalent in a period equals the all-in sustaining cost divided by the equivalent gold ounces produced in the period. 1 2025 production estimate is based on Mandalay calendar year guidance from MND 17 December 2024 news release and Alkane fiscal year guidance from ALK Announcement 7 April 2025 2 2026 production estimate is based on consensus broker analyst estimates for Mandalay (calendar year) and Alkane (fiscal year). 3 A$50.5M Alkane cash and bullion at March 31, 2025. A$ to US$ exchange rate of 0.640 and C$ to US$ exchange rate of 0.722 used throughout this announcement 4 Issued basic shares outstanding for Alkane is 605.5 million and Mandalay is 94.7 million 5 2025 AISC estimate is based on Mandalay calendar year guidance and Alkane fiscal year guidance. 2026 AISC estimate is based on consensus broker analyst estimates for Mandalay (calendar year) and Alkane (fiscal year). 6 Alkane last trade of A$0.75 on 24 April 2025 and Mandalay last trade of C$5.13 on 25 April 2025 7 20-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) for each of Mandalay and Alkane as reported on Bloomberg over the previous 20 trading days as at April 25, 2025. Bloomberg VWAPs are in local currency and converted to USD at the average foreign exchange rate as reported on Bloomberg over the previous 20 trading days as at April 25, 2025. A South Sudan opposition lawmaker on Sunday accused President Salva Kiir's government of preparing a "genocide" of his rival Riek Machar's Nuer community by classifying their homelands as "hostile". Months of clashes between Kiir's forces and those loyal to the first vice-president Machar, who was arrested in March, have stoked fears of a return to civil war in the world's newest country. Kiir's allies have accused Machar's forces of threatening that deal by fomenting unrest in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, in league with the so-called White Army, a loose band of ethnic Nuer armed youths in the region. "The Nuer ethnic group, one of the largest in South Sudan, played a significant role in the liberation struggle," read a government statement. "The community spans 16 counties... out of these, nine are considered hostile," meaning aligned with Machar's party, the statement added. Nasir County was among those considered hostile. That designation was "reckless and malicious", said Reath Muoch Tang, a deputy and top official in Machar's party who is Nuer himself. "This dangerous labelling... this sinister plan constitute(s) nothing short of a mapping for genocide against the Nuer community," Tang said in a statement published on Facebook. "It is a deliberate and calculated attempt to justify collective punishment, instigate violence, and destroy an entire society under the false cover of security measures." In a statement, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, acting chairman of Machar's party, cited a 2014 African Union report that found that "male Nuers were targeted, identified, killed on the spot or gathered in one place and killed" at roadblocks, checkpoints and house-to-house-searches. "We warn and strongly condemn (this) perpetuation of State Policy and of ethnic and tribal profiling, targeting and cleansing," said Pierino. He said the party was taking steps towards filing charges of crimes against humanity and genocide, among others, at the International Criminal Court (ICC). - Fragile power-sharing deal - Clashes around Nasir contributed to the unravelling of Kiir and Machar's fragile 2018 power-sharing agreement, which had put an end to a civil war that killed around 400,000 people. Some 6,000 White Army fighters are estimated to have stormed a military camp in Nasir in early March, with a top-ranking general among the victims. The government said the attack killed 400 members of the armed forces, and has said it has since retaken the city, as well as Ulang, nearly a week ago, with the support of Ugandan forces. Since March the violence has led to the deaths of at least 200 people across several South Sudan states and displaced around 125,000 more, according to the United Nations. South Sudan has been plagued by instability since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. Between 2013 and 2018, the fighting pitted the supporters of Machar against those of Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group. The Dinka and Nuer communities are the two largest groups in ethnically diverse South Sudan. The president has moved to sideline Machar, who was placed under house arrest. On Saturday, the South Sudanese government also discussed a "plan of action" to restore the peace agreement. It suggested that it could choose which of the divided opposition factions is legitimate, potentially paving the way for Machar's ousting, according to South Sudanese media. Pierino, Machar's ally, warned that "any attempt to change the structure" of the transitional government, "or replace the appointments therein... shall be rejected and resisted by all means at our disposal." State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code A MIGHTY selection of motorised nostalgia travelled throughout south Kildare and Co Laois recently in the Moone Classic and Vintage Road Run in what was the 15th annual outing of this classic run. It was about 200 vehicles I dont know, exactly, but we had tractors, cars, lorries and motorbikes, said Giles Keppel, local plumber and chairman of the run. The fundraising road run gets underway The fundraising event was being held in aid of community alert CCTV in the Moone and Timolin villages, as well as for the two local parish churches. The oldest vehicle we had was a 1934 Austin 7, which belonged to Declan Grogan, the president of the Irish Vintage and Veteran Car Club from Tinryland, said Giles. To somewhat differentiate, a veteran car is older than a vintage, with a vintage car being at least 30 years old, while a veteran car is anything older than 50 years, although even the experts can disagree, with some adding sub-categories such as post-vintage and classic. Tommy B, John Brown and Martin McGeer The run covered some ground starting in Moone at 1pm, before travelling through Castledermot, Maganey, then over to Ballickmoyler and Arles in Laois, before heading up to Pedigree Cross, back into Athy, out to Kilkea Castle, through the grounds, out the back to the High Cross Inn, and back to the auction in the Crookstown Inn, followed by music from The Breen Brothers. Tony Breen and Michael Burnett We dont have the total figure raised just yet, but were expecting to raise over 15,000, said a quietly proud Giles. Apart from the community alert CCTV, therell also be a few bob for the church in Timolin and the church in Moone, said Giles. Alex Higginbotham and Stephen Quirke We asked Giles how long the procession took with all those elderly vehicles and were shocked when he told us matter-of-factly: Oh, 40 minutes.. Even Declan Grogan in his 91-year-old Austin 7? Oh, hed be flying in that, smiled Giles. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today A mix of clouds and sun. High 88F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Florida law enforcement participated in an immigration crackdown in Florida on April 26, that they said led to nearly 800 people being arrested over four days. Tell a friend Kazakhstan plans to build a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant, Kazinform News Agency cites KazMunayGas JSC press service. KazMunayGas and LanzaJet and one of the countrys largest agro-industrial holdings, KazFoodProducts, signed an agreement on the development of the SAF project feasibility study (FS). The pre-feasibility study development stage was completed earlier. The FS is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Earlier, Askhat Khassenov, Chair of the Management Board of NC KazMunayGas JSC (KMG), met with Jimmy Samartzis, CEO of the American technology company LanzaJet to discuss the matters of further development of bilateral cooperation aimed at creating production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Kazakhstan. As Khassenov said, this collaboration will make a substantial contribution to achieving low-carbon development goals and introduce the latest technologies, and will help KMG reduce emissions by 15% by 2031 against the 2019 level. In general, the project will have a serious impact on the development of the biofuel market and transit opportunities in Kazakhstan LanzaJet is known for developing certified technology for producing SAF from ethanol (alcohol-to-jet). The company has long-term SAF supply agreements with major airlines, including All Nippon Airways, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. LanzaJet's alcohol-to-jet technology can use ethanol obtained from any bio- or non-bio-based feedstock, considerably reducing greenhouse gas emissions (up to 95%) and enhancing energy efficiency. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. PLANS to commemorate up to 2,000 adults and children buried in former workhouse grounds in Laois have received a green light from the HSE. A memorial headstone for a six-year-old boy and a limestone reflection seat will be installed at the old famine workhouse burial ground known as Gate to Heaven. The tragic site is located behind the Abbeyleix Community Nursing Unit, formerly the district hospital, where the workhouse was located. As the property is owned by the HSE, the Tonduff Cillin Committee which organised the project had to apply for permission to install memorials at the site. The HSE has agreed and it is hoped that the headstone and seat will be installed in time for Irish Famine Commemoration Day (IFCD) on Sunday 18 May. Local historian and committee member Noel Burke said: We have now been given the green light to carry out our plan to erect the memorial stone and limestone seat in an agreed location on the site. Project management within the HSE is really behind this overall project. The memorial stone and seat will be placed beneath a beautiful oak tree, on which there is a preservation order. Lower branches will be cut to just above head height and paving will be laid in a circle around the tree, with some kerbing removed for wheelchair access. The reflection seat will face the burial plot. The committee is liaising with Laois Heritage Officer Thomas Carolan, a HSE official and an archaeologist, who will supervise the digging of a foundation for the stone and seat close to but not on the burial ground. The archaeologist will supervise any disturbance of the soil around the location when the work begins. Its envisaged that staff and service users at the Abbeyeix Community Nursing Unit will visit the peaceful memorial site, to reflect and pray for the workhouse dead and their own loved ones. Noel said: This work will hopefully happen as quickly as possible, as the IFCD is happening on the third Sunday in May. Our parish priest, Fr Paddy Byrne, has agreed to celebrate a Mass for famine victims at this Abbeyleix location, at a time and date to be advised. The project follows a generous response to a fundraiser set up by the committee on 15 March with a target of 500. Nearly 650 was donated within days. The excess will be used to plant wildflower seeds and maintain the burial ground into the future. The memorial headstone will bear the name of John Fitzgerald (6), who died from hunger at the workhouse in May 1886 and who will now symbolise and honour all those buried at the site, most of whose names are unknown. The site continued to be used as an unofficial burial ground for decades afterwards. Johns body was disposed of in the graveyard pit or shank yard at the rear of the present day Abbeyleix CNU, where up to 2,000 babies, children and adults are believed to be have been buried between 1842 and 1962. Noel said: Unfortunately, 183 years have passed without any official recognition of the site ever having been used as a burial ground for the poor and destitute people who died in the Abbeyleix workhouse. Thankfully, this is all about to change this year. A MAN who came before Judge Deirdre Gearty at Portlaoise District Court last week was told he was very lucky that he wasnt killed, when he crashed a car that he had been driving. The judge made her comment when Alan Nealis from The Lodge, OConnell Square, Mountmellick pleaded guilty to driving while uninsured, drink-driving and with the unauthorised taking of a vehicle on 1 January at OConnell Square, Mountmellick. The court heard that at 5am on the day in question, gardai were called to a single-vehicle accident at Nyra, Rosenallis, Mountmellick. There they came upon Mr Nealis, who told them that he had lost control of the car. He was taken to Tullamore hospital and a blood sample showed that he had been over the drink-driving limit at the time of the accident. Judge Gearty was also told that the defendants ex-girlfriend had reported to gardai that at that time, her car had been stolen from outside her flat. Defence solicitor Josephine Fitzpatrick said that her 33-year-old client had addiction issues at the time of the offence and was under pressure. He made a foolish decision to drive that morning. She said that Mr Nealis, who works as a chef, is hoping to begin a residential treatment programme in the near future to deal with his issues. Wishing him well in his recovery from his addiction issues, Judge Gearty said: He was very lucky that he wasnt killed that night. She went on to convict Mr Nealis of driving while uninsured, fined him 350 and disqualified him from driving for four years. For drink-driving, he was fined 350 and banned from driving for two years. The unauthorised taking of a vehicle was taken into account. A South Whitehall Township man is among the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed against DraftKings, accusing the company of exploiting his gambling addiction. Avi Setton is one of five Pennsylvania men who sued the Boston-based gambling services provider last week in federal court. He claims he gambled away $350,000 after he asked DraftKings to close his account. The lawsuit accuses DraftKings of targeting gamblers on self-exclusion lists. Allowing patrons to gamble online is too dangerous for those struggling with addiction, it says. The lawsuit alleges that DraftKings promises risk-free promotional bets to trick gamblers into wagering and losing their own money, leading them to gamble increasingly until their funds are exhausted. It also accuses DraftKings of using deceptive advertising and creating a VIP status to exploit customers into gambling more than they can afford to lose. A message sent to DraftKings seeking comment wasnt returned. Some customers have developed gambling addictions and lost thousands or in the case of some of the plaintiffs hundreds of thousands of dollars, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says Setton asked to close his account in 2020 due to his gambling problem. The account remained open and Setton wound up losing $350,000 by 2024, the suit says. DraftKings closed the account in 2024, citing the 2020 request, the lawsuit says. The four additional plaintiffs are: Robert Walker of Folcroft Kenneth Macek of Pittsburgh Matthew Harner of Reading Lionel Alicea of Scranton The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Leeson Jr. to certify the proposed classes and to determine that DraftKings policies violate consumer protection laws. It seeks unspecified damages. The lawsuit was filed April 18 in Allentown by Chicago attorneys Isaac Green and Michael Kanovitz, and Washington, D.C., attorney Amelia Maxfield. DraftKings anticipates raising more than $6 billion in revenue by the end of the year, according to an investor report on its website. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to Lehighvalleylive.com. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Having first opened in 2012 as a coffee corner in her familys hardware shop, Kelly Lou Cakes in Portlaoise is now known across Leinster for their stunning and tasty creations. We spoke to Kelly on her baking journey, Laois roots and the struggles within the hospitality sector. I had just finished college after studying business and retail, and I had always worked in the family business, said Kelly Lou Ging, owner of Kelly Lou Cakes told the Leinster Express / Laois Live. I have always loved baking, I grew up baking with my Mam, and I got permission from my dad and my grandad to run a coffee corner in the hardware shop. It all just grew from there, she explained. Pictured: Kelly Lou Ging With the hospitality industry currently unstable, Kelly Lou maintains that trends must be followed to avoid growing stale. When we opened, Ireland was only starting to follow the baking trends that were huge in America, cupcakes became very trendy at the time, she explained. With the cakes and even treats in the cafe, we are constantly experimenting and developing the menu. People get bored very quickly, and you really have to keep up with the trends on Instagram and Tiktok to keep people interested, she said. Gender reveal cakes have become very popular in the last few years, all of those American trends are starting to come here. Years ago a baby shower would never have been heard of here, and now everyone is having them, said Kelly Lou. One delicious dessert from Kelly Lou's bakery Its a very tough business to be in at the moment. Anyone in hospitality can tell you that. Between the different costs and VAT changes, its difficult. We all just want to stay afloat and keep going, the baker explained. Kelly Lou has a special love for wedding cakes, and through her fantastic team taking care of other orders, she can focus on wedding cakes herself. The weddings would now be a big side of the business, I do all of the wedding cakes myself. I love putting my time and effort into them, she said. Kelly Lou has two young boys, Miles and Alfie, and regularly bakes with them. Miles is still a baby, but Alfie is great for helping- it can be messy though! But he loves coming into the bakery, she said. We are lucky, because there are always birthdays throughout the year, and celebrations like Valentines Day and Communions keep us busy! Kelly Lou finished. Local Fianna Fail Senator Fiona OLoughlin has confirmed that from Monday, 28 April, commuters across Kildare South will benefit from the expansion of the TFI Dublin Commuter Zone, following updates to the National Transport Authoritys latest Fares Determination. The update means that Leap Card users in Kildare South will now enjoy access to cheaper, more consistent fares as the new zone replaces the existing Short Hop Zone. This change brings Kildare South more fully into the integrated public transport network for the Greater Dublin Area. Declaring the move as a long overdue victory for Kildare South commuters, Senator O'Loughlin said: This is long overdue and something Ive worked tirelessly to deliver, alongside my Fianna Fail colleagues. Commuters across Kildare deserve fairness and value when it comes to public transport, and this move is a strong step in the right direction. The expansion of the zone will see Leap Card single fares from Kildare and Newbridge to city centre reduce as follows from Monday: Kildare Town Newbridge Adult 7.50 6.00 Child 3.75 3.00 Senator O'Loughlin added: In practical terms, this means Kildare South commuters will benefit from lower fares, new Leap Card savings, and better value for regular travel into Dublin and surrounding areas. The move reflects Kildares growing role as a key commuter hub supplying workers to the capital and beyond. Additionally, Rail-only Weekly and Monthly Tickets are being discontinued as part of the new TFI Dublin Commuter Zone. New multi-modal tickets covering rail, bus, and Luas will be available exclusively through the TFI Leap Top-Up App. For full details, visit www.irishrail.ie or www.leapcard.ie. Senator OLoughlin continued: This will ease the financial burden on hard-working families, students, and daily commuters in Kildare South. Its a practical change that recognises the realities of modern commuting and brings fairness to our public transport system. She concluded: Ill continue working to make sure Kildare Souths voice is heard loud and clear when it comes to national transport policy. This is just one example of how we can deliver real, tangible improvements for our commuters. READ NEXT: Hotly-anticipated launch of financial support scheme in Kildare praised LIMERICK experienced a 180% increase in incidents of shoplifting between 2003 and 2024, with one prominent businessman describing the increase as 'epidemic'. Paul Gallagher, who owns 25 Skechers stores across Ireland, including in Limerick, has emphasised the huge shoplifting problem that businesses are facing across the country. CSO figures from the last 20 years indicate there has been an increase in shoplifting incidents of more than 300% in some locations while in Limerick it was 180%. Paul Gallagher told Newstalk radio that Dublin seems to be the most affected city in the country, with 5,400 shoplifting incidents reported last year alone. He says shoplifting is "spiralling out of control" in most cities and towns but "the worst area is Dublin 1." "It's a daily experience," he told Newstalk. "there's a huge epidemic of shoplifting in Ireland. There's a certain lawlessness in city centres, they don't care...there's zero consequences." Paul said that there are a lot of repeat offenders and young offenders who are shoplifting Irish stores. They get a slap on the wrist and theyre back out. You hear of people with 47 previous convictions - thats just having a laugh, he added. READ NEXT: PICTURES: Limerick Macra Easter Ball at Castletroy Park Hotel "They just simply don't care," Paul told Newstalk. "They grab three of four jackets worth a couple of hundred each and they just simply run out of the door...and if the gardai come along and they do manage to apprehend them, theyre back out the next morning. An Garda Siochana have issued some advice for retail stores, stating that there "are ongoing security concerns for retail and commercial premises. Direct losses arising from theft, or attacks on property and vandalism, can undermine or risk the viability of many businesses." They have provided a long list of advice for retail owners, which can be found here, for example: A BEAUTIFUL young mum of four children who was full of life, and loved music and fashion, has been cruelly taken from her loving family and friends at just 38-years-old. Lydia O'Donoghue (nee Mulqueen) of Lower Whitethorn Drive, Caherdavin, and formerly of Fairview Crescent, Garryowen, Limerick city passed away suddenly in University Hospital Limerick on Wednesday. Her removal takes place this Sunday afternoon (today) from 1pm to 3pm at Cross's Funeral Home, Gerald Griffin Street, followed by removal to Christ the King Church, Caherdavin. Requiem Mass on Monday at 11.30am with burial afterwards in Mount St. Oliver Cemetery. Lydia and husband Jonathan, who were teenage sweethearts, raised four children Jamie, aged 20, Jason, 17, JJ, 13, and Annaleise, 11. On the day Lydia passed, she reshared a video of Annaleises Holy Communion on Tik Tok with the lyrics, Sometimes I just look at you and think to myself how did I ever get so lucky, I'll never know. Her oldest son, Jamie, had arrived in Lloret de Mar in Spain to celebrate his 20th birthday on the day his mum died. I just woke up to the call from my nana and my father. It was shocking to say the least. We immediately had to go and book flights home, said Jamie. In paying a beautiful tribute to his mum, Jamie said Lydias young age made her relate to her children more but she was always still acting how a mother should, strict the odd time and just as caring. She looked after us full-time but on the side she had her own freelance lash business, which she was just getting started with and was qualified for. She had been taking classes despite caring for us too, said Jamie. He paints a picture of a woman who loved music and fashion and was always the life and soul of the party. She was always the first up on the dance floor no matter what - wake, birthday, christening, wedding. She listened to music 24/7 and would be belting the house down with her singing. She loved artists like Rihanna, Nelly, and 50 Cent, you can tell how young she was. "She wasnt a homebody but she did spend most of her time at home caring for us and giving out about cleaning our rooms half the time, said Jamie. READ MORE: Limerick man: 'Meeting Pope will be etched in my mind forever' Lydia loved clothes, shopped nearly every day and if somebody needed something to wear, the first person family and friends would ring was Lydia and she would let them borrow it. She and husband Jonathan were together 24 years and built a loving family for themselves and their children. They were inseparable. He is a great father and partner for her. He spoiled her whenever she wanted and loved her more than anything, said Jamie. There have been hundreds upon hundreds of tributes paid on rip.ie and on social media in the days following Lydias sudden passing on Wednesday. The popular young mum had returned to Ireland in recent days having undergone a procedure abroad. She lit up every room she walked into with her huge smile and her personality but lets not forget she had a huge heart, read one tribute which gives a sense how adored Lydia was. We knew she was loved but I didnt expect this much. It just really showed us how much she meant to the community, everybody who knew her knew her as extremely kind, caring, hilarious and generous, said Jamie. Lydia's passing is very deeply regretted by her husband, four children, mother Caroline, father Christopher, sisters Jenny and Sarah, brothers Christopher and Jonathan and her large extended family, including the O'Donoghue family and many kind friends. Red and black balloons - her favourite colours - were released in memory of Lydia outside her home on Friday night. Younger brother Jason, in paying tribute to his mum, said they didnt always see eye to eye, but thats because she always wanted what was best for him. Whenever I listened to her, things always went right. I finally tried professional wrestling a year ago and even though my mother didnt understand it - she always asked me questions about how its going - she would, of course, always be worried about me. My mother would take me to training and to shows even if she had just woken up. She put family first every time no matter how ridiculous the request. She gave me the best childhood I could have ever asked for and I promise to repay my future kids the same love and support she always provided me, said Jason. The O'Donoghue family have shared a number of photos with the Limerick Leader which reflect Lydia's life that was lived to the full. May she rest in peace. (Bloomberg) -- South African National Parks has blocked a bid by a company controlled by billionaire Patrice Motsepe to tap South Africas second-biggest phosphate deposit in one of the nations most important wetlands. Kropz Plc, which is 90% held by Motsepes African Rainbow Capital Investments Ltd., applied last month to extract the raw material used in making fertilizer from a section of the West Coast National Park. Kropz approached us to explore the possibility of de-proclamation of a portion of land that is part of the West Coast National Park, JP Louw, spokesman for the organization better known as SANParks, said by text message. SANParks cannot allow any mining activities within a declared national park, as this is prohibited, he added, saying Kropz has been informed of the decision. The application intensified a dispute between the company and conservation activists who have opposed development of the Elandsfontein mine adjacent to the park for more than a decade. Earlier this week the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, which is already in a legal dispute with Kropz over the mine, said it objected to the application. Kropz and African Rainbow didnt immediately respond to queries. In an April 23 statement Kropz said it had offered SANParks a parcel of land adjacent to the park with equal or greater conservation value than the current portion under consideration as compensation for the land it wants to mine. Environmentalists have taken issue with the mine they say will endanger the Langebaan Lagoon, which lies 61 miles (98 kilometers) north of Cape Town, and the associated aquifer. Those disputes, and technical issues, have delayed the start of operations since the company acquired the deposit in 2010. The West Coast National Park is home to 250 bird species, more than a quarter of the total found in South Africa, including flamingos and sandpipers. Its also the site of an annual blooming of wildflower fields and fossil human footprints dating back 117,000 years. Sign up here for the twice-weekly Next Africa newsletter (Updates with Kropz statement in third last paragraph) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com Big Tech firm, Google, believes that the company's search engine arm, Chrome, would suffer in anyone else's hands, amid an ongoing trial over market dominance at the Justice Department in the United States, reported the news agency Bloomberg on April 26. Parisa Tabriz, the general manager of Google Chrome, at the Washington federal court, said that trying to disentangle the firm is unprecedented as the company represents 17 years of collaboration between the people of Chrome. Trying to disentangle that is unprecedented, said Tabriz, cited the news agency. Chrome today represents 17 years of collaboration between the Chrome people, she said. As per multiple media reports, the general manager made it clear that the Big Tech firm is being forced to sell its browser Chrome, which provides features like safe browsing mode, a system which notifies users if their passwords are compromised. Also Read | Google asks remote workers to come to office thrice a week or lose job - Report The company also uses shared Google infrastructure, which is not solely within Chrome's purview, reported the agency, citing Tabriz. I dont think it could be recreated, she said, according to the report. Google's market dominance The United States Justice Department has asked Google to sell its Chrome browser and share some of the data it collects to create its search results, according to earlier reports. Judge Amit Mehta is overseeing the trial on what changes Google should implement to change its business practices after he found that the tech major was illegally monopolising the market. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Justice Department on Monday, April 21, urged a federal Judge (Amit Mehta) to help Google reduce its market dominance in the search engine industry. Also Read | Google earnings arrive with the company facing both AI and legal threats This court has an opportunity to remedy a monopoly that has controlled the internet for todays generation and restore competition for decades to come, he said as per the news report citing Justice Department lawyer David Dahlquist. The trial is over how Google should face serious consequences for its monopolist conduct, including the ordered sale of its Chrome browser business, termination of agreements which give it a default place on smartphones and other devices, along with the mandate to provide its competitors with the data. Parisa Tabriz also reportedly mentioned that the Chrome team is working to infuse artificial intelligence (AI) into the browser to make it more agentic giving users the automation benefits like those from filling out forms to doing research to shopping, according to a Fortune report. NEW DELHI : Finland's state-run energy utility Fortum Oyj is exiting India's renewable energy market by selling its platform Fortum India Pvt Ltd (FIPL) to New York-based I Squared Capital-backed Hexa Climate Solutions, in a deal that includes its management company and carbon credits, two people aware of the development said. There were five bidders in the sales process run by EY, including Japan Marubeni Corp, Dutch pension fund APG, and infrastructure fund manager AP Moller Capital. A total of 10 companies including steel and mining major ArcelorMittal had signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA) for the transaction termed as project Samsara. Mint couldnt ascertain the value of the deal that marks an important point in the third-largest Nordic utility Fortum exit from India, a market that it entered in 2012. While the initial proposed deal was for diluting the majority stake in Fortum India Pvt Ltd, the management company, and investing around $300 million to build future projects, Hexa Climate Solutions has acquired 100% stake, along with its 40-member team. FIPLs portfolio includes a 206 mega watt (MW) commercial and industrial (C&I) solar-wind hybrid, and another 600 MW of ready to build projects. Hexa Climate Solutions has acquired Fortum India Pvt Ltd. An announcement will be made in the coming week," said the first of the two people cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. Fortum's Nordic strategy drives India exit In line with its Nordic strategy, Fortum had earlier announced limiting its exposure in India and evaluating alternatives for its remaining operations, with Fortum India selling projects totaling 1.1 gigawatt (GW). Hexa Climate Solutions founder and executive chairman Sanjeev Aggarwal, Fortum India president Sanjay Aggarwal and EY declined to comment. A Fortum Corporation spokesperson in an emailed response said, As a stock listed company, we do not comment (on) any market rumours or speculations. In May 2024, when divesting the ownership in the 185-MW Indian solar portfolio, Fortum announced that in line with its Nordic strategy, Fortum is limiting its exposure in India and evaluating alternatives for the remaining operations and will not make any further commitments in India. There is no certainty whether the evaluation will result in any transactions and Fortum will inform the market, if and when appropriate." I Squared Capital on its part plans to invest around $500 million in Hexa Climate Solutions that has a focus on renewable energy, water and carbon offsets and has a 2.5 GW development pipeline. A Marubeni Corp. spokesperson said in an emailed response, We would like to respectfully refrain from commenting on this transaction." Queries emailed to the spokespersons of APG, AP Moller Capital and ArcelorMittal on Saturday night weren't immediately answered till press time. Fortum's global losses Fortums India exit comes in the backdrop of the war in Ukraine resulting in gas supply disruption and substantive losses to Fortum's majority-owned energy company Uniper, which was subsequently sold to the German government at a loss of around six billion Euros. In addition, the Russian Federation confiscated Fortum's Russian plants valued at around five billion Euros. These prompted Fortum to rewrite its playbook and pivot to the Nordic market by paring down its stakes in other geographies, including India. As part of Fortum Oyjs exit strategy from the Indian market, London-based Opus Corporate Finance Llp is also running a transaction termed Butterfly for diluting a majority stake in Fortums electric vehicle charging network GLIDA, formerly known as Fortum Charge & Drive India that has around 850 charging points, as reported by Mint earlier. Fortum India has sold 700 MW to Actis Llp, another 230 MW to UK Climate Investments and Elite Alfred Berg; and 185 MW to Malaysias state-run oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Bhd or Petronas unit Gentari. This present transaction comes in the backdrop of AM Green, set up by the founders of Greenko Group, Mahesh Kolli and Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, acquiring Fortum Oyj and Chempolis Oys 50% stake in their joint venture---Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited---and also the Oulu-headquartered biotechnology firm Chempolis Oy in which Fortum has a stake, as reported by Mint earlier. Indias C&I segment has been attracting strong investor interest, with a number of deals in the works given the regulatory landscape being supportive of the space with rules allowing large power users to source energy from the open market rather than the costlier grid. C&I projects are also shielded from risks such as power procurement curtailment by state-run power distribution firms. Also, state electricity regulatory commissions' implementation of Time of Day (ToD) tariff for large C&I category consumers has helped sustain investor interest. Donald Trump Jr. told a business forum in Budapest that Hungary and the region should pick the US over China as its economic partner, according to the Portfolio news website. Trump Jr., whos holding a roadshow headlined Trump Business Vision 2025, said China posed a bigger threat than Russia to the region, according to the business site, which helped organize the closed-door meeting late Friday with Hungarian entrepreneurs. US President Donald Trumps eldest son, whos also an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, hailed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbans nationalist vision and underscored the close ties between the two countries leaders, Portfolio reported. At the same time, his call to shun China is likely to sit uncomfortably in Hungary and other parts of eastern Europe, which have opened up their economies to investments from the Asian nation. Orban has attracted billions of dollars of investments from China, including in the battery sector and the electric vehicle industry, with BYD Co. building a factory in Hungarys south. Hungary and Serbia are also constructing a Budapest-Belgrade freight line, which is part of Chinas Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative. Trump Jr. was in the Serbian capital on Saturday, his third visit to the Balkan country since October, before traveling to Bulgaria on Sunday and Romania on Monday, where hell hold similar events as he pitches for business opportunities. Executives of more than 30 biggest Serbian companies met with the US presidents son in Belgrade, seizing the opportunity to talk to a man who is at the center of global events and knows what is happening in world markets, said Marko Cadez, head of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, in comments to Bloomberg Adria. We did not leave any sector uncovered, and discussions included tourism, information technology and auto industry, according to Cadez. With assistance from Misha Savic. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Ace investor Vijay Kedia, known for his solid advice on investments, has shared a video on social media educating market enthusiasts with his tips. But there is a twist. The video is not a regular one. Instead, Vijay Kedia sings his own rendition of Kishore Kumar's evergreen song Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana, incorporating his own lyrics that are actually some golden investing lessons for all. Watch the video here Vijay Kedia's investing lessons In the opening lyrics of the song, Vijay Kedia sings Zindagi ko samriddh hai banana, kharch karne se pahle bachana (Have to make life fulfilling, better to be safe before spending). In the song, he teaches investors which investment to stay away from and what to do instead. Towards the beginning, Kedia in his musical voice explains that while fashion and luxury gadgets as well as curated brand advertisements may lure one everyday, they must not fall into the trap because they are depreciating assets. Paise mail nahi haathon ka khazana, he says, calling money important. Next, he says that you must party within limits, and not show off your wealth. He further advises to stay away from EMIs as they are a trap and one might get caught in a cycle, eventually ruining their lives. Towards the end of the song, Vijay Kedia offers advice on how to invest and save money instead. He says that you must invest with the savings from your income. Kedia advises to start an SIP. 10 hazar mahine ka 20 saal lagana, 12% se crore hai ho jana (Invest 10,000 a month for 20 years, with a 12% interest your investment will turn into a crore), he sings. Social media in awe The video soon went viral on social media, with people applauding Kedia's three-minute long song on investments. As always informative, right in topic, lovely times and music and singing. Why people go to finance courses and influencer when you get the wisdom here in 3-4 mins on simple and effective way. Hats off to you [sic], a user commented. I think God has sent his best student for all of us to be protected from unseen moment life by taking precautions, explained beautifully by sir, another chimed in. Melodious with powerful lesson to learn. Isko kehtay hai simple basha main samjana (This is called explaining with simple words)," a third user commented. Over the past week, a Tesla Cybertruck has become a point of focus for Surat residents, with the vehicle being spotted on roads and causing immense excitement. According to a report by The Indian Express, the vehicle, imported directly from Dubai, has been bought by a Surat-based businessman named Lavji Daliya. The Tesla Cybertruck bought by Lavji Daliya is claimed to be the first such in India under Tesla's limited edition Foundation Series. Daliya's son Piyush told Indian Express that the car was first such in India. This cybertruck is the only one in India, as per what we checked online. There is no such car imported to India, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Piyush also said that they got the delivery of the car a few days ago. We booked this car six months ago at the Tesla Showroom at Texas in the US, he said. According to the report, the base price of the Tesla Cybertruck in Surat is claimed to be 60 lakh. Here is all you need to know about Lavji Dahiya, the Surat-based businessman who brought India's first Tesla Cybertruck. Who is Lavji Daliya? Lavji Daliya, popularly known in Surat as Lavji Badshah, is a real estate mogul from the city. According to The Financial Express, Lavji Badshah also is a diamond merchant and power loom owner based in Surat. Lavji Daliya earned the title of Badshah from the people of Surat due to his philanthropic work. Lavji Badshah is the owner of the Gopin Group, which comprises a real estate business called Gopin Developers, non-profit agency Gopin Foundation and investment company Gopin Ventures. Gopin Group is dedicated to creating a lasting impact through our diverse portfolio of companies, organisations, and foundations. From innovative business ventures to impactful humanitarian projects, as per the website of the company. Also Read | Surat-based diamond businessman creates striking replica of Donald Trump The intro of his Facebook profile says, Lavjibhai D. Daliya is famous with the name - BADSHAH in Gujarat due to his social service. He also has a photo with PM Narendra Modi on his Instagram. According to his LinkedIn profile, Lavji Daliya attributes his success to his qualities like onesty, gratitude and forgiveness. Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate Pvt. Ltd (SPRE) has created a new leadership structure with two chief executive officers reporting to the company's managing director, two people aware of the matter said. Sriram Mahadevan, managing director of SPRE's mid-income housing platform Joyville, will be CEO in addition to his current position. Sumit Sapru, SPRE's earlier business head, will also be CEO. Venkatesh Gopalakrishnan, who was MD and CEO before the rearrangement, will now be managing director, SPRE, and director, group promoter's office. Both CEOs will report to him. The restructuring comes ahead of an initial public offering that the 160-year-old infrastructure-to-energy conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group is planning for its real estate holding company. Projects have been split between the two CEOs to oversee, who manage the operational profit and loss statement. They also have joint responsibilities on the overall portfolio. This is part of the company's talent development plan towards creating a stronger leadership bandwidth to manage the growing scale of business," one of the two people mentioned above said on the condition of anonymity. Also read | NCLT issues notice to Shapoorji Pallonji Group over insolvency plea Gopalakrishnan will focus on the planned IPO, future-proofing the organization and retain overall responsibility for the real estate business to shareholders and other stakeholders, the two people said. This will ensure operational efficiencies as well as focus on the IPO and other strategic initiatives," the person mentioned above said. An SPRE spokesperson didn't respond to an email seeking comments. After a restructuring exercise The leadership rejig follows a restructuring exercise at Shapoorji Pallonji's real estate business that concluded on 30 July last year when SPRE was formed as a new real estate holding company. Before that, Shapoorji Pallonji Group developed residential projects under the Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate brand; mid-income housing projects under Joyville; and office parks under the SP Infocity label. SPRE as a holding company brought all real estate assets of the group under one umbrella. With this, the new holding entity owns around 45 land parcels and projects, Mint had reported on 3 November. The promoters are keen to make real estate one of the biggest businesses in the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Gopalakrishnan told Mint in an interview last year. With nearly 2,000 acres in the five major property marketsMumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Kolkataand large parcels in Mysuru and Nagpur, SPRE's land and ongoing projects are valued at about 50,000 crore. The land bank will help create a massive portfolio with a total development potential of around 140 million sq. ft. SPRE plans to list in the next two years or so, raising $800-900 million by offloading 10-12% of its stake initially. Later, further dilutions will take the public float to 25%, resulting in a total fundraising of around $2 billion, the Mint report said. The company plans to expand its presence in a residential market currently dominated by the four public listed developers - DLF Ltd, Godrej Properties Ltd, Macrotech Developers Ltd and Prestige Group. SPRE is aiming for $1 billion turnover in 2025-26, with more than a dozen launches of new projects," the first person said. For SPRE to scale up, it would need to raise funding, the second person added. Even if the IPO happens later, they can raise money either through non-core land sale or project-level funding in the time-being ," the person said. Leadership roles in realty firms As real estate companies expand faster than ever before, and look at multi-city growth, developers have been structuring leadership positions and responsibilities accordingly. Bengaluru-based Prestige Group has appointed business heads and CEOs for each vertical and geography where it operates. Similarly, Godrej Properties has designated zonal CEOs. Every project is like an operating unit, with a project director and a leadership team to monitor profitability, customer satisfaction, and other quality metrics throughout the project lifecycle. Gulam Zia, executive director at property advisory Knight Frank India said that as a part of their business process re-engineering, many real estate developers are hiring professionals to lead business verticals, positioned either regionally or based on product categories. Beyond the office, residential and retail asset classes, further segregation based on product categories are also shaping up. For instance, luxury housing needs an independent P&L, CEO or business head to succeed, and mixing it with affordable housing can be a recipe for disaster. The CEOs for such portfolios are then fully accountable for that vertical, and can grow it with better efficiencies," Zia said. Chinese FM meets with Uzbek FM Xinhua) 09:18, April 27, 2025 Wang Yi (R), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Uzbekistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakhtiyor Saidov in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with his Uzbek counterpart Bakhtiyor Saidov here on Friday. Wang stated that, under the attention and promotion of President Xi Jinping and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, China-Uzbekistan relations have been elevated to a new height as an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era, demonstrating broader development prospects. Strategic mutual trust between the two countries continues to deepen, and mutually beneficial cooperation across all sectors has made positive progress. The growth of bilateral trade and investment is encouraging, major projects have been launched, the agreement on mutual visa exemption is being advanced, and Uzbekistan's Year of Tourism in China has been successfully inaugurated. China is willing to work together with Uzbekistan to accelerate cooperation in key areas, promote the early completion and operation of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, expand cooperation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, digital trade, and climate change, and create an even more impressive "report card" of achievements. This will help both sides advance their modernization processes and accelerate their development and revitalization. China, in line with the goals and tasks set by the recent Central Conference on Work Related to Foreign Affairs with Neighboring Countries, will adhere to the neighborhood diplomacy policy of fostering amity, ensuring stability, promoting prosperity, and practicing sincerity, mutual benefit, inclusiveness, and good neighborliness. China is ready to work with Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries to consolidate strategic mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, and build a closer China-Central Asia community with a shared future. Saidov noted that, under the strong leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has achieved remarkable development accomplishments in the new era, fully reflecting the profound heritage of Chinese civilization, which Uzbekistan greatly admires. Thanks to the strategic foresight of the two heads of state, Uzbekistan-China relations have been elevated to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era, pointing the way forward for practical cooperation across various sectors. Uzbekistan deeply cherishes its brotherly friendship with China, firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and will continue to resolutely support each other, serving as reliable partners for one another. Saidov further stated that, in the context of profound changes in the current international landscape, the strategic significance of the China-Central Asia mechanism has become increasingly prominent. China has demonstrated its sense of responsibility as a major power by honoring its commitments in international affairs. Uzbekistan supports the series of major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping and welcomes the principles established by China's conference on neighborhood diplomacy. Uzbekistan firmly supports WTO rules and is ready to strengthen coordination with China to jointly tackle challenges, uphold multilateralism, and contribute to global stability. Wang elaborated on China's principled position on tariff issues, emphasizing that certain countries, in the name of prioritizing their own interests, are engaging in bullying tactics and coercive deals, unreasonably provoking trade wars. Such extreme self-serving behavior has laid bare their true nature and will only further undermine their own credibility. China firmly stands on the right side of history and international rules, and is willing to work in solidarity with like-minded countries to jointly safeguard multilateralism, defend fairness and justice, oppose protectionism, and resolutely prevent the world from reverting to a jungle ruled by the law of the strong. The two sides also exchanged views on strengthening cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Saidov expressed Uzbekistan's full support for China in fulfilling its responsibilities as the chair country and expressed confidence that the Tianjin Summit will be a complete success, injecting strong new momentum into the SCO's development. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Uzbekistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakhtiyor Saidov in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Indian companies are sending goods worth more than 85,000 crore ($10 billion) per year to Pakistan through indirect ports like Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo, among many others, to bypass the trade restrictions between the nations, reported the news agency PTI, citing an economic think tank GTRI. Also Read | Ather CEO says EV maker to remain unaffected amid China restrictions Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) explained that the Indian companies were sending their goods to these ports, where independent companies are offloading the consignment. They keep these goods in bonded warehouses where items are stored without paying duties while in transit, according to the report. (The information in this article is from a GTRI report. Mint could not independently verify them) The Indian-made goods are likely relabelled as Made in UAE and then shipped to countries like Pakistan, which cannot trade directly with India. In the bonded warehouse, the labels and documents are modified to show a different country of origin. For example, Indian-made goods may be relabelled as 'Made in UAE'. After this change, they are shipped to countries like Pakistan, where direct trade with India is not allowed, GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava told the news agency. This route also sells goods at a higher price using a third-country port in the middle to avoid regulatory scrutiny. The higher price covers the storage and paperwork costs, giving access to a closed market. The Grey Zone GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava also highlighted that the trade model is not illegal; however, it does sit in a grey area as companies try to find new ways to bypass the trade restrictions to gain access to restricted markets. While this transhipment model isn't always illegal, it sits in a grey zone. It shows how businesses find creative ways to keep trade going -- often faster than governments can react. GTRI estimates Indian goods worth over USD 10 billion reach Pakistan via this route annually, said the GTRI Founder, reported the news portal. India's exports to Pakistan in April-January 2024-25 were at $447.65 million, according to the agency report. The report also mentioned that the trade between India and Pakistan has been brought to a halt after India decided to close the Attari Integrated Check Post amid the Pahalgam terror attack. As per the reports, Pakistan also declared to suspend all trade ties between their nation and India. India exports According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry data, India has exported a total of $820.93 billion of goods and services in the financial year 2024-25, compared to $778.13 billion in the previous financial year. India primarily exports goods like rice, tea, coffee, tobacco, spices, drugs and pharmaceuticals, electronic goods, marine products, etc., to other world nations. As of the 2024-25 fiscal year ended on March 31, 2025, the top export destinations along with the export growth for India are the United States at 35.06 per cent, Australia at 70.81 per cent, Kenya at 98.46 per cent, were among other nations. India imports its commodities from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Thailand, the United States, and Russia, among other global nations. New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) IndusInd Bank on Sunday said accounting lapses in the derivative portfolio will cost the bank 1,960 crore in FY25. A bank-appointed external auditor has determined cumulative adverse accounting impact on P&L at 1,959.98 crore as on March 31, which is similar to the amount disclosed on April 15, IndusInd Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank will appropriately reflect the resultant impact of the accounting discrepancies in the financial statements for FY 2024-25 and take measures to strengthen internal controls accordingly, it said. The bank has already discontinued internal derivative trades from April 1, 2024, it said. "The report identifies incorrect accounting of internal derivative trades, especially in case of early termination, which resulted in recording of notional profits, as the principal root cause for accounting discrepancy," the bank said. The report also examined the roles and actions of key employees in this context, it said. The board is taking necessary steps to fix accountability of the persons responsible for these lapses and realign roles and responsibilities of senior management, it added. On April 15, IndusInd Bank disclosed the basis report of another external agency that accounting lapses in the derivative portfolio will have a negative impact of 1,979 crore on its net worth. The bank has assessed an adverse impact (on a post-tax basis) of 2.27 per cent to its net worth as of December 2024 on account of discrepancies relating to derivative deals. North America and Europe meet beneath this island, where continental plates collide. Icelanders are trying to balance interests on both sides. The country of fewer than 400,000 people is an anomaly. A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it has no standing military. Though rooted in Europe, it isnt part of the European Union. Traditionally a fishing island, it has become a tech hub thanks to bountiful geothermal and hydroelectric power. For decades, Icelanders lived austerely in peaceful remoteness. Their location in the icy waters between Greenland and Norway offered NATO a base during the Cold War from which to monitor Soviet naval traffic, but residents worried little about dangers from warships. Today, the island, which sits just south of the Arctic Circle, faces growing risks from increased military activity in the high north, as climate change opens once-impassable waterways. Iceland is simultaneously being tugged by growing antagonism between the Trump administration and Europe. The pressures are evident in Greenland, about 750 miles away, which President Trump has said he wants the U.S. to own. Iceland, which is greener and less icy than Greenland, lacks the vast Danish territorys mineral wealth. Iceland has also long made itself useful to U.S. and NATO defensive effortssomething administration officials say hasnt happened in Greenland, whose defenses Denmark controls. A Norwegian F-35 taxis on the runway at Keflavik air base in Iceland. When tensions with Russia rose in 2014, U.S. officials told Icelandic counterparts they wanted to restart operations at the decaying Keflavik air base outside the capital, Reykjavik. Iceland quickly agreed and began investing in military infrastructure around the island. Welcoming the U.S. and other NATO allies is how the country with a population smaller than Wyoming maintains its unique status. The four other Nordic countriesall of which share land borders with Russia or lie across the Baltic Sea from itare ramping up defenses, while Iceland is plotting a different course. American submarine-hunting planes now routinely patrol surrounding seas from Keflavik, in Icelands southwest. European NATO jet fighters take turns flying from the base to police skies between Iceland and Russia. And alliance subs and warships call at Icelands ports. The U.S. considers both Iceland and Greenland critical to homeland security. Greenland sits along a path that Russian nuclear warheads targeting America could trace across the sky, so is vital to missile detection and defenses. Russian submarines, meanwhile, must run a gantlet near Iceland that NATO calls the Greenland-Iceland-U.K. Gap. Iceland is a high point along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an enormous and largely undersea mountain range created by the continental collision. Russian subs, which have recently ventured closer to America, are forced to rise nearer the surface as they cross the ridge, making detection easier. Now Icelanders are debating whether they need to get more active on defense and whether to restart EU accession talks, which they broke off in 2013. Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir plans to hold a referendum on the issue by 2027, once her government has addressed issues she sees as more pressingthough some Icelanders see Trumps policies as pushing them toward the bloc sooner. One pressing issue is a national-defense strategy review, now under discussion. Public debate on the topic is important because military activity has sometimes been under the radar in Iceland," Frostadottir said in an interview. Its been uncomfortable to talk about." Iceland, like other Nordic countries, has long tried to keep the Arctic from being militarized. With that no longer possible, Icelanders are assessing what expanded defenses might look like. Theres never been public support in Iceland for a military, and I dont think there will be in the foreseeable future," said Frostadottir, who took office in late December. That doesnt mean we cant have active defenses, and that we cant have active alliances, and defenses are important." Icelands coast guard, which long existed to protect its fishing waters, is playing a bigger role in defense, including running the Keflavik air base and air-defense systems. Kristrun Frostadottir, Icelands prime minister, is among the worlds youngest national leaders. Shaping the debate is Icelands growing wealth, which the islands geology underpins with both geothermal energy and volcanic activity that draws tourists. Inexpensive green electricity and an openness to innovation have made Iceland a base for industries ranging from aluminum smelting to digital services. U.S. military ties to Iceland date to World War II, when American forces occupied the island to keep Germans away and used it to resupply the Soviet Union. When Washington launched NATO in 1949, it deemed Icelands location vital for securing sea lines of communication to Europe and so pulled it into the alliance. U.S. military units defended Iceland from 1951when the two signed a defense agreement that remains in forceuntil 2006, when the U.S. pulled forces out to focus on the war on terror. After the Cold War, Iceland worked to stay relevant inside NATO, sending medical staff to alliance operations in former Yugoslavia and running Afghanistans main civilian airport. At home, it hosted NATO drills, including an annual exercise on combating improvised explosive devices, which had become a scourge of U.S. and allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We could blow up cars up there without anyone complaining," said Jamie Shea, a retired longtime senior NATO official. The Icelanders were always very keen to demonstrate they werent free-riders." A bomb disposal technician during an exercise in Iceland in 2023.U.S. Marines hike to a cold-weather training site in Iceland in 2018. Icelands eagerness to play a role in NATO has contrasted with Greenland, said Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank. Denmarks military operations on the semiautonomous island have gotten caught between U.S. calls to do more and Greenlanders desire not to, said Odgaard, who is Danish. Now, under pressure from Trump, Denmark is expanding its military footprint in Greenland, with islanders consent. The neglect of Greenlands defense has put us in a really bad position," said Odgaard. Frostadottir said Icelanders are closely monitoring developments around Greenland, with which they have close ties. Frostadottir, who at 36 years old is among the worlds youngest national leaders, heads a social democratic party that supports Iceland joining the EU. Talks on joining broke off during the eurozone crisis a dozen years ago. Trumps threats to take Greenland, tariffs and antagonism toward Europe have unnerved Icelanders and made Europe seem more appealing to many. Frostadottir, who holds masters degrees from Yale University and Boston University, wants to avoid Icelanders viewing an eventual referendum on restarting EU talks as a choice between Europe and the U.S. I do think its important that even though the security element will, of course, come into it, that we dont scare people into joining the EU," she said. Others want to move faster. Dagur Eggertsson, a member of Parliament from Frostadottirs party who is active on NATO issues, said that U.S. policy shifts and Europes more-active international role recently mean the referendum might need to happen sooner. An Icelandic coast-guard ship patrols off the Reykjavik coast. Write to Daniel Michaels at Dan.Michaels@wsj.com and Benoit Faucon at benoit.faucon@wsj.com In 2019, writer and historian William Dalrymple curated a magnificent exhibition titled, Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company , at the Wallace Collection in London. It was the first of its kind to be held in the UK, bringing together a rich repository of art collectively known as Company paintings". Crucially, the show focused on identifying as many of the artists as possible instead of lumping them all under unknown", an orientalist shortcut that had been the default for years, pushing Company paintings into the realm of anthropological curiosity rather than fit subject for aesthetic and art-historical evaluation. A Treasury of Life: Indian Company Paintings c. 1790-1835, currently on at Delhi Art Gallery (DAG), builds on Dalrymples rigorous work by bringing together a wide array of Company paintings. Curated by writer and historian Giles Tillotson, it comes with a lavishly produced catalogue, with contributions by scholars like Apurba Chatterjee Jennifer Howes and Malini Roy, among others. View Full Image 'A Pilgrim Carrying a Wood Kavati' by Tanjore Artist, c.1822 Apart from juxtaposing works by Indian artists like Sita Ram and Chuni Lal against European originals that may have inspired and informed their style, the show makes a point about the nomenclature of Company painting". As Tillotson points out, the term refers to a timeframethe 18th and 19th centuriesduring which these paintings were made under the patronage of East India Company officers. The name is not to be confused as a stylistic category, which may be inferred from the misleading but oft-used term, Company school". Even a cursory look at the paintings makes it evident that the Company painters were invested in leaving their mark, however subtly, on the work they did, usually within a strict framework provided to them by their patrons, many of whom used the images as scientific references to build the Linnaean system of classification of species during this era. View Full Image 'A Veena player with his Wife and a Drummer' by Tanjore Artist, c.1800 Some of the private collectionsthe Parlby Album, Zoffany Album or Fraser Album, for instanceserved as personal memory-keeping, a record of time spent among the exotic flora and fauna of the empire. Yet others were proofs of the splendour of British life in the faraway colonies. A prominent example of the latter were the images of palaces and bungalows in Maidapur, a now-forgotten interface between the Mughal capital of Murshidabad" and the British capital of Calcutta", as historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones puts it. Unlike their European counterparts dominated by the picturesque style of landscape painting, the paintings of British residences in this region are starkly delineated, with clinical precision of architectural blueprints. The still life paintings by the Murshidabad artists, along with images of caste and religious diversity of India, add freshness to the show. Especially arresting are the paintings from the south, which are not seen as often as the ones from Bengal. View Full Image 'Asian Fairy Bluebird' by Unidentified Artist, c.1810 A Treasury of Life is on at DAG, Delhi, till 5 July. If the fictional British spy James Bond were to seek a drink in India in 2025, he might find himself sipping an olive-oil washed, clarified Martini with a caviar-topped cracker as its edible garnish. The sun is shining over the Indian bartend-ing community, with a slew of bars command-ing the attention of the international hospitality fraternity. As exciting as this is, the trade-off is a pronounced difficulty in finding timeless tipples aka classic cocktails dating back to pre-Prohibition erasuch as Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Sidecardefined by their simple use of ingredients and fundamental mixing techniques like shaking and stirring. Unless youre at Kolkatas buzzy, new cocktail parlour, Nutcase. Most bars put their signature and experimental pours at the beginning of the menu. But Nutcase starts theirs with zero-proof drinks, followed by modern classics (drinks such as Negroni, Penicillin and Picante invented in the latter part of the 20th century, known for their innovative flavour combinations and mixing methods). Classics like the gimlet or daiquiri, bubbly-based originals like the French 75 and an entire section for Martinis find equal importance. That classics would need prominence became clear to co-owner and chef Rituparna Banerjee during trials. We had people from our inner circle testing signatures, but a sour or Negroni would always be their point of reference or what theyd compare it to. So we thought: why not highlight the point of reference?" she says. Also read: You are in for a sweet surprise with new-age dessert menus at restaurants A shift in Indias drink-scape became imminent about a decade ago with the appearance of early players such as Delhis speakeasy-style PCO (Passcode Only) Bar and Cocktails & Dreams Speakeasy in Gurugram. This set the ball rolling for Indias cocktail culture, heralding a new generation of mixologists for whom the focus was artistic expression with creative libations. As these drinks, known as signatures, took centre stage, classic cocktails were overshadowed, helped along by practical challenges like difficulty in finding the right ingredients. But for many patrons, their enduring appeal and familiarity remained paramounta realisation now driving the resurgence of classics. Seconding this, Mumbai-based marketing professional and a home baker, Yeshi Chaudhary shares, Most good restaurants now have a special cocktail menu, with fancy ingredients. And while I love those, I still cant find a great pina colada or daiquiri." View Full Image Negroni at Banng, Gurugram. One reason could be that India is limited when it comes to classic cocktails, points out Vipin Raman, co-owner of the bars Jamming Goat and Dali and Gala in Bengaluru, and Room One and Feri Bar in Goa. There are 200-plus recipes for classic and modern classics together, but we can hardly replicate ten. Some of these require specific ingredients such as Plymouth or Jenever gin (used in gimlet, Negroni, Martinez, etc.) but theyre difficult to get a hold of here," he explains, adding that reasons range from high import duties to lack of demand and therefore, supply. Banerjee echoes this when she outlines the challenges in sourcing bitters, spirits and liquors like Peychaud, a bitter used in the Sazerac cocktail, or the French herbal liqueur Chartreuse, required for popular modern classics like Naked and Famous or Last Word. For Anirudh Singhal, co-founder of the bar design company SpeedX and a judge for The Worlds 50 Best Bars, the mixologists expertise is equally important and could explain why some bars have moved away from classics. If youre making a Martini, you need to get the basics rightthe perfect combination of spirits, the temperature of the glass, etc. You can get away without a lot of this with innovative cocktails because theres fanfare and glamour around them," he reasons. The value of skilled barkeep isnt lost on the customer either. For Kolkata-based Asha Saha, a marketing professional and a cocktail enthusiast, drinks that seem performative and pretentious" dont usually cut it. I dont need glitter and rose petals in my drink. Bars like Nutcase and AM PM in the city have classics and then they have their twistsI like that. And if theres a skilled bartender, they can make you pretty much anything. Its not always on the menu, but you just have to ask," she says. Pankaj Gussain, bar manager at Gurugrams Thai restaurant and bar Banng, concurs that asking might be your best bet at getting a classic. Even when a particular classic isnt listed on the menu, our bar team is well-versed in preparing them when a guest asks for it." Despite having an innovative craft cocktail menu, Banngs top-sellers include the Picante, Bloody Mary, Tommys margarita and whisky sour. Singhal, who is exposed to the global bar industry via his work with Worlds 50 Best, has observed a slow but steady resurgence of classics overseas. We tend to look towards the West for inspiration, and internationally were seeing the best bars are now moving back to classics," he says. Bars in India are already working to bring classics back, but with tweaks. Soka and Bar Spirit Forward in Bengaluru, for instance do a Martini-style drink and a version of the Old Fashioned, while Goas Boilermaker serves versions of the highball, and Ricks at Delhis Taj Mahal Hotel has a new menu inspired by classics, he points out. While its always going to be interesting to sample a truffle-based Negroni or lacto-fermented mandarin-based Bees Knees, on some days all one wants is a perfectly dry Martiniunadorned, save for possibly an additional olive. Also read: Weekend food plan: High-tea menu and food pop-ups Suman Mahfuz Quazi is a food writer and the creator of The Soundboard, a community dedicated to gourmands in India. If in-clinic treatments werent enough, we are now seeing the rise of at-home skincare tools that promise the benefits of non-invasive in-clinic treatments such as micro current (MC), electric muscle stimulation (EMS) and radio frequency (RF) at home. These wands are often seen in celebrity GRWM (Get Ready With Me) videos, offering the promise of visible results. How safe is it really to use these gadgets at home? It's easy to get influenced by your favourite digital creator and buy an at-home skincare gadget or tool. But before you make the purchase, consult with an expert. Know what you are looking for. If you have skin sagging, then RF is good, if you have thin muscles and you are younger, microcurrent is good. If you have both concerns, then combine the treatments," says Kiran Sethi, a skin and wellness expert, and founder of Isya Aesthetics, Delhi. Dr Sethi adds that microcurrent and EMS are similar, and with at-home devices the results take more time to show and you have to do it regularly to see benefits. The surge in popularity of at-home skincare devices is a reflection of how beauty technology is becoming more accessible, says Dr Gagan Raina, aesthetic physician and laser expert, and clinical director at Arisia Aesthetic Clinic, Mumbai. While the convenience of at-home devices is appealing, they are not substitutes for medically administered treatments. The versions available to consumers often operate at significantly lower intensities compared to what is used in a clinic. When used without understanding skin type and underlying conditions, theres a genuine risk of overuse, skin irritation, burns, or even muscle stimulation in the wrong areas, especially with EMS and RF tools," says Dr Raina. Also read: How pollution and climate change are making our skin age faster Also remember that not every skin type or concern will respond the same way, and sometimes what seems like a harmless tool can end up aggravating issues like pigmentation, rosacea, or acne. Microcurrent devices need precision and expertise to truly be effective, says Dr Raina. And EMS devices, which are also used for muscle recovery, require careful placement, and when used on the face, pose potential risks if incorrectly applied. RF tools, which are designed to stimulate collagen, demand consistency in motion and proper temperature control, something most at-home devices cannot guarantee. If you have metal implants its not safe to use microcurrent or EMS on the face, as sometimes metal conducts the energy. If you are sensitive to heat, have rosacea, or broken or eczematous skin, do not use these devices. If you arent sure how to use them, try on the neck once before the face and watch tutorials or get help," says Dr Sethi. A review of an at-home treatment I first spotted Korean skincare brand Medicubes wand in a video by Hailey Bieber. A quick Google search showed that the brand makes some big promises, and many influencers swear by its efficacy. While Medicube is available on third-party platforms in India, I wanted to be extra sure about getting an authentic device in pristine condition, especially when its primary function is to pass current through the skin. So I got the Age-R Booster Pro from the company's kiosk in Ha Noi, at a price of 23,000. It offers LED therapy, MC, EMS, and has a booster mode that helps skin care penetrate better. Its Airshot mode works like gentle microneedling with air needles. The brand recommends the use of the Airshot mode not more than three times a week. The device is easy to use but the sensation needs a little getting used to. If you dont have the time to follow all the modes daily, I suggest you at least use the Booster mode daily with your skincare. I continued the use of skincare that they gave (their PDRN range, and collagen jelly are as viral as the wand), and my skin fills plumper after every use. The EMS mode does make the jawline a bit more defined after a weeks use, and my cheekbones also have more edge. What I really love the EMS mode for is that it helps treat headaches and shoulder pain caused due to jaw clenching and hunching over a computer. The MC mode combined with the Booster mode gives an immediate plump effect to the skin. The Airshot mode is something I am still discovering; the results arent as drastic as microneedling. But concentrated focus also helps dry out stubborn cystic acne spots without much post acne pigmentation. You can increase the level of each mode; I would recommend that you do it gradually to see how your skin reacts to the device. After a months use, I have found that my skin stays plump longer after all the skincare, and there is a gentle difference in pore size. Whether it will reduce my in-clinic sessions, is something we will know after a years use. Dhara Vora Sabhnani is a Mumbai-based writer. China has expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the recent terrorist attack in the Kashmir region, which claimed the lives of 26 people, most of whom were tourists, according to Global Times report. In a telephone conversation on Sunday with Pakistans Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi underscored Beijings close monitoring of the situation and reiterated Chinas support for a prompt and impartial investigation into the incident. Also Read | Pahalgam terror attack: Major decisions taken by India and Pakistan in week 1 Wang Yi is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese foreign minister. Wang Yi emphasised that combating terrorism is a shared responsibility of the international community and reaffirmed Chinas longstanding support for Pakistans resolute counter-terrorism efforts. Describing China as an ironclad friend and all-weather strategic partner, Wang stated that China fully understands Pakistans legitimate security concerns and backs its efforts to safeguard sovereignty and security interests. Also Read | Pak hands over railway to Army, threatens India with nukes amid Pahalgam tension Both China and Pakistan agreed that conflict does not serve the fundamental interests of either India or Pakistan, nor is it conducive to regional peace and stability. Wang called for both nations to exercise restraint, seek dialogue, and take steps towards de-escalation. Wang Yi further reiterated Chinas opposition to unilateralism and hegemonic policies in the region, Global Times report added. China supports the prompt initiation of an impartial investigation, emphasizing that conflict serves neither the fundamental interests of India and Pakistan nor regional peace and stability, Wang said, noting that Beijing hopes both sides will exercise restraint, move toward each other, and work to de-escalate tensions. During the call, Ishaq Dar briefed Wang Yi on the latest developments and reaffirmed Pakistans commitment to managing the situation responsibly, maintaining communication with China and the broader international community. Pakistan's Ishaq Dar also categorically rejected Indias unilateral and illegal actions and what he termed as baseless propaganda against Pakistan. The backdrop to these diplomatic exchanges is a sharp deterioration in India-Pakistan relations following the terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, which was claimed by The Resistance Front, a group linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Amid the tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, Islamabad said it is handing over its railway infrastructure to the army while warning that it has around 130 nukes facing New Delhi. Pakistan's railway minister Hanif Abbasi in a press conference stated that Pakistan Army will now have full access to the country's railway stations and trains. In the same video, Abbasi is seen saying that Pakistan's nukes are not just for show, but for India. The video, where Abbasi is seen talking at a press conference, has gone viral over social media since it surfaced on Saturday. Livemint could not verify the claims of Pakistan Rail Minister Hanif Abbasi. Pakistan railway stations handed over to army In the video, Abbasi is seen saying that Pakistan has handed over its railway stations to the Pakistan Army. They can now move anytime using the railway network. Abbasi said that soldier desks have been set up at railway stations and arrangements to move military equipment have been completed. Abbasi's Nuke threat to India In the same press conference, Abbasi seemingly warned India to be prepared for a war if the Indus water stops flowing. He said that Pakistan has kept its ballistic weapons for India and not for display. If they (India) stop water, they should be ready for war. Ghori, Shaheen and Ghaznavi are not for display. We have kept them for India. We have not kept 130 atomic weapons for a showpiece. You don't where they are located in Pakistan, Abbasi was heard saying in one of the videos of the press conference. Pahalgam terror attack and India Pakistan tensions On Tuesday, terrorists attacked tourists at the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, killing 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, and leaving several others injured. The incident has sent shockwaves across the nation and the international community. Following the attack, India has taken strong diplomatic steps against Pakistan, holding it responsible for continuing support to cross-border terrorism. Global leaders have also condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with India. India has also suspended the Indus Water Treaty, which is the main source of water for 240 million Pakistanis. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally took over the Pahalgam terrorist attack probe, registering a case in Jammu on Sunday. As the tensions between the two countries soared, the Pakistani military engaged in unprovoked firing along the Line of Control in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur sectors for the third consecutive night, military sources were quoted as saying by PTI. A 45-year-old social activist on Sunday succumbed to injuries after being shot at by suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, officials said on Sunday, PTI reported. The terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas late on Saturday, PTI reported citing officials. Magray was rushed to a hospital, they said and added it was not immediately clear why the ultras targeted the social activist. Encounters in Jammu and Kashmir In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, authorities in Kashmir have launched a sweeping crackdown on terrorists and their sympathisers, demolishing homes, raiding hideouts, and detaining hundreds of overground workers for questioning, officials said Saturday. Within the last 48 hours, six houses belonging to terrorists or their associates have been razed, with officials warning that similar action will follow against others linked to militant activities, as reported by PTI. According to officials, the demolished homes belonged to known militants and their associates, including Ahsan ul Haq from Pulwama, who trained in Pakistan in 2018 and recently infiltrated into the Valley; Shahid Ahmad Kuttay, a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander from Shopian involved in years of anti-national activities; and Zakir Ahmad Ganie from Kulgam, under surveillance since 2023 for alleged terror links. A fourth house, in Kupwaras Kalaroos area, was blown up by security forces and belonged to Farooq Ahmad Tedwa and Miskeen Ahmad Tedwa, both currently operating from Pakistan, officials added. Pakistan's military has been placed on high alert after India vowed to pursue and eliminate those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack. (This is a developing story) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced 2 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of 12 people who died in an accident in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur earlier today. The Prime Minister's office (PMO) in a post on X said that PM Modi had condoled the loss of lives due to the accident. PM Modi also announced an ex-gratia of 50,000 for those who got injured and prayed for their speedy recovery. Saddened by the loss of lives in an accident in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon, the PMO said in the post. Also Read | Multiple killed as driver rams car into Vancouver Filipino festival crowd An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000, it added, attributing the comments to PM Narendra Modi. Mandsaur road accident: 12 dead, several injured A speeding van plunged into a water-filled well after hitting a bike in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district on Sunday, leaving 12 persons, including a biker and a rescuer, dead, police said. Videos of the aftermath of the incident showed a truck towing out the damaged Maruti Eeco van out of the well. Watch the video here: The incident occurred in the Narayangarh police station area. Ratlam range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Manoj Singh said 13 persons were travelling in the van. Four of them were rescued while nine others died. A villager, identified as Manohar, who descended into the well for rescue, also died, he said. Singh added that the body of a victim of the accident is yet to be pulled out of the well. The rescue team involved members from the NDRF and other units. Deputy Chief Minister Jagdish Devda, who rushed to the site, said the driver apparently lost control of the van, which then veered off the road and fell into a well. In the latest episode of Mann ki Baat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep anguish over the death of at least 26 people in the Pahalgam terror attack. He said, There is a deep agony in my heart. The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam has left every citizen heartbroken. Every Indian feels deep sympathy for the families of the victims. On April 22, terrorists opened fire in Baisaran, a popular tourist spot in the upper reaches of Pahalgam in Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states. Also Read | NIA takes over Pahalgam terrorist attack case PM Modi assured the family of the terror attack victims that justice will be served to them. "Nyay milega, Nyay milke rahega," he said, adding, The perpetrators and conspirators of this attack will be served with the harshest response. Speaking in the121st edition of his podcast Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi said the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir did not like that the peace was returning to Kashmir. There was unprecedented momentum, democracy was getting stronger [in the Union Territory], the number of tourists was increasing at a record pace, people's incomes were rising, new opportunities were being created for the youth," PM Modi said. This attack in Pahalgam shows the frustration of those who sponsor terrorism, shows their cowardice, PM Modi said. The Prime Minister said the terrorists and their masters want Kashmir to be destroyed again and hence, they hatched such a big conspiracy. In this war against terrorism, the unity of the country, the solidarity of 140 crore Indians, is our biggest strength. This unity is the basis of our decisive fight against terrorism, PM Modi said. Also Read | Pak army chief Gen Munir reiterates two-nation theory after Pahalgam attack We have to strengthen our resolve to face this challenge before the country. We have to demonstrate our strong will as a nation. Today, the world is watching," PM Modi said. PM Modi said global leaders called him, wrote letters and sent messages to strongly condemn this heinous terrorist attack. Pahalgam terror attack: Just five days after a horrifying terror attack took the lives of 26 civilians, Pahalgam is seeing a slow recovery as tourists were seen returning in the usually-peaceful town on Sunday. In the aftermath of the deadly attack, a wave of resilience and optimism has been sweeping through the Valley. What was once a bustling hub with 5,000 to 7,000 tourists daily saw a dramatic dip to just 50-100 visitors in the days following the tragedy. However, Sunday's scenes were a little different, painting a picture of hope. A bunch of foreign and domestic tourists were seen roaming across the town, bringing back a sense of normalcy after the trauma that Pahalgam went through on April 22. According to news agency ANI, Croatian and Serbian tourists were seen exploring the streets of Pahalgam, completely at ease. Foreign tourists explore Pahalgam A group of Serbian and Croatian tourists were seen visiting Pahalgam, and seemed to be in awe of its beauty, ANI reported. We are coming from Croatia and we are now three or four days here. We are feeling very safe, and your country is very beautiful. We don't have any problem staying here. Kashmir is beautiful, very beautiful. It's very nice, your country is different. We are very, very satisfied with your nature, and people are very kind. We are happy here. We are all 12 people, including two from Serbia and the others from Croatia, Ljiljana from Croatia was quoted as saying by ANI. Vlatko, also from Croatia, said, "It's my 10th time in Kashmir and every time it's fantastic. For me, it's number one in the world, natural, soft people. My group is very happy; it's their first time here, Croatian and Serbian people." On asked about safety post-attack, he said I feel totally safe, no problem here. Everywhere, people say hello - zero, zero scared. Also Read | Crackdown against terrorists intensifies: 10 houses razed after Pahalgam attack Also Read | NIA takes over Pahalgam terrorist attack case Ivana from Serbia also shared her gratitude to the people of Kashmir. While talking to ANI, she said, "We are now off to see a little bit more of your beautiful valley and your beautiful country and nature. Thank you very much for having us here. We heard about the incident before leaving our countries, but despite everything, we decided to come. This is a journey we have been planning for years. We knew the country was beautiful, and we expected only good things. Thank you, Kashmir." Indians visit Pahalgam too While many tourists visited from abroad, there were domestic ones too. Mohammad Anas from Surat, Gujarat, said he was enjoying his time in Kashmir but expressed sadness at the huge loss. We are enjoying our time here in Kashmir. Right now, we are in Pahalgam. We are deeply saddened by the death of our fellow tourist brothers. It's a huge loss for us. However, the markets and everything else are still open here in Pahalgam. There's nothing to be afraid of. The Indian Army is here, the government is with us, and even the local people are supporting us. Since the time I arrived, I haven't felt any fear." Also Read | UK advises citizens to avoid India-Pakistan border post Pahalgam horror He continued, "When we were on our way and heard about the incident, we were quite scared and thought about going back. But the locals and the army supported us a lot and assured us that there's no problem here. They encouraged us to come and see Pahalgam. What happened was terrible, and whoever did this did something very wrong it should never have happened." The Pakistan Army violated ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir for the third time in three days. The Indian Army said, On the night of 26th-27th April 2025, Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur Sectors. Our troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire, the Indian Army was quoted by news agency ANI as saying. Also Read | Social activist Ghulam Rasool Magray shot dead by terrorists in J&K's Kupwara This was the third time the Pakistan Army resorted to unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed at least 26 people earlier this week. As many as 26 people were killed in India, and several others were injured after terrorists attacked tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, was believed to be behind the terrorist attack. On April 25, the Indian Army said the Pakistan Army initiated arms firing near the Line of Control. Later, on April 26 again, the Indian Army said an unprovoked small firing was carried out by various Pakistan Army posts all across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir on night of the April 25-26. Also Read | Pak army chief Gen Munir reiterates two-nation theory after Pahalgam attack Defence Expert DS Dhillon told ANI on Friday that firing initiated by the Pakistan Army along the Line of Control (LoC) is a tactic of the neighbouring country to divert the attention of the Indian army with a likely objective of evacuating its men. Army chief in J&K On Friday, Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, for the first time following the Pahalgam terror attack, reached Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar and reviewed the security situation of the Union Territory, ANI reported The Indian Army Chief General was also briefed on the actions being taken by the formations against terrorists inside their own territory and the Pakistan Army's attempts to violate the ceasefire along the LoC. Also Read | Akshay Kumar surprises audience at Kesari 2 show, talk on Pahalgam terror attack House of Pahalgam terror suspects demolished Meanwhile, the house of a suspect in the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people and injured many, was demolished by security forces and Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) authorities, officials said on Saturday. According to the officials, the house of a suspect, identified as Zakir Ahmad Ganie, at Mutalhama village in Kulgam district was demolished. Ganie is believed to have been involved in the Pahalgam terror attack, which has sent shock waves across the country. Earlier on Friday, the house of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Adil Thokar, also known as Adil Guree, was demolished. Adil had illegally travelled to Pakistan in 2018, where he reportedly received terror training before returning to Jammu and Kashmir last year. Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas termed the terror attack on tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam terrible while also lauding PM Modi's commitment towards fighting terrorism. In a post oN X (formerly Twitter), Srinivas wrote,The incident in Pahalgam is terrible. Thank you, PM @narendramodi for your commitment to fighting terrorism. The Perplexity AI CEO was responding to a post by PM Modi, during a rally in Bihar a few days ago where he vowed to punish all the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. Indias spirit will never be broken by terrorism. PM Modi wrote in the post. PM Modi had similarly also talked about the intentions behind Pahalgam terror attack in a recent Mann ki baat episode, saying, "At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, schools and colleges were vibrant, democracy was getting strengthened, there was a rise in tourism, and new opportunities were being generated for the youth, but the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir and the country did not like this. Terrorists want to destroy Kashmir once again," he said on the radio show. Aravind Srinivas' India connection: Srinivas has built a repuation for building Perplexity AI search assitant to rival Google Search. Prior to become a known famous in the Silicon Valley circles, the 31 year old had completed his bachelors and masters degree at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. Soon afterwards, he went to the US to pursue a PhD in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. In an interaction with Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath earlier this year, Srinivas said, My mom works in the central government, and my dad was an accountant. He was a financial accountant. So I am actually the first engineer in the extended family, Indian Navy said on Sunday its warships have successfully conducted anti-ship missile firings revalidating readiness for long-range precision strikes. The exercise was aimed at demonstrating the Navy's combat readiness and its capability to safeguard India's maritime interests. The warships were deployed in the Arabian Sea. The firing drills were conducted amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack. In a post on social media platform X, Indian Navy said: Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike. Indian Navy stands combat ready, credible and future ready in safeguarding the nations maritime interests anytime anywhere anyhow, it also said. Pahalgam attack In the terror attack on April 22 in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam 26 people were killed and several others injured. India has accused Pakistan of involvement and announced punitive measures against Islamabad, including downgrading diplomatic ties and suspending a Indus Water Treaty. Also Read | How Pahalgam terror attack grounded Kashmirs rising tourism tide In response, Pakistan has denied the charge and in a tit-for-tat retaliation expelled Indian diplomats from the country, closed its airspace to Indian-owned and operated airlines and halted the limited trade between the two nations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated that India will punish those responsible for killing the tourists in his monthly radio address to the nation. I once again assure the affected families that they will get justice, and justice will be done, Modi said. INS Surat successfully test-fires surface-to-air missile Earlier, Indian Navy's guided missile destroyer INS Surat successfully test-fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile. The missile has a range of around 70 km, it is learnt. "The Indian Navy's latest indigenous guided missile destroyer INS Surat has successfully carried out a precision cooperative engagement of a sea-skimming target, marking a significant milestone in strengthening the Navy's defence capabilities," the Indian Navy said. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday questioned the Prime Minister of Pakistan over deen (religion), accusing him of acting like the terror group ISIS. Owaisi, while addressing a gathering in Maharashtra's Parbhani, said, what 'deen' are you talking about?... You have acted like the ISIS, news agency ANI reported. In a stern warning to Pakistan, Owaisi said, Pakistan always talks about being a nuclear power; they need to remember if they enter a country and kill innocent people, that country will not sit quietly. No matter the government, by killing our people on our land, and targeting them based on religion, what 'deen' are you talking about?... You have acted like the ISIS. I want to tell the Prime Minister that if Kashmir is our integral part, then Kashmiris are also our integral part. We cannot doubt the Kashmiris, the ANI report quoted Owaisi as saying. Pakistan's nuke threat The AIMIM chief was responding to Pakistan's railway minister Hanif Abbasi's 130 nukes facing New Delhi threat to India. In a video, which went viral on social media since it surfaced on Saturday, Abbasi is seen saying that Pakistan's nukes are not just for show, but for India. Abbasi was seemingly warning India to be prepared for war for halting the Indus Waters Treaty. He said that Pakistan has kept its ballistic weapons for India and not for display. If they (India) stop water, they should be ready for war. Ghori, Shaheen and Ghaznavi are not for display. We have kept them for India. We have not kept 130 atomic weapons for a showpiece. You don't where they are located in Pakistan, Abbasi was heard saying in one of the videos of the press conference. Livemint could not verify the claims of Pakistan Rail Minister Hanif Abbasi. Following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam district which killed 26 people on April 22, India has taken strong diplomatic steps against Pakistan, holding it responsible for supporting cross-border terrorism. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri hit out at former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari after the latter warned India over the Indus Waters Treaty, saying that blood would flow in the Indus rivers if its water is stopped. Reacting to Bilawal Bhutto's remarks, Hardeep Singh Puri said, I heard his statementTell him to jump somewhere in water... Well, how will he jump in it when there will be no water... Do not dignify such statements... They will get to understand that... Puri further described Pakistan as a nation facing aterminal decline, accusing it of repeatedly using terrorism as a tool of state policy. Puri's comments came after Bhutto-Zardari reportedly said, The Indus is ours and will remain ours - either our water will flow through it, or their blood." Zardari's statement came days after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan after at least 26 people were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. Meanwhile, Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa also slammed Pakistans former foreign minister and said on Saturday that Pakistanis don't have the guts to shed blood. Then drown in it [Indus river]They don't have the guts to shed blood. They are crying for water and talk about shedding blood. They should be ashamed, news agency ANI quoted Sirsa as saying. Warning Pakistan officials, Sirsa said, "Those who were threatening outside the embassy, you will be identified one by one. Be careful. An apocalypse is hovering over your head. Pak has a long history of betrayel: Assam CM Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Pakistan has a long and bloody history of betrayal and warned that no one can deter India from taking decisive revenge for the Pahalgam terror attack Reasserting Indias firm stance on national security, Sarma added, Under Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership, India will hunt down terror and destroy terror infrastructure wherever it exists. Indias national security is non-negotiable. Sharing a video clip where Bilawal Bhutto is seen speaking against India following its withdrawal from the Indus Waters Treaty, Sarma said on X, The State of Pakistan has a long and bloody history of betrayal -- it took the lives of Bilawal Bhutto's grandfather and mother. It is a tragedy that an unworthy son today chooses to speak in a manner that dishonours even their sacrifice. Nehrus misplaced obsession': Here's what Sarma said on Indus Water Treaty In a post on X, Sarma said, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehrus signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 stands as one of the greatest strategic blunders in Indias history. Despite Indias natural upper riparian advantage, Nehru, under immense pressure from the then American administration and the World Bank, handed away over 80% of the Indus basin waters to Pakistan gifting full control over the mighty Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers, while restricting India to the smaller eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej). Pakistan received a staggering 135 million acre-feet (MAF) of water annually, while India was left with just 33 MAF. Worse, Indias rights over the western rivers were limited to minor irrigation and run-of-the-river hydro projects without meaningful storage, permanently compromising the water needs of Punjab, Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir. Nehrus misplaced obsession with international approval came at the cost of Indias long-term national interest, weakening Indias strategic and agricultural strength in its own land. Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has delivered a historic body blow to this injustice. By initiating Indias withdrawal from the treaty, Modi has reclaimed Indias sovereign rights over its rivers, sending a clear message that India will no longer reward terror and hostility with appeasement. This bold move strikes at the heart of Pakistans fragile economy, where over 75% of agriculture depends on Indus waters, and corrects a historic betrayal that had shackled Indias rightful control for over six decades. Modis action marks the rise of a new, assertive India determined to defend its interests without apology, he added. Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar has slammed Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for his anti-India remarks over the Indus Water Treaty, reminding him that India "once broke Pakistan in two pieces." "We have heard many such threats for many years. Bilawal Bhutto might have forgotten history. India once broke Pakistan into two pieces, and he should remember that," Majumdar said on Saturday. BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardaris remarks said, Forget about the talk of blood because blood is flowing in Pakistan. He is still the same child as he was before. Speaking like this is an old habit of Pakistan. Pahalgam terrorist attack Those who were threatening outside the embassy, you will be identified one by one. Following the terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, the Central government announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides. Pakistani health authorities have initiated "emergency preparedness" measures to secure pharmaceutical supplies in response to the suspension of trade ties with India, according to a media report on Saturday. In response to the India's decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty following the Pahalgam attack, Islamabad on Thursday suspended all trade with New Delhi among other moves. Geo News reported that India trade halt triggered "urgent measures to secure" pharmaceutical needs in Pakistan and health authorities have initiated "emergency preparedness" measures to secure the supplies. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has confirmed that while there has been no formal notification regarding the ban's impact on the pharmaceutical sector, contingency plans are already in place, it said. Also Read | Pahalgam Terror Attack: Delhi sets deadline for Pak nationals to exit "Following the 2019 crisis, we had started preparing for such contingencies. We are now actively looking at alternative avenues to meet our pharmaceutical needs," the report quoted a senior DRAP official as saying. Currently, Pakistan relies on India for 30% to 40% of its pharmaceutical raw materials, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and various advanced therapeutic products. With this supply chain distributed, DRAP is seeking alternative sources from China, Russia, and several European countries. The agency aims to ensure the continuous availability of essential medical supplies, including anti-rabies vaccines, anti-snake venom, cancer therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and other critical biological products. While DRAP's preparedness offers some reassurance, industry insiders and health experts have warned of a looming challenge if immediate action is not taken to manage the fallout of the trade suspension. Also Read | Pak army chief Gen Munir reiterates two-nation theory after Pahalgam attack "Pakistan imports some 30%40% of its pharmaceutical raw material from India. We also import finished products, most importantly, anti-cancer therapies, biological products, vaccines, and sera, especially anti-rabies vaccine and anti-snake venom from India," a senior official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said, requesting anonymity. The Ministry of Health has yet to receive an official directive clarifying the status of pharmaceutical imports, despite the government's blanket announcement suspending all trade with India. The pharmaceutical sector fears that disruption in the supply chain could lead to critical shortages. The situation is further complicated by the existence of a robust black market, where unregistered and unapproved medicines are smuggled into Pakistan through Afghanistan, Iran, Dubai, and even across the eastern border, the report said. While these channels fill gaps left by legal imports, they offer no guarantee of quality or consistent supply. A delegation of pharmaceutical industry leaders travelled to Islamabad on Thursday to appeal for an exemption from the trade ban. "We had meetings with DRAP and Ministry of Commerce officials to discuss the suspension of trade ties. We urged them to exempt the pharmaceutical sector from the ban, as there are many life-saving products whose raw materials come exclusively from India," said Tauqeer-ul-Haq, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA). The PPMA delegation also approached the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), arguing that pharmaceutical and health-related trade must be excluded from the ban to protect patients' lives. However, some experts see the current crisis as a wake-up call for long-term investment in local production of APIs, vaccines, and biologicals. "This crisis could be a turning point for Pakistan," said Zafar Iqbal, a senior public health expert. A massive explosion rocked Irans largest commercial port, Shahid Rajaee, on Saturday, leading to a major fire that has so far left 25 dead and 750 injured, as reported by AFP citing local media. The blast, whose cause remains unknown, struck near the vital Strait of Hormuza key passage for around 20% of global oil shipments, according to the report. Here are the top ten updates: 1. A massive explosion and fire tore through southern Iran's Shahid Rajaei port on Saturday, reportedly linked to a shipment of chemical material used in missile propellant. Iranian news agency Tasnim, citing the provincial judiciary chief, gave an updated toll on Sunday of 25 people killed. State TV said around 800 people were injured, according to AFP. 2. Hours after the blast, helicopters continued to douse the flames from above, as the incident unfolded the same day Iran and the US held their third round of talks in Oman over Tehrans accelerating nuclear program. 3. The intensity of the fire in Shahid Rajaee Port has increased and it is possible that the fire could spread to other areas and containers, state TV said late Saturday. 4. Strong winds were complicating efforts to extinguish the flames, a reporter for the broadcaster said. Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran, is Iran's most advanced container port, according to the official IRNA news agency. 5. Images released by IRNA captured the aftermath of the blast, showing rescuers and survivors navigating a debris-strewn boulevard. Flames engulfed a truck trailer, a crushed car was marked with blood, and a helicopter hovered overhead, dropping water on towering plumes of black smoke rising behind stacked shipping containers. 6. Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that "hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres", while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes. He said Momeni would go to the area to look into the incident, according to the report. 7. Speaking later at the scene, Momeni told state TV: All resources from other cities and Tehran have been dispatched... and we hope to be able to extinguish the fire in the coming hours. 8. Three Chinese nationals were "lightly injured", China's state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate. Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the province's crisis management authority, told state TV that "the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area". 9. The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported. "The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged," Tasnim news agency reported. Also Read: Meaningless: Iran minister rejects direct negotiations with US over nuclear programme The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged. 10. The United Arab Emirates expressed "solidarity with Iran" over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences. The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that the explosion "has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines". American media personality Kim Kardashian, who was robbed at gunpoint in October 2016 in a Paris heist, is in the news again as the case is finally coming to court. The case was the biggest robbery of an individual in France for more than 20 years. It even made front pages around the world. Here's everything you need to know: What had happened in October 2016: After Kim and rapper Kanye West in a week-long celebration spanning Paris and Florence, they returned to Paris for Fashion Week, reported Sky News. However, her then-husband, West, returned to the US to pick up his Saint Pablo tour. Kim , along with her sister Kourtney and various members of their entourage, remained in Paris. On 3 October 2016, Kardashian remained alone in the Sky Penthouse on Tronchet Street apartment while the rest of her convoy, which also included her bodyguard Pascal Duvier, went out for the night. Three armed men wearing ski masks and dressed as police forced their way into the apartment block at 2.30 am. Two allegedly forced the concierge to lead them to Kardashian's suite. When the armed men entered her room, Kardashian claimed she had been "dozing" on her bed. She even stated that her social media posts may have provided the alleged robbers with "a window of opportunity". "I was Snapchatting that I was home, and that everyone was going out," Sky News quoted her as saying in the months after the incident. Kim vividly described the attack in a police report, as reported in the French weekly paper Le Journal Du Dimanche. "They grabbed me and took me into the hallway. They tied me up with plastic cables and taped my hands, then they put tape over my mouth and my legs." Kim had said, as the French daily reported, the robbers specifically asked her ring and money. Further she alleged, the robbers carried her into the bathroom and put her in the bathtub. She was wearing only a bathrobe at the time, she said. Kim initially thought the robbers 'were terrorists', a French police report taken in New York three months after the robbery had said. What was stolen? According to the police, Kim alleged the thieves took her large Louis Vuitton jewellery box, which she said contained "everything I owned", reported Sky News. She listed these items as having been stolen: Two diamond Cartier bracelets A gold and diamond Jacob necklace Diamond earrings by Lauren Schwartz Yanina earrings Three gold Jacob necklaces Little bracelets, jewels and rings A Lauren Schwartz diamond necklace A necklace with six little diamonds A necklace with Saint spelt out in diamonds A cross-shaped diamond-encrusted Jacob cross A yellow gold Rolex watch Two yellow gold rings An iPhone 6 and a BlackBerry Later police recovered only the diamond-encrusted cross, which was dropped by the robbers while leaving. What's expected in Court? On 28 April, the hearing will begin at the Court of Appeal of Paris and is scheduled to last a month. The case will be heard by a presiding judge, two professional assessors, and six main jurors. The hearing involves more than 2,000 documents and there are four civil parties. People being tried: Among the 12 defendants in the case, one person has died and another has a medical condition. So 10 people - nine men and one woman - will stand in trial. Five of the robbers all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident are facing armed robbery and kidnapping charges. They are: Yunice Abbas Aomar Ait Khedache Harminv Ait Khedache Didier Dubreucq Marc-Alexandre Boyer The rest are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon. They are: Florus Heroui Gary Mader Christiane Glotin Francois Delaporte Marc Boyer In case found guilty, the accused of the more serious crimes could face 10 years to life imprisonment. Will Kim give evidence? According to lawyer Michael Rhodes, Kim wishes for the trial to proceed in an orderly fashion in accordance with French law. What delay in hearing? Despite a manhunt after the robbery, the case was sidelined as Paris was shaken by terrorist attacks by Islamic militants in 2015, where 130 people were killed, including 90 at a music event at the Bataclan theatre. In January 2017, 17 people were initially arrested in the Kardashian case, but 12 people were later charged. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The US birth rate is near a record low, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday, with only 1.6 children born per woman, below the 2.1 needed to sustain the population. This is no surprise the birth rate has been falling since 2007. What is surprising is the inconsistent and contradictory set of policies the Trump administration is employing to try to address it. Among the proposals the administration is reportedly considering are a baby bonus in the form of a $5,000 tax credit to every American mother after the birth of a child, a plan to educate women on their menstrual cycles so theyre better prepared to conceive, and reserving a share of Fulbright Scholarships for married parents. The pronatalist push started at the Department of Transportation where Secretary Sean Duffy, the father of nine kids, issued a memo in February dictating that communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average be given preference in transportation funding. I dont doubt these policy makers are sincere. President Donald Trump has proclaimed that he wants to be the fertilization president. Elon Musk, the father of an estimated 14 children and head of Trumps quasi-government Department of Government Efficiency, has said civilization is going to crumble unless we raise the birth rate. And Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation agenda Trump is following, wants the president to use government policies, including the tax code, to restore the family as the centerpiece of American life. But they are trying to usher in a Trump baby boom at the same time Musk and DOGE are slashing federal programs that help women have more kids. The list of cuts is long: DOGE has slashed funding to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau in the Department of Health and Human Services, the NIHs National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Center for Disease Controls Division of Reproductive Health. Even after Trump issued an executive order promising to make in vitro fertilization more readily available and affordable, DOGE gutted the CDCs Assisted Reproductive Technology team, which monitors the effectiveness of IVF programs across the country. DOGE has also laid off federal workers running programs for expectant mothers on Medicaid, canceled funding for maternal and postpartum care, and eliminated more than $12 billion from state health departments, including $2 billion earmarked for child vaccination programs. These shortsighted cuts will hardly help reverse declining birth rates. One of the people the Trump administration has consulted on this effort is demographer Lyman Stone, director of the Pronatalism Initiative at the conservative Institute for Family Studies. His own research suggests that the White House is being far too cheap in its plan to offer families a $5,000 baby bonus. More money does yield more babies, Stone wrote in 2020. Anybody saying otherwise is mischaracterizing the research. But it takes a lot of money. Stone argues that low fertility rates in the US and other high-income countries are due to low marriage rates and a decline in young mens income. Hes been a proponent of subsidies that encourage marriage and he backs the American Family Act, a Democratic plan to expand the child tax credit and give parents with more kids higher tax credits. Government-provided incentives for kids would cost the US billions, but this approach has been tried with some success in many other countries, he notes. A baby bonus in Australia boosted fertility, but cost more than $100,000 per child. A British study found that 50% higher per-child spending on welfare in the UK yielded 15% higher births. Russias policy of giving maternity capital of $11,000 to mothers of second or third children since 2007 has boosted second childbearing by 2.2%. But Singapores plan to pay baby bonuses to couples with three or more children has had only limited success. Stone concluded in 2020 that to reach the replacement rate needed to sustain the US population without immigration, the fertility rate would have to rise to 2.07 children per woman. To accomplish this, we would need the present value of child benefits to increase by somewhere between 52% and 400% of household income, he wrote. For the median woman, this would mean providing a child benefit for the first 18 years of a childs life worth approximately $5,300 per year in addition to currently-provided benefits, with the range running from $2,800 more per year to $23,000 more per year. That kind of money is probably impossible to come by, Stone admitted, so he suggests that government pursue additional policies, such as removing obstacles to marriage by reducing the marriage tax penalty for two-income families and expanding the child tax credit into something he calls a parenting wage. Other scholars say the scope of solutions should include expanded paid parental leave and subsidized child care, as well as more affordable housing to lower the cost of family formation. Of course, the choice to create a new life isnt only a financial calculation. Its also a profound act of hope. And Americans are not feeling especially hopeful right now. Polls show that more than half of the country is worried about a constitutional crisis. Wall Street is nervous; consumer confidence is at the second-lowest point on record; and most Americans arent confident in Trumps handling of the economy. Only 15% of the youngest Americans think the country is on the right track. Youd think the Trump administration would want to focus on increasing not cutting funding to maternal and child health, repairing its self-inflicted economic wounds, and lowering the cost of living for working families before asking young people to forget all their troubles and bring children into the world. This lack of situational awareness is not just ironic, its irresponsible. More From Bloomberg Opinion: This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion Tesla reported abysmal numbers for the first quarter last week. Naturally, CEO Elon Musk kicked off the call with a discussion on why he must fix Americas finances, facing down an army of alleged moochers. For any other companys stock, the combination of these results with Musks political priorities would spell doom. The closely watched metric of Teslas automotive gross margin, after stripping out sales of regulatory credits, slumped to 12.5%; the lowest, according to Morgan Stanley, in over a decade, when Tesla was still more of a startup. Adjusted earnings came in almost 40% below a consensus forecast that had been nosediving anyway. Tesla eked out positive free cash flow, but only through a combination of favourable moves in accounts payables and receivables, and by slashing capital expenditure almost in half. To cap it all off, the electric-vehicle (EV) maker suspended guidance due to the recent shifting global trade policy" that you may have heard about. There is a double irony here. First, Musk has had a fairly tight relationship with the US president doing much of that shifting. Second, Teslas guidance was hardly the brightest of beacons, somehow marrying volatility and vagueness in recent quarters. Hence, as of writing this, after-hours trading has Teslas stock up almost 5%. Given that we already knew sales had slumped, and partly because of factory turnarounds to refresh the Model Y, one might argue the bad news was priced in already. Thats a stretch, though, when Teslas stock, despite sliding this year, still trades at 85 times forward earnings. Moreover, even idled production lines couldnt account for the extent of the drop in sales this quarter. The bigger factor lifting spirits was that, having defended the US Department of Government Efficiencys (DOGE) role in saving the country, Musk explained that he would nonetheless be stepping back a bit from this important work next month. He added, though, that this would still involve spending one or two days a week on DOGE, which still seems like a lot. This is some odd messaging. When the CEOs relationship with the White House is damaging the brand, it is not advisable to lead the call that should be explaining the companys worst earnings in years with a MAGA-gramand then add that you will step back but only a bit. When it comes to Teslas EV sales, however, politics is more of a catalyst than an underlying cause. Musks embrace of US President Donald Trump has clearly hurt, particularly in Europe and the blue-state EV heartlands in the US. Yet a glance at Teslas sales in California shows that, when it comes to growth, the rot set in quite a while before Novembers elections. The bigger problem of Musk is that Teslas ageing vehicle lineup has collided with increasing competition, something that his DOGE duties compounded but did not create. As much as investors might welcome an extra slice of Musks week, dont forget that before he donned the red cap, he made the company focus on developing the highly priced and highly angular Cybertruckits first new model in years and, thus far, a flop. The company still touts a lower-cost EV due imminently, though it remains to be seen. The result is not just a sustained decline in Teslas earnings, but, importantly, also in the quality of those earnings. Ironically, the further right Musk moves, the further left Teslas earnings swing. Those regulatory credits for EVs that Tesla sellswhich arent beloved by Republicansaccounted for 31% of the companys pre-tax earnings last year. In the first quarter, they accounted for 101%. In fact, strip out those credits, along with interest earned on Teslas bank balance and other items like crypto marks, and underlying operations actually flipped to a loss. Needless to say, rather than dwelling on these deteriorating results from the companys biggest existing business, Musk focused on the future. The most important deliverable is a robotaxi pilot in Austin in June. This single-city service represents an implicit climbdown from Musks earlier visions of robotaxis everywhere. The latter remains the ultimate goal, and Musk even went as far as to say that in the future, most people are not going to buy cars." Given Teslas slumping sales, some folks have perhaps jumped the gun on this. More pertinently, Musk cautioned that, even with autonomous rides arriving in Austin soon, investors shouldnt expect robotaxis to become material" to the bottom line until the middle or second half of next year. So theres your guidance. A typical Tesla invitation to keep racing toward an elusive destination and never mind what you saw in the rear-view mirror. Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy The convoy of Samajwadi Party MP Ramjilal Suman was attacked by Karni Sena members on Sunday in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The Karni Sena members threw tyres at the vehicles, causing several cars in the high-speed convoy to collide and suffer damage. The incident took place at the Gabhana Toll Booth on the GT Road between Aligarh and Delhi. The Samajwadi Party leader was on his way to Bulandshahr from Agra when the incident occurred. Police force was deployed at the spot in the wake of the attack. "No one was hurt in the incident," Additional SP City MS Pathak said. Police have booked a number of protestors, and Suman was safely escorted from the area, he added. After Suman crossed the toll booth and entered Bulandshahr district, he was stopped by the police from moving ahead. Suman told reporters he was on his way to Sohana village, where reports of atrocities against Dalits have emerged over the past few days. Today there is a flood of atrocities on Dalits in entire Uttar Pradesh. Feudal people feel that the government of Uttar Pradesh is the government of their choice. The law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh is not good,Samajwadi Party leaderRamjilal Suman said while talking to media on Sunday. Akhilesh Yadav condemns attack Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav condemned the "deadly attack" in a post on X. "This is once again either a grave failure of intelligence or a deliberate act of negligence," Yadav said. He warned that if the ruling administration continued to ignore such acts of violence, the chaos would eventually spare no one, including BJP members and their allies. Yadav wondered whether the state government had surrendered before the anarchic elements lawlessness or if it had extended a tacit approval. "Has the bulldozer lost its might or has the Uttar Pradesh government bowed before anarchy?" he said. Karni Sena announced a revenge against Suman last month after the surfacing of a video showing Suman calling Rana Sanga was a "traitor" who brought Babur to defeat Ibrahim Lodi. Rana Sanga or Sangram Singh-I was the ruler of Mewar from 1508 to 1528. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday, in response to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's visited Pakistan allegations, reiterated three questions he had raised earlier in the day. In a post on X, Gogoi had asked the CM if he would resign if he failed to prove his allegations against Gogoi and his wife being agents of an enemy country, and if the CM would take questions on his own children and wife. The Assam Chief Minister's big claims come amidst the rising tensions between India and Pakistan after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam district on April 22 killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists. Later in the day, Gogoi also accused CM Sarma and his colleagues of doing petty politics over the Pahalgam terror attack. Amid people's unity against Pahalgam terrorist attack, he and his colleagues in the party are doing petty politics...clearly in Assam, CM is insecure because there are elections next year. This is to divert the attention of people from his failures, Gogoi told ANI. When asked about the allegations made by CM Sarma against him, Gogoi said, He has been making all these allegations for the past 3 months. An SIT has also been constituted. We are waiting for the SIT to submit its support, the ANI report said. Why was Gogoi repeating his questions? The Congress MP had posted the same questions for the Assam CM earlier in the day, to which CM Sarma had responded by clarifying that neither him nor his children had ever visited Pakistan. He also challenged Gogoi by saying, now, it's your turn to answer. I would like to clarify that neither I nor my son and daughter have ever visited Pakistan. Furthermore, my wife and our entire family would never even think of accepting any salary or financial support from Pakistan, Sarma said in his post on X. All members of my family, including my wife, son, and daughter, are Indian citizens. None of my children has ever surrendered or renounced Indian citizenship. Now, it is your turn to answer, he added. Also Read | NIA takes over Pahalgam terrorist attack case Claiming that sufficient material will be made public in the coming days, Sarma set a deadline for September 10, 2025. In the coming days, sufficient material will be placed in the public domain exposing the connections between the concerned Congress Member of Parliament and Pakistan. Wait for 10th September 2025, his post on X read. How did the spat begin? The spat between the two leaders began after Assam CM Sarma, in a post on X, asked a Congress MP whether he had stayed in Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days. Without naming anyone, Sarma had also asked if the leader's wife got salary from an NGO in Pakistan. CM Sarma's three questions "Questions for the Hon'ble Member of Parliament from the Congress Party: 1. Did you visit Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days? If so, could you kindly clarify the purpose of your visit?" he asked. The CM also questioned whether it is true that the MP's wife "continues to receive a salary from a Pakistan-based NGO while residing and working in India". "If so, may we ask why a Pakistan-based organisation is paying a salary for activities conducted in India?" Sarma questioned. Also Read | How Pahalgam terror attack grounded Kashmirs rising tourism tide e also asked about the citizenship status of the parliamentarian's wife and two children. "Are they Indian citizens, or do they hold the citizenship of any other country? Many more questions will follow," he added. Before posting his questions on X, the CM had made the big claim while talking to news agency ANI, three days ago. He had also said that the matter is under investigation by the SIT and evidence has been found against the MP's wife. We have found some important evidence that the MP's wife used to get salary from Pakistan for three years. She was working in Delhi, but her salary used to come from Pakistan. In the month of June-July, we are going to discuss this matter with the MP. The SIT of Assam Police will meet the MP and his family to know their side and then submit the report before September. But it is true that he spent 15 days in Islamabad without informing the Government of India and the Government of Assam, the Assam CM said. What is the SIT report both leaders are referring to? While Gogoi did not clarify which investigation he was referring to, the state government had in February formed a SIT to probe into the alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who is claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in India's internal affairs, according to a PTI report. The Assam Police had filed a case against Sheikh for his social media comments on India's internal affairs under various sections of the BNS and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in February. Sheikh is an advisor of the Pakistan Planning Commission and a former colleague of Colburn, the report said. Sheikh's social media posts include exhaustive commentary on India's internal affairs and parliamentary matters, raising serious concerns about his intention to compromise and damage India's interests, the report added. Congress MP KC Venugopal vs Assam CM Another round of social media tirade began between Congress MP KC Venugopal and Sarma when the former took to X, criticising the Assam CM for making baseless allegations against Gogoi and questioning his loyalty. Venugopal even went on to call Sarma's comments as pathetic and below the belt. "Today, against Pakistan, unity is the need of the hour. By frivolously using the Pakistan bogie against an upright public figure like Sh. Gogoi, who has been at the forefront of the attack against the CM, he is only emboldening our rivals as well as confirming that he has no credible response to the mounting evidence of widespread corruption against him. Sh. Gaurav Gogoi is an honest leader who is taking on the might of a police state, we steadfastly stand by him," Venugopal said in his post. In a quick, and a rather long response to Venugopal, Sarma soon posted a reply with a fierce No Sir beginning. Sarma not only rewrote the questions he had asked Gogoi in his earlier post, but also asserted that everything he has said is based on verifiable facts and authentic information. Claiming that his questions weren't rhetoric, but legitimate instead, Sarma clarified his comments had "nothing to do with below-the-belt statements or personal attacks. Tamil Nadu Cabinet Reshuffle: In a significant political development, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has recommended, and Governor RN Ravi has approved, a major reshuffle in the state cabinet following the resignations of two senior ministers, V Senthil Balaji and Dr. K Ponmudy. The move comes amid mounting political and legal pressures, and is seen as an attempt by the ruling DMK government to restore stability and public confidence ahead of Assembly elections that will take place in 2026. The reshuffle sees SS Sivasankar being additionally entrusted with the Electricity portfolio, while senior minister S Muthusamy will now also handle Prohibition and Excise. Also Read | ED conducts searches in fresh probe against Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji RS Rajakannappan, previously Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, has been redesignated as the Minister for Forests and Khadi. Furthermore, the Chief Minister has recommended the induction of T Mano Thangaraj, MLA from Padmanabhapuram Assembly Constituency, into the cabinet. The swearing-in ceremony for the new minister designate is scheduled to take place at Raj Bhavan, Chennai, on Monday, 28 April. The resignations of Senthil Balaji and Ponmudy have been the subject of considerable attention. Earlier Tamil Nadu Raj havan official rellease has informed that Tamil Nadu ministers Senthil Balaji, Ponmudy had quit MK Stalin-led cabinet. The resignations were accpted by the Tamil Nadu governor. V Senthil Balaji, who was serving as Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, stepped down following an ultimatum from the Supreme Court. Senthil Balaji had been arrested in June 2023 in connection with a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and was later granted bail by the Supreme Court in September 2024. However, the apex court raised questions regarding the legitimacy of his resuming office while out on bail, directing him to clarify his position by 28 April. Facing mounting legal and political pressure, Senthil Balaji tendered his resignation. Dr. K Ponmudy, who held the Forests and Khadi portfolio, resigned after facing widespread criticism for his controversial public remarks, which were deemed derogatory and drew sharp reactions from both the opposition and within the DMK. Ponmudy's comments, which linked women to Hindu religious practices, led to his removal as DMK Deputy General Secretary and triggered demands for his ouster from the cabinet. The party, keen to avoid further embarrassment, accepted his resignation as part of the reshuffle. With India Inc focusing on young talent, it is highly probable that after this year's appraisal your erstwhile colleague or (ahem) your junior team member could become your boss. It is a complicated situation and an uncomfortable equation. The colleague you spent great many hours dissing about office politics when you two were in your cups, has now become the boss. The changes in hierarchy are unpredictable, but the Mark My Worth rulebook could help you navigate this new equation. The awkwardness There are those who do not want to become leaders and those who want to be in the race and win it fair and square. The competitors have a good equation when they are equal but when one amongst them gets a senior post, it hurts. The tinge of envy even if the best player wins is natural. If you are the one left out , then give yourself time. It is not easy to turn up to office after the congratulatory messages and celebrations have died down. You may be the aggrieved party, but it is professional to carry on with your work, attend meetings like you would have even if the rejig in designations had not happened. Do not look for a snarky comment or a hidden meaning if the new senior directs a curt message towards you. They could be finding the new dynamics just as awkward, and an outburst is not a sign of power play. The inner circle There are seniors who start to pick the members of the inner circle within days of getting a new post. The new boss knows the advantages of having you in his/her team, and if you do not show a knee-jerk reaction of resistance, you could be added to the inner circle. And that coterie is a powerful one. In every company there are examples of those who left in a huff making it very clear their feelings for the new boss and much to their dismay, in a few years, the same senior has trailed them in the new firm like an ominous shadow. Read more | Returning from a career break? Employers may bet on you in a slow job market Procedural justice versus distributive justice Sourav Mukherji, who teaches Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management at the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore pointed out how employees react if they know the way the procedure was conducted. "Employees stick around more if they know there was procedural justice where they may have lost out, but they know the process was transparent. However, in case they win but know that the process was unfair, the success is short-lived". Companies, therefore, need to ensure that the appraisal process is transparent for one to have faith even if the outcome was not favourable. Age no bar for a boss post We need to realize that there is a high possibility that the junior in your office will skip a few levels, break the hierarchical mould, adopt and adapt to digital innovations and become your senior. The inevitability becomes easier to handle, and it prepares you for the next steps because none of these changes then come as a shock. Mukherji highlighted how the hierarchy works in the Indian concept, where one is still not accustomed to skipping levels, but it is a common practice in many Western countries. For all of us, accepting the inevitability will help us focus on building our own profile rather than looking over our shoulders. To the new boss: Congratulations but take it slow The new senior, if inexperienced or surprised at his/her elevation, has a point to prove. They will want to bring in their own leadership style, which may lead to exits. It is crucial to realize that those leaving may feel stung by your elevation but that does not make them unprofessional. So, dealing with these exits sensitively, and not being part of any gossip about them goes a long way. In the first few months of your new role, your peers will gauge your demeanour more than your performance and putting forth your point assertively but not aggressively and not bringing in sweeping changes may help ease any ruffled feathers. It is lonely at the top, and a clutch of known and trusted faces helps. For those who were side-stepped, there could be much to learn from the new leader if the bruised ego is given time to heal. Read the other stories in our special series here: Introducing Mark My Worth": A new series to help you navigate appraisal season Mark My Worth: Appraisal and the art of Atmanirbhar Branding Rulebook on how to choose one high performer over another and retain both How to deal with the dreaded Meets Expectations rating With a productivity uptick, its time to ask for that promotion Residents in Grundy County are grieving the loss of friends, family and loved ones to what the Grundy Sheriff's Department calls an opioid crisis. Scattered across Grundy County, residents could be seen sitting on truck beds, handing out kits of Narcan, a type of medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses and can save a life in seconds. UPDATE: Volunteers to distribute Narcan kits amidst Grundy Co. opioid crisis, Sat., April 26 "Narcan can save a life in just seconds," says the Grundy County Sheriff's Office. "It could be a stranger, a friend, or even someone you love. Knowing how to use it might be the difference between life and death." You never know what youre going to run into and when somebody may need it, so we just want people to have it on hand to maybe save a life and make a difference, says Raymond White, a Grundy County resident. The initiative is in response to the current opioid crisis, nationally and locally. Grundy County has reported eight overdoses in the last month, four of them fatal. In this tight-knit community, the heartbreak runs deep, because neighbors aren't just neighbors and strangers aren't really strangers. TBI program helps protect Tennessee children exposed to drug-related trauma Children living in homes affected by substance abuse are often left to navigate trauma alone. "We're a small community," White says. Everybody knows everybody, and when somebody dies, it affects everyone around you. They are family, and family looks after one another. UPDATE: Hamilton County now hiring for first overdose prevention team in Tennessee The team is made up of paramedics, peer support specialists, and a navigator with the health department. "We just want people to know that we carethat we love them and we're here to help," says White, who mentions he used to struggle with addiction. Another resident and Grundy County native, Chad Smith, says the loss is heartbreaking. He also knows firsthand the hardships of addiction. "I came from that lifestyle," he says. At one time, I was a very active drug addict, didn't live a very good life, and this could be me, says Smith. He's now using his story to inspire others and potentially save a life. "When I was at my darkest place, I didn't feel like anyone cared, and I know there's people here today, and that's where they're at," Smith says. Smith has become an inspiration to others: he's now a pastor and volunteer firefighter for his community. He says his message is one of hope. "If God can bring me out of where I was at-the darkness that I was inthen he can do it for anybody," he says. If you or a loved one are seeking help, you can visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association or call their national hotline at 1-800-662-4357. Longford County Council has announced details of a pilot grant initiative, Cafe Lates which is designed to foster a vibrant and diverse night-time cafe culture. Funding under this grant initiative opened on Monday, April 14 with a closing date of Friday, May 2. Local cafes in Longford Town are invited to apply for funding to introduce engaging cultural programming after 6pm on specific dates of Thursday, May 29 and Thursday, June 26. READ NEXT: All new festival celebrating the arts in all it forms coming to Longford town Longford Town is one of nine pilot towns nationwide actively enhancing Ireland's night-time economy, and Longford County Council is committed to building on the town's after-6pm offerings. The Cafe Lates initiative directly addresses feedback received during public consultation for the development of a cafe culture as part of the Longford County Council Night-Time Economy Action Plan. Aims of the Cafe Lates pilot initiative are to expand evening and night-time offerings, including alcohol-free options; support businesses in trialling extended opening hours; stimulate revenue; drive footfall and build a vibrant evening cafe culture. READ NEXT: PICTURES | Special occasion in Moyne CS as former Longford teacher Benny Reid launches his new book Speaking in relation to the Cafe Lates initiative, Karen Reilly, the designated Night-Time Economy Advisor said, This is a great opportunity to enhance night-time offerings with a vibrant cafe culture in Longford Town. "The types of events we envisage and encourage are live performances from local bands to intimate acoustic and DJ sets, spoken word and poetry, comedy, book clubs, workshops and tastings to themed nights for example. We also encourage events that appeal to younger people, creating a welcoming and inclusive space for all. Cafe Lates is funded by Longford County Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Longford County Council Head of Enterprise Michael Nevin said, The Cafe Lates initiative will give local cafes in Longford Town an exciting opportunity to expand their evening options which will deliver an enhanced experience for residents, workers, and visitors alike. . As well as fostering a vibrant and diverse night-time cafe culture, this initiative will also help stimulate the local economy by encouraging extra footfall and increasing revenue streams for cafes during evening hours. Application forms for the Cafe Lates initiative are available to download from the Night Time Economy section of Longford County Council website. Completed applications must be submitted by email to kreilly@longfordcoco.ie with the subject title 'Cafe Lates' before the deadline of Friday, May 2. A man who asked a barmaid for her telephone number in a north Longford pub and then assaulted her will return before Longford District Court to allow the court to explore the possibility of restorative justice. Jonathan Fereira of Thomond Court, Ballymahon pleaded guilty to section two assault at Main Street, Ballymahon on April 29, 2023. Sergeant Mark Mahon said Gardai received a report that a young female staff member in a pub had been the victim of an assault. READ NEXT: All new festival celebrating the arts in all it forms coming to Longford town He stated the defendant who had been drinking in the bar and he asked the young woman her for her number and her Instagram details before he committed the offence. "He then grabbed her by the back of the neck and he leaned in to kiss her. "She found it difficult to get away from him." The defendant had no previous convictions. READ NEXT: PICTURES | Special occasion in Moyne CS as former Longford teacher Benny Reid launches his new book Solicitor Brid Mimnagh said her client, who had the benefit of a Portuguese translator, had got his wires crossed. "Very unfortunately he had a few drinks and he felt after this lady's natural friendliness that he might be able to talk to her and meet her." Ms Mimnagh stated her client, who is working and earns 450 per week, had no intention of hurting the complainant. "It is something he would not do, he has an 19 year-old sister, it was completely wrong and he regrets that it happened. "He wants to apologise to this young lady," she added. Mr Fereira, who spoke with the assistance of his translator, said, "I understand my mistake, I did not want to cause her any harm." The court heard the defendant is now in a long-term relationship and a father of a young child and he has settled down. Judge Bernadette Owens said she saw nothing in the injured party's victim impact statement that indicated she had exaggerated any elements of the assault and it was a concerning incident. She noted Mr Fereira's lack of previous convictions and she directed him to pay 500 to the injured party. Judge Owens requested a restorative justice report and she then adjourned the case until July 22 next. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. Mirna Valerio is a Winooski-based ultrarunner, advocate for the outdoors, and author of the book A Beautiful Work in Progress. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Runners World Magazine, and Womens Running Magazine, and she was selected as the 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. Additional information can be found on her website: themirnavator.com. Opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media. Harvard University is locked in battle with the Trump administration over government demands. Trea Lavery/MassLive The extent to which the Trump administration has gone to strong-arm the worlds wealthiest university into abiding by its wishes has sent shockwaves through higher education. But the actions taken thus far against Harvard University and other academic institutions across the country were essentially laid out two years ago in Project 2025, a 900-plus page master plan of sorts that reenvisions a federal government with expanded presidential power. Though President Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the controversial conservative initiative while on the campaign trail, many of his moves related to higher education in recent months have come straight from it. Project 2025 is being carried out in almost every aspect of the Trump attacks on higher education, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and a former president at Mount Holyoke College. Published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation a nonprofit whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies Project 2025 proposed some of the following in its blueprint for higher education: Trump has gotten the wheels turning on nearly all of those stated objectives. The administration also carried out mass student visa revocations, and later decided to reverse them after weeks of scrutiny from courts and several restraining orders. Still, the future of international students at American colleges and universities remains uncertain. One of Trumps proposals includes creating the American Academy, a federally funded online university that awards a bachelors degree, as an affordable alternative to a traditional four-year college degree, according to his website. It would be paid for by institutions like Harvard University by taxing, fining and suing selective institutions endowments. Harvard has the worlds largest higher education endowment at $53.2 billion. Trump and Harvard are currently in the midst of a historic showdown. Last week, Harvard sued the Trump administration after it threatened to pull $9 billion in federal funding unless the university agreed to a series of demands ordered in the name of addressing antisemitism. Sending a wave of resistance through higher education, Harvard said it would not comply with the demands. No government regardless of which party is in power should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue, Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to the school community. Harvard University Provost (now President) Alan Garber applauds during commencement exercises in May 2015. AP Photo/Steven Senne While the Trump administration is positioning its actions against colleges and universities as a quest to clamp down on antisemitism, this was not something that came as a result of the attacks on Israel by Hamas, this was something that they said they were going to engage in years before, Pasquerella said, citing Project 2025. Some higher education leaders took the documents contents seriously when it was first published, she said, though they didnt necessarily anticipate what has actually come to fruition. Others viewed it as a worst-case scenario, and thus, have been shocked. This couldnt even have been imagined, that this kind of attack on higher education would be leveled, Pasquerella said. Growing resentment toward higher ed predates Trump Bruce Kimball, emeritus academy professor at Ohio State University and co-author of Wealth, Cost, and Price in American Higher Education, said Trump is far from being the architect of whats transpiring between the federal government and the higher education establishment. He cited growing disdain and resentment, specifically toward the countrys wealthiest and most elite universities, that took root in the 1980s and has mounted since. As endowments increased, so did the cost of a college education and student debt. What were now seeing, this attack by the Trump administration, draws on 30 or 40 years of growing resentment in the public, said Kimball, who holds two degrees from Harvard. Ryan Wells, a professor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said the sheer cost of colleges and universities alone makes people feel resentment toward them. The authors of Project 2025 capitalized on the snowballing narrative pushed by members of the Republican Party that higher education institutions have become liberal bastions that espouse anti-American teachings. A woman holds a Project 2025 fan in the group's tent at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, whos led the national movement opposing critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), says colleges and universities should reform, or lose funding. The Trump administration has a once-in-a-generation chance to reform higher education, he co-wrote in a February blog post titled How Trump Can Make Universities Great Again. He went on to write that higher education institutions have devolved into left-wing propaganda factories and abandoned the pursuit of knowledge. These schools posture as though their position is untouchable, but their business model is nearly entirely reliant on federal largesse, Rufo wrote. Demanding that universities behave in a manner worthy of their unique financial and cultural position is long overdue. Why Project Esther matters, too UMass Amherst professors Jennifer Lundquist and Kathy Roberts Forde are among faculty members who recently organized a letter signed by approximately 5,000 people at universities and colleges across the country calling for higher education to stand together. The federal government is inserting itself into higher education in a way weve never seen before, Lundquist said. They, too, see the fingerprints of Project 2025 on nearly every decision Trump is handing down. Project 2025 is one of the playbooks and a pretty powerful one at that, said Roberts Forde, who cited what she views as being at the heart of the hard-right initiative: maintaining dominance and control of information. The University of Massachusetts Amherst: The commonwealth's flagship campus sign on Butterfield Terrace on Aug. 3, 2024. (Kalina Kornacki) Lundquist said perhaps equally as important as Project 2025, but not receiving nearly the same attention, is Project Esther, another publication by the Heritage Foundation that came out last October before the election. Project Esther describes the pro-Palestinian movement as a Hamas support network thats disrupting the American education system. It advertises its contents as a national strategy to combat antisemitism. It lays out a blueprint for exactly whats happening around the weaponization of antisemitism, Lundquist said. The Boston Globe recently interviewed Jewish students and recent graduates at Harvard University about how they see antisemitism manifesting on campus. The response was nuanced: While theyre concerned about antisemitism, many said they are far more worried about the Trump administrations actions against higher education institutions. UMass Amherst was included on the list of 60 universities the Department of Education released in March, announcing investigations into whether the schools have failed to meet their obligations to Jewish students under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Other schools in Massachusetts included on the list were Boston University, Tufts University, Emerson College, Harvard University and Wellesley College. Being named beside Harvard means the schools futures are closely intertwined. What happens to one could likely happen to the rest. Harvard is the test case, Roberts Forde said. If the federal government can bring Harvard to its knees, then there goes higher education. Were watching really closely what Harvard is doing and were hoping they stay the course and continue filing lawsuits. MassLive reporter Juliet Schulman-Hall contributed to this story. Police are searching for a suspect they say stole a mans car and hit him with it at a Reading gas station Saturday evening. Reading police received a 911 call reporting that a car had been stolen from a customer while they pumped gas at the Shell gas station at 110 Main St. shortly after 6:30 p.m., police said in a press release. The preliminary investigation indicates that the victim a 49-year-old Reading man was pumping gas into his black 2022 Range Rover Sport when the suspect pulled up in a blue Chevrolet Malibu and parked next to another pump, police said. The Malibu had previously been reported stolen in Maine. The suspect abandoned the Malibu, hopped into the Range Rovers drivers seat and fled the scene, police said. The suspect hit and partially ran over the victim while driving away. The victim held onto the Range Rovers mirror as the suspect fled the scene and was dragged for approximately 20 feet, police said. He was taken to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center with injuries, but it is unclear how serious they are. The Range Rover has Massachusetts plates 4JGX91, police said. Investigators think the suspect fled Massachusetts and may be in Connecticut or New York. The suspect is described as a white man in his 30s with medium-length brown hair and some facial hair, police said. He was last seen wearing a maroon T-shirt. Anyone who witnessed the incident or may have information to share with investigators is asked to call the Reading Police Department at 781-944-1212. The woods behind the Walmart at 450 Highland Ave. in Salem, where two men's bodies were found on Wednesday. (Irene Rotondo) One of the two men who was killed and found dead in a wooded area next to a Salem Walmart Wednesday afternoon has been identified as 41-year-old Andrew Ross Guempel, whose last known address was in Arizona, the Essex County District Attorneys Office announced Saturday. Authorities are still waiting to release the name of the other man who was killed, as his next of kin has not yet been notified of his death, the district attorneys office said. A suspect that police say stole a mans car and hit him with it at a Massachusetts gas station Saturday evening has been arrested in New Jersey, Reading police announced Sunday afternoon. Officers from the Robbinsville Township Police Department arrested a 32-year-old man from Livermore Falls, Maine, around 11:30 p.m. Saturday in connection with the case, Reading police said in a press release. He was taken into custody after a brief car and foot chase. Reading police will be applying for a warrant for multiple charges in Woburn District Court at a later date, police said. He will also likely face criminal charges in Maine and New Jersey. Reading police received a 911 call reporting that a car had been stolen from a customer while they pumped gas at the Shell gas station at 110 Main St. shortly after 6:30 p.m., police said in a press release. The preliminary investigation indicates that the victim a 49-year-old Reading man was pumping gas into his black 2022 Range Rover Sport when the suspect pulled up in a blue Chevrolet Malibu and parked next to another pump, police said. The Malibu had previously been reported stolen in Maine. The suspect abandoned the Malibu, hopped into the Range Rovers drivers seat and fled the scene, police said. The suspect hit and partially ran over the victim while driving away. The victim held onto the Range Rovers mirror as the suspect fled the scene and was dragged for approximately 20 feet, police said. He was taken to Lahey Hospital & Medical Center with injuries, but it is unclear how serious they are. Red Sox' Lucas Giolito is set to join the starting rotation Wednesday in Toronto. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Getty Images CLEVELAND Lucas Giolito (left hamstring strain) remains on track to make his Red Sox debut Wednesday in Toronto, manager Alex Cora said Sunday. Garrett Crochet will start the series opener Tuesday. Cora said Tanner Houck is in line to start Thursday after he and Walker Buehler started the two doubleheader games here Saturday. Buehler, therefore, should start Friday when the Red Sox return home to Boston to play the Twins. Giolito posted a 5.19 ERA in five rehab starts between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester. But Cora said the veteran righty is healthy and ready." Some injury updates: ~ Starter Kutter Crawford (right patellar tendinopathy) flew to Fort Myers on Thursday to resume his rehab there. He will throw one more bullpen session and then its (a) live BP at the end of next week, Cora said. ~ Starter Richard Fitts (pectoral strain) is playing catch. I think its up to 120 (feet), Alex Cora said. ~ Outfielder Masataka Yoshida (offseason right shoulder labral repair) is still not close to a rehab assignment, Cora said. Just taking at-bats down there (Fort Myers) and his throwing program. ~ Catcher Connor Wong (fractured pinky) began a rehab assignment for Triple-A Worcester on Sunday. Hes batting second in the WooSox lineup. The plan is for him to play seven innings. Well play it day by day and we dont have to rush him, Cora said. Water is visable on the ground of the tunnel under the highway. Children from the Northside neighborhood of Springfield commute to Gerena Magnet School under the I-91 through a tunnel from an entrance in Thomas St. Playground off Main St., Friday, April 25, 2025. (Douglas Hook / The Republican) Douglas Hook SPRINGFIELD The long-delayed plans to repair the problematic German Gerena Tunnel are moving forward, but questions are now being asked about how the citys plans to replace the elementary school will impact the project. The state Department of Transportation unveiled the preliminary plans for the tunnel repair, which are 25% complete, in a public meeting in April, but did not discuss the proposal for the school. The launch of 'Briathra Talun/Words from the Land', a public art commission by visual artist Noah Rose, took place recently at Pairc a Tobair in Irishtown. The historical significance of the 1879 Irishtown Tenant Right Meeting became the main inspiration for this public art commission; a sculptural installation consisting of Corten steel columns with laser-cut quotations in Irish and English from newspaper archives and an accompanying publication. There was a great turnout to the launch which was well attended by the local community and others who had travelled especially. On the day of the launch attendees were welcomed by Kenneth Cosgrove, Irishtown Community Development Company and Mary Freely, local resident who spoke about the Cluain a Tobair housing development. Dr Andrew Newby, Senior Lecturer in Transnational and Comparative History at the University of Jyvaskyla gave a vivid talk on the historical context of the 1879 Irishtown Tenant Right Meeting. The artwork was officially launched by Cllr Damien Ryan, Cathaoirleach of the Claremorris Swinford MD who commented: Noah has created a wonderful artwork which highlights the significance of Irishtown village in Irish history. It is a wonderful addition to Pairc a Tobair and indeed to the collection of public artworks in County Mayo. I am sure the residents, local community and visitors to Irishtown will enjoy this artwork over the coming years where it will be enjoyed by many people, young and old. READ MORE: Mayo Sinn Fein TD to chair Committee on Defence and National Security Finally, Noah Rose led a guided tour and talk of 'Briathra Talun/ Words from the Land' around Pairc a Tobair. Noah gave an insight into his artistic process which is underpinned by an interest in archival research, the Irish language, and history. He spoke about his time researching newspaper articles in the local history archive, Mayo County Library and the challenges of translating the source material to the laser cut steel. The accompanying publication includes an article by Dr Andy Newby and Noah Rose. Following an open competition, the artist Noah Rose was selected for this commission. He is an accomplished artist based in Headford, Co Galway with extensive experience in public art across Ireland, the United Kingdom and internationally. This commission is part of Mayo County Councils Public Art Programme, funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the Per Cent for Art Scheme. This funding enables Mayo County Council to commission high quality and ambitious contemporary art for the public to experience and enjoy in everyday settings throughout County Mayo. Mayo County Council extends its sincere appreciation to Noah Rose, artist; Irishtown Community Development Company Limited and the Irishtown community for their support and collaboration. For more information about this project contact Aoife OToole, Acting Public Art Coordinator, Mayo Arts Service, Mayo County Council at aotoole@mayococo.ie. National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) returns on Wednesday, April 30 for its second year, with events taking place nationally to help eligible voters in Mayo to get registered. More info below. Through the collaboration of community leaders, groups, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders the initiative hopes to improve voter registration. People in Mayo are being encouraged to visit the NVRD website to verify their eligibility to vote, check the register, and learn more about their voting rights. READ: Tributes paid to Mayo woman who died following collision in Castlebar Goals of National Voter Registration Day The primary goals of this campaign are to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote is registered to vote, inform underrepresented groups, disadvantaged communities, and young people across Ireland of their right to vote and how to register to vote and promote the importance of active citizenship and participating in the democratic process. Committee members say that their main focus for National Voter Registration Day is to increase greater political participation among minority groups and young people at a national level. Every election cycle, many people find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, do not update their registration, or are not aware of how to register to vote. Speaking ahead of National Voter Registration Day, Liliana Fernandez, said: Although things are slowly improving there is still a lack of knowledge about voter rights among many people in Ireland and Mayo. This has an impact on civic engagement and representation in Irish politics." This year we are continuing to collaborate with the Electoral Commission (An Coimisiun Toghchain), Local Authorities, PPNs, Civil Society Organisations and community leaders across the country to inform minorities and young people of their political rights, educate them on the roles of the President of Ireland, TDs and local councillors, the functions of our political institutions, and how to register to vote. The National Voter Registration Day initiative aims to spark year-round conversations about democracy, fostering greater participation beyond just election periods. To date, the initiative has connected with over 60 organisations, spreading awareness of National Voter Registration Day among diverse communities and all public representatives. On National Voter Registration Day, participating organisations will set up tables to assist people with registering or updating their voter details, and to answer questions about Irelands democratic system, including voting eligibility and procedures. For more information check out the website checktheregister.ie Expanding TB screening to include both active and latent infections could improve detection rates. Trusted Source How to diagnose TB in migrants? A systematic review of reviews and decision tree analytical modelling exercise to evaluate properties for single and combined TB screening tests Go to source Trusted Source Innovative TB Screening Strategy Game-changer in #tuberculosis screening? A new strategy could fix current detection flaws by screening for both active & dormant infections. #TB Advertisement Advertisement How to diagnose TB in migrants? A systematic review of reviews and decision tree analytical modelling exercise to evaluate properties for single and combined TB screening tests - (https://publications.ersnet.org/content/erj/early/2025/04/03/1399300302000-2024) simultaneously could significantly enhance early detection and improve patient outcomes, according to a new study led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London ().The research teams innovative approach offers a solution to the limitations of current TB screening methods, which often struggle to detect the disease accurately. Published in thethe findings suggest that integrating tests for both active and latent TB infections could help reduce infection rates and save lives, especially among high-risk groups.Global TB control depends heavily on the early identification and treatment of TB in vulnerable populations. Our new screening algorithms show that it is possible to screen for both active and dormant TB infections with high accuracy, particularly among migrants from TB-endemic countries, said Dr. Dominik Zenner, Clinical Reader in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Queen Mary.The researchers emphasized thatWhile TB can stay dormant in the body for years without causing symptoms, it may reactivate later, particularly in individuals with weakened immune systems or other risk factors.Recognizing the need for more comprehensive screening, the team analyzed data from 437 studies and systematic reviews covering 13 different TB tests. Their evaluation focused on the tests ability to correctly identify TB cases while minimizing false positives.The study found thatMoreover, TBI tests could facilitate earlier diagnosis of challenging TB cases, such as extrapulmonary TBwhich affects parts of the body outside the lungsand TB in children This new approach marks a shift from traditional TB testing protocols, which typically use TBI tests only for diagnosing latent infections. Researchers hope that their findings will influence global health guidelines and inform policymakers on the best practices for TB screening.By expanding the scope of TB screening to cover both active and latent infections, we can improve detection rates and ultimately enhance the effectiveness of global TB control efforts, the study concluded.The researchers advocate for the adoption of this dual-testing method as part of broader strategies to combat TB, particularly in vulnerable and migrant populations, where early detection can make a critical difference.Source-Medindia WHO says Ebola outbreak is over in Uganda, but continued vigilance and monitoring are essential. Trusted Source Uganda declares end of Ebola outbreak Go to source Trusted Source #Uganda has officially declared the end of its #Ebola outbreak. What does this victory tell us about resilience and rapid response? No New Ebola Cases for 42 Days in Uganda Advertisement Advertisement Uganda declares end of Ebola outbreak - (https://www.afro.who.int/countries/uganda/news/uganda-declares-end-ebola-outbreak) less than three months after the virus was detected in the capital city, Kampala. The announcement came after the country completed the World Health Organizations (WHO) mandatory 42-day countdown without recording any new confirmed cases ().Uganda's Minister of Health, Ruth Aceng, made the announcement at a ceremony held at Busamagga Primary School Playground in Mbale, one of the districts impacted by the outbreak."Having completed two full incubation cycles that is, 42 days since the last confirmed case was discharged, and with no new cases recorded amid ongoing surveillance, I now officially declare the current Sudan Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in Uganda to be over," Aceng stated. "Uganda is now free of active Ebola transmission."The outbreak was first declared on January 30, following the death of a 32-year-old nurse at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Throughout the outbreak, Uganda reported 14 cases (12 confirmed through laboratory testing and two probable), with four deaths (two confirmed, two probable). Health authorities successfully tracked and monitored 534 contacts, ensuring strict surveillance measures across affected areas. Ten individuals recovered from the infection.In a statement, Chikwe Ihekweazu, Acting WHO Regional Director for Africa, praised Ugandas swift and coordinated response. "This outbreak challenged us in new ways, spanning both urban and rural communities and unfolding amid global funding constraints," he noted. "Ugandas experience and leadership in managing public health emergencies were critical to the effective containment of the virus."The Ebola Sudan Virus Disease (SVD) is a severe and often fatal illness caused by the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, one of six identified species of the virus. First detected in Sudan in 1976, SVD is known for causing outbreaks with high mortality rates, although typically lower than those associated with the Zaire strain.The virus spreads through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected individuals or animals.Unlike the Zaire strain, there are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments specifically for SVD, though early supportive care such as rehydration and symptom management can significantly improve survival rates. Ongoing research and vaccine trials are underway to better prepare for and control future outbreaks.The outbreak was caused by the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus , one of six known species. Unlike the Zaire strain, which has licensed vaccines and treatments, there are currently no approved vaccines or therapies for the Sudan subtype. However, early supportive care has proven essential in reducing mortality rates.Despite the absence of licensed vaccines, Uganda swiftly initiated the first-ever randomized clinical trial for Sudan Ebola vaccines using a ring vaccination approach. Within four days of the outbreak declaration, WHO supplied 2,160 doses of a trial vaccine to support the countrys response efforts."Ugandas leadership and resilience were crucial in containing this outbreak," said Kasonde Mwinga, WHO Representative in Uganda. "The WHO has been proud to support the Ministry of Health from day one deploying experts, providing supplies, and ensuring rapid investigation of every suspected case. The Ugandan people have shown extraordinary resolve."The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with WHO and international partners, will continue to invest in survivor care, long-term surveillance, and preparedness activities to safeguard against future outbreaks.This marks Uganda's eighth experience with Ebola and further cements the countrys reputation as a leader in outbreak response within the region.Source-Medindia World Bank highlights women's job growth and major drop in multidimensional poverty in India. Trusted Source India's Triumph in Combating Poverty Go to source Trusted Source The Pillars of India's Poverty Reduction Success Huge win for #India! A remarkable 171 million people lifted out of extreme #poverty. A major leap towards inclusive growth! Advertisement Indias Triumph in Combating Poverty - (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2124545) reducing poverty rates through a combination of targeted welfare initiatives and economic reforms, according to the World Banks latest Spring 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief ().The report highlighted that India successfully lifted 171 million people out of extreme poverty, marking a major milestone in its journey toward inclusive growth. The World Bank praised India's efforts, stating that the countrys strategic focus on enhancing access to essential services, implementing welfare programs, and undertaking structural economic reforms has driven this substantial reduction.A key takeaway from the report was the significant drop in extreme poverty levels across both rural and urban areas. In rural regions, extreme poverty decreased from 18.4% in 2011-12 to 2.8% by 2022-23. Urban areas experienced a similar trend, with poverty levels falling from 10.7% to 1.1% during the same period. The rural-urban poverty gap, once a major concern, has notably narrowed from 7.7 percentage points to 1.7 percentage points, reflecting an impressive annual reduction rate of 16%.Beyond extreme poverty,while urban poverty dropped from 43.5% to 17.2%. The difference between rural and urban poverty rates contracted from 25 percentage points to 15, indicating steady and balanced progress across diverse demographics.The report further underlined the critical role played by India's five most populous states Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh in driving national poverty reduction. In 2011-12, these states accounted for 65% of the country's extreme poor. By 2022-23, they contributed to two-thirds of the nationwide decrease in extreme poverty, demonstrating the impact of concentrated efforts in high-need regions.These improvements point to a broader upliftment in living standards and access to opportunities for millions across the country.The World Banks Poverty and Equity Briefs, published twice annually during the Spring and Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, provide a snapshot of poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality trends in over 100 developing nations. Indias achievements, as captured in the latest brief, reaffirm the importance of sustained, inclusive policies in tackling global poverty.Source-Medindia With Somali pirates in the news, naval historian Peter Earle takes a timely look at how the Royal Navy dealt with pirates in their 17th century heyday. Piracy and its suppression are much discussed these days, but few writers bother to investigate how piracy was dealt with in the past. It was not easy and it took about a century, from the 1620s to 1730, to eradicate piracy from the western world (with a short reprise from 1815 to 1830). The pirates of this period can be divided into two groups, the individualist rovers who are the heroes of our childhoods, and the Barbary Corsairs who operated from bases inAlgiers,Tunis,Tripoli, and Sallee inMorocco. These Muslim pirates, who attacked Christian shipping and enslaved the captured passengers and crews, were much more dangerous than famous rascals like Blackbeard. Barbary Corsairs Serious attempts to control the Barbary Corsairs began in the 1620s, when they were at their strongest. Algiers alone had over 100 sailing ships and six galleys. The fleets of Tunis, Tripoli, and Sallee were much smaller, but still formidable, with fast, well-armed vessels manned by fanatical crews. The navies of the Christian states at this date were relatively small and weak. Most of their ships were big and clumsy and not really suitable for chasing their much faster Muslim opponents. It is almost incredible to relate in how short a time those ships out-sailed the whole fleet out of sight, wrote Admiral Mansell after giving chase to Algerian pirates in 1620. There were therefore few successes in the first half of the 17th century. The corsairs continued to take many prizes, both at sea and on land. Raids ashore fromItaly toIceland garnered large numbers of captives to be enslaved or offered for ransom. Ransom enabled the wealthier captives to get home eventually, but the fate of most poor captives was a lifetime of slavery. Naval power The 1650s saw a huge increase in the navies of England,Holland, andFrance, including many small, fast, shallow-draught ships, often propelled by oars as well as sails. Such vessels, usually known as frigates, were ideal for fighting the Barbary Corsairs. Sixty years after Admiral Mansell, Admiral Herbert was able to write that they [the corsairs] find it hard to escape any of our frigates. The other important innovation of the 1650s was the development of convoy to protect merchant ships from pirates. By the 1680s, naval ships regularly convoyed merchantmen on the major shipping routes. Few corsairs would dare attack a large convoy. Defeating the corsairs still took a long time and was very expensive. A political will to spend money was essential.England and France were the main combatants. Each of them engaged in several fiercely fought wars against the corsair states from the 1650s onwards. Both sides lost ships, but the corsairs, now far weaker than their Christian opponents, could less afford to lose ships and men. Cumulative defeats gradually wore them down and, by the 1680s, they felt compelled to sign a series of treaties exempting ships of the victorious European powers from attack. Documents known as Mediterranean passes allowed the ships ofFranceandEnglandto sail unharmed by the corsairs. The ships of the weaker European nations (and, after 1783, of theUnited States), however, remained vulnerable to attack. These countries could choose to fight the corsairs, pay them protection money or take a chance and sail into danger. Most agreed to pay protection money or tribute, and this reduced the numbers of both corsairs and victims. But there were still corsairs active as late as the 1820s, and the problem only finally ended with the French conquest ofAlgiersin 1830. This example soon inducedTripoliandTunisto end all acts of hostility against European nations and to restore to liberty their few remaining slaves. Freelance pirates The Barbary Corsairs operated mainly in the Mediterranean and in the waters of Western Europe, leaving the rest of the world free for individualist pirates, who, by the 1660s, were to be found mainly in the Caribbean, the coastal waters of North America, and later around the Atlantic islands, off the West African coast, and in the Indian Ocean. These pirates, though better known in modern times, never achieved the numbers and importance of the Barbary Corsairs. Numbers varied during the golden age of piracy (c. 1660-1725), but they rarely exceeded 2,000 men in some 20 or 30 ships. The vessels were usually converted prizes and were similar to the ships of the Barbary Corsairs fast, shallow-draught, and usually fitted with oars as well as sails. The European maritime powers recognised a duty to protect their own coasts from pirates, but had an ambivalent attitude to the growth of piracy in West Indian waters. Such piracy might be seen as bad in theory but useful in practice, a cheap or costless way of expanding the countrys economic and naval power. England and France adopted a policy of piratical imperialism, condoning or even actively supporting piracy committed by their own subjects, since this was mainly directed against the Spaniards, who monopolised Caribbean trade. Destruction or capture of Spanish ships by pirates opened up this trade to the English, French, and Dutch, and these nations soon dominated the carrying trade of the area. Piracy and profit With the Spanish monopoly broken, piracy was now seen as a hindrance to the further development of trade, so that by the 1690s piracy was universally condemned by Western European governments. The pirates had become the enemies of mankind to be treated like vermin and destroyed or driven from the seas. Achievement lagged behind rhetoric, however, for governments lacked the will to spend serious money on the eradication of piracy and also the knowledge of how to go about it. Even so, they laid a base for later, successful anti-pirate campaigns. Piracy depends on safe havens, and these were plentiful in the late 17th century, as attracting pirates was good business, one in which profits could be made in fitting out ships, buying and selling prizes, and providing bars and brothels in which crews could spend their prize money. Installing anti-pirate governments in such places took a long time, but it was eventually achieved, mainly by choosing the right man for the post of governor, having dismissed venal or incompetent predecessors. Jamaica, the most notorious of the pirate havens in the 1660s, was to become the centre of British anti-piracy activity by the 1690s, while evenSouth Carolina, the last important pirate haven in the British mainland colonies, was fairly law-abiding by 1720. Havens still existed, places like the Danish island of St Thomasor, for a few years, the Bahamas, but such bases were far fewer in 1720 than in 1680. The rule of law The eradication of piracy required revisions to the law. Only in the Spanish colonies was the law a serious impediment to pirates, with those captured likely to be condemned to the galleys for life or executed, while naval commanders could and did hang captured pirates from their yardarms. Such arbitrary justice was rarely employed by the British, whose laws required captured pirates to be tried and found guilty by a jury, something difficult to achieve. Witnesses were hard to find since most were sailors who had long since departed, while those still present were generally reluctant to give evidence. And getting a jury to give a guilty verdict was near impossible, since many pirates were local men, protected by friends or those who profited from their piracy. In 1700, Britainenacted a new law which would prove to be the doom of pirates. From now on, a small court of colonial officials or naval officers (and no jury) could assemble anywhere to try pirates. Proceedings became heavily weighted against defendants. Naval officers who made the actual capture often gave evidence, and members of the pirate crews were persuaded to give evidence against their shipmates in return for a pardon. Hundreds of pirates were found guilty between 1700 and 1730, and large numbers of these were sentenced to death. Although it may be thought by some a pretty severe thing, to put an Englishman to death without a jury, wrote an observer of one such a trial, yet the wisdom and justice of our nation, for very sufficient and excellent reasons, have so ordered it in the case of piracy. Maritime counterinsurgency The scene was set for a major campaign against the pirates. But first, as on many occasions in earlier years, a much cheaper method of reducing pirate numbers was tried. This was to offer pardons to all who surrendered before a given date. Pirates were rightly suspicious of pardons, since not all who came in were treated honourably, but there were always some glad of the opportunity to bring their loot ashore and live a quieter life though for many the pardon was simply a brief holiday before going once again to their former vile course of life. The benefits of pardon exhausted, the government now set in motion two naval campaigns, one from 1699 to 1702, the other from 1715 to 1725. The British government was finally taking the problem of piracy seriously. The number of royal ships committed increased from just three or four in theWest Indiesand none in North American waters in the 1670s to a maximum of 24 ships employing 3,500 men in 1700 more men, in fact, than there were pirates. Jamaica served as headquarters, with six ships, and the rest were stationed in other islands and in the mainland colonies. Naval orders stated that pirate ships were to be hunted down and destroyed and local colonial trade protected from pirate attack. The royal ships were effective in defending trade, but offensive action proved more difficult and few pirate ships were captured. The reasons are not hard to find To read the rest of this article and find out how the Navy managed to clear the seas of pirates, pick up a copy of the May issue of Military History Monthly. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Postal Code Outfielder Andrew Stevenson has signed a minor league contract with the Rays, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. This marks his return to affiliated ball after spending time in both NPB and the Mexican League. Stevenson, 31 in June, made his MLB debut with the Nationals in 2017. He played in 248 regular season games with the club from 2017-21, though his most notable Nationals moment was perhaps his lone playoff appearance. He scored the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning of the 2019 Wild Card Game against the Brewers, helping the Nationals to their eventual World Series title. Despite playing for Washington in each season from 2017-21, Stevenson spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A and elected free agency at the end of the year. He signed a minor league deal with the Twins that offseason, and while he spent most of 2023 at Triple-A St. Paul, he also appeared in 25 games for the MLB club. All told, Stevenson hit .243 with a .668 OPS, an 80 wRC+, and 0.5 FanGraphs WAR in his MLB tenure from 2017-23. He offered much of his value on the bases and with his glove; he split his time between all three outfield positions. Stevenson played the 2024 season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan, though he spent the majority of his time with their minor league team in the Japan Eastern League. He produced impressive offense numbers in the JPEL (.327 batting average, .850 OPS), but his NPB numbers were poor (.161 batting average, .368 OPS). His contract with the Fighters included a club option for 2025, but he was released before the end of the 2024 campaign. He then began the 2025 season with the Piratas de Campeche of the Mexican League but was released on Friday, presumably to allow him to sign with Tampa Bay. While Stevenson is no doubt facing an uphill climb back to the major leagues, its not hard to see why the Rays were seeking outfield depth. Josh Lowe, Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios, and Jake Mangum are all on the IL. The only healthy outfielders on Tampa Bays 40-man roster are Christopher Morel, Chandler Simpson, Kameron Misner, the recently acquired Travis Jankowski, and Coco Montes, who has limited professional experience in the outfield. If Stevenson plays well at Triple-A Durham and depth continues to be a problem for the MLB club, perhaps he could make his way back to the majors after a year away. Courtesy of the CRA Image of alleged black market marijuana products presented by Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency Director Brian Hanna during an April 23, 2025 state Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee hearing. Courtesy of the CRA LANSING, MI -- Michigans wide-open marijuana market wants to shut its doors. Amid plummeting prices, skimpy profit margins and heavy black market competition, the states largest cannabis lobbying organization this week called on lawmakers to stop issuing new marijuana licenses. The earthen Green Lake Dam in Washtenaw County's Waterloo Recreation Area is pictured on Sunday, April 20, 2025. It is one of dozens of aging structures rated as "low" hazard managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Taken together, the aging dams pose a big cost and environmental threat to the state. Lucas Smolcic Larson | MLive.com Over several days, what had been a low-key fishing hole in a far-flung corner of Michigans Upper Peninsula disappeared. After heavy rains last June, the wooden stoplogs on a dam that held back the Black River collapsed. The 110-acre lake upstream just slipped away. The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority recommends expanding the DDA boundaries to cover these five areas outside the current downtown. Ann Arbor DDA ANN ARBOR, MI The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority is recommending City Council approve a major expansion of its boundaries in five ways. That includes to the north along North Main Street up to near Argo Pond and along Division Street to the Broadway bridges, to the south along South Main Street to near Michigan Stadium and along Packard Street past the State Street intersection, and south of South University Avenue to Hill Street. University of Michigan's Professor Emeritus John Swales passed away March 18, 2025, leaving behind a legacy with his work. Photo Courtesy Vi Benner ANN ARBOR, MI - John Swales was more than just a professor at the University of Michigan. He was a dedicated father, friend and scholar who devoted his life to sharing his work with others. Swales passed away on March 18 from kidney cancer at 86, leaving behind a legacy of over six decades of work in applied linguistics, or the study of how language is used. A photo of a sign outside of the new downtown Fenton restaurant, One Eleven. Read about the restaurant opening and other Flint-area stories from the past week in this headline roundup. (MLive file photo) Nick Taylor GENESEE COUNTY, MI A Flint surgeon recently traveled to a hospital in Gaza where they worked for two weeks amid the ongoing war there. Meanwhile, a new restaurant offering tapas-inspired cuisine is now open in downtown Fenton, offering a variety of Spanish, Portuguese, and Asian dishes. BURTON, MI Inside the Burton Meijer store, shoppers might notice a group of young interns hard at work pushing carts, stocking groceries, removing spoiled produce, or helping in the bakery. What they may not know is the interns at the store, located at 2333 S. Center Road, are part of a groundbreaking new partnership between Meijer and Kearsley Community Schools, designed to help students with special needs transition into the workforce. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Three years ago, Patrick Lyoyas death at the hands of a police officer grabbed the nations attention during a time when tensions between law enforcement and the public were high. The high-profile case began with a traffic stop in April 2022 in a neighborhood on Grand Rapids southeast side. Brian Wynychuk poses for a photo in his classroom at Arnold Elementary on April 22, 2025. (Mitchell Kukulka | MLive.com) Mitchell Kukulka | Mkukulka@mlive.com MICHIGAN CENTER, MI - From teaching adults with disabilities how to manage day-to-day life to teaching second graders how to get used to homework, Brian Wynychuk has always sought to help those around him. Wynychuk, 49, teaches second grade at Arnold Elementary School in the Michigan Center School District. Hes worked in the same building for almost 25 years, initially teaching special education and cognitively impaired students until moving to second grade in 2009. A 71-year-old driver who wasn't wearing his seatbelt died after his vehicle left the roadway in Cass County. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) Joel Bissell | MLive.com CASS COUNTY, MI -- A 71-year-old man is dead after a single vehicle rollover crash in Penn Township. Deputies with the Cass County Sheriffs Office responded to the crash near Mud Lake Street and Penn Road at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 26. The driver was headed eastbound on Mud Lake Street when his vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree, overturning the vehicle. First responders attempted life-saving measures on the man but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. Alcohol and drugs are not believed to be involved in the crash. Southwest Michigan Community Ambulance Services and the Penn Township Fire Department assisted at the scene. The crash is under investigation. Jermaine Jackson, truancy officer (left) and Lisa Dewey, director of student services (right) at Kalamazoo Public Schools. Aya Miller KALAMAZOO, MI Working days for Jermaine Jackson truancy officer at Kalamazoo Public Schools arent spent behind a desk. Sometimes he may get an early morning call, Mr. Jermaine, I missed the bus. Or drive to a students house to see why they arent in class. Jackson was hired as the KPS truancy officer in late 2024 a new position in the district to address chronic absenteeism, which is when students miss more than 10% of school days. That equates to roughly 18 missed days for a full school year. The districts chronic absenteeism rate soared to 50.2% in the 2022-23 school year. Since then its been declining, but is still well above the state average (which was 29.5% last year). Addressing absenteeism is a collective effort, said Lisa Dewey, KPS director of student services. And Jackson has played a pivotal part. He loves Kalamazoo. He loves people. He has no fear, and thats a big part of it, KPS Superintendent Darrin Slade said. He will go anywhere at any time to work with students and work with parents. The anti-cookie-cutter approach Jackson spends most of his time in the field. Thats either going to do home visits, sometimes meeting with the families or students at the school, Jackson said. Whatever way is convenient for the families to meet. Multiple factors can contribute to students being chronically absent. Some students are experiencing homelessness or their parents have multiple jobs to make ends meet, Jackson said. Other parents may decide to take a full day off for their childrens doctor appointment or take vacations during the school year, Dewey said. I believe in not taking the cookie-cutter approach because each family has different needs, Jackson said. Some students may need to be directed to community partners for counseling services. Others may need incentives to show up to classes. For some families, its a combination of providing parents with resources and directly incentivizing children. In one case, Jackson assisted the parent by connecting them with a home specialist from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. He told the young student if she could reach a certain attendance milestone, he would bring her lunch from McDonalds. Her order was a cheeseburger with extra pickles. It was the greatest joy for her, Jackson said. And that little girl has been coming to school ever since. The district rewards students who have good attendance and those who can reach certain attendance milestones after being chronically absent. Even if its a small reward, like a pack of cookies, it still motivates the students to come to school, Jackson said. Part of Jacksons secret sauce is his longevity in the community. He was raised in Kalamazoo, spending his free time at the Alma Powell Branch Library. Before becoming truancy officer, Jackson was a trustee on the KPS Board of Education. So he was already familiar with a lot of the districts partner organizations and families. Kalamazoo, for the most part, I feel is a close-knit community, Jackson said. In years past, he was a paraprofessional at Milwood Elementary School, drove school buses and volunteered at the Kalamazoo County Juvenile Home. Ive just been a presence around families and always just had a passion to work with students, Jackson said. Board of Education Vice President Jermaine Jackson speaks during the Kalamazoo Public Schools Board meeting at the Kalamazoo Public School Administration Building in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. (Gracie Smith | MLive.com) Gracie Smith | gsmith@mlive.com Absenteeism declining The district currently has 59 active cases of chronically absent students out of roughly 12,000 total students, Dewey said at a March 20 school board meeting. There are several intervention points before students are referred to Jackson. For five days of unexcused absences, the district will arrange a meeting with parents. At 10 days, an attendance support plan is developed. At 15 days of unexcused absences, the family is referred to the districts central office. At that point, the family may be added to Jacksons docket. There are 215 more referrals to the districts central office currently, Dewey said, on top of the 59. Chronic absenteeism has been trending downward since the 50.2% rate in 2022-23. In 2023-24, the district had a 43.5% rate of chronic absenteeism. As of October 2024, the most recent point when data was available, the district had a 32.3% attendance rate for the year. Before the pandemic, the district had a 26.0% chronic absenteeism rate in 2019-20. MORE: After 2 years of poor attendance, Kalamazoo schools sees positive signs Slade said the goal for every student is less than five absences a year. Next year, the district will increase messaging to parents about the importance of students being in school, even if their students are performing well. When students are in school consistently, every other metric will improve, Slade said. Thats why we push attendance so hard. ... They cannot learn if theyre not in school. Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive offers free email news alerts. Click here to sign up for alerts or for the daily 3@3 Kalamazoo news roundup. Bookmark the local Kalamazoo news page here. Detroit Pistons' Isaiah Stewart defends New York Knicks' Karl-Anthony Towns during a game earlier this season. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) AP DETROIT -- Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart will miss his third game in a row today due to right knee inflammation, according to the NBA injury report. The Pistons trail the New York Knicks 2-1 in their first-round playoff series heading into Game 4 at Little Caesars Arena (1 p.m., ABC). Stewart hasnt played since early in the fourth quarter of Game 1. The Pistons once again will miss his inside defensive presence and physicality, putting more of an onus on Jalen Duren and increasing Paul Reeds role off the bench. GRAND RAPIDS, MI There were fancy suits and dresses aplenty at the Forest Hills Eastern High School prom. About 320 students and guests celebrated prom 2025 on Saturday, April 26 at Thousand Oaks Country Club in Grand Rapids. The event was themed Floating on Violets and featured dancing, mingling and a photo booth. Chicken pesto and bistro steak were served for dinner. Seniors Brennan Lee and Katie McManus were selected as prom king and queen by their peers. MLive / Grand Rapids Press photojournalist Isaac Ritchey was there to capture high schoolers looking their best. Check out 50 images in the gallery above. Click here for a direct link to the gallery. Senior Owen Pellegrini, 17, left, and date junior Natalie Andusiak, 17, look their best as Forest Hills Eastern High School celebrates its prom at Thousand Oaks Country Club in Grand Rapids, on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Isaac Ritchey | iritchey@mlive.c You must be a subscriber to view the photo gallery. Subscribers click the Get photo link to download high-resolution images right to their device for free as part of their subscription. To subscribe, click this link. To see all of MLives prom coverage, click this link. FLINT, MI Swartz Creek High School students and guests went to prom 2025 at the University of Michigan-Flint Riverfront Conference Center in Flint. With a theme of A Night Under the Stars, more than 300 attendees danced the night away on Saturday, April 26. The prom featured a number of appetizers, dancing to a live DJ, a photo booth and areas to play card games. Senior Bowden Griwatsch and senior Alyssa Vandendries were named prom king and queen respectively. Griwatsch and Vandendries have been dating for two years, so when both of their names were called, it was truly a special moment. It was just so exciting to be able to experience this together in high school, Vandendries said. It was surprise. It was awesome and I love it. Check out all of the photos in the gallery above. You must be a subscriber to view the photo gallery. Subscribers click the Get photo link to download high-resolution images right to their device for free as part of their subscription. To subscribe, click this link. To see all of MLives prom coverage, click this link. Read more on MLive.com: Linden High School shines on red carpet at Hollywood Glam prom Goodrich celebrates 2025 prom night on Detroit Princess Riverboat Man gains freedom with DNA evidence, help from public defenders office Crim program aims to build bonds between Black Flint residents, law enforcement 12 favorite photos from Lapeers Vegas theme prom New muscles, strength and goals achieved: Crim grows training program for amputees GRAND RAPIDS, MI West Ottawa High School High School shined in a City of Stars. About 690 students and guests joined history for prom 2025 on Saturday, April 26 at Grand Rapids Public Museum in Grand Rapids. The evening featured music and dancing. Cookies and soft drinks were served. Students had access to multiple floors of the museum. They enjoyed the arcade, exhibits and access to the planetarium. MLive / Grand Rapids Press photojournalist Isaac Ritchey was there to capture high schoolers looking their best. Check out more than 50 images in the gallery above. Click here for a direct link to the gallery. Scenes as Forest Hills Eastern High School celebrates its prom at Thousand Oaks Country Club in Grand Rapids, on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Isaac Ritchey | iritchey@mlive.c You must be a subscriber to view the photo gallery. Subscribers click the Get photo link to download high-resolution images right to their device for free as part of their subscription. To subscribe, click this link. To see all of MLives prom coverage, click this link. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. HUDSONVILLE, MI Zeeland East High School danced the night away. About 330 students and guests celebrated at prom 2025 on Saturday, April 26 at The Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville. The disco-themed evening featured lots of dancing and shutter shades with cornhole and a photo booth on the side. Freelance photojournalist Brett Farmer was there to capture high schoolers looking their best. Check out more than 50 images in the gallery above. Click here for a direct link to the gallery. Scenes from the Zeeland East High School prom at The Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville, on Saturday, April 26, 2025. The theme for the prom was Disco with an attendance of around 330. (Brett Farmer | For MLive.com) Brett Farmer | For MLive.com You must be a subscriber to view the photo gallery. Subscribers click the Get photo link to download high-resolution images right to their device for free as part of their subscription. To subscribe, click this link. To see all of MLives prom coverage, click this link. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. A group of British parents joined many others in a protest demanding social media firms,such as Meta, the owner of Facebook, make changes to protect children online following deaths related to various challenges. The four families flew to New York City and protested with hundreds of others from the United States and Canada right outside the officers of Meta. Mark Kenevan, the father of Isaac, a 13-year-old who died participating in a social media challenge, said they were only asking companies to help protect their kids. Families Protest Outside of Meta The families' protest comes as media regulator Ofcom announced that many websites will be legally required to block children's access to harmful content starting in July. This will be mandatory if they want to continue operating within the United Kingdom. Furthermore, websites will have to introduce more rigorous age checks, according to its final children's code of practice published on Thursday. The British parents walked alongside American families through the streets of New York City, with some holding signs that said, "Meta profits, kids pay the price," according to BBC. Others were seen holding framed treasured photographs of their kids, who had tragically died. The mother of Isaac, Lisa Kenevan, said that families coming together were giving each other strength. She said that they only want the government and tech companies to understand that they are not going away. In 2022, a coroner ruled that Isaac died because of misadventure, but his parents claim that social media platforms also played a role in his death. Many of the parents who joined the protest outside of Meta have filed lawsuits against the company and other social media platforms for the wrongful deaths of their kids. One of the organizers of the event described it as the largest rally by parents who claim that social media use resulted in the death of their children, The Straits Times reported. The Dangers of Social Media The demonstration was attended by more than 150 people, who dropped around 650 yellow, white, and red roses outside Meta's front door. They also collectively sent a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding that he take immediate action to address the issue. On top of the dangers of various social media challenges, the internet has become a threatening place for children due to child sexual abuse. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children conducted a study in 2023. It found that 32 million instances of child sexual abuse were flagged across social media and gaming platforms. Additionally, Interpol issued a warning about the increasing number of cases where predators use online platforms to groom children through manipulation, coercion, and deception, as per The74Million. 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I Accept Shashi Tharoor praises Akshay Kumar's Kesari Chapter 2, says, "the message of the film was brilliantly done" Gayatri Rani USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept 509 Pak nationals left India through Attari in 3 days as deadline ends for short term visa holders 101Reporters USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept 'Kashmir is beautiful': Days after deadly terror attack, tourists are returning to picturesque Pahalgam Manjiri Patil USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept PM Modi News Live: PM Modi hails 50 years of Aryabhata, India's first satellite, declares India a global space power Prime Minister Narendra Modi commemorated the 50th anniversary of Aryabhata, Indias first satellite, by recalling the countrys remarkable progress in space exploration. He emphasized that the launch of Aryabhata in April 1975, despite limited resources, marked the beginning of Indias space journey. Through dedication, hard work, and passion, India has transformed into a global space power, achieving milestones such as the record-setting launch of 104 satellites in one mission. "Today, when we look back and remember this journey of 50 years, we realise how far we have come. This flight of India's dreams in space once commenced with just conviction. Some young scientists with the passion to do something for the nation ... they neither had the modern resources like today, nor the access to world technology as such. If at all, they had anything, it was talent, dedication, hard work and the passion to do something for the country," PM Modi said during the 121st episode of 'Mann Ki Baat'. "You must have seen pictures of our scientists carrying critical equipment themselves on bullock carts and bicycles. It is the result of that very dedication and spirit of service to the nation that so much has changed today. Today, India has become a Global Space Power. We have created a record by launching 104 Satellites simultaneously," PM Modi added. Chinese FM meets with Tajik counterpart Xinhua) 09:21, April 27, 2025 Wang Yi (R), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Tajikistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin here on Friday. Wang stated that in July last year, President Xi Jinping paid a milestone state visit to Tajikistan, during which he and President Emomali Rahmon jointly announced the elevation of China-Tajikistan relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era, opening a new chapter in building the China-Tajikistan community with a shared future at a higher level. Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, comprehensive cooperation between China and Tajikistan has continued to yield positive results. China firmly supports Tajikistan in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions and resolutely opposes any external forces interfering in Tajikistan's internal affairs. China will further consolidate strategic mutual trust with Tajikistan, deepen development synergy, and expand friendly exchanges, in support of each country's modernization and national revitalization. Muhriddin noted that the important consensus reached during President Xi's visit last year has charted a new course for bilateral relations and elevated mutually beneficial cooperation to an unprecedented level, providing support for Tajikistan's sustainable development. Tajikistan is ready to work closely with China by making full use of bilateral cooperation mechanisms, jointly advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, and enhancing cooperation between legislative bodies, local governments, and in cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides will also expand collaboration in trade and investment, connectivity, e-commerce, industrial capacity, green transformation, and the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Tajikistan welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in the country and looks forward to identifying more innovative growth points in cooperation. The two sides exchanged views on multilateral cooperation and agreed to jointly support the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the China-Central Asia mechanism in playing a greater role. They will strengthen border control and counterterrorism cooperation to safeguard regional security and stability. Wang noted that China welcomes and supports Tajikistan in playing a more active role in international and regional affairs and supports Tajikistan in hosting the first High-Level International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation. The two sides also exchanged views on current tariff issues. Wang stressed that China firmly opposes and will continue to counteract unilateral bullying by the U.S. side, not only to defend its own legitimate rights and interests, but also to safeguard the shared interests of the international community. China is ready to work with all parties to uphold free trade, oppose protectionism, and defend international fairness and justice. Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Tajikistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 25, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Pahalgam terror attack: Houses of nine terrorists blown up in major crackdown Yeeshu Yadav USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. 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I Accept Students, lawyer among 19 arrested in Northeast for remarks on Pahalgam terror attack Chhabi Kala USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Bill Gates on why he didn't fund daughter's new business: 'Would have kept her...' Ankita Sengupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept 'Thumbelina': This 1-year-old is the star of a Tokyo exhibition. Her paintings sell for Rs 19,200 Ankita Sengupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. 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For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept 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 USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Pradeep Tripathi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Suspected chemical blast at Iran's Bandar Abbas port kills at least 18, injures over 700 Chhabi Kala USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Vladimir Putin orders Russian emergency planes to Iran after blast at port of Bandar Abbas Surabhi Pandey USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Reporter Andrew Roberto was raised his whole life on Saipan. He graduated from Saipan Southern High School, holds a degree from Northern Marianas College, and a BA in English from the University of Guam. He once worked for KUAM, UNO Magazine, and the Guam Daily Post. People protest outside Milwaukee Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse, after Wisconsin County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by U.S. officials, charging her with helping a man in her court evade immigration authorities in an escalating dispute between President Donald Trump's administration and local officials over immigration enforcement, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 25, 2025. REUTERS California Bar discloses AI was used to develop some questions in problem-plagued February exam California Capitol Building View Photo LOS ANGELES (AP) The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence. The legal licensing body said in a news release Monday that it will ask the California Supreme Court to adjust test scores for those who took its February bar exam. The debacle that was the February 2025 bar exam is worse than we imagined, Mary Basick, assistant dean of academic skills at the University of California, Irvine, Law School, told the Los Angeles Times. Im almost speechless. Having the questions drafted by non-lawyers using artificial intelligence is just unbelievable. In February, the new exam led to complaints after many test-takers were unable to complete their bar exams. The online testing platforms repeatedly crashed before some applicants even started. Others struggled to finish and save essays, experienced screen lags and error messages and could not copy and paste text, the Times reported earlier. According to a recent presentation by the State Bar, 100 of the 171 scored multiple-choice questions were made by Kaplan and 48 were drawn from a first-year law students exam. A smaller subset of 23 scored questions were made by ACS Ventures, the State Bars psychometrician, and developed with artificial intelligence. We have confidence in the validity of the (multiple-choice questions) to accurately and fairly assess the legal competence of test-takers, Leah Wilson, the State Bars executive director, told the newspaper in a statement. Katie Moran, an associate professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law who specializes in bar exam preparation, told the newspaper, Its a staggering admission. The State Bar has admitted they employed a company to have a non-lawyer use AI to draft questions that were given on the actual bar exam, she said. They then paid that same company to assess and ultimately approve of the questions on the exam, including the questions the company authored. Andrew Perlman, dean of Suffolk University Law School and an advisory council member of the American Bar Association Task Force on the Law and Artificial Intelligence, said he had not heard of AI being used to develop bar exam questions or standards being put in place governing such uses. But he said he was not surprised, given the rapid growth of AI technology. Perlman said AI can be useful for developing questions for assessment, but a critical guard rail is making sure that everything that comes from an AI tool is vetted carefully by experts in the subject matter. He expects its use to continue to grow. Although there might be public skepticism of the emerging technology in the legal profession at this time, we will be worried in the future about the competence of lawyers who dont use these tools, Perlman predicted. HARARE A once-esteemed headmaster of Allan Wilson Boys High School, Tafara Zhou, is now facing a dramatic fall from grace as he stands accused of aggravated indecent assault. The allegations involve a former Form 3 boarder, now 19, who claims Zhou subjected him to repeated acts of non-consensual anal sex between June 2022 and May 2024. The alleged abuse took place both at the school hostel and, disturbingly, in the headmasters own car. The National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) has confirmed that Zhou appeared in court over the weekend, although he was not asked to enter a plea. The case has prompted the Zimbabwe Republic Police to launch a wider investigation into multiple allegations of sexual abuse at several boys schools across Harare, raising serious concerns about the safety and well-being of students in the countrys education system. According to the NPAZ, the complainant reported the alleged abuse in March 2025, after being expelled from Allan Wilson for seeking assistance with his exam registration fees a cruel twist that highlights the vulnerability of the victim and the alleged abuse of power by Zhou. The States case paints a grim picture of manipulation and coercion. It is alleged that Zhou initially offered the boy spiritual help, but this quickly devolved into a pattern of abuse, threats, and intimidation. Zhou is accused of using the threat of expulsion to silence the teenager, and even allegedly deleting incriminating evidence from the boys mobile phone in an attempt to cover his tracks. The allegations are that in 2022, the complainant, who is now 19 years old, approached several high schools in Harare looking for a scholarship. He then went to Allan Wilson Boys High School, where he met Zhou and told him he was looking for a Form 3 place. Zhou offered to cater to the boys needs. The court heard that in June 2022, Zhou allegedly called the boy to his car and told him that he wanted to have a sexual relationship with him since he was catering to all his expenses. Zhou allegedly threatened to expel the boy from school if he refused. The state claimed that, feeling cornered, the boy yielded to the request, and Zhou allegedly sexually abused him. The boy returned to his hostel but did not tell anyone about the incident, fearful of the consequences. The alleged abuse continued over a prolonged period. In January 2023, Zhou allegedly took the boy to the laundry room and sexually abused him again. In February 2023, Zhou took the minor to his house and abused him for the third time. The following morning, there was a school trip to Victoria Falls. While other students boarded the bus, Zhou allegedly took the boy in his car. In Victoria Falls, he booked a room and sexually abused the boy for three days. Zhou allegedly sexually abused the boy again on their way back to Harare. He then took the boys phone and deleted all his messages and pictures. He threatened the boy and told him that he was well-connected and no one would believe his story if he ever thought of reporting the abuse. The state further alleges that when the complainant wanted to register for his exams, he asked Zhou for the money, but the accused person refused to give it to him. The boy was then assisted by his teachers to register, and this reportedly did not go down well with Zhou, who expelled the complainant from the school a move that ultimately led to the exposure of the alleged abuse. Following the release of his exam results this year, the boy, with the assistance of a teacher, filed a police report, leading to Zhous arrest. The case against Zhou has prompted a wider investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at other schools in Harare. Police spokesperson, Commissioner Paul Nyathi told NewsDayLive that police had received reports about sexual abuse at Allan Wilson and Prince Edward high schools as well as Blakiston Junior School. Reference is made to your telephone call on alleged sodomy cases at Allan Wilson, Blakiston and Prince Edward schools, Nyathi said. The Zimbabwe Republic Police confirms that reports have been received from the schools and investigations are in progress. Most of the reports allege criminal acts by fellow students, except one against a school headmaster. Commissioner Nyathis statement confirms that the investigations are not limited to Allan Wilson, but extend to other institutions, suggesting a potentially wider problem within the education sector. In addition to the case against Zhou, another deputy school head at Masase High School in Mberengwa, Anymore Gumbo, is also under investigation for allegedly sexually abusing up to 30 learners at the school. These multiple investigations point to a disturbing trend of alleged abuse of power and exploitation of vulnerable students by those in positions of authority. The Ministry of Education is under increasing pressure to address the issue and implement measures to safeguard students and ensure that those found guilty of abuse are brought to justice. Breaking News via Email Related Pin Share Share 0 Shares Giant prehistoric kangaroos preferred to chill at home and didnt like to go out much, scientists say The Guardian New analysis casts doubt on biosignatures found on planet K2-18b NPR Climate/Environment Water Pandemics Japan Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China The Japan Times China? European Disunion India-Pakistan Syraqistan There is still no evidence yet as to whether the explosion in Bandar Abbas, Iran, that has left at least 500 people injured, was an accident, or whether it was an act of sabotage, and if the latter, by whom. But it is happening in a context in which many of us had predicted pic.twitter.com/94HLw37KAO Trita Parsi (@tparsi) April 26, 2025 Theory that todays awful explosion in Bandar Abbas was caused by missile propellant shipped from China doesnt square with the fact that it occurred at a busy commercial port. Sensitive weapons components would almost certainly be moved via a closed port under military control. Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) April 26, 2025 the only thing that gives me some joy is that while all the zios were celebrating and laughing at me im over here thinking yall hit a Jew w. a damn israhelli passport!!! great job A NY woman shares on Instagram in a post that she is Jewish and has an Israeli passport and was https://t.co/scYrqVaWdz pic.twitter.com/LzqbpVJQoo Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 26, 2025 Africa Making sense of Scott Bessents critique of the IMF and World Bank Grieve Chelwa New Not-So-Cold War Chokepoints Laffaire Epstein Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre previously said in no way, shape or form am I suicidal Too many evil people want to see me quieted. Today, her death was ruled a suicide. pic.twitter.com/Q69ZDOwNQa Remarks (@remarks) April 26, 2025 After Virginia Giuffres reported suicide, other Epstein survivors are stepping forward, making it clear to the world that they are not suicidal. Juliette Bryant, who says she was kidnapped by Jeffrey Epstein over two decades ago, claims she met Epstein in Africa while he was pic.twitter.com/lIMC4mgJyJ Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) April 26, 2025 Trump 2.0 Liberation Day REPORT: Walmart and Other U.S. Retailers Reportedly Notify Chinese Suppliers to Resume Shipments But Tariffs Cost Will be on U.S. Firms. Several Chinese exporters said that major U.S. retailers, including Walmart, have informed some Chinese suppliers to resume shipments after Ray Wang (@rwang07) April 26, 2025 DOGE MAHA USDA withdraws proposal to reduce Salmonella in poultry CIDRAP Police State Watch Healthcare? The Friendly Skies Our Famously Free Press Imperial Collapse Watch How to Lose a Tech War ChinaTalk Class Warfare Antidote du jour (via): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Study: Brisk walking lowers risk of cardiac arrhythmias by 43% A study in Heart involving 420,000 participants found that walking faster than 4 mph significantly lowers the risk of cardiac arrhythmias compared to slower paces. Women, adults under 60, and those with conditions like hypertension saw the greatest protective effects, suggesting brisk walking can serve as both prevention and therapy. About 36% of the benefit comes from lower body weight and reduced inflammation, which are major contributors to heart rhythm disorders. Only moderate-to-fast walking (4+ mph) showed measurable protection; slow walking (under 3 mph) had no significant impact. A 15-minute mile pace is ideal. Unlike medical interventions, brisk walking is a simple, equitable solution to combat rising arrhythmia rates and global heart disease burdens. In an era where heart disease remains a leading killer, a groundbreaking study offers a simple, cost-free solution walk faster. New research published April 15 in Heart has found that brisk walking slashes the risk of cardiac arrhythmias by 43 percent compared to a leisurely pace. The study defines brisk walking as moving in speeds exceeding four miles per hour (mph). Data from 420,000 participants, which were obtained from the U.K. Biobank, were analyzed for this study. Researchers analyzed two datasets: self-reported walking speeds from 420,925 participants and actual measurements from fitness trackers worn by 81,956 individuals. Slow walkers (under three mph) had an 8.7 percent arrhythmia rate over 13 years, while brisk walkers (over four mph) cut their risk by nearly half. Device data confirmed that only moderate or fast paces conferred protection; slow walking showed no measurable benefit. The study authors also found that brisk walking not only reduced arrhythmia risk, but also improved metabolic health. About 36 percent of the protective effect stemmed from lower body weight and reduced inflammation, key drivers of heart rhythm disorders. (Related:Walking 8,000 brisk steps once or twice a week found to boost heart health.) The study uncovered striking demographic trends. Women saw greater protection than men and adults under 60 benefited more than older individuals. Non-obese participants and those with preexisting conditions like hypertension also experienced outsized gains. This suggests that brisk walking could serve as both prevention and therapy, particularly for high-risk groups. Regular steps for irregular heartbeats Cardiac arrhythmias, irregular heartbeats that can feel like fluttering or racing, disrupt the hearts electrical system. Arrhythmias affect nearly 60 million people worldwide often leading to stroke, heart failure or sudden death. Atrial fibrillation, the most common type, has doubled in prevalence over the past 30 years. Modern medicine often leans on expensive interventions like pacemakers, medications and surgeries to manage arrhythmias. But this discovery provides an accessible defense for millions, echoing the timeless wisdom that movement is medicine. It highlights how a basic lifestyle adjustment could combat a growing global health crisis. Walking's accessibility makes it a democratic tool for health, requiring no gym membership or equipment. In a world grappling with rising healthcare costs and sedentary lifestyles, the findings underscore a return to basics. Brisk walking elevates heart rate sufficiently to strengthen cardiac muscle, improve circulation, and regulate metabolic markers like blood pressure and cholesterol. Slow walking, while better than sitting, lacks the intensity needed to trigger these benefits. The study's authors suggest public health guidelines should explicitly promote faster pacing. Women, though less prone to arrhythmias than men, face deadlier outcomes when they occur. The studys finding that brisk walking disproportionately protects women could reshape preventive care strategies, particularly for postmenopausal women, whose heart disease risk spikes. Cardiologists not involved in the study, like cardiologist Dr. Deepak Bhatt of Mount Sinai, endorse the findings. "The bottom line is that people are better off walking more," he commented. "While walking, it is even better to walk at a brisk pace as opposed to just sauntering along." Walking faster isnt just about fitness; it's a lifeline for cardiovascular health. The path to a healthier heart, it seems, is as simple as picking up the pace. Watch this video that shares a few tips on how to correct your walk for better movement. This video is from the Dr. John Bergman DC channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Just 10 minutes of brisk walking and meditation can significantly reduce anxiety. Brisk walking linked to 43% lower heart arrhythmia risk: Study challenges meds over movement. Brisk walking for 3 hours a week can reduce your risk of heart disease. The faster you walk, the longer youll live: Researchers find link between longevity and brisk walking pace. No walking dead here! Walking benefits the brain and prevents cognitive decline. Sources include: StudyFinds.org Heart.BMJ.com TheGuardian.com EverydayHealth.com Brighteon.com Department of Education resumes collections on defaulted student loans The U.S. Department of Education will restart involuntary collections (wage garnishment, seized tax refunds, etc.) on defaulted federal student loans as of May 5, ending the pandemic-era freeze. Nearly 10 million borrowers could be affected. Since payments resumed in October 2023, only 59 percent of borrowers (13M out of 22M) have paid, while 40 percent are delinquent or in default. Currently, 5M+ borrowers are in default, with another 4M severely delinquent, risking a 25 percent default rate soon. While maintaining pauses on collections until now, the administration has faced criticism for contributing to confusion and rising defaults. Meanwhile, it has expanded relief programs (e.g., $1.2B in automatic discharges) but emphasized no mass forgiveness only structured repayment options. The government will resume Treasury offsets, issue warnings and begin wage garnishments for non-responsive borrowers. Concurrently, it is rolling out simplified repayment plans, AI tools and expanded call centers to assist struggling borrowers. Experts like Alex Beene advise borrowers to act now: enroll in income-driven plans or negotiate repayment to avoid garnishment. The shift signals tougher enforcement, stressing "no more delays" for overdue loans. The U.S. Department of Education has announced that the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) will restart collections on defaulted federal student loans beginning Monday, May 5, ending a pandemic-era freeze on involuntary repayments and potentially impacting nearly 10 million borrowers. Confirmed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon on April 21, the move reinstates measures allowing the government to collect overdue debt through garnished wages, seized tax refunds and intercepted Social Security payments via the Treasury Offset Program. These enforcement tools had been paused since March 2020 but will now return under pre-pandemic policies set during the Trump administration. According to the current data of the federal student loan system, 42.7 million borrowers owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt and over 5 million borrowers are in default (360+ days delinquent), with 4 million more in late-stage delinquency (91-180 days overdue). If trends continue, nearly 25 percent of all federal loans could be in default within months. Only 38 percent of borrowers are current on their payments, while most others are in deferment, forbearance or delinquency. Meanwhile, 1.9 million borrowers remain stuck in a processing backlog, unable to enroll in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans due to administrative delays. Additionally, despite 22 million borrowers being due for repayment in October 2023, only 13 million (59 percent) have made payments, while 40 percent have fallen into delinquency or default. The Biden administration kept collections frozen since March 2020 despite Congress mandating repayment restart in October 2023, contributing to confusion, rising default rates and taxpayer strain. The previous administration prioritized temporary relief, such as the halted (and legally challenged) student debt cancellation plan, over long-term fiscal responsibility. (Related: Biden admin to WIPE OUT $1.2B in federal student loans under new plan essentially vote-buying using taxpayer money.) As a response, the FSA will resume the Treasury Offset Program, allowing the government to seize tax refunds and other federal payments from defaulted borrowers; issue warnings via email and mail, urging borrowers to contact the Default Resolution Group or enroll in loan rehabilitation or IDR plans; and begin wage garnishment later this summer for those who fail to respond. Simultaneously, the department pledges to expand borrower support, including a simplified IDR application eliminating annual recertification, increased call center availability and AI-powered tools (like Aiden) to guide borrowers and a public awareness campaign stressing no mass forgiveness, only repayment or structured relief. Trump admin shields taxpayers from shouldering unpaid federal loans The move aims to protect taxpayers from shouldering the burden of unpaid federal loans. "American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies. The Biden administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear," said McMahon. "Hundreds of billions have already been transferred to taxpayers. Going forward, the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, will shepherd the student loan program responsibly and according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment both for the sake of their own financial health and our nations economic outlook." In response to the announcement, Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, urged student loan borrowers to take immediate action. "For many student loan borrowers, the past few years provided a plethora of forgiveness and payment plans to ease the repayment process. However, with a new administration comes new policy... the crackdown on repayments is about to begin," Beene said. "You need to start making plans immediately to begin making payments or you'll risk having your wages garnished later this year. It may not be the desired outcome for many, but it's the new reality for millions of borrowers." Visit DebtCollapse.com for more stories about student loans. Watch this clip from One America News covering President Joe Biden's latest announcement of more student loan forgiveness measures. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Biden defies Supreme Court on student debt cancellation, absurdly claims there's no cost to taxpayers. DEBT REVOLUTION? Tens of millions of student loan borrowers stage "massive student debt strike." Taxpayer money going down the drain: Biden circumvents SC decision, cancels $72M in student debt. HYPOCRITES: Florida Dem running for senator who wants her student loans forgiven OWNS A $3M MANSION. DEBT BLOWOUT: US debt has soared $1.2T since debt ceiling suspension and the Treasury expects to add another $1.5T by year's end. Sources include: YourNews.com BTimesonline.com ed.gov Brighteon.com Florida lawmakers consider bill allowing homeowners to use reasonable force against drones Florida lawmakers are considering legislation allowing property owners to use "reasonable force" against drones they believe are violating their privacy, responding to growing unease over unexplained drone sightings. The Biden administration dismissed concerns about mysterious drones in 2024, stating they posed no security threat, while President Donald Trump suggested they were likely FAA or hobbyist-operated. The bill, introduced by State Sen. Keith Truenow, would allow homeowners to take action against drones over their property and further restrict drone flights near sensitive locations though law enforcement would be exempt. The bill may clash with federal law, as the FAA regulates U.S. airspace and prohibits drone interference, warning that shooting at drones poses safety risks and could lead to legal penalties. If passed (effective October 2025), Florida would be the first state to explicitly permit such measures, potentially sparking legal battles and influencing other states amid rising drone privacy concerns. Florida lawmakers are weighing a controversial bill that would permit property owners to use "reasonable force" to take down drones they believe are violating their privacy as unease grows among residents over surge of mysterious drone sightings across the United States. In 2024, an increase in unverified drone flights sparked frustration among Americans, who demanded answers on the origin and regulation of these unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs). The Biden administration dismissed concerns at that time, stating the drones did not pose a national security threat and were not linked to foreign adversaries. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump suggested they were likely operated legally by the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or hobbyists though no clear explanation was provided. As a response, State Sen. Keith L. Truenow (R) introduced a legislation in March that cleared multiple Senate committees and was added to the legislative calendar on April 16. It follows growing unease among residents over the surge in mysterious drone sightings across the U.S., many of which remain unexplained despite federal assurances. The bill seeks to redefine property rights by allowing landowners to act against drones lingering over their property. This would further restrict drone flights near airports, prisons, ports, refineries and gas pipelines. Notably, these rules would not apply to law enforcement agencies, which routinely deploy drones for surveillance, particularly at public gatherings of 50 or more people. Florida already has laws like the Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act, which prohibits drone operators from recording private property without consent. However, the new bill takes it further by allowing homeowners to act against drones in real-time. If approved, it would take effect in October 2025. It would make Florida the first state to legalize such measures, setting a precedent for other states grappling with the rapid rise of drone technology and privacy concerns. Florida could clash with FAA if drone safety bill passes This Florida bill could clash with the FAA, which maintains exclusive authority over U.S. airspace and strictly prohibits shooting down drones. Under federal law, drones operating in unrestricted airspace may legally fly over private property unless they pose a direct hazard. Additionally, deliberately interfering with an aircraft even an unmanned one can result in criminal charges and hefty fines. "A private citizen shooting at any aircraft including unmanned aircraft poses a significant safety hazard," the agency wrote on its website. "An unmanned aircraft hit by gunfire could crash, causing damage to persons or property on the ground or it could collide with other objects in the air." (Related: Superpower USA supposedly can't shoot down "mysterious" drones, but we have no problem shooting down our own $30 million F-18 fighter jets.) "Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in a civil penalty from the FAA and/or criminal charges from federal, state or local law enforcement." In other words, the possible passage of Florida bill could set the stage for a potential legal battle between the state and federal authorities. Follow WeaponsTechnology.news for more similar stories. Watch this footage of a Russian bomb destroying a drone factory in Ukraine. This video is from the Tilt channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Ukrainian DRONE SWARMS target four Russian oil refineries in largest drone attack yet. Upcoming technology would let citizens buy drone countermeasures that interfere with drone missions. U.S. secures drone supply chain as China's dominance of commercial drone market threatens NATIONAL SECURITY. DRONES are ATTACKING U.S. Navy warships and TERRORIZING the Coast Guard, but Biden Regime says thousands of drones around nation are harmless and not a threat. DRONE PSYOP SOLVED: Chinese drones from light show in September used by Biden Regime to control American thoughts and create anti-religious alien invasion "narrative." Sources include: TheHill.com MSN.com Brighteon.com April 24, 2025: Russian missile and drone attacks have been a common feature of the Ukraine War. Since the war began Russia has launched at least two dozen of these projectiles a day. NATO has supplied Ukraine large quantities of SAMP/T and Patriot missiles to defeat Russian attacks, along with equipment that makes possible improved detection and fire control, improved electronic warfare and F-16 fighters adapted to intercept drones. Facing all these defenses, the Russians discovered that their most effective weapon was short range ballistic missiles. There was not enough time to intercept these missiles and not enough air defense systems to cover all of Ukraine against such attacks. Fortunately Russia has only been able to launch 740 missiles a month at Ukrainian targets and only a dozen of these were the deadly short range ballistic missiles. Early in the war, most of the Russian attacks were carried out by Iranian Shahed drones and Russian air launched guided missiles. The drones were noisy and flew low and slow. This made them easy to locate, even at night, and shoot down. Ukrainian air defenses, reinforced by NATO air defense systems, soon made it impossible for Russian warplanes to operate inside Ukraine. The Russians resorted to having their aircraft launch glide bombs from inside Russian territory. These bombs used GPS guidance which was soon neutralized by Ukrainian electronic warfare. Within seven months of the Russian invasion Ukrainian air defenses, including electronic warfare, were intercepting over 80 percent of Russian missiles as well as attack and reconnaissance drones. Eventually the Russians switched most of their attacks to economic targets. This was harder to defend against because there were too many of these targets spread all over Ukraine. Given that Russia was only able to launch one missile or drone an hour, these attacks on economic targets did no significant damage. The Russians knew that and hoped to damage Ukrainian morale. That didnt work either. The wide variety of NATO supplied air defense equipment was enhanced by Ukrainian innovations in detection, fire control and electronic warfare. Among the air-defense weapons sent to Ukraine, the NASAMS system was the most anticipated because of its reputation. NASAMS is far superior to the similar Russian Buk M1 system Ukraine and Russia used, or anything else in its class. NASAM systems began arriving in Ukraine during November 2022 and, by late 2024, there were eight NASAMS batteries in Ukraine. By 2025 there were be nine more NASAMS batteries for Ukraine as well as longer range AMRAAM ER missiles for it. NASAMS has been very effective against Russian missile attacks, often intercepting all the Russian missiles headed for an area defended by a NASAMS battery. The impact of NASAMS on Russian missile attacks led the Russians to try and detect and destroy NASAMS batteries or components of batteries. As of early 2024, only one NASAMS battery has come under heavy Russian attack and lost some components. So far NASAMS has intercepted over 500 hundred Russian missiles and drones. The latest version of NASAMS has a missile range of 50 kilometers and a target detection radar with a range of 120 kilometers. The older and larger Patriot system has a missile with a range of 120 kilometers. NASAMS systems are more compact and mobile than Patriot and the Ukrainians have found that NASAMS and Patriot systems complement each other. In Ukraine Russia is having a difficult time finding worthy targets that are not defended by NASAMS or Patriot. NASAMS was a system developed by Norway in the early 1990s and entered service in 1998. Norway pioneered the use of American AMRAAM air-to-air missiles as surface-to-air weapons and developed the fire control and launcher equipment needed to make it all work. It was a simple but very effective use of air-to-air missiles for air defense. Other air-to-air missiles have been used for ground-based air defense systems, but the Norwegian version is seen as the best of the lot. Norway initially had six NASAMS batteries for its own defense. Eleven other nations, like Hungary, Spain, Holland, Chile, and the United States, Finland, Lithuania, and Ukraine also use NASAMS, and the system is still in production. The NASAMS was initially developed for the Norwegian Air Force by Norwegian firm Kongsberg, in cooperation with American partner Raytheon, which produces AMRAAM. A major upgrade, NASAMS 2, officially entered service in 2007 and since then it has gained interest in more nations. NASAMS popularity is due to a truly open architecture that, unlike competing systems, allows NASAMS to be used with a wide variety of radars. Initially NASAMS used the American made MPQ-64 Sentinel radar but some customers requested a system that can work with different radars and air-to-air missiles. NASAMS has been tested and configured to work with more than 30 different radar systems and can fire just about any air-to-air missile that can be fired from NATO aircraft. All that is required is modifications to the size and electrical connections in the NASAMS launcher cells and software modification of the fire control system. Since NATO has long-established standards for NATO weapons, NASAMS takes full advantage of this. So far NASAMS has been configured with AIM-120 AMRAAM and its longer-range ER variant in addition to the heat seeking AIM-9X Sidewinder and the European IRIS-T. The last one is an interesting story. Norway has a big stock of IRIS-T for their F-16 fighters, but the new Norwegian F-35 is not compatible with IRIS-T, so they decided to use this very modern European missile as an anti-aircraft missile in NASAMS systems. This example clearly shows how flexible this system is while the competitor systems are tied to a limited number of missiles and radars. A typical NASAMS battery consists of 12 launcher vehicles, each carrying six missiles, eight radar vehicles, one fire control center, and one tactical control vehicle. NASAMS does not provide protection for a large area because the max range of its missiles is 30-50 kilometers while range of battery radar target detection is up t0 160 kilometers. NASAMS batteries will be used to protect major cities. NASAMS is being used alongside existing Ukrainian S300 systems and American Patriot batteries Ukraine received as well. Patriot was especially effective at intercepting ballistic missiles. Trump retreats on auto tariffs, plans to exempt CAR PARTS from duties The U.S. will exempt some car parts from aggressive tariffs after auto industry lobbying, though a 25 percent levy on foreign-made cars and parts remains. Automakers argued that overlapping tariffs could disrupt supply chains, raise prices and cost jobs, prompting the administration to adjust its stance. Executives like Stellantis' John Elkann warned that tariffs risk harming both U.S. and European car industries, urging policymakers to avoid compounding duties. The exemptions follow earlier carve-outs (e.g., consumer electronics) and suggest Trump is softening some trade measures amid economic concerns. While the exemptions offer temporary relief, key tariffs remain and industry leaders seek clarity and consistency in trade policy moving forward. In a significant reversal, U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to exempt some car parts from his most aggressive tariffs following intense lobbying by auto executives, marking another concession in his escalating trade battles. The move, reported by the Financial Times and later confirmed by the White House, would shield certain automotive imports from duties tied to Chinese fentanyl exports and steel and aluminum levies. However, an earlier 25 percent tariff on foreign-made cars and parts will remain in place. The decision reflects growing industry warnings that overlapping tariffs could disrupt supply chains, raise consumer prices and trigger job losses an economic risk the administration now appears unwilling to take. The exemptions, described by insiders as a "destacking" of duties, come after weeks of pressure from automakers who argue that compounding tariffs threaten their competitiveness. (Related: Trump grants one-month tariff exemption for auto imports from Mexico, Canada amid industry concerns.) Stellantis Chairman John Elkann cautioned that Trump's trade policies were putting "American and European car industries at risk." Another unnamed executive pleaded: "Don't hit us over and over with all of these other tariffs because that really jeopardizes the health of our sector." The reprieve follows earlier carve-outs for consumer electronics and a temporary reduction in broader "reciprocal" tariffs, suggesting Trump is selectively retreating from his most confrontational trade measures amid market turbulence and recession fears. This latest shift underscores the administration's struggle to balance its protectionist agenda with economic realities. Auto giants unite against tariffs Trump initially imposed sweeping tariffs up to 50 percent on some imports on April 2, dubbed "liberation day," before scaling them back to a 10 percent baseline for 90 days. Auto tariffs, however, remained a sticking point, with a separate 25 percent levy on parts set to take effect May 3. While vehicles complying with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement face reduced duties, industry groups warn that additional costs could cripple suppliers already in financial distress. Six major auto trade organizations recently united in a rare joint appeal, arguing that further tariffs would destabilize production and harm U.S. manufacturing. The debate also highlights tensions over trade with China, where Trump has linked tariffs to fentanyl chemical exports. Auto parts from China currently face a 20 percent duty under this policy, alongside steel and aluminum tariffs, but would avoid the higher "reciprocal" rates. Meanwhile, Trump hinted at escalating measures against Canada, stating, "We don't want your cars. We want to make our own." Yet the exemption discussions suggest pragmatism is prevailing for now. General Motors CEO Mary Barra summed up the industry's plea: "I need clarity, and then I need consistency." As negotiations focus on simplifying sourcing rules, the broader question remains whether these concessions signal a lasting de-escalation or merely a tactical pause in Trump's trade wars. For automakers, the relief is a temporary victory. But with key tariffs still looming, the road ahead remains uncertain. Watch former Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli lauding the Trump administration's move to exempt car parts from heavy tariffs in this Fox Business report. This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Trump's sweeping tariffs set to hit consumers hard from iPhones to automobiles. Trump warns of harsher tariffs on Canada, EU if they try to harm U.S. economy. Trump's 25% auto tariffs shake industry, but Tesla stands strong. Sources include: ZeroHedge.com FT.com CNBC.com Brighteon.com Study: Over 90 percent of toothpaste brands contain dangerous heavy metals A study by Lead Safe Mama found over 90 percent of 51 tested toothpaste brands contained lead, with many also contaminated by arsenic, mercury and cadmium. Well-known brands like Crest, Sensodyne and Tom's of Maine were among those affected. Toothpastes with bentonite clay, hydroxyapatite or calcium carbonate showed the highest heavy metal levels. Children's products, like Tom's of Maine Kid's Toothpaste, had lead levels 48 times above proposed safety limits. The FDA permits up to 10,00020,000 ppb of lead in toothpastefar higher than public health advocates recommend. Washington states stricter limit (1,000 ppb) was exceeded by several brands. Heavy metals like lead (neurotoxin), mercury (nervous system damage) and arsenic (carcinogen) pose severe risks, especially to children, who are more vulnerable to ingestion and long-term harm. Many companies dismissed findings or sent legal threats, while safe alternatives (e.g., Dr. Brown's Baby Toothpaste) exist. Advocates urge stricter regulations and transparency to protect consumers. A recent investigation has uncovered widespread contamination of popular toothpaste brands with dangerous heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. The study conducted by the advocacy group Lead Safe Mama (LSM) found that over 90 percent of the 51 toothpaste brands tested contained lead, with many also harboring other toxic substances. This discovery raises serious concerns about the safety of everyday dental care products, particularly for children, and highlights a significant regulatory gap in consumer protection. LSM founder Tamara Rubin spearheaded the probe 12 years ago after noticing a pattern of elevated blood lead levels in children she was working with. The common factor? A brand of toothpaste called Earthpaste. Armed with an XRF lead detection tool, Rubin expanded her testing to include a variety of popular toothpaste brands and what she discovered was alarming. Ninety percent of the toothpastes contained lead, 65 percent had arsenic, nearly half contained mercury and one-third were contaminated with cadmium. (Related: Are you poisoning yourself with commercial toothpaste?) Among the brands found to contain these toxins were well-known names like Crest, Sensodyne, Tom's of Maine, Dr. Bronner's, Davids and Dr. Jen. The highest levels of contamination were found in toothpastes containing bentonite clay, a common ingredient used for its purported cleaning properties. Hydroxyapatite and calcium carbonate, other common additives, also showed concerning levels of heavy metals. The findings are particularly troubling given the lack of stringent regulations governing heavy metal content in toothpaste. While the FDA allows up to 10,000 parts per billion (ppb) of lead in fluoride-free toothpaste and 20,000 ppb in fluoride varieties, these limits are significantly higher than those set by public health advocates. The state of Washington, for instance, has enacted a law limiting lead in toothpaste to 1,000 ppb, a threshold that several of the tested brands exceeded. Despite the findings, most companies have not committed to removing lead and other heavy metals from their products. Some have defended their products by arguing that trace amounts of lead are unavoidable due to environmental exposure, while others have dismissed the detected levels as insignificant. Rubin said several companies even sent her cease-and-desist letters, which she ignored and posted on her blog. Heavy metals can cause a range of health problems Lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic are all known carcinogens and can cause a range of health problems. Lead, in particular, is a potent neurotoxin that can cause cognitive damage in children, harm the kidneys and lead to heart disease. Mercury can damage the nervous system and kidneys, while cadmium is linked to kidney damage and cancer. Arsenic is a known carcinogen that can cause skin, lung and bladder cancer. The contamination of children's toothpaste is particularly concerning. Children's bodies are more vulnerable to the effects of heavy metals, and they are more likely to inadvertently swallow toothpaste while brushing. Tom's of Maine Kid's Natural Fluoride-Free Toothpaste, for example, was found to contain 240 ppb of lead 48 times higher than the proposed safe action level for children's products. Several children's toothpastes, such as Dr. Brown's Baby Toothpaste, did not test positive for any metals, indicating that safe alternatives are available. However, the lack of stringent regulations means that many children's toothpastes on the market may still pose a risk. The findings of the LSM investigation highlight a critical need for stricter regulations and greater transparency in the toothpaste industry. While daily brushing of teeth is essential for maintaining oral health, the presence of heavy metals in toothpaste poses a hidden threat that could have serious health consequences. Consumers deserve to know that the products they use daily are safe, and it is the responsibility of both manufacturers and regulators to ensure that this is the case. Watch this video that teaches how to make your own natural toothpaste, without the dangerous heavy metals. This video is from the Health with benefits channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Heres why natural toothpaste is better than commercial toothpaste for supporting optimal oral health. Natural toothpaste reduces risk of cavities: Herbal toothpaste found to raise mouth pH, reduce sugar in saliva. Triclosan, chemical in toothpaste linked to cancer, bone malformation and hormone disruption, has been in toothpaste for 17 years. Sources include: TheGuardian.com TimesOfIndia.IndiaTimes.com Brighteon.com Supreme Court leans toward parents in LGBTQ curriculum dispute Montgomery County Public Schools introduced over 20 LGBTQ+-themed books to its K-8 curriculum in 2022. Initially, parents could opt their children out, but the school board revoked this option in 2023, sparking backlash. Muslim, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox parents, represented by the Becket Fund, sued, arguing the forced inclusion of LGBTQ+ materials violates their religious freedoms under the First Amendment. They cite precedents like Wisconsin v. Yoder to claim parental rights over sensitive education. During oral arguments, conservative justices, including Alito, questioned the school boards refusal to allow opt-outs, expressing skepticism about denying parents religious objections. The Court appeared sympathetic to the parents' case. The district maintains the policy promotes inclusivity and claims it doesn't burden religious freedom, urging the Court to uphold lower court rulings that sided with them. A ruling in favor of the parents could redefine how schools balance mandatory curricula with religious exemptions, setting a precedent for parental rights in education. Both sides await the Court's decision. The Supreme Court has appeared sympathetic to a group of parents challenging a Maryland school district's policy of including LGBT-themed books in elementary school curricula without an opt-out option after hearing the oral arguments for more than two hours. In 2022, the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), one of the largest and most diverse districts in the United States, introduced over 20 LGBT-inclusive books into its K-8 language arts curriculum. Titles such as "Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope" (about a transgender child) and "Love, Violet" (a same-sex romance between girls) sparked immediate controversy. Initially, parents could request alternatives, but the district eliminated that option in early 2023, igniting legal action from Muslim, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox families represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. As a response, parents filed a dispute that centers on their constitutional right to opt their children out of lessons involving books with LGBTQ+ themes when they conflict with their religious beliefs. The parents contend that the policy violates their First Amendment rights under the Free Exercise Clause, citing Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), in which the Supreme Court upheld Amish parents' right to remove their children from school after eighth grade due to religious objections. "Our case is not a book ban case. We're not saying that these books can't be on the shelves. We're saying we want to be out of the class. And we're also not saying that teachers can't teach this material. We're just saying if the school board is going to make that decision, let us have the chance to leave the classroom. And so I think for my parent clients, they're saying let us be the parents. Keep us involved in the school decision-making process. Don't try to cut us out," said Colten Stanberry, a counsel at Becket and attorney for the parents bringing the suit. After hearing the Mahmoud v. Taylor case for more than two hours, conservative justices questioned the reason MCPS rescinded a prior opt-out policy, forcing families opposed to the books on religious grounds to either accept the material or withdraw their children from public education altogether. "The plaintiffs here are not asking the school to change its curriculum. They're just saying, 'look, we want out,'" Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told the lawyer for the MCPS. "What is the big deal about allowing them to opt out of this?" In short, the conservative-leaning court appeared sympathetic to the parents' claims, signaling a potential shift in how religious objections are weighed against school curriculum mandates. Both sides hopeful and excited as SC hears their case Despite that, the school board remained confident in its stance. "Based on established law, as discussed in our brief and by our counsel at today's argument, we believe the Supreme Court can and should affirm the lower courts' rulings," said Liliana Lopez, Public Information Officer for the public schools, while referring to the lower court initially denying the parents' motion. "Regardless of the outcome, we are grateful for the opportunity to have our case heard by the highest court in the land. We await the Court's decision." (Related: Appeals court REJECTS request by Maryland parents to allow kids to opt out of reading LGBT BOOKS.) The school board claimed the policy is grounded in their "commitment to provide an appropriate classroom environment" for all of their students. Meanwhile, Stanberry also expressed cautious optimism as the Supreme Court hears the case. "Obviously, I don't have a crystal ball. I can't predict how it's going to come out, but we're feeling good going into it," Stanberry said. Check out EducationSystem.news for similar stories. Watch this clip of Muslim families in Maryland's Montgomery County protesting against LGBT books used in the MCPS. This video is from the Puretrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Biden-appointed judge rules parents cant opt children out of school lessons promoting LGBT ideology. Books on gender transitioning recommended to kindergartners in Newsom's California. New Jerseys new sex education curriculum teaches second graders about transgenderism and gender ideology. Virginia reverses transgender school policy, returns right to affirm children's gender to parents. California K-12 reading list includes books about transgender toddlers, how Trump and Founding Fathers are racist. Sources include: YourNews.com FoxNews.com Edweek.org Brighteon.com Texas launches its own state agency modeled after Elon Musks DOGE Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 14, creating the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office, inspired by President Donald Trump's federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Like its federal counterpart, Texas DOGE aims to cut red tape, reduce waste and streamline state operations. The agency will identify and eliminate "unnecessary" regulations, simplify public access to government processes, reduce business bureaucracy (fees, training hours) and conduct cost-saving reviews of state agencies. The initiative will cost $22 million over five years, but supporters (including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick) argue it will yield long-term savings and attract businesses by improving efficiency. Texas joins Florida, Georgia, Iowa and other GOP-dominated states in adopting DOGE-style reforms. Florida's version, via Executive Order 25-44, targets university spending, dormant boards and AI-driven audits. Abbott claims Texas DOGE will deliver a "leaner, faster government," prioritizing taxpayer savings and economic growth. The office begins its review of state agencies immediately. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed legislation establishing the "Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office," a new state agency styled after the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash burdensome regulations, reduce government waste and streamline state operations. The Texas DOGE initiative, created under Senate Bill 14, has drawn inspiration from the federal DOGE initiative of President Donald Trump. The federal DOGE initiative, dubbed as the "Manhattan Project," seeks to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. Now, Texas is taking similar steps at the state level. The newly formed "Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office" will identify and eliminate "unnecessary and ineffective" state regulations; improve public access to government rules, forms and filings; reduce mandatory training hours, fees and bureaucratic hurdles for businesses; and conduct cost-saving reviews of state agencies. (Related: Texas legislature adopts "DOGE" model to tackle government efficiency.) The program is projected to cost $22 million over the next five years, but Abbott and supporters argue the long-term savings will far outweigh the initial investment. "Texas DOGE will lead to spending cuts, regulation cuts and a more user-friendly government," Abbott said during the bill-signing ceremony in Austin on Wednesday, April 23. "It will ensure that Texas is operating at the speed of business and it will make it easier for our fellow Texans, average Texas, to deal with their own state government." Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), a key backer of the bill, echoed a similar statement. He stressed that Texas DOGE, which garnered bipartisan support in the Republican-dominated legislature, would attract more businesses and jobs by cutting red tape. "We want to have a clear review of all of our agencies, where we can trim, how we can save businesses money, how we can save taxpayers money, so that they will continue to come here and create jobs and add to our economic viability and competitiveness," R said during the ceremony. "In Texas, we like to keep things simple, so Texas DOGE will make us more transparent than ever to every citizen [and] cut all the red tape or most of the red tape, making us as efficient as possible, attracting more businesses, creating more jobs and saving taxpayer money." The Texas DOGE office will begin its review of state agencies imminently, with Abbott pledging that Texans will soon see a "leaner, faster and more effective government." Republican-led states have established DOGE-inspired regulatory agencies Texas is one of the many predominantly Republican-led states that have quickly moved to establish regulatory agencies inspired by the federal DOGE initiative. Most of these states have implemented these measures through executive orders and the formation of specialized task forces. For instance, in February, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled an ambitious state-level version of DOGE through Executive Order 25-44 with a September 30 deadline to produce legislative recommendations for slashing inefficiencies across state agencies, universities and even local governments. Major cost-cutting measures include eliminating 740 net state government positions (despite adding law enforcement and corrections staff); sunsetting 70 dormant Boards and Commissions, cutting 900 associated positions "nobody has ever heard of"; deploying AI for contract reviews to ensure taxpayer dollars are not being wasted on unnecessary spending or politically driven initiatives; auditing Florida's public universities and colleges to eliminate wasteful programs, redundant staff and "woke" expenditures; and scrutinizing local government budgets, using AI and public records to combat years of rising taxes and spending. The other states that established DOGE-inspired initiatives are Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Visit BigGovernment.news for stories similar to this. Watch the video below that talks about Democrats freaking out over DOGE. This video is from the Son of the Republic channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Elon Musk's DOGE to investigate federal employees' exploding net worths amid scrutiny of wealth disparities. DOGE exposes 4 million credit cards racking up $40 billion in Fiscal Year 24. Entire government agencies face elimination in sweeping DOGE cost-cutting moves. Trump's DOGE saves $1 BILLION daily. Elon Musk's DOGE Team faces DOXXING as US Attorney vows protection. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com TheHill.com FloridaPolitics.com Newsweek.com Brighteon.com Trump administration scraps Kerrys climate office, citing ideological overreach The Trump administration formally shut down the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (led by John Kerry under Biden) in April 2025, ending a $17M/year operation. The move aligns with Trumps push to reduce bureaucracy, prioritize economic growth and roll back Biden-era climate policies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the office bloated and ideologically driven, framing its closure as part of a broader State Department overhaul. The administration criticized Kerrys office for radical green ideology and removed climate-centric webpages, signaling a shift away from emissions-focused diplomacy. Kerrys tenure faced backlash for alleged hypocrisy (e.g., private jet use), lack of transparency and perceived leniency toward Chinas coal expansion. His office was accused of overreach, including pressuring Western nations on fossil fuels while consulting far-left groups. The closure reflects broader swings in U.S. climate policy, including Trumps 2025 Paris Agreement withdrawal (reversing Bidens 2021 reentry). Critics argue that inconsistency harms global credibility, while supporters claim that prioritizing energy affordability benefits American workers. The move reinforces Trumps America First energy policy, emphasizing deregulation and domestic industry over international climate pledges. Environmentalists view it as a major setback; conservatives see it as a rejection of bureaucratic excess. The long-term economic and environmental impacts remain debated. The Trump administration has officially dismantled the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a high-profile Biden-era department once led by John Kerry, as part of a broader State Department overhaul. The April 2025 move halts a $17 million annual operation that aggressively pursued global climate agreements while drawing fire for its advocacy against fossil fuelsparticularly from conservative lawmakers and energy advocates. The administration framed the closure as necessary to rein in bureaucratic bloat and refocus on economic priorities. The office, launched in 2021, had been instrumental in shaping U.S. climate policy, embedding environmental talks into foreign relations. But since former President Donald Trump returned to office, skepticism of what Republicans call radical green ideology has driven a rollback of Biden-era initiatives. The demise of a controversial office The State Department confirmed the closure, with a senior official stating the office was captured by ideology instead of common sense policy. The department scrubbed its climate-related webpages shortly after the decision, signaling a sharp departure from policies prioritizing emissions reductions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the move as part of broader streamlining efforts: In its current form, the department is bloated, bureaucratic and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission. He added that the State Department had become beholden to radical political ideology. The offices elimination aligns with Trumps long-standing prioritization of U.S. energy dominance over international climate pledges. In early 2025, Rubio withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreementreversing Bidens reentryarguing it conflicted with American economic interests. A White House official reinforced the administrations stance: The Trump Administration is focused on reducing the everyday cost of living for the American worker, not apologizing to foreign governments for unleashing Americas energy dominance. Kerrys legacy: Diplomacy or overreach? The Biden administration empowered Kerry with an unprecedented rolegranting him Cabinet and National Security Council seats while tasking him with leading global climate negotiations. Kerry leveraged the position to push aggressive green policies, including a rapid shift from fossil fuels, and frequently targeted sectors like agriculture for contributing to emissions. But his tenure faced intense scrutiny: Hypocrisy allegations: Kerry was criticized for extensive travel on private jets while advocating emission cuts. Reports also noted his offices consultations with far-left environmental groups. Kerry was criticized for extensive travel on private jets while advocating emission cuts. Reports also noted his offices consultations with far-left environmental groups. China controversy: While pressuring Western nations to abandon coal, Kerry drew backlash for not confronting Chinas expanding coal-fired power plants. The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into his dealings with Beijing in 2023. While pressuring Western nations to abandon coal, Kerry drew backlash for not confronting Chinas expanding coal-fired power plants. The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into his dealings with Beijing in 2023. Lack of transparency: The office resisted disclosing details of its operations, frustrating watchdogs and lawmakers. Climate policys tumultuous path The closure marks another swing in the pendulum of U.S. climate policy. The U.S. has vacillated on environmental commitments since the 1990s, with Republicans typically opposing global agreements seen as economically restrictive. Trumps first term saw the U.S. exit the Paris Agreement; Biden rejoined it in 2021, only for Trump to withdraw again upon returning to office. Critics argue such inconsistency undermines American credibility abroad. Supporters, however, contend that prioritizing affordable energy and domestic industry benefits working-class Americans more than symbolic climate pledges. A return to America First energy policy The shuttering of Kerrys office signals a definitive end to an era of climate-centric diplomacy. For the Trump administration, the move underscores a commitment to deregulation and energy independencecornerstones of its 2024 campaign. While environmental advocates lament the loss of a key policy arm, conservatives hail it as a rejection of bureaucratic excess and ideological activism. As Rubio reshapes the State Department, the debate continues: Should climate change be a pillar of foreign policy, or a secondary concern to economic growth? For now, the White House has chosen its answer. For energy freedom advocates, this is a victory. For climate activists, its a setback. And for the American public, the implicationsboth economic and environmentalwill unfold in the years ahead. Sources for this article include: ClimateDepot.com FreeBeacon.com State.gov Navigating a toxic world: The urgent call for healthier living amidst chemical threats Dr. Donald L. Hoernschemeyer's book, "Healthy Living in a Contaminated World," serves as a comprehensive guide warning readers about the pervasive presence of toxic chemicals in everyday life and offering strategies to protect health. The book traces the history of chemical proliferation since World War II, highlighting Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" and the ongoing introduction of new chemicals, often without thorough long-term impact assessments, leading to a more dire situation today. The book underscores the link between toxic chemicals and serious health issues like cancers, hormonal disruptions and neurological damage. It emphasizes that these chemicals are ubiquitous, found in air, water, soil and even in human bodies, including mother's milk and unborn children. Hoernschemeyer outlines several practical steps to mitigate exposure, including educating oneself about toxins, minimizing exposure through conscious choices (e.g., buying organic, using natural products), advocating for policy changes, supporting research and living mindfully by choosing natural, chemical-free products. The book emphasizes the critical role of science and policy in addressing the issue, advocating for a precautionary approach where chemicals are proven safe before market introduction. It concludes with a call to action, urging readers to be vigilant, informed and proactive in protecting their health and the environment. In a world where the omnipresence of toxic chemicals has become an unsettling reality, Donald L. Hoernschemeyer, Ph.D., offers a comprehensive guide in his book "Healthy Living in a Contaminated World: How to Prevent Toxic Chemicals from Undermining Your Health." This eye-opening work delves into the pervasive and insidious nature of chemicals that have infiltrated every aspect of our lives, from the air we breathe to the food we consume. The book serves as both a warning and a roadmap, urging readers to take control of their health in an environment increasingly saturated with harmful substances. The narrative begins with a stark reminder of the post-World War II era, a time when the chemical industry burgeoned, introducing a myriad of new compounds into our daily existence. Rachel Carson's seminal work, "Silent Spring," first published in 1962, was a clarion call that exposed the dangers of synthetic pesticides like DDT. Despite the ban on DDT in 1972, its legacy persists and the introduction of new chemicals continues unabated, often without a thorough assessment of their long-term impacts. Today, the situation is more dire than ever. Scientific research has unequivocally linked toxic chemicals to a host of health issues, including cancers, hormonal disruptions, weakened immune systems and neurological damage. Shockingly, only about 10 percent of cancers are hereditary, suggesting that a significant portion of cancer cases could be prevented by mitigating exposure to these harmful substances. The book underscores the alarming ubiquity of these chemicals. They contaminate our air, water and soil and are found in the bodies of nearly all humans, regardless of age. They even appear in mother's milk and are likely present in the tissues of unborn children. The sources of these toxins are diverse and ubiquitous, ranging from industrial and municipal wastes to common household items like plastics, furnishings and pesticides. Hoernschemeyer emphasizes that while maintaining a healthy lifestyle is crucial, it is not sufficient. "We must also live in a healthy environment, free from air and water pollution and toxic chemicals in our food and homes," he asserts. The health effects of these chemicals are profound and far-reaching. The Generation Toxic report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, for instance, highlights the risks to children, linking toxic chemicals to neurological defects such as autism and ADHD. The book also delves into the role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which interfere with the body's hormonal systems. These chemicals are associated with a range of health issues, including reproductive problems, obesity and diabetes. The World Health Organization's report "The State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals" further underscores the pervasive role of these chemicals in many modern illnesses. Hoernschemeyer offers several practical steps: Educate yourself: Understanding the toxic substances in your environment is the first step. Learn about their sources and how they enter your body. Minimize exposure: Make conscious choices to reduce your exposure. This includes buying organic foods, using natural cleaning products and avoiding plastics that contain harmful chemicals like BPA and phthalates. Advocate for change: Support policies and regulations that protect public health. Advocate for stronger environmental protections and hold corporations accountable for the chemicals they produce. Support research: Encourage and support scientific research into the health effects of toxic chemicals. The more we know, the better equipped we are to make informed decisions. Live mindfully: Be aware of the products you bring into your home. Opt for natural materials and products that are free from harmful chemicals. He also emphasizes the critical role of science and policy in addressing this issue. He calls for a shift towards a precautionary approach, where chemicals are proven safe before they are introduced into the market, rather than the other way around. In conclusion, "Healthy Living in a Contaminated World" is a compelling call to action. It urges readers to be vigilant, informed and proactive in protecting their health and the health of future generations. The book is not just a warning but a guide to navigating a world where toxic threats are an everyday reality. As Hoernschemeyer aptly puts it, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world, starting with the choices we make every day." Learn more about the book "Healthy Living in a Contaminated World" by watching the video below. This video is from the BrightLearn channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include: Brighteon.ai Brighteon.com April 23, 2025: The invasion of Ukraine led to unexpectedly large Russian casualties. As the war went on, Russia had to rely more on cash inducements to obtain more troops. This worked, but many of the new soldiers were older men who were seeking money for their children or grandchildren. Unfortunately, a lot of these soldiers, young and old, did not make it back. Russian wounded tended to remain on the battlefield where they died from lack of first aid or emergency medical care. Russian medical care in combat units, especially during combat, was never very effective and often not even available. Worse, wounded soldiers were often sent back to their units after poor medical treatment. This led to still festering wounds getting infected. This left the returned soldier unable to perform well in combat. In the combat zone there was poor or nonexistent medical treatment for the wounded. It was the same for diseases that of the breakout among troops in the combat zone. At one point Russian troops in Ukraine suffered from what was called mouse fever and received little treatment. This meant a growing number of Russian troops were disabled by the mouse fever, which Russian military medical personnel have been slow to deal with. In part thats because this is a new ailment, and the Russian medical community has not yet found a way to effectively cope. It's a different situation with Ukrainian troops, where the army has been quick to adopt western military practices. The traditional Ukrainian military feldsher, or medic with practical but no formal medical training, received more training and better equipment than their Russian counterparts. The results have been dramatic. About 40 percent of Russian casualties died compared to only 20 percent of Ukrainian casualties because the Russians in this war often get no battlefield medical treatment whatsoever. The Ukrainians eagerly adopted western combat medical practices, which were above average during World War Two and continued to improve after that war. Subsequently western forces have at least minimal battle treatment, largely by getting the wounded off the battlefield to be treated by medics and eventually sent to field hospitals where surgery and other emergency treatment was available. It has long been known that wounded soldiers in freezing conditions died of exposure or shock within about an hour unless they are carried to shelter, but that is not happening for Russian soldiers in this war at all even though it was done somewhat during World War Two. Soviet field medics then were generally women with no medical training whose major job was to crawl out into battlefields with groundsheets, roll wounded soldiers onto those, and then drag them back to an aid station. There are no such Russian female medics in this war so wounded who cannot themselves crawl to a rear aid station generally die. Prospective recruits know this and thats another reason for avoiding military service. One of the more amazing, and underreported, aspects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are the dramatically lower American casualties compared to Vietnam, and previous 20th century wars. The casualty rate in Iraq was a third of what it was in Vietnam. It was even lower in Afghanistan and all subsequent conflicts. Medical care had gotten much better, quicker, and faster. Not only were procedures more effective, but badly wounded soldiers got to the operating table more quickly. Field medics now had capabilities that, during Vietnam, only surgeons had. All this is one reason why the ratio of wounded to killed was 6 in Vietnam, compared to 7.3 for Iraq. In Ukraine, Ukrainian troops benefit from these changes, their Russian adversaries do not. The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has brought about a major change in how the United States handled combat casualties. The result was over 90 percent of the wounded troops survived their wounds. That's the highest rate in history. There are several reasons for this. The main one is that medics, and the troops themselves, are being trained to deliver more complex and effective first aid more quickly. Military doctors now talk of the platinum 10 minutes, meaning that if you can keep the wounded soldier, especially the ones who are badly hurt, alive for ten minutes, their chances of survival go way up. Before that the goal was the golden hour. That reduced deaths among wounded troops, but the ten minute goal reduced the death rate to a much greater extent. Medics have been equipped and trained to perform procedures previously done only by physicians, while troops are trained to do some procedures previously handled only by medics. This skill upgrade is made possible by a number of factors. First, over the last few decades, there has been continuous development in methods and equipment for emergency medicine practiced by ambulance crews and staff in emergency rooms. These practices were initially slow to be adopted by the military. Decades ago, because of the fighting in Iraq, it had nearly all been adopted by military medical personnel. This was often due to medics in reserve units often having full time jobs as emergency medical personnel. As much as combat deaths have been reduced in the last decade, by more than half, there are still some types of wounds for which there is no battlefield treatment, meaning the victim will die before more extensive treatment can be obtained. Chief among these are abdominal wounds, where the abdominal aorta is opened. When that happens the victim bleeds to death in minutes. Now there is a solution for this in the form of a belt that is placed on the abdomen and activated. A bladder inflates which puts sufficient pressure on the abdominal aorta to stop the bleeding or reduce it enough to make it possible to get the casualty to a surgeon. While tourniquets have been around for thousands of years, these devices only work on limbs. Preventing death from most other rapid blood loss situations was achieved in the last decade with the development and widespread use of powders and granules that could quickly stop the bleeding. First came special bandages like the Chitosan Hemostatic Dressing, more commonly called HemCon. This was basically a freeze dried substance that caused rapid clotting of blood and was incorporated into what otherwise looked like a typical battlefield bandage. It greatly reduced bleeding, which had become the most common cause of death among wounded American troops. This device was a major breakthrough in bandage technology. Over 95 percent of the time, the HemCon bandages stopped bleeding, especially in areas where a tourniquet could not be applied. This did not work when the abdominal aorta was involved. HemCon was followed by WoundStat powder to deal with some of the bleeding that HemCon could not handle. While medics and troops prefer the bandage type device, there are situations where WoundStat, a fine granular substance is a better solution, especially in the hands of a medic. Only the medics got packets, usually two of WoundStat powder. That's because this is only needed for deep wounds and has a theoretical risk of causing fatal clots if it gets into the bloodstream. WoundStat was but one of many new medical tools for battlefield medicine that greatly increased the effectiveness of the immediate within minutes or seconds, after getting hit, by medical care for troops. This effort consisted of three programs. First, there was the development of new medical tools and treatments that troops could quickly and safely be taught to use. This included stuff like HemCon. Then came the equipping of medics, about one for every 30 or so combat troops with more powerful tools, so that troops were less likely to bleed to death or suffocate from certain types of wounds that are not fatal if treated quickly enough. Finally, there was the Combat Lifesaver program, which more than tripled the number of medics by putting selected soldiers through a 40 hour CLS or Combat Lifesaver course in the most common medical procedures soldiers can perform to deal with the most dangerous types of wounds usually encountered. These CLS trained soldiers are not medics, of course, but they do make available in combat crucial medical treatments. Thus, they are sort of medics lite, which is close enough if you are badly wounded and in need of some prompt medical treatment. During the last two centuries major wars have tended to produce significant improvements in medical care. This is what has happened in the past decade but in a much accelerated fashion. For example, since September 11, 2001, over two million American troops went off to war and about two percent of them were killed or wounded. Only 12 percent of the 57,000 combat zone wounds were fatal, the lowest percentage in military history. This was largely due to major improvements in dealing with rapid blood loss when a major artery was severed and the increased speed with which complex medical care could be delivered to wounded troops. New medical technologies also made it possible to detect injuries like brain trauma that, in the past, was very difficult to detect and treat. More of these improvements reached wounded Ukrainian troops than their Russian adversaries. The Combat Lifesaver course teaches the troops how to do things like inserting breathing tubes and other emergency surgical procedures to restore breathing. The CLS troops have skills most likely to be needed in life-saving situations when a medic is not available. The additional emergency medical training and new emergency first aid gear, the CLS bag, have saved hundreds of lives and reduced the severity of even more wounds. Enough troops have taken CLS training so that there is one for every 10-15 combat troops and one for every 20 or so support troops on convoy or security duty. These new developments were also popular with civilian emergency medical services, and many of the experienced combat medics coming out of the military went to work as EMTs or Emergency Medical Technicians, thus increasing the quality of care for civilian accident victims. This was similar to what happened to the EMT field after the Vietnam War, when ambulance crews rapidly evolved from simply transporting accident victims, after a little first aid, to EMTs who could administer procedures that previously only doctors could handle. This followed the experience in World War II, where war demands led to development of mass production of the newly created antibiotics and that led to a revolution in surgery techniques. Second, there's the high intelligence and skill levels of the volunteer military. High enlistment standards have largely gone unnoticed by most people, but within the military it is well known that combat troops are much brighter than at any time in the past and can handle more complex equipment and techniques. Getting the combat troops to learn these techniques is no problem because, for them, it could be a matter of life and death. Third, medical teams capable of performing complex surgery are closer to the combat zone. These teams, like the medics and troops, have more powerful tools and techniques. This includes things like telemedicine, where you do a video conference with more expert doctors back in the U.S., to help save a patient. All this is part of a century old trend. During World War II, the golden hour standard of getting wounded troops to an operating table was developed. Antibiotics were also developed at about the same time, along with the helicopter, whose first combat mission, in 1945 Burma, was to recover injured troops. These new developments are not anything exotic. Finally, the military medical community has a track record of success that the troops know about. So everyone realizes that if they pitch in, chances of survival are good, and they are. In Ukraine the results are startling because Ukrainian troops who are wounded get better battlefield medical treatment and are quickly moved to where they can receive hospital level care. Its another reason why Ukrainian troops have higher morale and combat capability than their Russian counterparts. The Russian troops often have no professional medical care from medics, or even feldsher, while the Ukrainians do. Russian wounded troops who are captured are allowed to let their families know they are alive but injured. Eventually these Russian troops are able to let their families know that they received much better medical care from the Ukrainians that the Russian military could provide. Due to scheduled maintenance from Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 10 PM to Sunday, March 16, 2025, at 2 AM, there may be interruptions for our News Gazette Digital subscribers. During this time frame, please click on any News Gazette website content without logging into your News Gazette Digital subscription account. Thank you for your patience during this scheduled maintenance. Children with autism are believed to face difficulties in social interactions, besides also lacking the ability to be attentive while interacting with others. In fact, eye contact avoidance is a key behavioral marker in the clinical diagnosis of autism. However, most developing children also seldom make direct eye contact during everyday play interactions, calling into question the applicability of this behavioral marker in diagnoses. Conducting further investigations to decode the behavioral indicators of autism, a new study led by Lu Qu and Qiaoyun Liu at East China Normal University's Shanghai Institute of Artificial Intelligence for Education revealed that autistic children exhibit social attention patterns similar to their typically developing peers during play, with a primary focus on toys rather than faces. Published online in the ECNU Review of Education on March 17, 2025, their findings challenge the longstanding assumption that reduced eye contact is a definitive marker of autism. According to the researchers, most conventional studies use an artificial clinical setting to measure children's joint attention skills. These tests involve presenting stimuli, such as toys, to children and observing their gaze patterns to assess their ability to follow and initiate joint attention. However, these tests are usually conducted in standardized lab environments and may not fully reflect children's performance in natural settings. Tiding over these conventional methods, the authors in this study utilized a novel, non-intrusive AI-powered observation lab to analyze gaze, vocalizations, and movements in natural settingsaddressing limitations of traditional lab-based assessments like the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). This approach captured authentic behaviors, revealing that standardized tests may overlook critical social communication strategies. The research involved multimodal behavioral analysis of children across three groups: typically developing children, autistic children, and children with developmental delays. Ethical approval was obtained from East China Normal University, with funding from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and National Key Research and Development Program. The results of this study were quite surprising. Both autistic and typically developing children spent 60%-80% of their playtime focused on toys and only 6%-14% looking at adults' faces, suggesting that eye contact avoidance may not be unique to autism only. Nonverbal communicative cues, such as caregivers' hand movements, were also found to play a significant role in joint attention during interactions. These results align with recent studies in Current Biology (2022), which found that children rarely look at faces during natural play, regardless of autism diagnosis. These findings may have important implications for understanding attention spans in children with autism. According to the authors, the long-held belief that autistic children avoid eye contact may be exaggerated. While autistic children are known to look at their parents' faces less often than typically developing children, this difference may not be that significant. Additionally, these findings suggest that children may use other communication cues to participate in social settings, especially during play-related activities. Moreover, these findings could have significant implications for clinical practice as well. Many clinical interventions for autistic children focus on improving attention and encouraging eye contact. However, the results of this study suggest that these interventions may not be suitable for all autistic children, especially for play-related activities. Instead, the authors suggest that using alternative interventions, such as parents' hand positions and communicative gestures, could be more effective. "Our findings emphasize the need to rethink interventions focused solely on eye contact," say lead researchers Qu and Liu. Adding further, they claim, "Targeting broader cues, such as gestures, could better support autistic children's communication development." The study calls for updated diagnostic frameworks and personalized intervention strategies that reflect the diverse ways in which children engage socially. According to Qu and Liu, "In this era of artificial intelligence, our understanding of the core symptoms of autism needs continuous updating. Classical research paradigms must be re-examined, and continuous exploration and research must be conducted to understand children's natural behaviors in social communication, especially in a natural environment." Going ahead, the researchers hope that studies like this help improve and provide appropriate and effective support for autistic children. CBSE 10th, 12th Results 2025 Date: Scorecards Expected To Be Released Soon, Where To Check? Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 17:18 IST CBSE 10th, 12th Results 2025: To access their mark sheets, students need to provide login details, including their roll number, school number, and date of birth. CBSE Results 2025: Based on previous trends, the results are likely to be released by mid-May. (Representative/File Photo) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is anticipated to announce the results of the Class 10 and 12 exams for 2025 soon. Based on previous trends, the results are likely to be released by mid-May. Students who appeared for the exams can check their results on the official website results.cbse.nic.in or cbse.nic.in. To access their mark sheets, students need to provide login details, including their roll number, school number, and date of birth. Recommended Stories CBSE 10th, 12th Result 2025: Where To Check? cbseresults.nic.in results.cbse.nic.in cbse.nic.in cbse.gov.in digilocker.gov.in DigiLocker App Umang App SMS Pariksha Sangam portal To pass the CBSE exam, students must achieve a minimum of 33 per cent in all subjects (both theory and practical). The board also offers a 9-point grading system with A1 being the highest grade and E being the lowest (requires improvement). Every grade has a corresponding range of marks. For instance, marks between 91 and 100 are given an A1, 81 to 90 are given an A2, and so forth. Students must also note that CBSE does not release toppers list. It will issue the merit certificate to top 0.1 per cent of 10th and 12th students who have scored the highest marks. The toppers list will not be released to avoid unhealthy competition. The board has further stated that it does not award second or third division to students. In the previous year, the CBSE Class 10 board results showed a pass rate of 93.60 per cent, while the Class 12 board results recorded a pass percentage of 87.98 per cent. Girls outperformed boys in the Class 10 pass percentage by 2.04 per cent and in the Class 12 pass percentage by 6.40 per cent. CBSE Class 10: Previous Year Pass Percentages 2024: 93.60 per cent 2023: 93.12 per cent 2022: 94.40 per cent 2021: 99.04 per cent 2020: 91.46 per cent 2019: 92.45 per cent CBSE Class 12: Previous Year Pass Percentages 2024: 87.98 per cent 2023: 87.33 per cent 2022: 92.71 per cent 2021: 99.37 per cent 2020: 88.78 per cent top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all 2019: 83.4 per cent 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: April 27, 2025, 17:09 IST TS SSC Result 2025 Expected Soon At bse.telangana.gov.in, Know Class 10 Passing Marks Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 12:47 IST TS SSC Result 2025: Students can check their results on the official website of TSBSE at bse.telangana.gov.in, once declared. Assam HS Result 2025 Out: Students can download Assam HS Result 2025 through ahsec.assam.gov.in. The Board of Secondary Education is expected to release the Telangana State Secondary School Certificate Examination (TS SSC) results 2025 soon. Last year, the Class 10 exam results were declared on April 30 at 11 am via a press conference. Students can check their results on the official website of TSBSE at bse.telangana.gov.in, once declared. However, in case the official website does not open due to heavy traffic on the result day, one can also seek the results via SMS, DigiLocker and the T Folio app. Recommended Stories TS SSC Result 2025: Passing Marks To pass the TS SSC exams, students must score at least 35 per cent on every subject out of 100. Those who score below the required minimum marks will have to appear for the supplementary exam, details of which will be released by the board soon after the results are out. TS SSC Result 2025: How To Check Online? Step 1: Go to bse.telangana.gov.in, the official website of the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education. Step 2: You will find a TS SSC result 2025 link on the websites homepage, click on it. Step 3: Once a new window opens, put your roll number and click on submit. Step 4: Your Telangana SSC 2025 results will appear on screen. TS SSC Result 2025: How To Check Via SMS? Step 1: Open the SMS app on your phone. Step 2: Type TS10 followed by your roll number. Step 3: Send it to 56263. Step 4: The results will be sent to you via SMS. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all TS SSC Result: What Happend In 2024? Last year, the exams took place between March 18 to April 2. A total of 91.31 per cent of the students who took the exam last year passed. or 451272 out of the 494207 regular students who took the Telangana Board Class 10 test cleared it. As many as 245208 girls appeared for the exam of which 228616 passed. The pass percentage among female students stood at 93.23 per cent. A total of 248999 boys appeared for the exam of which 222656 passed. The pass percentage of boys was 89.42 per cent. The top five districts in terms of passing percentages were Nirmal, Siddipet, Rajanna Sircilla, Jangaon, and Sanga Reddy. About the Author Sukanya Nandy Sukanya Nandy is a sub-editor at News18.com. She has been writing and reporting for the education and careers section of the website since 2021. She completed her graduation in English followed PG in Journalism... Read More Sukanya Nandy is a sub-editor at News18.com. She has been writing and reporting for the education and careers section of the website since 2021. She completed her graduation in English followed PG in Journalism... Read More First Published: April 27, 2025, 12:43 IST 19 Arrested Over Social Media Posts On Pahalgam Attack In Northeast; CM Sarma Warns Of NSA Action Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 07:34 IST Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also warned that anyone found directly or indirectly supporting Pakistan would face action under the National Security Act (NSA). Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (PTI File) Pahalgam Attack: At least 19 people were arrested across three northeastern states by Saturday for making seditious" remarks about the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam, which left 26 people dead. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that three more people were held in Assam, one each in Hajo near Guwahati city, Hailakandi, and Nagaon, bringing the total number of arrests in the state to 14. Further, four arrests were made in Tripura and one in Meghalaya. Recommended Stories The Assam Chief Minister also warned that anyone found directly or indirectly supporting Pakistan would face action under the National Security Act (NSA). If required, we will impose provisions of the National Security Act on them. We are examining all social media posts, and action will be taken against those who, we feel, are anti-national There are no similarities between Bharat and Pakistan. The two countries are enemy nations and we must remain that way," CM Sarma said. Further, taking to X, he said: My job is clear- to come down hard on Pro-Pakistani and Pro-Bangladeshi elements in Assam and to take stringent action against them." My job is clear- to come down hard on Pro-Pakistani and Pro-Bangladeshi elements in Assam and to take stringent action against them. pic.twitter.com/AIQ0HvotIw Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 26, 2025 The first arrest in Assam took place on Thursday, when Aminul Islam, an MLA from the opposition All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), was detained and charged with sedition for claiming that the 2019 Pulwama attack and Tuesdays Pahalgam attack were government conspiracies." On Friday, he was remanded to four days of police custody. CM Sarma on Friday took to X, detailing the arrests made so far over social media posts, and said: Assam will not tolerate any individual who, directly or indirectly, supports or defends Pakistan in connection with the heinous attack in Pahalgam." The other arrests in Assam till Friday included Md Jabir Hussain from Hailakandi, Md AK Bahauddin and Md Javed Mazumder from Silchar, Md Mahahar Mia from Morigaon and Md Sahil Ali from Sivasagar. Md Musta Ahmed alias Sahel from Karimganj was arrested on Friday night for posting Pakistan Zindabad" on Facebook. Among those arrested, Hussain is a journalist, Bahauddin is a computer science student at Assam University in Silchar, and Mazumder is a lawyer. On Saturday, police apprehended 25-year-old Md Jarif Ali and Anil Bania, the district secretary of the student organization Satra Mukti Sangram Parishad, from Biswanath. Separate arrests were also made: Sumon Mazumdar, also known as Bulbul Alom Mazumdar, was detained in Hailakandi, Mashud Azhar in Nagaon, and another individual near Hajo, close to Guwahati all accused of posting anti-India comments" online. Meanwhile, in Cachar district, two more individuals were arrested for allegedly posting content supporting Pakistan" on social media. Terrorists opened fire in Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all About the Author Ronit Singh Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Location : Assam, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 07:07 IST April 23, 2025: Over the last year there have been several underwater cables cut in the Baltic Sea. The damage was done using anchors dragged across the seabed. The common factor in all this was Russia and its oil smuggling operation. The economic sanctions on Russia because of the Ukraine War made Russia desperate. Russia has a fleet of tankers that operate in the shadows to smuggle Russian oil. The more the Russians carry out these acts, the more the sanctions are increased. Countries bordering the Baltic formed a force of patrol boats that patrolled areas where underwater cables were. If a Russian ship moved into the area anyway, local navies would send out a warship and board the Russian vessel for a chat. Russia is not the first nation to attack via the hundreds of underwater cable networks around the world. In 2009 the U.S. Navy found itself defending underwater Internet cables. That's where most of the planet's Internet traffic spends most of its time, as it travels from continent to continent via fiber-optic cables. The navy proposed to undertake more aggressive operations to prevent terrorists, or hostile nations, from trying to cut these cables. In 2005, the navy began discussing missions that were long known but not admitted. There were the Cold War missions to tap into Russian undersea communications cables. For all we know, American subs are still doing this. It's not the sort of thing you publicize. Over the last fifty years the navy has acquired a lot of secret experience, and specialized equipment for these missions. Then the navy offered to use some of this knowledge to help guard those fiber-optic cable networks. The navy has a lot of specialized equipment for this, including both submarines modified to do so and a very expensive Seawolf class sub built specifically for such missions. Then there is the undersea passive sonar system. During the Cold War, there were several networks of these underwater listening devices, which could detect ships and subs over a thousand kilometers away. The U.S. still maintains a lead in that kind of technology, as well as other techniques for tracking underwater traffic. While it's possible for a hostile party to cut underwater data cables, it's even more likely to happen by accident. There have been several cables cut by ship anchors in the last decade. Then there are natural disasters like undersea landslides and earthquakes. While the navy can't do much about accidents, they can, in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard keep track of a lot of the merchant and military ships on the world's oceans. If the navy has a plan for Internet defense at sea, much of it will involve secret projects. You won't hear much about it until it's all over. American submarines have tapped into those undersea cables several times. These fiber optic cables moved enormous amounts of data, with five gigabytes a second being a common throughput. To give you a sense of what that means, consider that iPods have over a hundred gigabytes of storage. A fiber optic cable can fill up a 60 gigabyte drive in 12 seconds. It can fill 300 of those drives in an hour, 7200 in a day, and 216,000 in a month. U.S. Navy submarines equipped to tap into fiber optic cables cant hold enough hard drives or tape drives to hold more than a week or so worth of data. The problem is no longer one of grabbing the data, but of quickly finding what you need. The cable tapping subs were equipped with a powerful computer system that could process data as it was collected. These submarines also contain an underwater joining room for splicing and tapping into, fiber optic cable. This is a very tricky task, considering the high voltage running through the cable, and the need to tap in without interrupting service, and alerting the cable operator. Another factor is all this is that some 90 percent of transoceanic fiber optic cables eventually cross American or British territory. So getting into the cable is not impossible, but is kept very secret as is any news about the software, and other technology, that would be used to scan the data stream coming through the fiber optic cable. But that raises another question. How long are you going to park the sub over that tap in order to filter its throughput? The solution is to have most of the taps being made on land, or close to land so another cable can be run to a land station containing computer equipment to handle the filtering. The Americans subs involved concentrate on undersea fiber optic cables out there that dont cross friendly territory. Whatever these operations actually involve, it will be decades before the general public knows the details of what is inside that sub, and what exactly it does. 45-Year-Old Social Activist Shot Dead By Terrorists In J-K's Kupwara Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 09:49 IST According to the officials, the terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas late on Saturday. TRF, an offshoot of the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba, is believed to be responsible for the Pahalgam attack. (Representational image) A 45-year-old social activist has been killed after being shot at by suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district, officials said on Sunday. The terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas late on Saturday, the officials said. Recommended Stories Magray was rushed to a hospital, they said and added it was not immediately clear why the ultras targeted the social activist. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Later, he succumbed to injuries. Police are investigating all angles, the major one being that terrorists attacked him as he was also a social activist. (With inputs from PTI) Location : Kupwara, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 06:51 IST Ajit Doval To Skip BRICS NSA Meet As Pakistan Tensions Spiral After Pahalgam: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 13:39 IST In the backdrop of the Pahalgam attack, the BRICS NSA meeting is likely to address cross-border terrorism, along with other global security concerns. Indias NSA Ajit Doval. (File pic) National Security Adviser Ajit Dovals visit to Brazil for the BRICS NSA meeting on April 30 appears uncertain at this stage amid rising tensions with Pakistan over the recent Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. If Doval misses the meeting, due to his engagement in Indias internal security matters, Deputy NSA Pawan Kapoor will represent him at the forum, reported The Economic Times, citing sources. Recommended Stories Notably, in the backdrop of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, the BRICS NSA meeting is likely to address cross-border terrorism, along with other global security concerns. Sources said that combating cross-border terror, terrorism financing, and terror infrastructure will be key topics on the agenda of the BRICS NSA discussions. Terrorists unleashed gunfire in Pahalgam on April 22, killing at least 26 people mostly tourists in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Jaishankar To Also Skip Foreign Ministers Meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is also likely to skip the BRICS Foreign Minister meeting on April 28-29 in Brazil due to the ongoing tensions with Pakistan, the report claimed. Sources said, however, that New Delhi has not taken any final call on EAMs visit to Brazil. In unfavourable conditions, Indias BRICS Sherpa could represent the country at the meeting. Foreign ministers and national security advisors from the 11 BRICS member countries will gather to finalise and refine the agenda for the July summit, with key focuses on artificial intelligence, climate finance and cross-border payments initiatives. The BRICS summit, scheduled for July 6-7 in Rio de Janeiro, is expected to adopt a document on artificial intelligence aligned with a multilateral approach, as well as a document on climate finance, sources said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The foreign ministers meeting will also address international hotspots, including Ukraine and West Asia, according to reports. About the Author Ronit Singh Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More First Published: April 27, 2025, 13:04 IST Hanumangarhi Chief Priest To Walk Out Of Temple In 7 Decades To Visit Ram Mandir Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 18:09 IST Bestowed with the title of Gaddi Nasheen, Mahant Prem Das is 70 years old and has never left the temple premises, which is spread over 52 bighas in Ayodhya. Ram Mandir in Ayodhya (PTI Image) Hanumangarhi Temple chief priest will leave his home for the first time to visit the nearby Ram Mandir on Akshay Tritya on April 30. Bestowed with the title of Gaddi Nasheen, Mahant Prem Das is 70 years old and has never left the temple premises, which is spread over 52 bighas in Ayodhya. Recommended Stories According to a centuries-old custom, the Gaddi Nasheen is barred from walking out of the temple all his life. Ayodhya resident Prajjwal Singh told PTI, "The tradition that started with the establishment of the temple in the 18th century was so strict that the Gaddi Nasheen was barred from appearing even before local courts." The break from tradition comes after Mahant Prem Das expressed a desire to visit the Ram Temple. He conveyed the wish to the Panch (members) of Nirvani Akhara, who unanimously granted him their permission for the visit. "On Akshay Tritiya, which is on April 30, the Gaddi Nasheen will lead a procession, which will also feature elephants, camels, and horses, from Hanumangarhi to Ram Lalla along with the Akharas Nishaan (insignia)," Mahant Ramkumar Das, the chief of Nirvani Akhara, said. He said the chief priest will be accompanied by Naga sadhus, their disciples, devotees, and local traders. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The procession will reach the banks of the Saryu River at 7 am for a ritual bath and then proceed towards the Ram Temple, he said. On January 22, 2024, an idol of the Ram Lalla was consecrated at the Ayodhya Temple in a landmark event. Parts of temple still remain under construction. Location : Ayodhya, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 18:09 IST Houses Of Two More J&K Terrorists Demolished As Crackdown Intensifies After Pahalgam Attack Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 08:58 IST The residences of two more suspected terrorists, including an affiliate of Jaish-e-Mohammed, were demolished in Jammu and Kashmir Houses of terror affiliates bombed in crackdown after Pahalgam attack in J&K | Image/CNN-News18 Pahalgam Terror Attack: The residences of two more suspected terrorists, including an affiliate of Jaish-e-Mohammed, were demolished in Jammu and Kashmir as authorities stepped up their crackdown following the Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives. Houses of nine terrorists or their associates have been demolished in the past 72 hours, with authorities saying similar action will be taken against others involved in terror activities. Recommended Stories As part of the latest crackdown, authorities demolished the houses of two active terrorists Jameel Ahmed Sheer Gojri of Naaz Colony, Bandipora, active since 2016, and Amir Nazir Wani of Khasipora, Tral in Pulwama district, a Jaish-e-Mohammed affiliate who joined terror activities in 2024 in controlled blasts. A J&K Police spokesman said on Saturday that raids were carried out at more than 60 places in Srinagar to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem." The raids were conducted to seize weapons, documents, digital devices, and other materials, to collect evidence and gather intelligence to detect and prevent any conspiratorial or terrorist activities in the Valley, the police said. This decisive action of J&K Police aims to dismantle the terrorist ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir by identifying and taking legal action against individuals engaged in such anti-national and criminal activities," said a police spokesman. J&K Polices Crackdown On Terror Earlier on Saturday, authorities demolished the two-storey house of Adnan Safi Dar, also known as Adnan Shafi, an active terrorist from Wandina Zainapora in Shopian district, who has been associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and The Resistance Front (TRF) since 2024 after joining militancy following the killing of a non-local labourer. Separately, the house of active Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Farooq Teedwa was damaged in a blast at Kalaroos in Kupwara as part of the Centres zero-tolerance policy against terrorism. In a similar action, the residence of another active LeT terrorist, Amir Nazir, was demolished in Daramdora, Pulwama, with sources saying that these actions were intended to send a stern message to local terrorists and their families. Terrorists opened fire in Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. Also Read: Pahalgam Attack: Houses Of 5 Terrorists Across J&K Demolished. Who Are They? Where Did They Live? About the Author Ronit Singh Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Location : Jammu and Kashmir, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 08:29 IST 'Combat Ready... Anytime, Anywhere': Indian Navy Carries Out Anti-Ship Firings Amid Pakistan Tensions Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 16:16 IST The firing drills came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after 26 tourists were gunned down by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Indian Navy carrying out anti-ship drills amid escalating tensions with Pakistan. (Indian Navy/X) Indian naval warships have successfully carried out anti-ship firings, revalidating readiness for long-range precision strikes, according to officials. These ships also fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile during the training. The firing drills came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after 26 tourists were gunned down by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam, for which New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for failing to curb cross-border terrorism. Recommended Stories A number of Indian Navy ships are equipped with BrahMos missiles. BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd, an India-Russian joint venture, produces supersonic cruise missiles that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft, or land platforms. BrahMos missile flies at a speed of 2.8 Mach or almost three times the speed of sound. Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long-range precision offensive strike," an Indian Navy official said. Indian Navy stands combat-ready credible and future-ready in safeguarding the nations maritime interests anytime, anywhere, anyhow." #IndianNavy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike.#IndianNavy stands #CombatReady #Credible and #FutureReady in safeguarding the nations maritime pic.twitter.com/NWwSITBzKK SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) April 27, 2025 Terrorists unleashed gunfire in Pahalgam on April 22, killing at least 26 people mostly tourists in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the terror attack, prompting India to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Pakistan on all fronts. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all India announced a raft of diplomatic measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. New Delhi also announced the shutting down of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, the suspension of visas for Pakistani nationals and the scaling down of top officials at the High Commission. Pakistan responded by suspending trade, and warned of a measured response if India takes military action. Moreover, Pakistani forces have violated ceasefire for three consecutive nights by opening unprovoked" fire at multiple locations along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Army effectively retaliated to the speculative firing. 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: April 27, 2025, 12:00 IST Israel Strikes Beirut's Southern Suburbs For Third Time Since Ceasefire Began Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 22:42 IST In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group A man walks across from a fire from Israeli strikes following evacuation orders in Beirut's southern suburb on April 27, 2025. (AFP photo) Israeli jets struck Beiruts southern suburbs Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. Recommended Stories A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, which hit what looked like a metal tent situated between two buildings with three bombs, according to an Associated Press photographer on the ground and footage circulating on social media. The photographer saw two burned and destroyed trucks inside the hangar. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In the warning, the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities in the Hadath area and urged residents to move at least 300 metres from the site before the strike. Two warning strikes followed. Fighter jets were heard over parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Al-Jamous neighbourhood, where gunfire was shot into the air to warn residents and urge them to evacuate, as families fled in panic. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollahs top leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah, as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike on Beiruts southern suburbs, calling on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to assume their responsibilities" and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israels continued actions undermine stability" and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis posted on X that the latest Israeli strike generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy". She urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding and the implementation of the UN resolution that ended the war. Sundays strike follows two earlier attacks on the capitals southern suburbs, the first taking place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning, and the second on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official. The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, has recently warned that if Israels attacks on Lebanon continued and if Lebanons government doesnt act to stop them, the group would eventually resort to other alternatives. Kassem also said that Hezbollahs fighters wont disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese airspace. Under the US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January, while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Earlier on Sunday, a drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the Health Ministry. In a post on X that included footage of the strike, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hezbollah member, where he was working to rebuild Hezbollahs terrorist capabilities in the area." Last week, the Lebanese government said 190 people have been killed and 485 wounded in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. The Lebanese military has gradually deployed in the countrys southern region, and Beirut has urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks and withdraw its forces still present on five hilltops in Lebanese territory. Location : Lebanon First Published: April 27, 2025, 22:42 IST Jammu & Kashmir Assembly To Convene One-Day Special Session To Discuss Pahalgam Terror Attack Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 22:52 IST Terrorists opened fire at Baisaran Valley in Jammu-Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. A total of 26 tourists were killed in the attack. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has summoned a one-day special session (AP image used for representation) Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has summoned a one-day special session of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly tomorrow to discuss the recent terror attack in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives. The assembly will pay tribute to the victims killed in the attack, which will follow a discussion on the attack and related security issues. A resolution strongly condemning the terror attack is also expected to be passed during the assembly. Recommended Stories Several meetings are being held in the wake of the terrorist attack. Earlier in the day, CDS General Anil Chauhan met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. Following that, Singh also visited Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence. Union Minister Jitendra Singh also held a security review meeting in Udhampur today. The meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner Udhampur Saloni Rai (IAS), DIG Udhampur-Reasi Range Sarah Rizvi, SSP Udhampur Amod Ashok Nagpure, and other officials from the Army, Police, and District Administration. Singh stressed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is monitoring the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He further added that whatever decision would be taken it would be in the best interest of the public. Overall, I feel that we do not need to worry or panic under the leadership of Modithe home ministry and defence ministry are taking a very thoughtful decision based on their inputs and we believe that whatever decisions are taken by the government would be taken in the best interest of the public. We should be assured of that," the minister said. ALSO READ | Baisaran Reels Videographer, Who Recorded Entire Pahalgam Attack, Is NIAs Key Witness | Exclusive In his Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to deliver the toughest" punishment to terrorists and assured justice to the victims. Meanwhile, taking strong action against Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attack, India cancelled the visas of all the Pakistani nationals with immediate effect from April 27. Centre also suspended the Indus Waters Treaty and closed the Attari Border. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Indians across the globe stood together and protest against the attack. EAM Jaishankar on Sunday conveyed the importance of zero tolerance for terrorism to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. The duo also discussed the cross-border terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Location : Srinagar, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 22:23 IST 'Crawled Under Fence, Took Cover In Pit For An Hour': Mysuru Survivor Recalls Pahalgam Horror Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 10:12 IST Prasanna Kumar Bhat, who visited Pahalgam with his family, survived the attack along with 35-40 others thanks to quick thinking by his brother, who is an Army officer. Prasanna Kumar Bhat, hailing from Mysuru, recalled his experience after surviving the Pahalgam terror attack. (Photo: X) As terrorists opened fire on tourists in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam on April 22, killing 26 people, a man from Mysuru recalled the barbaric act, having narrowly escaped the attack along with 35-40 others with the help of his brother, a senior officer in the Indian Army. We survived the horror to tell the story of what can only be described as a monstrous act and paint the heavenly beauty blood-red with hellfire. By the grace of God, luck, and some quick thinking from an Army officer saved not only our lives but the lives of another 35-40 people that day, wrote Prasanna Kumar Bhat in a post on X. Recommended Stories Bhat, his wife, brother and sister-in-law came to Pahalgam to visit the Mini Switzerland". They were exploring the place and clicking pictures shortly before terrorists opened fire on tourists. At around 2:25 pm, they heard two gunshots, followed by a pin drop silence for a minute. Im sure this was the first time most of them heard the loud and terrifying sound of a shot fired from an AK-47. We ran to the nearest cover point behind the mobile toilet that was installed on the side, some 400 m from the entrance," he said. After seeing two bodies lying on the ground, Bhat said his brother immediately knew it was a terrorist attack. Then the hellfire broke, the gunshots came in bursts, and chaos ensued." Yet another survival story from the tainted Baisaran valley in Pahalgam. We survived the horror to tell the story of what can only be described as monstrous act and paint the heavenly beauty blood-red with hellfire.By the grace of the God, luck, and some quick thinking from pic.twitter.com/00ln2y0DJo Prasanna Kumar Bhat (@prasannabhat38) April 25, 2025 People Climbed Under Fence, Hid In Pit Bhat said the entire Baisaran Meadows region was fenced, giving little room to escape. As people started running towards the gate to escape, where the terrorists were waiting, his family saw a terrorist approaching in their direction, so they ran the other way. Luckily, the Bhats found a narrow opening under the fence, and most of the people hiding from the terrorists climbed under the fence. My brother (Army officer) with his wife took cover near the mobile toilet. He managed to calm down the other people nearby. He quickly assessed the situation and understood that the fire was coming from the entry point. So he guided us and 35-40 tourists in the opposite direction," Prasanna Bhat said. The escaping tourists found an opening in the fence due to a drainage pipe and climbed down separately through the muddy slope, which gave some level of protection from direct line of sight. Just imagine the situation of having kids and elderly people with you, and even worse, scattered in the crowd, and you dont know their location and whether they are safe or not. Words cannot describe the terror and horror one feels in such a situation, and you feel really helpless," he wrote. The panic-stricken tourists managed to take cover in a pit, desperately praying for their lives, as Bhats brother alerted the unit stationed in Pahalgam and the Army headquarters in Srinagar. We stayed put in the pit for an hour, petrified, hopeless, and praying for safety. We didnt know if we had to stay put in the same place or run in some random direction, hoping to escape the death trap," he said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all They heard the first sounds of helicopters at 3:40 pm and half an hour, they saw soldiers from special forces, who assured them that the perimeter was secured and it was safe to walk down the hill. The gunshots still echo in our ears, and the terror still makes my gut wrench. This will leave a permanent scar, a memory that cannot be erased of what Kashmirs beauty hides underneath," Bhat said, expressing condolences for the victims and thanking the Indian Army and his brother. 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 : Srinagar, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 10:12 IST NIA Intensifies Probe Into Pahalgam Terror Attack, Examines Eyewitnesses To Uncover Evidence Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 11:07 IST The entry and exit points are being closely scrutinised by the investigating NIA teams for clues to the modus operandi of the terrorists. Pahalgam terror attack: NIA to take over case (AP Image) After taking over the probe of the Pahalgam terror attack case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams, which have been camping at the terror attack site since Wednesday, have intensified the search for evidence. The teams, overseen by an IG, a DIG and an SP from the anti-terror agency, are examining the eyewitnesses who had seen the horrifying attack unfold before their eyes at the peaceful and picturesque Baisaran valley. The eyewitnesses are being questioned in minute detail to piece together the sequence of events that led to one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir. Recommended Stories The entry and exit points are being closely scrutinised by the investigating NIA teams for clues to the modus operandi of the terrorists. The teams, aided by forensic and other experts, are checking the entire area thoroughly for evidence to expose the terror conspiracy that led to the horrendous attack that has shocked the nation. NIA has begun the process of formally taking over the Pahalgam terror attack case, in which 26 innocent tourists were mercilessly shot dead on Tuesday, following orders from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Meanwhile, the security forces have so far revealed the sketches and identities of the terrorists involved in the April 22 terror attack and announced a bounty of Rs 20 lakh on each. According to the police, the three terrorists were identified as Hashim Musa alias Sulaiman, Ali Bhai alias Talha Bhai, and Adil Hussain Thokar. While the first two were Pakistani terrorists, Thokar is a resident of Kashmir, the police have informed. In swift action against the terrorists, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has so far demolished the houses of seven terrorists across the Union Territory, including in districts such as Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Kupwara. Tensions along the India-Pakistan border have escalated following the Pahalgam attack, with Pakistan initiating unprovoked ceasefire violations for the second day, prompting a strong response from the Indian Army. Besides military action, the Centre has tightened screws on Pakistan via diplomatic channels. In the Cabinet Committee for Security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after the attack, bold decisions were taken, including putting the Indus Waters Treaty at abeyance the move which has rattled Pakistan and prompted them to threaten an all-out war" against India. Responding to this, Pakistans Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a Television interview that the Kashmir issue with India would lead to a war. On Friday, Pakistani leader and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari threatened India with blood" if the Indus Treaty is not followed. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Indus is ours and will remain ours either our water will flow through it, or their blood," he had said at a rally. Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri responded to him, stating, Tell him to jump somewhere in water. Well, how will he when there will be no water? Do not dignify such statements. They will get to understand that." First Published: April 27, 2025, 11:07 IST PM Modi On Mann Ki Baat: 'Pahalgam Attackers, Conspirators Will Face The Toughest Response' Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 11:42 IST Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reaffirmed his commitment to delivering severe punishment to terrorists and their backers PM Narendra Modi | File Image/PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reaffirmed his commitment to delivering the toughest" punishment to terrorists and their backers, assuring the families of the Pahalgam attack victims that justice will be served." He further said that Kashmir witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, with the surge in tourism and opportunities for the youth, and noted that the Pahalgam attack was a desperate attempt by the enemies of the nation to derail the regions progress. Recommended Stories I assure the victims families that they will get justice. The conspirators and perpetrators of this attack will face the toughest response," said PM Modi during the 121st episode of his radio programme Mann Ki Baat. PM Modi further said that the Pahalgam terror attack reflects the frustration of those who patronise terrorism," and called it part of a big conspiracy" to once again destroy Kashmir. At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, enemies of the nation and J&K did not like it. Terrorists and their masters want Kashmir to be destroyed once again. That is why such a big conspiracy was hatched. In this war against terrorism, the unity of the nation is our biggest strength," the Prime Minister remarked. Global Leaders Condemned Kashmir Terror The Prime Minister highlighted how global leaders approached him, condemning the terror act in Kashmir, and vowed to stand behind India in its fight against terrorism. Global leaders have called me, written letters, sent messages. Everyone has strongly condemned this heinous terrorist attackThe entire world stands with the 1.4 billion Indians in our fight against terrorism," he said. PM Modi, for the first time, reacted to the Pahalgam attack while addressing a public rally in Bihars Madhubani. He pledged that the terrorists and conspirators behind the attack would get a punishment beyond their imagination. Today, on the soil of Bihar, I say to the whole world, India will identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth. Indias spirit will never be broken by terrorism," PM Modi said. Terrorists unleashed gunfire in Pahalgam on April 22, killing at least 26 people mostly tourists in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the terror attack, prompting India to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Pakistan on all fronts. India announced a raft of measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. New Delhi also announced the shutting down of the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, the suspension of visas for Pakistani nationals and the scaling down of top officials at the High Commission. About the Author Ronit Singh Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More First Published: April 27, 2025, 11:19 IST April 19, 2025: On February 2nd two American B-1B bombers bombed targets in Syria and Iraq. This was in retaliation for an Iranian-sponsored attack on the U.S. Tower 22 supply facility Jordan. An Iran-backed group used armed drones to kill three American soldiers and wound 40 others. The B-1Bs flew from a base in the United States and returned there after the mission was completed. Total time in the air was 34 hours and the mission covered about 45,000 kilometers. This air strike, and many earlier ones, was an example of the U.S. Air Force Global Strike capability. This capability has been evolving since the U.S. Air Force was established in 1947. Formerly the U.S. Army Air Forces, both these organizations regularly used long range strike missions. In 2003 the Department of Defense's Strategic Command or STRATCOM got four new jobs. These included global strike with long range bombers or ICBMs. In addition work continued on integrated missile defenses, integrated information operations by collecting and using information collected via satellites or America's worldwide network of listening stations, and global command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. STRATCOM merged with the Strategic Command, which controlled ICBMs and long range bombers carrying nuclear weapons. STRATCOM worked with Space Command that controlled space satellites and space operations in general. The new STRATCOM had to develop techniques for working with other areas of the Department of Defense. The main reason for putting all these jobs into STRATCOM was because of the need to eliminate competing bureaucracies and insure that needed information was collected and distributed in a timely manner. In 2005 the air force received several B-52 and B-2 bombers to serve as the Global Strike Force. This meant that one or more of these aircraft were on alert and ready to take off immediately, and put bombs on any target on the planet, within twelve hours of getting the order. This assignment was mainly directed at Iran and North Korea, because of the nuclear weapons development programs underway there. The Global Strike bombers could arrive overhead with nukes of their own, if the situation warranted it, but would most likely be armed with dozens of conventional smart bombs. In 2009 air force revived SAC or Strategic Air Command as the Global Strike Command. SAC was disbanded in 1992 because it became unemployed when the Cold War ended in 1991. Then, because of a number of embarrassing problems with nuclear weapons security over a three years period, inspections became more strict and frequent. Scary inspections have become fashionable again, and commanders who didnt get with the program were headed for early retirement. The word from on-high was that the units handling nuclear weapons had to be fanatics about nuclear safety and security. This is a switch from more laid-back post-Cold War practices. All this was a return of the old SAC attitudes. After the first few mishaps handling nukes, many in the air force began trying to revive SAC. Why just act like SAC, when what is really needed is a revival of SAC. This is one of those rare cases where it is recognized that the good old days were better. Or, in this case; meaner, tougher, more effective and safer. The new Global Strike Command or GSC did what SAC once did. That meant control over all air force nuclear weapons and ICBM and heavy bomber delivery systems. This came after 17 years of trying to do without SAC. In 1992, SAC, which had control of air force nuclear bombers and missiles since 1946, was disbanded and the ICBMs, and their crews, were transferred to the new Space Command. SAC had long been the butt of many jokes, for being uptight and fanatical about security and discipline. Everyone tolerated this because, after all, SAC had charge of all those nuclear weapons, heavy bombers and ICBMs. When Space Command took over, they eased up on the tight discipline and strictness about procedure that had been the hallmark of SAC for decades. The old timers complained, but many of the young troops liked the new, looser, attitudes. Officers operating the ICBMs were no longer career missileers, but Space Command people. Time that used to be spent on studying nuclear weapons security and missile maintenance issues, was now devoted to subjects of more concern to Space Command like satellites and communications. Standards fell; efficiency slipped. Then in 2005, the missile crews lost their Missile Badge, and had it replaced with a generic Space Command badge. Then there was much angst when it was discovered that six nuclear cruise missiles had accidentally been mounted on a B-52 and flown halfway across the country. How could this happen? The old timers knew. While many of these older officers and NCOs were pleased when SAC went away early in their careers, they knew that it was that act, and the subsequent loosening up, that led to the lax attitudes that put those six unnoticed nukes on that B-52. All this was part of a major, post-Cold War reorganization of the air force. It was the beginning of the end of a decades old tradition of handling nuclear weapons safely and securely. Subsequently the air force brass reinstated the Missile Badge, for any missile crew member who belonged to a missile crew that was certified CMR by passing strenuous inspections and declared Combat Mission Ready. The badge was used for decades, until 2005, when it was withdrawn and replaced by the generic Space Wings of the Space Command, which took control of the ICBMs in 1993. SAC, it turns out, has been coming back quietly for quite some time. And now it's back for real, with a new name, but the same old attitudes. Pakistanis Failing To Exit India By Deadline Could Face 3 Years In Jail Or Rs 3 Lakh Fine Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 21:09 IST According to the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, overstaying, violating visa conditions, or trespassing in restricted areas could lead to three years in jail. Representative image Any Pakistani, who fails to leave India as per the deadlines set by the government will be arrested, prosecuted and may face a jail term of up to three years or a fine of a maximum Rs 3 lakh or both. The Leave India notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. Recommended Stories The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29. The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim. According to the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, which came into effect on April 4, overstaying, violating visa conditions, or trespassing in restricted areas could lead to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh. Whoever,(a) being a foreigner, remains in any area in India for a period exceeding the period for which the visa was issued to him or stays in India without a valid passport or other valid travel document in contravention of provisions of Section 3 or does any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued to him for his entry and stay in India or any part thereunder; "(b) contravenes any other provisions of this Act, other than sections 17 and 19, or of any rule or order made thereunder or any direction or instruction given in pursuance of this Act or such order or direction or instruction for which, no specific punishment is provided under this Act, shall be punishable with an imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to three lakh rupees or with both," the Act says. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all After Shahs telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline. The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a barrage of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures. First Published: April 27, 2025, 21:09 IST Totally Safe: Defying Fears, Tourists Return To Pahalgam Days After Terror Attack Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 20:22 IST The holidayers were seen taking pictures and clicking selfies at Pahalgam's popular "selfie point" on the banks of the Lidder river Tourists take pictures at Pahalgam, near the site of the recent terrorist attack in which 26 tourists were killed. (PTI) Pahalgam attack: Undeterred by the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam on April 22, holidayers and tourists were seen returning to the picturesque resort town over the weekend. What was once a bustling hub with 5,000 to 7,000 tourists daily saw a dramatic dip to just 50-100 visitors in the days following the drastic terror attack, which claimed the lives of at least 26, mostly tourists and left several others injured. Recommended Stories Follow LIVE Updates During the weekend, a heartening scene unfolded on the streets of Pahalgam as tourists strolled through the town, bringing a wave of resilience, optimism, a sense of normalcy and hope back to the region. The holidayers were seen taking pictures and clicking selfies at Pahalgams popular selfie point" on the banks of the Lidder river, according to news agency PTI. Most tourists said since there was no ban or restriction on tourists visiting the town, they had decided to go ahead with their holiday plans. Hoteliers are also offering special discounts and some eating joints are offering a meal free with every meal ordered. Tourists Share Experiences Tourists from Croatia and Serbia were seen exploring the streets of Pahalgam. Holding nothing back, they expressed their admiration for Kashmirs natural beauty and its warm people. We are coming from Croatia and we are now three or four days here. We are feeling very safe, and your country is very beautiful. We dont have any problem staying here. Kashmir is beautiful, very beautiful. Its very nice, your country is different. We are very, very satisfied with your nature, and people are very kind. We are happy here. We are all 12 people, including two from Serbia and the others from Croatia," a Croatian tourist, Ljiljana told nes agency ANI. #WATCH | J&K | Tourists continue to arrive in Pahalgam.A tourist from Croatia says, We have been here for 3-4 days and we are feeling very safe. Your country is very beautiful, and we have not had any problems. Kashmir is beautiful and safe People are very kind. Everything pic.twitter.com/rDfEPc6qhA ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 On the Pahalgam attack, she added, We heard about the incident one day before. We had decided we must go to Kashmir. Were feeling very safe, we had no problem here everything is okay. Its terrible what happened. May those responsible hear this I hope it will stop, in our country and the whole world." Its my 10th time in Kashmir and every time its fantastic. For me, its number one in the world, natural, soft people. My group is very happy; its their first time here, Croatian and Serbian people. I feel totally safe, no problem here. Everywhere, people say hello zero, zero scared," another tourist from Croatia, Vlatko, told the news agency. #WATCH | J&K | Tourists continue to arrive in Pahalgam.A tourist from Croatia says, Its my 10th time in Kashmir and every time its fantastic. For me, Kashmir is the number 1 destination in the world My group is very happy. I have brought people from Croatia and Serbia pic.twitter.com/86bBqYIsjb ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 A tourist from Serbia, Ivana, further shared her gratitude to the people of Kashmir. We are now off to see a little bit more of your beautiful valley and your beautiful country and nature. Thank you very much for having us here. We heard about the incident before leaving our countries, but despite everything, we decided to come. This is a journey we have been planning for years. We knew the country was beautiful, and we expected only good things. Thank you, Kashmir," she told ANI. We are enjoying our time here in Kashmir. Right now, we are in Pahalgam. We are deeply saddened by the death of our fellow tourist brothers. Its a huge loss for us. However, the markets and everything else are still open here in Pahalgam. Theres nothing to be afraid of. The Indian Army is here, the government is with us, and even the local people are supporting us. Since the time I arrived, I havent felt any fear," an Indian tourist, Mohammad Anas from Surat told the news agency. #WATCH | J&K | Tourists continue to arrive in Pahalgam.Mohammad Anas, a tourist from Gujarats Surat, says, We like it here in Kashmir. We feel sorry for our fellow tourists who lost their lives in the terrorist attack. Usual business is on here in Pahalgam. There is pic.twitter.com/JsBDd6ZlwR ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 Joydeep Ghosh Dastidar from Kolkata told Times of India, We came on Friday and found that everything was normal. Although most of the markets and shops were closed, local people and security personnel were very supportive. Except Baisaran meadow, which is out of bounds for visitors, we visited other places." Mrityunjay Pande, a tourist from Bihar, said that they had initially cancelled their trip but later decided to visit. However, when we were told that there are no restrictions on tourists visiting Pahalgam, we could not resist and came Saturday morning. We will return by evening," he told the news outlet. Pahalgam Terror Attack In one of the biggest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Lashkar-linked terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists in Pahalgam on Tuesday, April 22, killing at least 26 people, including foreign tourists, and injuring many others. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar offshoot, claimed the responsibility for the attack. Terrorists targeted a group of people, including women and elderly individuals, in the brazen attack afternoon. After the attack, the diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan downgraded with New Delhi announcing several punitive measures, including suspension of Indus Water Treaty, cutting Islamabad Mission strength and expulsion of its military attaches, as per decided by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in view of cross-border links to the devastating terror attack. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Subsequently, Pakistan announced several retaliatory moves, including suspension of all its bilateral agreements and trade activities and closing its airspace to Indian aircrafts. (With inputs from agencies) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Location : Pahalgam, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 16:12 IST Trivandrum Airport Receives Bomb Threat, Cops Launch Search Operation Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 14:14 IST The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport received a bomb threat through email on Sunday, prompting the bomb disposal squads to launch inspections of all terminals. Thiruvananthapuram Airport | File Image The Thiruvananthapuram International Airport received a bomb threat through email on Sunday, prompting the security officials to launch search operations at the venue. The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the airport said that bomb disposal squads were deployed immediately upon receiving the threat, and thorough inspections of all terminals are underway. Further details are awaited. Recommended Stories Kerala | Thiruvananthapuram International Airport received a bomb threat. The airport received the threat via email. Bomb disposal squads are checking the terminals: PRO, Thiruvananthapuram AirportMore details awaited. ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 The threat follows a series of bomb threats received by multiple hotels in the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, just a day earlier, according to officials. Police, along with bomb disposal units and dog squads, conducted searches at multiple hotels following similar bomb threats sent via email. However, no explosives were found, and authorities later determined the threats were hoaxes. In the last few days, a wave of email threats has rocked Kerala as major locations of the state were targeted, including district collectorates, Revenue Divisional Offices, and the Kerala High Court. In each of the instances, thorough searches by the police have confirmed that the threats were hoaxes, posing no genuine danger. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Authorities are advising the public to stay calm as investigations proceed. In response to the ongoing series of threats, tight security measures have been placed across the city. Location : Thiruvananthapuram, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 14:03 IST Two Kids Killed, 800 Shanties Gutted As Massive Fire Engulfs Jhuggi Cluster In Delhi's Rohini Published By : PTI Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 18:24 IST The fire engulfed over 800 densely packed shanties spread across around five acres. Thick plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as fire fighters battled the flames The blaze was doused completely after fire-fighters worked tirelessly for three hours, but cooling operations are still underway. (Photo: PTI) Two children died and five people were injured when a massive fire gutted over 800 shanties in a jhuggi cluster at Sector 17 in Rohini on Sunday morning, a Delhi Fire Service official said. The blaze was doused completely after fire-fighters worked tirelessly for three hours, but cooling operations are still underway, he said. Recommended Stories Charred bodies of two children a two-and-a-half year old and a three-year-old were recovered from the remains, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Amit Goel told PTI. The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official said they received a distress call around 11.55 am. We received a call reporting a fire close to Sriniketan Apartment at Sector 17. We immediately dispatched 17 fire engines. Upon observing the intensity of the fire, we upgraded it to a medium category fire by 12.40 pm and called for more vehicles and manpower," he said, adding that a total of 26 fire tenders were deployed at the spot. STORY | Fire breaks out at slum in Delhis Rohini, 2 deadREAD: https://t.co/VevB5J76eE VIDEO | (Full video available on PTI Videos https://t.co/n147TvqRQz) pic.twitter.com/bqWetWWU2v Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 27, 2025 The fire engulfed over 800 densely packed shanties spread across around five acres. Thick plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as fire fighters battled the flames. It took more than three hours to douse the flames completely. The cooling operation is still underway. The bodies of two children were recovered and immediately sent to a nearby hospital," the DFS official said. The fire is now completely under control. Cooling operations are in progress," he said. Multiple police teams were also deployed at the spot along with the fire brigade. According to DFS, the fire started from one of the huts and immediately engulfed the entire area. The official explained that fire-fighters faced significant hurdles due to the location. There is an apartment complex with boundary walls in front of the affected area, making access extremely difficult. Fire engines had to be lined up one behind the other, delaying the operation," he said. Police will investigate the exact cause of fire, he told PTI Videos. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Preliminary inputs suggest the fire could have been triggered within the cluster itself, he said, adding that there are no organised electrical wiring systems in the area but several LPG cylinders were found, which could have contributed to the spread of the fire. Search and cooling operations continue in the area. About the Author Saurabh Verma Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 First Published: April 27, 2025, 18:17 IST 'Water, Food Will Become Scarce': Anurag Thakur Slams Pakistan, Says India Will Not 'Cower Down' Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 07:30 IST At least 26 people were killed in the barbaric terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, prompting India to downgrade ties with Pakistan, and suspend the Indus Waters Treaty. Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur (Picture credit: AFP) BJP leader and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur launched a sharp attack on Pakistan on Saturday, saying India will take decisive action in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and there will be no pardon" this time. His remarks came after Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif called for a neutral probe" in the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 tourists dead, as well as threatening remarks made by Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Several Pakistani leaders have made irresponsible comments since the tragedy. Recommended Stories Speaking to reporters in Himachal Pradeshs Mandi district, Thakur said Pakistan is panic-stricken after Indias retaliatory actions and hurling empty threats, but we will not cower down". He said it was a matter of shame that even after encouraging terrorism and the massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam, Pakistani leaders were issuing such statements. Regarding the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, Thakur was quoted by India Today as saying, Now even water will become scarce along with food in Pakistan. The future will reveal whose blood will be shed." More trouble is in store for Pakistan as India is determined to further escalate its offences, he added It is no secret to the world that the soil of Pakistan has long been used by those with nefarious intentions to snatch the lives of innocents, to promote terrorism, and to push terrorism across the border into India," he added. At least 26 people were killed in the barbaric terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, sending shockwaves across the country and drawing global condemnation. Security forces have since intensified search operations across Jammu and Kashmir to hunt down the terrorists. India also downgraded its diplomatic relations with Pakistan for harbouring terrorists on its soil and took a series of diplomatic offensives, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the cancellation of the issuance of visas to Pakistani nationals. It also cut down the diplomatic strength in Pakistan and closed the Attari border. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Pakistan responded by suspending all trade with India, which was already negligible, and threatened an all-out war" after the suspension of the Indus Treaty. On Friday, Pakistani leader and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari threatened India with blood" if the Indus Treaty is not followed. Amid deteriorating ties, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday offered to participate in a neutral, credible" investigation and said his country was prepared for any misadventure", while rejecting Indias accusations. Border tensions with Pakistan have also been on the rise since the Pahalgam attack, as Pakistan has resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violations for two consecutive days. 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 : Mandi, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 07:30 IST Wife Of BSF Jawan Detained By Pakistan Heads To Punjab For Information On His Release Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 21:02 IST According to BSF officials, the incident occurred when Sahu, escorting a group of farmers near the border, unknowingly slipped into Pakistani territory. Representative image The wife of BSF jawan Purnam Sahu detained by Pakistan Rangers after inadvertently crossing the international border on Sunday said she would visit Ferozepur in Punjab to gather information from senior officials of the force about efforts to bring back her husband. The pregnant woman, her son and three other relatives would take a flight to Chandigarh on Monday and thereafter to Ferozepur, a town on the India-Pakistan border. Recommended Stories Sahu hails from Hooghly district in West Bengal. According to BSF officials, the incident occurred when Sahu, escorting a group of farmers near the border, stepped away to rest under a tree, unknowingly slipping into Pakistani territory. He was posted with the 182nd battalion of the BSF at the Ferozepur border. The Indian and Pakistani border forces held a flag meeting to negotiate Sahus release, the officials said on Thursday night, but the family has received no further updates. "I have been under severe stress since hearing the news. Today is the fifth day and there is no update on his return," Sahus wife Rajani told PTI. "I have got the tomorrows flight ticket for Chandigarh. From there I will go to Ferozepur. My son and three other relatives will accompany me," she said. Rajani had initially planned to board the Amritsar Mail on Sunday evening, which travels to Ferozepur from Howrah via Pathankot, but could not get a confirmed ticket. Rajani said if her queries are unanswered, she would travel to Delhi from Ferozepur to talk to government officials. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The parents of Sahu, who hails from Harisabha area of Rishra in West Bengals Hooghly, said they would appeal to the central government to do all the needful to ensure their sons return. "I cannot tell you how tense I am. I plead with BSF officials to bring back my son," Sahus mother said. First Published: April 27, 2025, 21:02 IST Wife Of Kanpur Businessman Killed In Pahalgam Attack Demands Martyr Status For Him Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 14:13 IST Shubham, was among the 26 people, mostly tourists, who were killed in the April 22 attack at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam. Shubham Dwivedi's wife Aishanya bids him adieu. (News18) He proudly sacrificed his life by identifying himself as a Hindu and saved the lives of many people," said Ashanya, the wife of Pahalgam terror attack victim Shubham Dwivedi, demanding the status of a martyr for him. The first bullet hit my husband, and the terrorists took time asking whether we were Hindu or Muslim In such a situation, many people got time to run and save their lives," Ashanya told reporters on Saturday. Recommended Stories Shubham, a 31-year-old businessman from Kanpur, married Ashanya on February 12. He was among the 26 people, mostly tourists, who were killed in the April 22 attack at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam. He was cremated in his native village here on Thursday. I do not want anything else from the government except that Shubham should be given the status of a martyr. If the government accepts my wish, I will have a reason to live," Ashanya said. While she is still grieving her husbands loss, Ashanya is also angry. Anyone who shoots by asking ones name and religion should be eliminated," she said. Recounting the events of April 22, Ashanya said that when the terrorists approached her and Shubham and asked them about their religion, she thought the men were trying to prank the couple. As soon as they came, one of them asked if we were Hindus or Muslims? I thought those people (terrorists) were playing a prank. I turned back, laughed and asked them what was going on. Then they repeated their question, and as soon as I replied that we were Hindus, a shot was fired and everything was over for me. Shubhams face was covered in blood. I could not understand what had happened," she said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all She said she begged the terrorists to shoot her too, but they refused, saying they were letting her live so that she could go and tell the government what they did. Shubhams father, Sanjay Dwivedi, rued the absence of security personnel in the area and claimed that the Army personnel took control of the area after about an hour. Location : Kanpur Nagar, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 14:13 IST Pastels And Psychology: Why Calming Colours are Shaping the Future of Interior Design Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 12:11 IST Whether through the introduction of pastel-hued surfaces in homes or the integration of calming colours into office designs, the future of interiors looks promisingly serene As our understanding of colour psychology deepens, it becomes clear that the future of interior design is one where aesthetics and emotional well-being go hand in hand In the world of interior design, colour has always played an essential role in creating ambience and setting the tone of a space. However, recent trends in colour psychology are elevating its importance, as experts begin to realize the profound impact that specific hues have on human emotions and well-being. One of the most significant shifts has been the growing popularity of calming pastel tones, which are increasingly making their way into homes and workplaces alike. The Power of Pastels: A Gateway to Calm Recommended Stories As Ankit Jain, Founder, Specta Quartz Surfaces, explains, Colour psychology is increasingly reshaping interior design, offering subtle yet impactful ways to influence the energy and emotion of a space." He points out that humans are visual creatures, receiving nearly 87% of all sensory information through the perception of colour. This means that the colours we choose for our environments have a profound effect on our moods and emotional states. Pastel hues such as soft blues, lavender, greens, and pinks are not only pleasing to the eye but are also scientifically proven to reduce stress and promote a sense of calm. Subtle hues of blue, lavender, green, and pink dont just look beautifultheyre proven to reduce stress and promote a sense of calm," says Jain. These colours are increasingly popular in spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms, where individuals are looking to create sanctuaries that support mental well-being. At Specta, Jain has witnessed a significant demand for pastel-inspired designs. We introduced the Pastel Poise collectionfour curated shades inspired by the serenity of spring and global biophilic design movements, which promote natural and healing environments. Our aim is to create surfaces that not only elevate interiors but also nurture the people living within them," he adds. This blend of soothing colour and thoughtful design speaks to a growing desire for interiors that support emotional and physical health. The Rise of Calming Workspaces Beyond the home, calming colours are becoming increasingly important in professional spaces. Sammeer Pakvasa, Managing Director & CEO, Eleganz Interiors, highlights how these tones are transforming the modern workspace. In todays fast-paced work culture, calming colors are proving to be more than just aesthetic choicestheyre essential tools in creating mindful, productive environments." Soft pastel shades like sage green, blush pink, and powder blue are being integrated into office spaces to foster clarity, creativity, and emotional balance. These colours not only help to reduce stress but also boost focus, contributing to a welcoming atmosphere that encourages both well-being and performance. Pakvasa emphasizes that colour psychology is central to human-centric design. At Eleganz Interiors, we believe color psychology is central to human-centric design. Theres a rising demand for workplaces that not only look beautiful but also feel nurturing," he shares. By thoughtfully combining pastel tones with the right materials and lighting, designers like Pakvasa aim to create spaces that nurture both emotional comfort and professional excellence. As the interior design landscape evolves, calming colours will continue to shape not only environments but also the experiences within them," he predicts. The Future of Design: A Blend of Aesthetics and Well-being top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all As our understanding of colour psychology deepens, it becomes clear that the future of interior design is one where aesthetics and emotional well-being go hand in hand. Pastel colours, once considered merely a trend, are now seen as essential elements in creating spaces that support mental health and productivity. From homes to offices, these soothing tones are transforming environments into sanctuaries of calm and clarity. Whether through the introduction of pastel-hued surfaces in homes or the integration of calming colours into office designs, the future of interiors looks promisingly serene. Thanks to experts like Jain and Pakvasa, we are learning that design is not just about how a space looks, but also how it makes us feel. And in a world that moves faster every day, the importance of creating nurturing environments where people can relax, focus, and thrive has never been more important. About the Author Swati Chaturvedi Swati Chaturvedi, a seasoned media and journalism aficionado with over 10 years of expertise, is not just a storyteller; she's a weaver of wit and wisdom in the digital landscape. As a key figure in News18 Engl... Read More Swati Chaturvedi, a seasoned media and journalism aficionado with over 10 years of expertise, is not just a storyteller; she's a weaver of wit and wisdom in the digital landscape. As a key figure in News18 Engl... Read More 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: April 27, 2025, 12:11 IST Spiritual Tourism: How India's New-Age Travellers Are Transforming Pilgrimage into Full-Fledged Holidays Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 08:16 IST Spiritual journeys in India are being reimagined by new-age travellers, blending darshans with cultural trails, outdoor adventures, and curated experiences across the country. The inauguration of the newly constructed Jagannath Temple in Digha is scheduled for April 30, 2025, on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. Once considered the domain of the devout and the elderly, spiritual tourism in India has found an enthusiastic new audience: millennials, Gen Z, and young families seeking deeper meaning, cultural immersion and even a touch of adventure. The transformation is profound, marking a new era for Indias tourism industry where spiritual journeys are being blended with vibrant local experiences, outdoor adventures, and curated comforts. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) Limited, believes the surge is unmistakable. The significant surge in consumer demand for spiritual tourism is creating strong momentum for Indias tourism sector. Char Dham continues to be a powerful driver of spiritual tourism in the country, with an increase in searches of over 35% compared to last year," shares Kale. Recommended Stories But todays travellers are not merely content with ticking off pilgrim spots. Kale notes a marked shift" where new-age travellers, particularly millennials and Gen Z, are coupling spiritual journeys with immersive cultural and adventure experiences. Recognising this evolving demand, Thomas Cook (India) has strategically curated its Pilgrimage Plus portfolio an innovative concept that weaves spiritual visits with enriching local adventures. Think white-water rafting and night trekking en route to Vaishno Devi, diving in Rameswaram with PADI professionals, bungee jumping in Rishikesh, serene boat rides along the Ganges, or cultural trails exploring Varanasis weaver villages. Whats more, pilgrims are now extending their journeys into popular nearby locales like Mussoorie, Nainital, Dehradun, Jim Corbett National Park, and more turning a sacred pilgrimage into a complete, rejuvenating vacation. Recognizing the need for ease and comfort, weve also introduced curated aerial darshans for Char Dham and Do Dham," says Kale. These aerial journeys are fast becoming a preferred choice, offering the sanctity of darshans without the traditional travel fatigue." A Pan-India Phenomenon, Beyond the Metros Its not just the metros driving this trend. As S.D. Nandakumar, President & Country Head Holidays and Corporate Tours, SOTC Travel Limited, explains, tier 2 and 3 cities are emerging as strong engines of growth for spiritual tourism. We are witnessing strong demand across our Darshans portfolio, with key destinations such as Char Dham and Kailash Mansarovar ranking among the top searched spiritual experiences," says Nandakumar. Importantly, this demand is coming robustly from cities like Jodhpur, Indore, Ranchi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bhopal, Nashik, Madurai, Coimbatore, and Bhubaneswar." This diverse, widespread interest has led to higher-value bookings and longer travel durations with the average spiritual journey now extending to 67 days. To meet these evolving preferences, SOTC has thoughtfully designed spiritual packages that offer not just traditional darshans but also guided spiritual walks led by local experts, ensuring a more authentic and enriching experience for travellers across age groups. Spiritual tourism is no longer limited to a season or a festival its become a year-round travel experience," adds Nandakumar. We see this as an opportunity not only to drive business growth but also to contribute meaningfully to Indias spiritual heritage and local economies through responsible tourism practices." The Road Ahead: Connectivity, Comfort, and Cultural Enrichment Both industry leaders agree that government initiatives in boosting connectivity and infrastructure around key pilgrimage hubs like better roads, airports, accommodation, and amenities are acting as a major multiplier effect. This improved ecosystem is helping operators like Thomas Cook (India) and SOTC scale their offerings efficiently while enriching the traveller experience. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all From aerial darshans and adventure tourism add-ons to guided culture trails and responsible travel practices, Indias spiritual tourism landscape is undergoing a beautiful renaissance one where tradition, adventure, community, and comfort coalesce. For todays traveller, a spiritual journey is no longer just about seeking blessings its about rediscovering oneself, forging deeper connections with Indias vibrant culture, and embracing the journey as much as the destination. About the Author Swati Chaturvedi Swati Chaturvedi, a seasoned media and journalism aficionado with over 10 years of expertise, is not just a storyteller; she's a weaver of wit and wisdom in the digital landscape. As a key figure in News18 Engl... Read More Swati Chaturvedi, a seasoned media and journalism aficionado with over 10 years of expertise, is not just a storyteller; she's a weaver of wit and wisdom in the digital landscape. As a key figure in News18 Engl... Read More 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: April 27, 2025, 08:16 IST Actor Atul Kulkarni Visits Pahalgam After Terror Attack, Shares Pics Of Empty Flight: 'Aana Zaroori Hain' Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 16:07 IST Atul Kulkarni visited Kashmir post the Pahalgam terror attack, sharing photos and urging tourists to return. He posted glimpses of empty flights and the scenic beauty of Kashmir. Atul Kulkarni posted photos from his Pahalgam trip. Popular actor Atul Kulkarni is in Kashmir after the ghastly terror attack. He shared several photos from Pahalgam and other tourist-friendly areas in the region and urged everyone to visit Kashmir. The Bandish Bandits actor also shared photos of empty seats on a flight, adding that it was running full until recently. Atul Kulkarni shared a photo from Pahalgam, a place usually bustling with tourists. Behind him, however, very few tourists can be seen. His caption consisted of a few hashtags, but his message, loud and clear Kashmir needs to be filled up with tourists again. Take a look at his X (formerly Twitter) post: Recommended Stories The actor also took to his Instagram story and shared several glimpses from his Kashmir holiday. From his boarding pass to a hand-written note left for him by the flight crew, Kulkari posted numerous photos from his Kashmir holiday. He also shared pictures of empty seats on his flight, barely comprising a handful of people. The message on his post read: Mumbai to Srinagar. The crew says they were running full. We need to fill them up again. Chaliye ji Kashmir chalein." Atul Kulkarni also dropped glimpses of the scenic beauty of Kashmir with clear skies and free-flowing stream lapped in the canopy of nature. Usually laden with tourists, the actors latest Instagram story offers a glimpse of a fewer crowd in the region. There are local Kashmiris holding up placards saying We condemn this attack". Another was seen proudly waving the tricolour. Take a look: On a quiet afternoon on Tuesday, April 22, Lashkar-linked terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists in Pahalgam. The incident killed around 26 people. Eyewitnesses told security forces that two to three men rushed in dressed in military fatigues, firing indiscriminately at tourists while they were enjoying the Baisaran Meadows of Pahalgam on horseback. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar offshoot, took responsibility for the attack. First Published: April 27, 2025, 16:01 IST China unveils pro-employment measures for college graduates, youths Xinhua) 09:45, April 27, 2025 BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China unveiled a raft of measures on employment support for 2025 college graduates and the youth, according to a circular released on Friday. The circular was jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance. "College graduates and other youths are valuable human resources," said the circular, noting that every effort must be undertaken to provide them with employment support. The circular stressed expanding employment opportunities through multiple channels, such as increasing market-driven job creation and stabilizing public-sector employment. Organizations that employ 2025 graduates, graduates unemployed within two years after leaving school, or registered unemployed youth aged 16-24 are eligible for a one-off job expansion subsidy, according to the circular. This policy remains effective until Dec. 31, 2025. The circular said that the one-off subsidy policy for state-owned enterprises hiring graduates will extend to Dec. 31, 2026. The circular encourages young people to seek opportunities in grassroots sectors and supports youth entrepreneurship. The country also aims to train 1 million graduates and youths in 2025 to improve their employability, according to the circular. It also stressed the need to strengthen employment services and create a favorable employment environment, including launching campaigns to rectify irregularities in the human resources market. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) April 19, 2025: China is upset over how neighboring North Korea has turned to Russia as an ally and now ignores traditional patron China. This is largely because Russia turned to North Korea for weapons, munitions and soldiers to use in the Ukraine War, and paid them so much for this that they cozied up to Russia. China waits for that war to end so it can enforce its traditional control over North Korea. This is largely because the 1950-53 Korean War lies and deceptions linger longer because China and North Korea want it that way. Yet China and North Korea remain intertwined. For example, in 2005 China hosted delegates from China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the United States and North Korea for talks over the situation in North Korea. China put forward a proposal to solve the dispute over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program. China proposed North Korea get needed economic aid, and give up its weapons. The dispute was now over how fast North Korea got the aid, and how strict the inspections would be of the dismantling of the weapons programs. China doesn't want a meltdown in North Korea, and a flood of starving refugees coming across the border. China also does not want South Korea to take over North Korea, putting a major democracy on their border. China was trying to get North Korea to reform its economy like China did, but the North Koreans are rather inept at this, and the North Korean economy is in far worse shape than China's ever was. The United States, South Korea and Japan refused because North Korea has made such promises many times and broken them all. Meanwhile North Korea continues to be a threat more than 70 years after the Korean War ended. That happened in 1953 when an armistice was signed. While prisoners of war were exchanged, the soldiers remained facing each other along the four kilometers wide DeMilitarized Zone or DMZ that stretched from coast to coast. This was a ceasefire agreement, not an end to the war. All attempts at negotiating an end to the war in the last 72 years have failed. The three years of fighting caused 140,000 American casualties, including 33,651 dead. South Korean troops suffered 415,000 killed, while other nations fighting North Korea suffered 15,000 casualties. The communist forces suffered 1.5 million killed, most of them Chinese because North Korea would have lost without massive reinforcements from China. There were also several million civilian dead, mainly in North Korea. After the war, North Korea experienced a period of economic growth as its industrial facilities were rebuilt with Russian aid. Between 1904 to 1945, Korea was a Japanese colony, and in the north Japan built mines, railroads and factories. The south, which always had more farmland and was turned into a largely agricultural area to help feed Japan. During the Korean war, industrial and transportation facilities were heavily damaged, and reconstruction was slower in the south. In the 1970s, foreign investment in the south began to grow, and local entrepreneurs began to start, or expand their businesses. By the 1980s, North Korea's centrally planned economy was falling apart because so much money was diverted to military spending, and lack of marketing resulted in products that could only be sold to other communist nations. When the Soviet empire fell apart in 1991, the markets for most North Korean goods disappeared. Corruption and lack of investment in agriculture resulted in food shortages, as well as the collapse of most industrial enterprises, except those that made weapons. Food aid from the Soviet Union ceased and that led to widespread hunger in North Korea during the 1990s when several million civilians (more than 10 percent of its population) starved to death. Post-1991 documents from the Russian archives showed that Stalin appointed Kim Il Sung as ruler of North Korea and in 1950 ordered him to invade South Korea and unite Korea. When that did not work, Russia ordered China to rescue the North Koreans. China complied and told Russia that the Chinese debt for assistance in the 1949 Chinese Communist Party victory during the 22 year long civil war was paid. China no longer sought advice or guidance from Russia. In 2010, an article appeared in a Chinese magazine describing the beginning of the Korean War in 1950. What was unusual about the article, in a government approved publication, was the frank admission that North Korea had started it all, by invading South Korea. But once news of the article spread, and was posted on Internet sites, the Chinese government ordered the article withdrawn and denounced it as untrue. The unofficial reason was that China wished to avoid angering North Korea. This, despite the fact that Chinese participation in the war killed or wounded over a million Chinese soldiers. Even Chinese leader Mao Zedong lost a son in Korea. Since 1950, it had been the official Chinese position that the war started with a South Korean invasion of the north, to which the north responded by moving into South Korea. For decades, all communist nations accepted this version, even though all evidence pointed towards the north invading first. Then, in the 1990s, the Russian government released telegrams sent before 1960, by Russian and North Korean leaders, making it clear that Russia wanted the invasion, and that North Korea duly carried it out. Chinese troops entered North Korea in late 1950, to prevent American forces from occupying all of Korea, and that resulted in a two-year stalemate along the current inter-Korean border which is now the DMZ Demilitarized Zone. To justify the Chinese losses, and maintain good relations with North Korea, China continued to insist that South Korea had started the war, even after everyone agreed that Russian leader Josef Stalin and North Korea had been the instigators. What this incident really tells North Korea is that China has admitted the truth about who started the war by authorizing the article's publication in the first place but is sorry for this accident and officially sticks by the earlier lie. After KGF, Mouni Roy Grooves To Sangeeta Bijlani's 'Gali Gali Mein' With Neha Dhupia At Kolkata Event | WATCH Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 15:29 IST Mouni Roy showcased her dance skills at an awards show in Kolkata, performing to Gali Gali Mein with Neha Dhupia. She will next be seen in The Bhootnii, releasing on May 1. Mouni Roy dances to Gali Gali Mein at an event. Mouni Roy offered a glimpse of how terrific a dancer she is by grooving in front of a live audience at an awards show in Kolkata. The Bhootnii actor flaunted some of her best moves to the Gali Gali Mein song from Tridev (1989) on the stage with host Neha Dhupia. For the unversed, the actor starred in a remake of the track that was a part of Yashs KGF 1 in 2018. Mouni looked beautiful in a saree, which she accessorised with a traditional maang teeka as she shared the stage with Neha. Upon request, she danced to Sangeeta Bijlalis version of Gali Gali Mein, which also featured Jackie Shroff. As Mouni danced, Neha was seen trying to match her steps. Watch the video here: Recommended Stories View this post on Instagram A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani) Mouni will be next seen in The Bhootnii, co-starring Sanjay Dutt. During the promotions, social media users trolled her for allegedly making drastic facial transformation, claiming that she underwent another round of cosmetic surgery. Some speculated she had opted for another lip enhancement, while others on the internet guessed she had received forehead Botox after spotting a strange dent on her head. When asked about how she deals with such brutal remarks, the TV-turned-film actor told IANS, Kuch nahin. Dekhti hee nahi. Let everyone do their jobI do not pay attention to such remarks. If you hide behind a screen to troll others and if you find happiness in that so be it." On the professional front, Mouni Roy will be seen as the nerve-chilling ghost named Mohabbat, in the upcoming horror action-comedy, The Bhootnii. The film was initially slated to release on April 18. However, it was pushed to May 1 to avoid clash with Akshay Kumars Kesari: Chapter 2. The film also stars Palak Tiwarii and Sunny Singh. First Published: April 27, 2025, 15:26 IST Paresh Rawal Reveals Drinking His Own Urine To Recover From Knee Injury: Sipped It Like Beer Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 20:59 IST Paresh Rawal revealed that Veeru Devgan suggested him to drink his own urine first thing in the morning to fix his knee injury. Paresh Rawal will next be seen in Bhooth Bangla Veteran actor Paresh Rawal recently shared that drinking his own urine helped him recover from a knee injury which he sustained while shooting for Rajkumar Santoshis Ghatak. He revealed that he injured his leg while shooting for a scene with Rakesh Pandey, post which Tinnu Anand and Danny Denzongpa rushed him to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. Paresh Rawal said that he was petrified and thought that his career had ended. He then revealed that late action director Veeru Devgan visited him in the hospital and suggested him to consume his own urine to help him heal faster. While speaking with The Lallantop, Paresh Rawal said, Veeru Devgan had come to visit when I was in Nanavati (hospital). When he got to know I was there, he came up to me and asked what happened to me? I told him about my leg injury." He then revealed what Veeru Devgan advised him. He told me to drink my own urine first thing in the morning. All fighters do this. You will never face any problem, just drink urine first thing in the morning. He told me not to consume alcohol, which I had stopped, mutton or tobacco. He told me to eat regular food and urine in the morning." Recommended Stories Paresh Rawal thought that if he had to drink urine, he wouldnt just gulp it down. I will sip it like a beer because if I have to follow through, I will do so properly. I did for 15 days and when the X-ray reports came in, the doctor was surprised," said Paresh Rawal. The doctor saw a white lining on the X-ray, indicating that it is healed. He shared that while it would have normally taken about 2 to 2.5 months for the injury to heal, he was healed in a month and a half! On the professional front, Paresh Rawal will next be seen in Priyadarshans upcoming horror comedy Bhooth Bangla, which also stars Akshay Kumar and Tabu. He also has Hera Pheri 3 in the pipeline, co-starring Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty. First Published: April 27, 2025, 20:59 IST Paresh Rawal Says He Welcomes Criticism Of The Government From Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan: They Mean Well Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 18:43 IST Despite his political affiliations, Paresh Rawal says he respects and welcomes criticism from peers like Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan. Paresh Rawal says he welcomes criticism of the government from Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan, emphasizing they have "no hidden agenda" and "mean well." Despite being a former Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), veteran actor Paresh Rawal has said he remains open to hearing criticism of the ruling partyespecially when it comes from his respected peers in the film industry. Rawal believes that stars like Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan voice their opinions without any ulterior motives, and thus, deserve to be heard. Speaking to The Lallantop, Paresh said, If Naseer bhai, Aamir, or Shah Rukh have something to say, I cant discard that. Ill listen to them because they have no hidden agenda, they have no axe to grind. Theyre saying it for my own benefit. So Ill listen, introspect, and try to improve. It doesnt make a difference. I respect them, they love me." Recommended Stories The actor also showered praise on Naseeruddin Shah, calling him one of the rare few in the Hindi film industry who always speak their minds. You feel very safe and satisfied around people like these. Otherwise, youre constantly looking over your shoulder," he added. The camaraderie between Paresh and Naseeruddin Shah extends beyond political differences. In an interview last year, Naseers wife and acclaimed actress Ratna Pathak Shah also spoke about maintaining strong personal and professional bonds regardless of divergent ideologies. We come from a time when political beliefs didnt interfere with interpersonal relationships. This division is a more recent trend. As long as Im around, I wont let that happen," Ratna said. She has starred alongside Paresh Rawal in films like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Hum Do Hamare Do. Naseeruddin Shah has often been vocal about issues under the BJP-led government, especially concerning the growing marginalization of Muslims. Despite their differing views, Paresh Rawal has consistently expressed admiration for Naseer, even directing him on stage in the play The Sleuth. Naseeruddin, in turn, cast Paresh in his 2006 directorial debut, Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota. The two legends have also shared screen space in Mahesh Bhatts 1993 classic, Sir. Meanwhile, Aamir Khan, another name Paresh holds in high regard, made headlines in 2015 when he spoke about growing intolerance in India and his concerns for his son Azads future. Paresh and Aamir have worked together in films like Andaz Apna Apna (1994) and Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), sharing a professional rapport that continues to this day. About the Author Yatamanyu Narain Yatamanyu Narain is a Sub-Editor at News18.com with a passion for all things entertainment. Whether he's breaking the latest Bollywood news or chatting with rising stars in the OTT world, hes always on the hun... Read More Yatamanyu Narain is a Sub-Editor at News18.com with a passion for all things entertainment. Whether he's breaking the latest Bollywood news or chatting with rising stars in the OTT world, hes always on the hun... Read More First Published: April 27, 2025, 18:42 IST Opinion | PM Modis Proactive Diplomacy Will Come In Handy When India Responds To Pahalgam Terror Written By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 15:44 IST While the Indian Opposition has often criticised PM Modis foreign visits, it has been repeatedly proven that his energetic and strategic global outreach has helped the nation Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File image/AP) In an interesting coincidence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, the heart of Islam, when Islamic terrorists on Tuesday slaughtered Hindu tourists in Kashmirs Pahalgam. Men were asked to read the kalma, or checked for circumcision by pulling down their trousers, before they were coldly shot in the head. Modi cut short his Saudi visit, but not before leading the discussions with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman on the Pahalgam attack. The Strategic Partnership Council meeting between the two countries commenced with a reference to the massacre. Recommended Stories The rapidly liberalising Saudi, one of strongest proponents currently in the Middle East against radicalism, unequivocally condemned the incident. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias condemnation in the strongest terms of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir that resulted in many deaths and injuries," its statement read. The Kingdom affirms its firm stance in rejecting all forms of violence, extremism, and targeting of civilians. The Kingdom also extends its sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, and the government and people of the Republic of India." PM @narendramodi and Crown Prince HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman held extensive talks & co-chaired the 2nd IndiaSaudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) in Jeddah at the Royal Palace. HRH Crown Prince strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack & expressed his deepest pic.twitter.com/PBxfi9DEF4 Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) April 22, 2025 Saudis equally influential and progressive Middle-Eastern neighbour and one of Indias closest allies, the United Arab Emirates, condemned the attack in the strongest terms. The UAE called for permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of international law". Every world power from the US to the UK to Russia has strongly stood with India. Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Giorgia Meloni and even Xi Jinpingcondemnation came from all sides (although it is believed that China helped Pakistan in diluting the UNSC statement on the Pahalgam attack). But it is not just about global condemnation as lip service. India has quietly been garnering support, working backroom channels to create ground and consensus for its imminent response. PM Modis stellar run of proactive diplomacy visiting nations which other PMs had never stepped foot in, sending Covid vaccines to more than 75 countries, standing firmly with friends like Russia and Israel even under severe pressure, being the voice of the global south, adding a warm personal touch with the most powerful global leaders will prove to be extremely useful when India chooses to respond to Pakistans bloodsport in Pahalgam. And India will certainly respond. It is not a question of if but when. It cannot ignore the oceanic roar of outrage from its own citizens, nor will it want to let go of an opportunity to cripple its enemies and achieve its strategic and civilisational targets. India is believed to be already working with its global partners on intelligence, deterrence, and a robust response. A slew of steps, including turning off the tap of Indus River water, has already been taken. But a military response this time may go beyond just a surgical strike. Russia has already issued a stern travel advisory to its citizens against travelling to Pakistan. US President Donald Trump, while strongly condemning the Pahalgam attack and committing to work with India against terrorism, also said that India and Pakistan will figure it out". Since the balance of military power tilts in Indias favour, it implies that the US may not immediately step in to cool things down if India plans a hard retaliation. Tulsi Gabbard, US Director of National Intelligence, tweeted, We stand in solidarity with India in the wake of the horrific Islamist terrorist attack, targeting and killing 26 Hindus in Pahalgam. My prayers and deepest sympathies are with those who lost a loved one, PM @narendramodi, and with all the people of India. We are with you and support you as you hunt down those responsible for this heinous attack." top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The signs are clear. The civilised world stands with India. While the Indian Opposition has often criticised PM Modis foreign visits, it has been repeatedly proven that his energetic and strategic global outreach has helped the nation again and again, whether it is in procuring cheap Russian oil during the Ukraine war, or mustering international support at times like this. Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. First Published: April 27, 2025, 15:44 IST Are They Indians? Himanta Sarma Vs Gaurav Gogoi Over Congress MP's Wife's Alleged 'Pakistan Links' Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 17:38 IST The Assam CM had earlier alleged that Gogoi's wife Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi receives salary from a Pakistan-based NGO and she and their children are not Indian citizens. Assam CM Himanta Sarma and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi. (File) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi locked horns in a fierce exchange of allegations and counter-charges on social media over the latters familys alleged links with Pakistan. Sarma, in a veiled attack, asked Gogoi whether he had stayed in Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days and his wife gets a salary from a Pakistani NGO. Recommended Stories The Assam CM had earlier alleged that Gogois wife Elizabeth Colburn Gogoi receives salary from a Pakistan-based NGO and she and their children are not Indian citizens. Without naming Gogoi, he posted questions for him. He also questioned the citizenship status of the MPs wife and their children. Questions for the Honble Member of Parliament from the Congress Party: Did you visit Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days? If so, could you kindly clarify the purpose of your visit? Is it true that your wife continues to receive a salary from a Pakistan-based NGO while residing and working in India? If so, may we ask why a Pakistan-based organization is paying a salary for activities conducted in India? What is the citizenship status of your wife and your two children? Are they Indian citizens, or do they hold the citizenship of any other country? Many more questions will follow," he said in a post on X. Questions for the Honble Member of Parliament from the Congress Party:1.Did you visit Pakistan for a continuous period of 15 days? If so, could you kindly clarify the purpose of your visit?https://t.co/a83u47Zq6L it true that your wife continues to receive a salary from a Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 27, 2025 Soon the Congress MP hit back at Sarma questioning if the Chief Minister was ready for questions about his wife and children. Will you resign if you fail to prove your allegations of me and my wife being agents of an enemy country? Will you take questions on your own children and wife? Will the state police arrest those linked to coal mafia who make are ravaging the hills of Assam and making crores of undeclared money? Waiting for the SIT report to be submitted," he said on X. Questions for the Honble Chief Minister of Assam1) Will you resign if you fail to prove your allegations of me and my wife being agents of an enemy country ? 2) Will you take questions on your own children and wife ? 3) Will the state police arrest those linked to coal mafia https://t.co/KEhs4h9M1R Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) April 27, 2025 He also questioned whether the state police would arrest those linked to coal mafia who are ravaging the hills of Assam and making crores of undeclared money". It was an apparent reference to Enforcement Directorates findings that illegal rat hole quarrying was being rampantly done in Meghalaya and a syndicate with people from both states ensured that trucks containing illegal coal cleared the borders of Meghalaya and entered into Assam. Gogoi had posted on X about this matter on Saturday. Waiting for the SIT report to be submitted," Gogoi added to his post with the three questions, though he didnt clarify which investigation he was referring to. In his response to the Congress MP, Sarma said, I would like to clarify that neither I nor my son and daughter have ever visited Pakistan. Furthermore, my wife and our entire family would never even think of accepting any salary or financial support from Pakistan." All members of my family, including my wife, son, and daughter, are Indian citizens. None of my children has ever surrendered or renounced Indian citizenship. Now, it is your turn to answer. In the coming days, sufficient material will be placed in the public domain exposing the connections between the concerned Congress Member of Parliament and Pakistan. Wait for 10th September 2025," he added. I would like to clarify that neither I nor my son and daughter have ever visited Pakistan. Furthermore, my wife and our entire family would never even think of accepting any salary or financial support from Pakistan.All members of my family, including my wife, son, and daughter, https://t.co/7seOlw2WaZ Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 27, 2025 The BJP had accused Gogois wife of having links with Pakistan and the ISI, a charge rejected by the deputy opposition leader in the Lok Sabha as laughable and entertaining". The saffron camp had further alleged that Gogoi had visited the Pakistan High Commission after he was elected to Lok Sabha in the 2014 elections without seeking permission from the Lok Sabha Speaker, Home Ministry and other related ministries. After his visit, Gogois organisation Policy for Youth wrote an article in a newspaper accusing BSF personnel of misbehaving with illegal women Bangladeshi intruders". Earlier in February, Sarma had raised questions about a meeting Gaurav Gogoi held 10 years ago with the then Pakistan High Commissioner to India. The state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the alleged interference of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who is claimed to have links with Gogois British wife Elizabeth Colburn, in Indias internal affairs. Sarmas personal attack on the Congress MP and his wife, citing his alleged Pakistan links, comes after the Pahalgam terror carnage that left 26 individuals, mostly tourists dead. Who Is Elizabeth Gogoi? top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Elizabeth Gogoi, born Elizabeth Colebourn in the UK, holds a Masters degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics (LSE) and married Gaurav Gogoi in 2013. She previously worked with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN). According to her author profile on the CDKN website, where her last article dates back to 2014, she coordinated the organisations work in India and Nepal. About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Location : Guwahati [Gauhati], India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 17:37 IST Congress' MS Aiyar Sparks Row, Says Pahalgam Attack Reflects 'Unresolved Questions Of Partition' Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 08:56 IST Mani Shankar Aiyar said the Pahalgam tragedy reflected the "unresolved questions of Partition", prompting the BJP to accuse Congress of giving a clean chit to Pakistan. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar speaking at the India International Centre. After Robert Vadra, it is senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar who has sparked yet another row over the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which left 26 tourists. Aiyar said the Pahalgam tragedy reflected unresolved questions of Partition". At least 26 people were killed in the barbaric terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, sending shockwaves across the country and drawing global condemnation. Security forces have since intensified search operations across Jammu and Kashmir to hunt down the terrorists. Recommended Stories Speaking at an event at the India International Centre, Aiyar said, Many people almost prevented partition, but it happened because there were differences in value systems and assessments of the nature of Indias nationhood and its civilisational inheritance between people like Gandhi and Pandit Nehru and Jinnah and many other Muslims who did not agree with Jinnah." But the fact is, that Partition happened and till today, we are living with the consequences of that partition. Is this how we should be living? Are not the unresolved questions of partition reflected in the terrible tragedy that was enacted near Pahalgam on 22nd April?" BJP Reacts To Mani Shankar Aiyars Remarks Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla responded angrily to Aiyars remarks, saying Congress is working to give a clean chit to Pakistan and justifying acts of terrorism on Indian soil. Once again, Congress has given a new excuse to give a clean chit to Pakistan and justify Pakistans attack on Pahalgam," Poonawalla said in a video unit, highlighting previous controversial remarks by party leaders on the tragic terror attack. At the time of Partition, Nehru and Jinnah were at the helm. Are you blaming Nehru?" Poonawalla questioned how long Congress will give a clean chit to Pakistan for every terrorist attack. This is not INC (Indian National Congress) but PPP (Pakistan Parast Party). Mani Shankar Aiyar was the one who begged Pakistan for help in removing PM Modi from power. It has become a full-time job for Congress to give a clean chit to Pakistan and whitewash Islamic jihad," he added. Before his remarks, Aiyar said it was too early for an outsider" like him to comment on how the Centre will take action on the attack with the backing of all political parties. I think the matter is still being played out and it will be too premature for me to make any kind of remark on this," he said. Previous Controversial Statements By Congress Leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar is not the first Congress leader to spark a row over the Pahalgam tragedy. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadras husband and businessman Robert Vadra had earlier said the terrorists targeted Hindus to give a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Muslims are feeling weakened". In a bid to attack the Centre over the terror attack, Vadra ended up stoking a controversy as he said that the terrorists checked the IDs of the victims as there is a divide that has come" in India between Hindus and Muslims. In our country, we see that this government will talk about Hindutva, and the minorities feel uncomfortable and troubled," he said, prompting an angry reply from the BJP. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stoked a controversy by saying there is no need for war with Pakistan but India, instead, should beef up security in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. He said the attack reflected an intelligence failure in Kashmir. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all There is no need for war now. But strict measures must be taken. Security measures must be tightened. We are not for war. Peace must prevail, people should have security, the Centre must maintain security measures," he said. Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly R Ashoka, taking to X, launched a scathing attack on Siddaramaiah. It is the misfortune of Karnataka that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has 40 years of vast political experience and has served as Chief Minister twice, lacks the basic sense of when and what to speak." 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: April 27, 2025, 08:41 IST 'I Never Said...': Siddaramaiah Clarifies 'War' Remark After Backlash For Making Headlines In Pakistan Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 16:21 IST Siddaramaiah sparked a major row by calling the Pahalgam terror attack a result of intelligence failure and saying there was no need for a war with Pakistan. Siddaramaiah called the Pahalgam attack a result of intelligence failure. (PTI File) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has clarified his remarks related to going to war with Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, after facing backlash for telling the Indian government to boost security in Jammu and Kashmir. I never said there should be no war with Pakistan, if a war is inevitable, it will happen," said Siddaramaiah while clarifying his remark on the issue. I just said that for now, there should be no war," he added. Recommended Stories In a post on X, Siddaramaiah said war should be the last resort for any country, only when all other means to subdue the enemy have failed. It is now clear to both the people of the country and the central government that the terror attack in Pahalgam, orchestrated by Pakistan-backed terrorists, was due to a failure in our intelligence and security systems. The central government has the responsibility to first rectify this lapse and take necessary precautions to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future," he said. I have observed the debates and discussions, both for and against, surrounding the statement I made about war.War should always be a nations last resort never the first, nor the only option. Only when every other means to defeat the enemy has failed, should a country be Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) April 27, 2025 While welcoming Indias diplomatic moves against Pakistan, the Karnataka CM called for harsher measures and warned against some miscreants spreading war hysteria and disrupting communal harmony. Pakistan today is a bankrupt, diseased nation with nothing to lose. That is exactly why India, which is emerging as a powerful global nation, must tread carefully," he added. Why Did Siddaramaiahs Remarks Face Backlash? On Saturday, Siddaramaiah stoked a major controversy by calling the Pahalgam terror attack a result of intelligence failure and saying there was no need for a war with Pakistan, remarks that were even highlighted by the Pakistani media. They (Indian government) should be more alert. This is an intelligence failure, a security failure. There is no need for war now. But strict measures must be taken. Security measures must be tightened. We are not for war," he had then told reporters. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came down heavily on Siddaramaiahs highly condemnable" and shameful" remarks, accusing him of giving a clean chit to Pakistan and justifying their acts of terrorism. It is the misfortune of Karnataka that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has 40 years of vast political experience and has served as Chief Minister twice, lacks the basic sense of when and what to speak," said Karnataka Leader of Opposition R Ashoka. Our country has a professional armed force. It is left to the responsibility, expertise, and experience of our military to determine what action needs to be taken in any situation. In this regard, your advice is unnecessary, and you do not have the qualifications to offer any. Thousands of illegal Bangladeshi, Rohingya, and Pakistani immigrants are roaming freely. First, identify them, deport them, and focus on ensuring the safety of Kannadigas. Do not unnecessarily interfere in matters that do not concern you," he added. Congress and Pakistan speak in the same language, whether it is Article 370, Samjhauta, Pulwama, 26/11, surgical strike, Balakot air strike. Congress is no longer INC, but a PPP- Pakistan Parast Party. Therefore, on one hand, they say the strongest action should be taken against those who are exporting terrorism into India, and on the other hand, the Congress is busy giving clean chit to Pakistan," said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla. Karnataka BJP MP Tejasvi Surya also condemned the remarks, saying it is the Army and the Indian governments call to take further actions against terrorism. The Chief Minister should realise that he represents a state where three people have been killed brutally by these terrorists, and the least he can do is demand strict action and condemn what has happened," he added. BJP also mocked Siddaramaiah as Halal CM" after his remarks were broadcast in the Pakistani media. With your childish and nonsensical statements, youve now become world-famous overnight in Pakistan. Congratulations to you. If you ever visit Pakistan in the future, youre guaranteed a royal welcome," said R Ashoka. Pakistan media hails Halal CM" @siddaramaiah for his love towards them.Congress @HariprasadBK2 says Pakistan is not our enemy."Hindu youths jailed for putting Pak flags where they rightly belong on roads and toilets while @INCKarnataka left no stone unturned to save the pic.twitter.com/qJYkQthB8u BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 27, 2025 As the nation grieves the tragic loss of innocent lives in the Pahalgam Terror Attack orchestrated by terrorists supported and sponsored by Pakistan, Chief Minister @siddaramaiah attributing the attack to intelligence failure have been exploited by Pakistani media.They pic.twitter.com/nJFxC5mFgV Basanagouda R Patil (Yatnal) (@BasanagoudaBJP) April 27, 2025 Terrorists unleashed gunfire in Pahalgam on April 22, killing at least 26 people mostly tourists in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Three people from KarnatakaManjunath Rao from Shivamogga, Bharat Bhushan from Bengaluru and Madhusudan Rao, a resident of Bengaluru who hailed from Andhra Pradeshalso lost their lives in the horrific attack on April 22. BJP Hits Out At Siddaramaiah The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lashed out at Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah over his remarks and referred to him as Pakistan Ratna". Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashoka accused Siddaramaiah of acting like a puppet" of an enemy nation. Congratulations to you. If you ever visit Pakistan again, you are guaranteed royal hospitality. It will not be surprising if the Pakistani government honours you with the highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, as a great peace ambassador who has advocated for Pakistan," he said in a post on X, sharing a clip of Pakistani news channel playing up Siddaramaiahs remark. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Karnataka BJP chief BY Vijayendra also shared the clip and wrote on X, Big cheers for Wazar-e-Ala @siddaramaiah from far across the Borders! Pakistani media is all too praise for @siddaramaiah & visibly disappointed at the backlash he is receiving from BJP & others, for his comments against war with Pakistan." Further referring to former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijayendra said, Nehru was taken around in an open Jeep around the streets of Rawalpindi, as Pakistan was too happy with Nehru for signing the Indus Water Treaty that favoured Pakistan. Is Siddaramaiah going to be the next politician from India to be taken around in open Jeep in Pakistan?" 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: April 27, 2025, 13:03 IST 'No Country Can Have Foolproof 100% Intelligence': Shashi Tharoor's Pahalgam Remark Irks Congress Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 22:51 IST Tharoor stated that no country can ever have foolproof 100% intelligence, and drew a comparison to Israels response to the October 7 attack by Hamas Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. (Photo Credits: X) Congress senior leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday acknowledged intelligence lapses in the Pahalgam terror attack but cautioned against demanding accountability from the government. Instead, he urged the country to focus on resolving the current crisis first. Speaking to the news agency ANI, Tharoor stated that no country can ever have foolproof 100% intelligence," and drew a comparison to Israels response to the October 7 attack by Hamas. Recommended Stories We have got the example of Israel, the worlds best intelligence services according to everybody, which were taken by surprise on October 7, just two years ago," the Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP. #WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | On the Pahalgam terror attack, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, Obviously, there was no full proof intelligence. There was some failure But we have got the example of Israel, the worlds best intelligence services according to everybody, pic.twitter.com/v0SMkULt6i ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 He further added: Just as Israel is waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability, similarly, I think we too should see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government." Tharoor noted that the public often hears only about intelligence failures and not about the many attacks successfully thwarted behind the scenes. We only get to know about the ones that we failed to thwart. This is normal in any nation. There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now," he added. Tharoors comments come amid serious questions over security and intelligence failure following the 22 April terror attack in Baisaran, near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam. In the attack, 26 peoplemostly touristswere gunned down by terrorists, marking one of the deadliest assaults on civilians in the region in over two decades. His remarks also come as opposition parties, including his own, the Congress, have blamed the terror attack on a intelligence failure" and demanded accountability at the highest levels of government. The attack has also sharply escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. New Delhi has accused Islamabad of supporting cross-border terrorism" and claimed that Pakistan-based militants were behind the killings. Pakistan has denied any involvement, labelling the accusations as frivolous" and warning of a response to any Indian action. Congress leader slams Tharoor Reacting sharply to Tharoors comments, fellow Congress leader Udit Raj questioned his party loyalty, asking why Tharoor was acting like a super-BJP man". I want to ask Shashi Tharoor, is he in the Congress party or the BJP?Is he trying to become a super-BJP man? Shashi Tharoor should ask the BJP when the government is taking the Pok?Has Shashi Tharoor become the advocate of BJP?," Raj stated. #WATCH | Delhi: On Congress leader Shashi Tharoors remarks, Congress leader Udit Raj says, I want to ask Shashi Tharoor, is he in the Congress party or the BJP?Is he trying to become a super-BJP man? Shashi Tharoor should ask the BJP when the government is taking the https://t.co/H7uHc2nYY8 pic.twitter.com/f8vBYf8j19 ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all He further asked, want to ask him which terrorist incident took place after 9/11 in America?Has the BJP appointed him as its spokesperson?" (With inputs from agencies) 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 : Kerala, India, India First Published: April 27, 2025, 17:42 IST Terrorist Can't Ask Religion While Shooting, Pahalgam Survivor Might Have Lost Control Of Her Mind: Karnataka Minister Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Manjiri Joshi Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 14:38 IST RB Timmapur said: She (Shivamogga victim Manjunath's wife Pallavi) said that Muslims saved her son. See, as a result of the tragedy, her mind might have lost a bit of control... RB Timappur; victim Manjunath's wife.(News18) Karnataka excise minister RB Timmapur on Saturday sparked a row, discounting the Pahalgam survivors accounts, saying a terrorist could not have asked their religion" before shooting. The April 22 attack in Kashmir led to the killing of 26 tourists. Recommended Stories Be it in Kargil, Pulwama or here, there has been a (security) failure. If you see thisA Hindu being shot after their ID cards were checked. Why werent Muslims killed if you [the BJP] want to politicise any deaths? What will be the state of this nation?" the Congress leader said. The survivors have been claiming that the terrorists made them recite Kalma or even stripped them to check their religious identity before killing them. #BreakingNews | "Do Attackers Ask Religion Before Shooting?": Karnataka Minister R. B. Thimmapurs Shocking RemarkBJP Karnataka reacts sharply, says, "Congress is trying to whitewash Islamic terror."@BharadwajSudath shares more details@kritsween | #PahalgamAttack pic.twitter.com/bmQq3alU3q News18 (@CNNnews18) April 27, 2025 She (Shivamogga victim Manjunaths wife Pallavi) said that Muslims saved her son. See, as a result of the tragedy, her mind might have lost a bit of control. But overall, if you look at it, how many Muslims have saved Hindus? If you ask me then, why were Muslims killed by terrorists then?" Timmapur said, Which person will ask ones caste and shoot? Is it possible? Think practically. He will go about shooting, who will have the patience to ask about ones religion when shooting?" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader R Ashoka responded on X: The hearts of the INCKarnataka party are beating for the fanatical Muslim terrorists of sinful Pakistan ). Hindutva is the reason for the Pahalgam terrorist attack: @irobertvadra. There is no need for war. We are for peace: CM @siddaramaiah. There are misguided people in all religions: Minister @PriyankKharge. The removal of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir is the reason for the Pahalgam massacre: Congress MLA Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda. Will the attackers listen to religion? : Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapura." Meanwhile, after facing backlash for telling the Indian government to boost security in Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah clarified: I never said there should be no war with Pakistan, if a war is inevitable, it will happenI just said that for now, there should be no war." Pakistan media hails Halal CM" @siddaramaiah for his love towards them.Congress @HariprasadBK2 says Pakistan is not our enemy."Hindu youths jailed for putting Pak flags where they rightly belong on roads and toilets while @INCKarnataka left no stone unturned to save the pic.twitter.com/qJYkQthB8u BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) April 27, 2025 top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, reaffirmed his commitment to delivering the toughest" punishment to terrorists and their backers, assuring the families of the Pahalgam attack victims that justice will be served." He further said that Kashmir witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, with the surge in tourism and opportunities for the youth, and noted that the Pahalgam attack was a desperate attempt by the enemies of the nation to derail the regions progress. First Published: April 27, 2025, 13:01 IST '130 Nukes Facing You': Pakistan Minister Threatens India As Tensions Rise Over Indus Treaty Suspension Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 10:35 IST Pakistan Minister Hanif Abbasi warned that if India stops the water supply to Pakistan, it should prepare for a war Pakistan Minister Hanif Abbasi | File Image/X Pahalgam Attack: Pakistan Minister Hanif Abbasi escalated tensions by openly threatening India with nuclear retaliation, warning that Islamabads stockpile Ghori, Shaheen, and Ghaznavi missiles along with 130 nuclear warheads has been kept only for India." Abbasi further warned that if India stops the water supply to Pakistan by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, which already has been suspended, it should prepare for a war, as Islamabad is ready to strike if provoked. Recommended Stories If they stop the water supply to us, then they should be ready for a war. The military equipment we have, the missiles we have, theyre not for display. Nobody knows where we have placed our nuclear weapons across the country. I say it again, these ballistic missiles, all of them are targeted at you," the Pakistani minister said. Pak Rail Minister Hanif Abbasi openly threatens NUCLEAR WAR after #PahalgamAttack:Our Ghori, Shaheen, Ghaznavi missiles & 130 nuclear bombs are not for display they are for INDIA. Stop water and be ready for war.Our weapons are facing you." pic.twitter.com/ppAh8skSTm Prakash (@Prakash20202021) April 27, 2025 The remarks came after India announced a raft of measures against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives. India decided to suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty and also announced the suspension of the visas for Pakistani nationals. In a tit-for-tat move, Islamabad closed its airspace to Indian carriers and threatened to suspend the 1972 Simla Agreement, which validates the Line of Control. Abbasi reacted to Pakistans decision to close its airspace for India, saying that New Delhi has already started realising the harsh consequences of its actions. If things were to continue like this for another 10 days, the airlines in India would go bankrupt," Abbasi said, mocking India for its decision to suspend the Indus Treaty. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The minister also claimed that Pakistan had already started preparing for the consequences of Indias decision to downgrade bilateral trade, signalling that Islamabad was ready to counter any economic actions taken against it. India took bold decision to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Pakistan after The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow group of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack. About the Author Ronit Singh Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Ronit Singh, Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com, works with the India and Breaking News team. He has a keen focus on Indian politics and aims to cover unexplored angles. Ronit is an alumnus of Christ (Deemed to be... Read More Location : Islamabad, Pakistan First Published: April 27, 2025, 10:35 IST April 20, 2025: Since August 2024, Russian efforts to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk province made steady progress. Russia was so desperate that they hired 15,000 North Korean troops. The Koreans fought bravely but took heavy casualties. Eventually there were only a few hundred Ukrainian troops holding out in an ancient monastery. Russian forces were pressing on against the Ukrainians in the monastery, eventually forcing them out and back into Ukraine. While in Russia the Ukrainians captured two of the North Korean soldiers. This was not easy because the North Koreans had been ordered by their leaders back home to kill themselves rather than be captured. Many did so, to spare their families retribution from the North Korean government. The Ukrainians told their North Korean prisoners that they would not be identified. This would keep their families safe. In return, the North Korean prisoners would submit to questioning about the North Korean military and life in North Korea. The two soldiers revealed that they were trained more thoroughly and intensively than the Russian soldiers they worked with in Ukraine. The two prisoners knew little about the war before being sent to fight in it. They then discovered a new world outside the very confined and restricted lives they led in North Korea. There, young men are conscripted into the army at 18 and serve up to ten years. During that time most have little or no contact with their families. Home visits are allowed only when a parent dies. Many North Korean soldiers in Ukraine were able to obtain cell phones (most likely by trading some of their equipment for cell phones with corrupt Russian supply sergeants) and enough understanding of Russian to use the phones. This was a shocking and revealing experience. The phones enabled them to find out about a world they didnt know existed. They were shocked to find out how different life was in prosperous and democratic South Korea. Saying that out loud in North Korea was a criminal offense that often resulted in a long and often fatal time in a labor camp. It is likely that any of these North Korean troops who return to North Korea will be put in prison camps for the rest of their lives. Before sending the Russians mercenaries, North Korea had made a lot of money selling the Russians weapons and munitions. This included 300 short range ballistic missiles and many thousands of tons of other weapons and munitions. Russia offered to barter with the North Koreans, offering technical advice for missiles, nuclear weapons and the nuclear submarine North Korea is building. This all began when Ukrainian forces made an unexpected raid into Russias Kursk province on August 2nd, 2024. By early 2025 the Ukrainian forces were still in Russia and the Russians had brought in three brigades of North Korean troops to join the effort to expel the Ukrainians. Russia paid a lot of money to the North Korean government for these brigades but the North Koreans suffered heavy casualties and failed to force the Ukrainians out of Russia. Russian civilians in the Ukrainian occupation zone noticed the absence of Russian forces prior to the raid on Kursk. When the Ukrainians invaded, they captured several hundred soldiers as well as civilians working for the military. Most of these were subsequently used to get Ukrainian prisoners released. While the Russians responded to the prisoner swap offer, they were still not in a fighting mood. A Russian official showed up and blamed the local authorities for the Ukrainian success. At the same time he said Russian military assistance was on the way. After many months the local civilians still had not received any help from their government. In contrast the Ukrainian occupiers were friendly and did not prevent local civilians from leaving the occupied zone. Previous to the August incursion, Ukrainian forces had advanced into Russia several times but withdrew before any Russian troops showed up. In most of those cases, there were no Russian soldiers nearby to oppose an incursion. The dwindling, from casualties and desertions, Russian forces are barely able to cover the thousand kilometer front line. Most of the fighting is going on in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to gain ground in Luhansk and Donetsk provinces where the war began in 2014. Heavy Russian losses in Ukraine since 2022 are one of the reasons Russia was unable to move many troops and armored vehicles towards Kursk. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not expect such a bold Ukrainian attack into Russia and had little to say publicly. Instead he went off on a planned visit to another part of Russia while a few troops were sent to block further Ukrainian advances. Russian media were ordered to report little or nothing about the incursion. The media did publish vague reports of something happening in Kursk province, and most Russians were more afraid of their own government than they were of Ukrainian troops inside Russia. Putin enacted laws that punished critics of his policies in Ukraine. A few Russians were sent to prison and that was sufficient to frighten most other Russian critics. Meanwhile Putin has his own problems dealing with the invading Ukrainians. Three years of fighting in Ukraine have severely depleted the Russian armed forces. There were not enough troops available to block the Ukrainian advance in Kursk. This was what the Ukrainians expected because Ukrainian military intelligence has monitored Russian soldiers using cellphones and interviewed Russia prisoners. Ukraine knew that there were not many Russian troops left in Ukraine and Russian morale was low. Russia has not resorted to extreme measures to motivate their soldiers. In World War II methods were used to motivate reluctant troops that Russian does not believe will work 80 years after World War II. During World War II Russia resorted to ancient traditions when deadly force was necessary to encourage reluctant Russian soldiers. In 2022 Russian officers were expected to use deadly force on their own troops in order to ensure obedience. This was often used during World War II. During some major offensives secret police personnel would be brought in to operate machine-guns behind the troops who were taking part in a major offensive. The secret police machine-gunners fired on any Russian troops leaving the front-line forces. Many nations consider desertion in the face of the enemy to be treason, but they dont usually execute the traitorous deserters on sight. After 2022, Russians in Ukraine found that they could not get away with using secret police methods. The troops involved shot back, or first. This meant there was no motivation to get reluctant Russian troops to move forwards. After three years fighting in Ukraine, Russian troops are often unable to motivate themselves into attacking. Even defending Russian troops would sometimes flee. The Ukrainians in Kursk were taking advantage of that and Vladimir Putin was receiving bad news he did not want to deal with. Until some overdue reforms are made, these flaws will not go away. The fighting in Ukraine reminded Russian military and political leaders that the long delay is already working on needed reforms so, they hope, that the next time Russian troops are in combat they perform better and perhaps even win. There have been several rounds of unsuccessful military reforms since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. One of the major causes of that collapse was their unaffordable and largely ineffective armed forces. In post-Soviet Russia there are far fewer restrictions on criticizing the military. Most Russians have a very negative attitude towards conscription and the reforms underway because of the Ukraine War disaster are typical of several previous efforts to remedy problems that continue to resist any fundamental change. As Elon Musk Gained Power In Washington, His Popularity Plummets: Poll Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 18:06 IST Musk is noticeably less popular than the overall effort to pare back the government workforce, which Trump has described as bloated and corrupt. Elon Musk. (Photo Credit: X) Elon Musk spent years building cachet as a business titan and tech visionary, brushing aside critics and sceptics to become the richest person on the planet. But as Musk gained power in Washington in recent months, his popularity has waned, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research. Recommended Stories Just 33 per cent of US adults have a favourable view of Musk, the chain-saw-wielding, late-night-posting, campaign-hat-wearing public face of President Donald Trumps efforts to downsize and overhaul the federal government. That share is down from 41 per cent in December. It was a shame that he crashed and burned his reputation," said Ernest Pereira, 27, a Democrat who works as a lab technician in North Carolina. He bought into his own hype." The poll found that about two-thirds of adults believe Musk has held too much influence over the federal government during the past few months although that influence may be coming to an end. The billionaire entrepreneur is expected to leave his administration job in the coming weeks. Musk is noticeably less popular than the overall effort to pare back the government workforce, which Trump has described as bloated and corrupt. About half of US adults believe the Republican president has gone too far on reducing the size of the federal workforce, while roughly 3 in 10 think he is on target and 14 per cent want him to go even further. Retiree Susan Wolf, 75, of Pennsylvania, believes the federal government is too big but Musk has made a mess of everything". I dont trust him," she said. I dont think he knows what hes doing." Wolf, who is not registered with a political party, said Musks private sector success does not translate to Washington. He thinks you run a government like you run a business. And you dont do that," she said. One is for the benefit of the people, and the other is for the benefit of the corporation." Much of the downsizing has been done through so-called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was Musks brainchild during last years campaign. Thousands of federal employees have been fired or pushed to quit, contracts have been cancelled and entire agencies have been brought to a standstill. Musk has succeeded in providing a dose of shock therapy to the federal government, but he has fallen short of other goals. After talking about cutting spending by USD 1 trillion, he has set a much lower target of USD 150 billion. Even reaching that amount could prove challenging, and DOGE has regularly overstated its progress. He is expected to start dedicating more time to Tesla, his electric automaker that has suffered plummeting revenue while he was working for Trump. Musk told investors on a recent conference call that now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done", he expects to spend just a day or two per week on government matters". Musk, in his work for the administration, has continued a political evolution toward the right. Although the South African-born entrepreneur was never easy to categorise ideologically, he championed the fight against climate change and often supported Democratic candidates. Now he criticizes the woke mind virus" and warns of the collapse of Western civilization from the threats of illegal migration and excess government spending. Musks increasingly conservative politics are reflected in the polling. Only about 2 in 10 independents and about 1 in 10 Democrats view Musk favourably, compared with about 7 in 10 Republicans. In addition, while about 7 in 10 independents and about 9 in 10 Democrats believe Musk has too much influence, only about 4 in 10 Republicans feel that way. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Mark Collins, 67, a warehouse manager from Michigan who has leaned Republican in recent years, said Musk runs a nice, tight ship" at his companies, and the government definitely needs tightening up". Hes cleaning up all the trash," he said. I love what hes doing." Republicans are much less likely than Democrats to be worried about being affected by recent cuts to federal government agencies, services or grants. Just 11 per cent said they are extremely" or very" concerned that they or someone they know will be affected, while about two-thirds of Democrats and 44 per cent of independents have those fears. Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: April 27, 2025, 18:06 IST 'Dystopian Future With No Babies': LA Students Organise 'World's First' Sperm Race Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 08:50 IST Beneath its scientific facade, the sperm race appears to be a viral stunt that lets college students showcase their playful humour. LA Students Organise 'World's First' Sperm Race. (AFP) A pair of American students have held the worlds first" sperm race in a new competition at one of Los Angeles most well-known arenas. The unusual sport was invented by 17-year-old high schooler Eric Zhu, who raised $1.5 million to stage the Sperm Racing event at the Hollywood Palladium on Friday. The race was organised to call attention to male infertility. Recommended Stories The event pitted samples taken from two healthy young university students against each other on a racetrack 8in (20cm) long and modelled on the female reproductive system. The sperm racing event featured livestreams, replays, and live odds. 20-year-old Tristan Milker from USC was crowned champion, while the loser, 19-year-old Asher Proeger from UC, was playfully doused with a semen-like liquid. Zhu said he was inspired by social media posts that claim average sperm counts have halved over the past 50 years. There could be this dystopian future where no one will be able to make babies," he said. At the Los Angeles event on Friday night, a man in a lab coat used pipettes to place samples of semen collected from contestants ahead of time on 2mm long tracks". The race track was magnified 100 times by a microscope, then filmed by a camera that transferred the image to a 3D animation software before the final video was broadcast to the audience. Theres no way to really tell if this is real, but I want to believe it is," Felix Escobar, a 20-year-old spectator, told AFP. Eric Zhus concerns about fertility align with the views of the growing pro-natalist movement, which includes figures from conservative and far-right politics. But Zhu distanced himself from the movement. I have nothing to do with this, Im not like an Elon Musk, who wants to repopulate the Earth," the young entrepreneur told AFP. Elon Musk, an ally of Donald Trump, has expressed concerns that declining population poses a threat to the West and has fathered more than 10 children with several women. Zhu insisted he simply wanted to raise awareness of how sperm quality goes hand in hand with overall health. Its your choice to sleep earlier. Its your choice to stop doing drugs. Its your choice to eat healthier, and all these different things have a significant kind of impact on your motility," Zhu said. The Trump administration is reportedly considering incentives to promote conservative family values and encourage higher birth rates, including a proposed National Medal of Motherhood" for mothers with six or more children and a $5,000 payment for every new mother. Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at Mount Sinais Icahn School of Medicine, co-authored a study that found the sperm count decline cited by Mr Zhu. According to her, the proliferation of hormonally active chemicals" in recent years has had a negative impact on human fertility. Beneath its scientific facade, the sperm race appears to be a viral stunt that lets college students showcase their playful humour. Some attendees dressed in costumes, including one resembling male genitals, while the hosts made lewd jokes and roasted the competitors. A YouTube livestream of the event attracted over 100,000 views. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Location : Los Angeles, United States of America (USA) First Published: April 27, 2025, 08:50 IST 'Find Out Who's Culprit': Pakistan Seeks Russia, Chinas Intervention In Pahalgam Terror Attack Probe Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 19:17 IST Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has called Russia, China and other "western countries" to form an international investigation team to probe the attack. Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif. (File) Pahalgam terror attack: Pakistan is seeking an intervention of Russia and China in investigating the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam, after which the diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Islamabad deteriorated. Islamabad questioned the basis on which India accused Pakistan of being involved in the attack leading to suspension of Indus Water Treaty, cutting off trade ties and closing of borders, news agency PTI reported. Recommended Stories Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has called Russia, China and other western countries" to form an international investigation team to probe the attack. I believe that Russia, China, or even Western countries could play a very positive role in this crisis. They could form an international investigation team to determine whether India or Modi is lying or telling the truth. Let an international team find out," Asif said in a recent interview to Russian government-run RIA Novosti news agency. He further noted that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also called for an international investigation in the terror attack. The Pakistani minister further emphasised that India should furbish the evidence to substantiate the fact that Pakistan is involved or that the terrorists were supported by Pakistan. Lets find out who is the culprit and the perpetrator of this incident in India, in Kashmir, talk or empty statements have no effect. There must be some evidence that Pakistan is involved or that these people were supported by Pakistan. These are just statements, empty statements and nothing more," Khawaja further told the news outlet. Meanwhile, Andrew Korybko, a Moscow-based independent analyst, pointed out some concerning statements made by Pakistani officials. He observed that Pakistan not only denied Indias accusations, which was expected, but officials also made two self-discrediting claims. Ishaq Dar, who is both Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, suggested that those who attacked Pahalgam might be freedom fighters," he noted. Regardless of ones perspective on the Kashmir conflict, it is undeniably an act of terrorism to massacre tourists, especially based on their religion. Speculating that the perpetrators might be freedom fighters undermines genuine freedom fighters worldwide and implicitly justifies terrorism," Korybko wrote in his newsletter on Substack. The second self-discrediting claim came from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who stated in an interview with Al Jazeera that the attack could have been a false flag operation." As we reflect on Dar and Asifs comments, it becomes clear that there is a significant contradiction. Dar insinuates approval of the Pahalgam attack by suggesting that the attackers might be freedom fighters, while Asif condemns the attack and blames it on India," Korybko explained. These positions are mutually exclusive and intellectually inconsistent. The inability of top Pakistani officials to maintain a coherent narrative raises concerns about their attempts to cover up their sides involvement," Korybko added. Meanwhile, Iran on Friday offered to mediate between India and Pakistan amid rising diplomatic tensions. Calling New Delhi and Islamabad as Tehrans brotherly neighbours", Irans Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran is ready to foster greater understanding between both the nations during the challenging time. India- Pakistan Tense Ties The ties between the two nations got tense after the Pahalgam carnage on Tuesday in which 26 tourists were shot dead in broad daylight by the Resistance Front terrorists, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. After the attack, the diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan downgraded with New Delhi announcing several punitive measures, including suspension of Indus Water Treaty, cutting Islamabad Mission strength and expulsion of its military attaches, as per decided by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in view of cross-border links to the devastating terror attack. Subsequently, Pakistan announced several retaliatory moves, including suspension of all its bilateral agreements and trade activities and closing its airspace to Indian aircrafts. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had vowed that the perpetrators and conspirators" of the Pahalgam attack will be served with the harshest response". (With inputs from PTI) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Location : Islamabad, Pakistan First Published: April 27, 2025, 19:17 IST Indian Diaspora Protests Across The World Over Pahalgam Terror Attack | Check Photos Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 23:38 IST The Indian community members held massive protests in France's Paris, Switzerland's Zurich, Finland's Helsinki, Australia's Melbourne, Spain and several other countries. Indian Diaspora organised a protest near Eiffel Tower in Paris against Pahalgam terror attack. (News18) Pahalgam terror attack: Indian diaspora members on Sunday protested in various countries against the Tuesdays ghastly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of at least 26 individuals, including foreign tourists, and injuring many others The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar offshoot, claimed the responsibility for the attack. The Indian community members held massive protests in Frances Paris, Switzerlands Zurich, Finlands Helsinki, Australias Melbourne, Spain and several other countries. Recommended Stories In a solemn gathering, the community members paid tribute to the innocent lives lost and sent a strong message against terrorism. See the photos here: Pakistani Diplomat Makes Throat-Slitting Gesture At Indian Protesters In UK Earlier on Friday, over 500 British Hindus held a protest outside the Pakistan Embassy over the ghastly attack. They raised slogans against terrorism and criticised Pakistan for supporting and sheltering terror groups responsible for such attacks. Holding Indian flags, banners, and placards, the protesters expressed deep sorrow over the loss of innocent lives and demanded justice for the victims. Later, a senior Pakistan Army official was captured on camera making threatening gestures towards protesters. In the viral videos, Colonel Taimur Rahat, Pakistan Army and Air Advisor in the High Commission in London was seen publicly making a threatening throat slit gesture towards Indian community protestors. What Happened In Pahalgam? In one of the biggest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Lashkar-linked terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists in Pahalgam on Tuesday, April 22, killing at least 26 people, including foreign tourists, and injuring many others. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar offshoot, claimed the responsibility for the attack. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Terrorists targeted a group of people, including women and elderly individuals, in the brazen attack afternoon. After the attack, the diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan downgraded with New Delhi announcing several punitive measures, including suspension of Indus Water Treaty, cutting Islamabad Mission strength and expulsion of its military attaches. About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He previously worked with Hindustan Times Digital (HTDS) and NDTV. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India ... Read More First Published: April 27, 2025, 21:32 IST 'Inhumane Acts': Iranian President Dials PM Modi, Condemns Pahalgam Terror Attack Published By : PTI Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 08:20 IST Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian with PM Modi | (Reuters Image/File) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and emphasised the need for regional cooperation to combat terrorism. President Pezeshkian said that Iran unequivocally denounces such "inhumane acts", Irans embassy in New Delhi said in a post on X. Recommended Stories These tragic events amplify the shared responsibility of all countries in the region and compel the regional states to eradicate the roots of terrorism through empathy, solidarity, and close cooperation, ensuring lasting peace and tranquility for the nations in the region, Pezeshkian stressed. President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran @drpezeshkian called PM @narendramodi and strongly condemned the terror attack in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and conveyed his condolences for the victims.Both leaders agreed that there could be no justication for such Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) April 26, 2025 Referencing the valuable legacy of renowned Indian leaders, the president noted that Iran holds the Indian nation and its prominent figures, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru "who were messengers of peace, friendship, and co-existence" in high regard. He also expressed hope that this spirit will remain in Indias relations with all countries. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. Regarding mutual economic ties between Iran and India, he expressed hope for the expansion of cooperation in trade and infrastructure more than ever before. The development of Chabahar Port can serve as a hub for strategic interactions in the region and as a vital connection point between Iran, India, and Russia, the president said. Pezeshkian also invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Tehran, noting that Iran is keen to discuss ways to strengthen comprehensive collaboration with India in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. In turn, Modi appreciated Irans sympathy regarding the tragic terrorist attack in Pahalgam, noting that New Delhi fully agrees with Tehrans perspective that the fight against terrorism requires the unity and comprehensive cooperation of all countries in the region, the embassy said. Modi also praised Irans constructive role in fostering peace and security, adding that India supports the Islamic Republics efforts to enhance regional and international stability. The prime minister further emphasised the need for a diplomatic solution to differences, including those between Iran and the United States. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all He expressed deep sorrow over the massive explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port and conveyed Indias readiness to assist Iran in addressing the aftermath of this incident. Modi also extended his heartfelt wishes to the Iranian president, expressed his hopes for the health of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and conveyed his aspirations for the ongoing progress of the great nation of Iran, the embassy said. Location : Iran First Published: April 27, 2025, 07:26 IST Iran Port Explosion: Death Toll Rises To 40, Over 1,000 Injured Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 21:21 IST The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, Fars news agency reported. Men ride a motorcycle amid the devastation on a boulevard following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan on April 26, 2025. (AFP) The death toll in a massive explosion at a port in southern Iran rose Sunday to at least 40 people. Provincial Governor Mohammad Ashouri gave the new death toll, Iranian state television reported. Some 1,000 others were injured in the blast at Shahid Rajaei port near Bandar Abbas on Saturday. Recommended Stories The port is purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. A military spokesman denied the propellant had been imported there, without offering a cause. Irans president visited those injured Sunday in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republics main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. The visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturdays blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas in southern Irans Hormozgan province rose to 28 killed and about 1,000 others injured. While Irans military sought to deny the delivery of ammonium perchlorate from China, new videos emerged showing an apocalyptic scene at the still-smoldering port. A crater that appeared meters deep sat surrounded by burning smoke so dangerous that authorities closed schools and businesses in the area. Containers appeared smashed or thrown as if discarded toys, while the burned carcasses of trucks and cars sat around the site. We have to find out why it happened," Pezeshkian said during a meeting with officials aired by Iranian state television. Authorities described the fire as being under control, saying emergency workers hoped that it would be fully extinguished later Sunday. Overnight, helicopters and heavy cargo aircraft flew repeated sorties over the burning port, dumping seawater on the site. Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Irans Red Crescent society offered the death toll and number of injured in a statement carried by an Iranian government website, saying that only 190 of the injured remained hospitalized on Sunday. The provincial governor declared three days of mourning. Private security firm Ambrey says the port received missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles," Ambrey said. In a first reaction on Sunday, Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied that missile fuel had been imported through the port. No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port," he told state television by telephone. He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless but offered no explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. Talaeinik promised authorities would offer more information later. Its unclear why Iran wouldnt have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel meaning potentially that it had no place to process the chemical. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the Beirut explosion. Meanwhile on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide assistance, Irans state-run IRNA news agency reported. Location : Iran First Published: April 27, 2025, 13:05 IST 'Understand Your Legitimate Security Concerns': China To Pakistan After Indias Retaliation Over Pahalgam Attack Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 20:26 IST Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a post on X said that Ishaq Dar briefed Wang Yi on the "current regional situation" Pakistans Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. (AP file photos) China on Sunday said that it is closely following" the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, calling for an impartial investigation" to be initiated promptly. The statement came from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a phone conversation with Pakistans Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar. Recommended Stories During their call, Yi stressed that Beijing hopes both nations will exercise restraint, engage in dialogue, and work towards de-escalating tensions. He also stated that combating terrorism is a shared responsibility of all nations, and reaffirmed Chinas consistent support for Pakistans strong counter-terrorism efforts, Global Times reported. Earlier today, Pakistans Deputy PM held a phone conversation with Yi to discuss the rising tensions with India following the terror attack in Pahalgam. In a statement posted on X, Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed the call and stated that Dar briefed Yi on the regional situation. He categorically rejected Indias unilateral and illegal actions, as well as its baseless propaganda against Pakistan," the post added. Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, today held a telephone conversation with Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi.DPM/FM briefed FM Wang Yi on current regional pic.twitter.com/rqjJqjyhZP Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) April 27, 2025 The Pakistans Foreign Ministry also added that Dar expressed appreciation for Chinas continued support and reaffirmed Pakistans commitment to their iron-clad" friendship and the shared vision of an All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership. The statement added that both sides reiterated their commitment to promoting regional peace and stability, mutual respect, and opposition to unilateralism and hegemonic policies. Both sides reiterated their firm resolve to uphold regional peace and stability, promote mutual respect and understanding, and jointly oppose unilateralism and hegemonic policies. They agreed to maintain close communication and coordination at all levels to advance their shared objectives of peace, security, and sustainable development in the region and beyond," it added. The conversation comes amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions following the 22 April terror attack in the tourist town of Pahalgam, located in Jammu and Kashmirs Anantnag district. Twenty-six people, mostly holidaymakers from other Indian states, were shot dead in what has been described as the worst attack on civilians in the region in 25 years. This has sparked nationwide outrage and drew condemnation from world leaders, including China, which stated it opposes terrorism in all its forms." top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all India has accused Pakistan of backing cross-border terrorism" and claimed the attackers were linked to Pakistan-based militant groups. Islamabad has denied any involvement, calling the allegations frivolous" and warning it would respond to any retaliatory move by India. (With inputs from agencies) 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 : Pakistan First Published: April 27, 2025, 15:57 IST Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir In Chaos After India's Sudden Jhelum Water Release: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 11:19 IST A sudden spike in Jhelum River's water level caused chaos in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan claims India released water from Uri Dam without warning, triggering an emergency. Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir In Chaos After India's Sudden Jhelum Water Release: Report. (PTI) A sudden spike in the Jhelum Rivers water level has caused chaos in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, with Pakistan claiming that India has allegedly released water from the Uri Dam without warning, according to reports. The abrupt discharge triggered a water emergency in PoKs Hattian Bala district, forcing residents along the riverbanks to flee to safer ground. Recommended Stories Indias action sparked heightened tensions between the two neighbouring countries, with Pakistan denouncing it as a breach of international norms and the Indus Waters Treaty. India suspended the IWT on April 23, citing the terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed by terrorists. In Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, and Chakoti, local officials blared warnings through loudspeakers, urging residents to evacuate as the water level surged rapidly. We had no warning. The water came rushing in, and were struggling to protect lives and property," said Muhammad Asif, a resident of Dumel, a village on the riverbank in PoK. A district government official in Muzaffarabad issued a brief statement advising citizens to stay away from locations close to the Jhelum River. Due to India releasing more water than usual into the Jhelum river, there is moderate flooding," added the spokesperson. Moderate flooding in low-lying areas of Kohala and Dhalkot has reportedly caused livestock losses and crop damage, though the full extent of the damage remains unconfirmed. The PoK government has accused India of deliberate water terrorism", pointing to the lack of prior notification as a breach of the Indus Water Treaty, a 1960 agreement brokered by the World Bank to regulate shared river waters. The treaty mandates that both nations share information on water releases to prevent downstream harm. In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, officials prioritised resident safety, with the Hattian Bala administration establishing temporary shelters and deploying rescue teams. Were doing all we can, but the scale of this crisis is overwhelming," said District Commissioner Bilal Ahmed. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Authorities advised residents to steer clear of riverbanks and avoid fishing or grazing livestock nearby. Meanwhile, Indian officials across the border have remained tight-lipped, neither confirming nor denying the release. Some Indian media outlets, however, claim the discharge was a routine dam operation necessitated by heavy rainfall in Jammu and Kashmir. Location : Pakistan First Published: April 27, 2025, 10:53 IST Pakistan Takes 'Emergency' Steps To Secure Drug Supplies After India Halts Trade: Report Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 07:43 IST Pakistan currently relies on India for 30% to 40% of its pharmaceutical raw materials, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and various advanced therapeutic products. Representative Image. (Pexels) Pakistani health authorities have initiated emergency preparedness" measures to secure pharmaceutical supplies in response to the suspension of trade ties with India, according to a media report on Saturday. In response to the Indias decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty following the Pahalgam attack, Islamabad on Thursday suspended all trade with New Delhi among other moves. Recommended Stories Geo News reported that Indias trade halt triggered urgent measures to secure" pharmaceutical needs in Pakistan, and health authorities have initiated emergency preparedness" measures to secure the supplies. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has confirmed that while there has been no formal notification regarding the bans impact on the pharmaceutical sector, contingency plans are already in place, it said. Following the 2019 crisis, we had started preparing for such contingencies. We are now actively looking at alternative avenues to meet our pharmaceutical needs," the report quoted a senior DRAP official as saying. Currently, Pakistan relies on India for 30% to 40% of its pharmaceutical raw materials, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and various advanced therapeutic products. With this supply chain distributed, DRAP is seeking alternative sources from China, Russia, and several European countries. The agency aims to ensure the continuous availability of essential medical supplies, including anti-rabies vaccines, anti-snake venom, cancer therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and other critical biological products. While DRAPs preparedness offers some reassurance, industry insiders and health experts have warned of a looming challenge if immediate action is not taken to manage the fallout of the trade suspension. Pakistan imports some 30%40% of its pharmaceutical raw material from India. We also import finished products, most importantly, anti-cancer therapies, biological products, vaccines, and sera, especially anti-rabies vaccine and anti-snake venom from India," a senior official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said, requesting anonymity. The Ministry of Health has yet to receive an official directive clarifying the status of pharmaceutical imports, despite the governments blanket announcement suspending all trade with India. The pharmaceutical sector fears that disruption in the supply chain could lead to critical shortages. The situation is further complicated by the existence of a robust black market, where unregistered and unapproved medicines are smuggled into Pakistan through Afghanistan, Iran, Dubai, and even across the eastern border, the report said. While these channels fill gaps left by legal imports, they offer no guarantee of quality or consistent supply. A delegation of pharmaceutical industry leaders travelled to Islamabad on Thursday to appeal for an exemption from the trade ban. We had meetings with DRAP and Ministry of Commerce officials to discuss the suspension of trade ties. We urged them to exempt the pharmaceutical sector from the ban, as there are many life-saving products whose raw materials come exclusively from India," said Tauqeer-ul-Haq, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA). The PPMA delegation also approached the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), arguing that pharmaceutical and health-related trade must be excluded from the ban to protect patients lives. However, some experts see the current crisis as a wake-up call for long-term investment in local production of APIs, vaccines, and biologicals. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all This crisis could be a turning point for Pakistan," said Zafar Iqbal, a senior public health expert. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. Location : Islamabad, Pakistan First Published: April 27, 2025, 07:43 IST Reprehensible Act Of Terrorism: UNSC Condemns Pahalgam Terror Attack Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 07:20 IST A press statement is a declaration to the media made by the President of the Security Council on behalf of all 15 Members. UNSC Condemns Pahalgam Terror Attack. (File Photo/Reuters) The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 tourists, stressing that those responsible should be held accountable and the organisers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism" should be brought to justice. In a press release, Councils President Jerome Bonnafont expressed deep solidarity with the victims families and the governments of India and Nepal while wishing the injured a swift recovery. Recommended Stories The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice," the statement read. They stressed that those responsible for these killings should be held accountable, and urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities in this regard," it added. The Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms remains one of the gravest threats to global peace and security. They reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, by the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. A press statement is a declaration to the media made by the President of the Security Council on behalf of all 15 Members. As the President of the Council for April, France issued a press statement through its Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont. It is learnt that the US had floated the draft statement, which was then discussed by Council members. The UN Security Council members extended their deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the governments of India and Nepal, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The attack claimed the lives of 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen, mostly tourists from across India. Pakistan currently sits in the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member. A press statement requires agreement from all Council members and is a negotiated text. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said the UN is following the situation between India and Pakistan with very deep concern". top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all And we, of course, reiterate our condemnation of the attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, which, as you know, killed about 26 civilians. And we again urge both the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further." When asked whether Guterres would speak with Indian and Pakistani leaders after returning from Rome, Dujarric replied, I hope to have something to share with you." Rejecting a suggestion that the crisis is being overlooked, he said, I dont agree with your comment we are paying very close attention." First Published: April 27, 2025, 07:08 IST April 21, 2025: Total worldwide defense spending for 2024 was $2.46 trillion. Ominously, the annual growth of defense spending is accelerating. Spending was up 7.4 percent on 2024, 6.5 percent in 2023 and 3.5 percent in 2022. These increases were the result of the Ukraine War and other European countries rearming and expanding their militaries to deal with increasing Russian aggression. The United States has the largest defense budget, $916 billion, in the world that supports a force of 1.32 million personnel. Two other countries have more troops. China has two million military personnel on duty and spends $296 while India has 1.475 million troops and spends $83 billion. Military budgets arent all they appear to be. While the United States alone accounts for over a third of the annual defense spending worldwide, this is not as overwhelming as it appears to be. There are several very practical reasons for this misperception. First there is the purchasing power parity or PPP, the relative cost of common goods in different countries. If you take into account PPP, those nations with lower costs like China and India, loom larger as defense spenders. They get more for the money spent, at least theoretically. Without PPP the top five in military spending are the United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia. Adjust for PPP and China remains in the top five and the U.S. comes in second. Thats because things like local supplies and labor are much cheaper in China than America. Applying PPP also makes American defense spending much less effective compared to what China spends. Thus without PPP American defense spending is closer to 20 percent of global spending. Adjusting for PPP Chinese defense spending goes from a quarter of what America spends to over 70 percent. Yet American forces deploy many more high tech weapons than China. Thats because U.S. defense spending has been the highest in the world since the 1940s. Since major items of military equipment like ships, aircraft and armored vehicles have useful lives of over 30 years, the Americans have had plenty of time to accumulate a much larger arsenal of expensive equipment than China. But that will change in the future because Chinese annual defense spending has nearly tripled in the last decade. Thus if China keeps its defense spending high and relative costs low, it will match the U.S. in many areas within two or three decades. That probably will not happen because of other factors and trends that do not favor China and many other nations. First there is the fact that not only has the Chinese economy been growing rapidly since the 1980s, but so have wages and the costs of much else besides. Thus over time the PPP advantage diminishes. China also has a greater problem with corruption in the military than the United States and most Western nations. This greatly, by 20 percent or more, diminishes the effectiveness of their defense spending. Corruption in defense spending is found everywhere, but it has, for thousands of years, been particularly bad in China. The Chinese government has, since the late 1980s, been making strenuous efforts to reduce corruption but has had limited success. There is another complication when comparing defense spending. This big one is the relative costs of defending your nation versus attacking someone somewhere else. Its much cheaper to defend. Going on the offensive, especially over long distances, is much more expensive. Depending on how far your forces have to travel, equipping an offensive force can be anywhere from a quarter more expensive if you plan to attack a neighbor to more than twice as expensive if you are prepared to go anywhere in the world. Then there is your military leadership. Generals and admirals who know what they are doing will maintain high standards for subordinates. They will concentrate on training and readiness for combat. Their forces will be much more effective than when, as is often the case, the military is treated like a jobs program to keep unemployment low and, if there is a lot of corruption, make politicians and senior officers rich. Nations that spend little cash, but have cheap local costs for food, housing and payroll, like Iran and Pakistan, all of a sudden have larger defense spending. Iran is now about six percent of U.S. spending, and Pakistan about four percent. Purchasing Power Parity shows how poor nations can spend only a few billion dollars a year on defense, yet have hundreds of thousands of troops in service. If these soldiers have good leadership and train regularly, they can be a formidable foe even to a high tech force from the West. But most of the poor nations don't have high quality officers and NCOs, and their troops fade quickly when confronted with a well-equipped and well trained force. Unfortunately, the media is not very keen on examining the quality of training and leadership in anyone's armed forces. Yet, time and again, these two factors have proved to be the most critical ones. And that will remain the case in the future. 'Would Have Kept Her On A Short Leash': Bill Gates On Not Funding Daughters New Business Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: April 27, 2025, 23:45 IST Phoebe Gates, the youngest of Bill and Melinda French Gates three children, recently co-launched an AI-powered shopping app named Phia Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates with his daughter, Phoebe Gates. (GETTY IMAGES via AFP) Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has revealed that he chose not to fund his daughter Phoebe Gates new business venture and for a very specific reason. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Gates said he wanted to avoid the complications that might come from being too involved. I thought, Oh boy, shes going to come and ask," he admitted, referring to his initial reaction when Phoebe began planning her business. Recommended Stories Phoebe Gates, the youngest of Bill and Melinda French Gates three children, recently co-launched an AI-powered shopping app named Phia with her former Stanford University roommate. The app compares prices of clothing, shoes, and accessories across both new and second-hand listings aiming to help users find the best deals. While Gates said he would have supported his daughter financially if asked, he confessed that the support would have come with strings attached. I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky," he said. I probably would have been overly nice, but wondered if it was the right thing to do. Luckily, it never happened." Earlier this month, Gates also made headlines for stating he will leave less than one per cent of his wealth to his children. Speaking on the Raj Shamani Podcast, he explained that while his children received a solid education and upbringing, he believes they should build their own paths to success. Despite this philosophy, with Gates estimated net worth at $162 billion, even one per cent equates to $1.62 billion enough to ensure his children remain among the worlds wealthiest individuals. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, who divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage, share three children: Jennifer (28), Rory (25), and Phoebe (22). ALSO READ: Bill Gates To Donate 99% Of His Wealth, Leaving Just 1% For His Children 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: April 27, 2025, 23:41 IST April 25, 2025: Two years ago the Baltic States, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, increased their defense spending and aimed for three percent of GDP on their armed forces. A more dramatic action was severing economic ties with Russia. For 65 years Estonia and the other Baltic States received their electrical power from Russia. In early 2025 the Baltic States switched to the European electricity network. This left the Russian Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, formerly German Konigsberg, isolated from Russian power supplies. This enclave now depends on new coal and gas fired power plants with coal and liquid natural gas shipped in from Russia. This enclave is also a base for Russian retaliation against the Baltic States. This is in the form of Russian merchant ships dragging their anchors along the seafloor to break or damage electrical or communications cables. With Russian forces tied down in Ukraine, Baltic States military and police forces boarded the offending Russian ships and encouraged the crews to cease their mischief. This dramatic switch from Russian to European energy sources included rearming with western weapons. Estonia led the way by dramatically increasing orders for new military equipment. Estonia is spending $14.5 billion over a decade to increase munitions stockpiles and obtain modern weapons. These include Israeli Harpy loitering munitions and Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles/ATGMs, which are on order. Blue Spear land-based anti-ship missiles arrived in 2024. These have a range of 290 kilometers and Estonia is launching them from trucks. These mobile missile launchers can be moved around, making them more difficult to hit with airstrikes. Estonia ordered 36 K9 self-propelled howitzers from South Korea and all have been delivered. Six HIMARS vehicles and a large supply of the guided missiles these vehicles carry have arrived. Several hundred wheeled armored personnel carriers were purchased to replace the trucks many infantry units now use. The currently recommended NATO goal is two percent of GDP for defense but Estonia and the other Baltic states have exceeded that because of the Ukraine war. That means air defense systems were upgraded with new radars and fire control systems for new anti-aircraft missile systems. These include the Polish Piorun for going after low flying threats and the German IRIS-T for more distant and higher flying aircraft and missiles. The size of the Estonian active-duty armed forces was increased from 26,000 to 36,000. Estonia is a small country with a population of 1.3 million and a GDP of $44 billion. That means per-capita GDP is $46,000. Poland and the Baltic States made an extraordinary, in terms of financial cost, effort to assist Ukraine during the first six weeks of the war. For example, tiny Estonia spent about 0.8 percent of its annual GDP to support Ukraine during those six weeks. Most of the aid went to processing and hosting Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian attacks on their homes. By late 2022 Ukrainians and their NATO supporters were planning for what comes after the war. By 2025 Russian troops were on the run and Russia had few options left. Estonia is convinced that Russia will try again and the next time Estonia might be the target. This is not a new problem. Back in 2016 the Baltic States asked for some American troops. Not enough to halt a Russian invasion, just enough to ensure that the Americans and their NATO allies, or at least some of them would intervene if Russia did attack. The Baltic States already have a mutual defense guarantee from NATO in the form of NATO membership. But that is not enough and what has been asked for, and granted, are some American troops in each of these nations. The response was to send one reinforced battalion to each of the Baltic States. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Americans have put more personnel, most of them support troops, in Poland and the Baltic States. The Baltic States and neighboring Poland join a growing list of nations who, threatened by dangerous neighbors, have agreed, and often asked to host American troops. The first and most obvious examples of this are South Korea, Japan and Germany. This form of defense has been quietly followed by a number of nations in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates/UAE. All of these Persian Gulf nations want the Americans around to keep the Iranians out. But it is not just the Iranians. Inside Iraq there have been American troops in northern Iraq to protect the autonomous Kurdish majority up there from the Arab majority since the early 1990s. This form of security is also called a tripwire force because, if the host nation is attacked, the presence of some U.S. troops means that a lot of U.S. reinforcements will promptly arrive. Several other nations are seeking this form of security guarantee but are not getting it, at least not yet. This includes Ukraine and Georgia. The United States is the favored source of these armed hostages because the U.S. is a superpower and, compared to all the alternatives, the least likely to take advantage of the situation. Zimbabwe played a significant part in the global spread of Catholicism, a role that has not been celebrated or well documented, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga said yesterday. He said this in an interview at the burial of Pope Francis. As conflicts continue to ravage the world amid scary prospects of degenerating into a world war, VP Chiwenga said Pope Francis teachings cannot be in vain and Zimbabwe stands with the Catholic Church as it did back in the 15th century. Our history tells us that we were with the Roman Catholic Church from the 15th century. This led to one of the Mutapa sons, Father Diogo, joining the Catholic Church in the 1500s, said VP Chiwenga. Thereafter, we had successive Mutapa princes who became priests; the second was Father Miguel, who worked in Goa, India. In terms of the contribution to the spread of Christianity in the Catholic Church, Zimbabwe counts itself where we are second to none on the African continent. We have many ancestors who became priests, and this history has been suppressed for quite a long time. We are happy that we are starting now to unravel this history. Ahead of the burial, VP Chiwenga met former US President Joe Biden, a development in line with the Second Republics engagement and re-engagement drive. VP Chiwenga said Pope Francis left a model for world leaders to emulate, one that emphasises humility and a commitment to peace over greed. As a devoted Catholic himself, the VP expressed appreciation for the mass and homily dedicated to the late pope. Sunday Mail The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has dismissed as baseless reports it was only targeting small corruption cases, saying last year it referred 343 cases to the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ) for prosecution, with 50 of those involving high-profile individuals. The clarification comes in the wake of criticism from some quarters that the anti-graft body was focusing on small fish while turning a blind eye on cases involving influential figures. Zacc spokesperson Ms Simiso Mlevu in an interview yesterday dismissed the allegations as a fallacy, insisting that the commission targets every corrupt individual, regardless of their social standing. Its not true that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission only goes after the so-called small fish, as evidenced by statistics that show several convictions of high-profile individuals resulting from Zacc investigations, said Ms Mlevu. It is important to mention that the responsibility of prosecuting arrested individuals lies with the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe. When a case we refer secures a conviction, we are pleased because it shows that our work is bearing fruit, she added. Ms Mlevu said in 2024, Zacc referred 343 cases to the NPAZ, with 50 involving high-profile individuals, demonstrating that the commission does not shy away from powerful figures. She also highlighted that Zacc investigates some cases through its Parallel Financial Investigations Unit, which allows evidence gathering discreetly to prevent suspects from disposing of illicit assets. Parallel financial investigations are done quietly. If we make noise about an investigation too early, theres a risk that concerned individuals may dispose of their ill-gotten gains before we can secure them, she explained. Some notable high-profile convictions arising from Zacc-referred cases include former Minister of Energy and Power Development Samuel Undenge, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development Francis Gudyanga, former legislator Psychology Maziwisa, former Principal Director of State Residences Douglas Tapfumaneyi, magistrate Felix Chauromwe, Hartzell High School headmaster Shorwi Kawadza, Mutare provincial planning officer Fungai Mungai, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals procurement manager Antony Mutara and former Victoria Falls Mayor Somveli Dlamini. Further demonstrating its commitment to strengthening its fight against corruption, Zacc last year signed eight Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with institutions such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and South Africas Special Investigations Unit. These agreements aim to formalise cooperation, foster mutual understanding, and align anti-corruption strategies. Previous MoUs with bodies such as the Public Service Commission and the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime of Botswana were also operationalised, further enhancing regional collaboration in fighting graft. Last Wednesday, President Mnangagwa presided over the swearing-in of eight new Zacc commissioners at State House in Harare, underlining the Governments continued emphasis on tackling corruption. Sunday News An economist at the University of Chicago argues that some of our basic views about gun violence are incorrect and that some relatively inexpensive solutions can help. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times , Jens Ludwig stands at the boundary between two neighborhoods, South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing. "The two neighborhoods are economically similar, demographically similar," says Ludwig, author of the new book Unforgiving Places . "They've got the same gun laws and they're served by the same criminal justice system. But we've got twice as many shootings per person in Greater Grand Crossing as in South Shore." Why? In Ludwig's view, it stems from the fact that most shootings aren't turf war battles among gangs, they are routine disagreements that spin out of control. And the reason they spin out of control more frequently in Greater Grand Crossing is that there are fewer people walking around visiting businesses or parks, meaning fewer "eyes on the street." South Shore has far more eyes because it's along the lake. "It's not that the economic conditions are different between the two neighborhoods," he says. It's that, in Greater Grand Crossing, "there are fewer adults around to sort of step in and de-escalate that when it happens." That leads to an unusual suggestion by Ludwig to curb gun violence: "zoning commercial so that you have more foot traffic in a neighborhood." Or a city might turn a vacant lot into a "pocket park." It might seem superficial, he notes, but studies suggest it works. "This is like very, very feasible, practical stuff," which Ludwig sees as a "definite cause for hope." Read the full interview, which has more details on the theory, as well as on social programs that can be done in schools and prisons to help young adults learn to keep arguments in check. After a four-year absence and a high-profile suspension, Bob Baffert is returning to the Kentucky Derby with two contenders and unfinished business at Churchill Downs. The trainer wants to add to his legacy of six Derby victories, the AP reports. The 72-year-old is back at his old Barn 33, preparing to enter two horses in the May 3 race: Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez and Citizen Bull, last year's 2-year-old champion. "I'm going to have fun now that everything is behind me," Baffert said this week. Both horses could finish in the top five or top 10, Baffert figures. His last Derby was in 2021, when Medina Spirit crossed the finish line first and appeared to give him a record seventh Derby win. But Medina Spirit failed a drug test for betamethasone, a steroid legal as a therapeutic in Kentucky but not allowed on race day. He later said the horse had been treated with a topical ointment containing the steroid for a skin inflammation. "But at the end of the day, it still can't be in his system and that was the problem," Baffert said. The second horse in Derby history to be disqualified for a failed drug test, the colt after a workout later in the year. Churchill Downs lifted Baffert's suspension last July, and he returned to win a race there in the fall. Some trainers have welcomed him back. "There's no question that Bob Baffert is very popular and draws a lot of people's attention. He deserves to be back," said Mark Casse. Michael McCarthy described Baffert as "a polarizing figure in our sport" who "puts people in the seats." Baffert said he's tired of talking about his suspensions. "It's a fun business if you let it be a fun business," he said, adding: "What happened, happened. I took responsibility for it, so that's it." People gathered at churches and in streets in Vatican City and around the world to mourn Pope Francis on Saturday, the day of his funeral. They talked about their appreciation for his papacy as well as the connection they felt to him. Per the AP, Reuters, the BBC, the New York Times, and CNN, their expressions about the late pope included: Vatican City : "He was like family," said Colette Sandjon, 68. A Cameroon native, she traveled from Paris to Rome, then stood all night on a side street for a spot during the funeral. "When he spoke to me, it's as if he was speaking to the whole of Africa." : "He was like family," said Colette Sandjon, 68. A Cameroon native, she traveled from Paris to Rome, then stood all night on a side street for a spot during the funeral. "When he spoke to me, it's as if he was speaking to the whole of Africa." Buenos Aires: "For a lot of us young people who were distant from the Church, Francis' legacy brought us closer," said Daniela Wenceslao. "Today, Francis is the most important person in our country, and we want to pay this small tribute in his name." Yemen's Houthi rebels launched a missile early Sunday toward Israel, which the Israeli military said it shot down as US strikes in the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa killed two people. Sirens sounded in parts of Israel around the Dead Sea. The military said, "the missile was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory." Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the rebels targeted Israel's Nevatim air base with what he identified as a hypersonic missile, the AP reports. American airstrikes , meanwhile, continued targeting the Houthis overnight into Sunday, part of an intense campaign that began on March 15. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said that besides the two killed on Sunday, 10 people, including two women and three children, were wounded in Sanaa. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV aired footage showing responders recovering the body of a woman, one of the two killed in the Sanaa strike. The US is targeting the Houthis because of the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and on Israel. The rebels are the last militant group in Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" that is capable of regularly attacking Israel. Israeli jets struck Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. In a statement, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, the AP reports. There were no immediate reports of casualties. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollah's top leadersincluding chief Hassan Nasrallahas a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the strike on the suburbs, calling on the US and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to "assume their responsibilities" and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israel's continued actions "undermine stability" and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. The UN special coordinator for Lebanon also urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding. Also on Sunday: The Health Ministry in Gaza said hospitals there received the remains of 51 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes over the prior 24 hoursputting the Palestinian death toll in the 18-month-old war at 52,243, per the AP. After that update, Israeli strikes killed another 23 people. Israel says it has killed about 20,000 militants in its war with Hamas. A drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the Health Ministry. The Israeli military posed video of the strike on X, saying it targeted a Hezbollah member "where he was working to rebuild Hezbollah's terrorist capabilities in the area." Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and airstrikes across Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least four people, officials saidthe day after President Trump posted skepticism over Russian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the war. Three people died, and four were wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the regional prosecutor's office said, per the AP . Another person died, and a 14-year-old girl was wounded, in a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, Gov. Serhii Lysak said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the coming week would be "very critical" and that the US. would need to "make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in." Asked on NBCs Meet the Press about possible concessions to Russia, Rubio emphasized the need to be realistic, per the AP. "There is no military solution to this war. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didn't," he said. Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one was hurt in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday, local officials said. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, said the Russia-installed mayor. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. April 20, 2025: In February there was a series of Palestinian bombings and attempted bombings directed at Israeli transportation systems, namely the buses that carry Israelis and Palestinians throughout the country. Someone, presumably Palestinian terrorists, planted bombs on three Israeli buses, which then exploded. There were no casualties. Israeli police and security forces conducted a search of other buses and trains and two additional bombs were found and deactivated. The Israeli Defense Forces or IDF was instructed to search the Palestinian West Bank for the usual suspects and speak with informants about the bus bombing. Israeli bomb technicians reported that all five bombs were virtually identical, indicating one bomb maker. Police searched for that person but were unable to locate the suspect. This is yet another chapter in the troubles between Israel and their Palestinian neighbors. The two groups have never agreed on how to establish an independent Palestinian state. None of these proposals address the Palestinian demands that Israel must be destroyed before there can be peace. This violence has been going on even before Israel was founded in 1948. As of 2025, the fighting continues with no end in sight. The February bus bombings were just another example of Palestinian resistance. Elsewhere, Israel has been more successful. Lebanon and Syria were hostile towards Israel until 2024 when Syria had an unexpected change of government with HST, a former Islamic terrorist group, and its charismatic leader conquering Syria in a week. The Assads, which had been ruling Syria for over fifty years, fled to Russia, along with the remaining Russian troops in Syria. Iranian forces were also expelled. Iran helped found and long supported the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah. This group dominated southern Lebanon and parts of Syria for decades. In 2024 an Israeli effort to destroy Hezbollah partially succeeded. This victory took nearly a decade to plan. It will take years, if not longer for Hezbollah to be reconstituted. That may not happen because the new HTS government in Syria wants peace with Israel and peace in Lebanon. Israeli is still in southern Lebanon rooting out all the elements who want to attack Israeli and keep the Lebanese government out of the way, Israel will ask for an official or unofficial peace deal with Lebanon over the last sixty years groups of local and imported Islamic terrorists or opportunistic political groups have kept southern Lebanon in chaos. The Israelis recently eliminated a significant part of the causes of that chaos and are waiting for the Lebanese government and the Hezbollah remnants to cooperate in a new peace deal with Israel. Hezbollah, for ideological reasons, will not deal directly with Israel. If Lebanon made a deal, as they have done in the past, they might be able to force Hezbollah to go along or be expelled. That depends entirely on Lebanons Christian and Sunni Arab factions cooperating, which is not at all certain. Theres no nearby refuge for Hezbollah, which has also lost access to its longtime patron Iran. Often forgotten is the fact that Israel has made peace with some of its neighbors. Egypt and Jordan were the first in 1978 and 1994. Now there are negotiations for peace with Lebanon and Syria. Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza are still the two Palestinian governments that disagree on many issues. Fatah and Hamas agree that Israel must be destroyed and Jews expelled from the region before there can be peace. In the meantime, Hamas and Fatah both encourage violence against Israelis and Palestinian civilians. Outsiders like the Saudis, EU and World Bank dismiss or trivialize the realities that Israel faces from Palestinian violence. They also assume that Hamas and Fatah can prevent their radical factions from violently disrupting any outside peace efforts. Some foreign donor nations, especially Moslem nations, are aware of the reality of the situation but keep silent. Contradicting the Saudis, EU and World Bank by pointing out the reality of the situation is ignored. What cannot be ignored by Israel is the growing Palestinian violence. In 2023 there was more violence in the West Bank that required Israel forces to deal with. At first it was armed Palestinian groups fighting each other for dominance while organizing attacks on Israelis or in Israel itself. This led to a degree of fighting in the West Bank not seen since 2021, and might become the start of a new Palestinian offensive or intifada. This would be the third one. The first lasted from 1987 to 1993 while the second one was from 2000 to 2005. Israel defeated the 2000 Intifada terror campaign by 2005. But as long as Palestinians had free access to Israel, the Fatah Palestinian government urged and encouraged Palestinians to attempt attacks inside Israel. The Israelis responded with tighter border controls which kept the terrorist threat low in Israel. Fatah insisted they had a right to keep trying to kill Israelis and, for over a decade, Arab and Western nations kept providing aid to the West Bank and Gaza despite the fact that more and more of it was used to support and encourage more terrorism against Israel. Some Palestinian leaders tried to describe the violence as an effort to defend Islam. The Palestinians were not very religious and their violence against Israelis was justified by their belief that Israel must be destroyed and Israelis driven from the region. There were other problems, mainly involving corruption. This has led more donor states, Moslem and non-Moslem, to openly complain of Fatah misuse of aid money. Fatah denied it and continued their corrupt ways. The donors cut their aid, often to nothing. It was not just the Fatah support of terrorism but the growing Fatah corruption which meant a lot of the aid was stolen to enrich Fatah leaders. Palestinians also opposed the Fatah policy and Fatah was forced to tolerate more and more Palestinians renouncing terror to pass the background check and work in Israel. West Bank Palestinian jobs in Israel have become a crucial part of the West Bank economy, even more so than they were back in 2000. Palestinians were barred from those jobs for nearly a year after the Hamas October 2023 attacks against Israelis. Over 100,000 Palestinians depend on those jobs because the 20,000 0r so working in Israel have dependents who are destitute without that income. The post-2000 ban on Palestinian workers was unpopular with many Israeli employers, but the threat was so great that Israeli employers had to pay more to import and hire non-Moslem foreigners for as long as there was a threat that Palestinian workers were likely to try and kill Israelis. Both Israel and the former or potential Palestinian workers knew that a growing number of those Palestinian workers could be trusted to work in Israel. Those who violated that trust faced prison or worse if they played any part in an attack. Anyone associated with these untrustworthy Palestinians had a more difficult time getting permits to work in Israel. The growth in the number of trustworthy Palestinian workers was something neither Israel nor Fatah wanted to publicize lest the Islamic radicals declare war on Palestinians working or seeking to work in Israel. This might trigger a civil war in the West Bank, something Fatah did not want but the radicals were less opposed to. There are Palestinian factions that believe chaos in the West Bank would spread to Israel and weaken Israeli power. This is a minority belief that ignores the Israeli ability to organize effective responses to Palestinian violence. Life inside Israel is peaceful. Most Palestinians wish they had a similar situation, and they would be correct if not for the endless supply of radical factions insisting violence is the solution. For example, Hamas does not care about any form of collateral damage from forcing Palestinians working in Israel to cooperate with terrorists. Most Palestinians recognize that Hamas is committed to attacking Israel, which is why Hamas has had a hard time gaining political traction in the West Bank. Palestinians know that Hamas policies produce more poverty and casualties for Palestinians. The only thing that got Hamas control of Gaza during the last Palestinian elections in 2007 was the belief that Hamas would be less corrupt than Fatah. That was true in 2007 but became less so ever since. Hamas forbids working in Israel and punishes anyone who protested about Hamas corruption. West Bank violence between Palestinians and Israelis living in the many Jewish settlements has been on the increase for over a decade. The upsurge in violence is the result of the Palestinian leadership calling for another intifada uprising in 2013. This was a side-effect of the rebellion in Syria and the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions in general. While some Palestinian leaders call for another intifada uprising, most Palestinians, especially those over 30, fear the economic consequences of that and warn the pro-intifada radicals that there is not a lot of popular support for another round of violence. Israel has shown they know how to handle this at little cost to themselves and great cost to the Palestinians. All this is complicated by persistent American efforts to achieve a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian peace talks never made much progress. The talks were held at the insistence of the U.S., which threatened to cut aid if the talks did not happen. American leaders are aware of Palestinian attitudes on peace with Israel but the U.S. still assumes that a peace deal is possible if you keep trying. For years Palestinian leaders have agreed to give peace talks a chance approach when speaking to Western leaders and reporters, but they then turn around and tell their followers that, of course, Israel must be destroyed and that there is no other solution. For most Western leaders the disunity, corruption and general chaos within the Palestinian community is seen as a larger problem than a peace deal. That may be true, but without a positive attitude towards a peace deal, there wont be any peace. Despite all this, for over a decade many Palestinians have been talking about a Third Intifada as if more civil disorder will change anything. Peace is not on the agenda. Most Israelis and Americans agree. Even without a new intifada, casual violence in the West Bank kept increasing. This usually takes the form of young men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers or civilians. Israeli women and children are the preferred targets because they are the least likely to shoot back. Palestinian propaganda praises those who kill children just as much as those who killed soldiers or police. All are heroes of the Palestinian struggle to destroy Israel. This is becoming embarrassing for some Western nations when it was pointed out that their aid money was being used directly for some of this propaganda and to reward terrorists and the families of dead or imprisoned terrorists. The recent West Bank violence was the result of Israeli security forces shutting down a major Palestinian effort to recruit, train and arm hundreds of Palestinians to carry out attacks against Israelis living in the West Bank as well as in Jerusalem and Israel in general. The Palestinian terrorism operation was real as Israeli troops encountered armed resistance as they approached locations where weapons and munitions were stored, and newly recruited Palestinians were trained and armed. These operations were shut down, but only after fighting between Israeli troops and armed Palestinians. Once the fighting is over the weapons and munitions are disposed of and the Israeli troops withdraw, taking Palestinian suspects with them. Israeli troops are wounded and at least one has been killed in these operations. This sort of thing had not been seen in the West Bank since 2002. Until recently Palestinian security forces kept the peace in the West Bank. The current growth of terrorist activity in the West Bank can be attributed to Gaza-based and Iran-supported terror group Hamas. There have been increasing Hamas efforts to establish operations in the West Bank. Most West Bank Palestinians want no part of this because similar activity in Gaza has brought nothing but poverty and trouble to the Palestinians living there. The disruptive impact of small groups of radicals is a long tradition in the Middle East, especially after Islam was introduced over a thousand years ago. Islam is the only major religion whose scripture mandates continuous violence against non-believers, who are called infidels. The Islamic scriptures make it clear that the mere existence of infidels is a threat to Islam and these infidels must be attacked, no matter what the cost. Most Moslems ignore this aspect of their religion, at the risk of being declared a heretic if conservative Moslems near them decide to get violent and go jihad and make war on any Infidels within reach. Many Moslems, including Gulf oil state Arab governments are openly seeking a way to reform Islam and eliminate this flaw which has been crippling Islam and killing Moslems for over a thousand years. This is a serious effort and one reason for making peace with Israel. The Islamic militants in Gaza and the West Bank oppose efforts to give peace a chance. SHIZUOKA, Apr 27 (News On Japan) - Thomas the Tank Engine and his longtime friend Percy have reunited after about two and a half years apart on the Oigawa Railway in Shizuoka Prefecture, with operations set to begin on April 26th. On April 24th, a special preview event was held at Shin-Kanaya Station in Shimada City, where local kindergarten children enjoyed an early encounter with the two popular characters. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held to mark the occasion. This year is a particularly special one for the Oigawa Railway, celebrating its 100th anniversary, while 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the original publication of "Thomas the Tank Engine." The Oigawa Railway's main line has faced disruptions since Typhoon No. 15 struck in September 2022, causing ongoing service suspensions between Kawane Onsen-Sasamado Station and Senzu Station. Percy, which had been stationed at Senzu during the typhoon, became separated from Thomas and remained stranded until now. In response to the absence of Percy, Oigawa Railway President Ryo Toritsuka said that children often voiced their disappointment. Recognizing the ample space at Ieyama Station, the railway decided to relocate Percy there and stage a heartwarming reunion with Thomas to lift spirits. During the preview event, children boarded Thomas at Shin-Kanaya Station and traveled approximately 30 minutes to Ieyama Station, where Percy was waiting. The reunion scene was filled with excitement, with children calling out to Percy and expressing their happiness. One child described seeing Thomas and Percy together as being "like they got married," while another shared a love for Percy because of his green color. As part of the 2025 program, Thomas will now stop at both Ieyama Station and Kawane Onsen-Sasamado Station, allowing passengers to explore more of the scenic Oigawa region. The railway hopes that visitors will enjoy not only the beloved characters but also the surrounding attractions along the line. The special event, where visitors can meet Thomas, Percy, and many other friends, is scheduled to run from April 26th to December 25th. Looking ahead, Toritsuka expressed optimism, saying that it feels as if they can now see the light ahead and move forward with positivity. He emphasized the railways commitment to continuing operations with the smiles of children in mind. Oigawa Railway aims to attract 100,000 visitors during this event, an increase of about 30,000 from the previous year. Source: SBSnews6 NAHA, Apr 27 (News On Japan) - Eighty years have passed since the Battle of Okinawa, where second-generation Okinawan-Americans, serving as military interpreters, are widely remembered for urging civilians to surrender in their native language, saving countless lives. These interpreters, selected by the U.S. military for their critical role in hastening the end of the war, faced the painful reality of a conflict between their motherland and homeland. Footage filmed 42 years ago shows second-generation Hawaiian-American Taro, who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military during the Battle of Okinawa, persuading residents to surrender and saving many lives. "I had a firm belief that I would never point a gun at them," he recalled. "I took off my helmet before entering caves and only carried a flashlight to light up my face and feet, so they could recognize me and know I was not a threat." Following the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941, over 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly interned by presidential order. Among them, Jiro Nichiku joined the military out of necessity to escape internment and was dispatched to Okinawa, where he had spent his childhood from ages 2 to 16. "Standing on Okinawan soil brought me to tears, realizing it was where I grew up," he said. In the darkness of the caves where frightened civilians hid, Taro called for their surrender in the Okinawan dialect to reassure them. "I spoke their language to put them at ease," he explained. In November 1941, the U.S. Army established the Fourth Army Intelligence School to train Japanese-speaking interpreters, later deploying them across occupied territories to gain an edge in intelligence warfare. Among them, Thomas, a second-generation Okinawan from Hawaii, proposed the formation of a special unit composed of Okinawan-Americans to the commander in March 1944. "Okinawa has distinct dialects and customs. A unit familiar with the island's geography, culture, and way of life would be highly effective in distinguishing civilians from Japanese soldiers during operations," Thomas suggested. His proposal was swiftly accepted, and ten second-generation soldiers, including Thomas, were dispatched to Okinawa as a special team. Interrogator Ike, part of the team, reported that Japanese soldiers captured during the battle had no guidelines for behavior upon surrender and often cooperated after capture. Soldiers from mainland Japan disguised among civilians were quickly identified and sent to detention through simple questioning in the Okinawan dialect. "Their disguises fell apart immediately when we questioned them in Okinawan," Ike said. "Once exposed, they became more cooperative." At least 322 interpreters and linguists were deployed during the Battle of Okinawathe largest number in any Pacific Theater engagement. Meanwhile, Japan's 32nd Army issued a warning on April 9th, soon after the U.S. landing, stating that anyone speaking of surrender would be treated as a spy. Amid battlefields where soldiers and civilians mixed, suspicion ran rampant, and incidents of civilians being killed under the pretext of espionage occurred one after another. Ei Shin'ei, who served with Thomas and others, recounted encountering a tragedy while tracking Japanese naval forces. "One day, we saw a civilian house engulfed in flames. After the fire subsided, charred bodies lay inside," he said. The culprits were a naval communication unit led by a senior officer. A chilling moment after the surrender ceremony left a lasting impression on Ei. "One of the naval soldiers approached me and whispered in my ear: 'I almost cut off your head,'" he recalled. "He must have thought I was a traitor." The war deeply divided families with ties to both Japan and the United States. Ei's younger brother crossed from Hawaii to Okinawa before the war to live with their grandparents and fought as a member of the Blood and Iron Corps. Brothers ended up fighting on opposite sides of the battlefield. "War creates such tragedies," Ei said. "We must do everything we can to prevent wars from happening." He added, "If people around the world don't strive for peace, there is no future." Thomas, who proposed the creation of the Okinawan-American unit, later wrote of the inner turmoil he felt during the war. "Fighting alongside the U.S. military in Okinawa was a painful experience," he wrote. "Seeing civilians hiding and fleeing in caves, I couldn't help but imagine what could have happened to me and my family if we hadn't emigrated to Hawaii." Eighty years after the war, it remains crucial not to forget the tragic messages left behind by those who suffered between two homelands. Passing down the memory of what happened on the battlefield is a mission entrusted to those living today to ensure such tragedies are never repeated. Source: OTV HOKKAIDO, Apr 27 (News On Japan) - Japan's prison system is undergoing a major shift as it prepares to introduce "confinement punishment," moving away from traditional penal servitude that emphasized punishment toward a new focus on rehabilitation. At the forefront of this change is Tsukigata Prison in Hokkaido, where officers and inmates are engaging in structured dialogues aimed at fostering reflection and rebuilding trust. These sessions mark a significant departure from the old model, with officers confronting their own doubts about whether they are truly helping inmates or merely appearing lenient. At Tsukigata Prison, monthly group meetings encourage inmates to think about the feelings of crime victims and explore the meaning of true remorse. Officers ask probing questions, challenging inmates to empathize with those they have harmed. Inmates, in turn, express that genuine remorse should involve understanding and sharing the pain of victims, a stark contrast to the once-distant relationship between inmates and prison staff. To further refine this approach, prison officers have sought inspiration from Bethel House, a facility in Urakawa, Hokkaido, where individuals living with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses have practiced "participant research" for over 40 years. Instead of treating symptoms medically, Bethel House encourages its members to research their own struggles, openly share them, and work collaboratively toward solutions. This model of self-reflection and mutual support is being adapted for prison use, offering a potential blueprint for preventing repeat offenses. During visits to Bethel House, Tsukigata officers observed how deeply residents engage with their experiences of hardship and recovery. Through dialogue, they uncover personal triggers and build resilience without relying on authority-driven control. Officers noted the parallels between mental health struggles and the cycles of crime and recidivism seen among inmates, recognizing that building sustainable support systems is key to successful reintegration into society. Inmates at Tsukigata Prison who participate in dialogue sessions have begun to change. They increasingly see prison officers as fellow human beings rather than distant enforcers and express a commitment to earning back societys trust and avoiding reoffense. Trust, once fragile, is now something inmates actively strive to preserve. Officers, too, are changing their mindset, aiming not to spoil or indulge inmates but to find the best approach to foster genuine rehabilitation. The dialogue-centered approach pioneered at Tsukigata Prison has already spread to other facilities, including Sapporo Prison and prisons outside Hokkaido. Bethel Houses director, Ikuro Mukaiuchi, is personally visiting prisons to assist in implementing these reforms. As Japan nears the start of the new confinement punishment system, questions remain about the best path forward, but the seeds of a more humane, dialogue-driven model of rehabilitation are beginning to take root inside the prison walls. Source: HBC April 21, 2025: Determining which nation has the most effective armed forces is not easy. For example the top ten armed forces in the world by number of troops are 1. China 2. India 3. United States 4. Russia 5. France 6. Japan 7. Germany 8. Brazil 9. Italy 10. Britain The top ten according to military effectiveness is different with the Americans in first place followed by China, Russia, India, Britain, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan, Israel and France. Note that the top ten according to military spending for 2023 is quite different. 1 United States $916 billion which is 3.4 percent of GDP and 37 percent of global defense spending 2 China $296, 1.7 percent and 12 percent of global defense spending 3 Russia $109, 5.9 percent and 4.5 percent of global defense spending 4 India $83,6 2.4 percent and 3.4 percent of global defense spending 5 Saudi Arabia $75.6, 7.1 percent and 3.1 percent of global defense spending 6 Britain $74.9, 2.3 percent and 3.1 percent of global defense spending 7 Germany $66.8, 1.5 percent and 2.7 percent of global defense spending 8 Ukraine $64.8, 37 percent and 2.7 percent of global defense spending 9 France $61.3, 2.1 percent and 2.5 percent of global defense spending 10 Japan $50.2, 1.2 percent and 2.1 percent of global defense spending Another factor is the impact of the Ukraine War that began in February 2022 and is still going in 2025. That war, the first between industrialized nations since 1945, will eventually end. That will mean a shift to national reconstruction in Ukraine. NATO nations have promised substantial post-war economic rebuilding aid so that Ukraine can fit that aid into their war plans. The Netherlands 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, drones 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 want Ukrainian civilians to suffer. 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 also 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 Man-Made 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 most 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 eventually concluded 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. SAPPORO, Apr 27 (News On Japan) - Although the calendar alignment is less than ideal this year, taking weekdays off could turn the upcoming Golden Week into an 11-day holiday starting from April 25th. Transportation congestion is expected to peak on May 3rd, which falls on a Saturday. In particular, heavy traffic is forecasted during the latter half of Golden Week, when weekends and public holidays cluster together. According to East Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO East Japan), the heaviest congestion on the Doo Expressway is anticipated on May 3rd between Oyachi Interchange and Eniwa Interchange, with up to 15 kilometers of traffic from around 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. On the Doto Expressway, traffic heading toward Obihiro is expected to peak between Oiwake Town Interchange and Mukawa Hobetsu Interchange from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with congestion stretching up to 10 kilometers. For those returning to Sapporo, peak congestion is predicted between Tomamu Interchange and Mukawa Hobetsu Interchange on both May 3rd and May 5th, with traffic jams reaching up to 15 kilometers. As for railways, trains departing Sapporo for destinations across Hokkaido are expected to see reservation peaks on May 3rd, while trains heading into Sapporo are likely to peak on April 25th. Combined reservations for the Hokkaido Shinkansen and conventional lines have increased by 7.6% compared to fiscal 2024. JR Hokkaido plans to operate additional trains during the holiday period, including extra services on the Hokkaido Shinkansen and the limited express Hokuto connecting Sapporo and Hakodate. Meanwhile, major airlines report that bookings are heavily concentrated around May 3rd. Travel agencies such as H.I.S. also note a trend toward overseas trips to nearby destinations like Seoul and Taiwan, as the less favorable calendar layout this year encourages travelers to choose locations requiring shorter travel times. Source: HBC Apr 28 (The Shogunate) - The Genpei War comes to its epic conclusion as Minamoto no Yoritomo faces off against not only the remaining Taira forces but also his own cousin who steps forth to oppose him. The dawn of a new era of samurai rule is at hand. The Genpei War (11801185) began when Taira no Kiyomori used his power to install his grandson, Emperor Antoku, on the throne, sparking rebellion by the rival Minamoto clan. After Kiyomoris death in 1181, Japan was divided between the weakened Taira and the resurgent Minamoto. By 1183, although a famine had stalled fighting, the Minamoto, led by Minamoto no Yoritomo, were strengthening their position in the east. Meanwhile, internal tensions within the Minamoto clan emerged, particularly between Yoritomo and his cousin Minamoto no Yoshinaka. Despite pledging loyalty to Yoritomo, Yoshinaka sought greater power for himself. In 1183, Yoshinaka decisively defeated the Taira at the Battle of Kurikara, causing the Taira to flee Kyoto with Emperor Antoku and the Imperial Regalia. Yoshinaka entered Kyoto but alienated the court with his rough behavior, and his inability to maintain order led to growing resentment. At the same time, the Taira regrouped in western Japan and counterattacked, defeating Yoshinakas forces at Mizushima. Meanwhile, the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa shifted his support to Yoritomo, further isolating Yoshinaka. Yoritomo then dispatched his brothers, including the famous Minamoto no Yoshitsune, to confront Yoshinaka, who was eventually defeated and killed in 1184. Yoshitsune emerged as a brilliant general, defeating the Taira at the Battle of Ichinotani, and later at Yashima through daring raids. Finally, the Genpei War culminated in the famous Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185), a massive naval clash where the Minamoto destroyed the Taira fleet. Emperor Antoku drowned with many Taira nobles, marking the complete collapse of the Taira. With victory secured, Minamoto no Yoritomo became Japans most powerful figure, setting the stage for the foundation of the Kamakura shogunate and the rise of samurai rule. However, tensions between Yoritomo and Yoshitsune foreshadowed future internal conflicts. TOKYO, Apr 28 (News On Japan) - Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been intensifying behind the scenes, despite the recent spotlight on former President Donald Trump. On April 15th, two U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers participated in a joint training exercise with the South Korean Air Force over South Korean airspace. Following the exercise, North Koreas Ministry of Defense issued a statement condemning the operation as a "reckless display of force," directly criticizing the B-1B bombers for "unilaterally raising military tensions." The B-1B is known for its ability to carry the largest payload of bombs and missiles among U.S. bombers. Special commentator Nobuyuki Nose of Fuji TV explained that the B-1B can be equipped with up to 24 JASSM-ER missiles, each capable of striking targets across North Korea from areas around South Korea. After destroying air defense systems with these missiles, the aircraft could enter enemy airspace at low altitude and use a Sniper Pod targeting device to accurately deliver bombs and missiles onto nuclear or submarine facilities, potentially enabling pinpoint strikes. After completing the joint exercise, the two B-1B bombers landed at Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture. Later, FNN cameras confirmed the arrival of two additional B-1B bombers. The deployment of four B-1B bombers to Japan is extremely rare. North Korean media on April 26th criticized the move, stating that the notorious "swans of death" had now established a presence in Japan. The U.S. show of force appears to be a response to North Koreas recent military activities. At the start of 2025, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a facility lined with uranium enrichment equipment essential for nuclear weapons production. In March, North Korean media reported that Kim had also visited the construction site of a nuclear-powered strategic guided missile submarine. In April, his sister Kim Yo Jong publicly rejected the idea of North Koreas denuclearization. Nose pointed out that if North Korea manages to equip a nuclear-powered submarine with strategic missiles and approach the U.S. mainland, it could deliver a serious blow to American security. North Koreas repeated provocations likely contributed to the unusual deployment of four B-1B bombers to Japan. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navys expeditionary mobile base ship Miguel Keith, which had been undergoing maintenance in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, has begun preparations for full operational deployment. The vessel, capable of launching helicopters, Ospreys, and high-speed boats, can also deploy special forces for reconnaissance and target designation missions deep in enemy territory. As the United States strengthens its deterrence capabilities, North Korean media reported on April 26th that a new destroyer named Chae Hyon had been launched. Equipped with vertical missile launchers and capable of rapid anti-air missile fire, the Chae Hyon is believed to be designed to prevent hostile bombers and aircraft from approaching North Korea. Source: FNN 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 Saturday to Sunday. 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: Saturday to Sunday, coming to an end Sunday night. ### 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. April 22, 2025: Israel has dealt with its Iranian, Syrian and Hezbollah problems. All that remains is the festering mess in Gaza, where Hamas remnants continue shooting at Israeli troops and local Palestinian residents. Currently Israeli forces are fighting Hamas remnants in Gaza. The fighting has intensified to the point that airstrikes have been used. Both sides were killing Palestinian civilians and with that something unusual happened. The civilians turned on Hamas, which was now considered by most Palestinians as a heartless, corrupt organization that regularly killed Palestinian civilians when it suited their situation. Armed Palestinian civilians struck back, killing Hamas operatives in Gaza. Palestinians have long depended on dozens of clan leaders and their armed associates, for protection and arbitration of disputes among Palestinians. Israel generally leaves these clan organizations alone and will often cooperate with the clans to maintain the peace in the West Bank and Gaza. Currently Israel and the Palestinian clans agree that Hamas is a threat to everyone and must be destroyed. That is virtually impossible because anyone can join Hamas and no matter what the situation is for Hamas, there are always some Palestinians who want to join and die for the cause. Hamas first appeared in 1987 and initially provided assistance for Palestinian civilians, not just armed resistance to Israel. Hamas believed that a Palestinian state must be established and replace Israel. Hamas wants to drive all Jews out of the region. Initially Hamas was popular with Palestinians and local Arab countries. This is where most of their funding came from. In addition Hamas engaged in various illegal enterprises, including drug smuggling and production. Western-supported Palestinian charities also contributed to Hamas. In the last few years the Western nations have cut off their financial support of Palestinians because nothing else worked to prevent aid to Palestinian civilians from reaching Hamas. This is one of the issues that turned Palestinian civilians against Hamas. Meanwhile Hamas continues to be the source of much grief. In mid-2024 Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, where fighting had been going on since the initial Hamas offensive in October 2023. Hamas employed surprise, deception, and frequent use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. Hamas used Palestinian civilians when fighting the Israelis at the Rafah border crossing. This is the only crossing between Egypt and the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip. Until Hamas decided to start another war in October 2023, over two million Palestinians lived in the Gaza Strip and their two main supply routes were Rafah and the Erez crossing with Israel. Hamas failed to penetrate either of these crossings. The Erez crossing was not a practical option for Hamas because it is guarded by the Israeli Defense Forces/IDF. The Rafah crossing is guarded by Egyptian forces, who will not allow Palestinian civilians to cross but will allow supply trucks to enter Gaza from Egypt. Israel wants Hamas to hand over the remaining Israeli hostages and other foreign hostages they hold. Some of these hostages are dead and Israel wants their bodies. At the same time Israel wants to kill all the remaining Hamas members in Gaza. Most of these Hamas members have hidden their weapons and present themselves as Palestinian civilians. Israel has biometric fingerprint and photo data on many Hamas members and that makes it difficult for Hamas members to try leaving Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Hamas members have to cross an Israeli checkpoint and then an Egyptian checkpoint. Hamas could only use these crossings in peacetime so now they are trapped in Sinai and hunted by the IDF. The United States considers Hamas a terrorist organization and so do many other countries that have encountered Hamas. That is still the case but in October 2023 Hamas found a new way to cause mischief. Hamas launched a surprise offensive from Gaza against Israel. The IDF easily defeated the Hamas attack but Hamas continued attacking with help from the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and parts southwestern Syria. Hamas described its attacks on Israel as an effort to create a Palestinian state. The problem is that Hamas considers a Palestinian state one that occupies all the territory Israel is composed of. Since Israel is the wealthiest and most militarily powerful state in the region, Hamas efforts to eliminate Israel are fantasy. Currently Hamas has gained a lot of media recognition and even some support for their Palestinian state plan. Despite that, Hamas leaders, who live and work in Persian Gulf sanctuaries, are trying to make the most of the current Hamas Palestinian state fantasy, which has gained a lot of media coverage and public support in the West as well as Arabs. Among the Palestinians, who live in the West Bank and, until late 2023, Gaza, Hamas is considered a menace that is more interested in power than providing any benefits to the millions of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. Currently Hamas gunmen are using Palestinians in Gaza as human shields as they continue to fight Israeli troops sent in to restore order and establish safe routes for foreign aid to get to over two million Palestinians who need it. Hamas not only disrupts aid deliveries but seizes much of the aid that does get through, diverting the aid to Hamas-controlled locations so that Hamas can sell the aid on the open market to obtain money to pay for Hamas operations. This is how Hamas operates and a major reason for the unpopularity of Hamas among Palestinians. These Hamas operations put the growing number of Moslem states that have established diplomatic and trade relations with Israel in an awkward position. Hamas, for all its faults, knows how to manipulate the media temporarily to portray Hamas as the good guys. Arab states in the regions, especially Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, have to put up with Hamas activities until Hamas runs out of support. This doesnt take long but until the media and diplomatic support fades there is not much that can be done. One of the temporarily disrupted efforts is the growing tendency for Israels Arab neighbors to establish valuable economic, diplomatic, and military ties with Israel, and gain an ally against common enemies like Shia Iran and Islamic terrorism like Hamas. Israel is also the only nation in the region with nukes and reliable ballistic missiles, which are also used to put Israeli spy satellites into orbit. It is also the worst of times because Iran has personnel operating on Israeli borders and an increasingly effective Cyber War effort against Israel. There is growing dissatisfaction in the West and the Middle East with the Palestinian leadership failures and rampant corruption. The current Hamas activities are the latest example. Many Palestinians support Hamas because they are convinced that Israel has no right to exist and pretending to negotiate a peace deal is useful for obtaining foreign aid, if not much else. Arabs in general are now telling the Palestinians to take whatever peace deal they can because cash and other aid from Arab nations will continue to disappear unless the Palestinians solve their own problems with corruption and fixation on destroying Israel. Many Palestinians are willing to change but their corrupt leaders are not and use their war on Israel as an excuse to violently suppress any Palestinian opposition to the current suicidal strategy. This played a role in Hamas from launching a major attack out of Gaza into southern Israel in October 2023. Over a thousand Israelis and hundreds of foreigners died or were taken as hostages. Hamas planned to overthrow and replace the current corrupt West Bank Palestinian government. That effort failed because the Israeli military was able to counterattack and put Hamas on the defensive and Palestinians saw no gain in replacing their current corrupt leaders with the even more corrupt and much more violent Hamas. The current Hamas crisis stems from the 900,000 Palestinian refugees who fled Gaza to escape the Hamas inspired violence. The refugees fled to the Egyptian border and the Egyptians will not let them in for the same reason Israel wants to control aid going to these refugees and search the refugees to find and capture or kill Hamas members. April 27, 2025: Ukrainian special forces has a unit called Shaman led by an officer known by his call sign of Shaman. This unit has been active for ten years and is still carrying out attacks on the Russians. Ten years ago Shaman worked with the Cyborg group to defend the airport from the Russians. The Cyborgs earned their nickname with their stalwart defense of the Donetsk airport for eight months. The Cyborgs were a motley force consisting of Ukrainian soldiers, Territorial Defense troops, and volunteers from various paramilitary organizations. The Cyborg numbers varied between 100 and 200 throughout their battle. They were periodically supported, resupplied and reinforced by nearby Ukrainian Army units the closest of which were located two kilometers away from the airport terminal building. The support included lots of artillery fire, which was very effective thanks to the Cyborg's forward position and excellent observation posts, especially the airfield's air traffic control tower. In addition there were counterattacks with small units of armor against pro-Russian rebels attempting to encircle the airfield. This setup has functioned reasonably well for the defenders, creating the Cyborg's legend, which in turn provided a great symbol, example and morale boost for all the Ukrainian forces. Ukraine made serious efforts to preserve the international support it enjoyed, while the rebels, since late 2014, began ignoring any ceasefire terms. That meant more rebel artillery fire on the Cyborgs in addition to moving tanks and regular army troops directly from Russia into this battle. This allowed the rebels to launch an offensive that surrounded the airport while also hitting the Cyborgs with continuous artillery and rocket fire. This advance made resupply and reinforcement efforts extremely risky, as the Ukrainian armored vehicles risked being fired on by the tanks and antitank missiles the rebels had moved forward in violation of the ceasefire. Noticing the rapidly deteriorating situation of the airport defenders, the Ukrainian Army attempted a desperate, poorly organized counterattack against the rebel positions. The Russian troops and their local allies expected this and the attack failed with significant Ukrainian losses. The attack might have succeeded had senior Ukrainian generals, far from Donetsk, not gotten involved with directing the operation. The main problem was that the counter attacking force was too small and the interference by senior commanders led to poor coordination and communication between the attacking units and bad tactical decisions that doomed the relief effort. Another key element in this was the Russian communities in the east Ukrainian Donbas region that supplied the armed rebels to fight the Cyborgs. This was a key element in defeating a Cyborg counterattack. Cut off from friendly forces, and the territory they held was pretty much limited to the terminal building, which itself was not the greatest defensive position. Recently built, it had a modern, light structure, which limited the cover provided by it, forcing the defenders to rely on improvised fortifications. The only truly effective cover from artillery fire was provided by the Soviet era tunnels beneath the airfield, which also had to be defended from separatist infiltration attempts. The Ukrainian Russian rebels used tanks to attack the terminal building. This succeeded in part because of some unexpected fog. After taking parts of the terminal, the local Russians used demolition charges to collapse parts of the terminal's first floor ceiling, peppering many defenders with a rain of debris which killed and wounded many of them. By the end of the day both sides claimed control of the airfield. But two days later Ukraine admitted that the rebels had overrun the area. The rebels claimed to have taken 44 of the defenders alive. What the rebels won was nothing more than a ruin. There was barely a metal skeleton left where the terminal, built for the Euro 2012 games at the cost of almost a billion dollars, once stood. Other buildings were also heavily damaged by the shelling, and the runways are full of craters created by constant artillery bombardment. This kind of economic damage took years to repair, which was difficult because Ukraine had little cash to spare. In 2022 the Shaman commandos were determined to defeat a Russian attack on Hostomel Airport outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The Russians sought to quickly seize the airport with a surprise attack and fly in reinforcements to take Kyiv. The Shaman commandos were sent to thwart the Russian plan. The Shaman counterattack succeeded and two months later a Shaman force attacked a Russian oil refinery. This was similar to the August 2024 Ukrainian attack in Russias Kursk province. The Shaman force is still standing by to carry out whatever task it is given to preserve Ukrainian independence. Julia Knitel at a Bowery Ballroom performance from "Dead Outlaw." The musical, which is based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, is opening on Broadway after a successful off-Broadway run last year. Nina Westervelt Elmer McCurdy is the man at the center of a lively new musical. And for a sizable portion of the rollicking Broadway productions 1-hour-and-40-minute runtime, hes dead as a doornail. The woman in the show the only woman in the ensemble is an actor from New Jersey who plays various characters. Among them: a mother, a jilted fiance, a cowboy and a little girl who really needs to vent ... to a dead body. Julia Knitel stars in Dead Outlaw, a musical opening Sunday (April 27) at the Longacre Theatre. She plays a total of eight characters in the show. Knitel, 32, who made her Broadway debut at 16, has been a part of the musical since the start, all through its successful off-Broadway run at the Minetta Lane Theatre last year. Whats completely new about this experience is that Ive been with the show from the ground up and Im bringing it to Broadway, Knitel says. I was in the very first workshop of this show. The actor, who grew up in Fair Lawn, also played Carole King in a national tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Andrew Durand and Julia Knitel in "Dead Outlaw" at the Longacre Theatre. Matthew Murphy Dead Outlaw opens on the last possible day to qualify for the 2025 Tony nominations, which will be announced May 1. Itamar Moses wrote the book for the show, which is directed by David Cromer and has music and lyrics from David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna. Moses, Yazbek and Cromer worked on the 10-time Tony-winning musical The Bands Visit (2017) before Dead Outlaw. The true tale of the outlaw in question stretches from the 1880s to 1977. Elmer McCurdys death in 1911 was only the beginning of a wild journey for his preserved corpse, one that saw the body become a sideshow, a B-movie star and a prop in an amusement park and thats not all. Andrew Durand (Shucked) plays McCurdy in the musical, which is delightfully offbeat and has shades of Weekend at Bernies, giving the American legend some fictional flourishes. Its part playful comedy, part meditation on life and death, but mostly all those things at once. Julia Knitel lounging in Coney Island. The actor's Broadway debut at 16 changed the course of her life. Nina Westervelt I think broadly, the show is trying to say live your life, Knitel tells NJ Advance Media. Live it while you can, because you never know whats gonna happen. It could be short. It could be long. You could be propped up in a coffin and dragged around from sideshows to film sets 70 years after your death. McCurdy, known for getting into some scrapes often fueled by alcoholism tried to make a living as a plumber before repeatedly failing at less aboveboard pursuits like safe-cracking and train robbery. He was 31 years old when he was fatally shot by deputy sheriffs in Oklahoma. No family members claimed his body, sending it on the curious journey that inspired the show. In the process, McCurdys legend started to outgrow the facts of his life (and then, plenty of people wanted to claim his body). Whats cool about this show is it really deals with some very dark and strong and intense themes, but does so with a lot of levity, and does so with a lot of humor, and does so with a lot of sweetness, Knitel says. And so were talking about death, which is something that we will all experience one day, but were not beating you over the head with it. Were welcoming you into our room where we talk about death and play great music and well also make you laugh. Elmer McCurdys dead ... and so are you A jaunty song called Dead immediately sets the tone for the production. The satisfying repetition in the chorus will be ringing in your ears long after you leave the theater. Your mamas dead, goes the memorable tune. Your daddys dead. Your brothers dead, and so are you. Abe Lincolns dead. Frank James is dead. Your mamas dead, and so are you. The funny, frank refrain repeats throughout the show, pointing to the transitory nature of life. Each performance, the band inserts names of famous figures living and dead into the song. Its sort of ever-evolving, Knitel says. When the show was off-Broadway last year, O.J. Simpsons name had been worked in as one of the living dead people. Andrew Durand as Elmer McCurdy onstage with Jeb Brown, right, the bandleader of "Dead Outlaw." The band is in the center of the stage. Matthew Murphy But then Simpson actually died, so they took him out of the lineup. Too many actually dead people, it loses its shine, I think, Knitel says. But especially throughout previews, theyve been adding and changing the names. I think thatll continue. I think thats one of the coolest things to come back and see what people weve chosen today to pronounce deceased. All of the action in the musical takes place around the band, which is planted on a moving stage within the stage the musicians are as much the main event as McCurdy. This outlaw was a bit of a rolling stone, starting out in Maine and making his way to the prairie. So it follows that the cozy band setup transports the audience to a place far from Broadway, somewhere thats rustic country-Midwest, the kind of dive bar or roadhouse where tumbleweeds might roll by outside. Jeb Brown (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) fronts the band and serves as the shows narrator, also sharing the spotlight with Durand, Knitel and the ensemble as an actor in the show. Jeb Brown, Julia Knitel and Andrew Durand of "Dead Outlaw." Nina Westervelt I think one of the things that drew me to this piece from the start is the music and how brilliant and singular it is, and how its not your traditional Broadway score, Knitel says. Its got rock, its got country, its got a little bit of bluegrass and folk, some jazz, and then, of course, a few moments of traditional musical theater. Even a drunken McCurdy commandeers the band at one point in the show. Having the band on stage with us, the energy is just so incredible, she says. Oftentimes the band is in the pit, and so youre separated from them, and maybe you can find moments to hang out with them and get to know them, but theyre onstage with us, so they really do feel like part of the cast, and were all really close, and we just get to watch them shine in the moments when they have solos, and they get a couple acting moments, which I think is really fun. Two of Knitels most prominent characters are Maggie, McCurdys tender frontier love (when hes still alive), and Millicent, a young girl who finds McCurdys body stored in her home (the show reminds us: yes, this actually happened). Millie proceeds to use the dead outlaw as her go-to sounding board over the years for everyday issues like bullies and boys. He becomes her reliable corpse therapist a great listener. What I think is really special about my role within the show as the only woman is that I bring a lot of the softness, I bring a lot of the warmth into the cold, very humorous death story that were telling, Knitel says. Most of my female characters are the only ones who ever have real empathy for him, especially Millicent and Maggie ... they care, and in a world that is very uncaring, and in a life that does not have a lot of warmth, those two people get to bring something to Elmer that he doesnt get, both in his life and in his death. So I think its a really nice contrast for the rest of the style of the show. For its off-Broadway run, Dead Outlaw won best musical at the Drama Desk Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards and the Off-Broadway Alliance Awards. The show also won best new off-Broadway musical at the Outer Critics Circle Awards, where Knitel was nominated for outstanding featured performer and Durand won the award for outstanding lead performer in an off-Broadway musical. Born to be on Broadway Knitel made her Broadway debut at 16 in Bye Bye Birdie." She played a fan club girl. She also had the responsibility of running rehearsals as the shows dance captain. I was at the perfect age not to take it too seriously, Knitel says. In Fair Lawn, where she grew up in her mothers childhood home, her talent was nurtured by both of her parents, who are music teachers and performers. Knitel got her start in Christine Knitel and Eric Knitels non-denominational community theater company, St. Anne Stages, which they founded in the Fair Lawn churchs basement in 1996. She also trained as a dancer, and attended the Paper Mill Playhouse Summer Musical Theater Conservatory in Millburn. In 2009, Knitel won Paper Mills Rising Star Award for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie at Fair Lawn High School. She dropped out of school for Bye Bye Birdie at the end of her sophomore year. My first professional audition ever and I booked it, Knitel says. But as she approached 18, Knitel found herself wanting more training, so she got her GED and began studying acting at Marymount Manhattan College. In 2012, thats where she met her future husband, PJ Adzima, who currently plays Elder McKinley in Broadways The Book of Mormon. Knitel left Marymount to join the cast of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway and played Carole King on the shows U.S. tour. She also toured for years with the musical Come From Away, based on the true story of thousands of passengers who were stranded in a town in Newfoundland when planes were grounded after 9/11. Andrew Durand and Julia Knitel. "Dead Outlaw" picked up a series of best-musical awards in its 2024 off-Broadway run. Nina Westervelt In 2018, Knitel married Adzima. She was nominated that year for a Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding lead actress in a musical for her off-Broadway performance as Barbara Katsef in A Letter to Harvey Milk," a show composed by New Jerseys Laura I. Kramer. Knitel and Adzima teamed up in 2023 to start Stage Time NYC, a monthly variety show at The Slipper Room on the Lower East Side that features Broadway, burlesque, stand-up and drag performances very much in the style of old vaudeville, Knitel says. Its really incredible. Its drawn some huge names, and weve gotten quite the following, and its expanding to events and its just a really great thing to be a part of. Playing dead When Dead Outlaw first came along, Knitel knew shed relish the chance to play its various characters. When they sent the material to me, I remember saying Oh, wow, this just feels like such a good fit. It feels like exactly the tone of role that I want to play, she says. I get to use a lot of different facets of my personality and my skill set, and I get to play this classic ingenue while also being a weird little girl. And so I really get to flex a lot of different muscles, which is so unique and so incredible and such a testament to the people who created this show. But then to also have them get to know me and change things and pick the keys for me and adjust the tempos and really have this collaborative process with this team full of Tony Award-winning geniuses all across the board, its been really dreamy. I do feel like the luckiest girl in New York. Andrew Durand has to stay perfectly still to play the corpse of Elmer McCurdy. Matthew Murphy The musical illustrates just how McCurdy got from being shot dead in Oklahoma in 1911 to an amusement park in Long Beach, California in the 1970s ... and a coroners office after people realized the body was real and not a prop. But some mystery remains. One of the small miracles of the show is how long Durand is able to stay dead in an upright coffin. Its amazing, Knitel says. Hes so chill about it. I remember saying off-Broadway when we all sort of realized just how long he was gonna have to stand still, I was like I think I would have a panic attack. I dont know how youre doing it. Durand told her he just relaxes and goes with the flow. Its very much his personality to be calm under extraordinary circumstances, so it feels like just the perfect fit for him, Knitel says. Dead Outlaw opens on Broadway Sunday, April 27 at the Longacre Theatre; deadoutlawmusical.com Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter/X, @amykup.bsky.social on Bluesky and @kupamy on Instagram and Threads. Air pollution monitors at the Rutgers PAM Site, (Photochemical Assessment Monitoring, located on Rutgers Horticulture Research Farm 3 in East Brunswick, N.J. Wednesday, September, 11, 2024. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com New Jerseyans continue to breathe some of the nations worst air partly due to emissions from refineries, power plants, car traffic and wildfires. But experts told NJ Advance Media theres also a devil we dont know, when it comes to the states air quality. Air monitoring is not done at all for any pollutant in Somerset, Sussex, Burlington, Cape May, Salem and Essex counties, state environmental regulators and American Lung Association experts confirmed to NJ Advance Media. Collectively, more than 2 million people reside in those six counties, based on the latest U.S. Census estimates. Some counties collect air data, but only for one pollutant category. Kevin Stewart, the director of environmental health advocacy and public policy for the American Lung Association, said the reasons for a lack of air quality equipment can vary. For instance, Cape May County, home to fewer than 100,000 people, is not populated by a bevy of pollution sources, compared to Bergen County for example. Cape May is also closer to the ocean which can help filter the air of harmful substances. On the other hand, a county like Burlington County which has nearly 500,000 people that is in an area where there are surrounding counties that have monitors," said Stewart, typing away at his desk to check additional maps and data before elaborating. The western and northern parts of (Burlington) County are in an area where there would be local air pollution generated and also downwind from other sources, he said, noting the county was downwind from Camden County. That South Jersey county next to Philadelphia routinely has some of the higher air pollution levels in the state. State regulators told NJ Advance Media on Monday that Essex County has not had an air monitor since 2022. Essex stands as somewhat of an outlier on the list of places without air monitors given the number of pollution sources there. Newark alone currently has three gas-fired power plants, a garbage incinerator, a meat rendering plant and a sewage treatment plant. Asked about the lack of Essex County monitor, state spokesman Larry Hajna, said: The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is currently working on establishing an air monitoring station in Newark, New Jersey at 42 Chestnut Street. More details on that station were not immediately available. In line with Environmental Protection Agency requirements, the NJDEP measures the common outdoor air pollutants in monitoring stations located mostly in areas with high population density and multiple emissions source, Hajna said. The aim of those measuring efforts is to improve air quality conditions in the areas most prone to pollution. Besides the federally-mandated air monitors, local nonprofits and municipal governments can deploy monitoring equipment too. The DEP noted that while a handful of New Jerseys 21 counties dont have air monitors today, they are adjacent to other counties where the state does operate the stations. Ozone and fine particulate...pollution are transported regionally, and levels of these pollutants are expected to be similar over multiple counties in New Jersey, Hajna said. An air monitor to measure particulate matter could be in the cards for the northern part of Burlington County based on initial plans, state regulators said last week. The most recent air monitoring station to be built (not a station being relocated) was in Fort Lee, Bergen County, in 2014. The initial cost of that station was about $200,000 with additional annual costs for operations and maintenance. The American Lung Association said while concerning, a lack of air monitors critical for research efforts, to inform the public and drive change is a trend seen across the U.S. Unfortunately, only about 1/3 of counties nationwide have air quality monitors, including some very populous ones, Mike Seilback, who focuses on state public policy for the American Lung Association, said in an email. This years State of the Air report, released last week by the American Lung Association, found at least 46% of New Jerseyans live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. While it does not provide a grade for Essex County alone, Seilback said researchers know air pollution does not stop at the county line. Essex Countys population of over 850,000 residents would absolutely benefit from air quality monitoring, Seilback said, which is why we have advocated for years for increased funding for EPAs air quality monitoring network." Air pollution monitors at the Rutgers PAM Site, (Photochemical Assessment Monitoring, located on Rutgers Horticulture Research Farm 3 in East Brunswick, N.J. Wednesday, September, 11, 2024. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com In side the trailer of an air pollution monitoring station at the Rutgers PAM Site, (Photochemical Assessment Monitoring, located on Rutgers Horticulture Research Farm 3 in East Brunswick, N.J. Wednesday, September, 11, 2024. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Uneven exposure People of color throughout New Jersey and the nation, according to the report, are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. They are also, experts said, more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Jaclyn DiDonato, manager for advocacy at the American Lung Association, spoke specifically on what experts call New Jerseys overburdened communities. She noted for example that people in Elizabeth are surrounded by several pollution sources like the New Jersey Turnpike, Newark airport, the Port of Elizabeth, as well as nearby refineries and waste transfer stations. Newarks Ironbound community is also situated near industrial facilities and mobile sources of pollution from the ports, rail yard, airport, and heavy-duty trucks, DiDonato said. People in Camden, especially those in the waterfront south, contend with added pollution from waste or scrap facilities and municipal processing plants. It is important to note that rural areas such as Salem and Cumberland counties also have overburdened communities with major pollutant sources in close proximity, DiDonato said, while having some of the worst asthma hospitalizations in the state. For low-income communities, exposure to air pollutants at home can be made worse based on inadequate living conditions with poor ventilation or outdated infrastructure or appliances. To read more about New Jerseys air quality, click here. National data can be found at www.lung.org/research. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @stevenrodas.bsky.social. The U.S. State Department is urging travelers to "reconsider travel" to this African nation due to crime, terrorism and laws targeting people based on sexual orientation. Canva/Katherine Rodriguez If youre planning a trip to this popular African destination, you might want to reconsider your trip. The U.S. Department of State has issued a Level 3: travel advisory, urging travelers to Uganda to reconsider travel. Heres what you need to know if you are still planning on traveling to Uganda. What does the Level 3 travel advisory mean for you? The advisory warns people with travel plans to Uganda to reconsider travel due to crime, terrorism and laws targeting people based on sexual orientation. Item Detail Start Date April 23, 2025 Whats changing Updated travel advisory to Uganda urging travelers to reconsider travel due to crime, terrorism and laws targeting people based on sexual orientation. What will happen? Travelers should avoid demonstrations and crowds and be mindful that Ugandas laws could prosecute people who publicly identify as being LGBTQ or an ally. Who will it affect? Travelers to Uganda. Terrorist attacks have targeted the following groups: Religious venues Schools Government buildings Police stations Transportation hubs Areas visited by tourists Violent crime is also a threat, and includes incidences of armed robbery, home invasion and sexual assault. There are also security risks based on demonstrations leading up to the January to February 2026 elections. What is the highest travel advisory? There are four levels of travel advisory, Level 1 through Level 4. When planning a vacation, you should check the current travel advisory for that destination. Level 1 : Exercise Normal Precautions This is the lowest level of advisory; it is advised that there is some risk in that area, and travelers should take precautions while on their visit. Level 2 : Exercise Increased Caution There is a heightened risk for safety and security in that area, and travelers need to take extra caution. Level 3 : Reconsider Travel There are serious risks to safety, and travelers are advised to reconsider their travel plans to this destination. Level 4: Do Not Travel This is the highest level of advisory, and it is strongly recommended not to travel to any destinations with a Level 4 advisory, due to many factors, one of which is that the U.S. government might not be able to provide travelers any assistance in the event of an emergency. What should travelers to Uganda do in light of this travel advisory? The U.S. State Department warns people who are planning a trip to Uganda to do the following: Avoid demonstrations and crowds. Keep a low profile. Be aware of your surroundings. Do not display signs of wealth, such as expensive watches or jewelry, or smartphones. Use caution when walking or driving at night. Do not physically resist any robbery attempt. Do not open your door for people at your hotel or residence unless you know who it is. Stay alert in locations frequented by foreign tourists. Be extra vigilant when visiting banks or ATMs. The agency also instructs people who are LGBTQ to take extra precautions, as same-sex relations or even affiliation with LGBTQ people is illegal in the country. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at krodriguez@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips. The race is on to see who will take over for Phil Murphy as the next governor of the great state of New Jersey. On the left, every Democrat youve ever heard of and a few you havent are jockeying for the nomination, but for the sake of this column lets focus on the Republican side of the ballot. The GOP field was never as crowded as the Democrats, but it has already started to thin out as primary season approaches. Former state representative Ed Durr dropped out and the two candidates with the highest name recognition have started to distance themselves in early polling. Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli leads the field, after nearly pulling off an upset of Murphy last election cycle. Hes followed by former radio talk show host Bill Spadea and current state senator and guy who wants you to pump your own gas, John Bramnick. Bramnick is running as an anti-Trump Republican, good luck with that, so lets shift our focus to the other guys. The main event is between Ciattarelli and Spadea, two candidates locked in a pitched battle to see who can out-MAGA the other. Spadea is a true believer and his devotion to Trump is forcing Ciattarelli to take some positions that will hopefully keep him in the good graces of the GOP base, but may not play as well in a general election. A case in point, January 6. When Trump pardoned the Jan. 6 rioters, Spadea was quick to celebrate the presidents flaunting of the rule of law while Ciattarelli opposed pardoning convicted felons for crimes they committed on national television, a seemingly reasonable position to take in a normal political climate. Obviously, this political climate is anything but normal. Spadea quickly labeled him a heretic and Ciattarelli just as quickly caved and decided that the angry mob that breached the Capitol were just confused tourists looking for the gift shop. Spineless, but effective. Ciattarelli was recently granted an audience with Trump in his quest for the presidents stamp of approval. How the rest of the electorate feels about giving get-out-of-jail free cards to insurrectionists remains to be seen. As the nomination process plays out, Spadea is focused squarely on earning Trumps blessing through acts of fealty. Hes preaching to the choir and hoping the pews are filled on Election Day. Ciattarelli currently enjoys higher name recognition and favorability ratings. Hes also trying to thread a much smaller needle. He needs to be just MAGA enough to win the nomination while still maintaining a whiff of respectability. Once the nomination is in the bag, its time for a costume change into establishment Republican for the sake of the general election. Trump is, of course, only concerned with which candidate is willing to bend the knee and buff his ego to a high mirror shine. Sheneman has drawn political cartoons for The Star-Ledger since 1998. His work is syndicated nationally through Tribune Content Agency. Find him at Drew Shenemans Cartoon Cavalcade. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. The DOJ and Google antitrust saga continues, and while the hearings are deliberating on what will happen to the internet giant, many companies are now expressing their interest in buying Chrome, with one of the latest ones being Yahoo. The company has seen its hay day back in the late 1990s to the early to mid-2000s when it still competed aggressively with Google in the search engine space. However, Yahoo was not able to grow as much as Google, but should Chrome be floated for sale, it is putting in its bid to get one of the top internet platforms in the world. Yahoo Chrome? Search Company Wants to Buy It The Verge reported that Yahoo Search General Manager, Brian Provost, recently testified in the hearing of the DOJ vs. Google antitrust case, and here, he revealed that the company is interested in acquiring Chrome should it be available in the market. According to Provost, this would help the company accelerate its plans to leverage a web browser to the public as it plays a significant role in the search experience. Provost said that around 60% of search queries are done on the web browser, and Yahoo no longer has one to offer to the public. Despite this, the company has been internally developing its web browser after many years in the industry, but it would still take it a long time before it gets to launch it. With this, acquiring Chrome would put them on a faster track to offering a new search experience to the public, calling Google's web browser the "most important strategic player on the web." Google vs. Yahoo: The Early Internet Rivalry Google and Yahoo are best known for being two of the earliest and most prolific search engines in the world, dominating the world as the internet began to take form and be more available to users. While there were arguments about which is better, Yahoo merely maintained its search engine and email service for many years, but Google went on expand to other areas in the tech world. Google's DOJ Antitrust Fiasco The Google antitrust case's main focus, as far as the Department of Justice is considered, is to address the company's search and advertisement monopoly, which has taken over the internet for many years. One of the suggestions of the prosecution is the breakup of Google, which begins with selling off Chrome for another company to own, manage, and operate. It is known that last year's ruling on this antitrust case against Google ended with the company being branded as a monopoly and failing to defend itself. Now, the case is still being heard, but it is already at its remedy phase, and this focuses on which actions to take in order to topple Google's monopoly moving forward. It was reported that Google will try to prevent any breakups from happening within the company as it vies to keep its products and technology by proposing alternative solutions. By Julie Dees What do actor Danny Glover, comedian Chris Rock, athletes Shaquille ONeal and Deion Sanders, former U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, anesthesiologist Dr. John Paul Kim, and Rhodes Scholar Bonnie St. John all have in common? They are all proud alumnae of Head Start a program that didnt just change their lives, but gave them the tools to rewrite their futures. Since its launch as a modest eight-week summer program in 1965, Project Head Start has grown into one of the most powerful tools in the fight against poverty. Created by the Office of Economic Opportunity, its mission was bold: give preschool-aged children from low-income families the emotional, educational, nutritional, and social support they need to thrivenot just in kindergarten, but for life. Today, that mission is more critical than ever. We know from decades of research that early childhood education is one of the strongest predictors of long-term success. But what often goes unsaid is this: Head Start doesnt just help children. It helps entire families rise. When a child is enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start, their parents can pursue college degrees, complete job training, and build careers. These programs arent babysittingtheyre building futures. They are ladders out of poverty, offering stability to families who need it most. Moreover, Head Start actively includes parents in the process. From serving on Parent Advisory Boards to shaping curriculum decisions, families are active partners, not just recipients. That sense of agency is transformative. In Trenton, The Childrens Home Society of New Jersey (CHSofNJ) has been operating Early Head Start and Head Start programs for over a decade. Last school year alone, 644 children were enrolled in CHSofNJs Early Head Start and Head Start programs. And the results? They speak for themselves. CHSofNJ programs consistently meet or exceed CLASS scores in key areas like emotional support and instructional support. Children are not just meeting but surpassing expectations in literacy, math, and social-emotional development critical skills that set the foundation for lifelong learning. Two powerful testaments to the life-changing impact of Head Start come from a dedicated parent and a passionate Early Head Start (EHS) Site Supervisor. Demetra, whose daughter Journee enrolled at Smith Santiago EHS in 2023, shares, At the time, we were facing homelessness. The centers family worker, Ms. Val, offered unwavering support during one of the most difficult periods of our lives. The transformation in my child was nothing short of remarkable. By the end of the school year, Journee had blossomed her confidence soared, she eagerly helped others, and she embraced every opportunity to read aloud and show off her growing literacy skills. Even when challenges arose, she faced them with determination and refused to let them hold her back. Thanks to EHS, she entered Kindergarten not just academically prepared, but emotionally ready. She approaches school with excitement and pride. In fact, shes the only Kindergartener at her school who recites the school creed from memory each morning without reading from a script. I am deeply grateful to her teachers for seeing her potential and nurturing her growth. EHS gave Journee a strong foundation and a brighter future. Angela, the Site Supervisor at Smith Santiago Early Head Start, also credits Head Start with transforming her life. Both of my daughters attended Bucks County Head Start in Pennsylvania. Today, one has earned a Masters degree in nursing, and the other in deaf education. Head Start was instrumental in shaping their futuresand mine. While my girls were enrolled, I began working at Bucks County Head Start and pursued my Bachelors in Early Childhood Education. That opportunity changed everything. Head Start didnt just prepare my children for schoolit gave me purpose, a path, and a profession. Without it, I wouldnt be where I am today. Head Start truly saved my life. In a time of rapid change and economic uncertainty, eliminating Head Start would be more than short-sightedit would be catastrophic. Families would be left without childcare, children would lose critical developmental support, and communities would suffer the ripple effects of deepening poverty. Head Start works. It transforms lives. It lifts families. And it builds stronger, more resilient communities. Lets protect it and invest in it like our future depends on it. Because it does. Calling your elected representative in the U.S. House Of Representatives or U.S. Senate is the most effective way to influence policy. To find your representative and senator to voice your position, go to the House website and the Senate website. Julie Dees is CEO of The Childrens Home Society of New Jersey. Local journalism needs your support. Subscribe at nj.com/supporter. I was inconsolable that day in May of 1967. A 5-year-old me boarded the yellow school bus as I had done all year, but the driver looked puzzled when he saw me climb the three steps and head for a window seat on the bus. It never dawned on me that the party my class held the day before signified the end of the school year for my program. I was a Head Start kid, the product of parents who never had an opportunity to pursue an education but were determined to make sure they looked for ways to eliminate the educational deficit they had experienced. So, they enrolled me in Head Start, a federally funded program begun in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnsons administration that has jumpstarted the learning process for millions of kids like me from low-income families. After I reached my school, I found that the bus driver was right, hence the tears. The party was, in fact, to celebrate the end of the school year. I found that hard to accept. I cried for what seemed like hours because I didnt want the learning to end. I didnt know how to read books, only a few letters, before instruction from the Head Start teachers put me at the head of the class. I would go on to learn shapes and colors and to sit quietly on the floor with my classmates as teachers filled in social gaps with lessons on manners, building friendships, and kindness. Who knew that I would one day lead a statewide PBS station with an iconic show called Sesame Street that taught the same thing? I remember with great clarity the impact Head Start had on my life and how its teachings followed me when I entered the first grade, reading on a third-grade level. Thats why I am absolutely devastated, mortified, that the federal cuts enacted and proposed to Head Start programs threaten the existence of learning centers that are guilty of nothing more than providing an educational lifeline to kids from marginalized communities. Several media outlets have reported that Head Start programs received $1.6 billion from Jan. 1 through Tuesday. During the same period last year, the programs, which are operated by schools and nonprofits, received $2.55 billion. The billion-dollar reduction has forced inevitable staff reductions and closures. The Trump administration has called on Congress to defund the program entirely. Im transparent about my upbringing. For years, my mother worked at a chicken plant, where stench greeted visitors blocks before entering its gates. My dad, meanwhile, had a job requiring him to service massive machinery to keep them lubricated and running. By the end of the day, it was difficult to tell the color of his oil-drenched uniform from its natural color. Thats why giving me and my siblings a head start was so important to them. They would not allow us to sit around and do nothing. Mandatory kindergarten at the time did not exist in several states. My late parents would be in shock today to learn that a program that helps nearly 800,000 preschool kids and families annually is on the chopping block, part of a Project 2025 document that put a target on its undeserving back. They would never comprehend how educating kids who need a hand is a bad thing. It worked for us. And it still does. The problem Head Start faces is its future rests in the hands of entitled people who have never worked at chicken plants or machine tool companies, failing to realize its value or what being marginalized feels like. It is part of the diversity, equity and inclusion discussion that powerbrokers in the White House can never understand. Truthfully, they choose not to. In New Jersey, Head Start programs are continuing to operate, despite the Trump administrations aggressive cost-cutting. The regional office providing administrative support is closed. In addition, five regional offices managing Head Start centers have been closed in cities ranging from New York to San Francisco. Early education for poor kids? What an awful thing. The timing of the cuts could not be worse. Among the hardest populations hit during the pandemic were low-income families with children with little access to broadband. As a country, we are still playing catch-up from the pandemic. The learning loss is real. But Head Start offers an opportunity for a reset. It remains an invaluable asset, ensuring that children starting preschool programs today are not caught in the learning loss web. Its stressful because any time there is change without a lot of communication, it leaves a lot of unknowns, Bonnie Eggenburg, president of the New Jersey Head Start Association, said in the recently published NJ Spotlight News story. The cuts, of course, are part of the Make America Healthy Again plan spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, a major Trump supporter who has announced that his days of leading the ill-conceived Department of Government Efficiency will soon end to allow him to return to his private business, which is hemorrhaging money. Recent news stories report that profits from Musks behemoth Tesla car enterprise have plummeted 71%, a drop attributed to public backlash connected to Musks scattered approach toward cutting government spending. It has hit Americans hard, including Trump supporters, who, in growing numbers according to several polls, are questioning their blind support of a president obsessed with power. The fate of New Jerseys Head Start program is still unclear, and officials are waiting to see what happens next. New Jersey is part of Head Start Region 2, which also serves New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the NJ Spotlight News story. The closest office that remains open is in Philadelphia, which has responsibility for five other states and the District of Columbia, according to the report. Head Start parents face difficult days when government fails them at such a basic level. I cannot underscore the importance Head Start had in my life back in the 1960s and now. A decade ago, I was excited to pay it forward when I was asked to headline a Head Start conference in front of a packed room of parents, teachers, and supporters. It was an emotional time for me, a newspaper editor, to stand as an example for those parents in the audience who had the same lofty dreams for their kids as my parents had for me. It is my hope that Head Start centers in New Jersey and around the country can hang on despite so unfairly having to fight for their existence. I dont know where Id be if it were not around. And I dont know what will fill the gap for low-income families with nowhere else to turn. Who will come to their rescue? I wish I knew. This editorial was written by Ronnie Agnew, general manager of NJ Advance Media. He and other staff senior editors will regularly author editorials for The Star-Ledger and NJ.com. You may reach him at ragnew@njadvancemedia.com. Local journalism needs your support. Subscribe at nj.com/supporter. Diane Volz has a message for President Donald Trump: Find some dignity and respect elderly people who need Medicare and Medicaid. TNS As feisty as Diane Volz is at 102 years old and she can bring the heat with her deliberate tone and crushing wisdom the New York state native says she expects to die any minute. But before she goes, shes going to get her licks in on Donald Trump. Volz, a former teacher and journalist, appeared on The Meidas Touch podcast with Ben Meiselas and whacked Trump pretty good as the president and Republicans take aim at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I taught for more than 20 years, taught journalism and worked for various papers and have been always a great believer in American independence and good taste, Volz said. We have a president who has no dignity and no sense of the dignity of a human being especially one who is old and expects to die any minute. When I say that Medicaid was a tremendous blessing, they paid my son to care for me and it was a dream come true. He knew so well how to do it. He was so wise and so kind, was lovely and I still feel grateful. She added that America will lost FDRs principles, which were a concern for everybody, no matter what their income, because Trump has abandoned people. Former President Joe Biden, in a rare speech since leaving office, said Trump has done irreparable damage in his first three months back in the Oval Office and warned about the GOPs designs on the nations safety nets. In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. Its kind of breathtaking, Biden charged during a speech last week that spanned just under a half-hour. Theyve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration. It was no coincidence that Tuesdays appearance, which marked Bidens first major event since leaving office, was focused on Social Security. Democrats have increasingly focused on Trumps turbulent leadership over the popular government agency that provides benefits to more than 70 million Americans. Both parties expect Social Security to emerge as a key issue in next years midterm elections. Speaking before a crowd of roughly 200 people, Biden largely stuck to his prepared remarks but also rambled at times as he told stories about growing up with working-class people. He referred to the Republican president only as this guy. Trump, by contrast, continues to blame Biden for many of the nations problems and often attacks his predecessor by name. Conservatives immediately seized upon a Biden reference to the countrys political divisions as an attack on Trump supporters. We cant go on like this as a divided nation, as divided as we are, Biden said. As I said, Ive been doing this a long time. Its never been this divided. Granted, its roughly 30%, but its a 30% that has no heart. The AP contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Dick Durbin is leaving, and now Democrats are hoping someone can convince Chuck Schumer, 74, to follow the 80-year-old Senator out the door. Schumer seen by many liberals as a doddering political fossil who isnt up to the challenge of resisting Donald Trumps dismantling of democracy is hemorrhaging support each time he opens his mouth. And, unfortunately, he did it again on Sunday, when he and his reading glasses appeared on CNNs State of the Nation with Dana Bash. When asked what he and the Democrats were doing to keep Trump from bringing law firms, universities and other crucial institutions to their knees, Schumer insisted he had a solution to Trumps authoritarian move against Harvard a very strong letter with very strong questions. The Senate Minority Leader, after watching Trump ignore the Constitution, tell the Supreme Court to stick it, stuff hundreds of immigrants into a foreign prison, fire thousands of federal workers illegally, and we could go on ... sent a strong letter. "Very strong letter should do the trick, Never Trumper Ron Filipkowski snarked. Its going to hurt every American, Schumer said. Its going to hurt the kids at the universities who had nothing to do with the protesting. But its also going to hurt the kinds of medical research and other kinds of great research that are done at Harvard and other universities. So, we sent him a very strong letter just the other day, asking eight very strong questions. Democrats cringed. I really need Chuck Schumer to stay off TV from now until November 3, 2026, one Twitter user tweeted. He hurts the party brand more than helps. Just do your job behind the scene and let someone else speak for the Senate. This sounds mean but he really is out of touch. Watching Chuck Schumer on State of the Union reminded me of what I used to tell my clients: If you cannot tell someone what your message is in 50 words or less then you do not have one," tweeted another. Schumer is useless. This is just embarrassing, tweeted another. Schumer took abuse when he told Democrats to keep the government open, even as Trump and Elon Musk were illegally shuttering agencies and laying off workers. Democrats, after forcing Joe Biden from the presidential campaign, are begging for young, vibrant leaders who can bring heat. Thats why New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Texas Rep Jasmine Crockett are rising in popularity. Comedy Centrals Jon Stewart has mocked Schumer relentlessly. Please stop fng trotting (him out), Stewart said. [Trumps] trade war has awoken a sleeping giant. Not Canada, not Mexico, but the Democratic Minority Senate Leader. Release the Schumer! Stewart then switched to a clip of Schumer: Its going to affect beer, OK? Most of it, Corona here, comes from Mexico. Its going to affect your guac, because what is guacamole made of? Avocados. Your response to the trade war is to fing tell us guacamole is made of avocados? Stewart quipped. Democrats, can you please stop fing trotting Schumer out there every time Trump traverses into the unreal? Hes not good at this. Stewart wonders whose decision it has been to keep trotting out Schumer: What is the decision-making process here? Hey, who should we get out there to effectively battle one of the most savvy presidential media manipulators in history? Oh, I dont know, how about Schumer? Hes uninteresting, but at least hes monotone. Oh wait, and Chuck, before you go out there, you look too young! Put on these readers and lower them on your nose. Perfect! Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Former U.S. Rep. George Santos arrives at federal court for sentencing, Friday, April 25, 2025, in Central Islip, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson) AP A few days can apparently make a big difference. Disgraced former GOP Congressman George Santos took to social media to implore President Donald Trump to use his pardon power to keep him out of jail. The ask came after he was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Only days prior to his sentencing, Santos said that for him to seek a pardon from Trump would be to deny accountability and responsibility for his crimes. The president knows my predicament. Its not like its a secret, Santos said in an interview last week, from The New York Times. If the president thinks Im worthy of any level of clemency that is bestowed upon him, he can go ahead and do it, but for me to seek a pardon is to deny accountability and responsibility. But post-sentencing, however, Santos all but begged for Trumps intervention. I cannot rewrite the past, but I can control the road ahead. I asked the Court for a sentence that balances accountability with the chance to prove through sustained, measurable action that I can still contribute positively to the community I wronged, he posted to X. I believe that 7 years is an over the top politically influenced sentence and I implore that President Trump gives me a chance to prove Im more than the mistakes Ive made. Santos sobbed in court as he learned his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress. In a federal court a short drive from his old congressional district, he said through tears that he was humbled and chastened and understood he had betrayed his constituents trust. Santos, 36, served in Congress for less than a year before becoming just the sixth member of the House to be ousted by colleagues. He admitted to deceiving donors and stealing the identities of nearly a dozen people, including his family members, to fund his winning campaign. His plea deal included agreeing to pay roughly $580,000 in penalties. Santos was elected in 2022, flipping a wealthy district representing parts of Queens and Long Island for the GOP. Soon after, it was revealed that the political unknown had fabricated much of his life story, painting himself as a successful business owner who worked at prestigious Wall Street firms and held a valuable real estate portfolio. In reality, Santos was struggling financially and even faced eviction. He falsely claimed to have been a volleyball star at a college he never even attended. He had referred to himself during the campaign as a proud American Jew, but later acknowledged that he was Catholic and insisted hed only said he was Jew-ish after learning that his maternal family had a Jewish background. Reporters uncovered that Santos had been accused in Brazil of using stolen checks to buy clothing, and that he had once been charged in Pennsylvania with using bad checks to buy puppies from dog breeders. The revelations led to congressional and criminal inquiries into how he had funded his campaign. As his sentencing approached, Santos was reflective and apologetic in social media posts, but at other times seemed to relish his notoriety. He launched a podcast called Pants on Fire with George Santos, and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars selling cheerful, personalized video messages on Cameo. He leaned into his longtime support of Trump, praising the new administration. The week of his sentencing, Santos told The Associated Press by text he was ready to face the music. On X, he made one final plug for his Cameo account. Think ahead and of any celebration or event coming up later this year. Book them today, Santos wrote, ending the post with a series of heart emojis. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A California tossing a Nazi salute out of the passenger seat of a Cybertruck in San Francisco was easy enough to track down. Thats because the company he works for, Cyber Electric, had its name and phone number printed on the side of the EV. From SFGate: In the April 23 video, the man in the passenger seat, who appears to be intoxicated, raises his arm out the truck window, which belongs to a Modesto company called Cyber Electric. A homophobic slur can also be heard from someone apparently in the vehicle. After a brief confrontation with the person recording them, the driver speeds off. Since it was posted on social media Wednesday, several people have flooded Cyber Electrics Yelp page with one-star reviews and scathing comments regarding the interaction. Screenshots of the video along with a photo of Elon Musk making a Nazi salute at Trumps inauguration in Washington, D.C. have also been uploaded to Cyber Electrics business page. ... According to California secretary of state documents, Marco Diaz the man accused of making the salute and yelling the slur is listed as the companys agent. I deeply regret my actions in the video. I was intoxicated and reacted foolishly to provocation, but I take full responsibility, he wrote to SFGATE in an emailed statement, explaining that he has regularly faced hostility by getting flipped off or receiving a thumbs-down while driving his Cybertruck. He denied making homophobic insults and stated that the people recording him were yelling at him, prompting him to react. Sales have plunged for Tesla amid protests and boycotts over Musks embrace of far right-wing views. Profits have been sliced by two-thirds so far this year, and rivals from China, Europe and the U.S. are pouncing. On Tuesday came some relief as Musk announced in an earnings call with investors that he would be scaling back his government cost-cutting job in Washington to a day or two per week to focus more on his old job as Teslas boss. The Associated Press contributed to this report. TEXT The Associated Press contributed to this report. FILE - President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, April 18, 2025, in Washington.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) AP This week marks 100 days since Donald Trump returned to the White House. And the polling isnt good. Trump has the lowest 100-day job approval rating of any president in the past 80 years, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll. Fifty-five percent of people disapprove of the job hes doing compared to 39% who approve, per the poll. The polling shows Trumps handling of the economy is helping to drag him down. A majority 53% of people said the economy has gotten worse since Trump took office in January, while only 21% said its gotten better and 25% said its the same. NATIONAL POLL By CBS News President Trump Approve: 45% Disapprove: 55% Trump's net approval was +6 (53-47) in February vs -10 (45-55) now. Trump's net approval on key issues Immigration: -2 (was +8 in Feb) Economy: -16 (was +2) Inflation: -24 53% pic.twitter.com/KTagGw65AY InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) April 27, 2025 From ABC News: The previous low in approval for a president at or near 100 days in office, in polls dating to 1945, was Trumps 42% in 2017. ABCs new 100-Days poll has even worse numbers for Trump: 39% job approval, worst since polling began. Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) April 27, 2025 Trump has managed to reshape the economy through executive power, largely bypassing the Republican-controlled Congress. He has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, including on Americas two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. Chinese goods are getting taxed at a combined 145%. The trade penalties increased tensions with the European Union and sent Japan and South Korea rushing to negotiate. Despite clear evidence of American economic supremacy, Trump claimed that the U.S. has been ripped off by trade. The president says his tariffs will create domestic factory jobs, cover the cost of an income tax cut plan that could exceed $5 trillion over 10 years, repay the $36 trillion national debt and also serve as leverage to renegotiate trade on terms favoring the United States. But his tariffs could reduce an average households disposable income by $4,900, according to The Budget Lab at Yale University. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund said the U.S. and global economies will likely slow significantly in the wake of Trumps tariffs. The IMF said that the global economy will grow just 2.8% this year, down from its forecast in January of 3.3%, according to its latest World Economic Outlook. And in 2026, global growth will be 3%, the fund predicts, also below its previous 3.3% estimate. And the Fund sees the worlds two largest economies, China and the United States, weakening: U.S. economic growth will come in at just 1.8% this year, down sharply from its previous forecast of 2.7% and a full percentage point below its 2024 expansion. The IMF doesnt expect a U.S. recession, though it has raised its odds of one this year from 25% to about 40%. China is now projected to expand 4% this year and next, down roughly half a point from its previous forecasts. We are entering a new era, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist at the IMF, said. This global economic system that has operated for the last eighty years is being reset. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tesla stock is soaring following CEO Elon Musk's announcement that he will dedicate himself full-time to the electric car giant after a three-month stay in Washington. The billionaire's return of attention to Tesla, announced on the company's Q1 earnings call, has triggered a wave of bullishness on Wall Street. It sent shares more than 20% higher to $286.85 by Friday, from Tuesday's close at $237.97. This unexpected surge is more than just enthusiasm from investors. It's a strong expression of confidence after a difficult quarter marred by poor sales, disappointing delivery numbers, and mounting public criticism associated with Musk's political activism. Elon Musk Ends Political Role to Reignite Tesla Focus Musk's short but high-profile stint with the Trump administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) generated both publicity and criticism. His position, which involved overseeing contentious federal layoffs, made Tesla a political lightning rod, generating boycotts and protests that further burdened the brand, according to Business Insider. Now that Musk is distancing himself from Washington and doubling down on Tesla, the action is being greeted by investors and analysts as a turning point moment. "It's going to be viewed historically as probably the most important conference call Musk has ever had," said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, who had earlier been critical of Musk's political distractions. Regulatory Boost: Looser Rules Fuel Tesla's Momentum Fanning the flames, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) released new, more liberal rules for self-driving cars on Friday. The new framework permits self-driving cars for testing purposes to skirt some safety measures, a move meant to enhance American innovation and competitiveness in the face of China's speedy development in autonomous technology. According to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the government is aware of its competition with China. He recognized that the new framework would cut through red tape, leading to a national standard where innovation and safety are valued. This news is a major victory for Tesla, which has been a long-time advocate of full self-driving technology. The new guidelines mark a more welcoming regulatory landscape for Tesla and other US automakers pioneering these advanced systems. A Turning Point for Tesla? Following months of Tesla exodus and brand harm, Tesla seems to be regaining its traction now. With Musk back full-time and newly minted support from Washington's regulatory branch, some analysts expect this to be the start of a broader rebound. Though challenges remain, including competition from around the world, uncertainty about demand, and ongoing public attention, investors are apparently betting on a Tesla bounce. If Elon Musk remains on track and follows through on innovation commitments, Tesla's turnaround tale could be just beginning. How much access do we really have to the countrysides green spaces, are we locked out, is restricted access necessary? An author and journalist with a national reputation has unpacked the debate with his new book. Uncommon Ground by Patrick Galbraith examines the right to roam of Britains green and pleasant spaces, how much is really accessible, the people on both sides and the debates and meets fascinating characters along the way from protestors to poachers. Subtitled rethinking our relationship with the countryside, the book takes us on Patricks extraordinary three year investigative tour of rural Britain to uncover the truth, melding history, politics and polemic in a journey that takes us from the Western Isles to Dorset and from the Anglo Saxon period right through to the present day. Devon readers can find out more from the man himself when he the author, editor and Country Life journalist will be speaking at an evening event at The Bookery in Crediton on Thursday, May 22. In January 2023 the largest UK land access demonstration since the 1930s took place on Dartmoor. Those who led the protest want open access to all of rural Britain. They believe that access will help nature by allowing the public to hold landowners and farmers to account and they argue that it will have no impact on wildlife. Many disagree - but where does the truth really lie? Are those on the other side of the debate, the farmers, conservationists and landowners who worry about public access, misguided? And what does access mean? How much is there? Are we locked out of the countryside, as some claim, or not? In Uncommon Ground, Patrick Galbraith unpacks the debate, seeking out the voices seldom heard in this debate voices that are often closer to the issues at hand. He also seeks to understand why access to the land matters and how our relationship with the land is integral to British culture. He heads out with poachers, meets landowners and foxhunters, he wanders naked with naturists, and he spends time with activists calling for a total abolition of the right to own land. He also interviews politicians, historians and conservationists, many of whom have mixed feelings about the contemporary access campaign. Patrick will be speaking at The Bookery in Crediton High Street on Thursday, May 22 at 7pm. To book tickets, please got to https://thebookery.org.uk/event/patrick-galbraith-uncommon-ground/ Bandung's spirit powerful call amid global uncertainty, Indonesian diplomat says Xinhua) 10:00, April 27, 2025 JAKARTA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia encourages developing nations across Asia and Africa to recall the values presented in the Bandung Conference amid the current rising protectionism and global uncertainties. In an interview with Xinhua here on Friday, newly-appointed Indonesia's ambassador to Kenya, Tyas Baskoro Her Witjaksono Adji, said that the Bandung Conference has shown the developing countries that unity can drive real changes, and called it "a powerful call to work together for a more just and inclusive world." Back in 1955 when the Bandung Conference was held, newly independent nations joined forces to claim their rights and demand fairness in the global system. "They did so without relying on power. They relied on solidarity, shared visions and values," Witjaksono, who just stepped down as director of the Directorate of Asia-Pacific and African Intra-Regional and Inter-Regional Cooperation of the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry. "Today with rising protectionism and global uncertainties, that lesson still applies. We should continue to be open to partnership. Cooperation is how we build a more stable, and a more fair world," the diplomat said. Witjaksono, who will begin his career as the Indonesian diplomat in Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and some UN organizations in May, said that Africa is an important partner for his nation. He said that Indonesia wants to promote its existing strong historical and political ties with Africa into more concrete economic ties. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, is committed to increasing its ties with African nations through its Indonesia-Africa Forum (IAF), which has been held twice between 2018 and 2024. The forum focused on strengthening partnerships between Indonesia and African nations in politics, economy and cultural exchange. "We want to cooperate with Africa to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We want to work together with Africa to improve the dignity of the Indonesian and African nations together," he said. The cooperation, he continued, would also be carried out with any other nations with mutual interests. "In this context, China, a big country that has been in Africa for a long time with all its businesses there, can certainly be a partner, working together to improve the economy in Africa and improve economic relations between Indonesia and Africa," he said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) VALPARAISO Porter County police say they were very familiar with the adult group home they were called to April 18, having been dispatched to the site more than 20 times over the past two and a half years. The difference this time is that officers arrested a now-26-year-old female resident, who is accused of repeatedly punching one female staff member in the face with a closed fist, and headbutting and trying to spit on another who attempted to stop the alleged assault, according to the police report. "(The first staff member) stated this is a common occurrence for (the accused)," police reported. The accused, who The Times is not identifying due to the special circumstances of her situation, has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery, including one of causing injury, records show. The group home in question serves individuals with various need levels, "including individuals with significant medical, physical or behavioral challenges," according to a company website. County police and prosecutors say these types of cases pose unique challenges that require taking the interests and welfare of all into consideration. "The safety of others living in the home, the employees and neighbors went into this decision," said Sgt. Benjamin McFalls, public information officer with the Porter County Sheriff's Department. The company did not respond to repeated requests by The Times for comment. Police said they were called out to the Jackson Township group home around 6:41 p.m. April 18 where they were told a staff member was repeatedly punched by the accused while in a dining area of the residence. The accused was allegedly directing insults and racial slurs at that staff member and another while hitting both, police said. The accused reportedly told police she did not like the staff members and no longer wanted to live at the home. She said she threatened staff on the day in question but did not admit to striking anyone, police said. Police said they noticed redness on the face of the staff member claiming to have been punched by the resident. Porter County Sheriff Jeffrey Balon said the department has responded about 50 times since January 2023 to three of these types of homes located in the unincorporated areas. "Many of the residents who reside in these facilities require a higher level of care due to their disabilities and resulting behavioral challenges," Balon said. "Unfortunately, these facilities are oftentimes the only option for 'long-term' housing to facilitate this care," he said. "Therefore, I have instructed the Porter County Sheriffs Office Police Social Workers to reach out to the facility leadership to focus on issues that require a police response." McFalls said the sheriff's department has two full-time social workers on staff. "When the situation lends itself, we are eager to refer those we serve to other services if possible," he said. Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann is not able to comment directly on a pending case but said these situations pose unique challenges for the legal system, including the limitations of those charged. "It is difficult for them to appear in court and for them to understand the proceedings," Germann said. "Communication with the judges and even their own lawyers can be difficult at times." These limitations can raise issues of competency to stand trial, he said. While the underlying facts of the cases are often fairly straightforward, Germann said the question remains how best to respond. "How do we hold this person accountable when their ability to connect their conduct which they may not even remember to rehabilitation so that whatever occurred does not occur again," Germann said. "I have also seen situations where their conduct has adversely affected their housing arrangements, which then creates problems for their families because now they have a loved one they have to care for and are just not equipped to do so," he said. McFalls said these types of calls are just one among many that require officers to navigate several factors. "An arrest in these cases, is our last option, however, is sometimes necessary," he said. "Our jail division goes above and beyond the bare minimum to do their best to make sure the needs of those temporarily staying in our facility are met." The accused was no longer in custody Thursday at the Porter County Jail, according to the facility. Her case is pending before Porter County Superior Court Judge Michael Drenth. Birr woman Margaret O'Gorman has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of an important, global, environmental company. The company she was recently named CEO of is called Tandem Global, which is a nature and biodiversity, non-profit and advisory organisation created through the merger of Wildlife Habitat Council and World Environment Center. Margaret has been working for many years as a corporate environmental conservation advisor in the United States, during which time she has garnered an excellent reputation for hard work and the quality of her advice. Before moving to the States she studied Geology and Geophysics for five years in Galway University; and Micropalaeontology for a year in Southampton University. Wildlife Habitat Council advised corporations on water stewardship and conservation strategies since 1988. World Environment Center, founded in 1974 as part of the United Nations Environment Programme, was more broadly focused on advising companies about sustainable development strategies. READ NEXT: Lucky no one was killed - Judge blasts man for 'demolition driving' in Offaly Tandem Global advises companies around the world. It focuses on helping businesses integrate their operations with nature and the environment, providing expertise and a network to promote long-term impact. They work across various sectors, from field operations to boardrooms, offering strategies and solutions for nature, water, climate resilience, and social impact. Tandem Global corporate members, consulting engagements, and certified programs can be found in 47 U.S. states and 19 countries. The company points out that with over half the worlds total GDP moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services, corporate leaders turn to Tandem Global for impactful strategies and resilient solutions that support a better future for nature and business. Tandem Global offers meaningful private sector value, said Margaret, through proven approaches in nature, water, climate resilience and social impact, including the worlds leading voluntary sustainability standard for corporate conservation actions, WHC Certification. At Tandem Global, we believe there is no greater cause with global consequences than the intersection of business and nature. The formation of Tandem Global through the combination of WHC and WEC and the establishment of our new brand reflect our commitment to working across sectors for the benefit of both business and nature. She said she has spent nearly two decades working in various disciplines which activate environmental commitments and practices. As business and nature rapidly evolve, it is increasingly clear that together leads to better. Margaret was previously CEO of Wildlife Habitat Council since 2012. She published a book on corporate approaches to nature and biodiversity in 2020, called Strategic Corporate Conservation Planning: A Guide to Meaningful Engagement. Tandem Global has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with an office in Bethesda, Maryland. It also has offices in Europe (as Tandem Global, e.V., based in Germany) and Latin America (in El Salvador and Peru). It operates with a dispersed workforce across all continents. It has close to 100 corporate members, including a half-dozen or so companies that previously worked with both organizations such as pharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb, chemical company Chemours and building products maker CRH. During 2025, said Margaret, our main priority will be focusing on helping corporations consider how to extend their strategies for water conservation, nature conservation and biodiversity across their supply chains. We hear a lot of conversations about this. We will collaborate with other organizations helping companies operationalize conservation strategies such as Business for Nature, Science Based Targets Network and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures. We will position ourselves as the voice of the corporate sector on nature-related issues. "We will help companies navigate the narrow route between doing and talking. I think companies will be doing, but not talking as much, because that is where they might be punished. Already, we have felt the impact of the Trump administrations freeze on foreign aid, but I am confident that the Wildlife Habitat Councils track record of success will help the Tandem Global diversify its funding sources. To be the leader of an NGO, you have to be an optimist. Police stage at the scene of a shooting at a Gresham apartment complex. One person died after the early-morning shooting, police said, and another is recovering from a gunshot wound. Aimee Green One person is dead and another in the hospital after an early morning shooting in Gresham, police said Sunday. Gresham Police officers responded to reports of multiple shots fired on Southwest 11th street, west of the intersection with Southwest Highland Drive, just after 1:30 a.m., they said in a news release. Police found two people with gunshot wounds at the Eleven Pines Apartments. One person died at the hospital, police said, and the other is being treated for wounds that do not appear to be life threatening. The shooting awoke many neighbors, including families with young children, along what they say is a normally quiet, tree-lined street. Maria Ramirez said she was nursing her 5-month-old baby in bed when she heard a succession of gunfire and her husband yelled out Those are gunshots! Get down! She said her husband pulled her and their baby to the floor, then retrieved their 11-year-old from his bedroom next door. The family crawled to the bathroom, where they huddled away from the windows and area of the gunfire outside, Ramirez said. Ramirez said she called 911. A dispatcher said emergency responders were already on the way, she said. The family didnt leave the bathroom until it was clear police had arrived and taken control of the scene. Its scary, Ramirez said. It was so close. Across the street and multiple buildings away, roommates Emily Doyle and Kassia Borycki said they awoke and instantly knew it was gunfire, reminiscent of their days living in Cincinnati, where they had heard gun violence before. Theyve lived in their Gresham apartment for about a year and said they have always felt safe. But Sunday morning they said they felt shaken. We have barely seen the police around here, and then its just for car accidents, Doyle said. Police ask anyone with additional information about the shooting to contact Detective Lindsay Friderich at Lindsay.Friderich@GreshamOregon.gov or Detective Martin Daly at Martin.Daly@GreshamOregon.gov. The lights of remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer illuminate the hand-painted mural, A Chart of the Cruises of the USS Yorktown, during the Papahanaumokuakea ROV and Mapping expedition dive on April 19, 2025. NOAA Ocean Exploration A World War II bomber has been discovered 3 miles deep in the Pacific Ocean, and its still fully armed with an 83-year-old bomb fixed to the wing, NOAA Ocean Exploration says. The Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber fell to the seafloor trapped inside the USS Yorktown, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine after the 1942 Battle of Midway. The heavily damaged aircraft is one of at least three vintage bombers found piled atop each other in the aircraft carriers hangar on Sunday, April 20, and the sight was game-changing for historians. Nearly 150 aircraft were lost at the Battle of Midway and none have been located on the battlefield until now. The significance of this cant be overstated. This is a combat veteran SBD from the Battle of Midway. These are the planes that won that battle, historian Russ Matthews of the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation said during a live broadcast of the discovery. Not just that, but for a twist of fate, a bomb that could have been dropped on a Japanese ship. Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer images the wreck of USS Yorktown during a dive on April 19 as part of the Papahanaumokuakea ROV and Mapping expedition. NOAA Ocean Exploration This is an absolutely historic moment in underwater exploration, another historian said. Weve always wanted to find aircraft associated with the Battle of Midway and here it is. The Yorktown vanished about 1,000 miles northwest of Honolulu, and was rediscovered by a U.S. Navy and National Geographic expedition in 1998. The wreck site was documented by Ocean Exploration Trust in 2023, but cameras were not sent inside. NOAA Ocean Exploration took that risk over the Easter holiday weekend and the three planes were located in the carriers #3 elevator shaft. Historians believe the fully armed bomber found upside down was likely part of Yorktowns reserve force on the first morning of the battle, NOAA says. View of the mural, A Chart of the Cruises of the USS Yorktown, hand-painted inside the ships #2 elevator shaft, seen during the Papahanaumokuakea ROV and Mapping expedition dive on April 19, 2025. NOAA Ocean Exploration The other two planes have a more unique history, historians said. Another plane, with the figures B5 boldly legible on its fuselage, is currently believed to be BuNo 4581, an SBD-3 assigned to Bombing Squadron Six from USS Enterprise, NOAA said in a news release. Records show that in the chaos of battle, Yorktown recovered two Enterprise aircraft that had been badly damaged in an attack on the Imperial Japanese Navy carrier Kaga. These refugee aircraft were moved down to the hangar deck and later set afire by one of three enemy bombs that struck Yorktown. Research is ongoing. Researchers confirmed a 2023 report of an aircraft wing being in the hangar deck and found at least two others that had never been spotted. During the April 20 Papahanaumokuakea ROV and Mapping expedition dive, we imaged this automobile, likely 1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe Woody, in the hangar deck of USS Yorktown. Visible in this image are rectangular rear windows, chrome detail on the fenders, a split windshield, parking lights above the headlights, and a chrome bumper. NOAA Ocean Exploration A vintage car was also found, along with a large mural depicting the carriers history of voyages. Yorktowns wreckage is protected by the Naval History and Heritage Command and serves as the final resting place for .... servicemen that gave their lives in defense of the nation, NOAA says. Nearly 150 service members died on the Yorktown at Midway, historians say. 2025 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.). Visit www.TheNewsTribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The sound of dance music and the smell of food grilled, simmered, steamed and fried drifted through the air Saturday over Portlands Glenhaven Park as hundreds of people gathered for the 11th annual New Year in the Park Festival, a celebration of the many cultures of Southeast Asia. The list of attendees was long: Besides the crowds who showed up, 190 performers, dozens of vendors and a score of booths from cultural organizations attended the festival, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and featured a parade around the festival grounds. Even Portland Mayor Keith Wilson made an appearance. If I were in college today, would I want to avoid the current economic chaos and graduate later, or forge ahead and finish school as soon as possible? It looks to me like a faster graduation may avoid higher tuition. In 2024, over a million students from other countries attended college in the United States. International and out-of-state students often pay two- to three- times higher tuition than resident students. This helps keep the cost down for scholars in their home states. As Chronicle of Higher Education columnist Karin Fischer has pointed out, Those tuition dollars are pretty important to keeping the lights on. I suspect that fewer foreign students will be attending American universities in the future. Now, with President Donald Trump and company insulting other nations - canceling visas of foreign students with no explanation and no right of appeal and demanding their immediate exits - why should these people pay our high bills? Why should anyone accept being treated with such a lack of respect? Factor in cuts to grants and the destruction of the Department of Education. Get out while you can, kids. Costs are bound to go up. Susan Gilmont, Toledo To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion. For the past 12 weeks I have been wondering what the tipping point is, where is the red line. Now I know there isnt any. Once they sent people off to a horrendous foreign prison and Republicans remained silent, I knew the era of wishful thinking was over. Republicans remain silent as President Donald Trump says citizens may be sent there too. Republicans remain silent as the images of brutality flash across their screen. Therefore, the time to not take action is also over. If we want any chance of saving our democracy, we must flood the streets and flood our representatives voicemails. The media must throw off its fear and flood the news with our protests. And every elected representative must stand up to this and speak out every day or be replaced in 2026. Lisa Stiller, Beaverton To read more letters to the editor, go to oregonlive.com/opinion. Eddie Melendrez, a Chicano artist, speaks in a megaphone while showcasing his mural representing the United Farmworkers of America, a labor union that advocates for farmworker rights. Melendrez, and nearly 100 others, protested President Donald Trumps immigration policies in front of the Idaho State Capitol in Boise on Feb. 7, 2025. Mia Maldonado/Idaho Capital Sun Sheriffs deputies in a western Idaho county will soon be able to stop and interrogate any person they believe to be in the country without authorization. In February, Owyhee County Sheriff Larry Kendrick signed his county up for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that was discontinued in 2012 following multiple instances of racial profiling from participating law enforcement agencies. After taking office earlier this year, President Donald Trump reinstated the program, which President Barack Obama had halted. Under the program, called the 287(g) task force model, local police officers are trained to work as ICE agents, acting as a force multiplier for ICE, according to its website. Designated officers will be able to stop and question people they believe to be in the country illegally and process them for federal immigration violations if they are also arrested on state charges. Trump has encouraged widespread participation from law enforcement agencies across the country to help enforce his mass deportation efforts. Idaho Gov. Brad Little also issued an executive order in February that asked local law enforcement agencies to consider entering into the 287(g) programs with ICE. The Owyhee County Sheriffs Office is the first agency in Idaho to have this kind of task force agreement with ICE. It went into effect Feb. 19, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by InvestigateWest. But Kendrick said his officers have not gone through training or begun participating yet in the program. Owyhee County has just 12 full-time and two part-time deputies. Kendrick said a sergeant and two deputies will likely make up the task force. Under the program, ICE pays for any new technology needed, but all other expenses will be paid by the sheriffs office. That includes salaries, benefits, overtime and local transportation. Previous law enforcement agencies have ended agreements due to the added costs. The 287(g) program refers to Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act passed by Congress in 1996. The section authorizes ICE to tap state and local law enforcement officers for some components of immigration enforcement. Kendrick said the countys participation in the federal program is mostly meant to acknowledge support for Trump in Owyhee County. My constituents are all very conservative, and Im conservative, he said. I support Trump. I support his policies. So I joined to get on board with this simply because that is what my constituents expect. Thats just supporting the Trump administration, which I do very, very much. But the programs history of abuses concerns many immigration attorneys and advocates . I think it is going to reduce trust in the police, reduce the reporting of crimes, said Nikki Ramirez-Smith, a partner and immigration attorney at Ramirez-Smith Law in Nampa, Idaho. Nobodys going to want to talk. Because if you witness a crime where normally you would come forward and testify, are you really going to go talk to ICE? Thats like being sent into the ICE building. I think the police need some distance from ICE if they want to do police work, which is their job, is to work with victims and perpetrators. Racial profiling concerns Kendrick said the agreement doesnt mean deputies will target people for immigration enforcement who arent already under investigation for criminal activity. He said it will allow officers to add immigration charges to people who are arrested for drug trafficking. Attorneys like Smith-Ramirez worry agreements like this alone damage the departments relationship with the community. The current political climate of fear has led, already, to a level of distrust of law enforcement, Smith-Ramirez said. The police departments rely on relationships to get people to talk, to get people to report crimes, to get people to trust them. And doing something like this is counterproductive. A study from Texas A&M University found that law enforcement agencies who had not signed 287(g) task force agreements but were geographically close to another agency were likely to engage in the same racial profiling that the participating agencies engaged in. The study found the state highway patrol in North Carolina and South Carolina were more likely to stop Latino drivers than white drivers. Research like that concerns Smith-Ramirez who said Owyhee County has a significant number of Latino farmworkers who she worries could be caught up in the system. Owyhee County has a huge farming population, which means youve got a lot of immigrant workers who are terrified to go to work, she said. Theyre scared to leave the house. Their kids are scared for their parents to go outside or do anything. I think its only going to get worse once they start doing this. In 2011, a federal government investigation found that under the task force model, deputies in Arizonas Maricopa County racially profiled Latino residents for immigration enforcement and conducted unlawful searches, detentions and arrests of Latinos. A year later, federal authorities found that deputies in North Carolinas Alamance County, who also operated as task force agents under the 287(g) agreement, were unfairly arresting Latinos and had set up checkpoints in Latino neighborhoods and pulled over Latino drivers for traffic violations 10 times more often than non-Latino drivers. Both agencies had the 287(g) agreements revoked. If this is happening, I would be hesitant to report a crime myself, said Neal Dougherty, partner and immigration attorney at Smith-Ramirez Law. I would be hesitant to advise my clients to report crimes to the Owyhee Sheriff if I thought they were operating as ICE. Other counties cooperate with ICE While Owyhee is the only Idaho county with an agreement to be trained as ICE agents, a different kind of agreement under the 287(g) program can allow local jurisdictions to hold ICE detainees in jails and to serve immigration-related warrants. Both kinds of agreements under the 287(g) program have grown dramatically under Trump. According to reporting from the Markup, 133 law enforcement agencies in 21 states had a form of the 287(g) agreement before the election. Earlier this month, 300 agencies in 38 states had them. In Idaho, three counties have the 287(g) agreements to hold ICE detainees or serve immigration warrants: Owyhee County, Power County and Gooding County. The Gooding and Power agreements have been in place since 2020. It is unclear if any other counties in Idaho will join the 287(g) program. Even without formal agreements, some sheriffs in Idaho have defined their own process for immigration enforcement. In Kootenai County, as InvestigateWest previously reported, deputies shared the immigration statuses of people who they encountered who were not being investigated for any state crimes. Idaho State Police Lt. Col. Fritz Zweigart said during a media briefing that the state police have been looking into the task force model, but right now, were working so well with our federal partners that we dont necessarily need to sign into a written agreement. Immigration enforcement is the sole duty of the federal government, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and local police may assist under federal direction. Without a 287(g) agreement, it is illegal for local police to serve federal immigration warrants and to investigate peoples immigration statuses. Gov. Little has encouraged more coordination with ICE under 287(g). To the fullest extent of the law, all State agencies with law enforcement authority must consider formal procedures and agreements to assist the federal government in the enforcement of immigration law, including agreements under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, his executive order said. InvestigateWest (investigatewest.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. A Report for America corps member, reporter Rachel Spacek can be reached at rachel@investigatewest.org. People heading to the desert southeast of Bend laugh when retired Woodburn teacher Theresa Ellis suggests they stop at Crack-in-the-Ground. They think shes pulling their leg, but if they drive to Christmas Valley in a remote stretch of southern Oregon and decide to endure the bumpy Crack-in-the-Ground Road, they will be rewarded with a natural wonder: an ancient volcanic fissure two miles long, 15 feet wide and up to 70 feet deep. Tension along a fault zone created the fracture, opening up a fissure in a field of lava that originally flowed from nearby Green Mountain, a small shield volcano, some 740,000 years ago. Volcanic fissures typically fill with soil and rock, but this one remains traversable. The Oregonian/OregonLives travel reporter Jamie Hale said the Crack gives us a rare look into the mechanisms of nature, and allows us to gaze backward into geologic time. Crack-in-the-Ground is one of several nearby volcanic attractions named for their geological significance: Fort Rock, Hole-in-the-Ground and the Christmas Valley Sand Dunes. While the Crack-in-the-Ground path is not strenuous, the narrow rock walls require a few tight squeezes. Wear sturdy shoes to clamber over boulders in some spots and you might want to bring a jacket, since the air is slightly damp and the temperature in the open-air cave can be 20 degrees cooler than the sagebrush-laden land. Sounds are also amplified within the walls. A raven flapping as it flies by overhead sounds thunderous. On a sunny day in mid-April, the Crack harbored mounds of snow blown against the boulders and the rutted road to the site had so much water in one spot that birds were using it to bathe. The town of Christmas Valley offers few services, but visitors can get both food and gas there. Theres a vault toilet at the Crack-in-the-Ground trailhead parking area. A dirt trail leads a short way from the parking area to an entrance into the fissure, with a separate trail that runs parallel aboveground and meets up at the end. Taken together, they make a nice loop hike. To reach the Crack-in-the-Ground trailhead, head to Christmas Valley and turn north onto Crack-in-the-Ground Road, found on the east side of town. Follow signs and continue on the road for 7 miles. The parking area is on the left side of the road. Janet Eastman covers design and trends. Reach her at 503-294-4072, jeastman@oregonian.com and follow her on X @janeteastman. "Im Krisenmodus" offnet uns die Augen fur die Realitat der Krisengebiete weltweit, prasentiert von Jan Jessen, dem erfahrenen Kriegsreporter und Politikchef der Neuen Ruhr / Neuen Rhein Zeitung (NRZ). Von der Ukraine bis Irak, den gefahrentrachtigen Ecken Jemens bis hin zur gespannten Atmosphare zwischen Israel und der Hamas Jessen bringt den Horern Geschichten naher, die uns sonst verborgen blieben. Es sind Einblicke in das Leben der Menschen, die im Schatten kriegerischer Konflikte ihre Existenz bewahren. Experten tragen zur Einordnung und Aufklarung dieser Erzahlungen bei, damit wir diese besser verstehen konnen. Begleiten Sie Jan Jessen auf diesen Reisen und erfahren Sie, was es bedeutet, in einem Kriegsgebiet zu leben. Nach jahrelanger Berichterstattung uber weltweite Konflikte, bietet Jessen in diesem Podcast einen ungeschonten Einblick, wie sich Krieg wirklich anfuhlt. "Im Krisenmodus" ist ein Podcast der NRZ, im Auftrag der FUNKE Mediengruppe. Bei Feedback oder Fragen konnen Sie sich an krisenmodus@funkemedien.de wenden. Folgen Sie uns kostenfrei auf Ihrer liebsten Podcast-App, wie Spotify, Apple Podcasts oder Deezer. Impressum: https://www.nrz.de/nrz-info/nrz-impressum-kontakt-id2164741.html "Im Krisenmodus" offnet uns die Augen fur die Realitat der Krisengebiete weltweit, prasentiert von Jan Jessen, dem erfahrenen Kriegsreporter und Politikchef der Neuen Ruhr / Neuen Rhein Zeitung (NRZ). Von der Ukraine bis Irak, den gefahrentrachtigen ... Weiter Lesen Weniger Lesen Rick Allen is one tough dude, and if you dont believe it just check out his record. The 61-year-old rock legend was involved in a car cash that resulted in his arm being amputated. The Def Leppard star re-taught himself how to play the drums, though, and carried on with the band. So, when he says he is still struggling after being the victim of a random attack outside of a Florida hotel last year, you know things must be difficult. Ive been going through some challenging times, kind of related to what happened in Florida, Allen said during an appearance on SiriusXMs Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, according to PEOPLE. And that whole thing is ongoing, when I got beaten up outside the hotel. So Ive been trying to deal with that the best that I can, and really I just needed to take a break from some of the side projects that I was busy with, just so I could spend some more time at home. Allen was smoking a cigarette outside of the Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale in 2023 when was reportedly attacked by a 19-year-old man who had a pipe. Allen reportedly fell backward and hit his head on the ground. The suspect is also accused of attacking a woman who came to Allens aid. He was arrested and charged with two counts of battery, four counts of criminal mischief and abusing an elderly or disabled adult, PEOPLE reported. Allen has returned to play shows with Def Leppard but said he is still struggling to get to side projects as he recovers. Thats been a real challenge for me, he said. Hopefully I can put it all behind me and I can just kind of get back to as normal as I could possibly be given the circumstances. But that was very traumatic for me, and yeah, its been difficult. But hopefully I can put it behind me soon. The U.S. isn't the only thing turning 250 soon. (Visit Philadelphia | Courtesy Independence Seaport)- Visit Philadelphia | Courtesy Independence Seaport Philadelphia is gearing up for the United Statess 250th birthday (as well as a bunch of other things that are going on in 2026). This year, though, the city will celebrate the 250th anniversary of something else as well. Two things, in fact. According to a press release sent via email by Visit Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love will host a celebration in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. In 1775, Americas founders convened in Philadelphia to establish the military forces that would fight for and win the nations independence, the release reads. In 2025, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps return to their birthplace to mark 250 years of service with Homecoming 250 a six-week celebration of military history and legacy, set against the historic backdrop of the city were it all began. This celebration will run from Thursday, Oct. 9, through Monday, Nov. 10. Specific events throughout these six weeks include parades both on land and on water as well as a veterans picnic, formal galas, military flyovers, and a documentary film screening. Philadelphias status as a naval powerhouse was cemented with the founding of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the countrys first, in 1762, the release states. Throughout the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Philadelphia, with its vast port, served as a major hub of recruitment, supply and manufacturing. Although little wartime or military activity takes place in Philadelphia today, the city and region are integral to the story of the people who fought on land and sea to establish the nationwide. For more information, please click here. I wonder how U.S. David McCormick, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, and other Republican members of Congress can stand by and watch as the president and his administration use lies and misrepresentations to allow an innocent man, an innocent man with a wife and disabled child, to rot in a concentration camp in El Salvador? Moreover, how can they stand by and watch while the president sends hundreds of men to the same without due process? They need to do their job and start investigating the presidents illegal abuses of power. Kilmar Abrego Garcias confinement was not authorized by any criminal conviction. It was not the result of an asylum denial or final order of removal. It was, as a federal judge put it, a wholly lawless act. Public school advocates held a rally in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday to keep the pressure on Pennsylvania lawmakers to address the Commonwealth Court's order to fix the state's unconstitutional education funding system. June 27, 2024 Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com By David Lapp In July 2024, the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Gov. Josh Shapiro enacted a research based method to determine school funding adequacy targets for each of the states 499 school districts. Using this model, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) calculated adequacy gaps in 364 districtswhere current funding falls short of what is neededand identified a statewide shortfall of $4.8 billion. Of that, $4.5 billion is the states responsibility. The action was non-stop on Saturday at the PokerStars Open Philadelphia series, where the last of four flights filled the Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia poker room all day long. The largest of the opening $1,100 Main Event flights kept the registration desk busy right from the start of Day 1d, and it only took eight levels to hit 400 entries. That brought the prize pool over the $1,000,000 mark, more than doubling the guarantee. In the end, 509 entries took part on the day, bringing the overall number to 1,154. The final prize pool was set at $1,107,840, with all of it to play for on Day 2 when the 146 remaining survivors return to the felt. The end-of-day chip leader was Elliot Moore (822,000), who held off a late-night surge from Michael Tweedlie to carry the third-best overall stack into the final day of action. Tweedlie climbed to 803,000 chips while knocking out Marshall Tarzy on the stone bubble, bringing an end to the long day of play. Day 1d Top 10 Chip Counts Rank Player Country Chip Count 1 Elliot Moore United States 822,000 2 Michael Tweedlie United States 803,000 3 Justin Laudadio United States 789,000 4 Edric Nicoli United States 741,000 5 Joseph Barrett United States 645,000 6 Thomas Romeo United States 559,000 7 Keith Crowder United States 518,000 8 Zachary Spergel United States 505,000 9 Ari Katz United States 489,000 10 Philip Saracino United States 484,000 The rest of the top five include Justin Laudadio (789,000), Edric Nicoli (741,000) and Joseph Barrett (645,000). Among the hundreds of players to take a seat on Saturday were two more PokerStars Ambassadors, looking to join Maria Konnikova on Day 2. Caitlin Comeskey Caitlin Comeskey arrived early in the day and played through several levels before hitting the rail. Jen Shahade also took her shot but came up short of the dinner break, losing much of her stack with a river bluff gone bad. The blinds will be rolled back when Day 2 begins at 11:15 a.m. local time on Saturday, as the first two flights bagged up on Level 17. Players will see blinds of 4,000/8,000 with a big blind ante of 8,000. PokerStars Open Trophy Level will be lengthened to 60 minutes for the final day, with breaks scheduled after every two hours of play. With everyone already in the money, action should be fast and furious as players look to build a big stack and run deep in search of the PokerStars trophy. All 146 remaining players are in the money and have locked up $1,420. $1,100 Main Event Top 10 Payouts Place Prize 1 $184,800 2 $130,525 3 $84,695 4 $62,760 5 $47,415 6 $38,330 7 $31,660 8 $25,095 9 $18,625 10 $14,280 As always, the PokerNews live reporting team will have everything covered as the title awaits here in Philadelphia. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Mostly sunny. Hot. High 91F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Aiken Standard reporter Bill Bengtson is an Aiken Standard reporter and has focused since 1996 on such subjects as education, churches, retirees, agriculture, veterans, North Augusta, Fort Gordon and northern Aiken County. His start in South Carolina reporting was in Greenwood, with the Index-Journal. He is a native of Florence, Alabama, and a graduate of Whitman College and the University of Georgia. To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers Post and Courier North Augusta/The Star reporter Bianca Moorman is a reporter for the Post and Courier North Augusta/The Star with a focus on community focused stories, arts, businesses, non-profits, events and any story with a human element. The Roanoke, Virginia native has journalism degrees from James Madison and Syracuse universities. She has written for papers in Georgia, Mississippi, Upstate New York and Virginia. Follow her on X at @biancarmooman. To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers Moncks Corner, SC (29461) Today Generally cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Watching the tropics. Partly cloudy skies. Low 73F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Watching the tropics. Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 76F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Growth & Development Reporter Caleb Bozard covers business, growth and development for The Post and Courier Columbia. He has previously written for The State and the Times and Democrat. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2023. Summerville, SC (29483) Today Sun and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High around 90F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Watching the tropics. Partly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Watching the tropics. Partly cloudy skies this evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers late. Low around 75F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%. PR-Inside.com: 2025-04-27 20:03:35 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 656 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 GRO Foundation launches large-scale reforestation initiative in Uganda through new partnership, integrating environmental restoration with community-driven development.MPIGI, UGANDA / ACCESS Newswire / April 27, 2025 / The GRO Foundation today announced a new collaboration with Uganda's National Forestry Authority (NFA) and the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU), focused on restoring the Mpanga Central Forest Reserve while strengthening local livelihoods. Following discussions at Mpanga, GRO Foundation confirmed the forest reserve will serve as the first location for its broader East Africa Reforestation Initiative. This ambitious effort aims to plant five million trees in 2025 and 250 million trees across the region over the next 15 years. "Healthy forests are essential to thriving communities," said Heba Zahid, Secretary General of GRO Foundation. "Through this partnership, we are advancing a model that restores ecosystems and creates new opportunities for the people who live alongside them." By combining the technical forestry expertise of the NFA, the trusted networks of IRCU, and GRO Foundation's integrated community development approach, the partnership seeks to reduce pressure on forest resources while expanding economic opportunities for local populations. "Our commitment goes beyond tree planting," said Paul Flynn Mukalazi, Founder of GRO Foundation. "We are investing in generational impact by improving access to clean water, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, and opening pathways to participate in carbon markets. Environmental recovery and community prosperity must advance together." This initiative builds on an existing Memorandum of Understanding between GRO Foundation and IRCU, signed in December 2023. With a reach of more than 20 million Ugandans through faith-based institutions, IRCU is positioned to foster a culture of environmental responsibility at the community level. Initial phases of the project will prioritize expanding tree nurseries, launching public education campaigns, and supporting income-generating activities linked to conservation. Major planting activities are scheduled to begin in September 2025. The National Forestry Authority shared images from the recent collaboration meeting on social media, highlighting GRO Foundation's five-million-tree commitment and recognizing IRCU's vital role in mobilizing local communities. Established in 1932, the 453-hectare Mpanga Central Forest Reserve is a vital tropical high forest ecosystem that serves as a significant water catchment area and provides habitat for diverse plant and animal species supporting research and ecotourism.Carbon Registry Information:For information about GRO Foundation's carbon registry projects in Uganda and Kenya, visit: https://www.carbonregistry.com/projects/bright-future-africa-93 About Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU)The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) is a network organization that works through its leadership and structures to mobilize and organize Ugandans to promote harmony, unity, peace, prosperity, good health, and freedom for the common good. With a mission to foster peace, reconciliation, good governance, and holistic human development through interfaith action and collaboration, IRCU advocates for the empowerment of its member bodies to advance the common good across Uganda.About Uganda's National Forestry Authority (NFA)The National Forestry Authority was established in 2003 under section 52 of The National Forestry and Tree Planting Act and officially launched on April 26, 2004. NFA currently manages 506 Central Forest Reserves totaling 1,265,741 hectares across Uganda, with objectives of improving forest management, expanding partnerships, supplying forest products and services, and ensuring organizational stability.About GRO FoundationFounded with a mission to plant one billion trees and transform one million lives across Sub-Saharan Africa, GRO Foundation is a global nonprofit delivering community-first reforestation and development programs. Through trusted partnerships with governments, faith institutions, and traditional kingdoms, GRO's model is designed to scale, bringing long-term environmental and economic solutions to regions most affected by climate change. With active projects in Uganda, Kenya, and developing initiatives across East Africa, Indonesia, and Malaysia, GRO Foundation not only directly improves the lives of 1 million people-it is structured to positively impact more than 50 million people indirectly across Africa through clean air, water access, job creation, biodiversity restoration, and climate resilience. GRO's approach demonstrates that poverty can be ended with sustainable climate finance rooted in trust, equity, and environmental justice.Media Contact:GRO Foundation Communications dustin@ blockbuzz.io SOURCE: GRO Foundation PR-Inside.com: 2025-04-27 03:07:06 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 395 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / April 26, 2025 / If you suffered a loss on your Ibotta, Inc. (NYSE:IBTA) investment and want to learn about a potential recovery under the federal securities laws, follow the link below for more information:or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. via email at jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com or call (212) 363-7500 to speak to our team of experienced shareholder advocates.THE LAWSUIT: This lawsuit is on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded Ibotta securities pursuant and/or traceable to documents issued in connection with Ibotta's April 18, 2024 initial public offering.CASE DETAILS: According to the filed complaint, defendants made false statements and/or concealed that they did not properly warn investors of the risks concerning Ibotta's contract with The Kroger Co. ("Kroger"). Kroger's contract was at-will, and Ibotta failed to warn investors that a large client could cancel their contract with Ibotta without warning. Despite providing a detailed explanation of the terms of Ibotta's contract with Walmart, there was not a single warning of the at-will nature of Kroger's contract. Rather than disclosing the very real risk of a major client walking away at any time, Ibotta provided boilerplate warnings concerning the importance of maintaining ongoing relationships with their clients.WHAT'S NEXT? If you suffered a loss in Ibotta stock during the relevant time frame - even if you still hold your shares - go to https://zlk.com/pslra-1/ibotta-lawsuit-submission-form?prid=145232&wire=1 to learn about your rights to seek a recovery. There is no cost or obligation to participate.WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, Levi & Korsinsky LLP has established itself as a nationally-recognized securities litigation firm that has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. The firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212) 363-7500Fax: (212) 363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP In the small village of Ungwan Kanawa in Tankarau, Dutsen-Abba Ward of Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State, a tragic reality has sparked a life-saving transformation. Many residents of the village lost their children to measles due to their resistance to vaccination. They stated this on Saturday in Kaduna at a medical outreach organised by the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board with support from UNICEF. A cross-section of the residents said at the event that after witnessing the devastating effects of the disease, they were now embracing immunisation. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the medical outreach was in commemoration of the African Vaccination/World Immunisation Week, which runs from 24 to 30h April. It has the theme: Vaccination for all is Humanly Possible. 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 The field visit to the village was meant to be an opportunity to monitor the ongoing polio campaign. It was also to observe and document the impact of mobile outreaches in a zero-dose ward/LGA. One of the residents, Saudatu Safiyanu, said she lost four children out of six to measles and severe fever. She added that whenever medical teams for vaccination visited the village, she shied away and hid their children. Mrs Safiyanu said her husband was totally against vaccination. She said she pleaded with her husband to let their children get immunised, but he refused. One day, some of the medical teams came for another vaccination in the village, but my husband still refused to let the only two surviving children we have be immunised, she said. I then spoke to one of the officials to talk to my husband. He did and my husband agreed. Since then, my only surviving children are healthy and have not been critically ill to a point that we lose hope or even think of death. The vaccinators usually come to our village to persuade and plead with us to bring out our children for immunisation. Only a few houses comply. I observed that those complying are having healthy children who dont usually fall sick. According to her, the refusal is always from the men, adding that the women were often willing to give their children for Immunisation. Every mother wants to see her child healthy. You could imagine the pain of losing four children after the whole suffering of carrying them for nine months each in the stomach, and then giving birth to them and they die, the traumatised mother lamented. Also, Adamu Musa of the same village, who lost two children, said they died of measles. Mr Musa said he never believed in vaccination and thought it was an evil plot against rural children. He, however, said he has now been made aware of the benefits and now allows all his children to be immunised. He urged all men in the village to be informed and avail their children of immunisation, emphasising the positive health changes he has seen in his surviving children. The Village Head of Ungwan Kanawa, Nasiru Yunusa, said two-thirds of the villagers were avoiding all the vaccinations being brought to them. He, however, said that, with constant enlightenment and awareness, the villagers have now accepted the vaccination, decrying that only a few of them had yet to do so. Those houses that were very stubborn, unfortunately, got hit by measles which resulted in deaths. Now, we also have children who are on admission because of measles, Mr Yunusa lamented. He urged the villagers to accept all the different vaccinations that the government and its partners bring to the people. He emphasised that they were not harmful, but aimed at ensuring healthy children and a healthy society. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the outreach, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kaduna, Gerida Birukila, stated the importance of the week, adding that they were also engaging in polio vaccination. She said that the community had a 100 per cent refusal for vaccination three years ago. As you have observed for yourself, there is now a serious measles outbreak. Several children have never been immunised, and as a result, they are suffering from measles. In one family of nine, they have already lost two children, and others are still sick. So, it is very important for the community to immunise their children, she said. Ms Birukila lamented that, under the backdrop of vaccine shortages, they were trying to find vaccines for measles. There is a shortage in the country, and it is really important that we secure predictable vaccination supplies for the children. We are facing many challenges, mainly parental refusal due to lack of belief in immunisation, the UNICEF official lamented. She, however, said that the community had started accepting immunisation following interventions by community, religious, and government leaders. Ms Birukila stated that the government was also supporting other services like general healthcare in the community. She appealed to parents, community, religious and traditional leaders, as well as the government and its partners, to encourage the uptake of immunisation in order to save lives. Ms Birukila hoped that predictable funding for vaccination and immunisation would continue. Also, the Director of Disease Control, Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Hamza Ikara, emphasised intensifying routine immunisation to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates nationwide. He lamented that many children in Ungwan Kanawa had fallen victim to measles due to a lack of immunisation or missed vaccinations, largely due to parental refusal and non-compliance. Mr Ikara said that efforts were underway to strengthen surveillance, conduct re-vaccination, and sensitise household heads for vaccinations. Teams will visit the community today to vaccinate the children. The goal is to quickly stop the measles outbreak in the community and across the local government area through vaccination and outreach efforts, he said. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print He made this known while briefing journalists in Abuja on Saturday after a meeting with political stakeholders from Delta. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. Mr Uzodimma said: You can see the tide is moving and people are joining and there will be no end to it. You must have heard that our party in Delta is growing from strength to strength. The high point of the state of the party is that Delta is now almost a one-party state. Mr Uzodimma, who chairs the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), said that with the development in Delta, the APC would use its internal mechanism to integrate old and new members. We have to meet to be able to manage this very huge success, to ensure that using the mechanism, the internal mechanism of our great party, that we will receive our new members, our new leaders. 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 We will then come together as a family to grow the party and support the government in Delta for the benefit of our people and members of our great party. So, I think we are happy with the development and a big testimony to the fact that the APC government in Nigeria is being admired by many, if not all and sundry. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Jibril Mustapha, president of the Nigeria Rescue Mission Organisation and former president of Buhari Youth Organisation (BYO), on Sunday urged former President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2027 presidential election. Mr Mustapha, who made this call in a statement on Sunday in Lagos, said Mr Jonathan should heed the call to run for the office of the president again. As the nation prepares for the 2027 elections, the Nigeria Rescue Mission Organisation believes that now is the time for all stakeholders to come together and support a candidate who can genuinely represent the interests of all Nigerians. We urge former President Goodluck Jonathan to consider this call and to step forward as a candidate who can unite our country and lead us towards a brighter future. This appeal comes in light of the numerous challenges currently facing Nigeria, including economic hardship, insecurity, unemployment, and rampant banditry, Mr Mustapha said. According to him, there is an urgent need for a leader who embodies integrity, inclusivity, and a commitment to national unity. 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 Mr Mustapha added, Nigeria is at a crossroads. We are grappling with significant issues that threaten our stability and progress. We need a leader who can bring all Nigerians together, regardless of their background. He said that the former Nigerian leader, during his tenure, demonstrated a commitment to democratic values and governance that prioritised the welfare of all citizens. According to him, the group believes that Mr Jonathan has the vision and experience necessary to lead Nigeria. His leadership style is one that fosters inclusivity and economic advancement, which is exactly what our nation needs at this critical juncture. Under Jonathans leadership, we can work towards restoring Nigerias lost glory on the international stage and within our own borders. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that BYO is a youth-based supporters of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Mr Jonathan lost his second-term bid to Mr Buhari in the 2015 presidential election. NAN recalls that amidst the debate on whether Mr Jonathan was eligible to run again or not, having taken the oath of office twice as president, the Federal High Court in Bayelsa had ruled in 2022 that Mr Jonathan could still contest the presidential election. The presiding judge, Justice Dashen, who gave the judgement, held that Mr Jonathans right could not be stopped by any retroactive law. According to him, the 2007 general election produced the late Umaru YarAdua as president and not Mr Jonathan, stressing that Section 137 could not have a retroactive effect to stop him from contesting for presidency. Mr Dashen ruled that there was no presidential election conducted in the country in 2010 and Mr Jonathan could not be deemed to have been sworn into the office of the president that year. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Zamfara State Government is set to commence the administration of measles, rubella vaccine across the state by October 2025. The Zamfara governors wife, Huriyya Lawal, disclosed this while flagging off the sensitisation campaign for the vaccination drive, in Gusau on Saturday. Mrs Lawal said the new vaccine is designed to prevent measles and rubella among children between nine months and 15 years. She said for the first phase, the vaccines will be administered to children ages nine to 15 years, and the subsequent immunisations will cover children from nine months to five years of age. She thanked development partners for their kind support in addressing all health challenges affecting children and the state. In his remarks, a Pediatric Consultant with the Department of Pediatrics, Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, Ibrahim Hano, described measles and rubella as killer diseases among children. 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 According to him, measles and rubella cause blindness, glaucoma, brain disorder and heart diseases among children, if not immunised. He said effective sensitisation of public, training of health personnel, educating parents during clinical services as well as providing effective nutrition to children are required. ALSO READ: Kaduna community embraces vaccination after losing children to measles Also speaking, the Emir of Anka and Chairman Council of Chiefs, Attahiru Ahmad, commended the state government and development partners for their effective commitment to healthcare delivery. He promised to give total support to the dissemination of information, as well as sensitising their communities on the need to immunise their children against these killer diseases. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print In this exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Kemi Okenyodo, Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative (also known as Partners West Africa Nigeria), shares her journey through the male-dominated world of security and governance. She opens up about the struggles, triumphs, and why mentoring women remains central to her leadership legacy. PT: Can you tell us about your professional journey and how you became a CEO? Mrs Okenyodo: I began my career in 2003 as the Programme Officer, Gender in CLEEN Foundation. I was the only female in the programme team. I worked in CLEEN Foundation for 13 years; I resigned as Executive Director. Over the years working in CLEEN Foundation, I began to see gender as an accountability and service delivery issue. It was based on my experience that ignited my passion for gender issues and accountability. I established Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN) as a women led and focused organisation to work in the security, governance and criminal justice reform. 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 The other focus was to work in the northern part of Nigeria, so as to address the obvious disparities. The implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the national action plan further strengthened my dedication to advancing womens roles in peace and security, as well as ensuring their presence in decision-making positions in Nigeria. PT: In your opinion, how do women leaders inspire and empower others around them, especially other women? Mrs Okenyodo: Women leaders inspire and empower others by demonstrating resilience, breaking barriers, and challenging societal norms. They serve as role models, showing that success is attainable despite gender-related challenges. Through their leadership, they encourage other women to pursue their ambitions and advocate for gender equality. Mentoring plays a crucial role in this empowerment. Personally, I am involved in a mentoring platform for women police leadership and mentorship programme in Nigeria, among others. This platform allows women leads to share my experiences, provide guidance, and support the professional growth of women in law enforcement. By fostering a supportive environment, we help mentees develop their skills, build confidence, and navigate the complexities of their careers. PT: What do you think is unique about women in leadership roles compared to men? Mrs Okenyodo: I believe that women in leadership roles often bring unique perspectives and approaches compared to men. They tend to emphasise collaboration, empathy, and inclusivity, fostering a more supportive and cooperative work environment. Women leaders are also more likely to advocate for policies that promote work-life balance and diversity, which can lead to more equitable and innovative organisations. Additionally, their experiences of overcoming gender-related challenges can make them more resilient and adaptable, qualities that are invaluable in leadership positions. PT: What challenges did you face as a woman in your industry, and how did you overcome them? Mrs Okenyodo: Working in a male-dominated environment (public safety security reform) presents unique challenges beyond simply performing my job. I often have to work harder to gain the same level of recognition for acknowledging that I know my onions. There have been situations where my ideas are overlooked until it is put forward by a male counterpart, requiring me to be more assertive to ensure my voice is heard. There is also a constant need to balance confidence with the risk of being perceived as too aggressive or too emotional. Navigating these dynamics requires both resilience and adaptability. PT: Can you share one of the most rewarding moments in your career that solidified your passion for leadership? Mrs Okenyodo: One of the most rewarding moments in my career was starting Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN) and empowering 99.9 per cent women to take on all aspects of the organisation. Mentoring these women, giving them a chance to succeed in a sector they were initially unfamiliar with, solidified my passion for leadership. Seeing their growth, confidence, and the impact they made was and is still incredibly fulfilling and has highlighted the profound difference that opportunity and support can make in someones life. PT: What advice would you give to young Nigerian women aspiring to become leaders in their fields? Mrs Okenyodo: My advice to young Nigerian women aspiring to become leaders in their fields is to embrace prayer, resilience, and hard work. Stay steadfast in your faith, remain determined in the face of challenges, and put in the effort required to achieve your goals. Believe in your potential, seek out mentors, and never stop learning and growing. Your dedication and perseverance will pave the way for your success and inspire others along the way. PT: How do you balance the demands of being a CEO with other aspects of your personal life? Mrs Okenyodo: Balancing the demands of being a CEO with other aspects of my personal life involves intentional effort and prioritisation. I still struggle with this balance, but I have plans to reconnect with my old hobbies of reading, teaching, listening to music, and researching. Additionally, I have a culture of going away with my family for some time during the year to rest and rejuvenate. By making sure to allocate time for family, friends, and personal interests, I recognise that these areas are essential for my well-being and effectiveness as a leader. 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 Okenyodo: This years theme for International Womens Day, Accelerate Action, resonates deeply with me as it emphasises the urgency and commitment needed to drive meaningful change. To me, it means pushing forward with determination to address gender disparities and empower women in all spheres. This theme reflects my leadership approach by underscoring the importance of taking decisive actions to create opportunities, mentor future leaders, and advocate for policies that promote gender equality. It inspires me to continue working tirelessly to accelerate progress and make a lasting impact in my community and beyond. 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 Okenyodo is also a member of WIMBIZ. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has predicted thunderstorms and haziness across Nigeria from Sunday to Tuesday. In its weather outlook released on Saturday in Abuja, NiMet forecast moderate dust haze over Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Kano, Yobe, and Jigawa States. It also predicted isolated thunderstorms in parts of Adamawa and Taraba states throughout the forecast period. In the North-central region, NiMet expects partly cloudy skies in the morning with isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon/evening hours over parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Benue States. The South is likely to experience morning thunderstorms in parts of Lagos, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, and Akwa Ibom States, with thunderstorms expected later in the day in several southern states. On Monday, NiMet anticipates sunny skies across the northern region, with morning thunderstorms in parts of Taraba and Adamawa States. 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 Thunderstorms are expected to extend to Kaduna, Bauchi, and Gombe States later in the day. In the North-central region, morning thunderstorms are likely over Plateau, Nasarawa, and Benue states, with thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon/evening in various parts of the region. In the South, NiMet predicted morning thunderstorms in Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Edo states, with thunderstorms expected later in the day over several southern states. On Tuesday, NiMet forecast sunny skies with patches of clouds in the North, with morning thunderstorms in parts of Adamawa and Taraba states. Thunderstorms are expected later in the day over parts of Kaduna, Adamawa, and Taraba states. The North-central region is expected to see partly cloudy skies in the morning, with thunderstorms in the afternoon/evening in parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Kogi, Kwara, Benue, and Niger States. In the Southern region, morning thunderstorms are likely in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, and Bayelsa States, with thunderstorms predicted later in the day in several states. NiMet urged the public to take adequate precautions as strong winds might precede the rains in areas with expected thunderstorms. It also advised people in the North to be cautious, as dust particles could be suspended in the air. Airline operators were urged to obtain airport-specific weather reports from NiMet for effective flight planning. Residents were encouraged to stay informed through weather updates from NiMet, available on their website at www.nimet.gov.ng. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The late Pope Francis, the first Latin American catholic leader who led the church for 12 years, was buried on Friday, five days after he died. His funeral was held in St. Peters Square before about 400,000 people, comprising mourners, royalty, dignitaries, and politicians. With the conclusion of the funeral, the Catholic Church has entered a period of transition known as sede vacante the vacant seat. The unofficial conclave has also already begun. The official conclave, a centuries-old tradition for electing a new pope, will officially commence in the coming weeks. By rule, any baptised Catholic man can be elected. However, in practice, the pope is almost always chosen from among the cardinals present at the conclave. Only cardinals are allowed to vote, and only those under age 80 are qualified to be present. This has been the case for centuries. 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 The NY Post reported that cardinals present at Pope Francis funeral have begun having informal discussions and sessions about the future leader of the church. Like the rest of the world, the cardinals are curious themselves, but nothing is known yet. However, this is how the election process will unfold. Novemdiales The death of the 88-year-old pope has set centuries-old machinery into motion within the Roman Catholic Church. But first, his death will be followed by a nine-day mourning period called Novemdiales. During Novemdiales, masses are offered for the repose of the late popes soul. This period also allows the College of Cardinals to prepare for the upcoming conclave. Conclave The conclave is expected to commence 15 to 20 days after the popes death and sooner if all the voting cardinals are in Rome. A conclave is a secret meeting where Catholic cardinals gather to elect a new pope. Out of a total of 252 cardinals, only 135 are under 80 years old and eligible to vote. This group will be housed in the Casa Santa Marta, where Pope Francis had lived, and will cast their ballots in the Sistine Chapel, in the Apostolic Palace in Rome. During the conclave, the cardinals are not allowed to communicate with anyone outside until a pope has been elected. Also, the priests, secretaries, cooks, and doctors assisting during the election must swear an oath of secrecy. The conclave election The election for a new pope begins with a special morning Mass. At noon, the cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to take an oath of secrecy. Once every cardinal has taken the oath, the master of ceremonies says Extra omnes meaning everyone out and all non-cardinals leave the chapel. Voting by secret ballot begins right after. The cardinals fold a ballot paper twice, say a prayer, and cast their vote in a container. To win, a candidate must get two-thirds of the votes. Votes are cast once on the first day. However, two rounds are held each morning and afternoon from the day after the first until a pope is elected. After each round, the ballots are burned. Smoke rises from a chimney above the chapel: black smoke means no pope yet; white smoke means a new pope has been chosen. According to media reports, special chemicals are added to the smoke to make it appear black or white. Once a man is elected, the dean of the cardinals asks him if he accepts the office. If he says yes, he chooses the name he will use as pope. The new pope then puts on a white robe, greets the cardinals, and steps out onto the balcony of St. Peters Basilica. There, a senior cardinal announces in Latin: Habemus papam We have a pope. Key contenders Meanwhile, as the Church prepares for a new pope, attention is turning to a few key contenders. With 80 per cent of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis himself, this conclave is the most diverse in the churchs history. This has significantly contributed to the unpredictability of the voting outcome. Still, several cardinals stand out due to their leadership, experience, theological stance, and network. Several reports have highlighted Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Italy as a strong possibility. Mr Zuppi is said to have built a reputation as a peacemaker and represents a continuation of Pope Franciss leadership approach. Similarly, Cardinal Peter Erdo, the archbishop of Budapest, Hungary, is also considered a top contender. The 72-year-old is regarded as a traditionalist and is on the conservative side of the European cultural divide. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana is also a major figure from Africa. He is the first Ghanaian to be appointed a cardinal, a distinction he received in 2003 under Pope John Paul II. Like many cardinals from Africa, he holds conservative views, but he has opposed the criminalisation of same-sex relationships in his native Ghana and other African countries. While the cardinal is among the shortlists for the next pope, clerics have said the odds are against Africa producing the next pope. Additionally, the Vaticans Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is a top contender. The 70-year-old is the second-in-command at the Vatican and is regarded as a moderate who, if elected, could repair rifts inside the church. READ ALSO: Pope Francis buried Reinhard Marx, a German cardinal and Archbishop of Munich and Freising, is also considered a contender. For 10 years, he advised the pope on Church reform and continues to oversee the Vaticans financial reform. The 71-year-old cardinal is considered a progressive and has advocated that the church adopt an accommodating approach towards homosexuals or transgender people in Catholic teaching. Other names include Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, known for his communication skills and his close connection to the Vaticans current mission, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, who is active in Church reforms. The conclave will unfold over the coming weeks, and while several cardinals are emerging as likely candidates, the outcome remains uncertain. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A controversial Nigerian cleric, Chris Oyakhilome, has claimed without evidence that Pope Francis died from the effects of taking the coronavirus vaccine. Mr Oyakhilome, president of LoveWorld Incorporated, made the claim on Saturday, about five years after he falsely claimed that there was a link between the 5G network, Coronavirus, and the Anti-Christ. In April 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown directives, the pastor slammed his colleagues for consenting to the closure of churches. In January 2021, Pope Francis said that people have a moral obligation to receive one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, revealing that he was expecting his first dose. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the pope said that taking the vaccine was a moral choice because it was about saving lives. Claim on Popes death While the Vatican announced on Monday that the 88-year-old pope died of a stroke triggered by a coma and heart failure, Mr Oyakhilome claims it was the COVID-19 vaccine that the pope took about five years ago that caused his death last week. 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 In a sermon delivered during a recent LoveWorld prayer programme, Mr Oyakhilome said that the late pope made a statement that he (Oyakhilome) believed was not good at the time. While he was trying to encourage the world to take the vaccines, he stated that if Jesus were here, he would have taken the vaccine. I found that very insulting, and I talked about it. At that time, he was still with the globalists. He believed them and encouraged the world to take the vaccine. And he too took the vaccine, the founder of Christ Embassy said. And Im stating that the vaccine killed him. They said he had a stroke. Where did the stroke come from? Blood clots. And thats one of the most common causes of death from the vaccine. They will not tell you the truth. Thats what Im telling you, he said. Other controversial claims Despite scientific evidence that show that WHO-approved vaccines are safe and have saved millions of lives across the world, the preacher has repeatedly warned his congregants against taking vaccines, stating that no vaccine is good. He claimed that the goal of vaccines is to get people sick until it kills them. They called his (Popes) own Sudden Death Syndrome. So remember that I warned you. And I told you that once that substance is inside your body, it cant leave. Once injected into your body, it does not leave. It doesnt go away. They have no scientific way to remove it and never plan to find a solution. It was planned for death, to kill as many people around the world, Mr Oyakhilome added. Conspiracy Theorist Mr Oyakhilome has a long history of promoting conspiracy theories on global issues, like vaccines, the 5G network and, more recently, GMO foods. In 2021, the British media regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), imposed sanctions on his Loveworld Television Network for airing unsubstantiated claims linking 5G to the coronavirus pandemic. The regulator said while it does not oppose broadcasts airing controversial views or those challenging health authorities, the claims in a sermon aired by Christian channel Loveworld News calling the pandemic a global cover-up posed serious health consequences to viewers. Later that year, Ofcom placed a fine of 125,000 on Loveworld Television Network. In a report, Ofcom said the Loveworld Television Network exposed viewers to inaccurate and potentially harmful claims about the Coronavirus without providing adequate protection for viewers. The agency noted that that was the second time the television network had breached the rules on accuracy in news and harm in its coverage of the Coronavirus. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Deputy National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Ayo Olorunfemi, has advised the 2023 LP presidential candidate to ignore all calls to dump the party ahead of the 2027 general election. Mr Olorunfemi, also the LP Candidate in the 2024 Ondo governorship election, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that Mr Obi should rather focus on rebuilding the party. NAN reports that there have been calls in some quarters on Mr Obi to dump the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). One of those making the calls, Segun Sowunmi, a former PDP governorship aspirant in Ogun State, said during a television interview on Thursday that Mr Obis return to his former party would brighten the chances of the PDP in 2027 . According to Mr Sowunmi, Mr Obi, who left the PDP for the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 presidential election, owes much of his national political recognition to his time at the PDP. Mr Olorunfemi noted that though Mr Obi was at liberty under the law to associate with any political party of his choice, he needed to be wary of what he called dangerous advances. 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 He said: Now that he has contested and he has seen the LP force, if he decides to go to another political party, it will then speak volumes of his intention. It will tell whether he truly believed in the ideology of the Labour Party before coming to run, or if he just wanted to use the opportunity of the platform. So, it will now be left for Nigerians to decide whether Obi, who got millions of votes under the Labour Party, can still be voted for under PDP or another party. He (Obi) must use his tongue to count his teeth. If I were him, what I would be doing now is working to restore peace in Labour Party and rebuild it He should find a way to resolve the issues in the party and remain on the platform. He should remain in the party and restore peace. He should stay and resolve the crises he and others created in LP. Moving around will portray him as an opportunistic politician not different from these politicians jumping here and there, he said. Noting that Mr Obi had the capacity to resolve the crisis in the Labour Party, Mr Olorunfemi said that some aspirants shelved their ambitions in 2022 to allow Mr Obi to use the LP platform to run for president. He, however, said that if Mr Obi decided to dump the LP, the party would continue to exist as a strong opposition party. Speaking on the leadership crisis in the party, Mr Olorunfemi said that the Julius Abure-led LP National Working Committee (NWC) never wronged Mr Obi and others fighting against it. He said that members of the NWC, including himself, risked their lives and endured vitriolic attacks from different groups and persons for supporting Mr Obis presidential ambition in the last election. What is the offence of Abure? He stood in the sun, stood in the rain. All of us in the NWC stood by him (Obi). In spite of all the attacks, we stood by him. My own people, in the course of fighting for him (Obi), called me names for fighting for someone not from my tribe. LP is blind to ethnicity and I supported him because I believe in politics devoid of ethnic sentiment. There is bound to be crisis. People will come with different things in mind, but we have to moderate everything like we are doing now in LP Everything we are doing in the Labour Party is in line with our constitution. That is our strength. Anybody who wants to challenge the authority of the NWC should challenge it to the constitution. They should show us the aspect of the constitution that has been violated. If they confront us with the facts, then we will agree with them, the chieftain said. NAN reports that the party has been enmeshed in a leadership crisis since it lost in the 2023 election. (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Recent trends in Nigerian politics have raised concerns about the viability of opposition parties in Nigeria. It would seem that the days of multiparty democracy are receding. On Sunday, a group of 18 Nigerian activists and academics released a statement urging citizens to defend democracy and resist attempts towards creeping the country into authoritarianism. The group, whose members refer to themselves as democrats, said, there is a calculated and systematic effort by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to dismantle the democratic foundations of our republic and reduce Nigeria to a one-party state. The group alleged that political pluralism is being eroded under this administration through bribery, blackmail, and coercion. Serving and former governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives, and key opposition figures are decamping en masse to the ruling party, not out of conviction, but out of fear and pressure, the statement said. The pattern is disturbingly clear: an invitation by the EFCC for questioning on financial impropriety is swiftly followed by political capitulation. This weaponisation of state institutions for partisan gain corrodes public trust and undermines the integrity of our democracy. 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 Last week, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, his deputy, Monday Onyeme, and his commissioners defected from Nigerias main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Oborevworis predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, who was the PDP vice presidential candidate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 general elections, also defected to the ruling party along with his successor. Mr Okowa dumped the PDP about five months after he was detained by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, over corruption allegations. Also in the past week, Kano South Senator Kawu Sumaila resigned from the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and joined the APC. The lawmaker said the move was driven by his unwavering commitment to the welfare of his constituents. In their statement on Sunday, the 18 concerned Nigerians stressed that democracy without opposition is not a democracy. The presence of multiple, vibrant parties is not a luxuryit is the lifeblood of any democratic system. It provides citizens with real choices, ensures accountability, encourages debate, and fosters innovation in governance, the group said. The drift toward a one-party state is a betrayal of the ideals that many of usand indeed President Tinubu himselffought for during the darkest days of military dictatorship. It is not what we envisioned when we stood in the streets demanding civil rule. It is not what the Constitution guarantees. And it is not what Nigerias future demands. Implication of a one-party state The group said Nigerians did not end military dictatorship only to enthrone civilian authoritarianism. It noted that if a one-party state is allowed to prevail, Nigeria risks returning to a culture of impunity, where the absence of opposition breeds arrogance and unaccountable governance. We jeopardise the federal character of our democracy by suffocating the diversity of voices and interests that make up our republic. We also stifle the political space for young Nigerians to organise, question, and contribute to the national discourse. This must stop, the group said, calling on President Tinubu to remember the democratic path that brought him to power, to respect the multi-party architecture of our republic, and to end the persecution and intimidation of opposition leaders. The strength of a democracy lies not in the dominance of one party, but in the ability of many to coexist, compete, and cooperate for the good of all. We urge the Nigerian people, civil society, the media, and the international community to stand vigilant and speak out. History will not be kind to silence in the face of this unfolding danger. The statement was signed by Richard Akinnola, Abdul Mahmud, Sam Amadi, Auwal Musa, Nnimmo Bassey, Adeola Soetan, Uche Onyeagucha, Uzodinma Nwaogbe, Mma Odi, Osa Director, Adele Jinadu, Babafemi Ojudu, Abubakar Mohammed, Chidi Odinkalu, Tola Adeniyi, Jibrin Ibrahim, Femi Aborisade and Olufemi Adegbulugbe Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print by Eric J. Weiner Many people familiar with Theodor Adorno and his work in sociology, philosophy, psychology, and cultural studies might not know about his work as a public intellectual in postwar Germany. For those readers who are not familiar with his legacy, this book is a perfect introduction to some of his most important ideas concerning free will, self-determination, and the persistence and influence of authoritarian structures in democratic and capitalistic systems. As a public intellectual, Adorno steps out of the shadow of academia and the Institute for Social Research. The lectures in this book, all delivered between 1949-1963, are not only accessible to lay readers but remain relevant to our world today. The insights he offers in reference to postwar German society are remarkably still applicable to 21st century neoliberal democratic societies. However different the 21st century is to the 20th, especially regarding technology and globalization, his analyses remain relevant to our current times. In some instances, they are even more relevant today than when he first delivered them. In 2025, as authoritarian discourses arise like ghosts from what might appear to be the cold ashes of 20th century fascism, Adornos work suggests that maybe they never really disappeared in the first place. From his perspective, what we are seeing in the United States and across the globe is a continuation of a hegemonic system of thought and behaviorand the consciousness that it engendersthat was never fully eradicated. Just as the end of history thesis was premature in announcing the triumph of western capitalism and democracy in the 1980s over communism, announcing victory over the ideology of authoritarianism and fascism in the west at the end of World War II is also beginning to look politically naive and willfully ignorant. Defeating Hitlers Third Reich militarily was not the same thing as extinguishing the ideas that fueled its popularity and fed its imperialistic and murderous imagination. Indeed, as the work of the Institute for Social Research consistently revealed, the proverbial rock from under which Hitler and Nazism crawled was made from a familiar and seemingly innocuous amalgam of science, philosophy, education, nationalism, and culture none of which, together or separately, gave away the unforeseen terror that was hiding in plain sight. From the time of Adornos public lectures to our current time, the task during these transitional periods of history is not to predict, like astrologists mapping the stars for clues about what the future holds. In these times, speculative social science, for Adorno, is no better than a crystal ball. Trying to guess at what will be at the expense of understanding and changing what is, is a fools goal. For Adorno, resistance to the rise of neo-fascist discourses in the postwar era is first and foremost to ask, How these things will continue, and [taking] responsibility for how they will continue (186). This doesnt mean we shouldnt have a social imagination. But this is decidedly different than believing that we can actually know what the future holds. We should imagine what could be, as any tangible notion of educated hope depends on a vibrant social imagination, but we first must change, according to Adorno, our relationship to what is. In what follows, I will discuss several points of entry from Adornos lectures into how and why right-wing extremism continues to thrive in the 21st century and the central role of education and culture in combatting or perpetuating these extremist ideologies. The clarion call to unfreedom from the podium of authoritarianism grows more insistent every day. What seemed impossible to many only ten years ago seems inevitable to them now. Neither assumption was or is true; yet, our ability to critically analyze how social structures support and engender certain behaviors and mindsets says a lot about our ability to transform them. Adornos insights into these issues arise out of the interlocking theoretical frameworks of sociology, philosophy and psychology. Typically called Critical Theory, his research focused on the primacy of free will and self-determination for human beings on one hand, and the social structures that limit or prevent human beings ability to be free and self-determining on the other. When applying his ideas to a 21st century context, it is important to remember these basic foundations of Critical Theory. It rejects relativism as a universal principle, aims to distinguish and disentangle knowledge from power, regards the individual as a vital subject of history, imagines sublimated consciousness as an engine of hope and agency, is committed to democracy, and invests in the critical potential of education. The ultimate goal of Adornos work is to help human beings wake-up to the invisible social forces that keep them in a state of alienation and unfreedom. The dual forces of alienation and administrationexternalized and internalizedare part of our objective reality and can be known. We just have to know where and how to look. It also follows from his work that once these things are known and understood, they can be resisted and transformed. His primary method of critical analysis is dialectical which gives his work intention, propelling it forward; it never sits still, so to speak, as the dialectic is always pushing him further toward the universal or Spirit. His perspective is modern and rejects post-modern notions of relativity, power, knowledge, and truth. For Adorno, Truth is evasive but achievable. Power is tangible. Work is material. Knowledge is learned. Education matters. Consciousness can be sublimated. Social structuresfrom the buildings and parks that make up our cities and towns to cultural norms of thought and behaviorare enormously powerful and overwhelm the individuals that live and work within them. But domination is always leaky. The first lecture in the collection is Adornos first public lecture after returning to Germany from the United States. He gave this lecture to a colloquium on urban architecture and planning at the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt on December 9, 1949. Adornos critical analysis of architecture and development in postwar Germany presupposes that they are inextricably connected with the particular sphere of society within which they transpire (2). As such, cities and towns are not politically neutral inanimate constructs. They function primarily to serve the ideological interests of capital and other forms of power, which includes treating people like objects of architectural design as opposed to its subjects. In all cities and towns, the apartment buildings, sidewalks, roads, shopping districts, schools, houses, public parks, industrial/tech/trade centers, hospitals, centers for well-being, private/privatized spaces, etc. all discipline and structure our habits of body and mind so that we function in ways that appear to be free, yet, in reality, delimit (i.e., plan and administrate) our freedom in significant but subtle and imperceptible ways. In Adornos formulation of the central role and responsibility of architects and designers, he moves from discussing architecture and design per se, to imagining the kind of social sphere that would support human beings as subjects, free to participate in the essential economic, political and cultural spheres of their lives. Architecture and design, in Adornos treatment, do not exist and function independently of the social sphere of which they are a part, and, maybe more to his point, should never be used as though they were ideologically neutral tools in the struggle for (or against) freedom. Think about the modern-day cubicle-littered office; the assembly lines of the early 20th century; the tech worker in 2025 watching a computer screen for signs of life and potential profit as it watches and records him, mining his clicks as data to be sold further down the line or measuring his efficiency and surplus value; the masses of zombie commuters staring at their mini-screens, terrified to look up and around for only then will they truly understand how utterly alone they are; or the miles of big box-stores, strip malls, and chain restaurants, one no better or different than the next. One town looks and feels exactly like the one a few miles down the interstate, as do the stores and what they sell. The people drive cars that are superficially different yet are in all ways that matter exactly the same. Giant brick housing complexes, called housing projects in the United States, arise like mass graves for the disposable and expendable, sequestered outside the central business/design/arts districts, that seem designed to keep residents trapped in a reproductive system of generational poverty, violence and hopelessness. Even within the online spaces of social media, peoples curations are conditioned in the final analysis by the medium itself. Overdetermined by the limits set by the corporations that design virtual worldsanti-social social spacesthey nevertheless choose from a predetermined and mediated set of ideas and objects for their imagined, perfect life, all the while celebrating their uniqueness and individuality. From Adornos perspective, democratic societies should be designing democratic social structures in an effort to secure and reproduce democratic societies, i.e., structures that support forms of associated living consistent with the basic principles of substantive democracy. Democracy is only as strong and sustainable as its infrastructure. When our buildings and structures are designed in a way that objectifies and alienates those who live and work in them it is nothing but the visible manifestation of the contradiction (9) between believing you are free, yet, at the same time, have no relative power over your spaces of work, leisure and family. He concludes his talk about the rebuilding of Germanys cities by reiterating the idea that architects and designers must enter into a concrete engagement with the people who are affected (16), provide intellectual leadership and expertise in these engagements, but, most importantly, be avant-garde (16). The appeal to be avant-garde is his way of moving beyond the past; he recognizes that we need to be avant-garde before we can design and build cities and towns that will reflect a truly radical way of living freely within the principled constraints of democratic society. The avant-garde requires an intellectual platform upon which to grow. But being able to release the imagination in the service of new social structures, requires specific kinds of epistemological and theoretical tools. For Adorno specifically and the Frankfurt School more generally, sociology is one of the essential intellectual tools of the avant-garde. It is also why Hitler and the Nazi party attempted to repress sociology. In 2025, Trump and MAGA are also trying to repress sociology. For authoritarian regimes, sociology has the power to disentangle truth from ideological state apparatuses, which makes it a dangerous discourse. For example, In the United States Floridas board of education voted to replace the established course on the principles of sociology at its 12 public universities with its own US history curriculum. Education commissioner Manny Diaz insisted without evidence that sociology had been hijacked by leftwing activists (Luscombe 2024). Diaz at the behest of Governor Ron DeSantis is at the forefront of a new kind of neo-fascist attack on education. Their repression of sociology, rationalized as an attack on woke ideology, is eerily similar to the National Socialists attempted suppression of sociology during their rise to power. Adorno reminds his audience that sociology was definitely persona non grata in the eyes of the National Socialists and was effectively, if not officially, repressed or discouraged by them (17). Notably, DeSantis and Diaz have gone further than the National Socialists in their official removal of sociology from the core curriculum of Floridas 12 public universities. In other ways, their hostility to sociology doesnt go beyond the National Socialist agenda but is perfectly aligned with its intentions and purposes. Adorno is clear on the matter: I would explain it in terms of the fact that National Socialistsprecisely because they were essentially concerned with imposing on people a form of politics which was nonetheless fundamentally opposed to the interests, to the real interests, of the people in questionit took infinite pains to direct attention away from the actual life process of society from the effective collective processes that determine our existence. And sociology was already suspectbecause it is not concerned with offering a replica of the reality they wished to impose on people precisely in order to play fast and loose with reality itself. (18) By contrast, sociology is concerned with actual reality, not reality as it is superimposed on the people by an autocratic leadership and social structure, both operating in concert with few constraints. Actual reality, according to Adorno, is made known through sociological/philosophical methods of research and evaluation that try to understand how social and political structuresthe structured ontologies of being and human existenceare entangled in real social relations (19). Sociology, then and now, promotes not wokeness or some other ideological version of social reality, but the very self-reflection on the part of society which the National Socialist regime wished to prevent (18). Such self-reflection is the precondition of the emergence of a society that can nurture and sustain free human beings and protect against the world being engulfed in unimaginable catastrophe (18). Within the capitalist-authoritarian system, societal self-reflection is replaced by a cult of personality, policing and surveillance. Knowledge is policed for how consistently it aligns with the superimposed reality of established power. Sociology is a threat precisely because its central role is to disentangle truth from society, or stated another way, truth from the grip of power. Regardless of human beings relative relation to power in the form of capital (economic, educational, social, and cultural), their freedom is most notable for how limited and limiting it actually is within the social structure of the state. In such systems, almost every choice by the individual is influenced a priori by the state before the individual ever gets to choose anything. But because choices are being made on some level, the illusion of being free from state control plays into the consciousness of all human beings, trapping them blindly within the contradictions of the administered state. By understanding the consciousness of alienation or, conversely, alienation as a form of consciousness within mass authoritarian-capitalist culture, sociology can help us overcome the reified and ossified conceptual replication of life that increasingly characterizes the administered world by awakening the consciousness of human beings precisely because the world confronts them as an alien and organizes their social and interpersonal relations in terms that are deeply inhuman and inhumane (23). His call for grounded sociological research should not however be misinterpreted as a call for positivistic research or for an empiricism devoid of concepts (26). Positivism and the research that it supports is driven not by empirical facts, but by methods that supposedly avoid biases. Empiricism without concepts creates meaningless and impotent knowledge; secure and safe precisely because it says nothing of consequence about the world it studies. For Adorno, both positivism and speculative sociological discourses allow power to remain hidden behind the veil of ideology. As such, sociology driven by factsobjective realityis the only toolin combination with psychology and philosophythat we have that can, ironically, get beyond the facts and reveal the truth outside of ideology (28). According to Adorno, its essential to the project of disentangling truth from social structures that we devise investigative categories that allow sociologists to evaluate whether their understanding of the datatheir theoretical models of interpretation and the results it discovers/createsare true or false. Making this task even more difficult is that the practice of sociology is necessarily informed in relative measure by work in psychology, philosophy, history, linguistics, ethnology, cultural anthropology, cultural studies, and the sciences more generally. Sociology, as Adorno sees it, is an essential tool that can help human beings understand and resist authoritarian-capitalist efforts to alienate them from their labor, lives, each other, and most devastatingly, from themselves. Alienated people are particularly vulnerable to developing the psychological character of the authoritarian personality. This mass psychology turns alienation into a potent tool of violence, discrimination, and other forms of domination. Sociology can help change the conditions that give rise to these kinds of behaviors and dispositions that were so instrumental in the evolution of the National Socialists in Germany and also in more contemporary contexts the neo-fascist social movements like MAGA in the United States. Adornos avant-garde integration of sociology, psychology and philosophy framed his research on the characteristics of people who were susceptible to authoritarianism and dictatorial leadership. These people seemed predisposed to conflate truth and social structures, which made them good soldiers, but bad citizens. He named this disposition the authoritarian personality. In this collection, Adorno delivers a lecture entitled The Authoritarian Personality ten years after his book, The Authoritarian Personality, was published. His research on the authoritarian personality to this day remains one of the most important socio-psychological studies of the relationship between social structures and psychological character ever done. Its findings continue to inform our understanding of (un)consciousness, characterology, and their constitutive relationship to dominant social structures. As the world becomes even less democratic and more alienated and administered than it was in 1960, his talk has much to say to readers in 2025. In our current historical conjunction, the emergence of the neo-authoritarian personality has arisen in the shadows of neoliberal capitalism, Large Language Model (LLM) technologies that infiltrate every level of society, and a concentration of wealth and power that far exceeds that which was accumulated and held by the worlds richest and most powerful men in the Gilded Age. Within this new context, the authoritarian personality of the 20th centurycharacterized by a blind obedience to authority and its propaganda, traditionalist beliefs or conventionalism, displays of aggression and violence toward the other, anti-intellectualism and irrationally driven behaviors/attitudes, manipulative/calculating, and rigid or dichotomous thinkingpales in comparison to the 21st centurys version of this same type. An essential element of the authoritarian personality is how pathic-nationalism mediates the individuals relationship to the state. Pathic-nationalism requires people to act irrationally in their sworn allegiance to the state and makes them unwilling to accept that the state is not superior. Historically, pathic-nationalism brings real misery to the people while, at the same time, uncoerced they wave flags, wear garrish uniforms to indicate their membership and fealty, and celebrate the greatness and superiority of their country and chosen leader. They do this with empty bellies, mounting debt, inadequate healthcare, crumbling infrastructure, and dim prospects for economic mobility. In the United States youll witness this during national holidays and sporting events in which the USA is playing another countrys team or at a political rally, regardless of party affiliation. Aggressive chants of USA! USA! USA! and signs proudly pronouncing USA is #1 proliferate throughout the massive stadiums in which these events usually take place. This is in the face of the facts that the country, on every national index from infant mortality and educational knowledge to happiness is anything but number one. This is not unique to the United States, as it occurs in every country that makes militant nationalismas distinct from patriotisma requirement of citizenship. In all cases, the facts do not matter because aggressive nationalism demands that people sacrifice themselves to a certain kind of irrationality. More specifically, Adorno points out how the National Socialists did not promise the German people happiness and positive fulfillment, a rational (albeit no less problematic) motivation for national pride, but rather the glorification of sacrifice, negative renunciation, and ultimately death (99). Adorno argues that the character traits of the authoritarian personality on one hand are converging with the authoritarian structures of the modern state, and on the other, creating a much smaller space of freedom than we might think exists. As these two related but separate expressions of authoritarianism converge, the space of sublimationthe chance to free the body and mind from the grip of the ideological apparatus of the stategrows increasingly tight. Under the leadership of Hitler, the consciousness of Nazism achieved an almost complete totality; that is, a near total eclipse of freedom in the synthesis of the authoritarian personality and the administered state. The fissures of freedom that appeared within the near total eclipse of reason helped people during Hitlers reign to maintain their humanity and, in some cases, their lives. Within dominant authoritarian structures, the authoritarian personality reveals itself most explicitly in the phenomenon of prejudice (103). Prejudice usually refers to attitudes about minorities or communities of people who are representative of some kind of recognizable or imagined difference to dominant culture, yet as a phenomenon it is not defined by which groups or individuals experience prejudice; its the fact that it is operating as a rational index of difference. Adornos research on prejudice finds a deeper dimension that separates more harmless forms of prejudice from the kind that undergirds authoritarian personalities. He calls this form of prejudice pathic, and it is animated by irrational inflexibility. In other words, people who feel a pathic-prejudice toward another group or individual who they see as representative of the group dont just reduce the individuals in that group to some stereotype, but refuse to be correctedcannot be educatedeven when their experiences challenge the veracity of their stereotypical assumptions. A pathic-prejudicial person who believes that all African American people are predisposed to violence will always believe this even after meeting African Americans and learning about African Americans who are not violent. Similarly, their own view of the group they belong to, regardless of experiences that show members of the group behaving in ways that counter the groups perceived superiority to others, will never be convinced that their ideas and feelings about the group and its members are wrong. Adorno goes on to say that they usually react to arguments with rage, violently rejecting the arguments and branding the person who dares to present them as a traitor and an intrinsically inferior person (107). The inability to learn through experience, while investing in conspiracy theories, is what makes people who have this characteristic truly dangerous (105). In 2025, the deep state, as well as many other conspiracy theories dominate the political imagination of MAGA and Trumpism. It provides their movement not only an enemy in those groups that challenge their will to power and worldview, but a deeper and darker enemy, one that cant be seen or actually known, but is nevertheless always lurking in the shadows. Paranoid delusions grounded in stereotyping, pathic-prejudice, militant nationalism, and narcissistic tendencies move individuals in these in-groups to glorify and elevate themselves over and beyond everyone else. Adorno points out that these character traits are consistent with mental illness, yet are not evaluated as such because within the habitus of the authoritarian personality this all appears perfectly normal. To everyone else, it appears as it is: Dangerous and insane. The political implications of the growth and development of the authoritarian personality, in the aftermath of Hitlers regime, were obvious to Adorno. He recognized that Hitlers reign was not due to a simple, but dangerous character trait. Militant nationalism required a certain degree of toleration for excess. But peoples tolerance for excess, even those of a sycophantic nature, is only as strong as those social structures that frame these excesses in socially acceptable and legal terms. The peoples tolerance for the excesses committed in their name must, in other words, be supported by juridical and political institutions. Hitler knew this and on June 30, 1934, declared the murder of Ernst Rohm to be a legal act. This move was essential at the time, according to Adorno, to help the people feel good about their tolerance for the Nazis increasingly brutal and violent excesses. The whole political system typically involves the gratification that is produced when the controlled and contained instincts are released, albeit in the name of what formerly suppressed them, and one is permitted to indulge whatever one likes that one has otherwise denied oneself, and to do so with good conscience (116). The modern corollary to this tolerance for excess can be seen in the recent arrest and disappearance of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador. One of these social structures in capitalist democracies that continues to help shape the authoritarian personality is the school. Several years before Louis Althusseur coined the term ideological state apparatus to describe the relationship between the state and unofficial institutions that nevertheless support the reproduction of its ideological project, Adorno conceptualized education as a primary sphere of both reproduction and resistance. In three separate lectures in this collection, he turns his attention to the purpose of education and, relatedly, the need for higher education to think dialectically about research and teaching. Higher education in Germany and the United States in 1957, under the pressures of capitalism, were quickly becoming instrumentalized institutions whose primary purpose was directed at training students to take their place in existing social structures. It had abandoned education for schooling. Higher education increasingly looked outside of itself to find purpose; that is, its purpose was no longer immanent in the process of education (64). Looking outside itself for its purpose, for Adorno, is problematic on account of that remarkably abstract and arbitrary character which readily allows it to become nothing but ideologyanother speech for the Kaisers birthday to assure his Highness that everything depends on the preservation of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful or, in the even more hideous language, on the preservation of cultural values (64). In 2025, we again hear this hideous language coming from the Trump administrations key educational consultant of higher education, Christopher Rufo, who explained in a recent New York Times interview with Ross Douthat that his goal for higher education is to enforce a culture of civil debate and inquiry leading toward the true, the good and the beautiful. And continuing the great tradition of the Western civilization (New York Times, 2025). What neither Rufo nor Ross said is what happens when the great tradition of Western civilization doesnt always lead toward the true, good and beautiful? Or how these references were used in Nazi Germany to describe and hide their dystopian political project. The impulse in this seemingly common sense and democratic idea about civil debate and inquiry takes on an ominous tone in the hideous language of cultural values and great traditions. Imposed from on-high, these terms are clearly ideological signs that try to rewrite or erase a violent history. What it means that Rufo uses the same language to describe the educational project of Trumpism, Ill leave readers to decide. Within this discourse of pathic-nationalism, higher education becomes a blank slate on which any ideological interest or authoritarian-minded administration can project its own ideas about what its purpose should be. Case in point, in the United States, the Trump administration continues to infiltrate the university in both direct and subtle ways. From threatening to pull grant funding from research and dictating policies concerning student conduct to policing curriculum, Trumpism recognizes higher educations arbitrary character, abstracted from any immanent value because of decades of capitulation to capitalist or other competing ideological interests, and therefore is poised to serve its cultural agenda of white, Christian, capitalist-nationalism. In a devious hypocritical move, Trump has accused many elite universities of antisemitism and vowed to punish them for it, while his base is built on his promise to return the nation to a time when white, Christian nationalism reigned. Trumpisms attack on wokeness apparently doesnt include anti-antisemitism as a dimension of being woke. Anti-racism is woke; being against antisemitism not so much. Supporting this conception of education, Adorno sees the need to unify research and teaching in higher education. His central thesis regarding this unity is two-fold. First, that without a synthesis of research and teaching in the modern university there can be no formative education [Bildung]. If these two dimensions of knowledge production remain separate, the university is inevitably split into a specialist training school on one hand and a research institute on the other. Second, the concept of education is in an acute state of crisis (119). The crisis in the concept of education arises, in part, from a crisis in the autonomous individual. Without autonomous beings, who, in the alienated and administered state, are few and far between, education at the university cannot operate at the level of cultural formation. Education as the attainment of independence is undermined by the universitys hierarchical bureaucracy in relation to teaching and research. In other words, the bifurcation of teaching and research makes education as cultural formation impossible. By decoupling teaching from research we are essentially severing theory from practice. The consequences of doing so is no less than our ability to comprehend the world from the inside out (125). Adorno describes the kind of research that he believes would support this index of consciousness in formative education. Research must not be encapsulated in different branches and fetishized, that is, be blind to society (130). The hegemony of positivism, within the hierarchy of research orientations in the university, is one way that research rationalizes its social blindness. This approach to research cuts off researchers from doing research on issues that are not easily or readily quantifiable. Psychology and sociology, for example, are two fields of research that will never be able to define what is True at the level of physics or chemistry. But their attempt to model their research on these hard sciences have led them to embrace a rigid dogmatism regarding what constitutes actual scientific research. Another way to say this is positivism reduces the scope of our inquiries to such a radical degree that whatever we do discover via its methods resists generalization. Oversimplification makes these discoveries both true and meaningless. The kind of teaching Adorno imagines would avoid being dogmatic, dead, cut and dried, result-like, but would instead stand in a living relationship to its audience and would itself be a living thing. It would lose that pejoratively authoritarian elementthe less teaching is separated from research, the more it will become self-criticism and also, thereby, a critique both of reality and of the consciousness which that reality oppresses (131). His conceptualization of teaching lays the foundation for what would later be called in the United States and throughout the world, Critical Pedagogy. Conceptualizing the idea of teaching as a living relationship between students and teachers is to understand their relationship dialectically. From a similar albeit different time and place, the great Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, characterizes the dialectic of teaching/learning by acknowledging that those who teach learn in the act of teaching and those who are students, teach in the act of learning. The dialectic of teaching conceptualizes the student as a subject and not an object of education. As such, the pejoratively authoritarian elements in traditional models of teaching are disrupted and transformed by the formative culture of an educational structure that is dialogical. Studying sociology, for Adorno, is one way students can begin to disentangle democracy from the grips of the authoritarian imagination. When students learn to think critically and dialectically about social structures and their impact on human consciousness, his research at the Institute for Social Research showed that they typically reject authoritarian expressions of power. From this perspective, a political education is one in which students learn how to investigate the relations between the political sphere and the consciousness of individuals and groups who live and work within those spheres. It does not matter who the elite in these spheres are or what they believe in on an ideological level. If they ascribe to a theory of elites as a form of governmental power, then they are administering an anti-democratic state, as well as nurturing an authoritarian personality and consciousness, both of which significantly limit the power of the individual, free will and self-determination. Democratic consciousness is sacrificed at the altar of a form of power that rationalizes its authority in authoritarian terms. Adorno tells his audience that a meaningful sociology of this kind would ideally awaken the consciousness of the objective social relations and to spread this same consciousness more widely (166). But Adorno recognized that schools were only one site of education in the postwar era, and not necessarily the most powerful. Anticipating the work of the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, for Adorno and Max Horkeimer, the culture industry represented a powerful pedagogical machine that overwhelmed human consciousness by teaching as it entertained. Its lessons were not formulated in terms of curriculum and teaching in the scholastic sense. The pedagogical work of culture transgressed consciousness. People were rarely aware that they were learning anything of any importance when they sang along to a song, watched a film or television show, barely noticed an advertisement, or flipped through a magazine. But as Adorno and the Institutes research revealed, the pedagogy of culture and the culture of pedagogy is not innocent and works on the consciousness of individuals in subtle and complex ways. It helps shape and condition feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. A competing force in the education of human beings in the postwar era and into the 21st century, the culture industry continues to challenge, and, in most ways, dominate formal and official models of schooling. The more that schools function as training facilities and the more instrumental they become as a consequence, the less impactful they will be in shaping the feelings, emotions and beliefs of students. While schools turn students into consumers, the culture industry turns consumers into students. This collection of lectures, as most readers will immediately see, speaks to our own time as much as it gives us a window into some of the most pressing issues that troubled postwar Germany. So much of what Adorno talks about could be addressed to audiences today who are trying to make sense of the resurgence of right-wing extremism and the appeal of authoritarians in the 21t century. Theres an urgency in his call for people to develop resistance to the social blindness that comes from identifying with the aggressor (97). He sees people turning into the executants of what blindly befalls them rather than trying to change the situation itself (93). In regards to our understanding of Hitler and the Third Reich, Adorno argued that our consciousness of these things has become so repressed that many people actually believe that the systematic murder of millions of human beings was just some kind of glitch on the continuing path of progress (86). He vehemently disagrees with this assumption and sees it as dangerous because it harbours this destructive potential behind a veil of progress and exceptionalism. In 2025, in the United States and throughout the globe, we are experiencing various expressions of anti-democratic power superimposing itself on previously established democracies; the people seemingly impotent to do anything to shift the arc of history away from a return to a newly reimagined fascist ideology. The repression of consciousness about the holocaust and authoritarianism more generally continues to concretize within the mass of educational programs, books, films and other artifacts within Germany, Europe, and the United States, among others. The ubiquity of these educational programs and pedagogical projects have worked, against intentions, to abstract the true horrors of Hitlers rule from history. As such, many people learn about the horrors of the holocaust while at the same time never recognize Hitler as a piece of ourselves, as it were, as the legitimate child of our society, rather than simply regarding him as a kind of monster who somehow broke into the civilized world from the outside (86-87). The farther we get from the time of Hitler, the easier it is to repress our consciousness, not about Hitler per se, but about the social structures that made his rise to power possible, and perhaps, probable. The oversimplified juxtaposition of civilization and the Third Reich belie their dialectical relationship just as it reinforces a them/us discourse that severs us from them, as if history and culture were so easily delineated as chapters in a school textbook. The repression of consciousness in this regard also makes it impossible to think reflectively about how social structures continue to seed the fascist imaginary and entangle truth within the social structures of highly administered societies that are, nevertheless, perceived, through the lens of repression, as free. In the United States, its not uncommon to hear people make connections between Hitler and Trump, or Nazism and Trumpism, and indeed, there are some interesting and disturbing connections between the two men, their politics, and the social structures that helped create them. But the real issue is not the similarities or differences between the two. Adornos work suggests that the real issue is the willful refusal on the part of intellectuals and the political class to understand how Nazism (and Trumpism) was an extensionnot an aberrationof the consciousness that predatory capitalism and pathic-nationalism engendered. This, among a handful of converging variables, was what finally allowed facism to take root and grow into the behemoth that it eventually became. In the final analysis, Adorno believes the best and only thing human beings can do to resist the rise of fascism in the postwar era is to develop a critical consciousness about how social structures work to indoctrinate people to believe they are free when they are not. For Adorno, this is an important form of resistance to the administered state and the feelings of alienation it induces. If we are to have any chance at resisting our alienation from the world, our labor, each other, and ourselves; if we hope to survive the despair and feelings of discontent from living in a perpetual cycle of negative freedom, then there is little more we can do, says Adorno, than strengthen this resistance through consciousnessthat is, remain true and responsible to ourselves in thought. And perhaps that might still give rise to forms of realization that could halt the disaster (97). Can developing consciousness about our relation to social structures with the tools of sociology, philosophy and psychology help us see into the long dark shadows of ourselves, communities and governments? Yes. Will it be enough to hold off the disaster of another Hitler, or worse? Maybe. Will a transformation of consciousness lead to a different kind of psychic pain, one not caused by repression, but through sublimation? Remember the story of Oedipus who, after seeing that he has unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, gouges out his eyes. Or Mr. Kurtz from Joseph Conrads novel Heart of Darkness, after witnessing the savagery of European colonialism in Africa, who can only repeat, The horror, the horror, in the face of what he has witnessed. Will we be able to process what our awakened consciousness reveals not just about the world, but about ourselves? Perhaps. Work Cited Douthat, R. interview with Christopher Rufo. The Anti-D.E.I. Crusader Taking Aim at Education. The New York Times (Sunday, March 9, 2025). https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/opinion/chris-rufo-trump-anti-dei-education.html Luscombe, R. Ron DeSantis condemned as Florida removes sociology as core college class. The Guardian. (January 26, 2024): https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/26/florida-sociology-classes-ron-desantis-condemned Moscow Times, The. Kremlin Spokesman Says Russia Has Best Democracy. (March 6, 2024): https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/06/kremlin-spokesman-says-russia-has-best-democracy-a84356 Perry, Samuel. Why Trump and His Supporters Keep Calling Democrats Fascists. Time Magazine (August 22, 2023): https://time.com/6306945/donald-trump-democrats-fascists/ Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now. It was almost impossible not to be infected by the joy writ large on the face of the one-party state Villa-fawning group this past week. It was akin to winning a tombola. The Mauritanian-Nigerian ex-spokesperson for the Arewa Elders Forum and until of recent, Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, would not allow these elated countrymen the benefit of a hard-earned Saturnalia. Momentarily, he made sitting comfy on a stool a punishing exercise for the group. As he tendered his letter of resignation from government, fire billowed from Baba-Ahmeds mouth like Sango, the Yoruba god of fire. In a viral video interview, the Mauritanian beg your pardon the Nigerian, reached for his ancient Arewa pouch and brought out an insinuation of the Norths oft-mesmerising demographic talisman. If the Norths foe in Aso Rock Villa was gloating about a power of incumbency, he should remember that the North is a behemoth that anyone could ignore only at their peril, he reminded the president, until of recent his boss. No politician can become president without northern support, making the regions stance crucial to any aspirants success, he warned, garnishing it with the usual obstinate northern threat, If they plan to rig the election, they should be careful. It wont be good for Nigeria. As if the north had always been a saint when it comes to rigging. How come this same north closed its eyes when the ruinous Muhammadu Buhari almost ran Nigeria aground in eight years? In a recent piece I did, I warned that, in the headship of todays Nigeria, Nigerians had never met the kind of political wiles and deadly political machinations that are in the hands of the current occupiers of Aso Rock. Citing evergreen Yoruba Juju music superstar, King Sunny Ades imperishable line, We meni o ko, Paddy I told the Nigerian world that by the time the current Taskmaster is done with us, we would be worn thin. So, last week, an ignited political bomb exploded. Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori and his EFCC-harangued predecessor, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Ifeanyi Okowa, shamelessly decamped from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC). An equally shameless Akwa-Ibom State governor gave indication that he would stay within the PDP and rock its boat. Both moves were replicas of same act some 2000 years ago by that notorious man who asked for 30 pieces of silver to betray our Lord Jesus Christ. Political watchers say this political Iscariotism is a tip of the iceberg. More opposition party governors, they said, many of whom are first-termers, are having their buttocks placed on scalding-hot pressure cooker in the bid to make them leave their parties for the presidents. Chief among these, they say, are governors of Kano, Osun, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Akwa Ibom and Zamfara states. The gleeful repertoire of conquest narratives from the presidency and the Villa fawning group fill the stratosphere.The glee was so thick you could cut a handful and swallow it. The defection fever threw National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, into a spasm. Reminiscent of Vincent Ogbulafors punctilious proclamation some years ago who, in his moment of uncontrollable drunkenness with the intoxicating wine of power, said the PDP would rule Nigeria for 50 years, Ganduje, last Thursday, traveled same inglorious route. He surveyed the political horizon and was so titillated by what he saw that he announced that APCs 2027 project was a done deal. Thumping his chest like one who had just won a jackpot, the party chair, who is still embroiled in allegation of fraud while governor of Kano State, assured that more defections of governors from the opposition parties were afoot. His infelicitous boast came while he formally received defectors from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Kano state chapter. In Nigeria today, the man whose wily stratagem is known to have incubated these defections is being garlanded with epithets. Like maggots brimming round decaying meat, the salutes to his wiles are so aeonic that they qualify to rival the biblical This is the voice of a god, not of a man! Students of the bible will remember that the crowd at Judea made that remark in response to Herod Agrippa 1s considered superlatives. The epithets showered on the man who is considered to have broken the spinal cord of Nigerias opposition in such magisterial manner range from, the enigmatic Master Strategist has struck again!, to The man who pocketed Lagos State in the last 25 years has added Nigeria to his state-pocketing craft. For the Yoruba, their naughty son with amoeba-shaped buttocks, who deserves their waist-beads and not an outsider an atohunrinwa the celebration is even more infectious. From their proverbs pouch, the Yoruba pulled out an ancient saying to justify and enable the perceived routing political craftiness of their son. To them, the rout is a perfect reply to the Mauritanian boaster. So, they say, as it is on the day set for cultivation of a large farmland that the urgency to own a sharp cutlass becomes imperative, so is it gladsome to have a belligerent child when there is a declaration of war (Ojo a ba pajuba laa niran ada, ojo ogun ba le laa niran omo lile). Only the man who is ensuring that opposition governors decamp to the APC can vanquish their centuries-old northern political foes who, at every drop of a hat, flaunt nebulous demographics as political weapon in electoral contest. The Norths snake has met its waterloo in its bid to swallow the Yoruba shrew. 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 For me, however, an eerie feeling of foreboding has since last week enveloped my reading of the projected epidemic of decamping opposition politicians. My mind immediately dashed down to eponymous Yoruba thespian, Alagba Adebayo Faleti and his sagely takes on Pyrrhic celebrations, the type that Aso Rock and its fawners are currently taking to the bank. With songs, sang in the cadences of an elderlys, Faleti drilled down the surface of todays clanking of champagne glass and saw a melancholic tomorrow. His cameo role in Saworoide, a satiric brainchild film of unarguably one of Nigerias most talented cinematographers, Tunde Kelani, provided Faleti an opportunity to penetrate this dense outer surface. Acting the role of Baba Opalaba, (a piercing broken bottle) an elderly palace staff, Faleti deployed music as tool to foretell, reprimand and correct. While the chiefs became a combine of evil, fascinated about immediate riches in a new king, and plotting against the tomorrow of the people, Baba Opalaba warned, singing, Yes, they are unaware of their actions repercussion/Tomorrow, they will (Ko i ye won, yio ye won lola ). In another of his warnings, Faleti deployed a proverb to foretell doom: The wretched wearing torn clothes dances like a king at nocturne, as if unaware that daybreak is nigh (Alakisa n jo loru/Bo pe, ile a mo lola). If only the Aso Rock/APC celebratory crew was aware of the wiles of their Mephistopheles, they would see what happened last week and what is projected to happen, as moments to, like biblical Israelites did when there was doom, decorate themselves in ashes and soberly mourn what lies ahead. The doom is also popularized by the song of Yoruba Sakara music great, Yusuff Olatunji. He sang of a hawk playing with the pigeon and the pigeon is filled with excitement, unbeknown to it that death lurks in the horizon (Asa nbeyele sere, eyele nyo, eyele nfi iku sere ). Is this celebratory gang aware that it is cultivating a fertile ground for Mephistopheles to reign in Nigeria, for the nourishment of a one-party state, with all its attendant evils? One feels like telling this lot celebrating inanity what Hamlet told Ophelia: Get thee to a nunnery and stop breeding fools into the world. Naomi Mitchinsons One Party Rule In Africa The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs (2008) gives an intellectual foretaste of this hawk/pigeon mutual excitement. So also did Peter Anyang Nyongo, in his Africa: The failure of one-party rule, Journal of Democracy, Volume 3, Number 1, January 1992. Nyongo particularly saw doom ahead for the people in what is being cobbled together by the APC. According to him, while it was good news that the peoples of Africa are awakening from years of slumber under authoritarian rule and taking their future in their own hands. The bad news, he said, is that, regimes which enjoy absolute power over terrorized natives are sprouting in Africa. These are regimes which, in reluctance to allow themselves to be liquidated out of office and let go of power, are doing all they can to hold back the rising democratic tide. One-party state regimes emerged in Africa during the decolonization period. They thereafter began to spread, with many of them adopting it as a means of consolidating power and, in their claim, promoting national unity. In its manifestations, one-party state is indeed the holding back of Africas democratic tide. Margaret Monyani of the University of Witwaterstrand once defined it as a political framework where a one/single political party forms and runs the government. This can happen in two ways: the activities of the opposition may be completely outlawed such that even the opposition leaders are not allowed to participate in elections or the chances of the opposition to clinch power are thwarted by the unfavourable legal framework that is in place in some cases, a dominant political party that is in power only allows other less dominant parties who are allied to it to exist, while completely outlawing the opposition parties. While the establishment of a one-party state in Tanzania and Kenya was done through the parliament, making the formation of another party illegal, in some other countries where the one-party state structure was adopted, it is the voluntary dissolution of the political parties that makes it a one-party state. In this, the leaders and supporters of the parties are absorbed into the one-party state structure. In the words of Peter Wanyande, writing with the title, Democracy and the One-party state: The African experience (1987), published in the book, Democratic Theory and Practice in Africa (YO Oyugi and A Gitonga eds.), this structure of one party-rule makes such countries de jure one-party state, rather than de-facto. Our African nationalist forefathers sold this system of governance to Africa as holding hope. Kenya, Ghana, Zamabia, Mali, Senegal, Burkina-Fasso and Tanzania were some of the countries that first adopted the one-party system. Among others, the nationalists justification for a one-party state was that it is the only form of governance native to Africa while multi-partyism was an alien construct. According to them, a one-party state promotes national unity and in it, national efforts would be solely directed toward nation building, rather than on fruitless politicking. Similarly, they reasoned, in the words of Nyongo, whatever differences that might emerge among the people of a single political party could be freely settled for democracy would be practiced and human rights respected. Tanzanias former president, the Walimu, Julius Nyerere, was one of the early proponents of one-party regime. While foisting one-party rule on Tanzania in 1965, Nyerere lauded it thus: where there is one-party state and that party is identified with the nation as a whole, the foundations of democracy are firmer than they can ever be (in a situation where) you have two or more parties each representing only a section of the community. Kenya under successive one-party governments, not long after, degenerated into authoritarianism. The economic development which the likes of Jomo Kenyatta and Arap Moi envisaged became a mirage. Kenyattas Kenya African National Union (KANU) fused with the main opposition party and became one single party. In 1964, Kenyatta then led the legislature to write into the constitution the office of the president with him as the leader. Not long after, this one-party state morphed into a bud of corruption, disregard for merit and a system where loyalty to the Fuhrer was rewarded. Those who did not pledge full loyalty to the party and the president were hounded. Ghanas Kwame Nkrumah, which began the one-party system in 1964, became a dictatorial and authoritarian government. It repressed voices of dissent under the facade of maintaining unity. Nkrumah fatally wounded multi-party system of government by labeling it as divisive and thus not fit for the newly independent African states. What was needed, he said, was a unified energy and enthusiasm to move Africa forward. These African countries practicing one-party state system then ended up choosing socialism as a system of governance. In Tanzania, its own one-party state was the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), a political party which was in power from the inception of the countrys independence in 1961. This same fusing happened in Burkina-Faso following the election of President Yameogo in 1959. Opposition leaders fused together shortly after the 1959 election with Yameogo proclaiming a ban on any other political parties, thus making his Union of Voltaic Democrats (UDV- RDA) to become the countrys one-party state. One unique feature of the one-party states in all the above-named countries is that, as butterflies are attracted to nectar, those states always attracted military putsches. One by one, all the one-party system countries were dismantled by violent military takeovers. This is due to resistance and rebellion against their authoritarian rules. So, for the celebrating Villa-fawning group that is shuffling its feet in acrobatic dance to the Bata drum as the group careens Nigeria towards a one-party state, the above examples are my own re-calibration of another of Baba Opalanbas song. The sage sang: The bird doesnt just perch on the patio, it has ears and hears. He rendered this thus, Oro leye gbo, eye o dede ba lorule o, oro leye ngbo o. For us as a collective, this gale of defection is more than a political chess-game. It is ominous. For those who know, it has high flavour of despotism, which is a by-word for the Fuhrers brand of politicking. Many one-party states helmsmen eventually morph into life presidents of the Gnasingbe Eyadema hue. While many see a mild, Cockney English accent-flavoured-speaking Villa boss, beyond this veneer is a totalitarian for whom No can never be an answer. Many of the first-term governors are currently being held on tenterhooks, their second term used as bait by Aso Rock. A case is a governor whose godfather was manifesting traits of dissent. Suspecting that the governor might go the way of his godfather, Aso Rock immediately began to sponsor a SWAGA Lord as countervailing force to run against him in the soon-to-be-held gubernatorial election. A few days ago, both the governor and his godfather addressed a press conference announcing their support for Aso Rock 2027! There is the tendency for anyone to see an impending one-party state in Nigeria as too remote. There is also the tendency to say, all that is foul is fair in politics. Or that, others before the current occupiers of the Villa did worse. In the allegory of the hawk and the pigeon, it was only when the pigeon landed inside the hawks abdomen, with its entrails as gourmet meal, that the warning made sense. Festus Adedayo is an Ibadan-based journalist. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print It is impossible to behold the orchestrated emptying of opposition political parties currently on-going in Nigeria without recalling these examples from sister African countries, which presaged deeper descent into constitutional instability. The return of President Tinubu to the country after his extended Lenten retreat to the land of the Marian Apparition (in Lourdes) has coincided with a rush of politicians seeking to outdo one another in emptying the country of viable political parties. On 13 December 1972, Zambias founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, signed into law the Constitution (Amendment) Acts, numbers 3,4 and 5, ending the countrys First Republic and ushering in a new constitution for the country, which promised a One-Party Participatory Democracy under one and only one party., namely, the United National Independence Party (UNIP). All of this was to be realised under an official ideology of Humanism. The previous day, Zambias Court of Appeal had thrown out the case brought by veteran nationalist, Harry Nkumbula, in his appeal from the decision of the High Court dismissing his case against the establishment of a one-party state. The developments leading to Zambias chastening detour into one-party authoritarianism under President Kaunda should offer an object lesson to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and all the people cheering him on in his transparent machinations to turn Nigeria into a single-party experiment, denuded of opposition parties. Zambias march to one-party rule began following the general election in December 1968. At that election, the ruling UNIP of President Kaunda had won an overwhelming majority. The African National Congress (ANC) of Harry Nkumbula came a distant second, with a handful of members of parliament confined to Nkumbulas stronghold in the southern province. The constitution adopted at Zambias independence in 1964 established a multi-party system of government. In 1940, Godwin Lewanika emerged as the president of the Northern Rhodesia Congress, the first organised political party in the country that would later come to be known as Zambia. 11 years later, the party became known as Northern Rhodesia African National Congress, under the leadership of Harry Nkumbula, a teacher. Kenneth Kaunda emerged two years later as the secretary-general of the party. As their advocacy against white rule intensified, Nkumbula became more emollient, while Kaunda became radicalised. Following a split in the party, Kaunda emerged in 1958 as the factional leader of the Zambia African National Congress (ZANC). In March 1959, the party was banned and Kaunda herded into jail. UNIP was formed from the ashes of the banned ZANC, while Kaunda was in detention. Upon his release, Kaunda was installed leader of UNIP. In April 1961, Nkumbula was imprisoned for causing death by dangerous driving. By the time he emerged from jail in January 1962, Kaunda had eclipsed him politically. Kaundas UNIP led the country to independence in 1964, with Harry Nkumbula as leader of the opposition. Following the December 1968 elections, however, speaker of the National Assembly, Robinson Nabulyato, declined to recognise Nkumbulas ANC as the leader of the opposition, claiming that the party could neither form a quorum nor execute the business of parliament or government. In doing this, Speaker Nabulyato channeled his party leader, President Kaunda, who, mistaking himself for the country, had declared on the eve of Christmas in 1968: I cannot see how I can continue to pay a police officer or civil servant who works for Nkumbula. How dare they bite the hand that feeds them? They must learn that it pays to belong to UNIP. 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 On 8 December 1972, Zambias National Assembly did something that observers of Godswill Akpabios 10th National Assembly will by now have grown used to: the parliament suspended their rules and standing orders and, in one swift afternoon session, passed three separate bills to amend the constitution, rushing each through first, second and third readings without debate or discussion. As President Kaunda centralised power in and around himself, party management became more embittered into a contest between Zambias ethnic rivalries. In February 1972, with his most prominent political opponents detained, President Kaunda appointed a Commission to work out the modalities for a new constitution on the basis of a single-party rule. The job of the Commission was not to inquire whether the country desired to be run on the basis of one-party rule. Kaunda had already decided that it would. The only issue was how to bring that about. Comprising 21 members, Kaunda tapped Mainza Chona, his loyal vice-president, to chair the Commission. Harry Nkumbula, leader of the ANC, declined his nomination as a member of the Commission. Reflecting the skeptical mood of the country, a basic education teacher advised the Commission at one of its public hearings that the National Assembly should be turned into flats, since there was a housing shortage in Lusaka (the capital city) and no need for parliament in a one-party state. In October 1972, the Mainza Chona Commission reported to President Kaunda. Shortly before receiving the report, Kaunda dismissed opponents of single party rule as idiots and lost sheep; told the public service that they existed to serve the party in power; and informed the churches and the judiciary that their continued independence rested on being effective mirror reflections of the nation, which he subsumed in the ruling party. Things moved swiftly thereafter. One month after receiving the report, in November 1972, Kaunda issued his white paper on the recommendations of the Mainza Chona Commission. On 8 December 1972, Zambias National Assembly did something that observers of Godswill Akpabios 10th National Assembly will by now have grown used to: the parliament suspended their rules and standing orders and, in one swift afternoon session, passed three separate bills to amend the constitution, rushing each through first, second and third readings without debate or discussion. Four days later, the Court of Appeal perfunctorily dispensed with Harry Nkumbulas legal challenge. The following day, Kaunda signed the bills into law heralding the arrival of Zambias second Republic as a single-party state. Ironically, President Tinubu himself represents the example of a politician who resisted this tendency. After President Obasanjos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stole nearly all of the South-West from his Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 2003, Tinubu, then the only surviving opposition governor in the region, refused to give in. It took him two decades of back-breaking rebuilding to work his way to the top of the political grease-pole in the country. The new Constitution itself was not published until May 1973. The following month, on 27 June 1973, Harry Nkumbula entered into the so-called Choma Declaration, dissolving his ANC and announcing that he and the remaining members of Parliament from his party had joined Kaundas UNIP. His capitulation was complete as was Kaundas transformation into the autocrat that he dearly desired to be. Deltas States Sheriff Oborevwori in Nigeria will be relieved to know that he is not without storied predecessors in the pantheon of political harlotry. Zambia was not the only country in which the judiciary acted as midwife to dismantling democratic pluralism and replacing it with a one-party autocracy. At its 1965-66 session, Sierra Leones parliament adopted a resolution asking the government to give serious consideration to the introduction of a One Party System of government. To implement this resolution, in April 1966, the government constituted a committee with the Orwellian mission to collate and assess all views on the One Party System both in and out of Parliament and to make recommendations on the type of One Party System suitable for Sierra Leone. Three months later, the government issued its White Paper on the recommendations of the Committee. On 3 January 1967, the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone buried the legal challenge to the process of converting the country into single-party rule under a rash of legal technicalities. Unknown to them, Sierra Leones descent into eventual conflict in the next generation had begun. It is impossible to behold the orchestrated emptying of opposition political parties currently on-going in Nigeria without recalling these examples from sister African countries, which presaged deeper descent into constitutional instability. The return of President Tinubu to the country after his extended Lenten retreat to the land of the Marian Apparition (in Lourdes) has coincided with a rush of politicians seeking to outdo one another in emptying the country of viable political parties. Ironically, President Tinubu himself represents the example of a politician who resisted this tendency. After President Obasanjos Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stole nearly all of the South-West from his Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 2003, Tinubu, then the only surviving opposition governor in the region, refused to give in. It took him two decades of back-breaking rebuilding to work his way to the top of the political grease-pole in the country. As he embarks on his own transparent journey to a one-party participatory democracy, President Tinubu may wish to be reminded that of the major misfortunes in life, few are as ruinous as the tragedy of fulfilled desires. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a lawyer, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through [email protected]. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On Easter Sunday, I watched the expectant crowd at St Peters Square break into a spontaneous applause as Pope Francis head appeared on the most recognisable balcony in the world, the papal balcony. It was from that same loggia that the former Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was introduced to the world on 13 March, 2013, as the Catholic Churchs 266th pope, with the name Francis I, an appellation he took after Saint Francis of Assisi, a 13th-century mystic who renounced his wealth and devoted his life to the poor. At the Easter celebration, he looked gaunt and pensive, like somebody who had an important mission to accomplish and was determined to pull it through. Easter Demise For a man known for his toothpaste smile, convivial mien and charismatic carriage, it was clear that the recent bout of bilateral pneumonia had challenged him greatly. But he was determined to do his duty of delivering his Easter message to the world. Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter! he said, his voice marginally above a whisper. He then ceded the task of reading his Easter message to Archbishop Diego Ravelli. In his message, he reminded the world about the true meaning of Christs resurrection and related it to the challenges of the materialistic, violence-prone contemporary world. 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 We were not made for death but for life. Easter is the celebration of life! God created us for life and wants the human family to rise again! In his eyes, every life is precious! What a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of our world! he lamented. I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible!, said Pope Francis. He prayed for peace in the Middle East, particularly for the cessation of bombings in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages, the Christian communities in Lebanon and Syria; Yemen; Ukraine; the South Caucasus; and Balkans; and parts of Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan and South Sudan. Then, to everyones surprise, he descended down to St Peters Square, where he was driven around in an open-top popemobile to greet and bless the cheering crowds. Viva Papa! they hailed respectfully. And his earthly job was done. On Easter Monday, Cardinal Kevin Farrell broke the news to a shocked world: Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father Many Firsts Pope Francis was the first Jesuit priest and the first Latin American to become pope. He was the first pope in 600 years to take over from a living predecessor who resigned due to old age. He was also the first pope to preside over the funeral of his predecessor (Benedict XVI). He was the first pope to reject the palatial papal quarters, opting instead to live in a simple apartment with a bed and reading table. (Remember, as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he did not stay in the bishops palace but in an apartment. He preferred using public transport to a chauffeured limousine and liked cooking his own meals). He also shunned some of the accoutrements of the office like the crimson shoes always worn by his predecessors, preferring his black shoes. When he was healthier, he carried his own bag, which scandalised many people. He made his own phone calls, some of them to widows, rape victims, prisoners and other troubled or marginalised souls. He was the first pope to wash and kiss the feet of prisoners during Holy Week ceremonies. He ate with the staff at the apartment block where he resided and shunned any form of salary. According to Economic Times, popes are traditionally entitled to a salary of about $32,000 per month. Sources revealed that Francis had about $100 in his bank account at the time of death. Francis was the first pope to seek forgiveness for child sexual abuse over the Churchs dark past. He subsequently updated the Catholic Churchs criminal code by adding details on punishing sexual abuse crimes of minors by priests, among other measures. He was never ashamed of apologising for the sins of others. Many Battles Francis was an advocate of universal brotherhood. He counselled world leaders to build bridges, not walls. In 2016, with Europes migration crisis at a peak, Pope Francis flew to the Greek island of Lesbos and returned to Rome with three families of asylum-seeking Syrian Muslims. He was also committed to inter-faith reconciliation, kissing the Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in a historic February 2016 encounter, and making a joint call for freedom of belief with leading Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb in 2019. He helped facilitate a historic rapprochement between the United States and Cuba, and encouraged the peace process in Colombia. Climate Appeal Experts credited Pope Francis with having influenced the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords with his Laudato Si encyclical, an appeal for action on climate change that was grounded in science. Controversies One of the bitterest controversies that raged during Francis papacy was his seeming over-leniency on transgressors. In a world where hypocrisy has been honed to a fine art even among clerics and self-acclaimed righteous adherents, the expectation from a pope was that he would breathe down melting sulphur and infernal inferno on sinners. That was why, very much in the fashion of the hypocrites who took an adulteress to Jesus asking that she be stoned to death as the law commanded, the modern day judgemental horde presented the case of homosexuals to the pope: Should they be ostracised, stoned to death or dealt with in some other ruthless manner? Pope Francis answered: Who am I to judge? (Remember, Jesus had told the accusers of the adulteress, Whoever is sinless among you, let him cast the first stone!) The popes explanation was that he, too, was a sinner who had only benefitted from Gods infinite mercy and that he would therefore recommend mercy and love as the best reactions towards those who had strayed. God is in every persons life Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else God is in this persons life, he preached. In many respects, his life was consequential. No wonder his funeral brought the best of the Latin and Eastern traditions together. While his demise engendered an endless funeral train round the continents with scores of world leaders, friends and foes alike, communists and capitalists, mystics and atheists, queuing to honour him with their presence, at least one of his socio-political antagonists couldnt overcome their ancient pettiness. A message on Israels verified X account that read Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing was taken down hours after it was posted last Monday. Hebrew media reported that Israeli diplomatic missions around the world were ordered to delete any similar messages and not to sign condolence books in Vatican embassies. President Herzog (bless him), posted a message of condolence, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said nothing as at the time this piece was being put to bed. I am convinced that History, the inexorable judge, will echo the adulatory chant of the mourners who thronged St Peters Square after the popes demise: Papa Francesco e stato qui (Pope Francis Was Here!) Indeed he was and what a remarkable man! Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021 Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal has received ten decorated officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who are indigenes of Zamfara State The promoted officers were led by the NSCDC Commander, Zone 2, ACG Haruna Bala Zurmi, on a courtesy visit to the governor in the Government House, Gusau, on Thursday. A statement by the spokesperson of the Zamfara Governor, Sulaiman Bala Idris, said the decorated senior officers of the NSCDC were a source of pride to the people of Zamfara and a sign that the future is bright. The statement added that the officers were promoted and decorated to their respective strategic ranks in the Corps; three (3) were promoted to the rank of Assistant Commandant General (ACGs), while the remaining seven were promoted to the Rank of Commandant of the Corps (CCs). In his remarks, Governor Lawal encouraged the officers to keep making Zamfara proud as they serve the nation. He said, We are all concerned about Zamfara because we dont have another place we call home. When you retire from service, you will return here; therefore, our collective duty is to make Zamfara great. 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 With all of you, with the understanding, goodwill, and cooperation I am receiving, we are going to see progress in our state. The Commandant is a very good friend of Zamfara State. I want to take this opportunity to thank him for the immense assistance he has rendered to us in our fight against insecurity. When I heard about your promotion, I was eager to meet you, at least to organize a dinner in your honor, which we will definitely do. Most importantly, I am happy for your achievement; it is for the people of Zamfara. As I mentioned, we share a collective responsibility to develop Zamfara. We will keep the lines of communication open so that any challenges we encounter will be shared with you, allowing for your valuable input. My door is always open to suggestions, recommendations, and constructive criticisms. Feel free to share. A better Zamfara means happiness for all of us. Thank you for the visit, and congratulations. Earlier, the delegation leader and NSCDC Commander of Zone 2, ACG Haruna Bala Zurmi, stated that Governor Lawals administrations contribution enabled their promotion, noting that it has never occurred in the corps history for a state to have 10 officers promoted in a single promotion exercise. It is to our strong belief that the gesture by the Commandant General wasnt unconnected to the unflinching support and assistance the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Zamfara State command receives under your administration and able stewardship. We are here for your blessings and familiarisation. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Kaduna State Government has expressed willingness to meet with the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) in order to resolve all contentious issues that led to the strike action at the Kaduna State University(KASU). The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Rabiu Yunusa who made this promise at a press briefing, added that the Ministry of Education and KASU management would sit with ASUU again, to find a common ground. Mr Rabiu recalled that an understanding had earlier been reached with the university lecturers and approval was about to be given, before ASUU embarked on the strike. The outstanding demands of ASUU is about N4 billion and it predated this administration. But the governor promised to pay all their allowances in batches, given the financial situation of Kaduna State, he said. The Permanent Secretary counselled that the strike action will be counterproductive by threatening all the gains that KASU has made under the present administration. Mr Rabiu said that Governor Uba Sani has done a lot in making KASU one of the best state-owned universities in the country, especially in facilitating the accreditation of nine science courses. 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 The governor expended over N290 million on the university, to facilitate the National Universities Commission(NUC) accreditation. This shows that the governor has the progress of KASU at heart. The Ministry of Education is very grateful to Governor Uba Sani for all that he is doing for the education sector. The governor always meets our demands. The KASU chapter of ASUU should know that he keeps to his promise, he added. It will be recalled that Governor Sani had facilitated the building of the Faculty of Engineering, the biggest intervention to any state university, at KASU permanent site which is under construction, as a Senator. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governor Uba Sani has noted that his administration has removed one of the barriers to acquiring tertiary education, by reducing the tuition fees of Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions by 50%. The Governor pointed out that the reduction in tuition fees has paved way for more students from humble backgrounds to bag university degrees with ease in Kaduna State. Represented by his Principal Private Secretary, Professor Bello Ayuba, the Governor spoke at the inauguration of the Kaduna State University chapter of Kaduna State Students Union and public lecture, which held at the university campus. Governor Uba Sani thanked the students for giving him the Sword of Honour Award and for making the strides recorded by his administration the focal point of the public lecture. He promised that Government will continue to support students and the youth generally to realize their ambitions. On your part, make sure that an atmosphere of peace prevails to allow for governments development programmes to run their full course. The Governor advised students not to allow agents of disunity and chaos to use them to destabilize their communities and steer them away from their career goals. 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 Governor Uba Sani reminded the students and lecturers at the event that no meaningful development can be achieved in a state of chaos, disunity and mutual mistrust. However, he said that going by your conduct over the period that I have been at the helm of affairs of our state so far, you are reliable partners of progress and I can count on you every step of the way. The Governor recalled that Kaduna State was under siege owing to the insecurity in some of the Local Government Areas, which had dire consequences on agricultural and business activities. He noted that the security challenges have now been drastically reduced owing to the combined commitment of security agencies, resulting in safer high ways, people returning to farms and the opening of local markets. The Governor further said that the Birnin Gwari cattle market which had been closed for over 10 years, has been reopened, so have the other markets in security challenged areas in Giwa local government. Governor Uba Sani also said that in the last 22 months, we have embarked on the construction of over 78 road projects covering 775 kilometers out of which many have already been completed, most of them link roads in the rural areas. He added that General Hospitals are also being remodelled and a total of 255 healthcare centres are being upgraded , while more schools are being built and the existing ones are being refurbished to enable a more conducive teaching and learning atmosphere. Explaining why the Governor was conferred with the Sword of Honour Award, the Students body commended him for the reduction in tuition fees and the establishment of new faculties in the school. The union also said that Governor Uba Sanis decision to facilitate the CBN Intervention Project for the Faculty of Engineering at KASU is a testament to your vision for building a brighter future for the youth. Furthermore, your directive to KASU management to allow all students to sit for examinations regardless of outstanding fees underscores your deep concern for the less privileged, ensuring that no student is left behind due to financial constraints, it said. According to the union, Governor Uba Sani has truly redefined the concept of good governance by prioritizing education, infrastructural development and youth empowerment. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Soon after military forces clashed with the Mahmuda terrorists on 11 March, the soldiers returned to their bases, leaving local communities surrounding Kainji National Park, straddling Kwara and Niger states, to suffer violent raids by the terror group. In a joint operation with local vigilantes, the military operatives drawn from Oyo and Kwara states stormed the terrorists den inside the Kainji National Park, killing scores of the terrorists, according to Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency analyst. However, a vigilante commander who took part in the operation told PREMIUM TIMES that the terrorists outnumbered us. The soldiers said they dont know that those guys are in large numbers, the vigilante commander, whose identity has been protected for security reasons, said. The vigilante commander said the soldiers told us they will go and reinforce. The operation also led to the arrest of 20 suspected informants of the terrorists, including a park ranger and a local vigilante, who are being held at a military detention facility in Kwara State. 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 Sending war signal After the operation, the terrorists sent an audio message to some Kwara and Niger communities, threatening to punish them for supporting the military operatives. In the 45-minute audio obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the terrorists specifically threatened Duruma village in Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State. They also declared war against the vigilante group in Kemanji, Kaiama Local Government Area of the North-central state. The terrorists said they allowed the locals in Duruma to encroach into the protected area of Kainji National Park to farm and log timber, but that the villagers had called for a jihad [holy war] by aligning forces with the military. The terrorists also claimed to have curbed kidnapping by bandits in the area. But with all these efforts, you people still collaborate with the infidel government to fight, one of the commanders of the group said in the audio. God has decreed to fight those that betray us and the people of Duruma and Kemanji have called for war, and we shall fight them with all our might, he declared. Duruma and vigilante groups, and anyone who stays in these villages shall be considered as our enemy. When we come to the villages, we shall kill, slaughter, maim and bomb. Paying the price Following the audio message, the terrorists struck in five villages, killing and razing properties. On two occasions, they stormed Duruma, burning the operational van and motorcycles of the vigilante in the village. The second invasion was, however, repelled by vigilantes, who killed two of the terrorists, according to a resident who pleaded for anonymity for security reasons. The Duruma incident displaced some residents. Subsequently, the group made a failed attempt to attack Kemaji village, a resident, Abubakar Isah, told PREMIUM TIMES. The vigilantes killed 15 Mahmuda boys, but they lost two members, he said. Last Monday, terrorists in military camouflage invaded Ilesha Baruba in Baruten LGA of Kwara State, killing six people, including a vigilante and a 19-year-old hit by a stray bullet. Three days earlier, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that three people were killed in Lumma, a village near the garrison town of Wawa in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. The village had been terrorised by the terrorists who killed and kidnapped residents. Onyenma Nwachukwu, the spokesperson for the Defence Headquarters, could not be reached by telephone and did not respond to a text message. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, has given soldiers one month to get rid of the terror group from the area. In the next one month, I dont want to see any footprints of those criminals within that Kainji Dam, Mr Oluyede, an army lieutenant-general, charged soldiers when he visited Sobi Barracks in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State. So, youre out here and I know you can do it to make sure those people (bandits) leave that place for us, the army chief said. If they want to enter another country, that is their business, but you must push them out of those forests so we will not have another set of Boko Haram disturbing us here. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Delta State governor, Sheriff Obovrewori, has promised to get 1.4 million votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. Mr Oborevwori made the promise on Wednesday when he announced his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The governor moved to the APC with his deputy, Monday Onyeme, his immediate predecessor and the PDP 2023 vice presidential candidate, Ifeanyi Okowa, and the entire PDP structures in the state. Announcing the development, a press statement from the press unit of the governors office said it will change the fortune of the APC in the South-south region. According to the statement, With Oborevwori now in APC colours, the SouthSouths political map tightens as the new alignment enhances President Bola Tinubus reelection calculus by adding roughly 1.4 million Delta votes to the ruling party. However, observers see Mr Oborevworis vote target as illusory because of the volume of votes available in the state, voter turnout and traditional voting patterns, and other factors. 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 For the 2023 General Election, Delta State registered 3,227,697 voters, with 2,989,514 collecting their permanent voter cards (PVCS) that enabled them to vote on election day. However, the state cast 615,341 valid votes in the presidential election, representing only 19 per cent of the registered voters. Although Mr Oborevwori won the governorship election with 57 per cent of the vote, the PDP got only 26 per cent of the votes the state cast in the presidential election, despite the outgoing governor, Mr Okowa, being on the ballot as Atiku Abubakars running mate. The APC was further behind with 15 per cent of the vote, as Peter Obi of the Labour Party took the state with 56 per cent. While the PDP and APC fusion may help Mr Oborevwori in his reelection bid, the outcome of the 2023 presidential election in the state warns that the two parties dominance of Deltas local politics may not be enough to put the state in Mr Tinubus column in 2027. READ ALSO: Real reasons Delta Governor Obovrevwori dumped PDP for APC APCs struggles in Delta State reflect its fortunes in the entire South-South region, where it got its worst returns after the South-east. The ruling party got only 28 per cent of the votes of the six states of the region in the last presidential election. However, that result placed it ahead of the PDP, which got only 25 per cent, as the Labour Party took the region with 42 per cent. Observers believe that Mr Oborevwori and his associates have a tough task on their hands to fulfill their promise to their new party. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan. Mr Osifeso said that the rescued victims were made up of 57 males and 26 females, including an infant. He, however, said further investigation into the incident was ongoing, promising to update the public accordingly. NAN gathered that the victims were rescued from a residential building in Orogun area of Ibadan, where they had allegedly been held for an undisclosed period. According to an anonymous source, the victims, believed to be nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo, were allegedly brought to Nigeria under the false pretence of securing employment opportunities. The source alleged that the traffickers extorted large sums of money in United States Dollars from the victims parents and relatives as part of an elaborate and deceitful scheme. 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 (NAN) Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on Sunday, lamented the massive destruction of property during Saturdays rainstorm in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, describing the proportion of wreckage as monumental and worrisome to his government. The worst hit by the devastating rainstorm were residential buildings, commercial structures, and public institutions. The stormy rainfall did not spare electrical facilities, as the strong winds pulled down many poles and telecommunication masts. Mr Oyebanji appealed to the federal government to intervene timely in Ekiti rainstorm incidence, regretting that thousands across the 16 local governments of the state have become homeless, while some others had already lost their means of livelihoods. While touring the sections affected on Sunday to evaluate the level of wreckage, Mr Oyebanji, represented by his deputy, Monisade Afuye, said he was happy that there were no casualties during the torrential and stormy downpour. The governor noted that while some structures experienced partial damage, it was a complete sweeping for the rooftops and all the structures in some places, which he said would automatically subject the owners to an emergency financial burden. 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 Mr Oyebanji applauded the Ado Ekiti traditional institution for demonstrating concern over the incident by making a representation to tour the metropolis and appraise the level of destruction. The governor assured that his government, being pro-masses, would not abandon the victims in subduing the emergency shock occasioned by the disaster that rendered hundreds homeless and destroyed commercial centres. You could see that the destruction was massive and there is no way it wont be a financial burden to those that were affected. Though we are happy that no life was lost, this is the major thing to us. We have always been advocating that our people should do turnaround maintenance on their buildings before the start of the rainy season. The government was also encouraging tree planting around residential buildings to serve as wind breakers. These are the best ways to prevent some of these occurrences. We really sympathised with those affected. Like we have said earlier, we wont abandon them. We are with them, and the government will surely intervene and give the support required to rebuild these damaged structures, he promised. At every location visited, Mr Oyebanji assured victims that the operatives of the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) would revisit the flashpoints to evaluate the damaged structures and enumerate the victims to guide the government on how best to intervene in the matter. He directed the SEMA operatives to do a thorough evaluation and enumeration exercise of those affected in collaboration with NEMA, so that all the victims and estimate of their losses can be captured adequately. Speaking on the wreckage, the Chairman of Ado North LCDA, Tokunbo Gbadamosi, warned those who have been creating panic on social media to desist, saying the government is on top of the situation. Our people shouldnt panic over this matter. The current government is about the masses. Those affected will be supported in overcoming these challenges. The government believes that this is a collective challe,nge and it will be resolved collectively, he said. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print by Angela Starita Driving through Journal Square in Jersey City with a friend, were both amazed by the construction that has happened there in the last two years. In this case, amazement is a form of horror: the new buildings, an array of towers, are grotesquely out of scale with the rest of the city. The worst offender is a blue-glass behemoth calling itself The Journal, the name serving as the only reference to its setting in Journal Square. As you head north, Kennedy Boulevard, the citys main thoroughfare, veers to the left and heads up to Union City, West New York, and North Bergen. Until a few years ago, that curve underscored the Boulevards role as a connector, a common thread and organizing principle of those Hudson County towns, starting to the south in Bayonne. Now the approach to the Square is dwarfed by the new building, one of dozens that have gone up in a 10-block radius in fewer than 5 years. The road itself goes unimpeded, but visually the building creates a massive visual wall, intimidating, arrogant, an absolute full stop. My friend says what he dislikes most about so much new construction is its uniformity, so unrelated to the specifics of a place. I do a bad job trying to explain the roots of un-placeness in Modernist architecture: how after the bloodshed of World War I, European architects thought they had a duty to create work that could be, as they saw it, universal. I talk about Le Corbusiers design of the Villa Savoye as its own system, regardless of landscape, that could be plugged into almost any setting. It was like making an Esperanto for space, I say; the idea was to supersede national styles and create buildings that met peoples needs without recourse to ornament or any device that covered structural truth. To these architects, if our organization of space could literally foster communication, maybe prevent even war. I want my friend to see that whatever the motivations of developers, the history of architecture as disconnected object has at least some noble roots. Well, he said, I still dont like that it has nothing to do with where its being built. Solutions to the problem at the heart of our exchangehow to shape, update, and expand a physical environment with integrityhave been varied and frequently polemical: the tabula rasa approach of Le Corbusier, in some ways epitomized by Brasilia, is a frequent if misunderstood whipping boy of both urbanists and the public. And while theres a complex and sometimes poignant story behind those plans, I cant disagree that the results of such ready-made townsthose designed by famous architects as much as the off-the-shelf developments across the countryare alienating. And of course, the blank-slate philosophy is appealing in a country where economic health is measured in housing starts. In Florida, my fathers town bought his tiny neighborhood, mostly woods, via eminent domain. Their nominal object was to create a more walkable environment by tearing down the existing houses and building new houses along with a nearby shopping street. When I asked a town manager, why not just incorporate the existing dozen or so houses into the plan, he claimed that developers only want a blank slate. Who knows if this was accurate or not, but he certainly told the truth when I asked why do this at all? That area doesnt generate enough income. But those contesting the blank slaters tend to be doctrinaire and simplistic. Take the writer James Kunstler who lays all the negatives of much developmentsocial isolation and extraordinary rates of pollution (demolition and construction accounts for more than a third of the worlds waste)at the feet of Henry Ford and the development of car culture. When I read his book The Geography of Nowhere, I could smell the gooey sucrose of nostalgia, but also shared his anger at all the boring sameness of those developments I used to see from the window of my mothers car whenever we drove to the nearest mall. Like a lot of people, I hated living in suburbia, or in my case, a rural corner of it, so far from anything that even vaguely interested me. How I pitied myself for living in a place where the 7-11 parking lot functioned as town square and community center! I wanted to live in a neighborhood not on a farm far from other houses in a town with Route 9, one called the old Atlantic City Road, as its center. But as David Harvey explained in a 1997 essay, The New Urbanism and the Communitarian Trap, Kunstler and a group of planners referred to as the New Urbanists worked under an untested assumption: that neighborhoods are in some sense intrinsic, that the proper form of cities is some structure of neighborhoods, that neighborhood is equivalent to community, and that community is what most Americans want and need (whether they know it or not). Starting in the 1970s, the New Urbanists systematically analyzed suburban sprawl and its no-whereness to assess its shortcomings. They then studiously determined practical, economical methods for combatting uniformity to preserve or possibly generate local community. They believed that shops and municipal services should be centered around neighborhoods and within walking distance of all residences; everyone should have easy access to public transportation; buildings should be relatively low in scale; and there should be plenty of public space. More than the assumptions about the benevolent power of neighborhoods, the New Urbanists, Harvey argues, operate from an even more damning assumption, the same one their tabula rasa forebears also took for granted: namely, that critical societal problems can and should be resolved via the arrangement of space, what Harvey calls spatial determinism. Im drawn to the New Urbanist ideas, find comfort in them, but Harveys point is irrefutable: those ideas presume a faith in the power of form to mitigate a host of factors not least of which are the political and economic forces outside of any one communitys ecosystem. Harveys essay reminds me of a trip I once made to Newbern, Alabama to visit Rural Studio, an architecture program associated with Auburn University. Begun as an experiment by Samuel Mockbee, the studio required students to build a house out of found and low-cost materials for one resident of Hale County every semester. The region, made famous by James Agee and Walker Evans portraits of Depression-era poverty in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, is a place where the importance of architecture, or its absence, can be measured in stark terms. Most people live in decrepit trailers or shacks, and, as I recall, public transportation is limited to infrequent bus service. Seeing the architecture students created there moved me deeply, made me want to talk and be silent all at once. These are small houses and other structures ( a chapel, a bus stop), but theyre made with such satisfying ingenuity: a glass canopy made of discarded windshields, walls constructed of hay bales reinforced with concrete, a roof of used metal road signs, rammed earth parapets. They are also beautiful in their forms and proportions, a fact that may be underscored by the unlikeliness of finding these houses in a setting of rusted trailers. And yet, theyre not in any way disruptions of the landscape but weirdly fitting, almost inevitable, that is, if every designer could take time enough and care to study a setting and a clients needs as carefully as Mockbees students had. I was on the trip to meet residents of the houses, and all were proud to show them to me. The last woman I met with was a young nursing student living with an elderly relative, for whom Rural Studio had built the Patrick House. Like her neighbors, she enjoyed their house, was very pleased with its light-filled layout, its good insulation, its bright colors, and how it had greatly improved their living conditions out there on a small road on the edge of the woods far from any stores, hospitals, or libraries (though one was finally built in 2018). Then I asked her what she would do once she graduated. She answered immediately: Get out of here. ( Read 5821 Times) On the occasion of the 32nd Foundation Day of Laghu Udyog Bharati Udaipur, a grand ceremony was organized at Pratap Gaurav Kendra, where Member of Parliament Mannalal Rawat emphasized that Udaipurs industrial landscape is evolving beyond traditional tourism and handicrafts, advancing into technical and diverse business fields. He said it is vital to continue expanding and strengthening this new identity. Rawat stated that the 11th India Industrial Fair has proven the vast potential for industries in the Udaipur region, and it is the collective responsibility to harness these opportunities. He noted that the fair has given Udaipur a significant boost in its industrial and technological image. The event was presided over by Yogendra Sharma, State General Secretary of Laghu Udyog Bharati. Special guests included State Vice President Reena Rathore and Province Vice President Rakesh Wardia. In his welcome address, Udaipur President Manoj Joshi shared that Laghu Udyog Bharati has grown into the largest organization of small entrepreneurs in Udaipur, currently having 600 registered members and 155 women entrepreneurs. During the recently concluded membership drive, 130 new members were added. On this occasion, a new womens unit named "Lokmata Ahilyabai" was established. Forty-seven emerging women entrepreneurs joined this unit, with Dr. Rishika Paneri appointed as President, Arushi Goyal as Secretary, and Monika Kothari as Treasurer. Joshi expressed that this new unit will empower and elevate the skills of women entrepreneurs in Udaipur. Senior entrepreneurs were honored during the event. The organizations first President Rakesh Wardia and the first Womens Unit President Reena Rathore were felicitated with shawls, coconut offerings, and Maharana Prataps symbolic mementos. Tarun Dave, convenor of the India Industrial Fair, reported the success of the fair and announced that with organizational approval, it would be organized again next year. Certificates and mementoes were presented to exhibitors for best technological displays. Companies like Secure Meters, Raman Export, Mirage Group, 11 Art Studio, The Solutions, and Architect Sunil Laddha received Best Technology Exhibitor awards. In his presidential address, Yogendra Sharma highlighted that the consistently growing membership reflects the trust and commitment entrepreneurs have towards the organization. The Foundation Day celebrations also included a family gathering where 250 entrepreneurial families participated in a community lunch. The event was coordinated by the Kaladwas Unit, and hosted by Avneesh Vyas and Umapratap Singh. Notable attendees included Vijay Godha, District Coordinator of BJP Industrial Cell; Pankaj Gangawat, President of Udaipur Marble Association; Robin Singh, President of Sukher Unit; Hariom Paliwal, President of Girwa Unit; along with various office bearers and members of industrial organizations. Source : ( Read 5658 Times) The three-day Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on "Universal Human Values-Based Education", approved by AICTE, concluded at the Faculty of Management Studies, Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Udaipur. Delivering the presidential address, Vice Chancellor Prof. S.S. Sarangdevot emphasized that individuals nurtured with cultural values from close family structures hold a crucial place in society. He asserted that if a person cultivates the right understanding, complete harmony in cooperation, reverence, and dedication can be achieved within society. Prof. Sarangdevot also highlighted the importance of beginning each day with self-assessment and seriousness, stating that love, reverence, and trust form the backbone of all relationships, and it is a teacher's duty to constantly nurture the spirit of learning. Renowned environmentalist and "Waterman of India" Rajendra Singh, the chief guest, emphasized that teachers are the true architects of a student's virtues. He advocated for reviving human values and integrating traditional Indian knowledge into modern education, stressing that true education should harmonize knowledge with character-building. Dr. B.K. Sharma from RIET Jaipur, as AICTE trainer, discussed the imbalance in today's world despite resource abundance, highlighting the importance of self-restraint. Dr. Alka Swami from Bikaner Technical University emphasized trust as the foundation of all relationships and called for inner development through acceptance and pure intentions. Observer Dr. Saroj Lakhawat also shared her reflections. Participants Anita Sukhwal from Kota University and Dr. Heena Khan from Rajasthan Vidyapeeth shared their experiences, stressing the need for inculcating values among students. The event was coordinated by Dr. Chandresh Chhatlani, and the vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Neeru Rathore, Program Coordinator. Source : ( Read 8829 Times) Udaipur, The divisional meeting of employees and officers of Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Chittorgarh Central Cooperative Banks was successfully organized under the banner of All Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Employees Union and All Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Officers Association. The meeting, chaired by District President Rajesh Taylor, was held at the Pratapnagar head office auditorium of Udaipur Central Cooperative Bank. A large number of employees, officers, and retired personnel from Central Cooperative Banks and Land Development Banks participated enthusiastically. The session began with a two-minute silence in tribute to the martyrs of the Pahalgam terrorist attack. District Secretary Prince Gehlot informed that Suraj Bhan Singh Aamera, Provincial General Secretary of All Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Employees Union and All Rajasthan Cooperative Bank Officers Association, National Vice President of All India Cooperative Bank Employees Federation, and Provincial President of Cooperative Credit Societies Employees Union Rajasthan, was the chief guest. He was accorded a grand welcome by district representatives with a traditional turban and garland ceremony. Guests from Apex Bank Union Jaipur and Jaipur CCB were also warmly felicitated. Addressing the assembly, Suraj Bhan Singh Aamera demanded that the Rajasthan government immediately release 766 crore in pending interest payments related to the 2018 and 2019 farm loan waivers. He informed that Udaipur CCB has 12 crore pending, Banswara CCB 21 crore, Dungarpur CCB 7 crore, and Chittorgarh CCB 34 crore. Aamera warned that the Central Cooperative Banks' CRAR could fall below the mandated 9% financial benchmark if these payments are not made, weakening their financial position and potentially pushing them into losses. He stressed that timely payment is crucial for disbursing 25,000 crore in crop loans to farmers. Aamera also urged the government, cooperative department, and bank management to ensure DPC promotions are conducted for all pending and current vacancies before proceeding with direct recruitments. He advocated for the merger of all District Central Cooperative Banks into a single State Cooperative Bank under a two-tier cooperative banking system, similar to the "One State One Rural Bank" model. He emphasized the need for competent MD appointments under the RBI's "Fit and Proper" policy and called for a review of the staff strength, which was last determined in 2010, to match current banking services and automation. Further demands included resolving pending issues of the 16th wage settlement, maintaining JAIBB/CAIIB increments, reinstating the Loan Supervisor post for effective field inspections, implementing a strict transfer policy, and strengthening social security for employees through pension and RGHS medical schemes. Various representatives, including Prince Gehlot, Ganpat Soni, R.S. Panwar, Vaibhav Gaur, Ramesh Goyal, Madhu Goyal, Lokesh Shrimali, Rahul Saxena, Chayan Dwivedi, Durga Narayan Singh, Omprakash Godara, and Piyush Vishnoi, addressed the meeting, calling for unity and collective efforts for the welfare of cooperative banks and employees. State representatives from Apex Bank and Jaipur CCB, including Sarvesh Chaudhary, Dilip Singh Jadam, Vinod Meena, Ripusadan Abusaria, Hemant Verma, and Manish Gangwal, also emphasized strengthening cooperation for prosperity through a united cooperative movement. The session concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by District President Rajesh Taylor. Source : ( Read 4861 Times) New Delhi. Speaker of Rajasthan Assembly Vasudev Devnani, who is known for his innovations across the country, is doing many innovations not only in the state assembly but also in the historical city of Rajasthan and his hometown Ajmer. Devnani has recently done some more innovations by getting the Ajmer district administration to change the names of many places in the city associated with colonialism. In the series of his efforts to free Ajmer city from the names symbolizing slavery and to establish national heroes in the hearts and minds of the people, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vasudev Devnani had directed the Ajmer district administration to change the names of some roads in the city. These roads will now be known by the names of saints, brave women and public leaders. He said that it is necessary to do so to give the people of Ajmer, especially the younger generation, recognition and information about the history, names and personalities of their heroes. Vidhan Sabha Speaker Devnani had directed that the road from Agra Gate crossing to Agrasen crossing in Ajmer be named after Sant Shiromani Shri Namdev Ji Maharaj. Similarly, the road from St. Stephen crossing to Jhalkari Bai Smarak will be named as Veerangna Jhalkari Bai Road and the divider road between Sector B and C from Axis Bank building to Bravia Residency in Panchsheel Nagar will be named after Shaheed Late. The road from Major Natwar Singh Shaktiawat and Anasagar Police Post to Mama Ki Dukan (Premnagar) should be named as Shaheed Avinash Maheshwari Marg. All these proposals have been approved in the general meeting of Ajmer Municipal Corporation. Along with this, the committee headed by Divisional Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Sharma has also approved these naming proposals. Now these roads in Ajmer will be known by the names of Sant Shiromani Namdev Ji Maharaj, martyr late Major Natwar Singh Shaktawat, martyr Avinash Maheshwari, Veerangana Jhalkari Bai. Soon, other roads, police stations and various areas of Ajmer will be named after names that reflect national pride. This will also leave an indelible mark of Indian culture and the names of heroes and heroines in the minds of national and international tourists visiting Ajmer and Pushkar. It is noteworthy that earlier also, on the instructions of Assembly Speaker Devnani, buildings and ponds in Ajmer were freed from names symbolizing slavery. On the instructions of Devnani, the name of King Edward Memorial of Ajmer was changed to Maharshi Dayanand Vishranti Grih. Similarly, the name of Hotel Khadim of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) was changed to Hotel Ajaymeru. Apart from this, the main pond of Ajmer city, Foysagar, has also been freed from the English name and its name has been changed to Varun Sagar. Assembly Speaker Devnani has also given his consent as the local MLA to change the name of Ajmer's elevated road to Ram Setu. The general public believes that these innovations will also inspire other states of the country. Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani has created history by implementing many innovations in the state assembly, due to which he has become a famous name in the country and abroad. Source : Today Jakes unveils historic leadership shift, entrusting a legacy years in the making as he ushers in a new era and expands his global mission DALLAS, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a deeply symbolic Sunday announcement, Bishop T.D. Jakesglobally recognized faith leader, cultural influencer and founder of The Potter's Houseunveiled his plans to appoint Pastors Toure Roberts and Sarah Jakes Roberts as senior pastors of the Dallas-based megachurch. This milestone moment signifies a sacred generational handoff within one of the world's most influential churches, while affirming Bishop Jakes' commitment to evolving ministry leadership for the future. Their appointment will happen later in 2025. "For nearly 50 years, I've had the honor of connecting with and serving the local and global community as a pastor, global faith leader and unwavering truth teller," Jakes said. "As I enter my 50th year in the public spotlight, I recognize the urgent need to address more challenges of our time, particularly the looming threat of a disappearing middle class, social unrest and closing opportunity gaps. This pivotal moment calls me to focus on a legacy of economic empowerment, serving as a bridge between community, culture, and corporate alliances to help position our nation for a stronger future. Elevating Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah as the new senior pastors of The Potter's House, we will honor our rich history while embracing a future that demands innovative, ministry for the coming age. This elevation is not a departure but a rebirth. I will never stop preaching and will continue to minister. This moment isn't an ending, it's an expansion. We are not only passing a mantle we are multiplying impact. Leadership is not static, it is dynamic. It demands the courage to evolve." Bishop Jakes and Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah released a public letter available here, expressing the spiritual and strategic thought behind the transition. Sunday's announcement follows a season of profound transition for Jakes, including a widely publicized health emergency he suffered in November 2024, which he spoke about in detail during an exclusive on The TODAY show and the culmination of the International Leadership Summit (ILS), a signature global gathering he launched over two decades ago. Themed "Changing of the Guard," this final ILS served as a prophetic prelude to this very moment. Held April 1012, 2025, in Orlando, the summit gathered visionaries across industries and generations to address one of the most critical questions of our time: how do we prepare the next generation to lead? Jakes will remain Chairman of the Board and spiritual overseer of The Potter's House, providing vision, counsel, and legacy leadership as the next generation steps into their senior pastoral roles. Years in the Making Sunday's announcement reflects the fulfillment of a multi-year strategy designed to ensure the continuity, integrity, and innovation of The Potter's House legacy. Highlights of this journey include: 2022: The Roberts family officially relocated from Los Angeles to Dallas , to take on the roles signifying a deep commitment to the ministry's growth. The Roberts family officially relocated from to , to take on the roles signifying a deep commitment to the ministry's growth. 2022 : The historic farewell of the annual W oman, Thou Art Loosed conference to continuing the global Woman Evolve movement, led by Pastor Sarah. : The historic farewell of the annual W conference to continuing the global movement, led by Pastor Sarah. 2023: Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah were installed as assistant pastors of The Potter's House, taking on significant leadership responsibilities. Generational Leadership for a New Era Pastor Toure, visionary leader, entrepreneur and founder of ONE | A Potter's House Church and Pastor Sarah, New York Times bestselling author, media influencer and founder of Woman Evolve, have emerged as vital voices for this moment. Their leadership model bridges generational divides and reimagines what modern spiritual leadership can look like, faithful to its foundation yet responsive to cultural shifts. "We are committed to building a ministry that carries the heart of Bishop Jakes into a future that is both faithful and forward-thinking," said Pastor Toure. Pastor Sarah added, "This is not just a call to serve. It's a mandate to lead with compassion, clarity, and courage." Their elevation reflects the belief that legacy is not something to preserve, it's something to propel. By entrusting this next chapter to leaders who carry both the heart of the house and a clear-eyed vision for the future, Bishop Jakes affirms what thriving institutions have always known: when successors are prepared with purpose, the mission doesn't just continue, it multiplies. As they continue to build and foster community throughout the region, Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah will also look to have presence and activate ministry within North Dallas as well. Beyond the Pulpit: A Legacy Reimagined While transitioning daily pastoral duties, T.D. Jakes will expand his global footprint and continue his work as Chairman of the T.D. Jakes Group, which consists of T.D. Jakes Real Estate Ventures, T.D. Jakes Enterprises and T.D. Jakes Foundation. Chairman Jakes' businesses, social impact companies and partnerships will amplify his efforts to address critical social and economic issues, including workforce readiness, entrepreneurial investment, and community development. This evolution underscores his lifelong commitment to blending ministry with actionable solutions for systemic change. Expanding his reach and deepening his impact beyond the pulpit, Jakes will soon speak to millions more daily through a new partnership with iHeartMedia, in which he will launch his own slate of shows with iHeartPodcasts. The slate will kick off with his new podcast "My Next Chapter" where he will explore the shifts happening in our world and our lives and how we, together, can rebuild what's been broken, especially during this time of national uncertainty. T.D. Jakes has long been at the forefront of this transformation bringing faith into boardrooms, soundstages, underserved neighborhoods, and now, into a future of greater strategic influence. As part of his continued commitment to building economic opportunity, T.D. Jakes will lead the return of the Good Soil Forum to Dallas this Junea signature forum he founded to convene investors, entrepreneurs, and cultural leaders to equip small business owners with resources, capital access, and mentorship needed to thrive. Additionally in August 2025, the T.D. Jakes Group will curate a multi-day global exchange summit designed to catalyze economic empowerment, innovation, and cross-continental collaboration on Martha's Vineyard, known for its historic significance as a safe haven and incubator of cultural excellence. More information about Sunday's announcement can be found here. About The Potter's House Founded in 1996 by Bishop T.D. Jakes, The Potter's House is a global humanitarian organization and 30,000-member church based in Dallas, Texas. Known for its dynamic worship, far-reaching media presence, and unwavering commitment to social uplift, it remains one of the most influential and innovative ministries in the world. SOURCE The Potter's House Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Securities Litigation Partner James (Josh) Wilson Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses Exceeding $50,000 In e.l.f. Beauty To Contact Him Directly To Discuss Their Options If you suffered losses exceeding $50,000 in e.l.f. Beauty between November 1, 2023 and November 19, 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] NEW YORK, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. ("e.l.f. Beauty" or the "Company") (NYSE: ELF) and reminds investors of the May 5, 2025 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company. Faruqi & Faruqi Logo (PRNewsfoto/Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP) 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) contrary to its representations to investors, the Company was experiencing rising inventory levels as a consequence of flagging sales; (2) Elf falsely attributed the rising inventory levels to, among other things, changes in its sourcing practices; (3) to maintain investor confidence, Elf reported inflated revenue, profits, and inventory over several quarters; (4) accordingly. the Company's business and/or financial prospects were overstated; (5) all of the foregoing, once revealed, would likely have a material negative impact on the Company; and (6) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant time On November 20, 2024, Muddy Waters Research ("Muddy Waters") published a report entitled "e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. A Revenue and Inventory Mystery" (the "Muddy Waters Report"), alleging that Elf had "materially overstated revenue over the past three quarters," and that in "Q2 FY24, ELF management realized its growth narrative was in trouble as its inventory built. It appears that ELF then began reporting inflated revenue and profits. Its reported inventory also appears materially inflated as a result - i.e., to account for cash that has not really come in." Further, Muddy Waters accused the Company of concealing its inventory challenges from investors by falsely attributing its rising inventory levels to supposed changes in its sourcing practices rather than the true causeinsufficient sales. After the Class Period ended, on February 6, 2025, Elf released its fiscal Q3 2024 results and provided its fiscal 2025 outlook. Specifically, Elf revealed that it expected full-year fiscal 2025 net sales growth to be 27%-28%, down from the previous guidance of 28-30%, and also revised its adjusted EBITDA guidance to $289-293 million, down from $304-308 million, resulting in part from the updated sales outlook and a $7 million foreign currency loss. Further, the Company stated that it anticipated net sales growth was lowered to -1% to +2%, with management explaining that this reflected prudence amid softer consumption trends, challenging category conditions, and slower-than-expected new product performance 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 e.l.f. Beauty's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. To learn more about the e.l.f. Beauty class action, go to www.faruqilaw.com/ELF or 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 BEIJING, April 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Inside a shop at the Yiwu International Trade City in East China's Zhejiang Province, visitors are greeted by a colorful array of household items such as water bottles and storage boxes in various sizes. At the counter, the shop owner is busy tapping away on a calculator, negotiating prices with a customer from India. This is not an ordinary store that sells only to consumers who walk into the shop, but one that ships its products in bulk to overseas retailers. The US is one of the destinations. "We have about 20 US clients, and we have a relatively close relationship and coordination. There have been no big fluctuations," the shop owner surnamed Li told the Global Times. Following the US' imposition of sweeping tariffs against its trading partners, with extraordinarily high rates against Chinese products, Yiwu, often referred to as the world's capital of small commodities, has drawn great attention. However, contrary to major chaos and disruptions seen in global markets and reported in many places around the world, many businesses in Yiwu, while facing varying degrees of impact, projected calmness and confidence. Where does such confidence come from? In interviews with the Global Times, several local business owners often pointed to their unmatched competitiveness and emphasized their focus on strengthening their competitiveness amid growing external uncertainties. Focusing on quality For businesses in Yiwu, running their own affairs well means staying focused on continuously bolstering their global competitiveness - in terms of the quality of their products and the efficiency of their business strategies. "First strengthen yourself, then compete," as one businessman put it, when asked about Yiwu's response to the US' tariffs. "Our products are essential goods. Whether in developed or emerging markets, the demand will not disappear," Wang Nan, owner of Conan Tools, a hardware shop in Yiwu, told the Global Times. His company has seen some disruptions from the US' tariffs, with outbound shipments suspended following the US' tariffs, but he is not worried. "The quality we deliver at this price simply can't be matched if produced domestically in the US." Such quality and cost-effectiveness do not come easily; it requires unwavering focus, according to Wendy, Wang's daughter. "From raw steel to finished product, I personally follow up on production. I inspect surface treatments, materials, and check for burrs - basic but essential quality indicators. Every type of tool is sourced from specialized factories, and we sign formal procurement contracts specifying material, production details, packaging, and delivery timelines," she told the Global Times. Quality and cost-effectiveness are what have drawn many clients from around the world to Yiwu. "We come here twice a year," a trader from the United Arab Emirates told the Global Times, as he browsed through shelves of locks and hand tools at a store in Yiwu. "In Dubai, our customers want reliable quality at a good price - Chinese products strike that balance perfectly," the trader said. "In fact, some brands here now produce even better finishing than European suppliers I used to work with. That's why I've shifted part of my sourcing to Yiwu in the past two years." Behind the strong competitiveness of Yiwu businesses is the vast, constantly upgrading manufacturing industry in China. In the first quarter of 2025, China's manufacturing sales revenue increased by 4.8 percent year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points higher than that from 2024, according to official data. Meanwhile, as China's manufacturing further upgrades, investment is also expanding, with a 9.1 percent year-on-year increase recorded in the first quarter of 2025, official data showed. Bolstering adaptability Taking advantage of such a robust manufacturing base, many businesses in Yiwu have also been working to bolster their adaptability - another key competitive edge of Yiwu businesses - to cope with disruptions caused by the US. Lou Haidong, owner of Yiwu Seachain Trade Co, a racing maintenance tool manufacturer where 80 percent of orders come from the US, recalled that in 2018, they faced similar export pressures, with orders to the US being paused for several months. To overcome the pressure, the company has since established warehouses overseas to lessen the impact of tariffs and mitigate future uncertainties in the US market. Their global footprint has continued to expand ever since. A staff member at Lou's company told the Global Times that as US policy grows uncertain, new opportunities are arising in Africa and the Middle East. "Individually, these markets may not match the US' volume; but combined, they present strong demand growth that can offset losses," the staff member said. Yiwu Seachain Trade is not alone in expanding its overseas market. With global supply chains under strain, many businesses in Yiwu are also responding to tariff headwinds by embracing agility and enhancing custom manufacturing to meet market demands in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond. "There are no US-only sizes or standards that restrict our exports. If one country doesn't buy, we can still sell elsewhere," said a local hardware trader. Currently, Yiwu trades with over 230 countries and regions, with significant growth in trade with emerging markets, including Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner countries. In 2024, Yiwu's total foreign trade value with BRI partner countries reached 413.34 billion yuan ($57.41 billion), an 18.2 percent year-on-year increase, accounting for 61.8 percent of the city's total, official data from local government showed. Behind the strong resilience of Yiwu's exports is also strong support from the government. Amid recent disruptions caused by the US' tariffs, the local government is providing much-needed "stability," according to businesses. The Yiwu government provides financial support to assist companies in exploring new international markets, covering various costs from booth fees to transportation, according to companies. Some companies said that the government covered all of their booth fees during a recent week-long exhibition in Africa. "We don't put all our eggs in one basket. We collaborate with buyers in approximately 150 countries," Wendy told the Global Times, noting that when exports to the US were disrupted, the company quickly shifted focus to other markets and has already secured new clients in South America and the Middle East. SOURCE Global Times HANGZHOU, China, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Hikvision has published its 2024 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, marking seven consecutive years of sharing its ESG commitments and practices. Notably, the THRIVE sustainability philosophy was introduced for the first time. Guided by "Tech for Good", Hikvision outlines five focus areas Harmony, Reliability, Integrity, Value Chain and Environment. Hikvision releases 2024 ESG report, delivering THRIVE for a better future By thoroughly reviewing the global policies, ESG rating criteria and stakeholder perspectives, Hikvision identified 3 material topics: 'Technological Innovation', 'Cybersecurity and Data Protection', and 'Response to Climate Change'. Driving social progress through innovation Hikvision has long explored innovative approaches to addressing social challenges. In urban governance, Hikvision has provided traffic management solutions across over 300 cities, optimizing traffic flow at over 53,000 intersections. In industrial digitalization, Hikvision partnered with CHN Energy to develop large-scale, real-time, and non-destructive bi-spectrum rapid coal quality analysis technology, overcoming the limitations of traditional methods. With its STAR Program for Social Good, Hikvision leverages its technologies to preserve wildlife, environment and culture. By 2024, Hikvision has partnered with over 30 NGOs. Notable efforts include enhancing fire prevention at Lanxi Bridge, an ancient wooden bridge built in 1574, and upgrading the observation system at South Africa's Kariega Game Reserve. Enhancing the reliability of cybersecurity and data protection Hikvision consistently prioritizes cybersecurity and data protection, a commitment that has been recognized by prestigious certifications, including ISO 27017, ISO 27018, DCMM, and IEC 62443-4-1, among others. Furthermore, Hikvision places a strong emphasis on skills and training. In 2024, Hikvision launched 26 cybersecurity-themed courses and conducted 171 training sessions, achieving 100% employee engagement. Hikvision is also fostering the next generation of talent by supporting the inaugural Hackathon at ISE 2025 in Barcelona. Tackling climate change with low-carbon strategies Hikvision integrates decarbonization strategies into its corporate policies, establishing a carbon-neutral business blueprint focused on low-carbon products, intelligent manufacturing, green operations, and digital transformation. Key milestones include Hikvision's Carbon Footprint Verification for 103 models and the world's first certification for Carbon Footprint of Product Process from Bureau Veritas. 16 of Hikvision's LED displays received the Green Product Mark certification issued by TUV Rheinland, making them the first in the LED display industry to achieve this distinction. Hikvision remains committed to sustainability, laying a solid foundation for stable operations and shared value. With ongoing initiatives, we THRIVE for a better future. SOURCE Hikvision Digital Technology 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 America's tariffs turn world back to "law of jungle": Chinese envoy to Australia Xinhua) 10:27, April 27, 2025 CANBERRA, April 25 (Xinhua) -- America's tariffs risk returning the world to the "law of the jungle," where small and weak countries suffer the most, Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said in an article published in local daily The Australian on Friday. Recently, the United States has indiscriminately imposed tariffs on all its trading partners, coercing them into initiating so-called "reciprocal tariff" negotiations and demanding each country make significant concessions, Xiao said, calling on the international community to remain highly vigilant against such actions. "If the U.S. is allowed to act with impunity, the world will revert to the 'law of the jungle' where the strong prey on the weak, and all countries will become victims," Xiao said. Eighty years ago, in response to the devastation of World War II, countries founded the United Nations to prevent war, resolve disputes, and promote global development. Since then, a UN-centered international system based on international law has enabled all nations, regardless of size or power, to engage equally in global cooperation and competition, fostering shared progress, he said. Today, the U.S. brazenly imposed tariffs on the entire world and pursued hegemonic politics and unilateral bullying in the economic and trade fields, he said. "In the face of hegemony, appeasement and compromise will only be like bargaining with a tiger for its hide. And excessive concessions will only embolden the other side, ultimately leading to a lose-lose outcome and failing to resolve the issue," Xiao added. China is a steadfast defender of multilateralism and the international rules-based order, consistently advocating for the resolution of differences through dialogue and negotiation, the Chinese ambassador said. Facing the U.S. unilateral bullying, China will firmly defend its rights and help prevent a return to a lawless world where might makes right, Xiao noted. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Cain Perry thought he might've strained his hamstring, but it turned out to be a sign of something much more serious. Months after Cain Perry complained about a sore thigh, he was given a shocking diagnosis. Source: Lucy Riley A Gold Coast couple is warning Aussies to take their health seriously, after a seemingly-innocent hamstring strain turned out to be something much more sinister. Cain Perry, 29, came home from his job as a mechanic one day complaining of a sore right thigh and told his fiancee, Lucy, that he thought he mightve strained it. After taking a look, Lucy noted that it looked slightly swollen but otherwise ok. The pain soon disappeared and Cain didnt mention it again, so they put it down to a pulled muscle and carried on with their lives. Three months later, Cain was standing in the kitchen in his underwear when Lucy noticed his thigh looked even more swollen. ADVERTISEMENT I was like, whoa, that's actually really swollen now, she told Yahoo News. We just hadnt really noticed it. And he's got tattoos and stuff, so it sort of blended in. Interestingly, Cain wasnt in any pain at all. But at Lucys persistence he agreed to see a doctor, where he underwent a series of tests including an ultrasound, an MRI and a CT scan. But while awaiting the results of those tests, things suddenly took a turn for the worse. The couple have been together for 10 years after meeting while studying photography. Source: Lucy Riley Biopsy reveals one in 10 million diagnosis Cain woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain, and asked Lucy to look at his leg. It looked normal, like obviously swollen but there was no discolouration the one thing is it was really, really hot to touch. Like really hot. Lucy, a support worker, had to go to work but encouraged Cain to go to the hospital. In the emergency department at Gold Coast University Hospital, doctors took blood samples but found nothing unusual. That is, until they requested the results from Cains other tests from three days prior. ADVERTISEMENT After looking at the scans, doctors were able to see a soft tissue mass and a bone lesion in Cains thigh, and referred him to Princess Alexandra Hospital (PA) in Brisbane. Cain underwent a biopsy at PA, and when the results came back it revealed he had Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma (ASPS), an ultra-rare subtype of sarcoma that impacts just one in 10 million people. ASPS is a slow-growing cancer, which means people with the disease can live for a long time with life-prolonging medications. Its extremely rare," Lucy said. When doctors told them the cancer had also found its way to Cain's lungs, the couple felt "overwhelming shock", and Lucy broke down in tears. Despite the diagnosis, Cain says he feels well and can't believe he has cancer. Source: Lucy Riley Medication to cost around $70,000 To make matters even more difficult, chemotherapy and radiation have shown to be ineffective at treating ASPS, however some patients have seen success with immunotherapy drugs. ADVERTISEMENT Due to the rarity of the cancer, the treatments are not available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. One of the medications that Cain and Lucy are looking into is estimated to cost around $70,000. To help with the cost of treatment, Lucy's sister started a GoFundMe page for the couple. Through the entire diagnosis, Cain has stayed strong and resilient. For now, he is continuing working to try to save as much as possible. "One of the main reasons he is having to continue to work throughout this is because we can't survive on a single income, so he is working as much as he can while he is still able to," Lucy said. He doesnt feel unwell right now. He says he still cant believe hes got stage 4 cancer." Lucy, who met Cain 10 years ago while they were both studying photography, has put her honours in psychology on hold while they await the next steps. ADVERTISEMENT Cain is an extremely decent, kind human. Hes been through a lot, hes a very strong-minded person, she said. "He's incredibly loyal, he would drop anything to help anyone close to him." While they wait to get more information on when Cain can start immunotherapy, Lucy said they are taking things day by day. She's urging Australians to take their health seriously and seek medical advice if you notice a lump or any unusual swelling on your body. Like that few months there (from when Cain first complained about a sore thigh), I dont know if that wouldve changed anything but that was a good few months where it would have just been sitting there, she said. Always err on the side of caution. Its better to be safe than sorry. To support Cain's journey, visit their GoFundMe page. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. Blending in with the foliage of orange trees, the weeds are often not spotted until it is too late. Healthy orange trees are being smothered by a fast-growing invasive weed known as moth vine. Source: Left - AAP, Right - Mario Marin Australia's largest citrus-growing region is under attack from an invasive 'jumbo weed' that is smothering orange trees and impacting fruit production. Moth vines can grow 10-metres tall with foliage that looks very similar to an orange leaf, meaning many stay camouflaged among the trees and aren't discovered until it's too late. The weeds are currently being treated as a biosecurity issue in some parts of Australia, including Canberra. And in the NSW Riverina region, citrus growers have reported their trees being overtaken by moth vines, leading Griffith City Council to issue a warning for farmers to remain vigilant. Vito Mancini, Director of RedBelly Citrus and secretary for the Griffith and District Citrus Growers Association, told Yahoo News the weeds are "definitely going to cause a production issue". "It will affect the amount of fruit that we can produce on our orchards and the cost of trying to get to that fruit, because it literally will smother the tree," he said. ADVERTISEMENT "So you go from producing hundreds of fruit per tree to literally dozens of fruit per tree." This tree cannot produce oranges at the top due to the smothering effect of moth vine. Source: Mario Marin While Mr Mancini said it's the biggest issue facing orchards in Griffith right now, it's too soon to tell if it will eventually impact prices on supermarket shelves. "Look, I think we're a little bit away from that point. But it's not something that's unrealistic to happen," he said. Moth vines have poisonous sap, hundreds of seeds To make matters more difficult, trying to remove the plants could be harmful as the toxic milk sap that leaches from its stem can cause skin and eye irritation. Each pod of the moth vine can hold up to 500 seeds that remain viable for up to five years. The fruits split open while still attached to the vine and release the seeds, which have a tuft of silky hairs that allow them to spread quickly by wind, water or animal movement. ADVERTISEMENT And it's not just orchards that are vulnerable. The plants grow quickly and can have a devastating impact on the environment. Animals can also be poisoned by the weed. If left uncontrolled, moth vine will quickly smother native plants and reduce habitat for native animals, a spokesperson from ACT Biosecurity told Yahoo News. Livestock poisoning is uncommon, but there have been cases of poultry, cattle and horses being poisoned. While they usually recover, the poisoning can result in death. Moth vine pods each contain up to 500 seeds that spread through wind and water. Source: Mario Marin Juicing oranges more at risk Mr Mancini said oranges that are sold for juicing, like valencia oranges, are more easily attacked by moth vines because of the shape of the shrubs. Some types of orange trees for different markets have the lower limbs pruned so the leaves don't touch the ground. But in the juicing sector, growers tend to leave those lower branches which allows the moth vine to creep up the tree unnoticed. ADVERTISEMENT "It's not as easy to spot. The vine will come up and they tend to not find the vine until it actually comes up the top of a tree and pokes its head out," he said. He added growers are reluctant to start pruning the lower limbs because less branches can mean less fruit. "In their eyes, they're sacrificing profit by cutting the bottom of the tree. But they're sacrificing profit by not controlling the pest," he said, describing moth vines as a "real and present threat". "If they don't get on top of it early enough, they're going to be spending way more money trying to control the pest then doing it prior." Both of these trees are completely covered by moth vine and unable to produce fruit. Mr Mancini said if there had been a few fruit hidden in the leaves, the vine's poisonous sap would present a danger to fruit pickers. Source: Mario Marin Orchard owner has been fighting moth vine for years Fellow orange grower Mark Gatto first noticed moth vine on his farm about five years ago, and it's a problem that has plagued his property ever since. He told Yahoo he couldn't count the hours he's spent keeping the weed at bay. ADVERTISEMENT "It's an ongoing issue. Just another cost and another issue that we've got to do," he said. "I'm sure if I walked away and came back in a year or two, the farm would be just covered in those plants, it'd just be disaster. If you've got neighbours that don't do anything, and if the wind blows from the south, southeast or whatever, it'll blow into your farm. "It's terrible. I don't know how they're going to get rid of it. I can't see it eradicated any time soon, put it that way." Thankfully, Mr Gatto hasn't noticed much of an impact on the production of his orange trees because he has been vigilant in making sure he destroys the vines as soon as he spots them. He sprays the seeds and young vines when he finds them, and rips out more mature vines. If pods have started to grow, he collects them in bags to make sure they don't drop any seeds before burning them. But unfortunately not all farm owners have been taking action. Mr Gatto is urging everyone to keep an eye out for the plant and destroy them if seen. "For people that don't know what it is, educate them and tell them what it is and try to pull it out as quick as you can and keep on top of it. Tell your neighbours," he said. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. For over a decade, a group of Aussie friends have run a website detailing which voting booths offer the election day staple. The democracy sausage website has received over 900 submissions for listing ahead of the federal election. Source: Democracy Sausage. Many voters are facing a bigger question than policies announced by Labor, Liberal, Greens or Independent. Theyre wondering where they can find the best democracy sausage on election day. While democracies around the world face mounting threats, Aussie voters generally approach polling booths with a light heart. And they're rewarded for their efforts with the chance to support a local community group by purchasing a snag with white bread, onions, and tomato sauce. Or controversially, maybe even mustard, barbecue sauce, or worse still, plain. "I think it's lovely that the focus on election day in Australia is often where can I get my democracy sausage? And the kind of the freedom to vote is safely and easily is taken as a given," Democracy Sausage website founder Annette Tyler told Yahoo News. ADVERTISEMENT Annette and a small group of friends have been maintaining the Democracy Sausage website since 2013. Today, it lists over 900 locations where voters can find themselves a snag. So if you're wondering where to find a tasty feed on election day, all you need to do is click here. The one thing that brings everyone together is the democracy sausage, she said For a lot of people, a big part of the tradition is that you go vote, and then get a sausage. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are facing off. But the most important for many Aussies is where they can get a great-tasting democracy sausage. Source: AAP The Democracy Sausage website continues to be run on a shoestring budget by Annette and her mates. But it's got fancier over the years, and it now includes other offerings like cupcakes, vegetarian food, bacon and eggs, coffee, and halal. Theres also a handy column showing which locations are wheelchair accessible. Worst sausage eater of all time revealed The team dont own the slogan democracy sausage, and have never sought to commercialise it. But they do offer merchandise now thats sold at a price that covers the costs of production. ADVERTISEMENT This year, in what must be one of the first times a food company has released election-themed produce, Masterfoods will be providing its own brand of democracy sauce at some polling booths. Thats an independent thing. They did let us know about it, Annette said. But our principle is generally to stay non-partisan and to avoid commercial entanglements. According to one expert, Bill Shorten is responsible for the worst-ever attempt at eating a sausage. Source: 7 News Over the years, politicians have been roasted over their clumsy attempts to eat sausages. Theres one famous shot of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton eating a Dagwood dog at the 2022 Ekka show in Brisbane that often does the rounds on social media. And a couple of years ago, Prime Minister Anthony Albaneses aids tried to shield him from the cameras using his jacket, but it didnt stop photographers from getting a short clip of him wolfing down his snag. ADVERTISEMENT But for Annette award for the most disastrous attempt to eat a sausage still goes to a now retired former Prime Ministerial hopeful. Nothing is ever going to eclipse Bill Shorten, right? That's an all-time classic, she said. I feel like after that, theyve all been trained in eating democracy sausages. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? Get our new newsletter showcasing the weeks best stories. Photo Credit: NASCAR on Fox/YouTube. While NASCAR has plenty of young drivers, Mike Joy, who is the lead announcer for Foxs NASCAR coverage, feels that the sport needs to appeal more to a younger audience. Joy discussed NASCARs struggle to attract younger viewers as a guest on Kevin Harvicks Happy Hour podcast. We have 18 and 20-year-olds coming into the Cup Series and making a mark, Joy said, H/T Alex Harrington, Motorsport.com. The fan base is getting older. Were not attracting the younger fanbase that we need to move this sport forward into the next decade, [and] into the next couple of decades. One thing Joy cited as helping drive NASCARs popularity in the mid-late 2000s was Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the NASCAR-themed movie starring Will Ferrell. That was when we hit our peak for fan engagement and crowds at the racetrack, Joy said. I remember going into a Food City in Bristol, Tennessee, and you couldnt push your cart down any aisle without knocking over a cardboard cutout of some driver hawking something. You couldnt go in a supermarket without knowing about NASCAR. It was everywhere. One thing Harrington said was that the fanbase is now older than it was in 2017, when the average age of a NASCAR fan in the United States was 58 years old. Thats nearly a decade older than they were in 2006, when Talladega Nights was in theatres. And while another NASCAR-themed movie may not be in the cards, Joy stressed the importance of reconnecting with younger fans. We lost a lot of that young fanbase that we really need to covet if were going to grow this sport again, he said. Hitachi Rail has commissioned a new ARGOS digital interlocking system and brought it into operational use on the national railway network in France. Designed for SNCF Reseau and taking nearly five years of research and development, Hitachi Rail, in partnership with the HR/EQUANS/SNIC consortium, is developing the ARGOS project to renew and digitalise signalling interlocking systems throughout France. Commissioning of the first ARGOS system on SNCF Reseaus rail network took place at a pilot site at Chasse-sur-Rhone in south-east France, and follows the culmination of a project that started in September 2020. SNCF Reseau launched the ARGOS program to renew and modernise the signal interlocking systems for the French national rail network in 2018. The new digital interlocking system will provide safer, more advanced, more efficient, and more reliable operation. Hitachis ARGOS system manages information centrally and in real time, and provides a reduction in overall life cycle cost. System controllers are positioned as close as possible to trackside equipment and are highly modular to reduce the cable cost, connections, and relays, and the amount of civil work required for installation. It also provides equipment standardisation and lower stock holdings. SNCF Reseau has a target to reduce its total ownership costs by 15%, and the time needed to roll out the system by 30%. Additional benefits from ARGOS include significant improvements in performance, cybersecurity, maintenance, and operations. Christophe Jeanney, GTS Country Director of Hitachi Rail in France, commented that the companys collaboration with SNCF Reseau has enabled it to pioneer a new generation of digital interlocking and further strengthens its long-standing and trusted partnership with SNCF Reseau to digitally transform the SNCF Reseau network. Other countries where Hitachi has deployed its digital interlocking system include Germany and Australia. Roswell, New Mexico, Upload and The Perfect Couple actress Jeanine Mason says Eva, the character she plays in WondLa, finally gets what she has always wanted -- an introduction to other beings like her in a futuristic world inhabited by aliens and robots -- in Season 2 of the animated series. ADVERTISEMENT "But she really quickly starts realizing, the more and more she is investigating and asking questions, the more unanswered questions she finds. So, it really does feel like a tale of, 'Be careful what you wish for.' She is at the beginning of a whole new story and a whole new journey," Mason, 34, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "It just gets much more, honestly, sinister this year," the actress said. "As she grows up, the complications and the challenges get more serious, too." The adaptation of Tony DiTerlizzi's fantasy book series returned with fresh episodes Friday on Apple TV+ Season 1 saw Eva raised from the time she was a baby in an underground bunker on the planet Orbona by a robot named Muthr (voiced by Teri Hatcher). When she turns 16, Eva believes she is trained to exist in the outside world, but it's nothing like she expected. "So much that she learned from Muthr is hugely useful in her life and are her navigating principles," Mason said. "I definitely think she's much more equipped now that she has an understanding of Orbona, but she is probably going to underestimate the humans, which puts her in a different kind of danger." FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Also in Season 1, Eva and Muthr meet up with aliens Otto ( Brad Garrett ) and Rovender ( Gary Anthony Williams ), who help them look for other humans. The quartet forms an affectionate unit that protects each other from the many hazards they face. The visually stunning, coming-of-age adventure addresses relatable themes such as family, the dangers of an "us versus them" mentality and the perils of technology and surveillance. Mason loves that the series is as thoughtful as it is entertaining to watch. "I definitely find myself gravitating towards sci-fi at this point," she said. "I just love the themes for it and the history of it. As a Latina, it's just really important to play in a genre that really has allowed space for Black and Brown people to be on television before it was, maybe, as common as it is now," she added. "I'm definitely drawn to sci-fi and, as a book nerd, I love 'found family' as a theme, so it was really fun that that's so prominent." Mason will soon be seen in the film, The Man Who Changed the World, as well as Season 2 of the TV series, Cross. She said working on WondLa has inspired her to use her voice more boldly as she performs in both live-action and animation. "I definitely feel a little more like that tool is sharpened for me," she said. "I just finished this movie that I literally wrapped on Friday morning and I play a woman in her early 20s and then later in life when she's had five kids and sort of trying to commit a vocal change and a naivete reminds me of Evan Season 1 versus Season 2 and it was great." Disney/Eric McCandless By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/27/2025 ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. alum Susan Noles has announced she's in a serious relationship and has finally found her "person" in a French man named Frederic.Susan, 68, and her bestie Kathy Swarts recently traveled to St. Martin island together, and during that trip, Susan met the love of her life."I've been holding onto this secret for a little bit now. I did meet someone, and I know I've been talking about being single because I didn't know where it was going to go," Susan shared on the "Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour" podcast, which she co-hosts with Kathy."I know what I felt, but I wanted to make sure that we were both on the same page. And now, we are."Susan said for a while, she and 54-year-old Frederic were "just having fun" and decided to see where things could go between them."And now, I can honestly say he is the real deal. I have found my person," Susan gushed."Oh my god, he's wonderful. So yeah, Bachelor Nation and all you listeners, this was my turn -- and thank God! I mean, I went on national TV on and it didn't work."Susan said during the women's "fabulous vacation," she couldn't sleep one night and so she decided to try her luck on a dating app."I thought, 'You know what? What do I've got to lose?' I went on Tinder!" Susan revealed."See, everybody, it does work when you least expect it! And trust me, believe me, I used to be on all of the dating sites forever. So I tried it. I saw somebody and I swiped."After going to the beach and enjoying dinner with Kathy the next day, Susan checked the app and discovered a message."That was the fun part!... He is tall, he is handsome, and he's a big younger than me," Susan shared."[And] of course he is French and he speaks French, so when he asked for the first meet, I made Kathy come [to a restaurant with us]."Susan's new man is a father of two and a businessman from Bordeaux, France.Susan and Frederic apparently used a language-translation app to guide them through the conversation. Kathy, who speaks a little French, also helped them communicate.Once the date was going well, Kathy faked receiving a phone call and left the pair alone.Susan said her date with Frederic -- which included appetizers and drinks -- lasted for about three hours but it wasn't an "instant" connection due to the challenge of trying to understand each other."But there was something [there], a lot of chemistry, and he walked me home after three-and-a-half hours," Susan shared.She added, "He wanted to come in, but the rules are the rules. We don't bring guys in."The following night, Frederic asked Susan to go dancing with him, which she said she loves to do.Susan apparently felt guilty to leave Kathy, who gave her bestie a hard time at first about being a third wheel.For Susan's third date with Frederic, Kathy allowed him to visit where they were staying."She loved him immediately," Susan said of Kathy's friendship with Frederic.Kathy elaborated, "Once I got to know him, I was much more relaxed with him. What I honestly could see -- don't cry, Susan -- was how happy she was with him. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face, and she kept saying to me, 'I've never felt this way about a guy.'"Kathy admitted Susan tends to rush into love and "loves being in love" -- and so she rushed it with Frederic, a surfer who can cook and has a dog."But once I got to talk to him, he was such a nice guy and genuinely nice to me. I thought, 'You know what? She might have struck gold here,'" Kathy shared."Susan spent every waking moment with this guy [after that], and I was fine with it."Susan went on to gush about how Frederic is "so romantic," and Kathy agreed that Frederic "takes care of her."Kathy pointed out how the couple talks until 3AM most nights and Susan is clearly "in deep" with him."Just when you think it's never going to happen, it happens, Kathy," Susan said."So I've decided not to go to Paradise because I've found the love of my life... I don't know if I have to get married, but I would want a commitment when the time comes."Kathy quipped, "Susan wants a ring!"Susan said she's going to visit Frederic as often as she can and maybe spend a few months in France in the winter. She has also begun taking French lessons.Susan confirmed she and Frederic have already said, "I love you," to one another and that Frederic would love to wed her in Las Vegas one day."I can't even explain this feeling. I think he is everything I've ever dreamed of. The way he treats me and takes care of me!" Susan exclaimed."When I broke my arm, the man showered me and shaved my legs. He took care of me like no other. They don't make them like this! And I feel blessed... He [already] calls me his wife!"Susan was last linked to a fan of The Golden Bachelor whom she had met while shopping at Marshalls in Philadelphia in Spring 2024, but their romance didn't last.Neither Susan or Kathy made it far on Gerry Turner 's season, but both women were memorable for their outgoing and outspoken personalities. Susan also supposedly made fantastic meatballs!Susan went on to officiate The Golden Wedding for Gerry and his winner, Theresa's Nist, which aired live January 4 on ABC. (Gerry and Theresa split only three months after they got married).While Susan will no longer be appearing on Bachelor in Paradise's upcoming tenth season, Kathy hinted she may be a cast member on the show.Interested in more news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group With 5,500 pieces, the art museum at Mumbais T2 is one of Asias largest public art projects. Ahead of World Heritage Day, a walk through its mural-filled corridors. Photographs: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff Unless they miss a flight or two, many of the 50 million that pass through Mumbai International Airport each year are not likely to take in the 80,000-sq-ft of art contained within Terminal 2. Though it is among Asias largest-scale public art projects, the 5,500 installations are laid quietly over the terminals walls, luggage belts, and check-in counters. It takes a 17-member team to look after the murals, spread out across 3.2 kilometres. The caretakers, equipped with special instructions on how to handle materials as diverse as gold leaf, terracotta and papier-mache, have had to protect pieces from many threats in the last 10 years, especially dust, pigeons, and free-willed toddlers. Requiring round-the-clock surveillance are a few Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)-protected figurines, some dating back to the 11th century, embedded in a cave-like display. Previously called Jaya He, the museum was renamed The ArtBeat of New India in 2021 after airport management passed hands from GVK Group to Adani Group. Curated by artist Rajeev Sethi, the pieces span traditional styles, including Tanjore art, Kashmiri walnut wood carving, and Odishas patachitra painting. The representation of multiple Indian states makes it feel a bit like a Republic Day parade, except the viewer is the one parading past the tableaux. From Maharashtra, a montage pays tribute to the dying art of painted sceneries, which were used as backdrops in theatres and photography studios. A dreamy mural from Kerala features celestial beings, sloping roof temples, and traditional wrestlers. On the escalator to the international gates, passengers ride past the painting of a Naga shawl, interspersed with larger-than-life sculptures of bison horns. Most major international airports are now making room for art. The intent is to give those in transit a quick glimpse of local art and involve local artisans in the making. For instance, a large godhadi, or quilt, that shelters one mural was hand-stitched by women from the nearby slum settlements. Mumbai, the airports home city, is also the subject of several pieces: The fact that construction never stops here is commemorated or parodied in a skyline with steel bars poking out from everywhere. One of the exhibits celebrates movement and travel, depicting a variety of Indian transportation, including elephants, uran khatolas, and kattumarams. They also serve as a means of relaxation, wayfinding, and marketing opportunities. In Mumbai, an app lets people scan art for detailed descriptions. It is said if a passenger looks very keen on learning more about the murals, there are patrolling volunteers who can offer to give them a tour, too. Some of the commissioned pieces are interactive a water installation lets you pass your hands across thin jets to make seven musical notes, a Naga-style wooden bed is available for seating but few try to use them. Duty-free stores and lounges are more popular haunts. At 60-foot-high, the most stop-in-your-tracks mural is virtually impossible to photograph. Visible from four different levels, India Greets consists vintage doors and balconies sourced from around the country. It extends into a set of installations by Anjolie Menon, Andrew Logan and Robyn Beeche. A white peacock which has inspired much of Terminal 2s design was fashioned out of wire and built to glide in front of this mural for seven minutes every hour. But, after errant crows tore off its delicate feathers, the rare birds daily flights have been cancelled. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel on Sunday condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack and pledged full support to India, calling the act a reminder of the constant threats that the world faces from the evil of terrorism. IMAGE: Allahabad high court advocates protest against the Pahalgam terror attack, in Prayagraj. Photograph: ANI Photo Patel also hailed the security forces for their response to the attack. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. "The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir -- and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government," Indian-American Patel said in a post on X on Sunday. "This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. Thank you to the men and women of law enforcement who answer the call in moments like these," the first Indian-American to lead the premier law enforcement agency of the United States said in the post. The terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 has drawn widespread condemnation from countries and world leaders around the globe. On April 25, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also said America stands with India as it hunts down those responsible for the heinous Pahalgam attack. The State Department also said the US stands with India and called for the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack to be brought to justice. Photo shows the Samaba terraced fields in Honghe county, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Yin Xin) Terraced rice fields are being filled with water across Honghe county in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, creating mirror-like surfaces that reflect the blue sky, clouds and surrounding green mountains. The Samaba, Lyushuge and Nimei terraced fields are being prepared for spring planting following Guyu, or Grain Rain, the sixth of China's 24 traditional solar terms. The water-filling marks the beginning of the spring agricultural season for the local Hani ethnic group, who celebrate with their traditional Kaiyangmen Festival. The Hani people developed these stepped fields as part of an integrated system that connects forests, villages, terraces and water channels, exemplifying a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. A Meerut woman married to a Pakistani was sent back from the Wagah border with her two children for carrying an Indian passport. IMAGE: A woman requests to cross Attari border after the Indian government decides to close the integrated checkpost Attari with immediate effect following the Pahalgam terror attack. Photograph: Raminder Pal Singh/ANI Photo Sana, a resident of Sardhana area of Meerut, had came to India with her two children on a 45-day visa, but when she visited the the Wagah border on April 24, she was denied the crossover. Her family said she was refused to return to Pakistan because she had an Indian passport. The authorities, however, said her children could cross the border since they were Pakistani citizens, they said. Sana refused to send her children alone. On Saturday, Sana told reporters that she had been asked to leave India due to the expiry of her visa. She said her husband and in-laws were waiting on the other side of the border, but she could not even meet them. "My children insisted on seeing their father, but I had to return. I could not allow them to be separated from me," she said. Meerut Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rakesh Kumar Mishra said Sana has contacted the local police station in connection with the matter. "If any new information comes to light, it's cognizance will be taken," he said. At least 14 people were killed and 750 others were injured after an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Iran's Bandar Abbas, according to official Iranian media, CNN reported. IMAGE: Firefighters in action as smoke from the explosion is seen at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 27, 2025. Photograph: Reuters/ANI Photo A huge plume of thick, grey smoke was seen rising from the Shahid Rajaee port complex. The Iranian government has said that the explosion was likely related to chemicals being stored. Iran's Minister of Interior, Eskandar Momeni, said six people remain missing as firefighters continue to make efforts to control the blaze, despite facing challenges like high winds, CNN reported, citing Iranian media. The cause of the explosion has not been revealed yet. A government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, said it would take some time to find the cause of the blast, "but so far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded." She further said, "But until the fire is extinguished, it's hard to ascertain the cause." Iranian authorities have declared a state of emergency in Bandar Abbas to protect the population amid a significant rise in air pollution. The ministry of health has mobilised health teams and taken emergency measures to protect the health of citizens. People have been asked to stay indoors, avoid outdoor activities, and keep windows closed, CNN reported, citing official Iranian media. Debris was spread over a wide area and many buildings at the port complex were badly damaged due to the explosion, according to state media. Furthermore, windows within a radius of several kilometres were broken. According to some reports, people were trapped in the wreckage of a complex that was reduced to rubble. The region's governor, Mohammad Ashouri Taziani, said injured people were taken to Bandar Abbas medical centres for treatment, CNN reported. The port has been shut, and maritime operations have been suspended. State broadcaster IRIB reported that the explosion occurred in the chemical and sulfur area of the port. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered a probe into the cause of the explosion. He stated that the Minister of Interior has been sent to the site to closely "examine the dimensions of the accident." In a post on X, Pezeshkian stated, "While expressing deep regret and sympathy for the victims of the incident in Hormozgan province, I issued an order to investigate the situation and causes of the incident. The minister of interior was dispatched to the region as a special representative to closely examine the dimensions of the accident, make the necessary coordination, and address the condition of the injured." Shahid Rajaee is a large facility for container shipments, and it handles 70 million tons of cargo each year, comprising oil and general shipping. Authorities have demolished houses of three active terrorists in Bandipora, Pulwama and Shopian districts of Jammu and Kashmir as security forces continued their crackdown on the terror ecosystem in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, officials said on Sunday. IMAGE: The demolished house of a terrorist in Naz Colony, Bandipora, Jammu and Kashmir, April 27, 2025. Photograph: ANI on X The house of Adnan Shafi, who had joined terrorist ranks last year, was demolished at Wandina in Shopian district on Saturday night, they said. They said house of another active terrorist --Amir Nazir -- was demolished in Pulwama district. In Bandipora district, the house of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Jameel Ahmad Shergojri was demolished. Shergojri has been an active terrorist since 2016. With this, the total number of houses of terrorists and their overground workers demolised since the Pahalgam attack has gone up to nine. Terrorists on Tuesday opened fire in Baisaran, a popular tourist spot in the upper reaches of Pahalgam in Anantnag district, killing 26 people, mostly holidayers from other states -- an incident that has spiked India-Pakistan tensions, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the killers would be pursued "to the ends of the earth." Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned the Pahalgam terrorist attack during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and emphasised the need for regional cooperation to combat terrorism. IMAGE: File image of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Photograph: Reuters/ANI Photo President Pezeshkian on Saturday said that Iran unequivocally denounces such "inhumane acts", Iran's embassy in New Delhi said in a post on X. These tragic events amplify the shared responsibility of all countries in the region and compel the regional states to eradicate the roots of terrorism through empathy, solidarity, and close cooperation, ensuring lasting peace and tranquility for the nations in the region, Pezeshkian stressed. Referencing the valuable legacy of renowned Indian leaders, the president noted that Iran holds the Indian nation and its prominent figures, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru "who were messengers of peace, friendship, and co-existence" in high regard. He also expressed hope that this spirit will remain in India's relations with all countries. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. The Resistance Front, a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. Regarding mutual economic ties between Iran and India, he expressed hope for the expansion of cooperation in trade and infrastructure more than ever before. The development of Chabahar Port can serve as a hub for strategic interactions in the region and as a vital connection point between Iran, India, and Russia, the president said. Pezeshkian also invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Tehran, noting that Iran is keen to discuss ways to strengthen comprehensive collaboration with India in a friendly and constructive atmosphere. In turn, Modi appreciated Iran's sympathy regarding the tragic terrorist attack in Pahalgam, noting that New Delhi fully agrees with Tehran's perspective that the fight against terrorism requires the unity and comprehensive cooperation of all countries in the region, the embassy said. Modi also praised Iran's constructive role in fostering peace and security, adding that India supports the Islamic Republic's efforts to enhance regional and international stability. The prime minister further emphasised the need for a diplomatic solution to differences, including those between Iran and the United States. He expressed deep sorrow over the massive explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port and conveyed India's readiness to assist Iran in addressing the aftermath of this incident. Modi also extended his heartfelt wishes to the Iranian president, expressed his hopes for the health of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, and conveyed his aspirations for the ongoing progress of the great nation of Iran, the embassy said. Any Pakistani, who fails to leave India as per the deadlines set by the government, will be arrested, prosecuted and may face a jail term of up to three years or a fine of a maximum Rs 3 lakh or both. IMAGE: Border Security Force personnel stand guard at Integrated Check Post (ICP) after the government of India decides to close the ICP Attari with immediate effect following the Pahalgam terror attack, in Amritsar. Photograph: Raminder Pal Singh/ANI Photo The 'Leave India' notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29. The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are -- visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim. According to the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, which came into effect on April 4, overstaying, violating visa conditions, or trespassing in restricted areas could lead to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh. "Whoever, (a) being a foreigner, remains in any area in India for a period exceeding the period for which the visa was issued to him or stays in India without a valid passport or other valid travel document in contravention of provisions of Section 3 or does any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued to him for his entry and stay in India or any part thereunder; "(b) contravenes any other provisions of this Act, other than sections 17 and 19, or of any rule or order made thereunder or any direction or instruction given in pursuance of this Act or such order or direction or instruction for which, no specific punishment is provided under this Act, shall be punishable with an imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to three lakh rupees or with both," the Act says. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country. After Shah's telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the fixed deadline. The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a barrage of retaliatory steps, including the cancellation of visas, and Islamabad hitting back with a string of tit-for-tat measures. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday rubbished reports about Pakistani nationals being missing in the state and said all of them were accounted for. IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Photograph: @MahaDGIPR/X Fadnavis said arrangements are being made to deport Pakistani nationals from the state as per the Centre's directives. Talking to reporters in Pune, he said, "As the state's Home Minister, I request you not to run any wrong news on this issue. No Pakistani national is missing in Maharashtra, and all of them have been found. Arrangements have been made to deport them all, and there will be no Pakistani citizens left in the state. Everyone will be sent back by this evening or tomorrow," Fadnavis said. The chief minister was in the city to attend a programme of the Pune Municipal Corporation. India has announced the revoking of all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27, as tension between the two countries has escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on April 22. The Maharashtra police have launched a drive to identify Pakistani nationals living across the state on various visas. Speaking about the water situation in the state, Fadnavis said, "Water storage in the dams is low in April and May. Planning about water storage has been done. Currently, water storage is at 38 per cent in all dams in the state. Amid Pakistan media playing up his "no need for war" comments over the Pahalgam terror attack, and Bharatiya Janata Party's criticism, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday clarified that he did not say complete no to war, but meant there should be war only if it is inevitable, as it is not the solution. IMAGE: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said there is no need for a war with Pakistan, but the central government should strengthen the security system. Photograph: @siddaramaiah/X Asserting that it was the duty of the Central government to provide security to tourists at Pahalgam, he reiterated his stand that there were lapses in this regard, and failure on the part of the intelligence in preventing the incident. The terror attack in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 has left 26 persons dead, including two from Karnataka. "No need for war means, if inevitable there should be war...only if inevitable there should be war, there cannot be a solution from war. I did not say no to demands for war," Siddaramaiah told reporters here. When told about Pakistan media playing up his statement, he said, "I did not say no to a war with Pakistan. What I said is that war is not a solution. Security should have been provided there, as many tourists go to Kashmir. Providing security is whose responsibility? It is the Central government's responsibility. I said there was a failure." "26 people were killed (in Pahalgam), 40 soldiers were killed (in Pulwama attack). So there is a failure of intelligence from the Government of India. I have said that the Government of India did not provide proper security. There should be war if it is inevitable, not that it should not be done at all. But, immediately, there is no need for war, this is what I have said," he added. Pakistan media has played up Siddaramaiah's "no need for war" comments over the Pahalgam terror attack, to highlight that voices are emerging within India against war. Siddaramaiah on Saturday had said there is no need for a war with Pakistan, but the central government should strengthen the security system. "There is no need for war, stringent measures should be taken. The security system needs to be tightened. We are not in favour of war. There should be peace, people should have security, and the central government should take security measures...." he had said. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said he does not want to comment on what the Chief Minister has said, but noted that India has to be protected and that the Congress party has taken a stand on it. "Peace, unity and integrity of this nation are important. Everyone's life is also important. We are all Indians. Indian National Congress has taken a stand on this matter, we are all committed to it and we stand by it under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi," he said. The opposition BJP slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, with Pakistan media playing up his statement. Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka accused Siddaramaiah of acting like a "puppet" of an enemy nation, at a time when the country is facing a very sensitive situation, with the threat of war looming over the border. Addressing Siddaramaiah as "Pakistan Ratna", Ashoka chided him, saying, he has become world famous in Pakistan overnight due to your childish and absurd statements. "Congratulations to you. If you ever visit Pakistan again, you are guaranteed royal hospitality. It will not be surprising if the Pakistani government honours you with the highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, as a great peace ambassador who has advocated for Pakistan," he said in a post on 'X', with a clipping of a Pakistani news channel playing up Siddaramaiah's statement. The presence of people like Siddaramaiah in public life is the biggest tragedy of our country, Ashoka added. Condemning the CM's statement, veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa urged him to apologise to the people of the country and rectify his conduct. "At a time when we all have to stand united on the Kashmir issue, Siddaramaiah's statement is condemnable. I condemn his statement. Such a statement by a Chief Minister does not fit for the position he holds. He should apologise to the people of the country and should rectify his conduct," he said. State BJP President B Y Vijayendra said, people are aware that Siddaramaiah can stoop to any low for minority appeasement, but when it is a matter concerning the country, his point of view that there is no need for war is not right. "India has never declared war, but for the protection of the country, what needs to be done, the Prime Minister will decide by discussing with all Chief Ministers," he said, as he urged Siddaramaiah to apologise to the nation. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, the entire world is condemning the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, but it has become a habit for Congress leaders to talk lightly about the country without knowing the real situation. "The entire world is expressing condolences. Most countries are telling India to teach the terrorists a lesson in a way that they understand. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made a statement that we should not punish those involved in terrorist activities but strengthen our security. This is condemnable," he said in a post on 'X'. In-charge of BJP's National Information & Technology Department, Amit Malviya in his 'X' post said, "Congress rushes to Pakistan's rescue. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who owes his position to Muslim votes, is being quoted across Pakistan for suggesting that we focus on security measures in Kashmir instead of confronting Pakistan, despite them murdering Indian Hindus in cold blood, he added. As many as 537 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India through the Attari-Wagah border point in four days beginning April 24 as the exit deadline for the 12 categories of short-term visa holders of the neighbouring nation ended Sunday, officials said. IMAGE: People arrive at Attari border after the government of India decides to close the integrated checkpost Attari with immediate effect following the Pahalgam terror attack, in Amritsar. Photograph: Raminder Pal Singh/ANI Photo A total of 850 Indians, including 14 diplomats and officials, have returned from Pakistan through the international border crossing located in Punjab in the last four days. The 'Leave India' notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The officials told PTI that altogether 237 Pakistani nationals, including nine diplomats and officials, left India through the Attari-Wagah border post on Sunday, 81 left on April 26, 191 on April 25 and 28 on April 24. Similarly, 116 Indians, including one diplomat, returned from Pakistan on Sunday through the international land border crossing; 342 Indians, including 13 diplomats and officials, came back on April 26; 287 Indians crossed over on April 25; and 105 Indians returned on April 24, the officials said. Protocol Officer at the Attari border Arun Mahal told PTI that between April 24 and 27, a total of 537 Pakistani nationals crossed over to Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border while 850 Indians returned from Pakistan. Some of the Pakistanis might have left India through airports too, the officials said, pointing out that since India does not have direct air connectivity with Pakistan, they might have left for other countries. The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29. The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are -- visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim. Three Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi were declared Persona Non Grata on April 23 and they were given one week to leave India. Five support staff of these defence attaches were also asked to leave India. India has also withdrawn its defence attache from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. IMAGE: A Pakistani national reaches Attari border. Photograph: Raminder Pal Singh/ANI Photo However, those having long-term and diplomatic or official visas were exempted from the 'Leave-India' order. At the Attari border in Amritsar district, vehicles queued up as Pakistani nationals hurried to cross over to their country. Many Indians came to bid farewell to their relatives, the pain of separation evident on their faces. Sarita and her family had come to India for a relative's wedding set for April 29. "We came to India after nine years," she said. She, her brother and her father are Pakistanis while her mother is an Indian national. "They (the authorities at Attari) are telling us they will not allow my mother to go along. My parents got married in 1991. They are saying Indian passport holders will not be allowed," said Sarita, crying bitterly. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said all Pakistanis have been accounted for and arrangements are being made to deport the people whose visas have been revoked as per the Centre's directives. State minister Yogesh Kadam on Saturday said 1,000 Pakistani nationals with short-term visas have been asked to leave India. Around 5,050 Pakistani citizens have been living in Maharashtra and most of them are on long-term visas, the officials said. The Bihar government said all Pakistani nationals, who had been to the state in the recent past, left well ahead of the April 27 deadline. In the southern state of Telangana, police chief Jitender cited official records to say that 208 Pakistani nationals were staying in the state, mostly in Hyderabad. Of these, 156 held long-term visas, 13 short-term visas and 39 were with the travel document for medical and business purposes. There were 104 Pakistani nationals in the southern coastal state of Kerala, of whom 99 were on long-term visas, according to the officials. The remaining five, who were on either tourist or medical visas, have left the country. Central India's Madhya Pradesh had around 228 visiting Pakistani nationals, many of whom have already left the country, the officials said. Around 12 Pakistanis have been identified in Odisha and all of them have been asked to follow the deadline set for them to leave the country. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said three Pakistani nationals, who were in the state on short-term visas, have been asked to leave. Seven Pakistanis were in Gujarat on short-term visas -- five in Ahmedabad and one each in Bharuch and Vadodara. They have either left India or are leaving by Sunday, the officials said. Besides, 438 Pakistani nationals are in the western state on long-term visas and they include Hindus who have applied for Indian citizenship. In the north, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prashant Kumar said on Saturday that the process of sending back all categories of Pakistani citizens who have been ordered to leave India has been completed. One Pakistani national is still in the state and he will depart for Pakistan on April 30, the DGP said. As many as 19 Pakistani nationals staying in Bihar with short-term visas have left the country. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday called up the chief ministers of all states and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country. After Shah's telephonic conversations with the chief ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with the chief secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the deadline fixed. The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a raft of measures, including the cancellation of visas, against Islamabad, which hit back with a string of tit-for-tat measures. "He proudly sacrificed his life by identifying himself as a Hindu and saved the lives of many people," said Ashanya, the wife of Pahalgam terror attack victim Shubham Dwivedi, demanding the status of a martyr for him. IMAGE: Ashanya Dwivedi sits in disbelief and silence before the mortal remains of her husband, Shubam Dwivedi, who was killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, at Hathipur in Kanpur. Photograph: ANI Photo "The first bullet hit my husband and the terrorists took time asking whether we were Hindu or Muslim... In such a situation, many people got time to run and save their lives," Ashanya told reporters on Saturday. Shubham, a 31-year-old businessman from Kanpur, married Ashanya on February 12. He was among the 26 people, mostly tourists, who were killed in the April 22 attack at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam. He was cremated in his native village in Kanpur on Thursday. "I do not want anything else from the government except that Shubham should be given the status of a martyr. If the government accepts my wish, I will have a reason to live," Ashanya said. While she is still grieving her husband's loss, Ashanya is also angry. "Anyone who shoots by asking one's name and religion should be eliminated," she said. Recounting the events of April 22, Ashanya said when the terrorists approached her and Shubham and asked them about their religion, she thought the men were trying to prank the couple. "As soon as they came, one of them asked if we were Hindus or Muslims? I thought those people (terrorists) were playing a prank. I turned back, laughed and asked them what was going on. "Then they repeated their question and as soon as I replied that we were Hindus, a shot was fired and everything was over for me. Shubham's face was covered in blood. I could not understand what had happened," she said. She said she begged the terrorists to shoot her too but they refused, saying they were letting her live so that she could go and tell the government what they did. Shubham's father Sanjay Dwivedi rued the absence of security personnel in the area and claimed that the Army personnel took control of the area after about an hour. Tamil Nadu Ministers V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy have resigned from the M K Stalin-led state cabinet and the Governor has accepted the same, the Raj Bhavan said on Sunday. IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji. Photograph: @V_Senthilbalaji/X Governor R N Ravi has approved Chief Minister Stalin's recommendation to accept their resignation, a Raj Bhavan communique said. Senthil Balaji, facing ED probe, had been asked by the Supreme Court on Wednesday to make a choice "between post and freedom" as it warned him of cancelling bail if he did not step down as minister. Ponmudy had courted a major controversy over his Shaivite-Vaishnavite remarks made in the context of a sex worker, drawing widespread criticism, even as the Madras High Court later initiated proceedings on its own on the matter. Though he had been removed from a key party post, there were demands from opposition parties and other quarters, for his ouster from the cabinet. Transport Minister S S Sivasankar will handle Electricity portfolio, held by Senthil Balaji. Further, Housing Minister S Muthusamy has been allotted Excise and Prohibition, also held by Senthil Balaji. R S Rajakannappan has been allotted Ponmudy's Forests and Khadi, in addition to his existing Milk and Dairy Development portfolio, the release said. Further, the Governor has accepted the CM's recommendation to include Padmanabhapuram MLA T Mano Thangaraj in the cabinet, it said. He was dropped in an earlier rejig of the cabinet. The swearing-in of the minister designate will be held at 6 PM on Monday, it added. With speculations about rapprochement between Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray gathering steam, leaders of the Shiv Sena-UBT and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have said that though it is a promising prospect, personal ties and organisational synergy are hurdles that need to be overcome. Photograph: Sahil Salvi for Rediff.com IMAGE: The Thackeray cousins reunion buzz has also come at a time when both parties have reached a nadir with regard to their electoral performance and are going through their toughest political phase. The Thackeray cousins have sparked a buzz about a possible reconciliation, with statements indicating they could ignore "trivial issues" and join hands nearly two decades after they parted ways. While MNS chief Raj Thackeray has said uniting in the interests of Marathi manoos is not difficult, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that he was ready to put aside trivial fights, provided those working against the state's interests were not entertained. The Sena-UBT on Saturday put up a cryptic post on its social media handles, saying, "Time has come to unite for the sake of Mumbai and Maharashtra. Shivsainiks are ready for the protection of Marathi asmita (pride)." The cousins are currently abroad. Raj is expected to return in the last week of April, and Uddhav in the first week of May. The reunion buzz has also come at a time when both parties have reached a nadir with regard to their electoral performance and are going through their toughest political phase. The Sena-UBT won 20 seats, while the MNS drew a blank in the 2024 assembly polls. Leaders of both parties have, however, said that though Uddhav's response to Raj's call may have sparked speculation, it is easier said than done. A Sena-UBT leader said both cousins are of different temperaments. The past baggage over more than two decades has resulted in mistrust towards each other -- Raj had quit the Shiv Sena in 2005 and blamed Uddhav for it. He has made it clear several times that he could work under no one but Bal Thackeray. Last week, Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut said family relations are not severed because of politics. But personal ties are not just restricted to two individuals, it is also about their immediate families, especially the sons of both the cousins -- Aaditya (Uddhav) and Amit (Raj) -- who are being groomed to helm the organisation eventually. This will be different, unlike the alliance between the undivided Shiv Sena, Congress and the undivided NCP in 2019, said Prakash Akolkar, the author of Jai Maharashtra, a book on the history of Shiv Sena. "The fight between Uddhav and Raj is personal and a family feud, where both brothers are vying for the family assets. The assets are not always monetary. Here, the asset is Bal Thackeray's legacy," Akolkar said. He said Bal Thackeray's wife Meena was the family's matriarch and played a critical role in the party behind the scenes. "Now, the spouses (of Uddhav and Raj) are matriarchs of their parties and will play a similar role if there is any possibility of reconciliation," Akolkar added. Maharashtra Minister and BJP leader Nitesh Rane had last week questioned if Uddhav Thackeray had consulted his wife Rashmi before responding to Raj's statement that triggered speculation of an alliance. A Sena-UBT leader acknowledged that coming together of the two parties is more difficult than it appears. The prospect of the two cousins coming together has enthused supporters of both parties, but it might not be the case with a section of cadres and party leaders. "When we discuss seat-sharing agreements in Mumbai, how will the seats be divided? How will the winnable and non-winnable seats be divided? What about areas like Dadar and Worli, where both parties have a strong base? What about other cities where Sena-UBT and MNS have their strength," an MNS leader said. He also raised the question of ideologies. While Raj is fashioning himself into a Marathi-Hindutva leader, Uddhav has focused on making the party more inclusive, especially warming up to the Muslim community. "If Uddhav has asked us to sever ties with the BJP, will he do the same with the Congress?" asked the MNS leader. Last week, MNS spokesperson and party's Mumbai president Sandeep Deshpande asked if Uddhav would apologise to 17,000 MNS activists who were slapped with police cases for protesting against loudspeakers outside mosques when he was the chief minister. Julia Meeker, a third-grader at Wardsboro Elementary School, tries on a new pair of shoes that was donated by the Stratton Foundation on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Aimee Parnell has been on the job at the Waypoint Center for about a month, and her enthusiasm as the new executive director of the Great Fall Pakistani security forces said they killed dozens of militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan, even as its troops separately continued to exchange gunfire with the India military near Kashmir amid skyrocketing tensions in the region. Islamabad did not directly blame India for the incursion of militants from Afghanistan, but it said the fighters had been sent to carry out terrorist attacks by their "foreign masters." Some Pakistani officials suggested, without providing evidence, that nuclear-rival India encouraged the insurgents' actions to divert the attention of Pakistan's military from the brewing crisis in Kashmir. "Such actions by [the insurgents], at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly implies on whose cues [the fighters are] operating," the Pakistani Army said in a statement. The military said it killed 71insurgents entering from Afghanistan on April 27 and claimed that intelligence reports indicated the militants were "Khwarij" -- a phrase the government uses for Tehrik-e Taliban, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban. "On the nights of April 25-26 and 26-27, movement of a large group of Khwarij, who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was detected by the security forces in general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district," the military said. "Own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate; A large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was also recovered." Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the incident represented the largest number of "terrorists" killed in a single day. "We had information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible" to undertake attacks. Reuters quoted local police officials on April 28 as saying security forces had detained around 500 people for questioning after a search of some 1,000 houses and forests in a hunt for militants in Indian Kashmir. What's Behind The New India-Pakistan Escalation? Tensions have soared in the region between Pakistan and its bitter rival and neighbor India, both nuclear-armed nations. The latest flareup occurred on April 22 when an attack killed mostly Indian nationals in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, but the Pakistani government denies it was behind the attack that killed 26 civilians. New Delhi and Islamabad have since carried out tit-for-tat punishments following the incident, including downgrading diplomatic and trade ties, closing the main border crossing, and revoking visas for each other's nationals. On April 27, Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire near Kashmir's Line of Control for a third night in a row. The Pakistani government has said it would consider it "an act of war" if India followed through on a threat to block the flow of crucial rivers as punishment for the deadly incident. The United States on April 27 said it was in touch with India and Pakistan and urged them to seek a "responsible solution" to the crisis. "This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters. In comments to foreign media, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar claimed that India blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistan's security forces from their focus on the tensions on its western borders. He added that Pakistan had "undeniable evidence" of India's support for the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan. India has denied the charges. Balochistan has been the site of an insurgency, with separatists seeking independence from Pakistan. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP The Russian military intelligence agency (GRU) oversaw the recruitment of prisoners into assault units known as "Storm Z." It also funded the units and collected of information about casualties, RFE/RL's Systema reports in its investigative documentary The Slaughter Of Ghosts: How Russian Prisoners Fight In Ukraine. The project to recruit prisoners for the war in Ukraine began in the summer of 2022 -- that's when the private mercenary organization Wagner Group started enlisting inmates into its ranks. But by February 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry had become the sole entity responsible for bringing convicts to the front lines. Part of the operational management of Storm Z was handled by units within Russia's Southern Military District. Two military units from the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army, along with the Training and Deployment Center for Assault and Reinforcement Units, were responsible for training the fighters and managing documentation, including financial records. The center, which developed the tactics used by the convict assault units, was created within the Unified Group of Forces, which serves as the command hub for Russias war in Ukraine. It was initially led by General Sergey Surovikin and is now headed by Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. Another command center for Storm Z is the GRU. Systema has obtained documents indicating that the contracts signed by prisoners carry a special classification of secrecy and are stored in a special GRU archive. Information about deceased prisoners is sent by the leadership of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army via secure mail to the intelligence office, the Main Directorate of the General Staff (GU GS, the modern designation for the GRU). "Financial support and the processing of various payments to volunteers of the [Z] assault company are entrusted to the Moscow-based military unit 45807," one of the documents, signed by Colonel Sergey Ivanov of the 8th army, states. The address of this military unit is also given: Moscow, Khoroshevskoye Highway, 76b. This is the same address as the headquarters of the GRU, and the commander of Unit 45807 is Igor Kostyukov, who is head of the GRU. The Storm Z project was officially launched by an order from the Chief of the General Staff on February 24, 2023, according to Systema's documentary. At the same time, the Defense Ministry and the GRU merged various disparate mercenary formations into a single structure: the Volunteer Corps. This corps included units where fighters served under the status of so-called volunteers, such as some BARS units (Combat Army Reserve of the Country) and about a dozen detachments from the Redut private mercenary company. Former prisoners from Storm Z fought in Ukraine under the same volunteer status, after signing so-called volunteer contracts. The contracts had several restrictions; for example, the prisoners could not terminate their contracts at will, they received lower salaries, and had fewer benefits. In February 2023, the GRU secured its role as the overseer of virtually all "volunteer" units, and Storm Z, apparently, was no exception. What else is the Russian government hiding about the military service of prisoners? Watch the latest investigative documentary by RFE/RL's Systema with English subtitles. Russia has confirmed for the first time that it deployed North Korean soldiers in the battle to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region following Kyiv's shock incursion into the border area last year. In a statement on April 26, the Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged the "significant contribution" of North Korean soldiers to Moscow's war efforts. Hours later, Pyongyang also confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia on the orders of leader Kim Jong Un. Following the acknowledgments, the US State Department said it was concerned by North Korea's direct involvement in Russia's war. "We continue to be concerned by [North Korea's] direct involvement in the war. [North Korea's] military deployment to Russia and any support provided by the Russian Federation to [North Korea] in return must end," a State Department spokesperson said in an e-mail to Reuters. Russia's Foreign Ministry, citing the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Russia and North Korea from December 4, 2024, said that "a new page has been written in the glorious annals of the military brotherhood of the Russian and Korean peoples." "The fighters of the Korean People's Army...fought shoulder to shoulder, in the same trench, and shed blood with our soldiers and officers in the Kursk region and made a significant contribution to the liberation of Russian land from enemy occupiers." General Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russias general staff, told President Vladimir Putin in a video conference that North Korean soldiers had made a significant contribution to the "liberation" of the region from Ukrainian soldiers. The comments confirmed what Ukrainian and Western officials have long said: that Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. US officials said more than 11,000 North Korean soldiers participated in the fight and had suffered massive losses. Gerasimov said the Korean mission was in line with the partnership agreement between the two countries. "The soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army who fought shoulder to shoulder with Russian soldiers in repelling the Ukrainian invasion showed high professionalism, bravery, courage, and heroism in battle," Gerasimov told Putin. Russia has claimed to have pushed Ukrainian forces out of most of Kursk, although Kyiv has said its forces are holding on in the Russian region. In late March, North Korean leader Kim paraded new military drones amid reports that he has sent an additional 3,000 troops to help Russia in its war on Ukraine. Pyongyang released images on March 27 showing Kim inspecting tests of reconnaissance and attack drones at an undisclosed location. There has been international concern that Russia is providing North Korea with drone technology in return for substantial military aid. The same day Kim inspected the new drones, South Koreas publicly owned Yonhap news agency cited the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul as saying that "it appears that some 3,000 or more [North Korean troop] have been additionally dispatched [to Russia] in January and February." The reported new troop deployment follows an earlier 11,000-strong contingent Pyongyang sent that has seen action in Russia's Kursk region. In its statement early on April 28, North Korea said it would "faithfully implement" its agreement with Russia, according to state-run KCNA news agency. It added that North Korean troops had made an "important contribution to the liberation" of territory occupied by Ukrainian forces. "We can say that Russia is already becoming dependent on North Korea in many ways, not only in terms of shells, but also in terms of other weapons...as well as in terms of soldiers," Ukrainian analyst Oleh Saakyan told RFE/RLs Current Time. There has been a substantial warming in relations between Moscow and Pyongyang since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As well as sending troops, North Korea has also sent short-range missiles, self-propelled howitzers and rocket launchers, according to the South Korean military. With reporting by Reuters and AP Thoughts of the resignation of the "toxic" head of the European Commission began to slip in Brussels. Senior EU officials have increasingly called the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, "toxic." They say that her departure would help to "unblock" many processes in the association. "The EU is in a deplorably bad state. In any normal state, one would wonder if its leadership is still appropriate. But the EU is not a state, and certainly not a normal one. Nevertheless, it is said in diplomatic circles that senior EU officials increasingly consider von der Leyen toxic. Resignation could unlock a lot," the Swiss newspaper Die Weltwoche writes, citing EU diplomatic circles. photo: IMAGO/Andrea Calandra/Globallookpress The article says that the political crisis in the European Union does not speak at all in favor of von der Leyen's political and diplomatic talents. "In the west there is a trade dispute with the United States, in the east there is a conflict in Ukraine and an aggravation of relations with Russia, besides, the confrontation with China, which is not very encouraging for the continent, continues," the author of the article explained. Earlier it was reported that Cypriot journalist Alex Christoforou criticized a statement by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in which she claimed that Russia was allegedly trying to exploit the EU's dependence on gas. President Donald Trump said US commercial and military vessels should be able to travel without charge through the Panama and Suez Canals, two of the worlds most important waterway shortcuts. "American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on April 26. "Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America. Ive asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!" The remarks are the latest by the US leader regarding greater access -- or ownership -- of key global assets. Earlier, he spoke of making Canada the 51st US state, annexing Greenland, controlling the Gaza Strip, and gaining ownership of Ukraines rare-earth minerals. The Panama Canal was built by the United States from 1904-14, with thousands of local workers dying during construction. The waterway greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Built by French engineers in the 19th century, the Suez Canal has been controlled by the Egyptian government. The Panama Canal and surrounding zone remained under US control until they were handed back to Panama in 1999 following a treaty signed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Trump recently won a major concession from Panama as he demanded more US influence over the canal -- including allowing the US military to station troops around the waterway, alongside Panamanian forces, to help protect its sovereignty. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to "take back" the canal, which he claims is being controlled by China. Prior to taking office in January, Trump told reporters he would not rule out using economic or military pressure to regain control. While Trump has often spoken of his interest in the Panama Canal, his latest remarks on the Suez appear to be a new focus. Egypt controls the canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. it accounted for some 10 percent of global maritime trade before Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels began attacking shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "closer" as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for greater international pressure on the Kremlin following the latest wave of attacks along the front line. "They [Russia and Ukraine] are closer in general than they have been anytime in the last three years, but it's still not there," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News on April 27. "We have made real progress, but those last couple of steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon," he said, adding this would be a "very critical week" in the negotiation process. US President Donald Trump has made ending the 38-month war a top priority since taking office nearly 100 days ago, calling last month for an immediate and full cease-fire. While Zelenskyy has agreed to Trump's proposal, his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, has continued to negotiate details of a cease-fire with Washington. Experts say Putin is dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of the goal of fully capturing the four regions of eastern Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed in 2022: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson. Russian troops launched almost 70 attacks along the 1,000-kilometer-long front on April 27, Zelenskyy said in a post on X as he called on the West to take tougher measures against the Kremlin. "The situation on the front line and the real activity of the Russian Army prove that the current global pressure on Russia is insufficient to bring this war to an end. Soon, it will be 50 days since Russia began ignoring [Trump's] proposal for a full and unconditional cease-fire -- a proposal Ukraine accepted back on March 11. More tangible pressure on Russia is needed to create more opportunities for real diplomacy," he said. The Ukrainian leader also said his forces were continuing to fight in the Russian region of Kursk, contradicting Moscow's claims earlier in the day that it had driven Ukrainian troops from its territory. Trump And Zelenskyy Meet At The Vatican The day before, Trump met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican in Rome, where both were attending funeral services for Pope Francis, who died Easter Monday at the age of 88. The April 26 meeting, which lasted about 15 minutes, was their first since Trump kicked Zelenskyy out of the Oval Office in February following a public spat over peace talks that shocked allies. Steven Cheung, the White House's communications director, said Trump and Zelenskyy "had a very productive discussion." Zelenskyy called it a "very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results," he added. Trump And Zelenskyy Attend Pope's Funeral, Speak Privately No media source currently available 0:00 0:00:41 0:00 John Bolton, Trump's former national-security adviser during his first term and a staunch critic of the president, told CNN the meeting was "a significant step back toward sensible conversation between the two leaders." Trump and Zelenskyy also met with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the funeral. Macron's office described the exchanges between leaders as "positive" and said he later met separately with Zelenskyy. Starmer's office said he and Zelenskyy had "discussed positive progress made in recent days to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine." Trump's Rare Critique Of Putin Following the meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump made a rare critique of Putin, denouncing Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine, which have killed dozens of civilians over the past two weeks. "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions'?," he wrote in the post later on April 26. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow only targets "military goals or civilian sites used by the [Ukrainian] military," insinuating that Ukraine is placing forces, weapons, or command and control nodes around apartment and commercial buildings. But Trump's critique of Putin also came shortly after he made his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to secure a peace deal. He said in a Time magazine interview published on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia." Bolton said in the CNN interview that a permanent peace deal is "a long way away" because the terms that Trump is backing essentially "amounts to surrender for Ukraine." Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement. Rubio reiterated in the NBC interview that Russia would have to make concessions too, but the Trump administration has not outlined any to date. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want, and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didnt, Rubio said. Thats how you end wars, and thats what were trying to achieve here so more people wont die. Rubio appeared to play down the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia to force Moscow to agree to a peace deal. "The minute you start doing that kind of stuff, youre walking away from it -- youve now doomed yourself to another two years of war, and we dont want to see it happen...No one else is talking to both sides but us. Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv will not recognize Russian sovereignty of its territory, but the Ukrainian leader is in a tough position. His country is heavily dependent on US military aid, especially air defense, rocket launches, and ammunition. Current US military aid approved in 2024 may run out this summer and it is unclear whether the Trump administration will approve additional weapons delivers should the war still be in progress. Trump has repeatedly criticized the amount of aid the United States has given to Ukraine and has demanded Washington be reimbursed for its support. The US Government Accountability Office has estimated US aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion at more than $170 billion. Trump wants Ukraine to give the United States access to its critical minerals and natural resources as a form of compensation. Washington and Kyiv have been in talks for months about the parameters of a deal but have yet to reach an agreement. Trump on April 25 criticized Zelenskyy for the delay, saying the deal was "at least three weeks late." Rubio did not say whether he expects the United States and Ukraine to sign the deal during this "very critical" week. Speaking to Fox News on April 27, White House national-security adviser Mike Waltz suggested the sides could be close to finalizing a minerals deal. "The Ukraine deal is going to get done, he said. "The negotiators were working hard over the weekend. That is first and foremost...on the president's mind. It's going to get done. The president is determined to make it so," he added. With reporting by AP and Reuters James Cox Conor McGregor has "completely adopted American far-right messaging" with his anti-immigration rhetoric, according to an expert in global extremism. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (Gpahe) "centres its work on countering the threat from the far-right while emphasising human rights and progressive values". Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism co-founder and president Wendy Via said political leaders would be foolish to dismiss McGregor just because his presidential bid looks unlikely. Ms Via said his recent interview with former Fox News broadcaster Tucker Carlson hit a number of far-right talking points, such as adopting seemingly religious themes and dehumanising migrants. "I don't know if it's permanent, but during that interview he seemed to be moderating a little bit saying I'm the good guy, I just want to protect my family and my country... I want to be led by God. I was thinking ok Conor, we'll see. "It seems to me that he is completely adopting the American far-right messaging. "Its this is what's right and what's good for our people. He's setting himself up to be a bit of a hero, which is what a lot of far-right figures do, especially political figures. "I know that McGregor doesn't have any political power right now. "The people who adopt this far-right messaging, their ability to prey on people, prey on their fears, their economic fears, their safety fears, because immigrants are criminals', as they say." 'Mouthpiece' While far-right groups in Ireland are divided and not organised, Ms Via said figures like McGregor often become a "mouthpiece" for their movements. This was evident in the gathering in McGregor's Black Forge Inn pub in Crumlin to welcome Carlson, which included figures from different right wing groups. "He's a mouthpiece He is able to influence voters. Hes also able to influence the discourse. He cant pull the conversation to the right alone but he has a huge following on X and he tries to use that. "Presenting himself as the de facto far-right leader, whether he gets in office or not, he is influencing the conversation, and in a way that does not solve a problem. It just creates fear." McGregor made a number of false claims in the interview with Carlson. One of those concerned hotels in Co Wexford, with McGregor claiming there were none left in the county because they had all been converted into international protection accommodation. This is untrue, there are over 100 hotels in the county. Ms Via this is a typical example of the falsehoods around migration that Carlson likes to spread on his platform. "Tucker Carlsons following is primarily American, and Russian for that matter. Conor McGregor has "completely adopted American far-right messaging" according to Wendy Via. "But when Conor McGregor gets on there and says things like the hotels are gone, or conversely the migrants are staying in the nicest hotels or they're getting the best apartments, that kind of thing, then the viewers or listeners just say OK, well, it's becoming global. "Tucker Carlson is a platform for this disinformation, he of course he spreads it. They present it as migrants are taking something from us. "They're taking something that is rightfully yours away, and everybody who is helping them doesn't care about you. "I don't think McGregor's going to get elected. That could change. Never say never. But I do think that he is going to influence the conversation. "Not just Trump, in the United States, we have many, many political figures, where people say I'm not endorsing him as a person or I'm not endorsing everything he says, but we do need to look at this. "In the debate it can move from how many migrants we're taking in to the dehumanisation of people." Ms Via said there is a danger in conflating far-right and extreme ideas with conservative policies. She said the Government should not presume people will not listen to figures like McGregor, despite the fact he does not represent Irish people as he claimed to during his White House meeting with US president Donald Trump on St Patrick's Day. Conor McGregor speaks with reporters alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images "If I could give advice to every country which is experiencing a shift to the far-right it is don't ignore what is on the surface or what a person with any kind of common sense would say is simply ridiculous. Or that one person like McGregor, nobody is going to take them seriously. "We have Trump not once, but twice, and all of the Republican Party behind it. And what you end up with is a situation where the party is being somewhat held hostage by Trump because I do not believe that every Republican is a fringe figure, but they're not able to step out now. What Conor McGregor says is out there then, even if its not true. The more controversial the content, the faster it spreads. "I mean that's the playbook, it's to have these facts and get somebody with a large following and in this case, Tucker Carlson. A lot of people think of him as a very accomplished journalist, even though many dont, he has a big name and if he backs you, he'll share your false claims. What Conor McGregor says is out there then, even if its not true. The more controversial the content, the faster it spreads. "It is a balance. You don't want to give him a platform. You can dispute the claims without saying well, Conor McGregor is going around saying this. "Instead you can say this has been claimed, here are the real facts and figures. "What we should not do is say to a person who has questions that you're being hysterical, worried over nothing. "Or to claim a government policy on migration is perfect, instead point to where you want to improve it. "Of course McGregor is different than Trump. I think that one thing we can take away is that is that personalities like these can get into power." Ms Via added: "Carlson can't get the same kind of interview as he used to get, but he also has a mission to spread the type of message McGregor is sharing. He wants there to be more far-right people in power. He wants to be more far-right policies. He wants there to be Christian overtones to all of it. He wants all of that. And McGregor brings an audience of men, and many young men." Eva Osborne A wide range of stories feature on the front pages of Irish newspapers on Sunday. Many include the funeral of Pope Francis, which took place on Saturday. The Sunday Independent reports on the funeral of Pope Francis, which was attended by world leaders, royalty and thousands of faithful in Rome. Jerome Kavanagh, who fatally cut five-year-old Ciaran Malones throat, was confronted by the Sunday World. Kavanagh was released from Shelton Abbey Open Prison in Wicklow last week after spending more than three decades behind bars. The Pope's funeral takes centre stage on the front page of The Irish Mail on Sunday. The Irish Sunday Mirror reports on peace talks between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after they met in Vatican City on the sidelines of Pope Franciss funeral. Businesses are to get more time to prepare for the introduction of auto-enrolment pensions for 811,000 workers as cabinet will delay the move until 2026, according to the Business Post. The Sunday Times also covers Trump and Zelensky's peace talks as the Pope was laid to rest. The paper also reports on Mary McAleese saying only "fake theology" bans women from being priests. Traditional music band Shaskeen have been a cornerstone of Irish traditional music and song for over half a century and show no signs of slowing down ahead of their appearance in the Coleman Music Centre, Gurteen, County Sligo on Saturday, May 10th at 8 p.m... Shaskeen have roots in London having been founded in the late 1960s the golden age of the Sunday morning seisiuns in the city. Tom Cussen played his banjo at The Archway Tavern in Holloway Road, which led to friendships with other musicians and the creation of the ceili band, Shaskeen. On his return to Ireland in the 1970s, Tom continued to play in trad circles, reconnected with old friends and made many new ones over the past 55 years. Eamonn Cotter, from Kilmaley in County Clare comes from a fine musical family. He plays flute and tin whistle and also a master teacher of these instruments.. Patsy McDonagh who plays accordion, has been playing in the band for the last 28 years. He comes from Ros an Mhil in the Connemara Gaeltacht. Deirdre Scanlan is originally from West Limerick but now residing in County Clare. From a young age Deirdre was very involved in the traditional music scene. David Sanders originally from Kilnaboy, is now living in Ennis in County Clare. David purchased his first fiddle at the age of nine. He has played and or recorded with varying bands through the years. Alan Wallace, rom Kinvara, County Galway is a superb guitarist with many years of accompanying top class musicians from the traditional Irish music scene as well as other genres of music. Mary Liddy, originally from Newmarket on Fergus and now living in Ennis, comes from a traditional Irish musical family. John Donnellan, from Kilmaine, a small village on the Mayo/Galway border, was surrounded by traditional Irish music at an early age. His uncle James Walsh taught him his first tune on the melodeon at the age of 8 and remains an influence on his style of music. Tickets for the Gurteen concert are 20. To book call: 071 9182599 or online www.colemanirishmusic.com Interview: Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 debuts in Mongolia Xinhua) 10:35, April 27, 2025 ULAN BATOR, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2, the highest-grossing animated film of all time, premiered Friday morning in Ulan Bator, Mongolia's capital. The premiere, held in the Urgoo Cinema 3 and IMAX at Shangri-La Center, attracted a crowd of moviegoers from Mongolia and China. Addressing the event, Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Shen Minjuan pointed out that the phenomenal popularity of "Nezha 2" lies in its perfect integration of animation technology and traditional culture, such as 3D ink scenes, cyberpunk heaven, Sanxingdui bronzes, and the familiar humming and horse-head fiddles. These innovative expressions of traditional culture are very amzing and resonating, Shen said. "After a long wait, 'Nezha 2' has finally been released in Mongolia. What everyone sees through this film is not just a Chinese myth, but also a spirit of perseverance and indomitable spirit", the ambassador noted. Shen emphasized in an interview with Xinhua that the classic line in the movie "My fate is determined by me, not by God" is in line with the Mongolian people's saying "Man conquers nature" on a spiritual level. This spirit transcends language and deeply touches everyone. "I believe that this will also become an important event in the field of cultural exchanges between China and Mongolia," she added. After watching the movie, the audience said that the action scenes and special effects of this animated film were excellent, the scenes were breathtaking, and the pictures were impressive. Galsan Batsukh, head of the Mongolia-China Friendship Association and former Mongolian ambassador to China, said that the release in Mongolia of Nezha 2, which came as a surprise to the world, is not only an important milestone in the history of cultural exchanges between Mongolia and China, but also a cultural bridge. "This cultural bridge will continue to expand and strengthen, and play an important role in helping the people of Mongolia and China to understand each other's history and culture," he added. Pan Yao, a Chinese volunteer teacher, told Xinhua that he didn't go home during the Chinese New Year because of work. "I am deeply touched by the persistence of family and friendship, and I believe that such a cultural core will definitely bring laughter and tears to Mongolian friends." Moreover, as an international Chinese education volunteer, Pan believes that traditional Chinese stories are injected with new-era cores and become popular at home and abroad. Chimedregzen Sainbileg, a Mongolian citizen who brought her children to watch the movie, said that she saw the promotional video when she took her children to travel to China not long ago. When they heard it would be released in Mongolia, the children were very excited and couldn't wait for this day. Overall, this is an imaginative and educational animation masterpiece, Sainbileg said. According to the Urgoo Cinema3 staff, the movie theater has received many reservations since the official trailer for Nezha 2 was released. The current ticket price is 17,000 Mongolian tugriks (about five U.S. dollars). On the same day, the Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha was officially released in Mongolian with English subtitles across selected major theaters in Mongolia. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Frightened by the thought of being deported to El Salvador, Kiran Siddapura Manjunatha fled his North Tonawanda home earlier this month for his native India after the Department of Homeland Security terminated his student immigration status in a database. The department reversed course on Friday, seemingly clearing the way for his return. Justice Department lawyers told judges in Washington, Rochester and elsewhere that immigration officials would restore permission for thousands of international students like Manjunatha a University at Buffalo graduate in a post-degree program to legally study at universities and work in training programs in the United States. Theyre very relieved that it seems to be over and theyre being reinstated, but I think theyre also very traumatized by whats happened, said New York immigration lawyer Paul J. ODwyer. Even with the reprieve, a degree of anxiety and uncertainty remains for the two UB students and three Rochester Institute of Technology students who sued in federal court when their academic careers were thrown into turmoil earlier this month. Manjunatha, who graduated in 2023 from UB with a masters degree in financial mathematics, had maintained his legal status in this country by working for Citibank in a post-degree training program. He sued in U.S. District Court in Buffalo after his online student-visa record was terminated earlier this month from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a federal student database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An active record on SEVIS serves as proof of a students legal status to remain in the country. Kirans SEVIS has not been reinstated at this time, but we expect that to occur, said Jesse Bless, his lawyer. We also hope that the State Department will facilitate his swift return. UB graduate's lawsuit ties revoked student visa to a traffic stop in 2021 A University at Buffalo graduate from India whose student visa was revoked earlier this month by the U.S. State Department filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in Buffalo seeking to return to his post-graduate training program. Federal lawsuits followed by UB and RIT students from China, India and Bangladesh all of whom had some brush with the law in the United States, from alcohol-related arrests to driving with suspended or invalid drivers licenses. They will now wait for the government to unveil its new policy for dealing with foreign students who have had some contact with law enforcement here. The governments reversal came after federal judges across the country ruled favorably for students, with some ordering the government to restore students records in SEVIS. That did not happen here, although Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford in Rochester entered a partial restraining order prohibiting the government from removing the RIT students from the United States or the courts jurisdiction. During a court proceeding last week, Wolford said she reviewed many similar cases across the nation and could not find a district court that found the termination of the student statuses lawful. What the government did seems to have been very sloppy, and seems to have been with no recognition of what the legal requirements were to revoke the student status to be here in the United States, Wolford said. Terror and fear ODwyer, the New York immigration lawyer who represents a post-doctorate UB student, sought an emergency temporary restraining order during an hourlong oral argument Friday morning before U.S. District Judge Meredith A. Vacca in Rochester. Two hours after the court proceeding ended, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Khalil informed Vacca by letter that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken a new position and was reinstating all of the students whose status had been terminated, at least for now. Everybodys very relieved, ODwyer told The Buffalo News after learning of the governments reversal. But theyre also very angry theyve had to go through a couple of weeks of terror and fear and turmoil, not knowing what was going to happen. Some students still may not know what will happen, especially for those who lost jobs or left the country after their visas were revoked. Both UB students had their visas revoked. Manjunatha needs a new one to return to the United States. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said all visa revocations are still in effect, according to the Washington Post. We have not reversed course on a single visa revocation. What we did is restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked, she said. Meanwhile, some students elsewhere had their SEVIS status restored Friday even though their visas were revoked. ODwyers client, who was identified in the lawsuit only by his initials, P.V., is still afraid to leave his apartment. ODwyer told Vacca he was willing to put on hold his request for a temporary restraining order seeking reinstatement of SEVIS and the visa for the student, given that request will likely be moot within a few days if Homeland Security does what it said it would. But ODwyer still wants Vacca to issue an order restraining the government from arresting and detaining P.V. or transferring him out of the courts jurisdiction. He is still at risk of arrest and detention, and as he has stated to me again this afternoon, (he) has been and continues to be fearful of even leaving his apartment while his status remains unresolved, ODwyer told the judge. Lawsuits prompted change Since Jan. 20, the SEVIS records for some 4,700 international students had been terminated, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. UB previously confirmed that 13 of its students had their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System unexpectedly terminated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Student and Exchange Visitor Program. The terminations prompted more than 100 lawsuits across the country, with judges in at least half of the cases issuing restraining orders against the Trump administration while others considered doing so. None of these kids wanted to sue, Bless told The News. But they were terrified, and some parents spent their entire life savings sending their children to these colleges, he said. Bless called the termination of Manjunathas SEVIS status unlawful. My position has been validated across the country, and every court that has looked at it said, this isnt right, Bless told The News. The wave of lawsuits led to the Department of Homeland Securitys decision to restore the SEVIS records and pause before taking further actions against students, lawyers said. I think without these lawsuits, they would never have changed their position, ODwyer told The News. Many of the international students have been in the United States for years, meeting academic goal posts and keeping up their grades to remain, he said. Theyve worked very hard to do that, and a lot of them have ... very good education-to-career pathways that theyve been pursuing, he said. And then suddenly all of that was in jeopardy. Depending on a visa Fridays sudden shift to restore records in the federal database that shows proof of students legal status does not mean the government will abandon its effort altogether. But for now, theres a pause. Khalils letter to the federal judge in Rochester said ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until that policy is put in place, thousands of students in the U.S. on F-1 student visas but whose online records were terminated will have them restored. ICE still maintains the authority to terminate a SEVIS record for other reasons, such as if a student fails to maintain his or her nonimmigrant status after the record is reactivated or engages in other unlawful activity that would render him or her removable from the U.S., according to Khalils letter. Each of the five students in Western New York had some contact with law enforcement before their legal status was canceled. Manjunatha was cited for driving with an invalid license. The other UB student, P.V., a 31-year-old from India, entered the United States in 2016 and been in a post-degree program after earning a masters degree and doctorate in electrochemistry. He had been working on a Department of Defense-funded project in association with Walter Reed Hospital on stimulating electrochemical changes around implant and prosthetic devices to prevent and treat bacterial infections. He pleaded guilty to committing two alcohol-related driving offenses in the U.S. when he was 24 years old. I have no family in the U.S., and my family in India cannot support me, he said in a court filing. I depend on my F-1 status for both legal status in the U.S. as well as for income. Without it, I have no way to support myself. April 27, 2025 A roundup of domestic and international news Newsflash Newsroom, 27.04.2025, 13:49 Pope. The tomb of Pope Francis in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore has been opened to the public, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pay their respects to the former pontiff who died on Monday, the second day of Easter, at the age of 88. Pope Francis was buried on Saturday after a mass attended by 250,000 people in St. Peters Square and a funeral procession through central Rome to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. He is the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in more than 120 years. A simple inscription with the name Franciscus appears on the slab covering the tomb made of marble from Liguria, the region where the Popes family emigrated to Argentina. Many of those who paid their last respects celebrated his dedication to peace, as well as to protecting the poor and the marginalized. Hundreds of thousands of people took part in Saturdays funeral, which marked the beginning of a nine-day mourning period, at the end of which the Conclave of Cardinals will be convened to elect a successor at the helm of the Catholic Church. Ukraine. Russias continued missile attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine suggest that Vladimir Putin may not want to stop the war, US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, in a message in which he threatens Russia with new sanctions, AFP reports. The message was posted on the day the White House leader had a brief meeting in Rome with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the sidelines of Pope Francis funeral. I hope we will achieve results on everything we discussed: protecting the lives of our people, a complete and unconditional ceasefire, reliable and lasting peace that will prevent the outbreak of a new war, Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X. Earlier on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had told President Donald Trumps envoy, Steve Witkoff, during their meeting at the Kremlin on Friday that he was ready to negotiate an end to the conflict in Ukraine without any preconditions. Trump. US President Donald Trump will end his first 100 days in the White House on April 29, after his inauguration on January 20 as the 47th president of the United States. In his first 100 days in office, Donald Trump has issued 210 executive orders and actions on the federal government, the economy, climate change and energy, immigration and national security. According to opinion polls cited by CNN, 71% of Americans believe that Donald Trump has behaved exactly as they expected, while 28% say that he has not behaved as they expected. Also, 39% of respondents have a favorable opinion of Donald Trumps leadership, while 59% of Americans are not satisfied with the way he has exercised his mandate as president of the United States. On the occasion of his 100th day in office, President Trump will make an unofficial trip during which he will present his presidential agenda, the White House says. Commemoration. The commemorative march dedicated to the Romanian heroes who fell on the Western Front during World War II ended in Brno, with a ceremony dedicated to the Romanian soldiers who fell in the Czech Republic. In April 1945, during the offensive to liberate Czechoslovakia, the Romanian Army played a crucial role in the area of this city, an important political and economic center of the region. The march in the footsteps of the Romanian heroes who fell on the Western Front, in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, 80 years after the end of World War II, started in Bucharest and scheduled Commemorative ceremonies during a week at Oarba de Mures in Romania, in Budapest and in Zvolen in Slovakia. Chernobyl. The UN marked the 39th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster on April 26, when an explosion at the nuclear power plant there, in 1986, spread a radioactive cloud over large parts of the Soviet Union, now the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. In a message posted on its website, the UN recalls that almost 8.4 million people in the three countries were exposed to radiation. Humanitarian assistance was provided immediately after the accident, followed by years of reconstruction to secure the area and protect the population. On December 8, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating April 26 as the International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day. In its resolution, the UN General Assembly recognizes that, almost four decades after the disaster, serious long-term consequences persist and that affected territories and communities are still faced with related issues. Pensions. In Romania, the bill that radically changes the retirement rules in the justice system is to be debated on Monday by the Senate, as a decision-making forum. The permanent bureau decided on an accelerated calendar for the analysis and vote on this normative act initiated by the leaders of the governing coalition. The document, which stipulates that the retirement age of magistrates will go up to 65 years, starting January 1 next year, and the amount of the pension cannot exceed that of the last salary, has already received the green light of the Chamber of Deputies. The European Commissions release of the third tranche of financing from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan depends on the approval of the law. Also on Monday, the Senate will debate and vote on the simple motion submitted by AUR regarding the Minister of Labor, Simona Bucura-Oprescu, who was summoned to Parliament to respond to criticism regarding the problems in the pension system. (MI) Toxic pollution from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. chemical plant in Niagara Falls may be far worse than the state has previously suggested, according to a new analysis by a former lawyer for unionized workers at the facility, which uses Goodyears data that it supplied to the state and Environmental Protection Agency. DEC approves pollution controls at Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation approved the plan in February from the tire maker to reduce emissions of ortho-toluidine, which is known to cause cancer. The analysis by Steven Wodka measures something called fugitive emissions, which is pollution that comes from the plants leaky valves and other problems that may prevent harmful gases from leaving the plant via its smokestacks, and combines it with the emissions leaving the plants stacks. Counting those additional emissions, the total pollution the company is sending into its surrounding neighborhood may be more than 400 times higher than what the state considers safe. This makes the situation at Goodyear a potential public health crisis, Wodka wrote in a letter to the states Department of Environmental Conservation. But when asked about Wodkas calculations, the DEC repeated its earlier declaration that there is no imminent public health risk to the community from Goodyears emissions, the agency wrote in an email to The Buffalo News. Ortho-toluidine is an organic chemical used to make hair dyes, weed and pest killers, among other industrial uses. Goodyear uses the compound to create an anti-cracking solution for rubber tires. Exposure to ortho-toluidine is known to cause bladder cancer, irritate peoples eyes and skin and can lead to anemia, as well as serious conditions that come from lowered blood-oxygen levels. The chemical can also cause skin lesions and central nervous system issues that include dizziness, headaches and confusion, according to the National Institutes of Health. The State of New York has a moral obligation, if not a legal duty, to inform the hundreds of families that live within the areas impacted by the real world current combination of both stack and fugitive emissions, and the parents of the children who attend the Cataract Elementary School, that their health is at risk from the emissions from the nearby Goodyear plant, Wodka wrote in an April 8 letter to DEC Region 9 Director Julie Barrett ONeill. The Goodyear plant is home to one of the worst-known outbreaks of occupational cancer in the nation due to ortho-toluidine. At least 78 workers have been diagnosed with bladder cancer since the 1980s. In an emailed statement to The News, Goodyear repeated DEC statements that the public was not at risk from ortho-toluidine emissions. At Goodyear, the health and safety of our associates and the communities in which we work is our top priority, a spokesperson wrote. The DEC and New York State health authorities have publicly stated that historical emission limits are currently protective of the surrounding communitys air quality and there is no risk to the community based on their modeling. The state had previously estimated up to 0.14 micrograms per cubic meter of ortho-toluidine could be emitted from the plant over Niagara Falls neighborhoods. DEC guidelines suggest limiting emissions of the chemical to 0.02 micrograms per cubic meter because it is a potent carcinogen known to cause bladder cancer and other detrimental health effects. But Wodkas analysis points out that the DEC is only counting the pollution coming from the companys smokestacks. Far more pollution leaks out of the plant than what is measured from the stacks, according to Goodyears own estimates. Putting the stacks numbers together with the fugitive emissions, Wodka calculated that up to 8.89 micrograms per cubic meter of ortho-toluidine could be flowing into the air from the Goodyear plant. Wodkas map was created using a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air pollution dispersion program (AERMOD) and shows three large, irregular-shaped circles around the Goodyear Plant where the ortho-toluidine is likely to be polluting the air. He added pollution data into the program from stack testing done at Goodyear in 2022 and fugitive emissions data the company submitted to the EPA in 2023. Falls neighborhood near Goodyear plant could see relief from cancer-causing pollution this spring If the DEC accepts Goodyear's plan, the company could take interim steps to curb the amount of ortho-toluidine it emits as soon as this spring, with permanent measures to be installed by late 2026. His map had similar results to EPA models that also combine stack and fugitive emissions, according to Lauren Padilla, senior data scientist, and Tammy Thompson, senior air quality scientist, both with the global nonprofit organization Environmental Defense Fund. Its likely the slight differences between Wodkas model and EPAs were due to different meteorological data and pollution release heights being input, they said. The outermost circle stretches from near the intersection of Niagara Street and Hyde Park Boulevard south along Buffalo Avenue. It then encompasses the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Niagara Community Center and Cataract Elementary School and reaches north over Niagara Falls Boulevard and the landfill along Packard Road. Within that circle, Wodkas analysis shows there could be concentrations of ortho-toluidine of up to 0.02 micrograms per cubic meter right at the states health guideline limit. Two additional circles show the neighborhood closest to the Goodyear plant could be subjected to concentrations of the chemical of 0.1 to at least 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter up to 10 times more according to Wodkas analysis. Wodkas modeled concentrations of ortho-toluidine far exceeded that of the states analysis because he included both the fugitive emissions coming from the plant as well as the stack emissions. Fugitive emissions come from leaks in valves, pipelines, tanks and other equipment in the plant, while stack emissions are specially piped through pollution reduction equipment and come from what can look like chimneys extending from the roof of the plant The state has only measured emissions coming from Goodyears stacks. About 133 pounds of ortho-toluidine were emitted from Goodyears stacks in 2023, while 1,211 pounds were emitted through fugitive sources the same year, according to data that Goodyear itself reported to the EPA. It makes no sense DEC only measured stack emissions from Goodyear, Padilla said, because those emissions are carefully pushed through pipes high into the air so when they reach humans they are more diluted. Fugitive emissions are typically released from plants at or near ground level, she added. The most concerning emissions from my perspective, to workers and people who live around the fence line, are those fugitives, Padilla said. In January, the state ordered Goodyear to reduce its stack emissions of ortho-toluidine. Temporary pollution control measures were set to be in place by April 10, while permanent controls must be in place by Oct. 31, 2026. The temporary pollution control measures were expected to reduce ortho-toluidine stack emissions to 0.047 micrograms per cubic meter, still more than twice the states health guideline of 0.02 micrograms per cubic meter, according to an emissions control plan submitted by Goodyear to the DEC in late January. However, the state allows facilities wiggle room to pollute up to 10 times above its health guidelines as long as the best available pollution control measures are in place, officials told The Buffalo News in January. In an email to The News, the DEC claimed the 1,211 pounds of fugitive emissions reported by Goodyear to the EPA are grossly overestimated. It further explained that the fugitive emissions data should be used as a tool to determine if a company requires further evaluation based on conservative estimates of potential releases from a facility. Wodka thinks it would be far-fetched for Goodyear to admit it was emitting 1,211 pounds of fugitive ortho-toluidine into a Niagara Falls neighborhood unless those leaks were actually happening. Anne Rabe, an activist with the grassroots environmental organization Dont Waste NY who has been fighting against the ortho-toluidine pollution from Goodyear, was similarly aghast at the concept of Goodyear reporting more carcinogenic pollution from its plant than what was actually occurring. Why would Goodyear overestimate their leaking valves? she asked. Its ridiculous. Rabe and other community activists are demanding the DEC order Goodyear to conduct testing on its stack emissions to check whether the interim pollution control measures installed are actually working. The coalition is also calling for DEC to require Goodyear rein in the fugitive emissions of ortho-toluidine to protect the community. Renae Kimble, president of the NAACP Niagara Falls Branch, said DEC is harming a community by not taking stronger action to require Goodyear reduce ortho-toluidine emissions. Why wont they do whats in the best interest of the community? Kimble. This is an injustice to the entire city of Niagara Falls. Timeline May 11, 2005: President George W. Bush signs the Real ID Act of 2005. As originally written, the new ID requirements were supposed to take effect in 2008; however, many states refused to implement the new requirements. Jan. 29, 2008: The Department of Homeland Security extends the deadline to 2011. March 7, 2011: DHS extends the deadline for states and territories to become compliant to 2013. Dec. 29, 2014: DHS issues another extension saying it will accept non-compliant documents until Oct. 1, 2020. April 27, 2020: The deadline is extended to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be extended two more times in 2021 and 2023, pushing back the final date when Real ID-compliant identification would be needed to board an airplane to 2025. May 7, 2025: As of this date, Real ID-compliant identification will be needed to board an airplane, although the Transportation Security Administration has said enforcement will be flexible until 2027. A Buffalo police detective who has found himself in trouble before over his actions on and off the job took to a popular podcast Saturday to accuse Buffalo Public Schools of covering up incidents of attempted abduction, sexual assault and child abuse in the last two years. Richard Hy, a veteran of the Buffalo Police Department and active military sergeant, appeared on a roughly 40-minute special segment of the Unsubscribe Podcast to describe upsetting situations he believes were improperly handled by employees of the school district, from attorneys and school counselors to teachers and administrators. As of Sunday afternoon, the YouTube version of the podcast approached 500,000 views. The Buffalo school system has been intentionally not reporting the sexual assault of students, between students, and has also used the Buffalo Police Departments school resource officers to write reports and use their influence over those officers to close those reports, said Hy, who called his accusations a whistleblower situation in which he expected possible discipline. Buffalo Schools posted a statement to its social media accounts Saturday evening to acknowledge the videos existence, and stated plans to vigorously address these untruths. The district statement added that incidents are handled with seriousness, integrity, fairness and empathy. The Buffalo News requested a response by the Buffalo Police Department to Hys accusations. A spokesperson acknowledged the request, but no statement had been issued as of late Sunday. Hy said a recent incident set him over the edge. He detailed a February incident at Dr. Charles R. Drew Magnet School, attached to the Buffalo Science Museum, in which Shane Cronin, 30, of Illinois, was arrested for assaulting an assistant principal. Buffalo police at the time said Cronin had approached a young student. Hy, who said he worked personally on this case, said Cronin had tried to abduct two students, a girl and a boy, and the attempted abduction of the boy was never reported and not disclosed to the boys parents. The school then deleted the video of the attempted abduction, Hy continued, and the District Attorneys Office only got it because someone within the school had the wherewithal to record it and give it to them. The podcast has already sent tremors through the district. Superintendent Tonja M. Williams Knight posted Sunday that she was deleting her social media accounts due to Hys accusations. Unfortunately at this time, there are completely false distractions against my staff, the district and myself taking place by people who I do not even know, the superintendent wrote. Williams Knight has used social media throughout her three years in the role to highlight positive developments within the district. Parent leaders reacted differently to Hys message. Where theres smoke, theres fire, said Ed Speidel, president of the District Parent Coordinating Council. Jessica Bauer Walker, director of the Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo, emphasized there is help for parents and families alarmed by the types of incidents Hy spoke about. She did not want to comment on any of the specific situations Hy raised. Its important to ensure that BPS has policies and practices in place that protect students and provide accountability and transparency to families if and when an incident occurs, she said. Students and parents should know who to go to for help in their school and the district, including community-based family advocates. Buffalo Teachers Federation President Rich Nigro planned to address some of the topics Hy raised with district leadership. The security and safety of all our members and their students is the Federations highest priority, he said Sunday. I will be following up with the district for details on the allegations reported yesterday by the Buffalo SVU detective. I will be updating our members in the coming hours or days once I have more information. Hys actions as an officer and public persona have brought trouble in the past. Local news outlet Investigative Post reported in February that an investigation by the New York State Attorney Generals Office revealed that Hys misconducts in several on- and off-duty incidents should have been met with greater discipline. Separately, Hy was suspended in 2016 and 2017 for content on his Angry Cops social media channel, which has about 730,000 followers on Facebook and has been dedicated largely to satire and memes. At the time he was suspended in 2016, Hy had put up more than 100 of his own videos on the former video-sharing site, Vine. Many of the videos featured topics that police leaders deemed objectionable, such as Hy pretending to snort cocaine, then screeching and laughing; recording a fake police shooting in which Hy tells the victim to be quiet since he was only grazed; and one featuring Hy, who is white, dancing around with a Black officer to promote racial harmony. The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association stood behind Hy in a statement Sunday morning by president John Davidson. Detective Richard Hy is a passionate detective in the Buffalo Police Department who prioritizes the wellbeing of the citys most vulnerable victims, wrote Davidson, who declined to comment on the specific incidents about which Hy spoke. As a member of the US Armed Forces and a Law Enforcement Officer he does not shy away from the work he does to maintain his physical and mental health. His most recent podcast shows his passion for the job and his dedication to his mental health. Detective Hy is a valued member of the Buffalo PBA and has our support. News reporter Aaron Besecker contributed to this report. State Sen. Sean Ryan plans to address the City of Buffalos fiscal woes and a deficit he estimated to exceed $70 million by allowing its longtime financial control board to sell bonds under legislation he expects to sponsor soon in Albany. The Buffalo Democrat unveiled his four-year financial plan Sunday as his fellow state lawmakers are considered likely to approve a state budget that would include a Buffalo financial rescue plan advanced by Mayor Christopher Scanlon the man Ryan seeks to defeat in a Democratic mayoral primary in June. Scanlons plan includes a 3% hotel occupancy or bed tax, the sale of city parking ramps to a newly created Buffalo parking authority and an 8% property tax hike. The bed tax and creation of the parking authority require state approval. Ryan contends that Scanlons proposal, which gained traction in Albany in recent days with the backing of Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, would not generate the amount of revenue that Scanlon estimates. The City of Buffalo was never going to solve its financial crisis with a one-year gimmick plan, Ryan said in a news release. The city needs long-term stability, and that is exactly what my plan will achieve for the City of Buffalo. Under Ryans plan, the senator would introduce a bill allowing the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, the control panel created in 2003 to oversee the citys finances, to conduct an analysis, then issue bonds over a four-year period up to $150 million. Ryan said his bill would pass by May 26, the date by which the citys Common Council would need to determine whether to act on the Scanlon proposal. Buffalo bed tax, parking ramp sale could be in final state budget Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders are on the verge of a state budget agreement that could address Buffalos budget deficit with the implementation of a 3% bed tax and sale of parking ramps to a newly created Buffalo parking authority. Ryan noted that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapolis office has said a local government may be fiscally stressed to where it is unable to fund necessary operations from recurring revenue streams and can seek a state law allowing it to issue deficit-financing bonds. Ryan said the plan has been used in cities in New York that include Lockport, Olean, Yonkers, Newburgh, Long Beach, the county of Rockland, Town of East Hampton and Village of Suffern. The Buffalo Control Board will be able to issue a bond to cover the citys more than $70 million dollar budget deficit, and projected deficits over the next four years, Ryan said in the statement. He said the city would be able to generate $4.5 million in parking ramp revenue to pay for the bond over time. Ryan said City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams recently sent a letter to Scanlon expressing her concerns that the city is, according to Ryan, walking a financial tightrope, and needing a comprehensive plan. Ryan said County Executive Mark Poloncarz also wrote a letter to the financial control board expressing his concerns over Scanlons proposals and makes clear that the citys actual budget gap is north of $70 million. Ryan contends that the bonds would cover the deficit immediately. Fixing the citys finances is not a game. It requires careful thought and smart solutions, Ryan said. On Monday, the control board is scheduled to meet to discuss the citys budget at 1 p.m. Asked about Ryans plan Sunday, Scanlon said: Honestly, Im kind of blown away by it. Scanlon asks Board of Elections for opinion on Ryan contribution limits Mayor Christopher Scanlons campaign is seeking a formal opinion from the state BOE on whether Sen. Sean Ryan violated campaign contribution limits by transferring money from other campaign committees into his mayoral committee account. Scanlon said Ryan and others have criticized the mayors proposals as gimmicky, one-shot infusions of cash, and then propose a plan to borrow more money, and incur more interest and cost. He said he has worked to cut $30 million from the city budget and maintain revenue sources. If Im being honest, I think its laughable, Scanlon said. On Friday, when asked about Scanlons proposal, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Peoples-Stokes has enormous influence in this building, and she has been a champion for this, but that it was not yet resolved. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Buffalo News that it was more likely than not that the final state budget would include Scanlons proposed bed tax and the sale of the parking ramps to a newly created authority. Buffalo was also on tap to receive the same $5 million increase it received last year from the states Aid and Incentives to Municipalities or AIM, program, which provided the city a total of $166 million. Asked about Ryan's proposal, Matthew Janiszewski, a spokesperson for Hochul, said the governor would review any legislation that passes both houses. "A number of localities have reached out to us about fiscal challenges they are facing this year and we evaluate each request within the context of the state budget," the spokesperson said. "Having spent years in local government, no one understands these challenges better than Governor Hochul, which is why she is working closely with Majority Leader Peoples-Stokes and other electeds to support the City of Buffalo as they focus on their financial outlook." City leaders, Peoples-Stokes push for mayor's plans to be included in state budget Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes was joined Friday afternoon on the steps of City Hall by four members of the Common Council and several constituents where they urged Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature to prioritize a pair of plans put forth by Mayor Christopher Scanlon that accounts for $30 million in revenue he has included in his city budget proposal. Indian Navy ships test-fired missiles on Sunday to demonstrate the country's ability to launch "long-range, precision offensive" strikes. The move follows rising tensions with Pakistan after an attack on civilians at a tourist site in Kashmir. Also at the weekend, Pakistan's railway minister warned that Islamabad's arsenal of over 130 missiles was "not kept as models". - Guardian Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, is being accused of complicity in polluting a town in Mississippi using UK taxpayers' cash. That is because Drax Group's power plant in North Yorkshire used wood pellets sourced in many instances from US forests to generate electricity. The company also receives billions in green energy subsidies from the government. - Financial Mail on Sunday Consulting giant Alvarez & Marsal believes the business could fetch between $16-18bn if it pursued a stock market listing. At a presentation in Portugal, company executives noted how rival AlixPartners had hired Goldman Sachs to help it sell a stake. One of A&M's patriarchs, Bryan Marsal, believed that fast-growing Alix might fetch $8bn. - The Sunday Times Shein has hiked its prices for shoppers in the US by as much as 377% in order to compensate for the tariffs imposed on it by Donald Trump. The fast-fashion giant, whose goods come mostly from China, imposed the increases on Friday. As a result, shoppers in the States will have to pay more than twice the amount of British shoppers. - The Sunday Telegraph The average tax refund issued by the Internal Revenue Service so far this year is roughly 3.6% higher than in 2024. Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media Nearly 75 million Americans have already received their annual tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with the average refund totaling thousands of dollars. Through April 11 the latest date currently available the agency has issued 74,858,000 refunds, roughly 0.2% more than the 74,685,000 that had been issued by that time last year. In total, the agency has issued roughly $228.7 billion in refunds, up 3.9% from the $220.2 billion issued at that time in 2024. The average refund amount through April 11 was $3,055, roughly 3.6% higher than the average refund of $2,948 at that time last year. Through Feb. 14, the average had been just $2,169, but has increased dramatically now that the IRS has begun issuing refunds to taxpayers who claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit. Due to the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, or PATH Act, which took effect during the 2017 filing season, the IRS legally cannot issue refunds or credits to anyone who claimed an Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit before Feb. 15. The policy was implemented to help prevent revenue loss due to identity theft and refund fraud related to fabricated wages and withholdings, according to the IRS. Tracking your refund If youre one of the millions of Americans who have already sent in their tax returns, there are online portals that will allow you to monitor the status of your refund. For federal taxes, residents can use the IRS Wheres My Refund tool or the IRS2Go mobile app to see when their refunds have been received, processed and sent. Refund status will appear roughly 24 hours after you e-file a current-year return, three or four days after you e-file a prior-year return, or four weeks after you file a paper return. To access the information, which is updated overnight each day, residents must provide their Social Security or individual taxpayer ID number, filing status and exact refund amount on their return. Once refunds are sent, those using direct deposit should receive their refund within five days, while those expecting checks in the mail may have to wait several weeks. For state taxes, New Yorkers can visit the Department of Taxation and Finance website and click Check refund status. This allows residents to see if their return has been received; when its being processed; if the return requires additional review; if the state requires additional information; if a requested refund amount has been adjusted and when a refund has been issued. New income tax brackets While tax rates have remained the same, ranging from 10% to 37% depending on an individuals total taxable income, the IRS has announced new brackets with adjusted thresholds for tax year 2024. In addition to the new tax brackets, the standard deduction, the amount you can deduct to adjust the amount of income on which youre taxed, will also increase from $13,850 to $14,600 for single filers and from $27,700 to $29,200 for married couples filing jointly. Heres a look at the new tax brackets that will be used when filing in 2025. Tax brackets for single filers: $11,600 or less in taxable income 10% of taxable income $11,600 to $47,150 in taxable income - $1,160 plus 12% of the excess over $11,600 $47,150 to $100,525 in taxable income - $5,426 plus 22% of the excess over $47,150 $100,525 to $191,950 in taxable income - $17,168.50 plus 24% of the excess over $100,525 $191,950 to $243,725 in taxable income - $39,110.50 plus 32% of the excess over $191,150 $243,725 to $609,350 in taxable income - $55,678.50 plus 35% of the excess over $243,725 $609,350 or more in taxable income - $183,647.25 plus 37% of the excess over $609,350 Tax brackets for married couples filing jointly: In a handout photo released via the official social media channels of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, meets with U.S. President Donald Trump during Pope Francis's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, on Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Vatican City. (Office of the President of Ukraine/Getty Images/TNS) TNS Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said hes hopeful for a reliable and lasting peace after meeting one-on-one with Donald Trump, who later questioned whether Russias Vladimir Putin genuinely wants to end the war in Ukraine. Trump and Zelenskyy huddled for about 15 minutes at the Vatican on Saturday just before the funeral for Pope Francis a sign of Trumps eagerness for a peace deal by April 30, the 100-day mark of his second term. He has been dialing up pressure for a deal that critics say may favor Russia in his bid to end Europes longest conflict since World War II. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered, Zelenskyy said on X. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. While the White House called the discussion productive, Trump later criticized the Russian president in a social media, saying Putin may be stalling to avoid ending the war and suggesting further sanctions might be needed. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas in recent days, Trump posted while en route back to the U.S. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Saturdays meeting with Zelenskyy was Trumps first since contentious talks in the Oval Office in late February. They discussed a ceasefire, air defenses and fundamental issues of the peace process, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion. Zelenskyy also met in Rome with French President Emmanuel Macron and plans to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Ukraines foreign minister said. Pope Francis funeral was attended by dozens of international delegations, many of whom were hopeful of getting access to the U.S. leader, who made his first overseas trip since taking office in January. Zelenskyys trip to the Vatican followed a massive Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least 12 people. Thursdays attack, Russias largest airstrike on Ukraine this year, prompted the Ukrainian leader to return early from a visit to South Africa. Trumps special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Putin in Moscow on Friday for the fourth time since the U.S. inauguration. On the same day, Zelenskyy appeared to make an overture to Trump when he acknowledged that Ukrainian forces would be unable to regain control over Crimea, saying the U.S. wont have to commit troops as part of security guarantees but could instead provide intelligence and anti-air capabilities. Washingtons proposals include the recognition of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and freezing the conflict largely along existing battle lines, leaving Putin in control of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, Bloomberg News has reported. Ukraine would also have to abandon its goal of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Trump said Thursday that hes using a lot of pressure on both sides in the war. He said he thinks Putin wants to make a deal. Were going to find out very soon. Asked what concessions Russia has offered, Trump said, Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country pretty big concession. Moscow failed to seize Ukraines capital and topple its government when it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 in what was conceived as a potential weekslong special military operation because of strong resistance from Kyiv. While the Russian army now controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, it hasnt significantly advanced during the last two years. Kremlin forces seized less than 1% of Ukrainian land in 2024 despite huge losses in personnel and equipment during a grinding ground campaign in Ukraines east. Schools have to be safe havens for kids. Parents have to know that when they send their children off each day that the kids will return and that they wont be a victim of violence while they are getting an education. Which is why it was such a nerve-rattling, unforgettable experience when a 14-year-old student was left wounded by a shooting outside of Tottenville High School on Oct. 25, 2022. The shooting struck fear into the hearts of parents and students across Staten Island and brought new heat to the never-ending debate about school safety. But even though video of the suspected perpetrators quickly emerged, those perps remained on the loose, leaving parents and students worried about safety at the school. How could anybody at Tottenville not worry with this crime hanging over the school community? The shooting happened just steps from the school entrance. There were simply too many unanswered questions about the incident. Why did the perpetrators open fire outside the school that day? Was it a targeted attack or something more random? And, most concerning, would these attackers come back sometime in the future? One Tottenville parent said it was shocking to think that a group of kids could get away with such a dangerous and potentially deadly crime near a school. Five months after the shooting, the Advance/SILive.com said that that fear wouldnt truly go away until those involved in the shooting were apprehended and punished. We wondered why it was taking so long for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. But now, thanks to what has been a never-ending effort by borough law enforcement, suspects have finally been arrested. District Attorney Michael E. McMahon the other day announced that seven young men have been charged in the crime. Heres the roll call of suspects: Davon Patterson, 20, of Tompkinsville; Tashawn Rice, 19, of St. George; Nelson Vanleuvan, 18, of New Brighton; Peter Ramin, 17, of Graniteville; Matthew Gonzalez, 17, of Port Richmond, and 19-year-old Anais Udechuck. The identity of a seventh defendant was redacted from the court documents. McMahons office said that the suspects are gang affiliated. No big shock there. Patterson is accused of orchestrating the shooting, which prosecutors say targeted rival gang members at the school. He also is charged with pulling the trigger. Who knows how many other people could have been injured in this targeting of rival gang members? The shooter and the shooters cohorts put untold innocent lives at risk that day. Prosecutors are pursuing a host of felony charges against the suspects, including second-degree attempted murder, conspiracy and criminal possession of a loaded firearm. Judge Keith E. Brown set various bail amounts for the defendants, ranging from $150,000 to $500,000 bond, court records show. All positive moves. Everybody involved in the shooting should face punishment for the incident, whether they pulled the trigger or were just along for the ride. As McMahon said, justice has no expiration date. Bravo to McMahons office and to borough law enforcement for not giving up on the case. They have helped make us feel safer. Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he arrives to hold his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) Hi Neighbor, I wonder how many Staten Island Catholics are mourning the death of Pope Francis. By no means do I suggest some are glad to see him pass. But Francis, The Peoples Pope, might not have been the pope many of the people of our conservative-leaning borough saw as the religious leader who shared their values. After all, the Catholic Church hasnt been accused of being progressive theres that dirty word again since John XXIII in the early 60s. And then there was Francis. Must I really point out that many of the issues the pope championed are in direct opposition to the man the majority of Staten Islanders wanted to see in the White House. Think DEI and migrant rights for a start. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) AP Francis made worldwide news just four months into his papacy in 2013 when asked his thoughts on gay priests. Who am I to judge? he responded to reporters on a plane returning to Rome after a trip to Brazil. He also advocated that gay and lesbian couples be allowed to have their own families, allowed priests to bless gay couples, and cleared the way for transgender Catholics to be baptized and even serve as godparents. Gay rights advocates celebrated while conservative Catholics cringed. Perhaps those who objected might have found his candor not-so-cringeworthy if they knew the whole context of his response. In a book, The Name of God is Mercy, by Italian journalist Andrea Tornielli and the pope himself, Francis explained . . . If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person? the pope repeated in the book. I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized . . . Before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity. And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies. Let us not forget that God loves all his creatures, and we are destined to receive his infinite love. One who celebrated was a good friend who I met in the 1970s, a Staten Island Catholic man deeply committed to his religion and to his church. Jim Smith (Courtesy/Smith family) But a Staten Island Catholic man who was gay. I met Jim Smith in 1972 when I began working nights at the Advance. My shift was 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. Jim knew a bunch of guys on the nightshift and would drop by around midnight a couple of times a week to find out what was news on Staten Island, and accompany us to the Road House for a cocktail when we were lucky enough to get out of work before the tavern closed at 4. Jim never talked about sexual orientation, and I never asked. Maybe the other guys knew Jim was gay, but it never occurred to me. Wed meet a bunch of other guys at the Road House, usually hungry, and once every week or two, jump in Jims car and beeline to Umbertos in Little Italy for linguine and clams before the fish joint closed at 6. There was a struggle within Jim I never saw until much later the struggle of wanting to be Catholic in a church that didnt want you if you were gay. Or so it seemed. How that struggle became public was a sad time for Jim, and his friends. Jim was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He served as grand knight of Assumption Council, probably the biggest on Staten Island at the time and based in a place called the Columbian Lyceum on Clove Road in West Brighton. The Lyceum was part catering hall, part bowling alley and part headquarters for the Catholic K of C council. Jim urged me to become a knight and was my sponsor. There are four degrees in the Knights. Jim was my sponsor for three. I never made it to the fourth. I married. Jim didnt, but had a great time at our wedding, despite coming without a date. Still, I never wondered if he was gay. He later became banquet manager at the Lyceums catering hall. I worked with him on the Advances Women of Achievement luncheons for years, until the event became too big for his venue, and we moved to what-was-then the Shalimar. Still, I never wondered if he was gay, even though I never knew of him dating. I just knew of his passion to create the Miss Staten Island Scholarship Pageant. Jim had to appear in court as a witness in a trial, and during testimony it became obvious he was gay. Someone from Assumption Council sat in the back of the courtroom every day of the trial. It wasnt long before Jim was no longer banquet manager at the Catholic councils catering hall. And it was then that Jim began to talk with me about his sorrow over not being welcomed into the church because of who he was. Even though for most of his life, no one knew it. But Jim did. Jim Smith was not ashamed of who he was. As described in his obituary, the dedicated community advocate whose personal character, courage, and perceptiveness proved extraordinary, became a leading figure for the rights and acceptance of gay people on Staten Island. Grand Marshall Jim Smith of St. George leads the first Staten Island Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Parade along the Midland Beach promenade in 2005. So much so that he became known as the Father of Gay Pride, served as grand marshall of Staten Islands first Gay Pride Parade, was a founding member of the Pride Center of Staten Island and wrote a blog for Silive.com, a forum where he could speak about gay and lesbian life in our borough. Jim died during the pandemic, a victim of Covids aftermath when his heart just gave out. I know I am just one of countless Staten Islanders grateful to have called Jim Smith a friend. I wish I had been the friend he could have shared his struggles with long before he did. Jim never had kids of his own. But he adored his nieces and nephews. And they adored him. They knew their uncle was special. So much so, they had a special name for him. To them, he wasnt Uncle Jim. To them, he was Uncle Unique. Brian Oh by the way: Francis was a progressive, but he stopped short on turning the Catholic Church upside-down. A pope doesnt change church doctrine, it is said. He only interprets it. So fears Pope Francis would allow priests to marry, or women be ordained, did not materialize. But he has been credited for putting women in positions of authority in the Vatican that had always been the domain of men. Thats a good thing, I suppose. But it doesnt resonate with Catholics sitting in the pews on Sunday mornings. Francis explored greater female inclusion in 2016, when he set up a commission to study the historical role of female deacons women did serve as deacons in the early church -- and the possibility of reinstating the role. There were internal divisions any surprise there? -- and three years later, Francis acknowledged the effort failed. There are many theories on what direction the next pope will take. Conservative or progressive, of course. But also on what part of the globe he will come from and what priorities that will shape.In March, the Vatican reported a growing Catholic population worldwide. As true as that might be elsewhere, it doesnt seem so in the United States as churches close and fewer priests serve. The next pope needs to keep that in mind. Its a bridge too far to begin talking about ordaining women. But revisiting Francis desire to have women serve as deacons is a good beginning. Acorns dropped from an oak tree are shown in this 2008 photo. The acorns are linked to an expected surge in black-legged ticks in New York City in 2025, according to experts. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. New York City residents should prepare for a tremendous surge in tick numbers this year and Lyme disease environmental experts say, blaming it on oak trees. It may sound crazy, but the citys more than 130,000 oak trees in 2023 set us up for huge numbers of black-legged ticks this year, the kind that carry Lyme disease, said Joellen Lampman, of the New York State Integrated Pest Management program. Basically, you should be on guard, she said, explaining that 2023 in New York City was a mast year, a year in which Oak trees drop huge volumes of acorns. This happens every three to five years. Those acorns kept small rodents alive through the tough winter, so summer 2024 saw a booming population of white-footed mice and other small mammals the perfect hosts to black-legged ticks in their larvae stage, she said, quoting the research of Dr. Richard S. Ostfeld. But now, in 2025, were looking at a really bad tick year, Lampman said. Since fewer of those mice and other small mammals survived, the ticks this spring and summer are in a predicament, since they need a new host in every stage of their life cycle. Lampman said this makes humans more likely to brush up against them and become unsuspecting hosts. Ticks are so, so, good at just hanging onto their energy and just waiting for something to cross its path, she said. A researcher from Columbia University is pictured on June 13, 2024, holding up a tick found at Arden Woods. (Advance/SILive.com | Annalise Knudson) Confirmed mast year in NYC Though it was not a mast year throughout the state, the New York City Parks Department confirmed that 2023 was indeed a mast year for Oak trees in the Big Apple. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, has been studying the ecology of infectious diseases, such as Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses for 33 years, continuously monitoring acorns, ticks, mammals and tick-borne pathogens. Our research demonstrates that the main risk factor for people in terms of exposure to tick-borne disease is the abundance of infected black-legged ticks in the nymph stage, the middle stage in the life cycle of black-legged tick, he said. Remember those larvae from last year? Theyre nymphs now. And present in large numbers, Ostfeld said, with many carrying Lyme disease they picked up from the white-footed mice inhabiting wooded areas. White-footed mice are their preferred host, he said, adding: Other hosts are much better at killing the ticks that try to feed off them ... the mice, they just dont bother to kill off the ticks. But people are a good alternative, according to scientists, because we often dont notice them and dont protect ourselves against them by covering up and wearing insect repellent and treated clothing. And while the growing deer population is also a dominant host of black-legged ticks that carry and spread Lyme disease, those animals dont play host until the ticks are in their adult stage of life, when theyre looking to reproduce, Ostfeld said, beginning the life cycle all over again in the late summer and fall. Tick season never really ends, the ticks just go through different life stages at different times of the year, Lampman told the Advance/SILive.com. And this past winters cold weather did nothing to deter them, experts said. Ostfeld said his region of the state, the Hudson Valley, did not experience a mast year in 2023. But New York City did experience one, according to local sources, including the Parks Department. Staten Island, the Borough of Parks, is home to more than 14,000 oak trees in its parks and along its streets, according to the Parks Departments most recent tree census, which took place in 2015. That number doesnt count heavily forested areas, the departments spokesperson said. Beware of nymphs Making matters worse for New Yorkers in coming weeks is the fact that nymphs are very tiny and hard to spot, as they are the size of a poppy seed. And they are most active when people are outdoors and wearing less clothing after a long, cold winter, the scientists said. Roughly 30% of nymphs are infected with Lyme, Ostfeld said. Theyre responsible for a great majority of tick-borne illness throughout our area, he added. Lampman agreed, saying most people will be diagnosed with Lyme in the late summer, so they tend to think of Lyme as a summer problem. But most actually acquired the virus in the spring, she said. Since the small mammal population has crashed, Lampman said, Expect fewer animals, but more ticks." Artist Josue Mendez poses in front of his mural entitled "Thank You For Your Service" underneath the Richmond Avenue overpass in Greenridge on Friday, April 18, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Bulls Head resident Josue Mendez, 30, didnt attend some elite art school, but looking at his work, one could easily be fooled. Mendez is a homegrown talent, a small business owner and a man who appreciates the beauty in every aspect of life. With a keen creative mind and gifted hands, Mendez has taken his skilled craftsmanship and provided the Staten Island community with dozens upon dozens of art installations, beautifying the community one mural at a time. As the demand for Mendezs work is growing, so too are his business ventures. Although the master of murals continues to garner an increasing number of requests, his potential may not have been fully tapped if it werent for a push. 9 1 / 9 Artist Josue Mendez creates veterans tribute mural in Eltingville Fostering a hobby as a child Mendez, originally from Port Richmond, always had a deep love for art, sketching out the latest movie and television characters when he was a kid. While his mom attempted to foster this hobby, as with many aspiring artists, life got in the way. For five or six years, Mendez worked in restaurants, sucking away any free time previously dedicated to sketching. Eventually, in his early 20s, Mendez shifted gears and became a paraprofessional at PS 20 in Port Richmond. One day, Mendez was found sketching by the schools art teacher and theater teacher, who caught a glimpse of Mendezs talent and requested that he help create the scenery for school plays. At the same time, Mendez sowed the seed of what became his business, JM Custom Art Studio Inc., when he began posting his creations to social media. Artist Josue Mendez points out the detail in his "Thank You For Your Service" mural underneath the Richmond Avenue overpass in Greenridge on Friday, April 18, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon) The work drew the attention of potential customers, who began questioning Mendez on how much he would charge for commissions. Obviously, once the pandemic hit, a lot of restaurants were renovating and thats when I started to get busy and I was beautifying a couple of new restaurants coming out, Mendez said. Word of Mendezs work began to spread and soon enough, he took the leap of faith in assuming this newfound life of a full-time artist. Staten Island is a canvas dappled with murals made by Mendez. Some of his more notable works include the boroughs largest mural, Thank You For Your Service, underneath the overpass in the vicinity of Richmond Avenue and Arthur Kill Road in Greenridge and the three-sided mural at the heart of Eltingville in the Eltingville Shopping Center. As Mendez is a Department of Education vendor, he also does work in numerous schools and hosts paint parties with students and their families. Then-Councilman Joseph Borelli, second from left, representatives from the DOT, and local artist Josue Mendez crack ceremonial cans of paint at the overpass near Richmond Avenue and Arthur Kill Road on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Advance/SILive.com | Mike Matteo) In coming full circle with PS 20, the school in which he was both a student and a paraprofessional, Mendez previously painted portions of the facility. While Mendez is grateful for his blossoming business, he never forgets where he came from and always ensures he takes time to give back to the Staten Island community. I do get grants every year, I apply for grants, and I use that money to do a community event, Mendez explained. So we either do a giant paint party where you know its like a paint and sip, and everybody gets to have that experience because Ive done these events at schools and I sometimes ask, oh, whos done this before? And a lot of schools, a lot of hands go up, but then Ive gone to like other areas, like areas I grew up in and not one hand goes up, so thats when Im like alright, so we need to do something about this. Although his experience in the restaurant industry may have detracted from drawing and design, Mendez says that his past work has benefited him all these years later. I used to be a busboy, I worked my way up to a runner, a server and then a manager, so that helped me, now that Im connecting with principals and, you know, these organizations, Mendez said. Im able to communicate and be like, alright, this is what we do, this is what we can do. If you dont like this, we can do this. Theres always a solution, so that helped me with my communication skills, which was great. Mendez poses with members of the NYPD and the community as a mural honoring NYPD Officer Gerard Carter's 55th birthday was unveiled at the Gerard Carter Center in Stapleton on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Luke Peteley) How a project unfolds So how does Mendezs job work? What typically happens is someone sees another piece that Mendez has completed and they seek him out and propose a project. Mendez sits down with the potential customer, goes over measurements and the design idea and then he gives them a price. In coming up with the design itself, Mendez sends the customer a digital draft of what he thinks and from there the customer can revise and bounce ideas off of Mendez, who will ultimately only set brush to paint once the final vision is approved. In 2024, Mendez completed about 80 murals in schools, businesses and residences. In a week I could do one really big mural or I could do like six really different, smaller murals, he said. Given the demand for his work, Mendez has brought on a team of friends and family to assist in larger projects, including his sister, Norma. Working with my sister has been great, weve built an even better relationship and you know, shes honestly ready to take on her own murals, Mendez shared. The reinforcements ultimately expedite the painting process with Mendez at the helm, overseeing the project to ensure quality. Rather than me just being the only artist and saying oh yeah, Im the artist, I do this, Im always involving my team, added Mendez. Every time I post like a finished mural, I always give credit to the people that are also helping me out, so it helps them out, it helps me out and its helped beautify the whole Island. Due to the surging demand for Mendezs art across the five boroughs, he has opened up another company called Wonder Art NYC Inc., which is for those seeking budget-friendly murals by artists credited by Mendez. Basically, its me giving it my all on JM Custom Art or, you know, helping other artists get work with the other company, he noted. Whats next? Going forward, Mendez looks to continue serving the people of Staten Island through partnerships with non-profits and commissions. One of his next community events will be held at Port Richmond on Sunday, May 18, in partnership with La Colmena at 235 Port Richmond Ave. Itll be a wonderful opportunity for participants to paint alongside us and leave their mark on a mural titled Greetings from Port Richmond, Mendez stated. For those aspirational artists out there, Mendez says to keep pursuing your passions because everything in life is art. For example, the bus that just passed by, there are ads on the back, Mendez said during an interview at his Richmond Avenue mural. Somebody created that, somebody planned out oh, this text has to go here, lets do this font, lets do these color schemes. If you look at your phone and theres multiple ads, and everything just is advertisement, which is art. Anything digital is art, everything needs art. Art is everywhere and there is a big need, especially digital art right now because everything is now digital: social media, ads, menus online; somebodys designing them and there is work and a demand for art right now, added Mendez. Those looking to get in contact with Mendez can reach him at JMcustomart.info@gmail.com or visit https://www.jmcustomartstudioinc.com. Those looking to follow Mendez and view his prior works can do so at jm_custom_art_studio on Instagram or JM Custom Art Studio on Facebook. At last, some measure of official acknowledgement has been granted to hundreds of abuse survivors. It cant be called a victory. Last Monday, as reported by The News' Jay Tokasz, hundreds of plaintiffs received emails from their Minnesota-based law firm, Jeff Anderson & Associates. The emails informed clients that the Buffalo Diocese had agreed to pay $150 million toward a settlement in the bankruptcy case filed to resolve hundreds of Child Victims Act lawsuits. Buffalo Diocese reaches $150 million deal to settle sex abuse cases The Buffalo Diocese, its parishes and other Catholic entities will pay $150 million as part of a deal to settle hundreds of child sex abuse lawsuits and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Given that there are around 900 claimants, $150 million isnt that large of an amount. And it will do little to heal the wounds from unthinkable harms that were inflicted on these claimants when they were children, harms often buried for decades before survivors could even bear to talk about them. A survivor spoke out Over the years that this case has dragged on, the horrors of these acts have probably faded for those fortunate enough not to have experienced them. It is important to remind the community of that horror. Tokasz has closely followed Buffalos clergy abuse scandal in all its terrible details since the initial revelations in 2018. This exchange, as he recalled in a 2019 story, is stark enough: So I asked him if it was one boy, or two boys, or three boys or dozens of boys. He said, probably dozens. Tokasz is recounting the conversation he had when he visited the home of the Rev. Norbert Orsolits on Feb. 27, 2018. Earlier that day, Michael F. Whalen Jr. spoke to reporters in front of St. Louis Church, revealing that Orsolits had abused him nearly 40 years earlier, when he was a teenager. It turned out that Orsolits had molested so many boys, he couldnt even remember which of them Whalen was. Whalens revelations and Orsolits admissions set off what many at the time compared to a nuclear explosion. Other survivors of abuse came forward, and a chain of events was set in motion that culminated in last weeks settlement news. But it took whistleblowing, a bishops resignation, legislation, a bankruptcy declaration and the brave, unrelenting advocacy of survivors to get here. Initially, the diocese, then led by Bishop Richard J. Malone, offered minimal compensation to Whalen, which he refused. Whalen, like many others, was outraged at the way the diocese had shielded abusive clergy. That much was confirmed in August 2018, when then-diocese employees Siobhan M. O'Connor and the Rev. Ryszard S. Biernat leaked confidential documents and audio recordings implicating then-Bishop Richard J. Malone in the mishandling of clergy sexual abuse allegations. Malone stepped down in December 2019. Meanwhile, in an attempt to stem the tide, the diocese paid out $17.5 million to 106 victims through a voluntary and limited compensation program in 2018 and 2019. Many applicants to this program were deemed ineligible. The biggest breakthrough for survivors came in February 2019 when the State Legislature finally enacted the Child Victims Act, which extends the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of child molesters, from age 23 to 28, and raises the permissible age for civil lawsuits to 55. There was also a one-year look-back period, in which victims of any age could bring lawsuits. The diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2020 after it was named as a defendant in 260 Child Victims Act lawsuits. By the time of a court-imposed deadline in August, 2021, there were more than 900 claimants the largest number of claimants ever in a diocese bankruptcy. Delays caused by the pandemic and a separate lawsuit brought by New York State against the diocese have contributed to a drawn-out process that has tested the resolve of frustrated survivors. Now that the end of the journey may be in sight, its far from satisfying for many, including claimant Gary Astridge, who stated, This works for them. It doesnt necessarily work for survivors. Even if settlement checks ever arrive for survivors, the diocese work is far from over. Bishop Michael W. Fisher is right when he states, We can never know the pain that these survivors and victims have been through. No one should have to know it. And the diocese' work must extend beyond healing to heightened vigilance and full transparency. Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing. In this photo from 2012, traffic backs up in the westbound lane of the NYS Thruway near Liverpool, N.Y. after a fire. (Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard) The New York State Thruway Authority recently announced that work has resumed on a major repaving project. Work is being done to repave a 16-mile stretch of I-90 in Chautauqua County, in the far-western part of the state near Lake Erie. The $45 million pavement revitalization project is under way on the eastbound side of the Thruway, between exits 60 (Westfield-Mayville-NY Route 394) and 59 (Dunkirk-Fredonia-NY Route 60). The Thruway is putting toll dollars to work, reinvesting toll revenue into rebuilding and modernizing the Thruway system, said Thruway Authority Executive Director Frank Hoare in a press release. We are committed to enhancing safety and reliability with these infrastructure investment projects, while providing some of the lowest toll rates in the nation. This work on the eastbound side follows work on the westbound side of the roadway, which began in June. The scope of work includes repairing deteriorating asphalt surfaces, repaving interchange ramps at both exits and turnarounds, and improving vertical clearance for nearby bridges and overpasses. Safety improvements like reflective line striping, new guardrails, and more will also be added. Work is expected to finish this year, according to the Thruway authority. Drivers are being urged to be alert and follow the posted work zone speed limits. Fines are doubled for speeding in a work zone. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The 17th annual celebration of Vietnam Veterans Day honored Vietnam veterans Saturday afternoon at Tottenville High School in Huguenot. Mayor Eric Adams attended the event and told the audience, The further we get from the Vietnam War, the more people have a tendency to forget the great men and women who gave their lives. One of those men was my Uncle Joe, who died at the age of 19, because he believed in what this country stood for, and this is a constant reminder that politics should never get in the way of the American way of life. In this file photo, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer listens during a briefing on Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) AP Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported three American citizens in recent days, with the oldest being 7. A 4-year-old with a rare form of cancer was deported with their 7-year-old sibling and their mother to Honduras after their mother was arrested during a routine ICE office check-in. The children are American citizens. As a result, the 4-year-old is now without access to medication or contact with doctors, USA Today reported. Those two American children arent the only ones deported in recent days: A 2-year-old girl and her pregnant mother, again, were arrested during a routine check-in and subsequently deported to Honduras. An 11-year-old Honduran-born sister was also deported with them. Additionally, a Cuban mother of a 1-year-old American citizen was also deported the child, who suffers from seizures, is still breastfeeding. The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups said in a statement that the way ICE deported children who are U.S. citizens and their mothers is a shocking although increasingly common abuse of power. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke in reference to the 2, 4, and 7-year-olds during an interview with NBC News show, Meet the Press. According to NBC News, Rubio said the following: Their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if theres their father or someone here who wants to assume them. But ultimately, who was deported was their mother, their mothers who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. The Associated Press contributed to this piece. Eva Longoria appears on stage during 3 to 5 on Ocean Drive as part of SOBEWFF on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, in Miami. Tune in to see Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain, in much of a different in a premiere set to air on Sunday, April 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN. (Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP) Scott Roth/Invision/AP Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain, a presentation that will portray the actress, producer, director and activist in much of a different light, is set to premiere on Sunday, April 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CNN. The eight-episode series, produced by Cris Abregos and Longorias Hyphenate Media Group, follows Longoria on a gastronomic pilgrimage across the land of her ancestors as she indulges in the rich tapestry of Spanish cuisine, the CNN website reports. Spains rich culture, passionate people and bold and diverse cuisines have captivated me as long as I can remember, especially knowing that one of my Mexican-American ancestors has deep roots in this remarkable country, said Longoria in CNN press release. A LITTLE SNEAK PEEK HOW TO STREAM EVA LONGORIA: SEARCHING FOR SPAIN ONLINE FOR FREE If youre a cord-cutter or dont have cable, you can watch Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain online on the following streaming platform, and get it for free via a trial offer: WHAT CHANNEL IS CNN ON? If you are watching on cable, catch Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain on CNN. You can find which channel CNN is on by using the channel finders here: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish. MORE ON THE SHOW The opportunity to immerse myself in Spains many regions, to discover its fascinating history, to indulge in its dynamic culinary traditions and innovations has been nothing short of exhilarating, Longoria added. I am so excited to finally share this incredible journey with the world! Searching for Spain centers around Longorias journey across Spains sun-drenched plains, rugged mountains and dramatic seascapes exploring its incredible wealth of cultures, climates and cuisines. Longoria will taste her way through a bar crawl of pintxos (a small snack) in San Sebastian, Catalan prawns in Barcelona, and the popular, classic, Spanish tortilla in Madrid. She will also journey to the birthplace of tapas and shell sample some of the most expensive jamon (dry cured ham) in the world in Andalusia. In Galicia shell sample fresh seafood and world class Galician blonde beef. Among the cider mills of Asturias, shell explore the land of her ancestors and visit with family who still live in the town of Longoria to this day. Viewers will also get a birds eye view her new Spanish home in Marbella as she hosts a feast of local delicacies for her closest friends. Throughout the last decade, CNN Original Series have transported viewers around the globe, expanding the bounds of CNNs storytelling capabilities and introducing our viewers to new cultures and new culinary delights. We are delighted to continue this tradition with the extraordinary Eva Longoria as she embarks on a vibrant adventure through Spain this season, said Amy Entelis, executive vice president for Talent & Content Development, CNN Worldwide. A Sydney police officer has been accused of making false domestic violence complaints against colleagues and misusing Crime Stoppers. Police seized several electronic devices from the home of 25-year-old Jemma Hoban, a serving NSW police officer with the South West Metropolitan Region, during a raid on her Campbelltown home on November 29 last year. Jemma Hoban has been charged with knowingly providing false or misleading information regarding police conduct. Credit: Two months earlier, officers attached to the Professional Standards Command (PSC) had established Strike Force Potsdam to investigate reports of alleged false complaints made by Hoban. The PSC is a specialist command that is responsible for setting standards for performance, conduct and integrity within NSW Police. Two children in south-east Queensland and two children in the Philippines have been found by police after they were seen in child exploitation material seized north of Brisbane. Investigators arrested a 31-year-old man in Kippa Ring in December last year, seizing several digital devices from his home, and charged him with a string of exploitation and drug offences. The man was arrested at his Kippa Ring home last year. Credit: Queensland Police With the help of Task Force Argos, Redcliffe police worked to identify and locate the victims depicted. Two were found to be in south-east Queensland, and two more were in the Philippines. That pair were among four girls and one boy rescued by national police in the Philippines, after a bust on what police said were abusive environments. The Australian children are also being provided support. Today police said the accused Kippa Ring man had been hit with 24 more charges including grooming a child, indecent treatment of a child under 12 with impairment of the mind, distributing child exploitation material and supplying drugs. He is due to appear at Redcliffe Magistrates Court on May 1. Duke Wong has travelled Queensland pitching his vision for crowd thinking politics, at times sleeping in his car and taking 20 showers at rest stops. Campaigning for a Senate seat, the 50-year-old says hes spoken to more than 1000 voters in almost 40 towns and cities over the past 13 months. I dont think Ive got a chance, he tells this masthead on a concrete bench outside Brisbane Square Library. Duke Wong is campaigning for one of six Senate seats up for grabs in Queensland. Credit: William Davis Im an unendorsed, ungrouped independent who nobody knows. RICHARD ZACHARIAH March 20, 1945-April 9, 2025 Journalist Richard Zachariah, who died in early April aged 80, had many gifts, but will be remembered above all for making others feel good with his smile, wit and charm. Like Peter Sellers character Chauncey Gardiner, Zachariah could lift the mood in a room just by being there. Dick was truly amazing, recalls onetime colleague Russell Skelton. He was the epitome of suave, and achieved so much. He was also a tough dog to keep on the porch, as Skelton says. All eyes are on the fiercely contested new federal seat of Bullwinkel, where a curious collision of suburbs on Perths eastern fringe and Wheatbelt farming towns has created a political pressure cooker. From live sheep exports to the fights over Perth Hills developments, the electorate is awash with polarising issues and now a fresh climate report has upped the stakes. New modelling reveals tens of thousands of residents in Bullwinkel face heightened risk from climate-driven disasters, throwing a volatile factor into an already high-stakes campaign. This month, the Climate Council ranked Bullwinkel eighth on its list of the top 10 federal electorates with the most at-risk homes with threats from climate-driven extremes like floods, bushfires, cyclonic winds, and coastal inundation. News / National by Staff reporter President Emmerson Mnangagwa's spokesman, George Charamba, has admitted that University of Zimbabwe (UZ) lecturers, who have been picketing outside the campus over poor wages and working conditions, have legitimate concerns that need urgent attention.Charamba, writing on his X (formerly Twitter) account under his pseudonym Jamwanda 2, pledged to personally intervene in the matter."Frankly, our university lecturers have a genuine grievance. I will take it up!" Charamba declared, acknowledging the plight of the academic staff represented by the Association of University Teachers (AUT).The lecturers, describing themselves as "incapacitated," say their current financial situation has rendered them unable to perform their duties effectively. They are protesting what they term "slave wages" and deteriorating working conditions.Self-exiled former Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo also weighed in, blasting the government and UZ management for what he called their "shocking administrative failure" and "abuse of duty." Writing on his X account Friday, Moyo described the lecturers' meager salaries as a "national disgrace" and warned that the situation threatens Zimbabwe's economic future and national security."The university authorities and the ministry cannot escape the indictment that their inability to redress the situation is a shocking administrative failure," said Moyo."Not only is this a national embarrassment, but it is also a threat to the country's economic interests with national security implications."Moyo, an architect of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) policy during his time in government, emphasized that without proper support for academic staff, Zimbabwe's development goals would remain unattainable."It would be impossible for Zimbabwe to defeat hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance, and corruption without intellectual property generated by higher education, particularly but not only through STEM," Moyo said.Lecturers claim that since the unilateral slashing of their salaries in October 2018, they have been trapped in enforced poverty. They allege that while their salaries were decimated with current pay averaging around US$230, including a ZWG component worth less than US$200 UZ management awarded themselves hefty perks, luxury vehicles, and prioritized non-essential projects over staff welfare."They are living in a different world," one AUT representative said.The lecturers are demanding a return to their pre-2018 salary levels of around US$2,250, vowing to maintain their protest outside UZ premises until the issue is resolved. Academic services at UZ have ground to a halt as the number of protesting lecturers grows daily.The strike has significantly disrupted university operations, escalating pressure on both UZ authorities and the government to find a lasting solution. She has juggled raising three children (she and Dutton had two boys), managing the familys property on Brisbanes semi-rural north-west fringe and running two childcare centres. Dutton talks about an instinctive understanding of each other, and their similar approach to parenting. While he is away, the kids have been raised in exactly the same way as I would have wanted them raised if Id been there, he told 60 Minutes. Shes never complained about that and the sacrifice shes had to make in her own career. Duttons job has led to frightening moments for his family. Kirilly has had death threats; her sons have too. Once, they had plainclothes federal officers at their school. Dutton told his embarrassed boys that no-one would notice. One of them said, Dad, theyre the only people walking around with bum bags, in the school, everyone knows who they are, he said. That pressure led to Kirillys famous intervention, in 2019, to address the public perception of then-home affairs minister Dutton as a bloodless enforcer. He is a really good man. He is a really good father and hes not a monster, she told the Courier Mail. The end of the quote was briefly used as an attack post by Victorias ALP before Albanese intervened. In her rare interviews, Kirilly has taken issue with the perception out there that hes fairly serious and hard-line, she once told the Courier Mail; actually, she said, he loves a joke, he grows rose bushes, and he would secretly love to be a cattle farmer. Hes a great mate, hes a good son, and hes an excellent dad, she told 60 Minutes. She declined an interview request for this story. Loading Like Dutton, Albanese knows the pressure of juggling marriage and parenting with politics. He spent 30 years in a relationship with fellow Labor politician and former NSW deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt more than 20 of them as member for Grayndler - and they have one now-adult son, Nathan. But by the time he became opposition leader in May 2019, he was a single man. His experience would resonate with many Australians. Albanese announced his split with Tebbutt in January 2019, just after Nathan finished his HSC, saying he was deeply saddened and there were no third parties involved. It wasnt my decision, and I found it difficult to understand, he later said of the break-up. I thought Carmel would be my life partner and that wasnt the case. Haydon, an earthy daughter of teachers from the Central Coast in her early 40s, entered his life later that year. He was addressing a Melbourne union conference in late 2019 and asked South Sydney supporters to identify themselves. Haydon, who worked for a union super fund, shouted up the Rabbitohs! , prompting Albanese to introduce himself. She then messaged him directly on X (formerly Twitter) to praise his policies, and he asked about her position on craft beer before inviting Haydon for a drink at Young Henrys brewery in Newtown. To all the single independent ladies out there, she later said in a 60 Minutes interview, why cant we make the first move? Haydon might have bypassed the years of absences and electoral ups and downs experienced by Kirilly Dutton, but she did have to conduct her courtship under the glare of the national media. COVID lockdowns gave the couple cover to get to know each other (in mid-2020, they were caught kissing at Woolloomooloo Wharf). In a moment that recalls the denouement of Anne of Green Gables, Albaneses injury in a car accident was a turning point for Haydon. [I] knew then the depth of my feelings towards him, she told the Australian Womens Weekly. When Albanese became prime minister in May 2022, Haydon became the prime ministerial spouse. She moved with him to The Lodge, with its staff and sprawling grounds, and travelled with him to a run of significant events; they walked through Westminister Abbey at Queen Elizabeths funeral, were back again six months later for King Charles coronation, and stayed in the official White House guest residence while visiting Joe and Jill Biden. Haydon, who works in financial services, has also been careful to keep space within the maelstrom for herself. I have my own professional path, and my own identity and purpose, she told The Weekly. I continue to work full-time and my employer has been very supportive. When I am at work, Im simply Jodie, not the prime ministers partner. The happy couple, who got engaged on Valentines Day, are yet to lock in a date for their nuptials. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Albanese proposed to Haydon on Valentines Day, 2024, with a ring he designed himself. He followed the engagement ring with a more controversial purchase a $4.3 million clifftop home in Copacabana on the Central Coast, with an eye to the couples post-politics life. Critics including within Labor thought it was a bad look during a cost-of-living crisis. Jodie and I are getting married, Albanese told 60 Minutes. What you dont do is move into the family home where Carmel and I raised Nathan together as a family. If the teals do build on their 2022 success, it will be in large part thanks to their sophisticated campaigning, combining old-fashioned door-knocking with targeted social media spending. Loading The Kooyong working bee was prepping an eye-watering amount of Ryan-emblazoned material for the two pre-polling stations that opened last week and the 42 others that will need to be manned on May 3. The jobs involved sorting 2000 corflutes of different designs different photos of Ryan, different phrases, some in Chinese for certain parts of the electorate, which stretches from Malvern in the south to Balwyn 10 kilometres north. One group counted and wrapped up bundles of plastic bunting, another zip-tied A-frame signs together, another counted sandbags and wooden stakes, while another group outside loaded the bundles of paraphernalia destined for the different booths onto the back of a ute. A team of youngsters who stand out from the largely grey-haired group of retirees who have the time and capacity to help run the campaign were huddled around a laptop editing TikToks for Ryans youth-oriented Instagram account @youth4mon, which posts memes and joke posts for Ryan with a much sharper and snarkier tone than Ryans official account, which boasts 116,000 followers. A volunteer at work inside Zoe Daniels campaign headquarters, which serves as a hub for about 1000 volunteers. Credit: Simon Schluter On the walls painted teal, of course were handwritten lists of stocktake, a coloured-in chart celebrating the numbers of doors knocked on over the past few weeks, and dozens of Polaroid photos of smiling teal volunteers taken at one of the campaigns Thursday pizza nights. Conal Feehely, the young man in charge of organising Ryans swarms of volunteers, says there are 2000 on the books and 1500 who have been active. Hes hoping the full 2000 will turn out on the big day. These arent just folk from the 2022 election, he says in a teal apron, tongs in hand. Hes standing over a teal-coloured Weber barbecue cooking up snags for a volunteers lunch. Its pretty close to half of them being new recruits, he says. A lot of people [from the 2022 campaign] have either moved out of the electorate or been redistributed outside of the electorate. Zoe Daniel volunteers Viresh Ratnayeke and Michael Mack at her campaign headquarters. Credit: Simon Schluter Its been fantastic new generations of people just continue to be motivated by Mon. Its exciting. Its a similar set-up at Zoe Daniels campaign headquarters in Hampton, whose exterior is painted teal and which is furnished with hand-me-down furniture donated by volunteers. The headquarters acts as a hub for Daniels almost 1000-strong group of volunteers. One of the most important groups is the 320 door-knockers, led by Simon Cox and Di Findlay. Cox, a retired research scientist in spacial technologies, makes maps of Goldsteins suburbs for door-knockers to target, charts which areas have been covered and then collates the data from each door-knock. Each door-knocking team ranges from six to 30 people and is allocated a captain. A team goes out every weekday, and two or three teams are out on Saturdays and Sundays. Inside Ryans campaign office. Credit: Rachael Dexter We will have knocked on something like three-quarters of the doors in this electorate by the end, Cox says. Door-knockers attend a one-hour training session and are equipped with kits containing clipboards with maps and flyers to hand out. They track their progress and feed notes into an app. Simon Cox is in charge of Daniels door-knocking teams. Credit: Simon Schluter Findlay, a retired school principal, co-ordinates the teams and says her experience in marshalling large groups of people and preparing timetables has come in handy on the campaign trail. Meanwhile, Cox is surveying the data that comes back, feeding information to Daniels electorate office if it is relevant to it or to the campaign team. A lot of it is, in this area everyone is talking about crime, in another area it is cost of living, he says. Daniels volunteers communicate via WhatsApp groups and use an open-source CRM (customer relationship management) system to track attendees at events, automatically emailing those who attended to thank them and reminding those who did not show up about the next event. Like Cox and Findlay, the door-knocking teams are dominated by retirees theres lots of grey hairs Cox says, in contrast to the stereotype of teals volunteers being young professionals. We have the time, Cox says. Were fortunate to be in a position where we are past that stressful part of our lives. Like Ryans campaign, in which younger volunteers are relied upon to manage social media, Gen Zoe operates its own accounts, which try to directly appeal to young people in the electorate. The teals are big spenders on social media. Data from Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, shows Climate 200 spent the most on advertising in Victoria in the past 90 days, $998,736, just ahead of Labors $989,000. Ryans campaign alone has spent $253,190 on social media advertising in the past 90 days, while Daniel has spent $75,279. Daniel likes to say that in the previous election, her team was building the plane while trying to fly it, but this election the teals say the plane is ready to go. Weve been able to get more organised. Getting organised has felt easier as, obviously, we knew how to do it, she says. Daniel says reaching people through social media and mainstream media is more difficult than it was at the last election. The digital space has changed quite a lot, so were doing video on-demand advertising and stuff like that we didnt do last time, she says. Some teals are also using influencers to assist in their campaigns, with NSW independent MP Allegra Spender under scrutiny over a series of social media posts by influencer Milly Rose Bannister, whose videos were made in collaboration with Spender. Daniel has not engaged influencers but turned to comedian Dan Ilic for a touch of star power as the host of her campaign launch at the Kingston Town Hall. Ilic runs a company that received almost $588,000 worth of donations from Climate 200 during the 2022 election campaign, but Daniels team says neither it nor Climate 200 paid Ilic for the hosting gig. When it comes to dirt files, sources have included people connected with the teals campaigns. A volunteer for Ryans campaign posted details on social media about a recent Supreme Court of Victoria judgment that showed Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was a beneficiary of a $20 million family trust. Lets be very clear, the way people found out was because of Monique Ryans volunteers, Hamer told the ABCs 7.30 last week. Loading Monash University politics lecturer Dr Zareh Ghazarian says battles over corflutes and compiling dirt files run the risk of compromising the teals focus on integrity. One of the unique points that they put forward at the last election was that they would do politics differently because they were going to be coming into the parliamentary system with these new ideas, he says. He believes this campaign is make or break for the teals, and they will leave nothing on the line. A feud has erupted between Lord Mayor Nick Reece and the electoral watchdog over the absence of early voting centres in Melbournes CBD just days from the federal election. Reece slammed the lack of pre-poll venues in Melbournes centre as baffling and undemocratic, while the Australian Electoral Commission blamed the council, accusing it of failing to help it secure suitable venues. Amid a steep rise in Australians casting their vote early, Reece said he had written to AEC Victorian manager Nye Coffey urgently requesting pre-polling centres. People who live and work in the CBD have had to leave the area to visit such centres, the closest one being in North Melbourne. Jack Robinson drew inspiration from some of surfings greats and then took another giant stride towards joining them with victory in the Rip Curl Pro at storied Bells Beach. The 27-year-old Australian has now won eight Championship Tour (CT) events in the past four years, with many of those triumphs coming at the sports most hallowed venues, including Pipeline, Teahupoo, G-Land and now Bells Beach. Celebration time: Jack Robinson and Isabella Nichols after their success at Bells Beach. Credit: World Surf League It was a day of double triumph for the host nation, with resurgent Queenslander Isabella Nichols saluting in the womens event. Nichols claimed the biggest victory of her career by downing young Brazilian star Luana Silva 16.26 points to 12.67. The dish: Tam Som, Laos Whether its tam som or som tam dont hold the spice. Credit: Getty Images Plate up Hows your spice tolerance? Are you good with chilli? Do you order your vindaloo extra spicy? Do you watch Hot Wings and fancy your own stellar performance? Then its time to try tam som, otherwise known as green papaya salad. And not just in Australian restaurants in Laos or Thailand. Order it medium spicy. And prepare to have your world turned upside down. Tam som is one of those dishes that is well known to Australians in a certain form, and yet in its home it takes on all new, beautiful and fiery dimensions. Its the perfect balance of five tastes: sourness, saltiness, sweetness, spiciness and umami. This dish begins with green, unripe papaya, which is julienned and pounded with a mortar and pestle along with palm sugar, lime juice, shrimp paste, fish sauce and a selection of other ingredients, depending on your location: fermented freshwater crabs, thai eggplants, cherry tomatoes, green beans, small prawns, garlic and MSG. Oh, and birds eye chillies. Lots of them. This pounded salad is often served with sticky rice, and it is straight-up fire. Few things divide us from our American cousins like tipping. Like many of the big debates in life, it boils down to a fundamentally different moral outlook: they see tipping as basic fairness, whereas we tend to see it as an optional generosity. As a rule of thumb, 20 per cent is seen as the expected minimum when it comes to tipping in restaurants. Credit: iStock Naturally, the whole American payment infrastructure is built around tipping. Order a single drink in a bar and youll be handed a credit card receipt with a space for you to sign and add the amount of your tip, sometimes with a suggested amount. What if you leave it blank, you ask? Well, youre perfectly entitled to do that, just as American tourists in London are entitled to stand on the left-hand side of the escalator or snap their fingers to attract a waiter. Its legal by all means, but will be seen as deeply rude. As a rule of thumb, 20 per cent is seen as the expected minimum when it comes to tipping in restaurants. If that seems steep, remember that America has a lower minimum wage for tipped employees, which can be as low as $US2.13 ($3.33) an hour. Of course, it isnt just restaurant servers who youre expected to tip. Hotel housekeepers, bellhops, valet attendants and even the staff who bring your room service orders are all tipped employees and will expect to be treated as such. ATM fees Is there anything more annoying than having to pay to access your own money? Usually, the only way to withdraw cash for free is to be a customer of the bank that owns the machine: something that is by definition going to rule out the vast majority of visitors. Paying a fee is inevitable then, but that doesnt mean that you have to accept the first one you find. If you can find one that charges less than $US4 per withdrawal, you know youve done well. Loading Parking fees At busy attractions in big cities, paying to park is perfectly understandable. But when youre at a resort hotel or attraction sitting in the middle of nowhere? Not so much. Unfortunately, this is another one being pushed by some of the big hotel chains. At a swanky resort in Sedona, I was surprised to find that all guests were expected to pay $US18 per day purely for the privilege of parking their vehicle. As with the resort fees, the fact that you happen to be a guest of the hotel is irrelevant. If you want to park, you have to pay. Sales taxes For all the fuss about the cost of living, Australia will always have one thing in its favour. We know that the price we see on the shelf will be the one we pay when we get to the checkout. Not so in the US, where 45 of the 50 states impose a sales tax. Something that many tourists only find out when they reach the counter. While its rarely more than 10 per cent, it can still be a nasty surprise. Are there any advantages to adding the tax at the point of sale? A Republican friend of mine argues that it makes people more aware of the tax theyre paying and thus more likely to vote for low-tax politicians. Expensive water When the waiter offered to bring water, I thought nothing of it. Sure, it was a smart-looking restaurant in a fashionable part of Arizona, but just how expensive could it possibly be? Loading It turns out my naivety was a costly mistake. Checking the bill later, I noticed that the two bottles of water had cost $US12 each and thats before the tip. Why the hefty charge? It turns out this wasnt just any water but Fiji Water the fashionable hydration brand favoured by celebrities and increasingly by hotels and restaurants too. Fifteen minutes. No aides. No flags, no formalities just two men locked in a contest over Ukraines future, in the most unlikely of arenas. Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, bitter adversaries since their Oval Office blow-up in February, sat down in the heart of the Vatican for a tense, private exchange that could reshape the endgame of Europes bloodiest war in decades. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, and US President Donald Trump talk before the funeral. Credit: AP Alongside the coffin of Pope Francis lying in state, the meeting was startling not just for its setting, but for its timing. Photos from Saint Peters Basilica captured the tension Trump gesturing, Zelensky leaning forward, a few short minutes packed with decisions that could echo for decades. Trump, emboldened by back-channel negotiations, believes Ukraine and Russia are close to a deal. His vision is blunt: a ceasefire that freezes Russian gains and redraws Europes borders. Zelensky, still defiant, sees any concession as a betrayal of the blood already spilled. The death of Virginia Giuffre brings to a tragic close the most unedifying and damaging royal scandal in living memory. Giuffre, who has died by suicide at her farm in Australia, will be remembered as the determined survivor of sex trafficking and abuse who helped to catalyse the downfall of Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and, in the court of public opinion, the Duke of York. Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others. Credit: TNS via Getty Images She was a fierce warrior, her family said in a statement, and will always be remembered for her incredible courage. Her tenacity in pursuing the duke, whom she accused of sexually assaulting or raping her when she was 17 after she was allegedly trafficked to London, led to him stepping back from public life in 2019 and to his failure to return to it since. Kralendijk, Bonaire:--- As a proud inhabitant of Bonaire, I, Dr. Willem A. Cecilia, feel compelled to publicly denounce the false and misleading claims recently published by James Finies of the Bonaire Human Rights Organization in the Saint Martin News Network. These claims, suggesting that Bonaire must be relisted as a non-self-governing territory and alleging Dutch "colonial manipulation," completely misrepresent the political, legal, and historical facts about Bonaire's status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As documented by legal scholar Dr. S. Hillebrink in Political Decolonization and Self-Determination: The Case of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba (2007), Bonaires right to self-determination was formally recognized in the early 1980s and continues to be protected under international law, including the United Nations Charter and General Assembly Resolutions 1514, 1541, and 2625. Bonaires people have the right to shape their political status through democratic means. Our current constitutional status is not the result of colonial domination, but of a negotiated and recognized expression of self-government. That said, it is important to be honest: our situation is not perfect. Much work remains to be done to achieve true equality with the citizens of the European part of the Netherlands. We continue to face challenges in ensuring that the same level of social, economic, legal, and political rights enjoyed in the Dutch continent are fully and fairly extended to Bonaire. However, this ongoing struggle for equality must be based on facts, constructive dialogue, and democratic principles, not misinformation and divisive rhetoric. It is entirely false and legally unsound to argue that Bonaire should be returned to the list of non-self-governing territories. As Hillebrink explains, international law does not permit unilateral relisting where a full measure of self-government has already been achieved. The portrayal of Dutch Special Envoy Edison Rijna at the upcoming Global Sustainable Island Summit (GSIS) as a "colonial manipulator" is equally misleading. While criticisms can be made of any political representative, it is wrong to depict legitimate climate advocacy and island cooperation efforts as deceit. Although Bonaire may not lie in the hurricane belt, we face real environmental challenges, including drought, freshwater scarcity, and a sea level rise that will cause permanent inundation of parts of the low-lying nature reserves of the salinas, Lac Bay, and Klein Bonaire. And coral reef degradation, which is an issues that demand responsible engagement with international partners. Furthermore, inflammatory accusations about "forced euthanasia" laws, cultural destruction, and demographic manipulation are grossly exaggerated and lack credible evidence. Real challenges exist in governance, education, and healthcare but these require honest dialogue and grounded solutions, not hyperbole and conspiracy theories. I urge CARICOM leaders, the Caribbean community, and all friends of Bonaire to distinguish truth from distortion. Bonaires people deserve to have their dignity and democratic achievements respected, not undermined by sensationalism. Dr. Willem A. Cecilia Bonaire News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwe's government has dismissed calls by British lawmakers for punitive action over the continued detention of journalist Blessed Mhlanga, describing the pressure as an "emotional overreach" that carries no influence on domestic affairs.Reacting to comments made by Liberal Democrats peer Lord Jonny Oates, who urged the United Kingdom (UK) to impose consequences on Zimbabwe, Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana said foreign criticism has little impact within the country."Conversations or emotional overreaches in foreign legislatures count very little here," Mangwana posted on his official X (formerly Twitter) account.Lord Oates had called on the UK government to make it clear that normal diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe would not resume unless basic human rights, including media freedoms, were respected. His remarks come ahead of a summit in London in June, where First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa is scheduled to speak.Oates also encouraged fellow parliamentarians attending the summit to confront Auxillia over both the continued incarceration of Mhlanga and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's reported attempts to extend his term in office.Adding to the pressure, Zimbabwean rights activists based in the UK are mobilizing to stage protests outside the venue of the First Ladies of African Impact and Resilience (FLAIR) summit.Meanwhile, Blessed Mhlanga has now spent 60 days in pretrial detention. His arrest followed the broadcast of an interview with war veteran Blessed Geza, who had called for President Mnangagwa's immediate removal from office. Mhlanga is facing charges of "transmitting data messages that incite violence or damage to property."Human rights groups have condemned the prolonged detention as an attack on press freedom and a chilling signal to journalists operating in Zimbabwe.The government, however, appears unmoved, maintaining that the matter remains a domestic legal issue. Mali political parties fear dissolution by ruling junta Bamako, April 26 (AFP) Apr 26, 2025 A coalition of around a hundred political parties accused Mali's ruling junta of wanting to dissolve them, in a joint statement to the media in Bamako on Saturday. Such gatherings are highly unusual in the troubled west African state, where the ruling junta has repressed all discordant voices and silenced the opposition. The Sahel country has been grappling with widespread insecurity for more than a decade and the military seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. "We don't want political parties to be dissolved," said Abdallah Yattara, a member of the Yelema party, at the coalition's news conference. The authorities have cancelled a meeting scheduled for Sunday in Bamako by the political coalition. The authorities have been overseeing talks over the past two weeks for reforms that include one proposal to dissolve existing political groups, keeping only a handful of pro-junta parties. The adoption of the reforms was one of the recommendations of a junta-led national consultation in late 2022 to "build a way out of the crisis" in Mali. The coalition, in a joint statement read out by spokesman Oumar Ibrahim Toure, objected that they had not been invited to the talks, denouncing what it described as "a pseudo-concertation". The news conference went ahead under surveillance from a significant police presence, an AFP journalist noted. The ruling military junta failed to honour a commitment to oversee a return to civilian rule by the end of March 2024 and has postponed the presidential election to an unspecified date. The junta suspended activities of parties and political associations between April and July 2024, warning of a risk of "subversion". Consultations boycotted by the main parties, in May 2024 brought a "recommendation" that the military remain in power "for two to five more years". It also proposed the candidacy of the current head of the junta when presidential polls are finally held. No handshake at muted India-Pakistan border ceremony Attari, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 With swaggering soldiers giving high kicks set to booming patriotic music cheered on by crowds, it was the usual daily border ceremony between nuclear-armed arch-rivals India and Pakistan. But there was one key thing at the show that was missing -- the usual symbol of cooperation, a handshake between the opposing soldiers, did not take place. Relations have plummeted after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing an attack targeting tourists on April 22 -- the deadliest attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir for years. Islamabad rejects the claims, and the countries have since exchanged gunfire, diplomatic barbs, expelled citizens -- and ordered the border to be shut. The iron gates that separate the two sides remain locked. "It just fills you with passion and patriotic pride", said Simarjeet Singh, 17, from the nearby Indian city of Amritsar, his face painted with the national tricolour flag. Many fear the risk of a military escalation in the coming days. - 'Cheering' - For years, the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab has been a hugely popular tourist attraction. Visitors from both sides come to cheer on soldiers goose-stepping in a chest-puffing theatrical show of pageantry. Numbers were muted at the sunset show on Saturday, but thousands of Indians still came to show their loyalty to their nation. "There were people from all over who looked and dressed different but were cheering and screaming at the same time -- for our country and the soldiers," Singh said, who came with his friends from college. Cheering crowds still filled the stadium-like space around the gates with noise, at least on the Indian side, where on Saturday some 5,000 people -- about a fifth of full capacity -- watched. There was only a small fraction of the support on the Pakistani side. Enthusiastic spectators sang in chorus, waving flags and chanting "India Zindabad", or "Long live India". The frontier was a colonial creation at the violent end of British rule in 1947 which sliced the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The daily border ritual has largely endured over the decades, surviving innumerable diplomatic flare-ups and military skirmishes. Reena Devi, 54, and PK Nath, 70, tourists from Tezpur in India's northeastern state of Assam, are part of a tour of the country. "We are just so excited to be here", Devi said. "We just wanted to see this ceremony and experience being at the border with Pakistan." Nath said she and her group planned to visit a Hindu site in Jammu and Kashmir. "Some of us are now a little apprehensive about the security there", she said. Nath said he "totally supported" New Delhi's decision to expel Pakistani citizens and to shut down the border. "You can't send people to kill here and still not expect any response," Nath said. "We don't know what will happen next but we are sure that the government would do the right thing," he added. As the energetic masters of the ceremony goaded the crowd, the Indian soldiers in red-fanned hats stomped up to the locked gate, kicking their legs up -- with Pakistanis doing the same on the other side. - 'Anger' - Aside from the ceremony, Indian and Pakistani citizens have been crossing the border since both sides cancelled visas before India's April 29 deadline to leave -- tearing apart families with relations in both nations. "There is obvious anxiety right now", said Harpal Singh, an Amritsar-based taxi driver who regularly brings visitors to the ceremony, insisting the spectacle was still worth coming to see. "There was no one who didn't come back impressed and excited", he said. KT Ramesh, 57, from Kozhikode in the southern state of Kerala, said that even the scaled-down ceremony "was worth it". "There was no shortage of passion among our people," Ramesh said. He said that he'd "seen anger" about the attack in Kashmir "in whoever I spoke with, from our hotel staff to the taxi driver and other tourists here". "Everyone was talking about it," he said. "We don't like a war but this time we must teach them a lesson". Philippines, US test air defences as China seizes reef Philippines, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 Missiles fired off the coast of the northern Philippines Sunday as US and Filipino forces conducted their first integrated defence drills, hours after China said it had seized control of a reef claimed by Manila. The Philippines and China have been engaged in months of confrontations over the South China Sea, which Beijing claims nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. As many as 17,000 personnel are participating in the annual "Balikatan" exercises, which this year will simulate a "full-scale battle scenario" as the treaty allies seek to deter China's ambitions in the disputed waterway. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday reported that the country's coast guard had "implemented maritime control" over Tiexian Reef, also known as Sandy Cay, this month. The tiny sandbank, part of the Spratly Islands, lies near Thitu Island, also called Pag-asa and site of a Philippine military facility. The Philippine government has yet to formally respond to the claim. In coastal Zambales province, hours north of the capital Manila, AFP journalists watched Sunday as the US Marine Corp's new MADIS short-range air defence system knocked a pair of drones from the sky. The coastal defence exercise saw MADIS work in concert with the Philippines' SPYDER missile system, defending it from drone attack as it targeted simulated incoming cruise missiles. "MADIS is short-range. SPYDER is more of a medium-range capability (and they) both engaged different threats," said Matthew Sladek, commander of the US 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion. "The more we work together, that only ... enhances our collective lethality." - Blow to regional stability - Chinese warships have been spotted in waters near the Philippines since the Balikatan exercises kicked off last week. The aircraft carrier Shandong on April 22 "was detected underway 2.23 nautical miles (about four kilometres) southwest" of the Philippines' far northern Babuyan Island, the navy reported. On Sunday, the Philippine Navy said three other vessels had been spotted a day before about 60 kilometres from Zambales. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth last month told an audience in Manila that the United States was "doubling down" on its alliance with the country, noting the necessity of deterrence "considering the threats from the Communist Chinese". Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun has since slammed the Balikatan exercises as a blow to regional stability. On Monday, Balikatan will continue with troops simulating defending against an enemy landing force along a stretch of southern Palawan island. India and Pakistan troops exchange fire in Kashmir Srinagar, India, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 Troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire in disputed Kashmir for a third night in a row, officials said Sunday, as relations between the nuclear-armed rivals plunged to their lowest level in years. India has accused Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism" after gunmen killed 26 people in the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter of a century. Islamabad has denied any involvement, calling attempts to link Pakistan to the attack "frivolous" and vowing to respond to any Indian action. The Indian military on Sunday held naval drills -- releasing images of warships firing missiles -- while the country's security forces pressed on with their hunt for those behind the April 22 attack at a tourist hotspot in Pahalgam. The military blamed Pakistan for the "unprovoked" firing of small arms along Kashmir's Line of Control that separates the two countries. "(Our) own troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire," it said of the latest incident, which has not been reported by Pakistan. Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation. India's federal home ministry has handed over the attack probe to the National Investigation Agency, which focuses on counter-terrorism. "The eyewitnesses are being questioned in minute detail to piece together the sequence of events that led to one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir," an agency statement said Sunday. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said the country was "open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation" into the attack. - Indian naval exercises - India's navy meanwhile said it carried out exercises to "revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike", without detailing where the drills took place. The Indian Express newspaper on Sunday quoted a top government source as saying "there will be military retaliation" and officials "are discussing the nature of the strike". Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947. Both claim the territory in full but govern separate portions of it. Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan. India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated his pledge that the Pahalgam victims "will get justice". "Terrorists and their patrons want Kashmir to be destroyed again, that is why such a big conspiracy was hatched," he said in his monthly radio address to the nation. On Saturday, soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir bombed the family home of one of the Pahalgam suspects. The house of Farooq Ahmad Tadwa was destroyed by authorities in Kupwara district, one of a series of demolitions targeting houses of alleged militants. So far nine houses belonging to militants have been bombed since the Pahalgam attack, a police official told AFP on Sunday on condition of anonymity. In the aftermath of the attack, New Delhi suspended a water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistanis. In response, Islamabad has ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, cancelling visas for Indian nationals -- with the exception of Sikh pilgrims -- and closing the main border crossing from its side. The United Nations has urged the arch-rivals to show "maximum restraint" so that issues can be "resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement". Pahalgam marks a dramatic shift in recent Kashmiri rebel attacks, which typically target Indian security forces. In 2019, a suicide attack killed 41 Indian troops in Kashmir and triggered Indian air strikes inside Pakistan, bringing the countries to the brink of all-out war. Iraq arrests IS suspect for inciting the New Orleans attack Baghdad, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 Iraqi authorities have arrested a suspected member of the Islamic State group for inciting a January truck-ramming attack that killed 14 people in the US city of New Orleans, Iraq's judiciary said Sunday. The city in the southern state of Louisiana was plunged into a panic early on New Year's Day when a US army veteran, who the FBI said had pledged loyalty to IS, ploughed a pickup truck into revellers in the crowded French Quarter, famed for its nightlife. Police killed the suspect in an exchange of fire. Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council said that an IS member "was arrested for inciting the January 2025 truck attack in the United States" after Iraq received a request from Washington to assist in the investigation. It added that the suspect is "a member of the external operations office of the Daesh terrorist organisation", using the Arabic acronym for IS. The suspect will be tried in Iraq under the anti-terrorism law, it said. Although the country proclaimed the defeat of the jihadist group on its territory in 2017, IS cells have remained active and carry out sporadic attacks against the army and police. A recent UN report said government-led counter-terrorism operations have resulted in the deaths of nearly half of IS's senior leaders in Iraq. IS declared a "caliphate" in 2014 after capturing large parts of Iraq and Syria, beginning a rule marked by atrocities. Israel says Beirut strike targeted Hezbollah store of 'precision-guided missiles' Jerusalem, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah store of "precision-guided missiles" in a south Beirut air strike on Sunday that prompted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to call for French and US intervention. "Under the instruction of Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, the (military) has strongly attacked infrastructure in Beirut where Hezbollah's precision-guided missiles were stored," a statement from Netanyahu's office said. In a separate statement, the military said it hit the site in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah. "The storage of missiles in this infrastructure site constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, and poses a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians," the military said. Netanyahu's office said Israel "will not allow Hezbollah to grow stronger and create any threat against it -- anywhere in Lebanon". "The Dahiyeh neighbourhood in Beirut will not serve as a safe haven for the terrorist organisation Hezbollah. "The Lebanese government bears direct responsibility for preventing these threats," it added. The Lebanese president condemned the strike on south Beirut and called on France and the United States to assume their responsibilities as guarantors of the fragile November 27 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah to compel Israel to "halt its attacks immediately". Israel's Netanyahu calls for 'dismantling' Iran's nuclear infrastructure Jerusalem, April 27 (AFP) Apr 27, 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday for the complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear programme, insisting that any deal with Tehran must also address its ballistic missile capabilities. "You have to dismantle their nuclear infrastructure and that means ... they will not have the capacity to enrich uranium," he said in a speech in Jerusalem, adding that any deal should also "bring in the prevention of ballistic missiles". "The real deal that works is the deal which removes Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons," the Israeli premier said. "Iran will not have nuclear weapons," he added. Western governments have long suspected Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied, insisting its programme is for peaceful purposes only. Iran and the United States, which have been foes since the Islamic revolution of 1979, held a third round of nuclear talks mediated by Oman on Saturday. Both Tehran and Washington reported progress in the talks, with a US official calling them "positive and productive" while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said work would take place to "reduce the differences" between the sides ahead of another round of talks next week. A 2015 accord between Iran and major powers that limited its nuclear activities in return for easing international sanctions effectively collapsed after US President Donald Trump abandoned it three years later. Since returning to the White House, Trump has called on Iran to negotiate a new deal while threatening to take military action if it does not. News / National by Staff reporter Renowned ophthalmologist Dr Solomon Guramatunhu has reportedly fallen victim to a massive fraud scheme after his employee, Lloyd Chiyangwa, allegedly siphoned US$500,000 from him and used the funds to amass a collection of assets.According to sources familiar with the case, Chiyangwa, who was entrusted with managing aspects of Dr Guramatunhu's financial affairs, allegedly diverted the funds over a period of time without the doctor's knowledge. The stolen money was reportedly used to acquire both immovable property, including real estate, and movable assets such as vehicles.The fraud was uncovered following an internal audit that raised red flags, prompting Dr Guramatunhu to initiate a full investigation. Preliminary findings reportedly revealed a well-orchestrated scheme involving unauthorized transfers and misappropriation of funds meant for business and personal projects.Authorities are now involved, and a criminal case has been opened against Chiyangwa, who is expected to face charges related to fraud and theft.Efforts to recover the lost assets are already underway, with legal proceedings being considered to repossess properties and other acquisitions allegedly made using the stolen money.Dr Guramatunhu, celebrated for his contributions to eye care and charitable work across Zimbabwe, has yet to make a public statement regarding the incident.The case has sparked widespread outrage in professional circles, with many expressing shock that a figure of Dr Guramatunhu's stature could be targeted in such a brazen manner.Investigations are ongoing. By securing the raw materials we need to keep Scunthorpe going for the foreseeable future weve helped protect thousands of crucial steel jobs. Now, British Steel workers and their families can breathe a sigh of relief and know that we are on their side. It is understood applications have now been made to the courts for all three cases - against Cairney, Fisher, and Dele-Bashiru - to be looked at again. Asked if he thought there had been a change of mind in the White House about Mr Putin, Mr McFadden said: Well, you know those words speak for themselves. Theres certainly no reason for President Putin to be ordering strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine. Who's in the Royal Box at Wimbledon? Gary Lineker, Mary Berry and Anthony Joshua among famous faces on Centre Court on day five Who's in the Royal Box at Wimbledon Centre Court on day five? We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured, Mr Cruzat said. The crowd erupted into applause as Francis wooden casket marked with a white cross was carried by pallbearers from the altar of St Peters Basilica, where it had lain in state for three days, to St Peters Square for the open-air ceremony. It didnt seem like there were a lot of role models. I mean, there was Penny Marshall, they were just really rare cool people the women that were directors but it definitely wasnt something that was encouraged and even in a lot of the other crew positions like female cinematographers and things like that. Thats just a newer thing where women feel empowered to choose that as their job. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has broken its silence, conceding its agents were responsible for the arrest of two men during a raid on a downtown Charlottesville courthouse and promising that the bystanders who questioned those agents will be prosecuted. ICE also blasted the areas top prosecutor, who has announced he will be investigating the raid, as posturing for the media. It is shameful, wrote an ICE spokesman who declined to be named in a Saturday morning statement, that the Commonwealth Attorney, a sworn officer of the court and fellow law enforcement officer, has decided to prioritize politics over public safety placing a criminals wellbeing above that of the brave women and men in law enforcement, whom the Commonwealth Attorney took an oath to support. The spokesman was pushing back against Albemarle County Commonwealths Attorney Jim Hingeley, who has announced an investigation into the raid and warned that further actions like the courthouse arrests yesterday would constitute a grave danger to our community. Hingeley has taken particular issue with the manner of the detention. Of the three plainclothes ICE agents captured on camera arresting one of the two men as he emerged from Albemarle County General District Court on Tuesday, one was wearing a balaclava masking his face and none displayed badges or arrest warrants to the man. While Albemarle County Sheriff Chan Bryant said the ICE agents did produce proper badges and paperwork to bailiffs inside the courthouse prior to the confrontation caught on video, Hingeley stands by his assertion that arrests that resemble kidnappings are a danger to the community and could provoke violent confrontations. It is a fact that the method chosen by ICE agents to make these arrests constituted a risk to public safety, and I stand by that statement, Hingeley told The Daily Progress in an email. He also took a swipe at ICE. In Albemarle County, at least, if not at ICE, facts are facts, and I am confident my constituents appreciate my efforts to bring facts to light, Hingeley continued. Hingeley said his investigation into the raid is ongoing, regardless of what ICE says. My investigation is balanced and impartial, and I have received input from the federal agencies involved in making the arrests, all the more reason, it seems to me, to conclude that the ICE spokespersons attack on my integrity was misguided, he said. I leave it to my constituents to decide who was posturing for the media. Bryant said she plans to confer with Hingeley regarding the ICE agent seen on camera masking his face with a balaclava. In Virginia, concealing ones identity in public using a face mask is a Class 6 felony. Enforcing that law has proven difficult since the COVID-19 pandemic, when governments encouraged masking to stop the spread of the virus. Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war on Virginias college campuses in the past year have also worn masks to obscure their identities without prosecution. I would have to consult with the Commonwealths Attorney in reference to the face coverings because people come in the court every day wearing masks, Bryant told The Daily Progress. The bystanders, two women, who questioned the ICE agents and stood between them and their target outside the general district court Tuesday also wore face masks. ICE says the pair will face federal obstruction charges. The U.S. Attorneys Office intends to prosecute those individuals, ICE said. Brian McGinn, the spokesman for the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia, had nothing to add. We cannot confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation, he told The Daily Progress. The two women appear to be volunteers with the Immigration Rapid Response Hotline, a public service promoted by several civil rights and immigrant support groups. A witness to the Tuesday raid told The Daily Progress that the hotline had been called when the ICE agents were spotted. The day before the courthouse raid, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that the first wave of an immigrant detention operation had netted 531 arrests, including 132 with alleged gang affiliations. The operation was conducted by the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force, a federal-state partnership established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Feb. 25. All Virginians should be proud that our State Troopers and Corrections Officers are a part of this incredible team of over 200 law enforcement officers, Youngkin said in a April 21 statement. The fact that so many agents appear to be recently deputized could explain why the Charlottesville raid strayed from typical operating procedure, according to one retired FBI agent. They probably dont have credentials, retired FBI agent Jane Collins told The Daily Progress. They also probably dont have experience arresting federal subjects, so maybe that explains the real departure from the way federal officers conduct business. ICE has not said what federal charges the two detained men, both local house painters, face. The two are no strangers to the local court system. The Daily Progress has known the identities of the pair since they were detained Tuesday, but has withheld those details until criminal charges could be produced per the newspapers policy not to name individuals who have only been accused and not charged with crimes. Teodoro Dominguez Rodriguez, 41, is a native of Honduras and was arrested in late December for allegedly striking his son during a domestic altercation. That assault and battery charge remains pending, while a subsequent charge of hitting a housemate was dismissed moments before his on-camera detention Tuesday. Pablo Aparicio-Marcelino, 32, is a native of Mexico who has amassed four convictions for driving without a license plus a conviction for failing to stop at the scene of an accident. Just before his detention, he was found guilty of driving while intoxicated after a March 22 traffic stop on Seminole Trail. According to a person familiar with his case, he was approaching a clerk to pay his $441 penalty when he was detained by ICE. That fine remains unpaid. After their arrests in Charlottesville, both men were taken to a processing center in the Shenandoah Valley before being booked at the Farmville Detention Center, where they remain according to jailhouse records. Chinese hospitals required to set up 24-hour emergency channel for children under 3 Xinhua) 10:42, April 27, 2025 BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has required medical institutions to establish 24-hour green channels to provide acute and intensive treatment for children aged three and under, according to a circular issued by China's National Health Commission on Friday. The government also supports hospitals in treating critically ill children via the green channels before requiring payment, according to the circular on a three-year campaign to improve the country's pediatric care, mental health and psychiatric services. According to the circular, all secondary and tertiary public general hospitals in China are expected to provide pediatric services by the end of November 2025. By the end of 2025, more than 90 percent of township health centers and community health service centers should be capable of providing diagnosis and treatment for common pediatric illnesses, said the circular. The circular also encourages hospitals to set up specialized outpatient services for children, including those for growth and development, as well as mental and psychological health. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Here are this weeks local business awards, expansions, certifications, and milestones: AWARDS GoJet Airlines, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, won Onboard Hospitality Magazines leading Cabin Concept of the Year 2025 Award for its innovative CRJ-550 aircraft. EXPANDING Associated Bank, headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, opened its first Missouri branch at 10044 W Florissant Ave. in Dellwood. Associated has had a loan production office in Clayton, Missouri since 2006. Sivia Law and Heartland Title & Escrow, based in Edwardsville, Illinois, opened at 140 S. Poplar Street in Centralia, Illinois. This is Sivia Laws seventh location and Heartland Title & Escrows second branded location. GETTING BETTER DNV GL Healthcare extended MU Health Cares Comprehensive Stroke Center certification through February 2028. MU Health, Columbia, Missouri, is the only institution in mid-Missouri to be recognized for the highest level of treatment of serious stroke events based on standards set by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association. MILESTONE Tubbys Pub and Grub celebrated its 30-year anniversary serving steaks, wings, burgers and pizzas from inside the Plaza Lanes at 506 Droste, St. Charles, Missouri. RECOGNITION SafeWise Home Security ranked the City of Glendale the Safest City in Missouri. SafeWise rankings came from crime rates recorded by the FBI and results from a residents perception of safety survey. Tony Messenger | Post-Dispatch Metro columnist Follow Tony Messenger | Post-Dispatch Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today HIGH RIDGE Jon Jerome has a story that resonates. Thats what I thought when I first interviewed him more than a year ago. A neighbor had a construction project that encroached on his property. He tried to talk to the neighbor but that went nowhere. He asked Jefferson County officials for documents, and they said the property wasnt in the county it was in its own incorporated village. Jerome sent a Sunshine Law request to the tiny community, called Peaceful Village. Sure, they told him, you can have the documents if you pay $4,000. Situations like this play out in cities and counties around St. Louis all the time. Folks find out a lot about their local government when they want to protect their property rights from somebody who seems to be infringing on them. Jerome didnt like what he found. Peaceful Village was being run by Dan Ross Jr., who pastors the New Hope Fellowship Church, and members of his family. The village was created in 2008, after the Missouri Legislature passed a controversial law (later repealed) that paved the way for such communities, allowing landowners to bypass building and zoning regulations. Peaceful Village covers 78 acres and has about 70 residents. When I first wrote about Jeromes battle with Peaceful Village, he had successfully created a petition to try to have the village dissolved. He lost that vote a year ago. But now, the tide has turned. Last week, the new Peaceful Village Board of Trustees, no longer under majority control of the Ross family, voted to rescind the annexation of the property next to Jeromes house. The two buildings on that property are sober homes for adults. They are run by a nonprofit Ross created, built on land he owns and improperly annexed into the village he used to run. Now the property is officially in Jefferson County, and Jerome plans to do what he tried to do in the first place: get county officials to enforce their zoning and building codes. Hes confident the two buildings are in violation. Democracy wins, Jerome told me. The board is no longer controlled by one family, and the following of the actual law is now taking place. The change in Peaceful Village governance started slowly. I reported last year that Ross didnt actually live in the village and so was ineligible to be on the board of trustees. He later resigned. Ross asked a local resident, Kelly Fagala, to assume the chairmanship, assuring her the job duties would be minimal. Fagala, though, did her research. She found out the village wasnt following the states Sunshine Law. She also discovered the annexations were questionable, and that the Ross familys conflicts of interest abounded. She and another board member, Danielle Shannon, tried to start running the village like a real government, but they were often stifled by Ross son, Daniel Ross III, and his wife, Rachel. Both are still on the board. In April, a resident who had been following the controversy, John Kindermann, won election to the board by one vote. At his first meeting, he sided with Fagala and Shannon as they did what they had tried to do for months: undue the annexation of the sober homes that was so poorly handled in the first place. For Fagala, none of this is personal, even though shes suffered through some nasty attacks by Ross and his supporters. Its just about following the rules. The rules are there for everyone, Fagala says. The goal here was just to fix the errors. The public essentially got cheated out of their rights. For Jerome, however, its hard to escape how personal this battle has become. In March, the elder Ross sued him in Jefferson County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction to stop him from talking about Ross and the sober homes. Defendant has made several attempts through false published defamatory slander with malicious intent to dissolve the Village due to his dissatisfaction with the construction of the Sober Living Facility being constructed near his residence, alleges the lawsuit. Jeromes attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the suit. There is a hearing scheduled for next month. Its worthless, Jerome says. Its an attempt to silence my free speech. The High Ridge man, who runs a nonprofit that serves veterans and their families, wont be silenced. Hell keep going to Peaceful Village meetings, held at the church across the street from his house, to keep an eye on what happens next. And hell be calling county officials to ask them about enforcement on the buildings next door. Are they going to follow the law? he asks. Its as good a question now as it was when he asked it the first time. BOSTON As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining about 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor communities. Sixty years on, Lucas was back on the Boston Common on Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of what became known as the 1965 Freedom Rally. He joined others in calling for continued activism against many of the same injustices and inequities that King fought against, and in criticizing President Donald Trump and his administration for current divisions and fears about race and immigration across the country. The message was that we still have work to do, said Lucas, 75. It was a lot of inspiration by every speaker out there. The gathering drew several hundred people on a rainy and windy day, conditions similar to those during the 1965 event. It was preceded by a march by a smaller group of people, mostly along the route taken to the Boston Common 60 years earlier. Up to 125 different organizations took part. Rally-goers urge activism King's son, Martin Luther King III, gave a keynote speech, saying he never thought racism would still be around and on the rise like it is today. We must quadruple our efforts to create a more just and humane society, he told the crowd. We used to exhibit humanity and civility, but we have chosen temporarily to allow civility to be moved aside. And that is not sustainable, my friends. He added, Today, weve got to find a way to move forward, when everything appears to be being dismantled, it seems to be attempting to break things up. Now, you do have to retreat sometimes. But dad showed us how to stay on the battlefield, and mom, throughout their lives. They showed us how to build community. The gathering was near the site of a 20-foot-tall memorial to racial equity, which shows Martin Luther King Jr. embracing his wife, Coretta Scott King. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the work of 1960s civil rights leaders remains unfinished, with too many people still experiencing racism, poverty and injustice. We are living through perilous times, she said. "Across the country, we are witnessing a dangerous resurgence of white supremacy, of state-sanctioned violence, of economic exploitation, of authoritarian rhetoric." 1965 protest brings civil rights movement to the Northeast The original protest rally in 1965 brought the civil rights movement to the Northeast, a place Martin Luther King Jr. knew well from his time earning a doctorate in theology from Boston University and serving as assistant minister at the citys Twelfth Baptist Church. It was also the place where he met his wife, who earned a degree in music education from the New England Conservatory. In his speech, King told the crowd that he returned to Boston not to condemn the city but to encourage its leaders to do better at a time when Black leaders were fighting to desegregate the schools and housing and working to improve economic opportunities for Black residents. King also implored Boston to become a leader that other cities like New York and Chicago could follow in conducting the creative experiments in the abolition of ghettos. It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say that Boston is a Birmingham, or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi, he said. But it would be morally irresponsible were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty that we face in some sections of this community. The Boston rally happened after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months ahead of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed in August. King and other civil rights movement leaders had just come off the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, also referred to as Bloody Sunday, weeks before the Boston rally. The civil rights icon also was successful in the 1963 Birmingham campaign prompting the end of legalized racial segregation in the Alabama city, and eventually throughout the nation. DEI comes under threat by Trump administration Saturday's rally came as the Trump administration is waging war on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, schools and businesses around the country, including in Massachusetts. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has banned diversity initiatives across the federal government. The administration has launched investigations of colleges public and private that it accuses of discriminating against white and Asian students with race-conscious admissions programs intended to address historic inequities in access for Black students. King's son: Attacks on diversity make little sense Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press that the attacks on diversity make little sense, noting, We cannot move forward without understanding what happened in the past." It doesnt mean that its about blaming people. Its not about collective guilt. Its about collective responsibility, he continued. How do we become better? Well, we appreciate everything that helped us to get to where we are. Diversity hasn't hurt the country. King said opponents of diversity have floated an uninformed narrative that unqualified people of color are taking jobs from white people, when the reality is they have long been denied the opportunities they deserve. I dont know if white people understand this, but Black people are tolerant, he said. From knee-high to a grasshopper, you have to be five times better than your white colleague. And thats how we prepare ourselves. So its never a matter of unqualified. Its a matter of being excluded. Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston, which along with the city put on the rally, said the event was a chance to remind people that elements of the promissory note King referred to in his I Have A Dream speech remain "out of reach for many people. Were having a conversation about democracy. This is the promissory note public education, public housing, public health, access to public art, Paris Jeffries said. "All of these things are a part of democracy. Those are the things that are actually being threatened right now. ____ Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report. Major civil rights moments in every state Major civil rights moments in every state Alabama: Rosa Parks takes a stand Alaska: A night at the movies transforms a culture Arizona: Arizonans refuse to show their papers Arkansas: Little Rock 9 go to school California: Immigrant farmworkers stand up Colorado: A cultural rainbow gets results Connecticut: Women get some privacy Delaware: A road to Brown v. Board is paved Florida: A sea change starts in a swimming pool Georgia: A King is born Hawaii: The struggle for Native rights continues Idaho: Idaho beats the country to the punch Illinois: Chicago takes on Northern racism Indiana: A state desegregates early Iowa: Iowa advances in 1868 Kansas: Plessy v. Ferguson meets its end Kentucky: Breonna Taylor becomes a martyr for the movement Louisiana: A little girl brings a burden to school Maine: Original Mainers get whats theirs Maryland: A suspicious death spotlights police violence Massachusetts: Integration arrives by bus Michigan: A white jury delivers justice Minnesota: A final breath triggers a revolution Mississippi: A boys murder galvanizes a movement Missouri: Ferguson erupts Montana: A woman goes to Washington Nebraska: A victim becomes an activist Nevada: A holiday validates a struggle New Hampshire: MLK gets his due New Jersey: A state provides a blueprint for the future New Mexico: Early Latino lawmakers blaze a trail New York: A community pushes back at Stonewall North Carolina: The volatile busing strategy is born North Dakota: The Sioux take a stand for water Ohio: A child dies in Cleveland Oklahoma: A child gets a burger Oregon: Portland protests ignite Pennsylvania: A pool party proves progress can be fleeting Rhode Island: Hard truths lead to real reform South Carolina: Tragedy spawns a new conversation about old symbols South Dakota: A government reconsiders holiday honors Tennessee: Integration begins in Clinton Texas: Juneteenth becomes official Utah: LDS church turns a page Vermont: Young Vermonters channel their outrage Virginia: Loving wins in Virginia Washington: Diversity finds a voice in Seattle West Virginia: A woman breaks barriers Wisconsin: Milwaukee risesand struggles Wyoming: Women get a vote and a voice St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer was elected this month on a campaign that stressed competent delivery of city services something that has been visibly absent from the citys leadership in recent years. As such, a proposal to create the position of city manager, to be filled by an apolitical professional who would run day-to-day city operations, deserves consideration. The idea should be viewed not as a threat to the power of this or any mayor, but as, potentially, a tool to help carry out what the voters have made clear they want: effective and efficient management of their city. Amid the technical and legal complexities of running a modern city, more than half of them in the U.S. today use some form of professional management, according to the International City/County Management Association. Spencer has expressed support for the idea in concept, though she has also expressed reservations about how it would be instituted. One fair question is whether it would too broadly empower the Board of Aldermen to meddle in management issues currently handled by the mayor. That could complicate rather than streamline delivery of services, thus defeating the whole point. The devil, as they say, will be in the details. Alderwoman Daniela Velazquezs pending version of the legislation, she says, would empower a chief administrative officer to conduct regular city functions such as garbage collection, snow removal and street repair, including the hiring and management of department heads to oversee those functions. As any St. Louisan who has endured the citys Keystone Kops handling snowstorms, 911 calls, garbage delivery and more knows, the current system of the mayor hiring any pal he or she pleases too often just hasnt worked. Further, say proponents, the mayor and aldermen should be freed up to focus on big-picture issues economic development, Downtown revival, tourism instead of arguing over which potholes to fill. As the Post-Dispatchs Austin Huguelet reports, candidates for this theoretical position would need at least five years experience in city management. Just as importantly, they would have to have not held any Missouri elective office in the previous five years. Candidates would be nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. Velazquez has stressed that her proposal isnt aimed at undercutting the current mayor; indeed, Velazquez first proposed it when former Mayor Tishaura Jones was still in office. The idea would be to remove politics (as much as possible, anyway) from daily city operations. Thats a tall order in St. Louis, where patronage is as much a local flavor as gooey butter cake or toasted ravioli. The mayor would have primary power to decide who to hire as city manager, with the consent of the Board of Aldermen. If that sounds like a heavy lift in terms of cooperation among fractious city leaders, it is and that element alone brings some value to the table. Is anyone who isnt vested in City Hall intrigue not tired of it? With the central stress point in City Hall shaping up to be between Spencer and Board of Aldermen President Megan Green, its significant that both are on record as supporting the concept of a city manager. Its interesting, to say the least, that Greens previous ambivalence toward creating a city-manager system (in January, she said she viewed the proposal as merely a way to start a conversation) has suddenly become a priority to her now that an adversary rather than an ally is in the mayors office. That doesnt mean its a bad idea. But if the whole point of it is to remove political gamesmanship from city services, then an overly powerful role by the Board of Aldermen would seem to be a problem. For example, requiring professional qualifications and Board approval to hire the mayors nominee for manager is reasonable. But requiring a Board vote for the mayor to fire that person, as the current proposal would mandate, strikes us as a recipe for the kind of protracted mess the city recently went through with its position of personnel director. If a president can fire Senate-confirmed cabinet members at will, why shouldnt the mayor who, after all, is the one who ultimately answers to the voters if city management fails not have the same power? Thats one issue. Others will certainly arise as this debate moves forward. But given the citys struggle in recent years to get even the small stuff right, its a debate worth having. Al Capone, O.J. Simpson, John Hinckley, Casey Anthony, Mike Tyson and Martha Stewart have all stood trial. After the judge and jury heard the evidence eyewitness testimony, legal wiretaps, documents, pictures, etc. they were found guilty or acquitted. Some received appropriate punishment and others were free to go on with their lives. The one thing, guilty or innocent, that these people received in common was due process. That cannot be said today. Many individuals are being swept off streets by masked men based solely on their immigration status, held in cells, and flown to prisons in foreign countries. Are they guilty? Innocent? Who knows? These people did not receive due process. No one has any idea what evidence has been presented and they have not been declared guilty or innocent by a court of law. ("Editorial: Migrant's case is a test of due process. Missouri's senators are failing it." April 20.) It is time to restore due process to those accused of crimes. Let the evidence be presented and innocence or guilty be determined. Mary Ellen Stanton St. Charles There is nothing that ticks the Republican-dominated Missouri Legislature off more than when a constitutional initiative, brought to the ballot by the citizens of Missouri, wins the majority vote on election day. Amendment 3, passed by the voters in November, restored reproductive rights in Missouri. The best efforts of opponents to link Amendment 3 to underage gender transition failed. Nowhere in the amendment can anything be construed to include gender transition. Amendment 3 invalidated Missouris abortion ban, period. ("Lawmakers should hear from public as they scheme to roll back abortion rights," April 15.) The Legislature wasted no time in the 2025 legislative session to once again try to override the results of an election. House Joint Resolution No. 73, which has passed the House and is now advancing through the Senate, would put abortion rights back on the ballot. Not only does the resolution attempt to repeal Amendment 3, it also includes a permanent ban on gender transition surgeries, hormone and drug treatments for children under the age of 18 which is already illegal in Missouri. Reproductive rights and gender transition have nothing to do with each other. To attempt to combine these two issues on the ballot is a blatant attempt to manipulate the voters. The citizens of Missouri do not need a do-over vote on Amendment 3. It was approved by the majority, and it is law. It is not the duty of the Legislature to attempt the repeal of Amendment 3 because they disagree with the electoral outcome. Their duty is to honor the outcome of the vote as law. Maureen Albrecht Lake Saint Louis Members of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment watch the sun set near the South China Sea during a Balikatan drill at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, Philippines, April 25, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes) SAN ANTONIO, Philippines Tracer rounds flashed toward the setting sun Friday along the west coast of Luzon, the Philippines main island, as U.S. Marines put a new air-defense system through its paces. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment recently fielded the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, and fired it for the first time in January at its home station in Hawaii. They brought MADIS equipped with Stinger missiles, a 30 mm cannon and 7.62 mm machine gun on its first overseas trip for annual combat drills running through May 9 in the Philippines. Members of the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment supervise ammunition during a Balikatan drill at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, Philippines, April 25, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes) The Balikatan exercise Tagalog for shoulder to shoulder brings together approximately 9,000 American and 5,000 Filipino troops for island-defense training. MADIS is designed to defend against low-flying threats such as helicopters, planes and armed drones, which have proliferated in modern conflict zones in the Middle East and Ukraine. Unmanned aircraft are expected to be no less of a threat should conflict break out over Taiwan or in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have clashed repeatedly over disputed maritime territory. During Fridays live-fire drill, the regiments anti-air battalion deployed five light tactical vehicles mounted with MADIS at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, a coastal training area near Subic Bay. Dozens of target drones were on hand to take flight, but the Marines focused their fire on ground-based targets along the coast. Marine Corps target drones stand by for a Balikatan drill at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, Philippines, April 25, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes) These things have become prolific on the battlefield, Col. John Lehane, commander of the littoral regiment, told Stars and Stripes before the drill began, referring to the drones. The Iraq War veteran, who flies a hobby remote-control quadcopter in his free time, added: We want to make sure we are proficient at taking them out. MADIS includes radar capable of detecting aircraft from 30 to 30,000 feet and at ranges of nearly 20 miles, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a Virginia-based group that lobbies for missile-defense development and deployment. The rapid rise of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems), used for surveillance, targeting and attacks, has made advanced air-defense systems like MADIS critical to protecting our Marines and preserving our combat effectiveness, Lt. Col. Craig Warner, a future weapons systems manager at Marine Corps Systems Command, said in a Dec. 13 service news release. MADIS not only detects, tracks and defeats aerial threats but also serves as a powerful deterrent, signaling to adversaries that their aerial assets will not succeed against U.S. forces, he added. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment fields the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, Philippines, April 25, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes) The battalions tan tactical vehicles stood out against the lush tropical greenery of Luzon during the drill. Humidity in the islands is affecting some of the vehicles, which were built for desert environments, Lt. Col. Matthew Sladek, the battalions commander, said at the training. Future MADIS vehicles will be painted green and upgraded with new capabilities, he said, without divulging those details. The regiment also brought another new weapon to the Philippines the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, or NMESIS. Littoral Marines will train with the mobile system in northern Luzon and the Batanes Islands, Lehane said. NMESIS fires naval strike missiles capable of hitting targets at ranges of about 115 miles. It includes launchers mounted on a 7-ton vehicle and two light tactical ones. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment fields the Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or MADIS, at Naval Station Leovigildo Gantioqui, Philippines, April 25, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes) The regiment acquired NMESIS in November. It plays a key role in the Marine Corps Force Design strategy, which envisions small units stationed at island choke points to deny adversaries access to contested seas. Waterways separating northern Philippines from Taiwan the Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel are expected to play a strategic role in a Taiwan conflict. China regularly deploys aircraft carriers and escorts through the Bashi Channel to the seas off Taiwans eastern coast and flies military aircraft over the area. If you can control choke points, you can control the commerce that goes through them, Lehane said. A screenshot from a video by wqad.com shows Henry Langrehr, 100, at the Iowa Army National Guard. (wqad.com) (Tribune News Service) Henry Langrehr, 100, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division that parachuted into France on D-Day, died on April 23, his daughter Karen Winters said. Langrehr, a Clinton, Iowa native, jumped into Sainte-Mere-Eglise during the allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He landed through the roof of a glass greenhouse, as depicted in the movie, The Longest Day. After months of fighting, and being wounded twice, he eventually escaped from a Nazi prison camp after months of working as a laborer mining coal. The U.S. Army awarded him two Purple Heart and two Bronze Star medals. In 2007, at the age of 82, by decree of the president of the French republic, Langrehr was named a knight of the Legion of Honor for his actions during World War II. The ceremony took place at the French residence in Washington, D.C. Then French President Nicolas Sarkozy presided over the ceremony. Langrehr, who rarely talked about his service, finally chronicled his war experience in the book Whatever It Took, an American paratroopers extraordinary memoir of escape, survival and heroism in the last days of World War II. Cremation rites will be accorded. A private ceremony will be held June 6 with burial at Clinton Memorial Cemetery. Langrehr will be interred next to his wife of 77 years, Arlene, who died Feb. 20, 2023, at age 98. The couple had four children, Dennis, Karen Winters, Kay Schneider and Dale. In civilian life after the war, he owned and operated Henry O. Langrehr & Sons, General Contractors in Clinton. Winters said that growing up, the children never knew about their dads experiences in World War II. He was just dad, Winters said. He was such an inspiration to us kids, even though we didnt know the story back then. While her dad enjoyed working, Winters added, when it was time to be with the kids, work was left behind. Fishing was the family vacation, she said. I remember all the fishing trips and going on the boat early in the morning with him with the fog hanging on the water, Winters said. It would still be almost dark, not quite dawn, and wed be casting. I always ended up in the reeds and he was always to patient with me, she said. Back in those days there werent all these fancy eating roadside places they have today, Winters said. Mom would always pack food and wed stop and picnic together. My love of fishing came from these trips, she said. We have so many great memories of them and thats the real treasure. Henry Langrehr is seen with Junior ROTC cadets from the Davenport Central program. The young man on far left, Corbin Blubaugh, will graduate this spring and head off to Army boot camp in June. He credits meeting Mr. Langrehr with his decision to go Infantry and Airborne. Winters said it wasnt until the 50th anniversary of D-Day that the family began to learn of their fathers wartime experiences. He thought hed better talk about them because the kids werent learning it in school, and he wanted to honor his friends and comrades who lost their lives, Winters said. That was a big deal. He always wanted people to remember his friends and comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. Just last May, Langrehr was able to return to France and visit Sainte-Mere-Eglise. He got to go back to the greenhouse on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Winters said. He was able to go inside. Henry Langrehr stands outside the greenhouse in Sainte-Mere-Eglise on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Langrehr landed through the roof of the greenhouse, as depicted in the movie, The Longest Day. Langrehr also was able to look across to the church where the parachute of his friend, John Steele, had gotten caught on a pinnacle of the towns church, leaving Steele dangling against the churchs facade. Langrehr and Steele had been friends, Winters said. Steele survived by pretending to be dead, she added. Steele died in 1969. Langrehr, a demolitions expert, and his unit jumped into France about 1 a.m. on D-Day. Their rally point was Chef du Pont, where troops had to either secure a bridge and hold it, or, if they were overrun, blow it up to keep German reinforcements from getting to the Normandy beachhead. They ended up holding it. Langrehrs unit had to fight their way to the bridge. Like most paratroop planes that morning, theirs was off course, in this case by about five miles. His unit jumped and landed in Sainte-Mere-Eglise. It was full of Germans, Langrehr said in an interview with the Quad-City Times in 2007. They killed a lot of guys out of my plane. There was a flare or a shell or something that started a big building on fire. The French were fighting the fire, and the Germans were guarding them. The whole square was lit up by this fire, and in the process, we were pretty good targets for the Germans. But it was a surprise to the Germans, too, Langrehr said. One good thing about that is that they didnt know how many we were or where we were, and they were afraid to come out. Like most of the men he jumped with, it was Langrehrs first time in combat. Again, it was the hand of God that allowed me to survive, Langrehr said. I fought my way out and knew where the roads were that led to Chef du Pont. While fighting among the bocage hedgerows, he was captured and sent to a German prison camp in Czechoslovakia where he mined coal. On Aug. 18, 2024, the Iowa National Guard presented the Silver De Fleury Medal to 99-year-old WWII veteran Henry Langrehr at the 224th Brigade Engineer Battalion armory in Davenport. The De Fleury Medal is the Army Engineer Regiments highest honor, recognizing those who have made a lasting impact on Army Engineering. The mine, Langrehr said, was run by the Nazi SS, who paid no attention to the Geneva Conventions rules of war and the treatment of prisoners of war. Anyone who refused to work was beaten. Those who attempted to escape and got caught were executed. When you go into a situation like that, you have to go in with the mind-set that youre going to survive, he said. You came out of that mine wringing wet and filthy. During the winter months, he said, youd walk back to camp, and it would freeze on you. Since you only had one uniform, you washed it in cold water. In the cold air, it wouldnt dry overnight. So, the next morning, heading back to the mine, it would freeze again. In March 1945, Langrehr and a buddy escaped. His friend was killed as they worked their way back to Allied lines. For two weeks, Langrehr maneuvered back to American lines without the benefit of an underground organization to help him. I was on my own the whole way through, he said. Eating meant scavenging and living off the land. Also, German soldiers carried foodstuffs in their rucksacks, he said. Youd have to waylay one of them and get a little food, he said. Like many of his generation, Langrehr came home ready to get on with living. Winters said that her father always said it was God who got him through. His life scripture was Psalm 23, she said. He would share this passage whenever he spoke at events and shared his testimony. Winters said her father embodied the values of faith, family, hard work and bravery. His was a life truly well-lived, she said. 2025 Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa. Visit www.qctimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. A Dublin man accused of leaving a taxi driver more than 200 out of pocket told gardai when charged over the incident: Shove your charge sheet up your h*le. Garda Mervyn Henson revealed the reply that was directed at him after he cautioned Mark Gavin (36) of Belcamp Lane, Coolock, Dublin 17 at a sitting of Mullingar District Court following an incident on March 30 2025 at Bishop Gate Street, Mullingar, Westmeath. Sgt Orla Keenan, for the State, said directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had recommended the case for summary disposal, paving the way for it to be heard and disposed of in the District Court. Mark Gavin (36) told gardai: "Shove your charge sheet up your hole," after a charge of failing to pay a taxi driver over 200 for a fare was put to him. Judge Owens was told the sum involved amounted to just over 203 as Garda Mervyn Henson gave evidence of Gavins reply after caution. He said when the charge of refusing to pay the driver of a public service vehicle in contravention of Article 56 of the Road Traffic (Public Services Vehicles) Regulations 1963 was put to him, Gavin replied after caution: Shove your charge sheet up your h*le. Gavin did not address the court or enter a plea as he stood in the body of the court during the brief hearing. Mark Gavin was remanded on bail to reappear at a sitting of Mullingar District Court in September. A disclosure order of all relevant State evidence was made to Gavins defence barrister Martin Durack BL, who also revealed his client was in receipt of disability allowance. Legal aid was granted as Judge Bernadette Owens remanded Gavin on bail to reappear at a sitting of Mullingar District Court on September 4. Alleged victim waives her right to anonymity in case A Co Antrim personal trainer is due to appear in court this week accused of raping and physically abusing his former partner. Gareth Ross Masterson (38) is set to appear in the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court this Wednesday. He is accused of nine offences including rape and grievous bodily harm. His ex-partner has waived her right to anonymity so that his alleged offences can be fully outlined. The first five counts against the personal trainer, from Old Glenarm Road in Larne, allege that on March 17 last year he raped the complainant, inflicted grievous and actual bodily harm, made a threat to kill her and damaged her handbag. Masterson is also alleged to have assaulted the woman on July 31, 2022. On the other offences, covering a period between February 21, 2022, and March 24 last year, he faces allegations of common assault, GBH and domestic abuse. That final count alleges that Masterson engaged in a course of behaviour that was abusive of another person to whom you were personally connected at the time, and the course of behaviour is such that a reasonable person would consider the course of behaviour to be likely to cause her to suffer physical or psychological harm and that you intended the course of behaviour to cause her to suffer physical or psychological harm. The case against Masterson is listed for a Preliminary Enquiry. If it goes ahead, the case will be elevated to the Crown Court for trial. Amy OConnor (40) is no victim and glamorised criminality relative A woman who dodged prison over a 67,000 drugs haul after claiming she was under threat from gangland criminals can be seen here posing with a firearm while sticking her fingers up at the camera. Amy OConnor (40), of Auburn Heights, Athlone, Co. Roscommon, was given a suspended sentence this month after she said a criminal, who she knew through her ex-boyfriend Leigh ONeill, held a gun to her head and forced her to store the drugs. Leigh ONeill and his brother Dermot famously walked out of a Venezuelan prison in 2013 after serving less than two years of an 11-year sentence for drug smuggling. The siblings, however, have both since died by suicide. OConnor had been going out with Leigh at the time of his arrest in Venezuela but the pair broke up more than a decade ago. Leigh ONeill with Amy OConnor However, she referenced Leigh and Dermot in her recent sentence hearing, claiming a gangster associate of her ex had forced her to store the drugs at gunpoint. Now, Wayne ONeill, a brother of Leigh and Dermot, has spoken for the first time and said his family were greatly upset that OConnor brought up his dead siblings during her sentencing. Speaking to the Sunday World, Wayne claimed: OConnor is not a victim and glamorised criminality. His brothers were left traumatised after witnessing extreme violence in prison in Venezuela. They escaped jail after their dad paid a lot of money to get them out. Leigh and Amy finished 10 or 11 years ago. There was no reason to bring up Leigh or Dermot in the court case Amy does this. She loves to be a gangsters moll and think shes in with criminals, Wayne told the Sunday World. Brothers Dermot and Wayne ONeill He said Amy sent him the picture of herself posing with the firearm in a hotel room shortly before her home was raided by gardai in 2019 and cannabis worth more than 67,000 uncovered. Does this girl look scared? Cry me a river. Amy OConnor is not a victim. She thinks shes Carmela Soprano or the Athlone Queen of the South. The only logic to bringing up [Leigh and Dermot] was so she could get off. Let the judge see this picture A gun to her head and knife to jugular, are you kidding me? She was not scared, she was dealing drugs, shes a drug dealer. Wayne told our reporter that he has received abusive messages from OConnor over the years. Wayne also told how the arrest of his brothers in Venezuela ruined their lives and that of their family. Dermot ONeill They were arrested in 2012 after Sligo man Martin Butch Beirne, who was linked to the Sligo Irwin mob, died in a hotel room in the Venezuelan capital Caracas after a balloon full of cocaine he had ingested accidentally burst in his stomach. Leigh was with Beirne when he fell ill and alerted authorities. He admitted to investigators he had also ingested cocaine to smuggle and was arrested. Dermot had not ingested any cocaine but was also arrested as he was travelling with Leigh, and the two brothers were sentenced to 11 years in prison. Wayne said the experience in prison and the aftermath ruined their lives. He said while Leighs motive for travelling to Venezuela was to smuggle drugs, Dermot was not involved but was still jailed. Dermot just went over on a holiday with his brother. He wasnt part of the drugs thing and wasnt even in the same room but was jailed because of the legal system there. He was an innocent man Amy OConnor pictured holding a handgun Leigh went over to smuggle drugs. He made the worst mistake of his life. No one would give him a chance after that. He couldnt get it together when he got back. He couldnt get a room in a house or get his life together. My brothers lives were ruined and our family was ruined. He said he felt that OConnor, who visited Leigh in prison in Venezuela, tried to glamorise the situation but the reality was far from glamorous and he hopes anyone reading this today will be dissuaded from getting involved in the drugs trade. He said the brothers went through hell in the notorious San Juan prison, where they were held. Conditions were very, very bad. It was a hole in the ground to go to the toilet...there were loads of drugs. Wayne said the pair witnessed extreme violence during their incarceration, including stabbings and murders, and their stint behind bars had a profound effect. The things the boys had seen had a massive impact on them, people were getting killed right in front of them. Wayne O'Neill He said his bothers also suffered serious health issues and contracted horrific bacterial skin infections while in prison. Dermot used to be 19 stone he went down to 12 stone. It was a very, very tough time. Amy glamorises it but it was the opposite. He said the family also had to send money over constantly. It was costing a fortune. Me, my brother and sister and dad were giving everything we had Thats what kept them safe. The brothers walked out of the prison in 2013 in what was reported at the time as a prison escape. They say my brothers walked out. My father gave everything he had. They didnt just walk out, it doesnt just work like that. It cost a lot of money, Wayne said. Wayne said his brothers became known as the Venezuelan Two and the pair struggled with life on returning to Ireland. Dermot died by suicide in Athlone on his 27th birthday. He was absolutely terrorised when he came back, he couldnt sleep at all. The things he told me he had seen. His skin was in a bad way. It absolutely destroyed him [His suicide] is absolutely linked to Venezuela. Leigh also struggled after his return to Ireland. Wayne said no one would give him a chance due to the notoriety of the case and he fell into addiction. Wayne said Leigh was expecting a baby with his new partner last year when she was involved in a car accident. She was three weeks on life support and died. The night she passed away Leigh went missing and we couldnt find him. Wayne and family members then found his body in their late fathers house in Athlone, which had been derelict after a previous arson incident. He also died by suicide. My brothers went to Venezuela and ruined their lives. Its not a glamorous thing. Leigh made the biggest mistake of his life [going to smuggle drugs]. I would like to dissuade other people from doing that or even thinking about it. Torture fears as victim found gagged and wrapped in tape AN Irish woman is one of four people remanded in custody in the Netherlands in connection with the brutal murder of a man found gagged and wrapped in tape on the street. The body of 50-year-old Jair Romer was discovered at the beginning of the year in Transvaalbuurt, Amsterdam. Police believe he had been kidnapped, held and abused for up to a week and then his body dumped. When discovered, his ankles and hands were tied with black tape and his mouth was gagged with a piece of rope. At a court sitting earlier this week, an Irish woman, identified only as Sinead C, was one of four suspects to appear before a judge as criminal case proceedings into his murder got underway. According to the judiciary, Romer was taken hostage and abused several days before his body was found. The court heard the motive, location and method of Romers death is unclear. Details of hostile text messages sent by one of the accused to the deceaseds phone were read into evidence during the hearing. Listen, I know what youre doing, but youre f**king up in my stuff. Ill give you time to change that address. That wont be a weeks work, otherwise youll end up in the wrong book, read one of the messages sent to him by an accused. The court heard this showed there was a conflict between the suspects and Jair Romer. Body was dumped on street in Amsterdam Although the investigation does not yet show who is responsible for the mans death, according to the public prosecutor it is clear who was directly involved. The hostage-taking and the abuse must have started more than a week before the body was found at the President Steynplantsoen, the court heard. Romer was picked up on January 4 at his home in Amsterdam and taken to the squat of Mark H. (55) in Lieren in Gelderland. There, his phone goes off the air, he is tied up with tape and rope and violent events take place, said the public prosecutor. This would be apparent, among other things, from messages from H.s girlfriend. She writes about an intense evening and that she is in shock. The court heard the woman has made several statements to the police that the public prosecutor attaches great importance to. The lawyer of co-suspect, Nikita H., called these statements ridiculous and claimed that the woman was mentally disturbed. He claimed she was heavily intoxicated during interrogations with the police and would even have drunk a glass of vodka with soft drinks in one of those conversations. According to the Public Prosecution Service, Jair was no longer physically free after his visit to the building in Lieren. Its alleged he left with the Irish woman Sinead C. and Alfred B. and travelled to a houseboat on the Ranonkelkade in Noord. Its alleged he likely arrived there without pants, his ankles and hands tied and wrapped in a brown blanket. A duvet with the victims blood was later found on the houseboat, something from which the judiciary concludes that the violence against him took place on the boat or before. What happened to Romer after that remains unclear, the hearing was informed. The Public Prosecution Service stated that the mans body was later dumped in front of the home of Alfred B.s brother. When the discovery was made, he was the one who called in the police. The public prosecutor described Romers killing as a gruesome murder case in which the group of suspects knew each other and everyone had their own role. All four suspects have claimed they had nothing to do with Romers death. Counsel for Sinead C., Adem Catbas, described the case against his client as a messy file. The only thing that puts the client in this case is her location. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time, he said. Alfred B.s lawyer, who, according to the judiciary, put the lifeless body in front of his brothers door, stated that there is no evidence towards B. Mark H. also said he was not involved and Nikita H. says he cannot remember anything due to excessive use of ketamine. The court decided earlier this week that all four suspects will be detained longer and witnesses may be heard. The case will continue on July 10. Pregnant ewes leg cut off in crazed attack as mum tells how pet sheep was bought with little girls Communion money This is the crazed man who butchered a little girls pregnant pet sheep by chopping off one of its legs. Serial offender Kieran Lawless, from Tenacre, Kilrane, Co Wexford, entered the field where beloved pet Primrose was grazing on May 18, 2022, armed with a 12 inch blade, and carried out the sickening act of savagery. However, the 28-year-old could only be prosecuted for criminal damage and not a more serious animal cruelty offence because he claimed the sheep, which had been in perfect health earlier in the day, was already dead when he dismembered her. Lawless, who appeared in court earlier this month over the horror attack, the hijacking of a food delivery drivers car and the theft of alcohol, was jailed for two years. But he will be out in less than a year as the sentence was backdated to last May when he first entered custody. Its sickening, Ann-marie Fortune, whose daughter owned Primrose, told the Sunday World this week. Primrose the sheep killed by Kieran Lawless My daughter bought her with her Communion money a lamb was the only thing she wanted to buy. And she was a lovely creature. She was bottle-fed and extremely tame and would run straight over to the children as soon as we arrived at the field. Ann-marie said Primrose was two when the attack occurred and there was huge excitement in the house as she was pregnant for the first time. But the familys joy turned to horror when they received a call from a neighbour to say a man had been seen in their rented field armed with a knife and attacking one of the sheep. We got the call at about 6.30pm that evening, Ciaran, Ann-maries husband, recalled. He (the caller) said: Youre not going to believe this Ciaran but I think theres a fella out in your field attacking the sheep. I went down and there should have been 27 sheep in the field but there was only 26. There was no sign of Primrose anywhere. I searched the perimeter of our field and as I was walking along I saw drag marks up the ditch. So I followed the drag marks and there she was lying in the neighbours field. She was dead and her leg was missing. The photos I took show her exactly as I found her. I had been up at the field that morning and Primrose was in perfect health. Primrose had been bought as a pet I think myself she was killed as her leg was being cut off her. Ciaran and Ann-marie said their daughter had overheard the call that a man was attacking the sheep and was frantic with worry for her pet. She was sitting on the stairs and she kept saying: Please dont let it be my Primrose, said Ann-marie. But Ciaran rang then and said it was. I remember my daughter rocking backwards and forwards on the stairs crying it was just terrible. Lawlesss involvement in the horrific attack was quickly established after gardai were called to his mothers home. Officers were told her son had been seen cutting a leg off the dead sheep and she was concerned that she could not control him. Gardai arrived to find Lawless topless up on the roof of the house, while Primroses leg was also spotted on a roof nearby. His behaviour was erratic, Garda Aidan Miley told Wexford Circuit Court. He initially refused to come down from the roof until the Minister for Justice was present. Lawless was ultimately arrested and brought to hospital in Waterford where he was detained for several weeks in the Department of Psychiatry. Ciaran and Anne said they did not attend court on the day as their family had endured enough at his hands and they did not wish to waste another day of their lives on him. A victim impact statement was, however, read out on their behalf. You broke three childrens hearts, Ciaran said in the statement, adding that his kids had been afraid that Lawless could turn up again at any time. Primrose the sheep killed by Kieran Lawless During the sitting, an apology to the owners of the sheep was offered by Lawless, though he denied he was responsible for killing her. Ciaran said he does not believe this. Not for a moment. The sheep was still warm when I found her, he said. You could feel the heat off the sheep coming out from where she was lying on the ground. Ann-marie said she was disappointed Lawless had been charged with criminal damage rather than an animal cruelty offence. I feel animal cruelty in Ireland has just gone crazy, she said. And to treat this as criminal damage is just so wrong. People go on about dog attacks the whole time. But the last thing in the world youd ever expect is for a person to go in and attack your animals in a field. Primrose wouldve just walked up to him, she was that tame. She wouldnt have stood a chance. Details of the separate charge of Lawless hijacking the food delivery drivers car were also detailed at the sitting. On June 1, 2020, gardai on patrol in New Ross noticed a silver Hyundai being driven the wrong way around the Charles Street roundabout. The vehicle had been hijacked by the defendant. Kieran Lawless He had grabbed the driver, who had pulled in on the quay in New Ross. The unfortunate man found himself thrown to the ground, one hand bleeding and his glasses broken, while the Hyundai was driven off. I thought he would kill me, wrote the delivery man in his victim impact statement. Gardai tracked the car as it headed for Waterford and, by the time it reached the University Hospital there, Lawless was being pursued by nine garda vehicles. There he was apprehended, telling the arresting officer that he had intended to check into the hospital. A third case, relating to the theft of two bottles of vodka and a bottle of wine from Aldi in New Ross, was also considered by the court. Barrister Caroline Latham said Lawless had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia When he is taking his medication, he is very engaging, she said. Sentencing Lawless to two-and-a-half years with the final six months suspended, Judge McCourt told Lawless his psychiatric condition could not be used to excuse or explain his wrongdoing. Police attended a house in the Strathearn Park area of east Belfast following a report of a domestic-related incident on Saturday evening, April 26 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers responded to an incident in east Belfast. Picture: Aodhan Roberts/Belfast Telegraph A man was shot with a plastic bullet and tasered during a domestic incident in east Belfast, the PSNI has confirmed. Police attended a house in the Strathearn Park area of east Belfast following a report of a domestic-related incident on Saturday evening, April 26. On arrival shortly after 7.15pm, officers became concerned for a man's safety. The PSNI said: Specially trained officers were requested and an Attenuating Energy Projectile (AEP) and a Conducted Energy Device (CED) were deployed during the incident to prevent a male from harming himself. He was safely detained and taken to hospital. A man in his 40s arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and possession of a class A controlled drug following the incident remains in police custody at this time. As is normal procedure when AEP and CED have been discharged, the office of the Police Ombudsman has been informed. The AEP forms part of the common weapon system approved for use by members of the police service, according to the College of Policing UK. Operational use of the AEP in the UK police service is limited to authorised officers who have been specifically trained in the use of the system. Meanwhile, a CED (taser) is a less lethal weapon system designed to temporarily incapacitate a subject through use of an electrical current that temporarily interferes with the bodys neuromuscular system and produces a sensation of intense pain. The College of Policing says CEDs will not be routinely used to police public order or public safety events, but may be used as an option to respond to circumstances within the operation. The use of CED ranges from the physical presence of a drawn device through to the application of electrical discharge to a subject. Even before a CED is drawn, the mere visibility of an overtly carried holstered device may serve a deterrent value. It is one of a number of tactical options available when dealing with an incident with the potential for conflict. Family pub in Creeslough has a 4.50 price on all of its taps... and the locals and visitors are loving it John McNulty is happy to sell his pints at 4.50 for now A family-owned boozer in Donegal appears to be selling Irelands cheapest pint with all beer on tap for a tasty 4.50. McNultys in the village of Creeslough is not only selling perhaps the countrys cheapest pints of Guinness for 4.50, but all its other pints too, including Heineken, Tennents and Smithwicks. Not only that, but a vodka there costs just 3.50, while a small bottle of wine is a price busting 4.50. I dont hear any complaints from the customers, says owner John McNulty when asked about his bargain prices. John McNulty is happy to sell his pints at 4.50 for now I always say when Im asked about it, its 4.50 at the minute. But it keeps going up, so I dont know if it will be that way for long. But thats the price it is at the moment. I was closed at the time of the lockdown and there were a lot of price increases. I hadnt put it up then so Im catching up at the minute. Single man John has been working in the pub since he was a boy. Its a family business, its been in our family since 1964. Its a much older pub; it goes back to the 19th century, he says of the boozer. Ive been working here since I was young. Im the owner of it maybe 15 years. Its a mix of a crowd. We were very busy over the Easter bank holiday weekend. Our busiest times are holiday times like during the summer, Christmas and Easter. Summer is when the visitors are around. We have a bar and a lounge. We do get a mix of people. I normally work in the mornings. But Im never far away. I have staff there most of the time Ive three or four staff. Brian Brereton enjoys his pint We have music on a Tuesday night and Sunday night. Its a whole mix of music. We have card playing, darts playing, and we have a pool table as well. John says Guinness would be his biggest seller. We just have the four taps, but Guinness would be our best seller. The Sunday World recently revealed how two pubs in Dublins Temple Bar are now selling pints of lager for 11.45, and Guinness for 10.45. I wouldnt be away much and the way it is for me I cant comment on other places and how they operate their business. I wouldnt like to, John says diplomatically when asked about those kind of prices. Tony Brereton with his Guinness John himself only drinks a small bit. I wouldnt really drink myself, not too much anyways, he admits. He also reveals he knew some of the people caught up in the tragedy in the village, when 10 people were killed after an explosion in October 2022. I would have known some of them, and people there at the time too. The town is still in shock at what happened, absolutely, he sighs. For now hes hoping to keep punters smiling with his delicious prices. Im happy. Its a livelihood and a way of life, and thats the way it is. Its just sort of a village country pub and if it works then Im happy with it, he says. Visitors to the bar are thrilled with the prices and say that owner John is part of the charm. What a bar, 4.50 a pint, says Dublin musician and DJ Tony Brereton. Were greeted by John pulling pints, whos always a gentleman. A year-and-a-half ago every drink was 3.70. Last year he put up all drinks to 4, now 4.50. Its still two euro cheaper than my locals. Last month the Sunday World reported on how the The Auld Triangle on Dublins Dorset Street is still selling pints of Guinness for under a fiver at 4.95 at any time of the day. Drinkers are making the most of the cheaper pints While many rural pubs are selling pints of Guinness for 5, and some Dublin pubs such as Dis and Dat have promotional pints of stout and lager for 5 from Monday to Wednesday, the Auld Triangle is certainly the cheapest in the capital. In the Auld Triangle some of its lagers, such as Carling, Tuborg and Beck are 5, Carlsberg, Heineken and Bulmers are 5.80, while a pint of Beamish is 4.70. The price of a pint of Guinness in the nearby Temple Bar and Oliver St John Gogarty pubs in the tourist hotspot of Temple Bar is now an eyepopping 10.45, any time of the day or night. Both hostelries previously charged 9.95 for a pint of Guinness. And both of those bars are now charging a whopping 11.45 for most other pints, including Heineken, Carlsberg, Smithwicks and Bulmers. Spirits there range in price from 10.45 to 11.50, while a mixer on top of that is 4.95 and a dash 2. A glass of wine in the Temple Bar is 12. Last year we were first to report how the nearby Merchants Arch was first to go through the 10 barrier for any pint, when it was charging 10.45 for a late night Rockshore Cider. Most of that pubs lagers and ciders, including Rockshore, are now 10.95 late at night, while a pint of Guinness there after a certain time will set you back 10.30. But the Wetherspoons chain still takes some beating. The Old Borough in Swords north county Dublin is charging a price busting 2.05 for a pint of a selection of ales, 2.95 for Strongbow cider and Fosters, 3.35 for Stella, 3.95 for Carlsberg and Coors. Its only stout on draught is Beamish, which costs 3.35 a pint. Wetherspoons Dublin city centre branches are slightly more expensive. Body of Mackenzie Michalski (31) was found in a suitcase two hours from Hungarian capital last November Mackenzie Michalski and inset, the Irish suspect leading police to her body An Irish man in custody in Budapest in Hungary over the murder of a US tourist will remain in pre-trial detention until at least next month as police continue to probe the violent killing. Mackenzie Michalski, a 31-year-old American nurse, went missing on November 4 from a nightclub in central Budapest. Her body was later discovered in a suitcase in a wooded area 140km outside the capital. A 37-year-old Irish man was arrested in connection with her murder after the discovery of her remains. The man, who works in marketing and has not been named, has appealed his ongoing detention. The body of Mackenzie Michalski was found near Budapest last November His lawyer, Dr Gyorgy Magyar, said: My law firm is defending an Irish citizen who is suspected of the crime of murder committed against a US citizen. In relation to the case, I can inform you that the investigation conducted by the police is still ongoing, which is to obtain further expert opinions and evaluate the available evidence. The court has extended the detention of our client for two months, against which our office has filed an appeal. The next court decision regarding the extension of the detention is expected in early May. Mackenzie Michalski The mans ongoing incarceration is the second extension Budapests Metropolitan Prosecution Office has secured in relation to the Irish suspect. He was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Ms Michalski on November 7 after police reviewed CCTV footage from the surrounding area where the young woman was last seen. Ms Michalski, who worked as a nurse in Portland, Oregon, last made contact with friends on the night of Monday November 4 from a nightclub in central Budapest. She was reported missing the next day by her friends after she did not check out of her Airbnb accommodation in the Hungarian capital. Mackenzie Michalski with her parents Jill and Bill According to a statement released by Budapest police, Ms Michalski and the male suspect met at a nightclub in central Budapest on the night of her disappearance before going to another nightclub and later to the mans rented apartment in the city. The same police statement noted that the Irish man maintained that Ms Michalskis death was accidental. According to the police, following Ms Michalskis death, the suspect cleaned his apartment and drove to Lake Balaton, two hours west of Budapest, with Ms Michalskis body placed in the suitcase, before hiding her body in a wooded area. After his arrest, the suspect travelled with police to Lake Balaton to reveal the location of Ms Michalskis body. Mr Magyar previously told a Hungarian media outlet that Ms Michalskis death was an accidental act without intention. Mackenzie Michalski on her graduation day Under Hungarian law, a suspect is formally charged after the conclusion of an investigation. In cases of suspected murder or manslaughter, an investigation period can take a number of months, and, in some cases, more than a year to conclude. In an interview with this newspaper earlier this year, Ms Michalskis father said he did not believe his daughters death was accidental. The main thing for us now is to be patient and allow the police to continue to carry out their investigation, Bill Michalski said. Everyone wants to know the details. We have faith in the police investigation, and they are keeping us updated. Ms Michalskis mother, Jill, added: Our daughter was kind, compassionate, independent and adventurous. And she loved to laugh. People ask us how we are doing all we can say is we are doing as well as we can be. The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighbourhood and move "at least 300 metres away" The result of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut at the beginning of April. Photo: Getty. The Israeli army issued an evacuation order on Sunday for residents of southern Beirut, the first such warning in almost a month, in anticipation of a possible strike on what it says are Hezbollah targets - further testing a fragile ceasefire. The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighbourhood and move "at least 300 metres away". Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area. "To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets. Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days. The strikes add to strains on the US-brokered ceasefire that ended last year's devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group. The attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs have resumed at a time of broader escalation in hostilities in the region, with Israel having restarted Gaza strikes after a two-month truce and the United States hitting the Iran-aligned Houthis of Yemen in a bid to get them to stop attacking Red Sea shipping. Israel has dealt severe blows to Hezbollah in the war, killing thousands of its fighters, destroying much of its arsenal and eliminating its top leadership, including Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah has denied any role in recent rocket attacks from Lebanon towards Israel. Taurangas Free Public Advocacy Service has made it easier to access it outside business hours. The service now offers a Saturday clinic from 10am to noon at Tauranga City Library, founder Carol Heena said. And weve launched a link on our website https://freepublicadvocacyservice.co.nz/ that allows people to contact us online, so we can capture clients details and issues. The service aims to provide free assistance for people of all ages struggling to access essential services, Heena said. Established in November 2023, two agencies began operating from Greerton Library and Welcome Bay Community Centre, with two advocates sharing the responsibilities. Wider coverage area Today, the service has five volunteer advocates and is available at three further weekly clinics at Arataki, Papamoa and Te Puke. This has improved our ability to access clients from a wider area with the Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty Moana. With a 100% increase in inquiries for help since the extra clinics opened, the service had supported 48 individuals so far this year with free advocacy advice on issues including insurance, ACC, WINZ, tenancy problems, Mbie, and Dispute Tribunal matters, Heena said. While some clients receive regular advice and guidance, others have one-off inquiries. Our clients welcome the free and easy access to helpful advice and advocacy within their community. This service is offered without restraint on financial or residency status. [The fact that] we are offered positive feedback openly without being solicited validates our service. Successes Heena said the service had achieved some remarkable success since it began. In one instance, an advocate accompanied and assisted a social housing tenant to the Tenancy Tribunal seeking reimbursement for disputed expenses incurred and was awarded $1400 from the landlord. Another win stemmed from a solo mother of five receiving an eviction notice from emergency accommodation. The mother was very distraught because the children were settled in a nearby school, and she didnt want to upset the established routine of her children by having to relocate. We were able to arrange references of support from a nurse and a social worker from the school the children were attending. The result was the mother and children were allowed to remain in the emergency accommodation. Sometimes things dont turn out right for the client, but we can usually get a reasonable conclusion, Heena said. Get in touch At other times were not suitably qualified to help but we will continue to support our clients through the process if needed. This year, the service intends on consolidating its work so we can bring our help further into the communities where people who need it live, Heena said. To access help or contact Taurangas Free Public Advocacy Service, visit: freepublicadvocacyservice.co.nz Where a bank fails to meet five scam protection changes, they will have to compensate all or part of the customers losses if scammed. New Zealand Banking Association chief executive Roger Beaumont said the new measures would help protect customers from increasingly sophisticated scams. "The new compensation approach recognises shared responsibilities for protecting New Zealanders from scams. "Banks are stepping up their customer protections and will be accountable for those measures, but they cannot take on full liability for scam losses that are beyond their control and may, for example, start with a fake ad or chat on social media, or a fake search engine result," he said. Beaumont said they had been worked closely with the current and previous Ministers of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. "As the government has acknowledged, the scam ecosystem is far broader than just banks. To truly prevent scams, a cross-industry and government agency approach is needed. "Banks can't combat scammers on their own," he said. The updated Code of Banking Practice goes live on 30 November 2025. The New Zealand Banking Association is updating the Code of Banking Practice for the countries banks to better protect customers from scammers. In an announcement on Wednesday, the association said the new measures would be progressively rolled out over the next seven months. Scam protection changes Three people have been arrested overnight as police enforce a Gang Conflict Warrant in the Eastern District. The arrests come as police invoked special powers under the warrant eight times in a series of operations targeting gang-related activity. The warrant was issued 7 April and gives police special search powers to address recent gang conflict in the Tairawhiti Gisborne area. A 21-year-old man was taken into custody in Wairoa shortly before 11pm. He is facing drug and driving-related charges and is due to appear in the Wairoa District Court on 2 May. A 21-year-old woman was also arrested for disorderly behaviour, and a 50-year-old man was arrested for breaching bail conditions. Detective Inspector Marty James, District Manager Criminal Investigations, said police were pleased with the results of the overnight operations, which aim to curb illegal and dangerous gang activity. "We will be deploying additional resources within the coming days to ensure we are utilising the warrant's special powers to their full extent," James said. "Police will be highly visible in our communities, and we hope this provides reassurance to members of the public who have a right to go about their lives without fear and intimidation." He also thanked the public for their ongoing cooperation. "We are working hard to hold people committing this offending to account." The warrant was issued 7 April and gives police special search powers to address recent gang conflict in the Tairawhiti Gisborne area. A 21-year-old man was taken into custody in Wairoa shortly before 11pm. He is facing drug and driving-related charges and is due to appear in the Wairoa District Court on 2 May. A 21-year-old woman was also arrested for disorderly behaviour, and a 50-year-old man was arrested for breaching bail conditions. Detective Inspector Marty James, District Manager Criminal Investigations, said police were pleased with the results of the overnight operations, which aim to curb illegal and dangerous gang activity. "We will be deploying additional resources within the coming days to ensure we are utilising the warrant's special powers to their full extent," James said. "Police will be highly visible in our communities, and we hope this provides reassurance to members of the public who have a right to go about their lives without fear and intimidation." He also thanked the public for their ongoing cooperation. "We are working hard to hold people committing this offending to account." Police are appealing for photos of a missing Russian stuntman. Artour Melikov, 36, vanished in September 2002, with his car later found abandoned at Jellicoe Reserve, near Lake Taupo. His passport, clothing, and other personal items were left inside. Despite an extensive search at the time, no trace of Melikov was found. In January this year, bones were discovered near a walking track in Motutere Holiday Park. Police believe the remains may be his, but identification has been challenging. Senior Constable Barry Shepherd, of the Taupo Search and Rescue Squad, said Police have not been able to locate Melikovs next of kin. "We're hoping someone who worked with Artour, possibly on productions like Xena: Warrior Princess, may have high-quality photos showing his face and teeth, he said. Melikov had distinctive gold teeth in his upper jaw, which could help confirm his identity. Police are urging anyone with images or information to contact them via 105, quoting reference number 250110/2158. The Medical Council is concerned doctors working at medicinal cannabis clinics may not be following proper medical practices. The council said it was investigating complaints made by patients, their families, and other medical professionals about doctors prescribing cannabis. Medical Council chair Dr Rachelle Love said the complaints included instances of patients not being fully informed about the ongoing costs and side-effects of cannabis. She said there had also been significant communication issues with doctors prescribing cannabis not feeding information back to a patient's other health providers including GPs and psychiatrists. "Best practice would be full communciation so a team can be around a patient and help them with their health chocies and decisions that need to be made," Love told Nine to Noon. She said it could be harder for doctors at businesses set up to dispense cannabis to thoroughly assess patients. "Good medical practice generally involves talking a patient through all their available options which might include non-medicinal options and other medicines. "With cannabis clinics, it appears that they are largely set up so a patient goes to them to seek cannabis and all of the available options are not necessarily discussed and full informed consent has not gone through." She said there was currently no regulatory body overseeing cannabis clinics and doctors who worked at them need to be supported to deliver safe care. FILE - Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he arrives to hold his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) The death of Pope Francis stills a powerful voice speaking out for the dignity of all people, especially those on the margins of modern society. Dont forget the poor, a fellow cardinal told Jorge Mario Bergoglio when he was elevated to the pontificate 12 years ago. Francis never did. It began with his choice to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi, an evangelist to the poor and the patron saint of ecology and of Italy. It made this pope instantly approachable and human, a breath of fresh air, the editorial board said in 2013, when he was named Time Person of the Year. As the first member of a religious order to be elected to the office, the Jesuit Francis was the first pontiff to have taken a vow of poverty. He eschewed the plush Apostolic Palace for communal living with other priests in a Vatican guesthouse, tooled around Rome in a Ford Focus and carried his own bags. Francis was first and last a priest, walking beside people on their journey of faith. Asked early in his papacy what he intended to do, the pope said, I want to take Christ out of the sacristies and into the streets. Franciss Jesuit identity was integral to his approach as leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics around the world. His papacy emphasized synodality, a process of involving all members of the church in charting its future, and denounced clericalism, the outsized power of the religious hierarchy. The pontiff brought a moral imperative to caring for our common home, the planet, through his encyclical, Laudato Si. In 2015, during his only visit to the United States, Francis challenged the U.S. Congress to rise above partisanship and to confront immigration and climate change. At the time, the editorial board contrasted the popes often dry, theological speeches with the exuberant crowds that greeted him in Washington, New York and Philadelphia: Francis has a way of getting under the skin of his listeners. His humility makes them uncomfortable in their wealth, privilege and prestige. He keeps them off-balance, defying easy categorization with the usual labels of liberal or conservative, right or left. 24 1 / 24 Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church In the end, Pope Francis was not the revolutionary that progressive Catholics had hoped for, and that conservative Catholics had feared. Despite making some conciliatory gestures toward gay and divorced Catholics, Francis did not change church doctrine on homosexuality, priestly celibacy, contraception or allowing women to become deacons. Francis, an Argentine, was the first pope to come from Latin America. Through his frequent travels and his appointments of bishops and cardinals, the pope tilted the Catholic Churchs center of gravity away from Europe and the United States and toward parts of the world where the faith is growing: Africa, Asia and South America. That also represented a shift in emphasis from the culture war issues hotly debated in the West such as abortion and gay marriage to addressing issues endemic to the Global South such as poverty, income inequality, exploitation and war. As the child of immigrants, Pope Francis championed both the rights of migrants to seek a better life, and the responsibilities of rich countries pointedly, Europe and the United States to make a place for them. In February, while he was in the hospital, the pope wrote a letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops confronting the Trump administrations sweeping actions to expel immigrants. Francis called out the initiation of a program of mass deportations as a major crisis, disagreeing with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality. The pope went on to say that while countries have a right to keep violent people and criminals out, The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all welcomes, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable. Popes are supposed to be infallible. Pope Francis was not above admitting his own error, as when he apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse in Chile after first rejecting their cries of a cover-up. Francis is credited with making several reforms to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups, remove secrecy obligations and require church officials to report abuse. The clergy sex abuse scandal continues to take a toll on the U.S. church, including the Diocese of Syracuse, where survivors poured out their pain during a recent bankruptcy hearing. While the number of Catholics around the world grew while Francis was pope, it is declining in the United States, including Onondaga County, where 158,000 people identified themselves as adherents to the faith in 2020, down from 163,000 in 2010. How will a new pope approach these challenges? Will he continue on the path laid out by Pope Francis, or chart a new one? It seems unlikely there is another papabile with the particular mix of Jorge Mario Bergoglios warmth, charm and resolve. But nobody expected him, either. Eternal rest grant unto Pope Francis, and may perpetual light shine upon him. About Syracuse.com editorials Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board. Our opinions are independent of news coverage. Read our mission statement. Members of the editorial board are Tim Kennedy, Trish LaMonte and Marie Morelli. To respond to this editorial: Submit a letter or commentary to letters@syracuse.com. Read our submission guidelines. If you have questions about the Opinions & Editorials section, contact Marie Morelli, editorial/opinion lead, at mmorelli@syracuse.com The Trump administration is suing a Western New York city over its sanctuary city policies, and Trump border czar Tom Homan says he will be visiting the city soon. On Thursday, the administration filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the city of Rochester, Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and City Council President Miguel Melendez. The suit claims that the citys policies interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Governments enforcement of federal immigration law. The suit stems from an incident in March, when Rochester police officers responded to a request for backup by border patrol agents during a traffic stop. According to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester police removed two people from a van and placed them in handcuffs for immigration agents. This action violated the citys sanctuary city policy, which allows police to respond to calls for emergency backup from federal agents but does not allow them to engage in immigration enforcement. Evans and Rochester Police Chief David Smith opened an investigation into the incident and ordered remedial training for the officers involved, according to the D&C. In the lawsuit, a copy of which was posted on the Bloomberg Law website, the government claims that local officials, including Evans and Melendez, criticized the Rochester Police Officers for doing the right thing. This is a lawsuit to put an end to those policies. Evans and Melendez put out a statement on Friday responding to the lawsuit: Although we have not yet been served, the City obtained a copy of yesterdays DOJ complaint from the federal filing system. On its face, the complaint is an exercise in political theater, not legal practice. The Citys Sanctuary City policy is legally sound and always has been, including during the entirety of the Trump Administrations first term. The City fully intends to defend the legality of its policies, and to use this opportunity to hold the federal government to task and ensure that it does not commandeer local resources in violation of the Constitutions Tenth Amendment. The City of Rochester is committed to investing its resources in public safety for all, not doing the federal governments work of immigration enforcement. New York Attorney General Letitia James expressed support for the Rochester officials in a post on the social media site X. Im standing with @CityRochesterNY and Mayor Evans against this administrations attack on Rochester for supporting all of our communities. New York will not back down. James posted. Meanwhile, Homan, an Upstate New York native, said in an interview with The Daily Signal that he would visit Rochester soon. According to WROC-TV in Rochester, the Homan will visit Tuesday. Officers that responded to an emergency call for assistance from ICE responded and did the right thing but then they got disciplined for doing it. So Ill be going to Rochester to send a strong message to that mayor that this administration is going to do the job with or without you, and well put him on the list with the rest of the sanctuary cities that Pam Bondi can look at and take legal action against. When Daily Signal reporter Virginia Allen responded, You have a list? Homan said. I have a list. Everybodys got a list. Allen asked, Is it a long list? and Homan responded, Longer than it should be. But I guarantee you everybody on that list well deal with. The suit was filed on the same day that a California court ruled that the Trump administration could not deny federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, the Associated Press reported. Share Marks & Spencer has suffered a bruise to its reputation after it was forced to stop taking online orders following a cyber attack, an analyst has said. The retail giant has paused orders on its website and apps since Friday as it attempts to restore operations. But analysts say M&S stands to lose out if the problem is not resolved quickly, with shoppers likely to turn to rival brands when buying summer clothes. Kate Hardcastle, consumer specialist at Insight with Passion, said the incident was a bruise to M&Ss trusted brand image. BBC Marks & Spencer shoppers were unable to buy goods online for a second consecutive day yesterday, as the retailer continued to fight the fallout from a cyber attack. Stores have remained open but the company has entirely paused orders on its website and apps, including for food deliveries and clothes, while pledging to refund orders. The firms click and collect service, where customers order items online then pick them up from a store, was also down. Daily Mail Whistleblowers warned a series of senior Vodafone executives including the current chief executive, Margherita Della Valle that scores of its franchised store owners faced financial ruin about two years before a high court claim accused the company of unjustly enriching itself. Vodafone employees made repeated complaints to their superiors about the company slashing commissions paid to the small businesses running the companys high street retail network, according to current and former Vodafone employees. The Guardian Motorola unveiled its next generation foldables earlier this week they are the first Razrs with dust resistance (IP48 rating), which is very rare in the foldable segment. Motorola also used a proper flagship chip for the Ultra, while also improving the screen, cameras and battery. The Snapdragon 8 Elite powers the Motorola Razr 60 Ultra (no s chip this time) and onboard is 4,700mAh battery with 68W wired and 30W wireless charging. It has three 50MP cameras: 50MP main (1/1.56, OIS, 8K @ 30fps), 50MP ultra-wide (instead of 2x tele) and 50MP selfie camera inside. GSM Arena Sky might have just upgraded its broadband-powered Glass TV but its rivals arent standing still either. French telly manufacturer Thomson has just unveiled a swathe of new screens at an event in Vienna, and its been confirmed that some of these latest models are destined for the UK. The new televisions coming our way will all have access to Freely, whichlike Sky Glasslets users watch live and on-demand content via an internet connection. That means theres no need for a dish or aerial to be stuck to the chimney with content streamed to the big screen instead. Express Chinese upcoming brand Omoda has revealed a radical new compact crossover aimed at the MG4 and Kia EV3. The Omoda 3 will be officially launched in October ahead of a global rollout including the UK starting late in the year or early 2026 and will be offered with an electric drivetrain as well as plug-in hybrid and straight internal combustion. The angular styling and sharply defined sharknose grille recalls much more expensive SUVs including the Lotus Eletre and Lamborghini Urus, however the price is expected to start below 30,000. Autocar Google is working on new AI subscription plans that could offer alternative ways to purchase access to the companys Gemini Advanced option, which enables Googles most capable AI models and premium features. Theres currently only one way to buy Gemini Advanced, and thats to purchase a Google One AI Premium plan for $19.99 per month. However, this looks likely to change according to a recent Android Authority report that reveals two new secret subscription plans hidden within the code of the latest Google Photos app. Forbes For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv Like this: Like Loading... Related Posts Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The death of Pope Francis at the age of 88 has drawn renewed attention to Conclave, which was set within the cloistered world of the Vatican during the election process for a new Pope. According to figures published last month, viewership of the film surged by 283% following the news of the Popes death. In Edward Bergers adaptation of a Robert Harris novel, from a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Peter Straughan, the election of a new Pope is depicted as a gossipy affair, full of infighting and political maneuvering by cardinals jostling for power and leverage over their rivals. While the film is by no means a documentary, it did set out to recreate a real Papal Conclave as accurately as possible. However, the caveat here is that very little is known about the true inner workings of a conclave, as participants must take a vow of secrecy. open image in gallery Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave ( Philippe Antonello/Focus Features ) We do know that the overall logistics shown in the film are broadly accurate. We see cardinals played by the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow living, eating (and vaping) together at the Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse on the grounds of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City. The guesthouse shown in the film was a movie set, but the real-life cardinals will be sequestered there from the beginning of May. The voting process, which takes place within the Sistine Chapel, is also accurately shown. Cardinals will write down the name of their vote for the next Pope, and then place those votes in a sealed container. Once the votes have been totaled, an official will read them aloud. If a two-thirds majority is not reached, they will be burned with an additive that produces black smoke. It is only when a decision has been reached that the additive will not be used, and the smoke will burn white to announce that a new Pope has been selected. One major difference between the process as shown in the film and reality is that the role played by Ralph Fiennes character, Cardinal Lawrence, conflates two real-life positions. In the film, Cardinal Lawrence acts as the camerlengo, who takes over the Holy See, which governs the Catholic Church and the Vatican, after the Popes death. He is also seen acting as the dean of the College of Cardinals, who oversees the election of the new Pope. open image in gallery Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell took over the Holy See as camerlengo ( Reuters ) In reality, the camerlengo is Cardinal Kevin Farrell. An Irish-born American, Cardinal Farrell was responsible for announcing the death of Pope Francis, sealing the papal apartment and breaking the pontiff's fisherman's ring, which symbolizes that there is now a vacancy in the Vatican. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, an Italian, is the real-life dean of the College of Cardinals. He will oversee the gathering of the conclave, and will also be the one to ask the newly elected pope what name he will take, as Fiennes Cardinal Lawrence is depicted doing in the film. open image in gallery White smoke rises from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, meaning that cardinals elected a new pope on the second day of their secret conclave on March 13, 2013, at the Vatican ( AFP/Getty ) Another key error in the film is that a cardinal in pectore is depicted as taking part in the conclave. A cardinal in pectore is a cardinal who has been appointed by the Pope in secret, which can happen in reality. However, unlike the pivotal part Cardinal Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz) is shown playing in Conclave, a secret cardinal would not be allowed to participate in the election of a new Pope. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, Conclave director Berger explained that he spoke to cardinals who had been involved in conclaves about general details, and also hired a religious advisor, but did not approach the Vatican directly. Thats a senseless approach, said Berger. First, they wont help you, and secondly, they shouldnt. How to watch Conclave. Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The world has been rocked by the death of Gene Hackman, whose body was found with that of his 65-year-old wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa. Hackman, a two-time Oscar winner who starred in films including The French Connection, Unforgiven, and The Royal Tenenbaums, was 95. The couple, who had been married since 1991, were found dead on Wednesday, February 26, in their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with one of their pet dogs. Two healthy dogs were also on the property. On March 7, Dr Heather Jarrell, Chief Medical Examiner at the Office of the Medical Investigator, revealed at a press conference that the couple had both died from natural causes. Arakawa, she said, died first, possibly up to a week before her husband. Jarrell told reporters that the actor had been in an advanced state of Alzheimers and that it was quite possible that he was not aware that his wife was deceased. She announced Arakawas cause of death was hantavirus a rare illness contracted via contact with rodents like rats and mice. Meanwhile, Hackmans death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimers disease contributing. He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately thats what resulted in his death, Jarrell said. open image in gallery Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman were found dead in their home ( Bei/Shutterstock ) Authorities are relatively confident that Hackman died on February 18 due to activity recorded on his pacemaker. Arakawa was last seen in public on February 11 and it was initially believed she could have died that evening. However, on March 17 it emerged that she made a phone call to Cloudberry Health, a local medical concierge service that allows patients to speak to credentialed doctors, on the morning of February 12. Cloudberry told Good Morning America that Betsy had phoned them to inquire about what they called an esoteric treatment that morning. The medical service also said they detected no indication of breathing issues or distress during the call. They say they called back twice to follow up but their calls went unanswered. When authorities published their investigation into phone and email records on April 15, it emerged that Arakawa had spent her last days searching the internet for information about flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques. She was actively searching for information about medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms between February 8 and the morning of February 12. Among the searches were inquiries into whether COVID could cause dizziness or nosebleeds. Establishing the exact timeline could be significant in determining the fate of Hackmans estimated $80 million estate. It has emerged Hackman left his entire estate to his Arakawa. Hackmans will, drawn up in 1995, makes no mention of his three children, son Christopher and daughters Leslie and Elizabeth. In her own will, Arakawa left most of her assets to Hackman. However, the document also reportedly includes a clause stating that if the couple died within 90 days of each other, it would be considered a simultaneous death and all her assets would be donated to charity. Hackmans son Christopher has reportedly already hired Andrew M. Katzenstein, a prominent California trust and estate attorney, which could indicate he plans to challenge his fathers will. open image in gallery Gene Hackman was 95 ( AP ) The results of the pet's autopsy are not ready, but authorities say dogs can not carry hantavirus A pair of maintenance workers found the bodies on February 26 before alerting police, telling officers they hadnt seen the homeowners in about two weeks. Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza initially said that foul play was not suspected, although a search warrant affidavit later ruled their deaths suspicious enough to require further investigation. Arakawa was found in a bathroom, with an open pill bottle and medication scattered nearby. Police also found a space heater near Arakawas head, leading a deputy to write in the search warrant it may have fallen if Arakawa suddenly hit the floor. The dead dog, a kelpie mix named Zinna, was 10-15 feet from Arakawa, in a closet in the bathroom. A German shepherd named Bear and a second dog named Nikita survived, with one found running loose on the property. Arakawas body showed obvious signs of death, body decomposition, bloating in her face and mummification in both hands and feet, according to the warrant, obtained by Variety and TMZ. Hackmans body was found in similar and consistent condition. The actor was discovered on the ground near the kitchen in a mudroom, an entryway where shoes and coats are often removed, and he appeared to have fallen suddenly. A cane and sunglasses were found on the ground nearby. There was no indication of a struggle, Mendoza told the media. There was no indication of anything that was missing from the home or disturbed that would be an indication that there was a crime that had occurred. Preliminary findings from a medical investigation found that the pair suffered no external trauma. A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office said: In the early hours of Thursday, February 27 2025, Hackman and Arakawa were transported to the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI). An autopsy was performed. Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual. Hackmans daughter Elizabeth Jean had earlier speculated that carbon monoxide poisoning may have been the cause. Testing and observation of the houses systems from the Santa Fe Fire Department and New Mexico Gas Company did not reveal immediate signs of a leak. Both tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning, Mendoza said Friday. A more detailed investigation by the gas company found a minuscule leak at one of the stove burners, but it is not believed to have been a contributing factor in the deaths as there was just 0.33% gas in the air, which is not a lethal amount. In a 911 call, a distressed maintenance worker, who last saw the couple two weeks OK, said he was unable to get inside the house when asked if the people inside were breathing. open image in gallery Hackman and Arakawa had been married since 1991 ( 2003 AP ) I have no idea, he said. I am not inside the house. Its closed. Its locked. I cant go in. But I can see shes lying down on the floor from the window. Since retiring from acting in 2004, Hackman had been open about his health struggles, revealing in 2009 that his doctor wanted him to quit Hollywood due to the stress on his heart. Hackman told Empire: The straw that broke the camels back was actually a stress test that I took in New York. The doctor advised me that my heart wasnt in the kind of shape that I should be putting it under any stress. The actor previously told CNN interviewer Larry King that he had angioplasty surgery to heal his angina in the 1990s. Angioplasty is a medical procedure that restores blood flow to the heart muscle after the coronary arteries become blocked. I try to take care of myself, he said at the time. I dont have a lot of fears. I have the normal fear of passing away. You know, I guess we all think about that, especially when you get to be a certain age. I want to make sure that my wife and my family are taken care of. Other than that, I dont have a lot of fears. Hackmans three children were from his marriage to his first wife, Faye Maltese. The pair were married from 1956 to 1986. Maltese died in 2017. Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Jeremy Renner has shared details of the split-second mistake he made that resulted in his 2023 snowplough accident, which left him with severe injuries. The Hawkeye star, 54, had gone out to help clear snow from his neighbours driveways in January 2023 when he lost control of the 14,000-pound PistenBully snowcat. As he tried to jump back in and regain control of it, he got caught up in the tracks and pulled under. He was airlifted to the hospital where he underwent several surgeries to treat his injuries, which included 38 broken bones and a dislodged eyeball. In an extract published in The Times from his forthcoming memoir, My Next Breath, the actor said he had to act instinctively to save his nephew when realising that the huge vehicle was in danger of crushing him. Renner wrote: We were working on the long, winding driveway that climbs to an expansive parking area in front of my house. I was in the cab of the snowcat, and Alex was on the ground attaching the Ford truck to the back of the snowcat with chains. We started pulling the truck out of the snow and got it unstuck. Alex went to unlatch it from the snowcat as I started to turn the snowcat around. But its snowblade was up high and I couldnt quite see Alex, who was somewhere in front of me. I got out of the drivers seat and stepped on the tracks to talk to him. Before exiting the drivers cab! Apply parking brake, the manual says. But I didnt engage the parking brake, or disengage the steel tracks. In that moment an innocent, critical, life-changing moment that tiny but monumental slip of the mind would change the course of my life forever. Renner said that as the snowcat began to slide on the ice-covered tarmac towards his nephew, he realised he was in danger of being crushed. He had one chance: to jump up and across the snowcats metal tracks to get back into the cab, where he would be able to hit the stop button. open image in gallery Jeremy Renner marking one year since ICU release after snowplough accident ( Jeremy Renner/Instagram ) Reflecting on the decision, Renner said it was in fact an impossible feat to attempt: To jump across three feet of spinning tracks as the machine slid forward, up into a cab where my only option was to slam my fist into a red STOP button. My feet lost their grip on the moving tracks, and I never made it to the cab. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled. Try for free ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 day New subscribers only. 8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled. Try for free ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. Renner was catapulted from the spinning metal tracks and onto the ice, where his head hit the ground and split open. He then recalled the terrible crunching sounds as 14,000lb of galvanised steel machinery slowly, inexorably, monotonously, ground over my body. It was a horrifying soundtrack. open image in gallery Jeremy Renner in Mayor of Kingstown ( Dennis P. Mong Jr./Paramount+ ) The Mission: Impossible actor went on to say that he heard his bones break, while his nephew thankfully escaped by the slimmest of seconds. He also thanked the paramedics that gave him life-saving care in Reno and then later at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Renner has made a slow return to acting, reprising his role in season three of Mayor of Kingstown just 12 months after the accident. His next major role is in Wake Up Dead Man, the third instalment of the Knives Out franchise which will also star Daniel Craig, Cailee Spaeny, Josh Brolin, Josh OConnor, Glenn Close and Andrew Scott. Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice David Chase had reservations about casting James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in his series The Sopranos, it has emerged. A new book by Jason Bailey, Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, delves into the life and work of the late actor, who died from a heart attack in 2013, aged 51. Broadcast by HBO, The Sopranos ran for six seasons between 1999 to 2007. Today regarded as one of the greatest and most influential TV series of all time, it was a star-making role for Gandolfini, who won three Primetime Emmy Awards for his performance. In an excerpt published by Vulture, Nancy Sanders one of Gandolfinis managers recalled reading the script and realising that he was perfect for the role. I went, Oh my God, I think I have Tony Soprano, she said. However, while Chase, who created, wrote and executive-produced the show, agreed that Gandolfini was brilliant, he apparently had one doubt in casting him as Tony: I have one concern, and that is, is he threatening enough? Sanders said she was taken aback by this and quickly assured him that Gandolfini was more than capable of playing the menacing mafia mobster. open image in gallery From left to right: Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante, James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano and Tony Sirico as Paulie Walnuts in The Sopranos ( Getty Images ) David, if your only concern is, is he threatening enough, she began. If you said to me, Hes a little chubby or Hes losing his hair, I could understand. But hes threatening enough. This is your guy. Gandolfini himself was also uncertain whether he would land the role, and also feared that Chase would be a pain in the ass to work with. The excerpt quotes him as saying: I think my exact words were, I could kick this guy right in the ass, but Ill never get cast. Theyll hire some f***ing pretty boy. I thought theyd hire, you know, one of these Irish-looking guys who are all over TV now. The casting process ultimately whittled it down to three contenders: Gandolfini, Mike Rispoli and Steven Van Zandt, who was later cast as Silvio Dante in the same show. Speaking to NPR about why he wanted to write the book, Bailey said he felt Gandolfini was an actor of tremendous skill [but also of] incredible range, which I dont think people talk about as much. You know, Tony Soprano and The Sopranos had such an outsized influence and sort of cast such a giant shadow over television and over popular culture in general that Tony Soprano is what everyone thinks of when they think of James Gandolfini, he said. And I understand why that is. But I felt like his story was one of - first of all, of a working-class actor who considered himself a character actor and aimed only to be that and was sort of - became an unlikely star, which I think is always of interest to people, who struggled after that show ended to continue to grow as an artist in spite of sort of the box that that show put him in, which I think is fascinating. open image in gallery James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano ( HBO ) More than anything, Bailey said, I would hear these stories, mostly after his passing, from friends, from colleagues of his tremendous character, of his personal generosity and kindness. And I certainly was fascinated by the sort of incongruity between that and the persona of his most famous character. Last year, Gandolfinis The Sopranos co-star Michael Imperioli shared a heartfelt tribute to mark the 11th anniversary of the actors death. Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice I am trying to imagine your mental state as you read this. Perhaps your children are screaming. Perhaps the milk you used to make your coffee was dubiously sour. Did you wake up and look at your phone, which promptly delivered you some of the worst news possible, from indiscriminate locations across the world, instantly from the palm of your hand to your retinas? Perhaps you clicked off news websites and looked at emails that you shouldnt read until Monday morning. Perhaps you quickly opened Instagram, to look at the stories of people you dont like, purely to scratch an itch. And then X (Twitter), where you read apoplectic or sarcastic takes about the news stories you just heard about five minutes ago. How are you feeling? Yes, bad. Or not just bad. Pissed off, perhaps, or filled with rage. We are in the midst of a rage epidemic, after all. It doesnt just feel like everyone is angrier than they used to be: they are. The world is a rage-fuelled and rage-filled place. Last year, polling company Gallup published the Global Emotions Report to take the temperature on the positive and negative emotional and mental health of people around the world. The picture they painted was sobering: anger around the world has been on the rise, they found, since 2016. In fact nearly a quarter of their respondents (23 per cent) reported feeling angry every day. Although anger was understandably highest in areas of war, genocide, extreme poverty and civil unrest, even in supposedly peaceful and prosperous countries, levels of rage were simmering. In the UK, 17 per cent of people reported daily anger. In the US, 18 per cent said the same. Its not just us normies stoking the fires of fury. Last month on the Call Her Daddy podcast, mercurial and divisive pop star Chappell Roan played up to her persona of being mercurial and divisive by complaining baldly about aspects of her own life (How can these girls tour, write, perform, interview, sleep, eat, and f***ing work out? How can they do it all and lead a team and be a boss and pay people?), her past (I still hate those bitches from high school), her friends who have children (I literally have not met anyone [with young kids] whos happy anyone who has like light in their eyes, anyone who has slept) and the expectation for famous people to be political. Why the f*** are you looking to me for some political answer? she said. You think I have the f***ing answer? Like, Im a pop star. I wish I had the answers. I wish the president was a pop star, but shes not." Unsurprisingly, her annoyance made everyone else annoyed at her even more so. In comment sections across the internet, her fans fought it out with posters who argued she was entitled, and nobody won except perhaps Alex Cooper, who hosts the podcast in question. But why do we let ourselves get so caught up in these kinds of arguments, which are essentially arguments over nothing? Why are we so annoyed? What are we angry about? Perhaps unsurprisingly, its different for different demographics. And perhaps more unsurprisingly, its young men who are leading the charge on our rage epidemic. Ryan Martin, a researcher and author of Why We Get Mad and How to Deal with Angry People, has been charting rising male rage on his Substack and website The Anger Project for the past four years. This January, he revealed some of his findings that men get angry much more often than women. Over half of all of the men he surveyed (60 per cent) reported getting angry at least once a day and 40 per cent of those men said it happened multiple times over the same day compared to just 38 per cent of women. When he delved into the reasons for it, he found it came down to three main areas: I get angry when I experience or witness injustice, I get angry when I am treated poorly, and I get angry when I cant get something I want. Its worth noting, by the way, that men polled higher than women in only the latter two of those provocations. Usually the main arena where we see rage spill out and spill over is the online world. Poisonous figures in the so-called manosphere, like Andrew Tate, have made their own army, fuelled by misogyny, out of alienated and frustrated young men. Alongside the manosphere, rage-baiting has become a dominant feature of online life. A genre of content has emerged inspired by and defined by rage videos and posts intended to rile up the reader or the viewer, to invoke outrage purely for traffic, engagement, revenue, and attention. Rage-baiting is increasingly a calling card of the online right, who use it to inject irony into statements that would otherwise be blatantly racist, homophobic, transphobic or classist. You cant get angry, this mentality says. I was only joking. If you get angry, you lose. The result is that were all more guarded and more adversarial, online and off. open image in gallery Weve all become more guarded and adversarial, online and off ( Getty/iStock ) Gallups revelation that rage has been growing since 2016 is telling its tempting to point to that particular year as the one in which we became more politically divided than ever, thanks to Trump and Brexit, and the one which saw us retreat into our own echo chambers on social media, free to speculate and fume to people who agreed with us and attack those who didnt. Four years later the pandemic saw us further isolated. Shut inside our homes, frustrated and scared, we retreated further into our phones, feeding the algorithms with those fears and frustrations and gobbling up the explanations for our ennui that it spat back out at us. Sometimes, the rage-baiting algorithmic machine is more bizarre and silly than flat-out violent and poisonous. The morning routine video of fitness influencer Ashton Hall which saw him rise at around 4am, his mouth taped shut, and repeatedly dunk his face in ice water before faffing around for the next six hours is the most recent example of viral rage-baiting, and yet most of the backlash to his video was pointing out how silly he was. The rage-bait was so obvious it made us laugh rather than descend into fury, but thats not often the case. Often, were already too pissed off to find the funny in even the most obvious, ridiculous attempts at rage-bait. As one viral post puts it, it works on us because we were already angry, even before we encountered it. Ashton Hall is the exception rather than the rule, however. Most rage-baiters want us to descend into fury, not chuckle indulgently. And occasionally the rage thats stoked by populist rage-baiters, and those who seek to divide and incite us, spills over into real life. Anger doesnt just stay within the confines of the internet. More and more often, videos of people having rage-fuelled meltdowns in public go viral online, from road-rage incidents to one particularly bad example of a man screaming in the face of a young woman on the London Underground for several minutes, while fellow passengers ignore them rather than intervening. And even though these kinds of videos might be posted with the intention of shaming the person having a rage meltdown, seeing them happen again and again only adds to a general sense of growing, rage-fuelled ennui, online and IRL. open image in gallery Ashton Halls rage-inducing morning routine went viral in March ( ashtonhallofficial/Instagram ) Sometimes rage goes even further. Without all the answers but filled with righteous, impotent anger, people spill out into the streets to burn and attack and destroy. They target women, immigrants, anyone they believe is the enemy, the source of their rage. The police move in to subdue and arrest, politicians give statements in which they toe a careful line between condemning violence or understanding frustration, and eventually the boiling eye of the rage storm passes. Those angry people simmer down and stew and rage into their phones and laptops once again, waiting for the next time they can explode. Perhaps the best way to look at rage is not as an epidemic but as a cultural addiction. And like all addictions, unless we find a way to manage it, it will eat away at us, leaving less and less of ourselves behind a growing societal red mist. The only problem with the boil over to simmer cycle is that it leaves us with nowhere to go. If everyone is already angry, all the time, every day, forever, then what comes after the rage? Gentle outrage is one potential answer. Thats marketing speak for a move away from outright rage-baiting. Instead its all about creating enough annoyance for a click, a reaction, a response, but not enough for an explosion, or getting you cancelled. If thats not enough to replace your latent feelings of rage with overwhelming feelings of ennui, I dont know what is. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A beekeeper living in The Hamptons has been arrested after federal prosecutors say he entered the country claiming to be a victim of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and was instead a participant. Faustin Nsabumukunzi was arrested Thursday in New York on immigration fraud charges, according to court documents. Investigators believe Nsabumukunzi lied and instead helped engineer the Rwandan genocide as an administrator for the municipality of Kibirizi. He pleaded not guilty Thursday, with his 38-year-old son by his side for support, according to The New York Times. I know Im finished, Nsabumukunzi said as prosecutors read the charges in court Thursday. Prosecutors say Nsabumukunzi told U.S. immigration officials he was fleeing the Rwandan genocide when he sought refugee status in 2003, when he sought permanent residency in 2006, and when he sought citizenship in 2009. open image in gallery Faustin Nsabumukunzi is charged with immigration fraud after allegedly lying to the U.S. government about his involvement in the Rwandan genocide. He has pleaded not guilty ( REUTERS ) His second naturalization application is still pending after the first one was denied, court documents indicate. He could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted. However, the 65-year-old may also be deported to Rwanda, where authorities have been seeking him for almost 20 years. As alleged, the defendant participated in the commission of heinous acts of violence abroad and then lied his way into a green card and tried to obtain U.S. citizenship, Department of Justice criminal division chief Matthew R. Galeotti said in a statement. No matter how much time has passed, the Department of Justice will find and prosecute individuals who committed atrocities in their home countries and covered them up to gain entry and seek citizenship in the United States. open image in gallery Rwanda on April 7, 2024 paid solemn tribute to genocide victims 30 years after a vicious campaign orchestrated by Hutu extremists tore apart the country ( AFP via Getty Images ) The Rwandan genocide involved the systematic killing of ethnic minority Tutsis by ethnic majority Hutus over three months in 1994. Hutus killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis, mostly men, and sexually assaulted hundreds of thousands of women. Defense attorney Evan Sugar told the court that Nsabumukunzi suffers from arthritis and had no financial means to flee the country when he did, according to the Times. Were talking about a 65-year-old with a broken body, he said. Nsabumukunzi, as an administrator for Kibirizi, oversaw the killing of Tutsis, prosecutors say in court documents. They say Nsabumukunzi set up roadblocks to detect Tutsis and prevent them from leaving their homes. In April, he allegedly directed a group of armed Hutu men to kill a group of Tutsis who were near his administrative office, then directed them to remove their dead bodies. Nsabumukunzi also encouraged Hutu men to to rape Tutsi women. He was somewhat of a local figurehead, assistant U.S. attorney Samantha Alessi told the Times. While in the United States, a Rwandan court convicted Nsabumukunzi in 2008 and sentenced him to life in prison. Prosecutors indicted him again in 2014, and Rwandas Interpol bureau issued a notice for him in 2016. Sugar told The Independent that Nsabumukunzi is a law-abiding beekeeper and gardener who has lived on Long Island for more than two decades. He was a victim of the Rwandan genocide who lost scores of family members and friends to the violence, Sugar said. Mr. Nsabumukunzi was rightfully granted refugee status and lawful permanent residence in this country. We will fight these 30-year-old allegations to the contrary, and Mr. Nsabumukunzi maintains his innocence. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A chameleon enthusiast from Southern California drank an entire bottle of Prosecco during the first half of a cross-country flight, then allegedly slapped a flight attendants rear end before pulling down his pants and underwear and exposing his genitalia twice to another member of the cabin crew. When police later questioned 49-year-old Dennis Wally Woodbury about his behavior aboard the JetBlue plane, which included asking a young girl walking in the aisle if her parents made her out of lust or love, he claimed the two flight attendants had in fact solicited him, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Independent. Woodbury was arrested after the April 13 flight landed in Los Angeles. This is all your fault because you didnt go to the bathroom with me, Woodbury shouted at one of the crewmembers as he was led off the aircraft by police, states the affidavit, which was filed April 14 in Los Angeles federal court. He was later released on a $50,000 appearance bond partially guaranteed by his sister, a South Carolina firefighter, records show. open image in gallery The alleged incident took place aboard a JetBlue flight from Florida to Los Angeles ( Getty Images ) The phone number Woodbury listed in his pretrial release package links him to numerous posts on an online message board for hobbyist chameleon keepers, where the Los Angeles-area resident has been involved in multiple discussions about breeding and caring for the color-changing reptiles. Woodbury did not respond on Sunday to voicemails and texts seeking comment. Email messages sent over the weekend to Woodburys public defender, as well as a JetBlue spokesperson, went unanswered. open image in gallery The Prosecco-fuelled allegations against Dennis Wally Woodbury could land him in prison for up to two years ( AFP via Getty Images ) As JetBlue flight 201 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to LAX waited out an hour-long delay due to mechanical issues, Woodbury, who was seated in the first row of Mint Class, the carriers version of first class, began drinking Prosecco to while away the time, according to the probable cause affidavit. Before the aircraft pushed back from the gate, Woodbury struck up a conversation with a flight attendant identified in the affidavit by the initials R.O., and showed him a picture of a dog, the affidavit says. Behind the dog, the affidavit continues, was a blurred image of what appeared to be two men having sex. R.O. responded by saying, Oh my God, the affidavit goes on. Woodbury laughed and said, I was wondering how long it would take you. Woodbury then told R.O. that he should go on a cruise with him. Woodburys username on the message board for chameleon lovers connects him to a review site for cruise fans. One 2021 post under Woodburys handle lauded the food aboard a Virgin Voyages ship, but decried the shortcomings of the available beverage packages. Once the plane got moving, R.O. conducted the pre-flight safety briefing, the affidavit states. It continues that when R.O. began demonstrating how the planes oxygen masks worked, he saw Woodbury looking at him and [making] a hand pumping motion. Woodbury drained the entire 750ml bottle of Prosecco within three hours, according to the affidavit. The lead flight attendant, who is identified in the affidavit as J.C., observed Woodbury slurring his words and rambling. Woodbury was asleep by the time meal service began, but J.C. woke him up because he believed that [he] needed to eat to help absorb the alcohol he had drank, the affidavit states. Following the meal, while collecting trays, it says J.C. walked past Woodbury, who used his left hand to slap J.C.s buttocks and yelled, I love you. R.O. said he could hear the slap to J.C.s buttocks, according to the affidavit. open image in gallery Dennis Wally Woodbury has been active on message boards for chameleon keepers and breeders ( AFP via Getty Images ) J.C. walked to the rear of the cabin to inform the rest of the crew about Woodburys antics, the affidavit says. At the same time, Woodbury approached R.O. in the planes front galley and pulled down his pants exposing the head of his erect penis, according to the affidavit. It says R.O. told Woodbury, This is not the place to do that. Woodbury walked away but quickly circled back, asking R.O. for a glass of wine, the affidavit states. R.O. said no, but that he would serve Woodbury a non-alcoholic drink. Woodbury then pulled down his pants a second time[,] exposing the head of his erect penis, the affidavit contends. R.O. told Woodbury, Enough. Go back to your seat. This time, Woodbury did as he was told, according to the affidavit. When R.O. told J.C. what had occurred, J.C. told R.O. to work in a different section of the plane for the rest of the flight so he could avoid Woodbury, the affidavit says. Woodbury then went back to sleep for the remainder of the six-hour flight. J.C. then issued Woodbury a JetBlue notice to cease objectionable and illegal behavior, and placed it on Woodburys lap, according to the affidavit. Upon arrival at LAX, officers with the Los Angeles Airport Police escorted Woodbury off the plane as he tried to lay blame on J.C. about his refusal to go to the bathroom with him, the affidavit states. open image in gallery Officers at Los Angeles International Airport arrested Dennis Wally Woodbury upon landing ( Getty Images ) The cops called in the FBI, which has jurisdiction over incidents in the air, and a task force agent read Woodbury his rights. The affidavit says Woodbury interrupted the agent partway through, telling her he understood his rights and that he didnt need to hear them again. The agent asked Woodbury if he wanted to talk to her, according to the affidavit. Woodbury said he did not, but then added that the flight attendant solicited him to go to the bathroom but he told him no, the affidavit says. Woodbury did not define what soliciting meant to him, the affidavit added. Woodbury was arrested and charged with abusive sexual contact within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. Before letting him go, a judge instructed Woodbury to turn in his passport, forbade him from drinking, and ordered him to a residential alcohol treatment program. He is due in court for a preliminary conference on May 6. In the first four months of 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration has so far fielded nearly 500 reports of unruly passengers . Last year, the agency received 2,102 unruly passenger complaints, down from an all-time high of 5,973 in 2021. One of the two bills that would create a school district to match the city of St. George cleared the Louisiana House Wednesday after the autho Hundreds marched in Gosford on Sunday after the alleged murder of Audrey Griffin by a stranger who was spared jail two months before her death. Adrian Noel Torrens was placed on a community corrections order despite a history of domestic violence abuses and breaching apprehended violence orders when he allegedly murdered Griffin as she walked home from a night out with friends in Gosford in March. Hundreds of people marched in Gosford on Sunday against male violence against women. Credit: Dean Sewell Torrens was found dead in his prison cell on Thursday, days after he was charged with murder. Police say his death is not suspicious. The Central Coast rally against violence encouraged attendees to march in fury, demanding change from politicians. At least 24 women have been killed this year, said Australian Femicide Watch. Da Nang in central Vietnam is weighing an ambitious plan to build a Dubai-style "floating city" with five artificial islands, officials announced. Nguyen Van Quang, Secretary of the Da Nang Party Committee, on April 25 said the proposed urban development would extend the city's coastline by 48 kilometers, transforming the area into a world-class financial, commercial and service hub. "The urban design might resemble the famous marine urban development seen in Dubai," Quang said, emphasizing the project's potential to significantly boost Da Nang's economy and position it prominently on the global stage. The initiative, which has gained strong support from General Party Secretary To Lam and the Vietnamese government, aims to make Da Nang the country's first "sea city," with artificial islands serving as its centerpiece. Alongside this landmark project, the National Assembly is expected to discuss a resolution to establish international financial centers in both Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang. According to Quang, Da Nang's favorable location, attractive living environment, strong security, and its potential to attract global investors, including international billionaires, make it particularly suited for such a development. The city is also exploring the establishment of a free trade zone, intended to complement the financial center model. Officials believe this free trade zone could help draw substantial investments, foster sustainable economic growth, generate employment, and attract a highly skilled international workforce. Authorities are currently assessing various investment methods and ensuring the project's feasibility, aiming for it to serve as a catalyst for Da Nang's socio-economic development for decades to come. The state heritage-listed MLC Building in North Sydney would be partly demolished to make way for a 22-storey office tower under revised plans to overhaul the languishing site, setting the stage for another battle with architects and conservationists who say such action would destroy its heritage values. Investa Property Group also intends to tear down the Miller Street buildings signature glass curtain wall and replace it with a like-for-like facade if the plan for the $365 million revamp is approved. The developer is considering three separate planning approvals for the site including a proposal to partly demolish the building for a 22-storey tower. The developer is considering repurposing the building for offices or an educational facility after a decision to reinstate the block on the state heritage list thwarted an earlier plan to knock it down. Investa says the 1950s building is obsolete and needs extensive upgrades. But the revised proposal has alarmed The National Trust, the Australian Institute of Architects and Docomomo Australia, a national organisation promoting the conservation of modern buildings, which criticised the project as tantamount to the construction of a new building. Symptoms may include coughing, fever, red or sore eyes, a runny nose and a red rash that typically begins on the face and spreads downward and across the body. The disease can cause pneumonia, ear infections and diarrhoea, and about one in every 1000 cases causes swelling and inflammation of the brain, which can result in permanent brain damage or even death. Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Tarun Weeramanthri. Credit: Peter de Kruijff Eight Victorians have been hospitalised with measles this year, and most people struck down by the virus have been aged between 25 and 30. Weeramanthri said he was cautiously waiting to see if cases would rise after the school holidays. The incubation period can be up to 18 days, he said. Were not out of the woods for another week or so. The latest outbreak coincides with a decline in the proportion of Australians vaccinated against measles. About 93 per cent of Victorian two-year-olds are vaccinated against measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), which is below the national target of 95 per cent. The most recent measles cases involved individuals who had not received two recorded doses of the MMR vaccine. Weeramanthri said people had a much higher risk of contracting measles, and becoming sicker, if they were unvaccinated. He said some vaccinated Victorians had also become sick but had experienced a milder illness. Measles is a disease that Dr Anita Munoz, Victorian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, never expected to worry about during her career. I was told as a medical student that this was an infectious disease of the past, she said. But like many doctors in Melbourne, Munoz is now on high alert for the diseases tell-tale symptoms. It is a catastrophe of a disease, she said. It is one of the reasons why entire populations in South America were wiped out during colonisation. Munoz said vaccine hesitancy following the pandemic, as well as dangerous messaging from public figures such as anti-vaccine US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, was fuelling a decline in vaccination coverage. Loading Measles cases are on the rise around the world. The disease recently killed two unvaccinated children in the US and made at least 800 people unwell. The World Health Organisation estimates that 107,500 people died from measles in 2023 mostly unvaccinated children under the age of five. Professor Benjamin Cowie, an infectious diseases physician who works at the Doherty Institute and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said measles was a notoriously infectious disease, with one case able to generate 13 other infections within a susceptible population. He is concerned cases will rise after the school holidays as Victorians return home from countries with current outbreaks, including Vietnam and Thailand. Many Australians visit these countries, he said. They might be completely unaware that they are susceptible. Cowie said he was on high alert for the disease and exercising a high level of caution with patients. Loading If someone comes in with a sore throat, fever and rash, I think could it be measles and then put a mask on them and isolate them. Murdoch Childrens Research Institute professor Margie Danchin said babies too young to be vaccinated were at heightened risk. Australians born between 1966 and 1994 are also at greater risk of measles as they may not have had two doses of the measles vaccine, which is currently provided to Australian infants at 12 and 18 months. While Danchin said there was a perception that most unvaccinated children had anti-vaxxer parents, one of the biggest barriers to vaccination was access and cost. Her research found that 20 per cent of parents with partially vaccinated children were unable to afford costs associated with vaccinating their child, such as gap payments for a GP appointment or time off work. She said some families were unable to attend council-run vaccination sessions, if available, because they worked during the week. About a decade ago, Danchin treated a child with measles who wound up in hospital with pneumonia, a complication that arises in one in 20 measles cases. It is the most infectious disease we know, she said. It is a heat-seeking missile that will find people who are unvaccinated and spread. There is a time and place for protest The bogans who interrupted the ANZAC dawn service at the Melbourne War Memorial should be ashamed of their actions during the commemoration of Australians who went to war. Many were injured during these conflicts and many gave the ultimate sacrifice. They went to war to protect our way of life and give our community the rights to many things, including the right to protest. However, there is a time and place to protest and the services was neither the time or place. It needs to be remembered that many Indigenous men went to war. Surely it is not hard to be respectful on that one day of the year that is held dear to the country. Alan and Kaye Leitch, Austins Ferry, Tas Like many, I was saddened to hear that parts of the Dawn Service commemoration were disrupted by a noisy minority who took issue with the Acknowledgment of Country and, apparently, that a verse of the New Zealand National Anthem was sung in Te Reo Maori. I have taken part in many Anzac Day parades in Melbourne and country areas. The sanctity of the Dawn Service and Anzac Day itself is a time for reflection and commemoration, a time to thank our servicemen and servicewomen. Yet, that sanctity has sadly been added to a list of targeted events and locations where attention-seeking males have sought to show off their boorishness in displays of misplaced patriotism. Remembering, of course, that two generations ago, our forefathers and mothers fought against an ideology that this minority worships. Should we be surprised? We live in an increasingly polarised society where social media algorithms stoke conflict, and in real life, extreme ideologies make the most noise. Stunts perpetuated by these so-called neo-Nazis are designed to shock, and the more grievous the stunt, the better for their publicity. It does not matter to them that they are on the wrong side of history, so long as the media broadcasts what they did and how they did it. Events such as the Anzac commemorations where we make an effort to be respectful, inclusive, and reflective, draw them like moths to a flame. I know that our police and security agencies have identified the far-right as problematic, but trying to predict where they will appear next is a bit like whack-a-mole. But we should always be thankful that a much bigger majority of people truly understand and are respectful, and that was also on display at the Shrine of Remembrance. Jeremy de Korte, Newington Can we not all feel that we belong? I was born and have lived in Australia for 76 years. This is my home, my place the place I feel connected to. I will always acknowledge the history and the original people of our land and I give respectful honour and gratitude to them for the way they have cared for and been custodians of this land. The main issue associated with the Welcome to Country ceremonies is that maybe for those of us with non-Indigenous backgrounds, they can make us feel that we will never belong to the land. That we will always be welcomed but never looked upon as connected to this place, this land. That we will always be the outsiders. I have no issue with acknowledging our heritage at public events but I do with ceremonies welcoming me to what I feel is already my home. I would just like us all to be able to feel that we all belong, that we can all call Australia our home, our land. Together. Connected. Marilyn Hewitt, Ivanhoe East Frontier wars were the first conflicts I attended the Dawn Service at the Shrine of Remembrance when the sickening heckling occurred during the Welcome to Country ceremony. What a despicable act from a very few. Not only was it a display of ignorance when Indigenous soldiers both served and died for their country during both world wars, but it is estimated that more than 35,000 died and were massacred defending their homeland against colonisers, police forces, and settlers. Until we recognise that the frontier wars were the first conflicts and the most brutal for the Indigenous peoples across the continent, we can never progress as a country by burying our heads in the sand. Dan Wollmering, Pascoe Vale South The goodwill of welcome Im dismayed at the outrage against Welcome to Country ceremonies at Anzac Day services and other major events. Im dismayed that so-called patriots willfully dont recognise the law of the land (which unequivocally revoked terra nullius) and who deny the history of frontier colonialism. Im dismayed that their orchestrated outrage is pitted against my peoples rather than at the known neo-Nazi proponents who booed and shouted Australia for the white man at dawn services, and who are bastardising the memory of service of our soldiers. Are blakfellas, like me, also dismayed at the ways Welcome to Country have been altered and [in instances] lapsed in meaning? Yes, we are. And the validity of Welcome to Country, as a symbolic formality, at what seems like any and all events (big or small) is something were discussing. But this isnt something for YT Australia to interject on, and certainly not demand to cease. But, as formal proceedings anywhere are layered with gesture and ritual, Welcome to Country should feature at formal governmental, diplomatic or significant occasions. They are goodwill gestures in spite of everything intended to welcome into our own relationality with the lands. Theyre not gatekeeping exercises in granting permission for YT people to exist and live where they have always. The Voice referendum being voted down (and which I myself stood against) was not carte blanche to do away with respect for First Nations peoples. It was an opportunity to redefine the ways state and mob interact and are represented, though the Voice couldnt articulate this with any surety of structure or meaningfulness. The No vote was not a referendum result that dispossesses the rights of First Nations peoples to safe visibility, and not an excuse to do away with the ethos of mateship. Shame on those who would mistake otherwise and still call themselves Aussies. Jack Wilkie-Jans, Cairns, Qld Act of friendship There seems to be a general misconception of country in the welcoming ceremony. I was born in the North Country, which is an area within the Country of England which, in turn, is part of the Country of the UK of Great Britain. In the eyes of our Indigenous people, terra nullius is a conglomerate of tribal areas, each with its boundaries. When we enter into a region, be it Garigal, Gamaragal, Wurundjeri, Bunurong or wherever Country, it is this region into which we are being welcomed. It is certainly not claiming ownership of the Country of Australia. It is a charmingly friendly act that should be accepted as such. Geoffrey Palfreman, Dingley Village Clear view of history Some of your correspondents need to read a bit more about Australian history. The belief that the Anzacs were defending our country and were amazing heroes is sadly just not the case. Gallipoli was a poorly conceived and executed campaign and our soldiers never stood a chance. They were mowed down so needlessly at the direction of the imperial government and were not even defending our land. Let us never forget them but dont re-write history and pretend they fought an army 10 times our size and somehow defeated them against all odds. Tim Sampson, Canterbury Thanks for joining us on the campaign trail today. Heres a recap of the major events: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did a flash tour of NSW electorates, including Robertson, Fowler, Banks and Bennelong, while Peter Dutton visited Paterson and Robertson on the NSW Central Coast. Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher released Labors election costings, revealing it has offset all of its enticements to voters through a new crackdown on the use of external consultants and a rise in student visa fees. Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed an improvement of $1 billion over the forward estimates for the budget bottom line. Deficits will now come in at $150.5 billion. Dutton said Welcome to Country ceremonies should be reserved for significant events of our country, but that they were not appropriate for Anzac Day services, citing conversations he had with veterans following the booing of two services over the long weekend. Dutton described the Greens as an antisemitic, Jew-hating party in Fowler, deflecting from Liberal candidate Vivek Singha who apologised for social media posts from 2023 that described Indigenous Australians as lazybugs. Greens MP Adam Bandt responded, saying the comments were reprehensible, offensive and utterly untrue. Both Labor and the Coalition committed $20 million to establish a new womens and childrens trauma recovery centre in Robertson on the NSW Central Coast, a seat that takes in Gosford and would be central to the election result. The centre would be a frontline service to help women and children get crisis accommodation and support. One of the worlds biggest credit rating agencies, S&P Global, put the major parties on notice that Australia could lose its AAA credit rating if their election promises resulted in larger budget deficits. Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the agencys scrutiny. The images couldnt be more different. In February, Volodymyr Zelensky was surrounded by Team Trump in the Oval Office and savaged in what many commentators described as an ambush. This time, it was just the two men, sans aides, sitting on chairs in St Peters Basilica in what looked to be an impromptu meeting on the sidelines of the Popes funeral. US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky talk before the Popes funeral. Credit: AP Both sides characterised the 15-minute talk as productive, possibly monumental. But what Trump said afterwards commanded the headlines. In a long TruthSocial post on his way home, the US president began by disparaging a reporter at The New York Times, claiming that no matter what he was able to achieve on the Russia-Ukraine war even if its the greatest deal ever made the Grey Lady would find fault. 228 Pakistanis living in MP will have to leave India before April 27 deadline, says official BHOPAL : As many as 228 Pakistani nationals living in Madhya Pradesh will have to leave India before the April 27 deadline set by the Centre, an official said on Saturday. India has announced the revoking of all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27 as tension between the two countries has escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on April 22. As per the data we have with us, there were 228 Pakistani nationals in Madhya Pradesh. Our work is to inform them (the Centre) about such people, a senior state government official said. Such people have to leave in keeping with the Centre's directive, he said, adding that the data about Pakistani nationals who have left is expected to arrive by evening. According to sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has informed chief ministers of all the states to ensure no Pakistani national stays in India beyond the April 27 deadline. Chief ministers were asked to identify Pakistani nationals staying in their respective regions and ensure their deportation, they said. The revocation of visas does not apply to the long-term visas already issued to Hindu Pakistani nationals, which remain valid. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that all existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from April 27 while medical visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be valid only till April 29. The MEA has said all Pakistani nationals currently in India must leave the country before their visas expire. Centre created job opportunities in Govt deptts and other sectors: Chouhan BHOPAL : Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday underlined various initiatives being implemented by the Modi government to create employment opportunities and achieve its goal of making India a developed nation by 2047. Chouhan virtually addressed the 15th edition of Rozgar Mela after PM Modi distributed over 51,000 appointment letters to recruits in different departments of the Central Government. Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, a new Bharat is being built- Bharat that is glorious, proud, prosperous, and powerful. The goal is to make India a developed nation by 2047, and the Central and state governments are working to achieve this goal, the Vidisha MP said. Chouhan said that farmers, the poor, women, and youth are the four pillars of development goals. Youth need education and employment. After acquiring skills, they should get jobs. To enable this, the Prime Minister has created new opportunities by approving 1 million government jobs. Among them, 51,000, including more than 200 present in Bhopal, are receiving their appointment letters, he added. Highlighting campaigns like Make in India, Start-up India, and Stand-up India, the former MP chief minister said the government is simultaneously creating opportunities through self-employment. He said the Rural Development Department has vowed to rid all villages of poverty. This is not impossible, gradually, every family in India will be linked to employment. Chouhan said that the Agriculture Ministry is also working on value addition to generate new job opportunities. You are fortunate to have received employment opportunities in various departments. But you are not here only for yourself, you are here for the country and society, he said and appealed to new employees to work sincerely. Centre plans study to look intomax use of Paks share of water NEW DELHI: THECentreisplanningtoundertake a study to look into ways to maximise the use of the quantumofwaterfromthethreerivers that Pakistan had earlier used under the Indus Water Treaty, nowthattheagreementhasbeen suspended, officials said. The proposal was made at a high-level meeting on Friday chairedbyHomeMinister Amit Shah that discussed the future course of action on the Indus WatersTreatyof1960,whichhas been kept in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. Under the World Bank-brokered treaty, India was granted exclusive rights to the water of the eastern rivers -- the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi -- amounting to an average annual flow of about 33 million acre-feet (MAF). The waterof thewesternrivers -- the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab -- with an average annual flow of around 135 MAF, were largely allocated to Pakistan. With the treaty now put in abeyance, the Government is looking at ways to utilise the water of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. AfterFridayshigh-levelmeeting,JalShaktiMinisterCRPaatil asserted that the Government isworkingonastrategy toensure that not a single drop of water flows into Pakistan. He said Prime Minister NarendraModihasissuedaslew of directives, and the meeting was held to follow up on them. Shah made several suggestions at the meeting for their effective implementation. Wewill ensure thatnot a single drop of water flows into Pakistan from India, the Jal ShaktiMinisterhadsaidafterthe meeting. Sources said the Government is working on a long-term plan to ensure the effective implementation of its decisions. According to an official, theMinistryhasbeenasked toconductastudy tolookatways to utilise the water from the three western rivers. Overcast skies give much needed respite from searing heat Staff Reporter : Sanskardhani experienced changed weather conditions throughout the day, on Saturday, providing much needed relief to denizens from the intense heat. Cloudy skies shielded the city from direct sunlight. The sun occasionally peeked through before disappearing again in the thick black clouds. Despite change in weather, residents continued to struggle with humid conditions. Spokesman of weather department informed that many districts of the state, including Jabalpur may experience some relief from the intense heat over the next three-four days. The department has also forecast light rain and thunderstorms in many areas during the period, although heat wave conditions may persist in some parts. The maximum temperature, in the city was recorded at 37. 8 degrees Celsius, which was 2 degrees below the normal, while the minimum temperature stood at 25.8 degrees Celsius, which was considered normal for the time of the year. Anyways, amid the soaring summer heat, the city witnessed beginning of a rainy spell. Alike Jabalpur, several districts experienced light showers accompanied by strong winds. Meanwhile, the weather department has issued an alert for thunderstorms and light rain across the state, due to a trough and cyclonic circulation. Light to moderate rain was recorded in 19 districts, including Jabalpur and Gwalior. However, heat wave conditions were reported in three districts as well. Rainfall is expected in Jabalpur, Gwalior, Morena, Bhind, Datia, Sheopur, Ashoknagar, Vidisha, Sagar, Narmadapuram, Betul, Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Pandhurna, Seoni, Mandla, Balaghat, Dindori and Anuppur. The weather department predicts that the state may experience some relief from the intense heat over the next four days. Police, admin screening Pakistanis in city; 4 return, others under scrutiny Staff Reporter : In the wake of the terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam on April 22, the Nagpur Police and District Administration have started a thorough screening of Pakistani nationals who are currently staying in the city. Four Pakistani nationals have already returned to Pakistan on their own, while the rest are being screened carefully to ensure compliance with the Government orders. The move comes following strict orders from the Central Government to identify and send back any Pakistani citizens overstaying their visas. As per official sources, around 2,400 Pakistani nationals are currently residing in Nagpur. Most of them have come on short-term or long-term visas, including for medical purposes. Interestingly, only 13 of the Pakistani nationals staying in Nagpur are Muslims, while the rest are either Hindus or belong to other communities. Many of them are from the Sindh province of Pakistan and are seeking Indian citizenship. They have cited family connections since pre-partition. Over 1,500 of them have reportedly started the citizenship application process. Most Pakistanis are staying in areas like Jaripatka, Mominpura, Jaffar Nagar and North Nagpur, with their Indian relatives. Of them, about 1,000 are on long-term visas (LTVs), while others are in the city on yearly or short-term visas. Following the terror attack in Pahalgam, which claimed lives of 28 tourists, including 2 foreign nationals, the Central Government has taken a strict stand. It has ordered all Pakistani citizens staying in India, excluding officials, diplomatic or long-term visas holders, to leave India by April 27. Those on medical visas have been given time until April 29. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also confirmed the directive and warned of legal action against those overstaying in India. The city police have been working round the clock to verify the documents and current visa status of all Pakistani nationals in Nagpur. Officers from local police stations have been directed to keep a close watch on movement of all Pakistanis staying in Nagpur. To ensure law and order, police patrolling has been increased in the areas where the Pakistani nationals are living. The Special Branch of the police is also actively involved in monitoring Pakistanis. An official from the Nagpur Police said, We already have details of Pakistani nationals, including their relatives and guarantors in India. The Ministry of External Affairs has made it clear that only Pakistani nationals with LTVs, diplomatic status, or official visa holders can stay. All others are expected to return immediately. Those who had come to India for casual family visits or celebrations are not exempt. Meanwhile, the City Administration is still waiting for clearer instructions on how to handle the cases of those applying for Indian citizenship. The applicants are from Pakistans Sindh provinces. Now, they are under fear that the recent crackdown might affect their future in India. Three children drown in dam Satna : Three boys drowned in Amua dam while bathing ioccurred when Abhijeet Rawat (8), Abhi Rawat (7), and Prince Rawat (9) went into deep waters in the afternoon. A police official said people present at the spot in Kandela village, around 60 km from the Satna district headquarters, raised an alarm following which locals rushed to the site. By the time, villagers pulled out the children from the water, they had died, said Dharkundi police station in-charge Shailendra Patel. Majhgawan Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sumesh Dwivedi disbursed financial help to the families of the deceased. Woman sexually assaulted Staff Reporter : A 25-year-old woman in Bhopal reported being sexually assaulted by a childhood friend she reconnected with on Instagram after a decade, under the jurisdiction of Parwalia Police Station. The accused, a cab driver, allegedly lured her with promises of marriage and assaulted her on New Years Day. Police are actively working to locate and apprehend the suspect. The victim, employed at a showroom, told authorities she reconnected with the accused last year on Instagram, where he reminded her of their high school days. Their renewed acquaintance quickly turned into a relationship, with the accused assuring her of marriage. On January 1, he took her out under the guise of celebrating the New Year and assaulted her in his cab. The exploitation continued multiple times, but when she pressed for marriage, he began avoiding her. Frustrated, she filed an FIR at Parwalia police station, prompting an ongoing investigation. Separate case of assault under Aishbagh Police Station: In a related incident, a 24-year-old woman was deceived by a man she met on Instagram, who promised marriage and assaulted her in a hotel in November 2024. The accused has been arrested and is in custody, according to Aishbagh police. Session on examination of sexual assault victims at AIIMS A crucial session on the challenges in examining victims of sexual assault was organised at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal. In this session, health workers and concerned officials were trained to handle cases of sexual assault with sensitivity and efficiency, so that comprehensive care and support can be provided to the victims. More than 150 students, teachers, and doctors from various departments participated in this session organised by the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. The session included detailed discussions on topics such as the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the examination of sexual assault victims, the complexities of obtaining consent, the experience of examining female and child victims, the mental trauma of victims, and the important role of psychiatrists. The aim of the session was to provide participants with information about the various aspects of sexual assault cases, including legal procedures, medical examinations, and emotional support. AIIMS Bhopal Director Professor (Dr) Ajay Singh said that victims of sexual assault need not only medical help but also emotional, mental, and legal support. He said that AIIMS Bhopal is committed to creating an empathetic mechanism in which every victim receives respect and justice. He added that training sessions of this kind play a vital role in equipping our doctors and staff with the necessary sensitivity and expertise to understand and effectively address the unique needs of the victims. China slams U.S. tariffs over fentanyl as "bullying" Xinhua) 10:43, April 27, 2025 BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Friday condemned the United States for imposing tariffs on China under the pretext of the fentanyl issue, calling it a typical act of bullying. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the remarks in response to media reports suggesting that the United States may impose further punitive measures to pressure China into taking substantive action on the fentanyl issue. Fentanyl is a problem for the United States, not China, and the responsibility lies with the United States itself, Guo said. He added that the United States has unreasonably imposed additional tariffs on China, disregarding China's goodwill, and in doing so, has seriously undermined dialogue and cooperation between the two sides on drug control. "The United States should understand that smear campaigns and attacks cannot conceal its own failure to fulfill its responsibilities, that repaying goodwill with resentment will not help resolve the issue, and that pressure and threats are by no means the right way to engage with China," the spokesperson said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) This photo taken on April 26, 2025 shows a flying vehicle displayed at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A child visits the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) Visitors experience XR movie at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A child rides on a robot at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) This photo taken on April 26, 2025 shows an aircraft displayed at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) People watch a data-driven robot specialized in chemistry during the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A child tries a cockpit simulator at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A robot plays the piano at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) Visitors try an muti-language AI display screen at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) Children try VR equipment at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A signing ceremony for representative projects of scientific and technological achievement commercialization is held during the opening ceremony of the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) People visit the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) People participate in the opening ceremony of the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) A robot plays the piano at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) Children experience a smart cockpit at the 3rd China (Anhui) Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Transformation Fair in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, April 26, 2025. Starting on Saturday and covering a total exhibition area of 20,000 square meters, the fair has attracted over 2,000 enterprises and nearly 200 universities. Six exhibition zones have been set up to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements from around the world. Ten cooperation matchmaking events, including roadshows and trade activities, will also be held to promote the commercialization of scientific and technological projects. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu) Editor: Zhang Zhou Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Trend reports. Dear Mr. President, On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I sincerely congratulate you and, through you, all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Sierra Leone Independence Day. On this festive occasion, I wish you good health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of your country peace and prosperity, the letter reads. Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, Trend reports. Dear Mr. President, On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to you and, through you, to all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of South Africa Freedom Day. I believe that we will continue to successfully pursue our joint efforts to strengthen interstate relations and expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and South Africa, in line with the interests of our peoples. On this festive occasion, I wish you robust health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of your country everlasting peace and prosperity, the letter reads. A three-member team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) visited on Saturday the Kolkata residences of Samir Guha, one of the three people from West Bengal who were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir on 22 April. The incident claimed the lives of 26 tourists. The third Bengali slain was Manish Ranjan Mishra, a resident of Jhalda in Purulia district. Advertisement The central investigating agency is providing assistance to the Jammu and Kashmir Police in connection with the terror strike in Pahalgam, popularly known as mini Switzerland of India for its scenic beauty. Advertisement Today, the NIA team visited the Behala residence of Samir, who was a central government employee around 12.30 p.m. and spoke to his bereaved family members for over four hours. The investigating officials recorded their statements, including what happened during the attack on 22 April, sources said. The officials could not meet Sohini, the wife of Bitan, another deceased in the terror attack, in the Baishnabghata area, according to sources. Bitan, a 40-year-old IT professional, was working for a multinational company in Florida, America and had come to Kolkata on 8 April and visited Kashmir on 16 April along with his wife and a three-year-old son Hridan. The investigating officials recorded the statements of the family members of Samir and will file reports based on that, the sources added. The NIA team will also visit the residence of Bitan Chatterjee and Manish Ranjan in Jhalda soon. Special teams of the NIA have started reaching out to eyewitnesses, including tourists, who survived the deadly attack by terrorists in south Kashmirs Pahalgam, officials had said on Friday. Armed with the latest gadgets like Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and drones, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Army and paramilitary forces continued their massive combing operations to track down the terrorists in the dense jungles of the Pir Panjal range, overlooking Pahalgam and the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. Initial investigations into the terror attack indicate that the number of terrorists involved could range from five to seven. Terrorists opened fire at Baisaran near Kashmirs Pahalgam town on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 26 people, mostly tourists, in what is the deadliest attack in the valley since the Pulwama strike in 2019. A separate team of the NIA on Friday also visited the home of the Pune resident Santaosh Jagdale, who was among those killed by terrorists at Baisaran. The four-member team of the central agency had arrived at Jagdales home in Karvenagar and made enquiries with his family members, the officials said without providing further details. The mortal remains of Indian Army soldier Jhantu Ali Sheikh, who was martyred during a counter-terror operation in Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir, reached his hometown of Patharghata in Tehatta, Nadia district, early Saturday morning. His body was placed at the local Eidgah ground, where hundreds of grieving villagers, relatives, and well-wishers gathered to pay their final respects to their fallen hero. Jhantu, a member of the elite 6 Para Special Forces unit, was part of a critical counter-terror operation launched after the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, which claimed 26 lives, including 25 tourists. During the Udhampur encounter, Jhantu was struck by terrorist gunfire. Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, he succumbed to his injuries, plunging his family and village into deep sorrow. Advertisement On Friday, a solemn ceremony was held in Jammu where Jhantu was accorded full state honours, including a ceremonial gun salute. His body was later flown to Kolkata late Friday night and then transported by road to Nadia in the early hours of Saturday. The entire village has since been in mourning, preparing to bid a final farewell to the brave soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice. Advertisement Chief minister Mamata Banerjee personally reached out to Jhantus elder brother, Nazim Sheikh, offering condolences and assuring the family of all possible support. The Chief Minister told us to directly contact her if we need anything, Nazim shared. TMC MP Mahua Moitra also spoke with the grieving family. Political leaders from across parties, including the BJP and the ISF, have extended their condolences and visited the Sheikh family. Jhantus dedication to the nation runs deep in the family. His elder brother Nazim Sheikh and sister-in-law Anindita Sheikh are both currently serving in the Indian Army. It was Anindita, who is posted in Kashmir, who had to deliver the heartbreaking news to Jhantus elderly parents back home. Jhantu is survived by his wife, Shahnaj Parvin, and their two young children, Tanvir and Rehana, who were living with him at the Agra Army cantonment. They have since reached Patharghata to join the family in mourning and pay their final respects. Today villagers came together, many with flowers and candles, forming a sea of humanity around the Eidgah ground. Cries of Shaheed Jhantu Sheikh Amar Rahe (Martyr Jhantu Sheikh lives forever) echoed through the air. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, announced compensation for the non-teaching staff in Group C and Group D categories in state-run schools who have lost jobs following an order of the Supreme Court earlier this month. These non-teaching staff in both categories will be paid a monthly stipend of Rs 20,000 from the state exchequer till the time the legal complications in the matter are resolved, the Chief Minister told media persons on Saturday. Advertisement The state government will submit a review petition to the Supreme Court on its order cancelling 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs in state-run schools in West Bengal. Till the legal matter over this review petition continues, the non-teaching staff will be provided with a monthly compensation of Rs 20,000, Banerjee said. Advertisement Earlier this month, the Supreme Court division bench of the Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld the order of the Calcutta High Courts division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi, cancelling West Bengal Staff Selection Commissions (WBSSC) entire panel for 2016 of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs. The apex court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel had to be cancelled because of the failure on the part of the state government and WBSSC to segregate the genuine candidates from the tainted ones, who got jobs paying money. On Saturday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the decision to pay the monthly stipend has been taken keeping in mind the humanitarian aspect and at the same time honouring the order of the apex court. Just as the state government provides compensation for the workers of the closed factory of Dunlop India Limited, similarly monthly stipend will be paid to the Group C and Group D category non-teaching staff who have lost their jobs. The state education department will have no connection with this decision, she said. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday said that the government is committed to writing a new chapter of development in the national capital, adding that a special fund of Rs 1,200 crore is being allocated for the citys rural belt to improve roads and drainage systems. The CM also said that an education hub is being established in North West Delhis Narela to empower Delhis villages. Advertisement The Delhi CM attended a gathering in Outer Delhis Bawana on Sunday along with state unit BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva, Social Welfare Minister Ravindra Indraj, Mundka MLA Gajendra Drall, and Palam 360 chief Chaudhary Surendra Solanki. They also listened to Prime Minister Narendra Modis Mann Ki Baat broadcast at the venue. Advertisement Gupta said that each edition of the PMs Mann Ki Baat programme enhances public awareness, provides insights on various issues, and inspires good deeds. Gupta further mentioned that the Delhi government is set to connect 110 villages in rural Delhi to the IGL pipeline and address basic amenities across hundreds of the citys villages. Speaking on the occasion, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva remarked that PM Modis Mann Ki Baat programme clearly conveyed that those attempting to disrupt peace in Kashmir will not be spared, adding that the PM has assured a strong response for terrorists responsible for destabilising J&K. The Delhi BJP chief further said that PM Modi has consistently fulfilled his promises, expressing confidence that he will ensure justice for innocent people who lost their lives in Pahalgam, as mentioned in the recent Mann Ki Baat programme. The BJP leader also said that the government led by the party is one that accepts challenges as opportunities to work, and that at both the national and Delhi levels, the party is committed to moving forward by embracing every challenge. In the aftermath of the tragic terror attack in Pahalgam, actor Atul Kulkarni has made an emotional appeal to the people of India to not turn away from Kashmir, but to stand with it. Atul Kulkarni, known for his roles in films and series like Bandish Bandits, recently traveled to Kashmir and documented his journey on Instagram. Sharing pictures from his flight from Mumbai to Srinagar, he noted how empty the plane was a stark reminder of how fear has kept visitors away. Advertisement The crew says they were running full. We need to fill them up again. Chaliye ji, Kashmir chalein, he wrote, encouraging others to not let terror win. Advertisement He also posted a poignant photo from Pahalgam, usually a lively hub for tourists, now eerily deserted. Aana zaroori hai, he emphasized, showing the empty streets and serene landscapes that once bustled with travelers. Kulkarnis posts werent just about the scenery they were filled with heart. He shared glimpses of Kashmirs undying beauty: clear blue skies, gurgling streams, and locals carrying placards that read, We condemn this attack. Others proudly waved the Indian flag, a powerful sight of resilience. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Atul Kulkarni (@atulkulkarni_official) Adding a poetic touch, Atul shared a Hindi poem dedicated to the spirit of Kashmir, alongside hashtags like #ChaloKashmir, #Kashmiriyat, and #DefeatTerror, all aimed at reminding people of the regions enduring strength and warmth. The call to action comes after a devastating attack on April 22 at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, where terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists. The assault claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, and left several others injured. It has been described as one of the deadliest attacks in Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama tragedy, where 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives. Hold onto your hats, movie lovers Homebound just scored a major Hollywood heavyweight, as legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese has officially come aboard as the executive producer of the much-anticipated film starring Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor. And just in time, too the film is all set to make its grand debut at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the prestigious Un Certain Regard section. Advertisement Advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Neeraj Ghaywan (@neeraj.ghaywan) The exciting news was shared by Karan Johar himself, who couldnt hide his excitement. Taking to Instagram, he wrote, Homebound is an extraordinary confluence of talent, vision, and storytelling at its finest. Having @martinscorsese_, a true legend of cinema, lend his wisdom and support to Neerajs remarkable vision elevates our film to a rare artistic height. With an incredibly gifted cast and the prestigious stage of Cannes, we eagerly look forward to sharing Homebounds powerful story with audiences around the world! Thats not all Scorsese himself had some beautiful words to say about the project. In a statement shared by Johar, the Oscar-winning director revealed that he was a fan of Neeraj Ghaywans work ever since he watched Masaan back in 2015. When Melita Toscan du Plantier sent me the project of his second film, I was curious. I loved the story, the culture, and was willing to help, Scorsese said. He added, Neeraj has made a beautifully crafted film thats a significant contribution to Indian cinema. I am glad the movie is an official selection at Un Certain Regard in Cannes this year. Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, Homebound marks a special return to Cannes for the talented filmmaker. His first film, Masaan, which also launched Vicky Kaushals career, had a dream run at the festival and bagged major awards nearly a decade ago. The film boasts a powerhouse team behind the scenes. It is produced by Karan Johar, Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra, with Marijke de Souza and Melita Toscan Du Plantier coming on board as co-producers. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27.Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, met with the President of Nepal, Ramchandra Paudel, during her visit to Kathmandu, Trend reports. During the meeting, Leyla Aliyeva conveyed the greetings of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the President of Nepal and reiterated the importance of the friendly relations between the two countries. Recalling his visit to Baku during COP29, President Ramchandra Paudel emphasized the historical significance of his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev and noted that the discussions held would provide an impetus for the further development of ties between the two countries. Leyla Aliyeva stated that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation plans to implement a number of projects in Nepal. She also mentioned that during the trip, a rehabilitation center for children with special needs and the Kathmandu City Hospital were visited. She noted that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation's support projects in Nepal would also focus on the social and health sectors. The importance of addressing various areas of existing relations, including humanitarian issues, climate change, and sustainable development, was highlighted during the meeting. President Ramchandra Paudel hailed the relations between Azerbaijan and Nepal, as well as the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and expressed his gratitude for the support provided. As tensions between India and Pakistan soared in the aftermath of a targeted terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian Navy on Sunday announced that it had successfully undertaken multiple anti-ship firings in the Arabian Sea, demonstrating its long-range precision offensive strike capabilities. In a post on X, the Navy shared a video and the images of the test firing, stating it stands combat ready anytime, anywhere and anyhow. Advertisement Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate the readiness of platforms, systems, and crew for long-range precision offensive strike. Indian Navy stands combat-ready, credible, and future-ready in safeguarding the nations maritime interests Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow, the Navy stated. Advertisement #IndianNavy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike.#IndianNavy stands #CombatReady #Credible and #FutureReady in safeguarding the nations maritime pic.twitter.com/NWwSITBzKK SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) April 27, 2025 The Navys demonstration of its maritime strength comes days after 26 people 24 tourists from across the country, a Nepal national and a local Kashmiri tourist guide were killed in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam in one of the biggest terrorist attacks targeting civilians in decades. The attack took place on April 22 when Pakistan-backed terrorists opened fire on tourists at the picturesque Baisaran meadow, about six kilometers from Pahalgam town in Anantnag district. According to eyewitnesses, the terrorists asked the tourists their religion before shooting them. A local Kashmiri Muslim was killed while trying to save a tourist. A Nepali national was also among the deceased. Following the brutal attack, the Indian government announced several punitive measures against Pakistan, with the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty being the highlight. India also closed the Attari border and downgraded diplomatic ties with the hostile neighbour for its involvement in terror activities across the border. In its attempt to woo the Dalit community ahead of the assembly elections in Bihar, the state BJP organised a Dalit Mahapanchayat in Patna on Sunday. The Bihar BJP leaders blamed the Congress Party for the present condition of the Dalit community and alleged that the grand old party always opposed reservation for the downtrodden class, which was the only way to uplift a major section of the society. Advertisement They also said that the Congress party always insulted Dr BR Ambedkar and termed the concern being shown by the current Congress leaders as a sham. Advertisement BJP State President Dr Dilip Jaiswal said that the Congress party ruled this country for 65 years, but never cared for the poor. It did not try to take the poor forward. He said, The Congress party always misled the country. It is recorded in the pages of history that Baba Saheb, who played a leading role in the making of the Constitution, was never respected by the Congress. If anyone can give respect to the poor, backward, and Dalits, it is the NDA government. Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary said that the NDA government is determined to uplift the Dalit society by following the ideals of Dr B R Ambedkar. He also said that the Congress Party always opposed reservations for Dalits, the poor, and the backward classes. He highlighted various schemes of the central and state governments for the welfare of Dalits and said that people are getting direct benefits from these schemes. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said that the Constitution given by Baba Saheb gave equality, freedom, and brotherhood. He said that Baba Saheb used to say that there is a difference between the words and actions of Congress leaders. Chief of General Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, met the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the latters residence on Sunday to update him about the decisions taken up by the armed forces following the Pakistan sponsored terror attack in Pahalgam. The meeting came a day after the Pakistan Army Chief again raked up the issue of Hindus and Muslims being two separate nations amidst the heightened tensions between the two countries. Advertisement Days before the Pahalgam terror attack carried out by the Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, leaving 26 tourists dead, Munir had given a provocative statement while addressing a Convention for Overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad. Speaking about Kashmir, the General said, Our stance is very clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, and we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle. Advertisement Former generals of the Indian Army had categorically stated that the Pahalgam attack targeting the Hindus is certainly in response to the provocative statement. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, deadliest since Pulwana strike, a massive search operation has been launched in Kashmir, by the security forces. On Friday, Army Chief Upender Dwivedi visited Srinagar where he reviewed the security situation following the deadly massacre of 26 tourists in Pahalgam. The terror attack was carried out by the Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Earlier, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had assured of a loud and clear response. Singh while calling the attack a cowardly act extended condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones. I want to repeat Indias resolve against terrorism. We have a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism. I want to assure the countrymen that the government will take every necessary step. We will not only reach the perpetrators of this act but also the actors behind the scenes. The accused will soon see a loud and clear response, I want to assure the country, he had said. The defence minister had also held a key meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi and Navy chief Dinesh Tripathi. As reported earlier, the TRF came into existence in October 2019, months after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and abrogation of Article 370. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs TRF is a front of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and has been banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in 2023. Custom officials have intercepted an Indian passenger carrying two kilograms of gold bars worth approximately Rs 1.91 crore with him at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, the Customs Department said on Sunday. The passenger, a 40-year-old resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, was intercepted by the customs team based on his profiling. According to an official statement, action is being taken as per Customs law against the man who arrived in Delhi from Dubai on Friday. Advertisement He was stopped by the authorities at the exit of the green channel, the statement read. Advertisement Upon X-ray screening of his baggage, suspicious images were observed by the officials, while a check on the DFMD (Door Frame Metal Detector) revealed no beep sound from the passenger. Later, upon detailed scrutiny of the baggage, the Customs officials recovered 2 kilograms of gold bars. Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Devender Yadav on Sunday suggested that the BJP government should improve Mohalla Clinics, which he alleged had been turned into a money-making venture by the previous AAP government. He said that the Delhi government should first improve the condition of these health centers which are not in a good shape at the moment instead of rushing to name these clinics as Ayushman Arogya Mandir. Advertisement Yadave said if the BJP government is keen to rename the Mohalla Clinics, they should rename them as Dr Ambedkar Prathmik Swasth Kendra (Dr Ambedkar Primary Health Centre), as Baba saheb had devoted his entire life for the uplift of Dalits, the downtrodden and the marginalized, and for serving the poor. Advertisement He alleged that the then AAP government had used Mohalla Clinics as a cover to siphon off funds by conducting fake tests on ghost patients to make them a money-spinning venture, and not to provide any sort of free treatment to the poor and the needy in their neighbourhood. He said Kejriwals model of health care was such a fake narrative that during his 11-year tenure, government hospitals became inhospitable places for patients and his boast of setting up 1,000 Mohalla Clinics in the first five years turned out to be a hollow promise as only 533 could be established in 11 years of which, most were non-functional due to lack of medicines, doctors, nurses and other support staff. According to the Congress leaders claims, over the years, most of the abandoned Mohalla Clinic became refuge for vagabonds, drug addicts, and stray cattle. Yadav said the purpose of such clinics should be to provide free treatment to the poor near their homes and not to score political points on such issues. He said during the Delhi Nyay Yatra before the Assembly elections, he had flagged serious issues in the functioning of Mohalla Clinics as they lay in a state of ruin without doctors and nurses. Yadav accused Kejriwal of shutting down the well-run dispensaries established by the then Congress government to give free treatment to the poor, in a bid to make way for Mohalla Clinics. After the Pahalgam terror attack, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Sunday held a high level security review meeting at Udhampur. Officers of the district administration, police and security agencies were present in the meeting. The prevailing security situation and the strategy against terrorists was discussed threadbare. Advertisement Senior Security and administration officers gave a briefing and discussed the reinforced anti-terror and search operations in the Udhampur and Kathua belts that have witnessed a couple of terror incidents recently. Advertisement Dr Jitendra Singh also discussed the overall security situation in Jammu & Kashmir. The meeting reaffirmed commitment to PM Narendra Modis policy of zero tolerance against terrorism. The Union Minister directed the officials to exercise vigilance and deal with any possible threat. No laxity should be shown in the security of the general public. He said that the Central Government is fully committed to maintaining peace in Jammu and Kashmir, and no conspiracy will be allowed to succeed. He also appealed to the common citizens to cooperate with the security agencies against terrorism. Besides the security review, the Minister also held a meeting with public representatives and civil society members in the wake of the current security concerns in the region. Two minutes of silence was observed as a mark of respect to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inspected the under-construction Ganga Expressway and directed UPEIDA and the construction agencies to complete the project within the stipulated timeline, while maintaining the highest quality standards. Expressing satisfaction with the progress of construction work in Groups 1 and 2, the Chief Minister instructed officials to accelerate further the pace of work in Groups 3 and 4. Advertisement During his visit, the Chief Minister travelled by car on the expressway, reviewing the construction quality first-hand. He also took a keen interest in the German technology being introduced in the project and received a detailed briefing on its applications. Adding a personal touch to the inspection, he interacted with the workers on site and posed for photos with them. Advertisement The Chief Minister reviewed the construction progress across three districts. He first inspected the 347+000 chainage in Bilgram tehsil of Hardoi under Group-3, followed by a visit to the 242+650 chainage in Jalalabad, Shahjahanpur under Group-2 (Badaun-Hardoi section). Finally, he visited the 62+200 chainage in Garh Mukteshwar tehsil of Hapur, part of the Meerut-Badaun Group-1 section. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister arrived at the Mallawan and Madhoganj development blocks in Hardoi district to inspect the expressway. After landing at a helipad near Hasanpur Gopal, he walked a short distance on the expressway before travelling about 5 kilometres by car to assess its quality personally. He was also briefed on advanced technology provided by Zurich University to enhance road quality and driving comfort, a development he warmly welcomed. He reiterated to UPEIDA officials the importance of completing the project on schedule without compromising quality. Later, the Chief Minister visited Jalalabad in Shahjahanpur to inspect the construction work of the Ganga Expressway. He reviewed the progress through an aerial survey, including a 3.5 km-long airstrip being developed as part of the project. An airshow is scheduled to be held on this airstrip on May 2 and 3. Notably, night landing has not yet been conducted on any expressway airstrip; however, for the first time, a night landing is planned on the Ganga Expressway in the presence of the Chief Minister. Following this, the Chief Minister proceeded to Hapur to assess the ongoing construction work. There, he inspected the newly constructed bridge over the Ganga River, walked across it, and interacted with the labourers, posing for a photo session with them. He inquired about their well-being and commended their efforts, as well as those of the IRB staff, for completing the bridge within 18 months. During the visit, the Project Director briefed him in detail on the overall progress of the Ganga Expressway. The Chief Minister praised the quality of the work and directed that the construction be completed within the stipulated timeline. At all three locations, he also interacted with public representatives, updated them on the projects status, and instructed them to monitor the progress regularly. Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, UPEIDA officials, and district public representatives accompanied the Chief Minister during the inspection. UPEIDA ACEO Hari Pratap Shahi informed that the Ganga Expressway is being constructed in four sections. The Adani Group is developing three sections (Groups 2, 3, and 4), while IRB Infrastructure Developers are executing one section under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Apart from Group-4, which is located between Rae Bareli and Prayagraj, the Chief Minister reviewed the progress of the other three sections during his visit. The Ganga Expressway spans approximately 594 kilometres, connecting Meerut in the west to Prayagraj in the east, thus linking the two ends of Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project in Shahjahanpur on December 18, 2021. The expressway will commence from Bijauli village on the Meerut-Bulandshahr road (NH-334) and culminate at Judapur Dandu village near the Prayagraj Bypass (NH-19). This ambitious project is expected to significantly boost industrial and economic growth across the state by connecting small towns and rural areas to the mainstream economy. It will open new avenues for agriculture, trade, tourism, and investment. The Ganga Expressway is also a crucial part of the Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana and is poised to make a meaningful contribution to Indias vision of becoming a $5 trillion economy. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is closely monitoring the project to ensure high standards of quality and timely completion. Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has decided not to attend the dinner hosted by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Cliff House on Sunday. The Chief Minister and his wife had invited the Governor to the dinner by reaching the Raj Bhavan. However, the Raj Bhavan informed the Chief Minister last week that the Governor would not be attending the dinner. Advertisement Apart from Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, the Chief Minister had invited Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and West Bengal Governor C V Anandabose, both Keralites, to the banquet. They too declined the invitation. Advertisement It is learnt that the Governors declined the invitation based on the assessment that participating in the dinner hosted by Chief Minister Vijayan at this point of time would send the wrong message. The governors feel that, given the controversy surrounding the Chief Ministers daughter, Veena Vijayan, in the monthly payoff case, accepting such an invitation would send the wrong messages. It is reported that the governors assessed that attending the dinner party at a time when the monthly payment case involving the Chief Ministers daughter Veena has reached a critical stage would lead to new interpretations. It was Kerala Governor Arlekar who first informed the Chief Minister that he would have difficulty attending the dinner. Earlier, the breakfast meeting hosted by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi has triggered a row with the opposition parties, including the BJP, trying to link it with the ongoing probe against Vijayans daughter by Serious Fraud Investigation Office(SFIO), an agency under the ministry of Corporate Affairs which is headed by Sitharaman. While RSP MP N K Premachandran raised suspicions over the intention of the meeting hosted by Vijayan, Congress senior leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the mystery over the meeting was deepening as Vijayan was not disclosing the details. Premachandran said that it was quite natural to have doubts over the intention of the unusual breakfast meeting hosted by Vijayan for the Union Finance Minister, as a probe by SIFO against Vijayans daughter was learnt to be in the final stage. BJP leader and former state Vigilance director Jacob Thomas stated that it was unfair on the part of the Chief Minister to host a breakfast meeting for the Union Finance Minister at a time when an agency under the latter was carrying out a probe against Vijayans daughter in connection with the payments to the tune of Rs 1.72 crore she received from Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Limited(CMRL). Authorities at King George Medical University (KGMU), with the assistance of a large contingent of police, demolished an illegal madrasa, several shops, and slums within the university compound on Sunday. KGMU officials had begun action against encroachments on Saturday. Clashes erupted that day when local residents opposed the drive, resulting in injuries to some doctors. Advertisement The situation was brought under control after authorities clarified that the mazar (shrine) would not be demolished. Advertisement On Sunday, the administration proceeded to demolish the illegal madrasa, which had been operating unlawfully for the past two years. So far, 12 shops and 40 slums have been demolished, and the entire area is being cleared and leveled, according to officials. Demolition of other illegal structures adjacent to the mazar is also underway. Around 60 policemen, along with 80 security personnel from the university, have been deployed at the site to maintain order. Amidst heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the killings of 26 tourists by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, the Indian Navy carried out multiple anti-ship missile firings in the Arabian Sea. The firings were part of the exercise aimed at demonstrating the combat readiness and capability to safeguard maritime interests. In a post on X, the Indian Navy stated that the firings were conducted to revalidate and showcase the operational readiness of platforms, systems, and crew for long-range precision offensive strikes. Advertisement Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long-range precision offensive strike. Indian Navy stands Combat Ready, Credible and Future Ready in safeguarding the nations maritime interests Anytime Anywhere Anyhow, the post read. Advertisement As reported previously, on April 24, two days after the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian Navys warship INS Surat carried out a successful test firing of the medium-range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) air defence missile system in the Arabian Sea. Indian Navys latest indigenous guided missile destroyer INS Surat successfully carried out a precision cooperative engagement of a sea skimming target, marking another milestone in strengthening our defence capabilities, the Indian Navy wrote on X. Part of the P15B Guided Missile Destroyer Project, INS Surat, stands amongst the worlds largest and most sophisticated destroyers. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkians upcoming visit to Azerbaijan is aimed at further strengthening ties between the two countries, Iranian expert Farshid Bagherian told Trend. Bagherian noted that the inauguration of Irans new government and the election of a president of Azerbaijani descent has already helped improve relations with neighboring countries, sparking some momentum across the broader Turkic world. He added that Pezeshkians visit is expected to elevate Iran-Azerbaijan relations to a new level. Bagherian also pointed out the significance of Azerbaijan being chosen as the second country Pezeshkian visits officially, after Iraq. Notably, Pezeshkian has not yet traveled to Oman, where indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States are underway. "It is clear that talks between Iran and the U.S. are ongoing, but mutual distrust still runs deep. Against this backdrop, Iran is eager to strengthen ties with its neighbors," Bagherian said. "In my view, Irans relationship with Azerbaijan is already moving in a positive direction," he added. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan on April 28. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said the country needs to move from food security to farmers prosperity as the nation is exceeding in farm produce. You have to script a new chapter as it is the opportune time to move our agricultural agenda forward. Food security was once a national priority, but no more. The times have changed, and we have to ensure that our farmers turn prosperous. For this, institutions like Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) need to be engaged at the ground level, he said while addressing students and faculty of TNAU in Coimbatore. Advertisement Urging that the gap between lab and land be bridged through a seamless connection, the Vice President said, Lab and land should be together, and for this, our 730 Krishi Kendras must be vibrant centres of action, engaging with farmers and educating them. You must persuade the farmer to rise above being a mere producer. Innovation and research have to be evaluated based on the impact they have on the farming community. Advertisement Research, he said, must be need-based and applied to serve a cause. Apart from the Union government, research must be supported by trade, commerce, and business. Agri entrepreneurship should be given the much-needed fillip. It is not enough that the country of 1.4 billion has just 6,000 start-ups. The United States helps its farmers massively with the motto of enhancing their well-being, he added. There is a massive fertiliser subsidy, and institutions like TNAU must ensure that the subsidy reaches farmers so that they get Rs 35,000 annually. What we need is not just farmers, but farmer-traders and farmer-entrepreneurs. Batting for greater corporate engagement in agronomy, he said, I would urge them to connect with the farmer and give back to the farming sector. The economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), amid the ongoing India-Pakistan tensions, said that the Indian goods worth over USD 10 billion are reaching Pakistan every year indirectly through ports such as Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo, bypassing trade restrictions. GTRI said that Indian firms send goods to these ports, where an independent company offloads the consignment and keeps the products in bonded warehouses, where goods can be stored without paying duties while in transit. Advertisement Speaking further, GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said, In the bonded warehouse, the labels and documents are modified to show a different country of origin. For example, Indian-made goods may be relabelled as Made in UAE. After this change, they are shipped to countries like Pakistan, where direct trade with India is not allowed. Advertisement This method, he said, helps firms to bypass India-Pakistan trade restrictions; sell goods at higher prices, using the third country route; and avoid scrutiny, since the trade appears to come from other countries. In a separate development, reports have said that the Pakistani health authorities have initiated emergency preparedness measures to secure pharmaceutical supplies in response to the suspension of trade ties with India. Pakistan relies on India for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of its pharmaceutical raw materials, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and various advanced therapeutic products. The report by Geo News has said that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has confirmed that while there has been no formal notification regarding the bans impact on the pharmaceutical sector, contingency plans are already in place. Following the 2019 crisis, we had started preparing for such contingencies. We are now actively looking at alternative avenues to meet our pharmaceutical needs, the report quoted a senior DRAP official as saying. After the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, the two-way trade between India and Pakistan was already minuscule following steps taken by both sides. In April-January 2024-25, Indias exports to Pakistan stood at USD 447.65 million, while imports were meagre USD 0.42 million. Exports and imports in 2023-24 were USD 1.18 billion and USD 2.88 million, respectively. In a development raising serious security concerns, Vikhroli Police in Mumbai detained 13 Bangladeshi hawkers for possessing fake Aadhaar cards all listing addresses from Sahibganj district in Jharkhand. The operation has once again spotlighted how Jharkhands border districts are emerging as a major gateway for illegal Bangladeshi migrants entering India using forged documents. The detainees identified as Jiyaul Shekh (1980), Aiyub Shekh (1976), Manorul Shekh (1995), Saim Shekh (2003), Naim Shekh (2003), Samoun Shekh (2003), Rafikul Shekh (1988), Jahangir Shekh (2007), Nasima Bibi (1983), Mainuddin Shekh (2000), Bariul Shekh (2003), Halim Shekh (2006), and Kasud Shekh (2004) were found with Aadhaar cards showing fabricated details. Many of the documents shared common patterns, such as January 1 as the date of birth, raising immediate red flags. Advertisement According to police, Sahibganjs location along the India-Bangladesh border, combined with porous security and weak document verification systems, has made it a fertile ground for racketeers producing fake Indian identification papers. Advertisement BJP leader and former Mumbai MP Kirit Somaiya flagged the issue publicly, posting on his X handle about the growing use of Jharkhand-based fake documents by illegal migrants. He demanded a high-level inquiry and stricter actions against the network that is playing with Indias internal security. The Sahibganj-Jharkhand connection needs urgent attention. Jharkhand is becoming a base camp for illegal infiltration, Somaiya wrote, tagging senior government officials and agencies. This case is part of a worrying pattern, following similar incidents in Ahmedabad and Delhi, where Bangladeshi nationals were arrested with forged Indian documents. Police sources confirmed that an extended probe has been launched to identify the originators of these fake Aadhaar cards, their facilitators in Jharkhand and Mumbai, and the possible existence of wider human trafficking or illegal settlement networks. Local leaders and security experts have reiterated the need for robust inter-state coordination, particularly involving Jharkhands vulnerable border districts, to curb the growing infiltration threat. The investigation is ongoing, with more arrests likely as authorities trace the wider network behind this infiltration racket. A major fire broke out at the Directorate of Education headquarters here on Sunday morning, reducing several important files related to the teachers recruitment scam and other matters to ashes. The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a high-level probe, while an FIR has been registered and police are also investigating the incident. Advertisement Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav questioned the circumstances of the fire, stating, Was the fire an accident caused by technical reasons, or is there another reason? There should be a high-level investigation. Advertisement According to sources, around 5,000 files of aided schools kept in two rooms were completely destroyed. Firefighters reportedly received electric shocks during efforts to douse the flames due to a live inverter at the site. It took more than four hours to extinguish the fire. The blaze reportedly started around 8 a.m. on the ground floor, in rooms number 14 and 15. Sources revealed that the rooms housed critical files related to the registration of nine divisions of the state, teacher recruitment, fake recruitment investigations, transfers, and financial transactions. Officials said the exact cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Additional Education Director Surendra Tiwari stated that a high-level committee has been formed to investigate all aspects of the incident and that police have been informed to carry out a parallel investigation. Former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has linked the recent Pahalgam terror attack to the unresolved issues stemming from the Partition of India and the 1971 Indo-Pak war. He questioned whether the massacre on April 22 was a consequence of unresolved questions of Partition. Till today, we are living with the consequences of Partition. Are the unresolved questions of Partition reflected in the terrible tragedy that occurred in Pahalgam on April 22? the veteran Congress leader said while speaking at a book release event at the India International Centre here. Advertisement Connecting the differences in value systems and assessments of the nature of Indias nationhood and its civilisational inheritance between leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, and others during the Partition, Aiyar said, I think many people almost prevented the Partition. Advertisement But the Partition happened because there were differences in value systems and assessments of Indias nationhood and its civilisational inheritance between leaders like Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Jinnah, and many other Muslims who did not agree with Mr Jinnah. He added, The fact is that Partition happened, and till today we are living with its consequences. Is this how we should be living? Are the unresolved questions of Partition not reflected in the terrible tragedy enacted near Pahalgam on April 22? Speaking about present-day India, Aiyar said, Do we accept Jinnahs view and say they are a separate nation living among us as saboteurs or potential saboteurs, or do we look at them and say they are part and parcel of us? He continued, But in todays India, does a Muslim feel accepted? Does a Muslim feel cherished? Does a Muslim feel celebrated? Why should I answer my own questions? Ask any Muslim and you will get the answers. Promising the harshest response to the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured the families of the victims that they would get justice, and justice would be done. Speaking in his monthly Mann ki Baat radio show, Modi said that he was deeply agonised and understood the anger seething within every citizen owing to the attack. Stating that the Pahalgam terror attack is the frustration of those who patronise terrorism, Modi said that it shows their cowardice. Advertisement This attack in Pahalgam shows the desperation of the patrons of terrorism; displays their cowardice At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, there was a vibrancy in schools and colleges, construction work had gained unprecedented pace, democracy was getting stronger, the number of tourists was increasing at a record rate, peoples income was increasing, new opportunities were being created for the youth, he said. Advertisement The enemies of the country, the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir, did not like that. The terrorists and the masterminds of terror want Kashmir to be destroyed again, and hence they executed such a big conspiracy. Today, the world is watching, after this terrorist attack, the whole country is speaking in one voice, he added. The Prime Minister also paid tributes to scientist Dr K Kasturirangan, who passed away recently. Modi said that the former ISRO chiefs contribution in lending newer heights to science, education, and Indias Space Program shall always be remembered. ISRO attained a new identity under his leadership. The Space Programs that moved forward under his guidance gave global recognition to Indias efforts. Many of the satellites that India uses today were launched under the supervision of Dr Kasturirangan, said the PM. He also mentioned Kasturirangans role in the formulation of the new National Education Policy. Talking about the privatisation in the space sector, the PM said that many youths are attaining new milestones in the field of Space Startups. Ten years ago, there was only one company, but today, more than 325 Space Startups are working in the country. The times to come are ushering in a lot of new possibilities in Space. India is going to scale new heights. The country is busy preparing for many important missions like Gaganyaan, SpaDeX, and Chandrayaan-4. We are also working on the Venus Orbiter Mission and Mars Lander Mission, he said. Highlighting the relief measures under Operation Brahma in Myanmar, the Prime Minister mentioned the rescue of an elderly woman by the Indian team, who was buried under the debris for over 18 hours. The team from India provided every treatment facility, from stabilising her oxygen level to treatment of fractures. When this elderly woman was discharged from the hospital, she expressed her gratitude to our team. She expressed that she had gotten a new life because of the Indian rescue team. Many people told our team that because of them, they were able to locate their friends and relatives, he said. The Prime Minister also spoke about the innovative effort being undertaken by the NRIs in Ethiopia, Africa, regarding the medical treatment of children suffering from heart diseases. Stating that the steps taken by those Indians sending the patients to India for treatment are being praised in Ethiopia, too. Many such children are also being helped financially by Indian families. If the family of a child is unable to come to India on account of a lack of money, our Indian brothers and sisters are making arrangements for that too. The effort is to ensure that every needy child of Ethiopia suffering from a serious ailment receives better treatment, Modi said. The PM also spoke about the Sachet APP. Developed by Indias National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the app sends alerts in the wake of natural disasters, thus helping in the rescue missions. The Science Centre at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh was also mentioned in the show. Calling the centre the new ray of hope for the children, Modi said that until some time ago, Dantewada was known only for violence and unrest, but now, the Science Centre there has become a new ray of hope for children and their parents. Modi also talked about Bagalkot-based Shail Teli, who has grown apples in the plains. In his Kulali village, apple trees have started bearing fruit even in temperatures above 35 degrees. Today, a lot of apples grow on the trees planted by him, and he is earning a good income by selling them, he said. Modi also spoke about the growing of saffron in Wayanad using the Aeroponics Technique. In good news for the state government officers and employees, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav on Sunday announced a five per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA), raising it from the present 50 per cent to 55 per cent. The CM announced this on Sunday during the state-level convention of the Madhya Pradesh Gazetted Officers Union at the Narmadiya Bhavan in Bhopal. Advertisement The decision will benefit more than seven lakh state government employees. Advertisement The CM said all state government employees would now receive DA at par with Central government employees, with the DA rate rising to 55 per cent. The CM announced that as part of the five per cent increase, a three per cent DA hike would be implemented from 1 July 2024, followed by another two per cent from 1 January 2025. The arrears will be disbursed in five equal instalments between June and October 2025, ensuring that state government employees can celebrate Diwali with added enthusiasm, the Chief Minister remarked. In his Mann Ki Baat address on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to participate in the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign, encouraging everyone to plant a tree in honour of their mothers on the occasion of World Environment Day, June 5, marking the beginning of the campaigns first year. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath praised the initiative in a post on the social media platform X, highlighting the campaigns significance. He emphasised that New India is emerging as a global leader in environmental conservation. Advertisement In his message, the Chief Minister wrote, The Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign offers every Indian an opportunity to deepen their bond with nature. I urge everyone to plant a tree and dedicate it to their mothers on June 5. Its a noble and meaningful act. Advertisement Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi, CM Adityanath remarked that trees provide oxygen just as a mother gives life. He lauded this unique campaign as a testament to the Prime Ministers visionary and compassionate leadership. Under Chief Minister Adityanaths leadership, Uttar Pradesh has planted 204.92 crore saplings over the past eight years, including 36.81 crore saplings this year alone. Continuing this momentum, the Forest Department has also commenced preparations to participate actively in the Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam campaign. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the Pahalgam terror attack case, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including a Nepali national. The investigation was being done by the J&K Police so far, and the NIA has taken over the case on the orders of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, according to a press release. Advertisement The NIA teams have been camping at the terror attack site since Wednesday (April 23), a day after the attack. Advertisement The probe agency has intensified the search for evidence. The teams, overseen by an Inspector General (IG), a Deputy Inspector General (DIG and an SP from the anti-terror agency, are examining the eyewitnesses who had seen the horrifying attack unfold before their eyes at the peaceful and picturesque Baisaran valley. The eyewitnesses are being questioned in minute detail to piece together the sequence of events that led to one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir, said the media release. The entry and exit points are being closely scrutinised by the investigating NIA teams for clues to the modus operandi of the terrorists. The teams, aided by forensic and other experts, are checking the entire area thoroughly for evidence to expose the terror conspiracy that led to the horrendous attack that has shocked the nation. On April 22, a group of terrorists opened fire on sightseers in the Baisaran meadows, a popular travel destination in the mountainous region of Pahalgam. At least 25 Indian citizens and one Nepali national were killed in the massacre. Eyewitnesses have described the scenes of horror as the terrorists approached them, asked for their religion and opened fire on them from close range. Of the 26 killed, 25 were Hindu men who were singled out for their religion. Since a massive operation has been launched in the valley to trace the killers. Several suspects have been detained, and the houses of ten declared terrorists have been demolished. Emphasizing the need for a decisive fight against terrorism and its origin in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Sunday that there should do be no alienation of the Kashmiris as they have come out against the killing of innocent people. Omars statement in a post on X came following reports of several people having been detained after the Pahalgam attack and harassment of Kashmiri students and traders at various places in the country. Advertisement Expressing concern over such incidents, Omar wrote; After the Pahalgam terror attack, there must be a decisive fight against terrorism and its origin. People of Kashmir have come out openly against terrorism and the murder of innocent people, they did this freely & spontaneously. Advertisement Its time to build on this support and avoid any misplaced action that alienates people. Punish the guilty, show them no mercy but dont let innocent people become collateral damage, Omar added. Several other Kashmiri leaders, including the PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Peoples Conference leader Sajad Lone have alleged that Kashmiris were being given a collective punishment. Mehbooba wrote on X; The Government of India must tread with caution and carefully distinguish between terrorists and civilians following the recent Pahalgam attack. It must not alienate innocent people, especially those opposing terror. There are reports of thousands being arrested and scores of houses of common Kashmiris being demolished along with those of militants. She appealed to the government to direct the authorities to take care that innocent people are not made to feel the brunt as alienation aids terrorists goals of division and fear. The Pahalgam tragedy united all Kashmiris in condemning this heinous act & standing in solidarity with the nation. Unfortunately, instead of fostering unity, TV debates are spreading venom and communalizing the issue. Kashmirs chief cleric and Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also appealed not to punish innocent Kashmiri families. He wrote on X; While Kashmiris collectively condemn the heinous crime at Pahalgam, and it is imperative to bring its perpetrators to justice, indiscriminate arrests and videos circulating on social media of demolition of houses and neighbourhoods, is disturbing and distressing. I urge the authorities, in seeking justice for the innocent victims, not to punish innocent Kashmiri families. Ruling National Conference MP, Ruhullah Mehdi, also took to social media and wrote on X; Kashmir and Kashmiris are being given a collective punishment. Peoples Conference chief and MLA, Sajad Lone also wrote on X asking the authorities not to fritter away the precious gains of mass protests against the Pahalgam killings. Such protests by Kashmiris were first of its kind in the last 78 years. It showed a shift in mindset from a society in which some significant sections may have accorded social sanctity to the concept of violence- to a society which matched in thousands across villages and towns condemning violence thereby signifying the social stigmatisation of violence. I hope those in charge of law and order do understand the significance of the shift and dont do anything erroneously which impedes the shift or facilitates a return to the earlier mindset, Lone added. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. The visit of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Azerbaijan, a key country in the South Caucasus, is of great significance, Iran's ex-Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakayin told Trend. He pointed out that choosing Azerbaijan as the first stop on the presidents South Caucasus tour underscores the importance Tehran attaches to its relationship with Baku. Pakayin stated that the visit is expected to further develop cooperation in areas such as the economy, culture, transport, and other sectors. "With the liberation of Karabakh and the restoration of peace in the South Caucasus, the Iranian presidents visit creates favorable conditions for strengthening regional cooperation. Iran supports peace, security, and the territorial integrity of the countries in the region," Pakayin emphasized. He also noted that Azerbaijan and Iran share strong historical, cultural, and other ties, which open up significant opportunities for building a solid partnership between the two countries. "Recent mutual visits and active exchanges between officials have once again shown that Iran and Azerbaijan are well-positioned to cooperate successfully in fields like energy, transport, freight, tourism, trade, agriculture, banking, and more," he added. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Azerbaijan on April 28. Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has alleged that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar failed to fulfil his promises and contain corruption in government departments. He announced that his party would launch a signature campaign from Kumars ancestral place Kalyan Bigha on 11 May to highlight the issues that have affected people across the state. Advertisement Kishor announced on Sunday that he would go from door to door in Kalyan Bigha to see whether people have got the benefits of the policies announced by Nitish Kumar to uplift marginalised communities in the state based on the findings of the Caste Census. Advertisement He said that for the past three-four years, the government has been discussing caste census, the report of which came on 2 October 2023, was tabled in the Assembly on 7 November 2023. On 24 November 2023, Nitish Kumar announced that on the basis of caste census, 94 lakh economically disadvantaged families will get financial assistance from the government at the rate of Rs 2 lakh per family. He said, When I travel around, people tell me that a lot of work has been done in Nalanda (which is the home district of the chief minister). So, I have decided to go to his ancestral place Kalyan Bigha and see whether the marginalised families in this village have received Rs 2 lakh yet and the landless Dalit families have got 3 decimal land yet. I will meet the farmers of Kalyan Bigha to know whether they also had to pay bribes for land surveys. The situation in Kalyan Bigha will serve as an indicator of the situation in the rest of Bihar. If the government has failed to pay them the financial assistance and plot of land as promised, Nitish Kumar should accept that he had also made a Jumla (slogan) similar to PM Modis promise of giving Rs 15 lakh to every Indian, he added. Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Ramji Lal Suman faced major protests from the Karni Sena here on Sunday while he was on his way to Bulandshahr. Protesters waved black flags and threw tyres at the convoy. They were demanding an apology from the MP for his remarks about Raja Rana Sanga, in which he stated in the Rajya Sabha that Rana Sanga was a traitor for inviting Babur to fight against Ibrahim Lodhi. Advertisement Due to the protest, five vehicles in the MPs convoy collided with each other as they sped up to cross the protesters, resulting in injuries to a few individuals travelling in the vehicles. Advertisement Ramji Lal Suman stated that, following instructions from SP National President Akhilesh Yadav, the delegation was heading to Bulandshahr to gather first-hand information about atrocities against Dalits in Sungera village that occurred on April 21. According to reports, four Dalits were crushed by a vehicle, and the police have since arrested four accused and seized the vehicle involved. All India Karni Sena President Gyanendra Singh Chauhan said that upon receiving information about Sumans convoy passing through Aligarh, they organized the protest. Members of the Karni Sena and the Kshatriya community raised slogans against the MP, threw tyres, and waved black flags at Khereshwar intersection under Lodha police station around 2 p.m. The convoy vehicles collided again during this disruption. Later, when Ramji Lal Sumans convoy reached Gabhana toll plaza, police and administrative officers from Bulandshahr and Aligarh districts intercepted them and prevented them from proceeding further. A verbal altercation ensued between SP supporters and the officials. Ramji Lal Suman and SP workers expressed anger towards the police and administrative officials. SP workers also alleged that stones were thrown at the convoy. Ultimately, the police sent Ramji Lal Suman back to Aligarh, although a few SP workers were allowed to proceed to Bulandshahr. Senior BJP leader and former Rajasthan legislator Gyan Dev Ahuja has been expelled from the party in the aftermath of a row over his act of re-consecration of a Ram Temple in Alwar after the entry of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully earlier this month. The decision to terminate the primary membership (of the party) of the three-time MLA was taken by the ruling BJPs state president Madan Rathore on the recommendation of the partys discipline committee, a party spokesman said here on Sunday. Advertisement Earlier, Ahuja visited the partys state headquarters here in the afternoon and reiterated his stance that he would not tender an apology as he did not commit any misconduct. Advertisement About a fortnight ago, the party veteran formally made it clear that he would not apologise. I am not anti-Dalit, I have committed no wrong, sprinkling the Ganga Jal in the temple was an act of political protest not targeted against any faith, religion of the creed. The three-time winner from the Ramgarh (Alwar) seat had said in reply to a show-cause notice served on him by the ruling BJP. My act of reconsecration by sprinkling Gangaajal was against temple visits by leaders of the Congress, who disowned Lord Ram and boycotted the (Ayodhya) Ram Mandir ceremonies. The move was not anti-Dalit as I was opposing LoP Jully as a Congress leader, not as a Dalit. Everybody in Alwar knows I have always stood by Dalits to safeguard their interests. Therefore, no question of tendering apology, I neither have (ever) apologised (as I committed no wrong) nor shall I do now, Ahuja asserted. The saffron party had suspended Ahuja following a political row over his Ganga Jal sprinkling act and served a show cause notice. LoP Jully, who belongs to a Dalit caste, had visited the Ram Temple to pay obeisance to the deity during a Ram Navmi function on Sunday. This didnt go well with ex-legislator Ahuja. He expressed his displeasure with the organisers of the function saying, They had invited those (people) who did not accept the existence of Lord Ram Who had boycotted Ram Mandir. This, he said, has deconsecrated the temple, therefore, I shall give a Ganga-Jal wash to the temple for its re-consecration. The act (of re-consecration) evoked a sharp reaction from the principal Opposition party and its leadership in the state as well as at the national level. The issue echoed even at the sessions of the extended Congress working committee at Ahmedabad earlier this month. The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a major campaign against illegal encroachments and unrecognized religious institutions in districts bordering Nepal. Between April 25 and 27, numerous encroachments on valuable border land were cleared as part of this initiative to reclaim state-owned territory, officials disclosed on Sunday. Advertisement In Bahraichs Nanpara tehsil, a total of 227 illegal encroachments on government land within 010 km of the India-Nepal border were identified. Advertisement Following the removal of 63 encroachments earlier, an additional 26 were cleared between April 2527, bringing the total to 89. No religious or educational structures were found at these sites. Further action was taken against 17 unrecognized madrasas in Shravasti district seven in Jamunha tehsil and ten in Bhinga tehsil which were shut down due to missing documentation. Additionally, under Section 67 of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code, action is ongoing in 119 cases of illegal encroachments, both temporary and permanent, within the 015 km area adjacent to the India-Nepal border. In Siddharthnagar districts Naugarh tehsil, illegal encroachments were confirmed at five locations within 10 km of the border, including the construction of a mosque and a madrasa. Investigations and legal proceedings are underway under the guidance of senior officials. Illegal constructions have also been identified at six sites in Shohratgarh tehsil. In Maharajganj district, illegal encroachments have been detected in the Farenda, Nautanwa, and Nichlaul tehsils. While one case is pending in court, eviction and demolition actions are progressing in the remaining cases under Section 67(1) of the Revenue Code. In Balrampur district, seven illegal encroachments on government land were identified five in Balrampur tehsil and two in Tulsipur tehsil. Two illegal occupants vacated the land voluntarily, while eviction proceedings are ongoing against the others. The Yogi government has made it clear that illegal occupations and unrecognized religious or educational institutions within 10 km of the Nepal border will not be tolerated. Officials have been instructed to remove identified encroachments swiftly and maintain continuous monitoring of the border areas. Amid nationwide outrage over the Pahalgam terrorist attack and criticism of his government over a major security lapse, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday noted that every citizen of the country is seething with anger after seeing the images of the April 22 attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio show, the Prime Minister vowed that the perpetrators would be served with the harshest punishment. He assured the families of the victims that they would get justice. Advertisement Here are the top quotes from Modis Mann Ki Baat program on Pahalgam attack: Advertisement 1. There is a deep agony in my heart. Every citizen of the country is pained by the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam. I have deep sympathies in my heart for the families of the victims.No matter what state they belong to, what language they speak, they are feeling the pain that the families who lost their loved ones in the attack are going through. I feel every citizen is seething with anger seeing the images of the terror attack. 2. The attack in Pahalgam reflects the frustration and cowardice of the sponsors of terrorism. 3. At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, when there was a new vibrancy in schools and colleges, when developmental works had gained unprecedented momentum, when democracy was strengthening, when the number of tourists was reaching record highs, when peoples incomes were rising, and when new opportunities were being created for the youth the enemies of the nation and the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir could not tolerate it. 4. The terrorists and their masters want Kashmir to be devastated once again, and that is why they have executed such a major conspiracy. 5. In this war against terror, the unity of 149 crore Indians is our greatest strength. This very unity is the foundation of our decisive battle against terrorism. 6. To face this challenge before the nation, we must strengthen our resolve. We must demonstrate strong willpower as a united nation. Today, the world is witnessing how, after this terrorist attack, the entire country is speaking in one voice. 7. The anger that we Indians feel today is being echoed across the world. Since the terrorist attack, condolences have been pouring in from all over the globe. Global leaders have called me, written letters, and sent messages. Everyone has strongly condemned this heinous terrorist attack. They have also expressed their condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. 8. The entire world stands with the 140 crore Indians in our fight against terrorism. I once again assure the families of the victims that they will get justice justice will certainly be delivered. Those guilty of this attack and those who conspired to carry it out will be given the harshest punishment. The Assam Police has detained a woman from Golaghat district, bringing the total number of arrests in the state to 16, amid a widening crackdown on individuals allegedly making controversial and anti-national statements following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The woman, identified as Dadhichi Dimple alias Dimple Baruah, was picked up by the Crime Branch from Guwahati and later handed over to the Golaghat police, which formally arrested her. Advertisement The terror attack in Pahalgams Baisaran meadow on April 22 left at least 26 people, mostly tourists, dead, triggering widespread outrage across India. In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered strict action against any social media posts seen as sympathetic towards Pakistan or perceived to be undermining national sentiment. Advertisement In addition to Dimple Baruah, two more individuals Tahib Ali (arrested by Tamulpur police) and Bimal Mahato (arrested by Udalguri police) have been detained for similar alleged offenses. Chief Minister Sarma, in a series of statements, has strongly defended the arrests, including that of AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam, who was recently taken into custody over alleged pro-Pakistan remarks. Several people have been arrested so far. That is why he (Aminul Islam) is in prison. I will do this again. I will take any action against such people, Sarma told reporters, reiterating his governments firm stance. The Chief Minister emphasised, Assam will not tolerate any individual who, directly or indirectly, supports or defends Pakistan in connection with the heinous attack in Pahalgam. The re-election of Donald Trump as the President of the United States has once again thrown global geopolitics into flux. Known for his unorthodox approach to foreign policy and international trade, Trumps return signals a potential reshaping of alliances and economic strategies across the world. At the heart of this unfolding drama is his aggressive tariff policy, which could have significant implications not just for the U.S.-China relationship, but also for India-China ties. President Trump has consistently pushed for a recalibration of the U.S. economy, with a central focus on reviving domestic manufacturing. His core support base particularly in the so called Rust Belt states ~ feels the pinch of de-industrialization, and Trump believes that high tariffs on imports can incentivize companies to bring manufacturing back to American soil. In this vein, he has anno unced sweeping tariffs across the board, sparing few countries. While a temporary 90-day delay has been granted to most, China has been hit hard with a 224 per cent tariff. Trumps reasoning is simple but consequential: reduce Americas dependency on foreign goods and generate employment by rebuilding the domestic industrial base. Advertisement However, the ripple effects of this decision are being felt across the world. With the U.S. and China once again locked in a tariff war, there is growing speculation about whether this renewed tension might inadvertently open doors for greater economic engagement between India and China. India and China share a complex relationship shaped by historical mistrust, border disputes, and strategic competition. The Galwan Valley clash in 2020 was a stark reminder of how volatile their bilateral ties can be. Yet, despite such tensions, trade between the two nations has not only persisted but thrived. China remains Indias largest trading partner, though the balance is heavily skewed in Chinas favour. This economic relationship, however, is evolving. Advertisement Over the past decade, India has embarked on a journey to transform itself from a service-dominated economy to one with a stronger manufacturing base. Initiatives like Make in India are emblematic of this shift. India has made notable strides in mobile phone manufacturing, but it still lags behind in other critical sectors such as semiconductors, heavy machinery, and advanced electronics. Ironically, to achieve success in these sectors, India needs Chinese machinery and skilled labour ~ areas where China maintains a competitive edge. But Beijing is reluctant to let go of its manufacturing supremacy. Known as the factory of the world, Chi na is reportedly exercising export controls that restrict the flow of advanced machinery and technical manpower to India. This tactic serves to preserve its own dominance in global manufacturing while slowing Indias industrial ascent. Despite these challenges, recent developments suggest a potential softening in IndiaChina ties, at least on the economic front. The two countries are beginning to see merit in cooperation, particularly in navigating the turbulent waters of global trade disrupted by Tru mps protectionist policies. During a recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan, both leaders emphasized the need to view each others development as an opportunity rather than a threat. This diplomatic overture was followed by encouraging signals from the new Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong. He has expressed Chinas desire for deeper economic collaboration, including increased imports of Indian goods and services into the Chinese market. At the same time, Ambassador Xu has called for a fair and transparent business environment for Chinese firms operating in India, specifically citing issues like visa delays and regulatory hurdles. While these statements are promising, Chinas unpredictability on the geopolitical stage tempers any premature optimism. Beijing has a history of mixing economic engagement with strategic assertiveness, especially in its dealings with neighbours. Nevertheless, the very fact that economic cooperation is being discussed at high levels indicates that both sides are willing to keep communication channels open. Trumps tariff war is, at its core, a high-stakes gamble. On one hand, he claims he can strike a great deal with China, leveraging the massive tariffs as bargaining chips. On the other, if negotiations fail and the standoff persists, it may lead to a restructuring of global supply chains. In such a scenario, countries like India stand to benefit by attracting manufacturing investments diverted away from China. Yet, for India to truly seize this opportunity, it must overcome several internal hurdles. Infrastructure bottlenecks, inconsistent regulatory frameworks, and a need for skilled labour continue to hamper large-scale manufacturing. Additionally, geopolitical caution will likely prevent India from appearing too aligned with either the U.S. or China. A balanced app roach is essential. At present, India finds itself in a unique position. As an emerging power with strategic ties to both the U.S. and China, New Delhi must navigate these relationships carefully. Engaging positively with Washington allows India to deepen its defence and technological collaboration, while limited cooperation with China on trade and regional issues can prevent unnecessary escalation and foster mutual economic benefits. The global economic environment is rife with uncertainty. The U.S.-China trade war, escalating tariff regimes, shifting alliances, and internal political changes across major powers have created a volatile landscape. Against this backdrop, India must chart a pragmatic course ~ one that maximizes economic opportunity while safeguarding national security interests. The Trump tariffs may not immediately reset India-China ties, but they do create an opening for greater dialogue and economic engagement. Whether this will lead to a lasting thaw or merely a tactical pause remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that India must remain agile, diplomatic, and forward looking in its approach. As the dust settles over the current phase of global disruption, Indias best bet lies in maintaining a strategic equilibrium ~ strengthening partnerships with the U.S., exploring new avenues with China, and accelerating its own domestic economic transformation. The world is watching, and in this era of flux, India has the potential to emerge as a decisive player on the global economic stage. (The writer is Associate Fellow, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies & Analyses, New Delhi) Billionaire Elon Musks decision to scale back his involvement with Americas Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) marks a pivotal moment in the ever-blurring line between corporate ambition and political power. While his stated withdrawal may seem timely given his car companys staggering 71 per cent plunge in profits and mounting global backlash, it raises deeper concerns about the nature of his role in government, the accountability of such arrangements, and the impact on public trust in democratic institutions. The DOGE initiative was framed as a mission to streamline federal spending and enhance bureaucratic efficiency. Mr Musk, positioned as a special government employee, wielded significant influence while officially limited to 130 days of service per year. But the op a city around how this time is measured ~ and whether its even being tracked ~ reflects a troubling disregard for established ethical standards. This is not just about Mr Musk. It is about the precedent such arrangements set: when a billionaire with vast government contracts is placed in a decision-making position within the very system that regulates and funds his ventures, the conflicts of interest are too substantial to ignore. What makes this situation complex is Mr Musks dual identity ~ as a business visionary and as a political figure with a clear partisan presence. Advertisement His appearance in the Oval Office wearing overt political slogans, while still under government duty, undermines the federal norms that are supposed to separate public service from personal or political interests. These are not mere formalities; they exist to safeguard democratic governance from the overreach of concentrated private power. The timing of his partial retreat from DOGE aligns suspiciously with the financial strain his businesses are facing. With investor confidence shaken and his car companys market position faltering, Mr Musks renewed focus on his businesses seems less like a principled move and more like damage control. Advertisement The backlash ~ ranging from boycotts to vandalism ~ has shown that the public is increasingly unwilling to tol erate billionaires who blur the lines between governance and profit. In theory, public-private collaboration can offer innovation and efficiency. But such partnerships demand transparency, accountability, and clear boundaries ~ none of which have been adequately demonstrated here. The fact that Mr Musk may continue to influence the programme until its scheduled conclusion in July 2026 only deepens the unease. Ultimately, Mr Musks retreat from DOGE should not be viewed as the end of a chapter but as a call for rigorous re-examination of how power is distributed and checked in modern governance. When corporate leaders as sume quasi-governmental roles without sufficient oversight, democratic norms are eroded. The public deserves better than shadowy alliances and ambiguous ethics. This moment underscores a larger pattern where billionaires increasingly shape public policy without democratic mandate, often operating behind closed doors while the public bears the consequences. America needs clarity, integrity, and a government that works for the people ~ not one entangled with the fortunes of its wealthiest citizens. The recent massacre in Pahalgam has once again laid bare the brutal persistence of jihadist violence in Kashmir. It is not the first time civilians have been targeted in cold blood, and it may not be the last. What makes this attack alarming is its strategic timing, symbolism and use of communal markers ~ it signals not just a resurgence of terror, but a calculated erosion of Indias red lines. Since the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot air raid, India had projected a deterrent posture: any major act of terror would invite swift and punishing retaliation. For a time, it seemed to work. Violence dipped, infiltration slowed, and the abrogation of Article 370 added a new layer of administrative control. But Pakistans terror proxies have learned to pause, not retreat. With their jihadist infrastructure intact, they return to the battlefield when it suits their handlers in Rawalpindi. Advertisement Prime Minister Narendra Modi now faces five difficult choices ~ none of them risk-free, and all with limited prospects of permanent success. Precision airstrikes, though symbolically potent, risk retaliation and escalation. Ground incursions across the Line of Control, as in 2016, lack lasting impact. Covert killings of terror leaders serve justice, but rarely alter the deeper mechanics of recruitment and ideology. A larger military campaign may bring Pakistans army temporary disgrace, but the long shadow of nuclear escalation looms. And yet, doing nothing ~ apart from diplomatic gestures ~ would embolden the perpetrators and undermine the very red lines India once declared. Yet military options, however tempting, must not become substitutes for strategic thinking. Advertisement Knee-jerk retaliation may satisfy public sentiment but rarely alters the ground reality. Indias response must be driven by long-term national interest, not the optics of momentary toughness. To assume Pakistan seeks victory in Kashmir is a misreading of its strategic calculus. Islamabad knows it cannot win. The objective of its army is not to conquer territory, but to bleed India ~ slowly, painfully, and perpetually. Its military-jihadi complex is less concerned with political solutions and more with inflicting symbolic, psychological wounds. For them, martyrdom is victory, and chaos is currency. So what, then, is the path forward? India must think beyond episodic punishment. This is a war of narratives and attrition. The response must be holistic: sharpening intelligence operations, diplomatically isolating Pakistan further, cutting off financial flows to jihadist groups, and, crucially, continuing to integrate Kashmirs civilian population into the national mainstream with dignity and opportunity. Revenge may feel urgent, but strategy must remain paramount. Restoring red lines will take more than bombs or bullets ~ it will require patient, layered statecraft backed by firm resolve. In Kashmir, restraint is not weakness, and aggression is not always strength. India must choose a course that preserves lives, upholds justice, and dismantles the machinery of terror that has haunted the Valley for decades. Kashmir is no longer a territorial dispute. It is a test of Indias democratic endurance. On an August afternoon six years ago, I called my good friend Kumar Tiku, author and United Nations project developer who happened to be a displaced Kashmiri Pandit. Hello, he picked up the phone on the very first ring. I know why you are calling, he chuckled. But dont expect me to gloat, he said grimly. Friend, fine but on that day I was calling him just as a journalist. And he knew it. Advertisement The year was 2019. The Government of India had just revoked Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to Kashmir. Advertisement The resolution, after receiving the endorsement of then President Ram Nath Kovind and presented in the Rajya Sabha was brought to the Lok Sabha, for discussion. Heated debates had ensued in both the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament with sections of the Opposition questioning it as arbitrary. However, the decision to repeal the law which granted the states of Jammu and Kashmir autonomy except in issues of defence and foreign affairs, had eventually been passed and even received support from a few unlikely political rivals. In a tweet, then Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, said, We support the Government on its decisions on Jammu and Kashmir. The region since then had been counted as two Union Territories and come under the jurisdiction of the Central Government. If one expected uproarious celebration from all displaced Kashmiri Pandits, who had been driven out unceremoniously from their homelands by extremism, one needed to talk to someone like Kumar Tiku. He was measured in his reaction and thereby proving, demonstrating a maturity of mind which we, the best of us, often sacrifice at the alter of rage and feelings of revenge which rear its ugly head each time we hear of attacks on us our identities of gender, race, religion. Yes, our blood boils when he hear of a rape or a racist attack anywhere in the world. By what I can only call a sheer universal empathy, we feel the violence vicariously. But our integral power of reasoning prevents us from indiscriminate hate. Not all who belong to the same gender or race of the perpetrators of crime are perpetrators of crime. Right? Indeed possibly by the sheer power of identifying as humans, people universally feel devasted by violations on fellow humans anywhere in the world. If not vicariously, at least empathetically. If not empathetically, at least sympathetically. At least I hope they do. Like an electromagnetic field as it were running through the entire world possibly connecting us all together as humans. The chinks in this connection are the aberrations. It is the exception, not the rule. The Pahalgam terrorist attack drove bullets through the hearts and souls of every Hindu, not just through the bodies of those who took them and bled to death. But like every other irrational, inexplicable attack on innocent, common people anywhere in the world, it also no doubt drove a knife through the hearts and souls of all humanity irrespective of the religions they identified with.whether Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Jains or Sikhs, even if the perpetrator of the present crime, belonged, in name, to the religion with which they identify. I am a staunch Muslim and I pray, do namaaz and keep roza, the fast during the month of Ramzan, religiously. But believe me, today, my heart is bleeding for those men, who were butchered by the men who killed them in the name of my sacred religion. The words of a Muslim man in Kolkata. They are neither men nor Muslims, he said, his voice breaking with rage. They are devils in the guise of men and haters in the guise of Muslims. If common people dont feel this but fall prey to the trap of vengeful violence in the name of avenging attacks on their identities, it could potentially destroy society. Even the endless footages of local Kashmiris, mostly Muslims outraged by the Pahalgam incident, coming out in protest, dont do justice to the mutual feelings of kinship that people of different religions have shared in the entire history of religion itself. If written history is replete with horrifying accounts of religious persecutions, the unwritten history is replete with heartwarming and heartrending examples of human connections that transcend the boundaries of religion, race, gender. The writer is Editor, Features BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. The upcoming visit of President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baku is highly significant, symbolizing a new chapter in Azerbaijan-Iran relations, said Emin Aliyev, Editor-in-Chief of Trend News Agency, in an interview with Tabnak News Agency, one of Iran's leading media outlets. Tabnak News Agency is widely recognized for its comprehensive coverage of both domestic and international news, with a strong emphasis on political affairs, security matters, and developments in Iran's foreign policy. It offers in-depth reporting on a broad range of topics, including economics, culture, science, and international relations, and is especially noted for its insightful analysis of Iranian politics and its detailed coverage of events in the Middle East. "This visit underscores both countries' recognition that dialogue, economic collaboration, and regional connectivity are essential for long-term peace and prosperity in the South Caucasus. It is also an important message to the international community that Azerbaijan and Iran prioritize neighborly relations and are committed to resolving differences through diplomacy and cooperation," he said. Aliyev pointed out that Azerbaijan and Iran have a pivotal role in shaping the future of regional transportation and energy corridors, as both countries are geographically strategic - serving as a natural bridge between Asia and Europe. "Enhanced cooperation can ensure the development of reliable, diversified, and secure routes, including the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), energy transit lines, and new trade linkages through liberated Azerbaijani territories. Such cooperation strengthens regional interconnectivity, promotes economic resilience, and reduces dependency on any single route or market, benefiting not only Azerbaijan and Iran but also their neighbors and wider regions like Central Asia and Europe," the editor-in-chief elaborated. Azerbaijan and Iran have strong opportunities for cooperation in several sectors, Aliyev added. In transport and logistics, they can develop new trade routes and improve connectivity between Asia and Europe. The energy sector offers potential for collaboration in electricity exchange, renewable energy, and oil and gas projects, enhancing regional security. Agriculture, tourism, and cultural exchanges also provide promising prospects for deeper ties. "By expanding their partnership in these areas, Azerbaijan and Iran will not only stimulate economic growth and create new jobs but also strengthen regional stability, build mutual trust, and foster deeper integration between their societies. The positive impact of such collaboration will be felt far beyond bilateral relations, supporting the vision of a peaceful, interconnected, and prosperous South Caucasus," Emin Aliyev concluded. In the heart of the Himalayas lies a land of extraordinary beautyand extraordinary fragility. Kashmir, long known for its snow-capped mountains, pristine lakes, and centuries-old cultural heritage, is today walking a tightrope between economic revival and political volatility. At the centre of this delicate balance is tourism, a sector that is not just vitalit is existential. Recent events, including the cowardly terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, have once again cast a long shadow over the regions aspirations for peace and integration. These attacks arent randomthey are calculated acts aimed at instilling fear, discouraging visitors, and ultimately crippling the economic arteries of Kashmir. Advertisement And they may be succeedingnot through terror alone, but through the ripple effect it causes across India. Advertisement In the aftermath of the attack, calls for a boycott of Kashmir by Indian tourists and traders have begun to gather steam. Social media outrage, well-meaning as it may be, is translating into cancellations, trade disruptions, and a growing reluctance among Indian citizens to engage with Kashmirs economy. But here lies the paradox: Boycotting Kashmir is precisely what the enemies of peace want. The economic pulse of Kashmir Tourism accounts for nearly 78 per cent of Jammu & Kashmirs GDP. In the Valley, that number feels even larger. An estimated two lakh people directly depend on tourismand many more benefit indirectly, from artisans and transporters to farmers and shopkeepers. In a region where private sector industry is limited, and government employment is saturated, tourism remains the most accessible, equitable form of income generation. A good tourist season means school fees are paid, homes are repaired, and small businesses are thriving. A bad season? It means debt, frustration, and fertile ground for radicalisation. The real cost of a boycott When the rest of India pulls backwhen traders cancel orders for Kashmiri goods, or when tourists choose other destinationsits not militants who suffer. Its the common Kashmiri: the houseboat owner in Dal Lake, the shawl-maker in Baramulla, the apple farmer in Shopian. People who, ironically, want nothing more than normalcy and peace. A boycott doesnt isolate terrorismit isolates Kashmiris from Indias economic and cultural mainstream. It delivers to separatist ideologues the very division they seek. The road ahead: Engage, dont abandon Security, of course, must be the first priority. The Union and UT governments must act decisivelyupgrading intelligence networks, fortifying vulnerable zones, and reassuring citizens that safety is paramount. But alongside security must come continued engagement. More Indians must visit Kashmir, not fewer. More businesses must invest, not withdraw. More conversations must take place, not go silent. Lets be clear, Kashmirs economic integration is Indias most powerful weapon against extremism. Every tourist that steps off a plane in Srinagar is a vote for peace. Every trade fair, every cultural exchange, every B2B meetingit all chips away at the narrative of isolation. To abandon Kashmir economically is to hand victory to violence. Kashmir needs solidaritynot sympathy. Investmentnot isolation. And above all, India must remember that the path to a peaceful, fully integrated Kashmir runs through its bazaars, its hotels, and its shikarasnot through hashtags of outrage. The terrorists want to burn the bridge. Lets not be the ones to walk away from it. Pakistan has activated its war preparations as railway stations across the country have been handed over to the countrys Army with soldier desks set up at all stations. Pakistans Federal Minister of Railways, Hanif Abbasi revealed today that control of all railway stations in the country has been handed over to the Pakistan armed forces, completing arrangements for transport of military equipment, if needed. The Railway Minister Hanif Abbasi said that soldier desks at all railway stations have been established, adding that all logistics of Pakistan Railways is now at the disposal of the Pakistan armed forces. Advertisement Our logistics are now at the disposal of the Pakistan armed forces. Now, they can use Pakistan Railways to transport tanks, heavy weapons and any other artillery that they may want to move, through the railways, he said. Advertisement All of our officers in Pakistan Railways, all stations and every facility is now ready to work with our armed forces whenever and however needed, he added. Expressing his views on the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India after the Pahalgam attack; Abbasi warned of dire consequences if Pakistans water is blocked or any other misadventure is attempted. Our ballistic missiles are pointed towards India and are ready. Therefore, I caution India to not even think about crossing Pakistans territorial borders, he threatened. The latest action adds on to Islamabads measures to secure its borders on ground, water and air against any aggressive response from India after the Pahalgam attack. Pakistans security forces have been put on high alert after the Pahalgam attack incident and retaliatory measures taken by both sides. India claims that the Pahalgam attack is a result of Pakistan supported cross-border terrorism, an allegation Islamabad rejects. Pakistan has taken special notice of Indias announcement to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and has stated that any attempt to block Pakistans water will be considered as an act of war, and will be responded to with full force. Tuesdays brutal assault, which resulted in the death of 26 innocent tourists and left several others critically injured, unfolded in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, when four heavily armed terrorists emerged from the surrounding dense forests and opened indiscriminate fire on tourists. The attack has been described as one of the most horrific in the region in recent memory. Is Britain growing out of growth? Strange questions beget strange answers. The response raises the prospect of human redundancy as the evolving economy makes segments of workers increasingly unnecessary to produce services and goods. Data now appears to support prophecy. In his book Home Deus, published a decade ago, historian Yuval Harari predicted the rise of the useless class made redundant by technology. Lording over the disempowered are the Gods, a tiny elite that amasses wealth, power and production. This is Hararis history of the future. The future, as always, is already here, manifesting in some corner of the world. Britain has been hammered by many shocksfinancial crisis, Covid, Brexit and now a global trade war ignited by the unpredictable President Donald Trump whose strategic weapon of choice is the wrecking ball. Britain has come a long way from the East India Company days, but it is still a trade-dependent nation. The future also comes in disguise, camouflaged under beguiling toys, dense statistics or research-rich reports. Experts agree the root of Britains current macroeconomic problem is productivity. Workforce productivity is defined as the amount of goods and services a group of workers produce in a given amount of time. In his paper Yanked Away, Britains Resolution Foundations economist Simon Pittaway reveals Britains labour productivity rose by a woeful 5.9 per cent and real wages by a pitiful 2.2 per cent in the last 15 years. Compare this to Britains previous 15 years ending 2007: productivity growth was 38 per cent and real wages rose to an impressive 42 per cent. British economists say the current level of stagnation was last seen in the 18th century. Imaging: Deni Lal It is human nature to clutch at straws, to be determinedly optimistic. Britain draws comfort that it is not alone in this economic quagmire. All but one among the advanced G7 nations are in similar doldrums. Over the last five years, British GDP per hour worked declined by 0.8 per cent, Italys by 0.9, Canadas 0.5 and Frances 0.2. GermanysEuropes engine and best in classrose marginally by 0.4. The outlier is the US, where productivity rose by a stunning 9.1 per cent. It has world-class tech companies. But Pittaway concludes American high productivity is due to technology-adoption by the entire US economy. Technology-driven productivity gains bake a bigger economic pie, absorbing displaced workers. The question is will algorithms, robots and AI invalidate this 20th century mantra. If American beef is pumped with growth hormones, the countrys high economic performance is pumped by massive steroid injections of stimulus during Covid. The stimulus totalled 25 per cent of GDP ($5.2tn), unimaginable for Britain, or any other country. But the stimulus also aggravated the massive US budget deficit. Trumps reasons for waging the tariff war changes as often as his hair colour. Tariffs will bring jobs to the US, he says. Actually, China trade supported 1.2 million US jobs, but more than two lakh Americans lost their jobs after his first term China tariffs. American economists Michael Pettis and Matthew Klein argue, Trade wars are class wars. Trade conflicts are caused by governments promoting the interests of elites at the expense of workers. Tariffs tax the poor, but tariff revenue will fund Trumps planned tax cuts for the rich. Taxes, tariffs and transitions in the economywhere workers cannot even sell their labourwiden disparity. In March, Britain lost 78,000 jobs. What does the future look like? Hararis dystopian answer: the rich search for immortality while workers become obsolete. Pratap is an author and journalist. Donald Trump tweeted, Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there! This didnt go down well with the nit-picky folks on X, because who looks forward to going to a funeral? It isnt exactly a wedding, or a music festival or some sort of Roman holiday. Surely something in the general zone of we will be attending to pay our last respects would have been more suitable? But may be its the best one can expect from a man who says world leaders are calling to kiss my ass, describes a free nation as his 51st state and calls the head of his own federal reserve a major loser. Talking classy isnt his strong suit, clearly. On the other hand, perhaps Trumps onto something. If youve seen the hilarious BBC series Yes, Prime Minister, you may remember an episode where James Hacker, the British PM, explains the concept of a working funeral to his wife. She sees him bent over reams of documents, asks if hes reading a draft of the sermon, to which he replies testily: Lord no, this isnt about the sermon! This is about politics. This funeral has come at exactly the right moment. Weve got all sorts of things to discussNATO, the Warsaw pact, the Middle East of course. (Umm, sounds familiar?) Mrs Hacker goes on to ask: So this funeral would be a sort of summit conference? Hacker: Yes! Its a heaven-sent opportunity! Mrs Hacker (eye-rolling): Literally! Illustration: Deni Lal Totally missing the sarcasm, Hacker continues to explain: Much better than a summit, because there are no expectations. People dont expect their leaders to come back from a funeral with test-ban agreements or farm-quota reductions, so one can actually have some meaningful discussions. A summit, on the other hand, is just a public relations circus. Everybody, it seems, is going to be at Papa Francescos funeral. Apart from Trump, Frances Emmanuel Macron and Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky were amongst the first to confirm their attendance to the ceremony to be held on Saturday in Vatican City. Britain is sending a high-ranking royal. Condolences and confirmations continue to pour in from leaders and nations around the world. Its encouraging that Trump whisperer Giorgia Meloni will be on home turf and strategically placed to provide a much-needed soothing touch to the various heads-of-state brushing bristling shoulders in the pews. I am really starting to feel very hopeful about this funeral. In the BBC series Hacker explains: It is good if theres lots of singing and organ music because one can talk softly through it. And, during the sermon, one can catch up on jet lag. He concludes his little homily on working funerals by saying of the deceased: Hes done much more for the world by dying than he ever did in the whole of his life. Of course this is not true of Pope Francisa man of compassion, forgiveness and simplicity, who did so much good, and whose final message, read aloud by his archbishop on Easter, mentioned the people of Gaza in particularappealing for a ceasefire, an exchange of hostages and a thawing of hostilities. It went on to painstakingly pray for every single war-torn nation in the world, focussing specially on the vulnerable, the marginalised and the migrants. The Beatles, appealing for unity and common ground, once sang come together, right now, over me. The Popes body, laid out in the nave of St Peters Basilica, seems to be making the very same appeal. Indeed, his death, at this juncture, provides an opportunity to the worlds hardliners to face-save, climb down and take up kinder, more conciliatory positions all round. Lets hope they make the most of it. editor@theweek.in Ranjit Nair | Facebook Ranjit Nair died on April 14. I felt bad and sad. Two days later, Nikku Madhusudhan, an India-born Cambridge physicist, announced he had found life on an exo-planet about 120 light years away. I told myself, Im going to miss Nair. Had Nair been around, Id have phoned him to know about Nikkus work, and he would have given me lessons in exobiology. That would have been like listening to Stephen Hawkingliterally, figuratively and acoustically. Afflicted with dystonia some 20 years ago, Nair had a problem with his speech muscles. Yet his friends strained their ears to catch his words of scientific wisdom, as they would have when listening to Hawkings computerised speech, each word worth its weight in moonstone. Nair would even have given me Nikkus number, or that of a Cambridge pal through whom I could have contacted Nikku. His phone book was a whos who of the worlds finest mindsNobel scientists and those who missed the prize. Imaging: Deni Lal Few in India knew him or knew about him, but the maharishis of global science knew Ranjit. He was my (and of many hacks like me) turn-to source for any information on the worlds scientists. He knew them all. If he didnt, he would find ways of reaching out to them through his network of Nobelists, Fields Medallists and other sagely friends. His passion was to get the rajarshis and devarshis among them to India. Indians have only heard of them; I want Indians to hear from them, he used to say. The principal public activity of the Centre for Philosophy and Foundations of Science that he founded, funded and nurtured after he quit NISTADS was to get these sages to India. He organised their lectures in memory of Einstein, Tagore and J.C. Bose. Thus he brought Nobel winners like Gerard't Hooft, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (both Physics), Yuan T. Lee, Ahmed Zewail, Alan Heeger, Robert Huber (Chemistry), Rolf Zinkernagel, Torsten Wiesel (Medicine), non-Nobel sages like Raja Ramanna, Vilayanur Ramachandran, and E.C.G. Sudarshan; George Cardona to talk on Panini in the history of Indian thought, Wilhelm Halbfass on the concept of aakasa (space) in Indian thought, and James Langer on 'how solids bend and break'. And, of course, the two brahmarshis of the post-Einstein age, Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrosemen who knew about the big bang beginning, infinity and everything in between. On the CPFS platform, they didnt speak just formulas and theorems. Nair made them speak in such a way as to stimulate the listeners brains, and make them laugh. I remember a Nobel laureate talking as much about the convergence between Physics and Chemistry as about the convergence point on the low-hanging diamond necklace that a charming lady was wearing at the Nobel banquet. He wagered with sageswith Hawking on the end of physics after a call on president K.R. Narayanan in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and with a bunch of his oenophile pals from Cambridge on why champagne tastes better when poured into the glass in a particular way. Nair loved Cambridge, where he got his masters and doctorate in Physics, after his graduation from Kerala. One can imagine the groves of the Cambridge academe in the 1970shosting the worlds wisest scientists, worst anarchists, dangerous communists, nasty nihilists and passionate poets. Ranjit, I guess, flirted with two types among themthe sages of science and the minstrels of muse. From among the former he collected his friends; from the latter he chose his wifeRukmini Bhaya Nair, poet and litterateur. prasannan@theweek.in The story is told of Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, a French interior minister during the revolt of 1848, who was in a meeting in his office when a tumult broke out outside and he saw a mob running down the street below. He leapt to his feet: I am their leader! he gasped. I must follow them! Such is the tale of political leadership in many parts of the democratic worldleaders feel impelled to follow the public and not the other way around. The modern equivalent is the tale of the politician, trying to decide what stand to take on a contentious issue, being advised by a political consultant: It doesnt matter what you think. Look at what the polls say and then tell them thats what you think. But this conventional wisdom is showing every sign of being upended in our current turbulent times. Suddenly, we are being faced with leaders who dont care what their public wantsthey know what they want and they will do it anyway. Recent polls in Israel, for instance, reveal that a majority of Israelis support ending the war in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas. Specifically, 69 per cent of respondents favour such a deal, while 21 per cent oppose it. Among coalition voters, 54 per cent support the deal, compared to 32 per cent who oppose it. And yet, the Israeli government continues to prosecute the war, extending it further and capturing more swathes of Gaza even at the risk of imperilling the lives of the remaining hostages. Similarly, March surveys indicate that 47.8 per cent of the Israeli public want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept responsibility for the October 7 events and resign; an additional 24.7 per cent want him to accept responsibility, but resign only at the end of the war. Only 9.7 per cent responded that he need neither accept responsibility nor resign. Yet, far from resigning, he has redoubled his hold on power and carries on prosecuting a war that has had devastating consequences on hundreds of thousands of people. Donald Trump | REUTERS President Trump is another leader whose drastic decisions are not rooted in American public opinion. The dramatic televised White House showdown with President Zelensky is still fresh in peoples minds, but a recent poll showed that 52 per cent of Americans support Ukraine. Another poll, last month, found that 50 per cent of Americans disapprove of Trumps foreign-policy moves, and only 37 per cent approvea 15 per cent decline in net approval since January. Public opinion polls show that many of Trumps disruptive policies, particularly his tariff strategies, are unpopular with a majority of Americans. For instance, 75 per cent of respondents believe his tariffs will increase prices in the short term, and 49 per cent feel financially worse off due to his policies. Despite this, Trump has maintained his stance, suggesting he feels indifferent to public opinion on the issue. Public opinion polls often act as both a guide and a constraint for political leaders, shaping their decisions and strategies. Leaders who defy public sentiment risk political fallout, but history shows that some have prevailed despite going against the grain. Historically, leaders who defy public sentiment often face backlash but can prevail if their policies yield tangible benefits. Trumps approach reflects his belief in negotiating strength and his willingness to endure short-term unpopularity for perceived long-term gains. Whether this strategy will ultimately succeed depends on whether his policies deliver the promised results. Abraham Lincoln faced significant opposition during the American Civil War, particularly over the Emancipation Proclamation. Public sentiment was divided and largely unfavourable, yet Lincolns steadfast commitment to abolishing slavery ultimately cemented his legacy as one of the greatest US presidents. In more recent times, Angela Merkel defied public opinion in Germany by opening the countrys borders to refugees in 2015. While her decision faced backlash, and undermined her popularity, it underscored her humanitarian values and ultimately strengthened her reputation as a global leader. So, while the Ledru-Rollin school of leadership has not wholly disappeared from view, it may be yielding, around the world, to a politics of personal conviction. While public opinion polls are influential, leaders who act with conviction and a long-term vision can overcome immediate opposition and leave a lasting impact. Whether that impact is for the good or otherwise, only timenot the pollswill tell. editor@theweek.in As tensions escalated between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian Navy on Sunday conducted successful multiple anti-ship firings to demonstrate its operational readiness. "Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate the readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long-range precision offensive strike," the force said in a post on X. "Indian Navy stands combat-ready, credible and future-ready in safeguarding the nation's maritime interests anytime, anywhere, anyhow," it said. The Navy also shared videos of the drill at sea but did not provide details, such as when the exercise was carried out. #IndianNavy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike.#IndianNavy stands #CombatReady #Credible and #FutureReady in safeguarding the nations maritime pic.twitter.com/NWwSITBzKK SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) April 27, 2025 Last week, the Navy's guided missile destroyer INS Surat fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile against a "sea-skimming" target in the Western Indian Ocean. Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated after a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 people, including two foreign nationals, were killed. New Delhi has alleged the role of Pakistan-based terrorists in the attack and announced a slew of punitive measures against the neighbouring country, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty. India has also shut down the Attari border, downgraded diplomatic ties and suspended visas issued to Pakistani nationals. In response, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines and suspended all trade with India. In his 'Mann ki Baat' address on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the "perpetrators and conspirators" of the Pahalgam attack will be "served with the harshest response". "The perpetrators and conspirators of this attack will be served with the harshest response," he said. American cinema legend Francis Ford Coppola has been honoured with the Life Achievement Award by the American Film Institute, their highest accolade, presented by two of his most esteemed colleagues, friends and contemporaries, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, as per The Hollywood Reporter. The event saw the presence of acting heavyweights Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, who got their major career breakthroughs through The Godfather and The Godfather - Part II, both by Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, the author of the classic book of the same name. The actors expressed their gratitude for casting them in his films. It must be noted that Pacino was not the preferred choice of the producers of The Godfather when Coppola suggested his name. However, after multiple attempts at convincing them, Coppola eventually won a decision that later proved advantageous for all parties. Pacino played the son of Marlon Brando's character, Vito Corleone, the mafia boss and patriarch of the Corleone family. Pacino also starred in the third film, which was recently released in restored form with a new title, The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. All three films chronicled the rise and fall of the once-feared and respected crime family. Speaking at the event, Pacino said: "You know, none of us got fired from The Godfather, but some of us were pretty close; I was the closest, yes. And Francis just fought for us all the time; he fought for his film and his vision, which he always does... It could have got him fired, it could have all of us fired, but it didn't happen. Now, years later, here we all are to celebrate. Thanks, Francis, for believing in me more than I believed in myself. I am eternally grateful and honoured to be a part of your 'Godfather' family." De Niro, who was considered for the roles of Paulie Gatto and Sonny Corleone in the first film but got later cast in the sequel as the younger version of Vito Corleone, reminisced about not getting the part in the first film because things worked out in such a way that he ended up in Part-2. "It was the best job I did not get, hence, I was available for "The Godfather-Part 2'... Francis, you changed my career; you changed my life. We are here today because of you," said the 81-year-old. Spielberg, while presenting the accolade, called Coppola a "warrior" who championed the causes of independent filmmakers but also was "fearless" in opening up to "new ideas, opinions and inspirations." Lucas recalled that when he was 22, Coppola taught him to be fearless of heights. "And I've lived with that the rest of my life, although I don't go to the higher level he does." In the past, eminent film personalities like Orson Welles, Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Gene Kelly, Sidney Poitier, Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington and, most recently, Nicole Kidman (in 2024) were recipients of the honour. Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Trend reports. The letter reads: Dear Mr. President, We are deeply saddened by the news of the loss of lives and numerous injuries caused by the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the city of Bandar Abbas. On behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my heartfelt condolences to you, to the families and loved ones of the victims, and to the entire people of Iran over this tragedy. I wish a swift recovery to the injured. May Allah rest their souls in peace! Kerala excise officials arrested Alappuzha Gymkhana director Khalid Rahman allegedly for drug use from a flat in Kochis Marine Drive during the early hours of Sunday. Police also arrested Ashraf Hamza, director of Kunchako Boban starrer Bheemante Vazhi, and a common friend of the duo. Based on intelligence inputs, the sleuths from the excise department searched the premises of a premium flat in Kochi and seized hybrid ganja from the trio. According to officials, the trio had gathered at the flat, reportedly rented by a popular cinematographer, for a discussion on an upcoming film and were nabbed while they were preparing to consume the ganja. We took the three into custody from a flat in Kochi and seized the hybrid ganja. A case is registered against them under sections 20(b) (II) A and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, an excise official told onManorama. Besides the directors, officials also arrested Shalif Muhammad, a common friend of the duo. Officials seized 1.5 grams of narcotic substance from the trio The trio has allegedly admitted to investigators that they have been using drugs regularly. Excise inspector K.P. Pramod told Manorama News that the trio were regular drug users. When we raided the flat, they were preparing to consume the ganja. After interrogating them, we confirmed that the three persons had been using ganja for a long time. We are yet to confirm who owned the flat, the excise officer told the publication. Police released all three persons on bail later. The development comes after the recent arrest of popular actor Shine Tom Chacko for drug use by Kerala police. He was released on bail later. Khalid Rahmans Alappuzha Gymkhana is running successfully in theatres. The film starring Naslen, Lukman, Baby Jean, Manjummel Boys fame Ganapathy and a slew of young actors hit theatres as a Vishu release. Meanwhile, B. Unnikrishnan, the general secretary of the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) has warned stern measures against drug users in the industry. It has been ten years since Neeraj Ghaywan made waves with his maiden feature Masaan. While the acclaimed filmmaker was involved in directing short projects in the OTT space, on anthologies and web series, it was only now that Ghaywan announced a second feature-length film. Titled Homebound, and starring Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor, the film was selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the upcoming edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. To make things even sweeter, filmmaking legend Martin Scorsese confirmed his involvement by coming aboard as an executive producer. Homebound is produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions jointly with Melita Toscan du Plantier, who also backed Masaan, which, after its Cannes debut in 2015, won the Avenir and Fipresci prizes in the Un Certain Regard section. In his statement, Scorsese mentioned that he saw Masaan in 2015 and loved it and that when Melita Toscan du Plantier notified him of Neeraj's second film, he got curious. "I loved the story and the culture and was willing to help. Neeraj has made a beautifully crafted film thats a significant contribution to Indian cinema. I am glad the movie is an official selection at Un Certain Regard in Cannes this year, he added. Reacting to the note, Karan wrote on Instagram: 'Homebound' is an extraordinary confluence of talent, vision, and storytelling at its finest. Having Martin Scorsese, a true legend of cinema, lend his wisdom and support to Neerajs remarkable vision elevates our film to a rare artistic height. With an incredibly gifted cast and the prestigious stage of Cannes, we eagerly look forward to sharing Homebounds powerful story with audiences around the world. According to the official synopsis published by Variety, the film revolves around two childhood friends from a small North Indian village dreaming of a police job that "promises them the dignity theyve long been denied. But as they inch closer to their dream, mounting desperation threatens the bond that holds them together." Earlier, Ghaywan posted on his social media handle that he was honoured to see the iconic filmmaker attach his name to his film and offered helpful, valuable inputs. Mr. Scorsese mentored us through the screenplay and multiple rounds of editing. He listened with care, understood the cultural context, and offered thoughtful, incisive notes each time. His kindness and commitment are extraordinary, and to have him nurture our film has been both a rare privilege and a profoundly humbling experience. This is not the first time Scorsese has shown his support for Indian cinema. He was in the past instrumental in restoring Indian film classics such as Girish Kasaravalli's Ghatashraddha (1977) and Malayalam filmmaker G Aravindan's Kummatty (1979) through The Film Foundations World Cinema Project. As an executive producer, Scorsese backed numerous international films in the past, most notably, the Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems, Joanna Hogg's The Souvenir - Part II, and Paul Schrader's The Card Counter, among others. Ghaywan last directed two episodes of the Prime Video series Made in Heaven. Before that, he directed the segment Geeli Pucchi in the Netflix anthology Ajeeb Daastaans, also a Karan Johar production, and co-directed all eight episodes of Sacred Games Season 2 with Anurag Kashyap. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep anguish over the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam and said every Indian is unitedly speaking against the heinous attack. In his monthly Mann Ki Baat podcast, Modi said the affected families will get justice. In his monthly podcast on Sunday, Modi said, The terrorist incident that took place in Pahalgam on April 22 has hurt every citizen of the country. Every Indian holds deep sympathies for the affected families. I can feel that the blood of every Indian is on the boil after seeing the pictures of the terrorist attack. This attack in Pahalgam shows the desperation of the patrons of terrorism; displays their cowardice. The prime minister said terrorists wanted to disturb the peace in Jammu and Kashmir. The terrorists and the masterminds of terror want Kashmir to be destroyed again and hence they executed such a big conspiracy, he said. Modi said the unity of 140 crore Indians was the biggest strength. We have to demonstrate strong willpower as a nation. Today the world is watching, after this terrorist attack, the whole country is speaking in one voice, the prime minister asserted. Modi said global leaders have sent him messages expressing condolences and condemning the attack. The whole world stands with 140 crore Indians in our fight against terrorism. I once again assure the affected families that they will get justice, and justice will be done. The perpetrators and conspirators of this attack will be served with the harshest response, Modi asserted. The prime minister also paid tributes to scientist and former ISRO chief K. Kasturirangan who passed away on Friday and said ISRO attained a new identity under his leadership. Modi said most satellites India uses today were launched during Kasturirangans period. Five days after the deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam, tourists started flocking to this scenic town again, defying fear and security threats. A sense of normalcy was palpable in the region as hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists visited the town on Sunday, the first holiday since the deadly attack on April 22. The town, which witnessed 5,000 to 7,000 tourists on a normal day, had seen a dramatic dip in the number of visitors since the attack. News agency ANI talked to a few Serbian and Croatian tourists who expressed their admiration for Kashmirs unmatched beauty. We are feeling very safe, and your country is very beautiful. We don't have any problem staying here. Kashmir is beautiful, very beautiful. It's very nice, your country is different, Ljiljana, a tourist from Croatia, told the news agency. She was part of a 12-member group visiting the valley. #WATCH | J&K | Tourists continue to arrive in Pahalgam. A tourist from Croatia says, "We have been here for 3-4 days and we are feeling very safe. Your country is very beautiful, and we have not had any problems. Kashmir is beautiful and safe... People are very kind. Everything pic.twitter.com/rDfEPc6qhA ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 The ghastly terror attack, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, lost their lives, sent shock waves across the country, leading to a massive dip in the tourist flow to Jammu and Kashmir. On Saturday, the Kashmir Hotel Association (KHA) said 80 per cent of tourist bookings to Kashmir had been cancelled after the terror attack. Vlatko, a tourist from Croatia, told ANI that he felt totally safe in Pahalgam. "I feel totally safe, no problem here. Everywhere, people say hello - zero, zero scared, she said. #WATCH | J&K | Tourists continue to arrive in Pahalgam. Mohammad Anas, a tourist from Gujarat's Surat, says, "... We like it here in Kashmir. We feel sorry for our fellow tourists who lost their lives in the terrorist attack. Usual business is on here in Pahalgam. There is pic.twitter.com/JsBDd6ZlwR ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 Tourism in Kashmir had revived after the Covid-19 lockdowns were lifted. The Narendra Modi government was also going on an aggressive push to promote tourism in the valley in an attempt to legitimise the revoking of Article 370. Domestic tourists increased from 26 lakh in 2022 to nearly 30 lakh last year, while even foreign tourist numbers reached 66,000. The Bharatiya Janata Party slammed Congress and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his remarks dismissing war against Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Siddaramaiahs remarks were reportedly quoted by Pakistan media against India. Accusing Siddaramaiah of being Pakistans puppet, Karnataka Opposition leader R. Ashoka said the chief minister will be treated royally if he ever visits Pakistan. If you ever visit Pakistan again, you are guaranteed royal hospitality, Ashoka said in a post on X. The BJP leader charged, It wouldnt be surprising if the Pakistan government honours you with their highest civilian award, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, recognizing you as a great messenger of peace for advocating on behalf of Pakistan. He added, At a time when the country is facing an extremely sensitive situation, with the clouds of war looming at the border, you are behaving like a puppet of the enemy nation. The fact that people like you are in public life is the greatest tragedy for our country. Paying tributes to victims of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 persons were killed, Siddaramaiah said on Saturday, There is no need for war, stringent measures should be taken. The security system needs to be tightened. We are not in favour of war. There should be peace, people should have security, and the central government should take security measures. However, Pakistan media is reportedly using Siddaramaiahs comments against India. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi also condemned Siddaramaiahs statement and tweeted, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made a statement that we should not punish those involved in terrorist activities but strengthen our security. This is condemnable. The BJP also slammed Karnataka Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapura's statement raising doubts over claims that terrorists asked for victims religion before gunning them down. Amid the heightened tension between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Sunday met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and appraised him of the operational preparedness of the forces. #WATCH | Delhi | Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan leaves from the residence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. pic.twitter.com/mDEh6WhSC5 ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 The Indian armed forces have been put on high alert ever since the attack with the Army, Navy and Air Force carrying out multiple drills to demonstrate their combat readiness. At least 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed after terrorists sprayed bullets indiscriminately at them in Pahalgam on April 22, sending shock waves across the country and stirring up a massive outrage. India alleged the role of Pakistan-based terror groups in the attack and took a rift of punitive measures against the neighbouring country, including suspension of the Indus Water Treaty and closing the land border at Attari. Pakistan responded to Indias move by closing its airspace for Indian airlines and suspending all bilateral trade. The diplomatic offensives also led to war cries from both sides with a Pakistan minister even threatening India with nuclear strikes. On April 23, a day after the attack, Rajnath Singh reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and said people responsible for the "cowardly terrorist attack" on innocent citizens would soon get a "strong response" to their nefarious acts on Indian soil. Singh said India would not only hunt down the people who perpetrated the attack but would also trace those "sitting behind the scenes" who had conspired to carry out the deadly act on Indian soil. Meanwhile, the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been carrying out multiple search operations in the Union Territory to neutralise the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack. Contrary to Congress's official take on the Pahalgam terror attack, MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday dismissed criticisms against the government's 'security lapse' leading to the incident. Citing the example of the Hamas attack on Israel in October, he stated that no country had "foolproof intelligence". Tharoor said there are operations that are successful but we only get to know about the terror attacks that the agencies failed to thwart. #WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | On the Pahalgam terror attack, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "Obviously, there was no full proof intelligence. There was some failure... But we have got the example of Israel, the world's best intelligence services according to everybody, pic.twitter.com/v0SMkULt6i ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 "No country can ever have a foolproof 100 per cent intelligence. We will never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted," Tharoor was quoted by ANI. #WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | On Pahalgam terror attack, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, "This is part of a long pattern we have seen for almost a quarter of a century... People are encouraged, trained, armed, and often guided from across the border. Then Pakistan denies pic.twitter.com/4UIUpIDVks ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 The Congress MP also added that this was normal in any nation. "There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now." A terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22 killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The attacks have intensified the Pakistan-Indian relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing strict action against those behind the attack. The attack also led to New Delhi suspending the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 with Pakistan. While comparing India's situation to that of the Hamas attack on Israel, Tharoor said that Israel is known to be a country with the world's best intelligence services and yet they were taken by surprise on October 7. Just as Israel is waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability, I think we should also see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government, Tharoor said. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) after its meeting, attended by Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior officials, blamed the "security lapses and intelligence failures" behind the attack. CWC also criticised the BJP government for promoting discord and polarisation by exploiting the tragedy at a time when unity is most required. Close aide of US President Donald Trump and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, pledged full support to India for its efforts to bring perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack to justice. Patel also hailed the security forces for its response to the attack. The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 26, 2025 In a post on social media platform X on Sunday, the FBI chief of Indian origin condoled the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. Thank you to the men and women of law enforcement who answer the call in moments like these, Patel tweeted. Earlier, US President Trump condemned the attack in which 26 persons were killed and said the US stands with India in its fight against terrorism. The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism. We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people of India, have our full support and deepest sympathies. Our hearts are with you all!" he tweeted. On Saturday, presidents of UAE and Iran dialled Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the attack. "President HH @MohamedBinZayed of UAE called PM @narendramodi and conveyed condolences on the loss of lives in the barbaric terror attack on the Indian soil of Jammu & Kashmir. He strongly condemned the attack and expressed full solidarity and support with India," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the external affairs ministry have been communicating with foreign leaders and ambassadors for the past two days. Foreign leaders were informed that there was credible evidence proving Pakistans role in the attack. Pakistan Army carried out unprovoked small arms firing at Indian positions across the Line of Control again on Saturday night, responded 'appropriately' by the Indian Army. Pakistan is violating the ceasefire along the LoC for the third consecutive night since the gruesome Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Army authorities, the Pakistan Army carried out unprovoked small arms firing at two main sectors along the LoC on the intervening night of April 26 and 27. "On the night of 26th-27th April 2025, Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur sectors. Our troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire," ANI reported quoting the Indian Army. Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked fire at Indian positions along the LoC amidst heightened tensions between the countries in the aftermath of the tragic terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 persons were killed. No casualties have been reported in the cross-border firing. Sources say Pakistani troops could be checking their Indian counterparts preparedness in the backdrop of the escalation in tensions between the two countries post the April 22 terrorist attack. The development comes as India and Pakistan have announced series of diplomatic measures against each other in the aftermath of the attacks. Meanwhile, security forces have launched a massive crackdown on terrorists and terror associates in Jammu and Kashmir. Reportedly, residences of at least five terrorists got 'destroyed' in 'explosion' and hundreds have been detained in connection with the probe into the Pahalgam attack. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has formally taken over the probe into the Pahalgam terror attack and have begun steps to ascertain terrorists modus operandi. The investigation teams have reached the incident site in Baisaran Valley and they are examining the entire premises for evidence. In a statement, the agency said, The NIA has begun the process of formally taking over the Pahalgam terror attack case, in which 26 innocent tourists were mercilessly shot dead on Tuesday, following orders from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. NIA teams, which have been camping at the terror attack site since Wednesday, have intensified the search for evidence. Teams led by senior officials from the Central terror investigation agency reached Jammu and Kashmir soon after the gruesome terror attack in which 26 persons were killed on April 22. The deceased include 24 tourists, a Nepali national and a Kashmiri horse rider. According to the agency, teams led by an IG, DIG and an SP from NIA are conducting the probe and examining eyewitnesses to ascertain the sequence of events that led to the terror attack. The eyewitnesses are being questioned in minute detail to piece together the sequence of events that led to one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir, it said. The probe agency is trying to uncover how terrorists entered and exited from the spot and their modus operandi. Forensic experts are also assisting the investigators with the probe. The teams, aided by forensic and other experts, are checking the entire area thoroughly for evidence to expose the terror conspiracy that led to the horrendous attack that has shocked the nation, the agency said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Jammu and Kashmir soon after the terror attack and condemned the incident. He also chaired a high-level security meeting in Kashmir and vowed stern action against the terrorists. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will arrive in Azerbaijan on April 28, as the two countries strengthen cooperation amid growing regional dynamics. The visit highlights the increasing strategic importance of economic ties between Tehran and Baku. Bilateral economic relations have shown steady positive momentum. In 2024, trade between Azerbaijan and Iran reached $580 million, marking a 20% increase compared to the previous year. However, ambitions go far beyond current figures. According to Irans Minister of Roads and Urban Development Farzaneh Sadat, Baku and Tehran aim to boost annual bilateral trade to $10 billion within the next five years. Iran is actively working to dismantle barriers to trade and sees its growing collaboration with Azerbaijan as a model for building ties with other regional countries. A notable aspect of Pezeshkians visit will be the participation of more than 100 representatives from Irans private sector, underlining Tehrans efforts to make private enterprise a key driver of bilateral cooperation. Energy cooperation remains a cornerstone of the strategic partnership. In May 2024, the two countries commissioned the Khudafarin and Giz Galasi hydropower complexes on the Araz River. Together, these projects will provide irrigation for over 400,000 hectares of agricultural land across both countries and generate up to 280 MW of electricity, significantly contributing to the energy security of border regions. Transport infrastructure development is another major priority. Azerbaijan and Iran are actively cooperating within the framework of the International North-South Transport Corridor, which connects India, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Europe. Key projects include the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway line, set to be completed in 2025, and the launch of new road and rail bridges over the Astarachay River, both expected to significantly enhance cargo transport efficiency. Particularly important is the planned establishment of the East Zangezur-Nakhchivan transport corridor through Iranian territory. This route will provide a direct connection between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave. Strategically, the project opens new opportunities for expanding trade and transit flows between Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, while also reinforcing Bakus role as a key transit hub in Eurasia. Agricultural cooperation is also advancing to a new level. In 2024, Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to establish joint agricultural zones in border areas, expand Azerbaijani agricultural exports to Iran, and make full use of the new irrigation infrastructure tied to the Giz Galasi hydropower project. In the context of global food security challenges, strengthening agricultural partnerships has become a strategic priority, enhancing the resilience of both economies. President Pezeshkians visit marks the beginning of a new phase in Irans regional diplomacy. Tehrans drive to deepen relations with Azerbaijan reflects not only economic aspirations but also the strategic necessity of expanding external economic ties amid continuing international sanctions. With its developed transport infrastructure, stable economy, and growing influence on Eurasian trade routes, Azerbaijan is becoming a vital partner for Iran and a gateway to new markets. Strengthening bilateral relations could lay the foundation for a new regional economic order, where mutually beneficial cooperation and strategic initiatives shape the future of the South Caucasus and the broader region. BJP parliamentarian Nishikant Dubey has urged the Centre to suspend water supply to Bangladesh amid pause on Indus Waters Treaty following the Pahalgam terror attack. India has held Pakistan responsible for cross-border terrorism, with the latest attack in Pahalgam claiming 26 lives. Following this, the Centre has decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which gave India 20 per cent rights to the river water against Pakistan's 80 per cent. #WATCH | Deoghar, Jharkhand | BJP MP Nishikant Dubey says, "... There can be nothing more unfortunate than the #PahalgamTerrorAttack. Fortunately, India is being led by a person who has the support of 140 crore Indians, and the entire world thinks of him as a strong Prime pic.twitter.com/ChN9DxHQwx ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 With India's relations with Bangladesh hitting a low after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina regime and the appointment of Muhammad Yunus as its interim leader, Dubey has now called for similar measures against Bangladesh. Dubey said the 1996 Ganga water agreement between India and Bangladesh is flawed. "The agreement for the waters of the Ganga was wrong, and it was a mistake made by the Congress government in 1996," he alleged. "How long will we provide water to snakes? It's time to crush them." It should be noted that the Ganga Water Treaty inked in 1996 is set to expire in 2026. Bangladesh has been seeking more water during dry season amid water shortage. This comes amid dispute of Teesta water sharing. In 1975, the Farakka Barrage became operation in West Bengal. The structure was constructed to divert water towards Hooghly River to bring down silting and improve navigability in the Kolkata Port. The Ganga Water Treaty governs that if the availability of water is 70,000 cusecs or less, India and Bangladesh would get 50 per cent each. If this goes up to 75,000 cusecs, Bangladesh gets 35,000 cusecs and remaining for India. If it goes beyond 75,000, India gets 40,000 and Bangladesh receives the remaining water. The BJP MP cited reports that Bangladesh's interim government is in constant touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists. "To stop the terror infiltration, both India and Bangladesh's borders need to be secured," the lawmaker added. Iran and the United States held a third round of indirect nuclear talks on April 26 in Muscat, the capital of Oman, marking the most detailed and serious phase of dialogue so far. The discussions, mediated by Omani officials, were the first to involve high-level technical experts from both sides. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff led the negotiations, which lasted around six hours. This latest meeting followed two earlier rounds in Muscat and Rome on April 12 and 19, respectively, which both parties had described as constructive. Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the key mediator for the peace process, announced that talks would continue next week, with another high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3. A senior American official said that the next round of talks would be in Europe, with Oman facilitating. Ahead of yesterdays session, expert-level negotiations took place in Muscat to establish a framework for a potential agreement. US & Iran have entered the third round of nuclear negotiations in Muscat. Washington wants Iran to halt the production of highly enriched uranium, which, it believes, is aimed at building an atomic bomb#US #Iran #Muscat #Rome #Uranium #Atomicbomb #Trump #CNBCTV18Digital pic.twitter.com/cto6EhhTsx CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) April 25, 2025 The expert-level negotiations have reached the stage of detailed specifics and mutual demands. The delegations are returning to their capitals for consultations, Iranian state television reported. An Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, characterised the discussions as "difficult, complicated and serious," without providing further details. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed that Irans defence capabilities and missile programme were not included in the agenda. He further emphasised Irans steadfast demand for the lifting of sanctions and reiterated that safeguarding Irans right to peaceful nuclear energy remained central to the discussions. Speaking after the meeting, Araghchi noted that the tone of negotiations had shifted towards greater seriousness and specificity, although significant differences remained. "During the recent round of negotiations, we provided answers to the other side's questions, and the atmosphere was completely serious and work-focused," he told reporters. "It was agreed that further reviews would be conducted in the capitals ahead of the next meeting to identify ways to narrow the gaps." He urged cautious optimism, highlighting that technical teams would be strengthened according to the evolving needs of the talks. In a statement posted on X, Foreign Minister al-Busaidi said the two sides had identified a shared aspiration to reach an agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments. He added that core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed during the talks. Technical discussions, initially scheduled for April 23 but delayed until yesterday, also took place in Muscat. Irans technical team was led by Deputy Foreign Ministers Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi, while Michael Anton, head of policy planning at the US State Department, led the American delegation. Many critics, meanwhile, pointed out that Anton lacked the specialised nuclear expertise of the officials involved in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations. The tentative agreement under discussion would require Iran to prevent its nuclear programme from reaching weapons-grade capabilities, in return for limited sanctions relief. However, confusion has arisen due to conflicting signals from the American side. Witkoff initially suggested that Iran could continue uranium enrichment up to 3.67 per cent for civilian purposes, but later insisted on a complete halt to enrichment activitiesa stance echoed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who proposed that Iran import nuclear fuel for its energy needs. American National Security Adviser Mike Waltz has said the United States was seeking a total dismantling of Irans nuclear program, a position Tehran has deemed a nonstarter. The two countries had previously signed the 2015 JCPOA under President Obama, which saw Iran limit its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. However, President Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 during his first term, reinstating severe economic sanctions. Since 2019, Iran has breached the JCPOAs restrictions, enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, according to the International Atomic Energy Agencyclose to the 90 per cent level required for weapons-grade material. While Tehran has expressed a willingness to negotiate some curbs on its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting sanctions, it remains firmly opposed to ending enrichment or surrendering its enriched uranium stockpile. These positions, according to Iranian officials, are red lines that cannot be compromised. Moreover, Tehran has rejected suggestions from European states to include restrictions on its ballistic missile programme in any new deal, asserting that its missile capabilities are purely defensive and non-negotiable. As negotiations continued in Muscat, tragedy struck Irans southern port of Bandar Abbas. An explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port complex killed at least 14 people and injured over 750. According to the Iranian Interior Ministry, the blast, believed to have been caused by chemicals in storage, unleashed a towering plume of thick grey smoke. Efforts to extinguish the resulting fire were hampered by high winds, with six individuals reported missing. Despite the serious mood surrounding the talks, there were signs of cautious optimism. A senior US official, speaking anonymously, described the Muscat discussions as positive and productive, noting that further progress was made on getting to a deal. Travelling to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, President Trump struck an optimistic note, though he left open the possibility of military action should negotiations fail. The Iran situation is coming out very well, Trump said aboard Air Force One. Weve had a lot of talks with them and I think were going to have a deal. Id much rather have a deal than the other alternative. That would be good for humanity. He added, pointedly: There are some people who want to make a different kind of deala much nastier dealand I dont want that to happen to Iran if we can avoid it. The explosion at Rajaei port in southern Iran, which killed over 28 people and injured over 1000, was caused by a missile fuel component that was imported from China, according to the report. This comes as conflicting reports emerge regarding the cause of the explosion in conversation and reformist media outlets in Iran. According to an individual linked to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the explosion occurred in a shipment from China of a chemical used to produce missile fuel. The chemical that exploded was identified by the official to The New York Times as sodium perchlorate, a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles. The chemicals were reportedly shipped into the port in March in two vessels from China. The port's customs office in a statement said the explosion resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. Though the officials confirmed that several containers exploded, they have not yet identified what the chemical is. However, Iranian officials denied the rumours that the blast was caused by a missile fuel explosion, stating that there was no link between the explosion and the country's defence sector. IRAN | #Tragedy: a massive explosion rocked the Shahid Rajaee port in #BandarAbbas city, southern #Iran, this Saturday 26. Witnesses reported a huge blast that "shook the ground" and was felt in neighboring towns. At least 100 people were reported dead. Emergency on site. pic.twitter.com/yMllCPs6GJ Nanana365 (@nanana365media) April 26, 2025 A video shared on social media shows the moment a huge explosion struck Rajaei port in southern Iran and the powerful blast wave that followed. pic.twitter.com/DLZYqt0Cyv Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 26, 2025 The Iranian Parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy Commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei took to X to state that preliminary reports hint the cause of the explosion had nothing to do with the Iranian defence sector. The Iranian officials also asked online media outlets and social media users not to raise "issues that may cause psychological distress in society." It also warned that running unconfirmed stories, spreading lies and upsetting the psychological security of the country will result in prosecution, according to Iranian state media. Foreign adversary or negligence? Interestingly, Iranian local media houses continue to give conflicting reports as to what caused the blast. While conservative outlets pinned the blame on safety failures, one reformist-aligned paper called it a "sabotage linked to foreign adversaries." A leading reformist daily, Ham-Mihan, suggested in its editorial that the timing of the explosion, coinciding with Iran-US negotiations in Muscat, was unlikely to be accidental. "It is improbable that the explosions concurrence with the start of technical talks between Iran and America is coincidental, the editorial said. However, another conservative daily countered the argument, stating that linking the explosion to Muscat talks was based on "unsupported narratives spread by fake news networks". Ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia has released a smart guide for pilgrims in six languages that aimed to educate pilgrims about the rules and rites of Hajj. Interestingly, only one widely used Indian language features in the smart guide, Malayalam. Though Urdu also is on the list, it is mostly aimed at pilgrims from Pakistan. Besides Urdu and Malayalam, the "Smart Book of Hajj Rituals" is available in Arabic, English, French, Urdu, Malayalam, and Turkish. The electronic guide will be available at all electronic libraries in mosques and aboard flights of the Saudi national carrier, Saudia, according to Gulf News. The smart guide is part of the Hajj initiatives launched by the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance, Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Sheikh to ensure a smooth and hassle-free pilgrimage. The decision was taken earlier and the guide was introduced during a meeting with officials serving in Mecca. Besides introducing the smart guide, the Saudi government has also announced that Saudi citizens, residents, GCC citizens and holders of other visa types inside the Kingdom will not be able to obtain Umrah permits through the Nusuk platform from Tuesday. It is via the Nusuk platforms that pilgrims register for the pilgrimage. Access to Mecca now requires an official permit issued through the Absher or Muqeem platforms. Only those who reside in Mecca, Hajj workers and holders of valid Hajj permits will be allowed entry into the holy city from Tuesday. The government has also warned strict action against anyone who stays inside the city without a Hajj visa. This years Hajj season is expected to commence around June 6, 2025, depending on the moon sighting. Even as the Pakistani leaders intensified their war rhetoric against India following New Delhis diplomatic offensive against the neighbouring country in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, speculations have been rife that Pak Army chief General Syed Asim Munir has fled the country. Several reports citing local sources claimed that General Munir had gone MIA (Missing in Action), while some reports stated that he had gone hiding in a bunker in Rawalpindi. However, as the rumours flew thick and fast, the Pakistan government on Sunday sought to clear the air by posting a photo of General Munir, along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, attending an event in Abbottabad on April 26. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir (NIM) and officers of PMA Kakul in a group photo with the graduating officers of 151st Long Course at PMA Kakul, Abbottabad. April 26, 2025, said the caption. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir (NIM) and officers of PMA Kakul in a group photo with the graduating officers of 151st Long Course at PMA Kakul, Abbottabad. April 26, 2025. pic.twitter.com/HLmVg9nUwg Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) April 27, 2025 The categorical mentioning of the date is seen as an attempt to dismiss any speculation that General Munir is missing in action. India and Pakistan are on the brink of war after the Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi alleging cross-border links to the ghastly strikethe worst in the region in decades. As many as 26 people, mostly tourists, including two foreign nationals, were killed in the attack. On April 23, India announced a slew of punitive measures against Pakistan, the most crucial of them being the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. New Delhis move has sparked an outrage in Pakistans political leadership, with one minister even threatening India with nuclear strikes. A day after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari threatened that "either our water or their blood will flow" over India's decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, the former Pakistan foreign minister has toned down his stance and has called for talks between the two nations. Bilawal claimed that that Pakistani government offered talks, but India rejected its efforts. Talking about the suspended treaty, the PPP leader alleged that India's case on the pact is "weak". The State of Pakistan has a long and bloody history of betrayal it took the lives of Bilawal Bhuttos grandfather and mother. It is a tragedy that an unworthy son today chooses to speak in a manner that dishonors even their sacrifice. I extend my deepest condolences to him in pic.twitter.com/4L4uB9QzXM Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 26, 2025 "No country has taken such aggressive decisions on blocking water in the past. When I was the foreign minister, India had also tried to challenge the Indus Waters Treaty, but it failed in its goal because its case on the Indus Waters Treaty is very weak," he claimed. This comes a day after the Pakistani politician claimed that the "Indus is ours and will remain ours". The Indus Waters Treaty, which was inked by New Delhi and Islamabad in September 1960, governs how the waters of the six Indus basin rivers should be distributed between the two neigbouring nations. Islamabad relies on Indus basin for 80 per cent of its agricultural needs and more than 30 per cent of its hydropower. Assam Chief Minister had earlier slammed Bilawal, saying the Pakistani politician's words "dishonour" the sacrifice of his family, calling him an unworthy son. Bilawal is the son of late Benazir Bhutto and grandson of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, both former prime ministers of Pakistan. On Sunday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe into the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people on April 22. Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy The Resistance Front (TRF), has claimed responsibility for the attack. The NIA team will collect forensic evidence and speak to witnesses. As tensions with India soar, Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar rang up his Chinese counterpart in a desperate bid to seek Beijing's support against what Islamabad described as "Indias unilateral and illegal actions". Not only Beijing, Dar also spent his day contacting British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and other regional counterparts to discuss the evolving situation. As per local Pakistani media reports, Dar held a telephone conversation with Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi to brief him about the situation. A statement from Dar's office said the two leaders "opposed unilateralism and hegemonic policies". The statement said Dar "categorically rejected Indias unilateral and illegal actions, as well as its baseless propaganda against Pakistan". However, Chinese state media Global Times said the phone call was made upon Pakistan's request and supported the prompt initiation of an impartial investigation. It hoped both sides will exercise restraint, the report added. The carefully worded statement from Beijing said "combating terrorism constitutes a shared responsibility of all nations, and China consistently supports Pakistan's firm counter-terrorism actions." After Wang, Dar also rang Lammy who "stressed the importance of resolving the issue and reducing tensions through dialogue and peaceful means." The Pakistan Foreign Minister also contacted Saudi Arabia, Iran Egypt and Turkiye. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and stated that he would welcome any efforts by Tehran to promote peace between Islamabad and New Delhi. Pakistan's panic calls come as a report emerged in The New York Times that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached out to over a dozen world leaders. Diplomats from 100 missions in New Delhi have also been called for briefings. However, India is not rallying the international community for help to de-escalate tensions with Pakistan, the report added. "Instead, according to four diplomatic officials aware of the discussions, New Delhi appears to be building a case for military action against its neighbour and archenemy," the report said. The Pakistani High Commission in London reportedly came under attack on Sunday just after Indian and Jewish community members gathered to condemn the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Though the London Metropolitan Police are yet to confirm it, Pakistani media reported that the attack was carried out allegedly by Indians who staged protests outside the High Commission. BREAKING The building of Pakistan's High Commission in London @cosmosvibing pic.twitter.com/Eth9xhoTfu Sanjeeva Tekriwal (@SanjeevaTe49601) April 27, 2025 Two people have been arrested in this connection, according to Pakistani media, which alleged that the building's window panes were shattered and saffron-coloured paint thrown across the buildings exterior and its plaque. According to Pakistan's state media, security around the High Commission has been tightened. This came two days after Indian and Jewish protestors gathered in front of the High Commission to denounce Pakistans support for terror outfits. They also chanted slogans demanding justice for the slain people. On Sunday, Pakistanis also gathered in front of the High Commission to counter-protest. The developments come as a video went viral on social media showing a "Pakistani diplomat" making a threatening "throat-slit gesture" at members of the Indian community who were protesting over the Pahalgam terror attack. The diplomat was later identified as Colonel Taimur Rahat, who is Pakistan Army and Air Advisor. The High Commission's website also cites him as "one of its officials" and serves the defence wing of the Pakistani Army. The Defence Attache at the Pakistan High Commission in London, who threatened to slit the throats of Hindus and Jews protesting against the Pahalgam terrorist attack outside the Pakistani mission, is none other than Col. Taimur Rahat of the Pakistan Army. By the grace of Allah, pic.twitter.com/wDUvrppLyg Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) April 26, 2025 Following this, the London Met Police said they were investigating the incident. "We are aware of this video and are now investigating. Officers are also in touch with the relevant govt department to determine what representations need to be made to the high commission," a statement said. Pak Defense Minister's threat Defense Minister Khawaja Asif raised a threat on Sunday, warning India that "if things escalate, no one can stop us". Asif said the country will give "the Modi government a strong response" and that a conflict between two nuclear powers would pose a significant threat to regional and global peace. "If things escalate, no one can stop us. If Modi chooses to escalate tensions, we will chase him all the way home," said Asif. Interview/ Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general, Bangladesh Nationalist Party Struggles, sacrifices and repeated crackdowns have long defined the political landscape of Bangladesh. Today, elder statesmen like Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, 77, are witnessing a new generation take to the streets in search of a new nationalist identity. As the country looks ahead under an interim government headed by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, the memory of past mass protests, including the one in July last year, looms large. Giving shelter to Sheikh Hasina on INDIAN soil is not being liked by people here. Our government has certainly requested India to send her back to face trial, but it has not been addressed by India in the manner it should have been. It isnt Bangladeshs first tryst with a caretaker government, says Fakhrul, seated beside his wife at his residence in Dhaka after returning from Singapore, where he underwent treatment following a heart block detected during his time in jail. Bangladesh has witnessed multiple transitions not just under elected regimes but under caretaker governments as wella system inbuilt in the constitution to ensure free and fair elections, but abolished by the Sheikh Hasina government in 2011. Last December, the Bangladesh High Court restored the constitutional provision of the non-party caretaker government system for holding parliamentary elections. While the interim government maintains that elections will be held between December 2025 and June 2026, the BNP insists they must be held by this December. We will return to the streets if elections are not held on time, says Fakhrul. Excerpts from an exclusive interview: Q/ You have seen Bangladesh go through many struggles. Do you think the existing political situation is unprecedented? A/ I have been jailed 11 times and not fewer than 110 charges have been brought against me. Our leader Begum Khaleda Zia and her son were in jail. Her son has been running the party from exile, fearing political vendetta. The last 15 years of the Awami League regime saw the killing of thousands of innocent children and forced disappearances, making it the worst experience under a fascist government. Hasina destroyed all the institutionsthe judiciary, the bureaucracy and the economy, especially. They laundered the resources of this country. The entire population wanted change. Today, it is unfortunate that the political parties do not trust each other because of this. Therefore, the role of the interim government is important in holding free and fair elections. At the time of elections, there should be a neutral government. Q/ Is the BNP keen to have reforms first and elections later, or should an elected government initiate the reform process? A/ It is incorrect to make reforms and elections mutually exclusive. It has to be a continuous process. The media say we are opposing reforms, but it is the BNP which first proposed in May 2016 national reforms in the political and economic structures. It is our party, in fact, that brought the multi-party system in 1975 under the initiative of party founder Ziaur Rahman and returned the democratic rights of the people. It was our party that brought the parliamentary form of government in 1991 under Begum Khaleda Zia. It was our party which liberalised the economy for private sector investment. We have already given a 31-point charter for reforms, which has recommendations on most of the points being raised by the interim government. We are committed to it. So, we want elections to be held as soon as possible because no government can function properly without a democratic system. Q/ What is the time frame you are looking at for elections? A/ We have not been given a time frame, but we expect the election to be held by December this year. The adviser to the interim government has told me several times that it can be completed by December. But I dont know about the intentions of the inner circle of the government. Q/ What do you think of Bangladeshs present approach towards India? A/ Unfortunately, in Bangladesh, the younger generation has a negative notion about India. I think India is partially responsible for that because of the perception created about being dependent totally on one political party. I have met several Indian leaders and told them that it would be suicidal if they depended solely on one political party here. India is a big country and should have a people-to-people relationship. But if you ask the rickshaw puller or the vendor here in Bangladesh, he may have a negative opinion today. Why should this happen when it was India who gave shelter to almost 10 million people and fought with us side by side for the liberation of Bangladesh? After 53 years, it is because of the wrong policy that India and Bangladesh are facing some issues today. We want to have a close relationship to tackle basic issues like sharing of waters, stopping the killing of people on the border by Indias border guarding force, the trade imbalance and so on. Both countries should engage to explore the possibility of regaining all these things. We always ask for a better relationship between India and Bangladesh. Q/ Do you think the relationship can be put on track soon? A/ India has not spoken out very clearly, but giving shelter to Sheikh Hasina on its soil is not being liked by people here. Our government has certainly requested India to send her back to face trial, but it has not been addressed by India in the manner it should have been. Several Awami League leaders accused of human rights violations are also being given shelter in India. We hope India can take the lead to help this relationship come out of this mess. Q/ Bangladesh is now leaning towards countries like China and Pakistan. A/ When one neighbour disengages with you, isnt it natural to seek out another? We actually want India to be very practical. It is a very big country and the very nature of diplomacy warrants a practical approach. On the contrary, the Chinese are very smart. The change of government happened on August 5 and by August 78, the Chinese started contacting all opposition parties. In fact, they contacted the chief adviser within 15 days and made many economic proposals. They want business in Bangladesh and we want investment in Bangladesh. If they come out with good proposals for investments, why not? Q/ What do you think about Pakistan? A/ There has been lots of engagement with Pakistan and yes, they are taking advantage. But what kind of advantage, because Pakistan is quite a faraway country? There are certain sectors that can be considered by policymakers, like the textile industry. They are coming ahead with rice exports to Bangladesh along with other food exports. I dont think there should be any problem with us engaging India, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Why shouldnt there be good relationships among neighbours? We all are very small countries and India is a very big country. India should behave like a truly generous neighbour. Q/ Why do you think India is not being a truly generous neighbour? A/ I think India has serious security concerns. India may believe that if other countries come close to us, like China, they can take advantage of it. India could not convey its sentiment to the people of Bangladesh, especially regarding its security concerns, because India was relying only on the Awami League. But today, if India comes forward with good proposals, why should we have a hostile relationship with India? Also, the most important part is non-interference in the internal politics of Bangladesh. India should immediately come with a new spirit of friendship to the people of Bangladesh. We are your responsible neighbour, not an enemy. India is a big economy and Bangladesh is a good market. Q/ Who would be the face of the BNP when elections are held? A/ If Begum Khaleda Zias health allows, she will definitely lead, but if she cannot, then our acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, will lead the party. Q/ How soon will we see Tarique returning to Bangladesh? A/ I think he will be coming this month along with Begum Zia because the doctors have completed her examinations. Interview/ Dr Shafiqur Rahman, Ameer, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Hawkers and rickshaw pullers crowd the congested lane that turns into a comparatively open stretch where the obscurely located office of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami functions quietly. Railway lines have almost reached Dhakas Boro Moghbazar, promising to connect the Jamaats central office to the outside world, adding more footfall to the headquarters that was shut down in September 2011 after the group was banned by the Sheikh Hasina government. The office has been reopened after Hasinas ouster. We should thank you, you have come all the way from India, says Dr Shafiqur Rahman, Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. There is some propaganda against Jamaat, that we are against the rights of religious minorities or that we are not interested in upholding the rights of women. It is not true. Rahman is aware of the apprehensions in India regarding the massacre of minorities and vigilantism on the streets, and about the expansion of the radical space that can snap the secular thread that binds his country with India. Jamaats domestic space might have opened up, but its next steps will determine how ready Bangladeshis are to embrace it. On issues plaguing bilateral ties, Rahman says it is the mutual responsibility of both countries to address them. Excerpts from an interview: Q/ Is the law and order situation a concern in Bangladesh? A/ During the July uprising, police fled from police stations, but we made an appeal to the people to volunteer to help improve the law and order situation. Our volunteers, cutting across religion, worked together day and night for 15 days. I appreciate their efforts because they braved difficulties and discharged their duties. At the same time, we declared we will not take revenge on anyone. But the perpetrators must be brought to justice. It is our policy not to file false cases and only to seek justice against people who are undoubtedly related to the crime. This is a very sensitive moment. Awami League leaders used to say that the day their party is not in power, at least five lakh people will be killed by the opposition. But nothing like that happened. Q/ What about communal violence and mob justice? A/ We are sitting together with all religious leaders. We have visited the main religious institutions, including temples and churches. We have sat together and exchanged our views on how we can help each other maintain discipline and tranquillity in society. We feel this initiative has been very useful in keeping the law and order situation under control. People are the worst sufferers of mob justice. We never support it. We do not want to divide the nation in any way into majority or minority. If we divide our nation on the basis of religion or other things, it becomes weaker. We feel all Bangladeshi citizens should enjoy the same rights. There is some propaganda against Jamaat, that we are against the rights of religious minorities or that we are not interested in upholding the rights of women. It is not true. Our leaders or activists have never discriminated on such grounds. In 2013, I wrote a letter to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations to form a committee and conduct an investigation and find out whether anyone from our party was guilty on these counts. But we got no response. We had to approach international authorities because we could not expect the fascist government in Bangladesh to do justice. Q/ What is the roadmap of Jamaat after the elections? A/ We have participated in every credible national election and in all local government elections at all levels. We have had a good number of elected representatives in parliament and local governments. We believe in the democratic process. We feel power should be transferred in a peaceful manner. Our first focus is on educating the youth, who are the architects of the country. We want to empower them with modern technology, to make better use of their skills. Therefore, skill development is our next focus. If we improve our workforce, we can face challenges in a better way. Then there are concerns of climate change, the need for entrepreneurship and a corruption-free society. We need to prepare a generation that will serve the country with honesty, dignity and smartness. In the past, we have held portfolios of agriculture, industry and social welfare and won international recognition for corruption-free governance. Q/ How do you ensure there is democracy as well as discipline within Jamaat? A/ Our commitment to democracy is clear. We maintain it within our organisation and within the country. Our central body is elected for three years. This is the last year of our tenure, and this year itself, our central committee elections will be held. We have elections in every tier of our organisation and we have both male and female representation. In fact, 43 per cent of our members are female. There is more progress in issues related to women than men within our organisation. If people support us and we get a chance to serve them, our service will be oriented to the welfare of all. Q/ You recently met Begum Khaleda Zia in London. A/ Begum Khaleda Zia is suffering from many chronic diseases, but mentally she is a bit better now because she is living with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters. After a long, traumatised life, she is carrying the scars of her struggle for Bangladesh. She did not speak much, but I had a general discussion with her son, Tarique Rahman, on the situation in Bangladesh. He connects with his party cadres virtually. For the sake of the country, we hope he will come back and lead his party. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Im very happy to be visiting Azerbaijan, said President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview with Azerbaijani Television (AzTV), Trend reports. "I'm very happy to be visiting Azerbaijan because we dont consider it foreign, and we dont feel like strangers there. Weve shared a common history in the past," he said. He added that the peoples of Azerbaijan and Iran have stood by each other in both good and bad times. "Our top priority is to have close relationships with our neighboring countries. Theres no sense of foreignness between Azerbaijan and us," he concluded. Interview/ Muhammad Nahid Islam, convener, National Citizen Party Muhammad Nahid Islam was the central coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, formed during the nationwide agitation against quota-based recruitment for government jobs in Bangladesh. He was at the forefront of the movement as it turned into a larger platform for students protesting against the Sheikh Hasina government. When an interim government took over under the leadership of Dr Muhammad Yunus after Hasinas ouster, Nahid joined it as an adviser. He now serves as the convener of the students-led National Citizen Party. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Nahid says his party wants the next elections to usher in not only a new government, but also fundamental constitutional changes. Excerpts: India has clearly supported the Hasina regimeboth overtly and covertly. In doing so, it often acted against the interests of Bangladesh. India maintained relations only with the Awami League and ignored the people and the state of Bangladesh. Q/ What were the challenges you faced during the July uprising? A/ Bangladesh was under an authoritarian regime for 15 years. It was a fascist government where people had no freedom of expression or democratic rights. Elections were rigged, dissent was crushed and protesters arrested. Torture cells were set up in universities. Our movement began as a non-political quota reform protest, but the anger had been building since 2018, especially when quotas were reinstated through the courts. Students were furious. The movement began organically. Initially, there was no obstruction, but the government refused to acknowledge our demands. As the protests gained public support, the Chhatra League, which is the ruling partys student wing, resorted to violence. They targeted female students first, especially those leading the protests in Dhaka University, followed by attacks in other universities like Jahangirnagar, Rajshahi and Chittagong. When people responded to these attacks, police opened fire, and students were martyred. We called for a complete shutdown. Students from private universities and madrasas, too, joined us. Those of us leading the movement faced severe persecution. Our families were harassed. I was abducted by intelligence officers, tortured, and denied medical treatment. We were held for six days and forced to make statements urging an end to the protests. Despite that, the movement continued. The government had lost its legitimacy after shooting its own citizens. We raised a one-point demand for Sheikh Hasinas resignation and resolved to build state infrastructure against fascism. Q/ Why did you choose Dr Muhammad Yunus to lead? How was your experience in the interim government? A/ On August 5, when the Hasina regime collapsed and we were tasked with forming an interim government, we consulted various parties to form a national government, but none agreed. We needed a widely acceptable leader. Dr Yunus had international stature, economic expertise and had himself been persecuted by the regime. He initially declined, saying he was not a politician. But we urged him to help us and he finally agreed to lead the interim government. Three of us from the students movement joined the government to ensure its legitimacy and uphold the movements spirit. The past seven months have been challenging. The risk of counter-revolution was real. The police force had collapsed and law and order was in disarray. Despite infiltration from the old regime among bureaucrats and the police, the interim government has stabilised. Dr Yunus has brought control and direction. People are now showing satisfaction. By February, students began working on forming a new political party. Since existing parties were abandoning the cause of reform, it was time for a new political force. I realised I could contribute more from outside the government, so I stepped down and took responsibility for building the party. Q/ The interim government promised a transition to elections. How committed is your party to that? A/ From the beginning, we made it clear this interim government was not just here to hold elections. It was born out of a mass movement with specific commitments: justice for the July massacre and structural reforms. We did not just want a change of power from one party to another; we wanted a new political settlementa new constitution, economic reform and true democracy. We have formed a Reforms Commission to lay the foundation. Our partys position is that the next elections should usher in not only a new government but also fundamental constitutional changes. Some parties, including the BNP, have opposed this. A tentative timeline has been set for elections, which we have tentatively supported. But unless the movements core demandsjustice and reformare addressed, we must consider whether participating in elections without change would serve our purpose. Q/ Jamaat-e-Islami and other groups have also supported your movement. What role do you see for Jamaat post-election? A/ Several anti-fascist parties, including the BNP, Jamaat and some leftist groups, participated in this movement. Today, even Awami League supporters can speak freely. Jamaat has a long history in Bangladeshs politics. As we approach the elections, they will try to mobilise their base. But our stance is clear. While we acknowledge their involvement in the movement, our partythe National Citizen Partybelieves that the existing parties cannot fulfil the aspirations of todays youth. We are creating an independent political path. We are not seeking a coalition. Q/ How do you look at Indias role, and how will your party approach bilateral ties? A/ India has clearly supported the Hasina regimeboth overtly and covertly. In doing so, it often acted against the interests of Bangladesh. India maintained relations only with the Awami League and ignored the people and the state of Bangladesh. Going forward, we want state-to-state and people-to-people ties with Indiabased on peace, cooperation and mutual respect. Bangladesh must not be viewed solely through the lens of any one party. We seek a balanced and democratic South Asia. India must rethink its policy towards Bangladesh. Our sovereignty and freedom must be respected. Since August 5, we have seen anti-uprising propaganda from Indian media and continued support for Hasina. This has not been well received by our people. To rebuild relations, India must engage with Bangladesh as a whole, not just with political elites. DHAKA Yunus is a dreamer, says Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. They have been friends since their days at Dhaka University, and a portrait of the two, taken in their youth, hangs in Alamgirs living room. It is a testament to a bond forged in the fervour of campus life and tempered by the demands of politics. Even back then, Yunus was a thinker, he says. Our paths have crossed again and I think he means well for the country. Before fatigue sets in with the eight-month-old interim government, Yunus, its chief adviser, has the crucial task of ensuring that the promises of reform are not used as a pretext to delay elections. The elders are now guiding the vision for Bangladesh 2.0 even as a generation unburdened by the cynicism of the past is pushing for a new political landscape where there is political freedom and a new nationalist spirit. The BNP has emerged as the largest political force following the ouster of Sheikh Hasinas Awami League. The National Citizen Party (NCP)born out of the July 2024 regime changeand the Jamaat-e-Islami complete the current political triad. Though the NCP was the one that brought about the forced regime change, it needs constructive goals, political depth and grassroots presence to clean up the perceived ills of the previous governmentsan entrenched network of political patronage that has expanded across government, bureaucracy, business and even the judiciary. This model has enabled a vast distribution of state favours, not as a result of lobbying or traditional rent-seeking, but through top-down allocation of benefits in return for political loyalty over the years, says Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, professor of economics in Dhaka Universitys department of development studies. The old and new generations agree that youth-led political movements hold long-term promise and act as a pressure valve for a society that resists authoritarian tendencies. This was the primary sentiment that drove mainstream political parties, writers, artists and members of the civil society to join students on the streets during the protests. They are inexperienced, yes, but Gen Z supports them, says Rezaul Karim Rony, writer and political commentator. If they stay committed to pro-democracy values, their future could be bright. The dust has settled after the July violence and the air is slowly getting heavy with the tensions of navigating a forced transition. Before fatigue sets in with the eight-month-old interim government, Yunus, its chief adviser, has the crucial task of ensuring that the promises of reform are not used as a pretext to delay elections. It is equally important for him to discredit the growing perception that certain ideologies within the cabinet and outside are pushing a conservative agenda. Behind the scenes, a handful of advisers is driving the agenda, says Zillur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Governance Studies in Dhaka. The perceived rise of right-wing forces worries him. Some extremists seem aligned with the ruling camp, he warns. This government is neither neutral nor transitionalit is political, and it is backing the newly formed NCP. The recent death of Bhabesh Chandra Roy, the Hindu leader in Bangladesh, has only added to the worries of the Yunus administration. The killing follows a pattern of systematic persecution of Hindu minorities under the interim government even as the perpetrators of previous such events roam with impunity, said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson in the Indian external affairs ministry. There is also worry about the safety of women on the streets. Shamaruh Mirza, Alamgirs daughter, admits that while she is concerned, she also has hope. We havent stopped raising our voice against the far-right forces, she says. As long as people continue to speak up and push back, there is still a chance to protect and strengthen those rights. Lines blur when uncertainty grips a country, and the current atmosphere is troubling people. We have instances where things did go wrong, but that doesnt mean it is a crazy country that kills each other, kills their people, Yunus told THE WEEK in an exclusive interview. Thats not Bangladesh. One of the reasons the violence in the past eight months has not created much public outrage is that the July protests showed the Hasina regime in such poor light. People from all sections of society, cutting across social, cultural and religious lines, came out during the uprising, says Mahfuz Alam, adviser for information and broadcasting in Bangladesh. It was like the Arab Spring often dubbed as the Facebook revolution. Do you remember the poem, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised? In this digital era, revolution is being televised every time you do something. Social media makes a huge impact. Our diaspora around the world took part in the uprising. Fear in the air: Hindus in Dhaka protest the recent attacks on their community | Getty Images Internet shutdowns and police crackdowns did not dampen the rage of the youth, he says. And this is not a bubble [of privileged people] that was created by the previous (Hasina) regime. These are ordinary students who started [the protests] asking for a regular job and a happy life. When the interim government took charge, expectations were sky-high. Eight months later, though, a realisation is creeping in that it might take longer than expected to reform the entire system. Governance remains weak as reforms get underway, the economy is unstable as political uncertainty is making investors nervous, and law and order has deteriorated after the policing system collapsed and left the army playing the role of guardian. Fingers are crossed in hope that the interim government speedily rolls out the national charter of reforms before elections are scheduled. The basket of reforms is overflowingconstitution, elections, police and judiciary, to name a few. Transitions are always uncertain, especially democratic ones, says professor Ali Riaz, vice-chairman of the National Consensus Commission, which is carrying out a consultation process for building the national charter. Everyone wants a better future. There will be challenges, but we see more prospects. The best way to avoid unrest is to improve, listen and ensure that all voices feel heard. The Consensus Commission is engaged in conversations with 12 political parties, including the BNP. We are focusing on areas of divergence and partial agreement, trying to understand their arguments and explain the basis of our 166 recommendations. The first round of talks with political parties is expected to conclude by mid-May, followed by a second round, if necessary, with the commissions tenure ending in mid-July. The primary concern among political parties is the concentration of power in the prime ministers office, said Riaz. Over the years, amendments have weakened institutions instead of strengthening them. The Consensus Commission plans to gather inputs from the public through websites and civil society interactions to ensure that the changes are truly reflective of the peoples will. This is not just an election cycle, says Riaz, who sees this as an opportunity to rebuild Bangladesh as a democratic, accountable statea promise made at independence. But this road to reform will be long, and in that time the country could plunge into unrest again. A fresh cycle of protests can happen in three scenarios, says Asif Bin Ali, a political analyst and doctoral fellow at Georgia State University. First, if student leaders who participated in the protestsnow part of NCP or the interim governmentare not satisfied with the structure or pace of reforms and want the elections to be delayed. Second, if the BNP demands early elections and prompts its cadres to hit the streets. Third, if the Awami League works at a subterranean level to make a comeback to the election process. In all three scenarios, the role of the Jamaat will also be watched closely, says Ali. With its strong history and roots, it continues to remain a disciplined but marginalised force with limited national political influence in the country. This, he says, could prompt it to explore an electoral understanding with other parties to grab the opposition space. If the BNP returns to power, post-election divisions and power struggles seem inevitable. Experts feel the real challenge for Bangladesh will be the creation of an opposition spacewhich has been missing for longto prevent the concentration of power with the ruling party. Zillur says the BNP has shown signs of maturity, having stayed out of power for three terms consecutively. Theyve kept a distance from the Jamaat-e-Islami. They want liberal democratic politics now, he says. Political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman says the Jamaat is trying to project closeness with the BNP when there is none. The BNP doesnt need the Jamaat right now, he says. Their (Jamaat) vote share is only 3 to 5 per cent. Bangladeshs electoral history speaks of four elections that have been widely accepted by the people1991, (June) 1996, and 2001 and 2008. The rest were compromised, says Rahman. As for the upcoming polls, he warns, If theres no real contest, there will be no real legitimacy. A passive fight is no fight. Fighting for the future: The public debut of the National Citizen Party in Dhaka on February 28 | Getty Images While the BNP initially supported the interim setup, it is beginning to feel that this government wants to stay in power beyond its mandate. As for the Awami League, which has largely been excluded from the political process, Zillur feels its silence could hurt its future prospects. Theyre still a major party with grassroots strength, he says. But they need to open channels of dialogue or risk becoming irrelevant. While the pro-election sentiment cannot be ignored for long, the question is whether the political system is ready for a free and fair election. The NCP, for instance, is not ready to jump into elections as it feels the political system favours mainstream political parties. Moreover, the vast rural stretches outside Dhaka are yet to experience the new party. The NCP might have become a rage among the intelligentsia and social media, but it is yet to create a leadership that can get support during elections. The young party also has to be mindful that its entry into politics is not backed by either a popular demand or by state structures, including the Yunus administration. This is the first time I am joining a political platform, so the decision was not easy, says Tasnim Jara, senior joint member secretary of the NCP. However, I have found many intelligent, thoughtful and honest individuals in the party who have made extraordinary sacrifices to realise the aspirations of an uprising. Jara, however, warns her party against corruption. Youngsters are vulnerable to the trappings of power as they are developing their ethical compass. The focus of our party is on internal accountability and ensuring that we are able to understand that legitimacy in politics comes from integrity and public service rather than the display of power. The NCP makes no bones about utilising the experience of the older generation who form part of its advisory council and strategic leadership. We are young and energetic but at the same time we need to tap into the experience of our elders, but not accept their ideas uncritically and vice versa, says Jara. In the post-Hasina era, even all-powerful parties like the BNP say that political transition will only be successful if they are able to grow out of the cycle of power being consolidated in any one political party. To move towards democracy, we need elections where people can express their views and choose their own representatives, and that can happen once crucial election-related structural reforms take place. All other reforms should be carried out by the elected government with a public mandate, says Mahdi Amin, adviser to BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman. A BNP rally in Dhaka last November | Getty Images The BNP is putting pressure on the interim government to provide a roadmap for the elections. It has also carefully aligned its internal and external approach to become an acceptable face in the region where interests of Bangladesh cannot be detached from Indias concerns. The India-Bangladesh relationship has gone through many phases, says Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, BNP standing committee member. The water-sharing issues, border killings and tariff barriers have been sticking points. Now it is misinformation. The relationship needs to have mutual respect, mutual interest and non-interference in internal affairs. While for India its national security interests are paramount in the relationship, Dhaka seems to be supporting multilateralism over a country-centric approach. However, recent visits of Chinese and Pakistani delegations have turned irritants for India. If you obstruct the water here, it will find its level somewhere else, says Chowdhury. So economics and trade is exactly the same. Almost all political parties in Bangladesh want a long-term partnership with India. After all, as Amin explains, Bangladesh wants to form a long-term and reciprocal partnership with India, built on trust, fairness and justice. It should be a collective interest to stand for the reflection of the aspiration of people, and create multifaceted ties. Amin says Bangladeshs intrinsic makeup is pro-democracy. The people want to see a tolerant society where they are treated in a dignified way and exercise their voting rights, he says. Where no one humiliates anybody or resorts to political vengeance. The people of Bangladesh fought hard for democracy. We should uphold that spirit and ensure freedoms and rights for all. Agudath Israel of America blasted Harvard Universitys decision to sue the Trump administration rather than cooperate with federal efforts to address the endemic antisemitism festering on its campuses. The standoff comes at a time of crisis for Jewish students nationwide, as antisemitic incidents on college campuses skyrocket in the wake of the October 7th Hamas massacre. According to the Anti-Defamation Leagues newly released Audit of Antisemitic Incidents: 2024, campus-related incidents rose by a staggering 84%the steepest increase of any category. Agudath Israel says it has received an alarming volume of reports from students who describe elite campuses spiraling into anarchic cesspools of Jew-hatred. And Harvard, long regarded as a symbol of academic prestige, has become a focal point in the national reckoning. Several lawsuits and active federal Title VI investigations have been filed against the university by Jewish students alleging harassment and discrimination. Yet instead of joining peer institutions like Columbia University in working with the Department of Education to implement reforms, Harvard has taken the combative routefiling a lawsuit to block federal oversight altogether. This approach benefits no one, Agudath Israel said in a statement. Federal funding will be tied up, research will be halted, and Jewish students will remain less protected. While Harvard claims to be taking steps to address the problem and preserve its institutional independence, Agudath Israel questioned the sincerity of those efforts. Such claims would be more credible, the organization said, if Harvard had shown the same urgency and initiative in confronting the antisemitism it allowed to fester as it now does in battling the federal government. The group thanked the Trump administration for its moral clarity and principled stance in demanding real accountability from academic institutions and called on universities nationwide to show the humility required to fix what has become a systemic failure. In a moment that calls for bold leadership and introspection, the statement concluded, Harvard has chosen defiance. The Jewish communityand the nationdeserves better. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law. In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center until further order of this court. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given a reasonable time to contest their pending removals. We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals. These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process, ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email. The Trump administration later Saturday filed paperwork urging the high court to reconsider its hold. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Saturday in a post on X: We are confident we will ultimately prevail against the onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists. On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation, even as one judge said the case raised legitimate concerns. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported. The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act. In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald Trumps use of the act. The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status. Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court. But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area under the act because he said removals hadnt started yet. But the ACLUs Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the client only spoke Spanish. ICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it, Brown wrote. Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that the administration initially moved Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. But since a judge banned deportations in that area, it has funneled them to the Bluebonnet facility, where no such order exists. He said witnesses reported the men were being loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport. With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLUs request for an emergency order, the group turned to Boasberg, who initially halted deportations in March. The Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him powerless Friday. Im sympathetic to everything youre saying, Boasberg told Gelernt. I just dont think I have the power to do anything about it. Boasberg this week found theres probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his initial deportation ban. He was concerned that the paper that ICE was giving those held did not make clear they had a right to challenge their removal in court, which he believed the Supreme Court mandated. Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, disagreed, saying that people slated for deportation would have a minimum of 24 hours to challenge their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it reserved the right to remove people then. ICE said it would not comment on the litigation. Also Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his temporary ban on the administration deporting immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home countries unless they are informed of their destination and given a chance to object if theyd face torture or death there. Some Venezuelans subject to Trumps Alien Enemies Act have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison. (AP) Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said Saturday, as tensions flared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists last week. India described the massacre, in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, as a terror attack and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan denies the charge. The assault, near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance. It was the restive regions worst assault targeting civilians in years. In the days since, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. The region is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. The Indian army said Saturday that soldiers from multiple Pakistani army posts overnight opened fire at Indian troops all across the Line of Control in Kashmir. Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms, the statement said. There were no casualties reported, the statement added. There was no comment from Pakistan, and the incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region. Markets and bazaars were open in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Saturday, and there was no sign of evacuations from villages near the Line of Control. Tit-for-tat measures and a spike in tensions After the tourist attack, India suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty and closed the only functional land border crossing. It revoked visas issued to Pakistanis with effect from Sunday. Pakistan retaliated by canceling visas issued to Indians, closing its airspace to Indian airlines, and suspending trade with its neighbor. Nationals from both sides began heading to their home countries through the Wagah border near Pakistans eastern city of Lahore on Friday. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday vowed the government would respond with full force and might to Indian attempts to stop or divert the flow of water. He also said Pakistan was open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation into the tourist attack. On Saturday, a Pakistani official from the disaster management agency, Saeed Qureshi, accused India of suddenly releasing large amounts of water into the Jhelum River, raising fears of flooding in parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Authorities told residents living along the riverbank to evacuate, Qureshi said. A spokesman for Indias External Affairs Ministry was not immediately available for comment. New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism, a charge Pakistan rejects. Many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989 for uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Iran offers to mediate, while Trump declines to engage With tensions high, Iran offered mediation, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected them to work out their differences. Tehran stands ready to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to forge greater understanding at this difficult time, Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday. India and Pakistan are brotherly neighbors of Iran. Like other neighbors, we consider them our foremost priority, Araghchi wrote in a social media post. Trump on Friday said theres great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been. Trump, who spoke on board Air Force One, did not answer when asked by reporters whether he would contact leaders of the two countries, but said theyll get it figured out one way or the other. The U.S. has long called for calm between India and Pakistan, and mediated during a major border skirmish in 1999. U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard expressed solidarity with India in its hunt for the perpetrators of the recent attack. India intensifies its crackdown in Kashmir After Tuesdays assault, Indian forces intensified a crackdown in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion. They detained and questioned at least 1,500 people, three police officials said. Troops detonated explosives in the family homes of at least three suspected militants in southern Kashmir Friday night, residents said. In one such incident, dozens of other houses also suffered damage, with their windowpanes shattering and walls cracking due to the impact of the blast. The police officials insisted on anonymity, in keeping with their departmental policy, while the villagers feared reprisals from authorities. Early Friday, troops also destroyed the family homes of two suspected militants they accused of being involved in Tuesdays attack. Indian troops demolish homes as a common anti-militancy tactic in Kashmir. (AP) A month ago I wrote a letter to Yeshiva World trying to give some context and support to the new Shidduch initiative. I wrote it as a complete outsider to any and all efforts to help with the Shidduch crisis, with my only connection being a witness to the suffering it causes to so many. I wrote the letter simply frustrated with the criticism of people who, before even hearing what the plan is, rush to criticize an effort that Rabbonim have collectively given thousands of hours to formulate and develop to help with such a real and painful problem. Through Hashgacha Pratis I was connected with a Rav involved in the initiative, and I learned that beyond the earlier OU study, Rabbonim recently directed a more comprehensive project tracking thousands of 8th grade graduates from numerous Yeshivas and Bais Yaakovs over the past twenty years. This data collectioncategorized by age, year, school, and communityprovides conclusive evidence that intervention is necessary. While the Rabbonim have guided against public release of the statistics for now to prevent unhelpful anxiety and hurt, theyre preparing the data to share privately with interested parties (you can request to receive the data when its anonymized for the public by emailing [email protected]). That said, having had a window into the incredible effort by Gedolei Torah, Roshei Yeshiva, and Rabbonim to do for Klal Yisrael and Bnos Yisrael in this extremely busy time of the yeargiving away hours upon hours to work on various plans that will unfold in the coming months to introduce and launch the initiative to the communityI feel compelled to do my part as a random member of the tzibur, not a Rav, askan or anything just a Yid that cares. The reality is that this issue affects people differently. For some, its merely an academic discussionan actuarial debate that can be researched gradually over decades. But for many of usperhaps the silent majority who have lived through this parsha ourselves, as singles, as parents, or as witnesses to family and friends struggleswe know this is not merely a theoretical discussion. Its a painful reality causing real, raw and ongoing human suffering that often goes unrecognized. Because not everyone understands the depth of this pain, they may not grasp the urgency of this initiative. Therefore, we all need to speak up why coming together as a Tzibur is so crucial now. So I turn to you, the reader, and ask: If you go to sleep with a lump in your throat seeing your daughter come back from yet another younger friends chasuna, while she has been waiting for years and hasnt dated in 10 months please speak up and tell your Rav about the pain. Tell him youre ready to do things differently. If you bite your lip seeing your daughter davening so intensely for her shidduch for so many years, and wish you could somehow help please speak up and tell your sons Rosh Yeshiva about the pain. Tell him youre ready to do things differently. If your heart aches for the thousands of singles dreading spending a three-day Yom Tov either alone or surrounded by their younger married siblings and their children please speak up and tell your daughters seminary principal about the pain. Tell her youre ready to do things differently. If you silently cry for your neighbors daughter who came back from seminary so innocently happy and hopeful, and now, years later is becoming increasingly bitter and withdrawn please speak up and tell your daughters 12th grade Mechaneches about the pain. Tell her youre ready to do things differently. If you wince knowing that tenth graders are going through high school with anxieties about whether they will be able to find a shidduch and get married please speak up and tell your friends. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If you hurt for your coworker who grew up in a difficult family situation and so badly wants to start a new life and build her own family but struggles to get a date because of our imbalanced shidduch system please speak up and tell your family about the pain. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If you have spent many suppers telling your husband how you wish you could somehow find a shidduch for your classmates who dont have a husband to eat supper with please ask your husband to speak up and tell his friends about the pain. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If you weep for your former student who, after years without suggestions, has cycled through segulos, brachos from tzadikim, and havtachos from mekubalim, only to grow increasingly disillusioned with everything she was raised to believe please speak up. Tell your students about the pain. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If your heart hurts when your former seminary roommate still single comes to tell you Mazel Tov at your third childs bris please speak up. Tell those around you about the pain. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If you come to your in-laws for Pesach and feel for your sister-in-law who returned from seminary two years ago without a single date, with phones deafeningly silent please speak up. Tell your chavrusa about the pain. Tell him youre ready to do things differently. If the Bonei Olam ads pull at your heart and inspire you to donate to that wonderful organization, think about your unmarried cousins dreams of holding her own baby and please speak up. Tell your neighbors about the pain. Tell them youre ready to do things differently. If you silently weep seeing your niecea wonderful Bais Yaakov girlstruggle for years to find a shidduch while heroically holding onto Yiddishkeit despite her sense of betrayal by a system making it so hard for her -please speak up. Tell your friend from your table in shul about the pain. Tell him youre ready to do things differently. If you ache for your granddaughter, overhearing her told not to be so picky, knowing that its been years since shes gotten a single yes to be picky about please speak up. Share the pain with your grandson. Tell him you are ready to doing things differently. If you hurt watching your sister and brother-in-law deal with a home cracking from the tension of a younger sister getting engaged before her older sister, please speak up and tell your friend from the gym about the pain. Tell him youre ready to do things differently. Yes, speaking up takes courage and vulnerability. But staying silent and letting the status quo continue will be even harder in the long run. If you cant make a phone call, then at least write a letter or send an email. If you arent willing to sign your name, then send it anonymously. We need to understand that we cant expect singles themselves (and sometimes nor their parents) to be open about the pain; it is too raw, and they are in such a vulnerable place already and subject to so much indignity as is. Kol Yisroel Areivim zeh lazehwe have a responsibility of Psach Picha Lileim (Mishlei 31:8). If we dont speak up, who will? And even if you have some critique of the plan, some objections, and some misgivings, I ask you to weigh and be Mechashev Sechar Mitzvah Kneged Hefseida. What if you are right, and this initiative isnt the solution we hoped for? What is the worst case scenario? Boys will get married a few months younger and girls a few months older, and we can then use this valuable experience to further guide Klal Yisraels hishtadlus, and our Ahavas Yisrael, Nesius Bol and Achdus will have generated extraordinary zechusim for Klal Yisrael. But what if the Rabbonim are right and you were wrong? Then what is the worst-case scenario? That chas vshalom we dont come together to make this happen, and because of that, thousands of girls and their families continue to go through incredible pain, that the river of silent tears this issue has caused continues to flow, unheard, unheeded, and unchecked, that we have to face the Ribono Shel Olam after 120 with the guilt of having caused such suffering and anguish. So I urge you, even if you have some criticism, some misgivings, some skepticism, and some doubt, please join Gedolei Yisroel and Klal Yisroel in making this initiative happen. Because yes, maybe this initiative is new and unprecedented, but whats more unprecedented is the degree of suffering this issue is causing. And it would be even more unprecedented for usa nation that is so committed to helping each other in every way possibleto turn a blind eye to the real human element of this issue and just continue to debate and ideate about it instead of doing something about it. We come together to raise and distribute tens of millions of dollars before Pesach so that everyone has with what to make Pesach. Surely, we can come together to do our part, so that Bnos Yisrael are able to have with whom to make Pesach! We come together to create and support incredible organizations to help couples struggling with infertility have children; surely we can come together and speak up to help Bnos Yisrael get married and have children! We come together quickly and quietly raise incredible amounts of money for women who have lost their husbands. Surely we can come together and speak up so Bnos Yisrael can find their husbands! We raise enormous sums of money to ensure that every girl has what to walk down to the chuppah with. Surely, we can come together to ensure that every girl has with whom to walk down the chuppah with! The next few months will likely have a lot of back and forth between the tzibur and the Rabbonim. Questions will be asked and answered, perspectives will be shared and heard, and slowly Klal Yisroel will begin to adjust to the mindset shift that adopting the initiative will require. But now, in its beginning stages, we have an opportunity to be part of the Asarah Rishonim shebain leBeis HaKnesses notlin sechar kneged kol habain achareihem (Brachos 47b), and acquire the infinite and eternal zechus of the thousands of shidduchim that this initiative will bezras Hashem create, along with the zechusim from the generations that will bezras Hashem come about as a result of these shidduchim. We need to come together and say we are ready, willing, and able. We are ready to listen to the guidelines of the Initiative: If we are boys, we will go to Eretz Yisroel earlier and start shidduchim earlier. If we are boys or boys mothers, we will not look into any names of girls before Shavuos of their first year post-seminary. Whether we are professional shadchanim or just family and friends, we will refrain from suggesting or facilitating shidduchim for any girl before Shavuos, and instead focus on girls who are past that milestone. And finally, if we are girls or mothers of girls who are just returning from seminarythe demographic for whom we are moving worldswe, too, will cooperate by not beginning shidduchim before Shavuos. We have an opportunity to come together and make this painful problem a thing of the past. In closing, I ask of you: the Gedolim, Rabbonim, and Roshei Yeshiva are working so tirelessly on this. We need to join them and start speaking up. If the Ribono Shel Olam looks down and sees us joining Gedolei Yisroel for Bnos Yisroel, He too will surely join us and send us the yeshuos we need in this area for everyoneyoung and old, boys and girlsin the ways that only He can. Sincerely, Akiva Kleinberg P.S. If you have any questions about this topic or would like additional information, please feel free to reach out at [email protected] The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review. Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years. In a statement, the military said intelligence reports indicated the killed militants were Khwarij a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban. Without directly blaming anyone, the military said the slain insurgents had been sent by their foreign masters to carry out high-profile terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border. The military said the infiltration attempt came at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan following a recent deadly assault on tourists in India-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan in recent months has witnessed a surge in violence, mostly blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It is a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then. Pakistans Information Minister Attaullah Tatar on Sunday told the foreign media that New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistans security forces from their focus on the war on its western borders. (AP) Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and airstrikes across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, killing at least four people, officials said, after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. Three people died and four were wounded Sunday morning in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, the regional prosecutors office said. Another person died and a 14-year-old girl was wounded in a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, local Gov. Serhii Lysak said. The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing. Trump said Saturday that he doubts Putin wants to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, expressing new skepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were very close to a deal. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Francis funeral at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. The Trump-Zelenskyy conversation on the sidelines of the popes funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February. Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one other in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday morning, according to local officials. Russias Defense Ministry said Sunday that air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the citys Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said. (AP) Donald Trump might as well be on the ballot when Canadians vote for a new government. The U.S. presidents trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in nationalism that has helped the Liberal Party flip the narrative heading into Mondays parliamentary election, at least in opinion polls. Trump is the campaign, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said. The ballot question is who is the person we are going to choose to face Trump. Everything has changed. Foreign policy hasnt affected a Canadian election this much since 1988, when, ironically, free trade with the United States dominated the political discourse. Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal leader who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeaus resignation, led in the polls heading into Monday, marking a dramatic turnaround for a party that seemed destined for a crushing defeat until Trump started launching broadsides at Canadas economy and sovereignty. We are in a crisis. President Trump is threatening Canada, hes threatening our companies, hes threatening our workers, hes threatening the savings of our retirees, Carney said Tuesday. This threat is not only an economic threat, it is an existential threat. Until a few months ago, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become the next prime minister by shepherding his opposition faction back into power for the first time in a decade. Trumps tough talk could hurt his ideological allies abroad Charest, a moderate who led Canadas French-speaking province from 2003-2012, said if Trump wants to help his ideological allies abroad, he needs to tone down the bluster. At what point are the Trump folks going to think this thing through and measure what are the consequences? Charest said. In the White House, they should sit down and think about the effect Trump has in the world, he added. Carney has accused Trump of severing the close relationship that Canada and the U.S. long enjoyed. Poilievre, meanwhile, would be very much in sync with the new direction in America, said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a Conservative ally. As such, Poilievre has offered a more muted response to Trumps rhetoric and economic maneuvering, imploring Canadians to deny the Liberals a fourth-straight term after what he described as a lost Liberal decade. What will the result of Canadas election mean for the US? Trump has threatened to slap steep tariffs on Canadian goods, and both Carney and Poilievre said that, if elected, they would accelerate renegotiations of the countries free trade deal in an effort to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies. Carney plans to diversify Canadas exports and is reviewing the remaining purchase order of U.S. F-35 fighter jets to see if there are other options given the changing environment. Carney visited Paris and London, not Washington, for his first trips as prime minister. But almost 80% of Canadas exports go to the U.S. Lets be honest, if Canada does a remarkable job a remarkable job of diversifying trade, what is that going to look like? said former Foreign Minister John Baird, noting that even shifting 3% 5% over five years would be quite an achievement. Lets keep our eye on the main ball. They are 78% of our customers so we need to tackle that challenge, said Baird, a Conservative who works as a senior adviser at a law firm. What do the polls say? In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll, which was conducted during a three-day period that ended April 26, the Liberals led by 4 percentage points nationally and 6 points in Ontario, Canadas most populous province, which has 122 of the 343 seats in Parliament. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points, while the latest poll had a 2.7-point error margin. (AP) China deepens international collaboration to push forward deep-space exploration Xinhua) 11:06, April 27, 2025 SHANGHAI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- China, with an open stance, is collaborating with the international community to drive breakthroughs in deep-space exploration and foster resource sharing, striving to build a shared future in space. On the occasion of Space Day of China, which is celebrated annually on April 24, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced a series of international collaboration initiatives to advance deep-space exploration. Seven institutions from six countries -- France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- have been authorized to borrow the lunar samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 mission for scientific research. In 2020, the Chang'e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon weighing about 1,731 grams, which were the first lunar samples in the world in over 40 years, helping advance humanity's knowledge about the moon. Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, said China's lunar exploration program has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual benefits, peaceful utilization and win-win cooperation, sharing achievements with the international community. He added that CNSA will continue to accept international applications for lunar sample research, expressing hope that global scientists will make new discoveries that expand human knowledge and benefit humanity. With the advancement of China's lunar exploration program, international cooperation continues to deepen. The CNSA announced that the Chang'e-8 mission, which is scheduled for launch around 2029, will carry payloads from 11 countries and regions and one international organization. Developers of the instruments to be aboard the Chang'e-8 are from Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. The Chang'e-8 mission will target the Leibnitz-Beta Plateau near the lunar south pole region, working with the earlier Chang'e-7 mission to conduct scientific exploration and in-situ resource utilization experiments. These efforts will lay the groundwork for the future International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The ILRS, initiated by China, is a scientific experimental facility consisting of sections on the lunar surface and in lunar orbit, and is projected to be built in two phases: a basic model to be built by 2035 in the lunar south pole region, and an extended model to be built in the 2040s. A total of 17 countries and international organizations, and more than 50 international research institutions, have joined the ILRS, according to Bian Zhigang, deputy director of the CNSA. Bian stressed that the ILRS will offer new opportunities and platforms for fostering global cooperation, technological innovation and shared development. China welcomes international partners to participate in various stages of the ILRS and at all levels of the mission. This will promote the use of space technology to benefit humanity and advance the building of a community with a shared future for humanity in the field of outer space, he said. Amjad Ali, a senior official with the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) of Pakistan, said that the CNSA leads in inclusive space exploration, enabling emerging space nations like Pakistan to rise. The Chang'e-8 mission will carry a 30-kilogram lunar rover developed by SUPARCO, contributing to terrain mapping and regolith analysis. "The CNSA-SUPARCO partnership strengthens intercultural dialogue, diplomacy and peaceful collaboration, proving that shared dreams can unite nations among the stars," he added. Humanity can reach deeper space through collaboration from lunar soil to Martian surface. China aims to launch the Tianwen-3 Mars sample-return mission around 2028, with the primary scientific goal of searching for signs of life. The retrieval of samples from Mars is the most technically challenging space exploration mission since the Apollo program, and no such retrieval has ever been accomplished, said Liu Jizhong, chief designer of the mission. Despite this mission's considerable challenges and limited resources, China still plans to allocate 20 kilograms of resources for international collaboration. China invites global partners to jointly advance Mars exploration and research, thereby expanding humanity's understanding of the red planet, said CNSA. Joining hands, humanity can unlock mysteries beyond the stars. An astronomical satellite jointly developed by China and France has detected a gamma-ray burst dating back 13 billion years, likely originating from the collapse of an early star forming a black hole or a neutron star. This discovery offers humanity a glimpse into the universe's infancy. The discovery made by the Space-based multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) was also released on the Space Day of China. The SVOM project, a major bilateral space collaboration between China and France spanning nearly two decades, is a contribution that Chinese and French scientists and engineers have made to the international astronomy community through years of cooperation, integrating high-tech resources from both countries. "Together, we will pool efforts to promote the development of the world's space industry, ensuring that space innovations serve and enhance human well-being across broader domains, at deeper levels, and to higher standards," Shan emphasized at the opening ceremony for the Space Day of China. At the invitation of the Permanent Mission of China in Vienna, the Permanent Representatives of Kenya and South Africa to Vienna, along with diplomats from the Permanent Missions of Venezuela, Belarus, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan to Vienna, made a special trip to China to participate in the series of activities for the Space Day. Award-winning paintings created by Chinese children, depicting their space dreams, were presented to these diplomats. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Our priority is to have close relations with neighboring countries, said President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview with Azerbaijani Television (AzTV), Trend reports. "Our main priority is to maintain close relations with our neighboring countries. Theres no sense of foreignness between Azerbaijan and us. This will be reflected in my meeting with President Ilham Aliyev during my visit to Azerbaijan. Our countries have been close brothers in the past, and that will continue moving forward," he said. Why not tax the millionaires? As Congress begins drafting a massive package for President Donald Trumps big, beautiful bill with trillions of dollars in tax breaks and federal program cuts, its a question that wont seem to go away. Trump himself has mused hed love to tax wealthier Americans a little bit more, but the Republican president has also repeatedly walked it back. This week, the president dismissed a tax hike as disruptive when asked about it at the White House. But still it swirls. And its setting up a potential showdown between the old guard of the Republican Party, which sees almost any tax hike as contrary to the GOP goal of slashing government, and its rising populist-nationalists, who view a millionaires tax as championing working-class voters who helped deliver the White House. Bring it, baby, said former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon on his podcast. Think of it as Bannon on the one side, versus Newt Gingrich, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and others on the other a debate that once seemed unfathomable for Republicans who have spent generations working to lower taxes and reduce the scope of the federal government. I dont think were raising taxes on anybody, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this week on Fox News Channel. Johnson said there have been lots of ideas thrown out but the Republicans are working against the idea of a tax on millionaires. Im not in favor of raising the tax rates because our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally, he said. This spring and summer, the Republican-led Congress is determined to make progress on the package, which is central to the partys domestic policy agenda. It revolves around extending many of the GOP tax cuts that Congress approved in 2017, during Trumps first term, but are expiring later this year. As it stands, the top individual tax rate is now 37%, on annual incomes above $611,000 for single filers and $767,000 for married couples. If Congress fails to act, that rate is set to revert to what it was before the 2017 tax law, 39.6%, on top filers. It seems impossible that Republicans in Congress will purposefully wade into the debate. They are striving to keep all the existing tax brackets in place, while adding new tax breaks the president campaigned on during the 2024 election including no taxes on tips, Social Security income, overtime pay and others. Its a potentially $5 trillion-plus package. But the Bannon wing is working to force the issue, saying its time to raise that top rate on the wealthier households, at least $1 million and above. Sounding at times more like progressive Democrats, Bannons flank sees a tax hike as a way not only to ensure wealthy Americans pay their fair share but to generate federal revenue. With federal debt at $36 trillion, they say it can help counter annual deficits that cannot be offset by budget cuts alone. The current system we have is not sustainable, Bannon said at Semafors World Economy Summit on Wednesday in Washington. You have to go to an alternative. I think the alternative is budget cuts. And it has to be tax increases on the wealthy. Thats drawing fierce blowback from the traditional tax-cutters, who have gone into overdrive, warning of nothing short of a political shattering of GOP orthodoxy, and the party itself, if Republicans entertain the idea. Madness, Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, told Fox News Larry Kudlow. Gingrich warns of a George Bush-style political implosion similar to his Read my lips: No new taxes pledge, which contributed to his failed 1992 presidential reelection bid. It would be a disaster, Gingrich said. Trump appears to be weighing the arguments, sending mixed messages about what he prefers. Newt is quite possibly right on this, the president said in a note Gingrich said he received from the president and reposted Tuesday on social media. While I love the idea of a small increase, Trump said in the note, the Democrats would probably use it against us, and we would be, like Bush, helpless to do anything about it. Trump went on to counsel that if they can do without it, theyre probably better off. We dont need to be the READ MY LIPS gang who lost an election, he posted. Asked about a tax hike on millionaires Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump was more definitive. I think it would be very disruptive, he said, suggesting wealthy Americans would simply leave the country, rather than pay the higher tax, and end up costing in lost revenues. Yet in a Time magazine interview posted Friday, Trump said of a millionaires tax: I actually love the concept, but I dont want it to be used against me politically. As Republicans in Congress work behind the scenes crafting the tax bill and at least $1.5 trillion in government spending cuts to help cover the lost revenues it seems highly unlikely enough of them would agree to a tax hike. Most of the congressional Republicans have signed a no-taxes pledge from Norquists Americans for Tax Reform group, even as others signal some interest. With Democrats prepared to oppose the package altogether because of its expected steep cuts to federal programs, the Republicans will need to keep all their lawmakers in line if they hope to pass the bill through the House and the Senate with their narrow majorities. Yet, as Republicans are scrounging for ways to pay for their tax bill, they face potential resistance within their own ranks to reductions in Medicaid, food stamps or other federal programs. Even an accounting measure preferred by the Senate Republicans, which would count the 2017 tax breaks as current policy rather than a new one requiring an offset, still comes up short for covering the full price tag of the new package, which could swell beyond $5 trillion over 10 years. Setting the new top rate at about 40% for those earning $1 million or above would bring in some $300 billion in revenue over the decade, analysts have said. (AP) The Israel Prison Service (IPS) recently initiated an unusual move of hanging posters of the extensive destruction in the Gaza Strip inside the cells and wings in security prisons, Yisrael Hayom reported. Among other places, a large photo was hung in the Rakafet underground wing, where Nukhba terrorists who participated in the October 7th massacre are held. This is a conscious step designed to make clear to them the consequences of October 7, Northern District Commander Shmulik Lavi told Yisrael Hayom. We arent fooling ourselves that it will arouse a sense of responsibility or regret in them, but this picture that reflects what is happening to the enemies of Israel will seep into their minds. Lavi added that the IPS sees the move as part of a series of measures aimed at undermining the feeling of heroism and identification with terror organizations among security prisoners. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 1,200 others. Helicopters dumped water from the air on the raging fire hours after the initial explosion, which happened at the Shahid Rajaei port just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. At least one Iranian official said that the blast was caused by the improper storage of chemicals in containers at the port. Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Irans crisis management organization, told an Iranian news agency that the cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers, Reuters reported. Your browser does not support the video tag. Previously, the Director General of Crisis Management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger, Zafari says. Security firm says port received chemical for missile fuel The port took in a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel in March, the private security firm Ambrey said. The fuel is part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Financial Times. The fuel was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel. Your browser does not support the video tag. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said. Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. Iran hasnt acknowledged taking the shipment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations didnt respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Your browser does not support the video tag. Its unclear why Iran wouldnt have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast like in the Beirut explosion. Your browser does not support the video tag. Get back get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go! a man in one video shouted just before the blast. Tell him to go, its going to blow up! Oh G-d, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back! On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area for the blast, without elaborating. Your browser does not support the video tag. An aerial shot released by Iranian media after the blast showed fires burning at multiple locations in the port, with authorities later warning about air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air. Schools in Bandar Abbas will be closed Sunday as well. Port a major destination for Iranian cargo Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers, or miles, away from the epicenter of the explosion. State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher. Hasanzadeh, the provincial disaster management official, earlier told state television that the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State television also reported that there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though no further details were offered. Your browser does not support the video tag. The Interior Ministry said that it launched an investigation into the blast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also offered his condolences for those affected in the blast. Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) southeast of Irans capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes. (AP & YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) (YWNs Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis haShabbos in Israel) Houthi rebels in Yemen have shot down seven U.S. Reaper drones in less than six weeks, a loss of aircraft worth more than $200 million in what is becoming the most dramatic cost to the Pentagon of the military campaign against the Iran-backed terrorists. According to defense officials, three of the drones were shot down in the past week suggesting the terror groups targeting of the unmanned aircraft flying over Yemen has improved. The drones were doing attack runs or conducting surveillance, and they crashed both into the water and onto land, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. The U.S. has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use overwhelming lethal force until the Houthis cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. Central Command spokesman Dave Eastburn said Thursday night that the U.S. has struck more than 800 Houthi targets. These strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, advanced weapons storage locations, and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, Eastburn said. Another defense official said that although hostile fire is likely the cause of the drone losses, the incidents are still under investigation. The official noted that the increase in U.S. strikes can add to the risk to aircraft, but said the U.S. will take every measure possible to protect troops, equipment and interests in the region. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to comment on sensitive military issues. The sophisticated drones, built by General Atomics, cost about $30 million each, and generally fly at altitudes of more than 40,000 feet (12,100 meters). Houthis leaders have consistently touted the strikes in public statements. One of the defense officials said the U.S. lost Reaper drones on March 31 and on April 3, 9, 13, 18, 19 and 22. In addition to downing the drones, the Houthis have been persistently firing missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They havent hit any. The U.S. has been using an array of warships, fighter jets, bombers and drones to strike the Houthis, and aircraft can now launch from two Navy carriers in the region. Hegseth decided in March to beef up the Navy warship presence in the Middle East, ordering the USS Harry S. Truman to extend its deployment there, as the USS Carl Vinson steamed toward the area. The Truman, along with two of the destroyers and a cruiser in its strike group, is now in the Red Sea. And the Vinson, along with two destroyers and a cruiser, is in the Gulf of Aden. The third destroyer assigned to the Truman is in the Mediterranean Sea. And two other U.S. Navy destroyers are in the Red Sea, but arent part of the Trumans group. Hegseth is weighing whether to grant a request by U.S. Central Command to once again extend the Trumans deployment. A decision to do that could keep the Truman and at least some of its strike group in the region for several more weeks. It has been rare in recent years for the U.S. to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. Navy leaders have generally been opposed to the idea because it disrupts ship maintenance schedules and delays time at home for sailors strained by the unusually high combat tempo. Last year, the Biden administration ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the Red Sea for an extended time, as U.S. warships waged the most intense running sea battle since World War II. Prior to that it had been years since the U.S. had committed that much warship power to the Middle East. The Houthis have been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the groups leadership has described as an effort to end the Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. (AP) A heated debate took place on Sunday in the Knessets Constitution Committee regarding the Shin Bets selective enforcement of leaks, violation of the freedom of the press and the right to consult with a lawyer. The discussion was sparked by numerous incidents of the Shin Bet and other law enforcement agencies using their power for political purposes by launching investigations into figures connected to the government. The most recent shocking affair involved a former Shin Bet agent, known as A., who was thrown in prison and denied access to a lawyer after he exposed information that embarrassed Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar regarding his secret and baseless probe against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for the infiltration of Kahanism into the Israel Police. Previous cases include the Qatargate affair and the exposure of a recording of a Shin Bet senior official saying that Jewish residents of Yehudah and Shomron are arrested even without evidence for several days. Prior to the discussion, Committee chairman Simcha Rothman sent a document with scathing questions to those summoned to the discussion, including the Shin Bet chief, the Attorney-General, the State-Prosecutor, the head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division, and the Police Commissioner. The 43-item document listed pointed questions regarding the conduct of the authorities in recent cases. For example, Rothman asked those present why the Attorney-General ignored the requests of the Prime Minister, the Knesset Speaker, and other parties regarding the investigation of certain leaks carried out by opposition members or those associated with them in stark contrast to leaks carried out by those associated with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his government. In addition, Rothman demanded a thorough discussion regarding the arrest of Shin Bet agent A. Among other things, he asked who made the decision to open the investigation, whether Bar is personally involved in the investigation, and if so, why Bars conflict of interest in the case is being ignored. Furthermore, Rothman requested answers on the Shin Bets protocols for agents within the organization who believe that the head of the service is making political use of the power of office. In her usual manner, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara simply denied the claims and said that there is no selective enforcement and that the law enforcement system operates in a professional and objective manner according to standards applied to each case in accordance with circumstances. Baharav-Miaras statements caused a major furor, with coalition members issuing sharply worded retorts to her claims. Likud MK Ariel Kellner slammed Baharav-Miara, saying: The Attorney Generals answers are GPT answers. Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech called Baharav-Miaras answers empty slogans and made statements about thought police. Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer said: You will not shut us up. At the same time, opposition members angrily shouted at the coalition members and several were forcibly removed from the room for disrupting the discussion. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Nearly 36,000 Gazansclose to 2% of the coastal enclaves populationhave left the Gaza Strip since the start of the war triggered by Hamass Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, Channel 12 News reported Friday. Most of the departing residents have relocated to Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Western European nations, and Romania, according to the report. Approximately 2,000 Gazans were able to exit through Israeli territory, traveling via Ramon Airport near Eilat or the Allenby Crossing into Jordan. The vast majority, however, crossed through Gazas Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which reopened briefly on January 31 during a now-expired ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The crossing closed again on March 18 when fighting resumed. Currently, only limited groups are legally permitted to leave Gaza: the sick and wounded seeking medical treatment abroad and their family members, Gazans with dual citizenship, and individuals granted visas to third countries. Nevertheless, numerous Gazans have reportedly paid as much as $10,000 to smugglers with alleged ties to Egyptian intelligence to cross the southern border illegally. A survey published last month by Britains Telegraph revealed that more than half of Gazas residentsabout 1.1 million peoplewould leave the Strip temporarily or permanently if given the opportunity. Interest was especially high among residents under 34 and those living in heavily damaged areas such as Gaza City and Khan Yunis. On April 1, Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel visited Ramon Airport to observe what officials described as the voluntary departure process for Palestinians leaving Gaza. That same day, the Population and Immigration Authority announced that dozens of Gazans were flown to Leipzig, Germany, on a designated flight organized with German diplomatic assistance. The agency said that, to date, hundreds of Gazans have been relocated to Germany, Romania, and the United Arab Emirates under this initiative. Meanwhile, on March 22, Israels Security Cabinet approved Defense Minister Yisrael Katzs proposal to establish a directorate within the Defense Ministry dedicated to facilitating voluntary emigration from Gaza. Katz emphasized that the effort aligns with U.S. President Donald Trumps vision of transforming Gazas coastline into a real estate development zone while relocating much of the enclaves population. We are working with all means to implement the U.S. presidents vision, and we will allow any Gaza resident who wants to move to a third country to do so, Katz said last month. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Nechama Grossman, Israels oldest Holocaust survivor, passed away at the age of 109 on ThursdayYom Hashoah, Israels national day of remembrance for Holocaust victim. Her granddaughter, Luba, shared her grief with Kan News, saying, I am in shockI have no words. Honestly, we thought shed make it to 110. Yesterday she wasnt feeling well. She was lucid until the end and died peacefully. On Holocaust Remembrance Day of all days. In her final days, Grossman reportedly dreamed of Nazis returning to harm her, waking up fearful that the horrors of her youth were resurfacing. She was afraid of the Nazisthat it was coming back, Luba said. She always said that we need to live in peace and without wars. All the grandchildren served in the army so it wouldnt happen again. The trauma of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks weighed heavily on Grossman in her final months, with her great-grandchildren serving in the IDF. She cried that its happening again, and that antisemitism is rising, her family recalled. Her son, Vladimir Shvetz, told reporters, My mother lived through the worst of humanity and survived. She raised her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren with the mission to teach that unchecked hatred cannot win. We must remember her story, remember the Holocaust, remember all the survivors; learn from it so that her past does not become our future. Grossmans levaya was held Friday afternoon in Arad, her longtime hometown, located east of Beersheva. Grossman was not the only Holocaust survivor to pass away on Yom Hashoah this year. Eve Kugler, a 94-year-old survivor from the United Kingdom who had survived Kristallnacht, also died on Thursday, just as she had been scheduled to take part in the March of the Living in Poland. According to Israels Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, approximately 120,000 Holocaust survivors remain in Israel today. In the past year alone, around 13,000 survivors passed awayroughly 10% of Israels survivor population. Globally, of the estimated 220,800 Holocaust survivors living across 90 countries, only about 1,400 are centenarians, according to a recent report by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The report projects a stark decline in the coming years: by 2035, only 66,250 survivors are expected to remain, and by 2040, that number will dwindle to just 22,080. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israel has denied involvement in the massive explosion ripped through Irans largest port on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and injuring over 1,000 others. The blast shook the Port of Shahid Rajaee in Bandar Abbas, a critical hub on the Strait of Hormuz. Thick plumes of smoke towered over the strategic facility after the blast, which initial reports suggested may have involved chemical materials linked to ballistic missile production. Iranian officials have remained tight-lipped about the true cause, saying only that the explosion had no connection to the countrys oil industry. Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for Irans crisis management agency, told local media that chemicals inside the shipping containers were to blame. However, Western security analysts and ship-tracking data point to a more alarming possibility: that the chemicals involved included sodium perchlorate rocket fuel, part of a shipment previously offloaded at the port in March, according to private security firm Ambrey. The Financial Times had earlier reported that China sent Iran two shipments of rocket fuel to replenish Tehrans missile arsenal following unprecedented attacks on Israel in October 2024. The orange-tinted smoke seen billowing over the porta signature marker of burning nitrogen compounds, a key ingredient in rocket propellantshas only fueled further speculation. The Shahid Rajaee Port is no ordinary facility. Handling 85% of Irans maritime cargo and serving as a critical channel for arms transfers to the Houthis in Yemen, it represents a major artery of Irans regional power projection. The explosions disruption to operations could have significant ripple effects. Iranian media reported Sunday that fresh fires reignited at the scene after additional containers detonated, even as authorities claimed the initial blaze had been brought under control. Some of the injured were rushed over 650 miles to Tehran for emergency care, as the full scale of the disaster continues to unfold. The devastation in Bandar Abbas has drawn comparisons to the 2020 Beirut port explosion, which killed more than 200 people and was similarly linked to the improper storage of explosive materialsreportedly by Hezbollah operatives. While Iran has not publicly acknowledged receiving the recent rocket fuel shipments, the incident comes at a time of heightened strain on Tehrans military capabilities. According to Cmdr. (res.) Eyal Pinko, a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center, Irans missile stockpile has been severely depleted following two massive missile barrages against Israel over the past year. On Oct. 1 and again on April 13, Iran unleashed hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, including its most advanced projectiles such as the Emad, Khorramshahr 2, and the suspected Fatah 1 hypersonic missile. In both attacks, Israels Arrow 3 system, bolstered by U.S. and allied assistance, successfully intercepted the majority of threats. Israel struck back forcefully on Oct. 26, carrying out broad retaliatory raids on Iranian air defenses, missile production facilities, and nuclear-linked sites, including the Parchin complex. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Fire Chief Eyal Caspi ordered the establishment of a special investigative team to examine the circumstances of last weeks fire in the Beit Shemesh area that reached the outskirts of Jerusalem. The special investigative team was established at the beginning of the fire, and one of the main conclusions was that the fire was the result of arson. Evidence was found at the scene, supported by testimonies, which reinforce the suspicions that the fire was started by a person who was at the scene at the beginning of the fire, the Fire and Rescue Authority spokesperson stated. The fires epicenter was located at the entrance to Moshav Tarom, near the access road to the chicken coops. The fire spread rapidly due to the harsh weather conditions. At the end of the investigation, the findings will be transferred to Capsi and the commander of the Jerusalem District, Fire Officer Shmulik Friedman, and from there for further handling by the Israel Police. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett accused the Netanyahu-led government of intentionally stalling the enlistment of bnei hayeshivos, claiming that this policy is directly responsible for the stalemate in Gaza. The paralysis in Gaza stems from a conscious decision to deprive the IDF of its most vital resource: soldiers ready to fight, Bennett wrote in a lengthy post on X. The former prime minister, who is rumored to be positioning himself for a political comeback, asserted that the IDFs shortage of manpower is preventing a victory against Hamas. According to official figures, there are approximately 70,000 yeshivaleit between the ages of 18 and 24 who are legally eligible for military service but are currently not enlisted. Although the IDF sent out 18,915 initial draft notices to Charedim since July 2024 in response to a High Court ruling mandating enforcement only 232 have enlisted, with just 57 joining combat units. Meanwhile, Bennett noted, reservists across Israel including businessmen, talmidim, engineers, and other professionals have been pulled from their homes and workplaces, serving extended tours of duty. Even soldiers drafted since the war began are already on the frontlines, facing mortal danger in Gaza. Bennett pointed to the death of Police Officer Sgt. Neta Yitzhak Kahane Hyd, who fell in battle this past Friday in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of families live in dread, terrified for their sons safety, Bennett wrote, while an entire sector of the population rests comfortably. He decried ministers who, despite having little or no combat experience themselves, issue proclamations demanding a full takeover of Gaza even as they fail to provide the manpower needed to achieve such goals. Since the attacks of October 7th, the IDF has been stretched dangerously thin, with soldiers deployed not only in Gaza but also across Yehudah and Shomron in massive counterterrorism operations, as well as facing threats on the Lebanese and Syrian borders. Never have we needed soldiers more than we do now, Bennett said, claiming that the army currently lacks approximately 20,000 troops, including 7,000 combat soldiers. Emergency mobilizations of reservists many serving hundreds of consecutive days cannot be a long-term solution, Bennett argued. Instead, he proposed drafting even a modest proportion one-fifth of eligible Charedi men, which would allow reservists to return home and rebuild their strength for future large-scale conflicts. Nevertheless, Bennett charged, the government has failed to take meaningful action. He described the recent draft notices sent to Charedim as a bluff, accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of putting political survival ahead of national security. The stability of the coalition which heavily relies on the support of Shas and UTJ, the two Charedi parties, who together hold 18 seats has caused major obstacles to implementing such change. Despite the High Courts ruling last year that long-standing draft exemptions are unlawful, the government is currently advancing a bill that would formally enshrine broad exemptions for bnei hayeshivos, which critics like Bennett have labeled the evasion law. IDF officials themselves admit the gap remains. Lt. Col. Avigdor Dickstein, head of the IDFs Charedi recruitment office, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week that the army had hoped to recruit 4,800 Charedim during this draft cycle, but so far, only 1,721 have enlisted. There is a slight upward trend, Dickstein acknowledged, but it is nowhere near sufficient to meet the IDFs operational needs. Meanwhile, Bennett continues to position himself as a leading contender for future leadership. Polls show him consistently as Prime Minister Netanyahus chief rival ahead of the next national election, scheduled for late 2026. Earlier this year, Bennett officially registered a new political party titled Bennett 2026. Bennett, a former high-tech entrepreneur and once a close aide to Netanyahu, briefly served as prime minister from 2021 to 2022. Although originally from the right wing of Israeli politics, he was heavily criticized by the right after leading a government that included left-wing and Arab parties following Netanyahus ouster. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Azerbaijan and Iran, as neighbors, can be of great help to each other, said President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview with Azerbaijani Television (AzTV), Trend reports. "What should two neighboring and brotherly countries do? We have great potential for cooperation. We can connect in many areas, including economics, industry, science, and other fields. As neighbors, Azerbaijan and Iran can be of great help to each other," he said. Masoud Pezeshkian mentioned that the two countries could work together to build strong ties. "We can create links between our universities, discuss trade relations in our meetings, and cooperate in science and culture. We are family, both here and there. Successful visits also play a key role in this. We can help each other in many areas," the president added. Looking for a structured program that will give you the tools and resources you need to get Smicha? Hilchos Shabbos? Dayanus? Chuppah vKiddushin? Join Machon Smicha, the premier halachah institute serving the English-speaking Torah community. Machon Smicha is a unique, online, halacha-learning program that makes learning, getting tested and receiving smicha possible. We offer rigorous and structured learning programs in halachah across a broad spectrum of topics, which enables learners to grow and succeed in their Torah learning, from the novice to the scholar. Be empowered to learn Shulchan Aruch like never before, from the Mishnah and Gemara all the way to contemporary Poskim and Minhagim. Our programs include: Smicha: Achieve your dream of finally receiving smicha in a program that will empower you to succeed, Shabbos: Learn and master Hilchos Shabbos, from the original sources down to their practical application Chuppah vKiddushin: Become proficient in the halachos of weddings and marriage, and become equipped to be a mesader kiddushin. Dayanus: Dive deep into the halachos of beis din, halachic litigation, business, and interpersonal responsibility. Machon Smicha offers each student a complete curriculum, consisting of: Online portal with access to all the program content. Flexible schedule. Shiurim. English Study Guide, containing introductions, overviews, translations, and in-depth summaries of every halachah. Access to forums and teachers for questions, discussions, etc. Rabbi and teachers available to answer questions and aid in the learning. Quizzes, review material, and mock tests. Tests with prominent rabbis. Signed certificate for those who successfully complete the program. Machon Smichas next semester begins on April 28th, 2025 To learn more, or to apply, visit onlinemachon.com. Investigative Report: Conservative Movement Targeting Haredi Communities in Secret Campaign As published by Kikar HaShabbat In a disturbing investigative report published by Kikar HaShabbat, it was revealed that a Conservative Jewish organization has secretly funded a wide-scale campaign targeting Israels Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) neighborhoods in an attempt to dissuade participation in the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections. The best way to respond to this? Make your voice heard vote #11 for Eretz HaKodesh now. The posters and pashkvilim across the streets of Jerusalem were funded by the Conservative movement. The report uncovers that tens of thousands of shekels were spent on distributing posters and pashkvilim (ultra-Orthodox-style wall notices) falsely portraying themselves as a grassroots movement warning against idolatry and participation in Zionist institutions. In truth, the operation was backed and orchestrated by the Conservative Movement, under the leadership of Dr. Yizhar Hess Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and a known opponent of Orthodox influence within the Congress. If youre outraged by this manipulation, take 2 minutes to protect Torah and tradition. Vote Eretz HaKodesh. The incriminating receipt, revealed for the first time in the Kikar HaShabbat investigation. Further investigation revealed that the group even attempted to recruit Haredi journalists to spread their messaging under false pretenses. Whats Really at Stake? The World Zionist Congress elections held once every five years determine how billions of shekels are allocated across Jewish institutions worldwide. Whether this funding strengthens Torah, supports struggling families, and preserves authentic Jewish values or is redirected toward secular and progressive causes depends on the results of this vote. Meanwhile, Progressive Groups Are Mobilizing Fast Thousands of progressive activists in the U.S. and abroad have already begun organizing and voting with the clear goal of shifting the Zionist institutions in their direction. Theyre working hard to: Defund yeshivas and Torah-based education Redefine Jewish identity in non-halachic terms Silence the authentic Torah voice in Israel and the diaspora Were not asking for donations. Were asking for something even more powerful: Your vote for #11 Eretz HaKodesh. It takes just 2 minutes Helps ensure Torah, Jewish values, and family support are funded and protected Vote here now: https://bit.ly/42Iezxt BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. We hope that the issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be resolved based on international law, said President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview with Azerbaijani Television (AzTV), Trend reports. "The first step is for each side to be content with its share and not have an eye on the land of others. Conflicts arise when one side tries to take control of anothers territory. Our stance is that countries' territorial integrity, rights, and sovereignty must be respected. We have accepted this in line with international law and hope that international law will guide the resolution of the issues between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We have always defended Azerbaijan's rights, and we also defend Armenia's rights within its boundaries. We aim for both sides to live peacefully side by side based on the principles of good neighborliness," he said. 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). TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, April 27. Trade turnover between Turkmenistan and Malaysia reached $131.7 million in 2024, Trend reports. The announcement was made by Kerimberdi Kurbanov, Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of Turkmenistan, during the International Forum on Attracting Foreign Investment into Turkmenistans Economy, held in Kuala Lumpur. Kurbanov highlighted that Turkmenistan currently exports agricultural, oil and gas, chemical, and textile products to over 100 countries worldwide. Given the friendly nature of bilateral relations, the minister emphasized the potential for increasing exports of Turkmen textile products to Malaysia. To realize this potential, he stressed the importance of strengthening business-to-business ties between the two nations. Malaysian enterprises are currently engaged in Turkmenistan, executing initiatives across pivotal sectors such as financial services, hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, and construction engineering methodologies. The Turkmenistan Economic Investment Forum (TEIF 2025) convened on April 2324 in Kuala Lumpur, strategically designed to illuminate Turkmenistans investment landscape and catalyze global economic synergies. Greenland will never never be a "piece of property" to be bought, the Arctic island's new prime minister said on Sunday, criticising US talk of seizing the Danish autonomous territory as lacking respect. Jens-Frederik Nielsen made the comments as he paid his first visit to Denmark since taking office, with US President Donald Trump's repeated threats to take his strategically located island looming large over the diplomatic trip. "We will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by anyone, and that's the message I think is most important to understand," Nielsen told reporters alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. His visit follows one by Frederiksen to Greenland in early April, when she told the United States "you cannot annex another country". Both Frederiksen and Nielsen, who leads Greenland's new coalition government after his centre-right Democrats party won a legislative election in March, however said they would be willing to meet the US leader for talks. Tensions between the United States and Denmark have soared after Trump repeatedly said he wanted to take control of the resource-rich Arctic island. The US president has insisted Washington needs control of Greenland for security reasons, refusing to rule out the use of force to secure it. "I think we need that for international peace, and if we don't have that it's a big threat to our world. So I think Greenland is very important for international peace," Trump told reporters Thursday during a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. - Lack of respect - "We are in a situation now where we need to stand together. The talk from the United States has not been respectful," said Nielsen. "I totally agree with that," Frederiksen added. Nielsen reiterated that Greenland was ready to deepen ties with the United States. "We are ready for a strong partnership, we are ready for more development, but we want respect," he said. "You cannot have a partner where there is no mutual respect". US Vice President JD Vance also paid a visit to Greenland in March, which both Nuuk and Copenhagen viewed as a provocation. During his trip to the Pituffik US military base, Vance castigated Denmark for not having "done a good job by the people of Greenland". "You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass," he told a press conference. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen responded on social media: "We are open to criticisms, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered." Nielsen himself has said that "the United States will not get Greenland". "We don't belong to anyone else. We decide our own future," he added in a Facebook post. During his visit to Copenhagen, which will last two days, Nielsen will also meet Denmark's King Frederik and representatives of the Danish parliament. In a separate statement, Denmark's Royal House said the king would then accompany Nielsen back to Greenland for a visit to the Arctic island. Polls show a vast majority of Greenland's 57,000 people want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the United States. jll/sbk Strong magnitude 5.6 earthquake at 18 km depth 27 Apr 17:23 UTC: First to report: VolcanoDiscovery after 5 minutes. 27 Apr 17:24: Now using data updates from GFZ ... [show all] ... 27 Apr 17:24: Now using data updates from EMSC 27 Apr 17:24: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 10.00 to 40.00 km (from 6.2 to 25 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 5.6 km (3.5 mi) towards SSE. 27 Apr 17:25: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 40.00 to 10.00 km (from 25 to 6.2 mi). Epicenter location corrected by 4.6 km (2.9 mi) towards NE. 27 Apr 17:45: Now using data updates from USGS Update Sun, 27 Apr 2025, 17:33 Magnitude 5.3 earthquake strikes near Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley, Philippines The quake hit at a moderately shallow depth of 56. km beneath the epicenter near Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley, Philippines, early morning on Monday, April 28th, 2025, at 1:18 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report. Our monitoring service identified a second report from France's Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique (ReNaSS) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.4. Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter. Weak shaking might have been felt in Namuac (pop. 3,000) located 70 km from the epicenter, Claveria (pop. 10,600) 71 km away, Sanchez-Mira (pop. 26,200) 76 km away, Cabaritan East (pop. 9,300) 97 km away, Aparri (pop. 33,200) 109 km away, and Laoag (pop. 102,100) 132 km away. VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either The Philippines was shaken near Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley, by an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 only 15 minutes ago, Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency reported.The quake hit at a moderately shallow depth of 56. km beneath the epicenter near Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley, Philippines, early morning on Monday, April 28th, 2025, at 1:18 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.Our monitoring service identified a second report from France's Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique (ReNaSS) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.4.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.Weak shaking might have been felt in Namuac (pop. 3,000) located 70 km from the epicenter, Claveria (pop. 10,600) 71 km away, Sanchez-Mira (pop. 26,200) 76 km away, Cabaritan East (pop. 9,300) 97 km away, Aparri (pop. 33,200) 109 km away, and Laoag (pop. 102,100) 132 km away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app . This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake. Update Sun, 27 Apr 2025, 17:30 Significant earthquake of magnitude 5.2 just reported 56 km north of Sanchez-Mira, Philippines According to France's Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique (ReNaSS), the quake hit on Monday, April 28th, 2025, at 1:18 am local time at a shallow depth of 10. km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report. Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.3. Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc. In Namuac (pop. 3,000) located 51 km from the epicenter, the quake should have been felt as light shaking. Weak shaking might have been felt in Claveria (pop. 10,600) located 54 km from the epicenter, Sanchez-Mira (pop. 26,200) 56 km away, Cabaritan East (pop. 9,300) 76 km away, Aparri (pop. 33,200) 88 km away, and Laoag (pop. 102,100) 118 km away. VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either A shallow magnitude 5.2 earthquake was reported early morning near Sanchez-Mira, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley, Philippines.According to France's Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique (ReNaSS), the quake hit on Monday, April 28th, 2025, at 1:18 am local time at a shallow depth of 10. km. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 5.3.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc.In Namuac (pop. 3,000) located 51 km from the epicenter, the quake should have been felt as light shaking.Weak shaking might have been felt in Claveria (pop. 10,600) located 54 km from the epicenter, Sanchez-Mira (pop. 26,200) 56 km away, Cabaritan East (pop. 9,300) 76 km away, Aparri (pop. 33,200) 88 km away, and Laoag (pop. 102,100) 118 km away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app . This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake. Read all Download the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Android | iOS and get one of the fastest seismic alerts online: Earthquake details Date & time Apr 27, 2025 17:18:27 UTC - Local time at epicenter Monday, Apr 28, 2025, at 01:18 am (Asia/Manila GMT +8) Status confirmed (manually revised) Magnitude 5.6 Depth 18 km Epicenter latitude / longitude 19.2303N / 121.0552E Philippines Seismic antipode 19.2303S / 58.945W Bolivia Quality 124 seismic stations Shaking intensity V Moderate shaking near epicenter Felt 17 reports Primary data source USGS (United States Geological Survey) Nearest volcano Camiguin de Babuyanes (96 km / 60 mi) Weather at epicenter at time of quake Clear Sky 28C (82 F), humidity: 76%, wind: 8 m/s (16 kts) from E Estimated seismic energy released 1.6 x 1013 joules (4.4 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 3788 tons of TNT or 0.2 atomic bombs!) | equivalent to ONE quake of magnitude 5.6 | about seismic energy [ show map ] [ smaller ] [ bigger ] Quake possibly felt by 3.1 million people According to preliminary estimates from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake might have been felt by over 3.1 million people across the Philippines . For most people (90.8%), the quake might only have felt as barely noticeable or weak shaking if at all (intensities I-III). Approx. 280,000 people were in areas with According to preliminary estimates from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake might have been felt by over 3.1 million people across the. For most people (90.8%), the quake might only have felt as barely noticeable or weak shaking if at all (intensities I-III). Approx. 280,000 people were in areas with light shaking (intensity IV), the highest intensity this quake likely produced over inhabited areas. MMI Level Shaking (3,084,200 in total) (3,084,200 in total) Possible damage I Not felt None II Very weak (1.74%) 53,700 None III Weak (89.09%) 2,747,900 Probably none IV Light (9.17%) 282,700 None or minor only V Moderate Minor VI Strong Minor to Moderate VII Very strong Moderate VIII Severe Significant IX Violent Heavy X Extreme Catastrophic Estimated number of people exposed to shaking from the earthquake by intensity (data coverage corresponding to attached map) Map of expected ground shaking intensity according to the MMI scale (shakemap, source: USGS) Map with population density (from white to black) in the area around the quake's epicenter (source: USGS) Alert level for this earthquake: Level GREEN Based on seismic and statistical models, USGS estimates that the risk of fatalities and damage from this earthquake is low. The main factors that contribute to this evaluation are: The maximum expected ground shaking from this quake was unlikely to reach dangerous levels over populated areas; it should not have surpassed intensity IV ( Light ) on the MMI scale significantly. ) on the MMI scale significantly. A large number of people was exposed to shaking from the quake, but only to weak intensities. shaking (intensity IV), the highest intensity this quake likely produced over inhabited areas.Based on seismic and statistical models, USGS estimates that. The main factors that contribute to this evaluation are: Comment Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are a mix of vulnerable and earthquake resistant construction. The predominant vulnerable building types are unknown/miscellaneous types and heavy wood frame construction. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake 202 km south of this event struck Luzon, Philppines on July 16, 1990 (UTC), with estimated population exposures of 1,218,000 at intensity VIII and 893,000 at intensity IX or greater, resulting in a reported 2,430 fatalities. Recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as landslides and liquefaction that might have contributed to losses. Source: USGS Green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage. Expected fatalities The risk of fatalities from this quake is considered low and classified as Level The risk of fatalities from this quake is considered low and classified as Level GREEN , the lowest on a color scale from Green (low) to Red (very high). USGS estimates that there is a 65.3% chance that there are no direct fatalities as effect of shaking and a 30.2% chance that between 1 and 10 fatalities occurred. The likelihood that there are more than 100 fatalities is less than 1%. Expected economic damage The economic impact of this earthquake is expected to be minimal or small (Level , the lowest on a color scale from Green (low) to Red (very high). USGS estimates that there is a 65.3% chance that there areas effect of shaking and a 30.2% chance that between 1 and 10 fatalities occurred. The likelihood that there are more than 100 fatalities is less than 1%.The economic impact of this earthquake is expected to be minimal or small (Level GREEN ). Only light damage if any should have occurred. USGS calculates an 65.3% chance of total economic loss in the range of 0-1 million US Dollars and a 30.2% risk of losses between 1 and 10 million US Dollars. Total economic loss from this quake is not likely to surpass 10 million US Dollars (less than 1% chance). ). Only light damage if any should have occurred. USGS calculates an 65.3% chance of total economic loss in the range of 0-1 million US Dollars and a 30.2% risk of losses between 1 and 10 million US Dollars. Total economic loss from this quake is not likely to surpass 10 million US Dollars (less than 1% chance). Ground shaking from this quake Map of estimated ground shaking (source:USGS) Ground accelleration map for this quake Map of estimated ground accelleration (source:USGS) Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Philippines User-reports for this quake (19) felt in up to approx. 300550 km (186342 mi) distance, with isolated cases to have felt the quake even 556 km (345 mi) away. The majority of reports came from Baguio (3 reports), a city with more than 270,000 inhabitants in Cordillera Administrative Region in 317 km (197 mi) distance south of the epicenter, Philippines, Vigan (2 reports), a town with 49,000 inhabitants in Ilocos in 197 km (123 mi) distance south of the epicenter, and Pasig City (2 reports) (516 km or 321 mi to the south). See the Philippines . Out of these, 17 people indicated they felt it. The quake was reported to have been, with isolated cases to have felt the quake even 556 km (345 mi) away.The majority of reports came from, a city with more than 270,000 inhabitants in Cordillera Administrative Region in 317 km (197 mi) distance south of the epicenter,, a town with 49,000 inhabitants in Ilocos in 197 km (123 mi) distance south of the epicenter, and(516 km or 321 mi to the south). See the list of places where most people reported this quake further below. User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale Contribute: Leave a comment if you find a particular report interesting or want to add to it. Flag as inappropriate. Mark as helpful or interesting. Send your own user report! Translate La trinidad, benguet, cordillera, Philippines (312.1 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Not rattling or shaking, but swaying feeling, feels like i was on a calm swing | One user found this interesting. Cabaritan West,Ballesteros,Cagayan (100.6 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : The Earthquake Woke me up and the shaking was not that strong but still noticeable. | 2 users found this interesting. pagudpud flipino (74.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 minutes my aquarium is broke and the fish dead.. | One user found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 1-2 minutes Amulung, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley (167.3 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Bed shaking things rattling | One user found this interesting. Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos (197.8 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Felt an earlier but weaker shake than this | One user found this interesting. Batac city (515.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 minutes Malanday, Bulacan, Central Luzon (501.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt 50 km of Namuac, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley (28.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very strong shaking (MMI VII) (reported through our app / Very strong shaking (MMI VII) Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos (197.8 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) Imus (538.4 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s Silang, Cavite, Calabarzon (556.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) Hoan Kiem / not felt (reported through our app / not felt Laoag City (515.6 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s Laoag (125.9 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Apartment was shaking Batac city (317.2 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 minutes Camalaniugan Cagayan Valley (126.3 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Table light bulbs and even water on the drum are really moving Aparri, Cagayan, Cagayan Valley (114.9 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) (reported through our app / Strong shaking (MMI VI) San nicolas, ilocos norte (127 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) Baguio Philippines (313 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : I just woke up List of cities/places with most reports Place Distance from epicenter Average reported Shaking Intensity Nr. of reports Baguio, Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines (Pop.: 272,714) 317 km (197 mi) S of epicenter III: Weak shaking 3 Vigan, Ilocos, Philippines (Pop.: 48,545) 197 km (123 mi) S of epicenter IV: Light shaking 2 Pasig City, Ilocos, Philippines (Pop.: 617,301) 516 km (321 mi) S of epicenter IV: Light shaking 2 Amulung, Cagayan Valley, Philippines (Pop.: 2,354) 170 km (106 mi) SE of epicenter III: Weak shaking 1 San Nicolas, Ilocos, Philippines (Pop.: 34,237) 127 km (79 mi) S of epicenter III: Weak shaking 1 Aparri, Cagayan Valley, Philippines (Pop.: 33,230) 115 km (71 mi) SE of epicenter VI: Strong shaking 1 Maxingal, Cagayan Valley, Philippines (Pop.: 2,323) 130 km (81 mi) SE of epicenter II: Very weak shaking 1 Laoag, Ilocos, Philippines (Pop.: 102,105) 125 km (77 mi) S of epicenter III: Weak shaking 1 Cabaritan East, Cagayan Valley, Philippines (Pop.: 9,348) 101 km (63 mi) SE of epicenter IV: Light shaking 1 Silang, Calabarzon, Philippines (Pop.: 119,475) 558 km (347 mi) S of epicenter III: Weak shaking 1 Note: Only reports with latitude/longitude coordinate positions given (19 in total) could be used for statistics. What is Intensity and the Mercalli Intensity Scale? The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red. Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs. Read more about the MMI scale! The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs. Number of reports by intensity Shaking intensity Number of reports Min-Max distance from epicenter (*) Average distance (*) I: Not felt 1 501501 km (311311 mi) 501 km (311 mi) II: Very weak shaking 1 126126 km (7878 mi) 126 km (78 mi) III: Weak shaking 9 126556 km (78345 mi) 317 km (197 mi) IV: Light shaking 4 100515 km (62320 mi) 283 km (176 mi) V: Moderate shaking 1 7474 km (4646 mi) 74 km (46 mi) VI: Strong shaking 1 115115 km (7171 mi) 115 km (71 mi) Notes (*) Reports are filtered to exclude those that are likely highly inaccurate or esaggerated. Only reports with latitude/longitude coordinate positions given (19 in total) could be used for geographic statistics. further below. Compare Quake Data Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision. Mag Depth Time GMT 2025-04-27 Epicenter Agency 5.6 18 km 11 mi 1.8 km 17:18:27.601 69 km N of Claveria, Philippines Epicenter uncertainty: 8.5 km USGS (United States Geological Survey) 5.64 26 km 16 mi 17:18:28.83 Philippine Islands Region 12 km (7.7 mi) epicenter difference with USGS Epicenter uncertainty: 4 km GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences) 5.5 10 km 6.2 mi (*) 17:18:27 Philippine Islands Region 9.6 km (6 mi) epicenter difference with USGS RaspberryShake (RaspberryShake) 5.6 10 km 6.2 mi (*) 17:18:26.52 0.14s BABUYAN ISL REGION, PHILIPPINES 7 km (4.4 mi) epicenter difference with USGS Epicenter uncertainty: 4.3 km EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre) 5.8 66 km 41 mi 17:18:00 075 km N 20 W of Dalupiri Island (Calayan) (Cagayan) 58 km (36 mi) epicenter difference with USGS PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) 5.44 0.32 10 km 6.2 mi (*) 17:18:27.233 0.18s Event of magnitude 5.4, near of Kaohsiung 19 km (12 mi) epicenter difference with USGS Epicenter uncertainty: 4.6 km RENASS (Reseau National de Surveillance Sismique (ReNaSS)) 5.6 18 km 11 mi 17:18:27 philippine islands region 0 km (0 mi) epicenter difference with USGS IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) 5.6 28 km 18 mi 4.5 km 17:18:29.588 0.61s Philippine Islands Region 16 km (9.8 mi) epicenter difference with USGS Epicenter uncertainty: 3.7 km GeoAu (Geoscience Australia ) 5.3 56 km 35 mi 17:18:31 Philippine Islands Region 14 km (8.8 mi) epicenter difference with USGS BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia) Notes: (*) A depth given as 10 km often means that the the depth of the quake could be not determined with sufficient accuracy. Aftershocks for this quake No aftershocks have been recorded so far. When aftershocks are detected, we will update this section. What are aftershocks? Larger earthquakes (above magnitude 5 or so) such as this one are usually followed by smaller ones known as aftershocks that occur in the same area during the days, weeks, months or even years after the main shock. [More info] Aftershocks are typically at least one order of magnitude smaller than the main shock. Their size and frequency decreases with time. What about this quake? Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake likely ruptured beneath a surface area of approximately 40 km2 (15 square miles) as a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 11 km (7 mi). [More info] Aftershocks for this quake can be expected to occur during the days and few weeks following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone, or in this case 22 km (14 mi). The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock ( Aftershocks for this quake can be expected to occur during the days and few weeks following the quake at or near the same fault, at distances of up to approx. two times the length of the rupture zone, or in this case 22 km (14 mi). The often broadly linear arrangement of aftershock epicenters encompasses the rupture zone of the main shock ( see map below ). Larger earthquakes (above magnitude 5 or so) such as this one are usually followed by smaller ones known asthat occur in the same area during the days, weeks, months or even years after the main shock.Based on its magnitude, the fault that was active during the quake likelyas a first-order estimate. The length of the rupture zone thus was probably around 11 km (7 mi). Recorded aftershocks, latest first (0 quake) Date and Time GMT Mag Depth Distance Region Details Apr 28, 2025 01:18 am (Manila) 9 weeks ago - felt 5.6 18 km 0 km - This quake 69 km N of Claveria, Philippines Main Shock (this quake) More Map of aftershocks No aftershocks have been recorded so far. When aftershocks are detected, we will update this section. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Overcoming obstacles to economic cooperation could be a top priority during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkians upcoming visit to Azerbaijan, former Iranian MP Mahmoud Abbaszadeh told Trend. He noted that President Pezeshkian will be accompanied by a large economic delegation, reflecting the importance placed on strengthening economic ties. According to Abbaszadeh, both countries possess significant resources and capabilities, allowing them to meet each others needs at minimal cost. The former lawmaker stressed that developing and deepening relations between Iran and Azerbaijan is in the best interests of both countries and their peoples. He added that expanding ties with neighboring countries remains one of the key pillars of Irans foreign policy. Abbaszadeh emphasized that both nations can strengthen cooperation without interfering in each others internal affairs. "I believe that neither country will allow its territory to be used against the interests of the other, given the deep bonds they share - including common history, geography, borders, and culture," he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to visit Azerbaijan on April 28. The ICMSA has questioned a proposal to give the ESB even more powers over other people's land. Commenting on the matter, the President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, said that farmers will be "moving to high alert" following reports that ESB Networks are seeking even more powers in relation to land use and access, as part of their response to the mass outages caused by trees falling on power lines during Storm Eowyn. In a statement to waterford-news.ie and Waterford News & Star, Mr Drennan said the organisation understood that a reappraisal was needed in the wake of the disruption caused by the storm. He commented, that while completely understanding and supportive of the need for a reappraisal of the system following the much-publicised breakdown and very much delayed reconnections in the aftermath of Storm Eowyn, it seemed odd "and more than a little contradictory that the response would be, that the body deemed most at fault for that failure would simply ask for - and be given - even more licence and authority over the very system widely accepted as demonstrably, not-fit-for-purpose. Mr. Drennan said the idea that an obvious system breakdown, such as was evidenced in the aftermath of Storm Eowyn, could be repaired by reducing peoples property rights further was fanciful at best. The ICMSA President also said it was most disappointing that the Government had not consulted with his organisation on the matter. That disappointment was compounded by the fact the ICMSA has itself suggested greater collaboration between farmers and the ESB to resolve issues. Mr Drennan also noted that in a recent survey, almost 90 per cent of responding ICMSA members believed that they should be better utilised during storm events to ensure issues are dealt with in a timely fashion. While Forestry corridors through plantations can be, and should be, addressed through existing legislation and schemes, theres going to be a lot of interest and eyebrows-raised at the reports that the ESB is seeking wider powers to cut trees and hedgerows near power lines," said Mr Drennan. The ICMSA has questioned the proposal to give the ESB even more powers over other people's land. "The ESB already has those powers," he added, before going on to comment: "The problem is not the lack of powers, its the lack of action that we see where farmers and other landowners contact their local ESB office and report trees growing too close to poles or lines." "This is exactly the point that ICMSA made in the immediate aftermath of the most recent storm; its simply not possible or credible to expect the ESB to have crews ready to zip out to every overhanging tree from Donegal to Dunmanway, and from Clondalkin to Connemara," said Mr Drennan. "Its not a question of more powers; its a question of whether its even possible and we think that it is not," added the ICMSA President. Thats why we suggested that the ESB actually go the other way on this and work with farmers to do the basic hedgerow maintenance, with the ESB only being contacted for specific cases where their expertise is needed," he said. Mr Drennan said such an approach would make a lot more sense, adding: "But instead they seem to be taking more powers back into that central system that we have to say and we get no pleasure from this just was seen to not work during Storm Eowyn." "The ESB doesnt need more centralised powers; it needs more eyes and ears, monitoring the growth around power lines and the condition of the poles in exactly those rural areas that were hit hardest in the recent storms," he said. The ICMSA President urged the ministers responsible to look again at possible responses to what was undoubtedly an urgent issue and he also called on the ESB to work collaboratively with farmers rather than considering additional legislation that will be utilised against farmers. Theres no room for confusion on this," he said. "ESB Networks need to have a proper system of engaging with landowners, especially against a background where many farmers have had very bad experiences with ESB Networks over the years," he added. "We need a clear system of communication and we need to work collaboratively to resolve the issues, not legislation.\3 In conclusion, Mr. Drennan said the answer to maintaining local power lines is "much more likely" to be local monitoring than giving ESB Networks even more swinging powers than they already have, powers that he claimed were used to ride "roughshod" over many farmers. As always farmers are willing and happy to play our part in the necessary efforts to address the aftermath of Storm Eowyn and to prepare for the next extreme weather event," said Mr Drennan. "But we wont be walked on in terms of unnecessary and unfair legislation," he added. A special play and get-together day will take place at Clochan in Kilmeaden Village from 2pm on Saturday, May 3. This is a playful community event which is run in conjunction with Ballyduff Lower GAA Club. This initiative aimed at bringing people together through fun and play and enriching community life. For further information please contact Eoin Morrissey on 087 2181709 or Lauren Walsh Kett on 087 1178578. 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 Every night, industrial lights from salmon farms on the horizon cast a harsh glow over the Tasmanian home of former Greens senator Bob Brown. Some nights, he can see his own shadow. Brown who burst onto the national consciousness in the early 1980s leading the campaign to save the Franklin River is embroiled in what he says will be another election-defining environmental brawl: salmon farming. Trouble on the horizon: Bob Brown says Labor has failed to neutralise salmon farming as an election issue. Credit: Joe Armao Across Tasmanias south-east and west coasts, salmon pens proliferate run by eight companies including foreign-owned giants Huon Aquaculture, Petuna and Tassal. Its only when you get close that the industrial scale of the $1.3 billion operation reveals itself: the enclosed pens have a circumference of up to 240 metres, and stretch some 20 metres towards the ocean floor. Tens of thousands of fish thrash in each pen. Salmon farming in the waters of Macquarie Harbour in the south west of Tasmania. Credit: Joe Armao Our boat races over the frigid waters of the Huon River towards Huon and Tassal pens where, months before, a bacterial outbreak of Piscirickettsia salmonis spread like wildfire. But we cant get too close: our skipper warns that entering a 50-metre exclusion zone carries the risk of trespassing charges, and workers are watching our approach. Advertisement Farmed Tasmanian salmon has increasingly been on the nose. There have been mounting concerns about pollution, the looming risk of the Maugean skate extinction, and a mass mortality event this summer. In February, chunks of salmon carcasses washed up on nearby beaches from the bacterial outbreak, which killed more than 1 million fish. Footage released by the Bob Brown Foundation showed Huon Aquaculture workers putting still-writhing diseased fish into containers with dead fish, and sealing them shut. After the footage was released, the RSPCA revoked its certification for Huon Aquaculture salmon. No Tasmanian salmon is now certified as meeting the authoritys animal welfare standards. More than 1 million salmon died in a mass mortality event this summer. Credit: Bob Brown Foundation Six days later, the Coalition and Labor joined forces in the Senate to pass amendments to federal environment laws designed to end Environment Minister Tanya Pliberseks formal reconsideration of the 2012 expansion of salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour which sits in the electorate of Braddon. The amendments mean environment ministers cannot be asked to reconsider past decisions to approve projects like salmon farms or coal mines when new information about environmental harms emerges. Having come to power promising to strengthen federal environmental laws, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ended his first term in office by weakening them. Advertisement Instead of neutralising the politics of salmon, Brown says, Albanese has galvanised large sections of the Tasmanian community against the industry. They made it an election issue, he says. They left us with less environmental protection in Australia than under the Morrison government. Salmon farming in the waters near Huon and Bruny islands in southern Tasmania. Credit: Joe Armao Independent, Labor, Liberal, and Greens candidates acknowledge the outsized influence this $1.3 billion industry is having on the contest and, perhaps, who forms government in Canberra on May 3. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has described the ultra-marginal Tasmanian seat of Lyons held by retiring MP Brian Mitchell on just 0.9 per cent as a must-win for the Coalition. Its a view supported by Tasmanian Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam. Peters right, he says. Its a must win. If we are to have any pathway to government, Lyons is a part of that pathway. Advertisement Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says he would flip this logic. Labor cant afford to lose seats anywhere ... Tassie could well be the make or break for the government. There are five federal seats in Tasmania: Bass, in the north-east; Braddon, along the west coast; Franklin on the southern tip; Clark, which covers Hobart; and Lyons, stretching from the centre of the state to the east coast. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, at Parliament House in Canberra. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Two of them are ultra-marginal and very much in play: Labor-held Lyons, on a wafer-thin 0.9 per cent, and Bass, which Liberal MP Bridget Archer holds by 1.4 per cent. But Labor also has its sights on Braddon, held by Liberal Gavin Pearce on 8 per cent. Fisheries Minister Julie Collins holds Franklin on 13.7 per cent, while Wilkie holds Clark with a commanding 20.8 per cent margin. Inside his central Hobart office, Duniam says poor access to healthcare, the cost of living, and tensions between the environment and jobs are key issues for voters. Advertisement We are more susceptible to the ebbs and flows of whats going on in the economy [than mainland states], he says. If theres a downturn in demand for a certain commodity that we produce here, that then has a massive hit which is why for example the salmon debate has been so fiercely contested. Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam is the oppositions environment, fisheries and forestry spokesman. Credit: Joe Armao If you take that [industry] out of the regional economy in Tasmania, then that will have a huge impact. Salmon Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin who represents the industry says Albaneses legislative changes have given certainty to the industry (after the election, Martin will take up a role with the Tasmanian branch of the Labor Party). As far as the industry is concerned, the matter with Macquarie Harbour is settled, and the workers can get on with their lives. Its a sentiment echoed by Tasmanian salmon worker Adam Salty Saltmarsh, a 23-year veteran of the industry who lives in Strahan, the port town on Macquarie Harbour. Advertisement 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 This story is part of the April 27 edition of Sunday Life. See all 13 stories . At 63, Amanda Keller already has her hands full, waking at 4am each weekday to co-host the Sydney breakfast radio show Jonesy & Amanda. She wasnt looking for anything new, but then came the ABC TV series The Piano. I watched one episode of the English version and bawled my eyes out. I thought, Bugger, Im going to have to say yes, she says, with a laugh. The Australian version of the heartfelt British series brings everyday Aussies to public spaces to play a piano. Keller hosts while musician Harry Connick Jr and concert pianist Andrea Lam observe, Big Brother-style, from another room. A constant on Australian TV and radio since the 1990s, Keller says age has brought a new clarity to the projects she chooses. In her 20s and 30s, she was charging ahead in her career. Now, she gravitates towards things that feel purposeful. But she never expected a show about public pianos to move her so deeply. The breadth of the people who came down to play for us from young to old, from those who hadnt played for years to others who play every day its the emotion of the piano that took me by surprise. Every day I laughed, cried, held someones hand and said, God, youre amazing. Keller began her media career in the 1983, working as a researcher on Simon Townsends Wonder World before moving onto Midday with Ray Martin in 1985, then landing a breakout on-air role on the science and technology program Beyond 2000 in 1987. Her path to fame was far from orchestrated. Even her regular guest appearances on the chat show Denton in the mid-90s felt more like a happy accident than a grand plan she and host Andrew Denton had been friends at university. However, she is now reported to be the second-highest-paid female radio host in Australia after Jackie O Henderson. Working behind the scenes as a researcher and segment producer, thats where I learnt how to put a story together and work in a team, says Keller, who graduated from what is now Charles Sturt University with a degree in journalism in 1982. I learnt how the system worked without having to be in front of the camera, and that was my saving grace. Advertisement And shes still learning. Last year she discovered the word sonder, a term coined by John Koenig in his book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows to describe the realisation that everyone around you is living a life as rich and complex as your own. Keller wears Jac + Jack suit, Alias Mae shoes. Credit: Hugh Stewart When Im on air, Im with people on the best day of their lives and the worst day, she says. We all save each other in the soup of humanity and I appreciate that more as I get older. In 2017, Keller became the first woman inducted into the Australian Commercial Radio Hall of Fame. But the milestone coincided with heartbreak her husband, Harley Oliver, was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease that year. The couple, parents to two sons now in their 20s, kept the news private until 2023. This road hasnt been easy for Keller and her family. I have learnt to appreciate the journey people are on, and I dont think this is something I could have understood or been able to do at 20 or 40, she says. But now, in my 60s, I see the universality of what were all going through. My husband Harley has always said, We all have an asteroid coming for us; some of us know what it is and some of us dont. For Keller, its the small things that provide solace: a close-knit book club that meets every five weeks and weekend dog walks with her friend Anita, a forensic psychologist who goes to great pains to not be a psychologist to all her friends. She laughs when she talks about retirement. I cant imagine that for myself, she says. I like to wake up and know I have something to do and somewhere to be. Its good for me. I thought that by the time I got to this age I wouldnt want that any more, but its been a nice revelation that I still like work, still need it and have enthusiasm for it. Advertisement With those 4am alarms, shes strict about self-care. Nothing happens after midday no coffee catch-ups, no dentist appointments, no haircuts. I take my afternoon sleep very seriously, she says. I factor in time for myself in ways I might not have before, and my self-care ritual isnt bottom of my list any more. Keller wears Jac + Jack Mega coat and knit, Zara jeans, Alias Mae boots (worn throughout). Credit: Hugh Stewart Keller was born and raised in Sydney in a loving but not particularly artsy family. As a girl, she once told her mother she wanted to be an actor and was mortified when her mum repeated it to the lady next door. It felt like such a show-off thing to say, she recalls. Teenage Amanda poured her feelings into dramatic diary entries and a love of Barry Manilow, but rarely shared her emotions. These days, she occasionally dips into her archives to better understand what she was like growing up. I can see how I completely internalised the way I felt about anything dramatic, she says. I never showed it or talked about it. We were so boringly modest as a family, and I think I still am. For Keller, it was seeing Australian journalist Jana Wendt on 60 Minutes and A Current Affair that planted the seed that a life in the media might be worth pursuing. I thought about how amazing it would be to have such a glamorous job, she says. Jana was smart and held her own I really liked that. But once I got the job in media, I realised its not as glamorous as Id thought. Keller made up for that shortfall in glamour in other ways. A 10-year stint on Network 10s The Living Room, for instance, remains a favourite period of her career. Barry Du Bois is in the middle of renovating the front of my house as we speak, she says of one co-host before turning to the others. Chris [Brown] is always amazing, and we talk all the time, and its often Miguel [Maestre] who is off somewhere and makes catching up a bit harder. Advertisement I made some of my closest life friends on that show. The genuine chemistry we shared and continue to share is rare. Keller wears One Fell Swoop kimono, Zara bangles. Credit: Hugh Stewart When nominated for Gold Logies in 2018 and 2019, the diary-like panic of her youth reared its head again. Thats why I found it so hard to sell myself for the Gold Logies, she admits. Its not an easy position to put yourself in, and I much prefer doing the work than talking about the work Ive done. Kellers mum, who died over two decades ago while Amanda was raising her sons, is still present in her thoughts especially now. I miss Mum every day and realise this more as I get older, she says. As a parent I now realise so clearly that love is a doing word. I wish I could say to Mum, I really get it now.. Loading Filming The Piano brought her mother who had played piano as a young woman, but gave it up when she started a family even closer. Mum always felt she missed out on a career, says Keller. She was the eldest in her family and left to go and work in a bank. Thats where she met Dad and then married. Back then, the rules were different. You had to leave your job when you got married. And to think that my mums sister, who was 10 years younger than Mum, got two degrees and travelled to Afghanistan. All that change happened in one generation its quite extraordinary. I always felt a bit sad that my mother missed out. Advertisement Speaking on a webinar in February, Sewell told his followers they were being smashed by authorities, hit by raids and tangled up in expensive litigation under new state laws outlawing Nazi symbols and salutes. Forming a political party was the only way were going to be protected from serious jail time, in his view. Our plan ultimately is to challenge the swastika by incorporating it in some capacity into our organisation, he said. Then it is political communication. Loading While the National Socialist Network might be deluded in thinking they can get a Nazi elected, researchers at the White Rose Society say you just have to look at the way [some] mainstream conservatives have latched onto the Shrine booing stunt, to question Welcome to Country ceremonies, to get a preview of how a Nazi political campaign will be used to push the Overton window, referring to efforts to bring extreme views into the mainstream. Far from deflating their party launch, researcher Dr Kaz Ross expects the publicity from the stunt will boost it. Theyre eating One Nations lunch, she said. And theyre growing. The AEC has limited grounds to knock back an application if the Nazi group meets all the requirements because the agency has to stay apolitical. It could rule that a party name is obscene, for example, but only along very narrow grounds that experts say the groups planned name is unlikely to trigger. Objections lodged by the public and other parties also face narrow criteria to block them. Sewell told followers the group would form an alliance with other small parties to the right of the Liberals to get our numbers. But he predicted that within a decade or so, the Nazi party will have crushed them, including One Nation, with the exception of the MAGA-inspired Libertarians, who will agree with a lot of our policies. Jordan McSwiney, who researches the far right in Australia, expects if the group does clear its 1500 membership hurdle, it will be approved as a registered party. But standing up candidates to drive real political change is unlikely to be their main game. Neo-Nazis Thomas Sewell (left), Jacob Hersant (centre) and Joel Davis (in sunglasses) are trying to form a white supremacist political party. Credit: Photograph: Eddie Jim Other white supremacist micro parties have gained (and sometimes lost) registration down the years as their numbers have waned, but without much political success, he said. The United Patriots Front, fronted by white supremacist Blair Cottrell of Sewells former club the Lads Society, missed the deadline to register their party Fortitude in 2016 and soon after dissolved. The new class of neo-Nazi was the most active, visible and organised theyve ever been in Australia, McSwiney said. But theyve always said the white revolution cannot be achieved through political action. The system has to be overthrown. Loading Neo-Nazis have been documented recruiting aggressively among young men and boys, and training in combat and weapons, as they plot building a racist new world order from their suburban homes and gyms. Appearing in court just days apart earlier this month, both Sewell and two of his associates, Joel Davis and Jimeone Roberts, argued they should have their charges thrown out (or bail conditions lifted, in Sewells case) because they were acting in accordance with their white-Australia movement, which was currently forming a political party. They were unsuccessful. Sewell, who has already been convicted of multiple violent offences, was unable to join his fellow neo-Nazis at the shrine on Friday. But he released a pre-recorded video branding himself as a defender of core Australian values on Telegram, staged outside the shrine. Recent communications by the group mentioning the new political party have similarly dropped overt Nazi phrases and branding. We are on the precipice of growing a mass movement, Sewell has told followers, as he steps up calls for donations, not just members. The next stage of the project is finally ripe enough to begin. Loading Theyll be strategic about this, McSwiney said. Forming an official party will mean divulging information they have closely guarded, such as finances. But a registered party will give them another, less extreme arm to hold up as the face of the movement, even as their radical activism continues behind masks and encrypted apps. The National Socialist Network already has its own propaganda arm. And its demonstrations are often exclusively chronicled by The Noticer, a new far-right online news site that also reports on crimes committed by immigrants and features opinion pieces from some of the more prominent neo-Nazis. Analysis by this masthead found its website is registered via the same proxy as the National Socialist Networks new political website. Sewell himself has urged his followers to promote The Noticer, saying a narrative that can counter mainstream bullshit [is] literally one of our biggest weapons. The Noticer did not answer questions on its ownership or funding but denied the National Socialist Network was running the site though it also said membership in the neo-Nazi group would not disqualify someone from the outlets operations. Investigations by this masthead have uncovered links between local neo-Nazis and designated terror organisations such as The Base and Combat 18, as well as bikies and prison gangs. But despite public warnings and scrutiny by ASIO, the National Socialist Network itself has yet to be banned. Weve done very well to not be designated, Sewell has told followers, saying the group had learnt from the persecution of fascist groups outlawed in the UK and the US in recent years. Still, he said, the authorities have turned up the heat on us, which means we have to outmanoeuvre them. The plan could potentially divide the group, though, with hardliners unhappy with toned-down flags and demonstrations, or dropping the National Socialist term publicly (the formal name of Nazism). Sary told Radio Free Asia he was paid more than $US120,000 ($188,000) a big amount of money for research into Hun Sens greatest foe the democracy movement. He insisted, however, that he was careful about what he told his master. Information he allegedly gave about opposition strategies and exiled figures in Thailand and elsewhere was already public, fabricated or his own analysis, he said. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia in various guises for about 40 years, mostly as prime minister. He passed that title to his son in 2023. Credit: AP Part of the reason he co-operated to the extent that he did, he claimed, was because he feared for the safety of his immediate family members, who did not arrive in Australia until last year. When my wife and children were in Cambodia, there were visits made by local authorities, he claimed to Radio Free Asia, a US-funded media organisation that US President Donald Trump is attempting to de-fund. I did not know if this was an order from the senior officials, or it was done directly by the local authority. There were people asking and observing. Having learned some strategies from his relationship with Hun Sen, Sary hoped that one day he could be accepted back into the ranks of the reformers and help their cause. Loading But he has not convinced furious, democracy-minded Australian-Cambodians, many of whom were already fearful of the regimes long tentacles. They befriended and trusted Sary, some even inviting him into their homes. We dont know how much damage he might have caused, one community member said. A few days after the Radio Free Asia interview, Sary, now believed to be living in Adelaide, went into modest detail about the pairs discussions about Cambodians in Australia in a personal Facebook video. [Hun Sen] changed from sharing information to posing questions about the Cambodian people living in Australia, he said in Khmer. I provided him with the general situation ... generic information that everyone [already] knows. Cambodian media, along with the Dandenong Hero article from 2022 and Australian-Cambodians, have reported that Sary came to Australia on a protection visa. Sary, however, declined this mastheads request for an interview, and he did not answer emailed questions. The Department of Home Affairs also declined to say how he made it to Australia, what vetting had taken place and what investigations, if any, were under way into his dealings with the Cambodian regime. The revelations have not only rattled the Australian community. Mu Sochua, the leader of the Khmer Movement for Democracy, who is living in exile in the United States, confirmed that Sary was a consultant during the same period that he was secretly dealing with Hun Sen. We had no idea when he was with us, at all, about his double role ..., she said. Loading Its a big shock, but also not surprising because Hun Sen in the past 30 years has continued to make Cambodian society a society and culture of fear a culture of not knowing who is watching or listening. She said Sarys agreement with the movement had been terminated. Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia in various guises for about 40 years, mostly as prime minister. He passed that title to his son, Hun Manet, in 2023, holding for himself the presidency of both the Senate and the all-powerful Cambodian Peoples Party. Before a visit to Australia in 2018, he threatened to chase would-be protesters to their homes and personally beat them up. Hun Sen told Radio Free Asia after Sarys interview that the academic was employed as a political consultant, not a spy. Whatever the truth of his entanglement with the regime, Sarys claims of persecution before he hooked up with Hun Sen appeared genuine. In September 2021, according to local media reports, the then-prime minister became offended by something Sary had written months earlier that detailed how, in the right conditions, one of Cambodias opposition figures, Sam Rainsy, could form a government. Sary added to Radio Free Asia that the regime was also angry at his criticism of its too-cosy relationship with China. He told RFA that around this time, prime minister Hun Sens spying group arrived at his Bangkok unit while he was out buying food. If I got arrested, I would have been put in the car and sent back to Cambodia right away, he said. Seng Sary with Labors then spokesperson for senior Australians and aged care services, Clare ONeil, in 2022. Credit: Facebook Sary said that was when he went to stay with activists in Thailand. Then I received a phone call with a Cambodian number and heard the voice of Hun Sen, Sary told Radio Free Asia. He said the threat against me was a mistake. After this conversation, he said Hun Sen told his courts to revoke a warrant issued for Sarys arrest. Cambodian media reports from the time back up the leaders change of heart. The ostensible reason was that he had accepted Sarys explanation that the writings were analysis, not incitement. The pair continued having conversations, sometimes for hours. Soon, they were referring to each other as father and son. Loading Sary said Hun Sen then offered him a senior government job, which he declined because he liked working at his Thai university. But he did accept a deal for $US10,000 a month for research, and for another unknown amount to help with a mortgage. This, Sary said to Radio Free Asia, was the start of the trap. If he offers the cake and we do not take the first time, it is OK, he said in a later Facebook video. If he offers the cake for the second time, and we do not accept again, his left hand is passing the cake, and the right hand is holding a baton. Sary told Radio Free Asia the regime-funded work was officially for research about what Cambodians living in Thailand thought about exiled opposition figures. Hun Sen, however, was more interested in the opposition figures themselves and their strategies, he said. He claims he believed the prime minister wanted to find out about the structure of any potential alternative government and add names to a proposed anti-terrorism list. According to Sary, the research project lasted for a year. By his own timeline to Radio Free Asia, this carried into his time living in Australia. The pair continued talking for another couple of years. What about, or whether more money changed hands, remains hazy. Only some of their messages were leaked. The Australian Federal Police said it was not a matter for it, later updating the response to no comment. It is not known who leaked the messages between Hun Sen and Sary. Sochua, the exiled opposition figure, suggested it was possible that Hun Sen could have done it himself to sow doubt among activists: if Sary was his man, others could be too, she reasoned. Washington: Australias ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, has invoked the effort to help Ukraine in his Anzac Day address in Washington, warning that dictators respect strength and exploit weakness. As the US contemplates walking away from its ally amid faltering attempts to broker a peace deal, Rudd said one of the messages from the Anzac story was that defending freedom took human, physical and individual courage. Freedom is indeed indivisible, and that means that as free peoples, we cannot, by conscience, be indifferent to the enslavement of others, he said from the pulpit of the grand Washington National Cathedral. In an Anzac Day address at the Washington National Cathedral, Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd said one of the messages from the Anzac story was that defending freedom took human, physical and individual courage. Credit: Screenshot via X These were hard messages 100 years ago these are also hard messages today when we reflect on our brothers and sisters in Ukraine. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Azerbaijan and Iran can establish mutually beneficial ties in the green energy sector, said President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview with Azerbaijani Television (AzTV), Trend reports. "We have the Araz River, which is ideal for green energy production. Dams have been built there, and some are still under development. These water dams can be used to generate green energy. We can create mutually beneficial cooperation in this field for both countries. Without a doubt, this collaboration could also extend to solar and wind energy. This can develop further through cooperation between the relevant institutions of both countries," he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Azerbaijan on April 28. If a striking thing about the period just before Donald Trumps second inauguration was the feeling that America was genuinely shifting to the right wokeness crumbling, more minority voters and elite factions joining the Republican Party, every branch of government in conservative hands a striking thing about the Trump administration is that it has governed as though none of this were the case. Instead, its approach belongs to a world where both the conservative position and the wider American situation are simply desperate and theres only the narrowest of windows to wrench the country away from some apocalyptic fate. Donald Trump lands in New Jersey on Saturday (US time) after attending the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican. Credit: AP The best term for this mentality is black-pilled, an online reference, based on a famous scene in The Matrix, to different pills that awaken people to hidden realities. A red pill lets you in on secret right-wing truths. A white pill persuades you that the world situation is better than you thought. And a black pill lets you know just how doomed we really are. A merely red-pilled Trump administration would still be doing much of what the actual one is doing pushing the envelope on executive power, making a bid to revive American manufacturing, trying to find ways to increase deportations, picking fights with Ivy League universities. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Iran hopes that the remaining issues related to oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be quickly resolved in line with the agencys technical and professional strategies, said Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi during a phone conversation with Rafael Grossi, IAEA Director General, Trend reports. He noted that the IAEA plays an important role in Iran's nuclear matters based on its legal authority, and Iran continues to cooperate with the agency as a responsible member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), in line with its international obligations. During the call, Araghchi also briefed Grossi on the latest developments in the indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the United States. Grossi expressed support for the ongoing indirect negotiations between Iran and the U.S., reiterating the agencys readiness to assist in any way necessary. He also updated Araghchi on the current status of cooperation between the IAEA and Iran. Reading, PA (19601) Today Mostly sunny and pleasant with refreshingly low humidity! Great weather to celebrate the 4th of July!. Tonight Mostly clear skies and very comfortable overnight. Allentown, PA (18103) Today Mostly sunny and pleasant with refreshingly low humidity! Great weather to celebrate the 4th of July!. Tonight Mostly clear skies and continued very comfortable overnight. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 27. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived today in the southern city of Bandar Abbas to inspect the aftermath of a deadly explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port, Trend reports. The president is expected to review ongoing rescue and recovery efforts at the site, where emergency teams have been working around the clock. According to the latest official figures, the blast which occurred at 12:30 p.m. local time on April 26 has claimed the lives of 28 people, while 1,139 others have been injured. Authorities have yet to release details on the cause of the explosion as investigations continue. The Prince of Wales aircraft carrier left its Portsmouth, England base on Tuesday this week for an eight month deployment to the Indo-Pacific. Dubbed Operation Highmast, the carrier is the lead ship in the UKs Carrier Strike Group 25 (UKCSG). As the Prince of Wales met up with other ships and prepared to leave UK shores off Cornwall, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer boarded on Thursday, declaring, We are sending a clear message of strength to our adversaries, and a message of unity and purpose to our allies. National security is the foundation of my governments Plan for Change. We have announced the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Secretary of Defence John Healey visit the HMS Prince of Wales in the Carrier Strike Group off the coast of the United Kingdom as it is deployed for duty, April 24, 2025. [Photo by Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 NATO allies Norway, Spain and Canada are also contributing ships with 12 nations involved in the flotilla. En-route the UKCSG will sail through the Mediterranean during which it will participate in a major NATO exercise, Neptune Strike 25. NATO said that operation will involve multiple aircraft carrier and amphibious strike groups. Accompanying the long-range strike activities across NATOs Southern and South-Eastern flank will be the execution of anti-submarine warfare capabilities in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier at its Portsmouth base prior to setting off as the lead ship of Carrier Strike Group 25, April 21, 2025 The vessels will then traverse the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait chokepoint, which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as the US ratchets up its UK-backed war against Yemen. On April 12, a US aircraft carrier, Carl Vinson, and seven accompanying ships arrived in the Red Sea to join the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group for further military operations against the Houthis. In the Indian Ocean, Highmast will conduct exercises with the US, India, Singapore and Malaysia, and take part with 19 other nations in Exercise Talisman Sabre near Australia, and train alongside the Japanese Self Defence Forces. These missions in global flashpoints can only fuel tensions between the major powers. The 2021 Carrier Strike Groupthe inaugural mission of the UKs other carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth--played a pivotal role in NATO provocations off the coast of Crimea, resulting in a Russian patrol ship firing warning shots at a UK destroyer, HMS Defender, and Russian fighter jets dropping bombs in its path. Just months later Russia invaded Ukraine. The full UK Carrier Strike Group assembled for the first time during Group Exercise 2020 on October 4. Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth leads a flotilla of destroyers and frigates from the UK, US and the Netherlands, together with two Royal Fleet Auxiliaries [Photo by OGL 3 This years CSG operation was first announced in December 2023 by the Sunak Conservative government and recommitted to by the newly elected Starmer Labour government in December. Starmer came to power as leader of the party of NATO committed to increasing military spending, backing war against Russia and supporting Israelis genocide against the Palestinians. He pledged to increase military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledging a further 2.2 billion for the Armed Forces in her Spring Statement. The government has committed substantial resources to this years CSG. In terms of its air power capability, Highmast is deploying the largest maritime force of British combat jets since the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas war. The Prince of Wales will carry up to 24 F-35B fighter jets, along with an undisclosed number of T-150 Malloy and Puma drones. Other warships in the mission are the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless, which specialises in air defence, and HMS Richmond, a Type 23 frigate specialising in anti-submarine activity and carrying Sting Ray torpedoes. The CSG is backed by an Astute Class Submarine armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Around 4,000 Armed Forces personal are involved2,500 from the Royal Navy; 592 from the Royal Air Force and around 900 personnel from the British Army. HMS Dauntless in Portsmouth, April 21, 2025 Commodore James Blackmore, the commander of the Carrier Strike Group, confirmed to the Telegraph that the CSG was primed for combat at any stage during the mission, saying, What I have to be always cognisant of is the ability to defend myself and also the ability to go and strike if asked to. Thats what a Carrier Strike Group does, that focus on that middle word, strike. Thats also the inherent agility of a Carrier Strike Groupwe have a plan, thats a plan we will go and execute, but at every stage of that plan Im ready to be ordered to go and do something different and thats everything, up to and including combat operations if asked for. Operation Highmast, as an April 8 Ministry of Defence statement emphasised, is vital to the economic interests of British imperialism. It noted, Trade between the UK and Indo-Pacific accounted for 17% of total trade between the UK and all trading partners in the 12 months to September 2024, with the total amount traded in goods and services between the UK and Indo-Pacific standing at 286 billion in the same period. The 2021 CSG followed an unravelling of a previous thawing in UK-China relations as the Johnson Tory government fell into line with the anti-China stance of the first Trump administration. There were demands then that the Royal Navy carry out a provocative transit through the Taiwan Strait, claimed by the Chinese government as territorial waters. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China upped the ante at every opportunity to demonise Beijing. Feeling the wind in their sails with the second Trump administration targeting China as its main global adversary, Duncan Smith et al. incessantly demand that China be designated a systemic threat. Seeking more harmonious relations with China as integral to economic growth, Chancellor Reeveswith major business figures in towvisited Beijing in January before Trumps inauguration, following a visit there by Foreign Secretary David Lammy the previous month. The grievances of the anti-China hawks were aired by the pro-Tory Telegraph April 2 in a piece, Royal Navy ready to defy China in Taiwan Strait. It noted, The deployment comes as tensions between the UK and China have increased over spying fears and the row triggered by the UK Government taking control of British Steel from its Chinese owner. The 2021 Carrier Strike Group avoided sailing through the Strait to avoid provoking China. At the time senior Conservative MPs accused the Government of failing to stand up to an increasingly assertive Beijing, it continued, adding that If Carrier Strike Group 2025 does not transit through the Strait on this voyage, it will be seen as further evidence of the UK cosying up to Xi Jinping, the Chinese president. Sections of the political elite are concerned that confronting China at this juncture only diverts resources from anti-Russian operations. At a session of the House of Commons Defence Committee last month Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin, a former Army Reserve officer, asked Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard, If we send that carrier strike group with all of the other assetsnaval, air, and all the rest of it What is the opportunity cost in the Euro-Atlantic security area? What is not being done here in our region because of that deployment? Pollard replied, Deploying the carrier to the Indo-Pacific directly supports our ability to protect the NATO area of operations in the future, because the key military purpose as to why we are deploying HMS Prince of Wales is for it to achieve its full operating capability, operating alongside other carriers of our allies that are in the Indo-Pacific. Such are the tensions around the CSG that last week the Starmer government sent Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the Defence Staff, to meet his counterparts in Beijingthe first such mission by Britains senior military officer to China in 10 years. The declared aim of the Starmer government to act as the main junior partner of US imperialism means being dragged into a maelstrom, up to and including a military confrontation with China. But this also poses massive economic shocks to the UK economy requiring the ultra-precarious balancing act pursued by Downing Street. Despite the post-2016 souring of relations with Beijing, UK trade with China remains substantial, as are Chinas investments in Britain. A study by the Financial Times this month concluded that unpicking decades of spending by Beijing and Chinese businesses across the British economy would be difficult. It warned, Spending has slowed since 2017 peak but Beijing retains significant investments across the UK more than $100bn of Chinese investment has flowed into the country since 2000. Reeves, ahead of a visit to Washington for this weeks International Monetary Fund summit, was asked by the Telegraph if she was willing to engage less with China to placate Trump. She responded, China is the second biggest economy in the world, and it would be, I think, very foolish to not engage. Thats the approach of this government. BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 25. On April 25, 2025, the second international symposium "Palette of the Turkic World" opened in Alanya, one of the Mediterraneans iconic cultural centers, bringing together artists from Azerbaijan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Hungary, and Turkiye, Trend reports. The event is organized by the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan and the International Artists Club, with support from the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, the Alanya Municipality (Alanya Belediyesi), the Alanya Tourism Promotion Foundation (Alanya Turizm Tantma Vakf, ALTAV), and Sealine Hotel Alanya. The excursion and research program is supported by the Municipality of Manavgat (Manavgat Belediyesi) and Gold Ahskal Real Estate Firmas. The Alanya symposium is a natural continuation of the "Art Without Borders" project, launched after the symposium held in Shabran (Azerbaijan) in 2024. That event set a new course: building a unified space for artistic dialogue among the Turkic world and its cultural allies. Today, the project not only unites artists but also opens new avenues for collaboration, reimagines traditional art geographies, and uncovers global meanings within local histories. In the coming years, symposiums are planned in each participating country, turning them into key hubs within a shared cultural network. The participants representing a broad range of artistic practices, from painting to conceptual art are working at the intersection of cultural layers: the Mediterraneans natural beauty, the historical memory of Manavgat and Side, and the contemporary urban landscape of Alanya. Each artist explores this environment to find their own images and themes, creating works that contribute to the regions shared cultural landscape. "Palette of the Turkic World" is more than just a creative platform; its a space for reflecting on cultural identity in todays globalized world, where local and universal narratives are woven into the vibrant fabric of modern life. Civil engineer Carlos Mallo, 36, often recounts how it all began in 2016, when he started working on the insular highway in Tenerife in the so-called Teno-Rasca marine strip, a 70,000-hectare Special Conservation Zone (SAC) on the western tip of the island. This enclave, which borders three municipalities, constitutes a strategic ecosystem for sea turtles, seagrass beds, seaweed, and one of the largest whale sanctuaries in the world. At that moment, I started thinking about that wonderful waterfront, overlooking [neighboring island] La Gomera. I thought it was unique in the world and that they were building a road that would connect to a port, which would destroy that area, he recalls in a telephone conversation from San Francisco. That was the beginning. Shortly after, he would leave the profession to found the NGO Innoceana. This week, Mallo was awarded one of the seven Goldman Prizes, known as the Green Nobels, awarded annually by the American environmental foundation to the most outstanding activists working to protect the planet. Last year, another Spaniard, Professor Teresa Vicente, also received the award for her defense of the Mar Menor. The awarding of this prize comes at a turbulent time in the Canary Islands. A year ago, thousands of people took to the streets to protest the effects of mass tourism. The organizing platforms have called for new demonstrations for May 18 due to the perceived indifference of the authorities reactions. Mallo agrees with the NGOs diagnosis of the harm caused by this industry. Tourism is certainly the main factor damaging the islands, he concludes. Extensive, mass tourism like that found in the Canary Islands destroys ecosystems. Clear examples of this are Los Cristianos and Las Americas [two low-cost tourism enclaves in southern Tenerife], he explains. That area embodies the worst of the industry, but it wants to continue expanding elsewhere. Theres no physical space, and ecosystems have to compete with that type of tourism. He doesnt only detect a loss of ecosystems in the Canary Islands. There is also, in his opinion, a reality of loss of cultural identification, because there is an intense process of gentrification. Carlos Mallo, at the award ceremony this Monday in San Francisco. Innoceana The new Goldman Laureate knows what hes talking about. After the highway Mallo worked on, which was completed in 2016, the next step was to build the Port of Fonsalia, in the municipality of Guia de Isora. This project consisted of a huge terminal for recreational boats and ferries in the maritime paradise, where Mallo himself has lived since 2012. Innoceana created a reference database on local marine species populations, their habitats, and the health of the ecosystem. At the same time, it drafted technical reports that demonstrated the terminals problems and outlined alternatives to meet transport demand, such as reinforcing a port in Los Cristianos. In October 2021, due to the campaign, the Canary Islands regional government officially canceled the port project. The award winner not only demands a reduction in the islands main industry, but also calls for a change in the model that must leave a positive mark. This will possibly make the tourism we receive more expensive, and the islands will be sold at higher prices, but only in this way will the damage done to the Canary Islands be reduced. Along these same lines, he also believes that infrastructure must be eliminated. Dismantling is something that we are far, far behind on in all of Spain. People dont want to talk about it because, in the end, it doesnt produce anything, he explains. Dismantling doesnt seem to produce anything for the developmental system, but the reality is that it does, because it leaves room for those ecosystems to grow again. He adds: When an infrastructure is designed, it is designed for a useful lifespan, the time that the infrastructure will provide service. From then on, the project must enter a dismantling process. A case in point is the town of Puerto de la Cruz, one of the most-visited spots in northern Tenerife, where fecal contamination of the water has forced the closure of various beaches for the past several years. They are probably the oldest tourist infrastructure on the island. They are obsolete and therefore causing almost insoluble problems because they are not being dismantled in a timely manner. Are these good times for the environmental fight? Its true that theres a lot of discouraging news right now, he admits, especially when we talk about the current administration in the United States. He extends this concern to other countries where Innoceana operates, such as Costa Rica they have very conservative administrations that dont prioritize the climate, they dont prioritize the environment. However, he sees a different situation in the EU. In Europe, were still in a very positive moment in the fight against climate change, he emphasizes. There are quite a few calls for proposals with millions in funding for conservation projects, projects in the fight against climate change. Or the Nature Restoration Act, which was passed less than two years ago. Even in the U.S., he tries to look on the bright side. Right now Im in California, and there are so many foundations and administrations here that truly have that environmental sensitivity, he explains. What we need to do now is unite and work together, weather the Donald Trump storm. This will pass, and well once again have leaders who have environmental sensitivity, the only way we can achieve human survival. Because, he emphasizes, thats the key to his fight. Its not about saving ecosystems for the sake of it. When I think about their protection and restoration, I think about saving lives. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The global Black travel movement continues to flourish in 2025. More Black travelers are seeking enriching, safe, and culturally meaningful experiences around the world. While popular destinations like Paris, Accra, and Bali remain beloved favorites, theres an exciting world of lesser-known locations that are just as captivating, if not more. These underrated destinations provide Black travelers with scenic views, great food, deeper cultural resonance, and welcoming communities. They also give visitors opportunities to explore the world from fresh perspectives. Salvador, Brazil Rosie Cisneros / UnSplash While Rio de Janeiro often takes the spotlight in Brazil, Salvador, in the northeastern state of Bahia, is a hidden gem that offers a rich Afro-Brazilian cultural experience. The city is known for its music, dance, and cuisine, which have their roots in African traditions. Explore the Pelourinho district, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and discover its colorful colonial architecture. Here, you can immerse yourself in the traditions of Capoeira and Candomble. Salvador is a city that celebrates its African heritage, making it an empowering destination for Black travelers to connect with their roots. Chinguetti, Mauritania Maremagnum / Getty Images Nestled in the Sahara Desert, Chinguetti is a medieval trading center in Mauritania that dates back to the 13th century. Once a bustling hub for trans-Saharan trade routes, this city is renowned for its ancient libraries. These house thousands of Islamic manuscripts, earning it the moniker City of Libraries. Chinguettis unique architecture, characterized by reddish dry-stone and mud-brick buildings, reflects its rich history and cultural significance. For travelers interested in history, religion, and architecture, Chinguetti provides a profound connection to West Africas Islamic heritage. Muscat, Oman Ashutosh Oza / Unsplash Muscat, the capital of Oman, presents ancient traditions and contemporary luxury. The citys architecture, from the grand Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque to the bustling Mutrah Souq, reflects its history and cultural pride. Embark on desert adventures in the Wahiba Sands. You can engage with Bedouin communities and witness the stunning night skies. Omans commitment to preserving its heritage while embracing progress makes it a compelling destination for travelers seeking depth and authenticity in their experiences. Nkhotakota, Malawi Omar Hakeem/ Unsplash Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Situated on the shores of Lake Malawi, Nkhotakota is a town rich in history and natural beauty. Once a center for the Swahili-Arabian slave trade, it holds significant historical importance. Nkhotakota is also home to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, Malawis oldest and largest reserve. This reserve offers opportunities to see elephants, antelopes, and a diverse range of bird species. The nearby Mawira hot springs and Chia Lagoon add to the areas natural attractions. With its historical significance and natural wonders, Nkhotakota offers a tranquil retreat for travelers seeking a deeper understanding of Malawis cultural and ecological landscape. Luang Prabang, Laos Southern Lightscapes-Australia / Getty Images Luang Prabang is a serene and picturesque town in Southeast Asia, one of a few underrated travel destinations often overlooked by tourists. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is between lush mountains and the Mekong River. It offers a peaceful escape for Black travelers seeking tranquility and cultural immersion. Visit the morning alms-giving ritual where Buddhist monks collect offerings, explore ancient temples, and take a dip in the stunning Kuang Si Falls. The friendly locals and calming atmosphere make Luang Prabang a perfect destination for self-reflection and exploration. The post 5 Underrated Travel Destinations For Black Travelers In 2025 appeared first on Travel Noire. HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (WKRN) A house fire broke out in Hopkinsville Saturday evening, sending one person to the hospital and leaving three displaced. Hopkinsville Fire/EMS said multiple stations responded to a suspected structure fire just before 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26 after a caller reported smoke coming from the roof of a home in the 3000 block of Jackson Court. 3 dead after plane crashes in White County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to fire officials, the first unit arrived within five minutes and confirmed a large volume of smoke coming from the home, which had heavy flames inside. Crews extinguished the fire within 30 minutes. The department reported one occupant was taken to Jennie Stuart Health for suspected smoke inhalation. There is no word on that individuals current condition. KSP searching for inmate who escaped in Simpson County Meanwhile, officials said three residents will be displaced as a result of the fire, but Red Cross will assist them. No additional details have been released about Saturday evenings structure fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. UPDATE: Columbia Co. Sheriffs Office gives update on deadly officer involved shooting COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) Two Columbia County Deputies were reportedly shot while serving a Temporary Protective Order, Saturday afternoon. The incident happened near Exit 194 on Interstate 20 Westbound around 6:24 p.m. Columbia County Investigators tell us that one deputy was killed, the other hospitalized after attempting to serve the suspect a Temporary Protective Order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deputy Brandon Sikes was shot and killed in the incident. Deputy Gavin White was shot in the face. The suspect, now identified as James Blake Montgomery, attempted to flee in an RV, before being stopped by the wire barrier on I-20. The Richmond County Sheriffs Office, Columbia County Sheriffs Office and Georgia State Patrol also responded to the scene. As of Sunday morning, Columbia County Sheriff Clay Whittle confirms that Montgomery is deceased. Inside his RV, investigators found pipe bombs, bomb making materials, numerous guns and ammo. Jars of an unidentified liquid were also found inside the motor home. Sheriff Whittle stated that Montgomery was involved in the selling of illegal steroids. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheriff Whittle states that White is in critical condition, but has been able to communicate, saying he has a long road to recovery. Sikes is survived by his wife, Amber, who is also an employee of the Sheriffs Office. According to Georgia Department of Transportation, I-20 was reopened to traffic near Exit 194 and Jimmie Dyess Parkway shortly before 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning; after being shut down in both directions for more than nine hours due to law enforcement activity. NewsChannel 6s Hannah McDonnell spoke with Montgomerys brother-in-law, David Guillebeau, shortly after the incident. This isnt the Blake that I knew. I havent talked to him in quite some time, but this isnt the person that I knew. And I dont defend him because this is undependable and inexcusable. But the person I knew back then wouldnt. This wasnt him. So something has changed in him for him to do this. I just I would love for people to just remember that he has a child and he has a family thats here locally. And I dont. So do the officers as well. But were all hurting. And, yeah, it could. It could be. It could have been prevented. But unfortunately, it wasnt. So theres people on both ends that are hurting. Courtesy: Krazy House Media Courtesy: Krazy House Media Courtesy: Krazy House Media Georgia Governor Brian Kemp shared on X, Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the loved ones and colleagues of the Columbia County sheriffs deputy that has fallen in the line of duty, as well as his fellow law enforcement officer injured tonight while protecting his fellow Georgians. As they remain in our hearts and prayers, were also painfully reminded of why those who wear a badge have more than earned our enduring respect and appreciation. Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson stated, Heartbroken and praying for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and our neighbors in Columbia County. Our prayers are with the families of the fallen, the entire Sheriffs Office, and all who are grieving this unimaginable loss. We honor their sacrifice and pray for the difficult days ahead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Richmond County Sheriffs Office stated on Facebook: Today is a very sad day for the CSRA. Sheriff Gino Brantley and the entire Richmond County Sheriffs Office offer condolences to the friends, family, and brothers in blue for their fallen Deputy. We also ask everyone for your prayers and support for the Deputy in the hospital. Matthew 5:9 states, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. This verse from the Bibles Sermon on the Mount highlights the importance of peacemaking and identifies those who actively work towards reconciliation and harmony as being blessed and recognized as Gods children. We have been and will continue to be by their side as needed. The City of Barnwell Police Department released a statement, saying, Barnwell Police Department is praying for the two Columbia County Sheriffs Deputies and their families. To the one that was sadly taken from their family and to the one still fighting for their life. Our hearts and prayers go out to them and their Department. We got your six rest easy and prayers of healing. We pray that the suspect will be found and justice will be served. The Waynesboro Police Department also released a statement, reading, This evening the hearts of the men and women at the Waynesboro Police Department are with the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and the family of the deputy sheriff who was killed by gunfire, as well as the second deputy who was wounded today while attempting to conduct a traffic stop on Interstate 20. Please keep these deputies families, the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, and the community in your prayers. The Burnettown Police Department stated, This evening our hearts are with the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and the family of the deputy sheriff who was killed by gunfire, as well as the second deputy who was wounded today while attempting to conduct a traffic stop on Interstate 20. Please keep these deputies families, the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, and the community in your prayers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wagener Police Department stated on Facebook, Our thoughts and prayers go out to Columbia County Sheriffs Office tonight. We pray for healing for the deputys family and loved ones. We are also praying for the healing of the injured Deputy. The Aiken County Sheriffs Offices stated, Hearts are heavy throughout the Law Enforcement community as we are a brotherhood no matter where our jurisdictional lines may keep us, we are all bound with a commitment to protect and serve others. Sheriff Sawyer and the men and women of the Aiken County Sheriffs Office sends our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and their families as they deal with this unimaginable tragedy. Sheriff Gino Brantley stated on Facebook: This afternoon, a Columbia County Deputy was shot and killed in the line of duty, and another Deputy was seriously wounded and remains in the hospital fighting for recovery. I was there alongside Sheriff Clay Whittle and many others as these tragic events unfolded, and my heart is simply broken for the Deputies, their families, their brothers and sisters in uniform, and the entire Columbia County Sheriffs Office family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No words can truly capture the level of loss we are all feeling right now. The impact of this tragedy extends far beyond Columbia County it is deeply felt by every law enforcement officer across the CSRA and beyond. We are a family, bound by a commitment to protect and serve others, and when one of our own is lost, we all grieve together. I humbly ask everyone to join me in praying for the family and loved ones of the fallen Deputy, for the Deputy who remains in the hospital, and for the entire Columbia County Sheriffs Office. Matthew 5:9 reminds us, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Today, we mourn a true peacemaker who gave everything in service to others. Please keep them all in your hearts during this difficult time. We will continue to stand with Columbia County in the days, weeks, and months ahead. They are not alone. Chairman Doug Duncan and the Board of Commissioners released a statement: We are deeply saddened by the loss of Officer Brandon Sikes, who was tragically killed in the line of duty while serving Columbia County. Officer Sikes exemplified the highest standards of bravery and dedication, making the ultimate sacrifice to protect others. Our prayers and heartfelt condolences are with his family during this incredibly difficult time. We also ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for Officer Gavin White as he fights for his recovery. We honor their extraordinary commitment and courage and are forever indebted to them for their service. We will never forget the sacrifices made in the pursuit of safety and justice. Augusta Prep stated on Facebook: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We at Augusta Prep are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Columbia County Deputy Brandon Sikes, who was killed in action Saturday night. Since May 2023, Deputy Sikes has been part of the rotation of deputies dedicated to protecting Augusta Preps students, families, faculty, and staff throughout the school year. We are profoundly grateful for his service and for the ongoing commitment of all Columbia County Deputies to the safety of our community. As Head of School Eric Hedinger shared, Deputy Sikes exemplified the dedication and care that makes a difference in the lives of those he served. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and the Columbia County Sheriffs Office during this difficult time. We are also keeping Deputy Gavin White, who was also shot Saturday night, close in our hearts. We will share ways to support the Sikes family as more information becomes available. We will honor Deputy Sikes by flying the American flag at half-mast, starting Monday. Count on NewsChannel 6 for more details as they become available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WJBF. One person is dead and at least five others are injured after a Sunday morning shooting at Elizabeth City State University. The on-campus shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m., ABC11 reports. The school went on lockdown and students were told to shelter in place, school officials said. Those with injuries have been transported to a local medical center. Officials have not said if a suspect has been arrested. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement READ: CMPD investigating fatal crash in southwest Charlotte ECSU police said there is no immediate threat to the campus community as of Sunday afternoon. Patrol has been increased across campus and access to the campus center has been limited. The university is deeply saddened by this senseless act. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all members of the Viking community affected by this tragedy, the school said in a social media post. Several agencies are investigating the shooting, including ECSU Police, Elizabeth City Police, Pasquotank County Sheriffs Office, Camden County Sheriffs Office, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The SBI is asking for the publics help in collecting information, videos and pictures. Anyone with information has been asked to contact the SBI at (919)662-4500 or the ECSU PD at (252)335-3266. ECSU is located near the Outer Banks in Pasquotank County in eastern North Carolina. No additional details have been made available. This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates. WATCH: CMPD investigating fatal crash in southwest Charlotte 1 dead, 5 others injured following shooting at Elizabeth City State University ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (WAVY) Campus officials with Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) said the campus was on lockdown Sunday morning following a shooting on the campus quad. In a Facebook post, the officials said the incident happened on-campus at 12:30 a.m. Officials sent an email out to students and faculty alerting them of the shooting 15 minutes after the incident. The campus then went on lockdown two hours after the email was sent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They went on to write, The safety and well-being of our campus community remain our top priority. We will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available. On Saturday at 8 p.m., students gathered at the Quad on-campus for a portion of the universitys annual Viking Fest Yardfest. 10 On Your Sides Madison Pearman talked with students who saw some arguing on the yard, which were followed by gunshots. The school says six individuals in total were injured during the incident. Four were shot, including three ECSU students. Two other ECSU students were injured during the commotion, but thankfully, none of the injuries were life-threatening, according to the school. All those injured were transported to the hospital for treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, a 24-year-old man, who was not an ECSU student, was pronounced dead. His identity is being withheld pending notification of his next of kin. ECSU Police, Elizabeth City Police, Pasquotank County Sherriffs Office, Camden County Sherriffs Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) are continuing an investigation into an on-campus shooting that took place overnight. There is no immediate threat to the campus community at this time, and ECSU Police has increased patrols across the campus for added safety. Access to the center of campus is limited on Sunday. The university is deeply saddened by this senseless act. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all members of the Viking community affected by this tragedy. Elizabeth City State University This is a breaking news story. Stay with WAVY.com 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. DENVER (KDVR) Aurora police are investigating a shooting early Sunday morning that happened in a shopping center parking lot. The shooting happened at 15064 E. Mississippi Ave. around 2:15 a.m., Aurora police said in a press release. Two men were shot in the parking lot of the shopping center, which includes a King Soopers, a bar and several restaurants and stores. FOX31 Weather: View the latest Denver forecasts, maps and radar Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both men were taken to a hospital, one with life-threatening injuries and the other with serious injuries. Police later said one of the men had died. Police said they do not know the circumstances leading up to the shooting yet and have not arrested anyone. Investigators are still trying to determine what led up to the shooting but are actively following up on leads, police 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 FOX31 Denver. Columbia County Deputy Brandon Sikes, a crime suppression officer with the department since 2018, was killed during a standoff along Interstate 20, according to Columbia County Sheriff Clay N. Whittle on Sunday. Sikes is survived by his wife, Amber, who is also an employee of the sheriffs office in Columbia County, Georgia. Another deputy, Gavin White, who is also a crime suppression offering, was shot during the incident and taken to the hospital for treatment, Whittle said. PHOTO: Photos of Columbia County Deputy Brandon Sikes, an officer killed in the line of duty on April 27, 2025, and Deputy Gavin White, who was injured in the same shooting incident. They are both Crime Suppression deputies. (Columbia County Sheriff's Office) The deadly encounter began Saturday afternoon around 6:30 p.m. when the two deputies attempted to serve a temporary protective order to a suspect identified as James Blake Montgomery. During the encounter, both deputies were shot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Montgomery then barricaded himself inside an RV, police said. Montgomery tried to drive away under fire, police said, and the RV crashed into a median barrier on I-20, westbound next Exit 194. Law enforcement quickly surrounded the vehicle, they said, deploying drones and robots to assess the situation. Initially, they said, it was unclear whether Montgomery was alive inside. After a prolonged standoff, Montgomery was found dead inside the motorhome, officials said. Sheriff's officials, aided by local, state and federal agencies, discovered multiple pipe bombs and bomb-making materials inside the RV, including at least one device rigged with a remote switch, according to Whittle on Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beneath the motorhome, investigators found several propane cylinders, raising concerns about the potential for a catastrophic explosion, the sheriff continued. MORE: At least 11 killed, dozens injured as driver plows into crowd, Vancouver police say Deputy Andrew Brown was among those who engaged Montgomery during the firefight. Whittle credited Brown with saving the life of another wounded deputy, Gavin White, by dragging him across three patrol cars and driving him directly to Doctors Hospital while still under fire. "Probably saving his life, according to the doctors," Whittle said. PHOTO: Columbia County Sheriff Clay N. Whittle announced the death of Deputy Brandon Sikes on April 27, 2025. During the shooting incident, which took place on April 26, another deputy, Gavin White, was also injured. (Screenshot from video by ABC affiliate WJBF) Authorities also recovered an illegally modified fully automatic AR-style rifle, numerous magazines, several handguns and boxes of ammunition from the motorhome, they said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators also found jars containing unknown liquids, which could be bomb-making materials or related to Montgomerys previously known illegal steroid operation, Whittle added. Both Sikes and Montgomery are undergoing autopsies at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Atlanta. MORE: Teen charged with allegedly starting massive New Jersey wildfire Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson posted a statement on Facebook on Saturday, saying, "Heartbroken and praying for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and our neighbors in Columbia County. Our prayers are with the families of the fallen, the entire Sheriffs Office, and all who are grieving this unimaginable loss. We honor their sacrifice and pray for the difficult days ahead." Columbia County is situated within the Augusta-Richmond County metropolitan area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp also shared a statement on X on Saturday, offering condolences and saying that he is "painfully reminded of why those who wear a badge have more than earned our enduring respect and appreciation." ABC News' Mariama Jalloh contributed to this report. 1 officer dead, 1 injured after shootout with suspect in Georgia originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Indonesian journalists feel the pulse of Chinese modernization Xinhua) 13:00, April 27, 2025 CHONGQING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- "I want to live in Minzhucun and I wonder how to make the same community in my country," said Andreas Maryoto, deputy managing editor of Indonesia's daily newspaper Kompas. Over the past few days, Maryoto and other media representatives from more than 20 countries have visited China to explore the country's advancement in fields such as intelligent manufacturing, cultural preservation, and urban renewal. During his trip to Minzhucun, a community in Jiulongpo District, southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, he was highly intrigued by the community that aligns with his ideals. On arriving at Minzhucun, Maryoto was struck by the clean and orderly environment. The streets are lined with bustling shops and throngs of visitors. Young people gather at trendy spots to take photos. Established in the 1950s as a residential area for workers of a factory in Chongqing, it once faced issues such as poor sanitation, outdated facilities, and aging housing. Now, the community serves as a microcosm of China's efforts to renovate aging neighborhoods and implement urban renewal. As one of China's first urban renewal projects, Minzhucun's rebirth began in 2021. The project included improving infrastructure, adding elevators, and enhancing social services such as education and elderly care. Over three years, the community underwent a remarkable transformation, significantly improving residents' quality of life. In the People's Artisan Studio, the community's service workshop, local craftsmen work rent-free, earning money by offering services like shoe repairs and key replacements. In the community canteen, residents can enjoy meals starting at just 10 yuan (about 1.4 U.S. dollars), with additional discounts for seniors aged 60 and above. "The community is so people-oriented as it cares about all the residents. For the senior residents, the community offers job opportunities for those who want to work and bear in mind their living conditions and health issues," said Maryoto, adding that he deemed this place the best example to show the world how to care for the community. During the visit, Maryoto kept taking notes, eager to share China's experience with people in Indonesia. He participated in a courtyard meeting to gain a deeper understanding of local community governance. At this gathering, people sit together to exchange ideas, chat about daily life, share gossip, and discuss community issues. He asked how public participation is incorporated into the governance process in Minzhucun. The secret to Minzhucun's changes is empowering every resident to be the master of their own affairs, replied Qin Changde, Party secretary of the Jiulongpo District. Qin added that, during the renovation, decisions on elevator placement, market design, and wastewater management were made through public discussions. The government acted as a facilitator, organizing surveys and meetings to ensure every resident's voice could be heard. "Chinese modernization is not only for the rich and the urban people. It also works with rural and ordinary people, and no one was left behind," said Maryoto. He has written an article on the strategies of Chongqing's modernization, documenting his reflections and experiences from this trip, which was published in Kompas. "The community exemplifies that the Chinese government cares about people so much and views leading the people to a better life as their abiding goal," said Agus Setiawan, senior editor of Indonesia's Antara News Agency. During their four-day visit, they have got the full picture of Chongqing. The group visited the Seres Super Factory to witness the development of new-energy vehicles in China. When visiting Dazu Rock Carvings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they learnt about China's fruitful endeavor to protect ancient cultural relics. "I can feel all the aspects of Chinese modernization as we know what the past, the present, and the future of the country are looking like, all of which are amazing," said Maryoto. They also highlighted cooperation between China and Indonesia. "At present, many Chinese auto manufacturers such as BYD and Seres have set up factories in Indonesia. Some of the auto enterprises in China have developed self-driving technology, so we can work hand in hand with China to introduce such technology to Indonesia," said Setiawan. "We seek to strengthen synergy with China and learn from China about some science and technology. Indonesia needs to adopt new technologies to become a country of the future," said Maryoto, adding that cooperation in education and tourism between both countries should also be promoted in the future. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Zhong Wenxing) New York, 2010. At the legendary Cipriani restaurant on Wall Street, the oil industry gathers to honor its own at the Platts Global Energy Awards. At the event, an executive casually extols the virtues of a rapidly expanding technique in the hydrocarbon sector: fracking. He predicts it will revolutionize the oil and natural gas markets, transforming the United States from a hydrocarbon importer into an energy-exporting powerhouse. The executive had good information. Just over a decade later, the U.S. has become the worlds leading producer of natural gas accounting for 25% of global output surpassing even Russia and Iran, and achieving energy self-sufficiency. Fracking, which extracts shale oil and gas by fracturing rock with pressurized water and injected chemicals, has become the fuse for Donald Trumps trade war. Gas and oil extracted through fracking primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Louisiana now fuel both the civilian and military needs of the United States. This energy security has empowered the current administration to rethink the foundations of global trade, free from fears of supply shortages. Its not just about natural gas, much of which is exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG); in 2022, two-thirds of all U.S. oil came from fracking, a dramatic increase from less than 7% two decades earlier. Since 2015, oil extracted via hydraulic fracturing has accounted for more than half of the countrys total crude production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Trump has abandoned any pretense of environmental concern. He withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement for a second time and is now leveraging the nations hydrocarbon abundance to reshape trade relations especially with the European Union. Its no longer just about money, but also about geopolitical influence: U.S. gas instead of Russian gas. Trump has hinted that he could lower tariffs currently on pause if the EU agrees to purchase $350 billion worth of American energy. This poses a new challenge for Brussels. According to Eurostat, the EU imported 45.3% of its LNG and 16.1% of its oil from the U.S. in 2024 well above the shares imported from Russia (17.5%) and Norway (13.5%). The Trump administration has embraced the controversial technology of fracking a method criticized for using not only water but also chemical compounds in undisclosed proportions. However, the strategic gamble on fracking didnt start with Trump. Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 under president Barack Obama, actively promoted fracking both domestically and abroad. In 2010, she introduced the Global Shale Gas Initiative: Balancing Energy Security and Environmental Concerns, a policy that signaled strong institutional support for unconventional hydrocarbons. Within the State Department, the Bureau of Energy Resources was tasked with assessing foreign policy challenges related to energy over the next 25 years. According to documents from Mexicos Federal Electricity Commission, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) under Obama produced the first global assessments of technically recoverable shale oil and gas in 2011 and 2013. These reports analyzed 137 shale formations across 41 countries. An updated version in 2015 expanded the scope to include Chad, Kazakhstan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. By 2013, the EIA already acknowledged the global significance of these resources. Globally, 32% of the total estimated natural gas resources are in shale formations, while 10% of estimated oil resources are in shale or tight formations, it said in a report. In this context, Canadas potential as a producer of shale gas long recognized by the United States helps explain Trumps annexationist rhetoric. The notion of Canada as the 51st state of the U.S. is underscored by its rich energy resources. Canada began using hydraulic fracking in the Montney Formation in British Columbia in 2005, followed by the Horn River Basin in 2006. Interest in these reserves soon spread to Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Quebec. According to a 2020 report from the Canadian government, the country holds 11 geological formations rich in shale and tight gas. Additionally, Canada possesses significant unconventional oil fields in formations such as Bakken/Exshaw, Montney/Doig, Duvernay/Muskwa, Cardium and the Beaverhill Lake Group, Viking, Lower Shaunavon, Lower Amaranth, Macasty (Anticosti Island), Green Point, and Canol, according to the 2013 EIA report. It is a highly desirable energy cache. In Europe, the EIA identified shale gas potential in as many as 13 countries. However, the technology has failed to take off due to environmental concerns. In Spain, fracking was effectively banned under the 2020 Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, halting the ambitions of companies like Sociedad de Hidrocarburos de Euskadi (SHESA) partially controlled by the Basque regional government and Oil&Gas Capital, backed by Basque investors and executives, including some affiliated with companies such as Gamesa and Iberdrola. Meanwhile, the EIA the statistical and analytical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy continues to forecast a favorable outlook for the U.S. gas industry. Its most recent report predicts an 18% increase in gas exports this year, spurred in part by new liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, such as the Plaquemines LNG facility in Louisiana, which became operational at the end of 2024. The U.S. now boasts eight LNG export terminals. Although China is not currently importing LNG from the United States, the EIA notes, we assess that ample global demand for LNG and flexible destination clauses [...] mean that U.S. LNG exports will be largely unaffected by recent trade policy developments. To borrow the 2008 slogan of Marylands former lieutenant governor Michael Steele: Drill, baby, drill. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) The Myrtle Beach police officer involved in a deadly Saturday night shooting along North Ocean Boulevard following a large altercation acted appropriately, Mayor Brenda Bethune told News13. Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard on Sunday identified the person shot as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis of Bennettsville. Our officer saw what happened, and when he saw that an altercation was taking place and a gun was being shot, the officer responded very quickly and in my opinion, saved lives, she said. Last night could have been so much worse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eleven people were hurt and one person was shot and killed in what authorities called a disturbance. Neither the officers name nor the person who was shot were immediately identified. It happened just before midnight in the 900 block of North Ocean Blvd., after officers noticed a disturbance involving multiple people. Video obtained by News13 on Sunday shows people scattering and police rushing to the scene. The citys police department said on Facebook it would launch an internal review, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is also investigating, which is standard procedure in any officer-involved shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bethune said once SLED finishes its report, city leaders will release it to the public. Unfortunately, with social media theres going to be a lot of comments being said that are not true, and (people) trying to make more out of this, and we want to get the facts out so that people know what has happened, Bethune said. Myrtle Beach City Council takes step toward increasing public event security Police said that during the altercation, somebody fired a weapon, leading to the officer responding with his own. The individual shot during officer response has passed away as a result of their injuries, police said on Facebook. News13 photo / Skylar Musick The incident which happened in the middle of the citys famed entertainment district comes just as peak tourism season is beginning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sebastian McMillan, a longtime visitor from Washington, D.C., said the violent situation wont keep him away from Myrtle Beach. Theres trouble all over the world, we cant control that. So we just have to come and not let fear spoil our vacation. We still come here to enjoy the sights, enjoy the views, so I dont feel threatened at all, he said. Ive been coming here for years. Ill still come. Councilman Gregg Smith told News13 he hopes others agree. Its very unfortunate that people feel they need to solve their problems with guns but its an isolated incident and not indicative of the reality that most Myrtle Beach visitors encounter, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Police Chief Amy Prock said major crimes including homicides, burglaries and aggravated assaults have dropped nearly in half since 2015, in part thanks to 248 new cameras, expanded neighborhood teams and new technology like acoustic gunshot detection. This path is laid, and our foot is on the gas, I will tell you that, Prock said. I look at my team, and I look at our community. We work together. We may not always get along, and we may not always agree, but I will tell you this: we work hard, and we work together and we find a way to make a difference. Bethune told News13 she was on Ocean Boulevard Saturday night around 11 p.m., and wouldnt have been if she felt unsafe. This was an isolated incident. We had a huge crowd on the boulevard late last night, and we cant always control what people are going to do, but we also cant just shut ourselves in and do nothing, she said. This is a great place to visit. Its not an unsafe place at all. And Im not making light of what happened in any way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nikki Petracco and her daughter Aurora, who are visiting the city, say incidents like Saturdays are upsetting, and could give some pause when deciding on vacation plans. Unfortunately, shootings are an everyday occurrence. They shouldnt be but they are, but it definitely makes you think twice before visiting a tourist area, Nikki said. Bethune said SLEDs probe should take around three weeks. There really wont be a lot to discuss until we get the final report, she said. This is a developing story. 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. VANCOUVER, British Columbia Vancouver police ruled out terrorism in a car ramming attack that killed 11 people at a Filipino heritage festival in the Canadian city, saying the suspect has a history of mental health issues. Dozens of others were injured, some seriously, as the ramming shook the country before a federal election. A man driving a black Audi SUV entered the street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival. A Vancouver man was arrested. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is the darkest day in Vancouvers history, Vancouver Police Interim Chief Steve Rai told a news conference. The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health, he said. Video of the aftermath shows the dead and injured along a narrow street in South Vancouver lined by food trucks. The front of the drivers SUV is smashed in. Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle enter past the barricade slowly before the driver slammed on the gas in an area that was packed with people after a concert. He said hearing the sounds of bodies hitting the vehicle will never leave his mind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He sideswiped someone on his right side and I was like, Oh, yo yo. And then he slammed on the gas, he said. And the sound of the acceleration, it sounds like an F1 car about to start a race. He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd. And all I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air. Pangilinan said that it would be hard to believe that someone has some malice against the Filipino people. A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene. Rai said that the man was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. Im sorry, the man says, holding his hand to his head. Rai declined to comment on the video. Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of the election campaign before Mondays vote. Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every familys nightmare, Carney said. And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carney planned to join British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders Sunday evening in Vancouver. Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the citys total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census. Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizers of the Vancouver event which was in its second year said that he represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization. Eby said the province wont let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage into helping those affected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont think there is a British Columbian that hasnt been touched in some way by the Filipino community, he said. You cant go to a place that delivers and not meet a member of that community in the long-term care home or hospitals, childcare or schools. This is a community that gives and gives and yesterday was a celebration of their culture. DENVER (KDVR) Federal officials in Colorado Springs early Sunday morning conducted a major operation at an underground nightclub and arrested more than 100 people they say entered the U.S. illegally. More than 300 law enforcement officers assisted in the operation, which was led by the Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division after a monthslong investigation. Agencies involved included U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Enforcement and Removal Operations Denver; the FBI Denver field office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and Homeland Security Investigations. Several local agencies also assisted. Previous: ICE detains over 40 after DEA raid of Adams County makeshift nightclub associated with TdA gang Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The nightclub was located in the 200 block of South Academy Boulevard and the DEA said officials made entry around 3:45 a.m. Sunday, after giving multiple warnings to those inside to come outside. Drugs and weapons were seized in the underground nightclub where more than 200 people were inside when law enforcement arrived. The agency said Sunday afternoon on X that only those here illegally or those on warrants were taken into custody. Most partygoers were eventually released, but did not further clarify what that meant. This is an underground, illegal nightclub and what was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence, [and] we seized a number of guns in there, DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen told FOX21 at a press conference. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on X Sunday morning said the nightclub was frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists, and that law enforcement seized cocaine, meth and pink cocaine. Pullen confirmed they had seen Tren de Aragua, TdA, and MS-13 members, as well as Hells Angels, at the nightclub, but could not confirm Sunday morning if any members were among the arrests. The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division shared these images from what it called an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs. (Courtesy DEA) The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division shared these images from what it called an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs. (Courtesy DEA) The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division shared these images from what it called an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs. (Courtesy DEA) The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division shared these images from what it called an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs. (Courtesy DEA) U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi shared this photo after federal officials conducted an operation at an underground Colorado Springs nightclub. As we approach his 100 days in office Trumps directive to make America safe again is achieving results, Bondi said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche also weighed in on the operation. Thanks to the swift action in Colorado Springs by DEA and our law enforcement partners, over 100 illegal aliens were apprehended, drugs and weapons were seized, and MS-13 ties were disrupted, he said on X. This is how we make America safe again. ACLU sues ICE to obtain expanded immigration detention plans in Colorado, Wyoming More than a dozen active-duty service members were also found at the club, according to Pullen. We had active-duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes, Pullen said. Its obviously concerning to have active-duty military involved. We are working with our partners at Army CID on that piece. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pullen said the Armys Criminal Investigations Division is assisting the DEA with the servicemembers at the nightclub. The Colorado Springs Police Department Chief Adrian Vasquez said the club operation was the result of months-long investigations into serious criminal activity in the area. While the investigation is ongoing, arrests for these criminal violations are expected, Vasquez said. CSPD is aware that our federal partners also detained multiple people for suspected immigration violations during the operation. CSPD is not authorized to conduct immigration enforcement under Colorado law, and our participation in this operation was solely to address criminal violations affecting the safety of our community. The DEA on X said more than 100 people arrested Sunday are in ICE ERO custody awaiting deportation. They also said the Department of Homeland Security placed patrons (in the U.S. illegally) on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The arrests come after FOX31 learned during a rare ride-along with DEA officials in the Denver metro area that ICE plans to double the number of beds available so it can ramp up immigration operations and deport more people. Law enforcement, elected officials weigh in Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said the sheriffs office assisted in the Colorado Springs operation in a support role for a drugs and guns operation but that Colorado does have issues with immigration. Colorado without question has been a hub for illegal immigration due to the sanctuary policies of the city of Denver in conjunction with radical legislation (including this session) from the State Capitol affirming Colorados sanctuary status, Weekly said in a statement to FOX31. As the Sheriff of Douglas County, I will do everything I can within Colorado law to support our federal partners. This, in turn, helps keep my community safe. Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said in a provided statement that he was briefed on the operation ahead of it happening, and thanked the law enforcement agencies for their work to enforce the rule of law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Let me be clear: criminal activity of any kind, from anyone, will not be tolerated in Colorado Springs. This investigation and the execution of these warrants are the result of clear evidence of serious criminal conduct, Mobolade continued. Our residents deserve to live in a city where the rule of law is upheld and where illegal behavior is met with firm and decisive action. We will continue working together to ensure the safety and well-being of our entire community. Earlier this year, the DEA also raided what they called a makeshift nightclub in Adams County and arrested more than 40 people who were in the country illegally. 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. A 15-year-old boy is dead after a canoe carrying several teenagers capsized late Saturday night on a New Hampshire lake. According to the New Hampshire Department of Safety, first responders were dispatched to Governors Lake in Raymond in the area of Governors Drive around 11:53 p.m. after a 911 call reported that a canoe carrying multiple teens had flipped over. The caller said that one teen was missing and believed to still be in the water. Marine Patrol officers, along with members of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Raymond Police Department, Raymond Fire Department, and Raymond Ambulance, responded and immediately began a search for the victim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State Troopers assigned to the Troop A barracks also assisted. Around 8 a.m. on Sunday, the victim, a 15-year-old male, was found dead by divers just over 30 feet from shore. The victim was not wearing a life jacket when he was found. Investigators believed the death was accidental. The name of the victim is being withheld pending an autopsy by the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Monday. Neighbors off Governors Drive in Raymond were mourning the loss Sunday night. Its scary, said neighbor Robyn Hagget. Im saddened for the family, thats for sure. Gayle Blackwood told Boston 25 she hadnt slept since first responders began searching the water off her property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im still shaken, she said Sunday. They were putting a white body bag on the ground here. Blackwood told Boston 25 police were searching the waters for hours, but found the boys body by her front lawn. She continued, Youre hoping, Maybe he did get to shore and hes hiding somewhere because hes scared because of all the police and everything. Thats what I was praying for. The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Marine Patrol Sgt. Nicholas Haroutunian at (603) 227-2112 or Nicholas.M.Haroutunian@DOS.NH.GOV. 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 Gov. Ned Lamont says he consistently maintains two guiding principles as his mantra in restoring Connecticut to fiscal health after years of budget deficits: Dont raise taxes and dont break the states spending cap. Now, Lamont is facing fellow Democrats who have voted to disregard both principles. The legislatures budget committee voted last week for a two-year budget that blows through the spending cap, and the finance committee voted to raise taxes on the states wealthiest residents. Lawmakers voted to impose a capital gains surcharge of 1.75 percentage points on top of the 6.99% rate that the wealthiest earners currently pay, meaning that the new rate would be 8.74%. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Known for a non-confrontational style in negotiations, Lamont did not use the word veto but he made it crystal clear that he is against raising taxes and against breaking the cap. Obviously, Im a little stricter about the spending cap than people on both sides of the aisle, Lamont told reporters last week in Cheshire. But well be able to get there. Asked by The Courant if he would continue his seven-year stance against capital gains tax increases and other revenue hikes, Lamont responded, I think youre correct on that. Weve got a good budget. Its balanced. We dont need to raise any revenue. As you know, Im not somebody that goes for tax increases. What I have done is cut taxes for working families and the middle class. I think thats the best way to get progressivity into our system without scaring people out of state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A resident of Greenwich for more than 40 years, Lamont has watched fellow wealthy residents move to low-tax states like Florida, including some who keep their home in Fairfield County and still declare residency in the Sunshine State by staying there for six months and one day. Look at the numbers, Lamont said. Look at the 10 states that are adding population. They either have zero or lower income tax than we do. And theyre not all Sun Belt states. Theyre not all going there for sunshine. People are leaving California. Thats got some sunshine, too. There are a variety of reasons that people move. For the first time in a long time, people are moving to Connecticut and more likely to stay in Connecticut. We need this [wealthy] population. Thats how we keep our economy growing. Lamont said he also opposes a separate Democratic plan to increase the state income tax on the wealthiest residents if they also receive federal tax cuts from President Donald J. Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress. Tax compromise In a sign of a potential compromise, Lamont seemed open to trading a new child tax credit that Democrats favor for the property tax credit that he proposed. Lamonts budget called for increasing the property tax credit on the state income tax to a maximum of $350 per year, up from the current $300, but the Democratic-controlled tax committee last week ignored the request. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead, Democrats approved a child tax credit against the state income tax that has relatively few credits and deductions when compared to the federal system. Democrats have been pushing for years for a child tax credit, and the latest proposal calls for a permanent, refundable credit of $150 per child for a maximum of three children, or $450 per year. That represents a sharp drop from an original proposal of $600 per child for an overall total of $1,800 per year. With various pressing needs on the tax and spending sides of the complicated state budget, lawmakers say they are often unable to award as much tax relief as they would like. The full tax credit would be available to single parents earning up to $100,000 per year, heads of households earning up to $160,000 per year, and couples filing jointly earning up to $200,000 per year, according to an analysis by the legislatures nonpartisan fiscal office. The credit would start on Jan. 1, 2026 and would save families a combined $82.7 million per year. Lamont seemed prepared to trade off the two tax cuts in a possible exchange that could lead to the enactment of the child tax credit for the first time in state history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a responsible number. It fits within the budget, Lamont said of the $150 credit. They took away the property tax credit, which we had, as one way to pay for it. So thats just a political discussion. If the legislature thinks we should do a little more [for children], and weve got a way to pay for it, lets look at it. Lamont added, I kind of like my proposal because it helps out folks who are getting squeezed by property tax. You cant do everything. If the legislature feels more strongly about a child tax credit than cutting peoples property tax, well work with them. The Tax Equity Caucus, a liberal Democratic group led by Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, has pushed for both the capital gains surcharge and the child tax credit. We need to make these changes this year because we are not only seeing incredible amounts of dysfunction coming from the federal government, but we want to show the people of Connecticut that we are elected as Democrats for a reason, Elliott said recently. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A recent study by the liberal Connecticut Citizen Action Group and Americans for Tax Fairness showed that the net worth of Connecticuts 14 billionaires, who largely live in lower Fairfield County, increased by $33 billion, or 61%, since Trump assumed office in 2017. At the same time, Republicans say that the wealthiest residents are already paying the largest proportion of the state income tax, which includes capital gains taxes. The latest statistics from Lamonts budget office show that the top 2.5% of tax filers paid 41% of the state income tax in 2022. At the other end, the bottom 49% of filers representing essentially half of filers statewide paid only 2.9% of the income tax. Less than 3% of the state income tax is paid by 830,000 filers who are earning less than $50,000 per year in adjusted gross income for both singles and couples filing jointly. Filers earning more than $100,000 per year pay 85% of the income tax, while those under $100,000, representing 72% of filers, pay the remaining 15%, according to the statistics. While some Democrats are pushing hard for the capital gains tax, some insiders say it would be difficult to reach the two-thirds vote in the state House of Representatives to override a veto by Lamont on capital gains. Democrats have 102 members in the House and would need 101 votes to override. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moderate Democrats could block the override, and moderates like Reps. Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill and Jill Barry of Glastonbury voted last week against the capital gains surcharge and the overall tax package. Personal pleas on spending Lawmakers clashed sharply over spending in the budget committee with Democrats saying they wanted to help the poor and Republicans saying they support taxpayers who voted by more than 80% in a statewide referendum in November 1992 for the constitutional spending cap. The Democratic plan, which allocates millions more than Lamont proposed in his budget in early February, calls for a spending increase of 4.35% in the fiscal year that starts on July 1 and 4.9% in the following year. Two of the committees leaders, Democratic co-chairwoman Sen. Cathy Osten of Sprague and Republican Rep. Tammy Nuccio of Tolland, spoke passionately and in sometimes personal terms about the amounts of money the legislature would be spending that totals $55.5 billion over two years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Speaking in defense of the responsibility of government to help the poor, Osten said lawmakers must step forward and spend money for residents who are scraping by and having difficulty surviving. I listen to people tell me they dont have food. In my own family, Osten told colleagues during the budget debate at the state Capitol complex. When Im providing food for different people in my family, they dont have the money for it. This last weekend, it was Easter, and for me, thats a big deal. Not for everybody, but for me, its a big deal. I went to someones house. Shes close to 80. Ive been trying to get her to get the mold removed from her house for two years now. I had to get her to sign some papers, and she said, I dont want to be embarrassed by asking for help. She has given to this state and this community for 50 or 60 years, and these are things that government does to help people out. Now, we could say we dont need any of that, and we should take all of that out of this budget and not help any of these people out. Osten added, Theres a section in the Bible that says when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was incarcerated, you visited me. That passage means so much to me. Its how Ive lived my whole life. I just cant see that government is always bad. There is a reason for good government, and this is a budget about real people with real families and real problems. Im going to do what my grandmother did, and she never let anyone in the Depression leave her door without getting a bowl of soup. Thats the kind of person my mother raised me to be to always help those out. Im not going to let them die on the vine. After Ostens impassioned speech, Nuccio talked about her childhood and said the government simply cannot afford to meet every need. Too much money, she said, is being spent on various state programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was just as poor. Welfare mom, four kids. The whole deal, Nuccio said of her early days. I was the kid getting free lunch. My mother was single at the age of 27 years old with four kids. I understand the social net. There is a lot in this budget that is not just to help a needy person. There is no way that I can support something that is so far over the spending cap. We dont have the revenue in the governors package to pay for this level of spending. Its not there. Its discouraging that this is where we are at. We are in this budget blowing through the constitutional amendment that says we have to stay within that limit. Nuccio added, We are basically spitting in the face of residents who voted for the spending cap in 1992. Fiscal concerns With dozens of groups seeking money at the state Capitol, various organizations have been disappointed by the decisions made so far by the legislative fiscal committees. Those groups are expected to continue lobbying over the next six weeks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Connecticut Hospital Association says the appropriations committee made progress, but not enough, as the hospitals will continue to lobby the legislature. We thank the committee for their efforts to reject more damaging proposals offered by the governors administration earlier this year including harmful out-of-network caps, which would severely hurt health care affordability and access, and avoiding additional regulatory burdens that would delay or impede critical healthcare transactions, the association said. However, we must emphasize that adopting the administrations proposed tax increases and payment reductions will result in devastating effects that will worsen financial burdens on hospitals at a time when they are already struggling. These policies, on top of no action to increase Medicaid reimbursement for hospital care, will make it more difficult for hospitals to meet their mission of caring for communities, growing and supporting the health care workforce, and investing in innovation to advance quality care. The budget committee voted to restore Medicaid money for ambulance providers, which sends a strong signal that the state budget should prioritize the services we provide to people who are most in need, said Bill Schietinger, the regional director of American Medical Response, who serves as chairman of the Connecticut EMS Advisory Board. Connecticuts ambulance services are always there when someone needs us, yet Connecticut reimburses EMS providers for only a portion of the services we provide. Looking ahead Concerning the spending cap, Lamont said it is uncertain what might happen in the future regarding federal budget cuts, which some have said could range from $200 million to $1 billion for Medicaid alone. But we dont do it now as the normal course of business, Lamont said of blowing through the cap. Despite any differences, Lamont described the legislatures work as a good start. He expressed optimism that he and the legislature can reach a final compromise on the two-year budget by the time the General Assembly adjourns the regular session on June 4. Were pretty close, Lamont said. Theyre a couple hundred million over the spending cap. Thats within the context of a $26 billion budget. Well be able to figure this out. Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com A Columbia County sheriffs deputy is dead and another hospitalized after a traffic stop turned into a shootout. According to ABC affiliate WJBF, the deputies were performing the traffic stop near Exit 194 on Interstate 20 around 6:30 p.m. WJBF reported that the driver, James Blake Montgomery, opened fire, hitting both deputies, then drove off in a camper or RV. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Members of law enforcement told WJBF that the vehicle is currently surrounded and investigators are searching the nearby area for Montgomery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Columbia County investigators told WJBF that the officers had been trying to serve Montgomery with a temporary protective order, more commonly known as a restraining order. WJBF reports that it is not currently known if Montgomery is alive or dead inside the camper that is surrounded. The Georgia Department of Transportations traffic tracing map, 511, shows a portion of I-20 is blocked off in both directions. Just before 4:30 a.m., I-20 was reopened to traffic near Exit 194 and Jimmie Dyess Parkway. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WJBF reports that the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, Georgia State Patrol and Richmond County Sheriffs Office are all on the scene. The identities of the officers who were shot have not been revealed. Investigators told WJBF that the public is no longer in danger. Online, Gov. Brian Kemp shared his condolences for the fallen officer and his colleagues, saying: Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the loved ones and colleagues of the Columbia County sheriffs deputy that has fallen in the line of duty, as well as his fellow law enforcement officer injured tonight while protecting his fellow Georgians. As they remain in our hearts and Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) April 27, 2025 Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson also shared his condolences, saying in a statement: Heartbroken and praying for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office and our neighbors in Columbia County. Our prayers are with the families of the fallen, the entire Sheriffs Office, and all who are grieving this unimaginable loss. We honor their sacrifice and pray for the difficult days ahead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheriff Freeman of Forsyth County issued the following statement: Prayers for Sheriff Whittle and the brave deputies of the Columbia County GA Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Whittle is a friend and Im heartbroken for the loss he and his team are dealing with. They are an outstanding law enforcement agency. Two Deputies shot serving a domestic violence protection order. One is critical and sadly, the other Deputy was killed. Our heartfelt prayers to the CCSO and the Deputys family and friends. Praying for Gods hand to be on the Deputy in the hospital. I will not speak of the coward who committed this evil. This violence against law enforcement must stop. Repeat offenders must be held accountable. Ive lost count how many officers have been shot this month." [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) One individual was flown to a Nashville hospital after a two-vehicle crash in Clarksville Sunday morning. The Clarksville Police Department said officers responded to the crash around 6:30 a.m. in the 2800 block of Ashland City Road, where they found one of the vehicles involved fully engulfed in fire. Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts Clarksville Fire Rescue responded and extinguished the flames. No occupants were inside at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to officials, one injured individual was flown to Nashville for treatment, and another was transported by ambulance to Tennova Healthcare. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com CPD said a portion of Ashland City Road was reduced to one lane of traffic as officials investigated. No additional information was released. 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. 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. LUFKIN, Texas (KETK) The Lufkin Police Department said theyre currently investigating a shooting that left two people injured at a park in Lufkin on Friday. Off-duty Tyler police officer dies in motorcycle crash, department says Lufkin PD said officers responded to a local hospital at around 11 p.m. on Friday night and spoke with two victims who had non-life-threatening injuries. The victims told the officers they ere meeting two other people at a local park to sell a cell phone when one of the people they met showed them a gun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Lufkin PD, one victim was shot in the right hand and the other victim was shot in the stomach. The two men have been transferred to hospitals outside of Lufkin to be treated. Lufkin PD said they are investigating the shooting and they dont believe there is any threat to the public. 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 KETK.com | FOX51.com. Chemsex has always navigated a web of silence caught between stigma and serious health risks. It refers to the intentional use of drugs to sustain sexual activity over extended periods, and is primarily practiced among men who have sex with men (MSM). It is a high-risk practice linked to an increased likelihood of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the use of potentially addictive substances but it has also become a way of socializing. A dozen experts consulted agree that chemsex is a minority practice prevalence rates vary widely from 3% to 30%, depending on the study though one that is clearly on the rise. Most individuals who engage in chemsex do so recreationally, without it becoming a life-threatening issue. However, experts warn that a significant, albeit hard to quantify, proportion develops problematic use yet there is still no adequate health infrastructure or sexual-affective support to meet their needs. Problematic chemsex use often manifests through strained relationships, mental health disorders, and addiction sometimes escalating to fatal outcomes such as overdose or suicide. Activists and experts have long sounded the alarm about the far-reaching consequences of such use, and, most urgently, the glaring lack of resources and comprehensive strategies to effectively address these situations. They warn of the invisibility of a complex and often overlooked issue, exposing the wide range of harms that can arise when chemsex spirals out of control. One of the primary concerns is addiction to substances commonly linked to the practice such as methamphetamine, GHB (also known as liquid ecstasy), cocaine, and mephedrone. In clinics and community centers, mental health problems stemming from the abuse of these substances is increasingly evident, with cases of paranoia, psychotic episodes, depression, anxiety, and a growing inability to engage in sex without the aid of drugs. Toni Gata, a psychologist at the BCN Checkpoint community center, has been seeing the dark side of chemsex for years. In 2024 alone, 340 new clients sought help for related issues. The problem today is nothing like what we saw in 2017. Back then, injecting was rare. Now, more than half have injected at some point, and that brings much more serious complications. Since 2022, weve been seeing a surge in psychotic disorders and delirium one or two new cases every day, he says. In response, the center has added a psychiatric service specifically to manage these symptoms. Regarding the worst-case scenario deaths there is no data, only hearsay and word of mouth. Jorge Garcia, head of the Drassanes-Vall dHebron STI unit, explains: We dont know the number of people who may be dying from chemsex. What were seeing here are long-term problems with methamphetamine use, which can lead to suicidal thoughts, or the most acute problem, GHB overdoses. In any case, attributing a death directly to chemsex is challenging, as it is a complex phenomenon intertwined with a range of life circumstances that independently carry health risks. The deaths of users are multifactorial; they can occur during the sessions themselves, from overdoses or suicide, but other factors may be at play, such as the individuals structural condition or mental health issues, says Ovi Leonarte, activist and spokesperson for the Alliance for Freedom and Psychoactive and Human Ethics platform. The scientific literature is peppered with case reports that shed light on some extreme situations of problematic chemsex use: in 2017, for example, a British study warned of a rise in deaths from GHB overdoses, linking it, in part, to chemsex; in 2021, another review in France recorded 13 poisonings related to this phenomenon, six of them fatal. Emilio Salgado, head of Clinical Toxicology at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, admits that its difficult to associate a toxic substance with this practice, but the cases most often associated with it are GHB poisonings. The hospital sees about five a week, although Salgado says they cannot confirm that all are related to chemsex. What he can confirm is that these numbers have remained stable and have not shown an upward trend in recent years. Both drugs and sex are two powers and come with a great responsibility, says Sandro Bedini, 49, regarding his relationship with chemsex. He began exploring the scene more than a decade ago, initially without drugs, drawn by the desire to experiment sexually within that context. Over time, however, substance use entered the picture and eventually overshadowed everything else in his life. Theres an initial phase, called the honeymoon, where you socialize very successfully and enjoy yourself a lot. Then, I went through a long phase of denial, where things happen around you that get out of hand, but you deny it. Its gradual: you arrive late to work, you lose responsibilities, life plans you once had are eroded, your free time is focused on chill [the colloquial term for chemsex encounters]. The transition from denial to acknowledging that you have a problem is a mystery: you give up when its no longer worth it, he reflects. Before reaching that point, he admits, theres a long journey through walls of silence, built in his case by guilt and an inability to recognize ones own vulnerability. Masking fears, stigma and loneliness To understand chemsex particularly its progression into problematic use its essential to place the phenomenon within the broader context of a community that has often experienced its sexuality through the lens of discrimination and heteronormativity. Experts point to a range of cultural factors that have shaped its development: global taboos around sex, the experience of masculinity, the lasting stigma of the HIV pandemic, societal pressures around body image, and the rise of dating apps. As a result, chemsex can serve multiple purposes. It may be used to enhance libido and pleasure, lower inhibitions, or explore specific sexual fantasies. At the same time, it can also mask fear of rejection, loneliness, low self-esteem, or internalized homophobia. For Garcia, the greatest risk lies in using these practices to avoid negative sensations. They can be used hedonically, for the positive effect and through good mental health management. But if the intention is to avoid all the harm that has been done to you in your life through abuse, discrimination, and stigma, then the person is using these substances to escape, which makes them feel more necessary and ultimately creates even more problems. Emilio, 63, also a chemsex user, considers this practice a way of connecting the edge of the abyss: You can either fall into it or not. It exists in a space between pleasure and danger. You get hooked on the type of sex before you get hooked on the substance. You get used to an intensity that has nothing to do without substances in between, he adds. But things can change, and what begins as a social activity can end up being something more than an addiction, he admits. It starts out as a way of connecting, and if it gets out of hand, it gets very complicated. Predisposition There are several risk factors that predispose individuals to problematic chemsex use. These include a history of traumatic experiences, lack of social support networks (migrants are particularly vulnerable), and pre-existing mental health issues. The substances themselves some of which have a higher addictive potential and the method of administration also play a significant role. For instance, injection (or slamming) carries an elevated risk The dynamics of chemsex abuse operate like an intricate network, where individual factors and social context are deeply intertwined. Garcia gives a couple of examples: It depends on the substances being sold. Mephedrone is illegal, and were seeing the emergence of other synthetic cathinones [stimulants known as bath salts] with shorter half-lives, which require repeated dosing and more easily lead to addiction. Then there are also psychobiographical factors: the LGBTQ+ population already starts from a baseline of compromised mental health due to stigma and developmental challenges in childhood and adolescence within a society where the norm is to be cisgender and heterosexual. For example, 20% of the MSM population experience mental health issues, even without factoring in chemsex. Warning signs Alberto Diaz Santiago, a doctor in the HIV, STI, and PrEP Unit of Internal Medicine at Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Madrid, warns that any drug use can be problematic: Its a fine line. Some red flags for the specialist include when use stops being occasional, if there has been an overdose, or if drugs are being used intravenously. He also points to signs of disruption in daily life: quitting work, skipping meals or family gatherings, shrinking ones social circle to only those who use drugs, becoming isolated Diaz Santiago and Garcia agree on a guiding question to help gauge whether drug use may be problematic: When was the last time you remember having sex without drugs involved? I believe use becomes problematic when theres an activity that involves drugs and you cant do it without them, Garcia explains. Even so, in order to gain awareness of the problem and ask for help, one must break through multiple layers of silence that help keep high-risk situations invisible. One such layer lies between those affected and a healthcare system that often feels hostile. Public health services are heteronormative. You go to the doctor and they assume youre heterosexual. Theres a lot of homophobia. Sexual diversity is not present, says Leonarte, who also denounces police crackdowns on chemsex in gay clubs and saunas. Garcia reflects on the meaning of staying silent: Silence within the LGBTQ+ community when it comes to discussing issues that affect them whether related to sexual practices or substance use is not a silence that stems from stigma or shame. Its a defensive strategy against certain sectors of society that are just waiting for an excuse to attack dissident and non-normative behaviors. All sources agree that a supportive, trusting, and empathetic environment is essential for someone struggling with these issues to recognize their situation and consider seeking help. Eva Orviz, clinical director of Sandoval II and coordinator of the STI centers at Sandoval in Madrid, stresses the importance of always keeping the door open to consultations: The key lies in prevention, support, and avoiding stigmatization. Failures in healthcare system The care response, in any case, is faltering on all fronts. There is a lack of welcoming, safe support systems free of stigma and discrimination. And when care is available, it often involves referring individuals to traditional drug dependency services without addressing the relational, emotional, and psychosocial layers that are deeply entwined with chemsex. Luz Martin Carbonero, spokesperson for the AIDS Study Group (Gesida) of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, points out that her greatest concern is the problem of addiction and everything that entails for affective-sexual health. It takes its toll on them because sex without drugs is no longer satisfying, and they cant have relationships without using, she says. But this isnt solved by treating the addiction alone. Addiction ends up being the symptom of a problem. The approach that has been taken is to focus on the drug as a problem, but the focus has to be on the person, on their context, says Jordi Garo, head of the Chemsafe project at Energy Control. The breakdown in care occurs on multiple levels, acknowledges Diaz de Santiago: There are no psychological support points in hospitals, and psychiatrists arent used to treating chemsex. Mental health centers have huge waiting lists, and while addiction centers work well, not all patients feel comfortable there. What doesnt help, experts insist, is simply walking away: distancing oneself from the chemsex scene without pairing that decision with therapy to explore the underlying issues behind the problematic use. NGOs have stepped in to fill the gaps left by the public system, but theyre also overwhelmed. Luis Villegas, director of the NGO Stop, says they currently have 16 people on their waiting list for intake programs: Addiction centers dont address the complexity of chemsex. The only way to act is through cooperation. Theres no other option. Inform, dont criminalize Joan Ramon Villalbi, the Spanish governments delegate for the National Plan on Drugs, acknowledges the addictive potential of certain substances in these contexts, but advocates for a different approach: inform, dont criminalize. Were concerned, weve made it a priority, and were following it closely. Ideally, we need to create well-coordinated care networks in collaboration with the third sector. We will have to find ways to make services welcoming and accessible, he says. Bedini went through NGO Stops intake services, attended therapy, and eventually left Barcelona to distance himself from the chemsex social circle. Its been over a year since he left addiction behind, and now, back in Barcelona, hes testing himself and his relationship with the practice: I have to stay vigilant. Now Im asking myself if I want to use for recreation or as an escape. If its to escape, I see it as a relapse. But even if its responsible use, by choice, I still dont feel like I enjoy it as much as before, because I have something anchored there. The conclusion is that these experiences are becoming more and more spaced out because after everything Ive been through, I no longer enjoy it, and because Ive become aware of how getting high usurps the genuine power of enjoyment from sex. He now volunteers at NGO Stops intake network and shares a positive message: If anyone reading this is going through a difficult time with substance abuse problems, they should know that you can leave this behind, change, and feel the joy of life again. Art as a 'bridge' to understanding yourself This feature is illustrated by a visual composition created by Sandro Bedini during his therapeutic process to address problematic chemsex use and his methamphetamine addiction. He explains that the piece emerged intuitively, without a specific intention, but the act of creating it became a kind of bridge that helped him understand his inner world. Four years after conceiving it, now recovered, he interprets the lidless eye as a symbol of the hyper-vigilance brought on by meth use and the relentless judgment you subject yourself to. He describes the smoke, reminiscent of that from a pipe used to inhale the drug, as a sign of the fire that dwells within him. And in the fractured, lifeless sculpture, he now recognizes the fragmentation of one's own identity and the inner conflict. The composition is isolated and without context, much like the darkness you can end up living in when you're hooked," he reflects. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) Detectives with the Birmingham Police Department obtained arrest warrants for two people in connection to a homicide that occurred in January. Nehamiah Wren, 20, was shot and killed Jan. 13, in the 4100 block of 46th Avenue N. According to the BPD, the suspects in the case were identified as Landon Jones III, 26, of Tarrant, and a 17-year-old juvenile. Man found dead in Birmingham residence Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement BPD detectives presented case information to the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office on Saturday, and both suspects were issued with warrants for capital murder. The BPD Special Operations Bureau Tactical Unit apprehended both suspects in the 2000 block of Woodrow Avenue in Tarrant on Sunday. They are being held in the Jefferson County Jail with no bond. 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 CBS 42. By Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, a day after Pope Francis' funeral, for another ceremony to honour him on the second of nine official days of mourning for the global Catholic Church. But instead of world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump, who attended the funeral, the vast square and surrounding streets were filled with what Italian police estimated were 200,000 mainly young people, many wearing scouting uniforms or colourful T-shirts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sent as delegations from across Italy and several other countries, they had planned to come to Rome for a now-postponed ceremony to proclaim the first Catholic saint from the millennial generation. Instead of honouring Carlo Acutis, an Italian boy who died from leukaemia aged 15 in 2006, they were now honouring Francis, who died at the age of 88 on April 21 after 12 years leading the 1.4-billion-member Church. "Even having to change plans, it is a joy to remember (Francis)," said Samuele Arregetti, an 18-year-old who had come from Bergamo in northern Italy for the Mass. "We are very sad for his death but now thinking of him we are also happy ... that he is in Heaven." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ahead of Sunday's service, the young crowds pressed down the main boulevard through Rome towards the Vatican. Shouts of "viva Francesco" (long live Francis) and "il gioventu del papa" (the pope's youth) were heard. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, led the ceremony. In his sermon, he told the young people present that Francis would have wanted "to meet you, to look into your eyes, and to pass among you to greet you". VISITORS FLOCK TO POPE'S TOMB But Parolin, considered a leading contender in the coming papal conclave, did not offer much of his own vision for the future of the Church. His sermon was short, about 11 minutes, and stressed some of the central themes of Francis' papacy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Francis was buried on Saturday at Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major. The first public visits to his tomb which has just "Franciscus", his name in Latin, inscribed on the top started on Sunday morning. Thousands have already visited the church, with police urging visitors to leave as soon as soon they have seen the tomb, to help keep the long queue moving. Attention is now switching to who might succeed Francis. The secretive conclave is unlikely to begin before May 6, and might not start for several days after that, giving cardinals time to hold regular meetings beforehand to sum each other up and assess the state of the Church, beset by financial problems and ideological divisions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next meeting of cardinals, known as a "general congregation", will be held on Monday morning, when they could set the date for the conclave. (Reporting by Joshua McElwee; additional reporting Veronica Altimari and Leonardo Benassatto; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Giles Elgood) A group of nearly 200 prominent New York-area Catholics traveling in Rome this week were hoping to meet Pope Francis never guessing they would be on hand to pay their final respects instead. After months of planning, worshippers from the Archdiocese of New York including former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly were gearing up Wednesday to leave for a week-long trip to Italys capital. The trip was meant to celebrate both New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolans 75th birthday, as well as this Jubilee Year, a special time for grace and forgiveness observed every 25 years in the Catholic Church. Nearly 200 worshippers from the Archdiocese of New York traveled to Rome this week, in part, to celebrate New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolans 75th birthday. X / Timothy Cardinal Dolan I thought we might have an audience with [Pope Francis] on the trip it was definitely a possibility, one of the parishioners, Cindy Caruso Aquila, recalled Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead, on Friday, the group was granted VIP access to view the pontiffs casket in St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican, arranged by Cardinal Dolan. Many people were waiting in line for six or seven hours to walk past the casket, and we got in through a back door that many of the dignitaries were going through, and we got a chance to walk right by the popes casket. So that was very special, to see him, Aquila said. Dolan gave the group a private tour of the Vatican and insight into the last conclave, which voted in the late Pope Francis. It was very special to be in the room where the cardinals voted in a new pope, she said. Instead of meeting Pope Francis, the New York Catholics attended his funeral Saturday. archnewyork Cardinal Dolan gave the group a private tour of the Vatican Friday which included insight into the last conclave that elected the late Pope Francis, Cindy Caruso Aquila told The Post from Rome Saturday. Paul Martinka It has been an extraordinary experience its all very special, very spiritual, Aquila said. The group is expected to return to the Empire State on Tuesday. WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) Rhode Islanders gathered in large numbers at Goddard Memorial State Park on Sunday for the annual Imagine Walk organized by the Autism Project. This annual, family-friendly event raises money and awareness for people living with autism spectrum disorders. The 23rd walk also included live music, snacks, petting zoo, face painting, arts & crafts, and more. WPRI is also a proud sponsor of the Autism Projects Imagine Walk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those who would still like to donate to this cause can visit here. 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. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. DENVER (KDVR) Most northbound lanes of Interstate 25 were closed near the Denver Tech Center on Saturday afternoon due to a crash, causing delays for many drivers. The crash has since been cleared and the roadway reopened. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, four lanes of the interstate were closed between exit 198 at Orchard Road and exit 199 at Belleview Avenue. The closure caused significant delays. Traffic was seen stopped on the interstate and nearby on-ramp on CDOT cameras. Most northbound lanes of Interstate 25 are closed near the Denver Tech Center on Saturday afternoon due to a crash, causing delays for many drivers. Most northbound lanes of Interstate 25 are closed near the Denver Tech Center on Saturday afternoon due to a crash, causing delays for many drivers. Most northbound lanes of Interstate 25 are closed near the Denver Tech Center on Saturday afternoon due to a crash, causing delays for many drivers. Just after 3 p.m., part of the road was cleared and two lanes remained closed. By 3:18 p.m., the roadway was cleared and all lanes reopened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. On Saturday night, local high school students showcased their talents to raise money for underfunded music programs in public schools throughout Washington. Music Aid Northwest (MANW) marked its 13th annual Play it Forward gala at The Triple Door in Seattle. This years fundraiser brought in $250,565 to help cover the costs of instruments and to keep music courses alive. The money that we give is for what teachers request, so its a direct correlation to what they really need and how they can build up their music programs, said Shelley Tomburg, the Director of Development. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the years, MANW has raised $1.78 million to support hundreds of underfunded music classrooms throughout the state. Investing in this way, it really is investing in our future, Tomburg added. Saturdays performances included the Decatur High School Jazztet from Federal Way and Mariachi del Pacifica, a student-led club at Pacific Lutheran University. To me music is just like, its part of my soul, said Curtis Swanson, a senior at Decatur High. Swanson play the trumpet as part of the Decatur High School Jazztet. I never really got bored or tired of doing it. And here we are today, having fun in front of most people, said percussionist Jonah Jones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These students say they couldnt have gotten to where they are without their school music programs. When I was in middle school, my band got cut and that was kind of heartbreaking. But, you know, I came through it and I am still playing. But thats not the case for a lot of kids, a lot of kids, you know, quit if theres no band, Swanson added. Its really important to be able to sponsor somebodys love like that. Three children who are US citizens, including a 4-year-old receiving treatment for metastatic cancer, were taken to Honduras with their mothers, who were deported last week, according to the families attorneys and civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations. In one case, a mother was deported and took her 2-year-old child with her, while the other involves another mother deported and her 4- and 7-year-old children went with her, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Project, among other organizations, said in a news release Friday. All were detained when the women attended routine meetings with officials in Louisiana as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, according to their attorneys and court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taken together, the families advocates say their removals from the United States underscore concerns about a lack of due process amid the Trump administrations immigration crackdown. In a court filing, the Trump administration claims the mother of 2-year-old requested to take her child with her to Honduras citing a handwritten note allegedly written in Spanish. Gracie Willis, a lawyer and the raids response coordinator at the National Immigration Project, who represents the 2-year-old through a family friend acting as the petitioner in the ongoing court case denies the mother was given a choice. We are seeing in real time due process eroded, said Willis. That is deeply concerning and these cases are an illustration of that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In both cases the mothers had a final order of deportation, the DHS said in a news release on Wednesday. Rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates, the statement said. Both mothers chose to be deported with their children, it added. CNN previously reported on the case of the 2-year-old identified in court records as V.M.L. who was taken into custody by ICE April 22 with her mother and 11-year-old sister while attending a routine check-in, according to an emergency petition filed in federal court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judge said the mother was undocumented but set a hearing for May 16 regarding the child, noting It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen, citing a 2012 deportation case. The second case is a close echo: The mother was detained Thursday after she took her children to an ISAP check-in in Saint Rose, just outside New Orleans, according to her attorney, Erin Hebert. The mother, who has lived in south Louisiana for more than a decade but did not have lawful status, was asked to bring the two children and their passports to the appointment, Hebert told CNN Sunday. On their arrival, however, Hebert said she was not allowed to accompany the family to the meeting. About 20 to 30 minutes later, Hebert was informed the family had been detained, but officials refused to tell her where they were taken. Hebert later learned after speaking with her client, two ICE officers were waiting for the family at the appointment, she told CNN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hebert then went to ICEs New Orleans field office, where she said she filed a stay of removal she had prepared in advance of her clients meeting, hoping to keep them in the country. Over the course of the day, she repeatedly contacted the office to ask where they were being held but said she was not given a response. Early Friday morning, the family was placed on a plane, Hebert said, and taken to Honduras. My clients were deported within 24 hours of being detained with no access to me, Hebert said. Attorney disputes government claim of handwritten note According to Willis, both women had removal orders issued in their absence, meaning they had missed a court proceeding about their immigration cases and a judge subsequently issued a deportation order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Something prevented them from being present at one single court date, Willis said, and because of that, the judge entered an order of deportation for them. Trump border czar Tom Homan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said in interviews Sunday morning that the mother chose to take her child with her when she was deported. If someones in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported. If that person is with a 2-year-old child, or has a 2-year-old child and says, I want to take my child with me, well then you have two choices, Rubio said on NBCs Meet the Press. You can say, yes, of course. You can take your child, whether theyre a citizen or not, because its your child, Rubio said, or you can say, yes, you can go, but your child must stay behind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Willis, however, rejected the suggestion that V.M.L.s mother, who is also pregnant, wanted to take her child to Honduras. The handwritten note, she said, is not a statement of desire. Willis denied either mother was given a choice, telling CNN Sunday both wanted their children to remain in the United States. The 4-year-old, for instance, was still receiving cancer treatment, Willis noted. Additionally, both women had family in the United States, according to Willis and Hebert. These are mothers, these are pregnant women. These are children, Alanah Odoms, the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana told CNN Sunday. These are people with terminally ill or very serious medical conditions who were law-abiding residents, who were checking in with ICE as they had been instructed to do under orders of supervision. If ICE can do this to these mothers and these children, if ICE can do this to students on college campuses none of us are safe from this kind of lawlessness, she said. This story has been updated to clarify the methods by which the children exited the US. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com VICKSBURG, Miss. (WJTV) Vicksburg police are investigating three shootings that may be connected to a domestic-related dispute. Vicksburg Police Chief Penny Jones said officers responded to a shots fired call on Arcadia Street around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 27. While investigating, they received another call about shots being fired in the area of 2nd North Street. Vicksburg police investigate shootout outside Waffle House Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jones said both incidents were determined to be connected. Shortly afterwards, police responded to a hospital where a 23-year-old man arrived with gunshot wounds. He was later transported to a Jackson hospital for treatment. The police chief said a 19-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to her ear. According to Jones, the preliminary investigation suggests the shooting stemmed from a domestic-related dispute between two men involving the woman. The police chief said the incident may also be connected to a shooting that occurred early Saturday morning. Anyone with information can contact the Vicksburg Police Department at 601-636-2511. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News 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 WJTV. President Donald Trump has hailed a big raid by authorities in Colorado, which resulted in the arrests of over 100 undocumented immigrants, describing them as some of the worst people illegally in our country. Drug Dealers, Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes, and Judges dont want to send them back to where they came from, he wrote on Truth Social, sharing footage of the raid. The presidents post comes after more than 300 federal agents raided what the Drug Enforcement Administration called an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs early Sunday morning, arresting at least 114 people. The operation involved agents from the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the IRS, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and even the U.S. Postal Service, along with local law enforcement, CBS News noted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Guns and drugs were also seized in the raid, which took place around 3:45 a.m. Deputy White House chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, an architect of Trumps anti-immigration agenda, claimed the underground nightclub was used by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, he said on X. Dozens of people streamed out of the underground nightclub as federal agents conducted their nighttime raid at a Colorado Trump. President Donald Trump shared video of the raid. (DEARockyMountain/X) Part of busting up the underground nightclub in Colorado Springs included the arrest of 114 illegal aliens, the DEA said on X. The agency added that federal agents placed patrons (in the U.S. illegally) on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation. Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, the agency said in a separate post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorney General Pam Bondi also praised the raid, claiming that the club wasnt only frequented by Tren de Aragua but also by members of the MS-13 gang. Bondi referred to them as terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized. Two people were also arrested on existing warrants, she added before praising Trump. As we approach his 100 days in office, @POTUS Trumps directive to make America safe again is achieving results! she wrote. At least 114 people were arrested and placed on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation, DEA said (DEARockyMountain/X) Law enforcement officials claimed that more than 200 people were inside at the time of the raid. DEA shared footage on X showing agents in tactical gear smashing a window as dozens of people exit the building, with some initially attempting to leave the area before being told to get on the ground by agents with weapons drawn. Many of them complied and raised their hands, the footage shows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DEA officials also said active-duty U.S. military personnel were at the party, some taking part as patrons and others working as private security personnel. Its obviously concerning to have active duty military involved, DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said. Federal agents are working with the Armys Criminal Investigation Division, he said. There's a lot of military bases here, so it's not necessarily surprising, but we're going to take that very seriously, he added. No one detained during the Colorado Springs raid has been publicly identified. Active-duty military personnel were found to be at the party, both as patrons and working as private security (DEARockyMountain/X) The arrests follow weeklong raids in Florida with ICE officers working alongside local police to make nearly 800 arrests in what officials called a first of its kind operation and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arrests were carried out Monday through Saturday for Operation Tidal Wave, ICE said in a statement. The agency called the operation a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown. The Trump administration has deployed federal law enforcement agencies into communities throughout the United States to speed up removals as part of the presidents mass deportation agenda. The agreement between ICE and local law enforcement relies on ICE's 287(g) authority, which allows the agency to delegate immigration-related arrests to local police. Roughly 200 Florida law enforcement agencies including sheriffs offices, city police departments, and college campus police departments have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, the most out of any state. In his Truth Social post, Trump suggested that his administration will continue to fight a legal battle over the use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deported alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. The justices said targeted immigrants must have the chance to challenge the accusations against them, in the districts where they are being detained, before they can be removed. If we dont win this battle at the Supreme Court, our Country, as we know it, is FINISHED! It will be a Crime ridden MESS, Trump wrote. A vehicle driving the wrong way on a north Phoenix road caused a fiery crash that left a 4-year-old in critical condition, according to Phoenix police. Officers were dispatched just before 8 a.m. on April 26 to the crash at 49th Avenue and Happy Valley Road, where they found two vehicles, one of which was on fire, according to police. The child, seriously injured inside one of the damaged SUVs, was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police said both adult drivers were also hospitalized, though with minor injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Detectives learned the SUV was eastbound on Happy Valley Road and crossed into oncoming traffic, striking a vehicle coming its way, police said. The child was in a booster seat when the crash happened and neither driver appeared intoxicated, police said. The investigation remained ongoing, police said. Plea deal: Son of Phoenix police officer pleads guilty to hit-and-run that killed jogger This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fiery wrong-way Phoenix crash leaves child in critical condition (Photo by Kohei Hara/Getty Images) As many parents will know, research points to several negative effects of screen time. As scholars who specialize in speech pathology and early childhood development, we are particularly interested in the recent finding that too much screen time is associated with less parent-child talk, such as fewer conversational turns between parents and children. As a result, the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization suggest limiting screen time for children. Beyond quantity, they also emphasize the quality of a childs engagement with digital media. Used in moderation, certain kinds of media can have educational and social benefits for children and even contribute to language development. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These tips may help parents structure and manage screen time more effectively. No. 1: Choose high-quality content Parents can enhance their childrens screen-time value by choosing high-quality media that is, content with educational benefit. PBS Kids has many popular shows, from Nature Cat to Sid the Science Kid, that would qualify as educational. Two other elements contribute to the quality of screen time. First, screen content should be age-appropriate that is, parents should choose shows, apps and games that are specifically designed for young children. Using a resource such as Common Sense Media allows parents to check recommended ages for television shows, movies and apps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Second, parents can look for shows that use evidence-based educational techniques, such as participatory cues. Thats when characters in shows break the third wall by directly talking to their young audience to prompt reflection, action or response. Research shows that children learn new words better when a show has participatory cues perhaps because it encourages active engagement rather than passive viewing. Many classic, high-quality television shows for young children feature participatory cues, including Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go! and Daniel Tigers Neighborhood. No. 2: Join in on screen time The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents and children watch media together whenever possible. This recommendation is based on the evidence that increased screen media use can reduce parent-child conversation. This, in turn, can affect language development. Intentionally discussing media content with children increases language exposure during screen time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Parents may find the following joint media engagement strategies useful: Press pause and ask questions. Point out basic concepts, such as letters and colors. Model more advanced language using a think aloud approach, such as, That surprised me! I wonder what will happen next? No. 3: Connect whats on screen to real life Learning from media is challenging for young children because their brains struggle to transfer information and ideas from screens to the real world. Children learn more from screen media, research shows, when the content connects to their real-life experiences. To maximize the benefits of screen time, parents can help children connect what they are viewing with experiences theyve had. For example, while watching content together, a parent might say, Theyre going to the zoo. Do you remember what we saw when we went to the zoo? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This approach promotes language development and cognitive skills, including attention and memory. Children learn better with repeated exposure to words, so selecting media that relates to a childs real-life experiences can help reinforce new vocabulary. No. 4: Enjoy screen-free times Ensuring that a childs day is filled with varied experiences, including periods that dont involve screens, increases language exposure in childrens daily routines. Two ideal screen-free times are mealtimes and bedtime. Mealtimes present opportunities for back-and-forth conversation with children, exposing them to a lot of language. Additionally, bedtime should be screen-free, as using screens near bedtime or having a TV in childrens bedrooms disrupts sleep. Alternatively, devoting bedtime to reading childrens books accomplishes the dual goals of helping children wind down and creating a language-rich routine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Having additional screen-free, one-on-one, parent-child play for at least 10 minutes at some other point in the day is good for young children. Parents can maximize the benefits of one-on-one play by letting their children decide what and how to play. A parents role here is to follow their childs lead, play along, give their child their full attention so no phones for mom or dad, either and provide language enrichment. They can do this by labeling toys, pointing out shapes, colors and sizes. It can also be done by describing activities Youre rolling the car across the floor and responding when their child speaks. Parent-child playtime is also a great opportunity to extend interests from screen time. Including toys of your childs favorite characters from the shows or movies they love in playtime transforms that enjoyment from screen time into learning. Erika Squires, Assistant Professor, Wayne State University and Lucy (Kathleen) McGoron, Assistant Professor of Child and Family Development, Wayne State University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A Michigan man has pleaded guilty in a federal case involving identity theft and the theft of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds from unemployment agencies, including in Arizona. Terrance Calhoun Jr., 36, of Pontiac, admitted to charges of aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices, according to an April 23 news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ described Calhoun's crimes as a "large-scale, multi-state Unemployment Insurance benefit fraud scheme" where he and coconspirators fraudulently obtained more than $4 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance money on debit cards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Calhoun's plea agreement detailed how over a six-month period, he used stolen personal identification information and filed hundreds of false unemployment claims with state unemployment agencies in Arizona, Michigan and Maryland, according to the DOJ. The debit cards were used for roughly $1.6 million in purchases and cash withdrawals, the DOJ added. A search warrant at key mailing addresses, including Calhoun's home, that were used in the fraud scheme, yielded multiple documents with personal information and several debit cards belonging to others, the DOJ said. Calhoun could be sentenced to decades in prison and sentencing is set for Aug. 27, the DOJ mentioned. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Terrance Calhoun Jr. pleads guilty in $4M COVID-19 fraud Thanks for checking out this web extra. We didnt have enough time to bring you all of host Jim Niedelmans conversation with Illinois Deputy Governor Andy Manar. He recently joined Governor Pritzker on a trip to Mexico. We pick up the discussion there. It underscores and further supports the importance of trade between Illinois, especially in the agricultural sector, to Mexico, Manar said. To hear more, click on the video. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. Its a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on whats happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Military officers stoop to inspect slim green cannons along the Saigon River. Construction equipment whines as workers erect towering bleachers in a downtown park. Fighter jets and helicopters roar above the city in practice drills. For weeks, Vietnam has been preparing this city for the anniversary of a defining moment in the nations history: On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces stormed the Presidential Palace in Saigon, the governing seat of the Republic of Vietnam. The victory of the communist regime over the U.S. allied armies in the South in effect ended a costly conflict that stemmed from Japan's defeat in World War II and unified the country. Fifty years later, Vietnam is celebrating April 30 like never before. But amid the fanfare of parades, fireworks and airshows, a long-standing debate over what to call the holiday continues, a subtle acknowledgment of the lingering scars of a contentious war. Victorious North Vietnamese troops take up positions outside Independence Palace in Saigon on April 30, 1975. (Yves Billy / Associated Press) The official designation is "The Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day," but it's known by many other names. Vietnamese who are aligned with the ruling Communist Party here often refer to it as Liberation Day or Victory Day, while those who resettled in the U.S. still use terms such as Black April or National Day of Resentment. Many Vietnamese in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as Saigon is known today say they simply refer to it as April 30. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the run-up to the 50th anniversary under General Secretary To Lam, who assumed party leadership in August, academics say that state media and government have embraced the shorthand "Reunification Day." Read more: The first trade war with China was a boon for Vietnam what about now? It has been a divisive issue for Vietnamese within Vietnam, and also between the government of Vietnam and the diaspora, said Tuong Vu, a professor of political science at the University of Oregon and founding director of its U.S.-Vietnam Research Center. But this year, they have talked a bit more about national reconciliation and unification. Throughout history, different names have often been given to the same wars and holidays, depending on who is framing the conflict. Here the Vietnam War is referred to as the American War, or the Resistance War Against America. The Hien Luong Bridge, located within the Demilitarized Zone in Quang Tri province, is a symbol of the Vietnam War. (Magdalena Chodownik / Getty Images) The American Civil War was sometimes referred in the South as the War Between the States, and, later, the War of Northern Aggression. The 1973 Arab-Israeli war is also known as the Yom Kippur War and the October War, among other names. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Academics suggest that, for Vietnam, using the more neutral name of Reunification Day could help bridge a gap with the generations of Vietnamese who grew up abroad. It does show an effort to reach out to the other side, and that's what many people have been advising the government, Vu said. If you want to take advantage of the strength of the diaspora, then you have to tone down your rhetoric. In February, Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Nen said the holiday should be considered a day of peace. "It must be affirmed that it was a war of national defense, not about winning or losing. On the day peace came, there were mixed emotions some felt joy; others sorrow. But after 50 years, personal sorrow needs to merge with the joy of the nation," he said, according to Vietnamese media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Trumps tariffs reshaped manufacturing in Asia. This time, the ramifications are even broader Vietnams determination to navigate a changing geopolitical landscape with a flexible approach known as "bamboo diplomacy" has also influenced the language its leaders use to describe the past. For example, Vu said official statements now have fewer references to a puppet government in what was formerly South Vietnam, a term used to delegitimize its former adversary and denounce Americas involvement in the war. He added this shift was probably made in the hope of improving cooperation with the U.S. and to strengthen Vietnam's territorial claims to several islands in the South China Sea. The country has benefited from maintaining strong bilateral ties to both China and the U.S., its two largest trading partners, even as the rivalry between the two superpowers has intensified. A gardener waters flowers outside the newly rebuilt Kien Trung Palace within the Imperial City of Hue. (David Rising / Associated Press) They just kind of worked to build relationships with everybody and become a bigger player because of their economic development, said Scot Marciel, a former ambassador based in Vietnam when it resumed diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 1995. The business community has tended to view Vietnam as really a rising star in the region. It's been a very steady, very pragmatic approach. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration may be taking action that could dim that star. This month, President Trump proposed a 46% tariff on U.S. imports from Vietnam, which could stall the country's manufacturing and economic growth. Various news outlets have reported that Trump has also told senior U.S. diplomats in Vietnam to not attend the April 30 festivities. Vietnam also invited military personnel from China, Cambodia and Laos to participate in its holiday parade. "Vietnam prioritizes its relationship with regional and ideological allies as much as this strategic partnership with the U.S.," said An Nguyen, a historian and lecturer at the University of Maine. "Maintaining that balance, I think, is becoming much harder in today's context." Read more: Vietnamese groups furious over Jane Fonda Day in L.A. County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nguyen Hong Hai, a senior lecturer of politics and international relations at Vin University in Hanoi, said hes noticed the use of terms such as Liberation Day and Anti-American War has decreased over the last three-plus years. That shift, he said, can go a long way in changing perceptions in Vietnam and promoting national harmony. The day itself is a historical day. You can't change it, he said. What you can change, and what you can see and observe change, is the mood and the attitude of the Vietnamese people. Vietnamese media and online discourse are tightly controlled, and there are no national surveys that include uncensored opinions about the government. But ahead of the high-profile commemoration Wednesday, reactions to the celebration on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City ranged from enthusiasm to ambivalence. Tran Thi Loan Anh, 27, and Phan Minh Quan, 26, in Ho Chi Minh City, said they will camp out in the early morning of the parade on Wednesday to get a good view of the 50th anniversary celebration. (Stephanie Yang / Los Angeles Times) Tran Thi Loan Anh, a 27-year-old tax advisor, said that she and her friends plan to camp out downtown at 3 a.m. the day of the parade, to secure a front-row view. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ive been impressed by how the government has organized events that foster patriotism and national pride," she said. Im especially struck by how music is used traditional songs about the nation performed in such powerful, stirring ways." Pham Phu Quy, a driver and deliveryman, was a teenager in Saigon in 1975, with a father who worked for the South Vietnamese government, and a mother who worked for the northern army. Today, the 69-year-old said, Vietnam provides a freedom that differs from his childhood experiences. During the war, soldiers and checkpoints kept him from traveling. Now he rides his motorbike all around the country, taking selfies and photos along the way. "I dont know what the future holds, but this is a good enough life for me. Of course, debates between the two sides still continue to this day," he said. "I just feel that if the country hadnt been reunified if the war had continued everything would still be incredibly difficult." Pham Thao Anh, 75, is used to spending the national holiday in the capital, Hanoi, where she grew up. But this year, she plans to fly to Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I remember that some of the soldiers who drove the tank into the Independence Palace that day were from my hometown, the retired hospital worker said. So this day has very special meaning to me. Le Anh Dung, 23, right, grew up hearing stories about the war from his grandfather and says he watches the April 30 celebration on television every year. His grandfather, Nguyen Van Them, 73, will travel to Ho Chi Minh City with other retired military officials to attend the 50th anniversary commemoration this year. (Stephanie Yang / Los Angeles Times) Nguyen Thuy Vy, a 32-year-old translator, said her generation generally has less attachment to the April 30 anniversary than other holidays such as Valentines Day, Christmas or Lunar New Year. Young people I think nowadays are busy with work, and they dont care about this traditional holiday, she said. But Le Anh Dung, a 23-year-old graphic designer in Hanoi, grew up hearing stories about the war from his grandfather, a former military officer who was working in North Vietnams artillery unit the day Saigon fell. Reading about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have made him more appreciative of peace at home, he said, adding, I feel so lucky that I dont have to endure the smell of gunpowder or crawl into a bunker once in a while, like previous generations did." His grandfather, Nguyen Van Them, 73, said watching the celebrations on television helped his grandchildren understand what previous generations sacrificed for them. He believes that tweaking the holidays name makes it more meaningful. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Liberation of the South is not quite right, because it only mentions one half. But the other half also looks forward to the countrys liberation, unity, harmony and oneness, he said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Six people were hospitalized after a crash in downtown Long Beach Saturday. The crash occurred at the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and Ocean Boulevard, across from the Long Beach Terrace Theater, shortly before 1:30 a.m. Two vehicles with heavy damage were found at the scene a gray Kia Rio sedan and a black Honda Civic Sport sedan. Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) Six people were hospitalized after a two-vehicle crash in downtown Long Beach on April 26, 2025. (Citizen) A preliminary investigation by Long Beach police indicated that a vehicle with five women inside was heading eastbound on Ocean Boulevard. As they turned left onto Long Beach Boulevard, it was struck by a vehicle with a single male driver inside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The impact sent the Kia crashing into a traffic pole in the center median and the Honda landed on a sidewalk across the street. Six people were transported to the hospital with varying injuries. At least one woman was transported in critical but stable condition. Police did not confirm which passengers were inside each vehicle. Photos from the scene showed both cars sustained severe damage to the front ends. A large amount of auto debris was scattered across the intersection. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Police said speed and impaired driving are being considered as factors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No further details, including the drivers identities, were released. 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 KTLA. AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) A man who was critically injured following a shooting last weekend in downtown Augusta has died. Authorities say 61-year-old Tracy Waddell was shot in the head around 2 a.m. on Saturday, April 19th near the 900 block of Broad Street, as bars and clubs were closing. According to the Richmond County Coroners Office, Waddell was pronounced dead at WellStar MCG at 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE DETAILS | 61-year-old Edgefield man remains in critical condition after Easter weekend Broad Street shooting An autopsy has been scheduled. 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 WJBF. C.B. Abel said he is leaving his position as Muskogee Ward I councilor effective at Mondays City Council meeting. The Council will consider appointing Mike Brawley to succeed Abel, according to the agenda for Mondays meeting. Abel defeated Brawley and Ashley Davis in the 2024 Ward I election. Abel said hes leaving the Council because he moved to Fort Gibson. He said he had houses in Muskogee and Fort Gibson for some time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said he learned a lot over his year on the Council. I really learned about the inner workings of the city government, Abel said. There are a lot of people in Muskogee that are very passionate about making sure things are done correctly, and I really appreciate them because they pointed out things you sometimes wouldnt see just sitting on Council. It was good to hear the community perspective on a lot of things. Abel, a retired police officer, said he recommended Brawley to the Council. I worked with Mike at the police department, I called him and he was gracious enough to accept the offer, Abel said. Hes somebody I really looked up to at the police department. He was over the records division. I worked with him at the time and he was very efficient at his job. Hes probably one of the best guys I worked with in that division. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brawley said he would be excited and honored to serve if the Council approves his appointment. City Attorney Katrina Bodenhamer said the person selected to succeed Abel would serve the Council until 2028, which would have been the end of Abels term. TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrived in Vietnam on Sunday, kicking off a four-day trip that will also take him to the Philippines to boost security and economic ties with the Southeast Asian countries as China extends its reach in the region. It is Ishiba's third visit to Southeast Asia since taking office in October and comes as the fast-growing bloc has been rattled by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and an escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China. "We hope to further strengthen security cooperation" with the two Southeast Asian countries, Ishiba told reporters before departing Haneda airport in Tokyo, highlighting China's "unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force" in the East and South China seas. Noting that Trump's tariffs would have a "large impact" on the economies of both Vietnam and the Philippines, Ishiba also said he plans to hear from Japanese companies operating in the two countries so he can address their concerns and opinions through government policies. In Hanoi, Ishiba met with Vietnamese leader To Lam, general secretary of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party. Lam said bilateral relations have been strengthened "in all fields comprehensively." Before the talks, Ishiba visited an industrial park in the capital where over 100 Japanese firms have production bases, and listened to local executives' views on possible impact of the "uncertain" global economic environment, Japan's government said. On Monday, Ishiba will meet with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, planning to convey Japan's intention to provide Vietnam with defense equipment under its "official security assistance" program launched in 2023 targeting like-minded partners for support, according to Japanese government sources. An outcome document is expected to be released after the talks between Ishiba and Chinh, which are likely to touch on economic cooperation and setting up a dialogue framework between the two governments' foreign and defense officials, the sources said. During his stay in Manila from Tuesday, Ishiba will hold talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and is expected to agree to start discussions on an intelligence-sharing pact and to hold joint drills by the two countries' coast guards. Japan has been ramping up security ties with Association of Southeast Asian Nations members in recent years as China intensifies its military activities in the resource-rich South China Sea, home to important shipping lanes. Vietnam and the Philippines, along with some other ASEAN members, have overlapping territorial claims with China in the same sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. Japan shares concerns over China's maritime assertiveness, as Chinese coast guard ships have repeatedly entered waters around the Tokyo-controlled, Beijing-claimed uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. While Trump's moves since returning to power have cast uncertainty over the global economic outlook, including through a barrage of tariffs, Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, which have been deepening their cooperation with Beijing through its signature Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative. Many ASEAN members have been among U.S. trade partners targeted by Trump's tariffs, with Vietnam facing a so-called reciprocal levy of 46 percent and the Philippines, a U.S. security ally, facing 17 percent. A reciprocal tariff on Japan, another close U.S. ally, has been set at 24 percent. The Japanese government aims to increase its commitment to Southeast Asia, which it views as "geopolitically important" and the world's engine of growth, at a time of "increasing uncertainty" in international affairs, a Foreign Ministry official said. Ishiba visited Laos in October, on his first overseas trip as the prime minister, to attend a series of ASEAN-related summits. He also traveled to Malaysia and Indonesia in January for bilateral talks. Related coverage: Japan mulls expanding imports of soybeans, corn in U.S. tariff talks Japan unveils emergency economic steps to curb impact of U.S. tariffs The Trump administration revoked Biden-era protections for journalists in leak investigations Friday, allowing authorities to compel reporters to testify against their sources once again. Federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe, said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a memo obtained by NPR. This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop. Attorney General Pam Bondi's new policy will revoke critical protections for journalists in leak investigations. / EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI / Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP via Getty Images The new policy permits authorities to extract an unprecedented level of information from journalists. It authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to obtain sensitive details. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Journalists were sheltered during the Biden administration through a policy that defended their news-gathering process. The DOJ at the time stopped secretly seizing reporters records to identify sources during leak investigations. Many reporters do not disclose this material to protect a source or maintain a critical relationship. President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi arrive to speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on March 14. / ROBERTO SCHMIDT / Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images Bondi cited instances of leaks in her memo that included sharing classified information about intelligence assessments about the Tren de Aragua gang and news about the Defense Departments Dan Caldwell getting suddenly put on leave. The Attorney General must also approve efforts to question or arrest members of thew [sic] news media, Bondi wrote. She promised to still defend press independence despite the lack of independence of certain members of the legacy news media. The DOJ will try to seek enhanced approval and advance notice procedures from the journalists, she added. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference held to announce the arrest of nine MS-13 gang members. / South Florida Sun-Sentinel / South Florida Sun-Sentinel Bondis aggressive move is yet another example of President Donald Trumps war on the press. Since taking office, the president has banned journalists whose coverage of the administration he dislikes from the press pool, and vilified outlets that challenge his authority. Bruce Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said that some of the nations most consequential reporting is possible because reporters have been able to protect the identities of confidential sources and uncover and report stories that matter to people across the political spectrum. Waco, Tx (FOX 44) Past and present students and staff walk through Alta Vista Elementary for the 115th birthday celebration. Alta Vista Elementary School will be closing its door this year in June making this celebration extra special. More than 200 students and staff past and present walked through the halls one last time and were able to add their favorite memories to a paper chain that will be hung throughout the school. The Alta Vista Neighborhood Association served birthday cake to commemorate the schools 115 anniversary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Current students of Alta Vista will be transferred to Kendrick Elementary and South Waco Elementary when Alta Vista closes in June. 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 KWKT - FOX 44. Crowds gathered at Suwanee Town Center in Gwinnett County on Saturday for this years Relay For Life. The American Cancer Society hoped to raise $700,000 to battle cancer. The relay also had another purpose. Cancer does not see age, gender, socioeconomics. It doesnt see any of that. So for me, its an opportunity for our whole community to come together to love on our survivors, to celebrate them, breast cancer survivor Kirsten Baker said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Channel 2s Karyn Greer served as emcee of the event, which also honored loved ones lost to cancer. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Journalists at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner offered an impassioned defense of their work at the annual event which broke with tradition and featured neither the president nor a comedian saying defiantly, We are not the enemy of the state. Our responsibility is not to align with any one party or any one of gender, but to serve the people of this country with integrity and dedication, WHCA President Eugene Daniels said Saturday at the Washington Hilton hotel as members of the press, lawmakers and a smattering of Hollywood stars came together for the 111th annual dinner. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the publics trust. What we are not is the opposition, Daniels said to applause, before appearing to push back on remarks made in the past by President Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What we are not is the enemy of the people, Daniels said, without naming the president. Trump has repeatedly called the fake news media the enemy of the people. Danielss remarks came as Trump who never attended the dinner throughout his first term in office opted to buck tradition once again and skip the black-tie gala. For decades, presidents on both sides of the political spectrum get gussied up and join us, Daniels, of MSNBC, told the thousands of attendees seated in the Hiltons ballroom. I want to be clear about something: We dont invite presidents of the United States to this because its for them. We dont invite them because we want to cozy up to them or curry favor. We dont only extend invites to the presidents who say they love journalists or who say they are defenders of the First Amendment and a free press, he continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We invite them to remind them that they should be. We invite them to demonstrate that those of us who have chosen the public service of journalism arent doing it because we love flights on Air Force One or walking into the Oval Office. Its to remind them why a strong Fourth Estate is essential for democracy, Daniels said as the audience clapped, before showing a montage of clips of past commanders in chief, from former President Ronald to former President Obama, appearing at previous WHCA dinners. Beyond Trumps absence, Daniels acknowledged Saturdays dinner would feel a little different, as organizers nixed the traditional headliner for the event. Comedian Amber Ruffin had been tapped as the nights entertainer in February, before the WHCA later announced that it would no longer be featuring a comedic performance this year. The event also took place at a time of heightened tensions between much of the media and the Trump White House. The White House took control from the WHCA in February over which outlets are included in its press pool, including banning The Associated Press (AP) over its style regarding the Gulf of America, Trumps preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A federal judge later ordered the Trump administration to restore the APs access to White House spaces. On Saturday, as AP reporters Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani accepted an award for their news coverage under deadline pressure, the audience rose to their feet in a standing ovation. This has been a challenging couple of months for APs White House crew, so this means a whole lot to our entire team, Madhani said as he listed off the names of some of his colleagues. While typically filled with a mix of journalists, lawmakers and performers, this years dinner appeared to be light on entertainers and political figures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) were among some of the past and current lawmakers eyed at the dinner. A handful of Hollywood stars were also seen throughout the weekend-long festivities related to the dinner, including The White Lotuss Jason Isaacs, Tim Daly, Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter and Michael Chiklis. Axioss Alex Thompson was recognized with an award for overall excellence in White House coverage for his reporting that revealed that former President Bidens cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows, Thompson said to applause. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it, Thompson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thank you to the associations leadership for your unflinching defense of the First Amendment, not just now, but always, he said. Everyone can and should push for what we know is right, Daniels told the audience. Everyone can and should stand up against government interference in a free press. Alex Gangitano contributed. 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. JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated calls for Iran's entire nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled, as Washington and Tehran engage in talks for a nuclear accord. The United States and Iran have so far held three rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Gulf state Oman, aimed at sealing a deal that would block Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but also lift crippling economic sanctions imposed by Washington. After talks in Rome earlier this month, Oman said that the U.S. and Iran were pursuing an accord that would see Tehran "completely free" of nuclear weapons and sanctions but "maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu said the only "good deal" would be one that removed "all of the infrastructure" akin to the 2003 agreement that Libya made with the West that saw it give up its nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs. Israeli officials have long vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, an assertion Netanyahu repeated. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday Tehran was confident it could thwart attempts to sabotage its foreign policy or dictate its course, adding that he hoped his U.S. counterparts would be equally steadfast. "What is striking (...) is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran," Araqchi wrote on X, before warning that any strike on Iran would be immediately reciprocated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israel has not ruled out attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite President Donald Trump telling Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such an operation, Reuters reported on April 19, citing an Israeli official and two other sources familiar with the matter. Netanyahu, speaking late on Sunday in Jerusalem, said that he had told Trump that any nuclear agreement reached with Iran should also prevent Tehran from developing ballistic missiles. An Iranian official told Reuters this month that Tehran saw its missile program as the main sticking point in U.S. talks. Iran in April 2024 and again in October 2024 attacked Israel with drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles after Israel had killed Iranian generals and officials from Iranian proxies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said at a conference organised by the Jewish News Syndicate, referring to a conversation he had with Trump. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, editing by Deepa Babington and Ros Russell) NUTTER FORT, W.Va. (WBOY) To close out the end of April and Autism Awareness Month, the 10th Annual Walk for Autism, hosted by the Corridor Chapter Autism Society of West Virginia, had more than 300 people partaking in the festivities despite the rain. Participants were able to enjoy some crafts, pet a rabbit and receive information on therapies and services available for autism, including Project Lifesaver which was handled by the Harrison County Deputy Sheriff Reserve and had at least four new sign-ups. Secretary Treasurer of Corridor Chapter Autism Society WV Carol Giles told 12 News why the event is so important to the community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every person with autism is very different, they have different interests, but they want the same thing that everybody in the community wants, they want to be accepted, they want to have interactions, and we try, thats one thing the corridor chapter tries to do. Quarters for CASA event aims to raise funds for programs Volunteer and parent Raymond Foley was happy to participate. Just joined I think three years ago or whatever, and we realized its a big community, welcoming community at thatno judgement, Foley said. We like to raise money forto give the kids that dont have a chance to give them an opportunity to do every day things that you know a kid who isnt on the spectrum can do. Its a great, great place to be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Giles said although this is one of the biggest events of the year, they have a get together every month doing something different and fun each time. To stay up to date with the events, you can go 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 WBOY.com. A Pittsburgh tradition honoring a historic playwright continued in the Hill District. The Annual August Wilson Birthday Block Party was held at 1727 Bedford Avenue from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. The event offers family-friendly fun and teaches visitors about generations of art and culture. Visitors can take a tour of Pittsburgh-native playwright August Wilsons childhood home. August Wilsons timeless stories resonate deeply with our shared human experience, said Denise Turner, Executive Director of the August Wilson House. This Block Party is a vibrant celebration of his legacy, inviting everyone to immerse themselves in the rich cultural tapestry he so beautifully depicted. We invite all to join us and experience the magic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The event is held in celebration of August Wilson every year and has become a tradition. It has been held on or around his birthday since 2015. This year, 220 vendors participated in the party. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) The Illinois State Police announced that 14 people were arrested in an anti-violence detail. The joint detail, which, according to the state polices Facebook page, included the Peoria Police Department and the Peoria County Sheriffs Office. It resulted in the alleged taking of a loaded firearm with extended magazine, cannabis and meth. Keeping communities safe and getting guns & drugs off the street, the post said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The post, published on April 24, did not give any names or ages of the people arrested but said the arrests were made on April 23. 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 CIProud.com. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Thousands of Buddhist believers and festival-goers filled downtown Seoul for Yeon Deung Hoe, or the Lotus Lantern Festival. Participants, some dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok clothing, carried lotus lanterns of different shapes and colors. The festival was originally a celebration rooted in Buddhism but has evolved into an annual cultural event, drawing a large number of participants and spectators each year. With a history spanning over 1,200 years, the festival is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as well as Koreas National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The festival aims to spread the enlightenment of the founder of Buddhism across the world. More than 300,000 people, including both Koreans and international visitors, take part. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Participants gather at the starting point of the parade before proceeding toward the heart of South Korea's capital. Lanterns of all sizes, handmade by temples across the country, are featured. The lanterns can be in the shape of Buddha sculptures, dragons, elephants, lotus flowers and phoenixes, lighting up the streets of Seoul at night. Smaller lanterns are carried by monks and followers but larger, themed and Buddhism inspired lanterns are transported by vehicles. Seouls Jogye temple and temples across the countries are lit by colorful lanterns as is the Cheonggye stream featuring paper lanterns. On May 5th, Buddhas birthday, many Buddhists will visit temples to attend ceremonies in celebration. - This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. SHIZUOKA, Japan - A university student has been rescued after falling ill on Mt. Fuji, police said Sunday, the second time in one week that authorities saved the man while climbing Japan's tallest peak in the off-season. The 27-year-old student from China living in Japan was found near the 8th station on the Fujinomiya trail, more than 3,000 meters above sea level on the mountain's Shizuoka Prefecture side. He was there to recover his items including a mobile phone, which he misplaced after being rescued from the summit by helicopter on Tuesday. Authorities said his life is not in danger. Police said they received a call from another climber at around 12:50 p.m. on Saturday. Shizuoka prefectural police's mountain rescue officers stretchered the student from the 8th station to the 5th, where he was handed over to the fire department. Due to the risk of death or injury from harsh conditions on the 3,776-meter mountain, people are discouraged from entering outside of the official climbing season that typically runs from early July to early September. Related coverage: Climbers of Mt. Fuji to be required to wear proper clothing 4-stage ashfall response plan compiled to prep for Mt. Fuji eruption Climbers of Mt. Fuji to face 4,000 yen fees amid overcrowding concern Buried for five millennia and forgotten beneath what was once a coastal dump, the tomb of a powerful woman from Perus ancient Caral civilization has just resurfacedand its rewriting the script on who held status at the dawn of American civilization. This discovery offers fresh insight into a society that may have valued womens roles far more than history has given credit for. This is an important burial because it has elements that correspond to a woman of high status, archaeologist David Palomino told Reuters. The find was made in Aspero, a site once used as a municipal dump just 112 miles north of Lima, along the Pacific coast. A video of the tomb and women's findings was shared via @ntc's Instagram Post. Far from an ordinary burial, the womanbelieved to have died between the ages of 20 and 35was wrapped with extraordinary care, her body still preserving traces of skin, hair, and even fingernails. She was covered in a mantle woven with blue and brown feathers, possibly from Amazonian macaws, and buried alongside baskets filled with offerings, vases, gourds, and even a toucans beak. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palomino believes the details of the tomb point to more than just individual statusthey hint at broader cultural values. Not only men had an important association in this civilization, he said, but this was also complementary with that of women. The Caral civilization, active around 3000 B.C., thrived in isolation at the same time as the Egyptian pyramids were rising and Mesopotamia was inventing writing. But unlike those ancient giants, Caral developed without influence from other parts of the world. That makes this discovery all the more fascinating: it suggests gender roles may have been more balanced than previously assumed in one of humanitys earliest urban experiments. The site of the tombonce a forgotten dumpnow tells a much older, richer story. And its one that might just shift the way we think about power, prestige, and the role of women at the dawn of civilization. The artifacts below were found alongside the burial site at Aspero and serve as physical proof of that the oldest city in the Americas was more advanced than some countries in modern day today. View of an ancient artifact found in a recently discovered burial site at the Aspero archaeological complex, belonging to the Caral civilization, during a press presentation at the Ministry of Culture in Lima on April 24, 2025. (Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES / AFP) (Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images) ERNESTO BENAVIDES/Getty Images Following mass layoffs that saw nearly 400 employees let go from its Thief River Falls plant this year, Arctic Cat has been sold again and the new owners are hinting at a resurgence for the brand. Unsplash The purchase of the Minnesota snowmobile and all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) producer was announced Thursday. According to a press release, one of the buyers is Brad Darling, a former Arctic Cat executive who worked at the company for 17 years before becoming CEO and president of ARGO, a Canadian manufacturer of amphibious ATVs, in 2016. He is backed by an investment group and "will continue to lead both companies into the future," the release says, adding that the companies will be owned and operated separately. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Darling and his group take over ownership from Rhode Island-based Textron Specialized Vehicles, which bought Arctic Cat in 2017. In a statement, Darling laid out an ambitious path for Arctic Cat: The pursuit of the checkered flag is in Arctic Cats DNA. Its what we were built on. Like anyone who has ever grabbed the throttle its a relentless drive that pushes us forward and sparks our passion. Today is the start of a new chapter, one where Arctic Cat returns to the race, but with a powerful understanding: this race is never-ending, and our intent is to lead. He also noted Arctic Cat's history in Thief River Falls, saying that "this iconic brand has benefitted from the passion of not only the employees but also the entire community." "We are now able to wipe away any uncertainty and are looking ahead with great excitement," Darling said. However, the release does not mention any specifics about reopening the Thief River Falls plant. Arctic Cat was formed in the city in 1962, according to the company website. A Tornado Watch has been issued for southwestern Arkansas and portions of western Arkansas until 10 p.m. tonight. A cluster of storms will be moving through the region this evening, posing the risk for damaging winds, large hail, and the possibility of a brief tornado or two. While the severe risk will diminish as we move past 8-9 p.m., its important to stay alert as conditions evolve. The Arkansas Storm Team will be closely monitoring these storms throughout the evening. As the storms continue to push into central and eastern Arkansas they should lose their fuel, well keep you updated with the latest information. 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 KARK. May is both Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month. Two entirely separate commemorations for two entirely separate communities, right? Think again. Not only do Asian American Jews exist, but we come from a variety of places and come to Judaism in a range of ways. Centuries of history Some Asian American Jews come from long-standing Jewish communities in Asia. The two most famous of these are the Kaifeng Jews of the Henan Province in China and the Jewish communities of India. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today, the Kaifeng Jews are a tiny number of people to which very few, if any, Chinese American Jews trace their heritage. The community likely arrived in China from India or Persia around 1000 C.E. and probably had about 5,000 people at its peak. Indian Jews, however, are another matter. In fact, they consist of three separate communities: The Bene Israel, the Jews of Cochin and the Baghdadi Jews. Each arrived in India at different moments with the Baghdahi community being the most recent and therefore their traditions sometimes differ. For instance, the Jews of Cochin are known for their musical traditions, and the Bene Israel give particular importance to the Prophet Elijah. In 2020, there were about 4,800 Jews in India, but almost 85,000 Jews with Indian roots live in Israel and a few hundred in the United States. A Jewish man lights a lamp inside the Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue in Mumbai, India, after restoration work in 2019. AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade Indian Jewish communities have distinct cultures that come from living in a majority Hindu and Muslim society. Indian American Jewish artist Siona Benjamin, for example, creates art that fuses her American and Jewish identities with her Indian childhood inspired by both Indian miniature paintings and Jewish and Christian illuminated manuscripts, as the Brooklyn Museum described her work. Figures in her paintings are often blue, reminiscent of Hindu depictions of incarnations of Vishnu, and they include images of lotus flowers. Multiple heritages Many other Asian American Jews are children of one Jewish parent and one non-Jewish Asian parent like Angela Buchdahl, the Korean American rabbi of New York Citys Central Synagogue. Buchdahl has an Ashkenazi Jewish father, meaning that his ancestors came from Central or Eastern Europe, and a Korean Buddhist mother. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Raised in a synagogue that her Jewish grandparents helped to found, Buchdahl has written and spoken publicly about the pain that she experienced as a teen and young adult when she was the only Asian person in Jewish spaces. At other times, she was not recognized as Jewish for instance, by the Chabad rabbis on her undergraduate campus. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl speaks at an interfaith prayer vigil in New York after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images She has also talked about moments when her family blended their heritages. During Passover, for example, the traditional plate for the Seder meal includes maror: bitter herbs to remind Jews of the pain of slavery. Many families use horseradish, but one year, Buchdahls mother swapped in kimchee. When the rabbi appeared on the PBS program Finding Your Roots, she talked about the resonances that she sees between Jewish and Korean Buddhist culture, such as respect for elders and education. It is this type of experience growing up the child of an interfaith, interracial marriage that sociologists Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt focus on in their 2016 book JewAsian, the first major study of Asian American Jews. Youre Jewish? Other Asian American Jews were adopted into Jewish families, most of whom are white and Ashkenazi an experience studied by the Adoption and Jewish Identity Project. Many families raising Asian American Jewish children face challenges that are shared with other transracial adoptive families, such as adoptive parents not knowing much, at least initially, about their childs culture of origin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some challenges, however, are more unique, such as the reality that Hebrew School and Chinese School are often at the same time. In fact, in my hometown when I was growing up, they were at the same time and in the same place, such that there was a Hebrew School-Chinese School car pool but also such that no one could participate fully in both programs. In addition, Asian Jewish adoptees and other Jews of color face assumptions from many white Jews that Jews of color are not Jewish or are converts. Usually, children adopted into Jewish families do undergo a formal conversion. They grow up in Jewish homes, as familiar or not with Jewish traditions as people born into Judaism. Converting to Judaism Some Asian American Jews are adult converts to Judaism, like SooJi Min-Maranda, the Korean American executive director of Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, a movement that trains and ordains Jewish leaders from a range of Jewish backgrounds. So am I, a half-South Asian scholar of American Jewish religious history. CC BY-SA A sukkah is often covered with tree branches, reeds and other natural materials. Gilabrand/Wikimedia Commons I usually do not look for ways to combine my Indian heritage and my Jewish religious life, but every now and then I find myself doing so as at Hanukkah, when I have celebrated with deep-fried Indian food, and during the festival of Sukkot, when I have imagined making the holidays signature booths out of Indian bedspreads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As with all people who choose to live Jewish lives, Asian Americans convert to Judaism for many reasons. After conversion, we often find ourselves fending off the assumption that either we are not Jewish or that our conversions were motivated exclusively by marriage. In fact, there are enough Asian American Jews out there that several organizations serve them. For instance, the Lunar Collective cultivates connection, belonging and visibility for Asian American Jews. They host Seders and Friday night Shabbat events for Asian American Jews, along with a range of other programming. Other organizations, such as the Mitsui Collective, founded by Chinese American Jewish activist Yoshi Silverstein, address a broader range of the Jewish community but carefully include and make space for Asian Jewish experiences. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month come every May. They offer us a moment to remember that both of those communities are far more diverse than one might initially imagine, that they overlap, and that in their overlap, there is truly amazing diversity. 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: Samira Mehta, University of Colorado Boulder Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Samira Mehta receives funding from the Henry Luce Foundation for a research initiative called Jews of Color: Histories and Futures. Like how the Earth keeps the Moon bound on a gravitational tether, our nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy (M31), is surrounded by a bunch of tiny satellite galaxies. But there's something incredibly strange about how these mini realms are arranged, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy: almost all the satellite galaxies appear on one side of its host, and are pointing right at us the Milky Way instead of being randomly distributed. In other words, it's extremely lopsided. Based on simulations, the odds of this happening are just 0.3 percent, the authors calculate, challenging our assumptions of galactic formation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "M31 is the only system that we know of that demonstrates such an extreme degree of asymmetry," lead author Kosuke Jamie Kanehisa at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam in Germany told Space.com. Our current understanding of cosmology holds that large galaxies form from smaller galaxies that merge together over time. Orchestrating this from the shadows are "haloes" essentially clusters of dark matter, the invisible substance thought to account for 85 percent of all mass in the universe, whose gravitational influence helps pull the galaxies together. Since this process is chaotic, some of the dwarf galaxies get left out and are relegated to orbit outside the host galaxy in an arrangement that should be pretty random. Yet it seems that's not the case with Andromeda. All but one of Andromeda's 37 satellite galaxies sit within 107 degrees of the line pointing at the Milky Way. Stranger still, half of these galaxies orbit within the same plane, like how the planets of our Solar System orbit the Sun. Evidencing how improbable this is, the astronomers used standard cosmological simulations, which recreate how galaxies form over time, and compared the simulated analogs to observations of Andromeda. Less than 0.3 percent of galaxies similar to Andromeda in the simulations showed comparable asymmetry, the astronomers found, and only one came close to being as extreme. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One explanation is that there could be a great number of dwarf galaxies around Andromeda that we can't see yet, giving us an incomplete picture of the satellites' distribution. The data we have on the satellites we can see may not be accurate, too. Or perhaps, Kanehisa speculates, there's something unique about Andromeda's evolutionary history. "The fact that we see M31's satellites in this unstable configuration today which is strange, to say the least may point towards many having fallen in recently," Kanehisa told Space.com, "possibly related to the major merger thought to have been experienced by Andromeda around two to three billion years ago." But the most provocative implication is that the standard cosmological model as we know it needs refining. We have very limited data on satellite galaxies throughout the cosmos, since they are incredibly far away and are outshone by the light of their hosts. Maybe, then, the configuration of Andromeda's dwarf galaxies isn't anomalous at all. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We can't yet be sure that similar extreme systems don't exist out there, or that such systems would be negligibly rare," Kanehisa told Space.com. It's too early to draw any hard conclusions, but one thing's for certain: we need more observations and data on not just Andromeda's satellites, but on the satellites of much more distant galaxies as well. More on space: An AI Identifies Where All Those Planets That Could Host Life Are Hiding ATHENS, Ohio (WCMH) A 30-year-old woman from Albany could spend the next three years in prison after pleading guilty in a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred last year. According to the Athens County prosecutor, Kendra Green was ordered to serve three years in prison and will be eligible for judicial release after six months in the death of Martin Woods, 48, of Athens. Green was convicted of failure to stop after an accident for allegedly hitting Woods in June. Troopers hunting for pickup truck that struck 2-year-old boy in Jackson County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol were sent to Radford Road on reports that a man on an electric bike was hit by a car. Woods was found injured from the crash and flown to a hospital in West Virginia, where he was pronounced dead. Green was also convicted for leaving the scene after the crash. 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. SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Labor government on Sunday pledged to bolster the country's universal healthcare system with a free medical advice line and telehealth service if it wins the May 3 general election, in which cost-of-living pressures loom as a key issue. Centre-left Labor traditionally sees its protection of Australia's Medicare universal healthcare scheme as a key differentiator between it and the conservative Liberal-National opposition, which bills itself as superior on economic management and border protection. The government has sought to make Medicare a core election issue, pledging in February an extra A$8.5 billion ($5.43 billion) for the scheme, amid concerns about reduced levels of bulk billing - a payment option where doctors bill Medicare for their services so patients have no out-of-pocket expenses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Sunday, Health Minister Mark Butler said on Australian Broadcasting Corporation television that the new hotline would deliver 24-hour access to medical staff "intended to cover circumstances where people need to be seen immediately." "When illness or injury strikes in your family, 1800MEDICARE will be there - a 24/7 health advice line and afterhours GP telehealth service backed by Medicare," Butler added in a statement, which pegged the measure's cost at A$204 million. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to announce the policy on Sunday in New South Wales' capital, Sydney, Australia's most populous city and a critical election battleground. Peter Dutton, leader of the Liberal-National coalition and Albanese's main political opponent, has pledged to spend A$9 billion on Medicare if his conservative side of politics wins government on May 3. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Early voting in the election, which polling shows Labor holding a slim lead over the Liberal-National coalition, began on Tuesday. The campaign has been dominated by cost-of-living relief pledges and rival plans to boost housing affordability. ($1 = 1.5642 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Matthew Lewis) MOSCOW - Russia's top general confirmed for the first time that his nation has deployed North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine as he reported Saturday that Moscow regained full control of the formerly partially occupied Kursk region. "I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk region's border areas," Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, using North Korea's official name. The troops "provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces," Gerasimov said, according to a statement released by the Kremlin. Kyiv mounted a surprise offensive in Kursk in August last year and seized control of about 1,300 square kilometers of the area in about two weeks. The operation was launched more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia's counteroffensive included mobilizing North Korean troops to fight alongside its own soldiers. North Korean soldiers carried out "combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism in repulsing the Ukrainian invasion," Gerasimov said. "The complete defeat of the enemy in the Kursk border area creates conditions for further successful actions by our troops in other important sectors of the front," Putin told Gerasimov during the videoconference. The Ukraine military, however, countered by contesting Russia's assertion that Kursk has been liberated, saying that operations in the area continue. The Russian general said more than 76,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded during the operation in Kursk. North Korea's troops entered the conflict after a defense cooperation pact called the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty was signed in June last year by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Putin. The agreement includes a provision committing to mutual assistance if either nation comes under attack. Related coverage: 300 North Korean soldiers dead, 2,700 wounded in Ukraine war: South Korea Ukraine captures 2 North Korean soldiers in Russia war: Zelenskyy CAUTION: This article discusses antisemitic graffiti. Out of sensitivity, we are blurring the images. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) A local Applebees Grill and Bar closed for the day on Saturday after being tagged with antisemitic graffiti. According to the Montgomery County Regional Dispatch, the Miamisburg Applebees on North Springboro Pike was tagged at approximately 8 a.m. Officials said they are actively investigating the matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our 2 NEWS weekend photographer arrived at the scene as the graffiti was getting washed away. We are living in volatile and difficult times, and I cannot be more disappointed by this act, said Miamisburg Mayor Michelle Collins. Whether it was driven by hatred, racism, or a thoughtless prank, there is no justification. We condemn this kind of behavior as hate speech that intends to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence against someone based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. This behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect our diverse, accepting community. Miamisburg Police Chief Mike Brem echoed the mayors sentiments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I want to assure all residents that we take this matter seriously. Hate crimes have no place in Miamisburg, and we are committed to investigating this incident thoroughly. Our detectives are already working diligently to gather evidence and identify those responsible for this despicable act. One hurdle to the investigation: a lack of security camera from neighboring businesses. In their report, the Miamisburg Police officers who responded to the call said the neighboring Taco Bells external security camera wasnt facing the Applebees, and the footage from Steak Thyme was unusable due to distane and video quality. RMH, the franchisee responsible for the Springboro Pike location, issued a statement to 2 NEWS. We have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind at Applebees and are deeply saddened by the vandalism that occurred at our Miamisburg restaurant. We are cooperating with local authorities in their investigation and hope to reopen tomorrow [Sunday], where guest and team member safety will remain our top priority, said Rodney Conant of RMH. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. WDTN photo via Matt Channels. We are disgusted by, and condemn, the vandalism that occurred at the Miamisburg Applebees. Guest and team member safety will always be our top priority and there is no place for antisemitic or any form of hate speech in our neighborhoods, said John Peyton, CEO of Dine Brands, and Interim President of Applebees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. "Senior Assassin" is a nationwide high-school craze, and it's triggering warnings from authorities. It's a game where teens ambush their unsuspecting classmates with water pistols. Inside Edition's Les Trent spent time with high school seniors in Pennsylvania to learn more about the competitive event. But sometimes, what's supposed to be a harmless game goes wrong. A teen playing in Florida survived after being shot in the arm by a homeowner who mistook him for a gunman. New details surrounding the death of Hollywood legend Gene Hackman have been released, and they paint a tragic picture. After their tragic passing, Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa were quietly laid to rest during a private memorial service in Santa Fe. Gene Hackmans Autopsy Reveals Heart And Alzheimer's Battles CAMERA PRESS/Pat Lyttle/MEGA According to official documents obtained by Fox News Digital from the Office of the Medical Investigator in New Mexico, the Oscar-winning actor had a "history of congestive heart failure" and "severe chronic hypertensive changes, kidneys." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hackman, who famously starred in classics like "The French Connection" and "Unforgiven," had a "bi-ventricular pacemaker" placed back in April 2019, and his autopsy also noted "neurodegenerative features consistent with Alzheimer's Disease." The medical examiner further cited "microscopic findings of advanced stage Alzheimer's disease [in his brain]." The findings detailed a number of serious health issues. "Autopsy showed severe atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with placement of coronary artery stents and a bypass graft, as well as a previous aortic valve replacement," the documents revealed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was also found that "remote myocardial infarctions were present involving the left ventricular free wall and the septum, which were significantly large." Gene Hackman Had Signs Of Fasting Before Death, Autopsy Reveals CAMERA PRESS/Chris Ashford Hackman tested negative for Hantavirus and his "testing for carbon monoxide was less than 5% saturation, in keeping with a normal range," the report added. However, what stood out in the toxicology report was the discovery of acetone in his system. While acetone is a common solvent found in chemicals, it can also appear as "a product of diabetic- and fasting-induced ketoacidosis as well as a metabolite following isopropanol ingestion," per the findings. Hackman's toxicology showed acetone levels at 5.3 mg/dL, far higher than the "normal endogenous acetone levels" in blood, which top out at just 0.3 mg/dL. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The report concluded that these findings were "consistent with a prolonged level of fasting," suggesting the beloved actor may have gone a significant amount of time without eating before he passed. Gene Hackman And Wife Betsy Arakawa's Tragic Final Days Guerra Jr/The Grosby Group / MEGA Hackman and Arakawa were found dead inside their Santa Fe home on February 26 by maintenance workers Jesse Kesler and Roland Lowe Begay. According to a frantic 911 call, Kesler, who had worked as a personal contractor for the couple for 16 years, discovered the scene and immediately called for help. A search warrant affidavit revealed the grim details that Arakawa was found "decomposed with bloating on her face and mummification in her hands and feet," while Hackman showed "the same signs of decomposition." Detectives described the deaths as "suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation," the documents stated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators found rodent nests, feces, and active traps on the property. They also noted that two vehicles, which appeared to be either out of use or designated for farm work, showed evidence of infestation. Although no external trauma was noted on either Hackman or Arakawa, New Mexico authorities quickly launched a criminal probe to ensure no foul play was involved. Betsy Arakawa Searched For Answers Before Her Death News Licensing / MEGA Just days before their deaths, Arakawa had desperately been seeking answers about Hackman's declining health. According to documents obtained by TMZ, Arakawa was searching online for symptoms related to COVID-19, including dizziness and nosebleeds. On February 8 and again the morning of February 12, the day she died, Arakawa had multiple browser tabs open about health issues. In an email to her masseuse, the classical pianist revealed that Hackman had woken up on February 11 "feeling unwell," describing his symptoms as cold or flu-like. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though a COVID test came back negative, Arakawa canceled her massage appointment "out of an abundance of caution." Records also showed Arakawa had purchased several Boost Oxygen canisters on February 11. Investigators later reviewed her phone records, voicemails, and security footage, which showed her final online search was for a healthcare provider in Santa Fe. Tragically, it was later revealed that Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but deadly respiratory disease. Gene Hackman And Betsy Arakawa Laid To Rest CAMERA PRESS/AFF/MEGA Following their tragic deaths, Hackman and Arakawa were quietly laid to rest in a private memorial service in Santa Fe, according to PEOPLE Magazine. The intimate ceremony was attended by Hackmans three children, Christopher, Elizabeth, and Leslie, as well as close friends. An awkward moment unfolded at Pope Francis funeral on Saturday as Melania Trump had to prompt her husband, President Donald Trump, to follow Catholic protocol for the ceremony. The first ladys urging also helped ensure that her husband didnt snub French President Emmanuel out of a handshake. During the Sign of Peace portion of the late pontiffs Saturday funeral mass, when the mourners were supposed to shake each others hands, Trump initially neglected to participate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That is, until Melania whispered something in his ear. A forensic lip reader, Nicola Hickling, told The Daily Mail that she twice said to the president, You should do it. Oh, alright, Trump replied, before extending his hand to Macron. A firm handshake then ensued between the two world leaders. However, it was a far cry from the protracted tugs-of-war that have occurred when Trump and Macron have greeted each other in the past. The handshake battles have become a staple of the two mens meetings, dating back to Trumps first term and recurring as recently as February. The funeral service for Francis, 88, who died from a stroke last week, happened to fall on Melanias 55th birthday. In addition to the awkward moment, the service also featured a brief instance of a lighthearted connection between the couple. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At one point during the ceremony, Trump whispered a few words in his wifes ear, eliciting a rare smile from the otherwise impassive first lady. The president's words earned a smile from the first lady. / Dylan Martinez / REUTERS The couple was seated in the front row for the service in St. Peters Square at the Vatican. Melania wore a fittingly somber all-black outfita blazer dress, gloves, and a lace veil. The presidents blue suit, meanwhile, sparked criticism that he was breaking the funerals dress code. Other than the moment of levity with her husband, the first ladys birthday was a somber affair as she mourned the death of Pope Francis, who had been an outspoken critic of her husbands mass deportation efforts. The two mens disagreement seemed to earn a call-out during Cardinal Giovanni Battista Res homily during the mass. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pope Francis incessantly raised his voice, imploring peace and calling for reason and honest negotiation to find possible solutions, the cardinal said. Build bridges, not walls, was an exhortation he repeated many times. The two had shared another tender moment on Friday as they strolled across the White House lawn to board Air Force One and jet off to Italy. The president slung his arm around his wifes waista rare physical showing of affection for the couple. Trump told reporters that they would celebrate Melanias birthday with dinner aboard Air Force One. / Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images As Trump spoke to reporters en route to the Vatican on Friday, he suggested that he and his wife had resolved to hold an understated private celebration of her birthday. Ill take her for dinner on theon the Boeing," the president said. Ill take her for dinner on Air Force One. I havent had much time to buy presents, he added. Ive been pretty busy. But its working out. Things are working out very well, and people are starting to understand how good tariffs are for us. The British political system does not normally allow us the luxury of simultaneously repudiating both His Majestys Government and His Majestys Loyal Opposition. That appears, however, to be happening now. A YouGov poll last Wednesday showed Reform UK ahead on 25 points, Labour second on 23 and the Conservatives third on 20. Further indications of the travails of the two main parties may come at next Thursdays local elections. There is also a by-election in the once-safe Labour seat of Runcorn and Helsby, which the bookmakers believe Reform will win. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The so-called populist Right has already wrought havoc on the Conservative Party by helping reduce it to the lowest number of seats in its history. Now, it is eating away at Labour, emphasising that partys abandonment of the values of the white working class in favour of an agenda dictated by middle-class progressives. A great change in British politics is possible, but far from certain. We have been here before, with the two main parties disdained and a third emerging to provide a new, and apparently viable, option. The last time this happened in Westminster politics was in 1981-82, when the birth of the Social Democratic Party allowed the country to exercise simultaneously its dislike of Margaret Thatchers economic radicalism and of the hard-Left, Bennite capture of Michael Foots Labour Party. It didnt work: the party was dead within seven years, never had a sniff of power and what was left of it was sucked up by the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reform is advancing. Another poll last week, by More in Common, suggested that were a general election held today Reform would win 180 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. Labour and the Conservatives would win 165 each. That would give Reform 175 more seats than it won last year, and Labour 247 fewer. Reforms gains would mainly be at Labours expense, not merely in the North and the Midlands but also around the Thames Estuary, in seats held by the Conservatives until last year, and, most significantly, in Labours Welsh heartland. The predicted 44-seat gain by the Conservatives would be utterly inadequate and if the party were overtaken in numbers by Reform, the whole dynamic of British politics would change. Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, told students last month that he wanted to bring together a coalition of Right-of-centre voters to defeat Labour. Aware of accusations that he is on manoeuvres, Mr Jenrick rapidly clarified that he was talking about a coalition of voters, not of parties. His leader, Kemi Badenoch, equally quickly endorsed this sentiment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That she did was no surprise. Since becoming leader, her aim has been to return the Conservative Party to a position akin to where it was under Thatcher. It is a position rather like that advocated by Reform. It includes dilution of the policy of pursuing net zero by 2050 because of the carnage it threatens to the countrys economy, tackling mass illegal immigration and stopping the anti-growth economic policies of the Labour Government. Mrs Badenoch has made uncompromising statements that evoke common-sense conservatism, and represent a disavowal of the ideology of woke that still hobbles a Labour Party in thrall to identity politics. Take, for example, her rejoicing at the Supreme Court judgment about the definition of a woman, which allowed her to score a serious victory over Sir Keir Starmer at last weeks Prime Ministers Questions. Or her demands for a proper inquiry into the Muslim rape gangs in various British cities and her demand to end the Orwellian absurdity of reporting so-called non-crime hate incidents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her party has also signalled it will fight the proposal in the Employment Rights Bill to allow people working in public spaces, such as pubs and bars, to sue their employers if they are offended by banter while working. This is all part of a strategy to revert to a more traditional conservatism, hoping to advertise some solid principles that will persuade former Conservative voters who either voted Reform last year or did not vote at all that it is safe to return home. That is because, despite the far greater damage that the polls suggest Reform is preparing to do to Labour, the focus is on the bloody nose Nigel Farages party may well give the Conservatives later this week. Common-sense conservatism It has become something of a sport among parts of the media sympathetic to Labour, but who recognise all too well the partys pitiful performance during its nearly 10 months in office, to highlight the shortcomings of Mrs Badenoch, before speculating that her days are numbered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The media have become so used to there being an apparently permanent vacancy for Conservative Party leader Mrs Badenoch is the sixth in nine years that if a newcomer fails to revive the Conservatives opinion poll standing more or less instantly, the hunt is deemed to be on for a replacement. In reality, if the Conservative Party were to panic and try to ditch Mrs Badenoch, who is still learning the job and making all the right noises, the small portion of the British public that still takes the party seriously would quickly cease to do so. Kemi Badenoch canvassing in Shropshire. The Conservative leader has been making all the right noises since taking charge - Edward Massey/CCHQ That is not least why a calm and analytical response to the outcome of next Thursdays elections is essential. It is one of those moments where one may usefully quote the legendary Conservative backbencher Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles, who during heated scenes at a meeting of the 1922 Committee in 1971 stood up and pronounced: Pro bono publico, no bloody panico! The main reason not to panic is that it is likely to be at least three and half, and possibly four, years until a general election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Everything Mrs Badenoch has done since assuming the leadership suggests she is directing her party back to its natural course the course desired by its natural supporters. It took 14 years to complete the car crash that was the last Conservative administration; a new, more sensible and in-touch party is being made, but it will not materialise overnight. If the results look grim for the Conservatives next Thursday, and they may well, there is still plenty of time to put things right. Sir Keir seems to lack a suicide wish, and so his calling a snap election is highly unlikely. Expectations about the local elections have already been carefully managed, not least by Mrs Badenoch herself. She has stressed that she envisages very difficult results, knowing that she and her colleagues still have much work to do in apologising for and learning from the mistakes of the 14 failed years of Conservative-led government from 2010 to 2024 if they are to rebuild public trust. When she mentioned this difficulty, the Liberal Democrats accused her of throwing in the towel. Such sneers are the price she must pay for engaging in the hard-minded realism that the Conservative Party desperately needs if its revival is to happen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There had already been similar catcalls when she apologised for several aspects of the last governments policy, even though distancing herself and the party she leads from the some of the debacles with which it was associated such as the catastrophic premiership of Liz Truss, the dishonesty and incompetence of Boris Johnson, and the chronic indecision and tin ear of Theresa May is to most minds essential if the party is to move on. To most minds, it is essential Mrs Badenoch distances herself and the party from the debacles of former Conservative leaders - Hollie Adams/Getty Images Europe The main reason the Conservatives cannot expect to do well on Thursday is that in 2021, when these elections were last contested, they won two thirds of the seats contested. It was a time when Mr Johnson still enjoyed some public confidence and Sir Keir, like Mrs Badenoch now, was still finding his feet and being accused of being useless. On the Conservative benches today no leader or potential leader exists who, in the circumstances bequeathed by the last government, could hold on to so many local government seats now. And, as Mrs Badenoch has said, there is a mood of protest in the country at the moment. When people vote next Thursday, protest will be an important factor behind their intentions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lib Dems, who have always been a protest party, may well benefit but Reform looks likely to be the biggest beneficiary. The party will quite justifiably rejoice and argue it has taken yet another of many steps forward. That will be their privilege. The immediate danger for the Conservatives is that they do not take Morgan-Giless advice. Whatever the local results, nothing about how the country is governed from Westminster will change. One-man band The Conservative challenge to Reform is only now beginning, and not always by obvious or conventional means. The party has no appetite for an all-out war with Reform, not least because there is so much common ideological ground and so many natural Conservatives find the party attractive. Mrs Badenoch has convictions with which she can make the political weather, as she has shown over the Supreme Court judgment and non-crime hate incidents. She has also been categorical about free trade, the status of Ukraine and the Governments inadequacy in keeping its promises to control illegal immigration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She displays a common-sense conservatism similar to that heard in the rhetoric of Reform politicians. It is precisely the sort of approach that, if maintained over the next few years, will help persuade people that the Conservative Party again harbours conservative beliefs. Avoiding aggressively attacking Reform is not the same as being blind to its problems and exploiting them where possible to undermine the party. Members of the shadow cabinet talk, for example, of Mr Farages position on the NHS. He has talked of revising the NHSs funding model and the Left has accused him of seeking to make many people insure their own health, which would leave them considerably worse off unless accompanied by tax cuts. He has also been criticised by Rupert Lowe whom he had forced out of the party for worshipping the cult of the NHS and not accepting Mr Lowes idea for a Royal Commission to consider how to fund the crumbling and overstretched service. rupert lowe Critics of Reform claim it is a one-man band, over-dependent on the considerable campaigning skills of Mr Farage, skills that contributed perhaps more than anything else to Britains vote to leave the EU in 2016. Mr Farage, who has been extremely visible in the local elections campaign in a way his Reform colleagues have not, certainly has abundant energy and supreme communication skills. But if Reform is to succeed in the long term it cannot be just about him. Many Conservatives believe this makes the party highly vulnerable, not just because of its reliance on Mr Farage, but because of the controversies that his leadership style appears to create. His largest problem, which arose in early March, was with Mr Lowe. He described Mr Farage as the Messiah and Mr Farage described Mr Lowe as contemptible. Reform then reported Mr Lowe to the police for allegations of bullying, and the police are investigating. Mr Lowe has announced he is suing his former leader for libel, and also Zia Yusuf, the Scottish businessman who chairs the party, and his fellow MP Lee Anderson. If he does, the only beneficiaries may be the legal profession. Mr Yusuf has also been the target of severe criticism from Reform staffers and chairmen of local branches, about his management style and the alleged disrespectful nature of his leadership team. He is also blamed for the rupture with Mr Lowe. However well the party does next Thursday, insiders believe there will be a shake-up at the centre immediately afterwards. Yet Mr Yusuf has such authority in the party, and under its structure shares control of it with Mr Farage, he appears only to be able to be sacked if he agrees to be. Another former ally who has cast himself adrift from Mr Farage is Ben Habib, the former deputy leader, who has announced he is setting up a new Right-of-centre party, Integrity. Mr Farage described his former colleague as very bitter, very twisted and described it as a relief that he had left the party. Mr Habib responded by saying Mr Farage was dangerous. Mr Habib said that the last straw for him in deciding to leave Reform was its treatment of Mr Lowe, who has hinted he might join Integrity, even though there appears to be no room for it in the British political firmament. All this is highly comforting for the Conservatives, who so far are, by contrast to Reform, maintaining a reasonable level of discipline. Meanwhile, Mr Habibs professing not to care whether the extremist Tommy Robinson joins Integrity could be an early kiss of death for the partys, and Mr Habibs, ambitions. Former deputy Reform leader Ben Habib has called Mr Farage dangerous - Geoff Pugh These tribulations within Reform appear to follow a pattern, and the Conservatives are quietly confident that without much help from them this state of apparently permanent civil war will continue. Reform insiders say the difficulties are a Westminster bubble story. Paradoxically, a strong showing by Reform next Thursday could be the stimulus for the story to burst out of the bubble, as the party demands more scrutiny. Mr Farage has another problem, which could prove his most intractable: his strong association with Donald Trump. Mr Trumps bizarre tariff policies, the various climbdowns and the damage they are perceived to do to Britain, are bad enough. His repeated humiliations of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and his perceived sympathy with Putin, are even worse. It has helped unite the British people against him like almost nothing else. Mr Farage has criticised Mr Trump in recent weeks; whether such statements are enough to end what many voters will consider his guilt by association remains to be seen. Mr Farage is experienced, and good, at his own public relations. One doubts he will be cheering for Mr Trump too volubly in the immediate future. All to play for It is part of the Conservatives expectation management for next Thursday that the party might lose 500 seats. If it does, there will be a predictable slew of stories about how Mr Farage is on course to be prime minister (unlikely), how Mrs Badenoch is under pressure and could lose her job (unlikely in the short term), and how Sir Keir has one foot in the political grave (the most accurate of the three). It will be worth concentrating on how badly Labour does, as it will demonstrate just how shallow its vast majority was in 2024. It might be worth reflecting, too, on various important developments within the Conservative party itself, which has not, contrary to some views, simply been sitting around in recent months like a rabbit in the headlights. During her nearly six months as leader Mrs Badenoch has overseen the raising of more funds than Labour and Reform combined. She has also sought to restructure Conservative Central Office so that the partys organisation and campaigning operation are improved. And above all, she has a full policy review under way that is seeking submissions widely. She and people around her including Mr Jenrick, as is obvious from his coalition remarks understand the intractability of the system. The last time a leading political party was permanently relegated to third place was in 1924, when Labour formed its first, short-lived administration. The destruction of the old Liberal party was the product of David Lloyd Georges ambition and ability to bear a grudge: first with the coup detat he launched against his colleague HH Asquith in December 1916, to become prime minister, alienating almost all his parliamentary party; and second with his manipulation of the candidate selection for the 1918 general election, which denied winnable seats to his Liberal critics (including Asquith). Thus the Liberals were divided and neutered, just as a united and increasingly appealing Labour Party was asserting itself, and becoming a natural opposition to the Conservatives. Ever after, apart from the Conservative-dominated coalitions in 1931-45 and 2010-15, the government of Britain has alternated between Labour and the Conservatives. It is far from obvious that the Conservative Party is going to oblige Reform in the way that the Liberals obliged Labour a century ago. However, if the Conservatives cannot succeed in providing a suitable programme to the electorate that will win back millions of their lost voters, the unprecedented prospect of two centre-Right parties jointly having a majority of seats in the Commons could become a reality. Were the Conservatives ahead they could try to come to an arrangement such as Asquith did with the Irish National Party when his Liberal party lost its majority in January 1910: by asking what the Nationalists wanted Home Rule he brought a succession of measures in to pursue it, and was able to govern with their help until 1915. If Reform were ahead, many Conservatives, with their traditional thirst for power, would doubtless be only too happy to come to an accommodation with them, though it would be on Reforms terms. That is the situation that Mrs Badenoch and her colleagues will be spending the next three or four years seeking to avoid, by striving to convince the public that their party is genuinely conservative again. Whatever else they prove, Thursdays results will provide little or no evidence of whether the Conservatives can achieve that. Despite the headlines you will read next week, all is still to play for. 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. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego, Batman, debuted in March 1939, going on to become one of the all-time beloved comic superheroes. But before the Dark Knight took the moniker, the name Batman belonged to a Michigan man an aerialist named Clem Sohn. He dazzled crowds with his world-record jumps, defying gravity and gliding back down to Earth with his homemade wingsuit. Batman was one of several nicknames bestowed upon Sohn. Some news reports referred to him as Birdman or The Human Bird, while others used Batwing Man. But if theres one superhero name that best summed up Sohn, it wouldnt be Batman. It would be Daredevil. And like most daredevils, his life was cut short. Friday marked the 88th anniversary of Sohns premature demise. Bird Man Clem Sohn poses with his wingsuit in front of an airplane. (Getty Images) WHO WAS CLEM SOHN? Clements Sohn was born in 1910 and grew up on a farm in Fowler, Michigan, not far from Lansing. It didnt take long for him to find his calling as a stuntman. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Looking back: Grand Havens brush with one of Chicagos most notorious gangsters Sandra Clark, the director of the Michigan Historical Museum, told WKAR in 2015 that Sohn started his skydives not long after graduating from Lansing Eastern High School. As soon as he graduates from high school here, he hooks up with a fellow named Art Davis who does air shows, Clark said. Everything from racing planes to doing loops and all of that sort of thing, stunts. He learned to fly, but what he really liked was jumping out of planes. According to Clark, a skydiver named Spud Manning was one of Sohns early influences. In that time, skydivers tried to best one another, to see who could freefall the longest before pulling the rip cord. That helped spark the idea for his wingsuit, which would help him glide down and soar through the skies, instead of a straight freefall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement (He) gets tubular steel and develops these bat wings that are collapsible, Clark told WKAR. Hes also got a strip of cloth between his legs that acts kind of like the tail of a bird in his eyes, and (he) actually manages to glide and delay pulling that ripcord until hes at about 1,000 feet or less. (No one) today would ever wait that long to pull the ripcord on their parachute. Documentary to highlight forgotten Michigan school massacre Sohn soon became a household name around Michigan and by the mid-1930s, he had built up quite a following, including a handful of imitators who were known as bat men. By 1936, Sohn was traveling across the U.S. and Europe, entertaining large crowds with his daring jumps, using an open bag of flour to help them see the path of arcing, flowing fall. A 2017 report from the Lansing State Journal reports that by 1936, he was being paid upwards of $10,000 per jump. MeasuringWorth estimates that would translate to $230,000 per jump in value today. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pigeon Hill: Another piece of West Michigan lost to time The money may have been good, but it didnt make the job any safer. Sohn had his share of close calls. One of his worst falls happened in 1936 on a jump in London. That day, his wings reportedly became intertwined with his primary parachute, preventing it from deploying. He was able to pull his emergency chute, but it didnt catch until he was only 200 feet or so above the ground. Sohn had a hard landing and seriously hurt one of his shoulders, but he survived. Michigan native Clem Sohn poses in his wingsuit on May 10, 1936. (Hulton Archives/Getty Images) THE DAY IT WENT WRONG Sohn died April 25, 1937. He was 26 years old. He was in Vincennes, France, for an air circus. After posing and showing off his wingsuit, Clem Sohn took off on his last flight. When they hit 10,000 feet, he leapt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A pilots fateful flight under the Mackinac Bridge Video of the fateful jump can still be found floating around on the internet, cutting off frames ahead of the ugly impact. But it still shows what happened. The newsreel shows Sohn gliding in looping circles with his wings spread wide. A reporter for Time Magazine estimated he was falling at about 2,000 feet per minute. As he picked up speed, Sohn pulled his parachute at approximately 1,000 feet above the ground. Right away, the crowd knew something was wrong. The parachute deployed but appeared wound together, doing nothing to slow Sohns rapid descent. Witnesses say they could see him struggling to pull his emergency chute around 250 feet above the ground. It also failed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The video captured the screams from the audience as they realized Sohn was doomed to die. One witness told Time Magazine of the eerie feeling of being in the crowd that day. The hush coming over the crowd was the most impressive thing I have ever seen, the witness said. And when Clem Sohn hit the ground, it sounded like an explosion. Looking back: How the Kerns Hotel fire shook Lansing, Michigans Legislature Amid the chaos, some people reportedly screamed. Others cried. Others fainted. Plenty, no doubt, stood there in utter shock. Doctors on the field said that Sohn likely broke every bone in his body, and one Getty Images photo of the aftermath seems to indicate that it was no exaggeration. Hundreds of people turned out for the funeral of parachutist Clem Sohn at the Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts Church in Paris. (Getty Images) Hundreds of people turned out for the funeral of parachutist Clem Sohn at the Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts Church in Paris. (Getty Images) Investigators told reporters that it appeared that some of the cords in Sohns primary parachute were tangled. They did not know why the backup chute failed. Whether that is true or not, many people close to Sohn refused to accept those claims, attesting to his thorough safety preparations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some theorized that the trip overseas had somehow damaged the parachute. His manager believed Sohn fainted during the dive. Regardless of how it happened, it happened, and Fowlers daredevil was gone. Lake Michigan Triangle: The might of the Great Lakes is more powerful than any myth A funeral for Sohn was held in France and his body was brought back to Michigan to be buried at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery in Fowler. An earlier model of his wingsuit and goggles are held by the Michigan History Museum in Lansing. As is the case with so many tragedies, one friend of the family claimed Sohn was ready to give up his daredevil lifestyle after his trip to France. A Lansing State Journal article from the day after his death cited a family friend, who said Sohn had told him he was going to stop using his wings after his trip to France. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a tough break he had to be killed on his last tour, the man 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 WOODTV.com. A mutation that helps insects survive our chemical onslaught has been found in one of the worst places imaginable: the genome of the common bed bug. For better or worse, we had these itchy little things under control in the wake of the chemical revolution that followed World War II, particularly with the invention of the notorious insecticide DDT that inspired the 1962 environmental science book Silent Spring and is now quite rightly banned. But since the new millennium, bed bugs have been creeping back into our lives and jetsetting with us across the world, and some seem able to survive even the most lethal toxins in an exterminator's spraygun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, a study led by entomologists from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has figured out why. There are two species of bed bug, but the most widespread is Cimex lectularius. You can learn about their life cycles and how to spot them in the video below. Pest control companies across 22 states in the US and 4 provinces in Canada donated bugs to science, providing samples from 134 unique populations of C. lectularius that were collected between 2008 and 2022. Bed bug populations are usually quite inbred and therefore not very genetically diverse, so the researchers needed just one representative from each group for genetic screening. Two bugs were found to have a point mutation that causes an amino acid substitution in chemical pathways associated with the nervous system. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When we went back and screened multiple individuals from the two populations, every one of them had the mutations," Booth says. "They were fixed for these mutations, and it's the same mutation that we find in German cockroaches." Known as the A302S Rdl gene mutation, in cockroaches and other insects it's associated with resistance to dieldrin, an insecticide developed in the 1940s as an alternative to DDT. That's not to say it was a good alternative: like its more infamous relative, dieldrin persists in the environment, accumulating in greater quantities up the food chain, and is implicated in several health problems. That's why it's been mostly banned since the 1980s and 1990s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But dieldrin has a very similar composition to another insecticide, fipronil our current weapon of choice against household fleas and roaches. Fipronil is generally considered a more acceptable option because of its shorter half-life (although, it can still wreak havoc on bee colonies, birds, and other unfortunate bystanders). In the lab, it's proven effective against bed bugs, although it's not sold for that purpose. The German cockroaches who developed the Rdl gene mutation, and therefore resistance to dieldrin, also became impervious to fipronil. The researchers have now found that the same goes for bed bugs, but whether this is a recent development or something dating back to fipronil's invention is anyone's guess. "We don't know if that mutation is novel and it popped up after that, or in that time frame, or whether it was occurring in populations 100 years ago," Booth says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bed bugs had more than enough opportunity for exposure to cyclodienes like dieldrin before they were discontinued in the 1990s, and fipronil continues to be used in anti-flea treatment for pets. Now the researchers have sequenced the genes of the common bed bug, they hope to get a better picture of this evolutionary timeline in future studies, by analyzing specimens from a wider range of places and time periods. The research was published in Journal of Medical Entomology and Journal of Heredity. Related News The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Japan PM Ishiba kicks off trip to Vietnam, Philippines to boost ties HANOI - Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrived in Vietnam on Sunday, kicking off a four-day trip that will also take him to the Philippines to boost security and economic ties with the Southeast Asian countries as China extends its reach in the region. It is Ishiba's third visit to Southeast Asia since taking office in October and comes as the fast-growing bloc has been rattled by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs and an escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China. ---------- S. Korea opposition Democratic Party picks Lee as pres. candidate SEOUL - South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party on Sunday picked former party leader Lee Jae Myung as its candidate in the June 3 presidential election, after he won the party's primary. Recording an overwhelming victory over Gyeonggi Province Gov. Kim Dong Yeon and former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyung Soo, Lee is seen as the frontrunner in the presidential election based on recent opinion polls. ---------- "Flying car" demos at Osaka Expo halted as part falls mid-flight OSAKA - Demonstrations of one of the "flying cars" at the World Exposition in Osaka have been suspended for safety checks after a part fell from a vehicle mid-flight but with no injuries reported, the event's organizing body said Sunday. With other flying vehicle operators yet to finalize their schedules for public showcases at the six-month event, demonstration flights at the expo will be suspended until their safety is confirmed. ---------- Russia acknowledges North Korea troops fighting Ukraine war for 1st time MOSCOW - Russia's top general confirmed for the first time that his nation has deployed North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine as he reported Saturday that Moscow regained full control of the formerly partially occupied Kursk region. "I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk region's border areas," Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said during a videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, using North Korea's official name. ---------- 3 die, 10 injured after head-on crash on eastern Japan expressway UTSUNOMIYA, Japan - Three people died and 10 others were injured, two seriously, after a vehicle collision Saturday night caused by a driver traveling the wrong way down an eastern Japan expressway, police said. Two people died in the collision and a third person was killed when a truck slammed into traffic that had backed up after the first incident. ---------- "Park" in central Japan recognized by Guinness as world's smallest SHIZUOKA, Japan - A "pocket park" in the central Japan prefecture of Shizuoka has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's smallest, measuring only 0.24 square meter with space for just one person to sit on a wooden seat on a rock. Located in a corner of a residential area in the town of Nagaizumi, the park consists of small square raised bricks, small plants next to the stool and two stone monuments including one with a carving of the town's symbolic flower. ---------- Baseball: Yomiuri ends Hanshin's 6-game winning streak NISHINOMIYA, Japan - Yukinori Kishida delivered a pinch-hit tiebreaking single in the top of the ninth inning as the Yomiuri Giants ended the Hanshin Tigers' six-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory on Sunday. The backup catcher's one-out single to left off Hanshin closer Suguru Iwazaki (0-1) scored Trey Cabbage from third base at Koshien Stadium. ---------- Rugby: Cane leads playoff-chasing Sungoliath to vital win over Toyota HIGASHIOSAKA, Japan - Former All Blacks captain Sam Cane scored a brace of tries Sunday for Tokyo Sungoliath in a 45-28 win over Toyota Verblitz that took Kosei Ono's men a step closer to the Japan Rugby League One playoffs. Sixth-place Sungoliath tightened their grip on the final playoff berth as their closest rivals, the Yokohama Eagles, lost 38-28 to the Shizuoka BlueRevs. Video: Nemophila flowers in full bloom in Ibaraki Prefecture After paying their respects in front of the Popes coffin, Prince William and Sir Keir Starmer walked side by side through St Peters Basilica. It was there, somewhere under the 17th-century renaissance arches leafed in gold, that they spotted a huddle between Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump. Talks to end the war in Ukraine had begun in one of the most sacred sites in the Catholic Church, and they were gathering pace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Prince read the room and respectfully peeled away from his Prime Minister to allow him to enter negotiations. Shortly after, Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, the two men who had so woefully fallen out in front of the cameras in the Oval Office, would find a quiet corner to sit face-to face and hash out their differences. The scene would form one of the most extraordinary pictures of the war and indeed of high-level global politics in years. Credit: White House via Reuters The Telegraph can now reveal details of just how this showdown at such a crucial moment in the Russia-Ukraine conflict came to pass and how, as the future monarch, Prince William showed the necessary diplomatic tact required. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The meeting led to a stinging rebuke from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin, accusing the Russian leader of stringing him along in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and warning that he was prepared to hit Moscow with fresh sanctions. It is thought that it was Mr Trump who pushed for a one-on-one meeting with Mr Zelensky, who came away from the 15-minute chat telling officials it was the most positive conversation he had ever had with Trump. The Americans had wanted to do this, said one informed source. During recent peace talks in London, Ukrainian officials had broached the idea of using the Popes funeral in Rome as a backdrop for a direct meeting with Mr Trump at the funeral but were understood to be concerned about the optics. The Popes funeral was a global event, and also a scene for international politics - Riccardo Antimiani/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Ukrainian thinking is that if everyone was in town bar Putin and the wheels of a peace deal were about to come off, it would be a good time, a European source with knowledge of the negotiations said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As far as the UK is concerned, no formal meeting had been arranged before the day itself and Sir Keir had not pushed for or expected such a one-on-one to take place. According to those present, Sir Keir was walking with Prince William in the marbled basilica when they came across their allies. Prince William had the good sense to allow the leaders to chat in private. The Prince and Prime Minister also paid their respects in front of the Popes coffin under the dome of St Peters. Credit: Reuters Splitting from the group, Mr Trump, in a blue suit, and Mr Zelensky, in a black top and trousers, strode towards a corner of the church where Vatican officials in black robes hastily placed not two but three chairs. Mr Macron came over and forcefully shook the Ukrainian presidents hand before brushing Mr Trumps arm. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Trump then had a few words with Mr Macron and the third chair was removed to leave Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky alone to clear the air. Much ink has been spilt on the mystery of the third chair and whether it was intended for Mr Macron, Sir Keir or an interpreter. Was the French president snubbed after seeking to join the pair?, asked Italian newspaper il Corriere della Sera. Or did Macron leave, sensing that Trump and Zelensky needed to talk directly? According to a lip reader cited by British media, Mr Macron can be seen warmly locking hands with Mr Zelensky before Mr Trump pulls the French president towards him before saying: Slow down, let me bring before they are removed from the camera shot. According to the lip reader, Mr Trump then warns the French president: You are not in the right here, I need you to do me a favour, you should not be here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Zelensky can be seen nodding. The Prince left Sir Keir to join a private huddle between Emmanuel Macron, Volodimir Zelensky and Donald Trump - EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Some had feared a repeat of the row that played out in the Oval Office between the US and Ukrainian leaders, with tensions over the annexed region of Crimea still bubbling. Mr Trump argues Ukraine should give up its claim to the territory. Such fears proved unfounded. During their tete-a-tete, it is understood that Mr Trump started off the conversation with Mr Zelensky by saying how disgusting Russias attacks on civilians were. A source close to the talks said that the impression was that Mr Trump feels almost a bit burned by Putin attacking civilians in Kyiv that left him looking a bit stupid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lip reader said Mr Zelensky told Mr Trump: I would like you to do that but not this way. Mr Trump is then thought to have replied: Its a very interesting strategy, you have reassurance. While the precise nature of the conversation is open to interpretation, French diplomatic sources made it clear the chair was intended for an interpreter, not for Mr Macron, and played down any tensions. People have got their brains in a twist over the third chair. (It) was supposed to be for the interpreter but in the end it turned into a tete-a-tete, the source told The Telegraph. Macron saw Trump just before and also saw Zelensky afterwards. Mr Zelensky is greeted by Mr Macron in the crowd just before the Popes body is carried out - Riccardo Antimiani/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The source added that the French president had encouraged President Trump to see Zelensky and Macron spoke to Zelensky beforehand to ensure that he spoke directly to Trump. He had encouraged President Zelensky to speak directly to President Trump and reiterate his support for a ceasefire, and President Trump to increase the pressure on Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While France had not organised the tete-a-tete, it had facilitated the meeting while the Vatican was responsible for the logistics, namely the three chairs, he insisted. The Telegraph understands that Sir Keir had never intended to be a part of the chat, holding his own talks with Mr Zelensky at the British ambassadors residence in Rome joined by, in a rare public engagement, Lady Starmer. Regarding who was the driving force behind the meeting, Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, said: It was mutual. And he said Mr Trump would offer more details on the talks later. A White House source said there was nothing complicated about setting up the meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was pretty easy to set up. They were both in the same vicinity so it was easy to set up. The meeting took place just paces from the coat of arms of Pope John Paul II - the late pontiff who was popular in Ukraine. The leaders spoke close to St Peters baptistry chapel, in what could be seen as symbolic of new beginnings in their relationship. Worshippers gather With a short walk to the main exit door, it seems likely Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky may have been able to hear worshippers gathering for Pope Franciss funeral outside while they spoke. The two chairs were also placed just a couple of strides from the coat of arms of Pope John Paul II, which is set in marble just in front of the chapel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement St John Paul II, who was canonised by Pope Francis in 2014, remains popular with Ukrainians today. In 2001, he visited their country and upon leaving, praised Ukrainians for their untiring and heroic struggle against invaders. After the high-stakes one to one, Mr Trump turned on the Russian president, saying: There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions? Too many people are dying!!! Mr Zelensky described their conversation as potentially historic and very symbolic. He said he and Mr Trump had discussed a full and unconditional ceasefire and reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Credit: X / @wartranslated The White House said the 15-minute meeting was very productive. But on Sunday, Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, said that a peace deal needs to happen soon and that Washington is trying to determine whether it is worth continuing to serve as mediator. We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if its not going to come to fruition, Rubio told NBCs Meet the Press program. On Friday Putin discussed the possibility of direct talks with Ukraine in a meeting with Steve Witkoff, Mr Trumps special envoy, according to a Kremlin aide. He told Mr Witkoff that Russia was ready to resume talks with Ukraine without preconditions, the Kremlin added on Saturday. Photographs also showed Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky seated in front of the baptistry font, designed by Italian architect Carlo Fontana in 1697. An ancient baptistry font formed the background to the meeting - Getty The red porphyry base of the baptismal font is said to have been the sarcophagus of the Emperor Hadrian (76138 AD). The basilica was reopened to the public on Sunday after being closed during Saturdays funeral - and hordes of tourists took pictures of the chapel, with many unaware it had been the setting of the potentially historic meeting. 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. The Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome opened its doors on Sunday to allow visitors to pay their respects at the tomb of the late pope Francis, one day after he was laid to rest. Hundreds of believers queued early on Sunday morning in front of the church before it opened at 7 am (0500 GMT). Lines hundreds of metres long quickly formed in front of the church, with people asked to walk quickly past the marble tomb marked "Franciscus." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cardinals are to visit the tomb together at 4 pm and hold an evening prayer there. Francis chose the church in central Rome for his resting place instead of St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, where many of his predecessors are buried. Hundreds of thousands bid farewell to pope The late pope was laid to rest on Saturday following a grand ceremony on St Peter's Square in the Vatican attended by some 250,000 people, including leaders from around the world. Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re led the Requiem Mass in the forecourt of St Peter's Basilica. "He touched hearts," the cardinal said. "Countless were his gestures and exhortations in favour of refugees and displaced persons and he was also tireless in his commitment to the poor." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were among those present at the funeral. Before the service began, Trump and Zelensky met in the almost empty St Peter's Basilica for the first time since their explosive Oval Office meeting in February. After the service, the pontiff's coffin was transported across Rome in a converted popemobile to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major near Rome's main train station. Some 150,000 people lined the roads of Rome to bid him farewell as his funeral procession passed by, according to estimates by the Vatican. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Francis died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday after suffering a stroke, followed by a coma and heart failure, having in recent weeks battled acute respiratory failure, arterial hypertension and other ailments. He worked up until his death and many of the tributes to him celebrated his dedication to peace and to the poor and marginalized. Attention shifts to conclave Following the funeral, the cardinals in the Vatican and many of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics are now looking ahead to the conclave to elect a new pope. The 135 cardinals eligible to vote are expected to gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect the 267th pope in early May. The date for the start of the conclave has not yet been announced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cardinal Reinhard Marx of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising expects the conclave to last just "a few days," as the papal elections of the last decades have. Since the 1960s, elections have been decided after a maximum of three days. To become pope, a cardinal must receive two-thirds of the votes at the conclave. One ballot is held on the first day, followed by four on each successive day. Once a new pope has been chosen, white smoke rises from a chimney installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Visitors arrive at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to visit the tomb of the Late Pope Francis, one day after his burial. The Argentine pontiff, who led the Catholic Church from 2013, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88, leaving a lasting legacy and a profound global impact. Christoph Reichwein/dpa 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? Sen. Bernie Sanders has faith that the American people understand what oligarchy means, defending his use of the term from fellow Democrats Sen. Elise Slotkin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who have argued that it doesnt resonate with voters. I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are, Sanders said on NBCs Meet the Press. I think they understand very well, when the top one percent owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent, when big money interests are able to control both political parties, they are living in an oligarchy. And these are precisely the issues that have got to be talked about. Slotkin said in a Politico interview that she wants Democrats to stop using the word oligarchy because it doesnt resonate with voters outside coastal institutions. Instead, she said the party should say it doesnt support kings. She also said that Democrats need to change their public perception that they are the weak and woke party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Walz, who ran as Kamala Harris vice presidential candidate, said that Democrats should stop using words like oligarch and food insecurity in favor of alternatives, like greedy billionaires and hungry. Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fellow Democrat, are leading a nationwide Fighting Oligarchy tour that, according to Sanders communications director Anna Bahr, has attracted more than 250,000 total attendees to its rallies. While neither Slotkin nor Walz mentioned Sanders or Ocasio-Cortez, their comments came as their tour attracted tens of thousands of people to each event. Plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle feel threatened by rising class consciousness, Ocasio-Cortez posted to social media hours after Slotkins interview was published. The very rich [are] getting richer, working-class people are struggling, 800,000 people sleeping out on the streets, Sanders said Sunday. If we dont address that issue, the American people will continue to turn their backs on democracy because theyre looking around, and theyre saying, Does anybody understand what I am going through? And unfortunately, right now, to a large degree, neither party does. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sanders denied that he and Ocasio-Cortez are trying to start a third party when host Kristen Welker asked if that was their goal. What were trying to do is strengthen American democracy, where faith in both the Democratic and Republican parties right now is extremely low, he said. We are living, Kristen, in the richest country in the history of the world, Sanders added. And yet you got one person, [Elon] Musk, who owns more wealth than the bottom 53 percent of American households. That is insane. That is oligarchy on steroids. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Apr. 27Brewing craft beer has been at the center of Bert Boyce's life for as long as he can remember, but the inspiration to hop into the industry stemmed from something else. "It all came from a love of cooking and eating and community," says Boyce, president of operations and co-owner of Marble Brewery. "I grew up out in the country on a horse ranch in northern San Diego County, and all my cousins, aunts, uncles and family friends would come over and ride all weekend. ... That's kind of how I grew up." Boyce and his business partner, co-owner and president of sales and marketing Jarrett Babincsak, took over Marble earlier this year following rumors on social media that the brewing company was filing for bankruptcy and maybe closing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Marble, founded in 2008, isn't dead. Far from it. The two are using their experience at Santa Fe Brewing Co. where Boyce was a brewmaster and Babincsak was the vice president of sales and marketing to bring life back to the "cultural icon" Marble, he said. "To provide something made in our town that reflects our culture, that's huge," Boyce says. "That's what local beer is supposed to be: beer made by your friends, for your community. We just want to be a local cultural touch point." What inspired you to pursue ownership of Marble? I think every brewer gets into this business with the idea that one day they want to open their own place. And oftentimes it's born out of this need to have creative control. I think a lot of brewers consider themselves artists, and they want to be able to make whatever they want to make. Certainly, I felt that way when I was a lot younger. My parents are entrepreneurial, and so are Jarrett's. Both of us just want to work hard, and we feel like we have some pretty good ideas as to how to run an organization, provide opportunities for people and create an impact in our community. We felt like the best way to do that was to take the risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How does your experience at Santa Fe Brewing benefit you in your new role as a co-owner of Marble? Brewing at the end of the day, it's not that sexy. We build our industry and our image around being cool, but really, we're just in manufacturing and hospitality. You just have to build a strong organization and get people to want to work for you and buy into your vision. I think both of us are proud of all the things we were able to accomplish. We wanted to bring that team building and that organizational kind of structure and strategy and purpose and put it to use here at Marble. Marble is such an iconic Albuquerque brand and institution, and the thought of Marble closing not just for us, but for a lot of people was just devastating. For us to be able to kind of reinvigorate the whole organization, not just the brand but all the people who stuck through the rough times, we kind of feel like we owe it to the community. How hard was it for you to leave one iconic brewing company for another? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We're getting a lot of questions about Santa Fe, obviously. And there's a lot of confusion in the market and the media as to who we are if Santa Fe bought Marble. There's no relation, for the record. There's just our shared experience working at Santa Fe Brewing Co. But (leaving) was heart wrenching. It was really difficult. I thought when we moved to New Mexico that Santa Fe Brewing was my career. But the opportunity to take the reins of Marble was just, it was amazing. It's bigger than I could have expected. Have you encountered any challenges as Marble's co-owner and president of operations? Nothing insurmountable, to be honest. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far, there's been certainly a lot of difficult conversations and some come-to-Jesus moments. But for the most part, things are going according to plan, which is always kind of scary. Has there been a win yet in the new role? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A bunch of wins. The first win was that we were able to move our portfolio over to Admiral Beverage Corp., by far the best distributor in the state. ... To be able to make the changes that we need to make and have the full support of the staff and belief in our vision is huge. To see our taprooms getting busy again is huge. On the whole, I can't really complain. How does Albuquerque's brewing scene stack up to others you've been around? We're six hours from Phoenix and from Denver and 12 hours from Dallas. We're kind of geographically isolated enough that no big national or regional (companies) can afford a presence here. And so we've been allowed to flourish without big nationals or regionals kind of trying to take over our market. We've been able to develop our own unique market. That's what I love about this place food, music, beer. So much about our culture is because it's so authentically protected and old and far enough away from everyone else that they just leave us alone. I love that part about living here. What valuable advice have you received? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So much. Lately, I think the thing that's been resonating the most is not to let perfection get in the way of progress. I learned that from one of my mentors at Samuel Adams. They call it the 80/20 rule make sure you don't spend 80% of your time on the last 20% of what you're trying to get done. You gotta always be moving forward. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Who do you look up to? I've had the privilege of working for a bunch of mentors that I still consider friends that I can still call. I grew up working for my dad as a kid, and watched how he balanced his business and his family and his personal life. To this day, we're still really close. My dad's been a huge impact, like a guide. Former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, defeated for U.S. Senate and Texas governor in recent elections but a prodigious national fundraiser, now says that if Texans want him to run for Senate again in 2026, then yes I wlll. It may be the closest ORourke, an El Paso Democrat, has come to announcing for what is expected to be a $200 million-plus campaign against either incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or challenger Attorney General Ken Paxton, a McKinney Republican. ORourke, then a member of the U.S. House, lost to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 percentage points in a 2018 election that lifted him into the national spotlight. In 2022, he lost to Gov. Greg Abbott by 11 points. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He raised nearly $180 million for the two campaigns. The 2026 Democratic nominee for Senate will be expected to raise as much as $100 million. In 2019, he launched a 2020 campaign for president. He dropped out that November, a year before the election, but was considered a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden until Biden committed to choosing a Black woman for the ticket. Biden ultimately chose California Sen. Kamala Harris. Speaking to several hundred people April 26 in Denton, Texas, ORourke rallied voters at what was billed as a town hall for his voter mobilization organization, Powered by People. Asked in the Q-and-A after his speech whether he would run for Senate, ORourke grinned and said, Im gonna infer from your question that you do not want Ken Paxton to be your next senator. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He went on to loud cheers: If ... this is what the people of Texas want that its the highest and best use of what I can give to you then yes, I will. Later, he told WFAA: Im going to do whatever is most helpful for the people of Texas. ... Im going to do whatever is the greatest good for the greatest number in this state. ... Whatever I can do, wherever Im helpful, thats where Im going to be. It is one of the few times so far ORourke has directly mentioned running. So far, Democrats being discussed for the race include former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, who lost to Cruz in 2024 by 8 percentage points, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas. Both are also considered along with state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio as possible candidates for governor, lieutenant governor or for the open seat as attorney general. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He spoke at length to the crowd at Andersons Eatery & Distillery about the principles of American government, freedom and due process of law, and about the current administration and deportation policies of President Donald Trump. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (left) will challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 Republican primary. In an interview in recent days with The Dallas Morning News, ORourke said he would do whatever I can to be useful, and right now that is organizing, registering voters, recruiting and leading volunteers across the state. If at some point it makes sense to do something else, Im open to it. He also told The News that if Paxton beats Cornyn for the nomination in the March 2026 Republican Party primary, it would be a gift to those who want to see a Democrat win. It was his second recent visit to North Texas. He spoke in mid-March in Mansfield for a smaller crowd. He also held town halls in Wichita Falls and in Fort Bend County, outside Houston, with former Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. (WHTM) A Pennsylvania lawmaker says she will soon propose a bill that would change Pennsylvanias state fossil. The Pennsylvania State fossil is currently a type of trilobite called Phacops rana. Phacops rana is a marine arthropod from the Paleozoic era. According to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, these can be found in rocks in central Pennsylvania that are 541 to 359 million years old. Close Thanks for signing up! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now WHTM Daily Digest The legislation, which will soon be introduced by state Representative Stephanie Borowicz (R-76), would change the state fossil to the Hynerpeton bassetti. What makes the Hynerpeton bassetti so unique is that it is only found in Pennsylvania. The current state fossil can be found in 46 other states, five of which have also named it their state fossil, according to the memo. The memo said that Paleontologists Dr. Edward Daeschler and Neil Shubin uncovered the fossilized remains of Hynerpeton bassetti at Red Hill in Hyner, Pennsylvania, in 1993. The extinct four-legged vertebrate lived in the rivers and wetlands of Pennsylvania around 365 to 363 million years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The memo said that the students from Bucktail High Schools Ecology Club are leading the effort to make the Hynerpeton bassetti the state fossil. 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 ABC27. A man walks on a pile of rubble after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) SANAA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that U.S. forces carried out additional strikes in several northern provinces and said three U.S. strikes also hit the Galaxy Leader, a cargo vessel seized by the Houthis in November 2023 during attacks on Red Sea shipping linked to Israel. No casualties were reported from the strikes outside Sanaa or on the vessel. Separately, the Houthis on Sunday claimed responsibility for launching a missile at Israel's Nevatim Air Base in the Negev region, marking their second such attack in less than 48 hours. The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile after warning sirens were triggered in the Arava region and near the Dead Sea. No casualties were reported, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. In a statement carried by al-Masirah TV, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group used a "hypersonic ballistic missile" to target the base, pledging continued military operations in support of Palestinians amid the conflict in Gaza. "Our military operations in support of the Palestinian people will continue until the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted," Sarea said. Tensions between the Houthis and U.S. forces have escalated sharply since March 15, when Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, a campaign criticized by many regional governments as a threat to wider stability. A pile of rubble is seen after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) A girl looks at piles of rubble after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) Piles of rubble are seen after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) People look at a damaged car after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) A man walks on a pile of rubble after U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 27, 2025. U.S. airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) Happy Birthday, Ryan. There wont be much to distinguish today from other days. You will wake up to the same cramped routines of a cold, container-sized cell shared with ten other men. If youre able to get a place in the queue for the prison phone-box, I may be able to say my seventeenth Happy Birthday since you were taken from us. But, as the precious seconds tick by, I probably wont find the words to tell you how proud I am of the man who has remained such a strong husband and father. Who has shown the jailers who clearly intend that we should never see each other again that they will never break our family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im afraid I havent achieved much since your last birthday. The ruler of Dubai continues to ignore my pleas for clemency. And the British Government feels able to ignore the growing calls from MPs and peers from all parties for the men who have done this to us to be sanctioned. Both of them probably make the same calculation: that the noisy British love-affair with UAE money will dependably drown out the pleas of a homeless 65-year old woman with no friends in high places. And Im afraid theyre right. When an expert panel of UN jurists found three years ago that you had been arbitrarily imprisoned without a fair trial, our Foreign Office responded with a waffly assurance that it took allegations of human rights abuse very seriously. You were imprisoned purely to enable powerful figures in Dubai to seize your property development project, which they duly declared worthless at your trial. When it emerged last year that this property is now being advertised as a 3 billion dollar luxury development, our Foreign Office responded with an embarrassed shuffling of papers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However glaringly obvious to everyone that the men who put you in prison see keeping you there until you die as the safest way of ensuring that they can bank their profits, our Foreign Office finds it simplest to look the other way. David Lammy chose not to raise your case in his first visit to the UAE last September, and only did so in December to spare Keir Starmer from having to do so on his. Four months on, the Foreign Office is still trotting this out as evidence of their engagement. Every major newspaper in this country has written about you. I am profoundly grateful to them, because that is the only thing which keeps your story alive. But even that becomes harder with every passing month. The humdrum news cycle requires every article to have a hook. And they become scarcer when theres nothing new to report beyond the quiet anguish of an ageing couple who feel life slipping though their fingers, knowing that the seventeen years they have lost will never come back. The men who are keeping you in prison know this. So does our Foreign Office. If I do nothing, I will lose you. So I will use the only thing left to a woman who has had everything taken from her: persistence. I have written to Sir Keir Starmer asking him to meet me. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I will deliver the letter personally to No 10 tomorrow, and will repeat my request until he sees me. I want him to look me in the eye and explain why he feels unable to do anything to protect a British citizen from what is being done to you. I make no claim on the sympathy of anyone who reads this. A glance around our world will show vistas of suffering far worse than mine. But as I fight for the only thing I have left, I would ask them to consider how they would feel if what has happened to you befell a member of their family. Because if the Government persists in being unwilling to defend its citizens from the kind of human rights abuse which you have suffered, the only thing thats certain is that those abuses will multiply. 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. A new investigation into the American Airlines crash conducted by The New York Times found that the crew aboard the Army Black Hawk helicopter was not suffering from any impairment "There is no indication that [Capt. Rebecca Lobach] was suffering from health issues at the time or that a medical event affected her during those final moments," the report stated American Airlines flight 5342 was preparing to land in Washington, D.C., when the military aircraft collided with the plane A new report into the Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter found that the captain who was flying the military aircraft was not impaired. The New York Times using dozens of records and interviews with aviation experts reported in an April 27 investigative story that while there is still no answer as to exactly why the crew on board the Black Hawk continued flying toward the airplane, they were not medically impaired. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There is no indication that [Capt. Rebecca Lobach] was suffering from health issues at the time or that a medical event affected her during those final moments aboard the Black Hawk, according to friends and people familiar with the crash investigation, which included autopsies and performance log reviews," the outlet reported. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP Lights from emergency vehicles on Jan. 29, 2025 Lights from emergency vehicles on Jan. 29, 2025 Related: D.C Plane Crash Investigation Explained: All the Answers to Your Key Questions The newspaper also reported that it appeared several mistakes were made by the Black Hawk crew, which also included Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves and Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin OHara. "Some of the controllers instructions were 'stepped on' meaning that they cut out when the helicopter crew pressed a microphone to speak and important information likely went unheard," the Times reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outlet reported that Lobach failed to follow a direction from the co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to change course. Additionally, one feature that would allow controllers to better track the helicopter had been turned off, due to Army protocol, which called for pilots to turn off the setting when practicing how to secretly fly government officials. Related: Figure Skaters, Moms and an Engaged Pilot: What We Know About the D.C. Plane Crash Victims So Far The Times also reported aviation experts believe that the controller did not issue "clear, urgent instructions to the Black Hawk to avert the crash." The Federal Aviation Administration told the Times in a statement that it could not discuss "any aspect" of the still-ongoing investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB added that it would release their final report on the causes of the crash by early 2026. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the Armys director of aviation, also told the outlet that he believes investigators will find that a number of things contributed to the fatal crash. I think what well find in the end is there were multiple things that, had any one of them changed, it could have well changed the outcome of that evening," Braman said. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Part of the wreckage in the Potomac River on Jan. 30, 2025 Part of the wreckage in the Potomac River on Jan. 30, 2025 Just before 9 p.m. on Jan. 29, the American Airlines flight 5342 was preparing to land in Washington, D.C., after a trip from Wichita, Kansas, when the military aircraft collided with the plane near Reagan National Airport. The fiery crash sent both aircrafts plummeting into the Potomac River, and 67 people were killed in the historic disaster. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A number of factors that may have contributed to the crash were already known prior to the Times' report. Related: Second-by-Second Timeline of D.C. Plane Crash Revealed, Questions Remain About What Helicopter Pilots Heard and Saw Officials said the helicopter was flying far too high during a routine night mission and had been twice warned about the jet, which was instructed just a few minutes before landing to switch runways. NTSB member Todd Inman told reporters on Feb. 1 that air traffic control twice alerted the helicopter to the larger passenger jet, including about two minutes before the collision, when the helicopter was told that the plane would be landing at Runway 33. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Air traffic control staffing levels were also reportedly lower than they normally would have been. And at the last second, the passenger plane pulled up as though trying to avert catastrophe. One controller was handling both plane and helicopter traffic, rather than two people dividing the job, because someone left early, according a previous report from the Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said that the helicopter had night vision goggles with them on what he called an annual proficiency training flight. These goggles may have impaired their vision at a well-lit airport such as Reagan. Read the original article on People Former national security adviser John Bolton said the Saturday meeting between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome is a significant step toward reestablishing a better channel of communication between the heads of state. I think the meeting was significant. I think this is a significant step back toward sensible conversation between the two leaders, Bolton, a frequent Trump critic, said during his Saturday appearance on CNN. He added that both the presidents spokesman and [the] Zelensky spokesman said it was productive. So, I think youve got to consider it good. It doesnt necessarily mean much progress, but at least theyve broken the image of what happened in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, so thats a plus, referring to the late February blowup between the two leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump and Zelensky had a brief one-on-one meeting in Rome before attending Pope Franciss funeral. It was their first in-person huddle since the contentious spat in the Oval Office. Good meeting. We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered: protecting lives of our people, full and unconditional ceasefire, reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out, Zelensky said after the meeting. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Trump later Saturday wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be tapping me along in light of recent deadly strikes the Kremlins military launched on several Ukrainian cities. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote on Truth Social. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Too many people are dying!!! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bolton, who has previously been critical of the administrations approach to facilitating a potential peace agreement in Eastern Europe, argued Trumps recent criticism of Putin does not necessarily represent a tone shift, but said the Kremlin leader needs to be careful not to overplay his hand with the commander in chief. Trump has a short attention span, so for that period of time, that was the kind of message that he wanted to send. I do think that Putin has to be careful about overplaying his hand with Trump, Bolton said Saturday. Trump can change his attitude toward people, but Putin has gotten so many concessions from Trump already that even though Zelensky is apparently, and the Ukrainians are poised to give their alternative possibilities for how this might proceed, he added. Really, the advantage is overwhelmingly on the Russian side now, so Putin doesnt want to mess that up, but I still think hes got plenty of room to play with. 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. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Border Czar Tom Homan is visiting Rochester this morning to show support for Rochester law enforcement following an incident involving RPD and ICE. This comes as multiple protests are planned the day of his visit. The Locust Club, the union representing Rochester police officers, announced Homan will be arriving in the late morning and leaving shortly after. It has not been confirmed what specific time he will be at the Locust Club. The union told News 8 that the event is not open to the public, nor will the parking lot be available for anyone other than confirmed guests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ahead of his visit, there were protests announced for Tuesday. One of these will be held at Rochester City Hall from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., defending the citys sanctuary city policies. The protest was organized by 50501 Rochester, a grassroots organization. Homans visit comes around a month after he posted a statement on X showing his support for the Rochester Police Department officers involved in an incident where an officer broke city policy when responding to a call for help from Homeland Security (Border Patrol). WATCH: Body worn camera footage of controversial arrest in Rochester involving CBP Homan spoke at a White House press briefing on Monday, saying no elected mayor or governor should want public safety threats, identifying those who are in the United States illegally as public safety threats walking in the community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Homan also referenced the RPD and ICE incident during this press briefing, saying, cops need to help cops, and stood by his position that the officers involved in that incident did nothing wrong. They did the right thing law enforcement responding to emergency assistance from law enforcement, so Im going up there to support the men and women in law enforcement, Homan said. Homan also referenced the lawsuit the federal government filed against the City of Rochester for its sanctuary city policies, calling them illegal. The city responded by calling the lawsuit political theater. In the statement, Homan said he stands with the officers, and goes on to say, sanctuary policies endanger our police and public. President Trump and AG Pam Bondi are committed to taking them on, and so am I. Help is coming! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legislators and Union Representatives also responded to the incident. County Legislator Rachel Barnhart says she is working on a resolution to make Monroe County a human rights county. The Monroe County Republican Conference said the officers did their jobs, adding that Monroe County families deserve to have the law upheld. The police union said that criminal laws should be enforced, and Mercedes Vazquez Simmons agrees they should, under due process. As of Sunday, the Locust Club confirms Homan is planning a visit to Rochester on Tuesday and noted that more details regarding his visit will soon become available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 RochesterFirst. Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: ILS boosts cross-border freight with Arizona facility; British wire harness maker plans new facility in Mexico; RK Logistics adds free trade zone warehouse space; and Texas border agents discover $8M worth of meth in shipment from Mexico. ILS boosts cross-border freight with Arizona facility The International Logistics Solutions (ILS) Co. continues to invest in U.S.-Mexico trade, regardless of the ups and downs of the White Houses current trade policies. Earlier this month, ILS opened a 115,000-square-foot distribution center in Tucson, Arizona. The facility aims to serve industries that rely heavily on cross-border shipments between Mexico and the U.S., company officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our major customers are in the automotive and aerospace industries, and some industrial materials, Tirzo Gortary, director of the ILS distribution center in Tucson, told FreightWaves in an interview. We see a lot of our logistics parts either getting manufactured for or either delivered to GM, Tesla and Ford. Our customers are either customers that had manufacturing in the U.S. and in Mexico, or they could be suppliers that are outside of Mexico, outside of the U.S., that provide raw materials. The ILS Co., founded in 2002, is based in Tucson. The company is a logistics and supply chain management provider. In 2024, ILS import and export departments declared over $1.7 billion in shipments entering or leaving Mexico. In addition to aerospace and automotive, ILS serves industries such as medical, construction, oil and gas, mining, renewable energy, and Mexicos maquiladora businesses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A maquiladora is a foreign-owned factory located near the U.S.-Mexico border that operates under a favorable duty- or tariff-free basis. The factory assembles imported goods for export, often to the U.S. The ILS Company recently opened a 115,000-square-foot cross-border distribution center in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo: ILS) The ILS Co. is also the logistics arm of Tetakawi, one of the largest providers of outsourcing solutions to firms that have manufacturing operations in Mexico. Our parent company is Tetakawi, one of the largest employers in [the Mexican state of] Sonora, Gortary said. They have manufacturing facilities in [the Mexican cities] of Guaymas, Empalme and Hermosillo. They work with companies that want to manufacture in Mexico or that have a contractor manufacturing in Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tucson is in the Arizona-Sonora trade corridor, a regional gateway for $32 billion worth of goods annually crossing between the U.S. and Mexico, according to a recent survey by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Arizona has six commercial ports of entry along its border with Mexico, including Nogales, Lukeville, Sasabe, Douglas, San Luis and Naco. Automotive suppliers in Sonora ship over 100,000 auto parts daily back and forth across the border with Arizona, according to The ILS Co. Gortary said the Tucson distribution center aims to help clients by consolidating services in one facility. The facility is a cross-dock its a consolidation point, basically, for imports and exports, Gortary said. For new inspections, we have on-site Mexican brokers. We have U.S. broker partners. Our customers are creating purchase orders that are coming from the U.S. manufacturers, Asian manufacturers, and they just happen to arrive in Tucson, and we just take care of all the logistics and getting them imported and into manufacturing facilities. British wire harness maker plans new facility in Mexico Volex recently began construction of a manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United Kingdom-based company specializes in the manufacturing of wire harness assemblies. The plant will generate over 2,000 jobs, according to a news release. Officials did not provide a timeline for the plants construction. San Luis Potosi is in central Mexico, about 450 miles from Laredo, Texas. Volex has 28 manufacturing locations and a workforce of over 14,000 employees across 25 countries. The company is a supplier to industries such as industrial technology, consumer electricals, electric vehicles, medical and automotive. RK Logistics adds free trade zone warehouse space RK Logistics Group has expanded its customs bonded warehouse and foreign trade zone (FTZs) capacity at its facilities in California, Texas, Arizona, New York and Michigan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The facilities boost RK Logistics service offerings, with the expanded FTZs allowing businesses to defer, reduce or eliminate customs duties, streamline operations, and optimize cash flow for goods entering domestic and international markets, according to a news release. This expansion underscores our commitment to supporting clients in a complex global trade landscape, Joe MacLean, CEO of RK Logistics Group, said in a statement. RK Logistics Group, based in Fremont, California, is a 3PL that targets high-tech companies. The company has 17 facilities in five states totaling 1.7 million square feet of warehouse space. Texas border agents discover $8M worth of meth in shipment from Mexico U.S. Customs and Border Protection in South Texas recently intercepted $8.9 million in alleged methamphetamine concealed in a shipment of chayote from Mexico. Packages containing 1,002-pounds of meth seized by CBP officers at Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge. (Photo: CBP) Chayote is also known as vegetable pear and is a pear-shaped squash native to Mexico, according to a news release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On April 13 at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Pharr, Texas, CBP officers searched a tractor-trailer arriving from Mexico. They found packages containing 1,002 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside the shipment. CBP seized the narcotics and vehicle and turned the case over to Homeland Security Investigations. The post Borderlands Mexico: ILS boosts cross-border freight with Arizona facility appeared first on FreightWaves. Just as the White House Correspondents Dinner began, the online livestream C-SPAN was streaming suddenly stopped. An onscreen legend indicated that the event had already ended. The stream eventually returned. But the critically inclined viewer might have responded to the C-SPAN text: No kidding. Theres no president, theres no comedian, declared White House Correspondents Association president Eugene Daniels from the stage of an event that has historically featured both. The result was an evening that to those not in the room seemed to serve no particular purpose at all. More from Variety Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Daniels treated the insular nature of the dinner as a bonus; returning to the stage, later, to present awards, he declared, As I promised, its just us. And perhaps theres little to do but put a happy face on one notable absence: That President Donald Trump skipped the dinner traditionally a chummy moment that at once celebrates the freedom and inquisitiveness of journalists and could seem to raise ethical questions as they break bread with their subjects came as no meaningful surprise. He never attended it during his first term, after slights by both comedian Seth Meyers and then-President Barack Obama were reported to have enraged him at the 2011 edition. The cancellation of planned entertainer Amber Ruffin was less expected. In recent memory, the Correspondents Association has shown a notable lack of backbone about a dinner that was, of course, simpler to put on in less contentious times. The group didnt hire an entertainer at all the year after Michelle Wolfs 2018 comedy set in which she raked both Trump administration officials and journalists over the coals. But Ruffins firing, which hollowed out the evening entirely, seemed like a new benchmark. In February of this year, organization head Daniels had commented, When I began to think about what entertainer would be a perfect fit for the dinner this year, Amber was immediately at the top of my list. This was presumably due to the exact traits that got her booted her directness of approach and sharpness. Her firing promptly followed a podcast interview in which she compared the Trump administration to kind of a bunch of murderers. The lesson: Speaking truth to power is to be celebrated, until it isnt. The organization had ceded control of the program to an invited guest who wasnt even to be in attendance. But for remarking on the general absence of a comedian, Daniels made no comment on Ruffin in his opening remarks, which took the striking form of an awards-show acceptance speech. Daniels credited and thanked all the people who had supported him through a period that, he said, had been one of intense professional strain. It was relatable, but also seemed to lack resonance to the moment beyond that said moment had been a challenge for Daniels. This was, for a long stretch of time, the only content from the dinner worth showing at all: MSNBCs broadcast of the event ceded the time to a panel of commentators who ran through a litany of talking points about how the Trump restoration has gone so far. They made some small amount of time to reflect on past glories, as well, with a journalist who had, in the past worked as a cater waiter over the Correspondents Dinner Weekend, lamenting that, in former years, the event was used to debut all the new food trends, all the new linen trends. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Leaving the hospitality angle which was at least something novel for MSNBC entirely aside, the evening seemed to collapse in on itself from a TV angle. An event that putatively celebrates speaking up and speaking out went on without the person hired to do precisely that; an event that is meant to speak to the service journalists provide to the American people began with a journalists lengthy, less-than-charming self-aggrandizement. When the programming of the evening picked back up, various luminaries of journalism (CNNs Abby Phillip and NBCs Kristen Welker among them) presented awards to members of the organization, whose work is creditable and whose respective moments in the spotlight, such as it was, were heartening. Journalists honoring their colleagues and competitors might, under other circumstances, have felt like undue backscratching. On an evening during which it was just us because anyone else who might have appeared on the stage was either a hostile president or someone whose presence might have caused him to go nuclear, individual group members speaking about the work they did to hold the powerful to account felt meaningful. If only the group honoring them held the idea of holding power to account in mind while planning the dinner. The WHCAs firing of Ruffin was unfortunate, but the just us framing by Daniels felt outright counterfactual yes, it literally was just journalists speaking, and Daniels was in an impossible situation of his own groups making. But the elision of what had been planned and the absence of the direct critique that has been a hallmark of this event for decades, out of fear of the man these journalists are capable of covering well marks a low point for a dinner that, this year, was in many ways over before it began. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The annual COP climate summits aim to progress international efforts to reduce the impact of climate change, support a green transition, and decarbonise economies worldwide. However, the organisers have come under fire in recent years for failing to prevent the environmental degradation associated with the conference. Unsustainable development in host countries, high numbers of fossil fuel lobbyist attendees, and the use of private jets to attend the event are just some of the criticisms of the summit. This years COP30 climate summit is set to be held in November in Brazil, an oil-rich country in South America with a long history in fossil fuels. Under former president Jair Bolsonaro, little climate progress was seen in Brazil, as he pursued a strong fossil fuel-driven agenda. During his presidency, the deforestation of the rainforest increased year on year, with 3,988 km2 of the Amazon an area the size of New York City lost in the first six months of 2022 alone. However, since coming to power in 2023, President Lula da Silva has promised to end deforestation in Brazil by 2030, although he has also doubled down on the countrys oil ambitions. In March, it came to light that a new four-lane highway was being built in the Amazon, in preparation for COP30 to be held in the Brazilian city of Belem, destroying tens of thousands of acres of protected land. The city will host over 50,000 people, including world leaders. The government has said that the development of the highway is sustainable, but local communities and environmentalists are not convinced. Residents in the region complain that they have not received compensation for the development of land, which many rely on for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, scientists are concerned that the road will leave two disconnected areas of forest, which could fragment the ecosystem and disrupt the movement of wildlife. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Lula has said the summit will be historic because it is a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon. Lula hopes the conference will help showcase the needs of the Amazon region as well as demonstrate the governments commitment to protecting the rainforest to the world. The highway, Avenida Liberdade, was originally proposed in 2012 but has been repeatedly delayed due to environmental concerns. However, the COP30 summit has put several infrastructure projects in the region back on the table. The Para state government's infrastructure secretary, Adler Silveira, said the highway was one of 30 projects happening in the Belem to prepare and modernise it, so that we can have a legacy for the population and, more importantly, serve people for COP30 in the best possible way. It is not the first time that the COP summits have been criticised on an environmental basis. In recent years, the climate summit has been hosted by several oil-rich countries, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan. Environmentalists and leading climate figures have criticised host countries for allowing thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists to be present at the event. In COP29 in Azerbaijan, more than 1,700 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists attended the summit, which many said undermined the efforts of the conference. A group of influential climate policy experts, including the former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, wrote to the UN demanding change. Their letter stated, It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose. We need a shift from negotiation to implementation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ahead of COP29, a video was leaked showing one of the core members of the Azerbaijan governments organising team appearing to offer to help facilitate fossil fuel deals. During the summits opening ceremony, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said that his countrys oil and gas were a gift of God. In addition, several world leaders have been criticised for using private jets to travel to previous COP summits. In 2022, during COP27 in Egypt, data from FlightRadar24 showed that 36 private jets landed at Sharm el-Sheikh between the 4th and 6th of November, at the start of the summit, and a further 64 flew into Cairo, 24 of which had come from Sharm el-Sheikh. The website suggested there were likely more scheduled private flights that it could not track. This was lower than the number of private jets transporting leaders to COP26 in Glasgow, U.K. the previous year but still contributed significant carbon emissions. As several world powers work together to take climate action through the annual COP summits, greater efforts must be made to reduce the environmental impact of the event and encourage greater participation from climate leaders. Significant progress has been seen each year from the COP summits, but the high attendance rate of fossil fuel lobbyists and the unsustainable development of host countries could threaten this progress. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Read this article on OilPrice.com Palestinians are seen at a destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, on April 26, 2025. At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. (Photo by Mahmoud Zaki/Xinhua) GAZA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, told Xinhua that the Israeli army targeted several residential homes, gatherings, and tents housing displaced persons in various areas of the coastal enclave. At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on two houses in the west and south of Gaza City, Basal said. Three other people were killed in two Israeli drone attacks in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while two were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed, including four in an Israeli airstrike on a cafe in the city of Deir al-Balah and five in an attack on a Palestinian gathering north of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Basal. Seven others were killed in Israeli shelling targeting a gathering in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip and another in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in the south, said Basal. Since Israel resumed its intensified military campaign on March 18, at least 2,111 Palestinians have been killed and 5,483 injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 51,495, with a total of 117,524 people injured, according to health authorities in Gaza on Saturday. As the Israeli army continues its military operations, clashes between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants break out in various areas of the Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said in a statement that "our members attacked Israeli soldiers entrenched inside a house in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza on Saturday." The attack led to multiple Israeli soldiers' casualties, the brigades added. Palestinians are seen at a destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, on April 26, 2025. At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. (Photo by Mahmoud Zaki/Xinhua) Palestinians carry bodies of victims after an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, on April 26, 2025. At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. (Photo by Mahmoud Zaki/Xinhua) Palestinians carry bodies of victims from a destroyed house after an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, on April 26, 2025. At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. (Photo by Mahmoud Zaki/Xinhua) ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) This weekend, LEGO enthusiasts of all ages gathered in Rochester to celebrate BrickUniverse. BrickUniverse is an event specially curated for fans to connect and explore hands-on building zones, view LEGO creations, and shop at themed vendors. The event was held Saturday and Sunday at The Dome Arena and Minett Hall. Play Palace now open in Henrietta The fan expo showcased over 60 exhibitors from New York, other states, and Canada. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier in the week, News 8 was given a preview of a local groups featured build of iconic landmarks in the Rochester area. Dave Zambito, a featured BrickUniverse artist, brought his large-scale structure inspired by the universe of Dungeons and Dragons to the expo this weekend. Wanting to play with things and wanting to create is universal, Zambito said of the LEGO community, Beyond the creativity and the play in it, theres also math and engineering in it. Its just so universal and draws in so many people. Zambito told News 8 there were over 200 tables of original creations on Saturday. 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 RochesterFirst. Tracy Bekker, a Canadian business owner in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, almost got scammed out of $28,000 until she told reporters that her animal instinct kicked in. In late March, Bekker says she was approached by someone who worked at a paving company, who offered her a discounted price to pave her gravel lot, since he claimed he had asphalt they had left over from a previous job. Don't miss Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The initial quote: $9 per square foot. Bekker told CHEK News that a lot of the asphalt is already falling apart, and in places, not as thick as what the person at the paving company claimed it would be. The man at the paving company also kept pressuring her to increase the square footage of the job, which Bekker says was probably their way of getting more money. When she realized what was happening, she refused to pay. I said, Go ahead, were not paying for it anyway, when the workers threatened to put a lien on Bekkers business and pull up all of the asphalt. The exchange escalated so much that Bekker called 911 and told them that some people were trying to scam her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next thing I know is they took off so fast, she said. How did the paving company owner respond? The team who approached her were from Pro Style Paving, but when CHEK News reached out to the owner, Ben Ashurst, he let them know hed been completely in the dark on the issue. Ashurst says when looking through his books, he found orders for a number of material and side jobs that hed never authorized. He blamed an unsupervised crew for the scheme and fired two team leaders presumably involved. Theyve basically been pocketing money for themselves, he said. Ashurst has since told Bekker she doesnt need to pay him anything. When CHEK News reporters asked if hed admit that his crew had been scamming people, he replied that he couldnt admit to anything because he didnt know what the crew had been doing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: This hedge fund legend warns US stock market will crash a stunning 80% claims 'Armageddon is coming. Dont believe him? He earned 4,144% during COVID. Heres 3 ways to protect yourself Watching out for these scams Sadly, these types of scams are more common than you think. So much so that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has an entire section called BBB Scams HQ devoted to informing consumers and businesses about them. Paving scams specifically have become popular enough that the BBB posted a scam alert last June, warning consumers of the shady tactics they may encounter. It starts out much like what Bekker experienced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How it usually works is a contractor will show up at your door to ask if you need any work done on your driveway or sidewalk since theyre in the area. They claim they have extra supplies after completing a nearby job and offer you a discount. The scammer will usually dodge any questions you have and attempt to get you to pay a large deposit upfront. A few scenarios could happen after you pay them. One, the contractor will disappear and you can't contact them. Or, they may complete the work, but it's not good quality work. If you refuse to pay, the contractor may try to threaten a lawsuit or other similar tactics to get you to pay up. Its also common for these scammers to impersonate a legitimate company. How to avoid getting scammed Scammers arent going to go away, so your best line of defense is to try and avoid being scammed in the first place. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Be suspicious of any offer if someone approaches you with a similar deal. Always get the persons name and see if they have proper identification. Scammers will try to pressure you to accept their offer, but slow down and reach out to the company theyre supposedly working for before you make a decision. Consider looking them up on the BBB website, as legitimate ones tend to have an accredited listing. Before getting any work done, have the estimate and a detailed overview of the home improvement project in writing. You want to be sure you have a contract in place outlining the payment amount, start and completion dates, and a breakdown of the costs (including service and materials). If you believe youre a victim of a scam or being targeted for one, be sure to report it to the BBB Scam Tracker and the Federal Trade Commission. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. LONDON (Reuters) -Confidence among people in Britain about the economy over the next 12 months has fallen to the lowest on record, polling firm Ipsos MORI said on Sunday, with only a small number expecting improvement over the period. Seventy-five percent of Britons expect the economy to get worse over the next 12 months, up 8 percentage points since March, Ipsos said. Just 7% of Britons think the economy will improve over the next year, while 13% thought it would stay the same. The minus 68 net balance represented the lowest degree of optimism since Ipsos began collecting the data in 1978. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Confidence had already wilted among British businesses and consumers, and recent U.S. tariffs and concerns over the state of the UK economy have dragged pessimism to a low not seen since the recession of 1980, the financial crisis of 2008 and the COVID-related cost-of-living crisis, Ipsos said. The net balance in terms of economic confidence reached minus 64 in all those periods, Ipsos said. The findings are a blow to Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected last July with an ambition for Britain to become the fastest-growing economy in the Group of Seven. "Pessimism about the economy (was) already up 30ppts compared with last June even before this months figures," Gideon Skinner, Ipsos' senior director of UK Politics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Few prime ministers have faced this level of economic pessimism at this stage in." The British government, which oversees a relatively trade-intensive economy compared with other G20 countries, is seeking to avoid the U.S. reciprocal tariffs by negotiating a new economic deal with the United States. (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Bernadette Baum) (KRON) Two Vallejo residents are in custody and face murder charges in connection to a burned body found on Cherry Glen Road in Vacaville on April 13. During the investigation, the Solano County Sheriffs Office found multiple gunshot wounds in the victims body and ruled the case a homicide. The alleged murder victim was later identified as Adam Muela of Bay Point. A burned body with gunshot wounds was found on Cherry Glen Road in Vacaville on April 13. (KRON) Suspected drunk driver crashes truck into tree: PD Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On April 22, investigators arrested 52-year-old Clifton Summerise and 42-year-old Maria DeLeon, both of Vallejo, for Muelas death. Both were arrested without incident and booked into the Solano County Jail on numerous charges, to include murder and robbery, the Solano County Sheriffs Office said. 87-year-old SF woman killed in Western Addition hit-and-run The motive for the crime and circumstances surrounding Muelas death remain under investigation, Solano County Sheriff Thomas Ferrara said. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact investigators. Our team worked tirelessly to bring those responsible to justice, Ferrara said. We are committed to ensuring the safety of our community and will continue to pursue all leads in this case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KRON4. HAZLETON, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) A search warrant was served, and an investigation is underway by Hazleton City Police after a burning body was found along Club 40 Road on Sunday. According to Hazleton City Police, units were called to the intersection of Club 40 Road and East Broad Street just after 7:00 a.m. for a report of a mannequin on fire. After investigation, firefighters noticed that this was not a mannequin, but a burning body, and Hazleton City Police were called. The Luzerne County Coroners Office confirmed that they were called to the scene this morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hazleton City Police and Pennsylvania State Police are actively investigating the incident, and there is no information about the victim or the cause of the fire. Club 40 Road was closed from the intersection of Route 93 (East Broad Street) and Stockton Mountain Road but reopened around 1:00 p.m., according to our crew on-scene. One man dead, Route 6 reopened after crash At around 4:00 p.m. Sunday, the Hazleton Police Department and Pennsylvania State Police could be seen serving a search warrant at a home along Muir Avenue in Hazleton. Its about six minutes away from where the body was discovered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hazleton Police say it is connected to the deadly discovery on Club 40 Road, but information is limited. I am unaware of what the connection is here, I know that they did come to this house to attempt to locate evidence, and I believe thats what is occurring at this time, Hazleton Police Department Public Information Officer Jessica Surkin told 28/22 News. Hazleton City Police are asking anyone with information or home security footage from the area to contact 911 or submit a tip on their Crimewatch Page. This is an active investigation, and 28/22 News will give updates as new information is made available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 PAhomepage.com. Update: The Bristol, Virginia Police Department said Monday night that 13-year-old Juelle Johnson is believed to be with 17-year-old Paul CJ Federow. Police said Federow was last seen by family at their Bristol, Virginia home on April 20. Paul CJ Federow (Photo provided by the Bristol, Virginia Police Department) Federow is 5-foot-3 and weighs around 150 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information on Federows or Johnsons whereabouts is asked to call police at 276-645-7400 or text Bristolvapd plus your tip to 847411. Previous: BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) The Bristol, Virginia Police Department (BVPD) is asking for the publics help in locating a 13-year-old last seen in her home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Juelle Johnson was last seen at her home in Bristol, Virginia, on Friday morning, according to a release from the BVPD. SCSO: Man uploaded 49 images of child sex abuse Johnson is 510 and weighs 125 pounds. She has brown eyes and shoulder-length black hair. Anyone with information regarding Johnsons whereabouts is asked to call the BVPD at 276-645-7400 or text Bristolvapd and the tip to 847411. Photo BVPD, Juelle Johnson 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. Multiple clinics operated by the Camden County Health Department are shutting down as the department seeks to move its services into one location. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< CCHD is moving to Winding Road in Kingsland, which it says will improve [its] ability to provide vital public health services for many years to come. As part of the transition, the health department clinic in Woodbine (1501 Georgia Avenue) and St. Marys (905 Dilworth Street), as well as the environmental health office in Kingsland (107 North Gross Road, Suite 4), will close on April 30th. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That will leave patients largely without access until May 7th, when the new location opens. While services will be limited during this time, patients can still call with urgent needs. For clinical services between April 30th and May 6th, CCHD says to call 912-882-8515. For environmental health services, call 912-729-6012. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The health clinic offers the following services: Immunizations (children and adults) Womens Health Services (including birth control) Pregnancy testing Breast and Cervical Cancer Program STD testing and treatment HIV testing and services TB testing and treatment Childrens Special Services Adolescent Health and Youth Development Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Environmental Health [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. (FOX40.COM) Nearly one year after a Camping World RV Sales store in Northern California battled officials over the ability to fly a massive American flag, another location across the country abruptly closed its doors amid the same flag issue. Video Above: Business, San Joaquin County at odds over ability to fly American flag (April 2024) In April 2024, Camping World in San Joaquin County was forced to take down a 120-foot American flag that flew over the businesss grounds for alleged safety reasons and lack of permission to fly it. Northern California business, county at odds over ability to fly large American flag Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Camping Worlds flagpole was installed with neither a building permit nor planning approval, therefore, they are in conversation with the code enforcement division, San Joaquin County said in a statement to FOX40. Although the county cited permit issues, Camping Worlds CEO, Marcus Lemonis, took issue with removing the flag, regardless of the reason. Northern California deputies intercept semi-truck full of cocaine from Mexican border At the time, Lemonis told FOX40 that if it were a marketing flag on the pole, he might take it down while the business works out the permitting issues with the county, but the American flag stays, no matter what the county says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fast forward to 2025, and another Camping World across the country, in North Carolina, closed its doors for good amid the same flag battle between the business and local county officials. The closed-down store was one of two locations in the area. There are more than 250 Camping World dealerships throughout the United States. According to ABC 12 in North Carolina, in March, the Greenville City Council voted against an ordinance that would allow Camping World to fly its American Flag. Additionally, Camping World had been fined $8,900 for violating the citys code. The business would also continue to face fines until the flag was removed. On Tuesday, Lemonis told WITN News that he abruptly closed that location last week. We think the ordinance is wrong, Lemonis said in an interview WITN. I think its also wrong (that) council members have been working very actively to disparage my business, and on Friday I had to consolidate modification of two dealerships in town our business which has been unfortunately impacted uniquely in Greenville NC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SANAA, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Three Russian sailors were injured when U.S. forces conducted airstrikes on a vessel at Yemen's Ras Isa oil port in the country's province of Hodeidah on the Red Sea, the Houthi group announced on Saturday. In a statement posted on the social media platform X, Jamal Amer, foreign minister of the unrecognized Houthi government in Sanaa, condemned the "U.S. aggression" against a ship attempting to unload oil cargo at the port. "The U.S. airstrikes yesterday targeted a ship anchored in Ras Isa port to prevent it from unloading an oil shipment, resulting in the injury of three Russian sailors," Amer said. "Our Coast Guard personnel intervened immediately to rescue them and transport them for medical treatment." Amer said the incident undermined U.S. claims about targeting military installations and revealed the falsehood behind U.S. President Donald Trump's assertions that U.S. airstrikes "are aimed at Sanaa's military capabilities." Meanwhile, Houthi-controlled health authorities said in a statement that at least eight people were wounded on Saturday night when a U.S. airstrike hit a house in a residential neighborhood in Sanaa. Two children were among the injured from the airstrike at the house in the Al-Rawda neighborhood in northern Sanaa, the authorities said. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported more than 20 U.S. airstrikes on other locations in Sanaa, and the provinces of Saada, Marib, Hodeidah, as well as Al-Jawf throughout Saturday. The U.S. airstrikes come as the Houthis claimed responsibility early on Saturday for attacking three targets in Israel, using a ballistic missile and two drones. The Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X earlier in the day that a projectile fired from Yemen triggered sirens in southern Israel, but didn't comment on the alleged drone attacks. Also on Saturday, the Houthis claimed they launched a fresh drone attack against the USS Harry S. Truman in the northern Red Sea. The Houthis said the attack against the aircraft carrier was in response to the ongoing U.S. airstrikes on the group's positions. The U.S. military has yet to comment on the attack. The United States has intensified airstrikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen since mid-March. In response, the Houthi group launched multiple attacks on the U.S. aircraft carriers and other U.S. warships in the Red Sea. LANCASTER, Ohio (WCMH) A 28-year-old man from Canal Winchester was arrested by Fairfield County sheriffs deputies on multiple sexual assault charges, including rape. The Sheriffs Office said that Kyle Combs was indicted on Wednesday for one count of rape and six of gross sexual imposition one week after being arrested. A victim, who court documents state is currently 5, reported the alleged sexual offenses to authorities, who investigated Combs. Man pleads guilty to murder after southwest Columbus road rage shooting Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court documents further said that the alleged offenses occurred between February 2022 and April of this year. During his initial court appearance, Combs bond was set at $200,000 with no option to pay the 10% to be released. He faces 10 years to life in prison on the charge of raping a victim under the age of 13. 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. Within hours of Robert Prevosts election as Pope Leo XIV, his old friend from Chicago and fellow Augustinian priest, Fr William Lego, was asked about the challenges facing the new leader of the Catholic Church. He described clerical sex abuse as the toughest. It was also clearly an issue on the minds of the cardinal electors in the Sistine Chapel. The damage done to the moral authority of the Catholic Church by its decades-long cover-up of priests and monks abusing children reportedly featured prominently in the discussions the worlds 251 cardinals held in Rome before the 134 of them under the age of 80 went in to vote. The dark shadow that clerical abuse has cast over the Church has already touched the new Pope (though he has rebutted all claims of mishandling abuse investigations). Campaigning group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), which has a membership of 25,000, has alleged that while a senior figure in his Augustinian order in Chicago, Fr Prevost allowed one of his friars, accused of child sex abuse, to be housed close to a primary school. It also claims that, while a missionary bishop in Peru in Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, he did not follow Church rules on the proper investigation of three of his priests around allegations of abusing children. Another of those taking to the airwaves to talk about the new Pope since his election has been his older brother, John. He hailed him as a second Pope Francis. But if Pope Leo is to truly get to grips with the abuse scandal in the Church, his predecessor may not be the best role model. A girl ties baby shoes to a fence as part of a protest to highlight sexual abuses in the Catholic Church during Pope Franciss visit to Dublin in 2018 - Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters Though loved as a peoples pope, with an easy charm, winning smile and refusal to hide behind the trappings of the papacy, Francis could also occasionally show flashes of anger, as during his January 2018 visit to Chile. There he was being publicly rebuked by victims of clerical abuse for appointing a priest, Juan Barros, as a bishop in the diocese of Osorno despite claims that he knew (from complaints by victims sent to the Vatican) of allegations that Barros had witnessed and covered-up what the Church itself had already formally judged to be sexual exploitation of young people by a popular priest, Fernando Karadima. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Franciss response to being challenged was angry and unmeasured. It is calumny, he snapped. Is that clear? It prompted demonstrations in Chile by loyal Catholics who would otherwise have been out in the street celebrating a papal visit. Barros denied any wrongdoing, but even Cardinal Sean OMalley of Boston, who headed the Commission for the Protection of Minors, set up by Francis in 2014 to take decisive action on clerical sex abuse, publicly rebuked his boss. Franciss words, he said, abandon those who have suffered reprehensible criminal violations of their human dignity and relegate survivors to discredited exile. In fairness to Francis and much more in keeping with that popular image of him as a pope who encouraged the Catholic Church to change entrenched teachings on sex and gender he subsequently sent an envoy to Chile on a fact-finding mission, then summoned all 31 Chilean bishops to Rome for a ticking-off and finally sacked three of them. Pope Francis faced criticism for defending the Chilean bishop Juan Barros, above, who was accused of covering up sex abuse - Fernando Lavoz/NurPhoto He also met victims of Karadima to apologise, and reportedly told them, I was part of the problem. He made a point of sitting down in private gatherings and listening to others who had been groomed and betrayed by clerics throughout his pontificate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet in the years that followed, his promise to put the problem right did not translate into action. All experts advise that two changes are needed to ensure youngsters are safe around priests. The first is to agree to a wholly independent safeguarding process, rather than the current set-up where the Church acts as judge and jury. It is a demand the campaigning group the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has already asked the new Pope Leo to implement in a six-page letter released yesterday. The second as recommended in 2017 by a Royal Commission on child abuse in Australia is to introduce mandatory reporting of such abuse by any individual who sees or hears about it, including priests in the confessional. Francis refused to do either. The idea of Francis turning over a new leaf on all of this feels very hollow to victims and survivors, the lawyer Richard Scorer told me in 2023. He has represented hundreds of victims of clerical sex abuse in the UK. The harm caused [to them] by abuse is lifelong. Closure is generally a very glib word. Im not sure people get it. They struggle to achieve it. Francis, of course, was not the only pope to fail in this crucial area, where the numbers involved are extraordinary, covering between 1.5 and 5% of all ordained clergy over the past half century according to Vatican officials own estimates. Indeed, he did considerably better than his two predecessors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement John Paul II (pontiff from 1978 to 2005) simply ignored thousands of reports of abuse sent to him by victims, and allowed both the disgraced American cardinal Bernard Law, who covered-up such cases in his diocese, and the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, a serial abuser, to escape justice by giving them sanctuary in the Vatican. Benedict XVI (2005-2013) did better banning Maciel from taking services, but still not deporting him to face trial. Pope John Paul II blesses the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, a serial abuser, in the Vatican in 2004 - Tony Gentile/Reuters Yet to measure Francis against his pledge, soon after his election, to take decisive action quickly is to see him fail. The Commission for the Protection of Minors was his structural answer, established in 2014 as part of the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the curia. It even included on its board victims of clerical abuse. But one of them, Marie Collins from Ireland, first publicly criticised it for lacking sufficient funding in 2015, and then resigned in 2017, alleging that the continued presence of men [at senior levels] in the Church who resist or hinder the work to protect children is just not acceptable. In 2023, she was followed by the highly regarded Jesuit priest Hans Zollner, who suggested the commission risked becoming an exercise in public relations. Franciss rhetoric on combatting clerical sexual abuse was certainly impressive. In 2018, in a letter to all Catholics, he acknowledged the heart-wrenching pain of victims which had been long-ignored. The next year he likened their suffering to child sacrifice in pagan rituals. But that tailed off latterly when he began to react defensively, telling a visiting group of safeguarding experts in September 2023 that abuse was a problem that isnt restricted to the Catholic Church. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The abuses that have affected the Church are but a pale reflection of a sad reality that involves all of humanity and to which the necessary attention is not paid, he said. That is true up to a point, but there are also few bodies that claim moral authority to protect the vulnerable so strongly as churches. And it is not just victims who were disappointed by Franciss failure to match words with action. A report commissioned by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales revealed a wider crisis of faith causing the pews to empty, while those still there felt they had to keep their faith private in their everyday lives, the very opposite of the gospel imperative to spread the Good News. There are, of course, many reasons for a decline in church-going in developed societies since the mid 20th century. Franciss legacy contains many attempts to tackle some of them, including putting more women in senior positions in the Church (though still refusing to ordain them) and undertaking a global exercise in asking Catholics their views. Next to something so horrific as priests sexually abusing children, and other priests covering it up, however, all the good he did undeniably could struggle to cut through. The abuse scandal is the reason for lapsing that anecdotally comes up most. The English and Welsh bishops also acknowledged that it is also constantly raised by non-Catholics who see it as proof of the failure of the Church to live up to what Christ called us to be. Pope Francis promised to tackle the scandal of clerical sex abuse but his words did not translate into action - Andrew Medichini/AP This broader damage to the Churchs reputation for answering to a higher set of God-given values has been gathering pace these past dozen years. There will be many issues in Pope Leos in-tray, but until the clerical sex abuse scandal is addressed with real vigour, as his old friend Fr William Lego has already gently reminded him, there will be more victims and the exodus from the pews in the West will continue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peter Stanford is a former editor of the Catholic Herald and a columnist in the Tablet 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. CANTON, Miss. (WJTV) Canton police are searching for two men in connection to a fatal shooting that occurred at an apartment complex. Sgt. Jeremy Gooden, with the Canton Police Department, said eye witnesses identified the suspects as Renardo Elmore and Percy Rogers. Vicksburg police investigate shootout outside Waffle House The shooting happened at Canton Estates Apartments, located on Ricks Drive, just before 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police said the victim was found unresponsive in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Renardo Elmore (Courtesy: Canton Police Dept.) Percy Rogers (Courtesy: Canton Police Dept.) According to the Madison County deputy coroner, the victim sustained gunshot wounds and died from his injuries. The victim was identified as Megeil Tyrone Walsh, 22. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Elmore and Rogers can contact the Canton Police Department at (601)-859-2121. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News 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 WJTV. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. It was a very busy legislative session, particularly on the education front. Capitol View host Roby Brock met with University of Central Arkansas president Houston Davis to discuss ACCESS, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders higher education reform bill, and collaboration with other schools. Roby then talks with Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist John Brummett to discuss the overview of the recent legislative session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Capitol View airs on Sundays at 8:30 a.m. 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 KARK. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Murder charges were filed Sunday against a suspect in a weekend car ramming attack that killed 11 people between the ages of 5 and 65 at a Filipino heritage festival in the city of Vancouver, a tragedy that shook Canada on the eve of a federal election. The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second degree murder and said more charges were possible. Investigators ruled out terrorism and said Lo had a history of mental health issues. Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court and remains in custody, prosecutors said. An attorney for Lo wasnt listed in online court documents and The Associated Press wasnt immediately able to reach an attorney representing him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dozens of people were injured, some critically, when a man driving a black Audi SUV entered the street just after 8 p.m. Saturday and struck people attending the Lapu Lapu Day festival. He was arrested at the scene. Authorities had not released victims' names by Sunday evening. It is the darkest day in Vancouvers history, Police Interim Chief Steve Rai told a news conference. The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health," he said. Hundreds of people gathered Sunday evening for a vigil honoring the victims. Its sad. Really sad, said Emily Daniels, who brought a bouquet. I cant believe something like this could happen so close to home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nathaly Nairn and her 15-year-old daughter also carried flowers. They had attended the festival on Saturday, and Nairn recounted seeing the damaged SUV and bodies on the ground. Something really dark happened last night, she said, as she and her daughter wiped away tears. Video of the aftermath shows the dead and injured along a narrow street in South Vancouver lined by food trucks. The front of the driver's SUV is smashed in. Kris Pangilinan, who brought his pop-up clothing and lifestyle booth to the festival, saw the vehicle enter past the barricade slowly before the driver slammed on the gas in an area that was packed with people after a concert. He said hearing the sounds of bodies hitting the vehicle will never leave his mind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He slammed on the gas, barreled through the crowd, he said. "And all I can remember is seeing bodies flying up in the air higher than the food trucks themselves and landing on the ground and people yelling and screaming. It looked like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins and all the pins are flying into the air. Pangilinan said that it would be hard to believe that someone has some malice against the Filipino people. Suspect was detained by bystanders before the police arrived Rai said the suspect was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders. Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im sorry, the man says, holding his hand to his head. Rai declined to comment on the video. Prime Minister Mark Carney canceled his first campaign event and two major rallies on the final day of the election campaign before Mondays vote. Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every family's nightmare, Carney said. And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences." Carney planned to join British Columbia Premier David Eby and community leaders Sunday evening in Vancouver. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom have plotted attacks on people who have sex. Witnesses describe how they leaped out of the way Carayn Nulada said that she pulled her granddaughter and grandson off the street and used her body to shield them from the SUV. She said that her daughter suffered a narrow escape. The car hit her arm and she fell down, but she got up, looking for us, because she is scared, said Nulada, who described children screaming, and pale-faced victims lying on the ground or wedged under vehicles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I saw people running and my daughter was shaking. Nulada was in Vancouver General Hospitals emergency room Sunday morning, trying to find news about her brother, who was run down in the attack and suffered multiple broken bones. Doctors identified him by presenting the family with his wedding ring in a pill bottle and said that he was stable, but would be facing surgery. James Cruzat, a Vancouver business owner, was at the celebration and heard a car rev its engine and then a loud noise, like a loud bang that he initially thought might be a gunshot. We saw people on the road crying, others were like running, shouting, or even screaming, asking for help. So we tried to go there just to check what was really actually happening until we found some bodies on the ground. Others were lifeless, others like, you know, injured, Cruzat said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vincent Reynon, 17, was leaving the festival when he saw police rushing in. People were crying and he saw bodies on the ground. It was like something straight out of a horror movie or a nightmare, he said. Adonis Quita said when he saw the SUV ramming through the crowd, his first reaction was to drag his 9-year-old son out of the area. The boy kept saying Im scared, Im scared, Quita recalled. Later they prayed together. His son had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines with his mother to reunite with Quita, who has lived here since 2024. Quita said he worries the child will struggle to adjust to life in Canada after witnessing the horrific event. Vancouver Mayor Kenneth Sim said the city had suffered its darkest day." I know many of us are fearful and feel uneasy, said the mayor. I know its hard to feel this way right now, but Vancouver is still a safe city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vancouver's large Filipino population was honoring a national hero Vancouver had more than 38,600 residents of Filipino heritage in 2021, representing 5.9% of the citys total population, according to Statistics Canada, the agency that conducts the national census. Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous chieftain who stood up to Spanish explorers who came to the Philippines in the 16th century. The organizers of the Vancouver event which was in its second year said that he represents the soul of native resistance, a powerful force that helped shape the Filipino identity in the face of colonization. Eby said the province won't let the tragedy define the celebration. He urged people to channel their rage into helping those affected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont think there is a British Columbian that hasn't been touched in some way by the Filipino community," he said. "You cant go to a place that delivers and not meet a member of that community in the long-term care home or hospitals, childcare or schools. This is a community that gives and gives and yesterday was a celebration of their culture. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued a statement expressing sympathy with the victims and their families. The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver is working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident will be thoroughly investigated, and that the victims and their families are supported and consoled, he said. ___ Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press journalists Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson in Vancouver and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City, Utah, contributed to this report. Trial begins Monday for Carlos Reales Dominguez, the former UC Davis student held on murder and attempted murder charges in the deadly stabbing spree that terrorized the college town two years ago this week. Over an estimated 10-week trial, a Yolo Superior Court jury will determine whether Dominguez was sane during the days-long rampage and decide whether he is guilty or innocent of crimes that still reverberate through Davis. Yolo County District Attorneys prosecutors decided not to pursue the death penalty in the slayings. Dominguez has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to killing two people and grievously wounding a third over the space of five days in April and May 2023. David Henry Breaux, 50, was the first victim. Breaux was known to many in Davis as the compassion guy, for his kind and generous nature. He was found dead with multiple stab wounds April 27, 2023, in the citys Central Park. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Karim Abou Najm, the 20-year-old son of a university professor who was weeks away from graduating from UC Davis, was killed on the night of April 29 when he was attacked as he walked through Sycamore Park. David Henry Breaux, left, and Karim Abou Najm were stabbed to death in Davis parks days apart in 2023. A third woman, Kimberlee Guillory, then 64, was nearly killed May 1, 2023, when she was stabbed repeatedly through the tent where she slept near Second and L streets. Days of testimony at Dominguezs 2023 competency trial, months after the knife rampage, told of a young man in the grips of mental decline. Roommates and a former girlfriend were among those who took the stand to say Dominguez heard voices, stopped talking to his roommates and stared at the walls before the violent attacks. One expert testified that Dominguez was a textbook example of schizophrenia. In Yolo County custody, he refused meals for days at a time. In the courtroom, a stringy mop of hair occluded his face as he sat motionless beside defense counsel and Yolo County Deputy Public Defender Daniel Hutchinson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam ultimately ordered Dominguez to a state hospital to restore competency and fitness for trial. Dominguez spent months that year at Atascadero State Hospital to regain the ability to participate in his own defense before McAdam deemed him fit for trial in January 2024. But the stacks of discovery gleaned from the three crimes and the months Dominguez was housed in states hospital custody scuttled any possibility of a trial in 2024, McAdam told counsel in June. This case has a lot of moving parts, McAdam said last June. Its a complex case. PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) A Chadron, Nebraska, woman has been sentenced to federal prison for her part in a Mexican cartels criminal conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and in Rapid City. Casey Lopez, age 51, was sentenced to serve 20 years, followed by five years of supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier. A federal grand jury indicted Lopez in February 2024 and she pleaded guilty on January 17, 2025. According to a statement from U.S. Attorney for South Dakota Allison Ramsdell, Lopez and others distributed significant amounts of methamphetamine in Pine Ridge and Rapid City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramsdell described Lopez as a leader in the conspiracy, setting prices, organizing the distribution, and enabling a Mexican cartel to gain inroads into the Pine Ridge Reservation. Former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in a Jan. 31, 2024, speech to state lawmakers claimed that Mexican drug cartels were operating on tribal reservations within the state. She subsequently was banned from all nine reservations by their tribal governments. Noem resigned as governor in January, after the U.S. Senate confirmed her as the new federal Homeland Security secretary in the Trump administration. This week, Mexicos president struck back at ads Secretary Noem has been running that warn migrants not to enter the U.S. illegally, according to CNN. During the April 21 sentencing of Lopez, according to U.S. Attorney Ramsdell, Judge Schreier denounced how Lopez actions severely damaged the community. Judge Schreier also noted the drugs Lopez was distributing came from Mexican cartels and constituted 100% pure methamphetamine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lopez was immediately remanded to federal custody. 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. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A central Ohio elementary school janitor was arrested and charged on Friday for pandering child sexual abuse material. Rick Andermatt, 41, was arrested by Columbus Police in the 6900 block of Weurful Drive on Friday. Police said Andermatt engaged in a sexual conversation with a minor that resulted in the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Records obtained from Franklin County municipal court stated Andermatt was a janitor at Indian Trail Elementary School. Court documents said the 16-year-old victim and Andermatt exchanged explicit photos, and Andermatt had arranged plans to meet with the victim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Columbus Police, the victim did not attend the school where Andermatt was working. NBC4 reached out to Canal Winchester Local Schools, which said they took immediate action when learning of Andermatts arrest. The district placed a second-shift custodian on administrative leave effective immediately on Friday, April 25, after learning that the employee was arrested on charges of pandering sexually oriented material to a minor. The employee has been notified that they are not allowed to be on school property or attend any district events while on administrative leave. The district also emphasized the importance of student safety in its statement. While we understand that this matter does not involve any of our students, we take the safety and well-being of all children seriously. We will continue to cooperate fully with the Columbus Police Department in their investigation and follow state law and our district policies to take the appropriate and necessary steps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Andermatt has been charged with one count of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of pandering obscenity involving a minor. He is scheduled to be arraigned in the Franklin County municipal court on April 26. 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. CHEYENNE Wyomings billion-dollar gambling industry will be the sole focus of a new select committee created by legislative leadership this year, given the heavy lift of the complex issue. The issue is, theres no home committee for gaming, said Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, one of the co-chairmen for the new Select Committee on Gaming. Its been kind of the unwanted child, getting passed from committee to committee. Last year, the Legislatures Joint Appropriations Committee took the first stab at investigating gambling in Wyoming. The JAC created a special working group devoted to exploring this topic and paid for a statewide comprehensive study of the gambling industry. By the end of the interim, five committee-sponsored bills related to gambling were filed for the 2025 legislative session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of these bills focused on allowing local governments to have a say in approving historic horse racing machines, and another would have allowed national betting on Wyoming live horse races. However, a majority of these bills failed at the beginning of the session, and none made it to the finish line. This year, the Management Council created the new select committee that will be entirely dedicated to studying gambling issues in Wyoming. There are six members on the committee, three from the House of Representatives and three from the Senate. No meetings have been scheduled yet, however. Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, and Kolb are the co-chairpersons of the committee. Kolb told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle hed like to focus on local governmental control to issue gambling licenses and unifying revenue from the gaming industry to make it more equitable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres a lot of issues with how the formulations have been constructed over the years, for lack of a better word, how this activitys been taxed, Kolb said. Its certainly not uniform across the board, with different types of gaming activities. He elaborated that gambling revenue is complex and not some one-size-fits-all situation. The gaming-related bill that made it farthest through the legislative session was House Bill 85, Local approval for simulcasting. This bill would have given city and town governments the authority to approve or deny simulcast permits, a power that is currently reserved at the county level. HB 85 made it all the way through the House before dying in the Senate presidents drawer. Before the creation of the new committee was announced earlier this month at a Management Council meeting, the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources listed gambling and lottery issues as one of its priorities for the interim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both chairmen told the WTE the committee will likely focus on lottery issues during the interim, but will hand over gambling to the new select committee. Co-chair Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said the committee will review the modernization of the lottery and look at safety and security for retailers. Co-chair Rep. Andrew Byron, R-Jackson, said he appreciated that theres a new select committee to take on the heavy lift of gambling issues, especially after legislative leadership reduced the number of committee meeting days from six to four this interim. Byron hosted an educational meeting at 6 oclock one morning during the session and invited lawmakers to attend to learbn more about the gambling industry. The meeting was led by Wyoming Gaming Commission Executive Director Nick Larramendy. If anything, it made me realize that it needs its own standing committee, Byron said. Its become such a huge industry. Its the Wild West right now as it relates to whats happening in Wyoming. J-10 fighter jets in 24-hour fight China Military Online) 13:13, April 27, 2025 A J-10 fighter jet attached to the Chinese PLA Air Force takes off from the runway and flies to the designated airspace for a round-the-clock flight training exercise aimed at beefing up the pilots' combat capability. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xiao Rui) A J-10 fighter jet attached to a unit under the Chinese PLA Air Force taxies down the runway after completing the round-the-clock flight training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xiao Rui) A J-10 fighter jet attached to a unit under the Chinese PLA Air Force taxies out from the hangar for a round-the-clock flight training exercise aimed at beefing up the pilots' combat capability. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xiao Rui) A bird-driving soldier assigned to a unit under the Chinese PLA Air Force uses a bird deterrence system to prevent bird strikes prior to a night flight training exercise. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xiao Rui) (Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun) JIUQUAN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The crew of China's Shenzhou-19 spacecraft held a handover ceremony with the Shenzhou-20 crew and transferred the keys of the country's space station to the latter on Sunday. The Shenzhou-19 crew has now completed all planned tasks. The three astronauts will take the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft and return to the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on April 29, according to the China Manned Space Agency. At present, final preparations are in full swing across all participating systems and the landing site in readiness to welcome the trio back. The man accused of sparking a lockdown at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina earlier this week = has been charged with assaulting his sister while the two were visiting their mothe. Larry Sharp, 65, of Independence, was charged with one count of threats of violence and one count of domestic assault in Hennepin County court this week. According to court documents, police were called to the hospital at 6401 France Avenue South just before 3 p.m. on Tuesday on a report of a man with a gun on the eighth floor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man, now identified as Sharp, allegedly assaulted his sister while in Room 800, where their mother was receiving treatment. It followed an argument between the siblings regarding the power of attorney for their mother. Joe Nelson | Bring Me The News. The criminal complaint states that Sharp punched his sister "multiple times" in the head and shoved her into a chair. Sharps sister had a handgun concealed on her waist, which he removed while pointing a pistol at her, and threatened to shoot his sister. Edina police requested emergency pings on Sharps cellphone to determine if he was still in the hospital. It was then established that he was on Highway 494 and Highway 12 just before 3:30 p.m., heading towards Independence. Police went to Sharp's home and found him in his F-150 pickup truck. He was arrested without incident, and his gun was recovered. CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) Officers across the City of Charleston are investigating three separate shooting incidents that happened over the weekend, which resulted in several people being hospitalized. Incident 1: Stolen vehicle crash leads to Good Samaritan being shot, injured Charleston County deputies were pursuing a stolen vehicle on Saturday around 3 a.m. in West Ashley. The vehicle entered downtown Charleston, and authorities called off the pursuit, according to the Charleston Police Department. Shortly after, the stolen vehicle crashed at Romney Street and North Romney Street. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As officers investigated, they learned that a bystander had witnessed the crash and went to the stolen vehicle to help. When the Good Samaritan went to help, they were shot by an occupant of the vehicle. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for their injury. They have since been released. Police utilized a K9 unit to help track down the suspects, who were arrested quickly, the department stated. The 15-year-old suspect is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, and reckless driving. The 13-year-old suspect is charged with attempted murder, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature (1st degree), and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. Incident 2: Teen robbed at gunpoint in West Ashley Authorities responded to the Spanish Oaks Apartments in West Ashley around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. When they arrived, officers spoke with a teen victim who said he was robbed at gunpoint while sitting on his front porch. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim said he then refused to comply with the suspect, who was demanding money. As a result, the victim was pistol-whipped and shot. The teen was taken to a nearby hospital, and police said he is expected to recover. No suspects have been arrested. Police said that the victim and the suspects knew each other, and this was not a random encounter. Multiple people were involved in this incident. Incident 3: Officers respond to downtown Charleston shooting Officers were patrolling the area of America Street and Johnson Street in the early morning hours on Sunday when they heard 10-12 gunshots. Soon after hearing the shots, they located a teen victim suffering from a gunshot wound. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The teen was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. As police were helping the victim, a large and unruly crowd gathered, creating a volatile situation, the department said. Several backup units and agents from nearby jurisdictions were called to assist. No suspects have been arrested in connection with this incident. Once again, this was not a random encounter, and there was a known association between the individuals involved. Charleston Police Chief Chito Walker said, This weekends violence was largely driven by teenagers with guns. It is a hard reminder of a deeper issue. One that does not begin on our streets, but at home. These are not isolated events; they are symptoms of a larger challenge we must all confront together. Public safety demands that we take these matters seriously, and the Charleston Police Department will continue to tackle this head-on. We will not accept this level of violence as a repetitive norm. It is up to all of us families, communities, and institutions alike to change the trajectory of this unacceptable behavior. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All three incidents remain under active investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Charleston Police Department at 843-720-2422 (ask for the on-duty Central Detective) or submit a tip online at www.charleston-sc.gov/tips. 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 WCBD News 2. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Sunday, April 27, marks the 5th anniversary of the positive identification of the remains of Cheryl Coker. The Greene County Sheriff said the skeletal remains were found Saturday, April 25, 2020, on Waynesville Jamestown Road in Caesercreek Township by a mushroom hunter, approximately 15 minutes from Cokers home. Watch the 2020 autopsy report here. Coker was last seen on Oct. 2, 2018. She had dropped one of her daughters off for school. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next day, Cokers car was found in a Kroger parking lot next to Clancys Tavern. Marisa Coker, Cheryls daughter, found the car using the Find My iPhone app. All of Cheryls personal belongings were found inside. Officials deemed her disappearance a homicide. On Feb. 19, 2019, officials publicly named her husband, William Bill Coker, as their main suspect following surveillance video footage of him on Oct. 2. No charges have been filed, and the case is still under investigation. 2 NEWS is following this case 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 WDTN.com. CHICAGO While mourners in Vatican City and across the globe celebrate the life of Pope Francis who was laid to rest Saturday, Chicagoans also came together for a special Mass at Holy Name Cathedral commemorating the popes life. A solemn liturgy gave both Catholics and non-Catholics alike the chance to pray for Pope Francis while reflecting on his life. The Mass was held just hours after the popes funeral was held at St. Peters Square in Rome, and nearly 800 people were in attendance. At Holy Name Cathedral, Archdiocese Vicar General Bishop Lawrence Sullivan presided over the Mass, reflecting on the life of the notoriously humble pope whose 12-year papacy was marked by his efforts to lead with humility and compassion while committing himself to helping the poor and refugees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tearful crowd gathers as Pope Francis is carried to his final resting place Pope Francis had a way of seeing the face of Jesus in every single person that he met, Sullivan said. Despite the popes ongoing health challenges, which recently included a long hospitalization, the pontiff made a surprise appearance on Easter Sunday, greeting crowds just one day before he died. His impact on my vocation, my life, has been very instrumental in the way Iwe all have a family, Fr. Andy Matijevic of Holy Name Cathedral said. Mourners also shared their reasons for coming to Saturdays Mass. I think for me, it is his helping of the poor and the acknowledgment of their plight, parishioner Judith Lee said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another mourner in town from Columbus, Ohio Joe Gastaldo, said it was important for him to be at Saturdays Mass for several reasons. Pope Francis connection to the deaf community celebrated at special Mass For me, it really is quite meaningful. Pope Francis is really quite a transformational pope. As a gay Catholic, he has been more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, Gastaldo said. I go to Italy a lot, and I was raised in a very traditional Italian-Catholic family. So it really is historical to have the first Latin American pope and the first pope who really focuses on marginalized communities. The second Sunday of Easter is known as Divine Mercy Sunday and according to Matijevic, its the perfect time to be able to lay the pope to rest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The unofficial conclave has also started. While Matijevic said its an exciting time, itll be interesting to see how long to could take until the next pope is chosen. Another Mass in observation of Pope Francis passing was held at Holy Name Cathedral on Wednesday, April 23. Nearly 1,200 people attended the service, which is capacity at the cathedral. 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. Theres a good chance youre following the big swings in the stock market lately. Investors seem to be hanging on every word from President Donald Trump. His trade policy, specifically tariffs, are the driving force behind the ups and downs on Wall Street. He talks tough, the markets nosedive. He indicates he might relax and the stocks surge. Almost every country is tied to it. President Trumps biggest target in all of this is China, and Chinas ready to fight back in a big way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Host Jim Niedelman brings back Kay Pence and Bill Bloom to discuss. I think China will do whats best for China fiscally, Bloom said. Im not too tremendously concerned about it. I think we should take it seriously, Pence said. Theyre not even our number one bondholder, Japan is. To hear more, click on the video. Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. Its a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on whats happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. SANTIAGO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Chinese mining suppliers attended Expomin 2025, the largest mining expo in Latin America, held in the Chilean capital, showcasing their competitive products and services, along with technological advancements in the mining sector. According to the organizers, the 18th edition of Expomin, held from Tuesday to Saturday under the theme "Reimagining mining in Latin America," brought together more than 1,300 companies from 35 countries. "China leads not only in mining equipment but also in technology for ore crushing, tailings management, waste recovery and heavy machinery," Expomin Executive Director Francisco Sotomayor told Xinhua. Sotomayor noted that China's presence at the fair has expanded significantly in recent years, with nearly 200 companies occupying an area of over 2,000 square meters at this year's event. "This shows how crucial China-Chile cooperation in mining has become. China is actively promoting investment in Chile," he said. Zhou Weidong, chairman of the Machinery Sub-Council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said Chinese mining equipment now boasts strong environmental credentials and technological upgrades, which give Chinese companies a competitive edge in Latin America. Several Chinese firms at the expo, such as industrial brake and clutch supplier Rubflex, safety equipment brand Boyuan and hydraulic fittings manufacturer HT Hydraulics, expressed hopes of expanding their presence in Chile's mining sector. Chile, the world's leading copper producer, is working to become the top global supplier of lithium, a critical mineral for electric vehicle batteries. Mining exports, especially to Asia, remain a cornerstone of the country's economy. I woke up on Wednesday to learn Id been memed. A screenshot from WBRE-TVs coverage of Tuesdays Scranton mayoral debates hosted by the University of Scranton captured my downcast reaction to watching a high school dropout try to match wits with a Harvard-educated incumbent. It was like watching a clownfish climb a tree, or a chirpy Chihuahua demand a free double-shot at Starbucks. The contest between Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan lasted an hour, but felt longer than college. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Friends who saw the meme on antisocial media texted me screenshots asking, Was it really that bad? No, I replied. It was worse. Mostly for Sheridan, whose candidacy itself is an insult to taxpayers still recovering from his eight-year reign of error on the school board. Not only did Sheridan not run away from his ruinous record, he bragged about it, and, to the best of his limited ability, tried to rewrite the scandalous history of what then-state Auditor Gen. Eugene DePasquale blasted as the most fiscally irresponsible district he had ever encountered. Paige passed on numerous opportunities to expose Sheridans bottomless hypocrisy and documented incompetence. The rules of the debate prohibited direct interaction between the candidates, but Sheridan broke that one from the jump. Paige was in a precarious position, likely shy about being seen as a bully beating up on a weak opponent. Besides, Sheridan was beating himself with nonsensical answers and promises to restore the patriarchal bliss that was pre-Paige Scranton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheridans platform includes giving unions an office in City Hall, which would be wide open with lockers for constituents to check their guns. He would keep the unions happy with unsustainable contracts, pave away the scourges of potholes and stormwater, give every kid in the city a swimming pool and restore the zoo and amusement park at Nay Aug. Most importantly, Sheridan chirped, he would turn the page on Paige. (See what he did there?) Sheridan would pay for his fantasy Scranton with tens of millions in federal COVID relief money, the same one-time wellspring that bailed out the school district he helped scuttle. Irony isnt dead. Its running for mayor of Scranton. Sort of. As Ive previously noted, Sheridan is the Democratic Machines canary in the coal mine. The scope of his certain loss to Paige will inform the Machines effort to unseat her in November. Former Scranton Sewer Authority Executive Director Gene Barrett attended Tuesdays debate as a spectator, but he will run as an independent. After the primary, count on the Machine to back Gene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a general rule of politics not to get in the way when your opponent is beating himself, but there were a few instances where Paige should have clapped back. A pair of the most glaring were Sheridans lame invocation of a moldy rumor about whether Paige lived outside the city while mayor and criticizing her early departure from the school board for a job in DePasquales office. To the former, Paige might have explained that before buying a house in Scranton, she and her husband, Ryan, lived at Summit Pointe Apartments, which despite its deceptive name is IN SCRANTON. (So is half of the Viewmont Mall, for you hardcore conspiracy theorists out there.) To the latter, Paige might have pointed out as she has said several times in other settings that Bob Sheridan and the incompetence, cronyism and Machine politics he represents were her motivation to run for public office in the first place. DePasquale was so impressed with Paiges watchdog work on the school board that he hired her to monitor school district mismanagement statewide. In a sense, the Machine made Paige. For that alone, Scrantonians owe Bob Sheridan a public service award and a swift kick in the rump come May 20. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two Republican candidates for mayor also squared off on Tuesday. Their debate was also a lopsided grind, with business owner Lynn Labrosky emerging as the clear front-runner for the partys nomination. Her challenger, accounting executive Patricia Trish Beynon, came off as passive and unprepared. She offered broad observations on government transparency, affordable housing and an open City Hall, but provided no specifics on what she would do, or how. Id like to know whats actually going on in City Hall behind closed doors, Beynon said. I dont feel that we have enough transparency. We dont know where our tax money is going all the time. We dont know whats going on behind closed doors. I think people need to know. They need to know where the tax money is going. They need to know who they can rely on. Rely on Labrosky to win the nomination. She showed discipline, confidence and poise in her answers to questions. Her defense of Keystone Sanitary Landfill owner Louis DeNaples as a small business owner earned some murmurs, but she wears the lifelong Scranton resident badge more convincingly than connivers like Sheridan. Her subtle othering of Paige (born in Oregon) will no doubt resonate with nativist voters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Labrosky didnt demonstrate a grasp of details or offer many specifics, but she did distinguish herself as a serious candidate whos in it to win it. Such an outcome is not inconceivable. Barrett is unlikely to beat Paige, but every vote he takes from the mayor in November will count as a vote for Labrosky. Mike Mancini, the other independent candidate, could also contribute to a cumulative loss for Paige. That would be just fine with the Machine, which would burn down the city to rid itself of Harvard Barbie. Critics tagged Paige with that sexist, self-owning nickname when she first entered politics. The high school dropout who inadvertently inspired her participation in public life reflected the impotent, beta-male bellyaching behind it at Tuesdays debate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a spray of sentence fragments painting Paige as out-of-touch with the police and fire unions, Sheridan chided her for waving her hair at a firefighters funeral. The condescending crack uttered without any hint of self-awareness or social impropriety drew groans from the audience and made me a meme. Thanks again, Bob, just for being you. A meme circulating of Times-Tribune columnist Chris Kelly. (SUBMITTED) CHRIS KELLY, The Times-Tribune columnist, thinks its cruel to ask a clownfish to climb a tree. Contact the writer: ckelly@scrantontimes.com; @cjkink on X; Chris Kelly, The Times-Tribune on Facebook. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) admitted he has a great fear that President Donald Trump could cave to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war in Ukraine. My great fear, Dana, is that Trump will just cave into Putin. Thats been the overall indication all along, Schumer told CNNs State of the Union host Dana Bash on Sunday. Schumers comments came after Trump criticized Putin Saturday after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis funeral in Rome. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump admitted to having new skepticism that a peace deal can be brokered to end the war between the two countries. Schumer told Bash that if Trump were to cave to Putin it could be bad in three very bad ways. He went on to claim that it would be a moral tragedy to undercut Zelenskyy though he believes Trump is headed in that direction. No. 1 to just abandon Ukraine after all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life, and with the rallying of the whole West against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy to undercut Zelenskyywhich I believe Trump is headed in that direction, Schumer said. Schumer then said Trump backing out would divide our countrys alliances with Europe after the whole west has stood up for the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It asunders our alliances with Europe. The Europeans have stood up for us, the whole West has stood up for us, he continued. Theyve put in money, theyve used all kinds of diplomatic and economic tools to back us. And how is Europe going to trust us ever again if Trump backs out? Schumer wrapped up his cryptic message by saying that the thing that would be worst of all is if Trump crumbles against Putin over ceasing the war, adding it will send a dangerous signal to dictators across the world. But third and maybe most worst of all, its a sign that the United States is weak. It sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran, that if you stand up and bully Trump, youre going to get your way, Schumer said. Elsewhere in the interview, Schumer told Bash that hes very worried about where he is headed because he thinks that Trump is in a position where he feels he can sell out Zelenskyy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [Trump] is sort of saying yes one day and no the next day. But overall, the trend is very, very bad, Schumer added. In a separate Truth Social post Saturday, Trump urged Ukraine and Russia to meet for very high level talks, claiming that they are very close to a deal on ending the deadly ongoing war. A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to finish it off, Trump wrote. Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war! Watch Schumers appearance on State of the Union below. .@SenSchumer on Ukraine peace talks: My great fear, Dana, is that Trump will just cave in to Putin It's a sign that the United States is weak. It sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran, that if you stand up and bully Trump, that youre going to get pic.twitter.com/T583XsEyVJ State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 27, 2025 Related... Gunmen riding Citi Bikes shot two people in the Bronx kicking off a spat of violence that stretched across three boroughs, cops said. A man, 32, was blasted in the torso at East 146th Street and Brook Avenue by two males on one Citi Bike, cops said. About 15 minutes later, a woman, 35, was shot in the leg when gunfire rang out near Westchester Aveue and Third Avenue in Mott Haven around 9:20 p.m., cops said. Police were looking for two males riding separate Citi Bikes in that incident, according to cops. A man was shot on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard at W. 146th Street in Harlem Saturday. Christopher Sadowski It wasnt immediately clear if the two incidents were related or if the victims were intended targets, police said. Both were taken to Lincoln Hospital in stable condition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators were out at the scenes canvassing for video, cops said. The woman was an innocent bystander, said a neighbor who did not want to be identified. She was walking home, as she came into the building she got hit, the neighbor said. She is ok. She got home from the hospital. Gunshots are familiar fare in the neighborhood, another resident said. I live on the 18th floor. I heard three gunshots. One, two, three, said Jess Fernandez, 69. I dont know who got shot. But it happens all the time. Later, a man was shot at West 146th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem around 1:30 a.m., cops said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When police arrived at the scene, they were told the victim, 41, had already left. They found him at Harlem Hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach, police said. A man was shot by two gunmen on a Citi Bike in front on East 146 Street in the Bronx Friday night, cops said. Robert Mecea A woman was struck in the leg by a bullet fired from a Citi Bike on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, cops said. Robert Mecea The woman was shot in the leg shortly afer a man was blasted by someone on a Citi Bike, cops said. Robert Mecea The victim was in stable condition early Saturday. The motive was unknown. Nearly three hours later, a man was shot once in the back around 4 a.m. at Steinway Street and Astoria Boulevard in Astoria, Queens, police said. The 25-year-old was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition. The number of shooting incidents is down from 217 to 178 so far this year, when compared to the same period last year and shooting victims decreased from 256 to 209, an 18% drop, according to NYPD data. The following story is by Nathan Prewett for the Trussville Tribune: ODENVILLE, Ala. (Trussville Tribune) The City of Odenville is getting set to develop its first comprehensive plan, laying out the future of the city as its population grows above 5,000 people. The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB) is partnering with Odenville to create a plan, with the publics involvement, using funds from its Building Communities Grant Program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The comprehensive plan will be a roadmap for both short-term and long-term decisions on the future growth and development of a city for the next 5-10 years, and can be used if the city decides to adopt zoning regulations in the future. This action-based plan will focus on key areas such as new development, redevelopment, infrastructure and public services, transportation, rural preservation and natural resources, parks and recreation, and quality of life, a release from the city stated. Man killed, 2 people injured in Blount County crash The process of planning is expected to take 10 months to complete. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city is requesting residents to provide input as the plan comes together. A kickoff public meeting is set for May 8 at the St. Clair County Arena and Event Center at 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. A website with a survey has been created and can be found at www.planodenville.com. We want to hear from our residents and businesses, said Mayor Buck Christian. The planning process allows everyone an opportunity to participate. We encourage you to get involved; this is your opportunity to guide the future of Odenville. Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com. 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 CBS 42. (WJW) As 250,000 people attended Pope Francis funeral mass at the Vatican, Father Eric Garris with the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was among them. Surreal is the word. The entire experience was very strange, provincial, beautiful, somber, Garris said. Seven Buckeyes taken on final day of NFL draft while Sanders goes to Browns Garris has been in Rome for a week and a half with plans to celebrate Holy Week with friends. He was in St. Peters Basilica when the Pope passed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five days later, he attended Pope Francis funeral. While there was a certain level of solemnity and somberness which was reflected in the rituals and liturgy and songs, there was joy. And I think the joy is a summation of Pope Francis life, Garris said. Garris said he was struck by how many faithfuls cheered and clapped in Pope Francis memory. Visitation, memorial service held for former Avon football player Garris plans to return to Northeast Ohio Monday. He said three priests from the Diocese of Cleveland will remain at the Vatican and be present for the entirety of the papal conclave. I think that for people back home to know that something from Ohio was present at this thing. It wasnt just an Italian thing or a Vatican thing. When the church gathers, it gathers, and the church of Cleveland was very much present at that funeral, Garris said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Katie Bruno stood in a parking lot across the street from the North Carolina Executive Mansion Saturday holding a sign with a big color picture of Gov. Josh Stein surrounded by the words, Be our Climate Champion. Bruno, a Duke University freshman, and about 85 others gathered in the parking lot to pressure Stein to speak out against Duke Energy and push the states monopoly utility to embrace renewable energy. Stop Duke Energy, wrecking our planet, the crowd chanted between speakers and then as they walked around the governors mansion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The protest was led by environmental nonprofit NC WARN, along with 13 other organizations, from the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity to a yoga studio in Durham, organizers said. Duke students Katie Bruno, left, and Clara Brown, right, listen to a speaker during a rally and march organized by NC WARN near the N.C. Executive Mansion in Raleigh on Saturday. About 85 people gathered to pressure Gov. Josh Stein to speak out against Duke Energy and push the utility to embrace renewable energy. On April 3, 61 research scientists from across the United States signed an open letter urging Stein to proclaim his opposition to Duke Energys reliance on fossil fuels and obstruction of clean energy solutions. They asked Stein to push Duke Energy to utilize renewable energy. Costly catastrophes, including last years deadly hurricanes and wildfires, are fueled by the reliance on fossil fuels and will continue to get worse, the letter said. . We are barreling toward climate catastrophe, with climate harms already claiming lives, species, and the places we call home while simultaneously creating unprecedented financial challenges at multiple levels of society, the letter says. Protesters walk around the N.C. Executive Mansion during a rally and march organized by NC WARN in Raleigh on Saturday. Neither Stein nor anyone else was seen outside the governors brick mansion as the group circled the block chanting. But a governors spokesperson said in a statement to The News & Observer that Stein is committed to maintaining North Carolinas status as a leader in the clean energy economy, creating good-paying jobs throughout the state, and continuing his work to ensure all North Carolinians have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We must continue to reduce climate pollution and prepare our state for future natural disasters by investing in resilient infrastructure, the statement said. UNC student Amy Onyinye Okonkwo cheers on a speaker during a rally and march organized by NC WARN near the N.C. Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, April 26, 2025. Around 85 people gathered to pressure Gov. Josh Stein to speak out against Duke Energy and push the states monopoly utility to embrace renewable energy. But those at the noon rally contend Duke Energy is deceiving people in the state. Protesters described a disingenuous effort by the company to utilize renewable energy while it continues to embrace fossil fuels, putting profits over the future of the environment. Governor Stein needs to tell North Carolina the truth. Bold action by Governor Stein, I think, would inspire the entire nation, said Jim Warren, executive director of NC WARN. Gabriela Sarri-Tober, who works with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the planet is warming at a record pace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve seen scorching heat waves that are claiming lives across North Carolina, devastating hurricanes destroying the places we call home, Sarri-Tober said. Sean Ross cheers on a speaker during a rally and march organized by NC WARN near the N.C. Executive Mansion in Raleigh Saturday. In a statement, Duke Energy said it is committed to its customers and communities. And will continue working with policymakers, regulators and other state leaders to deliver reliable and increasingly clean energy while keeping rates as low as possible, the statement said. Bruno, the Duke student with the Stein sign, said she came to the event with the Duke Climate Coalition club. Bruno said its up to Stein and other governors to push for change. I think hes willing, but we just need to put a little bit more pressure on him to get the ball rolling, Bruno said. A member of a fishing vessel that was injured after a rope snapped and struck two crewmen has passed away, the Coast Guard announced. 26-year-old Jaxson Marston was identified as the victim who passed away. Maine State Representative Tiffany Strout released a statement, calling the events a reminder that life is short. This comes after the Coast Guard responded to a distress call on Friday, April 25, around 3:55 p.m., reporting that a snapped rope had struck two crewmembers aboard the fishing vessel 25 TO LIFE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two crew members were transported to Beverly Hospital. One of the victims sustained a concussion and broken ribs, while the other had suffered a suspected broken neck and was intermittently unresponsive. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard said, Our hearts are with his family, friends, and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time. There is no word on the status of the second crewmember. A GoFundMe has been set up to support the Marston family, which you can visit here. 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 BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China Coast Guard (CCG) on Sunday warned the Philippines to stop infringements, as six individuals from the Philippines illegally landed on Tiexian Jiao in the South China Sea, disregarding warning and dissuasion from the Chinese side. The CCG officers boarded the reef to conduct on-site verification and enforcement measures according to the law, said spokesperson Liu Dejun. Liu reaffirmed that China holds indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Qundao, including Tiexian Jiao, and the adjacent waters. The Philippines' move violated China's territorial sovereignty and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and undermined peace and stability in the region, the spokesperson said. "We urge the Philippines to cease its infringements immediately. The CCG will continue to protect China's rights and carry out law enforcement activities within China's jurisdictional waters," Liu stressed. A 63-year-old Acworth man was arrested after police said they found illegal drugs in his car. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] On Wednesday, a little after 10 p.m., Scottsboro police, in Alabama, performed a traffic stop in the 2100 block of Veterans Drive. After a search of the vehicle, officers arrested James Psihogios, 63, of Acworth. During the search, authorities said they found the following: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 4.5 grams of fentanyl mixture 2.3 grams of crack/cocaine 58 individual wrapped marijuana blunts A clear glass pipe TRENDING STORIES: Psihogios was charged with drug trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. He remains behind bars at the Jackson County Jail, where he is being held on a $53,500 bond. We remain committed to keeping our community safe by removing dangerous drugs from our streets," the department said. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] After months of letter-writing advocacy from staff members and students of higher education institutions in Maryland, a state grant program for private colleges and universities was preserved for next fiscal year. The Maryland Higher Education Commission in January recommended that state lawmakers reduce funding for the Joseph A. Sellinger Program, which provides students with scholarship assistance, by nearly $36.7 million. That amount is about half of the Sellinger funding typically in the state budget. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hood College and Mount St. Marys University said Sellinger funding is vital to continue operating as tuition-dependent institutions. Sellinger funding is based on an institutions full-time enrollment. The state program was established in 1973. After a statewide advocacy effort organized by the Maryland Independent College and University Association (MICUA) which includes Hood and the Mount to contact local legislators, lawmakers fully funded the Sellinger program in the states budget. Leadership from Hood and Mount St. Marys said the grant program is instrumental to their ability to provide students with financial aid, and a necessary part of their budgets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hood College received $3.6 million in Sellinger funding for the 2024-25 academic year. Mount St. Marys typically receives about $5.5 million per year in Sellinger funding. State Del. Ken Kerr (D-3) said in an interview on Friday that any cut to Sellinger funding was going to be devastating for colleges like Hood. He said he spoke with leadership from the Appropriations Committee, which handles the budget, and let them know that this is the situation were in in Frederick. Thats really the way that we can influence it, Kerr said. He added that he is unsure how much advocacy from Hood and the Mount helped influence the Appropriations Committees preservation of funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I know that we got a lot of emails, and we got visits from the leadership of both those institutions over the course of the legislative session, Kerr said. Hood College Hood College President Debbie Ricker said in an interview that Sellinger funding is instrumental to our support for Maryland students, and thats not true just for Hood College. The college has an annual operating budget of $54 million and received $3.6 million in Sellinger funding this academic year. Ricker said MICUA worked to engage state lawmakers in Annapolis about the significance and importance of Sellinger funding for our continued work and commitment to Maryland students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We were really worried when that funding was at risk of being cut in half, as well as at risk of being allocated based on a newly defined formula, she said. Mason Cavalier, a spokesperson for Hood College, said that as of mid-March, 58,770 emails were sent to state legislators from districts where MICUA students, alumni, employees, donors and parents are from. Hood College community members sent about 3,000 of those emails. Laurie Ward, the executive director of marketing and communications for Hood, said the school sent emails, posted to social media and created a website with an easy way to send legislators an email advocating for the grant. She said the initiative now is to send thank-you notes to legislators and make sure that we are showing gratitude for the fight that they put up and made sure that they saved Sellinger for all the [private colleges] in Maryland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mount St. Marys University Mount St. Marys University President Gerard Jerry Joyce said the university took part in MICUAs advocacy efforts to get Sellinger funding restored, including traveling to Annapolis with students to meet with legislators. He said it was a significant accomplishment for us in terms of that money passing in the budget. My biggest fear was when that money goes away, and were a tuition-driven institution, and were trying to get everything possible to lessen the burden on students and families as they come into higher education, how is that going to impact not only the university, but the families? he said. That was something for the past several months that has kept me up at night in terms of how we would have to pivot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Joyce said the Mount typically receives about $5.5 million in Sellinger funding. Donna Klinger, a spokesperson for the Mount, said out of a budgeted revenue of $80.7 million for the 2024-25 school year, Sellinger funding represented approximately 6.9% of that revenue. Joyce said the partnership between the state of Maryland and private higher education institutions speaks to the future. He said Sellinger funding helps increase the likelihood of in-state students attending college in Maryland, and lawmakers decision for Sellinger funds to remain as is in the state budget could actually impact decades of residents staying and setting their lives up in Maryland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, I thought that its not just a short-term issue, its a long-term impact for the state, he said. Joyce said he was thrilled that lawmakers heard us. Kerr said there are only a couple of places in Maryland where a state university is not within a 30-minute commute, and Frederick is one of them. He said other places have state options, whereas the people who are in Frederick who maybe are career changers, young families, people of limited means who are not able to pay the full price of a private institution, theyre kind of denied access to a resource the rest of the state enjoys. (NewsNation) As the younger generation opts for less traditional jobs and more entrepreneurial side gigs in a digital age, the demand for a college degree has fallen. Indeed, a popular job site and hiring platform, conducted a survey of nearly 800 professionals in the United States with an associates degree or higher and found that more than half view their diploma as a waste of money. They are skeptical about the return on investment, according to the study, revealing a generational divide. About 51% of Gen Z (born 1997-2012) consider their degrees a waste of money, compared to just 20% of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) and 41% of Millennials (born 1981-1996). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The best cities for homebuyers and sellers: Report For decades, getting a degree meant substantially higher wages, said Jocelyne Gafner in the study. From 1980 through about 2010, the gap between what college graduates earned and what those with only high school diplomas earned grew significantly. But recently, this advantage has hit a wall. Researchers with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco point to the race between education and technology to explain the dynamic of wage gaps between those with college degrees and those without. Now, the wage gap has gotten smaller. Plenty of people are millionaires from internet and tech jobs that didnt require higher education, whereas plenty of people who attended college are still in debt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The combination of stagnating wage benefits, skyrocketing costs, degree saturation and debt may explain why younger generations increasingly question whether college is worth it, Gafner said. The traditional promise of higher education simply doesnt align with the reality many younger professionals experience. 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. DENVER (KDVR) Coloradans honored the late Pope Francis in a special Mass held Saturday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila is in Rome for the Holy Fathers funeral, but the church said this Mass offered the local faithful an opportunity to unite in prayer with Catholics across the globe. Colorado football players in the 2025 NFL Draft I know he had been ill, so I know hes at peace, and its always beautiful when you get to go to heaven, but it still made me sad, said Dr. Christina Luna of Fresno, California, who is visiting Denver. I think its really special, not just for Catholics, but for all people who care about social justice and care about others, and thats what the pope represented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A photo of Pope Francis was displayed for the dozens of churchgoers who attended the special Mass. I appreciate that they are honoring his last will and testimony of words that he wants a simple service because thats who he was. He never raised himself up above anyone, said churchgoer Delores Moya. Crying, sad, appreciative of his past inner relationship with the poor, not the rich, not the high society, but humble, poor people. Many who visited the church on Saturday were not surprised to hear the news of Pope Francis passing due to his recent illness. Even though he was sick, he decided to go out in the Pope Mobile one more time and meet people and be with people, and then he laid down and went to rest, said churchgoer David James Baker. We have lots of divisions in the world today, and those are not going to change, but I think the model that Francis gave us was the idea of opening your heart, opening your mind, and being truthful to whats in front of you. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks the press needs to be a little more fair when covering President Donald Trump's program of deportations without due process. Confronted on Sunday with a news story about American citizens being deported along with their undocumented immigrant parents, Rubio called the story "misleading," disputing the framing and not the facts. "If you're in this country unlawfully, you have no right to be here," Rubio said during a visit to "Meet the Press." "Three U.S. citizens were not deported...their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children just went with their mothers." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rubio callously pointed out that the deported citizens "can come back" to the U.S. Marco Rubio on Meet the Press defends the Trump administration deporting US citizen children pic.twitter.com/dsXFWxIrmH Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 27, 2025 On Saturday, The Washington Post shared that ICE agents detained and then deported three children who were U.S. citizens after their parents appeared for a routine check-in with immigration authorities. One deportee was a 4-year-old battling stage 4 cancer. Attorneys for the family say that they were deported without medication and deprived of the ability to contact their doctors. "I dont know how much more of a blatant or clear constitutional violation there can be than deporting U.S. citizens without due process," ACLU of Louisiana Director Alanah Odoms told the Post. "Especially with some of those citizens being the most vulnerable of all vulnerable, children, and not just any children, children with medical conditions that are dire." Host Kristen Welker asked Rubio if it was "U.S. policy to deport U.S. citizens...without due process." "Children go with their parents," Rubio said, waving away the question of citizens' rights. Commemorative events were held in the former Nazi concentration camps in Bergen-Belsen and Flossenburg on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camps. Politicians and contemporary witnesses recalled the atrocities. Lower Saxony Premier Stephan Weil made an appeal for "Never again is now" at the event in the Luneburg Heath. Never again should the dignity and lives of people in Germany be trampled underfoot, never again should human rights be disregarded, never again should arbitrariness take the place of justice, said Weil. "That is the lesson to be learnt from the murder of so many millions of people, that is the mission of the commemoration and remembrance of these events." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by the British army on April 15, 1945. Around 53,000 people were liberated, but for many, help came too late. Among them was Anne Frank, whose diary brought home to many the sufferings of the Jews in occupied Europe. She is buried in one of the mass graves at the camp. In total, around 52,000 people died in the camp and immediately after liberation, in addition to almost 20,000 deaths in the neighbouring prisoner of war camp. In his speech, Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor addressed the survivors directly. "With your strength, with your courage and with your lives, you are a triumph over inhumanity. We are indebted to you, the survivors. And to the murdered." Former German president Christian Wulff and President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, were among the guests. VATICAN CITY (AP) One of Pope Francis enduring legacies was that he greatly expanded the diversity of cardinals who will elect his successor, naming princes of the church from faraway countries that had never had one before. That legacy is now throwing a wrench in the traditional sport of speculating about the next pope, since these far-flung cardinals don't know one another well and havent coalesced into clear voting blocs going into the conclave, the centuries-old ritual to elect a new pope. As a result, all that is certain about the upcoming conclave is that there is no certainty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the Oscar-nominated film Conclave made clear, the election of a pope is a Hollywood-worthy drama steeped in mystery, secrecy and faith. But real-world politics and personal calculations come into play and will weigh on the 130-plus cardinals when they enter the Sistine Chapel to cast their ballots. What will the cardinals be looking for? No date has yet been set for the conclave, but it must start by May 10. After Francis funeral Saturday, the cardinals who have flocked to Rome will meet regularly this week, sizing one another up as they discuss the needs of the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church following Francis revolutionary papacy. Francis' 12-year pontificate was characterized by a focus away from doctrinaire rules to making the church more inclusive and welcoming. For progressives, it was a refocusing of mission back to the Gospels mandate to care for poor people and feed the hungry. For conservatives, Francis sowed confusion by introducing wiggle room in hot-button cultural issues such as the churchs teaching on marriage and homosexuality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a result, the cardinals face a fundamental decision when looking for a successor: Does the church need someone to continue Francis legacy, focusing on the marginalized as Jesus did? Or does it need a course correction to rebuild unity, after Francis radical reforms alienated some? One question is whether the conservative wing, which counts cardinals from Africa, Eastern Europe and part of the U.S., has enough votes to swing the pendulum back to the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Beyond that, the cardinals will consider more practical matters: Pick someone in his 60s and you might have a pope for 20-plus years, for better or worse. Pick a pope from where the church is alive and growing Asia or Africa and you might bring more upheaval to the Vatican's Italian-heavy bureaucracy that is still smarting from the Argentine popes go-it-alone style. Pick a relatively unknown pope and hes just that, unknown. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Who are the contenders? Chatbots and bookmakers predictions aside, its really anyones guess, said Alberto Melloni, a church historian. They barely know each other, Melloni said, recalling that in his last batch of cardinals alone, in December, Francis added 20 new voters to the conclave. These cardinals hailed from Algeria, Argentina and Australia and points in between, and may have first met the day they got their red hats. Of course there are some leading candidates. They stand out as front-runners simply because they are the most well-known. - Cardinal Pietro Parolin is a leading Italian, by nature of his office: He was Francis secretary of state, the Vatican No. 2, so known to every cardinal in the Sistine Chapel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - The top candidate to be historys first Asian pope is also on everyones short list because hes got a similarly high-profile Vatican job: Filippino Cardinal Luis Tagle, who heads the Vaticans evangelization office responsible for the Catholic Church in much of the developing world. - A leading candidate representing more of the conservative wing of the church is Hungarian Cardinal Erdo, 72, the archbishop of Budapest. You dont see in this moment real front-runners, because to be a front-runner, you need already to have behind you a packet of votes, said longtime Vatican watcher Marco Politi, whose upcoming book The Unfinished explores Francis' unfinished business. Kingmakers expected to have a big role Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because the cardinals dont know each other well, no one is seen to have secured the packet of votes, suggesting it might take several rounds of voting to get a two-thirds majority. Melloni said cardinals shouldn't be afraid to let the conclave drag on, even if it sends a message of division as black smoke day after day signals a lack of consensus. Certainly the church is divided. The problem is to find the one who unites, not pretend that it isn't divided," Melloni said. The lack of front-runners has made the kingmakers more important in this conclave. These are the influential figures who themselves may not be considered papabile but can rally votes from other cardinals in a particular direction. They include New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx and Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the Franciscan archbishop of Kinshasa who heads the African bishops conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just because they were named by Francis ... While 108 of the voting-age cardinals were created by Francis, they may not necessarily follow his mercy-over-morals line: Some may support Francis call for the church to be more inclusive, but oppose women priests, Politi said. Maybe they agree with the issue of giving Communion to divorced and remarried people, but they dont want to bless a homosexual couple, he said. So this makes this conclave very difficult. Marx said the global outpouring of grief after Francis death shows support for a pope who will continue his ministry focusing on people who are marginalized and against war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People long for a voice that goes beyond national interests, beyond polarizations, beyond discussion about who overwhelms whom and who defeats whom," Marx told reporters after the funeral. Some outstanding questions One question is whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of the most powerful cardinals at the Vatican, will be allowed to cast a vote. Francis in 2020 forced Becciu to resign and relinquish his rights and privileges as a cardinal over alleged financial misconduct. The Sardinian prelate was later convicted of finance-related crimes by the Vatican criminal tribunal. He is appealing the convictions and has participated in Vatican events since his downfall. At 76, he is under the voting age limit of 80. However, official Vatican statistics list him as a non elector. He and his supporters maintain that he didnt lose his primary duty of electing a pope. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another question is where the cardinals will sleep. The Vaticans Domus Santa Marta hotel was built in 1996 specifically to house cardinals during a conclave, so they could all be in one place and sequestered. At the time, St. John Paul II had decreed that there could only be 120 cardinal electors who could participate in a conclave, and the hotel was built to accommodate their numbers. But Francis and his predecessors regularly breached the 120-man threshold and the electors now number 135. Also, Room No. 201, where Francis chose to live after his 2013 election, is under seal and must remain so until a new pope is elected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Asked if the cardinals would be asked to double-up in hotel rooms, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni noted that such accommodations would be fitting. Its a great opportunity to create community, Bruni said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. A construction project at San Pedro High School in Los Angeles revealed nearly 9-million-year-old sea creature fossils buried under the school. Scientists believe the area was once fully underwater, which would explain the bounty of marine fossils. Along with beds of shells and millions of fish bones, researchers discovered the fossil of a prehistoric megalodon. Most high schoolers only get to study fossils through textbooks and videos. But students at San Pedro High School in Los Angeles got a much more up-close-and-personal experience thanks to the discovery of millions of fossils dated millions of years old underneath their campus. When a construction project to renovate the school kicked off in 2022, fossilsranging from a saber-tooth salmon to shorebirds and sea turtles to a prehistoric megalodonstarted turning up pretty quickly. I thought this stuff was something that never happens, especially around here, student Taya Olson told KABC. It only happens in textbooks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And those finds have not slowed. Over the next two years, the fossil finds kept coming, with numbers of bones from sea creatures of all sorts growing into the millions. It represents an entire ecology of the ocean nine million years ago, said Wayne Bischoff, director of cultural resources at Envicom Corporation. So far, the project has uncovered out over 200 species, but it could take years before experts know the true extent of the find. The fact that millions of fossils have been unearthed on this site has led to a new era of concentrative studies that will bring notoriety to this community and this high school, said Alberto Carvalho, Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent. Located west of Long Beach on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the campus was unknowingly sitting atop two different fossil hotspotsa bone bed from the Miocene era (nearly nine million years ago), and a shell bed from the Pleistocene era (roughly 120,000 years old ), according to the Los Angeles Times. Theres never been this type of density of fossils ever found at a site like this before in California, Bischoff told the newspaper, adding that the find confirms the existing scientific idea that ancient Los Angeles was once underwater. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The oldest of the fossils were trapped within a fossilized algae known as diatomite.The algae concentration points to a nutrient-rich area that could have fed a variety of marine lifeeven including dolphins and whales. Bischoff said that the wealth of fossils mixed with shore material has given rise to the theory that a whole prehistoric island once washed onto what is now the L.A. shore. The fossilized finds are now mostly in the hands of researcherswhether from the school district, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Cal State Channel Islands, or the natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Milad Esfahani, a San Pedro High School student, even got in on the research at the Natural History Museum by sorting fossilized shells. It was sort of like gold panning, he told the Times, adding he now hopes to become a marine paleontologist. Mining the fossilized beds can give researchers an exceptional view into the past. Its the entire ecosystem from an age thats gone, Bischoff told LAist. We have all this evidence to help future researchers put together what an entire ecology looked like nine million years ago. Thats really rare. You Might Also Like ADEN, Yemen, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Residents of Yemen's southern port city of Aden are experiencing severe electricity shortages, with power available for as little as four hours per day, according to accounts from residents on Sunday. The extended outages, which some residents said now reach 20 hours daily, have intensified hardship in the city amidst rising temperatures. The deterioration follows recent warnings from the General Electricity Corporation in Aden regarding potential fuel depletion at power generation stations. Residents reported that local authorities have not implemented emergency measures to maintain service. A source within the Aden Electricity Corporation told Xinhua that the total power output in Aden is currently around 53 megawatts, while demand can exceed 620 megawatts during the summer months. The worsening crisis has led to protests in several Aden neighborhoods. Demonstrators have blocked roads with burning tires and stones to voice their anger over the electricity situation. The power crisis has significantly impacted living conditions and healthcare services across the city, affecting daily life with no immediate solutions apparent. Aden has served as the temporary capital of the internationally recognized Yemeni government since 2015, when it relocated from Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the capital. The Houthis have controlled Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen since late 2014, in a conflict that the United Nations describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries launched a live stream from the steps of the U.S. Capitol early Sunday morning, slamming Republican-backed budget plans. The live-streamed discussion comes as Congress is set to return to session Monday after recessing on April 10. Earlier this month, House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, which includes trillions of dollars in tax breaks and cuts to federal programs, according to a report from the Associated Press. On the steps of the Capitol, Booker and Jeffries are encouraging Americans to share how the proposed cuts would personally affect them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With Congress returning to session tomorrow, Republican leaders have made clear their intention to use the coming weeks to advance a reckless budget scheme to President Trumps desk that seeks to gut Medicaid, food assistance and basic needs programs that help people, all to give tax breaks to billionaires. Given whats at stake, these could be some of the most consequential weeks for seniors, kids and families in generations, read a statement, released by Bookers office. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries discuss Republican-backed budget plans on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, April 27. (Zach Coleman/DC News Now) The two leaders are also discussing how they believe the budget plans go against shared American values. The New York Times previously reported that the Trump-backed budget proposal would cut billions of dollars from safety net programs supporting health research, education, housing and childcare. Trumps first 100 days: Steamrolling government, strong-arming allies and igniting trade wars Budgets are more than just numbers in a spreadsheetthey are moral documents, Booker said, in a previous statement regarding Sundays discussion. They reveal what we value, who we protect, and what we stand for. Thats why Im here today: to sit in at a sacred civic space, to make clear the moral and practical stakes of the Trump budget proposal, and to call others to action. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries discuss Republican-backed budget plans on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Sunday, April 27. (Zach Coleman/DC News Now) Republicans in Congress are proposing cuts that will take food from children, healthcare from the sick, and dignity from those already struggling. Its wrong. To stop it, we all must say soclearly, courageously, and together. Speaking out and speaking up is how we will convince four Republicans in the House and Senate to do the right thing and vote no, he continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DC mayor announces significant freezes after Congresss $1.1 billion budget slash The sit-in also comes as D.C. faces its own budget crisis. When Congress went on recess, it failed to address a $1.1 billion hole in the citys 2025 budget. This was created when Congress adopted and President Trump signed a full-year resolution for FY 2025, essentially nullifying the Districts pre-approved budget and reverting it to the FY 24 spending levels. Cuts would specifically impact public safety, education and public works in the District. To watch the live-streamed discussion, 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. Despite the fact that the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitly forbids it from actually taking place, President Donald Trump has spent years joking about and floating the idea of running for a third term as president of the United States. Be Aware: Trump Isnt Ruling Out a Recession This Year What Could That Mean for Your Wallet? Try This: How Far $750K Plus Social Security Goes in Retirement in Every US Region Recently, however, he told NBC News, Im not joking and seriously indicated that there are loopholes by which Trump, who became Americas 45th president in 2017 and its 47th president in 2025, could hold a third term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also, find out how Americans are feeling about their finances during Trumps second term. Is It Possible for Trump To Serve a Third Term? In its 22nd Amendment, the United States Constitution clearly established in 1951 that an individual may only be elected to two terms of presidential office. Read Next: Trump Wants To Replace Income Taxes With Tariffs: 2 Impacts on the Middle Class Vice President Loophole As CNN noted, however, there are Trump loyalists arguing for such loopholes as JD Vance running for president in 2028 with Trump running as his vice president. Upon winning the presidency, Vance could step down, allowing Trump to ascend to the presidency rather than be elected to it thereby circumventing the 22nd Amendments strictures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, such an extreme maneuver is already rendered moot by the Constitution, as well; the 12th Amendment states, No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. Thus, Trump who is not eligible to be elected president a third time would conceivably thereby be ineligible to run as vice president, as well. Constitutional Amendment Aside from such convoluted wrangling, the only other and comparably straightforward option for a third term would be to amend the Constitution itself to allow Trumps election for a third time. The problem for Trump? Amending the Constitution requires a 2/3 majority vote in the House of Representatives, 2/3 majority vote in the Senate and a 3/4 majority vote of the states to ratify such a change to one of Americas founding documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the highly polarized political landscape of modern America, a series of majority votes on that scale is all but impossible. Ultimately, Its Unlikely Legal experts tend to agree Ben Michael, attorney at Michael & Associates, reiterated that the 22nd Amendment point blank bars Trump or any other individual from assuming a third term as president. He explained, Unless the 22nd Amendment were to be repealed, Trump cannot legally serve another term after this one. Repealing a constitutional amendment is not a simple or easy feat, so even though Republicans hold the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, I dont think its a likely outcome we will see, if attempted. That said, a mainstay of Trumps two terms as president thus far is to test the limits of Americas political and legal institutions, often crossing lines never crossed before. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While it would be a disavowal of Constitutional norms, it is at the very least conceivable that Trump could, as The Hill has speculated, declare or contrive a national emergency and indefinitely postpone the 2028 election. This would likely require some form of martial law or military enforcement to quell citizen uprisings against such an action. But What Could It Mean for the Economy? What would such a move mean for the American economy in general and your wallet and American Dream in specific? In short, it would likely be disastrous. As The Hill further noted, intellectuals such as doctors, researchers and academics frequently flee autocratic states quickly, meaning that health care and life sciences could both decline and become more expensive to maintain. Additionally, such an abandonment of democracy would likely cost America trade partners like Canada, the EU and Japan relationships already strained at this point by increased tariffs. Losing those trade allies would trigger an almost immediate scarcity of cars, tech such as smart phones and medical supplies, and would likely also create stratospheric food price hikes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The American economy would likely be crippled in the wake of such events. To be clear, there is currently zero evidence that Trump will actually pursue any of the avenues explored above. The fact that he made clear that he is not joking about the possibility, however, makes it no laughing matter, and one that must be considered seriously. Editors note on political coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com. More From GOBankingRates Sources This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Could Trump Get a Third Term in 2028? What This Could Mean for the Economy and the American Dream Travelers on southbound Interstate 17 were facing traffic delays because of a crash near Camp Verde, according to state transportation officials. "A crash that's on the shoulder is causing backups at MP 282," ADOT officials posted on X, formerly Twitter, shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 27. Weekend traffic often can be busy on southbound I-17 as travelers return to metro Phoenix from northern Arizona locations. A crash is causing traffic delays on southbound Interstate 17 near Camp Verde on Sunday, April 27, 2025, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Crash on Interstate 17 causing traffic delays, ADOT officials say Willy Ley was a German-American science writer who died on June 24, 1969, at the age of 62 Ley's cremated remains were discovered in a cluttered co-op basement in New York City in 2024, though there is no record of Ley ever having lived in the building Ley, born in 1906, was considered a "prophet" of space travel and rocketship design, having authored hundreds of articles and a number of books on the subject The remains of a visionary science writer who died more than half a century ago were recently discovered in the basement of an apartment building in New York City. Willy Ley, who died on June 24, 1969, at the age of 62, was a German-American writer and prophet of the space age, according to one biographer. He fled Nazi Germany in 1935 and spent the rest of his life in Jackson Heights in the N.Y.C. borough of Queens, where he lived with his wife and two daughters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So it was an unexpected turn of events when Michael Hrdlovic, the superintendent of a co-op on 67th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side miles from Jackson Heights found a can labeled Remains of Willy Ley while cleaning out the buildings cluttered basement in 2024, per The New York Times. Hrdlovic brought the can to Dawn Nadeau, the co-op board president, who told the outlet that she set out to figure out who the deceased man was and if he had any next of kin. We needed to handle the remains as respectfully as possible, she told the outlet. Bettmann/Getty Space engineer Dr. Wernher Von Braun (left) and space travel expert Willy Ley holding a rocket model at Walt Disney Studios in Anaheim, Calif., in 1955 Space engineer Dr. Wernher Von Braun (left) and space travel expert Willy Ley holding a rocket model at Walt Disney Studios in Anaheim, Calif., in 1955 Related: Scientists Discover World's Oldest Wine, a 2000-Year-Old White Wine that Contains a Man's Ashes Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After doing some citizens detective work, which entailed Google research and calls to a funeral home and several crematoriums, Nadeau was able to positively identify the remains as belonging to the German-born Ley of Jackson Heights though she noted that there are no records that he ever lived in her building in Manhattan. The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Ley, who published hundreds of articles and numerous books on space travel and is widely considered to be one of the key architects of space flight and rocketships, has no surviving relatives which means the matter of his final resting place is now up to Nadeau. I thought, 'We might not ever know how he got here, but we can at least make sure he ends up in the right place,' she told The New York Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And where does Nadeau ultimately think Leys ashes should be laid to rest? The moon. Bettmann/Getty Space expert Willy Ley compares contemporary airplanes with his own concept of a "Space Taxi" Space expert Willy Ley compares contemporary airplanes with his own concept of a "Space Taxi" Related: First Photos of Prince's Final Resting Place: Singer's Urn Modeled After Paisley Park The co-op president said that in reading about Leys life and death, she learned that while he had passionately predicted humankinds eventual trips to the moon, he died of a heart attack a mere three weeks before the worlds first moon landing on July 16, 1969. I knew we had to somehow get him into space, she recalled. Nadeau is currently working on ways to make this dream a reality and has been looking into private space flight options. However, she told The New York Times that most options are too cost-prohibitive to pursue, noting that one company she looked at charges a fee of $12,500. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Until then, Ley's ashes will remain in the superintendents office in the N.Y.C. co-op building. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think about this persons whole life; no matter who they are or what they accomplished, its an important life and now they are here in this can, Hrdlovic told the outlet. Read the original article on People CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) Fire crews managed to make significant progress in containing the Thompson Hollow and Hammonds Rock fires at Michaux State Forest in Cumberland County. According to the DCNR, the Thompson Hollow Fire, which had spread 2,248 acres as of Sunday, was 42% contained as of Sunday night. The other major fire in the area, the Hammonds Rock fire, is now 92% contained after it grew to 497 acres on Sunday. Close Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This Week in Pennsylvania We are fully committed to stopping these wildfires and preventing further damage to Michaux State Forest and surrounding areas, said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn in a statement released Sunday evening. The fire is a serious threat, but thanks to our dedicated team of wildland firefighters, foresters, rangers, local responders, and volunteers, we are making progress in controlling it. Officials said that rain has moved out and been replaced by sun and wind, which could pose additional problems for crews. Dead trees dubbed snags still remain a problem for crews. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our teams have been engaged with DCNR and county emergency management officials since the beginning of these incidents to provide any needed support, added PEMA Director Randy Padfield. We strongly encourage people in the area to stay alert for changing conditions and follow any safety precautions issued by local authorities. Crews from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio have responded to the Midstate to assist local and statewide fire crews in combating the blaze. The DCNR says the fires are expected to be under control in the coming days. Eighty percent of voluntary evacuees on Whitmer Road and Ivy Lane were able to return to their homes on Saturday, with the remaining 20% still waiting for the all clear from the Cumberland County Department of Public Safety. The cause of both of the fires remains under investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC27. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A shooting in a residential North Portland neighborhood early Saturday night rattled neighbors and brought an hours-long police presence that sent one person to the hospital with serious injuries. One man was shot in the leg, police said, whose life was likely saved when officers put a tourniquet on the wound and rushed him to the hospital by ambulance around 6 p.m. Officers spoke with neighbors and canvassed the ground for evidence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect left the scene near 9500 North Woolsey before police arrived and no one has been arrested, police told KOIN 6 News. The investigation into the shooting is active and ongoing. A heavy police presence responded to gunfire in the 9500 block of North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) A heavy police presence responded to gunfire in the 9500 block of North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) A heavy police presence responded to gunfire in the 9500 block of North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) A heavy police presence responded to gunfire in the 9500 block of North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) A heavy police presence responded to gunfire in the 9500 block of North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) A shooting left one man seriously wounded on North Woolsey in North Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) Angel Stempert said she heard about 6 gunshots in her neighborhood on North Woolsey in Portland, April 26, 2025 (KOIN) One neighbor, Angel Stempert, told KOIN 6 News she was sitting inside her home with her family with the doors and windows open when she heard the shots. We heard, like, about six gunshots. Just like pop pop pop pop. And then a few seconds went by and we heard two more, and we didnt think much of it. We thought maybe our neighbor was letting off fireworks like he normally does sometimes, Stempert said. And then we heard a siren and thats what we heard. So we knew it was definitely gunshots. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said they went outside to see what was going on when they noticed some commotion going on just up the street. Claws for alarm: Furry invasive species of crab caught on the Oregon Coast There were a couple people wrestling, she said, a couple of people just running across the park. At that moment, only one officer was there, but then more officers showed up and they were kind of restraining some people and trying to get the commotion down. Stempert said she is completely surprised at this level of violence in what she described as a quiet neighborhood. Weve lived here for three years, and nothings ever happened to this close to home, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But others who spoke with KOIN 6 News said theyre not shocked after years of hearing frequent fighting in the area. KOIN 6 News will have more information as it develops. 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. (Reuters) -A miniature dachshund, whose rescue after 529 days missing on an Australian island captured global media attention, is recovering well, wildlife rescuers said on Saturday. Valerie the sausage dog's story of survival made headlines after she was rescued on Friday on Kangaroo Island, about 14 km (9 miles) off the coast of South Australia state. Valerie went missing in November 2023 when her owners travelled to the island, which is popular with tourists, according to local media. "She's doing really, really well," Jared Karran, director of Kangara Wildlife Rescue, said of Valerie in a video on the charity's Facebook page. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His comments came after the charity, set up following Australia's catastrophic 2019-2020 "Black Summer" of wildfires, said on Friday it was "overjoyed to announce the successful rescue of Valerie". "We are absolutely thrilled and deeply relieved that Valerie is finally safe and able to begin her transition back to her loving parents, Josh and Georgia," it said. The mission to find the dog comprised more than 1,000 hours of searching by volunteers, the charity said, adding that it also involved vehicles and "numerous cameras and traps". (Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Kim Coghill) TEHRAN, April 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 8 people were killed and 750 others injured in a huge explosion that occurred on Saturday at a port in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan, the official news agency IRNA reported. Six people went missing in the incident that occurred at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, according to IRNA. According to China's Consulate General in Bandar Abbas, three Chinese citizens sustained minor injuries in the explosion. They are now in good condition after receiving medical treatment. Ahmad Pouyafar, governor of the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, announced that all educational centers across the city would be closed on Sunday due to the explosion and consequent air pollution. Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Organization, told the semi-official Fars news agency that chemical materials in a container at the port caused the blast. Meanwhile, the Iranian government's spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, warned against any "hasty speculations" about the cause of the incident before relevant authorities complete the investigations. She added that what had been confirmed so far was that there were containers, probably with chemical materials, at a corner of the port. Rapid reaction and rescue teams have been dispatched to the scene, and all port activities have been suspended, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, adding that the number of injured is likely to increase. In a post on X, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian extended sympathy to the victims of the explosion, announcing that he had issued a directive for the investigation of the blast as well as the cause of the incident. He added that Iran's Interior Minister, Eskandar Momeni, had been dispatched to the province to ensure the necessary coordination and address the condition of the injured. Later in the day, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry extended its condolences to the government and people of Iran, while expressing its deep sympathy to the families of the victims and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani directed Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari to coordinate with his Iranian counterpart to assess the incident and extend immediate assistance, according to a brief statement by al-Sudani's media office. EDMOND, Okla. (KFOR) A little piece of Japan opened up Saturday morning as Oklahomas first Daiso store welcomed a large crowd of shoppers. Even the rain couldnt dampen the enthusiasm of devoted Daiso fans who waited in line to get inside the new store. Store manager, Hunter Archer, says there is something for everyone at Daiso. Daiso is a Japanese value store. We sell a wide variety of products from home goods, decor, stationery, makeup, fishing lures, snacks, food and beverage, and everything starts out at $1.75, said Archer. New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) New Daiso store opens in Edmond. (KFOR) Daiso is excited to have planted some roots in Oklahoma, and they will soon be opening another store in Tulsa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The National Weather Service continues to warn that Monday could be a dangerous day Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa as a severe weather outbreak with potential for significant tornadoes is possible. "It is worth repeating - Monday is likely to be a dangerous weather day," says the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities. "It is important to have severe weather safety plans in place now so quick and decisive action can be taken when storms approach and warnings are issued." A level four of five severe risk is in place for a large chunk of Minnesota, including the entire Twin Cities metro area, Mankato, Albert Lea, Red Wing and Rochester. Eau Claire and La Crosse in Wisconsin are also included in the moderate risk area. A level three risk covers most of the rest of Minnesota and Wisconsin. According to the Storm Prediction Center, the afternoon thunderstorm development could feature a line of storms that moves across Minnesota, with isolated supercells developing to the south of the line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The line of storms will be capable of producing tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. The discrete supercells will be capable of producing the strongest tornadoes and very large hail. The Significant Tornado Parameter will be maxed out in Minnesota as the tornado threat increases during the late afternoon and evening hours. It literally goes off the chart over eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin. The Significant Tornado Parameter increases with time Monday afternoon, and it maxes out over the Twin Cities, Rochester and Wisconsin after 5 p.m.WeatherBell The SPC says that "any mature, discrete supercells which can form and maintain within the open warm sector on Monday late afternoon/evening will pose a threat for strong to potentially intense tornadoes." The models arent firing a lot of storms, but the environment for strong or even intense tornadoes could be maxed out from the Twin Cities to Rochester Monday evening. If storms enter that environment, they could be very dangerous. The HRRR's radar simulation from 3 a.m. Monday to 3 a.m. Tuesday.WeatherBell What classifies as a strong tornado? Here's the definition from the NWS: "Strong tornadoes last for twenty minutes or more and may have winds of up to 200 mph." Tornadoes that reach the "intense" classification are rare. They can be on the ground for an hour and produce 200-300 mph winds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where are the strong or intense tornadoes possible? This map shows where the SPC thinks the risk is the greatest. In the map above, the red area indicates a 15-29% probability of a tornado within 25 miles of any point. And theres a 10% chance that a tornado that develops in the red or yellow zone will be significant, meaning it reaches EF2-EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale (a la the strong to intense tornadoes). Very large hail is also likely with the strongest storms. Check back for updates as we continue to monitor Monday's forecast. Davidson College joins more than 360 colleges in letter fighting government interference in higher education DAVIDSON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) In just over 100 days into his second term, President Trump has worked to dismantle diversity, cut federal research funding, and battled wokeness and now hes targeting higher education. President Lynn Pasquerella of the American Association of Colleges and Universities says that after the White House fights with Columbia University and Harvard University, it was time to make a statement. PREVIOUS: Letter from Davidson Colleges President Doug Hicks And that we should engage in collective action in terms of creating momentum that will safeguard the principles of academic freedom, shared governance, and institutional autonomy that are foundational to American higher education, Pasquerella said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pasquerella says that means defending the free exchange of ideas and finding truth. She claims the presidents recent executive orders are threatening those ideals. This is not something that weve come up with recently as a result of a change in administration or policies. But they are enshrined in Supreme Court decisions. 1957 decision in Sweezy v New Hampshire said academic freedom includes the right to determine who gets admitted, what is taught, how it is taught, and by whom, she said. At that time, made it clear to the American public. He was not going to tolerate illegal harassment in anti-Semitism taking place in violation of federal law, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. This week, the Trump administration froze billions in grant dollars to Harvard University. The President previously ordered Columbia University to change many of its policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He cites acts of anti-Semitism on major campuses and wokeness in admissions policies. Now, Harvard and Columbia are among the more than 360 signees of a letter asking the president for constructive engagement about education. Were an advocacy organization, and so we intend to serve our member institutions through our mission. And our mission is to advance the democratic purposes of higher education by promoting equity, innovation, excellence, and liberal education. So we believe theres this inextricable link between liberal education and our nations historic mission of educating for democracy, said Pasquerella. At least three North Carolina colleges Davidson, Duke University, and Wake Forest University have signed the letter in solidarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) Daviess County officials announce an extra date for its remote vehicle inspection site following a hail storm in March. This comes after the Daviess County Sheriffs Office held the first two rounds of off-site vehicle inspections at the Kentucky Sound Stage on 5333 Frederica Street. An additional date was added on Monday, April 18 for those who are wishing to avoid downtown traffic near the courthouse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On social media, DCSO provided the following vehicle inspection statistics following the March hail storm: Total vehicle inspections in 2023: 9,146 Total vehicle inspections in 2023: 11,200 Vehicle inspections since March 17: Over 5,000 Officials say the effects from the severe weather events are still being felt each 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 Eyewitness News (WEHT/WTVW). April 26 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives of the Philippine Islands during his attempt to be the first to circumnavigate the world. His co-leader, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, completed the voyage in 1522. In 1749, George Frideric Handel's "Fireworks Music" was first performed. In 1810, Ludwig van Beethoven composed "Fur Elise." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 1865, the steamboat Sultana, heavily overloaded with an estimated 2,300 passengers, most of them Union soldiers on their way home, exploded on the Mississippi River just north of Memphis. The death toll in the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history was set at 1,450. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands in front of the Military Demarcation Line at the Joint Security Area on the Demilitarized Zone in the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on April 27, 2018. File Photo by Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps In 1897, the cornerstone was laid for Grant's Tomb in New York City's Riverside Park. A holiday had been declared for the occasion and an enormous crowd turned out in honor of Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president and Civil War general who died 12 years earlier. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI In an canonization mass, Pope Francis honors Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II by declaring them saints in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in Vatican City on April 27, 2014. File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI In 1932, prohibition and birth control were to be raised during the formal business meeting of the League of Women Voters in the run-up to the 1932 elections. In 1937, the first Social Security payment was made in the United States. On April 27, 1993, Kuwait said it foiled an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush during his visit earlier in the month. UPI File Photo Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 1978, communist rebels overthrew and killed Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan, a precursor to the Soviet-Afghan War. In 1991, an estimated 70 tornadoes hit Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, killing 23 people and leaving thousands homeless. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., (R) speaks at an event hosted by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., February 14, 2017. On April 27, 1937, the first Social Security payment was made in the United States. File Photo by Molly Riley/UPI In 1993, Kuwait said it foiled an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush during his visit earlier in the month. In 1994, Virginia executed a condemned killer, Timothy Spencer, in the first case in which DNA testing was used to obtain a conviction. In 2008, police said a 73-year-old Austrian man, Josef Fritzl, had been accused of fathering several children with his daughter while holding her captive in a cellar for 24 years. Fritzl was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2009, General Motors announced it would drop the Pontiac line. File Photo by Roger Williams/UPI In 2011, a record outbreak of 358 tornadoes carved a devastating path through parts of 21 states from Texas to New York and on into Canada, hitting southern states hardest. Nearly 300 fatalities were reported, mostly in Alabama, over a four-day period. In 2014, tens of thousands of people gathered at the Vatican for the canonization of two former popes, John XXIII and John Paul II. In 2018, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met during a historic summit to discuss full denuclearization. In 2023, James Corden signed off on The Late Late Show for the final time after hosting the show for eight years. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) The first Honor Flight Dayton 2025 trip took off on Saturday morning. A local group of veterans from West Dayton, the Boys From The Hill, all grew up together in the 50s. They all attended Highview Elementary on MacArthur. On Saturday, the group took a flight to Washington, D.C. It was an honor to meet them this morning and I wish them all a wonderful day as they continue their more than half-century friendship in our nations capital with our folks from Honor Flight Dayton, said photojournalist Mike Ullery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dayton VA celebrates local veteran turning 106 Honor Flight Dayton works with veterans who served from the beginning of WWII (12/7/1941) through the end of the Vietnam Era (5/7/75) and brings them to see the national memorials in Washington, D.C. The trips are free and are funded by donations. Photo via Mike Ullery. Are you a vet looking to apply to go on an Honor Flight? Click this link for the application form or call 937-322-4448 for a mailed copy. 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. UPDATED COVERAGE: Underground nightclub bust in Colo Springs: What we know UPDATE: SUNDAY 4/27/2025 6:42 A.M. (COLORADO SPRINGS) The Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA RMFD) confirmed that more than 100 illegal immigrants were taken into custody during an operation at an underground nightclub off Airport Road and South Academy Boulevard during the early morning hours of Sunday, April 27. Colorado Springs is waking up safer today, said DEA RMFD Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen. Sundays operation prompted the response of multiple local and federal agencies, including the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO) and the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD). During the operation, according to Pullen, over a dozen service members were also found at the club. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Pullen, the service members were either inside the club as patrons or working as armed security at the door. Pullen added that most people inside the club were turned away, but the illegal immigrants were taken into custody by ICE. Courtesy: DEA RMFD Courtesy: FOX21 News Chief Photojournalist Dez Rowe Courtesy: DEA RMFD Courtesy: FOX21 News Chief Photojournalist Dez Rowe Courtesy: FOX21 News Chief Photojournalist Dez Rowe Courtesy: FOX21 News Chief Photojournalist Dez Rowe The illegal underground nightclub was a hub for drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence, and drugs such as pink cocaine per the DEA. Around 200 people were estimated to be inside the club when the operation ensued. Pullen said that over 300 law enforcement officers were on scene and it was a safe operation. The operation was the result of a long-term investigation by the DEA and other agencies. ORIGINAL STORY: DEA operation at underground nightclub off Academy Boulevard SUNDAY 4/27/2025 6:09 A.M. The El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO) and the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) are currently assisting the Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA RMFD) with an operation off Academy Boulevard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Per the DEA RMFD, EPSO and CSPD are assisting several federal partners on an operation serving a warrant involving criminal activity in Colorado Springs. The operation was reported underway at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, April 27, via X (formerly known as Twitter) by both the DEA RMFD and EPSO. @DHSgov has taken more than 100 illegal aliens into custody, wrote DEA RMFD on X. Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub in Colorado Springs. Individuals are asked to avoid the area of Airport Road and South Academy Boulevard. FOX21 News has a crew on the scene and will update this article when more information becomes available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 FOX21 News Colorado. NEW JERSEY (PIX11) A person was found dead in a vehicle partially submerged in a retention basin in Manalapan, N.J., on Saturday afternoon, according to police. Officers responded to a 911 call at 1:45 p.m. for reports of a vehicle submerged in the water of a retention basin off Comtois Road in Manalapan Township, authorities said. More Local News Police at the scene observed an open trunk of a vehicle, visible above the waterline in the basin. Water rescue teams were dispatched and located one person found deceased in the car, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities report no witnesses saw the car enter the water. The identity of the victim has not yet been released and is pending identification. The investigation into the incident remains ongoing, authorities said. Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can 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 PIX11. A young man found dead, floating near a dock on Long Island this month, has been declared a homicide victim, Nassau County officials announced Friday. The body of the unknown victim, described as Black or Hispanic and between the ages of 15 and 20, was recovered by Nassau County police on April 8 in the Village of Island Park, near Long Beach. Police responded to a dock on Railroad Place just after 11 a.m. for reports of a body in the water. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers recovered the victim from the water near Reynolds Channel, officials said. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. On Friday, Nassau police released an investigation update saying that a forensic review by the county medical examiners office concluded that the victim sustained injuries consistent with being beaten and stabbed and that the case is now being investigated as a homicide. The victim was 5-feet-4 and weighed around 130 pounds, police said. He was wearing black cargo pants and a beige T-shirt sporting black lettering that read ARCH and several other designs. Detectives urge anyone who may know the identity of the victim matching this description to contact the Nassau police homicide squad at (516) 573-7788 or submit a tip to Nassau County Crime Stoppers. Zhao Leji, chairman of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over the first plenary meeting of the 15th session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 27, 2025. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) BEIJING, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Sunday started a regular session to review a raft of bills including law drafts and reports. Zhao Leji, chairman of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presided over the first plenary meeting of the committee's 15th session. Lawmakers reviewed a draft private sector promotion law, draft revisions to the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases and to the Arbitration Law, the draft atomic energy law, and a proposal by the chairpersons' meeting on deliberating a draft environmental code. They also reviewed proposals submitted for deliberation by the State Council, including those on the draft national development planning law, a draft revision to the Prison Law, and reports concerning environmental protection, state-owned asset management and lawmakers' qualifications, as well as a decision on the appointment and removal of officials, among other bills. DeepState, a Ukrainian group of military analysts, has reported that Ukrainian forces are still fighting in Russia's Kursk Oblast. Source: DeepState Details: The group noted that the Russians reported on Saturday 26 April that they had driven Ukrainian defence forces out of Kursk Oblast. However, DeepState stressed that these claims are untrue, although the situation in the area "remains far from ideal". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote: "The enemy has made gains in Kursk Oblast, nearly fully occupying the settlement of Gornal and advancing near Oleshnya. These are the last villages where the defence forces still maintain control. The Kursk operation remains ongoing, with Ukrainian troops continuing to fight against the Russians and Koreans [North Korean troops fighting for Moscow ed.]. Enemy logistics, troop concentrations, etc., are being actively hunted down and struck." Details: DeepState also reports that the Russians keep trying to advance and gain a foothold in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast. Analysts say they are amassing forces in the village of Zhuravka and are trying to approach the village of Bilovody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote: "They're also consolidating and building up in Basivka, trying to move towards Lokny, but to no avail so far. The defence forces are making every effort to prevent the Katsaps [Russians] from advancing and consolidating." Background: On 26 April, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin received a report that Russian forces had "expelled Ukrainian troops from Gornal", the last settlement held by Ukraine's Armed Forces in Kursk Oblast. The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff emphasised that reports by senior Russian military command regarding the alleged end of hostilities in Kursk Oblast are untrue. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Democrats are embracing the f-bomb in congressional campaign messaging as they seek to tap into their partys anger. In recent weeks, a number of newly launched Democratic hopefuls for key House and Senate seats have pledged to unf our country or have urged their party to drop the excuses and grow a fing spine. The ads are indicative of the rising temperature in American politics generally, but they also underscore the ways politicians are trying to resonate with base voters, many of whom have expressed frustration with Democratic leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think that in the case of the Democratic candidates the swearing reflects their sense of crisis, said Michael Adams, a lexicography expert and author of the book In Praise of Profanity. Theres just a point at which the usual vocabulary will not be sufficiently expressive in the moment, Adams said. I suspect that this is a no, I really mean it, type of emphasis All of the niceties, all of the conventions, all that stuff we have to put that aside because the situation in which we find ourselves is so dire politically, culturally and historically, that we just need to act. Democrat Nathan Sage last week launched his campaign by decrying that farmers have been fed over and vowing to kick corporate Republican [Sen.] Joni Ernstss a in the midterms. A spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) hit back, arguing that Democrats seem obsessed with saying fing and a as the strategy to win back the voters that rejected them in 2024. They pointed The Hill to examples of sitting congressional Democrats leaning on the language lately. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sage appears as the latest of a handful of Democratic hopefuls who have used strong language in their polished ads. In New York, former journalist Mike Sacks earlier this month launched a Democratic challenge for Rep. Mike Lawlers (R-N.Y.) Empire State seat, pledging to unf our country. Challenging longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) last month, progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh told Democrats to drop the excuses and grow a fing spine. Lots of candidates use haughty, stilted language that sounds out of touch and even alienating. Kat sounds like a real person and real people are fing fed up with the status quo, Abughazalehs campaign manager, Sam Weinberg, told The Hill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Profanity, once seen as taboo in politics, has been increasingly common to hear from lawmakers and candidates on both sides of the aisle over the last few years, in line with a broader societal uptick in the acceptance of profanity across the last few decades. On one hand, swear words can slip out unintentionally, often amid heated emotions or as sharp reactions. Adams suggested that heightened political polarization, contentious election cycles and concerns about existential threats to democracy may make political figures more prone to it. Research conducted by The Hill and GovPredict back in 2019 found the incidence of curse words from lawmakers on the social media site then-called Twitter, for example, jumped dramatically in the first year of President Trumps first term. The New York Times dubbed Trump at the time as the profanity president, spotlighting his frequent use of four-letter insults. When people find out about politicians swearing, its often accidental, before Trump. Something that the politician didnt intend to be public, but that just got captured on a hot mic, Adams said. Trump came along and he kind of threw that aside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weinberg, from Abughazalehs campaign, said of the NRSCs response to Sages bid that its amusing that Republicans would be up in arms about candidates swearing when Trump has quite the knack for profanity. But especially when it comes to carefully planned campaign launches or ads, experts say the use of such language likely has a considered political purpose as candidates work to connect with voters vexed by politics and as some Democrats fret internally that the party has fallen out of touch with the majority. The linguistic choices that professional politicians make are extremely tightly crafted, said Ben Bergen, a professor of cognitive science at University of California San Diego and the author of a book about swearing. It would surprise me if, for many of them, they were sort of stumbling into accidentally using profanity. The use is probably, in most cases, something thats strategic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Favorability for the Democratic Party hit record lows in polling from both CNN and NBC News last month, and Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill has drawn particular ire from young progressives for what they see as weak pushback to the Trump administration. Polling on how open voters are to hearing profanity from their political representatives is sparse, but evidence does indicate younger generations are more receptive, and Bergen noted a radical generational shift with respect to the f-bomb in recent years. There are known consequences to how people judge you when you swear, and some of those might not be desirable for a politician: like, youre judged to be more out of control, possibly less intelligent, possibly less well educated, Bergen said. But then there are things that might be useful, judgments that folks might have about you that you might want: like, people who swear are judged to be more truthful, more genuine, more accessible, funnier, more passionate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 2024 election was a wake-up call that we have to simplify our language, said Democratic strategist Fred Hicks, from word choice to broader messaging. Republicans have done a great job of painting Democrats as elitists, and the Democrats have done a great job of painting ourselves as elitists, Hicks said. Democrats bring a term paper to a knifefight. But Demcorats will also want to avoid retooling their language in a way that comes across as performative or an obvious strategic move, especially when trying to reach young people. [Democrats] cant just go out there and throw f-bombs and hope its gonna land. Its gotta be authentic, Hicks said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its also not just congressional hopefuls that are tapping into the language. Ken Martin, newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), took heat online for telling tech billionaire Elon Musk last month to go to hell. He then doubled down in a post on social platform X, responding, I said what I said. The DNC itself also proudly touted Sen. Tammy Duckworths (D-Ill.) labeling of Trumps Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month as a fing liar. During a rally for federal workers in February, first-term Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) exemplified how some in her party are using the language to convey the urgency of the moment, saying: I dont swear in public very well, but we have to f Trump. She told The Oregonian afterward that my only wish, frankly, is that I had said the line with more conviction. I think particularly younger Democrats have realized that the majority of voters, including their own voters, have regarded them as being asleep at the wheel and engaging in sort of somnolent, uninspiring messaging, Democratic strategist Jon Reinish said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This reads to me as a quick attempt to show that there is some energy and a pulse, to maybe capture some younger voters who are so incredibly disappointed and disaffected, Reinish said. A quick way to show that theres a spark of life. 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. With U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seizing people in Connecticut and ordering rapid deportations, the nonprofit International Hartford is advising foreign-born homeowners and merchants to act in advance to protect their assets. In Metro Hartford nearly 1,600 are at risk of immediate deportation including at least 250 in the city of Hartford, Art Feltman, executive director of International Hartford, told the city council this week. These individuals may have to abandon 1,000 owner-occupied homes in the city. This will lead to widespread job losses, shrink the tax base and most importantly leave commercial corridors and residential neighborhoods pockmarked with vacancies, Feltman said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is one of several Connecticut people connected to the immigration field who are recommending people at risk of deportation take steps beforehand to preserve their property. Ive never done so many powers of attorney as Im doing now, said New Britain attorney Adrian Baron, who has been a prominent civic leader in that citys Little Poland section. People are getting their will up to date. Theres a lot of fear in the immigrant community right now. There are a lot of green card holders who are afraid to travel to Canada. Glenn Formica, an immigration attorney in New Haven with more than 25 years experience, said he applauds Feltmans idea for an outreach effort to reach non-citizens. Its brilliant. Most of my clients are small entrepreneurs, people with small cleaning businesses or small construction businesses. Ive had conversations with clients dont do this because it can lead to abuse if theyre under threat and take in a citizen partner (without planning and advance work) or hand the business over to another immigrant, Formica said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorneys and immigration activists for years have counseled immigrants who own property, particularly real estate or a business, to have an asset protection plan in place that could include a written financial plan, revocable trusts, a power of attorney, notarized business agreements and a schedule of lease, insurance, tax, mortagage or other payments that need to be made. But the crackdown on immigrants has pushed the issue to the forefront in immigrant communities across the country. The Trump Administrations directives to immigration enforcement agents have effectively made any person unlawfully present in the United States a potential target for deportation, according to the Contingency Planning for Immigrant Business Owners in California, published by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. As immigration enforcement activities increase in California, it is increasingly important for immigrants to plan for detention or deportation, it warns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Feltman offers a similar caution in Connecticut, where more than 15% of the popular is foreign born. Many immigrants hold green cards; they are revocable at the whim of an administration, he told the council. His organization provides buisness counseling and financial literacy training to immigrant-owned businesses, and gives microgrants of under $10,000 each to minority owned businesses. If those businesses are abruptly left without an owner, theres a lot at stake, he said. The city or town loses property taxes, the employees lose their jobs, he said. And as a business support agency, we are concerned about the effect on the local economies. These businesses are paying taxes, theyre occupying space whether its a factory or storefront or restaurant or office. If the owner gets deported, it gets abandoned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are over 37,000 immigrant entrepreneurs in the state, and in most metro areas, any retail growth is from immigrant-owned businesses, Feltman said. Many immigrants in Connecticut are here as asylum seekers from the Ukraine, Afghanistan or countries with famine, and they can be subject to deportation, advocates warn. Were seeing ICE surveillance and investigation. Weve had ICE confronting people at the Mercado (on Hartfords Park Street). People are scared. Theres a family here that built up a business, it has three restaurants, and the owners are worried, Feltman said. Feltmans organization is trying to get funding to educate immigrant business owners in Greater Hartford about the specifics of preparing business affairs in advance of possible deportation. By the time theres an ICE arrest, its too late, he said. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The Deschutes County Sheriff has come under fire, facing accusations of being dishonest about his past, including allegedly lying about his education under oath, according to reports. According to Central Oregon Daily, these allegations led to Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels placing Sheriff Kent van der Kamp on the Brady list on April 11. The list is a record of law enforcement officers or personnel with credibility issues or a history of misconduct. Kotek: Devastation remains from Harney County flooding Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This means van der Kamp cannot ethically be called to testify in court because he previously lied under oath, according to the DA. The investigation has left voters like Adrian Bennett uneasy. The credibility problem is pretty serious for the sheriff or for anybody, Bennett told Central Oregon Daily. But in law enforcement, especially if youre going to use the use to testify in court. Mercy Corps selling Portland headquarters amid federal cuts First reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting and obtained by KOIN 6 News partner Central Oregon Daily, a draft report from the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) noted Sheriff van der Kamp said under oath he attended both the University of Southern California and the University of Arizona when he attended neither. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under oath and then change your mind and change it, have a different story for the next time you say it under oath, Bennett added. I dont know how one thinks of how ones resolve that, frankly. The DPSST report into van der Kamp also revealed he lied about his employment at a California police department years ago. Average ER visits last over 5 hours in Oregon, new data says On Wednesday, Van der Kamp told Central Oregon Daily he will decide within the next 90 days whether he will step down from office. Those who voted for van der Kamp, like Bennett and Bend resident Tom Moses, say the recent news comes as a disappointment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think he could decide quicker than that, Moses told Central Oregon Daily. It seems to me like he doesnt really have a choice and he ought to just come to grips with it and move on and lets get somebody in there that we can respect. Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler also released a statement calling for the sheriff to step down: As a former prosecutor, I know that any decision by a District Attorney to place a law enforcement officer on the Brady list is not taken lightly. It is a strong signal about that officers credibility. The office of Sheriff demands honesty, integrity, and transparency. Unfortunately, I dont believe Sheriff van der Kamp can repair this break in public trust. I believe he should resign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DPSST is scheduled to meet on May 22 to review the case, then will make a recommendation in July on whether or not to take away his ability to be a police officer in Oregon. If revoked, van der Kamp would not be a part of law enforcement in Oregon for anywhere from three years to a lifetime. However, the role of sheriff is an elected one and removing his certification would not remove the title. 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. When Massachusetts State Police detectives responded to a reported suicide in Westfield, Massachusetts, on May 8, 2018, they found Amy Fanion dead on her dining room floor with a gunshot wound to her head. Her husband, Brian Fanion, a Westfield Police detective, had called 911, reporting that Amy Fanion had shot herself. Brian and Amy Fanion At the scene, detectives made several discoveries that raised questions. The gun used in the shooting was Brian Fanion's service weapon. And there was a lack of gunshot residue on Amy's head, which was unusual in a self-inflicted gunshot wound. What had happened in that dining room that morning? "48 Hours" contributor Nikki Battiste takes a look at the evidence in an encore of "The Detective's Wife" now streaming on Paramount +. Detective Brendan O'Toole took Brian Fanion to the State Police barracks in Russell, Massachusetts, to get his statement of the events surrounding his wife's sudden death. At the end of the interview, O'Toole asked Fanion to turn over his phone for data extraction. Fanion complied but gave a caveat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I turned off the recorder and that's when Brian told me 'you're going to see some things on there and it's not what it appears to be,'" O'Toole told "48 Hours." Cori Knowles and Brian Fanion / Credit: Hampden County Superior Court Investigators would discover thousands of deleted text messages between Brian Fanion and a woman named Corrine Knowles, known as Cori. Brian Fanion had told O'Toole he and Knowles were just friends, but the text messages conveyed that the relationship had become something more. On May 17, three days after Amy Fanion's wake, O'Toole and Detective Mike Blanchette confronted Brian Fanion about his relationship with Knowles as well as the lack of gunshot residue found on Amy Fanion's wound. "I mean, there's no doubt she was shot but the question is, from what distance," O'Toole asked Fanion. Brian Fanion is questioned in a second interview with detectives from the Massachusetts State Police on May 17, 2018. / Credit: Hampden County Superior Court Within a week, investigators seized all of Fanion's electronics, including his office computer and laptop at the Westfield Police Department. When Detective Tom Forest from the Cyber Crime Unit examined the computer's hard drive, it revealed peculiar web searches and online activity he considered notable to the investigation. The online activity began about three months before Amy Fanion's death, around the time Brian Fanion and Knowles' friendship turned flirtatious. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement " it's only when this affair starts up that all of these incriminating searches start to appear," Hampden County Assistant District Attorney Mary Sandstrom told "48 Hours." The first of these inquiries was related to common household poisons. On the morning of Feb. 12, Brian Fanion searched "household poisons," "dangerous sources of radiation," "worst sources of radiation" and "common prescription overdoses." He also visited web pages titled, "9 Surprising Sources of Radiation in Your Home;" "Carbon Monoxide: The Invisible Killer;" "Common and dangerous poisons;" "16 Common Household Items That Could Kill You;" "What Over-the-Counter Medications Can You Overdose From?;" "Which Drug Causes the Most Deaths Each Year?" and, finally, "Prescription Drugs Linked to Most Fatal Overdoses." At trial, Brian Fanion's defense attorney Jeffrey Brown argued that the Fanions were preparing to have a young niece stay with them and that some of the websites were related to potential hazards their 200-year-old house might pose. At the beginning of March 2018, Fanion repeatedly Googled his potential lover, Cori Knowles. On April 2, as things heated up between Fanion and Knowles, he began questioning the nuances of affairs, searching "can you have an affair without sex." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two weeks later, on April 17, Fanion began researching divorce laws in Massachusetts. Several web pages he visited were related to pension rights after divorce. Fanion was planning for his upcoming retirement, and according to Knowles in an interview with police, he feared losing part of his pension if he were to divorce his wife. The following day, Brian Fanion's inquiries into infidelity resumed, visiting web pages titled "My perfect affair how I'm getting away with it" and "Emotional Infidelity: Worse Than A Sexual Affair?" Eleven days before Amy Fanion died, on April 27, Brian Fanion searched "gsr testing" on his work computer. That morning between 9:22 and 9:38 a.m., Brian Fanion visited five web pages related to gunshot residue. Among those web pages were "Gunshot Residue Collection: The Decisions that Make or Break a Case" and a news report on YouTube called "What gunshot residue tests tell us." Sandstrom told "48 Hours" this had nothing to do with Brian Fanion's work at the Westfield Police Department. "He wasn't assigned to any active investigations in April and May of 2018 that would necessitate looking up gunshot residue," Sandstrom told "48 Hours." "Nobody in the Westfield Police Department does gunshot residue testing." On May 7, 2018, the day before Amy Fanion was shot dead, Fanion repeatedly searched how to remove frequent contacts from his phone. At his trial, Fanion's defense argued that he was in the process of getting a new phone and wanted to know how to erase data from his current one. Sandstrom prosecuted the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Now, the defendant suggests that he did these searches because he's in the process of getting a new phone right before his wife's demise," Sandstrom told the jury. "But he's not looking to delete all data off of his phone he's searching how to delete the frequently contacted list because he doesn't want evidence of his relationship with Corrine being discovered by the state police." Fanion's trial for the murder of Amy Fanion began on Feb. 23, 2023. Sandstrom's first witness was Amy Fanion's sister, Anna Hansen. Hansen testified that after Amy's death, Brian Fanion confided that he was concerned about some searches he had made. "I asked him what that search was, and he said how to make a murder look like a suicide," Hansen said on the witness stand. Under cross examination by the defense, Detective Tom Forest testified that he never found any searches related to those terms. On the morning of May 8, 2018, while Brian Fanion was still at work, he searched "massachusetts medical examiner offices" and visited a website that listed the units within the Massachusetts State Police forensics section. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In her closing arguments, Sandstrom stated that that morning, Brian Fanion was preparing for his wife's murder. "He's looking up and researching the units that will appear after he's committed this murder. the evidence in this case proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew he was going to murder Amy Fanion when he left the Westfield Police Department at 11:47 a.m. on May 8th." Brian Fanion's defense argued that Amy Fanion had anger issues and suffered from severe anxiety. After Amy's death, many members of her family signed a letter in support of Brian, stating that they were certain Amy had taken her own life. Several members of Amy Fanion's family took the stand, and although they were called as witnesses for the prosecution, their testimonies supported Brian Fanion's defense. After a month-long trial, the jury found Brian Fanion guilty of the first-degree murder of Amy Fanion. He was sentenced to life in prison. His conviction is under appeal. Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Thatch" Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Give It Time" Who will be the next pope? Some of the top possible candidates Cover your mouth with a piece of duct tape. Thats what President Donald Trump will in essence be doing to millions of women, people of color and legal immigrants if the SAVE Act becomes law. ("Married women are concerned about the SAVE Act. Here's why," USA Today, April 25.) The act requires American citizens registering to vote, or updating their registration information, to present a passport or birth certificate. Approximately 146 million Americans dont have a valid passport. Some may not have birth certificates. And if your name changed when you got married, you could also lack proper documentation. The SAVE Act doesnt save anyone. Its a voter suppression act to silence women, minorities and other marginalized people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To ensure everyones right to vote, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and urge your senators to vote no on the SAVE Act. (The House already passed it.) Its misogynistic. Racist. And far from Trumps last effort to keep MAGA Republicans in office. Nancy Wellinger Pleasant Ridge Steve Yzerman More: Detroit Red Wings clean out lockers, but have hope for next season. Here's why DeBrincat should be Red Wings captain It's a shame and a sad state of affairs that Dylan Larkin points the finger at Steve Yzerman for the Red Wings performance. Larkin only needs to take a look in the mirror to see the one who needs to be traded yesterday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alex DeBrincat brings the fire. He's the one who needs to be the captain. Dan Holden Essexville, Michigan Opposition research isn't always about smearing I get that most people do not understand what opposition research is or what a researcher does. Ive been an opposition researcher for over thirty years, and Im positive my parents could not explain what I do. But an investigative reporter should know better, which is why I was so disappointed in M. L. Elricks recent column (Democratic dirt-mining operation plays into Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan's hands, Detroit Free Press, April 20). Elricks April 20 column was a fine mixture of media hyperbole and political nonsense. He throws around terms like dirt-mining and smear campaign regarding Freedom of Information Act research requests made by the Democratic Governors Association made for public data from Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, an independent candidate for governor in 2026. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the supposed nefarious enterprise was requestsfor public data. FOIAs are standard requests to get public information from government entities. Asking the city to be transparent with documents hardly seems like dirt-mining, but a column entitled DGA Makes Typical Public Requests doesnt get the clicks, I guess. Elrick also argues that Democrats would be far wiser to wait until Duggan leaves office in 2026 before making these requests. This is terrible advice on so many levels. First, getting information from FOIAs can take a bit of time, as Elrick himself notes. If the city is slow in replying to FOIAs, does it make sense for the DGA to wait nine months making the ask? Second, city officials are obligated to provide answers to FOIAs. If the next mayor is a Duggan ally, should the DGA just give up? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lastly, public information can provide a very valuable check on power. Right now, DOGE is cutting agencies and jobs, often leaving the public in the dark. Is Elrick suggesting that Democrats wait until 2028 before sending in FOIA requests regarding DOGE? Researchers sift through tons of data to find the strengths and weaknesses of their candidate and the opposition. That means reading documents, voting records, and yes, making Freedom of Information Act requests. Its not about smearing an opponent, but thoroughly checking facts. Campaign folks know that what makes good research hardlymakes good copy. Hopefully Mr. Elrick now knows that too. Brett C. Di Resta The writer is an adjunct professor in George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print. If you have a differing view from a letter writer, please feel free to submit a letter of your own in response. Like what you're reading? Please consider supporting local journalism and getting unlimited digital access with a Detroit Free Press subscription. We depend on readers like you. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Red Wings' Steve Yzerman vs Dylan Larkin, Trump's SAVE Act | Opinion Device Brewing Co. will close its three taprooms after Sunday, including its original brewery and taproom in southeast Sacramento. The shuttering of its three locations follows a lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court earlier this month alleging that Device has not paid rent or maintenance costs for its 8166 14th Ave. location for several months. The landlord claims that Device owes more than $23,000 in rental obligations, the lawsuit shows. Device employs at least 20 people across its three locations, according to the California Employment Development Department. Workers were told about the closure in a message from the owners wife Thursday, according to a Device employee. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each location will stay open for regular operating hours through Sunday evening. The Pocket location at 7485 Rush River Drive, Suite 650, had its kitchen closed Saturday morning due to a lack of employees but the locations manager said the taproom should remain open the rest of the weekend. Brewery owner Ken Anthony has not returned The Sacramento Bees requests for comment about the closure. Luke Malone, who has worked at the Ice Blocks location at 1610 R St., Suite 145, since October 2024, said that he is sad to see Device close not only because it means losing his job, but because he loved the beer and the people he worked with. He said he and other employees got the news from ownership Thursday. Ive never worked with a better crew, said Malone, the lone employee working at the midtown taproom when it opened at noon. He did note that operations had gone downhill since the owners moved out of the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Malones been a fan of Device since he served their beer as a bartender at LowBrau several years ago. He says he will miss the brewerys Ofrenda Mexican lager. Cameron and Jessica Bryant visited the taproom Saturday after seeing rumors online that it was shutting down after the weekend. Both are sad to see Device go, with Jessica noting that the beer had the most character of any of Sacramentos microbreweries. The married couple discovered the brewery several years ago when barhopping for a friends birthday. They returned often for the beer and the good vibes. Its crazy to hear that theyre closing they were always packed, Cameron Bryant said. More than a decade of Sacramento brewing Anthony founded Device in 2013 after two years of experimenting with homebrewing. He opened the original taproom, just off Power Inn Road and south of Granite Regional Park, in late 2013. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By 2018, the brewery was selling its beer in more than 100 grocery stores before opening its Ice Blocks location in midtown later that year and its Pocket location in 2020. Device Brewing Co.s brewery and tasting room on 14th Avenue is seen on Saturday. The company will shut down its operations on Sunday. News in December broke that Device would likely be closing its Ice Blocks location after the retail space was listed for lease by Turton Commercial Real Estate, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. The brewery had operated at the Ice Blocks since the developments inception, expanding into an adjacent space in 2022. A Turton brochure from March for the Ice Blocks development lists the Suite 145 space as Former Device Brewing. The Device website and its social media pages had not made an official announcements of the closure as of Saturday afternoon. Anthony, an engineer by trade, moved to Texas with his wife, Melissa, last year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Device now holds more than 2,500 retail accounts and distributes its beer from Bakersfield to Southern Oregon, according to its website. It was not clear if that distribution would continue. The countdown is on at the Minnesota Capitol, where lawmakers have about three weeks to produce the next two-year state budget. If they dont get tens of billions of dollars in spending bills on the way to the governors desk by May 19 to be signed into law, theyll have to return to the Capitol for a special session. Barring that, the state government runs out of funding and shuts down on July 1. When asked at recent news conferences about the prospects of a budget getting passed on time, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican legislative leaders sounded optimistic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But a few key sticking points have the potential to derail the final stretch of the session and drag the Legislature into overtime. Key issues Republicans have been firm that they wont approve a new state budget with any new taxes, and theyve resisted DFL proposals to reduce spending on disability services and nursing homes to help address a $6 billion deficit looming at the end of the 2020s. Meanwhile, DFLers dont want to water down the programs and benefits they created while in control of state government in 2023, such as paid family and medical leave, universal free school meals, and free college tuition for families with lower incomes. As lawmakers plot out state spending for the next few years, a health budget bill has emerged as a key issue in negotiations between the House tied between the GOP and DFL, the DFL-controlled Senate and DFL Gov. Tim Walz. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Education is another potential snag, where the governor is proposing reductions in special education that Republicans oppose. What to cut? Minnesota has a projected surplus of $456 million for the next two years, but a deficit of around $6 billion is expected for the 2028-29 fiscal year. Republicans say the Department of Human Services cuts Walz proposed in his $66 billion two-year budget will disproportionately affect counties that rely on state aid for long-term disability reimbursements. However, state budget officials have warned that half the budget could be long-term care by the 2030s if reimbursements arent curbed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Walz has proposed cutting around $5.5 billion from the state budget in the next four years, with about $1.4 billion of that from disability waivers. It appears Senate DFLers are on board with the overall cuts, though in the tied House, the cut target was around $3.8 billion. Instead of disability waivers and other cuts, Republicans say the state should seek to address fraud and cut state-funded health care benefits for people in the country illegally, which the DFL-controlled government approved in 2023. Higher-than-expected enrollment grew the costs of those new MinnesotaCare benefits three times more than originally expected, potentially costing the state about $600 million by 2029, Republicans said. We cant afford it and were looking at cuts to nursing homes and other health and disability services, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, told reporters Tuesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DFLers disputed GOP characterizations of the program and claims of total expenses to the state. At a news conference on the state Capitol steps Thursday, Sen. Alice Mann, DFL-Edina, said the program is designed to help cover the costs that end up being absorbed by health care providers. That is not going to fix anything, she said. Republicans are telling you that if we take away peoples health care, thats going to fix the problem. Those are absolute lies, and its egregious what they said. They are taking our crumbling health care system and theyre blaming it on immigrants. Education Another issue in the budget negotiations is education. Republicans want to cut unemployment benefits for hourly school workers like paraprofessionals and bus drivers, another policy DFLers passed in 2023. House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman said addressing impasses might take getting other components of the budget put together first in order to create more wiggle room on the more controversial items. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As we get more of the bills on the table we can start to solve the problems that are across issue areas, she said to reporters at a news conference after Walzs State of the State address on Wednesday night. So it may be that something in a different arena breaks something loose in health. Other pieces of the budget are coming together and seeing passage out of key committees and on the floors of the House and Senate. Theres been some progress so far on the veterans and housing budget bills, for instance, and others continue to move forward. In his State of the State speech, Walz acknowledged that Minnesota had to make tough choices in order to preserve services and made overtures to Republicans to work toward a budget to keep the state in a good position amid potential uncertainty under President Donald Trump. This budget wasnt written to please everyone. It was written to bring everyone to the table. And when we get there, no doubt well have some disagreements, Walz said. Taxes Walz has proposed changes to the state sales tax that would modestly reduce the overall rate but introduce new taxes on services like legal advice and accounting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legislative DFLers also are proposing what they say is a first-of-its-kind tax on social media platforms like Facebook and X that could raise $334 million over the next four years. It is to be based on the collection of user data, which platforms profit from by selling to advertisers. Both are non-starters for Republicans, who say the state grew spending too much in 2023, when DFL-controlled state government increased the two-year budget by nearly 40% to more than $70 billion, used a considerable amount of a record $18 billion surplus and introduced billions in new taxes and fees. We are one of the highest-tax states in the nation, we dont need to be going back to Minnesota taxpayers to get that money, said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, as GOP leaders took questions from reporters after Walzs speech. Federal uncertainty Amid tariffs on foreign goods, cuts to the federal workforce and potential cuts to Medicaid under the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress, there are concerns about potential economic impacts on Minnesota that may require lawmakers to return to the Capitol later this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If a recession results from U.S. trade policy or if the state loses significant federal funds, the Legislature might have to reconvene to address shortfalls. So far, however, those potential challenges have not shaped budget negotiations. Hortman said lawmakers cant take any real action until Congress takes final action on Medicaid. Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, echoed that sentiment, telling reporters this week that the state needs to focus on the immediate needs of the state before it can pivot to potential disruptions at the federal level. The best thing that we can do right now is to pass a stably balanced budget that people can count on, she said. And thats the work that we have to do between now and the end of the session. Related Articles YANGON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar authorities have seized 350,000 stimulant tablets in Yangon region, the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) said on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, anti-narcotics police searched a vehicle in Mingaladon township of Yangon on April 23, and confiscated the drug, and arrested two suspects. The next day, another suspect who ordered the transport of the drug was arrested on the Yangon-Mandalay highway. The seized narcotic was approximately worth 350 million kyats (about 166,666 U.S. dollars) on the black market. The three suspects have been charged under the country's law, and further investigations were ongoing. DOGE claims to have saved the government $150 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse, but some federal workforce and policy experts believe Elon Musks cost-cutting efforts have proven expensive to taxpayers. The chaos of personnel changes have tanked productivity, one expert claims, costing the government billions in wasted payroll. Fired IRS employees are no longer able to carry out audits to bring in key revenue, another argued. As Elon Musk prepares to step back from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his goal to rout out government waste, fraud, and abuse may have fallen short. Some experts warn his efforts may actually be costing the government billions in lost labor and revenue. DOGE initially promised to identify and eliminate $2 trillion in the first months of President Donald Trumps second term, though Musk drastically cut that figure down to $150 billionjust 7.5% of his original estimated savings. Those spending cuts have impacted 260,000 federal workers, who have been fired, taken buyouts, or retired early since Trumps return to the White House, Reuters calculated. Between layoffs and resignations, the Internal Revenue Service may lose up to one-third of its 100,000-strong workforce, about 22,000 of which may take Trumps most recent resignation offer, The New York Times reported earlier this month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The mass exodus of federal workers may mean the government has fewer salaries to pay, but it also could critically reduce the amount of work it can conduct, including collecting revenue from tax audits. We do need to have our government work better, but the approaches that have been adopted so far are taking us in the exact wrong direction, Max Stier, chief executive of government efficiency and workforce nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, told Fortune. The end result will be that the American public will be holding the bag as Elon Musk goes back to his private enterprises. Quantifying the cost of DOGE The Partnership of Public Service estimated DOGE could be costing taxpayers roughly $135 billion. With the 2.3 million people in the federal workforce receiving a total $270 billion in annual payroll, Stier believes the cost of firing, re-hiring, and putting workers on paid leaveas well as the losses in productivity as a result of the personnel changeshas cost the government about half of that total payroll. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Yale University Budget Lab report from March found additional evidence that DOGEs intended saving may be costing the government. While its unclear how much of the IRSs workforce will be reduced, the Budget Lab calculated that should 22,000 employees leave the agency, it would lose $8.5 billion in net revenue in 2026, largely as a result of fewer personnel available to conduct audits. Over 10 years, this loss would amount to nearly $198 billion in revenue, according to the report. These calculations notably do not engage with or take into account DOGEs claimed $150 billion in savings. Some of DOGEs claimed savings were found to be erroneous, including calculating savings from contracts that had been expired for years. Harry Kraemer, a clinical professor of Leadership at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, told Fortune last month DOGE-related savings could be overstated by up to 80%. The continued attempts to sow doubt in the massive accomplishments of this never-before-seen effort to make government more efficient speaks more about the illegitimacy of those peddling these falsehoods than good work of DOGE," White House spokesperson Harrison Fields told Fortune in a statement. "The American public are in lockstep with the Presidents mission and will not be swayed by more lies coming from the legacy media. Where are the losses coming from? What DOGE missed in its savings calculations is the value of the labor the federal workforce was hired to complete, experts said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Saving on $1 of salary, it sort of diminishes the impact of what that salary is doing, Richard Prisinzano, director of policy analysis at The Budget Lab, told Fortune. The efficiency of the IRS depends on having personnel able to complete audits, Prisinzano argued. While counterintuitive, in order to increase the agencys efficiencyquantified by the amount of revenue it can bring in through auditsit would be better off hiring more personnel. The Wall Street Journal calculated tens of billions of dollars in uncollected tax revenue as a result of recent job cuts. For every dollar spent, there's quite a bit of revenue that comes in, Prisinzano said. But with fewer hands to complete its work, the federal government may be also wasting money in the form of lost productivity, a result of chaos created by DOGEs presence in agencies, as well as firings and rehirings, Stier posited. Fortune calculated that Musks weekly emails asking workers to list five weekly accomplishments would cost the employees 165,000 hours of their workday to complete. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DOGE would therefore be wasting dollars as a result of a workforce no longer able to carry out its work efficiently, something Stier argued the Trump administration was actively facilitating. Last year, Russell Vought, Trumps director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in private speeches, We want to put them in trauma, referring to bureaucrats. What we are seeing is a workforce that is being traumatized, just as the administration has stated as their goal, Stier said. And when you traumatize the workforce, theres nothing produced. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com Donald Trump has vowed to bring about a major comeback for Christopher Columbus Day, which he says has gone by the wayside because of woke. This, despite the fact that the federal holiday was marked by the Joe Biden administration alongside Indigenous Peoples Day since 2021. The POTUS signaled his intentions on his Truth Social platform, writing that he is bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. He wrote that Democrats did everything possible to destroy the historical figure, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much. More from Deadline Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He continued, They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but WOKE, or even worse, nothing at all! Well, youll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before! Indigenous Peoples Day, first coined circa 1977 following the Red Power Movement of the late 60s, was formally acknowledged by Biden though not made a federal holiday nor serving as a replacement for Columbus Day. In recent years, activists specifically from within the Indigenous community have moved to dismantle the mythology surrounding Columbus as an intrepid and pioneering explorer, instead shining light on his legacy of Native American colonization and violence. More than a dozen states, including California, recognize Indigenous Peoples Day. At the time of Bidens announcement, Trump said, So last week, Biden attacked Christopher Columbus by refusing to recognize Columbus Day. And he wants to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Who likes that idea? What the heck are you saying? Thats politically incorrect! What they dont understand is that theyre politically incorrect. So he wants to change it to Indigenous Peoples Day. Not as long as Im president. As with statues for Confederate leaders, statues of Columbus have either been toppled by protesters, voted to be removed (to prevent vandalism) or otherwise replaced. According to the Washington Post, however, 6,000 such commemorations still exist nationwide, as of 2021. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When President Donald Trump issued an executive order this month targeting Susman Godfrey, one of the nation's preeminent law firms, the way forward was clear. The order came as a "total bolt from the blue," one lawyer representing the firm said later during a court hearing. No one at Susman Godfrey spoke with the White House about cutting a deal, according to two people familiar with the matter. The firm was ready to fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The partners unanimously agreed the firm would sue the United States government to block the executive order within two hours of reviewing it, the two people said. In Trump's political campaign against Big Law, nine firms have struck deals with the president, collectively promising $940 million in pro bono work. Four Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey opted to fight the administration in court. So far, there is little evidence those four firms have suffered serious consequences for choosing to fight. In each of the four lawsuits, federal judges quickly blocked the most consequential elements from each executive order and signaled they would later rule in favor of the law firms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judge's swift order headed off potential damage to Jenner & Block, according to a source familiar with the matter. Forty percent of the firm's revenue is from companies with government contracts, it said in its lawsuit. While clients were nervous, only one, which it had represented on a pro bono basis, cut ties, the source said. The Wall Street Journal reported that Perkins Coie's biggest clients, including Amazon and Boeing, are sticking with the firm, although it lost some work from Honeywell. William Malley, the firm's managing partner, told The American Lawyer that he sees "momentum" in business this year after the firm's average profit per equity partner grew by nearly 16% in 2024. It's not clear whether WilmerHale or Susman Godfrey lost any clients. Both said in court filings that Trump's executive orders would harm their businesses, but they did not provide any examples of clients leaving or refusing to do business. Trump is getting hammered in court In court, the law firms fighting back are winning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They have argued that the executive orders violate the Constitution and are textbook examples of the government illegally targeting people and companies over their speech and violating their clients' right to counsel. The executive orders say the law firms run discriminatory DEI programs and that some of them pose national security threats because they employed lawyers who previously investigated Trump. Justice Department lawyers argued that Trump's powers are too broad for a judge to block the orders, and that the judicial branch can't even force the White House to explain itself. In a hearing on April 23, US District Judge Beryl Howell, who is overseeing Perkins Coie's case, appeared incredulous at the government's arguments. She subjected Richard Lawson, a Justice Department lawyer, to a barrage of often sarcastic questions about the scope of the executive order, brushing aside some of his positions as "hyper-technical legal arguments that may have no merit." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the docket, meanwhile, the administration is outgunned. The two lawyers representing the government are Chad Mizelle, US Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff, who worked in the first Trump administration and at a pair of elite law firms, and Lawson, who joined the Justice Department after a stint at a conservative nonprofit founded by Trump aide Stephen Miller. Two other career Justice Department officials previously working on the Perkins Coie case dropped out, one to retire. Representatives for the Justice Department didn't respond to a request for comment. The firms suing the government are working with legal heavyweights. Perkins Coie picked Williams & Connolly; Cooley LLP is representing Jenner & Block; the conservative legal superstar Paul Clement is representing WilmerHale; and Susman Godfrey hired Munger Tolles, the elite law firm that organized an earlier legal brief arguing against Trump's executive orders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each lawsuit has also attracted a wide range of amicus briefs supportive legal arguments from law professors, former judges, bar associations, press freedom advocates, and others. "You're a bit outmanned here," Judge Loren AliKhan quipped at Lawson when he showed up alone to a hearing in Susman Godfrey's case earlier this month. Will the deals last? Trump's executive orders could have revoked each firm's government contracts and lawyers' security clearances. They also could have barred firm employees from government buildings, and Judge AliKhan said Trump's order meant the lawyers would not be able to enter courthouses or post offices. Brad Karp, the chairman of Paul Weiss, one of the first firms Trump targeted, described the executive order as an "existential crisis" that "could easily have destroyed our firm" in an internal memo explaining why he chose to strike a deal with the president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The firms that made deals with the White House Paul Weiss, Skadden, Milbank, Willkie Farr, Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher, and Latham & Watkins are in Trump's good graces for now. Their agreements may not be stable, though, and the terms of each deal remain vague. It's also unclear whether there are more detailed underlying agreements that spell out each firm's responsibilities. If any firm challenges the Trump administration in court or picks up a client Trump objects to, he could issue a new executive order. "If he has a different interpretation than the firms, he can bring them in line by issuing an executive order," Nate Eimer, an attorney representing over 800 firms opposing the executive orders, said of Trump. Firms that settled, he said, "put themselves in a very, very difficult position." The White House has not answered questions about whether nonpublic agreements exist. None of the firms that made deals responded to requests for comment. Representatives for WilmerHale declined to comment. Perkins Coie did not respond to requests for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has openly mused about using the law firms for various purposes. In a televised Cabinet meeting a week after he announced sweeping tariffs, he said they could negotiate trade deals. Mike Howell, who runs The Oversight Project, a group spun out of the conservative Heritage Foundation, sent letters to many law firms including some Trump hasn't targeted asking them to devote $10 million worth of time to help litigate freedom of information lawsuits against agencies in "blue states." "I'm dealing at my level with the managing partners, some of whom have responded very quickly," Howell said. "Some have said, in the nicest way possible, 'Buzz off.'" An atmosphere of fear The decisions to fight or cut a deal have opened enormous rifts within the legal profession. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Divisions have emerged between litigators and dealmakers, between equity-holding partners and idealistic associates, and between big firms with centralized decision-making processes and more democratic small partnerships. "Paul Weiss if they hadn't caved, we might've had a chance," Sean Burke, a legal headhunter with Whistler Partners, said. "It was like the straw that broke the camel's back before it even started." The leader of Paul Weiss' pro bono practice quit, although he said his career change had been in the works for months. A top government contracts lawyer at Perkins Coie moved to a different firm. Several associates at firms that signed deals quit and blasted their employers on LinkedIn. Some lawyers left more quietly. "I'm the primary breadwinner of my family," said one who left a firm that made a deal with Trump. "I don't have generational wealth to fall back on. I'm not one of these who can set myself on fire and leave." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Big Law's deals cast a chill in the upper echelons of the legal profession, said a former federal prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, whose former colleagues fill the ranks of Big Law partnerships. Privately, some Big Law partners have expressed pride in their own firms for fighting, the former prosecutor said. Others who understand why firms made deals are still unhappy. "Everybody's scared, period," this person said. "Not of each other, but in general. There's just this culture of fear that I've never seen in Big Law." Companies' in-house lawyers are also nervous. They want to make sure their outside counsel is willing to fight the government if necessary. One lawyer working in a company's general counsel office told Business Insider that her company's advisors at a law firm that made a deal with Trump said it was necessary to hold onto influence with regulators. "It just feels very cynical," said the in-house lawyer, who wants to redirect work to other firms. "I don't feel comfortable, if you're going to cave in front of the government, that you're going to represent me in front of the government." Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert and Brent Griffiths contributed reporting. Correction: May 2, 2025 An earlier version of this story misstated when Trump targeted Paul Weiss. It was among the first law firms named in an executive order, not the first. Read the original article on Business Insider April 27 (UPI) -- The death toll rose to 11 by late Sunday after a driver plowed through a crowd at a street festival in the Canadian city of Vancouver late Saturday night, police said. Dozens more were injured. "This is the darkest day in our city history," interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai said at a live-streamed news conference Sunday afternoon. "The actions of a single person shattered our collective sense of safety. It is impossible to overstate how many lives have been impacted forever by this lone individual." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Initially, nine people had been confirmed dead after a man drove through a crowd at last night's Lapu Lapu Festival, the Vancouver Police Department said in a statement on social media. The death toll rose to 11 later in the day. "It's hard to make sense of something so senseless," Rai added. The driver, a 30-year-old man who has not been officially named, drove his black Audi SUV through the Lapu Lapu Festival around 8 p.m. on Saturday and was taken into custody. "At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism," police said in an earlier statement Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the afternoon news conference, Rai clarified that the incident was a "crime" while the motive remained unclear. The ages of the 11 victims ranged from 5 to 65, Rai said. The Lapu Lapu Festival is a Filipino block party that honors Lapu-Lapu, the chieftain who led native forces in the defeat of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan at the Battle of Mactan in 1521, marking the first act of Filipino resistance to colonization. The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver has set up a hotline for affected nationals and called the incident "horrific" while it was awaiting more information on what occurred. Phillipine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos expressed his sympathies to the families of the victims of the incident and the "thriving Filipino community in Canada," according to the Philippine Star newspaper. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are one with the families of the victims and the Filipino community in Vancouver during this difficult time," he said. With terrorism ruled out, the cause of the incident remains unclear. It was not clear late Sunday what charges the driver may face. Oklahomans celebrated a tremendous victory for religious liberty last summer after a ruling by our state Supreme Court in the case of Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, but the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say in the matter. Regardless of ones political leanings, it is generally accepted that the First Amendment and Oklahoma Constitution preclude religious public schools. As a result, the fundamental question is whether charter schools are public schools. Proponents of St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School have hitched their legal argument on some highwire linguistic gymnastics, suggesting disingenuously, I believe that a charter school somehow is not a public one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Counterpoint: Why we favor state funding of a Catholic charter school | Opinion The argument is curious. To be clear, a charter school has all the hallmarks of a public school. They are free and open to all. They are established by the state, funded by the state, regulated by the state, and can be closed by the state. They are even protected from being sued by the states sovereign immunity. It is no mystery that Oklahoma and 45 other states, as well as federal law, all define charter schools as public schools. With all due respect to those who claim St. Isidore is otherwise, I defer to that time-honored adage about if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck well, you know the rest. While many Oklahomans undoubtedly would support charter schools sponsored by various Christian faiths, the precedent created by approval of a Catholic charter school will compel approval of similar applications by all faiths. As a committed Christian, the last thing I want is for my tax dollars to fund the indoctrination of arguably extreme or fringe religions that most Oklahomans and I would find objectionable or even offensive. That scenario is an inevitability, not hyperbole. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School on April 30. And make no mistake: The threat this poses to our religious liberty is grave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Religious liberty means every citizen is free to worship as he or she believes. Religious liberty does not mean the government should fund religious teachings. To avoid any confusion, I am very supportive of private religious schools. I sent my own children to a private Christian school for high school. Every family should be free to choose private religious education. In fact, Oklahoma has made that avenue much easier in recent years by offering a tax credit to families who choose this type of education. This credit belongs to all parents who wish to claim it, and without regard to their religious beliefs. This is an important distinction. Parents, not the government, make the choice and decide for themselves what school is worthy of their own tax dollars. Religious liberty is among the most fundamental pillars upon which our nation was founded. We may worship however we see fit, or not worship at all, unfettered by any threat of government-backed religious indoctrination. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I swore an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, and I believe our Founding Fathers knew best how to protect religious liberty: by preventing the government from funding any religion at all. I do not want Oklahoma schoolchildren indoctrinated in public schools I want them educated. While Oklahomas Supreme Court has sided with my efforts to protect religious liberty, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the St. Isidore case on April 30. I will continue fighting to uphold our constitutional rights and protect religious liberty for all Oklahomans. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond speaks during a Feb. 25 news conference in Oklahoma City. Gentner Drummond is attorney general for the state of Oklahoma. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: AG: St. Isidore school's OK would threaten religious liberty | Opinion The Department of Transitional Assistance is issuing a final warning to EBT cardholders across Massachusetts that their services will be down from 11 pm Saturday night to midday Sunday. The brief outage will allow DTA to transition its data and IT connection to a new server and vendor. DTAs CFO, Rachel Goldstein, says their services will be better protected with the new vendor. Things like chip cards, tap to pay, she added. Those are things were hoping are in our future with the new vendor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She continued, DTA serves over a million people, most, but not all of those people, are getting their benefits on an EBT card. Those EBT cards are used for several state programs. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is one of the most accessed programs for Massachusetts residents. Goldstein added, These are low-income individuals and families across the commonwealth who meet the federal and state requirements. She assured EBT cardholders that theyd work as normal after the maintenance overnight, and would not need to be replaced. DTA, though, is asking people to act ahead of Saturday night if needed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Goldstein finished, We would hate to see a situation where folks are trekking to the grocery store or another retailer trying to use their benefits and find that they cant. DTA says theyll be providing updates on their website at EBT Vendor Change: Important Information | Mass.gov. 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 HONOLULU (KHON2) A bill named after a West Oahu man who was shot and killed on his farm is one step closer to becoming law. Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8 Cranston Duke Pia, a 39-year-old Makaha farmer, was shot and killed by a trespasser on his ranch in February 2024. His death galvanized lawmakers to take action and Sen. Tim Richards, III spoke to Cranstons mother in the months that followed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hawaii Stand your ground laws could expand after killing She was stoic but resolved and said, Please dont let this be for nothing. So, I gave her my word. I said, I wont let this go,' Richards said. That promise materialized into Dukes Law, which passed through conference committee on April 26. The bill increases penalties for crimes committed on agricultural lands and creates a pilot program within the State Department of Law Enforcement with funds for drone tech, license plate recognition cameras and new positions. Two full-time state law enforcement investigator positions and six uniform state law enforcement officer positions for patrol on Oahu and Hawaii Island, said Hawaii Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto. Again, weve got now, law enforcement bodies dedicated to agriculture. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Dukes Law also targets repeat offenders by introducing harsher consequences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres a definition in there for habitual agricultural crimes and this ramps up those for the second offense, third offense and the the penalties go up severely and very quickly and it mandates jail time, not allowing the courts to have latitude on that, Richards said. Waianae Senator Samantha DeCorte said emotions ran high after the bill cleared conference, especially for Dukes loved ones. We were both crying. And the first thing that we both said is, God is good. And we are just so thankful that Cranstons life was not left in vain. But this will be promoted and elevated into a way that will keep us safer in the future, DeCorte 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 KHON2. Iowa is okay with hallucinogenic treatment for some medical conditions with a pre-condition. And Senator Dick Durbin will leave office at the end of his current term. Host Jim Niedelman gets into those implications with Scott County Democratic Party Chair Kay Pence and former Rock Island County Republican Party Chair Bill Bloom. Weve always supported letting the primary voters pick our candidates rather than the party pick our candidates, Pence said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think its fine if young people get involved in politics, I think getting involved earlier is better than getting involved later, Bloom said. To hear more, click on the video. And now we want to hear from you, too, with our question of the week: What do you think about Iowa legalizing the use of the hallucinogen psilocybin to treat specific medical conditions? Please share your thoughts at 4therecord@whbf.com. Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. Its a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on whats happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Saturday at Noble Creature Wild Ales and Lagers in Youngstown, people gathered to raise money for a local organization and celebrate the spring season. The Earth and Aether Day fundraiser raises money for WildYou, a local nature-based nonprofit. The event featured activities such as tie-dying, face painting, a live honey bee display and turtles, including Sarge, the 77-year-old box turtle. There was also a 50/50 raffle and basket auction, as well as local honey and baked goods for sale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, the event marks the annual release of Noble Creatures spontaneous beer called Earth and Aether. A percentage of the proceeds goes to WildYou. WildYou is a nonprofit organization that aims to reconnect people with nature through education and recreation. It offers various family-friendly programs throughout the year such as wildflower walks, frog nights, birdwatching and more. The educational experiences are for people of all ages. To see all the upcoming events, visit WildYous website. 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. MANILA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Five suspected rebels were killed in a clash with soldiers in central Philippines on Sunday, a military spokesperson said. Army Colonel Erwin Rommel Lamzon said the clash occurred on Sunday morning in Negros Occidental province. Lamzon said the fighting resulted in the killing of three female and two male New People's Army (NPA) rebels. Lamzon said no soldier was killed or wounded in the gunfight. NPA rebels have been fighting against government troops since 1969. Military data showed that the NPA's personnel strength has declined since its peak of around 25,000 armed members in the 1980s. Despite its dwindling fighters, the NPA continues to launch small-scale attacks in the countryside. Earth's rotation is slowing down, and it could be why we have oxygen for life Ever since its formation around 4.5 billion years ago, Earth's rotation has been gradually slowing down, and its days have gotten progressively longer as a result. While Earth's slowdown is not noticeable on human timescales, it's enough to work significant changes over eons. One of those changes is perhaps the most significant of all, at least to us: lengthening days are linked to the oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere, according to a study from 2021. Specifically, the blue-green algae (or cyanobacteria) that emerged and proliferated about 2.4 billion years ago would have been able to produce more oxygen as a metabolic by-product because Earth's days grew longer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "An enduring question in Earth sciences has been how did Earth's atmosphere get its oxygen, and what factors controlled when this oxygenation took place," microbiologist Gregory Dick of the University of Michigan explained in 2021. "Our research suggests that the rate at which Earth is spinning in other words, its day length may have had an important effect on the pattern and timing of Earth's oxygenation." There are two major components to this story that, at first glance, don't seem to have a lot to do with each other. The first is that Earth's spin is slowing down. The reason Earth's spin is slowing down is because the Moon exerts a gravitational pull on the planet, which causes a rotational deceleration since the Moon is gradually pulling away. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We know, based on the fossil record, that days were just 18 hours long 1.4 billion years ago, and half an hour shorter than they are today 70 million years ago. Evidence suggests that we're gaining 1.8 milliseconds a century. The second component is something known as the Great Oxidation Event when cyanobacteria emerged in such great quantities that Earth's atmosphere experienced a sharp, significant rise in oxygen. Without this oxidation, scientists think life as we know it could not have emerged; so, although cyanobacteria may cop a bit of side-eye today, we probably wouldn't be here without them. Microbiologist Gregory Dick from the University of Michigan. (University of Michigan) There's still a lot we don't know about this event, including such burning questions as why it happened when it did and not sometime earlier in Earth's history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It took scientists working with cyanobacterial microbes to connect the dots. In the Middle Island Sinkhole in Lake Huron, microbial mats can be found that are thought to be an analog of the cyanobacteria responsible for the Great Oxidation Event. Purple cyanobacteria that produce oxygen via photosynthesis and white microbes that metabolize sulfur, compete in a microbial mat on the lakebed. At night, the white microbes rise to the top of the microbial mat and do their sulfur-munching thing. When day breaks, and the Sun rises high enough in the sky, the white microbes retreat and the purple cyanobacteria rise to the top. "Now they can start to photosynthesize and produce oxygen," said geomicrobiologist Judith Klatt of the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "However, it takes a few hours before they really get going, there is a long lag in the morning. The cyanobacteria are rather late risers than morning persons, it seems." This means the window of daytime in which the cyanobacteria can pump out oxygen is very limited and it was this fact that caught the attention of oceanographer Brian Arbic of the University of Michigan. He wondered if changing day length over Earth's history had had an impact on photosynthesis. "It's possible that a similar type of competition between microbes contributed to the delay in oxygen production on the early Earth," Klatt explained. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the team performed experiments and measurements on the microbes, both in their natural environment and a laboratory setting. They also performed detailed modelling studies based on their results to link sunlight to microbial oxygen production, and microbial oxygen production to Earth's history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Intuition suggests that two 12-hour days should be similar to one 24-hour day. The sunlight rises and falls twice as fast, and the oxygen production follows in lockstep," explained marine scientist Arjun Chennu of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Germany. "But the release of oxygen from bacterial mats does not, because it is limited by the speed of molecular diffusion. This subtle uncoupling of oxygen release from sunlight is at the heart of the mechanism." These results were incorporated into global models of oxygen levels, and the team found that lengthening days were linked to the increase in Earth's oxygen - not just the Great Oxidation Event, but another, second atmospheric oxygenation called the Neoproterozoic Oxygenation Event around 550 to 800 million years ago. "We tie together laws of physics operating at vastly different scales, from molecular diffusion to planetary mechanics. We show that there is a fundamental link between day length and how much oxygen can be released by ground-dwelling microbes," Chennu said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's pretty exciting. This way we link the dance of the molecules in the microbial mat to the dance of our planet and its Moon." The research has been published in Nature Geoscience. An earlier version of this article was published in August 2021. Related News EL CAJON, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) Authorities are searching for a 53-year-old woman missing since last weekend. Michelle E. Moden was last seen leaving her home Sunday in the 6100 block of Dehesa Road in unincorporated El Cajon, Lt. Rosa Patron with the San Diego County Sheriffs Office said in a news release Saturday. Moden left in a blue 2005 Chevrolet Silverado with California license plate HVMETAL and a San Francisco Giants tow hitch cover and silver wheels. Moden was last seen in a blue 2005 Chevrolet Silverado with California license plate HVMETAL and a San Francisco Giants tow hitch cover and silver wheels. (San Diego County Sheriffs Office) Man killed in suspected DUI crash; 21-year-old arrested Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moden, who has a medical condition that requires medication, was reported missing by her family after she did not return home. She does not have a cell phone on her, according to authorities. Anyone who has seen Moden is asked to contact the San Diego County Sheriffs Office at 858-868-3200, or call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. 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. EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) Health professionals and first responders collected unused prescription drugs in hopes of preventing tragic accidents. Community members said National Drug Take-Back Day combats the drug overdose epidemic. Its getting all this medication out of peoples homes that could be potentially misused, so thats a big success for our community, Public Health Educator and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Julia Maurer said. Additionally, it gives the community an opportunity to get resources that are valuable so that they could more safely use medications, dispose of medications, and prevent medication misuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WTNH.com. TYLER, Texas (KETK) The Better Business Bureau of Central East Texas hosted their annual Shred Day in Tyler on Saturday as a way to help East Texas permanently destroy unwanted personal information. Better Business Bureau shares tips to help you choose the right contractor The event allowed anyone with old documents, computers, flash drives, hard drives or cell phones to drop those things off to be properly destroyed or recycled without comprising any information those documents or devices main still contain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A lot of identity theft still happens through paper, Central East Texas BBB CEO Mechele Mills said. So things that we get, your junk mail, credit card statements, anything that has any personally identifiable information, people get a hold of that and use that for themselves and they sell that. Your information is valuable. The BBB said they saw 531 cars on Saturday for a total of 39,600 pounds of documents shredded and several tons of electronics recycled. 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 KETK.com | FOX51.com. Quito (Reuters) - Ecuador's opposition party filed another objection to the recent presidential election results late on Saturday night, according to a video released by the Citizens' Revolution party. Ecuador's elections body denied a request from the leftist opposition to recount votes on Thursday, but the Citizens' Revolution party said it handed in a new report detailing numerous irregularities. Incumbent President Daniel Noboa won the election earlier this month and the election authority and the Organization of American States (OAS) have certified the election and ruled out fraud. (Reporting by Yuri Garcia; Writing by Alexander Villegas; Editing by Sandra Maler) Editors note: Burn bans may change, and this information came from the Texas A&M Forest Service instantly. Please click here to email the updated burn ban BIG COUNTRY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) Eight counties in the Big Country are currently under a burn ban due to fire concerns. The Texas A&M Forest Service has reported that the following counties are currently under a burn ban: Callahan Nolan Mitchell Brown Scurry Fisher Stonewall Knox Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meteorologists from BigCountryHomepage.com are expressing their concerns about the fire danger amid the drought conditions in the area. With strong to severe thunderstorms in the forecast, the rain can be helpful, but the lightning can potentially spark fires where there is a higher risk for initiating the fires, said KTAB Meteorologist Katalina Bell. Bell also mentioned that the drought monitor may show improvements, but most areas in the west remain affected. Our U.S. drought monitor shows improvements, but many areas, especially in the west, remain affected, Bell said. The Texas A&M Forest Service shared tips on how to extinguish a fire: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Never leave a campfire unattended; allow the wood to burn completely to ash if possible. Pour water on all embers until the hissing sounds stop. Stir the campfire ashes and water with a shovel. Scape logs to remove embers. Stir and make sure everything is wet and cold to the touch. 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 KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A 61-year-old woman was arrested and charged with illegal dumping, the El Paso County Sheriffs Office said. This is the fifth person arrested for alleged illegal dumping this week by the Sheriffs Office. 2 people arrested for illegal dumping in far East El Paso Hortencia Aguilar De Areyanes, 61, was arrested on Saturday, April 26, and is facing a charge of illegal dumping of more than 100 cubic feet of trash. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility under a $2,000 bond, the Sheriffs Office said. On Friday, April 25, deputies from the East Montana Patrol Station (EMPS) responded to a report of illegal dumping in progress along the 14500 block of Truscott Avenue in the Homestead Meadows North area. When deputies arrived, they found two large piles of trash along with potential evidence. Mother, son arrested for illegal dumping near Homestead Meadows South, Sheriff says The Criminal Investigations Unit was called to the scene and took the lead for the investigation. The Crime Scene Unit also responded and collected evidence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Through the investigation, Aguilar De Areyanes was identified as the suspect, and a criminal warrant was issued for her arrest, the Sheriffs Office said. She faces a Class A misdemeanor charge. The offense is punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of $4,000, or both, the Sheriffs Office said. The El Paso County Sheriffs Office remains committed to protecting the community and preserving our environment. Illegal dumping is a serious crime, and the Sheriffs Office will continue to pursue and hold offenders accountable under the law, the Sheriffs Office 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 KTSM 9 News. UPDATE: Water service was restored at about 1 a.m. Sunday morning, April 27 after a water main break at Redd and Resler, El Paso Water said. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) El Paso Water has been busy Saturday evening, April 26 working to repair a water main break in Northwest El Paso. The break impacted a 16-inch line near the busy intersection of Redd and Resler, an El Paso Water spokesperson confirmed. Redd was closed off going southbound and the pavement along part of Redd appeared to have buckled because of the water break. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two restaurants had their water service impacted. One apartment complex also is without water. A water truck is on-site for them, the spokesperson said. They are hoping to hope to have repairs done in the next few hours. 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. OTTAWA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Nine people have been confirmed dead after a car plowed into the crowd at a street festival in Canada's Vancouver on Saturday evening, local police said Sunday. The Vancouver police said in an X post that they believe this incident was not an act of terrorism. The tragedy happened shortly after 8 p.m. (0300 GMT) near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street where the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party was going on. Local media reported that a black SUV struck individuals who were either walking or waiting near food trucks, leaving multiple victims lying on the ground. The suspect, a 30-year-old Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene and an investigation is underway. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his shock, saying in his social media account: "I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. We are monitoring the situation closely." Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said: "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. We will work to provide more information as soon as we can." Named after a Filipino indigenous leader who fought against Spanish colonization in the 16th century, Lapu Lapu Day was officially recognized by the province of British Columbia in 2023 and is widely celebrated by the Filipino community in the province. Ukraine's Air Force has reported on the performance of operators using a Western-supplied NASAMS anti-aircraft missile system, detailing how 11 Russian cruise missiles were downed in a single engagement. Source: a video by Ukraine's Air Force Details: The third modification of the NASAMS system was one of the first transferred to Ukraine by its partners. The first Norwegian short-range system arrived in Ukraine in autumn 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The system consists of a command post, a radar and launchers, each holding six anti-aircraft guided missiles. When Russia launches an airstrike with a large number of missiles, the radar detects these targets, operators select the launchers, fire on the targets, and report the results. A unit featured in the video is credited with destroying more than 150 targets, primarily cruise missiles and other threats. Quote from the system's operators: "We shot down 11 cruise missiles in a single anti-aircraft engagement, which lasted no more than two minutes. Russian propagandists often blame our air defence, but this is a complete lie. If the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile doesn't hit its target, it self-destructs in the air. It doesnt possess the same explosive power as Russian ballistic missiles." Details: The Air Force emphasises that the NASAMS anti-aircraft missile system is designed to target aerodynamic threats such as aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles of various modifications, and drones. The system is not equipped to engage ballistic targets, as the NASAMS radar cannot detect them, and the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile cannot intercept them. The Air Force hopes its partners will continue supplying missiles for the NASAMS system, as their stockpiles are crucial for saving lives, protecting cities and ensuring a peaceful life in Ukraine. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Amid the cardinals sea of red at Pope Franciss funeral, there was one figure dressed in black and white. Like the others, Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe wears a red biretta. But when he was appointed a cardinal by the Pope last year, the Englishman asked the pontiff if he might continue to wear the garb of a Dominican friar a white habit and a black cloak. It is not only his clothing that makes him a standout member of the College of Cardinals: many expect Radcliffe to be a leading figure during the cardinals deliberations in choosing Pope Franciss successor. A friar for 60 years, Master of the worldwide Dominican order from 1992 to 2001, Cardinal Radcliffe was entrusted by the Pope to offer spiritual reflections at the synod he called last autumn on the future of the Church. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His books and speeches have given Cardinal Radcliffe a huge following. But while many Catholics may be praying he is elected pope, his age (79) and serious ill-health in recent years will count against him. What is much more likely is that the English cardinal will play the role of kingmaker. He has a talent for getting people to listen when he speaks. If Cardinal Radcliffe can cut through all the politicking and the factionalism already emerging even before Pope Francis was buried and help unite the cardinals around one figure, he will have accomplished something not far short of a miracle. Cardinals will gather together in a conclave to choose Pope Franciss successor - Getty Images/Dan Kitwood Over the past couple of years, as Pope Francis suffered bouts of illness, behind-the-scenes conversations about who might succeed him happened whenever cardinals gathered in Rome for meetings. Even before the pontiffs funeral, cardinals had begun the pre-conclave discussions known as general congregations. These involve both members of the College of Cardinals too old to vote and those under 80 who will take part in the secret ballot in the Sistine Chapel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike the conclave, there is no oath of secrecy taken at the congregations and word does leak out about which cardinal said what about the great issues facing the Church. In 2013, after Pope Benedict XVI resigned, among the cardinals who addressed his fellow red hats was Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, who told them the Vatican had become too navel-gazing and the Church had to reach out to the margins of society. Several days later, they elected Bergoglio as Pope Francis. This time around, some cardinals are already planning speeches. Among them is Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of Baghdad, who has apparently indicated to friends that he feels he should speak up. Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of Baghdad, has indicated to friends that he feels he should speak up at the congregations - AFP/Safin Hamid If it were enough to convince the others that Cardinal Sako should take the throne of Peter, it would be a surprise to those already offering odds. Betting companies are already naming their favourites such as Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines and Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cardinals are likely to form three camps: the Francis torch-bearers; the reversers; and the consolidators. Someone such as Cardinal Tagle is seen as an Asian version of Pope Francis, keen to keep reforming the Church, and focusing on parts of the world well beyond Europe. But critics say the Filipino has been on manoeuvres for too long, which will harm his cause. So might film of him, recently discovered, singing John Lennons Imagine, with its imagine theres no heavenand no religion too lyrics. Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines is one of the early favourites to succeed Pope Francis - AP/Andreea Alexandru Critics of the Pope thought he was too soft on personal morality, failing to maintain the Catholic Churchs tough stance on divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, and transgender issues. Among these reversers is Cardinal Gerhard Muller, sacked by Francis in 2017 from his role as the Vaticans doctrinal chief, who said this week he would be speaking out at the general congregations: The question is between orthodoxy and heresy. The next pope, said Cardinal Muller, 77, must not look for the applause of the secular world that sees the Church as a humanitarian organisation doing social work. Cardinal Gerhard Muller was a critic of Pope Francis saying the Church should not look for applause from the secular world - Reuters/Hannah McKay With the Pope having appointed 80 per cent of the 135 cardinals with a vote, can the reversers make any headway, or has he packed the conclave with like-minded men? Its not as simple as that. Many of them come from the global south and have more hardline views on issues such as sex than European liberals. They warmed to the pontiff on poverty and the environment, but if they want a more traditional view on sex, they might become consolidators, turning to someone such as Cardinal Mario Grech of Malta, close to Pope Francis but more conservative on personal morality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cardinals will also think about age. Cardinal Robert Sarah, the African loved by traditionalists and an arch-critic of Pope Francis, is considered too old at just weeks short of his 80th birthday, while Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem, is thought too young at 60. Asked whether the time had come for an African or Asian pope, Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, a Jesuit who was a close adviser to the pontiff, replied: Why not? But its not a given. Skills and personality were more important than geography, he said, adding that a pope would always be a unifying figure. The ideal candidate would be a simple man who is not too young nor too old, can connect with people and knows how to listen to both those on the Left and on the Right, Cardinal Pizzaballa said. Conclave is about Gods power Given how many cardinals this time come from all over the world and many dont know their colleagues well, anyone given a prominent role during this time, such as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, 70, might gain votes. Gatherings, including at embassies, have influence too. Last time round in 2013, the UK embassy to the Holy See hosted an important reception for cardinals from across the Commonwealth, when the late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnor, Archbishop of Westminster, urged them to back his friend, Jorge Bergoglio. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ultimately, though, for all the manoeuvres, the cardinals will see the conclave as not about their earthly power, but about Gods. Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, the bishop of Ajaccio in Corsica, said his fellow cardinals should eschew political games and listen to each other before deciding. We must not act tactically or strategically, he said. We must serve and act responsibly. Murphy-OConnors Westminster successor, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, will be at the conclave, a prospect he has called quite intimidating. Once the doors of the Sistine Chapel have been locked, he told the BBC, there would be a peacefulness and prayerfulness between us away from the political manoeuvring and Paddy Powers bets. This will be a group of men trying to discern Gods will, he said. Thats the only thing that matters. 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. Due to a printers error, 545 Republican voters in the city of Scranton have received incorrect ballots for the May 20 primary election. Beth Hopkins, director of the county Department of Elections and Voter Registration, said voters who received those ballots should discard them. Correct ballots will be mailed to those voters by April 30, she said. According to Hopkins, the printing company apparently selected the wrong Republican ballot file to print for Scranton voting precincts. The 545 Scranton voters received ballots for the 2024 primary rather than the 2025 primary. Countywide, more than 12,000 voters of both parties have received mail-in ballots for the primary. Hopkins said only the 545 Scranton ballots are incorrect. Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has stated that his country will continue to work with Baltic and North Sea nations to protect the environment and ensure the safety of maritime and underwater infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland. Source: Estonian newspaper Postimees, citing Tsahkna in a statement, as reported by European Pravda Details: Tsahkna noted that after the Kiwala oil tanker from the Russian shadow fleet had been detained in Estonian waters, the vessel addressed its significant deficiencies and was subsequently allowed to continue its voyage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The detention of Russian shadow fleet vessels in Estonia and in Finland recently shows that the actions of such vessels do not go unpunished and that we have the ability to stop them," he said. Tsahkna added that the deficiencies identified during the detention of the vessel were addressed, an inspection was conducted and the ship was subsequently released. "This case further confirms that the registers of the flag of convenience countries have significant shortcomings, with unreliable data and problematic communication," he pointed out. The Estonian operation to detain the tanker began on 10 April, when the vessel approached Estonian territorial waters, and continued when it entered them at around 03:00 local time on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: In late March, Germany replaced the crew on the oil tanker Eventin, which had been detained in mid-March as part of the Russian shadow fleet, and took control of the vessel, including its cargo. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Europe needs cluster munitions to defend itself from Russia, two military analysts say. If the US backs away from NATO, European militaries will need them to knock out Russian air defenses. Bomblets can degrade air defenses by spreading damage. They also endanger civilians. Cluster munitions have earned a reputation as one of the ugliest weapons. By scattering lots of small bombs over a wide area, they killed and maimed so many civilians that more than 100 nations including most of Europe signed an international ban. But if Europe is serious about defending itself from a potential Russian invasion, it will need to bring back cluster munitions, a British think tank warns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The problem is that Europe lacks the ground forces to stop a massive Russian invasion. NATO would need to compensate as it did during the Cold War with airpower to pound Russian troops and supply lines to give its much smaller armies a fighting chance. The Warsaw Pact fielded 295 divisions and 69,000 tanks as compared to NATO's 170 divisions and 28,000 tanks. Yet Russian anti-aircraft defenses would inhibit European air operations. "NATO land forces are overwhelmingly dependent on air power for fires," Justin Bronk and Jack Watling wrote in a report for the Royal United Services Institute. "Without large-scale US assistance, however, European air forces would currently struggle to roll back dense and integrated air defense systems (IADS) such as those protecting Russian forces." Russia has created a multilayered network of mobile short-, medium- and long-range surface-to-air missiles and radars. Any aircraft attacking short- or medium-range missile batteries risks coming under attack from long-range missiles. "Modern Russian air defense systems have far greater range, are more mobile, more resilient and significantly more lethal than any faced by NATO forces in conflict," RUSI said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Normal practice would be for an advanced air force to first concentrate on knocking out enemy air defenses before supporting the ground forces. Israel failed to do this in the 1973 October War, and paid a heavy price. But Israel did accomplish this with stunning success in the 1982 Lebanon War, as did America in Desert Storm in 1991. Aircraft equipped with anti-radar missiles and jammers hunted radars and surface-to-air missile batteries. But Europe lacks these capabilities. It is the US that has provided the bulk of air defense suppression systems for NATO. Yet with the Trump administration distancing itself from NATO or potentially even withdrawing from the alliance, Europe faces the prospect of tackling Russian air defenses on its own. The "limited training and capability development for the suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD) in most European countries since the end of the Cold War has made the availability of [close air support] doubtful during the initial period of any war between peer adversaries," the report said. This means that Europe's undermanned and underequipped armies would have to fight without air support. Or, European armies have to destroy those air defenses themselves to allow friendly aircraft to operate. "Land forces cannot wait for air forces to complete the SEAD/DEAD campaign before they themselves are committed they must be able to operate for a sustained period while the airspace is still heavily contested," said RUSI. Russian forces have used cluster munitions against Ukraine, like this unexploded bomb shown in 2024. It can be expected to do the same against future enemies. Florent VERGNES / AFP via Getty Images Ideally, long-range ground-based weapons such as Lockheed Martin's ATACMS ballistic missiles would target air defenses. But there are limited stockpiles of these $1 million munitions, and Russia has been able to jam their GPS guidance. No less important is that Russian anti-aircraft missiles, such as the SA-17, SA-20 and SA-28, are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles and artillery rockets. "The capacity of Russian SAM systems to shoot down incoming munitions of various kinds has been demonstrated hundreds of times over the three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began," RUSI noted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One solution is for Europe to bring back cluster weapons. "Cluster munition warheads have consistently proven more effective for DEAD [destruction of enemy air defenses] fire missions than unitary variants," RUSI said. Multiple warheads mean a single cluster-carrying munition can destroy multiple vehicles and other components of an air defense battery, "while cluster munitions' wider area of effect means that they suffer less severely from degradation of accuracy due to hostile EW [electronic warfare]." With European armies lacking adequate stockpiles of artillery pieces and howitzer shells, cluster munitions may be a lifeline. "The evidence from Ukraine demonstrates that there is a difference in effectiveness such that any military that is constrained on the number of fire missions it can conduct should probably prioritize cluster munitions for its artillery," said RUSI. In fact, the US and Europe have already supplied cluster munitions to Ukraine that proved deadly against Russian forces. For example, in 2023 the US which has not ratified the cluster bomb treaty sent Ukraine M864 155-mm howitzer shells that each carried 72 submunitions. The sale took place despite concerns that 6% of those submunitions would be duds that could lay on the ground for years, threatening civilians. It also supplied Ukraine with ATACMS missiles that each carry 950 bomblets. Bringing back cluster munitions would be politically fraught in Europe. Yet Lithuania already withdrew from the cluster munition treaty in 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It seems that many European nations may have to do the same if they are to be able to guarantee their security in the absence of a major US commitment to the theatre, mitigating the ethical concerns by limiting the context in which such munitions are employed, and investing in reducing the dud-rate of newly produced munitions," the RUSI experts recommended. In addition, Europe should invest in more standoff weapons and loitering munitions to target Russian air defenses without endangering manned strike aircraft. If Europeans choose to forego cluster munitions out of ethical concerns, they shouldn't expect Russia to do the same. "It is also worth noting that Russian forces make extensive use of cluster munitions," the authors pointed out. Thus, "ethically motivated self-limitation by the defending side would not obviate the need for a large-scale post-conflict unexploded ordinance clearance and disposal effort to avoid lasting risk to civilians." Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn. Read the original article on Business Insider Charges were unsealed Saturday for a Gary man who allegedly killed his ex-girlfriend after they argued at his brothers barbecue. Joequan Washington, 24, of Gary, was charged with murder and a gun enhancement in the March 18 or 19 shooting death of Breanna Howell, 31. If convicted, he faces up to 85 years. He was arrested April 22 in Indianapolis, jail records show. He is awaiting extradition to Lake County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His brother Christin Washington, 33, of Gary, was charged last month with assisting a criminal for helping to move her body. Lake County Prosecutors Homicide Task Force Det. Brian McCall wrote he was called around 7:26 a.m. March 19 to the Willows Apartments on the 400 block of Clark Road in Gary where Howell was found lifeless, lying face up on the sidewalk. She was shot once in the chest. The Lake County Coroners Office ruled her death a homicide. McCall also noted bruises and scratches on her neck. A relative told police he dropped Howell off at the complex from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. to go to a cookout with Joequan Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before the relative left, he walked over to say hi. Security footage later showed two men, including someone who resembled Christin Washington, carrying a heavy object out of the building just before 2 a.m. and sitting on the sidewalk where Howell was found around 7 a.m. Christin Washington went back inside. Joequan Washington, in a black hooded sweatshirt, appeared to bend down toward the body, then left. Christin Washington told police first he was not there when she was shot. Later, he said Howell and his brother were arguing on a sofa when he heard a gunshot. Why did you make me do that, Joequan said to her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Joequan had choked Howell at some point that evening, court records state. Washington said he and Joequan both left after the shooting. His brother was crazy and did dumb things, Christin Washington said, according to the affidavit. Police later found a bullet casing in the sofa. Witnesses at the barbecue said the couple was slapping each other and arguing that night. Joequan Washington had a gun on his hip. He called her an expletive at some point. Anyone with more information can call McCall at 219-755-3855. A battle between aides in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths Pentagon didnt end when the entangled parties were ousted from the Pentagon, according to a Saturday report in The Guardian. In fact, the spat seems to have become even more bitter, with one staffer reportedly making calls to establish whether another used cocaine at a previous job, in an effort to turn up dirt for a lawsuit. Colin Carroll was one of three high-ranking Hegseth aidesalong with Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnickwho were fired earlier this month amid an investigation into whether they had leaked information to the media. Colin Carroll is researching a potential lawsuit against Joe Kasper. / U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Moses S. Lopez Franco The three have since jointly decried their removals as unconscionable, and hinted that leaks were not the real reason they got the boot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several reports have suggested that it was actually the aides knife fight power struggle with Hegseths chief of staff, Joe Kasper, that led to the trios dismissal. Kasper, who faced accusations of inappropriate workplace behavior, also left the Pentagon this week. But the conflict may have only just begun. The Guardian reported that Carroll is considering filing a defamation suit against Kasper, and he has made calls to ask people close to Kasper about a tip that he used cocaine in a previous job. Some of the calls reached Kaspers former clients and his wife. This has enraged Kasper. Reached by The Guardian for comment, he denied the claim, pointing to the Pentagons required drug testing. Its so egregiously stupid, he said. Kasper called the cocaine allegation egregiously stupid. / Linkedin The Guardian reporter who broke the story, Hugo Lowell, appeared on MSNBC on Saturday. Much of his conversation with host Katie Phang centered on the allegation of drug use. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Phang called the cocaine claim pretty hardcore, adding: This is the Department of Defense. This is national security. This is the welfare of not only our armed forces and the people that are sacrificing to be able to defend us, but its our safety. And this is the type of insanity thats going on under Pete Hegseths tenure. Lowell agreed. This is all happening while the U.S. is in really fraught negotiations with Putin over the Ukraine war, with the Iranians about their nuclear deal, he said. And the secretary of defenses office is basically reduced to three people, plus the secretary himself. Before he was ousted, Kasper was accused of fostering a toxic workplace. He reportedly derailed a meeting with a veterans group by telling a story about a night out at a Washington, D.C. strip club. He was also said to have begun a meeting by saying, Can I just tell everyone around this table that I just took an enormous s--t right before coming in here? Kasper will remain an adviser at the Pentagon in a special government employee role, limited to working no more than 130 days a year. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A former Indiana county commissioner arrested last year in Las Vegas will serve at least six years in prison on a sex charge, records said. Last June, John Jessup, 50, a Republican in Shirley County, Indiana, was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on a felony sex assault charge. Jessup assaulted a woman he knew after a night out at a gentlemans club, police said at the time of his arrest. Jessup told police there was nothing criminal about what he had done and reiterated that it was just a f***ed up, drunk night, documents said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last fall, Jessup agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of attempted sexual assault, a felony. As part of the deal, a judge could have sentenced him to at least two years in prison or a term of probation. In court Thursday, Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy sentenced Jessup to a term of 6-15 years. Upon his release, Jessup will be required to register as a sex offender for life, Hardy ordered. According to 8 News Nows sister station in Indiana, FOX59/CBS4, Jessups term as commissioner was scheduled to end on Dec. 31. However, even amid his criminal proceedings, voters elected Jessup to a county council position last November. Jessup was elected as one of three Republican candidates, receiving more than 15,000 votes. According to Indiana state law, felons are not eligible to hold office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 8 News Now does not identify survivors of sexual assault unless they choose to self-identify. 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. Dealers from the Americas attend the 2025 BYD Americas Dealer Conference in Shengzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 25, 2025. During the five-day event, which runs through April 28, participants engaged in test drives, vehicle displays and business meetings, gaining firsthand experience of China's vibrant NEV industry. (Xinhua/Liu Mingxiang) HANGZHOU, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Santiago Guelfi, a Uruguayan auto dealer for China's leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD, beamed with joy as he watched more sleek BYD models zipping through the streets of his home country. As the CEO of Sadar, a car company that has been active in the Uruguayan auto market for over seven decades, Guelfi voiced strong confidence in the prospects of China's new energy vehicle (NEV) sector and expressed hope for deepened cooperation between the two countries in this field. Guelfi was among nearly 200 dealers from the Americas attending the 2025 BYD Americas Dealer Conference in Shengzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province. During the five-day event, which runs through April 28, participants engaged in test drives, vehicle displays and business meetings, gaining firsthand experience of China's vibrant NEV industry. The partnership between BYD and Guelfi's company dates back to 2009, when they signed their first distribution agreement. Since then, Guelfi has witnessed BYD's growing presence and influence in Uruguay's automotive market. "Electric cars now account for 14 percent of our market, and BYD represents more than half of that share," said Guelfi. Brazil has also emerged as a standout market for BYD, with 76,700 vehicles sold in 2024, achieving a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 328 percent. Last year, BYD's overseas sales reached 417,200 units. "We expect dealers from the Americas to bring more of BYD's new technologies and products globally," said Stella Li, executive vice president of BYD. To date, BYD's NEVs have reached over 400 cities across over 100 countries and regions worldwide. In the first quarter of 2025, BYD led pure electric vehicle sales in Brazil and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales in Colombia. In Latin America, BYD's core competitiveness stems from its technical capabilities, localized strategy, and comprehensive product and service offerings. "BYD is accelerating its global expansion and will establish more R&D and production bases overseas," Li said, adding that this year, BYD aims to sell 5.5 million vehicles globally, with overseas markets playing a key role in driving growth. Dealers across the Americas shared their enthusiasm for working with Chinese automakers including BYD. "China is driving the automotive market and is more advanced in EV technology," said Divanildo Pimentel, general manager of Parvi Group in Brazil. "China's steady economic growth year by year gives us confidence to do business there." "China becomes a tech and innovative giant in EVs, AI and many other fields. We see China as a big and impressive partner. Customers have more confidence in buying Chinese products," said Hector Mena, president of the Mexican Dealer Association. "The Chinese market is crucial for us. This event gives us a deep dive into BYD's company culture and practices so that we can replicate their success in our country," said Guelfi. Dealers from the Americas attend the 2025 BYD Americas Dealer Conference in Shengzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 25, 2025. During the five-day event, which runs through April 28, participants engaged in test drives, vehicle displays and business meetings, gaining firsthand experience of China's vibrant NEV industry. (Xinhua/Liu Mingxiang) Dealers from the Americas attend the 2025 BYD Americas Dealer Conference in Shengzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 25, 2025. During the five-day event, which runs through April 28, participants engaged in test drives, vehicle displays and business meetings, gaining firsthand experience of China's vibrant NEV industry. (Xinhua/Liu Mingxiang) Dealers from the Americas attend the 2025 BYD Americas Dealer Conference in Shengzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 25, 2025. During the five-day event, which runs through April 28, participants engaged in test drives, vehicle displays and business meetings, gaining firsthand experience of China's vibrant NEV industry. (Xinhua/Liu Mingxiang) A teenager was shot and killed at a Rock Hill QuikTrip, with another teenager facing a murder charge. And the victims family says the two were friends. Police charged a 17-year-old with murder after the shooting of a 16-year-old Rock Hill High School student. Jayden Reid was spending time with friends on Tuesday night before he was shot and killed at the Cherry Road QT. And his family members told Channel 9s Glenn Counts that they think he was an innocent victim, struck by a stray bullet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement READ: Teen in custody after deadly shooting at Rock Hill gas station The alleged shooter was 17-year-old Carnell Mike. Reids mother, Timeka Fladger, said she thinks Mike got in an argument with someone else and accidentally shot Reid. Mikes parents were also arrested for trying to help him evade the police and are facing their own charges. Fladger said Reid and Mike were best friends. And after the shooting, she said Mike left Reid and didnt try to help him. I cant walk around being angry with them because I need peace, she said. I have to accept that my son is no longer here, so Im not angry with them. Im upset as a parent, as a mother, when your son advised you, you should have immediately took him back to the scene. WATCH: Teen in custody after deadly shooting at Rock Hill gas station Mango farmers in rural India are reporting a dramatic reduction in their crops in 2025. And many are pointing their finger at nearby factories as the main culprit. What's happening? As the largest mango producer in the world, India is home to many mango farms. The country is responsible for the production of over 18 million tons of mangoes every year. According to research published in the Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Science, this accounts for "more than one-third of the world's mango production." A large portion of those mango farms are located outside the city of Ankleshwar in the Indian state of Gujarat, according to The Blunt Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, many mango farmers have sounded the alarm over a large decrease in mango production in 2025. Area farmers say that the increasingly severe weather is one reason for the drop in their normal production numbers. While India typically sees a dry winter season that runs from December through early April, some regions in the country saw heavy rainfall in early 2025. This was followed by a period of above-average temperatures. Vijay Chauhan, a mango grower from Juna Diva, claims that the region's sweltering heat has proven to be difficult to overcome. "We sprayed pesticides multiple times, but nothing worked. The heat is so intense that it dries up the chemicals before they can have any effect," Chauhan said, according to The Blunt Times. Why is the change in weather patterns in India important? According to the mango farmers, the weather, alongside the increase in air pollution, has resulted in up to a 70% decrease in mango production. Ramesh Patel, a farmer from the village of Borbhatha Bet, described the adverse conditions that have made farming very challenging. "In winter, fog covered the fields, and we hoped for a healthy flowering season," Patel said, according to The Blunt Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "But instead, the mango blossoms were burned by a disease called Chopwa, worsened by pollution," Patel adds. "The pesticides aren't working because of the excessive heat." Certain greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere. This has been known to impact the climate, which can cause rising global temperatures and altered weather patterns. Maheshbhai Desai, a farmer from Kansia, points to the region's abundant pollution caused by various industries as the primary cause for the farming troubles. "The toxic gases from factories are killing our trees. The air itself feels heavy, and the mango blossoms are unable to survive in this environment," noted Desai. "Every year, it gets worse." What's being done about climate change in India? While the impacts of the changing climate have already begun to affect mango farmers in India, the country has worked to introduce policies that will shift toward achieving net zero by 2070. In 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged that not only would India achieve carbon neutrality within 50 years, but by 2030, half of the country's energy would come from renewable sources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ulka Kelkar, an economist and climate expert, spoke to NPR regarding the dramatic shift in climate change policies. "India's new pledges are significantly more ambitious than the country's earlier climate commitments," Kelkar said. "These will take India on a low-carbon development pathway and give strong signals to every sector of industry and society." 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. Jon Bahr holds his newborn daughter, Taverie, in March while testing equipment at the new MilkShake Factory franchise in Colorado Springs, Colo., he opened with his wife, Micayla Bahr. Colorado had a 4.5% increase in births last year, the largest in the nation, as births increased nationally for the first time since 2021. (Courtesy of Jon Bahr/MilkShake Factory) This story originally appeared on Stateline. The number of births in some Western states that are adding new housing rose last year, reversing losses the year before in many cases, according to new federal statistics released Wednesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Increases from 2023 to 2024 were highest in Colorado (4.5%), Idaho (3.8%), Utah (3.6%), Washington state and Nebraska (each 2.6%). Births increased around 2% in West Virginia, South Dakota, North Carolina, Montana, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Almost all those states had decreases in births the previous year, and many have been building housing rapidly since 2023. Idaho, North Carolina and Utah have issued enough building permits in 2023 and 2024 to add about 4% to their housing stock, the highest in the nation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Melissa Kearney, an economics professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in families and fertility, said there could be a link between homebuilding and more babies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is quite possible that increased access to home ownership, coming from a reduction in the price of houses in places that are building more houses, could meaningfully increase birth rates, Kearney told Stateline in an e-mail. Many of the other states with increases in births are also seeing building booms: Colorado, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota and Washington state are all set to add more than 2% to housing stock based on permits issued in 2023 and 2024, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data. Building permits can take up to two years to translate into finished houses and apartments, but they indicate which states are most willing to allow new housing that can boost population, tax receipts and the workforce. In Colorado, Denver County is set to add almost 10,000 housing units and in Idaho, Ada County, which includes Boise, could add 11,200 units based on building permits. Nationally births were slightly higher in 2024 than the year before, by about 1%, according to provisional federal numbers from the National Vital Statistics System within the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fertility rate also increased slightly, but it remains below the replacement level needed to keep the population stable 2.1 children for each woman over her lifetime. All the increase nationally was in births to Hispanic and Asian mothers, with births continuing to decline for Black, American Indian and white mothers. Births to teenagers and women ages 20-24, in sharp decline since 2007, continued to drop last year, while births increased for women 25 and older. The number of births dropped most in states struggling with stagnant population: falling about 4% in Louisiana, 3% in Mississippi, and 2% in New Mexico and New Hampshire. All those states had little or no population growth between mid-2023 and mid-2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Several federal student financial assistance programs are in jeopardy after recent federal funding cuts to the Department of Education. Teachers said its a move thats making it even harder to repay their student loans. Saving on a Valuable Education, better known as the SAVE plan, is one of those programs in hot water. Earlier today, members of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico explained how theyre navigating the confusion surrounding their loans. I dont know, Im not sure what I should do, said Rachael Sonia, Albuquerque Public Schools teacher. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Family of Albuquerque Public Schools student who was pepper sprayed on campus sues district Local teachers, who have been under the SAVE plan for years, are now uncertain about the future of the program and others like it. It would look at all of my income and kind of generate this figure that would make those remaining 120 payments more doable, more accessible for me, and now that is currently in jeopardy, said Whitney Holland, President of AFT New Mexico. Through the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program, teachers like Whitney Holland are rewarded for their work. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program was designed and functions as an incentive program for people to go into critical jobs, said Sonia. And after chipping away to make 84 payments towards Hollands end goal, new numbers show shes got an even longer road ahead of her in becoming debt-free. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West Mesa High School students offered pre-apprenticeship trade program I am operating on the perception that I am going to have to start paying my student loans again. Which is fine cause thats what I signed up for when I borrowed that. But I just want clear information, and I want to know what the expectation is, said Holland. In February, a court injunction prevented the U.S. Department of Education from implementing the SAVE plan, which is one of several income-driven repayment programs. This left those programs and online loan applications temporarily unavailable. In late March, while the application became available again, the federal student aid shows loan services are still updating their systems in accordance with the courts actions. Its really disheartening to think that that whole program might just be taken away. Right, because I have made very specific choices about my student loan based upon this program, said Sonia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rachael Sonia says if she chooses to change her loan plan, shell be forced to pay almost three times as much as before. Cause it can be deeply frustrating to be looking at your student loan servicers website and be like, What is happening to my financial future? said Sonia. And while the uncertainty still hangs in the air, the federation hopes teachers facing the same challenges wont do it alone. AFT holds student debt clinics where people come and talk about, like, heres what the process is in this moment, and so helping our members navigate through that process and achieve that forgiveness, whatever that looks like, said Holland. Many under the SAVE plan, like Sonia, are now in a forbearance period until July, but are required to recertify their income-driven repayment plan by June to continue to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. New Mexico Tech student sues DHS, ICE after visa revoked Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chairwoman Amy Barela, with the Republican Party of New Mexico, responded in a statement saying: The Republican Party of New Mexico recognizes the recent federal court action that halted portions of the Biden Administrations SAVE Plan and other income-driven repayment (IDR) programs. We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted careers and financial futures across America, and in response, action was taken to provide relief to borrowers facing hardship. However, education is ultimately an investment in ones future just as every profession requires an investment in the tools of the trade. Doctors, electricians, teachers, mechanics all must invest before they can prosper. Student loans are no different. The SAVE Plan attempted to restructure repayment options, but as the court ruled, aspects of its implementation did not align with established federal law. While the online IDR applications for programs like Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) are once again open, loan servicers are still updating their systems under the courts direction, which will affect how applications are processed moving forward. We believe in fair, responsible repayment solutions that help students continue their education without placing undue burdens on taxpayers or destabilizing financial systems. True reform must balance compassion for borrowers with respect for the rule of law and the long-term sustainability of our education system. As public servants, we will continue to advocate for policies that promote personal responsibility, career growth, and educational opportunity. Chairwoman Amy Barela Rebublican Party of New Mexico 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. HONOLULU (KHON2) Hawaiis film industry received a huge setback after a bill that could have boosted the struggling industry died in committee on April 25. TV and film industry workers say they are stunned and one lawmaker says peoples livelihoods are at stake because of political back and forth. Bill to give tax credits to film industry for local productions deferred Sen. Lynn DeCoite fought tirelessly to help the struggling film industry thrive once again by looking to raise the total cap on credits per year, expanding streaming productions, tax incentives and adding bonuses for local hires, just to name a few. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is unfortunate that we do not have an agreement as weve been back and forth working on the different conference drafts and the changes we have made, DeCoite said. I have tried my best along with some of my colleagues and at the end of the day, it was the tax credits that was not liked by the House. It is unfortunate and I am very saddened that this is where Im at today. Senators Donna Mercado Kim and Samantha DeCorte commended DeCoites hard work on the measure. DeCoite couldnt be reached for comment following the hearing. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You DeCorte said the senate tried everything they could to get the measure passed and even had support from the senate president as well as the chair of Ways and Means. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The saddest thing about this whole situation is that there are real lives effected because this bill didnt pass, DeCorte said. The film industry brings millions if not billions of dollars here to Hawaii, but most importantly, they put to work thousands of our local workers and this means those workers are out of a job entirely. The lawmakers that are responsible for not being cooperative with this bill are literally taking food off the plates of these workers. Workers like Ralph Malani, who has done hair for about 40 TV and Film productions including Lilo and Stitch and Rescue: HI-Surf, says that the bills deferment is a major loss for himself and his colleagues. [Hawaii] is where Im from, its just so sad to me that the powers that be dont seem to care that local people are losing out big time and were going to have to leave, and I never wanted to leave, he said, referencing how the mainland has more job opportunities than in the islands. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news This is the first time in two decades that there are no active productions filming on the islands. I have friends going to the foodbank because they cant feed their kids, people are selling their homes because they cant pay mortgages, they are taking kids out of schools because there is no work here, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also worked on the film Finding Ohana, which was shot in Thailand. It was supposed to be in Hawaii and it looked just like Hawaii and for one of me they could hire five in Thailand, so why wouldnt they go there? he said. And thats exactly whats going to keep happening, theyre going to go to New Zealand and other places. Dukes Law one step closer to reality in win against agricultural land crime For Malani, the deferment left him questioning the actions of the legislators who opposed the bill. If those people who voted against this are watching, just why? What did it threaten you with to give us a good job? Its so sad. Think about the local people who grew up here, who are raised here, have families here, think about us before you sign off a piece of paper and destroy everything we had, Malani said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The final draft of SB 732 had 367 pages of testimony, and not a single agency or person testified against it. The truth of the matter is this bill died for political reasons, and the House wasnt compromising with the Senate and we did everything we could, we gave in to a lot of the things we were asked for on the Senate side, DeCorte said. They made it so much harder and again these are lives that are at stake, real families that rely on this income to pay their bills and now what is going to happen? TV and Film Producer Eric Hays moved his family to Hawaii a few years ago after wrapping up filming NCIS in New Orleans. HPD searching for attempted murder suspect Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When the show here shut down, we chose to stay here because we love the people, its a privilege to shoot on the island here and we respect the culture and everything about it, Hays said. We could have went back to New Orleans but we decided to stay here, and my daughter is graduating from Mid-Pacific next month and we made the right decision to stay. Despite his happiness with living in the islands, the reality is that Hays may have to consider relocating. Im worried that we may have to go to back to New Orleans because right now, I have three to four shows Im trying to bring here as an independent producer and financially it doesnt make sense, Hays said. They can be written for here or New Orleans, but lets shoot it here, and rebuild the industry and make it thrive. He said when people come to Oahu they come to visit Waikiki, the beaches, Diamond Head, and also Kualoa Ranch. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merrie Monarch boost Hilo businesses like Ola Brew They want to see fake dinosaur footprints and to see where King Kong fought Godzilla and all the other movies out there, and guess what? That is the film industry impact on tourism, Hays said. He said the tax incentive motivates productions to come to Hawaii and film while also pushing money into the economy. We could put $60 to 80 million into the economy in this county in over one year, he said. And combine that into three years or another show thats here and four other movies and the next thing you know, youre putting a billion dollars into the economy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The states Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism wrote testimony stating support for the legislation, citing the economic impacts film has had on the islands. Puna woman arrested following deadly domestic dispute The film industry has provided hundreds of jobs, launched careers and resulted in long term employment for residents at a better than average living wage, the testimony said. Together with the Legislature, we have an opportunity to restore our production activity, turning around the current 50% decline in production here through maintaining a viable tax incentive, putting our residents and vendors back to work. Hays cited other states tax credits as a reason why films that have ties to Polynesia shoot on the mainland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moana was shot in Atlanta, but came here for exteriors. Why wasnt it shot here the whole time? Because producers chase the money they chase the tax credit, Hays said. Industry professionals say Georgia is leading the way when it comes to the film industry by offering many incentives and bonuses. 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. ARCHER COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) Firefighters say lightning is to blame for a house fire in Archer County. The fire was reported around 3:15 p.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of Decker Road, just off Sisk Road. Two Holiday Police Department trucks blocked off the street leading to Decker Road. Looking off of Sisk Road, heavy smoke could be seen and lights from the fire units fighting the fire. According to the Bowman Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief, the homeowner reported his house was struck by lightning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Everybody in the home got out safely, and no injuries were reported. Multiple departments assisted in the fire, including Wichita West VFD, Lakeside City VFD, Archer County Emergency Management and 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 Texomashomepage.com. Apr. 26A man was arrested after intentionally set fires destroyed a Spokane Valley home and damaged multiple other properties early Saturday morning, according to the Spokane Valley Fire Department. Firefighters were called to the house fire shortly after 3 a.m. in the 7000 block of East Fourth Avenue, the department said in a news release. Crews doused the fire and searched the home to make sure no one was inside. While firefighters were on scene, multiple fires spread out over several blocks near the original fire were discovered. Those fires damaged several properties, according to firefighters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Patrick Erickson, spokesman for the department, said all the fires appeared intentional. Cody J. Jensen was booked into the Spokane County Jail at about 6 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of 11 charges, including arson, malicious placement of explosives and harassment, according to the jail roster. The Fourth Avenue home was a "total loss," and the American Red Cross is assisting displaced residents, the release said. Fire department investigators and police detectives are investigating. China's job market resilient amidst headwinds Xinhua) 13:18, April 27, 2025 Students learn about recruitment information during a campus job fair held at Qinghai College of Architectural Technology in Xining, northwest China's Qinghai Province, April 23, 2025. The job fair was attended by 45 employers who provided more than 1,700 vacancies to job seekers. (Xinhua/Qi Zhiyue) BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China's job market has remained stable, supported by government initiatives aimed at boosting employment for college graduates and helping businesses retain jobs amid global economic challenges and other headwinds. On Friday, China unveiled a raft of measures on employment support for 2025 college graduates and the youth, according to a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance. "College graduates and other youths are valuable human resources," said the circular, noting that every effort must be undertaken to provide them with employment support. The circular stressed expanding employment opportunities through multiple channels, such as increasing market-driven job creation and stabilizing public-sector employment. Organizations that employ 2025 graduates, graduates unemployed within two years after leaving school, or registered unemployed youth aged 16-24 are eligible for a one-off job expansion subsidy, according to the circular. This policy remains effective until Dec. 31, 2025. The circular said that the one-off subsidy policy for state-owned enterprises hiring graduates will extend to Dec. 31, 2026. PRO-EMPLOYMENT POLICIES In addition to pro-employment policies targeting college graduates, relevant authorities are fast-tracking the rollout of comprehensive measures to support business operations and ensure job stability amid mounting external pressures. Authorities announced on Tuesday that China will extend key unemployment insurance policies through 2025 to help companies retain employees and support workers in upgrading their skills. Until the end of 2025, companies that do not lay off employees or minimize layoffs will continue to receive refunds of a certain percentage of unemployment insurance premiums paid in the previous year, according to a circular, jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Taxation Administration. The policy is part of broader efforts to help enterprises maintain stable employment. The measures also ensure continued access to basic living allowances, including unemployment benefits, basic medical insurance, and support for older unemployed individuals. "Employees are the company's most valuable asset," said Zhang Shili, principal of Changshu Lively Home Textile Co., Ltd. in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province. Across China, local governments are stepping up policy support, intensifying recruitment efforts, and expanding initiatives to stabilize and generate employment, implementing a range of practical measures and targeted services to steadily safeguard jobs and improve livelihoods. Beijing is offering tax incentives to enterprises that hire individuals who have been unemployed for over six months or those lifted out of poverty. In Sichuan, companies hiring new workforce entrants between April and September are eligible for a recruitment subsidy of 1,000 yuan (about 138 U.S. dollars) per employee. Meanwhile, Chongqing plans to provide 10,000 free entrepreneurship spaces and fund 100 high-quality startup projects this year. Approximately 190 million market entities in China play a crucial role in maintaining employment stability. In the first quarter, steady consumption growth drove a significant rise in workforce demand within the consumer services sector. Data from Zhaopin.com shows that job openings in online life services, transportation and logistics, elderly care and nursing, and resident services increased by 43 percent, 35 percent, 17 percent, and 10 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year. Employment demand in emerging industries is surging. In the first quarter, corporate recruitment for mechanical engineers and automation engineers in industrial automation and related sectors increased by 40 percent and 10 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year. Similarly, the demand for algorithm engineers and machine learning professionals rose by 44 percent and 18 percent, according to Zhaopin.com. CAREER TRAINING FOR FUTURE EMPLOYMENT Chinese authorities are actively enhancing vocational skills training while refining program offerings to better align with industrial changes and societal needs. "As industrial upgrading accelerates, corporate demands for workforce skills evolve. Only by improving workers' competencies and technical capabilities can the needs of industrial development be met," said Li Chang'an, a researcher with the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics. Friday's circular said China also aims to train 1 million graduates and youths in 2025 to improve their employability. It also stressed the need to strengthen employment services and create a favorable employment environment, including launching campaigns to rectify irregularities in the human resources market. The human resources and social security department of Henan Province recently unveiled a three-year action plan for "AI+" high-quality employment, designed to bridge talent gaps in the AI industry by enhancing training curricula. From 2025 to 2027, the province aims to train over 50,000 individuals annually in AI applications, with plans to support at least 40,000 people in securing employment or pursuing entrepreneurship in AI-related fields. Starting this year and continuing for three years, China's annual vocational skills training subsidies will benefit over 10 million trainees, with a focus on key areas such as healthcare, elderly and infant care, advanced manufacturing, modern services, and emerging professions. China's government work report has set a target of creating over 12 million new urban jobs in 2025, with an aim to keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate around 5.5 percent for the year. The country's surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in the first quarter and 5.2 percent in March, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous month. China will continuously enhance its policy toolkit to maintain employment stability and support economic growth, according to a meeting held on Friday by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee to analyze and study the current economic situation and economic work. The adopted policies should be implemented as quickly as possible, while additional policies in reserve should be swiftly introduced to respond to changes in the situation, according to the meeting. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) MADRID, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday held phone talks with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. Dar briefed Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on the latest tensions between Pakistan and India following a terrorist attack in the Kashmir region. Dar emphasized that Pakistan has consistently and firmly fought against terrorism and is against any actions that could lead to an escalation of the situation. Pakistan is committed to managing the situation in a mature manner and will maintain communication with China and the international community, Dar added. For his part, Wang said China is closely following the developments, stressing that combating terrorism is a shared responsibility of the whole world while reaffirming China's consistent support for Pakistan's firm counterterrorism efforts. As an ironclad friend and an all-weather strategic cooperative partner, China fully understands Pakistan's legitimate security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests, Wang said. China advocates for a swift and fair investigation and believes that conflict does not serve the fundamental interests of either India or Pakistan, nor does it benefit regional peace and stability, Wand noted. China hopes both sides will remain restrained, move toward each other, and work together to de-escalate the situation, he added. TORONTO In March, shortly after Ontario Premier Doug Ford decisively won re-election here, Canada Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre grudgingly telephoned the leader of this countrys most populous province to grudgingly ask for advice from a conservative rival. People said, 'Youve got to call him, Ford happily recalled to me this week. He said, What advice can I get? I said its one thing, our polling shows it, we just came off a big victory: Its the tariffs. A number of years ago, [James] Carville said, Its the economy, stupid. Well, its the tariffs, stupid. Thats what it is. So why didnt Poilievre adjust his message? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I cant figure it out, Ford said, happy to plunge the knife in days before Canadians vote on a new government. For months now, the dynamics of Mondays federal election here seemed easy enough to grasp on either side of the border: A campaign that had been a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus increasingly unpopular decade-long tenure had, once Trudeau stepped down, become a vote on who was best able to manage Donald Trump, his tariff arsenal and designs on annexing Canada. But it isnt that simple. Liberals are poised to hold power, and Prime Minister Mark Carney may even claim a majority of Canadas 343 House of Commons seats, because Poilievre never pivoted to accommodate a changed race and alienated crucial leaders and voters; because Liberals didnt just dump Trudeau, they replaced him with a sober central banker, an Alan Greenspan from the Northwest Territories who can still lace up the skates; and because Canada has momentarily imported two-party, tribal politics from America into their multi-party parliamentary democracy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's this final element that may prove most crucial and could determine whether Liberals claim a majority or minority government but is not easily grasped in the U.S. Canada has long had robust minor parties that play a pivotal role in both provincial and federal politics, most notably the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Bloc Quebecois, which advocates for Quebecois nationalism in Canadas Francophone province. Yet the effect of Trumps existential threat has been to marginalize these parties, to render purity politics or domestic questions as a bit like the clogged sink disposal when the house is on fire. Particularly with the anticipated NDP collapse, this election may mark the highest percentage of votes for the two major center-right and center-left parties in generations. It's the height of irony: absorbing American-style politics to fend off the menacing Americans. Yet thats precisely what one hears from the flight to the Conservatives and especially the Liberals: That, much like in the U.S., Canadian voters fear wasting their ballots on parties that cant win and, in the process, perhaps even aiding the party they dread the most. (Adding to the irony is the specter of traditional supporters of a party, the Bloc, anchored in secession rallying to the party most animated by unifying Canada.) The reason our third- and fourth parties weakened is because voters from those parties are rushing to the Liberals to stop Pierre, said Dan Moulton, a Liberal Party strategist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats most striking in speaking to Canadian officials and voters alike this week in the crane and construction-filled population hub known as the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is how much people are already looking past the election and bracing for what comes next in both Canadas relationship with the U.S. and the rest of the world. It's hard to overstate how stung Canadians are by the tariff threats and Trumps incessant talk of taking over the country, an increasingly unfunny riff he repeated again recently in the Oval Office after not saying it for a few weeks. They feel betrayed, really. So many people here have American relatives, have lived in the states and, if they can afford it, escape to a winter condo in Florida or Arizona. We were the friendliest of neighbors and so similar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet there was always an understanding that we were two nations with unique identities, one that broke from the crown and the other still part of the British Commonwealth, as the namesake and statues around Queens Park, the provincial capitol here, make clear. Trump only sees the similarities plus the land and assets therein of Canada and therefore cant understand why its offensive to keep casually insisting on claiming a sovereign country. Thats prompted a surge in nationalism the ubiquitous maple leaf flags fly from cars, trucks and store windows, at times adorned with Shop Local or Proudly Canadian Owned. Then there are the Never 51 and Not for Sale T-shirts, which are even selling in Quebec, which usually only moves merch with a fleur-de-lis. Both leading candidates have embraced slogans that nod at Trump Canada First in the case of Poilievres derivative line and Canada Strong from Carney, a pitch usually heard from places that have suffered natural disaster or mass killing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When attendees at a Poilievre rally sang O Canada, the lights came down and voices were raised every time they came to the lyric free. Yet whats so agonizing for Canadians is that this is not temporary. Well always be neighbors, and hopefully friendly neighbors, but the special relationship doesnt exist, said Tom Long, a longtime Conservative Party strategist who goes back to the Brian Mulroney era. Weve got assets in the north that need to be defended from Russia and China and probably Americans now. It's startling to hear, but hardly uncommon. When I asked a prominent Liberal member of Parliament if Canada would have to weigh a new security arrangement, perhaps forging an alliance with the other Commonwealth nations and the rest of NATO, besides the U.S., she didnt hesitate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the big projects is figuring out how does global security work when the U.S. is not the guarantor of the free world, said Chrystia Freeland, the former Finance Minister whose resignation helped doom Trudeau. Alluding to two nuclear powers, Freeland said a new alliance starts with France and the U.K. Also playing out just below the surface in the final days of the election is the matter of the other west as in Canadas conservative, restive western provinces. Few mainstream figures believe Alberta and Saskatchewan would seriously consider leaving the country, but theres a what-comes-next fear in the east about the reaction of conservatives there who may be subjected to a fourth Liberal term. And theres already talk in Conservative circles about how to massage a secession referendum that Alberta voters may put on the ballot as early as this fall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you had asked me what my biggest anxieties post election are, regardless of the outcome, it is being sure people in Alberta and Saskatchewan feel that the Liberal party can speak for them and understand their concerns, said Freeland. The fear, to put it bluntly, is if Trump will ratchet up and localize his annexation talk when he discovers theres even modest secession sentiment in the part of Canada that happens to have so much of the energy and other minerals he craves. Wont that be a dangerous moment, I asked Ford? I think it will be, said the premier. Were also a little worried here in Ontario because we have more critical minerals than anywhere in the world. They have a ton of oil in Alberta. Why dont we leverage that and all work together? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reviving the Fortress Am-Can overture he quite literally carried to Washington earlier this year, when he was a sort of Captain Canada de facto prime minister after Trudeau quit, Ford invoked the threat both countries face. China is cutting the U.S. off with their critical minerals that [Americans] need for their military, aerospace manufacturing, he said. And who has it? We have it here. I floated the idea to Ford that he, a conservative who worked as a businessman in the U.S., could be Canadas man in Washington but he dismissed the ambassadorship as a demotion, reminding me that Ontario has a larger land mass than Texas. Long, though, said its imperative that Carney quickly conveys national unity and suggested the prime minister appoint conservative Jean Charest as ambassador to the U.S. A former Quebec premier, and once the youngest cabinet minister in history when he served in the Mulroney government, Charest lost the race to lead the Conservatives to Poilievre in 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres another possible nod Carney could make toward unity and placating the western provinces where there were once bumper stickers that read Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze In The Dark and thats on the environment. His earliest, most significant gesture could be canceling the oil and gas emissions cap, which has enraged many Albertans. Carney may not be willing to go that far, but he has already distanced himself from what was Trudeaus most polarizing proposal when he lifted the consumer carbon tax upon taking office in March. It was that one-two punch Trudeaus resignation and Carney quickly depriving Poilievre of his best issue that, along with Trumps rhetoric, has left Conservatives staggered. They could no longer run against an unpopular incumbent while vowing to ax the tax. Speaking to voters at a Poilievre rally in suburban Toronto this week, I repeatedly heard a version of the same refrain, as much grounded in hope as prophecy: that, as with the American election last year, the party in power could swap in their standard-bearers and get a temporary bounce, but ultimately theyd lose an election centered around quality-of-life issues. This is a change election, Colin, an electrical worker wearing a Protect Hunter t-shirt who declined to share his last name, said after the event. The difference, though, is that while Kamala Harris would never distance herself from Joe Biden, Carney immediately abandoned the carbon tax. A survey of Canadian voters, from POLITICO/Focaldata, makes clear whats top of mind here: 60 percent said cost of living was their most pressing concern. The challenge for Conservatives is that the second highest-rated issue voters cited was Trump and three-quarters of those surveyed said they dislike the American president. The difficulty for Poilievre is that hes facing a chasm between his base which views Trump well down the list of their priorities and a broader electorate thats boycotting U.S. goods and travel and all but tattooing maple leaves on their arms. In fact, among the most dedicated Conservative activists its not hard to find affinity for Trump, which I did at the Poilievre rally, when some attendees, finding out I was American, would lean in, drop their voice and say they like the president. In his remarks, the Conservative standard bearer made scant mention of Trump, focusing almost entirely on domestic issues and sounding at times like an American Republican, as he promoted a military imbued with warrior culture not woke culture. The one biting allusion Poilievre did make to the president was in purpose of swiping at his Liberal rival: Trump with tariffs and Carney with higher taxes, the Conservative said, both want to tax Canadian industries. It was weak beer and fleeting at that. Because some Conservatives admire Trump, or at least share his contempt for the left, Poilievre is limited in how hard he can go at risk of alienating some of his own supporters, Brian Clow, a former top Trudeau official, told me. As revealing are Poilievres own limitations. If Carney would have been like Democrats nominating Alan Greenspan, or perhaps Robert Rubin, Poilievre would be the political love child of Rahm Emanuel and Ted Cruz. A staffer turned principal who consumes politics like oxygen, he has a long roster of enemies in both major parties, lacks an effective bedside manner and evokes more Canada Smug than Canada Nice. It was telling that Poilievre had his wife introduce him at the rally an old tactic aimed at softening male candidates and more telling yet that he called up a little girl to the stage to show off her hand-crafted sign. But most telling of all is that hes not even closing with his own appeal on the air: Torontos TV stations are saturated, not with Poilievre, but with a spot from former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper making the case for his onetime aide. Missing from the airwaves and campaign trail, though, are premiers like Ford and Tim Houston, who leads Nova Scotia, both of whom have clashed with Poilievre and his aides. In fact, when I interviewed Ford, he had just been teasing Houston, a potential Conservative successor should Poilievre be deposed, about releasing a video only ostensibly about Nova Scotia. I said, Cant you wait till the body gets cold first? Ford recounted. Turning more serious, Ford said Poilievre had refused to build crucial relationships with the premiers, who are more powerful than American governors, or anyone else. Not at all, he said. Or local mayors. Or anyone. I dont understand it. This was, I said, puzzling for somebody who has worked in politics his whole life. Its his campaign manager in my opinion, said Ford, alluding to Poilievre strategist Jenni Byrne who was once fired by Ford. But hes still the boss, right? Ford had higher hopes for Carney, believing that the prime minister could get along with Trump. It's something I had been thinking about since the Liberals leadership election: Mark Carney is the kind of person Donald Trump has tried to cultivate and ended up sparring with his entire adult life: Harvard, Goldman Sachs, the Bank of England, board member of Bloomberg LP and the World Economic Forum. Carneys CV reads as if the Financial Times was made flesh. And if he takes Trump seriously, invites the Queens kid with his nose forever pressed against the glass inside, it could at least thaw relations. If Mark wins, I think well have a half-decent relationship, Ford predicted, citing that New York group that also includes Cantor-Fitzgerald-CEO-turned-Commerce-Secretary Howard Lutnick. Of course, thats if Trump can be steered away from his acquisitive tendencies. Theres little certainty here. Most of my conversations eventually shifted to officials asking me questions about the U.S. and Trump and what may happen. What seems clear for now, though, is that Monday will bring a message from the north. As Evan Solomon, a CBC anchor turned Liberal MP candidate in Toronto, put it to me: Canada's the first referendum on Trump amongst democratic allies. Ben Johansen contributed to this report. Passengers on a flight bound for Cincinnati had to deplane from their Allegiant flight after an alleged bomb threat on Friday. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the passengers safely deplaned on the taxiway at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in Florida due to a security threat. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the flight from Cincinnati had just landed at the airport and was supposed to turn around quickly and return to the city, WTSP, a CBS affiliate in Tampa Bay, reported. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After passengers boarded the flight and the plane had taxied away from the gate onto the runway, a flight attendant opened the bathroom door and saw a very explicit bomb threat written on the back of the door, Gualtieri said. The pilot was immediately notified, causing the plane to be stopped and the evacuation of the nearly 170 passengers. While the exact threat was not released, the sheriff told media outlets it affected all Allegiant planes at the airport. Bomb dogs were brought out to search at least six Allegiant planes. No evidence of explosive devices was found. No one has been taken into custody, but the sheriff told WTSP that theres a person they were focusing on. The incident caused the airport to close, but it was later reopened. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] After weeks of investigation, a state House leader said Thursday his panel is halting a probe into a foundation linked to First Lady Casey DeSantis signature economic-assistance program, Hope Florida. Rep. Alex Andrade, a Pensacola Republican who chairs the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee, announced the decision after the Hope Florida Foundations lawyer, Jeff Aaron, and leaders of nonprofits that received $5 million grants from the foundation refused to appear before the panel. Andrade has spent weeks scrutinizing the foundations receipt of $10 million as part of a $67 million legal settlement that Centene, Floridas largest Medicaid managed-care company, reached last fall with the Agency for Health Care Administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After receiving the money from the settlement, the foundation gave $5 million grants to Secure Floridas Future, a nonprofit tied to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Save our Society from Drugs. Mark Wilson, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, also serves as chairman of Secure Floridas Future. Amy Ronshausen, the executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation, also serves as executive director of Save Our Society from Drugs The groups within days made contributions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee headed by James Uthmeier, who was then Ron DeSantis chief of staff and is now state attorney general. Keep Florida Clean fought a proposed constitutional amendment in November that would have allowed recreational use of marijuana. During a brief meeting Thursday, Andrade laid out a timeline of the settlement and the roles Uthmeier and Aaron a close ally of Uthmeier and a member of the governors inner circle played in steering money to the foundation and the nonprofits. We are not judges or prosecutors. While I am firmly convinced that James Uthmeier and Jeff Aaron engaged in a conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud, and that several parties played a role in the misuse of $10 million in Medicaid funds, we as legislators will not be the ones making the ultimate charging decisions, said Andrade, who later told reporters he has had discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice about the transactions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aaron lashed out at Andrade, an attorney, in a social media post after the meeting. Now I have more time to draft my defamation lawsuit and bar complaint. @RAlexAndradeFL should be ashamed of himself. I hope there are members of the legislature with the courage to stand up and call for this ridiculous behavior to end, Aaron posted on X. Jeremy Redfern, a spokesman for Uthmeier, said Andrades accusations were baseless. These ridiculous allegations are false and not based on any judicial finding or evidentiary record, Redfern said in a statement. Andrades conduct not only surpasses what should be proper decorum between Florida officials but also represents potential legal ramifications for the representative, Redfern warned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The House probe became a flashpoint in a feud between House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, and the governor, who has staunchly defended the Hope Florida program. The program, launched by the first lady, is rooted in the Department of Children and Families and operates across several agencies through Hope navigators that help connect people and families in need with faith-based or community services. The program also operates a hotline. The governor and Casey DeSantis held a news conference Thursday morning in St. Augustine shortly after Andrades panel met. They were joined by Hope navigators and people who said the program had provided critical assistance to their families. Speaking to reporters after the news conference, the governor accused unidentified House leaders and lefty journalists of trying to impugn the program. The reality is this has done an enormous amount of good. I am proud of the program, soup to nuts, DeSantis said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DeSantis also suggested that Casey DeSantis, who is mulling a possible run for governor next year, is being targeted because they view her as a threat. Andrade has requested numerous documents from DeSantis office and the Agency for Health Care Administration about the Medicaid settlement agreement, the grants and other transactions. Hes also asked Wilson and Ronshausen for details about the grants. Andrade said his panel will continue to dig into the DeSantis administrations spending and other issues when lawmakers return to Tallahassee for committee meetings this fall. The 2025 legislative session is scheduled to end next week. Im not a prosecutor or an FBI agent. I know now that I will never trust Gov. DeSantis again with taxpayer money, let alone Medicaid money. So thats going to frame my policymaking decisions until Im done in public office, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aaron told Andrade this week he was disappointed that he had to decline to appear before the panel because some of the foundations board members did not waive their attorney-client privilege with him. In an email to Andrade early Thursday morning, Ronshausen also said she must decline to appear. I must do so to preserve all privileges on behalf of SOS (Save our Society from Drugs), legally or otherwise, she said. Wilson also sent Andrade a lengthy email Thursday noting that, during a meeting earlier this month, Wilson pointed the lawmaker to public information about his nonprofits involvement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because I already have shared what I am able to share, and consistent with my obligation to maintain and uphold the rights of my organization and its donors, I do not believe a further discussion would be productive or a good use (of) the committees time, Wilson wrote. Further inquiry into these topics is likely to re-address matters implicating the constitutional rights and privileges of Secure Floridas Future. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. TYLER, Texas (KETK) In this edition of East Texas In Focus, KETKs Nolan Hoffman spoke with the Bishop of Tyler Greg Kelly on the death of Pope Francis and whats next for the Catholic Church. The loss of Pope Francis mourned across the country Pope Francis, born in Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, died of a stroke on Monday just a few hours after celebrating Easter Mass at Saint Peters Square. Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler Greg Kelly recalled learning the tragic news about Pope Francis death in his conversation with Nolan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It really came as a surprise, said Kelly. Because he seemed like after being in the hospital so long that he was doing much better and that he was very active on Easter Sunday, he met with the Vice President. He went around Saint Peters Square. He looked like he was resuming some of his normal activities. Francis election as the new head of the Catholic Church in 2013 marked the first time anyone from the Americas and the southern hemisphere had ever been chosen as pope. Kelly recalled part of whats made Pope Francis so charming to people around the world were his big gestures like his first official trip abroad as pope. He would do these dramatic gestures. Like when he was first elected pope, he wanted his first trip to go to the island of Lampedusa, where a lot of immigrants from Africa coming across the Mediterranean in insufficient boats were drowning, said Kelly. And he had such a heart for immigrants, the people who had to be on the move for whatever reason, and he wanted to go there and his staff kept kind of putting him off. One of them got a call from the Italian airline saying that they had received a call from a Jorge Bergoglio booking four seats on a commercial flight to Lampedusa. He was just going to go himself and so thats where they went. Kelly met Pope Francis when he was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas in 2015. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the requirements for a new bishop is they go to Bishop School. And so its a week long formation process in Rome and on the Friday of that week is an audience with Pope Francis, said Kelly. Each bishop gets to walk up and actually meet him personally. So thats the only time I actually met him in person and he was just very warm, ingratiating, beautiful smile. Pope Francis funeral: Photo gallery Later in 2024, Francis confirmed Kelly as the new Bishop of Tyler. As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new pope in the next few weeks, Kelly offered his insight into what kind of pope they might select. I think its someone that can build on the legacy of Pope Francis, Kelly said. He was the first pope ever to come from South America, from the global South and so much more of the church, a lot of the numbers, the energy of the church is in South America and Africa. And I think somebody thats sensitive to the to the needs of those local churches as well as the church throughout the world. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Papal Conclave is expected to start the process of electing a new pope who will lead the worlds 1.41 billion Catholics in the coming days. 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 KETK.com | FOX51.com. A former Davidson College employee who is accused of using a camera to secretly record inside campus bathrooms is now facing charges in Charlotte. Jeremy Michael Whitworth, 49, was arrested for one count of felony secret peeping by the Mooresville Police Department, Channel 9s Glenn Counts reported in November 2024. He was an electrician on the Davidson College campus, police said. Whitworth was taken to jail on Nov. 2, 2024. He was bailed out on a $10,000 bond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement READ: Davidson College employee recorded women in bathrooms for years, police say MPD executed a search warrant after the arrest and found hard drives, computers, and cell phones that contained images and videos of women in different restrooms, including in his house and on campus. MPD Chief Ron Campurciani said the department collected dozens of videos going back 15 years. Police said Whitworth worked outside of Davidson College, and they are looking for more victims who may recognize him. Now, Whitworth is facing new charges from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. He is accused of peeping on one woman in campus bathrooms four times between May 2020 and February 2021, The Charlotte Observer reports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The woman was a school employee. Officials said the employee did not know she was a victim until police approached her. Police say Whitworth used his job to set up cameras in homes and Airbnbs. He is also accused of recording womens legs and feet inside a Mooresville Walmart, Target and Chick-fil-a. Counts spoke with several female shoppers at a Mooresville Walmart. They said this case should be taken very seriously. [Its] kind of appalling to think that you have to be on your guard all the time, thinking someone may be taking pictures of you that you wouldnt allow them to, shopper Amanda Stowe said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said these videos do not break the law. But some of these shoppers said prosecutors should work to seek justice and protect peoples right to privacy. People are so perverted now, you know? shopper Roxie Leonard said. Its scary. Police ask that anyone who believes they may be a victim call 704-658-9021. No additional details have been made available. This is a developing story. Check back with wsoctv.com for updates. WATCH: ICE identifies four men arrested outside Mecklenburg County courthouse WASHINGTON (DC News Now) A former D.C. Department of Human Services employee was sentenced Friday for extorting low-income individuals for five years, according to the United States Attorneys Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia. Court documents state that Ruth Nivar, 57, was sentenced in the U.S. District Court to two years in federal prison and one year of supervised release. Smithsonian begins removing exhibits, artifacts from African American History Museum Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nivar pleaded guilty in January to Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right. According to court documents, Nivar charged low-income individuals to process public assistance program applications when she was supposed to do the work for free. Court documents state that from 2018 through May 2023, Nivar specifically targeted those who were impoverished and non-English-speaking, lacking the resources to navigate obtaining healthcare coverage from the government. The USAO states that Nivar then added an accomplice in 2022 who did not work for the government to avoid detection by law enforcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court documents add that the accomplice used the personal information of applicants gained through Nivars government role to create and submit online applications for healthcare coverage on behalf of the extorted individuals for a fee. The two then agreed to split the money. Court documents emphasize that Nivar was not supposed to charge for the service. The accomplice, Yessica Moya, pleaded guilty in January to aiding and abetting Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right and conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right. The USAO states that Moyas sentencing hearing is pending. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. This story was originally published by ProPublica. They are lines in the payroll ledger of a Cambodian baby clothing factory, invisible lives near the bottom of the global economy. There is Phan Oem, 53, who says she clocked up to 76 hours a week producing clothing for Nike and other American brands, sometimes forced to work seven days a week. She says she feared being fired if she didnt work through lunch breaks, on holidays and occasionally overnight. After 12 years spent packaging clothes, her base pay was the minimum wage: $204 a month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is Vat Vannak, 40, who at six months pregnant traveled by bus to join hundreds of workers who protested in the streets last year after Nike pulled out and the factory went bankrupt, leaving them unpaid. The authoritarian Cambodian government warned them to stop. And there is the medical worker who said she saw one or two factory employees a month being sent to the hospital after falling unconscious. She said they were among eight to 10 workers a month who became too weak to work. Three other former employees said they sometimes saw two to three people go to the clinic for these issues in a single day. The reason, the medical worker said, was that they didnt sleep much, didnt eat enough and worked long hours. Nikes manufacturing apparatus in Southeast Asia has been shaken in recent weeks by news about President Donald Trumps tariffs. Cambodia and Vietnam, mainstays of Nikes supply chain, have faced import taxes of 49% and 46%, among the highest of any nation. Nike shares have been hammered. The stories of workers at Cambodias Y&W Garment illuminate the longer-term legacy of Nikes push into the region more than two decades ago, when labor abuses led co-founder Phil Knight to acknowledge that Nike products had become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime and arbitrary abuse. The former employees recent experiences cast doubt on the companys commitment to reform. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unless tariffs force Nike to return manufacturing to the United States, labor advocates say, the company will have to offset the higher import taxes either by raising prices on its apparel or by pressuring its foreign factories for greater productivity, squeezing workers and their wages. Nike has prided itself on the story of its reinvention since the 1990s sweatshop scandal. Weve gone from a target of reformers to a dominant player in the factory reform movement, Knight wrote in his 2016 memoir, Shoe Dog. The company has worked to convince consumers that it is improving the lives of its factory workers, not exploiting them. It became the first major apparel brand to disclose the names and locations of its suppliers. It established a written code that requires its suppliers to create a safe, healthy workplace, prohibit forced overtime and honor workers right to form unions. The company reports annually about its progress. In Nikes marketing materials, contract factory workers are often smiling. A key tentpole of Nikes claims is that its suppliers pay competitive wages. Nike says contract factory workers for whom it has data now earn an average of 1.9 times their local minimum wage, without counting overtime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scrutinizing that claim is extraordinarily difficult. Nike acknowledges that the analysis omits more than a third of the 1.1 million people who make its sneakers and apparel worldwide. Nike says its focus in collecting wage data has been on its biggest suppliers. It hasnt said which of its 37 producing countries are included. ProPublica obtained a rare view of wages paid to the factory workers who produce Nike clothing: a highly detailed payroll list for 3,720 employees at Cambodias Y&W Garment. Covering earnings from longtime managers down to freshly hired 18-year-old sewing machine operators, the spreadsheet shows the workforce falling far short of the amount Nike says its factory workers typically earn. Just 41 people, or 1% of the Y&W workforce, earned 1.9 times the local minimum wage of about $1 per hour even when counting bonuses and incentives. These higher-paid employees included accountants, supervisors and a human resources manager. Nike didnt answer specific questions about ProPublicas findings, including whether it dropped Y&W as a supplier because of any violations of its code of conduct. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, Nike said its code sets clear expectations for suppliers and that it is committed to ethical and responsible manufacturing. We build long-term relationships with our contract manufacturing suppliers, the statement said, because we know having trust and mutual respect supports our ability to create product more responsibly, accelerate innovation and better serve consumers. Nike added that it expects its suppliers to continue making progress on fair compensation for a regular work week. Representatives of Y&W Garment and its Hong-Kong-based parent, Wing Luen Knitting Factory Ltd., did not respond to emails, text messages or phone calls seeking comment, and Wing Luens website is defunct. New York-based Haddad Brands, which Y&W workers said was an intermediary for Nike at the factory, did not respond to emailed questions about conditions at the factory and hung up on a reporter who called. Its website says it makes childrens clothing for Nike and that it enforces Nikes code of conduct. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ProPublica interviewed 13 former Y&W workers in the Cambodian capital and surrounding villages, plus another one by phone, during two weeks in January. In spare concrete homes and earthen courtyards that smelled of burbling fish sauce, they described workplace abuses that Nike promised to eradicate long ago. In addition to low wages, fainting workers and forced overtime, they spoke of bosses who mocked them if they underperformed and a life of debts that kept piling up. They told ProPublica that what they made in Cambodias standard 48-hour, six-day week wasnt enough to make ends meet. Some feared being fired or angering their supervisors if they refused extra hours. Others said they needed to work overtime simply to keep up. Still, many said they wished the factory hadnt shut down. Khun Tharo, program manager at the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, a Cambodian legal aid group also known as CENTRAL, said his countrys garment workers including those at Y&W do what circumstances require. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When you ask them, Do you want to have the weekend off with your family, your kids? yes, they do, he said. But how can they afford that? Theyre stuck. Theres no choice. Nikes arrival inside the corrugated metal walls at Y&W Garment was a big deal. It was December 2021, workers said, when the company began trial production runs inside the expansive factory complex in southern Phnom Penh, about two miles from one of the notorious killing fields of the Khmer Rouges 1970s genocide. Supervisors told ProPublica that the owner, a man they called thaw kae the big boss gave them a message to deliver to line workers: Nike was coming. Money and benefits would follow. And they wouldnt have to work extra hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Workers were happy. Earning more would let them save, pay off debts and stop borrowing from friends to make it to the next month. They said they felt secure knowing that it was Nike, a company they had heard respected labor laws. But the promise of the big American brand was never realized, according to the workers who spoke to ProPublica. After Nike came, nothing has changed, one worker said. The former Y&W employees said neither their working conditions nor their pay improved while Nike goods were made at the factory. They instead described problems that would violate Nikes code of conduct, which prohibits forced overtime and verbal abuse. Three workers said they faced intense pressure to meet production targets. Two said workers were blamed if they missed their goals. Managers would yell at team leaders when that happened, one of them said; If you cant do it, just go back home, the former worker recalled employees being told. If workers hit their targets, he said, managers set higher ones. If employees refused to work the extra hours needed to get there, two workers said, then managers would tell them their contracts wouldnt be renewed or that they should resign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Y&Ws payroll sheet covers March 2024, when the factorys total employment was down from a previous high of about 4,500 people. The spreadsheet shows that even with bonuses and incentives, more than three-quarters of workers made close to Cambodias minimum wage at most, 15% above it. Workers with seniority earned only a little more. Of the 183 workers whod been at Y&W a decade or longer, more than three-quarters had base pay, bonuses and incentives that put them, at most, 25% ahead of minimum wage. Its hard to know if wages at Y&W are an outlier or emblematic of Nikes Southeast Asia supply chain; comprehensive pay records arent readily available for other factories. But 18 paystubs ProPublica collected at three of Nikes other 25 Cambodian suppliers also show workers at or slightly above the minimum wage. Separately, a 2023 survey by labor advocates found similar results at two factories that supplied Nike. The average pay at Y&W, without overtime but with bonuses and incentives included, is slightly below the $250 to $260 a month that Ken Loo, secretary general of the Textile, Apparel, Footwear and Travel Goods Association in Cambodia, estimated is standard for the industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Loo said wage increases must be balanced against productivity because it will impact our competitiveness with other garment-producing countries. In December 2023, two years after Nike arrived at Y&W, workers said Nike pulled out. They said they were told to destroy any remaining Nike labels, a standard demand to prevent counterfeit or unauthorized products from being created. Hundreds of workers were let go. In early 2024, around the time of the Lunar New Year, workers said, the factory owner left Phnom Penh for what many thought was a new years trip home to China. He didnt return. Factory suppliers began calling in their debts, hauling away hundreds of rented sewing machines. The factory fell silent. Workers slept in front of the factorys locked gates to prevent the buildings from being cleared out. Hundreds marched in the streets, hoping to get the attention of the government and the brands for whom theyd produced. Nike, in its statement, did not explain why it left Y&W. It said its suppliers have an obligation to pay severance, social security or other separation benefits. In the event of any closure or divest, Nike works closely with the supplier to conduct a responsible exit, the statement said. A California-based brand that shipping records show also did business with Y&W before its closure, True Classic, did not respond to written questions. Workers said they never heard from the brands. They said they did hear from the government, which was unhappy about their protests. Labor ministry officials called and told them to stop inciting their co-workers, threatening arrest. In March 2024, Cambodian news reports said the government seized the factorys assets and distributed the proceeds to workers. But workers told ProPublica they received far less than they were owed. The garment workers said they took what they could get. It might be hard to understand how far a dollar stretches in Cambodias economy. The countrys current $208 monthly minimum wage a $4 increase from last year doesnt sound like much to Americans. ProPublica heard from workers about why it isnt enough for Cambodians, either. Two women who worked at Y&W Garment and recently gave birth said they each spend $120 a month on powdered infant formula four cans a month at $30 apiece. Sar Kunthea, 34, who packaged clothing at Y&W, pays $282.70 a month on $12,000 she borrowed to make drainage improvements that would keep out floodwaters, which rose halfway up her homes doors during the rainy season. Vat Vannak, who added metal buttons to clothing, said she typically earned about $250 a month by tacking on two hours at the end of her regular, six-day-a-week 7 a.m.-to-4 p.m. shifts. The overtime pushed her workweek close to 60 hours. Her husband also brings home a paycheck from construction. But their monthly household costs included $109 for a motorbike, $50 for a room near the factory, $60 for food and about $40 for school expenses. She said shed saved nothing. Labor advocates have long pushed brands like Nike to pay whats known as a living wage, calling it a basic human right. Although methods for estimating it vary, a living wage usually includes enough for food, water, housing, education, transportation, health care, energy, clothing, a phone and unforeseen expenses. Nike does not explicitly require its factories to pay a living wage, but it says that every worker has a right to compensation for a regular work week that is sufficient to meet workers basic needs and provide some discretionary income. Nike reports that two-thirds of its key suppliers for which it was able to collect data paid above living wage benchmarks for their countries. Estimates from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance, which represents labor unions based in Asia, put that benchmark for Cambodia at $659 a month. The WageIndicator Foundation, an independent Dutch nonprofit, puts it at $276 to $360 a month. But Nikes preferred estimate is just $232, based on research by the Anker Research Institute, which is part of the Global Living Wage Coalition. Nike has sponsored the institutes work. In a statement, the institutes founders and one member of the wage coalition told ProPublica: Our estimates are always fully independent. Companies have no influence over the methodology or estimates. Regardless of what researchers say, Ngin Nearadei says what she earned at Y&W was not enough. Ngin, 26, worked in quality control and found herself with hefty debt payments because, like other workers, recent flooding required her to raise the floor of her house. How much would she need to earn monthly to forgo overtime? About $400, she said, maybe $500. Thats up to 30% more than what Nike says its contract workforce earns, on average, compared to the minimum wage. Speaking in her home, Ngin disappeared for a moment and returned with two creased paystubs. One, covering roughly two weeks, showed just how much she had to work to get close to what she said she needs. She was scheduled to work 104 hours as part of a regular schedule that runs eight hours a day, Monday through Saturday. On top of that, she added 64 hours of overtime, including eight hours on Sunday, the paystub shows. Her total work time for the period was 168 hours, an average of roughly 11 to 12 hours a day if she worked every day. (Paychecks came twice a month; the exact pay period covered was not printed on Ngins document.) When combined with her other paycheck for the month, she earned $341.65. The workers who make Nikes products have helped Knight, the cofounder, become one of the richest people on earth. Nikes market capitalization was $13 billion in 1998, when Knight delivered his mea culpa about slave wages. Although its stock has been trading far below its 2021 peak, Nike was still worth about $80 billion as of April 21, 2025. The company has been a cash machine. In just its last two fiscal years, Nike has returned $13.9 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends. According to Dennis Arnold, an associate professor of human geography at the University of Amsterdam whos studied the Cambodian garment industry, unless Nike and others choose lower profit margins for the sake of higher pay, little is likely to change for factory workers. Governments like Cambodias fear that raising the minimum wage dramatically will drive away manufacturing, he said, because companies that benefit from Cambodias low wages must also wait longer and pay more to get garments to Western markets due to shipping costs and the countrys poor infrastructure. All said, its not the most appealing place in the world, and the government is not taking much initiative to try to change the situation for the better, Arnold said. So far, no brand has guaranteed its factory workers a living wage, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, a Dutch advocacy group. H&M, the Swedish retailer, was quoted by numerous news outlets in 2013 promising that its top suppliers would pay a fair living wage by 2018. An analysis by the Clean Clothes Campaign in 2019 concluded that the promise was not fulfilled. (H&M did not respond to questions from ProPublica.) Recently, H&M and 11 other brands made a smaller commitment in an agreement with a global labor union, IndustriALL: to guarantee production volumes when Cambodian unions sign bargaining agreements that include higher wages, and to pay for the resulting higher labor costs. Nike is not a signatory. European and U.S. regulators could take measures to increase accountability for wages. Jason Judd, executive director of the Global Labor Institute at Cornell University, said they could require publicly traded companies like Nike to consistently disclose what factory workers earn when producing their goods. H&M currently reports what its foreign suppliers pay workers on a country-by-country basis, for example. Puma did too, until stopping this year. Nike did it once in 2001. Companies have enormous leeway in what they report, Judd said. Its enormously difficult to compare within firms across years. Between firms, impossible. Companies are able to pick and choose how they tell their story. Knight, who did not respond to requests for comment, wrote in his 2016 memoir that the question of wages for Nikes factory workers would always remain. The salary of a Third World factory worker seems impossibly low to Americans, and I understand, wrote Knight, whose net worth Forbes put at $28.5 billion as of April 21. Still, we have to operate within the limits and structures of each country, each economy; we cant simply pay whatever we wish to pay. Knight recounted a story, one thats hard to verify. When Nike tried to raise wages in an unnamed country, we found ourselves called on the carpet, summoned to the office of a top government official and ordered to stop. We were disrupting the nations entire economic system, he said. Its simply not right, he insisted, or feasible, that a shoe worker makes more than a medical doctor. At Y&W Garment, payroll data shows, line workers were nowhere close to making that much. On average, they earned $236.25 a month with incentives. The factory doctor made $581. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Former Nike garment workers say they did not make a living wage LA PAZ, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia and Chile on Saturday signed an agreement to scrap visa and official residency requirements for holders of diplomatic and official passports from the other country. The deal was signed at Viru Viru Airport in Santa Cruz by Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa and Chilean Deputy Foreign Minister Gloria de la Fuente during the launch of Boliviana de Aviacion (BoA) 's first flight to Santiago. Sosa said the agreement reflects the growing trust and mutual respect between the two countries, facilitating diplomatic and consular work and further strengthening bilateral ties. The accord will make travel and residence for diplomats and their families easier between the two countries, a move both sides said will help deepen institutional ties and advance regional integration. "We value Chile's willingness to work together on this agreement," Sosa said, calling the move a step toward broader cooperation that benefits both nations. She emphasized Bolivia's commitment to a foreign policy based on dialogue, regional integration and harmonious bilateral relations. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) The Fort Loramie Rescue Squad had its 50th anniversary this Sunday. The open house event was held on April 27 at the Squad Building, 260 N. Main St. in Fort Loramie, from noon to 3 p.m. Guests were able to learn more about local history by touring the building and meeting members. Multiple people spoke at the event, including a member from the very beginning. There will be a cocktail hour starting at 4 p.m. and then a dinner at 6 p.m. at St. Michael Hall. The squad began in 1974 when two women, Connie Sanders and Betty Rethman, saw a need in their community after funeral homes stopped providing EMS services. Throughout the years, the staff grew, eventually not just being volunteers but having paid members as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today, there are 26 members who cover roughly 100 square miles the Village of Fort Loramie, Turtle Creek, Cynthian and McLean townships. The 26 are EMTs, paramedics and first responders who work 12 to 24-hour on-call shifts. To learn more about Fort Loramie Rescue Squad, 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. DENVER (KDVR) FOX31 was the media sponsor for Future Fest, an event created to help inspire the next generation in the Denver metro and showcase the diverse careers available to them in the future. The event, hosted at Civic Center Park, had representatives from a variety of careers, including: Firefighters Police officers Artists Athletes Journalists Group gets stuck, suspended in air on ride at Elitch Gardens Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those are only a small percentage of the groups that attended Future Fest. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston even attended the event to help inspire the next generation of politicians. You know, we have this great mayors youth works program this summer, where if youre a high school student looking for a summer job, we can help connect you to an employer, you get hired for the summer and well pay you a $500 bonus for working there this summer, said Johnston. Young artists held a contest to design the logo for this years t-shirts, and a group of young entrepreneurs got to perform business pitches to a panel of experts. FOX31 brought out the Pinpoint Weather Beast and showed the next generation what it looks like to be a journalist and meteorologist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LOS ANGELES, Ca. (WSAV) Steven Spielberg proclaimed The Godfather the greatest American film ever made. Robert De Niro teasingly bemoaned being cast in the sequel and not the original and Harrison Ford fought back tears reflecting on his role in the 1974 film, The Conversation. At the center of it all was Francis Ford Coppola, who on Saturday received the AFI Life Achievement Award at a ceremony at Dolby Theatre that brought together legendary stars from a seemingly bygone era of cinema, Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, right, accepts the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award from presenter George Lucas during a gala tribute to Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Actors Al Pacino, left, and Robert De Niro share a laugh onstage during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Actor Harrison Ford addresses the audience during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Filmmaker Spike Lee makes remarks during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Actor Diane Lane makes remarks during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Actor Adam Driver addresses the audience during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Filmmakers Steven Spielberg, left, and George Lucas greet each other onstage during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Filmmaker George Lucas speaks from the stage during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is seen on a video monitor as actors Al Pacino, left, and Robert De Niro talk about his career during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Francis Ford Coppola, second from right, waves to the audience as presenters George Lucas, left, and Steven Spielberg look on during the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute to Coppola on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) A founding AFI trustee, Coppolas recognition from the organization was a kind of full circle moment for the Apocalypse Now director. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When I was a kid there was the Oscars and that was it. Now theyre going to have an award show for the best award show, the 86-year-old said on the red carpet ahead of the show. But this is a little different because its a personal recognition of the people that youve known all your life and your colleagues over many years, so its like a homecoming in a way. You, sir, are peerless. You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film, Spielberg said. Coppola sat between Spielberg and George Lucas, as actors and fellow filmmakers like Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Morgan Freeman took turns gushing over the Oscar winner. Dreamer of dreams on a dime, teller of tales that cost and lost millions. But tonight, (expletive) the bankers and the bank, Freeman said to laughs and cheers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lucas, Coppolas longtime friend and colleague, presented him with the award. The pair have known each other for decades and cofounded their own production company, American Zoetrope, in 1969. You rounded up a bunch of young film students, gathered us together. We moved to San Francisco, hoping to beat the system. And we did. Like the filmmakers from the dawn of the art form, we had no rules. We wrote them, and you were holding the pen, Lucas said. Coppola was mostly stoic throughout the ceremony as Hollywood sang his praises until he accepted the award at the end of the night. He beamed as he approached the stage and thanked the room, which was filled with some of his family members as well as multigenerational A-listers. Now I understand here, this place that created me, my home, isnt really a place at all, but you friends, colleagues, teachers, playmates, family, neighbors, all the beautiful faces are welcoming me back, he said. I am and will always be nothing more than one of you. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Coppola was the 50th recipient of the award first handed out to John Ford in 1973. Guests were served wine from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and after dinner true to his Italian heritage a trio of cannolis. Actors who have worked with Coppola painted a unified picture of him as a director, reminiscing on how they were invited to participate and educated about film in a way that empowered them. Hes very professorial. He talks about history and things and even older movies in the scene hes inspired by, said The Godfather III star Andy Garcia. You go into working with him in a movie, and you go in seeking an associates degree and you would walk out with a masters. Coppola last year released his long-in development Megalopolis, a Roman epic set in a modern New York. The film drew mixed reviews from critics and flopped with audiences. Coppola, though, has maintained he was compelled to make Megalopolis as an artist, not as a businessman. He self-financed the film. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For a year in our culture when the importance of the arts is minimized, and our industry is seemingly out in the open that the only metric to judge a films success is by how much money it makes, I hang on to individuals like Francis for inspiration, who live through their convictions, said Adam Driver, who starred in the film. Last years AFI honoree was Nicole Kidman. Other recent recipients include John Williams, Mel Brooks, Denzel Washington and Julie Andrews. 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 WSAV-TV. From the Dispatch Faith on The Dispatch Hi and happy Sunday. Often, the main elements of this newsletter (to borrow one of Jonah Goldbergs phrases) are off the news, meaning were publishing items that arent necessarily driven by whats going on in a given week. This edition is different. The death of Pope Francis, about whom there is no shortage of opinions, is not just a seminal moment for the worlds 1.4 billion Catholics. The end of a papal era has vast implications for other nations and other religions alike (and of course throughout the entirety of Christendom). Thus, all of todays Dispatch Faith focuses on Francis legacy, what may come next for the Catholic Church, or both. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One housekeeping note: In this edition, Im including a short Q&A with Catholic scholar George Weigel. If youd like to see more items like this in Dispatch Faith (in addition to the customary longform pieces), drop me a line via email, or if youre a member, leave a comment on our site. First up, though, is a helpful essay on where the Catholic Church goes from here, by Clemente Lisi, the editor of Religion Unplugged, a good publication whose work Ive plugged in the newsletter before. Clemente Lisi: After Francis, What Now for the Catholic Church? Pope Francis waves to a crowd in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City in 2013. (Illustration by Noah Hickey. Photos via Getty Images and Unsplash.) With Pope Francis funeral in the rearview mirror, the focus at the Vatican shifts to the forthcoming papal conclave and the process of electing the next pontiff. The Catholic Church is bigger than one single pope, but talk of Francis legacy lingers as the church finds itself at a crossroads. It is also something the next pope will have to contend with. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Francis papacy was marked by a greater focus on politically progressive issues migrants, climate change, and LGBTQ rightsthat fueled much doctrinal confusion in the process. At the same time, Francis upheld traditional beliefs and was in lockstep with his predecessors Saint Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI, holding a firm line when it came to issues such as abortion, the need for evangelization, and helping the poor. From the start, the Holy Father made a strong impression by living simply, electing to reside, for example, in a guesthouse instead of the Apostolic Palace most popes choose. He emphasized his focus on the poor and charitable works, while championing more participation on the part of laypeople. These were all good things for a church seeking to find its place in the 21st century. Nonetheless, I agree with a recent opinion by Philadelphias Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput (who should have been made a cardinal by Francis) that an interregnum between papacies is a time for candor. That candor includes highlighting what Francis did badly and what the next pope can do to make the church a much stronger force for good around the world, while also maintaining its centuries-old traditions and values. Pope Francis was wrongly painted a communist by many on the political right in the United States and his native Argentina, but that doesnt mean his often autocratic style didnt alienate conservative Catholics. Yes, Francis was a pope of firststhe first from Latin America, the first Jesuit, and the first to take the name Francisbut his disruptive style had its limitations. Francis era was one marked by too many news alerts proclaiming that some church teaching had been changed, only to discover very little had. It resulted in glowing mainstream press coverage and frustration for so many of us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An example of this occurred in December 2023 when the pope approved allowing Catholic clergy to bless same-sex couplesissuing a document detailing the change in the Vaticans policyas long as it doesnt resemble a marriage ceremony. In the days and weeks that followed, amid much pushback, the Vatican was forced to clarify the decision. What it all means for the daily life of Catholics is less understood even all this time later. So what now for the next leader of the worlds 1.4 billion Catholics? A lot will depend on whether the College of Cardinals elects a pope who is progressive, in the same vein as Francis, or a return to the traditional, like John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Theres no way to know how this secret process will play out. Francis named 108 of the 135 cardinals who will decide the next popea supermajoritybut whether that has any influence on the outcome remains to be seen. The Overton window, when it comes to church doctrine, may have shifted some, but that doesnt mean the next pontiff cant show that he is a leader for all Catholics. Banning things such as the Latin Mass at a time when more younger people in the West are hungry for tradition and liturgy in this ever more secular and digital world hurt Francis overall effectiveness. Its a fine line, but the next pope can be both progressive and still hold on to tradition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One way to do so is to avoid Francis doctrinal ambiguity (he was a Jesuit, after all) on a variety of issues that didnt serve his 12-year papacy well. Jesuits, whose religious order was founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, have developed a more liberal or progressive viewpoint on a variety of topics over the centuries. Francis came to embody this very spirit. While the popes proclamations featured a series of well-meaning gestures (coupled with what appeared to be policies akin to a liberal Protestant church), the Catholic Churchs role is primarily to ignore the headlines of today. Instead, the church needs to focus on its primary missionpromoting faith and guiding believers towards spiritual salvation. In greater depth, here are the five areas the next pope will need to focus on: Ideological divisions. As mentioned, the church has not been immune to the culture wars, experiencing deep internal divisions in an ever-polarizing world. The upcoming conclave to elect a new pope will be pivotal in determining which vision prevails, with potential candidates such as Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippinesdubbed the Asian Francisviewed as someone who could continue in a progressive direction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Francis never fully addressed some of the progressive factionsmost notably in Germany over the issue of same-sex blessingswho thumbed their noses at doctrine. Even when the Vatican did address the issue in early 2023, German bishops said they would defy Rome. The issue became moot after the Vatican said such unions could be blessed, albeit with a series of caveats. At the same time, Pope Francis was not a theological giant. It was tough to be in the shadows of such notables as John Paul II and Benedict. But he could have surrounded himself with someone with doctrinal heft. Instead, he named Victor Manuel Fernandez to head the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The cardinal fueled ambiguity with the announcement that priests could bless same-sex unions, something that included a carveout after it was poorly received by African bishops. The next pope should replace Fernandez with someone like Benedict. Clergy sexual abuse. Long a plague on the church, this needs to be addressed by the new pope from the start. Critics have argued that Francis response to the crisis was insufficient, particularly in holding bishops accountable and ensuring greater transparency. Survivor groups have called for more action and systemic change to protect vulnerable children, seminarians, and nunswho all have been the target of abusive clergymenin order to restore greater trust in the church. Oddly, Francis was a defender of Marko Rupnik, a Jesuit priest from Slovenia. The Jesuits expelled Rupnik from their order in 2023 after more than two dozen women came forward to say he had sexually and psychologically abused them. Nonetheless, Rupnik, also an artist whose mosaics decorate many churches around the world, remains a priest after the order was overruled by the Vatican as it sought its own probe. The next pope needs to make it a point to move quickly and make a decision regarding Rupniks future. Demographic shifts and global growth. While Christianity is declining in the West (despite some recent data revealing a growing interest by men and Generation Z), it is rapidly growing across the global South, particularly in Africa and parts of Asia. This rapid growth has occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, which today is home to about 171 million Catholicsup from an estimated 1 million in 1910, according to Pew Research Center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This demographic shift presents challenges for the churchs governance, as the Vaticans leadership remains predominantly European. Francis was Argentine (the son of Italian immigrants to the South American nation), but he essentially functioned as a European despite his outreach to the peripheries. He was in agreement with many European bishops who also favored a progressive stance. He made it a point to elevate such bishops to cardinals, while ignoring men like Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, a conservative who sparred with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A new pope from the global South could alter the churchs dynamics. Wherever the pope hails from, a new global strategy will be needed beyond the usual papal trips. Ensuring long-term financial sustainability. Its easy to forget that the pope is also the head of a small state. As leader of the Holy See, the next pope will face the financial pressures that come with running the Roman curia, the Vaticans governing body, and a worldwide church. A decline in donations and rising costs in recent years havent helped. The Vaticans financial situation has been in peril for some time. In 2023, the Holy Sees annual operating deficit reportedly grew to more than $90 million. The Vatican doesnt provide figures regarding its finances to the public. The Central Intelligence Agencys World Factbook estimated, for example, that its revenues and expenditures in 2013 had reached $315 million and $348 million, respectively. The Francis era included several high-profile financial scandals. A new pontiff will need to explore new ways to raise money, while making sure the bloated Vatican bureaucracy and corruption can be tamed. Interfaith dialogue and Christian persecution. Francis had taken steps in interfaith dialogue, and the next pope will need to do the same without watering down doctrine. It wont be an easy task, but a necessary one. So many Christians around the world are being persecuted as minorities. The pope will need to be an advocate for them, while helping to bridge divisions with other faiths. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Part of this interfaith dialogue involves the popes role as diplomat. It seemed as if the churchs role in international relations had somewhat weakened in recent years. Although the pope is considered a man of great influence, Francis papacy has also coincided with the rise of both secularism and populism. That placed the Vatican in unfamiliar positions on some issues, like finding itself aligned with left-wing parties in Italy. There are plenty of conflicts around the world for the next pontiff to get involved in. The ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and the terrorist group Hamas are just two major ones that warrant attention. Being pope is both complex and demanding. The next man to lead the Catholic Church will need to find the right balance between the spiritual, diplomatic, and administrative. Its now up to the College of Cardinals to elect a new pope. Its a decision guided by the Holy Spirit, not simply ambition or politics. Its also a decision that will determine the future direction of the church and global Christianity. The time seems ripe to embark on a new era. Patrick Gilger: How to Remember Pope Francis (Illustration by Noah Hickey/photos of Pope Francis via Getty Images) Pope Francis legacy likely will not be an easy one to sum up succinctly, and only with time (and perspective) will it fully take shape. Patrick Gilgera Catholic priest, professor, and, like Francis, a Jesuitwrites for our website today that how Catholics approach the act of remembering Francis will matter. To grasp the papacy of Pope Francis we need not just an analytic but a discerning attention. Put differently: I am distrustful of answers that step outside of time, that step away from the site of illumination. Instead I want a discerning answer because, like memory, it is old. Or, more accurately, it is traditional. It remains part of a conversation that is still going on, an argument that is happening now. This kind of answer is hard to come by because, as 19th century theologian St. John Henry Newman wrote in An Essay On Development Of Christian Doctrine, it takes time for a real idea to reveal itself as itself in history. Contrary to our expectations, Newman argued that a great idea is not clearest near the spring [but] purer, and stronger, when its bed has become deep, and broad, and full. Like rocks in a tumbler, the most real of our ideas are only burnished by the sacred weapon of time. We human beings tumble our greatest ideas about inside of traditions. As Alasdair MacIntyre has taught us in After Virtue, what we call a tradition is an historically extended, socially embodied argument about the goods which constitute that tradition. Living traditions, then, are ongoing conversations that take place over a long time. So what about the memories of Pope Francis? Gilger continues: The contribution that the papacy of Francis has made to these questionsthe questions that for centuries have dominated the conversation that is the Catholic traditionhas been less an attempt to resolve them than to embody a practical hope: that the entire church might become a subject capable of being guided by the Holy Spirit. That it might become more and more fully the body of Christ that it already is. I admit that there are many times when I am myself less hopeful than Francis was. I remember not only when I have been sensitive to the word God is speaking through the life of another, but also the other times when I have been insensate and self-centered. I remember how much it costs to be a good priest. Just as it costs much to be a good father, a good wife, a good friend. What I will remember most about the papacy of Francis is how often he himself remembered not how hard such sensitivity can be, but how good it is. That is why, I think, he was less afraid than I often am. Pope Francis believed in timewhich, as he often and cryptically said, is greater than space. He believed in taking time to listen and to remember. This would allow us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results, to endure difficult and adverse situations, and accept the tension between fullness and limitation. Read the whole thing. Quick Questions Earlier this week at First Things, Catholic studies scholar with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Pope John Paul II biographer George Weigel published a retrospective on Pope Francis legacy. I reached out to Weigel, who had several private audiences with Francis over the years, about his thoughts on where the Catholic Church goes from here. Our exchange is below, with my questions in bold. Years from now, what do you think Francis best contribution to the Catholic Church will have been? Thats not an easy question to answer, as it often takes decades, even centuries, for the Church to digest a pontificate and assess its impact. To take one example: the full impact of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), who in many ways created the modern papacy, is still being debated. One thing that can be said for sure of Francis is that the election of a Latin American and a Jesuit further broadened future fields of papal candidates, as had the elections of a Pole (John Paul II) and a Bavarian (Benedict XVI). Francis will also be remembered for his evident concern for the poor and the marginalized. What is less certain is whether he understood why the poor are poor, and what might be done about that. Likewise, what will have been the biggest weakness? Francis was deeply influenced by his Jesuit experience, in which the superior is a virtual autocrat. So the Francis papacy was the most autocratic in centuries. Yet despite that tendency to autocracy, Francis didnt really fix the Vaticans financial problems, which are severe, and he didnt deal vigorously with several grave sexual abuse cases. His fondness for interviews turned the pope into a kind of oracle, which actually diminishes the moral authority of the papacy: No pope has any special insight into issues like climate change or the resettlement of migrants. In fact, one veteran and very Catholic European diplomat told me in 2017 that the popes absolutism on the problem of migrantswhich amounted to a call for open borderswas shrinking the space in which a reasonable political solution to the undoubted problem of mass migration could be found. What do you see as the most important or perhaps most immediate issue for the next pope to address and why? The immediate evangelical need is for the next pope to radiate a sense of Christian confidence and joy. The immediate theological need is for the next pope to explain to the Church and the world that moral truth and mercy are not in conflict, despite the misimpressions sometimes created by the pontificate that has now ended. The immediate institutional need is for the next pope to restore an orderly pattern of governance, including serious financial reform, after 12 years of autocracy and dithering about Vatican finances. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this week, you wrote, Christian communities whose self-identity becomes incoherent, whose boundaries become porous, and who mirror the culture rather than trying to convert it, wither and die. Is this how youd describe the Catholic Church presently? And what was Pope Francis effect on such a dynamic? Francis didnt create that problem, but he didnt grasp it (at least in my experience of conversation with him), and therefore he didnt address it vigorously enough. And this was a real problem, because that doctrinal and moral ambiguity and incoherence are destroying Catholicism in Germany, Belgium, and elsewhere in Western Europe. Why is that happening in these historic centers of Catholic faith? Because no one is interested in the Church of Maybe. The living, vibrant, attractive parts of the Catholic Church throughout the worldin the U.S., for example, but above all in sub-Saharan Africa, which is Catholicisms growth center right nowhave embraced Catholicism-in-full as an alternative to the nihilism and moral confusions of so much of contemporary Western culture. Its impossible to predict the vote of the College of Cardinals during the upcoming papal conclave. But in broad terms, do you anticipate cardinals moving in a direction more in line with their vote to elect Francis in 2013, or perhaps more in line with the vote to elect Benedict XVI in 2005? This is the most diverse electorate in papal history. The cardinals really dont know one another, so it is very hard indeed to predict how the cardinal-electors will decide on the next pope. Before the conclave of 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina, who became Pope Francis, was promoted as a tough-minded reformer who would straighten out the Vatican bureaucratic and financial mess while continuing the dynamic orthodoxy of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Neither of those expectations were met. That will be one factor in shaping the conclaves decision. Another will be, as I indicated above, a desire to return to a more stable pattern of Church governance. Would you consider the election of another pope from outside Europe to be a good thing? I dont think nationality counts for very much anymore in papal elections, with the possible exception of the difficulty that some Europeans and Latin Americans might have in imagining a black African pope. What countsor should countis the vibrancy of a mans faith and his capacity to govern. And you can find that in many, many parts of the world church. More Sunday Reads In case you missed it, on our site earlier this week, longtime Vatican correspondent Francis Rocca penned our initial obituary of Pope Francis. While the late pope was an electrifying leader, he was also a polarizing one and left his church more divided than he found itboth ideologically and geographically. In his efforts to forge a more welcoming church, he stirred up controversies that pitted African conservatives against Western liberals, laypeople against the hierarchy, and Catholics who emphasize doctrine on personal morality against those who prioritize social justice. His overtures to Beijing and Moscow alienated members of his own flock in China and Eastern Europe, respectively. To be sure, a worldwide organization with more than 1.4 billion members spanning vastly different cultures and traditions will inevitably harbor tensions, especially in an era of rapid global change. The late pope inherited divisions between conservatives and progressives that had been deepening since the 1960s, when the reforms following the Second Vatican Council and the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, which forbade contraception, sparked enduring conflicts over authority, morality, and church governance. And Dispatch contributor Scott Salvato wrote an explainer on the College of Cardinals, the group of men (135 are eligible to vote) who will now select the next pope. The College of Cardinals traces its origins to the early centuries of the Catholic Church in Rome, evolving into its current form under Pope Nicholas II in 1059. Initially serving as key advisers to the pope, the cardinals role expanded significantly as the papacy sought to consolidate its authority and regulate administration of the Catholic Church. Cardinals became the primary electors of the pope, ensuring continuity and ecclesiastical autonomy from secular rulers who often sought to influence and control the great authority of the church for their own ends. The red color of cardinals vestments symbolizes their willingness to defend the faith even to the point of shedding their blood as martyrs. The collective influence of the cardinals shapes Catholic doctrine, global church policy, and diplomacywhich often positions them as intermediaries between the Vatican, national governments, and other large national and international institutions. In modern times, popes have sought to internationalize the College of Cardinals, appointing more cardinals from regions in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. There are currently 17 cardinals from the United States. While their spiritual authority is considerable, their authority and influence within the church fluctuates depending on the reigning pontiff and the particular responsibilities of each cardinal. Ultimately, the role of a cardinal embodies both the sacred and administrative dimensions of church governance. The role reflects a delicate balance between faith, tradition, contemporary issues, politics, finance, and the practical issues of administering a global church of 1.4 billion Catholics. Religion In An Image Cardinal Kevin Farrell presides in St. Peters Basilica Friday at the Rite of Sealing of the Coffin of the late Pope Francis, ahead of the papal funeral on Saturday morning in Vatican City. (Photo by Simone RisolutiVatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images) Read more at The Dispatch The Dispatch is a new digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary, informed by conservative principles. Sign up for free. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced something in a memo Friday that could set back investigative journalism in a desperate time. Did you miss it? Journalists can once again be forced to provide records and compelling testimony in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks. Lets take a moment to unpack this and understand what it means both for members of the news media and for people who want to release private information to journalists, aka whistleblowers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bondi, in Trumplike fashion, is removing a Biden administration policy (the memo refers to them as elitist leaders in government) that shielded journalists in investigations when information is leaked to the media. The new policy permits authorities to again employ subpoenas and compulsory testimony from journalists participating in leak investigations to identify sources. A memo to Justice Department employees was obtained by NPR and other media Friday. In the memo, Bondi writes federal government employees intentionally leaking sensitive information to the media undermines the ability of the Department of Justice to uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe. This conduct is illegal and wrong, and it must stop. What must stop? Journalists doing due diligence to uncover wrongdoing at the highest levels? I find it humorous that paragraphs later in Bondis memo, she writes, Without question, it is a bedrock principle that a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy. The Department of Justice will defend that principle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She then goes on to say that certain members of the news media today are becoming less independent (Fox News, anyone?) and that the investigative measures on newsgathering would be an extraordinary measure to be deployed as a last resort when essential to a successful investigation or prosecution. Extraordinary measure? Last resort? Right. Lets be clear. This is about an administration that, like most, doesnt want people to know when it does wrong and is, unlike most, prepared to retaliate against anyone who exposes them. If nothing else, this policy change sends a chilling message both to sources willing to come forward in an effort to right wrongs, and journalists telling the truth. History of leaks As a former college professor, I taught lower and upper-level students the importance of media ethics and I always included examples of journalists who faced the justice system. To be sure, journalists have long known the risks of going against administrations and many have gone to jail or been fined for doing so. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Protecting sources is critical to build a sense of trust and for whistleblowers to come forward. Forty-nine states and Washington, D.C., have established legal protections, either through statutes or court decisions, that shield journalists from being compelled to disclose confidential sources or the information they provide. But there is no federal shield law. Federal courts hold differing interpretations regarding a First Amendment-based reporters privilege. Journalists involved in federal legal proceedings can be legally obligated to reveal their sources or face fines or jail time. When the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden changed the policy of obtaining reporters records during leak investigations in 2021, it reversed a practice news and press freedom organizations had condemned for years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Biden at the time said it was simply, simply wrong to seize journalists records and that he would not permit the Justice Department to continue the practice. Famous historic examples include Daniel Ellsberg leaking the Pentagon Papers about the real reason the United States was in Vietnam, and the Watergate scandal first published by The Washington Post that ultimately took down President Richard Nixons administration. Ellsberg always said he expected to be convicted for the leaks, but went ahead anyway because of a strong ethical moral code. Somewhat surprisingly, the legal case against him was dropped. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had to use anonymous sources and leaks to get the story about the famous break-in and the questionable use of campaign finances, among other improprieties in Nixons office. More recent examples of a failure to protect secretive information that could have led to the current DOJ policy change include scandals surrounding the Department of Defense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement National security adviser Michael Waltz mistakenly included a journalist in a Signal group text where plans to strike the Houthis were being discussed by high-ranking officials. Similarly, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also faced scrutiny regarding his use of Signal, including a separate chat involving his wife and brother. Its important to note that this isnt about national security. The media historically have been responsible for not releasing information that could hurt our country. Remember, The Atlantics editor Jeffrey Goldberg published details of the Signal chat (after the Houthi strike, in fact) only after government officials mischaracterized the info contained in the chat. The attorney generals memo highlighted instances of leaks during the Trump administration. These included the disclosure of classified intelligence assessments concerning the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the news of Dan Caldwell, an adviser to Hegseth, being placed on leave. Why we have to do it I cant top this explanation from Ellsberg on why people in top positions leak secrets. He was a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation and a consultant to the Defense Department and the White House in the 1970s, specializing in problems of the command and control of nuclear weapons, nuclear war plans and crisis decision-making. He died in 2023. He said: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the work we did, you could not have the confidence of powerful men and be trusted with their confidences if there was any prospect that you would challenge their policies in public in any forum at all. That was the unbreakable rule of the executive branch. It was the sacred code of the insider, both the men of power and those, like me, privileged to advise and help them. I knew that as well as anyone because I had lived by that code for the last decade; it was in my skin. Yet I was, it seems, in the process of shedding that skin. Lying to the public, about anything, but above all on issues of life and death, war and peace, was a serious matter. It wasnt something you could shift responsibility for. I decided I wasnt going to do it anymore. In class, I always told my students that the Watergate coverage never would have happened without Ellsbergs courage in leaking the Pentagon Papers the year before. Who knows where our country would be today without those two examples of journalism? Opinion editor Yvette Walker has taught media ethics at two universities and was the Edith Kinney Gaylord Endowed Chair for Journalism Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma. She was a past national board member of the Society of Professional Journalists. LA GRAND COMBE, France (AP) A man suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in the south of France was still on the run Sunday, authorities said, in an attack described by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou as Islamophobic. Both men were alone in the mosque in the former mining town of La Grand Combe on Friday when the victim was fatally stabbed. The assailant recorded the attack on his phone, and security camera footage showed him shouting insults at Allah, which means God in Arabic, local media said. Local prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini said Sunday that investigators are taking into account the possibility that this was an Islamophobic act. Its the one were working on first, but its not the only one, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France, French President Emmanuel Macron said. Religious freedom is inviolable. Grini said images of the stabbing he watched as part of the investigation were horrifying and that police forces were working non-stop to try and arrest the suspect, with 70 investigators deployed. Were being particularly vigilant to make sure he doesnt claim any more victims, Grini said. He added that the suspect is a man born in France in 2004, who lived in the area and did not have a criminal record. The Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack in a statement and said the victim, a young man identified only as Aboubakar in French media, had just finished cleaning the mosque when he was killed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It called on authorities to quickly shed light on the reasons behind the attack, asking judicial authorities to say whether it is being treated as a terrorist act and to note its scale and seriousness ... for the safety of all." Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin called the stabbing a despicable murder that wounds the hearts of all believers, of all Muslims in France. Bayrou also denounced an act of Islamophobic ignominy displayed on video. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims family and the shocked worshippers, he said. The resources of the state are being mobilised to ensure that the murderer is caught and punished. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The SOS Racisme campaign group joined the calls for more clarity in the investigation and took part in a march organized later Sunday at La Grand Combe in support of the victim. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau traveled to the nearby town of Ales to meet with local Muslim faith officials and pledged to stop the suspect. "Of course, the possibility of an anti-Muslim act is not at all neglected, quite the contrary," he said. It is out of the question to tolerate this kind of act in this hyper-violent society. In Paris, a rally against Islamophobia and in tribute to the victim was held at the Place de la Republique. The French Navy escorted a boat carrying 50 migrants across the Channel on Sunday morning. The vessel was shadowed by a French warship through dangerous conditions before a British Border Force craft intercepted and took it to Dover. Dozens of men packed on the boat as it left France, one of several to make the crossing in the busiest shipping lane in the world. One fisherman described the conditions as appalling. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There was zero visibility out there. The boat with migrants on board was very low and dangerous, he said. Conditions were appalling. The French Navy escorted it across the Channel and then a Border Force boat took it to Dover. A French warship escorted the migrant boat before a British vessel took it to Dover - Steve Finn The news comes as the number of migrants to cross the Channel this year reached 9,600. More arrivals were recorded in January to April than in the equivalent four-month period in any year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, of losing control of our borders. Starmers claims to smash the gangs lie in tatters, he said in mid April. Having cancelled the Rwanda deterrent before it started and with no replacement, Starmers only plan for border protection is to pray for bad weather. Migrant boats making the crossing often do so in treacherous conditions - Steven Finn A Home Office spokesman said it was intensifying collaboration with France and other countries over tackling people smuggling gangs business models, and introducing tougher enforcement powers under new legislation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security, he said. Thats why this Government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats. 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. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has condemned the fatal stabbing of a Muslim worshipper at a mosque in southern France, as police continue to search for the perpetrator. Bayrou described the attack as an "Islamophobic disgrace" in a post on X late on Saturday. "We stand with the victim's loved ones and with the shocked believers," he wrote, emphasizing that authorities are doing everything in their power to find and punish the perpetrator. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A French man in his 20s is said to have stabbed a worshipper in the mosque in La Grand-Combe, north of Montpellier, several times on Friday morning. He then filmed the victim with his mobile phone, Le Parisien newspaper reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation. During the attack, the man reportedly shouted insults against Allah. Surveillance cameras at the mosque filmed the attack. At the time, the victim and the perpetrator were alone in the building, and it was not until mid-morning that other visitors to the prayer hall found the body. The search for a motive continues after a man killed a Muslim worshipper in a mosque in the south of France, with the public prosecutor's office considering whether the motive for the attack was Islamophobia. Police continue to search for the perpetrator, said to be a French man in his 20s who stabbed the young worshipper in the mosque in La Grand-Combe, north of Montpellier, up to 50 times on Friday morning. He then filmed the victim with his mobile phone, Le Parisien newspaper reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the attack, the man reportedly shouted insults against Allah. Surveillance cameras at the mosque filmed the attack. At the time, the victim and the perpetrator were alone in the building, and it was not until mid-morning that other visitors to the prayer hall found the body. The suspect is still on the run. In terms of his motive, all hypotheses are being considered, including a "racist and Islamophobic" motive, said public prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini, according to French media reports. The public prosecutor said the priority was to catch the alleged perpetrator as quickly as possible, Le Monde newspaper reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect is considered to be potentially extremely dangerous, as he made confused statements on his video indicating his intention to act again. "Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on Sunday. Earlier, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou condemned the attack, calling it an "Islamophobic disgrace" in a post on X late on Saturday. "We stand with the victim's loved ones and with the shocked believers," he wrote, emphasizing that authorities are doing everything in their power to find and punish the perpetrator. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote of an "unspeakable act in a sacred religious building." PARIS (Reuters) -French politicians on Sunday condemned an attack in which a man was stabbed to death while praying at a mosque in southern France, an incident that was captured on video and disseminated on Snapchat. President Emmanuel Macron offered his support to the man's family and to the French Muslim community, writing in a post on X: "Racism and religiously motivated hatred will never belong in France." Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Sunday visited the town of Ales where Friday's attack took place and met with religious leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said the suspect, who was still at large, had made anti-Muslim comments and had said he wanted to kill others. "So there is a fascination with violence," Retailleau told French broadcaster BFM TV. The town's prosecutor told reporters on Sunday the suspect had been identified. The suspect's brother had been questioned by investigators on Saturday. A march to commemorate the victim took place in the nearby town of La Grand-Combe, on Sunday afternoon and a demonstration against Islamophobia was expected in Paris in the evening. France, a country that prides itself on its homegrown secularism known as "laicite," has the largest Muslim population in Europe, numbering more than 6 million and making up around 10% of the country's population. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But politicians across the political spectrum, including Macron, have attacked what they described as Islamist separatism and radical Islam, in a way that rights and Muslim groups have said could make it harder for Muslims to express their identity. The French Council of the Muslim Faith on Sunday urged authorities to launch a national plan to protect Muslim places of worship. (Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by David Holmes and Ros Russell) TRIPOLI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Foreign Ministry on Sunday offered condolences for the casualties caused by a major explosion at an Iranian port. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the State of Libya expresses sincere condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the explosion that hit the port of the city of Bandar Abbas, which killed and injured a number of people," the ministry said in a statement. "As the Ministry offers condolences to the families of the victims, it expresses the solidarity of the State of Libya with the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this painful tragedy and wishes speedy recovery for the injured," the statement added. At least 28 people were killed and 800 others injured in a large explosion at a port on Saturday in Iran's southern Hormozgan province, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported. The explosion occurred at the Port of Shahid Rajaee in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, prompting the immediate dispatch of rescue teams to the scene and the suspension of all port activities, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The exact cause of the incident has yet to be determined, IRNA said. Apr. 27Ten days before federal agents raided Fuyao Glass America on July 26, 2024, an untold number of employees not authorized to work in the U.S. stopped coming to work, federal court documents allege. Hours after the raid, Fuyao executives gave security guards a list of roughly 100 new workers to be let in the following morning according to a group text chain among Fuyao security guards shared with the Dayton Daily News by a previous employee. The federal investigation is focused on a network of companies referred to in court filings as E-Z Iron Works Money Laundering Organization that Fuyao allegedly paid $126 million. Fuyao has not been named as a focus of the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Working at a guard shack at Fuyao through the contracted security company GardaWorld, Tim Davis had a first-hand view of what federal agents allege was a massive human smuggling and money laundering operation. "I would count about two of the big white ... vans the extended cab that held on average 12 to 15 people, and about three of the silver ones every shift, on first and second," Davis said in an interview with the Dayton Daily News. These vans were largely full of foreign workers, he said. Often one person would swipe a badge and let a number of other people through the gates something strictly forbidden for the American workers. "Usually it was like one person with a badge for like 12 people," Davis said, noting the workers showed up in the system as working for E-Z Iron Works. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly before the raid, "There was a lot less traffic coming in on South Gate," Davis said. This jives with allegations in a related civil case filed by federal attorneys. "FUYAO records indicate that a significant number of Workers employed through E-Z Iron (money laundering) entities and who had worked a significant number of hours in the months prior to the execution of the search warrant failed to report after July 16, 2024," the filing says. "Of the workers who failed to report after July 16, 2024, law enforcement was unable to identify any who had legal status and/or were authorized to work legally in the United States." Davis shared with the Dayton Daily News a group chat among Fuyao security guards the day of the raid. Those records show guards received a message from their supervisor hours after the raid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Wanted to let you guys know Andrew ma (sic) called me, he is gonna bring a list of around 50 people to the East gate tonight before he leaves, the people on this list will show up tomorrow morning probably around 8 am up at East gate, have them simply show you their name on the paper if their names is on the paper they can be let in," the message said. Then, another message an hour later: "Update, the list is now around 100 people." Andrew Ma, the manager of the company's Moraine plant, did not return a call seeking comment from the Dayton Daily News. A Fuyao Glass America spokeswoman responded to a list of emailed questions with a statement: "FGA has consistently aimed to comply fully with the law and has been actively cooperating with law enforcement authorities. As the investigation remains ongoing, it would be inappropriate for the Company to make any public comments at this time." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 'A red flag' Davis said the 100 or so employees who started the day after the raid likewise showed up in large vans, some appearing to be driven by the same people. Davis got suspicious when he noticed the names on the list provided by Ma appeared Chinese. He says he made a copy of the list of names and offered it to Homeland Security. "When I looked at that list I just thought it was odd that, hey how did we get 100 Chinese born people the same day? It takes time to get visas, and it just threw up a red flag," Davis said. He looked up their names in Fuyao's employment system that guards have access to, he said, and they were listed as working for another employment agency he had never heard of and couldn't find in Google. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's showing that they were in the system for years and their badges were set to expire in January 2025 ... every single one of them had the same start and end date, and the end date was preprogrammed in," he said. To this day, security guards say while most employees are strictly required to use a badge to access the plant, a large number show up in windowless vans and guards are told to let them through without asking for identification. Employer responsibility The Dayton Daily News interviewed local employment professionals about what a company's responsibility is to make sure workers are legally able to work when dealing with a staffing company. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tom Maher, who spent more than 40 years in the staffing business locally, said a customer who is being staffed has a shared liability in most cases with a supplier of temporary employees, an employee placement firm, when it comes to the placement of undocumented workers. "In my experience, we had a few large clients/customers who requested (and were granted) access to our records for compliance auditing purposes," Maher said. "Our practice was to have our employee grant permission for us to share their I-9 and E-Verify documents. The sharing would not be legal otherwise." The I-9 is a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employment eligibility verification form. Companies might be wary of turning to the services of a new or relatively unknown placement firm, Maher said. Or dealing with a firm that is reluctant to share information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Doug Barry, chief executive of BarryStaff, said staffing companies should be willing to share references and point prospective clients to previous customers. "It's really hard to see on the surface where a staffing company would be, I guess you want to call it, cheating the system," Barry said. "It's definitely pertinent to ask for references and actually follow up on them," he added. Other questions Barry suggested asking an employee placement firm: Is a staffing company registered with a local chamber of commerce and the Better Business Bureau? Is it a member of a national trade organization? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barry's father, Warren, launched BarryStaff, which Doug Barry took over in 1998 at the age of 26. Today, his oldest son, Drew, is involved with the business. Barry said he is selective about the businesses with whom he works. "If someone doesn't want to come out to meet in person, they're generally trying to hide something. You can garner a lot from a face-to-face conversation with someone." "There are some bucks that aren't worth making because it's your name on the side of the building," he said. "We've seen them come and go over the years, that's for sure," Barry added of employee placement firms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigation spanned years The federal investigation of staffing practices at Fuyao started years before the 2024 raid, according to federal court filings. The investigated started around December 2019 months before E-Z Iron Works partnered with Fuyao upon learning that multiple Chinese business owners had relocated to southern Ohio and created dozens of entities "that facilitate the harboring, transportation, and employment of illegal aliens at various factories, and have developed a sophisticated Money Laundering Organization," civil case court records allege. In the following years, investigators would surveil boarding house-type properties where the government said workers lived, and stop vans driving to and from Fuyao. Court records describe how one group of 11 workers walked from a small Moraine home to the Fuyao plant in time for the start of a morning shift. Neighbors of these properties had their own concerns. Police responded to some of the properties "owned by the E-Z Iron MLO (Money Laundering Operation) for a variety of reasons, which included a lack of working water, sewage smells, threats against other residents, and the report of an assault." The filing describes two traffic stops, in May and July last year. In the May traffic stop, there were two Guatemalan nationals in the vehicle, according to the filing. Both workers acknowledged they worked at Fuyao. One individual had a Fuyao contractor orientation card identifying the bearer as working for "E-Z Team" with an issue date of Aug. 26, 2022. Law enforcement confirmed that these two individuals were not lawfully present in the United States and did not have authorization to work here, the court document states. Then, on July 15, 2024, law enforcement conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle, finding 12 occupants, including a driver. The occupants indicated they were headed to work at the "glass factory." Of the 12, ten individuals had pending claims for asylum. Three individuals reported having crossed the United States-Mexico border on foot, according to the filing. In another traffic stop, on Jan. 19, 2023, law enforcement stopped a Chevrolet Express van after it left Fuyao, court records say. During the stop, law enforcement allegedly encountered "24 passengers and one driver in the vehicle; these occupants were Chinese, Mexican, and Guatemalan nationals." Further traffic stops are described, each time featuring encounters with Fuyao employees or at least workers with Fuyao badges or Fuyao contractor orientation cards. State oversight The state of Ohio has not yet taken steps to assess Fuyao's employment as part of economic development grants. In the spring of 2023, JobsOhio made available a $5 million development grant for Fuyao, on the condition that the company create 500 new jobs, protect 1,589 existing jobs, invest $300 million in capital expenditures, and create $26 million in new jobs payroll. JobsOhio has not disbursed any of the funds to Fuyao, a spokesman for JobsOhio said. "JobsOhio will evaluate the company's grant compliance when and if a reimbursement request is submitted," a JobsOhio spokesman, Matt Englehart, said in response to questions about whether the state has tracked Fuyao's employment. "All companies we work with that have an active agreement to commit jobs and investment must provide annual reports of their progress until the agreement term ends," Englehart said. "This means a company must create, and then maintain, its metric commitments through the term of an agreement to receive the full incentive." He added: "We do not comment on companies' ongoing project activity on a case-by-case basis." He referred questions about Fuyao's overall agreements with state government to the Ohio Department of Development. He also said a company's reports to JobsOhio are not open to public review. Criminal probe No criminal charges have been filed against anyone since the raid. Details from the criminal investigation are included in a civil filing seeking forfeiture of property federal prosecutors say was involved in the operation. That includes a dozen properties in the Dayton area, two properties outside of Ohio, 15 vehicles and bank accounts associated with seven businesses. Among the objects the government seeks to control: A 50-caliber MH Defense rifle, priced new today at about $5,000, and several luxury wristwatches including a Horloger de la Marine watch allegedly purchased for $138,450. Among the businesses accused of being associated with the criminal enterprise is One Stop Machinery Solutions Inc. in Miamisburg, which did not respond to messages seeking comment. One Stop's website lists among its major completed projects helping construct a Fuyao factory and coating warehouse. The federal civil filing notes Jianguo "Jason" Zheng is statutory agent for One Stop Machinery as well as other businesses they allege are related to the money-laundering organization. This includes Taste of the World, a Chinese restaurant opened on the Fuyao campus with considerable investment from Fuyao's corporate chairman; and Lienchiang Real Estate LLC, which owns properties in the Dayton area. "Jianguo Zheng is a member of the E-Z Iron (money laundering organization) and intertwined in its illicit operations and criminal activity," the federal civil filing says. One owner of a Dayton business and property implicated in federal court records has filed a response to the federal civil complaint alleging their home and property were not involved in criminal activity. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security also declined to comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern district of Ohio would not comment on the investigation. Asked if there have been any immigration enforcement actions related to either the civil or criminal cases such as deportation proceedings or visa revocation proceedings she said there are no public filings. In an April 14 statement, the U.S. Attorney's Office alleged that many of the workers were illegally smuggled into the United States, primarily through Mexico, and encouraged to travel to the Dayton area to serve as a workforce at various factories including Fuyao. "We will continue to investigate allegations of unfair labor practices," said ICE HSI Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey. "Collaboration across multiple law enforcement agencies helps to ensure accountability for both employers and the workforce." Loading... (COLORADO SPRINGS) Angels of Americas Fallen, a nonprofit based in Colorado Springs, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday, April 26. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Annual Angel Gala to celebrate 10th Anniversary The gala was held at the new Hotel Polaris, located on the grounds of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and honored the children of Americas fallen military, peace officers, and firefighting professionals. The event included child performances, inspiring stories, a gourmet meal, and dancing. Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young Courtesy: FOX21 News Photojournalist Jack Young FOX21s Matt Meister emceed the event, speaking with guests on the red carpet to get their stories and share what makes this organization stand out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Angels of Americas Fallen website, more than 16,000 children have lost their military or first responder parent since 9/11, and the organizations mission is to support those children by providing activities, grief counseling, and scholarships. 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 FOX21 News Colorado. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) This years Gathering of Nations is on its second day Saturday, with tribes from all across the state coming together to celebrate their cultures. One of Saturdays highlights was the horse and rider regalia parade. Q&A released on potential changes coming to New Mexico State Fairgrounds Throughout Indian Country, they tell us that our horse is part of us, its part of our history. It became so much a part of us that we adopt them as our brothers, as our sisters. There are many stories that go along with this. Were deeply involved with the spirit of this horse. They tell us that a horse will lead us to something good. Whether its food or a good place to camp, or something worthy, so we trust in our brother horse, a speaker at the event said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The gathering started Friday morning at Expo New Mexico and is closing Saturday at midnight with the conclusion of the years final performance. 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the remains of 51 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours, the local Health Ministry said Sunday, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the 18-month-old Israel-Hamas war to 52,243. Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise bombardment on March 18, and has been carrying out daily waves of strikes. Ground forces have expanded a buffer zone and encircled the southern city of Rafah, and now control around 50% of the territory. Israel has also sealed off Gazas 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, for nearly 60 days. Aid groups say supplies will soon run out and that thousands of children are malnourished. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The overall death toll includes nearly 700 bodies for which the documentation process was recently completed, the ministry said in its latest update. The daily toll includes bodies retrieved from the rubble after earlier strikes. Israeli strikes killed another 23 people after the ministry's update. Eight of them, including three children and two women, were killed in a strike on a tent in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital. A strike in the central city of Deir al-Balah killed four people, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, and another on a tent there killed four children and a man, the hospital said. A strike hit a coffee shop near the entrance to the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least six people, according to al-Awda and al-Aqsa hospitals. My son, my son, why did you go out, my son? one man, Eyad Omar, said in Deir al-Balah as he mourned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages abducted in its attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and all the hostages are returned. Hamas has said that it will only release the remaining 59 hostages 24 believed to be alive in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire reached in January. Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took 251 people hostage. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Gaza's Health Ministry says women and children make up most of the Palestinian deaths, but doesn't say how many were militants or civilians. It says another 117,600 people have been wounded in the war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The overall tally includes 2,151 dead and 5,598 wounded since Israel resumed the war last month. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and it blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Israel's offensive has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. ___ Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war When the charred remains of prominent commercial real estate attorney Gary Farris were discovered on a burn pile with a bullet lodged in a rib bone, detectives knew they were facing a homicide investigation. The crime scene was on a sprawling 10-acre property in Cherokee County, Georgia, where Gary Farris lived with his wife Melody and their son Scott. It was July 2018 when detectives found Gary Farris' blood and a second bullet in the basement of the home and questioned how his body could have ended up on the burn pile, about 50 yards away. Soon after their arrival on scene, investigators found themselves entangled in a family drama with mother and son pointing the finger at each other. "This is a mother's worst nightmare it has been called the Farris wheel, and it was, but it was our Farris wheel," Melody Farris tells "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant in an exclusive interview. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Van Sant and "48 Hours" investigate the murder of Gary Farris in "The Farris Wheel" now streaming on Paramount+. Melody Farris during her trial for the murder of her husband, Gary Farris. / Credit: Court TV/Pool Investigators learned Scott Farris was responsible for the day-to-day operations on the farm and that his work and personal expenses were covered by his father. According to Melody Farris, around the time of Gary Farris' death there was tension between him and Scott Farris, mainly about Scott needing to get another job. Scott Farris, however, says that is not true and tension in the home was caused by Melody Farris disappearing for weeks at a time and spending Gary Farris' money. Gary Farris was the sole bread winner and allowed Melody and Scott Farris access to accounts in his name. Scott Farris said his mother was away for extended periods of time because she was having an affair with her lover who lived in Tennessee. In June 2019, after an almost 12-month investigation, Melody Farris was arrested for the murder of Gary Farris. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When her trial began in October 2024, her defense team said she was innocent and pointed the finger at Scott Farris. They said at his size, about 6 feet 8 inches, 280 pounds, he was more capable of moving Gary's 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound body than his much smaller mother. But police and prosecutors believed Melody Farris was the murderer. Prosecutors argued, among other things, that Melody Farris was the only one home at the time they believe Gary Farris was killed. And at trial they called a witness from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Intelligence Division who analyzed phone records and discovered that Gary Farris' cellphone moved from the house to the burn pile and back to the house after investigators believe his body was already on the burn pile. Melody Farris was the only one home at that time as well. On Nov. 4, 2024, Melody Farris was found guilty of murdering her husband. She had not spoken publicly until her sentencing hearing a month later when she shocked the courtroom, saying, "Not only did I not do this, I know who did. I know Scott killed his father." Immediately after Melody Farris was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years, she walked into an exclusive interview with Van Sant, where she continued to profess her innocence. Melody Farris didn't take the stand in her trial. Instead, she chose to tell her story exclusively to Melody Farris told Van Sant she saw Scott Farris near the burn pile the morning before Gary Farris' body was discovered. She said she believes Scott Farris used his pickup truck to get Gary Farris' body to the burn pile. And she went as far as saying Scott Farris planted the bullet that was found in the basement to frame her. Melody Farris says she believes Scott Farris killed his father because he wanted the farm to be his and would refer to it as his property in conversation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Melody Farris told Van Sant, " it's the perfect murder. You kill your daddy. You set your mother up. She goes to prison. You get everything." Scott Farris also sat down with Van Sant and told him, "I absolutely had nothing to do with my father's death. And it was 100% Melody Farris who murdered my father. That is the truth." Scott Farris says Melody Farris is the only one who wanted Gary Farris dead, and he never drove his truck near the burn pile. As for the bullet being planted, Scott Farris said, "I didn't even know there was a bullet found in the basement until after she was arrested." Scott Farris says he was an easy target because he lived on the property with his parents and was former military. Investigators were able to rule him out as a suspect and he was not charged with anything relating to the death of his father. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked if she was willing to sacrifice one of her children's lives to save herself, Melody Farris said, "absolutely not." But Scott Farris says Melody Farris needs to stop with the lies and just come clean: "she knows she did it." Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Thatch" Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Give It Time" Who will be the next pope? Some of the top possible candidates German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday along with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner for talks with the country's transitional government about the voluntary return of Syrian refugees. "We know how tense the security situation is and how precarious the humanitarian situation still is," Faeser said. She said she nevertheless wants to talk to Syria's government about prospects for the return of refugees. "Our top priority is that criminals and Islamists are deported as quickly as possible," she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Faeser and Karner are scheduled to meet with Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who has been in office for less than a month. He is part of Syria's transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a lighting offensive against the previous regime, toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8. Syria remains the main country of origin for asylum seekers in Germany, with 9,861 Syrians applying for protection in the first quarter of 2025. Following al-Assad's downfall, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) suspended decisions on asylum applications from Syrians, citing the unclear situation in the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of March 31, 52,344 Syrian asylum cases were still pending, according to BAMF figures. The Interior Ministry said 1,080 Syrians had been told they had to leave the country by the end of March. Faeser planned to visit Damascus in March, but the trip was called off for security reasons. This is likely to be her last trip in office, with a new minister set to assume the Interior Ministry when Germany's next government takes office in early May. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday along with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner for talks with the country's transitional government about the voluntary return of Syrian refugees. "We know how tense the security situation is and how precarious the humanitarian situation still is," Faeser said. She said she nevertheless wants to talk to Syria's government about prospects for the return of refugees. "Many have found work in Germany, learned German and built a new life for themselves - they should of course be allowed to stay," Faeser said. "Our top priority is that criminals and Islamists are deported as quickly as possible," she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Faeser was greeted at the airport by a Foreign Ministry official, who described the current situation in the country as "cautiously optimistic." With regard to the security situation, he spoke of "a few incidents." The German-Austrian delegation met with Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who has been in office for less than a month. He is part of Syria's transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a lighting offensive against the previous regime, toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8. At the beginning of the meeting with Khattab, Faeser said the overthrow of al-Assad offered an opportunity for democratization in Syria. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the meeting, Khattab said: "We talked about energy and how to enable investment and create jobs. Because that will encourage Syrians who left the country during the war to return on a larger scale." The German government wants to support a new beginning in Syria, which after more than 13 years of war is dependent on foreign aid and the lifting of Western sanctions. However, despite al-Sharaa's pragmatic course, doubts remain as to whether the rights of Christians, Alawites and other religious minorities will be protected in the future. Like al-Sharaa, the majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Asylum decisions for Syrians on hold Syria remains the main country of origin for asylum seekers in Germany, with 9,861 Syrians applying for protection in the first quarter of 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following al-Assad's downfall, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) suspended decisions on asylum applications from Syrians, citing the unclear situation in the country. As of March 31, 52,344 Syrian asylum cases were still pending, according to BAMF figures. The Interior Ministry said 1,080 Syrians had been told they had to leave the country by the end of March. Germany mulls allowing Syrians to visit home country Germany's Interior Ministry has been working since January on a legal exemption that would allow Syrian refugees to visit their country of origin without losing their protection status in Germany. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed exemption would allow them to make either a single trip of up to four weeks, or two trips of up to two weeks, with the aim of exploring whether a return would be possible. According to asylum law, if people entitled to protection travel to their countries of origin, it is legally assumed that the conditions for protection no longer apply and they may lose this status. The only exceptions to this are if the trip is considered "morally imperative," for example to attend the funeral of a relative. The initiative has faced criticism from politicians from Germany's Christian Social Union, which is set to lead the Interior Ministry under Germany's next conservative-led government. Final trip for Faeser The German-Austrian delegation planned to visit Damascus in March, but the trip was called off because of a terrorism threat to Western delegations in the Syrian capital. This is likely to be Faeser's last trip in office, with Germany's next government set to take office in early May. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser held talks with Syria's transitional government on Sunday about the voluntary return of Syrian refugees. Faeser arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus along with her Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner. The German-Austrian delegation flew to Syria from Cyprus under tight security on an unannounced visit. Earlier visit thwarted During their first attempt in March, concrete indications of a terrorist threat to Western delegations in Damascus had prompted the group to turn back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We know how tense the security situation is and how precarious the humanitarian situation still is," Faeser said. She said she nevertheless wants to talk to Syria's government about prospects for the return of refugees. "Many have found work in Germany, learned German and built a new life for themselves - they should of course be allowed to stay," Faeser said. "Our top priority is that criminals and Islamists are deported as quickly as possible," she added. Faeser was greeted at the airport by a Foreign Ministry official, who described the current situation in the country as "cautiously optimistic." With regard to the security situation, he spoke of "a few incidents." The German-Austrian delegation met with Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab, who has been in office for less than a month. Transitional goverment in Damascus He is part of Syria's transitional government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a lighting offensive against the previous regime, toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad on December 8. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We discussed energy and how to enable investment and create jobs. This will encourage Syrians who left the country during the war to return on a larger scale," Khattab said following Sunday's talks. Faeser appeared highly satisfied with the meeting. The security situation in Syria was discussed, "especially with regard to the fight against IS," she explained. The Syrian minister also showed "that he is prepared to issue passports and documents." This is a "step forward" with regard to deportations to Syria. With regard to the past of the interior minister and other cabinet members, Faeser acknowledged that Syria is currently a difficult partner. Important to establich contacts, says Faeser Nevertheless, she said it is important "that we establish contacts at the working and technical levels." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Otherwise, she said, it will not be possible to push through Germany's own concerns: finding ways to increase the voluntary return of Syrians and the repatriation of criminals. At the beginning of the meeting with Khattab, Faeser said the overthrow of al-Assad offered an opportunity for democratization in Syria. After the meeting, Khattab said: "We talked about energy and how to enable investment and create jobs. Because that will encourage Syrians who left the country during the war to return on a larger scale." The German government wants to support a new beginning in Syria, which after more than 13 years of war is dependent on foreign aid and the lifting of Western sanctions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, despite al-Sharaa's pragmatic course, doubts remain as to whether the rights of Christians, Alawites and other religious minorities will be protected in the future. Like al-Sharaa, the majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. Asylum decisions for Syrians on hold Syria remains the main country of origin for asylum seekers in Germany, with 9,861 Syrians applying for protection in the first quarter of 2025. Following al-Assad's downfall, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) suspended decisions on asylum applications from Syrians, citing the unclear situation in the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of March 31, 52,344 Syrian asylum cases were still pending, according to BAMF figures. The Interior Ministry said 1,080 Syrians had been told they had to leave the country by the end of March. Germany mulls allowing Syrians to visit home country Germany's Interior Ministry has been working since January on a legal exemption that would allow Syrian refugees to visit their country of origin without losing their protection status in Germany. The proposed exemption would allow them to make either a single trip of up to four weeks, or two trips of up to two weeks, with the aim of exploring whether a return would be possible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to asylum law, if people entitled to protection travel to their countries of origin, it is legally assumed that the conditions for protection no longer apply and they may lose this status. The only exceptions to this are if the trip is considered "morally imperative," for example to attend the funeral of a relative. The initiative has faced criticism from politicians from Germany's Christian Social Union, which is set to lead the Interior Ministry under Germany's next conservative-led government. This is likely to be Faeser's last trip in office, with Germany's next government set to take office in early May. German laity hope that the next pope will bring more equality and diversity, according to the head of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). ZdK president Irme Stetter-Karp told German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that 96% of Catholics urgently expect reforms from their church. Stetter-Karp said that many want the Catholic church "to recognize the diversity of life and of believers. It is about women being able to participate equally in the church, for example as priests," she told the group. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stetter-Karp said that laypeople in Germany are also questioning celibacy rules as well as the way homosexuality and same-sex partnerships are dealt with. Structurally, many laypeople are concerned with overcoming clericalism and are demanding participation in power within the Church, as well as accountability and transparency from its leadership. In terms of contraception, however, there are probably no longer any particular expectations of a new pope. "The truth is that when it comes to contraception, many believers no longer look to the catechism for guidance. And not just young people, but also people of my generation," said the 69-year-old. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ZdK represents the Catholic laity, the non-clergy in local parishes. Together with the German Bishops' Conference, the ZdK initiated a reform process in 2019, the Synodal Path. However, this met with considerable resistance in the Roman Curia, the central administration in Rome. Recently, there has been a renewed rapprochement. Pope Francis died at 88 on Monday after suffering a stroke, followed by a coma and heart failure, having in recent weeks battled acute respiratory failure, arterial hypertension and other ailments. The date for the conclave to choose his successor is expected to be announced next week. Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Jeenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China and Kyrgyzstan on Saturday agreed to support free trade, safeguard international rules and protect their respective legitimate rights and regional interests. As close neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, China and Kyrgyzstan have always treated each other with trust and sincerity and are reliable and trustworthy brothers and partners, said visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Jeenbek Kulubaev. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, bilateral relations have developed rapidly, said Wang, noting that the two countries are working together to build a community of shared future featuring good-neighborliness and mutual prosperity. China firmly supports Kyrgyzstan in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, strongly opposes any external interference in Kyrgyzstan's internal affairs under any pretext, said Wang, voicing confidence that Kyrgyzstan will continue to support China's legitimate position on issues concerning its core interests. Wang also expressed willingness to work with Kyrgyzstan to follow through on the consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, deepen strategic mutual trust, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation so as to deliver more benefits to the people of both countries and the region. For his part, Kulubaev said that Japarov's successful visit to China in February has injected strong new momentum into Kyrgyz-Chinese relations, expressing thanks to China for its strong support for Kyrgyzstan's economic and social development. Kyrgyzstan is willing to work with China to follow the guidance of the two heads of state, deepen the good-neighborly friendships and build a Kyrgyzstan-China community with a shared future, he said. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed key Belt and Road cooperation projects, agreed to steadily advance the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, further explore areas of common interest, enrich the content of bilateral relations and facilitate people-to-people exchanges. Kulubaev noted that China has become Kyrgyzstan's largest trade and economic partner and that Kyrgyzstan welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in the country and is committed to providing a favorable business environment. On tariff issues, both sides agreed that upholding multilateralism is the greatest common ground and stressed the importance of strengthening coordination and jointly addressing challenges. They discussed enhancing cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Kyrgyz side expressed support for China's chairmanship of the SCO and the upcoming summit to be held in northern China's Tianjin later this year. Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Jeenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Hollywood glitz is on display Saturday for an annual fundraiser to help children of abuse. The Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre was the setting for Luzerne County Child Advocacy Centers Ninth Annual Gala called Cinema through the Century. 28/22 PA live! Co-hosts Rachel Malak and Chris Bohinski served as emcees and dressed to the nines for the event. Wilkes-Barre Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Childrens Advocacy Center helps counsel kids who are victims of physical or sexual abuse. The troubling numbers result in a growing demand of services from the non-profit. So never do we charge for services. This is why this is so important because all of this money that is raised goes to providing all of those services, Luzerne County Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Shannon Peduto explained. They need someone that they know that they can trust, that someone, thats there to support them. Im just the first person that theyre going to make contact with, OUR Rescue Relationship Manager Chaz Balogh stated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Luzerne County Child Advocacy Center is the only agency in the county that provides the set of services they offer. 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 PAhomepage.com. House Republicans are under the gun to get specific on how they will offset President Trumps domestic policy agenda, and they will soon need to decide if they will touch the political stove by trying to scale back Medicaid benefits. Medicaid is at the heart of the GOP plan to pass a big beautiful bill and make budget space for an extension of Trumps tax cuts. Party leaders have been vague about their plans, but the topic has divided members who are facing a menu of politically perilous cuts to the program that provides health coverage to more than 70 million people. Conservatives are agitating for steep cuts to Medicaid, while moderates have said they would oppose any bill that rolls back coverage and benefits for their constituents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We wont vote for something that takes away benefits from seniors, disabled and vulnerable people that we represent who rely on Medicaid, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) told reporters earlier this month, after the House adopted the GOP budget plan. Malliotakis was among a group of 12 vulnerable and moderate Republicans who earlier this month wrote a letter to House leaders warning that they would not back the reconciliation plan over concerns about cuts to Medicaid. The rubber meets the road on May 7, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee is planning a markup of its portion of the sweeping reconciliation bill. The committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, has been tasked with finding $880 billion in savings. According to the Congressional Budget Office, thats an impossible task to do without cutting Medicaid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats and advocacy groups have been hammering Republicans on the issue of Medicaid cuts for months, though recently Republicans have successfully fought back by accusing Democratic campaigners of defaming lawmakers. Swing district Republicans in particular have spent the past two weeks seeing ads urging them to protect Medicaid and warning about the devastating impact of cuts. Republican leaders have repeatedly said there will be no cuts to Medicare or Social Security, saying they only want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid. Trump said he would not sign legislation that cuts Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If it cuts it, I would not approve, Trump said in an interview with Time magazine published Friday, where he was repeatedly asked about cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. I would veto it, yeah. But theyre not going to do that, Trump added. But the president noted he is open to measures that reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid. Still, theres some disagreement about what that waste, fraud and abuse looks like. Some of the more politically palatable proposals that have been floated include imposing work requirements and removing noncitizens from Medicaid, but the savings wouldnt come close to the amount needed to reach the committees target. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some Republicans have floated the idea of rolling back the extra federal money going to states to pay for Medicaid expansion. The federal government is paying 90 percent of the Medicaid expansion. What we have talked about is moving that 90 percent level of the expansion back toward the more traditional level, Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) said in an interview Monday on Fox Business. Nobody would be kicked off Medicaid as long as governors decided they wanted to continue to fund the program, Scott said. Its move that would dramatically reduce federal spending but is also politically risky. Senate Republicans including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Josh Hawley (Mo.) are likely to oppose it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eliminating the enhanced federal match for the Medicaid expansion population would save the federal government $626 billion over a decade if states assumed more of the expansion costs, according to an analysis by health policy nonprofit KFF. But it would also shift those costs to the states, forcing governors to make difficult decisions about how to offset costs. That would likely require some combination of budget cuts and tax increases depending on the state. The Medicaid expansion covers more than 20 million low-income adults, who would lose coverage if states were unable to pick up the expansion costs. Twelve states also have trigger laws in place that would automatically end expansion or require changes if the federal match rate were to drop, including eight that voted for Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scott doesnt sit on the Energy and Commerce panel, but his comments didnt come in a vacuum. Proponents of the idea argue federal Medicaid spending has grown too much and states no longer pay their fair share. The federal government pays 90 percent of the costs for working-age adults who enroll through the expansion, a high share that the architects of ObamaCare meant to be an incentive for states. House GOP leaders argue ObamaCare allowed states to expand Medicaid far beyond those truly in need. When you have people on the program that are draining the resources, it takes it away from the people that are actually needing it the most and are intended to receive it, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Fox News last week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Youre talking about young, single mothers, down on their fortunes at a moment the people with real disabilities, the elderly, he continued. And weve got to protect and preserve that program. So were going to preserve the integrity of it. The letter from swing district Republicans did not specifically rule out rolling back the enhanced federal match, though some have said they received a commitment from Johnson that the reimbursement rate wont be lowered. 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. Apr. 26GRAND FORKS University, city and business leaders in Grand Forks expressed concern about a report detailing email exchanges between a former University of North Dakota entrepreneur and former state Sen. Ray Holmberg. According to a report published Friday by the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Holmberg exchanged emails with former Center for Innovation CEO Bruce Gjovig in 2009 and 2011 about some of Holmberg's sexual exploits. In one email to Gjovig, Holmberg wrote that "no one is ever (too) young." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Holmberg was sentenced to 10 years in prison for traveling to Prague multiple times between 2011 and 2016 with plans to sexually abuse children. Per The Forum's report, Holmberg emailed Gjovig's Center for Innovation email address in 2011 to ask what Gjovig thought of the senator's "twink" a slang term for a typically youthful, thin gay or bisexual man. After Gjovig wrote that the email's subject was "too young for me," Holmberg emailed back, "No one is ever to (sic) young... remembr (sic) Prague." Gjovig declined to comment on The Forum's report when reached by phone by the Herald on Saturday afternoon, saying he was heeding his attorney's advice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gjovig has held a variety of prominent civic positions in Grand Forks since founding the University of North Dakota's Center for Innovation in 1984, including chairing a Chamber of Commerce committee that meets regularly with representatives from the Herald and Prairie Business magazine. Since retiring from the Center for Innovation in 2017, Gjovig has continued to serve on the advisory board of the UND student-run venture capital fund Dakota Venture Group, which he co-founded in 2006. "We are aware and deeply troubled by recent media reports regarding previously sealed federal court documents that were unavailable to the university and were used in the criminal conviction of Ray Holmberg," read a statement from UND spokesperson David Dodds. "We strongly condemn the actions of anyone who may have enabled Mr. Holmberg's criminal behavior. Our thoughts and concerns remain entirely with the victims of Mr. Holmberg and their families, as well as all victims of sexual exploitation." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dodds declined to respond to a subsequent query asking whether Gjovig would remain on Dakota Venture Group's advisory board. He also declined to say whether UND is investigating whether anyone else affiliated with the university knew of Holmberg's criminal behavior. Gjovig's many civic roles have included chairing the Chamber's Herald Advisory Committee, which brings together numerous city business leaders to meet quarterly with the Grand Forks Herald and Prairie Business Publisher Korrie Wenzel. Wenzel said Saturday that earlier that morning, he'd notified Gjovig and Chamber President and CEO Barry Wilfahrt that the Herald is ending its relationship with Gjovig in light of The Forum's report. "It's alarming to see connectivity between the acts of Ray Holmberg and anybody with any level of leadership role in the community," Wenzel said in a written statement. "Meanwhile, the Herald should not be in a collaborative relationship with someone who is involved in news coverage of a critical nature." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a Saturday text message to the Herald, Wilfahrt wrote that Gjovig "has done a tremendous job bringing leaders to the table to share what's happening in Grand Forks." "In light of what was made public in the last 24 hours, the Chamber executive committee will discuss what's next for the committee," Wilfahrt added. Gjovig has been closely involved for decades with Grand Forks Air Force Base and the development of the city's unmanned aerial systems industry. As of Saturday, Gjovig is a member of the city's Base Retention and Investment Committee and as a "strategic adviser" for Grand Sky aviation park, a public-private partnership with Grand Forks County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said Saturday he had not spoken with Gjovig since the release of The Forum's report and was unsure whether Gjovig would resign from the base committee. "Obviously, it's disturbing," Bochenski said. "The whole case is disturbing with Ray Holmberg." Scott Meyer, Grand Sky's engagement director, said the aviation park's leadership was "still digesting" the Forum report but emphasized Gjovig had never been paid as an employee or consultant for the aviation park. Gjovig had also been an Air and Space Force Civic Leader since 2016, when he was appointed to the role by Air Force Chief of Staff Mark A. Welsh III. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, Gjovig received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Air Force's highest award given to non-employee civilians. A Grand Forks Air Force Base spokesperson said the base would not comment on the Forum's report, and referred the Herald to the press line for the Air Force Chief of Staff. A late-morning call to that number had not been returned as of Saturday afternoon. Gjovig also served until recently as chair of the Republican Party caucus for North Dakota's District 18. District 18 Chair John Meissner said Saturday that Gjovig is no longer involved with caucus leadership after an April reorganization meeting where Gjovig lost the chair to Meissner in an election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meissner, who said he was not involved in the legislative district's party leadership prior to his election, called the report a "very serious situation" and referred all further queries to the North Dakota Republican Party. In response to the Herald's query, NDGOP Chair Sandi Sanford referred the Herald to Sanford's March 20 statement on Holmberg's crimes. That statement did not mention Gjovig. "We pray justice will be served and corruption will be exposed wherever it hides," that statement read in part. Gjovig is also listed online as the chairman of the board of Bioscience Association of North Dakota, though Chief Operating Officer Emily O'Brien told the Herald in a text message that Gjovig had stepped down from the board last summer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The North Dakota Democratic-NPL called Gjovig a "kingmaker" in Grand Forks' Republican politics in a Friday Facebook post where the party mistakenly referred to Gjovig as the current party chair for District 18. It also reposted a photo posted by radio talk show host Joel Heitkamp purporting to show Holmberg and Gjovig together on a trip to Germany, which Heitkamp connected to Holmberg's criminal conviction for traveling to Prague in the neighboring Czech Republic. LYNGBY, Denmark (AP) New Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Sunday that U.S. statements about the mineral-rich Arctic island have been disrespectful and that Greenland will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone. Nielsen made the remarks in defiance of U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in taking control of the strategic territory as Nielsen stood side by side with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on the second day of a three-day official visit. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. "The talks from the United States have not been respectful, Nielsen said at a news conference at the prime ministers Marienborg official residence in Lyngby, 12 kilometers (8 miles) north of Copenhagen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The words used have not been respectful. Thats why we need in this situation, we need to stand together, he added. Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, recently agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Trumps designs on the territory. Greenlands government said that Nielsens three-day visit, which began Saturday, was aimed at future cooperation between the two countries. Denmark has the will to invest in the Greenlandic society, and we dont just have that for historical reasons. We also have that because we are part of (the Danish) commonwealth with each other, said Frederiksen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We of course have a will to also continue investing in the Greenlandic society, she added. Nielsen is set to meet King Frederik X on Monday, before returning to Greenland with Frederik for a royal visit to the island. Frederiksen and Nielsen were asked whether a meeting between them and Trump was being planned. We always want to meet with the American president," Frederiksen said. "Of course we want to. But I think we have been very, very clear in what is the (Danish commonwealths) approach to all parts of the Kingdom of Denmark. GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) One person was killed and another injured in a shooting early Sunday morning, according to a press release from the Greensboro Police Department. At approximately 2:49 a.m., Greensboro Police, Greensboro Fire and Guilford County EMS responded to a shooting in the 3200 block of East Bessemer Avenue. At the scene, they located Marsalis Davon Murphy, 39, in the parking lot with gunshot wounds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Murphy was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where he later died. The second victim was taken by a private vehicle to a local hospital, treated for their injuries and released. This is the citys 13th homicide of 2025. 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 FOX8 WGHP. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) Greek Fest is still two months away, but this past weekend offered a chance to get a little preview to this years event. The Greek Orthodox Church in Sioux City hosted a drive-up Gyro Fest over the weekend. Greek favorites like gyros, rice and meatballs, and Greek fries were all offered. Those who went didnt even have to get out of their car. Spring Re-Event held at the Sioux City Citizens Convenience Center Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The delicious food, the atmosphere, everyones excited to be here, said Andrea Konidas, the organizer. We have volunteers, but definitely the food. The food and the community. A little teaser, a little teaser on whats to come, Leah Bariatakis-Pike. We have some music going. You might get some of the volunteers to dance if you ask nicely. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. JERUSALEM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Two Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in the northern Gaza Strip, according to separate statements issued by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police on Saturday evening. The two are Ido Voloch, 21, an armored corps officer and platoon commander, and Neta Yitzhak Kahana, 19, an undercover officer in the Border Police. Israel's state-owned Kan TV News reported that a Border Police ambush force encountered a squad of militants in the Shajaiyah neighborhood, eastern Gaza City, and Kahana was killed in the ensuing battle. According to the report, about 15 minutes later, during the rescue operations, militants fired an RPG rocket at the rescue force, resulting in an Israeli soldier being moderately wounded. About an hour later, militants fired an RPG at an Israeli tank in Shajaiyah, during which Voloch was killed and another soldier was moderately wounded. The channel added that in the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, four Israeli armored fighters were injured, one seriously and three moderately, by explosive devices. Sunday, April 27 End of the legislative session: Provided both houses of the state Legislature have been able to approve a multi-billion dollar budget package to send to the governor, this day will be sine die, the final day of the 2025 session. At the end of the day, both chambers will swing down the gavel a final time and go home until next year. Tuesday, April 29 Free Vaccine Clinic in Shelton: Molina Healthcare of Washington, with Mason Public Health Department and Birds Eye Medical, will offer a free vaccine clinic as part of a community resource fair hosted by Faith Lutheran Hope Church on Tuesday, April 29. The clinic will be free to the public, and attendees are encouraged to pre-register. The fair also will feature a variety of community resources, free snacks, and a chance to connect with families in the area. The vaccine clinic will run from 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church, 1212 Connection St., Shelton. Wednesday, April 30 Webinar for federal workers on Washington state benefits and reemployment: The Washington state Employment Security Department, along with state and local partners, will conduct a webinar for federal workers who work and live in Washington state from 10 a.m. to noon April 30. The webinars, part of the states rapid response efforts for large layoffs, are intended to help federal workers who were laid off, are facing a furlough or expecting a workforce reduction. The information will help affected workers navigate available unemployment benefits and reemployment resources. Through April 23, 1,229 federal employees have filed for unemployment benefits in 2025 compared to 717 at this time last year a 71% increase. The free webinar will cover unemployment benefits, how to file and any assistance needs; what to do about health care benefits; expanding job skills through training and educational programs; career guidance, job search assistance, and other resources. Participants should register in advance for the April 30 webinar; another is planned for May 29. Thursday, May 1 Labor Council celebrates International Workers Day with film screening: The Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council will present a free screening of the classic labor film Salt Of The Earth at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Based on a true story, the film depicts the attempt of a New Mexican mining company to break a bitter union strike against unsafe working conditions in 1950-52. Released during the height of the McCarthy era, the film was suppressed for decades but is now among the 100 films the Library of Congress has chosen to preserve for posterity. Doors for the screening will open at 6 p.m. and the film will start at 7 p.m. There will be a post-film discussion with Migrant Education Project Nurse Cecilia Perez, union organizer Jorge Torres, Professor Peter Bohmer and historian Dr. Natasha Varner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Schmidt House History Talk on Spring Birds: George Walter, writer and longtime bird observer, will share funny, insightful, and heartwarming stories about spring birds what theyre up to, what theyre saying, and why this season brings so much activity to the skies and trees. Walter also will share local birding tips and trip ideas to explore and enjoy nature. The talk begins at noon (doors open at 11:30 am, with first come, first seated) at Schmidt House, 330 Schmidt Place SW, Tumwater. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, contact Karen Johnson at 360-890-2299 or karen@olytumfoundation.org. Saturday, May 3 All Labor March: The Thurston Lewis Mason Central Labor Council will keep the May Day spirit alive on Saturday, May 3, with an All Labor March in Olympia for single-payer healthcare, immigrant rights, and essential public service. Marchers are encouraged to meet at the Tivoli Fountain at the State Capitol, 103 Capitol Way S, Olympia, at noon and to wear their union colors. For more information, visit the Labor Council website. Saturday Passport Fair: The Thurston County Auditors Office will hold a Passport Fair on Saturday, May 3 from 9 am to noon at the Thurston County Atrium Building, 3000 Pacific Ave. SE, Olympia. As the only provider of full-time passport services in the county, the Auditors Office is dedicated to ensuring accessible passport services for community members. Passport services are available for first-time applicants and those whose passports expired more than five years ago. Service is available on a walk-in basis only. The Auditors Office also will provide photo services to anyone who needs a new passport photo. Thurston County staff are trained to ensure that photos meet the strict requirements set by the State Department for passport submissions, whether for renewals or new applications. For more information on Passport Services, visit the Thurston County Auditors website. After May 7, passengers on domestic flights will be required to have a passport or enhanced drivers license to fly. Obtaining a passport now will ensure smooth travel transitions in the future. WET Science Center hosts Robot Buddies: Get ready to make new friends of the robotic kind! Step into a world of coding, competition, and robot craft construction. Join activities from 11 am to 3 pm to drive real robots brought by OlyRobots, Olympia High Schools FIRST Tech Challenge Club. Admission is free for the all-ages event. The WET Science Center is at 500 Adams St. NE, Olympia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Furniture Bank open: The nonprofit all-volunteer Thurston County Furniture Bank is open the first and third Saturdays of every month from 9 am to noon at 2121 Log Cabin Road SE, Olympia. The Furniture Bank building is at the back of the parking lot. Donations of gently used furniture are accepted. Pick up of donations can be arranged but usually takes 3-4 weeks. Those looking for furniture are welcomed. For further information, visit the Furniture Banks website. All-ages board games and puzzle exchange: Head to the Lacey Timberland Library from 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3, to trade, swap, and talk about board games and puzzles. You may find that hidden gem thats just right for you and your family. Board Games and jigsaw puzzles must be in good condition and have all pieces. The library is at 500 College St. SE, Lacey. Humanities Washington presents UFO Northwest: How Washington State Spawned the Men In Black: The Elma Timberland Library will host this free talk at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 3, with lawyer and indie film producer Steve Edmiston. The library is at 119 N. First St in Elma. On Aug. 1, 1947, the tragic crash of a B-25 bomber in Washington state triggered an FBI investigation of The Maury Island Incident an infamous Northwest UFO sighting, and historys first alleged encounter with the so-called Men in Black. The FBIs records from 1947, which were sealed for decades, reveal Cold War fears, jurisdictional disputes, cover-ups, false confessions, a courageous FBI Special Agent, and the hands-on involvement of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Relying on the FBI records, this talk exposes a Washington story that shapes our current UFO narratives, from 1950s pulp magazines to the ubiquitous X-Files and Men in Black film franchises. Also examined: how the Northwests unique position in UFO history is challenged by others that assert contradictory narratives. Sunday, May 4 SLURP your seafood: The Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association is again hosting this fundraising event, the Shellfish Lovers Ultimate Rejuvenation Party, or SLURP. Dubbed Olympias premier shellfish event, it features top chefs, local wineries and breweries, live music and lots of fresh shellfish. The event runs from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Port Plaza, 701 Columbia St NW, Olympia. Tickets are $125. Would you like to have your event included in our weekly Whats Happening calendar? Email the details to news@theolympian.com at least 10 days before the event. Please put Whats Happening in the subject line. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday defended a reorganization plan released for the State Department last week, saying it would bring efficiency to the foreign affairs operation. The State Departments plan seeks to eliminate various human-rights focused bureaus, according to an organization chart released to the public last week. The department is also expected to eliminate 15 percent of its staff in the United States. But when asked about the plan and staffing cuts by NBCs Kristen Welker during an interview on Meet the Press, Rubio pushed back, saying, We haven't slashed anything yet. This isn't just about saving money this is primarily about making sure every bureau and every office in the State Department has a purpose and they're fulfilling them and what this is about is empowering the regional bureaus and embassies, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bureaus and offices on the chopping block include the Office of Global Womens Issues and its Diversity and Inclusion Office. The department also plans to shutter offices previously housed under the undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, with plans to integrate those functions into other areas of the department. Some of the cuts seemingly align with the Trump administrations efforts to stifle federal funding for diversity practices and initiatives. Rubio assured Welker that the staff reductions will be conducted with departmental oversight. The 15% you're referring to is, after we've reorganized, we're going to ask the bureau heads and the assistant secretaries, many of whom are career foreign service officers, to look at their bureaus and their operations and suggest to us 15% reductions, Rubio said. During the interview, Rubio also touched on the Trump administrations growing dissatisfaction with stalling negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Rubio said the administration is close, but not close enough to a deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It may not work out, peace deals are hard, he said. But we are trying and I think the president deserves credit for spending this much time and this much energy and these many resources to try to bring this outcome of peace." Rubios statement follows a meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Rome on Saturday, which the White House described as very productive. STAR-ADVERTISER Dylan Humphreys, left, filled out an application for RevoluSun while conferring with his aunt Jere Humphreys during the 2023 Hawaii Career Expo at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. STAR-ADVERTISER Dylan Humphreys, left, filled out an application for RevoluSun while conferring with his aunt Jere Humphreys during the 2023 Hawaii Career Expo at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. The Hawaii Career Expo scheduled for Wednesday at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall will feature many of the states top employers, including city and state government agencies looking to fill positions with displaced federal workers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A free event, sponsored by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and presented by Star Events, the job fair is open to all job-seekers and allows talented candidates to meet hiring managers from a variety of companies, the military and government departments at more than 100 booths, organizers said. With the recent downsizing in the U.S. government, this weeks Career Expo will also give former federal workers an opportunity to learn about dozens of Honolulu and state of Hawaii agencies that are in the market for skilled employees. The City & County of Honolulu are actively recruiting displaced federal employees and professionals from non-governmental organizations impacted by federal funding cuts. To streamline hiring, the Citys Department of Human Resources is implementing expedited recruitment measures, Star Events Director Denise Ching said. In a similar initiative, the state is also prioritizing the recruitment of highly skilled professionals in several areas. These job categories include program specialists, information technology, finance, budget management, engineering, infrastructure development, human resources, accounting, social services and more. Hawaii government has approximately 4, 000 vacancies, which accounts for about 24 % of state positions, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Career Expo is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. Attendees may present a printed copy of their resume at the front door for free admission. Preregistration is recommended at. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. 1 Comments By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our. Having trouble with comments ? . NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) About 100 health care workers protested Saturday in front of the Frist Art Museum, where executives gathered for the 2025 Frist Gala. Two members of the Frist family were co-founders of Hospital Corporation of America, which is now known as HCA Healthcare, according to the companys website. While the billionaires are inside partying, the hospitals that HCA owns are severely understaffed, and theyre hurting patients and theyre hurting our communities, said Hannah Drummond, a registered nurse who traveled to Nashville from Asheville, North Carolina. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drummond works at Mission Hospital, which she said is hundreds of nurses short. Families of child abuse victims speak out following Pulaski daycare workers arrest Valerie Jan, a registered nurse from Port Charlotte, Florida, said her facility is also dealing with staffing issues. We dont have the staff, we dont have the supplies, and theres an increase in workplace violence because of their neglect, Jan told News 2. According to its website, HCA Healthcare is made up of locally managed facilities, including more than 180 hospitals and approximately 2,400 sites of care in 20 states and the United Kingdom. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those billionaires in [the Frist Gala] are patients, so you would think they would care more about staffing the hospitals appropriately than their greed, Jan added. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com News 2 reached out to HCA Healthcare regarding the protest, and a spokesperson shared a statement: This is a predictable tactic by NNU [National Nurses United] designed to attract media attention. The reality is our staffing is safe and appropriate and we value all of our nurses and the exceptional care they provide to our patients. 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. The Multi-Generational Community Building (MGCB) speaker series will host an event on May 15 and 16, featuring civil rights activists Mr. MacArthur Cotton and Dr. Frank Smith, Jr. This two-day program aims to foster intergenerational dialogue, inspire community engagement and celebrate the ongoing pursuit of social justice. Event Highlights: Educational Engagements: Mr. Cotton and Dr. Smith will engage with students at Edison Jr. High School and Thurgood Marshall Learning Center, sharing their experiences from the Civil Rights Movement to inspire and educate the younger generation. Community Gathering: A public event, Anything for the Cause, will be held at the Martin Luther King Center in Rock Island. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This will provide a platform for community members to interact with these influential figures, facilitating meaningful discussions on past and present struggles for equality. This event is free and open to the public. About the speakers: MacArthur Mac Cotton was pivotal in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the Civil Rights movement. Born in Mississippi, he was deeply involved in voter registration efforts, facing significant risks, including imprisonment at Parchman Farm. His unwavering commitment to justice continued through initiatives like the Algebra Project, focusing on educational equity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Frank Smith, Jr. is a distinguished civil rights activist and historian. As a founding member of SNCC, Dr. Smith dedicated six years to organizing voter registration drives in Mississippi, enduring threats and violence to combat systemic racism. After relocating to Washington, D.C., he served four terms on the D.C. Council, focusing on housing and economic development. Dr. Smith is the founding director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum established to honor the 209,145 African American soldiers who fought for freedom during the Civil War. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. A photo of French nun Sister Genevieve Jeanningros is going viral on social media. Sister Genevieve was a dear friend to Pope Francis for the past 20 years and was devastated to say goodbye to him. She made headlines when she broke Vatican protocol on April 23. While inside St Peter's Basilica, Sister Genevieve entered an area where cardinals lined up to pay their respects, according to the French Press Agency. She stood there for "several minutes, wiping away tears." One photo in particular has been shared on social media and has gone viral, with well over 10 million views. In the picture, Sister Genevieve, 82, stood to the side of a red rope near Pope Francis' casket and wept into her hand. You can see the photo below. The picture was also shared on Reddit where it has been viewed thousands of times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Ah that's such a picture of grief and farewell. Her friend has taken a different fork in the road for now and I hope she's able to take some solace in the good things people have had to say about Pope Francis," one person commented on the picture. "I was raised Catholic, but I don't practice and other than weddings and funerals I haven't been to Mass since I was 18. I was sad about the Pope passing - he seemed like a good man. But this photo is what got me. Sister Genevieve isn't just mourning a spiritual leader, she's mourning her dear friend Jorge," someone else said. "This was touching. I am not catholic but the grief that woman displaying has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the loss of an old, dear friend. May they both find peace," a third comment read. Pope Francis died on April 21 after some health issues plagued him earlier in the year. He was buried at Basilica of St. Mary Major. Quick, what's the official Florida state bird? If you guessed the mockingbird, you'd be correct. However, you'd also be correct if you named the mockingbird as the official state bird of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. If either of two bills in the Florida Legislature passes, the mockingbird would get dumped after its nearly 100-year reign, and the Sunshine State would get its own, unique state bird. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Actually, it would get two. SB 880, from Sen. Ileana Garcia, R-Miami-Dade, and HB 81 from Reps Jim Mooney, R-Islamorda and Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, would designate the pink-feathered American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) as the official Florida state bird and the Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) as the official Florida state songbird. The House bill has yet to leave its perch, but the Senate bill has flown unanimously through two committees so far. This marks the eighth time an attempt to dethrone the mockingbird has been made over the last 25 years. Will it finally take flight this time? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Flamingos flourish: Space Coast bird fest spies flamingos, other sky-high hopes of ecological recovery Why is a flamingo a better choice for Florida state bird? Most people in and out of the state (who weren't trivia buffs) would probably be surprised to find out the flamingo wasn't Florida's official state bird. It certainly seems like it. "We often say Florida is unlike anywhere else," said Ana Maria Rodriguez, R-Doral when she presented the bill for Garcia. "Lets prove it. The flamingo is not just an icon; it reminds us that Florida is bold, brilliant and unafraid to stand tall." The flamboyant, 5-foot-tall flamingo has been used to promote travel to the state for over a century, supporters say, a symbol of brightly colored sunshine and fun. The Florida Lottery has used it in its logo since starting up in 1988. Homes across the state have long been festooned with bright pink plastic versions. There aren't a lot of Florida mockingbird magnets for sale out there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Widely distributed throughout the Caribbean and parts of South America, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission considers flamingos native to the state. Flamingos were common in South Florida until the end of the 19th century, when trends turned to feathers on women's hats and hunters slaughtered millions of birds in the Everglades. The last resident flamingos in Florida were nearly wiped out, but have bounced back thanks to captive breeding colonies in South Florida and migratory birds flying in from elsewhere. The flocks continue to struggle, however, thanks to threats from rising sea levels, pollution, human development and storms. American flamingos have been seen along much of the coast but mostly in the Everglades, Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys, the FWC said. Why is a scrub-jay a better choice for Florida state songbird? The scrub jay is uniquely Floridian, the only bird species that lives exclusively in the state, and it never leaves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The scrub-jay is not just a songbird; it is a call to protect what is rare and precious," Rodriquez said. "And this bill is not just about birds; it is about identity, conservation and culture. Florida deserves to be represented by what is ours and only ours. Florida scrub-jays are blue and gray birds that prefer sand pine, oak scrub and scrubby flatwoods and they live in the driest areas, "including ancient sandy ridges in Central Florida, sand dunes along the coast, and sandy deposits along rivers in the interior of the state," according to an analysis of the Senate bill. Scrub-jays have also been designated a federally threatened species and are protected by Floridas Endangered and Threatened Species Act and by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act due to habitat fragmentation from development, agriculture and fire-suppression efforts that prevent them from easily moving from one suitable habitat to another. What do scrub-jays sound like? The song of a Florida scrub-jay varies and has been described as a scratchy weep, a harsh scold, or a gutteral growl, according to All About Birds. Why has Florida kept the mockingbird? The northern mockingbird is one of the 10 most common birds seen in Florida yards. The mockingbird, while common to other states, is a year-round Florida resident and can be seen all over the state. It has a "pleasant lilting sound," according to the Florida State Department, which is capable of mimicking other sounds. It feeds on insects and weed seeds. It has also long had a powerful defender. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marion Hammer, a longtime lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, has aggressively fought off any attempts to change the state bird for decades, ever since the first attempt to install the scrub jay 26 years ago. After it was mentioned that a scrub-jay was friendly enough to eat from a child's hand, she said at the time, "Begging for food isn't sweet. It's lazy and it's a welfare mentality" and she mocked the children's petition in the bird's favor. She reiterated her claim again in 2023 in an opinion piece for The Tallahassee Democrat that said the mockingbird was a "well-established, independent, prolific bird" that has "never needed government protection or our tax dollars to survive." Hammer also described the scrub jay as "evil little birds that steal other birds eggs and kill the babies of other birds." Hammer has accused scrub jay supporters of promoting a scam for environmentalists to block development and designate areas of Central Florida as protected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Hammer stepped down from her lobbyist position for the NRA in 2022 after four decades. When the Floridian Press asked her in January about the new scrub jay attempt, she texted them, "I'm retired." After attempts in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2024, it might finally happen. A 1950s postcard with the old Capitol and state symbols. When would the flamingo and scrub-jay become the Florida state birds? If passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the act would take effect July 1, 2025. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Flamingo may soon be Florida state bird over mockingbird TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) A mother who had been living in Tampa under immigration supervision was recently deported to Cuba. Now, her family and supporters are rallying across the Tampa Bay area, calling on local and federal leaders to help bring her back. Heydi Sanchez Tejedas family said her deportation has devastated them, especially her young daughter. They said she was in the process of getting her green card when she was deported. When she went for an ICE check-in, she was detained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Family and friends gathered in Tampa, asking city leaders to help bring Sanchez Tejeda back to the U.S. Heydi had an outstanding deportation order after missing an immigration hearing in 2019, her attorney told The Associated Press. She was detained for nine months, but because Cuba refused to take her back at the time, she was released in 2020 under an order to check in with ICE regularly. However, this week, when she showed up for what she thought was a routine meeting, she was detained and deported. We keep going to Kathy Castor, the mayors office, we want to go to Rick Scotts office too, we want Heydi back, its really hard, especially for the kids, loved ones said to the crowd at the rally. Her family said the sudden removal has devastated her daughter and shattered the family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, theyre turning their outrage toward elected officials, demanding urgent action. Were here to ask Senator Rick Scott to bring you back. This is a grave injustice. Our baby has not been able to speak, our baby is destroyed, her aunt Carmen Sanchez said. We reached out to Senator Rick Scotts office for comment and have not heard back. 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. HONOLULU (KHON2) The Honolulu Fire Department responded to a call just before 1 p.m. on April 26 reporting a dog in distress on the Kuliouou Trail in Aina Haina. The first units arrived at the scene in about 10 minutes, where responders learned the dog, a black Labrador named Sammie, fell off near the ridgeline. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Personnel were inserted to Sammies location and safely airlifted the dog to a nearby landing zone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There were no injuries. HFD says that when hiking with your dog, ensure that your furry friend has a properly fitted, durable and comfortable harness and leash. It is also important to keep your pooch hydrated with fresh water during the hike. 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A hidden camera was reportedly discovered in the womens bunkroom at El Cajon Fire Station 8, prompting an investigation into potential privacy violations, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. The device, resembling a common household item, was allegedly placed in a location where female firefighters, medics and EMTs sleep and change clothes. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the camera, found in early February, was concealed as an apparent phone charger that was oddly located near the foot of a bed. The camera was discovered by a female who worked on ambulances. Now, she and three other woman who regularly used the bunkroom are looking for answers and demanding a thorough investigation into the matter. They even filed a legal claim with the city of El Cajon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the claim alleges that no workplace investigation was done. The four women are also seeking $10,000 each for psychological treatment, emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety, and mental anguish, as well as punitive damages against the unknown public employees. In another shocking discovery, a second hidden camera was allegedly found in another female bunkroom this time disguised as a clock, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Since then, some of the women took offers to switch fire stations, while others have refused to uproot from their home station. When asked for comment on the matter, local police and fire officials referred The San Diego Union-Tribune to El Cajon Deputy City Manager Marisol Thorn, who declined to provide a statement. At this time, no arrests have been made and there are no known leads as to who the culprit may be in this hidden camera debacle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. JERUSALEM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli military said on Sunday it killed a Hezbollah militant in an airstrike on the border town of Halta in southern Lebanon, while Lebanese media reported that a civilian was killed in the attack. In a statement, the military said aerial footage showed the strike on a structure and claimed the target was involved in "advancing Hezbollah's efforts to re-establish itself in the Halta area." Lebanon's Health Ministry confirmed one death from the strike. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) identified the victim as a civilian man in his 40s who was working at his chicken farm. Despite a ceasefire that took effect on Nov. 27, 2024 to end 14 months of cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have continued in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. According to the NNA, 149 people have been killed by Israeli actions, including bombings and shootings, since the truce. The United Nations said on April 15 that its records showed 71 civilians among the dead. UPDATE: All roads in the Las Cruces, Deming and Lordsburg corridor have reopened, the New Mexico Department of Transportation said. Driving conditions remain difficult because of wind and dust, NMDOT said. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) High winds, low visibility and blowing dust are impacting road conditions and travel Sunday, April 27 in Southern New Mexico, the New Mexico Department of Transportation said. NMDOT said a handful of roads in the Las Cruces, Deming and Lordsburg corridor have been closed because of weather conditions as of Sunday afternoon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here are a list of roads that have been closed: Lordsburg to Las Cruces: Interstate 10 westbound from mile marker 20 (Lordsburg West) to mile marker 133 (Las Cruces airport). Deming to Akela: NM 549 eastbound and westbound from mile marker 9 to miler marker 17 (Akela). Deming to Columbus: NM 11 eastbound and wesbound from mile marker 34 to mile marker 3 at Columbus. Deming to Hatch: NM 26 eastbound and westbound from mile marker 0 (Deming/US 180) to mile marker 44 (Hatch). Deming to Silver City: US 180 eastbound and westbound from mile marker 164 (Deming) to mile marker 133. Columbus to Santa Teresa: NM 9 eastbound and westbound from mile marker 88 (Columbus) to Santa Teresa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We will update this story as conditions change. 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. (FOX40.COM) The Sacramento Police Department responded to a fatal hit-and-run in South Sacramento on Friday night. According to SPD, the incident happened at the intersection of Lemon Avenue and 65th Street Expressway. Crews responded to reports of a collision involving a vehicle and a pedestrian. When officers arrived, they found an adult male who was pronounced deceased at the scene. Modesto man sentenced to 180 years to life for attempted murder of officer Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SPD said the vehicle involved had fled the scene before police arrived. At this time, police are asking commuters to use an alternative route as crews investigate the scene. Officials said that due to the incident, Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives and Crime Scene Investigators responded to the case to learn more. Crews have processed the scene, canvassed the area, and interviewed any witnesses. SPD asks the community if they have any information about this case to call the dispatch center at 916-808-5471. 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. SHEEPSHEAD BAY, Brooklyn (PIX11) Outrage is growing in Brooklyn over a planned homeless shelter in Sheepshead Bay. Dozens of residents are staging a 24-hour sit-in, setting up tents along the sidewalk outside the site at 2134 Coyle Street. More Local News Demonstrators said the goal is to block construction crews from entering and starting work. Nancy, a Sheepshead Bay resident, said shes concerned about safety with the site being located near several schools and daycares. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Will not be safe for the kids, said Nancy. There are a lot of schools around in this neighborhood. The New York City Department of Homeless Services told PIX11 News that the community was notified about the shelter plan in July of 2023. They noted that the shelter will house 169 families with children, and that any insinuation that vulnerable families would be a danger to the community is entirely baseless. A DHS spokesperson said in a statement, Homelessness affects every neighborhood in New York City, and in order to effectively address this citywide crisis, we need every community to do its part to support our neighbors in need. This new shelter for families with children, which will be the first long-term shelter of any kind in this council district, will provide vulnerable families with a safe and dignified place to stay as they transition back to permanent housing. Protesters are calling for affordable housing, which they claim was the original plan for the site. Westhab, the private developer behind the project, said they had no involvement in any previous plans for the site. The company said its important for families at the shelter to have access to schools, daycares, grocery stores, and the basic services that every New Yorker depends on. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite a recent court injunction that prevents protesters from blocking access to the property, residents vow to maintain their encampment along the sidewalk to ensure their voices are heard. This our family, our area, and our community so we have to protect us. The shelters opening date remains contingent on securing necessary construction permits and approvals from the city and state. 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. One year after the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark Grants Pass decision allowing government agencies to ban public sleeping, our community stands at a crossroads. Regardless of how you feel about the courts decision, I believe we can agree that homelessness is harmful. Whether examined through an environmental, public safety, economic or humanitarian lens, the impacts to our neighbors and to our broader community are overwhelming, detrimental and expensive. Opinion Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 5Cities Homeless Coalition (5CHC) is part of the local spectrum of services doing meaningful work with a high degree of success. We know that we achieve better outcomes and make a more lasting impact when we work alongside other vital services integrating our services that address housing stability, improve income and self-sufficiency and access to services to improve mental, physical and oral health. I often hear that what were doing to address the problem isnt working. I offer instead that what were doing is not sufficient. The numbers tell a promising story: SLO County achieved a 19% overall reduction in homelessness between 2022 and 2024, according to the Point in Time Count, with a remarkable 31% decrease in those who were living out-of-doors in public places. This dramatic change in unsheltered homelessness is due to innovative programs such as the development of 5Cities Homeless Coalitions interim housing program and similar work by other agencies. These arent just statistics they represent real people finding stability through the coordinated efforts of organizations like 5Cities Homeless Coalition and our partners. Meaningful change is happening. These successes didnt happen in a vacuum. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unfortunately, this progress is now threatened by a looming fiscal cliff. Starting July 1, San Luis Obispo County faces a staggering $7 million reduction in funding for homeless services due to expiring one-time grants. That is nearly 50% of current resources. This crisis arrives precisely when rising rents and economic uncertainty will likely increase housing instability and demand for services. What does this mean for our community? This is a question that I am hopeful you will begin asking. We cannot afford to wait for federal or state solutions. As funding decisions approach in July, we must ask ourselves: what will our community look like with half its homelessness services eliminated? The responsibility now falls to us, the community. Whether its $5 or $5,000, please give what you can to the agencies and services that you value and trust to ensure that proven, cost-effective interventions continue. While many challenges may seem beyond our control, this one isnt. We can only do this work when our community stands with us. We are depending on you, as an engaged member of our community, to understand the complexities of homelessness, and share in the responsibility of implementing meaningful solutions. You can help us ensure that our successful, effective, cost-efficient services continue to make a meaningful difference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Homelessness is complex and its messy. There is no one solution and no quick fix. It affects the young, the middle aged, and the old. Meeting its challenges requires far more than enforcement it demands comprehensive housing solutions, eviction prevention and support services addressing diverse barriers to finding and keeping stable housing. If you dont know about the services being offered in our community, 5Cities Homeless Coalition would love an opportunity to show you, as would our community partners. To learn more of the work happening at 5Cities Homeless Coalition and our outcomes of success, please visit 5CHC.org. To those who are already invested with us in this struggle, let me say, thank you. We cannot do our work without you and we need you now more than ever in order to carry on. Janna Nichols is executive director of 5Cities Homeless Coalition. President Donald Trump greets El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele as he arrives at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 13. via Associated Press WASHINGTON However scared you might be for our democracy, you are not scared enough. The president of the United States, from the moment he regained the office, has been step-by-step following the autocrats playbook. He has gone after universities for not obeying his decrees. He has extorted law firms for having on staff, or just once-upon-a-time having had on staff, people who crossed him. He has targeted for prosecution former aides who challenged him. He has arrested a local judge for not helping him round up migrants for deportation. He has attacked the free press for not bending to his will. On his very first day in office, he released from prison hundreds of domestic terrorists, effectively a personal militia, who assaulted police officers in his name. And now, not 100 days into his term, he has done what so many democracy advocates have feared he would eventually do, something that no president has dared try in the more than two centuries since Marbury v. Madisons precedent that the judiciary would be the ultimate authority on what is and what is not legal: He is straight-up defying the United States Supreme Court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And here is the truly terrifying part he is getting away with it. No one is getting fined. No one is going to jail. In fact, much of America doesnt even realize its happening. The case at hand is nominally about a migrant who came to this country illegally but who for several years now had been raising a family in Maryland and training to be a sheet metal worker. But in reality it is about whether anyone or any institution has any check on Donald Trumps ability to claim near limitless power over all our lives simply by declaring a national security emergency. For three years, Trump and his apologist echo chamber repeated, over and over, that the flood of migrants coming over the southern border without authorization constituted an invasion. Of course, it was no such thing. However much a person chooses to hate illegal immigration, whether based on a strict, rules-are-rules belief system or a pragmatic concern for the effect on border communities or even straight-up racism, the migrants coming here these past several years did not represent an invading army, regardless of how frequently Stephen Miller and his allies tossed around the phrase military-aged men. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The overwhelming majority of migrants come to this country for the same reason all of our ancestors came here: To make a better life for themselves and their children. For generations now, those entering from Mexico have picked our vegetables, made the beds and cleaned the toilets in our hotels, and laid shingles on our roofs under a scorching summer sun. In short, theyve been doing the work that native-born Americans have been unwilling to do. To contrast that against an actual invasion, check out whats happening in Eastern Europe right now. Notice that the Russians arent trying to get jobs and make new lives in Ukraine. Theyre trying to kill the people who already live there and steal their land. It would have been one thing for Trump to drop the invasion talk after he won. Of course, though, he did not. In executive order after executive order, public statement after public statement, Trump has cited the presence of migrants in the country illegally as an emergency to justify sweeping powers that allow him to round up people and ship them to a foreign prison where torture is routine where they will remain, possibly forever. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And thats not the only emergency. Theres an energy emergency that allows Trump to trample environmental laws to bring about an infinite amount of oil-drilling. Theres an economic emergency that lets him impose tariffs on whatever countries imports he wants, notwithstanding the Constitution that specifically grants the power of taxation to Congress. The dangers in those emergency authorities, though, pale before the ones given to a U.S. president facing a literal invasion, which is why the confrontation between Trump and the U.S. Supreme Court over purported members of criminal gangs has such high stakes. The justices, finally, appear to be standing up to Trumps autocratic tendencies, both in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcias alleged membership in MS-13, as well as the hundreds of migrants accused of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. After Trump and his Department of Justice ignored the Supreme Court in the case of Abrego Garcia claiming that its order to facilitate his return to the United States does not actually mean what it says the justices flatly forbade Trump from shipping any more Venezuelans to the El Salvador torture prison until further notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The big question, so big, in fact, that the future of our democracy may well be riding on the answer, is what happens if and when the high court codifies its previous ruling and in more explicit language orders Trump to bring Abrego Garcia back? Or declares that he cannot use the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act when the nation is not actually at war? Maybe Trump backs down and does as he is told. But if he doesnt? Perhaps it hasnt occurred to many, maybe even most, Americans, that the Chief Justice of the United States commands no army, can summon no police force. Nor, for that matter, does Congress. They, and all of us, are dependent on Donald Trump and the police and military under his control to honor the Constitution and the rule of law. If he can declare, by fiat, that MS-13 and Tren de Aragua are not mere criminal gangs engaging in violence, theft and extortion but are instead terrorists and invaders that justify his use of extraordinary and extrajudicial powers, why would he limit himself there? Whats to stop him from declaring that those who protest against him are agents of a foreign power and need to be rounded up and imprisoned? What prevents him from declaring that news media are enemies of the people and jailing them, as well? And what about all those disloyal judges who are trying to prevent him from saving our country shouldnt they be sent to El Salvadors torture prison, too? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yes, absolutely, this sounds alarmist, because we have a normalcy bias in this country. Nothing this bad has ever happened here, and therefore it cannot. And it is this failure of imagination, the same failure that refused to foresee Jan. 6 before Trump had unleashed his armed mob on the Capitol, that is again endangering the republic. If today the executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? And what assurance shall there be that the executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? These words were written in an opinion in the days after the high court ordered Trump to facilitate Abrego Garcias return and with the Department of Justice still stonewalling. Their author is lifelong conservative Harvie Wilkinson, 41 years on the federal appellate court bench after his appointment there by Ronald Reagan. He concluded with a paragraph that was nothing short of chilling: We yet cling to the hope that it is not naive to believe our good brethren in the executive branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos. This case presents their unique chance to vindicate that value and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time. Harvie Wilkinson is clearly scared for the republic. You should be, too. ALPINE, Utah (ABC4) Human remains were found in an Alpine, Utah, park on Friday, according to Lone Peak Police. At around 8:30 p.m. on April 25, Lone Peak Police responded to a report of suspected skeletal human remains in Alpines Lambert Park. The park is reportedly mostly undeveloped and used for biking, equestrian, and foot traffic. Upon arrival, officers found what appeared to be human skeletal remains, a press release from Lone Peak Police states. Police reportedly cordoned off the area and secured the scene to ensure the integrity of the finding. Investigators then processed the scene Saturday morning, April 26, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators worked meticulously to document and recover the remains, the release states. At this time, the identity of the deceased and the circumstances surrounding their death remain under investigation. The remains have reportedly been taken to the Medical Examiners Office for further examination. This is a developing story. ABC4 will update this post as new information becomes available. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The United States has a special interest in safeguarding the integrity of human rights because America is founded on the rights inherent in all persons, and the nations political traditions revolve around them. Ordinary Americans as well as Washington policymakers, therefore, should condemn prominent human-rights organizations abuse of human rights to defame Israel and to legitimate jihadists efforts to destroy the Jewish state. Correcting the record about the Middle Easts only rights-protecting democracy and the Islamist forces sworn to its elimination is crucial to restoring the good name of human rights. The Declaration of Independence holds that it is self-evidently true that human beings are endowed with "unalienable rights" - the 18th-century term for human rights. The Constitution aims to secure them. Much of the nations history revolves around the struggle to ensure that all Americans enjoy the rights that are theirs in virtue of their humanity. While the Constitution does not grant government a roving mandate to protect human rights around the world, it does invigorate the nations interest in serving as a beacon of freedom for those who suffer under authoritarian regimes and in cooperating with countries that share Americas understanding of the dignity of the person. Dictatorships reject human rights, which place individual freedom ahead of dictators ambitions and decrees. Dictatorships aversion to human rights is as characteristic of the Iranian Ayatollahs Islamist theocracy as it is of Putins imperial Russian and of the Chinese Communist Partys synthesis of Marxism-Leninism and traditional Chinese nationalism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the 21st century, powerful human-rights organizations have played into dictators hands by politicizing human rights. While persisting in affirming human-rights universality, these organizations equate them with a tendentious version of the progressive agenda. They wield human rights as a propaganda tool, inflating the claims of favored groups and disparaging the claims of the disfavored. The politicization of human rights sends the pernicious message to those who differ with the progressive lefts political priorities that human rights are a sham and should be expelled from respectable political discourse. Nowhere do human-rights organizations more crudely politicize human rights than in the case of Israel. The problem begins with the United Nations betrayal of its principles. The preamble to the UN Charter proclaims, "faith in fundamental human rights," and Article 1 asserts "the principleof equal rights and self-determinationof peoples." Yet in 1975, the UN General Assembly disgraced itself by adopting Resolution 3379, which states that Zionism - the national movement of the Jewish people - "is a form of racism and racial discrimination." In 1991, UN General Assembly Resolution 46/86 revoked Resolution 3379, but the 2001 UN World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, reaffirmed the equation of Zionism with racism. More recently, the United Nations Human Rights Council gives wildly disproportionate time and energy to denouncing Israel: The UNHRC dedicates a permanent agenda item at each session only to Israel; it passes numerous condemnatory resolutions of Israel every year while ignoring egregious human-rights violations in many other countries; and it devotes more special sessions and commissions of inquiry to Israel than to any other country. In recent years, the dogma of settler colonialism has intensified human-rights organizations enmity toward Israel. According to this university-manufactured theory, Israels establishment subordinated and displaced indigenous peoples of the Middle East. And with the support of the United States - allegedly the worlds largest and most insidious settler-colonialist power, having stolen a continent-spanning territory from its rightful native-American owners - the Jewish state supposedly persists in oppressing Palestinians. Never mind that the Jewish peoples claim on their ancestral homeland goes back around three thousand years, more than 1,500 years before the 7th-century birth of Islam. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to decrying Israels existence, the settler-colonialism dogma fuels beliefs at odds with human rights universality and the dignity of persons. Those resisting Israel, in the settler-colonialism view, have the right to use any-and-all means to reclaim their land. And, maintain subscribers to the settler-colonialism creed, Israels exercise of the most elemental of human rights, the right of self-defense, violates its enemies rights to perpetrate atrocities against the Jewish state. In "The Double Standard in the Human-Rights World," Michael Powell, an Atlantic staff writer, provides numerous examples of how leading human-rights organizations - including Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch - corrupt human rights to vilify Israel. In 2024, the U.K. chapter of Amnesty International - the worlds largest human-rights organization - went out of its way to promote a Palestinian demonstration in London commemorating the one-year anniversary of Iran-backed Hamas slaughter of some 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and kidnapping of approximately 250, mostly civilians. On the occasion, Amnesty International featured on its website a pro-Palestinian video indicating that Israels establishment in 1948 justified Hamas massacre in 2023. This "marked an astonishing shift for one of the worlds most prominent human-rights organizations," writes Powell. "Amnestys handbook declares that it is independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It does not support or oppose any government or political system, nor does it necessarily support the views of the victims whose rights it seeks to protect." At its 1961 founding, "Amnestys goal was to serve as an advocate for victims and prisoners of conscience, and to stand apart from the polarized politics of the Cold War," according to Powell. "The same ethos influenced the founders of Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, however, prestigious human-rights organizations do the polarizing. "As the cultural and political left has come to dominate the human-rights community, young sta''.ord('').';'''.ord('').';'''.ord('').';'ers with passionate ideological commitments have helped rewrite the agendas of the best-known organizations," Powell explains. "Critical theories of social justice, built on binaries that categorize Palestinians as oppressed and Israel as the oppressor, now dominate many conversations about the Jewish state, which a constellation of groups casts as uniquely illegitimate - a regressive, racist ethnic Western state in an Arab sea." Dr. Rasha Khoury illustrates human-rights organizations subordination to ideology. Born and raised in East Jerusalem, Khoury, president of the board of Doctors Without Borders USA, asserted on the organizations digital bulletin board just over a month after the Hamas massacre that she and her colleagues "must decolonize our minds." To overlook Israels "unhinged bombardment and massacre of Palestinians in Gaza" was "to a''.ord('').';'''.ord('').';'''.ord('').';'rm the colonizers world view, one rooted in white supremacist logic." Danielle Haas served as a senior editor at Human Rights Watch from 2010 to 2023. She maintains that HRW, too, has abandoned human rights for partisanship. "The trend is to substitute ideology and personal belief for the principles of the human-rights movement," she told Powell. The issue, however, is not a certain slippage, the intrusion of bias into the defense of human rights. Rather, human-rights organizations exploit their power and expertise to propagate extreme political positions masquerading as human-rights imperatives. "Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and Doctors Without Borders have all accused Israel of crimes against humanity and acts of genocide," states Powell. "Some human-rights leaders have openly questioned Israels right to exist as a Jewish state." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These human-rights organizations attacks on Israel tend to suppress such basic international-laws-of-war principles as the prohibition on combats embedding themselves within their own urban areas to use civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields. The organizations also ignore that these reprehensible tactics give Hamas presumptive moral and legal responsibility for the collateral death and destruction that result from Israels exercising its right of self-defense - this involves minimizing harm to civilians and civilian objects - to eliminate threats to its territorial integrity and political sovereignty. "A former top executive with a well-known human-rights organization" - to whom Powell granted anonymity "to avoid further alienating former colleagues" - acknowledged that "Hamas has an obligation under international law not to use human shields and to distinguish between military and civilian targets. Yet, stressed the former senior human-rights figure, "if you bring this up internally, its framed as a distraction, an Israeli talking point." At a 2022 Washington luncheon, Amnesty International USA Director Paul OBrien bluntly stated, "We are opposed to the idea - and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate - that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people." OBrien eventually "expressed regret for his remarks" and withdrew his opposition to the very existence of the nation-state of the Jewish people. His error, it seems, was to accidentally or ill-advisedly share his organizations extreme anti-Israel views. Critics of Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch must not be blinded by indignation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The propensity of influential human-rights organizations to justify or gloss over Hamas barbaric Oct. 7 massacre and unlawful and immoral use of Gazas civilian population as human shields while denying the Jewish states right to defend itself discredits the organizations. It does not discredit human rights. By safeguarding human rights good name against those who would turn them into a license to defame Israel and promote jihad against the Middle Easts only rights-protecting democracy, the United States vindicates the principles on which American freedom rests. Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2019 to 2021, he served as director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department. His writings are posted at PeterBerkowitz.com and he can be followed on X @BerkowitzPeter. BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) Hundreds of people in Buffalo walked together on Saturday in support of those battling pancreatic cancer and to raise money to research the disease at the PanCAN PurpleStride event. The event gives people hope and hits very close to the WIVB News 4 family. Mike Micoli, who was an engineer at News 4 for around three decades, battled pancreatic cancer and there was no question that he fought it with strength and bravery. He died in February of this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mike, whenever I saw him, he always had a smile on his face, said Jennifer Schiffmacher, an affiliate chair for the Western New York Affiliate of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. You would never think he was going through the battle that he was going through. The PanCAN PurpleStride benefit is an event that is near and dear to Micolis family and his co-workers at News 4. Mike was the epitome of joy and kindness, said News 4 anchor and event emcee Dave Greber. He was the type of co-worker everyone wants. Attendees came out wearing purple to show their support for people who have pancreatic cancer and to raise money for research. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You see the sea of purple and its a moment. It definitely is a moment, Schiffmacher said. Whether people walked alongside a loved one battling the disease or walked in memory of someone, the message at the event was one of hope. Its just amazing to see the people, and you see people year after year and you have that hug, Schiffmacher said. It can be emotional when you take that moment. Just knowing that youre not alone in the fight against pancreatic cancer, that theres individuals at Roswell Park that are working on their behalf and all the people that are in it together, said Dr. Tom OConnor, a Pancreatic Cancer Research Center coordinator. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Micoli wanted to be present for the benefit and in some way, with his friends and family walking in stride, he was. There are two emotions that are really dominant here today that is the sadness that goes along with this awful disease and how quickly it takes people, but theres another half of the coin and I think its more important, and that is that there is hope, Greber said. Latest Local News Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work. 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 News 4 Buffalo. Visitors look at a vehicle of Chinese car brand Jetour at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors look at an exhibit of Chinese car brand Zeekr at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors look at an Xpeng P7+ on display at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors sit in an Xpeng G6 on display at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors view an exhibit of Chinese car brand AITO at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) This photo taken on April 26, 2025 shows a Zeekr 9X on display at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors look at an AITO M9 on display at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) Visitors try a vehicle of Chinese car brand Zeekr at the 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in east China's Shanghai, April 26, 2025. The exhibition, also known as Auto Shanghai 2025, not only foreshadows technological trends in the global auto market, but also demonstrates the strength and confidence of China's rising automakers in the face of established global giants. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) The number of people booked into the Orange County jail on immigration detainers four months into the year nearly eclipses last years total and looks likely to keep rising as the Trump administration cracks down on people without legal authority to remain in the country. From Jan. 1 to April 15, 800 people were booked into the Orange County Jail with a detainer by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, jail data shows. About 1,000 people were booked into the jail on ICE detainers all of last year. Orange Countys jail chief, Louis Quinones, told county commissioners this week that federal agents booked 20 migrants into the jail on Monday, and he was expecting at least that many each day for the rest of the week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their stay on 33rd Street has been short, he said. By Tuesday morning, 17 of them had been transported to ICE facilities in Miami or elsewhere. What that suggests to me is that ICE is very active in Central Florida, said Mayor Jerry Demings, a former Orange County Sheriff. The Department of Homeland Security, in tandem with state law enforcement, kicked off Operation Tidal Wave, this week in which they intended to detain 800 undocumented immigrants in cities across Florida, including Orlando, through Saturday, the Miami Herald reported Thursday. Though jail data shows a spike in immigration cases, it doesnt fully capture all of the ways migrants are being forced to leave the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For instance, at a prayer service outside of ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations office building in an industrial part of Orange County on Thursday, a woman from Botswana approached a handful of faith leaders who gathered to protest deportations. She came to the United States about 20 years ago as part of a Disney work program and stayed ever since, working as a waitress. Each year immigration officials renewed her visa, she said, until this year. This year, I came in and they didnt want to, she said. I have to be out by May 14. The woman, who declined to identify herself, said she visited the ICE office this week to show she purchased a ticket back to Botswana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its still hard to digest it, she said. Its shocking. Some of those picked up in Central Florida on ICE detainers and processed through the Orange County Jail may have been sent to the Krome Detention Center in Miami. Alvaro Perpuly, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Fredrica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, said he accompanied Wilson on a visit to the detention center, after receiving reports of overcrowded, dangerous, unsanitary and inhumane conditions in the wake of the mass detentions. I wouldnt be shocked if theres a good amount of people from Central Florida there, he said. Wilson told the Washington Post this week that a giant tent was stood up at Krome to house up to 400 detained migrants, as federal officials struggle to house about 50,000 people detained nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A detainer doesnt require probable cause to believe someone has committed a crime but is based on ICEs suspicion that a person has violated immigration rules. Of the 800 people with such detainers processed at the Orange County jail this year, 259 werent booked on additional local charges. In Orange County it costs $145 per day to incarcerate an inmate, of which federal authorities reimburse the county for $88 per day, Quinonez said. Hes seeking to negotiate a more favorable deal with ICE, he told commissioners. Under a new Florida law, each county was required to sign an agreement with ICE, in which local law enforcement can be deputized by the agency to help with immigration enforcement. Numerous cities across Florida including Orlando and Tampa have signed similar agreements. The agreements have sparked backlash from advocates, who have called on cities to cancel their agreements altogether they contend state law doesnt require them and pushed Orange County to offer migrants more information on legal resources available to them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People are being disappeared every single day, Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, executive director of Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, an immigrant advocacy group, said at Tuesdays Board of County Commission hearing. As a matter of fact, every day I go to work, I have to work on five to six cases. Last month, Demings said that the county had received word of at least 10,000 deportation orders of its residents, and that the number could soon double. In Lake County, 82 people have been arrested so far this year with ICE detainers, jail data shows. In Seminole, 50 people with detainers have been placed at the county jail through March, with 38 released to ICE. Data from Osceola County wasnt available before publication. _____ FORT MYERS, Fla. Almost 800 people have been arrested in the first few days of Operation Tidal Wave, a multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown in Florida, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities announced. ICE called the effort a "first-of-its-kind partnership" involving state and federal agencies and local law enforcement. The agency, in a statement Saturday, lauded local police agencies for providing "extraordinary support" for the crackdown that began April 21. "This is a warning to all criminal illegal aliens: Were coming for you," Homeland Security Secretary Krisiti Noem wrote in a social media post. "@DHSgov, @ICEgov, and our state partners will hunt you down, arrest and deport you. Thats a promise." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All 67 Florida county sheriffs already agreed to partner with ICE. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Operation Tidal Wave an example of the "big results on immigration enforcement an deportations" that federal, state and local agencies can accomplish by working together. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said the operation was a "major success" and that more such crackdowns are planned in coming months. "Almost 800 aliens including MS-13 gang members, including convicted murders, rapists, all these people are now off our streets who have otherwise been acting with impunity and terrorizing U.S. communities," McLaughlin said on Fox News. "You are going to be seeing this throughout the country." 2-year-old citizen apparently deported: 'No meaningful process,' judge says Florida pressures local agencies to support the ICE immigration effort Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said last month that he planned to investigate Fort Myers City Council after it failed to agree to the partnership, calling the refusal "very troubling" and illegal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Naples Congressman Byron Donalds, a Trump-backed gubernatorial hopeful, said City Council members who refused to go along with the ICE agreement should lose their jobs. Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed-in, writing that "Florida will ensure its laws are followed, and when it comes to immigration the days of inaction are over. Govern yourselves accordingly." Days later, City Council voted again and approved the ICE partnership. "Good Choice," Uthmeier said in a social media post. What is Operation Tidal Wave? In the first coordinated operation between U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security launched a large-scale operation in Florida to find and detain about 800 undocumented immigrants, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald. The effort, nicknamed "Operation Tidal Wave," targets people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers, according to records seen by the Herald. All of them are areas with high immigrant populations. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Immigration ICE in Florida: Almost 800 arrests in Operation Tidal Wave Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers worked alongside local police to make nearly 800 arrests in Florida this week as part of an operation law enforcement officials called the first of its kind and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation. Arrests were carried out Monday through Saturday and dubbed Operation Tidal Wave, ICE said in a statement. The agency called the operation a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown. The operation played out as Donald Trumps administration deploys federal law enforcement agencies into communities throughout the United States to speed up removals as part of the presidents mass deportation agenda. ICE worked with local Florida police to arrest nearly 800 people this week in a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) The agreement between ICE and local law enforcement relies on ICE's 287(g) authority, which allows the agency to effectively deputize local police to carry out immigration-related arrests. Some 200 Florida law enforcement agencies including sheriffs offices, city police departments and college campus police departments have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, the most out of any state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nationwide, there has been a 371 percent increase in the number of 287(g) agreements signed by local agencies, acting ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News. The operation is the first of its kind and a preview of whats to come throughout the nation, Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. Immigrants rights advocates fear the scale of arrests will result in so-called collateral arrests that allow officers to detain immigrants who were not initially targeted but got caught up in raids. Its going to break up families, Tessa Petit, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, told The New York Times. And that is not the welcoming state that Florida has been for immigrants for decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The operation targeted people in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers, according to records reviewed by the Tallahassee Democrat. Local officials opposing the administrations push to partner with local law enforcement have also faced threats from Trumps allies. Floridas Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier opened an investigation into the Fort Meyers city council when members voted against an agreement to train city police on how to partner with ICE, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis also had a stark warning for local officials following the no-vote: Florida will ensure its laws are followed, and when it comes to immigration the days of inaction are over. Govern yourselves accordingly." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These federal-local partnerships are set to continue, ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan told ABC News. Weve seen historic partnerships with the state of Texas that has been going on and being able to expand. We've seen historic partnerships in Virginia as well as many other states that are coming to the table, even states that you wouldn't necessarily always think of as border states, Sheahan said. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported by the U.S. Now, many are calling for the Trump administration to bring him back (AFP via Getty Images) Trumps immigration approval rating fell from a net score of plus 18 points to a net score of just plus 10 points since mid-March, according to a poll by Echelon Insights released earlier this month. Similarly, a New York Times/Siena poll released this week shows the majority of voters believe Trump has gone too far on immigration enforcement. The drop follows legal and public backlash against a series of high-profile immigration enforcement actions, including the Trumps administrations refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father and Salvadoran immigrant who was living in Maryland and deported to a notorious prison in his home country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the government must facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. A federal appeals court said the removal of U.S. residents without due process should be shocking to Americans intuitive sense of liberty. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he will not make efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States while lawyers for Abrego Garcia continue to fight for his return in court. Trump administration officials were reportedly planning to seek Abrego Garcias return, but the White House performed a dramatic U-turn soon afterward, The Atlantic reports. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denies that there was ever an effort to bring Abrego Garcia back. A massive rock along northbound Interstate 5 south of Bellingham, used as a community billboard for more than 50 years, will be removed soon as part of an upcoming freeway construction project. Its future remains uncertain as officials with the Washington State Department of Transportation consider what to do with landmark roadside attraction. Bellingham residents and siblings Justin Kennedy, left, April Gates and Rebecca Hawk paint the rock in 2016 in memory of their late mother and brother. The Washington State Department of Transportation and Federal Highways Administration do not permit returning the Bellingham rock to its original location, given the safety concerns. We recognize the importance this rock has for the community and acknowledge that it has served as a community billboard for decades, WSDOTs Madison Sehlke told The Herald. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three-year WSDOT culvert, bridge project near Bellingham will come with closures and bypasses Standing about 8 feet high, the massive boulder was blasted out of the surrounding Chuckanut sandstone when I-5 was built in 1966. In 1969 a summer resident of Lake Samish painted its first tag Sealth 70, a tribute to his Seattle high school graduating class. In the decades since it has seen messages of love, whimsy, mourning and even hate. Images have included smiley faces, high school slogans and birthday wishes, according to previous Herald records, and the Bellingham Rock page on Facebook. Its paint layer is several inches deep. A tribute to Jim and Braden, brothers who disappeared in 2001 after leaving Larrabee State Park in their kayaks. Every March 11 the rock is painted with a tribute by the relatives of two brothers who vanished in 2001 after leaving Larrabee State Park in their kayaks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was our 24th year of painting in memory of our sons, Jim and Braden, who disappeared in Bellingham Bay. Fingers crossed the rock will still be here for our 25th year, they wrote on the Bellingham Rock page. Vehicles travel north on Interstate 5 past the graffiti rock near Bellingham. Sehlke told The Herald in an email that several factors led WSDOT to its decision. She didnt say when the rock will be removed, or where it will go. Paramount was safety, she said. Those who paint the rock must slide their car into a small pullout or hike several hundred yards past a freeway off-ramp. At this point, what we know for sure is that the rock will be removed during construction and that it cannot be returned to its current location or anywhere on WSDOT property. WSDOT will document the rock in accordance with state and federal requirements for impacts to historic properties, Selke said. We know the Bellingham rock is something that means a great deal to the community and we are optimistic that the final outcome will honor the legacy of the rock in one way, shape or form. Its a prime piece of property in the heart of downtown Tacoma, near McMenamins Elks Temple and Old City Hall. Plans for demolition of whats known as Graffiti Garages, 725 Broadway, and redevelopment into new apartments date back to 2014. Its 3-year development qualification for an 8-year multifamily property tax exemption (MFTE) expires in December. The property was among those used by Bellevue-based investment firm iCap in what later was determined to be a Ponzi scheme, according to a ruling in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, the property has hit another benchmark of sorts. A Notice of Abandonment was listed for the property (officially 716-728 Commerce St.) in Pierce County records earlier this year. 725 Broadway LLC, an iCap-affiliated entity, remains as the site taxpayer on Pierce Countys online property portal, and the property has accumulated more than $49,000 in current and past-due property taxes going back to 2024. The site also is tied to an ongoing investor lawsuit in King County. The abandonment notice is the latest turn for a property that has long been the subject of redevelopment. Savvy investors cautiously love distressed properties, said Harrison Laird, a principal with Lee & Associates commercial real estate services. Laird specializes in the sales and leasing of office properties throughout the South Sound. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Often, publicly known injunctions and notices spur activity on a property, though the investor pool will generally be targeting the absolute minimum bid itll take to buy the property, Laird told The News Tribune. Steven Bender is an associate dean and professor at Seattle University School of Law and is an expert in real estate law. In response to questions about the abandonment designation, Bender said many factors would play a role in the sites future, with whoever is in charge of the property opting for as cost-effective offloading as possible. In such cases, parties involved typically assess the current highest and best use of the property, the rental market conditions, and the transferability of any existing development permits, he noted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to city media representative Maria Lee, The development permits have all expired so new permits would be required. Bender noted the abandonment distinction likely wouldnt affect any new marketing of the site. Last year, The News Tribune reported that the property was being offered for just over $2 million. It probably doesnt matter, Bender said. I mean, its mostly a matter of getting it into the hands of somebody whos going to redevelop it, and what that will take. As The News Tribune reported last year, one lawsuit noted that the property had been used by 725 Broadway LLC to secure a loan that eventually exceeded the propertys value. Its most recent assessed value, according to Pierce County, is at just under $2 million. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As for a lender taking on site prep, Most lenders are not going to be in the business of demolishing something, Bender said. Generally, that would be very unusual for a lender to want to reach in his pocket and pay more on a site. Chapter 11 and iCap liquidation iCap Trust in December announced that iCap Enterprises and its affiliated debtors had completed Chapter 11 that included a landmark Ponzi ruling under a court-approved joint plan of liquidation, developed with an Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors. The trust was established to recover assets for more than 1,800 defrauded investors, primarily from overseas. The Ponzi ruling was part of an October findings of fact, conclusions of law, and order confirming a modified amended joint Chapter 11 Plan of liquidation of iCap Enterprises and its affiliated debtors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of the court-approved plan, the Tacoma property was one of two iCap-related entities listed under abandonment of certain estate assets. The determination meant that the property shall be abandoned by the Debtors and their Estates pursuant to Section 554 of the Bankruptcy Code and shall not be considered iCap Trust Assets. A co-trustee for the iCap Trust did not respond to questions from The News Tribune about whats next for the Tacoma site. The other related entity abandoned in the bankruptcy case was iCaps interest in Airlink Holding LLC and Airlink Markets LLC, which operated in the securities industry. iCap Enterprises was the parent company for Airlink. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In October, the director of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions entered a final order against Airlink Markets, LLC, finding that an officer, director, partner, or person performing similar functions for ... Airlink Markets engaged in dishonest and unethical business practices in the securities industry, and those practices justified the revocation of the respondents broker-dealer registration under to the Securities Act of Washington. As a result, Airlink Markets was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $500 in costs, and had its broker-dealer registration revoked. Previous reporting from The News Tribune contributed to this report. Western New Mexico Universitys main campus in Silver City. )Courtesy of Western New Mexico University) For nearly two weeks, Western New Mexico Universitys website and digital systems have been held hostage by what officials in internal emails have called the efforts of a foreign hacking group. The university has not publicly addressed the severity of the attack, but documentation obtained by Searchlight New Mexico indicates that an infamous Russian-speaking hacking group is behind the attack and claims to have access to employee payroll data, Social Security numbers and drivers licenses. If you refuse to communicate with us and we do not come to an agreement, your data will be reviewed and published on our blog, the ransomware on WNMU employee computers says. Data includes: Employees personal data, CVs, DL, SSN. Complete network map including credentials for local and remote services. Financial information including clients data, bills, budgets, annual reports. In an image of an employees computer shared with Searchlight, a note that threatens to leak the employees Social Security number, drivers license and the universitys complete network map is signed by Qilin, a hacking group that the federal government has accused of running a ransomware-as-a-service operation. Qilin has earned a cutthroat reputation for being willing to go after anyone. Last year, it was accused of being involved in a cyberattack that forced a hospital system to cancel more than 1,000 appointments and operations. Earlier this year, it made headlines for its role in stealing the Social Security numbers and drivers licenses of journalists who work for newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since April 13, the WNMU website has been inaccessible to the public. Faculty members told Searchlight that they and their students can use digital platforms like Canvas, which are hosted by a third party, but theyre unable to use classroom tools that connect to the internet, like printers or projectors. In an image shared with Searchlight, one employees laptop screen displayed the same threatening ransomware message whenever they attempted to open a file on their work computer. The message was signed Qilin, and its contents bear the hallmark signs of ransomware, in which hackers hold sensitive data hostage until they receive a ransom payment. Even if they do receive a payment, groups like these may leak the sensitive information anyway. A Western New Mexico employees laptop displayed several threatening ransomware messages, apparently signed by the foreign hacking group known as Qilin. We have downloaded compromising and sensitive data from your system/network. Our group cooperates with the mass media. If you refuse to communicate with us and we do not come to an agreement, your data will be reviewed and published on our blog, the message says. Data includes: Employees personal data, CVs, DL, SSN. Complete network map including credentials for local and remote services. Financial information including clients data, bills, budgets, annual reports. The note instructs recipients to download a Tor browser commonly used to access the dark web and visit a specific site to begin negotiations with the hackers. You need cipher key/our decrypt software to restore your files the police or authorities will not be able to help you get the cipher key. We encourage you to consider your decisions. Payday delayed On April 25 a Friday, payday at WNMU hourly and student employees said they had not yet received their direct deposits. In an email to employees reviewed by Searchlight, the university said the problem stemmed from an unexpected complication during the file upload process to the bank and said some employees might experience further delays in receiving the payments. If this delay results in any overdraft fees, the university will reimburse those charges, the email said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cyberattack comes at an inopportune time for university leaders, who are working to rebuild trust with the faculty senate, student body, state government and the surrounding Silver City community. Since December, when former university president Joseph Shepard resigned from his post and the governor demanded the resignations of the sitting regents, the campus has been without a permanent leader. New regents have only been on the job since late March, and now find themselves leading a university in disarray. Threats like these have become common enough in local government that in 2022 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, the first of its kind, to help upgrade and protect IT networks across the country. It awarded nearly $280 million in grant funding for fiscal year 2024 nearly $4 million of which went to New Mexico and anticipated awarding $1 billion over four years. In an email to executive managers on April 14 one day after the attack Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jack Crocker said WNMU experienced a cyberattack from a foreign hacking group and said the university had the ongoing collective support and assistance of the New Mexico Higher Education Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other university cyber experts to help us combat the attack. In an email to Searchlight, Higher Education Department spokesperson Auriella Ortiz said the agency was working closely with the state Department of Information Technology to evaluate the issue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WNMU is undertaking a formal investigation to identify the scope of the incident and to facilitate necessary remediation efforts, she wrote. Our primary objective as state agencies is to support the university in restoring and continuing normal business operations following this incident. Whether that collective firepower will be enough to combat the hacking group remains to be seen. Qilin has developed a reputation for wreaking havoc wherever it goes. Last year, it was accused of being involved with an attack on a healthcare provider in London that forced hospitals to immediately halt operations. Qilin has been operational since 2022 and operates ransomware as a service, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This allows independent hackers to use its digital tools in exchange for a 15 to 20 percent share of the ransom payments. The 2024 report says that the groups typical demand for ransom is $50,000 to $800,000. Actors practice double extortion and operate a data leak site where victims are posted. Victims are directed to communicate with the attackers via dark web portals or encrypted messaging services, ensuring the attackers anonymity and complicating law enforcement efforts to track interactions, the HHS report says. Payments are demanded in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Monero. However, even after payment, there is no guarantee that victims will receive the decryption tools required to recover their data. System outage or cyberattack? Meanwhile, the severity of the situation hasnt come through in the schools public messaging (While select systems remain offline, a recent WNMU Facebook post said, key academic and communications platforms continue to be accessible.) For nearly two weeks, WNMUs website has been down and employees have had varying degrees of access to their emails. Everything on the university website minutes and agendas for Board of Regents meetings, campus announcements and calendars of events has been blocked from public view, and students have had to use alternative login methods to access online homework, lectures and exams. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In public social media posts and emails to students, the university has not blamed a cyberattack or other nefarious activity for leading to the outages. Instead it has simply said it is working through technical issues. Internal communications, however, show that the situation is more serious than the universitys public depictions. The university has also enlisted the help of private cybersecurity companies. A number of Wi-Fi hotspots have been installed on campus and students have received instructions on alternative ways to access Canvas, an online coursework program used by universities around the nation. In the meantime, the plan is to keep campus open, Crocker wrote in his email to managers. Face-to-face classes will meet and alternative access to online/hybrid classes is being created. However, university internet, email, phones, and connections outside WNMU are inoperable at this time and must remain so until the issues are resolved. Scheduled events, such as the scholarship luncheon, softball games, Cultural Affairs lectures will continue. While faculty and hourly employees have received different communications from the top, students have seemingly been left in the dark as to the serious nature of the system outage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In an email to students last week, the university made no mention of a cyberattack. Instead, it told students that WNMU is currently addressing technical issues affecting access to several key web-based services. It also told students that protecting your personal data including your student status is a top priority. In a statement Friday, university spokesperson Mario Sanchez said impacted individuals would be notified if their personal information was involved in the attack. The universitys investigation into this incident is ongoing. If the investigation determines that personal information was involved, impacted individuals will be notified in accordance with applicable law. We understand there was an issue with payroll processing for the current pay period, but our bank has let us know that the issue has been corrected and payroll should be posted today. This article first appeared on Searchlight New Mexico and is republished here under a Creative Commons License. Apr. 27Northeast Pennsylvania is still a hub of innovative manufacturing. A number of companies have made the region their home base of operations as they continue to push their respective industries forward, technically and socially. A. Rifkin and AWG Contracting are among the leaders in their fields, and in Northeast Pennsylvania's manufacturing culture. Each of these companies bring an innovative spirit to their day-to-day operations. A. Rifkin Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since 1892 133 years ago A. Rifkin has worked within the booming sewing culture of the region to provide custom-made, reusable fabric products to essential industries. Today, under the leadership of President Darcy Buck, they serve many market bases, including banks, elections, government, restaurants and schools. Located on the Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Township, A. Rifkin provides a variety of protective textile products. For instance, they have manufactured bags that can replace manila folders that are secured by only a red string. "Our bags, being reusable fabric, can last far longer than that envelope ever will, and it can hold more," Buck said. The true innovative part of the A. Rifkin model, however, is the custom-made aspect. Each industry requires certain specifications that are not compatible with other industry needs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We literally will custom manufacture our bags specific to an individual customer, so if all the bags in our line don't quite fit what they want inside of it, we'll add an inch here and an inch there and a security feature and literally custom design something to your needs," explained Buck. The biggest competitive consideration for a business like A. Rifkin are imports, but balancing the needs of each market remains a top concern. For this reason, it is critical that the A. Rifkin team gets comfortable with adapting to an ever-changing economy. For its entire existence, the business has changed with the times, as well as with the customers that develop alongside those times. Buck is a fifth-generation leader in the A. Rifkin family of leaders and the first woman to be in charge of the company. Because of this structure, A. Rifkin was recently certified as a women-owned business by the Small Business Administration. The new certification comes with a number of businesses. Many potential customers actively look to support women-owned businesses, and certain monetary opportunities are open to businesses owned by women, minorities, and veterans. These boosts represent just one way the innovative spirit of A. Rifkin have aided the bottom line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the years, the company has persisted and adjusted to two world wars, the Great Depression, recessions, and, in recent times, the COVID-19 pandemic. In the latter scenario, A. Rifkin was closed for two days, but bounced back to prepare masks and surgical caps for local hospitals. With each external factor that has come about since 1892, the markets of interest for a company like A. Rifkin have shifted. That's a trend that has continued up to the modern day. "New markets, I've found, have still sprung up in the last 11 years with the recreational and medical marijuana, which was all cash-based, and we sell cash bags," said Buck. "So here's a market that I couldn't have predicted might pop up, and here it is." The markets may change, as can the methods of payment. With cash being a candidate for being fazed out, A. Rifkin may need to consider the possibility of cash bags becoming outdated. But Buck said that they are prepared for that change. At this point, it's practically a tradition for the company to adjust to the times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AWG Contracting Moses West, the owner of AWG Contracting and the founder of the Moses West Foundation, has a clear objective: save lives. He does it through rebuilding military equipment and using the manufacturing techniques AWG as a means to produce water in significant amounts where it's needed through low energy consumption. As temperatures around the globe rise, water evaporates at a pace that can result in water and food scarcity. Water scarcity is an issue that can impact any population, even those that are unaware of the risks in their water. "Right now, everyone is struggling with water security," West asserted. "Some people realize it; most people don't realize it how short we are on pure water." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AWG Contracting is on the frontlines in the fight against water supply issues. He pointed to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which he said ballooned the price of a gallon of pure water to between $5 and $10. On the nearby island of Vieques, thousands of people were left with a completely disrupted water supply. In response, AWG ran a generator to provide water, according to West, to 15,000 people on the island. Water scarcity is not only a matter of water not being present. It is additionally a concern when the available water is unhealthy. In the United States, toxic chemicals and other factors are reducing the viability of the pure water that is available in some of North America's most important aquifers. "These aquifers are becoming highly contaminated, they're becoming dry, the [Biscayne Bay in Florida] is becoming salty see: salt water incursion and canned chemicals, farming chemicals rolling into the aquifers now." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West pointed out the outdated nature of the minimum toxic chemical limits allowed by the federal government, and suggested that there is significant apathy when it comes to the people in power keeping water safe. "It'll come from the federal government [and] local, state and water municipalities," West said of those who should be held accountable for water policy. "They'll detect lead in the water and they'll just say, 'Well, it shouldn't be there. Drink it anyway.'" To make a difference under these troubled conditions, West has tried to find high-quality workmanship in a number of places, from Texas and Wisconsin to Spain. When he moved AWG's operation to Pennsylvania, he found the work ethic he was searching for. "In Pennsylvania, I'm getting more work done than I've ever gotten completed in my life," West said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West's manufacturing standards are high, and he owns multiple patents for pieces and processes that were never developed before West became involved in machine building. That's what he brings to AWG. Beyond that, he is always looking to innovate. His newest venture, harkening back to his goal of saving lives, is to reduce the risk of heat stroke and heat exhaustion by developing new air conditioning solutions. "Innovation is fun," West said of his continued ambition. "When it stops being fun, I'll stop doing it." THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The top United Nations court on Monday will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Last year, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israels legal obligations after the country effectively banned the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating. The United States, Israels closest ally, voted against the resolution. Israel over a month ago again cut off all aid to Gaza and its over 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza, and says it is entitled to block the aid because it says Hamas seizes it for its own use. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hague-based court has been asked to give an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally definitive answer, in the latest judicial proceedings involving Israel and the 18-month war in Gaza. That is expected to take several months. What is the International Court of Justice? Set up in the aftermath of World War II, the ICJ is an organ of the U.N. and adjudicates disputes between countries. Certain U.N. bodies, including the General Assembly, can request advisory opinions from the courts 15 judges. All 193 U.N. member states are members of the ICJ, though not all of them automatically recognize its jurisdiction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israels rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israels presence unlawful and calling for it to end. The U.N. General Assembly sought the opinion after a Palestinian request. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians right to self-determination. Two decades ago, the court in another advisory opinion held that Israel was violating international law by constructing a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. That opinion, also requested by the U.N. General Assembly, dismissed Israeli arguments that the wall was needed for security. Israel has not participated in previous advisory opinion hearings but has submitted written statements. What is the genocide case that Israel is facing at the ICJ? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement South Africa went to the court last year to accuse Israel of genocide over its actions in the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many are civilians or combatants. The offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and most of its people remain homeless. Israel rejects South Africa's claim and accuses it of providing political cover for Hamas. South Africa also asked judges to make nine urgent orders known as provisional measures. They are aimed at protecting civilians in Gaza while the court considers the legal arguments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The court has ruled several times on that request, including ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. The proceedings are ongoing and likely to take years to reach a conclusion. How is the ICJ different from the International Criminal Court? The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the worlds most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. While the ICJ deals with disputes between two or more countries, the ICC seeks to hold individuals criminally responsible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In November, a three-judge panel issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used starvation as a method of warfare by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israels campaign against Hamas, charges Israeli officials deny. The warrant marked the first time a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the global court of justice and has sparked major pushback from supporters of Israel, including the U.S. Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. However, Palestine is, and judges ruled in 2021 that the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian territory. XI'AN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Telehealth, powered by advances in information technology, came into sharp focus on Sunday as health leaders gathered in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, to discuss hospital collaboration among member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The seventh SCO Hospital Cooperation Conference, held in the lead-up to the eighth SCO Health Ministers' Meeting on Monday, brought together more than 100 representatives from government health authorities, medical associations, and healthcare institutions. Attendees called for greater efforts to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and other technological advances to strengthen telemedicine and smart healthcare services across SCO member states, in support of the broader goal of building a shared health community within the organization. Geographic barriers remain among the greatest challenges to healthcare provision in many SCO member states, where vast territories and low population densities often hinder access to medical services. This reality underscores the critical role of telemedicine in bridging health gaps, said Muhammad Ashraf Nizami, president of the Pakistan Medical Association (Lahore). Nizami praised China's leadership in developing domestic telehealth systems and its efforts to share expertise and resources with SCO member countries, including Pakistan. A highlight of the conference was the signing of a tripartite cooperation agreement among Tianjin First Central Hospital, the Management Office of the Tianjin Medical Association, and Nizami's organization. The agreement aims to deepen public health cooperation in telemedicine and related fields. Wang Xudong, head of the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission, hailed the agreement as a new chapter in healthcare collaboration between Tianjin and SCO countries. "We are confident that this new partnership will produce transferable best practices for broader cooperation in the future," the official said. Wang also said that Tianjin, which will host an SCO summit this autumn, is aligning its policies and institutional frameworks to support comprehensive healthcare partnerships across the organization. "We are spearheading the development of replicable models for cross-border healthcare, integrating telemedicine into clinical practice, traditional medicine systems, and public health management," he said. The conference also witnessed the signing of four additional cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between Chinese hospitals and universities and their counterparts in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Kanat Zhumanov, from the University Medical Center of Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, told Xinhua that Kazakhstan is eager to learn from China's experience in integrating AI applications, telemedicine services, and robotic technologies into medical practice. The University Medical Center of Nazarbayev University signed an MoU with the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University to collaborate on research, clinical knowledge-sharing, and healthcare workforce development, with a focus on oncology, chronic disease management, and maternal and child health. These agreements mark another milestone for the SCO Hospital Cooperation Alliance, which was founded in 2018 as a collaborative platform among member hospitals. The alliance now counts 134 hospitals among its members -- 100 from China and 34 from eight other SCO countries. Through events like Sunday's conference, remote exchanges, specialized collaborations, and professional networking, the alliance has fostered strong partnerships in healthcare under the SCO framework. According to Liu Qian, president of the Chinese Hospital Association -- a key architect of the alliance -- future priorities for the alliance include strengthening telemedicine infrastructure, expanding specialized networks, and launching talent development programs to diversify cooperation. "The collaborative spirit I witnessed here today is truly inspiring," said Zhumanov. "Our partnership promises real-world impact far beyond what is written in these agreements." A recent investigation by CBS News found that since many private insurance companies have stopped issuing new policies, homeowners are being forced into the states insurance plan, the FAIR plan, despite living in low fire risk areas. Don't miss The only other option they have is purchasing a policy from unregulated out-of-state insurers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While it doesnt sound that bad on the surface homeowners can still purchase policies it appears as though having more homeowners on the FAIR plan can cause far more issues. What is the FAIR plan and what's going in? The FAIR plan was established in California around 60 years ago and is a state-run insurance option for homeowners who cant find options elsewhere for fire coverage. This usually means homes classified as being at high risk of wildfires. The California Department of Insurance says that in 2023, only 3.7% of residents were covered through this plan, with the vast majority having more choices with private insurers. However, that may not be the case anymore, as more private companies announced they would limit coverage in the state in recent years. In 2023, State Farm, the biggest insurer in the state, said that it would no longer write new policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CBS data analysis reveals that more and more homes in low-risk areas are being forced into the FAIR plan. In fact, there are 10 times as many low-risk homes on the FAIR plan as homes in the highest risk locations. Reporters spoke to Ken Cavalli and Lisa Fine-Cavalli who applied for a new policy for their new home and were denied despite their ZIP code being assigned an average risk class of "negligible." And a large FAIR plan is a dangerous liability, noted CBS. The Los Angeles wildfires quickly drained the plan's surplus funds, leading to a $1 billion assessment on the rest of the state's insurers, at least half of which will be passed on to the people with regular insurance polices. Read more: This hedge fund legend warns US stock market will crash a stunning 80% claims 'Armageddon is coming. Dont believe him? He earned 4,144% during COVID. Heres 3 ways to protect yourself Will insurance premiums go up even more? They could if it means more companies can stay solvent and keep providing policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, told CBS News that home insurance rates are objectively underpriced and private insurance companies will only start writing new plans if theyre allowed to charge higher premiums. State Farm is currently seeking approval to raise premiums for California homeowners by an average of 17%. The Los Angeles wildfires after reinsurance will cost it over $600 million, and its reserves have dropped from $4 billion in 2016 to $1 billion last year. In a move to expand the market and alleviate the current crisis, California Department of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara created a Sustainable Insurance Strategy that will require private insurance companies by law to provide policies for homeowners in higher-risk areas. The goal is for insurers to have at least 85% of their policies issued to homeowners in distressed areas so they no longer need to be under the FAIR plan. In exchange, insurance companies may be able to pass on FAIR assessments (additional charges) to their customers. They can also use new models to assess premiums. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, CBS News noted that there may be a catch, which lies in how the term high risk is defined. For instance, private insurers may have their own criteria as to what constitutes a home being in a distressed or high-risk area. What can I do? Your best bet is to do as much research as possible to find private insurers who offer plans in your area. You can also take steps to see if you can qualify for a discount, whether you end up on the FAIR plan or not. Insurance companies are required by California law to give homeowners a risk score when they apply for a policy, or if they send a renewal or non-renewal notice. The notice should explain ways you can lower that score. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. After Harvard University stood up to reportedly unauthorized demands from the Trump administration that it cede control to the government over everything from hiring to admissions to curriculum design including engineering viewpoint diversity among students and faculty the president targeted its pocketbook. Much like it had done with other universities, the White House froze over $2 billion in federal funding, most of which supports medical and scientific research. Thats on top of a potential funding freeze of $8 billion unless Harvard agrees to eliminate DEI from its curriculum and ban the use of masks. In response to the funding cuts, Harvard has filed a lawsuit. But President Donald Trump took it a step further, calling the universitys tax-exempt status into question. Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST! he posted on Truth Social. Trump claims that Harvard has failed to meet the public interest standard because it has not adequately addressed antisemitism on campus though some Jewish leaders say that he is politicizing efforts to address antisemitism in service of a partisan agenda. The Anti-Defamation League, which previously expressed support for Trumps broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism, condemned the Harvard cuts in an open letter as an overreach, writing that the administrations demands go far beyond ensuring the civil rights of Jewish students and faculty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It may seem like an unprecedented situation and in a lot of ways, it is. Never before has an administration used the power of federal funding to attempt a wholesale takeover of a university. But there is some historical precedent for stripping a school of its tax-exempt status a measure that would have crippling effects, making the universitys endowment income taxable and disallowing donors from claiming charitable exemptions on their gifts. Trumps invocation of public interest was a sly nod at an earlier showdown between the IRS and a university. In 1983, the Supreme Court ruled in a lopsided margin of 8-to-1 to uphold an IRS decision stripping Bob Jones University of its tax-exempt status. BJU, an evangelical institution located in South Carolina, barred interracial dating on campus and admitted Black students only if they were married to other Black people, a provision aimed at further enforcing its ban on interracial relationships. It was the culmination of a decade-long fight in which the IRS targeted not just BJU, but a large swath of segregated Christian academies private schools with deep ties to evangelical churches. In upholding the IRS action against BJU, the court found that enforcing civil rights laws was a matter of fundamental national public policy and fell properly within the IRS purview. Now, the Trump administration seems poised to use this same ruling to elevate the fight against campus antisemitism and DEI (by which it appears to mean any discussion of racial, ethnic and religious diversity) to fundamental national public policy and thereby authorize the IRS to hammer Harvard. But there is a warning in this for Trump. The IRS work to dismantle segregation at private Christian schools and colleges ultimately galvanized the evangelical right into a formidable political force. In effect, civil rights advocates won the immediate battle but lost the war. If that history is any indication, the administrations heavy-handed attempt to make Harvard bend the knee might well prove a case of short-term gain for long-term pain. In the 1970s, many people came to view the IRS actions as a case of extreme government overreach. This perception generated a backlash that should serve as a warning to the MAGA movement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The origins of the IRS battle with BJU lie in President Lyndon Johnsons Great Society programs, which greatly expanded the federal governments influence over schools and universities, particularly in the matter of civil rights. In part, it was a matter of funding: The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act increased federal funding for public schools from just $2.7 billion in 1964 to $14.7 billion in 1971. Federal funding now amounted to upwards of 30 percent of some Southern districts prospective budgets. At the same time, the 1965 Higher Education Act and the federal governments increasing reliance on universities to conduct vital defense, scientific and health research vastly increased federal funding for post-secondary education. That was the carrot. The stick was the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited segregation in places of public accommodation, and particularly section VI, which barred federal funds to segregated institutions. The results were astonishing: Between 1965 and 1968, the number of Black students in the South who attended majority-white schools rose from roughly 2.3 percent to almost 23.4 percent. That ratio would continue to climb over the following two decades until it peaked at 43.5 percent in 1988. The next target was Bob Jones, which prohibited interracial dating and marriage among its students, a stance rooted in its interpretation of biblical teachings. This policy persisted even after the university began admitting Black students in 1971. In 1970, the IRS revised its regulations, determining that private schools practicing racial discrimination were not entitled to tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Consequently, on Nov. 30, 1970, the IRS notified BJU of its intent to revoke the universitys tax-exempt status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement BJU challenged this decision, leading to a protracted legal battle that spanned multiple administrations. Notably, throughout this period, the IRS actions against BJU were consistent across the Nixon, Ford, Carter and even Reagan administrations. Acting as an independent agency, particularly in the aftermath of Watergate, when the Nixon administrations efforts to politicize the IRS came to light, the IRS worked largely outside the political oversight of various White House staffs. BJU responded to the IRS revocation of its tax-exempt status with a vigorous legal defense, asserting that its policies were grounded in sincerely held religious beliefs. The university filed suit in 1971 to prevent the IRS from rescinding its tax exemption, arguing that such action infringed upon its First Amendment rights. However, the Supreme Court, in Bob Jones University v. Simon (1974), determined that BJU lacked standing to sue until taxes were actually assessed. In 1975, anticipating potential legal challenges, BJU modified its admissions policy to allow unmarried Black students to enroll but also imposed stricter rules prohibiting interracial dating and marriage. These policies included threats of expulsion for students who engaged in or advocated for interracial relationships. In effect, the university doubled down. The IRS officially revoked BJUs tax-exempt status in 1976, retroactive to Dec. 1, 1970. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And the IRS wasnt done. Its next targets were private segregated primary and secondary schools, many of which operated under the auspices of Christian churches. In 1978, during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, the IRS commissioner announced his intention to suspend the tax-exempt status of private Christian academies that failed to integrate their student bodies. Founded in the 1960s and 1970s, these institutions permitted many white Southerners to evade the federal courts efforts to enforce Brown v. Board of Education the Supreme Court decision striking down segregation in public schools through busing and pupil placement schemes. In Mississippi, the number of these segregation academies, as critics called them, rose from 17 in 1964 to 155 by 1970 just as the federal government threatened to cut the flow of federal school aid to non-compliant districts. The Lynchburg Christian School in Virginia, founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell, a New Right pioneer, was typical of the larger problem. Out of 1,147 students, only five were Black. The government already set the bar low. For a school to qualify as integrated, the portion of minorities in its student body needed only be equal to 20 percent of the portion of minorities in the larger community. Thus, if a town were 10 percent Black, a school would only need to achieve 2 percent minority enrollment to retain its tax exemption. But for many Christian conservatives, the standard was intolerably high. It was the IRS trying to take away our tax exemptions that made us realize that we had to fight for our lives, Falwell said. The IRS actions created unintended political consequences. It kicked the sleeping dog, explained Richard Viguerie, a leading conservative fundraiser and campaign strategist. It galvanized the religious right. It was the spark that ignited the religious rights involvement in real politics. Building on popular resistance to the IRS announcement, Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979, and it quickly emerged as the evangelical rights leading political organization. Alongside pre-existing outfits like the Christian Voice, Moral Majority helped bring under one umbrella many local activists and groups who had first entered the public sphere during the anti-gay, anti-porn, anti-ERA and textbook campaigns of the mid-1970s. Like anti-busing protesters, millions of conservative Christians turned to grassroots activism in the absence of strong national leadership. Ready for battle, the newly organized Christian right looked to the 1980 elections for an opportunity to flex its muscle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Contrary to conventional wisdom, it wasnt abortion, gay rights or school prayer that solidified the Christian right. It was the IRS attempt to use federal tax policy to achieve desegregation in colleges and schools. Most Christian academies ultimately closed their doors rather than submit to the IRS desegregation requirements. Bob Jones University held out longer. The university paid a nominal amount in taxes to establish standing and then filed for a refund, leading to a protracted legal battle. In 1983, the Supreme Court ruled in Bob Jones University v. United States that the governments interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education outweighed BJUs religious freedoms, thereby upholding the IRS decision. Nonetheless, BJU elected to preserve its interracial dating ban and paid approximately $1 million in back taxes. The university did not lift its ban until 2000, amid rising public scrutiny over then-Texas Gov. George W. Bushs campaign stop on campus. In 2008, BJU issued a formal apology for the racially discriminatory policies from its past. By 2017, the institution had regained its tax-exempt status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The IRS success in shifting policy at BJU may strike the Trump administration as worthy of imitation. After all, BJU might have held out for decades, but it did ultimately cave. But the long-term impacts should serve as a warning. In its efforts to use tax law and federal funding as a cudgel, the IRS morphed a ragtag collection of evangelical Christians and Catholic social conservatives into a movement. That movement was able to use the specter of government overreach to forge a broader coalition of Christian conservatives and limited-government advocates into a powerful coalition. Todays attack on universities could well ignite a spark. There is a broad constituency of people who care about medical and scientific research. There are alumni of elite and non-elite research universities who are invested in their future. There are families who rely on these institutions they use their hospitals and affiliated medical centers (Harvard Medical School is directly affiliated with 15 hospitals and research institutes), and municipalities that count on them for employment, social services and voluntary contributions in lieu of property taxes. Harvard alone funds over 7,000 units of affordable housing, operates free legal aid and mobile health clinics, partners with local nonprofits to combat food insecurity the list goes on. The lesson for Trump is clear: When the IRS is weaponized to pursue public policy agendas, even when those agendas are laudable, unexpected consequences can ensue. April 27 (UPI) -- Despite a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, the IDF targeted Beirut, Lebanon, with airstrikes Sunday while also killing at least dozens of Palestinians with strikes in Gaza as the war continues. The Israeli Defense Forces announced on social media that it struck an alleged "terrorist" missile storage site in Dahieh, a suburb of Beirut. The area is a stronghold for Hezbollah, a major political party in Lebanon with a militant wing. "Hezbollah's storage of missiles in this infrastructure site constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, exploits the Lebanese civilian population as human shields and poses a threat to the State of Israel and its civilians," the IDF said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The IDF claimed that, before the strike, it had taken steps "to mitigate the risk of harming uninvolved civilians," which included issuing advance warnings of the impending strike. The Lebanese Civil Defense released a statement on Facebook on Sunday that it had extinguished fires from the Israeli strike, but there were no injuries. Still, Israeli forces had killed some 172 people in Lebanon since the cease-fire with Hezbollah was reached late last year, the Civil Defense said. Later Sunday, several Lebanese media outlets reported that Israeli drone strikes were also carried out near the border between the two countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said Sunday that 51 people had been killed and 115 people had been injured by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to at least 52,243. The population of two million is also facing famine, while World Food Program stocks run low on basic necessities. Officials said it could run out of food in the coming days. Israeli settlers assaulted guards and workers at a solid waste disposal site in Beit Inan, injuring several people and seizing work equipment, according to the Palestinian news agency. The Israeli air force attacked a building in a suburb of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Sunday evening, according to a military spokesman. The building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia, he said, adding that storing missiles there was a blatant violation of the agreements between Israel and Lebanon. The airstrike came after the Israeli forces issued a warning to the population in the area of the attack in Arabic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one was killed in the attack, according to initial Lebanese reports, though there was extensive damage to property. It was the third Israeli airstrike in Beirut since the ceasefire in Lebanon came into force last November, Israeli media reported. Also on Sunday, the Israeli military reported the killing of a Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon in a drone attack. The man had been driving Hezbollah's attempts to rebuild militia structures in the region, the military said. BEIRUT (AP) Israeli jets struck Beiruts southern suburbs Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, which hit what looked like a metal tent situated between two buildings with three bombs, according to an Associated Press photographer on the ground and footage circulating on social media. The photographer saw two burned and destroyed trucks inside the hangar. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the warning, the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities in the Hadath area and urged residents to move at least 300 meters from the site before the strike. Two warning strikes followed. Fighter jets were heard over parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Al-Jamous neighborhood, where gunfire was shot into the air to warn residents and urge them to evacuate, as families fled in panic. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollahs top leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah, as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike on Beiruts southern suburbs, calling on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israels continued actions undermine stability and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis posted on X that the latest Israeli strike generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy. She urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding and the implementation of the U.N. resolution that ended the war. Sundays strike follows two earlier attacks on the capitals southern suburbs, the first taking place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning, and the second on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official. The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, has recently warned that if Israels attacks on Lebanon continued and if Lebanons government doesn't act to stop them, the group would eventually resort to other alternatives. Kassem also said that Hezbollahs fighters won't disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese airspace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January, while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. Earlier on Sunday, a drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the Health Ministry. In a post on X that included footage of the strike, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hezbollah member, where he was working to rebuild Hezbollahs terrorist capabilities in the area. Last week, the Lebanese government said 190 people have been killed and 485 wounded in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. The Lebanese military has gradually deployed in the countrys southern region, and Beirut has urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks and withdraw its forces still present on five hilltops in Lebanese territory. ___ Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report. The Israeli military said on Sunday it had successfully intercepted an incoming missile fired from Yemen. The missile was intercepted while still in flight, the military reported. Earlier, rocket alerts had been issued in southern Israel in the area of the Arava desert and the Dead Sea. Alarms had already sounded across large parts of Israel, including the Negev desert, overnight. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed the attack on Sunday. A Houthi military spokesman said in a televised address that the group had targeted an airbase in Negev with a supersonic missile and claimed the operation had "successfully hit its target." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the start of the Gaza conflict in October 2023, the Houthi militia has repeatedly attacked Israel and international merchant ships in support of its ally, the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement. Last month, US President Donald Trump ordered massive attacks on the rebels in Yemen, justifying the move with the need to protect US shipping in the region. Houthi-ruled areas in Yemen have since experienced a series of US strikes. The rebel-affiliated television channel al-Masirah, citing the Health Ministry, reported Sunday that at least two people were killed and 10 others injured in the US bombing of residential neighbourhoods of the Houthi-ruled capital Sana'a. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have suggested that Russian forces are preparing to systematically integrate the use of motorcycles in the war against Ukraine to "offset adept Ukrainian drone capabilities". Source: ISW Quote: "Russia is likely preparing to systematically integrate motorcycle usage into offensive operations in Ukraine for Summer and Autumn 2025, likely to offset adept Ukrainian drone capabilities." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: Analysts note that on 26 April, Russia's Ministry of Defence released a video showing soldiers from the 299th regiment of the 98th division of the Russian Airborne Forces practising offensive and defensive tactics on motorcycles, operating in pairs or small groups at a Russian training ground. Quote: "The video indicates that the Russian military is likely developing a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage and may be preparing to issue an increased number of motorcycles to Russian personnel in Ukraine." Details: Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Shamshyn, spokesman for Ukraine's Kharkiv Group of Forces, reported that, based on Ukrainian intelligence data, Russian forces are training their soldiers in motorcycle combat tactics. This indicates that Russia is likely to increasingly use motorcycles in offensive operations in Ukraine during the summer and autumn of 2025. Shamshyn noted that motorcycles allow Russian troops to increase speed and manoeuvrability, which is crucial for avoiding Ukrainian drone strikes. However, the loud noise of the motorcycle prevents the driver from hearing the approach of Ukrainian drones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote: "ISW has observed an increased trend of Russian units conducting mechanised and combined motorised assaults and transporting infantry with motorcycles and civilian vehicles throughout the front line as Russian command continues to adapt its tactics to offset Ukrainian drone strikes and likely to mitigate the Russian military's equipment constraints resulting from high armoured vehicle losses in summer and early autumn 2024." To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways on 26 April: Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov claimed on 26 April that Russian forces pushed all Ukrainian forces from Kursk Oblast. Ukraine's August 2024 incursion into Kursk Oblast successfully pinned some Russian combat power, including elite airborne (VDV) and naval infantry units, but its long-term effects remain unclear at this time. Gerasimov made the first official Russian acknowledgement of North Korean troop participation in Russian operations in Kursk Oblast by thanking North Korean servicemembers for their assistance in Russian efforts to push Ukrainian forces out of the region. US President Donald Trump stated that the United States is no longer pursuing a concrete deadline for achieving a resolution to the war in Ukraine a departure from the administrations previously stated goal of ending the war within its first 100 days. Russia is likely preparing to systematically integrate motorcycle usage into offensive operations in Ukraine for summer and autumn 2025, likely to offset adept Ukrainian drone capabilities. Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk. Russian forces recently advanced near Novopavlivka, Kurkakhove and Velyka Novosilka. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! JERUSALEM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said on Sunday that it had intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen toward the Dead Sea early in the morning before it crossed into Israeli territory. Police said sirens were sounded in the Dead Sea area and the Arava region. No casualties were reported, said the country's Magen David Adom rescue service. Since the start of the Gaza conflict in October 2023, Iran-backed Houthi forces have been launching missiles and drones at Israel in a show of solidarity with Palestinians. Israel's Channel 12 reported that this was the 11th missile the Houthis had launched toward Israel since the beginning of April. In the early hours of Saturday, a missile triggered sirens in the southern city of Beersheba before being intercepted. Last Wednesday, Houthi forces fired a missile toward the northern city of Haifa, the first such attack targeting the northern region, which Israeli forces said they had intercepted. A Jackson County judge on Friday approved the sale of the troubled Independence Towers, a move aimed at continuing improvements at the apartment building in Independence. Judge Charles McKenzie approved the sale of the building for $2.8 million to PG Independence Towers LLC, an Indiana limited liability company whose parent company is Dynasty Properties Inc., an Illinois corporation with ties to Vijai Ponnezhan. Meanwhile, tenants in the Independence Towers Tenant Union have renewed demands to meet with Ponnezhan. They have attempted to reach Ponnezhan to request a meeting, but he has not responded, according to a news release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vijai Ponnezhan now has the opportunity to end the cycle of neglect toward Independence Towers by meeting with our union and establishing a mutually cooperative relationship, the tenant union said in a statement. In his order, McKenzie noted his decision relied on the testimony earlier this month from Nancy Daniels, a Trigild vice president, who said that PG Independence Towers has other properties in the area and has demonstrated that it can continue improvements at the apartment building. The Court considers this testimony to be an important factor in the Courts analysis, because the character of the property includes that it is an apartment building where people live and call home, McKenzie wrote in his order. The Court recognizes that the residents of the Independence Towers have a strong interest in the rehabilitation of the property and its capacity to serve as homes for the residents. Year-long legal battle The order approving the sale comes after a year-long legal battle involving lender Fannie Mae and the buildings owner, 728 Jennings RD Partners LLC, which Kansas City real estate investor Parker Webb, the CEO of FTW Investments LLC, controls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 sued the company and sought an emergency appointment of a receiver. 728 N Jennings RD Partners filed a counterclaim, accusing Fannie Mae of breach of contract and breach of good faith and fair dealing. McKenzie appointed Trigild Inc., a San Diego-based company, as the receiver responsible for managing the troubled apartment building at 728 N Jennings Road in May 2024, replacing the former building management, Tango Property Management LLC, which FTW Investments owns. Trigild filed a motion last month for permission to expedite the sale of the apartment building, citing 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, FTW Investments, its partners, and other related companies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proceeds from the sale would go to lender Fannie Mae to pay a portion of the outstanding loan balance and the receivership expenses. According to court documents, the sale would cover only about half of the more than $5.5 million owed by 728 Jennings RD Partners. Roaches, mice, a childs death Residents have long complained about poor living conditions at Independence Towers, including issues with cockroaches, mice and other pests, and the lack of air conditioning, heat and hot water. In May 2024, some residents formed the Independence Towers Tenant Union with the Kansas City tenants advocacy nonprofit KC Tenants. An arson attempt in an apartment last June damaged several units on the lower floors of the building. In July, 3-year-old Tidas Bass fell to his death from an eighth-floor window. Moses Bass and Destiny Lee Randle are facing first-degree child endangerment charges. They have filed a civil lawsuit claiming the window lacked adequate locking mechanisms and other safety features that would have prevented the boys death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, multiple tenants have been withholding rent for seven months, in what organizers have described as the Kansas City areas longest-running rent strike. The tenants plan to continue their rent strike until the new owner commits to meet and bargain a fair lease agreement, the tenants union said in a news release. We formed the Independence Towers Tenant Union to stand up against treatment that can only be described as dangerous and inhumane, the tenant union said in a statement. We are a community, and Independence Towers is our home. Previous reporting by The Stars Ilana Arougheti and Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this article. CHICAGO A man accused of starting a fire that led to a Chicago firefighters death was captured on surveillance footage coming out of an alley in the early-morning hours of April 23 and looking back toward a garage that was soon engulfed in flames and smoke, prosecutors said in court Saturday. About a half hour later, Fire Department Capt. David Meyer would suffer fatal injuries after responding to the fire, prosecutors said. Charles Green, the 44-year-old man accused of setting the fire, was ordered detained Saturday during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. About 30 firefighters and paramedics filled the courtrooms seats to show their support for the veteran firefighter Meyer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Green, a resident of the West Side Austin neighborhood where the fire happened, faces first-degree murder and aggravated arson charges. Prosecutors said he was identified using surveillance footage and preliminary testing that found accelerant on his clothing. The defendants actions placed first responders in danger. The defendants actions placed the community at danger, and the defendants actions led to the demise of Capt. Meyer, Judge Antara Nath Rivera said when ordering Green to remain in custody. Green was first captured on surveillance footage about 3:23 a.m. Wednesday. The video showed him leaving his home about 12 blocks east of the garage fire and walking in an alley, wearing a gray hoodie, light-colored pants and a gray skull cap, prosecutors said. He soon reappears on camera leaving the alley and looking back at the garage. About 38 seconds later, the video showed smoke and a flickering light, which was apparently flames, prosecutors said. Large amounts of smoke begin to accumulate within seconds, prosecutors said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Fire Department responded to a 911 call at the garage at 4:02 a.m., prosecutors said. The garage roof collapsed on top of Meyer as he was working. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Office of Fire Investigation, assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, determined the fire was caused by ignition of contents of a trash bin by human action. Prosecutors said Green is shown passing garbage cans alongside a brick wall of the garage. They didnt offer Greens motive for allegedly starting the fire. Surveillance footage from about eight minutes after the fire started shows Green at a nearby gas station, where a clerk later confirmed his identity. In addition, Greens girlfriend also identified him on surveillance stills from the alley and gas station, prosecutors said. Officers found lighters, lighter fluid and burnt pieces of paper at Greens home, prosecutors said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Green has a lengthy criminal record dating back more than 25 years. Hes been arrested more than three dozen times and was previously convicted of robbery and various drug-related charges. He also has a pending retail theft case, with an outstanding warrant for his arrest from last month, prosecutors said. Greens defense lawyer said the surveillance footage doesnt show Green setting a fire but only walking in the alley, and that the view of the garage is blocked. She said Green is a lifelong Cook County resident, has worked part-time for five years as a janitor and attends church. Rivera said, however, that Green poses a danger to the community. She said a fire is inherently dangerous and that she finds it aggravating that Green allegedly set a fire in a residential area in the middle of the night. She said leaving the scene also demonstrates consciousness of guilt and is indicative of evading arrest. Meyer, a 54-year-old captain of Truck 29, joined the department in 1996 and spent most of his nearly 30-year career on the West Side. He left behind a wife, three daughters, a son and his parents, according to Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt. His visitation and funeral services are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, said after the hearing that so many firefighters showed up because they are a brotherhood and sisterhood. We support each other, Cleary said. Its what you would do for your own family. Were doing it for our extended family. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., says he is worried that President Donald Trump may try to weaken recently enacted silica standards that are designed to protect American coal miners. Kaine, who met last week with the Daily Telegraph, said he was alarmed by the recent decision by the Department of Labors Mine Safety and Health Administration to pause enforcement of its final rule to better protect miners from health hazards associated with exposure to silica dust. Kaine said the new silica standards were set during the Biden administration to protect miners from black lung. He, along with U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., and U.S. Senator John Fetterman, D-Pa., are urging the Trump administration to preserve the Biden era standards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Biden administration did issue a good silica standard, Kaine said. There is some discussion that the Trump administration may try to role that back. Kaine said the new silica standard will help to protect miners from black lung disease. The sad thing is we are seeing more and more young miners get black lung, Kaine said. The Biden-era silica rule was set after lawmakers spent several years advocating for the updated rule to better protect miners from inhaling toxic chemicals. Joe Manchin, a former U.S. senator from West Virginia, was a part of those earlier discussions. I felt like there was a lot of work done to get the standard, Kaine said, adding that lawmakers have heard rumblings that the coal industry may want the new rule to be rolled back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But doing so would be a mistake, according to Kaine. Silica dust has caused severe black lung disease in young coal miners, according to Kaine. He said lawmakers expect the Mine Safety and Health Administration to begin enforcement of the new rule no later than their August 18 deadline. Black lung is caused and exacerbated by long-term inhalation of coal and silica dust. For many retired miners, black lung disease can be deadly and debilitating. Kaine also is questioning the recent decision by the Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk, to close 35 Mine Safety and Health Administration field offices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kaine, Warner and Fetterman are seeking information from DOGE and the Trump administration on how the office closures will impact personnel and the inspection of underground mines. Kaine said the DOGE cuts will undermine the progress that has been made over the last 50 years to ensure the health and safety of coal miners. Kaine, Warner and Fetterman also have introduced legislation aimed at reforming black lung benefits. The goal of that legislation is to speed up access to claims and benefits under the Black Lung Benefits Program. Just the procedures for making a claim, speeding up the process for getting a determination of a claim, Kaine said. You have miners who get black lung and they are in the process (of benefit claims) for multiple years. Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com What's Your KCQ is a collaboration between The Star and the Kansas City Public Library series that answers your questions about the history, people, places and culture that make Kansas City unique. Have a suggestion for a future story? Share it with us here, or email our journalists at KCQ@kcstar.com. In December, when Kansas Citys Guadalupe Centers announced a plan to use the former FBI field office on Summit to expand its charter school program, a reader asked Whats Your KCQ? about the history of another area school a few blocks to the south. Today the building at 1936 Summit St. still bears the engraving West Junior High School, but those who have lived in the area long enough may recall the institutions final decade when it became both a senior high school and the center of community activism. West Junior High School at 20th and Summit By the late 1960s, years of highway construction had left the West Side physically isolated. Its declining population, made up of roughly equal numbers of Hispanic, Black and white residents, suffered from unemployment at double the citywide average. The Star reported that federal housing officials told the mayor the area was no longer viable as a residential community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With a fifth of the population under the age of 20 and a dropout rate nearing 9%, neighborhood activists argued that a new high school would serve as a community anchor. After years of public pressure, the Kansas City Board of Education acquiesced and, in 1968, authorized an official study of education on the West Side. A school map from the 1968 study has the West Side shaded. Results of the study called for both the establishment of a high school and meaningful community input in its administration. Despite the reservations of some members, the school board agreed to convert West Junior High into a high school in time for the 1969-70 academic year. Youth at West High pose for a photo.. Problems with West High Almost from the beginning, the question of community input caused friction with the board. West Side residents asked repeatedly for a more diverse faculty and curriculum, while the board, looking to cut costs as taxpayers fled the city for the suburbs, publicly considered closing the school at least six times over the course of the decade. By 1978, a cycle of falling standards, declining enrollment, and uncertainty over the schools future had clearly emerged. The board selected West High to house a minimagnet business/management center. Despite community support, the program quickly came under scrutiny. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At a meeting of over 100 West Side residents in early 1979, four school board members listened as parents complained of disinvestment and low academic expectations. Some claimed that teachers allowed students to watch television in class and didnt report absences. One teacher said West had become little more than a day-care center. Representative Raul Rojas called the districts neglect mental genocide. But perhaps the harshest criticism came from longtime community organizer Donaciano Don Pecina. He read the names of 15 one-time West students who, he claimed, were now dead. These kids, Pecina said, didnt have a chance. Don Pecina, Westside community organizer, calls for a show of support Tensions erupted again later that summer when the board was considering alternatives for West and held a meeting to solicit community input. Pecina rose to ask if there was any possibility West would be closed. Board President Dr. Edward Scaggs refused to answer. When Pecina pressed the question, Scaggs adjourned the meeting. In response, the Westside Educational Task Force publicly accused district superintendent Robert Wheeler of targeting West as a form of retaliation against the community. Don Pecina (left) and Dr. Edward Scaggs had a confrontation in a meeting June 7, 1979 Despite these tense exchanges, the 1979-80 school year passed uneventfully. An occupation of a KC high school However, on Aug. 4, 1980, superintendent Wheeler recommended closing West, and the very next day, the board voted 5-3 to do so, acknowledging that the sudden move might upset West Side residents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What ensued took district officials by surprise. At about 2:20 p.m. that day, Pecina and at least 28 others, including parents, teenagers, and children, entered the school with sleeping bags, food, lumber, and chains, and notified the principal that they were occupying the building. The protesters, now calling themselves the Coalition to Preserve Education on the West Side, agreed to a meeting with several state education officials as well as Wheeler and Scaggs, but also vowed to continue their occupation until Sept. 3, at which point they would establish their own community high school. About 5 p.m., Pecina read a statement from an upper window of the school to the applause of about 200 West Side residents gathered outside, who broke into chants of West, West, West! Westside residents gather in the West High auditorium on Aug. 11, 1980. By Aug. 14, a long-term siege became unnecessary. In a remarkable about-face, the school board agreed to the establishment of an experimental, community-sponsored school at West. Under the agreement, a nine-person committee would work out a plan for the school, which would open in fall 1981 and operate for at least three years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The seven-day occupation ended with demonstrators and board members laughing and embracing. A short-lived success The committees plan received board approval in February, but by April, talk of budget shortfalls again clouded the future; the district had already furloughed 800 employees and closed 13 buildings due to federal spending cuts. Amid these rollbacks, some board members remained committed to using the building for education, while others opposed reopening West at all when other area schools were being shut down. A.H. Scotty Kilpatrick commented that the district was building false hopes on the West Side. Kansas City Board of Education President Edward W. Scaggs (right) and Superintendent of Schools Robert R. Wheeler (center) listen to board member A.H. Kilpatricks comments on the districts preliminary 1981-82 operating budget Monday night. In late July, the board put an end to the uncertainty and announced that reopening West was simply unworkable. Pecina, who had volunteered on the planning committee for nine months, refused to concede defeat. He and others pledged that the school would open as planned on Monday, Aug. 31, no matter what the district said. Don Pecina talks to one of two classes being held Monday at the old West High School. One assisgnment in the English class was to write a letter to the Board of Education. Thirty-five students showed up for class despite warnings that they would not received academic credit. Legal battle over West High That Friday, school district lawyers requested a restraining order against the volunteer teachers. Circuit Judge Donald Mason denied the request, ruling that the district had not sufficiently disproved the existence of a contract with the protesters, referring to the Aug. 14, 1980, agreement endorsing the experimental school. District officials had signed the document but backpedaled and claimed it was more of a concept than a contract. trim from right if they decide to box the photo At a time when trust in government was generally in decline, the school districts posture severely diminished its stature. Star columnist Rich Hood put it best when he wrote that the question at the heart of the proceedings was whether a government agency has to keep its promises. Even a member of the school board lamented that West is a very blatant way of showing that we cannot be trusted. West Side residents continue their peaceful protest at the Board of Education administration building, seeking an answer on the fate of a proposed experimental school for their community. School board members say that their commitment to the school stands but that the budget is uncertain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The legal battle effectively ended in October, when Circuit Judge Julian Levitt ruled that the 1980 agreement was legally unenforceable. Nevertheless, he continued, it represented at the least a very solemn promise, and it would be tragic if the school board does not make every attempt to create an experimental program at West. Despite these sentiments, Levitts decision plunged the final nail into Wests coffin. Over the following decades, the building at 1936 Summit St. fell gradually into disuse before officially closing in 1999. In 2014, after over a decade of wrangling with potential buyers, the school board voted to sell the building to Foutch Brothers, LLC, who have since converted it into market-rate lofts. KANSAS CITY, Mo. A Kansas City firefighter-paramedic has died after being stabbed by a patient he was transporting to a hospital on Sunday morning, the Kansas City Fire Department said. According to the Kansas City Police Department, just before 1 a.m., KCFD crews were dispatched to North Oak Trafficway and 152 Highway on a routine medical call. Five Platte City businesses are most recent target of break-ins in the metro Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement KCPD said the call was for a welfare check after a woman was seen walking along the westbound lanes of 152 Highway. When KCFD emergency responders arrived, they reportedly took the woman in the ambulance, but while en route to the hospital, the woman stabbed the firefighter-paramedic, later identified as Graham Hoffman, in the chest with an edged weapon or sharp object. Hoffmans partner stopped to help and take the woman into custody, but was also assaulted by the patient. Both firefighters were taken to a hospital, with Hoffman originally reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries and his partner reported to have non-life-threatening injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, on Sunday at about 3 p.m., the City of Kansas City released a statement confirming he had died at the hospital from his injuries. At a press conference Sunday afternoon, KCFD said that Hoffman was stabbed in the heart. Hoffman was 29 years old and had served with KCFD since 2022. He usually worked out of KCFD Station #42 but was working overtime Sunday morning when he was fatally stabbed. At this time, the suspect, identified as Shanetta Bossell, is in custody. Shes being charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, assault, resisting arrest and is being held on a $1 million bond. Shanetta Bossell. Photo courtesy of the Clay County Sheriffs Office Bossell was also in custody at the Clay County Detention Center earlier this week on April 23 and 24, and was out on bond when she allegedly killed Hoffman. She was charged in that incident with assaulting an officer, records show. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During a news conference Sunday afternoon, city leaders promised to support Hoffmans family as they navigate this unimaginable loss. There will be many steps ahead as we evaluate what happened, as we review what occurred, as we address whatever needs to happen in the future. But today, Im focused on grieving for his mother, father, his siblings, his family, and everyone in the KCFD family. We know that we will stand with them not just today, but well into the future, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas explained. I appreciate the swift work by Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson in filing charges, including first degree murder and armed criminal action, in connection with the tragic murder of Kansas City Firefighter Graham Hoffman, Mayor Lucas continued in a statement. Like many, I share concern that the defendant had within the past week been arrested and charged by prosecutors with felony assault on a law enforcement officer only to, based upon the allegations, return as a serious threat to the public and first responders only days later. I believe in our justice system and will await further information about all that led to this heartbreaking incident and all that could have been done to avoid it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two dead after car goes off MO-7 Highway bridge into Truman Lake: MSHP The City of Kansas City said KCFD will be providing support to all employees impacted by the tragedy. Later Sunday afternoon, KCFD Chief Ross Grundyson released the following statement: It is with a heavy heart and great sorrow that I announce the death of Firefighter Paramedic Graham Hoffman. Firefighter Hoffman was stabbed in the chest, piercing his heart, while transporting a patient to a local hospital on what started out as a routine call. Firefighter Hoffmans partner immediately initiated a crew emergency and additional KCFD and KCPD personnel were dispatched to the scene. KCFD crews worked to save Firefighter Hoffmans life while enroute to North Kansas City Hospital. Lifesaving efforts were performed in the emergency room prior to moving Graham to surgery. After surgery Firefighter Hoffman was placed in ICU where he succumbed to his injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Firefighter Graham Hoffman was 29 years old and was a member of the Department for three years. Graham was a vibrant individual who loved life and loved serving his community. He was an excellent paramedic who treated his patients with the highest level of skill and compassion. The Kansas City Fire Department grieves with Grahams family, friends, and loved ones. This is a senseless act that has taken a great young man from his family, friends, and coworkers, and deprived our city of a dedicated firefighter, and a leader on and off the job who only wanted to serve and protect those in his community. The coming days, months, and years will be difficult ones as we prepare to say goodbye to Firefighter Hoffman and process this devasting loss. I would like to thank our KCFD members and the staff at North Kansas City Hospital for their tremendous efforts. Thank you to the Kansas City Police Department for your quick response and apprehension of the suspect. To the Hoffman family, my sincerest condolences for your loss. Know that during these difficult times the Kansas City Fire Department is here for you, and we grieve with you. KCFD and our community lost one of the best today. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a developing story. Stay tuned to FOX4 News for the latest updates and information. 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 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) The Kansas Humane Society is warning the public about a scam targeting people searching for lost pets. According to the organization, scammers have been spoofing the Humane Societys phone number and contacting individuals through local lost-and-found pet groups. The callers claim a pet has been found after being hit by a car and demand hundreds or even thousands of dollars via Venmo or over the phone to cover surgery costs. Police: man killed in south Wichita motel shooting, suspect in custody Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Kansas Humane Society stressed that it would never ask for prepayment for veterinary procedures and urged residents to be cautious. 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. 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. A 33-year-old Russell, Kansas, man has been arrested in the killing of his father and attempted killing of his stepmother, Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Natalie Turner said. Robert Bobby James Torres was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and attempted murder in the killing of Robert Torres, 49, and attempted killing of Deborah Torres, 49, Turner said Friday. Police were called around 9:30 p.m. Thursday to a reported shooting in the 800 block of East Second in Russell. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arriving officers found Deborah Torres suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. She is expected to survive. She told officers her husband was still inside their residence, Turner said in a news release. When officers entered the home, they discovered (Robert) Torres deceased in the back living room of the home from apparent gunshot wounds. Officers began clearing the home and discovered no additional subjects. Officers learned the suspect was Robert Bobby James Torres, whom deputies with the Russell County Sheriffs Office found and arrested in the 2200 block of Highway 40 in Russell. Turner did not say what might have led to the incident. ST. LOUIS The Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is hosting Holocaust Remembrance Day at Congregation Temple Israel. Survivors, their families, and area leaders will honor the victims and reflect on the lessons of the holocaust. The event will begin at 3 p.m. and will take place at Temple Israel on Rabbi Alvan D. Rubin Drive. The ceremony will be streamed online. 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. On Tuesday, a terrorist group almost no one had heard of opened fire on tourists in Pahalgam, a scenic destination in Indian-administered (but Pakistani-claimed) Kashmir. At least 26 people were killed, and dozens more were injured. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in the region for years. Within moments of the attack, and before any of the casualty figures were confirmed, two things started to happen. Indian authorities, and Indian users of social media, said that Pakistan must have been behind it. And many foreign analysts began to say as if their lives and pay packets depended on it that a war, or even a nuclear war, between the two countries was inevitable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its reasonable to examine that claim. Between the end of the Cold War and the September 11 attacks in 2001, it has become the done thing to claim that if a nuclear war breaks out, it will be between India and Pakistan. Both countries have nuclear arsenals, and they have fought repeatedly since the end of British rule in 1947. Border skirmishes have been common but limited. A 2016 attack on Indian soldiers in Kashmir left 19 dead. India responded with what it called surgical strikes (limited in rhetoric and in design). In 2019, another attack killed 40 Indian armed police in convoy. India hit a militant camp in Balakot in reply. Outside observers held their breath; histrionic watchers said the nuclear bombs would start flying any moment, as Pakistan responded with its own air raids and aerial dogfighting took place. But war did not break out. Thanks to the intelligent diplomacy of both countries, the violence was contained. The response to this latest attack is different. On the Pakistani internet, it is widely repeated that the dead in the Pahalgam attack were Indian intelligence officers on holiday with their families. There is no way to verify this claim, and it seems unlikely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines. India has said that it will suspend the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty, which apportioned the waters coming from the Indus river and its many tributaries. Some voices within India claim that only an invasion of the Pakistani-held portion of Kashmir can root out the terrorists based there. The Indian government is more nationalist than earlier governments. Pakistan is ruled by a military not famous for moderation. All of this looks dangerous. But much of what has been discussed is actually an opportunity for negotiation. Its likely an uncontrolled escalation can be averted and the conflict will simmer back down calmly. And here in Britain, there is one other thing we ought to bear in mind. Although the fate of Kashmir has nothing to do with us Britain has no capacity, let alone will, to affect events so far away what happens there has a habit of affecting us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Millions of residents of this country are either Pakistani or Indian nationals or they can trace their origins to those countries. They do not necessarily drop these allegiances at the arrivals hall in the airport. When I worked for a Washington think tank, the example of the 2022 Leicester riots, where Hindus and Muslims fought each other on British streets sometimes spurred on from India and Pakistan directly loomed large. Its probable that India and Pakistan will be able to re-establish a kind of armed peace very quickly. They have done it before. The diasporas, however, are a different story. There is an unlikely but possible scenario where the greatest and most violent consequences of an attack in Kashmir will play out on British streets. This is something to think about. Violence in Kashmir should not mean violence in Britain. 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. XI'AN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Her fingers gently touching the tip of her new nose, a hard-won smile spread across the face of four-year-old Lha Zin (alias). "Mama, is what I'm seeing real?" she asked, sitting in a medical laboratory in northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an. This touching moment not only signified a personal transformation but also a breakthrough in China's rapidly advancing medical AI technology. The Tibetan girl from Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Sichuan Province lost her nose in a weasel attack when she was just three months old. After years of unproductive hospital visits, her case finally landed in the hands of a medical engineering startup team. "After learning about the child's situation, my heart remained unsettled for a long time," Wang Jing from Xi'an Jiaotong University in Shaanxi Province, also the founder of Maxwell Medical Technology, told Xinhua. "The ultimate mission of medicine is not just to treat diseases, but more importantly, to help people find the beauty of life amid its uncertainties," added Wang, who took on the case free of charge. AI-ENABLED The child's family had approached West China Hospital of Stomatology, hoping to have surgery. However, due to the child's young age and the absence of the nose, surgery was not an option. Consequently, the hospital's dean reached out to Wang in 2023. Leveraging an image-generating AI model and Maxwell's customized craftsmanship, Wang's team constructed a prosthetic nose that seamlessly fitted the girl's facial structure, down to the finest details of skin texture. They used a 3D scanner to capture the girl's overall facial data, then employed the AI model to generate a nose design. Subsequently, they manually refined and 3D-printed the corresponding mold. Finally, they created the prosthetic nose through the molding process. "Coloring technique is our specialty," said Wang. "We apply automated silicone coloring to ensure the nose matches the little girl's skin tone very closely." As the child grows, the prosthetic nose will need to be replaced every few years, and Wang's team promised to keep a close watch on the situation. The team has also crafted numerous custom-made prosthetic ears and breasts for clients. These bespoke medical products demonstrate how AI-driven bionic technology bridges cutting-edge research with tangible improvements in people's lives. PIONEERING WORK Wang's journey into medical customization began in 2018, when some surgeons repeatedly asked him to reduce the cost of prosthetic breasts, which sold for up to 500,000 yuan (about 68,550 U.S. dollars) for high-end versions in China. With over 500,000 prosthetic breasts needed annually in China, the market was dominated by foreign companies. "Breast cancer affects women both physically and psychologically," Wang said. "Many avoid surgery due to the emotional toll, even risking their lives." However, the high costs of prosthetics make them inaccessible to many patients. This is why Wang decided to develop personalized medical solutions via what he called "optical-mechanical-electrical-computational-material" integration. The very technology is capable of capturing not just shape, but also mechanical and optical properties of human tissues. "Even hair follicles, pores and blood vessels can be realistically presented," said Wang. Maxwell's products achieve a resolution 20 times higher than those of its competitors, and compared to Japanese imports, their offerings deliver ten times better precision at just one-tenth the price, according to Wang. ROBOT SKIN With the rapid advancement of the humanoid robot industry in China, a new opportunity has opened up for him: crafting lifelike skin for these intelligent machines. "In the future, robot skin will be equipped with a suite of sensing capabilities, including touch, temperature and pressure detection," Wang envisioned. The team is on a mission to make skin that hugs the robot's frame like a second layer of life, merging with the robot's body to boost its performance and looks. It will also allow the skin to flex and stretch in harmony with the robot's joints and body contours, all while keeping its keen sensory touch and sleek appearance, said Wang. Kim Jong-un and his daughter have launched a new warship armed with the most powerful weapons, North Korean state media said on Saturday. It came one month after the dictator oversaw a test of AI-guided reconnaissance and suicide drones, adding to concern that North Korea is deepening its military co-operation with Russia. The Choe Hyon, named after a late North Korean anti-Japanese fighter, is a 5,000-ton destroyer-class vessel that took more than a year to build, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement North Korea also confirmed for the first time on Sunday that it has sent troops to fight for Russia in the war with Ukraine under the orders of Kim. The battle in Russias Kursk region showed the highest strategic level of the firm militant friendship between North Korea and Russia, the KCNA state news agency said. The Central Military Commission of North Korea said Kim made the decision to deploy troops under the partnership treaty he signed with Putin last year. The North Korean dictator and his daughter stand in the bow of the newly launched destroyer - KCNA/AFP via Getty Given its size, experts believe the Choe Hyon can carry both ship-to-surface and ship-to-air missiles, with specialist outlet NK News reporting it was likely to be equipped with short-range tactical nuclear missiles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The North Korean navy can now serve as a core service for national defence and a component of nuclear war deterrent, Kim said, according to KCNA, adding that the ship would enter into operation early next year. He also accused the US of conducting aggressive exercises that simulate nuclear strikes in its joint military operations with South Korea. At the launch ceremony, held at the Nampho dockyard on the countrys west coast on Friday, the warship received the honour of being first reviewed by Kim, KCNA said. Images released by state media showed Kim and Kim Ju-ae, his daughter, welcomed by navy personnel in white uniforms in front of the new warship, with colourful confetti scattered across the ground. Kim Jong-un and Kim Ju-ae inspect the new warship together - KCNA/AFP via Getty Ju-ae, who is considered by many experts to be Kims most likely successor, was also photographed whispering to her father, dressed in a formal black suit in front of the vessel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kim inspected a project in March to build a nuclear-powered submarine, asserting that radically boosting the navy was a key part of his defensive strategy. At the time, Kim called for the modernisation of the countrys surface and underwater naval forces, including the development of warships. The two Kims, father and daughter, were greeted with the usual manically choreographed joy from senior navy figures - KCNA/AFP via Getty The US South Koreas key ally has in recent years ramped up joint military exercises and increased the presence of strategic US assets, such as an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine, around the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an irreversible nuclear weapons state and routinely denounces joint US-South Korea drills as rehearsals for invasion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Donald Trump, the US president who met Kim three times during his first administration, said this month that he was in communication with Kim and intended to do something at some point, according to Seouls Yonhap news agency. Kim Jong-un has started the building of a nuclear-powered submarine for North Korea - KCNA/Reuters A summit between the two leaders in Hanoi collapsed in 2019 over talks on sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return. The launch of the vessel appears to contain the intention to reiterate the position that nuclear abandonment is not possible for Kim, Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. Kim also appears to be presenting preconditions for possible future North Korea-US negotiations, Mr Yang added. 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. Three of the suspected robbers fled on bicycles and two on foot, carrying between them almost $10 million worth of jewelry, a $4 million ring among the goods. They had the benefit of the darkness of nighttime Paris, but the street would before sunup be buzzing with activity. Within minutes of their departure, police would descend upon Rue Tronchet, the address of a luxury accommodation where Kim Kardashian had retired earlier that evening after a busy day of Fashion Week events and before her life took a turn for the terrifying bound and gagged at gunpoint allegedly at the hands of a group referred to in French news media by monikers like The Grandpa Gang and Grandpa Robbers (despite one woman being among the accused.) Like most places in central Paris, Rue Tronchet is full of history, even before it was the site of a high-profile heist. It was once depicted in a work by French painter Antoine Blanchard and is one of the streets that surrounds the iconic Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, a Catholic church dedicated by Louis XV just before the start of the French Revolution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the night of the robbery in October 2016, police say the criminals, posing as policemen, entered through two large, unmarked red doors on Rue Tronchet and held the concierge at gunpoint to gain access to the apartment where Kardashian was staying. If so much of Kardashians life to that point nearly a decade ago was the closest a former celebrity assistant could get to a fairytale in the online age a television show empire, a stable of bustling businesses and a famous musician husband that night, she was trapped in a nightmare. Cameras are set up as officers stand guard at the entrance to a hotel residence in the Rue Tronchet on October 3, 2016, where Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint by assailants disguised as police. - Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images Details of the incident, at the time, were prolific, examined and pieced together in intricate detail by media outlets around the world as one of the most visible celebrities of our time went uncharacteristically silent about the ordeal. Her family, some of whom were also in Paris for Fashion Week when the robbery happened, were also mum. Time, of course, has caused memory of the incident both the publics and seemingly Kardashians to fade from prominence. It would likely stay blurred in pop culture past if the group of alleged criminals responsible werent finally set to stand trial for the crime in Paris this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of the 12 individuals originally charged in the case, 10 are on trial, beginning Monday. One of the suspects has since died and another, Pierre Bouianere, 80, will have his own trial. He has denied all of the charges and his case is expected to be dismissed for health reasons. Eight of those on trial have denied the charges, which include armed robbery in an organized gang and criminal conspiracy. In a statement to CNN, Kardashians personal attorney Michael Rhodes confirmed that she is expected to testify. Ms. Kardashian is preserving her testimony for the Court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further on it at this stage. She has tremendous appreciation and admiration for the French judicial system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities. The case long delayed due to other high-profile trials, among other reasons is anything but straightforward, with colorful characters and circumstances that seem out of a movie script. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This, however like Kardashians specialty is reality. I was there to collect The robbers could not have asked for a better blueprint for their heist than Kardashians social media trail. Investigators say one of the accused, Aomar Ait Khedache, who turns 69 this week, admitted to entering Kardashians room to steal jewelry, including her diamond ring. The evidence gathered during the investigation designates him as the organizer of these acts, even if he contests this, investigators wrote in court documents. During interviews with police, Ait Khedache said that everything was laid out perfectly from her movements around town to the luxury inventory of jewels she carried with her to Paris, according to reporting from Le Monde. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case itself was given on the Internet, with everything. The jewelry presented on the Internet, specifying that she was not wearing fake jewelry. That there were no fakes, the times when she came to France you just had to look on the Internet to know everything, absolutely everything, he said in a police interview, Le Monde reports. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, wearing her engagement ring, at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York in August 2016. - Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Indeed, days before the robbery, Kardashian had posted an image showing her massive engagement ring, given to her by her now-ex-husband Kanye West. The ring like most of the jewelry that was stolen that night was never recovered by police, with Khedache telling authorities it was in someones possession but never resold due to its size and distinct characteristics, reports Le Monde. The image, which boasts over 1.4 million likes today, is still on the reality stars Instagram page, despite its connection to this dark chapter of her history. The social media post has now also been entered into evidence and will be part of the trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kardashians penchant for showcasing her wealth was criticized prior to the robbery but became a defense of sorts for both the accused thieves and some of her critics who have all but excused the alleged criminals. In 2017, Khedaches lawyer at the time, Jean-Yves Lienard, told Le Monde in part, this case shows the state of decay in which we find ourselves, where a young woman who is nothing, neither an artist nor a writer, becomes a global phenomenon whose slightest mishap obsesses the international press. Even in the fresh aftermath of the incident, late former Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld was among those who joined the chorus of the critical. You cannot display your wealth and then be surprised that some people want to share it with you, he told international news reporters days after the robbery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Journalist Patricia Tourancheau provided some context on the backlash. In France, its still very badly perceived when people flaunt their wealth so much, and what was heavily criticized, for example, is Kim Kardashians selfie (with the ring). So they knew she had her jewelry on her, but shes showing off, and her way of exhibiting her wealth in France is quite insufferable, she recently told CNNs Saskya Vandoorne. Yunice Abbas, who authorities allege was one of the five people who entered the hotel on the night of the heist, has not minced words about his feelings about his involvement. He even wrote a book about the incident called Jai sequestre Kim Kardashian, which translates to I kidnapped Kim Kardashian. Yunice Abbas, here in 2021, admitted to robbing Kim Kardashian at her hotel in Paris in 2016. - Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that, Abbas, now in his early 70s, told Vice in 2022. Guilty? No, I dont care. I dont care. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abbas has downplayed the crime and has blamed Kardashian in interviews with multiple media for flaunting her jewelry. He has promoted his book on French television. I have neither contempt nor a desire for revenge, he told i24 news. I am very happy for her. I ask her to forgive me. If she cant, too bad, I will live with it. Police say he admitted taking part in the armed robbery, and to unlawful confinement, but denies participating in planning of the caper. He was released from pre-trial detention in 2022 for health reasons. Time has also revealed a surprising public reaction to the criminals, Tourancheau explained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think theres a part of the public that actually feels some sympathy for them, she said. They targeted a person, yes, but to steal valuables money, jewelry not to cause harm for harms sake. They are just totally going to shoot me Kardashians first comments about the robbery wouldnt be made public until a trailer for her reality show was released in January the next year, months after the theft. In the episode itself, which aired in March 2017, she spoke about the robbery in detail, describing how she thought at the time that she was going to be raped and killed. Then (one of the armed men) duct tapes my face, my mouth, to get me to not yell or anything and then he grabs my legs and I wasnt, I had no clothes on under (my robe) and he pulled me towards him at the front of the bed and I thought, Okay, this is the moment. They are going to rape me. Kardashian tearfully recalled. And I fully mentally prepped myself and then he didnt, and he duct-taped my legs together. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She added: Then they had the gun up to me and I just knew that was the moment they are just totally going to shoot me in the head. I just prayed Kourtney (Kardashian, her elder sister) was going to have a normal life after she sees my dead body on the bed. Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner attend the Givenchy show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on October 2, 2016. Kim Kardashian was robbed in the early morning hours of the next day. - Dominique Charriau/WireImage via Getty Images Kardashian cooperated with the authorities on the scene. According to court documents translated from French, she had samples taken from her wrists, hair, and ankles. DNA evidence, as well as CCTV footage, helped tie some of the accused to the crime, according to the French charging documents. In the aftermath of the robbery, Kardashian has said she changed her approach to social media, speaking multiple times about her new aversion to posting locations and other sensitive information in real-time. I was just really scared of everything, she told David Letterman of her feelings following the crime, as she recounted how the gun-toting robbers forced her to hand over her $4M engagement ring. They kept on saying, the ring, the ring, she said. I cant sleep at night unless theres half a dozen security guards at my house, and that has just become my reality. She also said the incident changed her priorities. I was definitely materialistic before, she told Ellen DeGeneres in 2017. Not that theres anything bad with having things and working to get those things Im really proud of everyone around me thats successfulBut Im not here to show off the way I used to. Its just not who I am anymore. I just dont care about that stuff anymore. I really dont. That statement has followed Kardashian in the time since. In a Season 6 episode of her familys Hulu reality program, which aired in March 2025, Kardashian and her sister Khloe traveled to India to attend the lavish wedding of Anant Ambani, the son of Asias wealthiest man. Their trip full of elaborate costume changes for the multi-day celebration, which took place in July 2024, culminated with one evening look that had Kardashian wearing millions of dollars worth of jewels and making a video for social media about it in the car on the way to the event. Kim and Khloe Kardashian attended the extravagant wedding of Anant Ambani in a 2024 episode of their reality TV show. - Disney The show made light of the hypocrisy, with Kardashian sharing that a family member had sent her a meme that called back to her statements on DeGeneres show and juxtaposed them with some of her recent diamond-adorned social media posts. Lorraine Schwartz made this for the wedding tonight, she said at one point as she recorded in the backseat, running her hand against the heavy diamond nose chain crafted by the famed jewelry designer shed just name-checked. How insane. An apt word, perhaps, for the entire tale itself. CNNs Saskya Vandoorne, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Dan Heching contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Officers from the Rapid City Police Department were dispatched to a business in the 2200 block of West Main Street., responding to a report of an assault involving a weapon. The incident happened at 7:42 p.m. Friday, April 25. Upon arrival, officers learned that an employee had requested a disorderly and intoxicated individual, later identified as Angelo Horse, 50, of Rapid City, to leave the premises. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After being asked to leave the business, Horse allegedly brandished a knife and threatened the employee with physical harm, police said in a news release. Sioux Falls stabbing investigation Following the confrontation, Horse fled the scene without further incident. Officers located him walking a few blocks away and took him into custody. He has been charged with aggravated assault and was transported to the Pennington County Jail. No injuries were reported as a result of this incident. 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. Watch the full interview in the video player above. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) In a special Eye on Northwest Politics this week, Gov. Tina Kotek discussed everything from how President Trumps tariffs and executive orders affect Oregon to her agenda on homelessness and education in the legislature. The interview took place at her ceremonial office in Salem, near the Capitol building, which is still undergoing renovations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kotek was elected governor in 2022 after 9 years as the states longest-serving House Speaker. 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. Question : Is there a number where I can report empty intersections ? On my way to work, assorted lights going up the Pali turn red and there are no cars turning from the cross streets. Morning rush-hour drivers have plenty of time to wonder about government efficiency and who they voted for. This is citywide. The city /state DOTs recently put in another speed bump on the Pali, which makes three in less than a quarter mile, and recently lowered the speed limit. They seem much more concerned with slowing down traffic than facilitating its flow. Answer : Yes, you can call 808-768-8387, which Honolulus Department of Transportation Services posts as the number to report malfunctioning traffic lights on Oahu during regular business hours. A DTS spokesperson confirmed that traffic light concerns of any kind can be called in, including your suggestion to improve the timing of traffic signals on Pali Highway. When you call, include the names of the cross streets. You may also wish to inform Honolulus Department of Customer Services, which keeps track of complaints to city departments and follows up as necessary. You can email CSD at. Other contact information for DTS is posted at. Theres a link to a Traffic Survey Request Form posted on the page, but it was inoperable Friday, perhaps due to an overhaul of the city website last week ; broken links are expected be corrected within a few days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pali Highway is a state road, but its traffic lights are overseen by the city because the state Department of Transportation contracts maintenance of traffic signals on state roads on Oahu to the municipal government, except for the 34 lights along Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Boulevard, said Shelly Kunishige, a spokesperson for the state DOT. If signals were malfunctioning or mistimed in that area you would contact the state DOT, but on Pali Highway DTS is the right call. People also can contact DOT if roadwork impairs traffic lights on an open state road because in that case we would follow up with the project manager, she said. Find contact information for the state DOT highways division at. You also mentioned speed bumps, which in this case are actually raised crosswalks installed at three intersections on Pali Highway in Nuuanu that dont have traffic lights ; they are intended to slow traffic and make pedestrians more visible. The newest is at Wood Street, between raised crosswalks that were installed in late 2020 (and reinstalled in 2022 ) at Upper Dowsett Avenue and Lower Dowsett Avenue. Raised crosswalks and speed tables have many similarities such as a 3-inch height and 5.6 % slope on the leading ramp, but a raised crosswalk has crosswalk markings painted on it and is meant to serve as a crosswalk that elevates the pedestrians using it to increase visibility. HDOT is installing the raised crosswalk (at Wood Street ) to maximize the speed management improvements weve already seen with our installations on Pali Highway at Upper and Lower Dowsett, Kuni shige said in an email Wednesday. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. DOT staff spoke about this at a town hall at Kawananakoa Middle School in January, presenting the design of the Pali crossing at Wood Street, a speed comparison chart and other information, and had significant support for the countermeasure, she said. The speed limit on the Pali in Nuuanu from Jack Lane to Waokanaka Street was lowered from 35 mph to 30 mph in October 2020. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data gathered before and after the speed limit was lowered and raised crosswalks were installed showed that average speeds have declined, as has the speed of the fastest drivers, according to the DOT. For example, before the changes, the average speed southbound at Pali and Upper Dowsett was 47 mph, while drivers in the 85th percentile were going 63 mph. Afterward, those figures dropped to 39 mph and 45 mph, respectively. Some area residents have said they would prefer traffic lights to raised crosswalks, but the DOT says adding signals would increase travel time in the corridor up to 15 % and worsen crash rates because the intersections are so close togetherLower Dowsett Avenue to Wood Street is about 700 feet, and Wood Street to Upper Dowsett is about 800 feet. The average crash rate when there are two or fewer traffic signals per mile is 3.5 crashes per million vehicle miles. The average crash rate rises to 6.9 when there are more than two signals, to 7.5 when there are more than four and to 9.1 when there are more than six traffic signals per mile, according to the DOT. There are 5, 280 feet in a mile. The nearest intersections with traffic lights in that stretch of the Pali are Nuuanu Pali Drive and Country Club Road, both of which are within 1, 500 feet of Wood Street, according to the DOT. That means there would be five traffic signals in the span of 3, 000 feet if the three raised crosswalks were replaced with traffic lights. Mahalo We were enjoying the Ukulele Jam at Windward Mall on Saturdayhundreds of folks were wandering around the mallwhen a security guard approached my 90-year-old dad playing along and showed him a picture on his phone and asked if it was him. It was ! Dad had dropped his wallet in the mall without realizing it and the staff had opened it up, looked at his ID and searched in the mall until they found the guy who looked like the photo before we even noticed it was missing ! Mahalo !L.R.M.------------Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813 ; call 808-529-4773 ; or email.------------ HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) The Kyle Police Department hosted a safe medication disposal site at their police station Saturday afternoon. The event partnered with St. Davids HealthCare aimed to help prevent the misuse of prescription medications on National Drug Take Back Day. Jeff Barnett, the Chief of the Kyle Police Department, said holding this event helps reduce the chances of such drugs negatively impacting somebody or the environment. We really think that if medication is left in a medicine cabinet over the years, its either going to fall accidentally or intentionally, through illegal means, into the wrong hands, Barnett said. It could get sold on the streets illegally. It could get ingested by someone who did not have that prescribed to them-and it could be an accidental ingestion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Colin Wolf was a local resident depositing various medications at the event, and he said he finally got the courage to get rid of a stockpile of medications after living in the area for over a decade. Most people probably dont go to a police station with a bunch of drugs, Wolf said. I think its just doing the right thing-not dumping it somewhere [and] getting it into a water supply. In Texas, drug poisoning deaths have trended upward from 2014 to 2023 according to data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). In 2022 and 2023 DSHSs data shows over 4,000 drug poisoning-related deaths each year. In that span, fentanyl poisoning contributed to over 40% of such deaths in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, DSHSs data shows the number of deaths recorded has been lower at 3,200. However, the data in 2023 and 2024 are preliminary and subject to change due to death certificates still being filed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hays County Sheriffs Office (HCSO) tracks its own data on Fentanyl overdoses. This data does not incorporate any data thats been collected by other law enforcement agencies in Hays County. Between 2022-2023, HSCOs data collected 56 fentanyl overdose cases. Since the start of 2024, HSCOs data shows that 10 people have overdosed on Fentanyl. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Fentanyl overdoses, deaths among young people continue to rise in Hays County In the 88th Texas Legislature, various pieces of legislation passed to implement fentanyl education for public schools. Mark Andrews, a deputy with HCSO who has been helping with such education, said he likes to think the message is getting across with the decrease in opioid poisoning according to HCSOs data and the state as a whole. Prior to 2022 many students did not know what fentanyl was, Andrews said. What were teaching is basically the dangers of fentanyl-how powerful it is. We talk about the forms that it comes in. We talk about the sheer magnitude of how powerful it is. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In comparison to other drugs, fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic according to the Drug Enforcement Administrations drug database. If you would like to dispose of any drugs but miss the event, you can check the Drug Enforcement Administrations website to find a year-round drug disposal near you. 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 KXAN Austin. LANCASTER, Pa. (WHTM) The Lancaster City Bureau of Police is investigating a Saturday evening shooting. Officers said on Saturday, April 26 at 9:21 p.m., police were dispatched to the 600 block of North Prince Street for a report of shots fired. Police said two victims were located with apparent gunshot-related injuries. Police later determined the injuries of both victims were non-life threatening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lancaster City Bureau of Police said detectives are actively working on the investigation and at this point, do not believe there is any danger to the public. Police ask if anyone has information to contact the Lancaster City Bureau of Police at 717-735-3300. This is a developing story, stay with abc27 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 ABC27. Security is increasing at a popular Los Angeles street festival following the tragic and deadly attack in Vancouver on Saturday night. The 16th Annual Thai New Year Songkran Festival, which runs all day, is active on Hollywood Boulevard between Western and Normandie Avenues. The East Hollywood festival celebrating Thai New Year is now under heavy surveillance by the Los Angeles Police Department. At about 8 p.m. on Saturday, a 30-year-old man drove a vehicle into a crowd of people at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, Canada. As of Sunday morning, 11 people were dead and as many as 20 were injured. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The death toll is expected to rise in the coming days, authorities said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is preparing for a national election on Monday, said one person is in custody, and its believed he acted alone. The suspect has a significant history of police interactions, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The Vancouver Police Department said authorities are confident that the violence was not an act of terrorism, as theres no evidence that there was political or religious ideology behind it. Back in L.A., extra barriers were added to block vehicles from entering the festival area. Patrolling officers will be on high alert. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KTLA. Trump administration to reverse termination of legal status of int'l students Xinhua) 13:49, April 27, 2025 SAN FRANCISCO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration said Friday that it will reverse the termination of the legal statuses of more than 1,200 international students amid legal challenges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was in the process of manually restoring the statuses for individuals whose Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated in recent weeks, a government attorney told a federal court in Oakland, California. A similar statement was made by a government lawyer during a separate hearing in Washington, D.C. "ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," said a copy of the statement provided to media by Brian Green, attorney representing the plaintiffs. SEVIS is the database that tracks compliance of international students with their visa requirements. NCIC, operated by the FBI, contains criminal records and other law enforcement data. More than 1,200 international students have had their immigration statuses upended since late March, according to The Associated Press. The mass termination had triggered a wave of lawsuits filed by students across the country, leading federal judges to issue temporary restraining orders to halt the practice. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) PHNOM PENH, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The 11th session of the Cambodia-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation will be held on Monday via video conference, the Cambodian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Sunday. Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut will co-chair the meeting. The meeting will review progress made in the cooperation partnership between Cambodia and Russia over the past years and set future directions to further advance the long-standing relations between the two countries, the press release said. Both sides will have in-depth discussions to explore avenues for fostering and deepening ties in various fields, including the economy, trade and investment, science and technology, it added. The post LAPD Releases Body Cam Footage of Shooting Involving Weezer Bassists Wife Jillian Lauren appeared first on Consequence. The Los Angeles Police Department has released body cam footage of the shooting involving Jillian Lauren Shriner, the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner. Jillian has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing her gun at police who were searching for three suspects involved in a high-speed chase. In the footage released by the LAPD, officers can be seen searching for the suspects in the Eagle Rock neighborhood on April 8th when they encountered Shriner in her backyard with her gun drawn. Officers can be heard repeatedly asking her to drop her weapon to no avail. At one point, an officer says, Oh, she racked it, before gun shots erupt. Investigators later recovered one used cartridge casing, indicating that she fired off at least one shot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the shooting, Shriner fled into her residence and contacted 911. Based on the audio released by the LAPD, it appears she was unaware that she had engaged with officers at the time, and instead believed she had fired at the suspects involved in the previously mentioned high-speed chase. After an hour, Shriner surrendered to police and was taken into custody. She was then transported to a local hospital to treat a non-life-threatening gunshot wound she had sustained. Shriner is due in court on April 30th. Popular Posts Subscribe to Consequences email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox. The Los Angeles Police Department released footage from a shooting involving Weezer bassist Scott Shriners wife, Jillian Lauren, including body camera and surveillance video as well as audio from the 911 dispatch conversation from the April 8 incident. LAPD officers were responding to a hit-and-run involving three suspects in the Eagle Rock neighborhood before the shooting occurred. In the footage that was released Friday, the police can be seen looking over a backyard fence and warning Lauren, identified by the police as Jillian Shriner, to drop her weapon. More from The Hollywood Reporter Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maam, were trying to help you. Put the gun down, someone is heard saying. Youre going to get shot. Its the police. Oh, she racked it, another voice said before the sound of gunshots followed. After the shooting, Lauren was taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. There, she was booked on an attempted murder charge. The day after the shooting, she posted a million-dollar bond and was said to be alive and well, her manager told The Hollywood Reporter. Lauren is expected to appear in court on Wednesday. In another surveillance video, the best-selling author was seen walking around outside her home with a pistol in her right hand. Additional footage was shown of her walking around the outside of her house before the shooting took place alongside a separate video of Lauren lying face down in the road being handcuffed. She was not involved in the hit-and-run, though police said they captured one of the suspects involved in the crime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Laurens best-selling memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, recounts her experience as part of the Prince of Bruneis harem. Shes also the author of the 2020 novel Behold the Monster: Confronting Americas Most Prolific Serial Killer, which details her relationship with serial killer Samuel Little. One year later, she appeared in the Starz docuseries about Little. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. NEW YORK (PIX11) An event being dubbed the largest police parade in the nation was held on Long Island on Sunday. The Nassau County Police Department is celebrating its 100th anniversary. County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder led the parade, according to organizers. More Local News Over 250 police motorcycles and vehicles, hundreds of current and former police officers, family members of fallen officers and more were in attendance. The parade celebrated the department as the 11th largest in the U.S. with more than 3,800 employees, including 2,600 sworn officers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nassau is now the safest county in America and thats no accident, Blakeman wrote in an Instagram post. Its thanks to the courage, professionalism, and unwavering dedication of the Nassau County Police Department, which just celebrated 100 years of service and sacrifice. The parade, which started at 2 p.m., kicked off Wantagh Avenue at Beltagh Avenue in Wantagh and ended on Railroad Avenue. A ceremony was held after the parade, along with a block party that runs until 8 p.m., according to organizers. Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her 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 PIX11. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A man accused of vandalizing a southwest Las Vegas valley community and spraying paint on a police officers face was arrested Wednesday, according to police. According to an arrest report from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, officers responded around 11 a.m. on April 23 to the Royal Ridge Estates, near Decatur Boulevard and Hacienda Avenue, after a woman reported seeing a man spray-painting the exterior walls. The woman told police that the man, later identified as Mitchell Nettles, was spray-painting the propertys walls. When she called 911, Nettles approached her and her husbands vehicle and sprayed it with paint. Police said she told her husband to drive away quickly, and Nettles began chasing them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers arriving at the scene spotted Nettles walking along Decatur Boulevard, still holding a can of spray paint. When officers told Nettles to come to the front of their patrol car, Nettles ignored them and continued southbound. As officers continued to approach Nettles, he moved the hand holding the spray can in front of his body, blocking it from their view, police said. According to the arrest report, when officers attempted to go hands-on with Nettles, he turned and sprayed a police officer in the face. He then ran into a parking lot where police caught him and took him into custody. Due to Nettles stating he could not breathe, medical personnel were called. Police said they later found extensive damage to Royal Ridge Estates walls and signage, with about 15 palm tree pillars, an address stone, and the main community sign spray-painted black. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An individual with management for the Royal Ridge Estates identified Nettles as the same individual responsible for a separate incident a day earlier, where a rock was thrown into the guard shack window and five security cameras were damaged, police said. Nettles faces multiple charges, including battery on a protected person, property damage over $250 to $5,000, obstructing a public officer, destroying or injuring real or personal property, and violating conditions of a suspended sentence, according to police. Police said he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center. 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. At least 25 people have reportedly been killed and around 1000 injured amid a massive explosion at a port facility in southern Iran. The blast occurred at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas on Saturday, April 26, and is believed to have been set off by hazardous chemical materials stored in the port area, Iranian news agency IRNA, CNN and Reuters reported. Footage obtained by the outlets showed thick plumes of black smoke from the explosion stretching across the port area near the Strait of Hormuz. Another clip showed locals filming the blast while driving into a nearby car park, as smoke and fire filled the air. MOHAMMAD RASOLE MORADI/IRNA/AFP via Getty The aftermath of the explosion at Shahid Rajaee port The aftermath of the explosion at Shahid Rajaee port Related: 3 Killed, 20 Injured in New Years Eve Fireworks Explosion in Hawaii: Immense Tragedy Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A total of 8 men and 2 women have been positively identified as killed in the incident, the public relations office of the Justice Department of Hormozgan Province confirmed, per IRNA. Six people remain missing. 752 people have also been treated for injuries and 190 are currently being treated in Bandar Abbas medical centers, Reuters and CNN reported. Shahid Rajaee is Irans largest container hub. The port reportedly handles 80 million tons of cargo every year, including oil and general shipping, according to The Guardian. Helicopters reportedly dropped water over the site of the explosion throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning, the Associated Press reported. According to the outlet, state media reported that the fire was fully extinguished later on Sunday, April 27. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No official cause of the blast has been given at this time. MOHAMMAD RASOLE MORADI/IRNA/AFP via Getty A helicopter attends the explosion at Shahid Rajaee port A helicopter attends the explosion at Shahid Rajaee port So far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded. But until the fire is extinguished, its hard to ascertain the cause, Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a statement, according to CNN. Initial reports by local media suggested that a fuel tanker exploded for unknown reasons at the port. People were also reported trapped in wreckage as buildings close to the port collapsed amid the impact of the blast, CNN added. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. MOHAMMAD RASOLE MORADI/IRNA/AFP via Getty Plume of smoke at Shahid Rajaee port Plume of smoke at Shahid Rajaee port Related: Boat Explosion at Florida Marina Leaves 1 Dead and 5 Hospitalized, 3 with Traumatic Injuries Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed his condolences in a statement on X, While expressing deep regret and sympathy for the victims of the accident in Hormozgan province, I issued an order to investigate the situation and causes of the accident. The Minister of Interior was dispatched to the region as a special representative to closely examine the dimensions of the accident, establish the necessary coordination, and address the condition of the injured." Read the original article on People At least nine people are dead and a 30-year-old man is in police custody after allegedly driving into a street festival on Saturday night in Vancouver, Canada. Thousands of Filipinos were gathered to celebrate Lapu-Lapu Day when a black SUV mowed into a crowd, injuring more than 20 and killing others, Reuters reported. According to police, the driver was identified as a Vancouver man after he was chased down and stopped by festival attendees until police arrived. Police said the suspect is believed to have acted alone, and he apologized to the crowd as he was detained, the New York Post reported. Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival. / DON MACKINNON / AFP via Getty Images Interim Vancouver police Chief Steve Rai said the suspect was known in certain circumstances by police and everything is on the table as they investigate the drivers motive. Police added in an update, At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a post on X, Canadian Prime Minister said he was devastated to hear about the horrific events. I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 27, 2025 I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you, he wrote. We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action. In a morning press conference, Carney added: We will comfort the grieving, we will care for each other, we will unite in common purpose. Briefed on the situation, Carney said there is no evidence of any active threat to Canadians. Lapu-Lapu Day is an annual Filipino celebration honoring the Indigenous leader Datu Lapu-Lapus fight against Spanish colonization. Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) have reported that they continue to carry out missions in Russia's Kursk Oblast and have captured Russian soldiers. Source: SOF press service Quote: "While Chief of the Russian General Staff Gerasimov reports on the 'liberation' of Kursk Oblast from Ukraine's security and defence forces, operators of the 73rd Centre of the Special Operations Forces continue to successfully complete missions in this region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just yesterday, a group from the 73rd SOF Centre wiped out an entire enemy group during special actions in Kursk Oblast... The mission continues!" Details: It is reported that during the special operation, SOF fighters also forced two Russian soldiers to surrender. One of the prisoners of war was evacuated to safety on a stretcher, while the other hobbled along on his own. Background: On 26 April, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was informed that the last settlement in Kursk Oblast, Gornal, had allegedly been "liberated from Ukrainian forces". Ukraines General Staff stressed that the claims by senior Russian officials about the end of fighting in Kursk Oblast do not correspond to reality. On 27 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian troops continue active defensive operations in Russias Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Apr. 26OLYMPIA Following weeks of negotiations, legislative budget writers unveiled their compromise two-year operating budget Saturday morning, calling on the state to increase taxes by approximately $9 billion over four years and spend $77.9 billion over the next two. The plan calls for $5.9 billion in cuts, over the next four years, and $8.7 billion in new revenue. The budget comes as writers work to address a deficit around $12 to $16 billion over the next four years. While each chamber previously adopted their own budget, Gov. Bob Ferguson scuttled the plans, telling legislators that they relied too heavily on an unproven wealth tax to raise revenue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Washington's families must budget to the actual salaries of their family members," Ferguson said during an April 1 news conference. "The state of Washington, as long as I am governor, will do exactly that." Citing concerns from the impacts by the federal government, Ferguson said last week that a new plan to raise $12 billion in new taxes was "unsustainable, too risky and fails to adequately prepare Washington state for the crisis that looms ahead." Facing the potential for steeper cuts from the federal government and the impact of tariffs, Ferguson said in an April 17 statement that Washington's budget may soon turn from "challenging" to "dire." "We must ensure Washington is in the best possible financial position to weather more cuts and damaging economic policies from a Trump Administration that weaponizes funding to punish those it disagrees with and forces them into compromising their values," Ferguson said . Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ferguson has said the Legislature could not adopt a budget that relies solely on cutting spending, which he said would result in cutting "core services" provided by the state but has not indicated how much in new tax revenue he would support. Revenue proposals introduced by Democrats include increasing the capital gains and estate tax rates on wealthy residents and raising business and occupation tax rates. The proposed increase to the B&O tax calls for an increase in the rates paid by wholesaling and manufacturing, retail businesses, printing materials and research, and development by nonprofits, among other industries, and could bring in an additional $5.6 billion over the next four years, according to a fiscal note published Friday. While the latest budget includes billions in savings identified by the governor, state workers would not be required to take a monthly furlough for the next two years, a cost-saving measure previously proposed by Ferguson. The proposal would also fund the collective bargaining agreements negotiated by state employees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The state needs to be a model employer. We need to project outward to the rest of the state what it looks like to appreciate the work that people do, compensate them fairly and keep them employed," Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, chair of the appropriations committee, said. "We want to keep the good people we have in state government." The state would also avoid tapping into its rainy-day fund, a proposal the governor has opposed. Under the budget, the state would end 2027 with $2.3 billion in reserves and end 2029 with $3.6 billion. The budget includes a $100 million grant program for local police agencies to hire more officers, a proposal the governor said in his inaugural address would need to be included in any budget he signed. With the end of the session looming Sunday evening, both chambers could vote on the budget proposal as soon as Sunday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said the budget addresses "the fiscal challenges that we have and continues to fund core services that the people of Washington expect us to fund and depend on." Robinson acknowledged that the budget, coupled with other revenue increases including the state's gas tax, Discover Pass and hunting licenses, could ultimately lead to a slight increase in the cost of living, but argued it was necessary to fund the services on which residents rely. "That's the hard job of governing, trying to find the balance between funding the needs of our state with the services and programs that people depend on and rely on, and finding ways to pay for it," Robinson said. "I believe that we're doing that in the best and most responsible way possible given all of the circumstances that we have in front of us." The budget, which was largely negotiated by Democratic lawmakers, drew the ire of Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, the lead Republican budget writer, who has long expressed frustration about being shut out of the process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I honestly believe that it brings shame on the legislature for doing it this way, and it brings shame on the people of Washington state," Gildon said. "It should not happen this way." Gildon said the Saturday morning committee meeting was the first time he had seen the 1,366-page budget that lawmakers will be asked to vote on in the next 24 to 36 hours. Ormsby said the process the budget was negotiated through has taken place throughout his time in the Legislature, regardless of which party has been in the majority. "This is about getting the job done on a strict timeline. You'll see a very aggressive cutoff calendar, which we adhere to," Ormsby said. "And here we are at the end of a very difficult legislative session with a product in hand." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the budget includes many of the proposals and suggestions put forth by the governor, Ferguson has largely avoided discussing the budgeting process publicly. In a statement Saturday, Ferguson said he was "pleased the budget includes my request for the $100 million grant program to hire more law enforcement, maintains our rainy-day reserve fund so we are prepared for the chaos of the Trump administration, and increases our investment in K-12 education. "That said, I will be carefully reviewing the budget after it is adopted by the Legislature. I appreciate the hard work of legislators to finish the session on time." RIYADH, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced Sunday in a joint statement that they will jointly settle Syria's overdue payments to the World Bank Group totaling 15 million U.S. dollars, to support Syria's economic recovery. According to a report by the Saudi Press Agency, the decision followed discussions at a recent high-level roundtable on Syria on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.. The decision will allow the World Bank to restart support and operations in Syria after a 14-year suspension, enabling funding for critical sectors and technical support for institutional rebuilding and policy reforms, among others. To the editor: Contributor Veronique de Rugy's essay on the parallels between President Trump's tariff idiocy and the economic calamity that followed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 was brilliant and apposite ( Economic nostalgia woos voters, but it leads to terrible policies, April 24). As ever, we learn nothing from history. Imposing tariffs is a game two can and will play. She could have added that more than 1,000 economists signed a petition warning President Hoover of the dangers of the act, imploring him to veto it. Henry Ford made a personal visit to the White House, calling the bill "economic stupidity." J.P. Morgan's chief executive, Thomas Lamont, wrote that he almost went down on my knees to beg Herbert Hoover to veto the asinine Hawley-Smoot Tariff. While Hoover himself called the bill "vicious, extortionate and obnoxious," he signed it anyway, saying it was his duty to the Republican Party. It didn't take long for other countries to retaliate with their own tariffs, turning a recession into the Great Depression and victimizing the very people it was supposed to protect. Sound familiar? Spencer Grant, Laguna Niguel This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The United States continues to facilitate peace negotiation discussions between Russia and Ukraine, but top U.S. officials, including President Trump, warned that if substantial progress is not achieved soon, Washington will pull back from its mediating role. Trump said Russias President Vladimir Putin might not want to achieve peace in Eastern Europe after all, following a series of Kremlin strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent days. The president met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of Pope Franciss funeral in Rome on Saturday, with Kyivs leader touting it as a good and symbolic discussion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday on Meet the Press that the only solution for the war in Ukraine is a negotiation where both Russia and Ukraine give up something. There is no military solution to this war, Rubio told NBC Newss Kristen Welker. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want, and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didnt. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined CNNs State of the Union on Sunday and said he has a great fear that Trump will cave to Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Plus, members of Congress are returning to Washington on Monday after recess to continue their push to pass Trumps legislative agenda. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The package would include $9.3 billion in cuts already approved by Congress to NPR, PBS and the State Department, Punchbowl News reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. Lawmakers will also look to extend Trumps 2017 tax cuts while increasing spending on defense and border security through the reconciliation process. Several lawmakers, including Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), are slated to make appearances on the Sunday shows. Read the full Sunday show list here and follow below for todays 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 The Hill. TYLER, Texas (KETK) After more than 40 long years of service, a local CHRISTUS Health nurse is ready to enjoy retirement. CHRISTUS Health opens new Tyler clinic to increase primary care access Gwenda Anderson LVN has worked in orthopedics, geriatric care, gastroenterology and mental health and on Friday she logged her last shift with CHRISTUS Health. Anderson has worked in the healthcare industry as a nurse for 43 years, the last part of that 43 years was the 22 years shes spent at CHRISTUS Health. She gave aspiring nurses the following advice as they start their careers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Youre not going to be sure about what you want to do but be confident knowing what you are going to do, and if in doesnt work just be ready to take on that challenge, Anderson said. Get to know the specialty that you are in and be dedicated to that position until it is time to move. 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 KETK.com | FOX51.com. Drought-stricken Zimbabwean farmers are facing a second crisis: an outbreak of invasive caterpillars fueled by the same extreme weather. What's happening? The fall armyworm hatches from moth eggs with a ferocious appetite, devouring young maize plants and burrowing into cobs. The unwelcome guest has decimated Zimbabwe's harvest. Over 80 African countries have had fall armyworm infestations since 2016, reducing maize yields by up to 73% and causing $9.4 billion in annual economic losses, per Context. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Farming is the only source of income for many, providing money for food, clothes, and children's education. One farmer, Simon Manguri, told Context his maize harvest would be cut in half because of the outbreak. The timing couldn't be worse. Southern Africa is still recovering from last year's drought. "I thought this year I was going to have a good harvest, but it is now uncertain because of the pests," Abigail Kadirire, a farmer and single mother of six, told Context. Why are armyworms so concerning? The fall armyworm outbreak is a prime example of the havoc invasive species can wreak. The fall armyworm, native to the Americas, first arrived in Central and Western Africa in 2016. In just two years, the prolific caterpillar spread across almost all of sub-Saharan Africa, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outbreak shows how the warming climate can exacerbate damage, disrupting food supplies and impacting farmers' livelihoods. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and extreme weather create conditions in which pests can thrive, survive over winters, and expand geographic ranges. For example, corn flea beetles have devastated crops in New England, and erratic weather is to blame for rice shortages in Malaysia. Do you worry about how much food you throw away? Definitely Sometimes Not really Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. "Climate change has altered migratory patterns, allowing the armyworm to invade new areas more easily, potentially affecting agricultural regions that were previously less affected," Simbarashe Nyamasoka, acting deputy director in the Migratory Pest Control Department, told Context. What's being done about armyworms? The Zimbabwe government used social media and radio broadcasts to alert farmers about the fall armyworm outbreak, providing information on control measures. A new mobile app will help monitor future outbreaks and provide early warnings for farmers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Farmers are also exploring traditional practices such as intercropping to avoid the use of chemical pesticides, which can leach into the environment and negatively impact human health. These practices integrate maize with other crops that can help repel armyworms. Drought-resistant crops, natural pesticides, and regenerative techniques have helped control armyworm outbreaks in Ethiopia and other countries. "Adopting climate-smart agricultural practices such as drought-resistant crops, intercropping, and organic composting, promoting practices that enhance soil health and biodiversity ... and combining biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical methods helps manage the pests sustainably," Nyamasoka told Context. 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. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Protestors gathered Sunday afternoon outside the Mahoning County Sheriffs Office to voice their concerns over the treatment of immigrants. The Mahoning Valley Freedom Fighters organized the rally and protest called Defend Our Neighbors. The group met outside their sheriffs office because the Mahoning County Jail has an agreement to house ICE detainees. Were not here for any specific immigrant, were not here for any specific reasons other than due process. We do not want the Trump Administration to set a precedent for allowing anyone to go without due process, said Janet Cobb with Mahoning Valley Freedom Fighters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The protest was scheduled from 3 to 6 p.m. on Monday. As of now, they dont have any future protests planned. 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. A lab tech uses equipment employed for in vitro fertilization. (Getty Images) A Louisiana lawmaker says he wants to avoid the scenario that unfolded last year in Alabama, where clinics offering in vitro fertilization closed their doors rather than risk legal liability based on a new interpretation of a 19th century law. The matter has pitted some conservative Republicans, who normally take the same side on reproductive health issues, against one another. It also provides a glimpse into the national debate over IVF, which proponents fear could be threatened under Trump administration policy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, received committee approval Tuesday for Senate Bill 156, which he said is essential for IVF to continue in Louisiana. But the proposals language had to be massaged to get the backing of one staunch anti-abortion lawmaker. Even then, the measure is still opposed by the states top two anti-abortion groups. Senate Health and Welfare Committee member Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, stood firm on making a change to the definition of embryo in Presslys proposal. As a state representative, he authored a 2016 law to prohibit abortions for genetic abnormalities. Originally, Presslys bill referred to an in vitro fertilized human embryo as one that has certain rights granted by law and organized that it may develop in utero into an unborn child. Edmonds amended the proposal to define an embryo as biologically human, removing any reference to whether it actually develops into a child. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These seemingly subtle differences in language could become critical if its final version creates a situation similar to what happened last year in Alabama. Its state Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos outside the womb are considered children under the law, citing an 1872 statute that allows lawsuits for the wrongful death of a child. Fearing potential legal consequences from embryos that become nonviable even through no fault of their own IVF clinics in Alabama shut down. The Alabama Legislature then scrambled to approve civil and criminal protections for IVF providers, leading clinics to reopen. There remain concerns, however, over whether long-term access will remain available. The Trump administrations cuts to federal health care programs have served to reinforce such worries about the future of IVF. Staff reductions at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will curtail research into IVF and other fertility treatments, experts say. The changes have unfolded rapidly, even though Trump referred to himself as the fertilization president after signing an executive order last month to expand fertility treatment access. A separate order from Trump in February sought policy direction on IVF, yet Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency went ahead with the CDC attrition plans. Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge. (Allison Allsop/Louisiana Illuminator) Anti-abortion groups back status quo Louisiana Right to Life and Louisiana Family Forum oppose Presslys bill. Both groups were at the forefront of creating one of the nations strictest abortion bans three years ago after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. The landmark 1973 opinion declared women have a constitutional right to an abortion, but it also said states could regulate when the procedure is allowed. With the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision in June 2022, justices removed the federal right to an abortion and opened doors to outright state bans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During Tuesdays committee hearing, Pressly insisted his proposal was essential to ensure IVF remains available to 1 in 6 families that struggle with infertility, citing numbers the World Health Organization has used. It has been nearly 40 years since Louisiana has updated its IVF statute, and health technology improvements in the interim need to be reflected in the law, the senator said. Kathleen Benfield, legislative director with Louisiana Family Forum, told the committee the Pressly proposal is unnecessary because the states IVF law has never been challenged. Not one example has been given where the practice of in vitro fertilization or any other artificial reproduction technology has been threatened (in Louisiana), and I dont think it will be threatened, Benfield said. Even with Edmonds amendment, the bills language was still problematic for Benfield. She took issue with describing a viable in vitro fertilized embryo as a juridical person, or an entity that has the same rights in law as a person but is not a human being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Put another way, Presslys bill doesnt go nearly far enough to treat embryos as children, according to Benfield. A juridical person is not the same thing as a natural person, she said. Last year, anti-abortion forces pushed to change to an IVF protection bill Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, sponsored. She shelved her bill when rather than include the term biological human beings in it, fearing it could lead to criminal consequences for reproductive care providers. Davis has authored another version of her bill this year, but it has yet to be scheduled for a House committee hearing in the lawmaking session that ends June 12. Erica Inzina, policy director for Louisiana Right to Life, said the states current IVF law has room for improvement, but it still offers the most protection for human embryos of any state. Presslys bill would weaken those safeguards, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It leaves the embryo looking a lot more like a thing rather than a person, Inzina told the committee. Were quibbling The proposed changes are the product of a rather unusual partnership: Pressly, who gained approval for a first-of-its-kind abortion drug restriction; and Katie Bliss, an attorney whose firm specializes in in vitro fertilization contracts. Pressly, who joined the Senate last year after four years as a state representative, authored a law in 2024 that treats mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances. Both medications are used in abortions but have other applications, including lifesaving ones. The Schedule IV status puts them on par with drugs that have addiction and abuse potential, meaning hospitals have to keep them under lock and key. Some health care providers have said the added layers of security for controlled dangerous substances put womens lives at risk when, for example, misoprostol is needed immediately to stop postpartum hemorrhaging. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bliss has two children conceived through IVF. She said the revisions to existing law are needed to protect patients and physicians while also ensuring care for embryos. Louisiana is the only state thats made the destruction of embryos illegal, and conservative lawmakers have tried unsuccessfully in the past to stop patients from shipping embryos out of state for disposal. Such measures are unconstitutional, Bliss said, because one state cant tell another state how to conduct business. Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, attempted last year to end embryo transports across state lines, but the amendment he tried to attach to another lawmakers bill was ruled irrelevant to the original proposal and therefore was not allowed. Pressly said his bill covers this scenario because it would make any IVF contract null and void if it includes a provision for the intentional destruction of an embryo. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Edmonds also objected to the removal of the terms married couple and parental from a section of existing IVF law that deals with embryo donations. Instead, person is used to describe an embryo donor and recipient. Pressly told Edmonds keeping couple in the law could create constitutional issues, implying it conveys bias against single people who want to start a family through IVF. It would be hypocritical for me to vote for a bill that would eliminate parental rights, Edmonds said, though Pressly assured him his proposal doesnt pose that threat. Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, shared with other committee members that she personally had a horrible history of miscarriages and feared her children would have the same difficulty. Through IVF, her son and daughter-in-law have given her three of her eight grandchildren. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mizell said she had a hard time finding obstacles in a bill that gives more people the opportunity to start and grow families. Im listening to pro-life people argue with pro-life people, Mizell said, who then recounted efforts during her nine years in the Senate to put strict abortion laws in place. As a result, she said Louisiana has the strongest anti-abortion laws in the nation. Were there and were quibbling over language to protect IVF, she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Loved ones are searching for a 14-year-old Southern California girl who has not been seen for nearly a week. On April 21, Sarah Anaih Flores was last seen on the 3800 block of Cesar Chavez Avenue in East L.A. at 8 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. She is described as a Hispanic female standing 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing around 160 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a black sweater, blue jeans and black and white Vans sneakers. Sarah Anaih Flores, 14, was last seen on April 21, 2025. (Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department) The teens family and loved ones have not heard from her since her disappearance and are concerned for her well-being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said Flores is considered critically missing. A critically missing person is defined as: A person who has no pattern of running away or disappearing A person in critical need of medical attention The victim of a crime or foul play The victim of a kidnapping or parental abduction A person who is mentally impaired to the extent that such person is unable to care for himself or herself or is an immediate danger to his or her own safety or the safety of others Anyone who may know the girls whereabouts or has information on her disappearance is asked to call the LASDs East L.A. Station at 323-264-4151. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anonymous tips can be provided to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org. 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 KTLA. The average American trusts less than half of what they see and read online, according to new research. A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that skepticism is at an all-time high when it comes to the internet. According to the results, Americans believe only 41% of what they consume online is totally accurate, fact-based and created by a real human. Less that half of Americans polled believe that what they interact with online is created by a real human. BullRun stock.adobe.com In fact, they also believe that 23% is completely false and purposely inaccurate or misleading, while 36% falls somewhere in between. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three-quarters say they trust the internet less today than ever before. Another 78% agree that the internet has never been worse when it comes to differentiating between whats real and whats artificial. To put things into perspective, the average American comes across information that they know or suspect was generated by AI about five times per week, with 15% indicating its more than 10 times. Social media posts (48%), news articles (34%) and chatbots (32%) are the top three most likely culprits when it comes to AI-generated or misleading content. In fact, those polled believe that 50% of the news stories and articles they come across online have some element of AI, whether it be images or the actual written content. Three-quarters of the people surveyed said they trust the internet less today than ever before. Despite their suspicions, less than a third (31%) are confident in their ability to differentiate if a product or service review was written by an AI or an actual human being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The survey, conducted by Talker Research on behalf of World, even went so far as to test Americans on their ability to do just that. When shown a set of business reviews written by AI and humans, only three in 10 (30%) could correctly identify which was which. Of the three options that were written by people, two ranked at the very bottom of the list, demonstrating just how easy it is to be duped in this day and age. With 80% of Americans relying on reviews in some capacity when it comes to choosing a business to support, its no surprise that bot-written reviews (62%), AI customer service reps (50%) and AI-generated images (49%) make them less likely to patronize that company. Only 30 percent of people polled could correctly decipher business reviews written by AI and humans. DC Studio stock.adobe.com Unfortunately, 46% of those polled have actually purchased something that ended up not being what was advertised, and 24% of those werent able to get a refund or return the item. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trust in the internet hasnt just declined its collapsed under an avalanche of AI-generated noise. The internet has become a house of mirrors where 78% of Americans can no longer distinguish real from artificial, said Rebecca Hahn, Chief Communications Officer of Tools for Humanity, developers of World ID. We offer an elegant solution: instant human verification without compromising privacy. No personal data, no tracking just a simple proof that restores whats been lost: trust in who were actually connecting with online. The survey also revealed that the most stressful situation when it comes to differentiating whether theyre dealing with a person or chatbot is when speaking to a customer service representative (43%). Booking lodging or hotels (23%) and sending money through a third-party app (22%) also ranked in the top three most anxiety-inducing situations. 80% of Americans rely on reviews in some capacity when it comes to choosing a business to support. In order to verify human status, Americans have a few tricks up their sleeve. One respondent said, I often ask open-ended questions or test for human-like responses, such as asking for personal opinions or experiences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another asks questions, including: Whats your birthday? Whats your mothers maiden name? Where were you born? Do you have any distinguishable marks on your skin? Beyond that, 24% will Google or search for the entity online to verify their human status, while 23% ask for a phone or video call. For all their struggles, 82% of Americans agree that businesses and vendors should be legally required to disclose whether AI is used in their marketing, content, customer service or on their website. Americans have since created some ways to avoid chat bots in business reviews. fizkes stock.adobe.com Being able to prove youre human online is becoming as essential as having an email address was twenty years ago, said Hahn. Our survey shows Americans are desperate for tools that restore confidence in digital interactions. Were pioneering a new paradigm where human verification becomes a foundational layer of the internet simple, secure, and universally accessible. This isnt just about solving todays trust crisis; its about building tomorrows internet where human-to-human connection remains at the heart of everything we do. Survey methodology: Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans; the survey was commissioned by World and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between March 28 through March 31, 2025. CHICAGO A 36-year-old man died after being shot while he was getting out of his vehicle late Saturday night in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the citys South Side. Man accused of starting fire that killed Chicago fire captain denied pre-trial release; visitation for fallen firefighter is Monday According to Chicago police, officers responding to a call of a person shot in the 2500 block of South Hillock Avenue around 11:30 p.m. found the man on the ground with multiple gunshots wounds to his body. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police say the man had been exiting his vehicle when he was approached by a red SUV. Shots were fired from inside the SUV, hitting the man multiple times. He was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Nobody is in custody, police say, and Area One detectives are investigating. 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. KABUL, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan interim government has offered condolences and expressed sympathy with neighboring Iran over a port explosion which caused huge casualties, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan expressed its deep sorrow and offered condolences and sympathy with Iran, its people and families of the victims, said the statement, posted on social media by the ministry's deputy spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad. The government and people of Afghanistan stand by the people and government of neighboring Iran at this tragic moment, the statement said. At least 14 people were killed and 750 others injured in a huge explosion on Saturday at a port in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan, the official IRNA news agency reported. Six people went missing in the incident that occurred at the Port of Shahid Rajaee. Police are searching for a man who they claim left plastic Easter eggs filled with marijuana in various locations in a Texas town. The Lufkin Police Department (LPD) announced in a press release shared on Facebook on Thursday, April 24, that arrest warrants had been issued for a man named Avante Nicholson after he allegedly placed several plastic eggs in public parks and at a motel. The LPD said they received a tip about the eggs after a town resident saw a post about them on Facebook. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The suspect posted four photos on Facebook showing each location as hints to locate the eggs," the department said. "He also posted a photo of five plastic eggs in the seat of a vehicle. Officers found four eggs and believed he had not placed the fifth." Related: Naked Woman Jumps Out of Moving Car onto Highway to Escape Attempted Kidnapping Lufkin Police Department One of the marijuana-filled eggs found in Lufkin, Texas One of the marijuana-filled eggs found in Lufkin, Texas According to the press release, three of the eggs were found in three different public parks, and one was found behind a Motel 6. "However, the fifth egg was found by a man and his granddaughter at Winston Park the following day and brought to the police station," the LPD added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The eggs contained more than a quarter of an ounce of marijuana, and after police further investigated the social media posts, they identified Nicholson as the alleged owner of the Facebook page. Lufkin Police Department One of the eggs found in Lufkin, Texas One of the eggs found in Lufkin, Texas "They also found statements referencing selling narcotics on multiple occasions and in the posts, he stated whoever 'shopped' with him the day of the scavenger hunt would get hints to the locations of the eggs," the LPD said. "Incidents like this are a reminder of why we take seriously all information called in to our offices," Lufkin Police Chief David Thomas said in a statement. "On the surface, it seems implausible that someone would give away a drug, but the follow-up proves that sometimes even the most unlikely things do happen." 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. "The safety of our community is at the forefront of everything we do," Thomas added. "And in cases such as this, when it endangers children, we are even more vigilant." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The LPD said they have issued four felony warrants for Nicholson. They include three warrants for delivery of marijuana in a drug-free zone which refers to schools, playgrounds and youth centers and one warrant for delivery of marijuana. According to Texas law, these charges can carry a penalty of up to $10,000 in fines and jail time of up to two years. Read the original article on People The man who was arrested after he allegedly drove into a crowd at a Vancouver Filipino community festival on April 26 was "known" to authorities Police said the suspect had "a significant history of interactions with authorities and health care professionals related to mental health" 11 people died and numerous others were injured during the incident in the Canadian city The man who was arrested after he allegedly killed multiple people by driving into a crowd at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver was "known" to police, authorities said. The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) detained a man at the scene of a crash that left 11 people dead and "multiple others injured" on Saturday, April 26. Vancouver Police Interim Chief Steve Rai confirmed the updated number of fatalities in a Sunday, April 27, news conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The VPD initially announced on X that the 30-year-old man, whose identity has not yet been shared, allegedly drove through a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in the Canadian city at around 8:14 p.m. local time near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street. The suspect was arrested at the scene, and the VPDs Major Crime Section is currently leading the ongoing investigation. Rai said on April 27 that the man in custody has "a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals, related to mental health." "While I'm not prepared to speak about the potential motive, I can now say with confidence that the evidence in this case does not lead us to believe this was an act of terrorism," he continued, per Reuters, adding: "I am unable to publicly identify the person who is in custody because charges have not yet been laid." DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Steve Rai speaks with local media following the fatal car crash at the annual Lapu Lapu festival Steve Rai speaks with local media following the fatal car crash at the annual Lapu Lapu festival Related: 9 People Killed After Man Drives Car 'Through a Crowd' at Vancouver Street Festival: 'Tragic Incident' Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly after the fatal incident, Rai provided an update to local media as broadcasted by the Vancouver Sun during which he confirmed that "the suspect was known to police in certain circumstances." After being asked if the man had any interaction with police in "the last few days," Rai said he could not answer the question reiterating later during the news conference that authorities have "some knowledge of interactions," without giving a timeline. "It would be unfair and inappropriate to the investigation and to a proper conclusion for the investigation if I tainted with any details right now. But we'll have more for you in the morning for sure," he explained. Rai later confirmed that the suspect was apprehended by bystanders before the VPD arrived at the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When it occurred, from my understanding, prior to police arrival, he was taken into custody by people in the crowd," the police chief said, confirming that authorities arrived "shortly thereafter and took custody of him." The VPD did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on April 27. DON MACKINNON/AFP via Getty Vancouver police investigate crime scene following Lapu Lapu Day on April 26, 2025 Vancouver police investigate crime scene following Lapu Lapu Day on April 26, 2025 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. Abigail Andiso, who was with friends at the time, told the Sun she heard two loud bangs before spotting "bodies on the street" some of whom she said were "dead on the spot." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There was a lady with her eyes staring up, one of her legs was already broken," added Dale Selipe, who was with Andiso. "One person was holding her hand, trying to comfort her." Yoseb Vardeh, the co-owner of the food truck Bao Buns, recalled hearing "an engine rev." "It didnt make any sense to me because theres still people here, like, it sounded like a car speeding," he told the Sun. "It didnt make any f------- sense. And then I look up and theres people flying. It just happened so f------ fast. The business owner recalled seeing "bodies everywhere" after the driver went "straight down the middle" of the block. I didnt break down until I got home to my family just five minutes ago, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Vardeh told the BBC, the driver was moving at around 60 mph and was eventually restrained by the crowd. Vancouver-based artist Kaya Ko described the incident as a "massacre" via an Instagram statement. This was not an accident. This was a massacre, she wrote. I am at a loss for words. Praying that everyone is taken care of and praying for the souls, lives taken and families affected by this terrible crime. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim wrote in a statement on social media that he was "shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident," while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney added on X that he was "devastated to hear about the horrific events." "I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you," he wrote. "We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action." Read the original article on People Eleven people are dead after a car ploughed into a crowded street festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 26. More than two dozen others were injured in a mass casualty incident at an event organized by the local Filipino community. While Canadian authorities say they are confident that it was not an act of terrorism, Prime Minister Mark Carney said they are monitoring the situation closely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police have called the incident the darkest day in Vancouver's history and said it would be a watershed moment for operational changes. At least nine people, although authorities say they believe it was not an act of terrorism (REUTERS) What happened? According to Vancouver Police, at approximately 8 p.m. on Saturday evening local time, a car was driven into the crowd celebrating the annual Lapu Lapu festival, a Filipino community event celebrating Lapu Lapu Day. At least nine people were killed and multiple others were injured as the driver struck pedestrians. The incident occurred at E 41st Avenue and Fraser Street after the final live performance of the day on the grounds of a local high school by Apl.de.ap, a Filipino American rapper and a founding member of the Black Eyed Peas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An eyewitness, Yoseb Vardeh, who is a co-owner of the Bao Buns food truck, told BBC World Service that the driver appeared to be going for maximum damage as he went completely straight, right through the crowd at about 100kph (62mph). First responders at the scene in Vancouver after a car ploughed through crowds of festival-goers (AP) He said the car struck several of his customers, adding that the driver tried to flee but was caught by people nearby. I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, and husbands crying out for their wife, or their kids. It was just horrible, he said. Some unverified videos and photos show injured people lying on the street amid chaos and a heavy police presence. A black SUV with a crumpled front section could be seen in one of the still photos. Who was the driver? Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to the Vancouver Police Department. More charges are expected, according to officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Only one vehicle and one suspect were involved. Lo was initially detained by people at the scene. Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. I'm sorry, the man said in the footage, holding his hand to his head. Steve Rai, interim police chief, declined to comment on the video but said the person in custody was a lone male who was known to police in certain circumstances and had a history of interactions with professionals related to mental health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rai said the man in custody had a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health. Earlier, police did not clarify whether the suspect had a criminal record. It would be inappropriate for me to get into those kind of details at this point, Rai said, adding it would be unfair to make comments on whether the suspect was on bail. Vancouver police said a at this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism. Vancouver police secure the scene after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver (AP) What do we know about the victims? At a press conference on Sunday, officials confirmed that the number of fatalities had risen to 11, with dozens injured. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their ages range from 5 to 65, according to Vancouver police. Said Rai: We believe dozens more are injured more seriously, and the number of dead could rise in a matter of days or weeks. As yet, no details of those killed or injured have been released. It is expected that many will be from the Filipino Canadian community. Rai said the victims are both male and female and are young people. He added that he can't give further details on ages but calls it a tragedy all around for many families. This year's festivities were part of the broader recognition of 27 April as Lapu Lapu Day in British Columbia, officially declared in 2023 to acknowledge the significance of Filipino Canadians in the province. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, an Indigenous Visayan Chieftain from Mactan, Philippines. According to the street partys website, Lapu-Lapu is considered the first national hero of the Philippines. He is described as an enduring symbol of unwavering resistance and indomitable spirit during the Age of Exploration, and the first to rise against the tide of Spanish colonisation. Map of the area where the festival is taking place. The Police said the incident took place E 43rd Avenue and Fraser St (Lapu Lapu Festival) What has been the reaction from Canadian officials? The incident comes less than 48 hours before Canadas federal elections. At the moment, there is no suggestion of a connection between the incident and the election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was monitoring the situation closely. I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening, he wrote. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you. We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action. Carney has cancelled the final election day rallies in Calgary, Richmond and British Columbia. Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservative Party, called the incident a senseless attack, while the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, David Eby, said he was shocked and heartbroken. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, who was at the Lapu Lapu event in Vancouver before the incident took place, said he was horrified to learn that innocent people have been killed and injured. As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience. Governor General Mary Simon and her husband extended their deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragic attack that occurred at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver. A joyous celebration of Filipino culture, community and heritage ended in loss of life and serious injuries as a result of a horrific act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I also want to express my gratitude to all the first responders who rushed to the scene of the incident; your courage, dedication, and swift action in the face of such devastation are deeply appreciated. David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, said he was shocked and heartbroken. We are in contact with the City of Vancouver and will provide any support needed, he added. Vancouver mayor Ken Sim said in a statement on X that he was shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau has shared his condolences: My heart goes out to the loved ones of all the victims of the tragic attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver. I join all Canadians in standing with the Filipino community at this difficult time. Police work on Fraser street, near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people (REUTERS) What has been the international reaction? President Ferdinand Marcos Jr of the Philippines, better known as Bongbong Marcos, said he was shattered to hear about the terrible incident in Vancouver. Mr Marcos said the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver was working with Canadian authorities to ensure that the incident would be thoroughly investigated. In the United Kingdom, King Charles III has said he was profoundly saddened to learn of the incident in Vancouver, extending his deepest possible sympathy. Charles, who is the King of Canada, said: Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy also said he is deeply saddened by the incident in Vancouver. I am shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible events at Vancouvers Lapu Lapu festival last night, Mr Lammy wrote on X. Our thoughts are with all of those affected, their families and loved ones. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences, saying on X: Following the tragedy in Vancouver, I extend our solidarity to Canadians and the Filipino community. Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) The Henderson County Sheriffs Office has arrested and charged a man with starting a structure fire in Henderson County. On April 26 deputies, along with the Green River Fire Department, were called out to a structure fire in the Tuxedo Community. Deputies said that foul play was suspected due to the nature of the fire. Following an investigation involving multiple agencies, 23-year-old Daniel Israel Patino of Tuxedo was arrested and charged with first degree arson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone with additional information regarding the incident is asked by authorities to contact Detective Simpson at 828-694-2736. 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. CHICAGO The man accused of starting a fire that killed a Chicago fire captain Wednesday morning has been denied pre-trial release. During a detention hearing Saturday, a judge ordered that Charles Green, 44, will remain in custody after being charged in the death of 54-year-old Chicago Fire Captain David Meyer. The judge said Greens alleged actions placed first responders in danger, leading to the death of Meyer, killed while battling a garage fire Wednesday morning in the Austin neighborhood on Chicagos West Side when the garage roof collapsed on him. Charles Green A public visitation for Meyer, who served nearly 30 years with CFD, is scheduled for Monday from 3 to 8 p.m. at Malec & Sons Funeral Home, located at 6000 North Milwaukee Avenue in the Norwood Park neighborhood. A memorial service will follow at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. John Brebeuf Church in Niles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, volunteers will tie red ribbons up and down the street along N. Milwaukee Ave. later Sunday morning during a show of support for Meyers family. Those who wish to support the family can also make a donation HERE via The Yard Foundation, a charity that provides funding and assistance to firefighters, first responders, and their families who are in need, be it from illness, disease, or other circumstances. Visit theyardfoundation.org for more information or to make a donation. There was a strong show of support on Saturday from Chicago firefighters and others at the Cook County Criminal Building. Thats what were about, President of Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 Pat Cleary said. Were a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and we support our members and we support their families. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PREVIOUS: A sad day: Chicago fire captain dies after battling garage fire on West Side Chicago lost a hero last week, and we can never forget that, Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said. At the end of the day, we were here to show support for the brave men and women who every day put on the uniform, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. Captain David Meyer, courtesy CFD Green was arrested just hours after the fire, according to Chicago police. He allegedly set a nearby trash can on fire, and the flames spread to the garage, according to investigators. On Friday, Green was charged with aggravated arson and first-degree murder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the States Attorneys Office, Green was seen on surveillance video entering and leaving an alley moments before the fire started, then looking back toward a garage engulfed in flames. Prosecutors say police found lighters, lighter fluid and accelerators on Greens clothes at his home. Prosecutors did not, however, give a motive for Greens alleged actions. Green admitted to being the person in the surveillance videos, but he did not admit to setting the fire, according to authorities. Greens attorney says surveillance video does not show him actually setting the fire. Court documents reveal that Green has a vast criminal history that dates back 25 years and includes five felony convictions. At the time of the fire, he had a warrant out for his arrest on retail theft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PREVIOUS: Man charged with murder, arson after CFD firefighter dies Firefighters said theyre thankful Green will remain behind bars, especially for the sake of Meyers family. Theyre broken up, Cleary said. They lost a father and a husband. Its understandable. Its horrendous. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Green has two scheduled court appearances this week, one for the charges hes facing for retail theft and the other for the charges hes facing for the fire. 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. MEMPHIS, Tenn. A man is fighting for his life after a shooting on Saturday afternoon, Memphis Police confirmed. At 12:26 p.m., officers responded to a shooting victim at I-240 and Walnut Grove Rd. A male was taken to Regional One in critical condition. Memphis Police said a man has been detained but this is still an ongoing 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 WREG.com. DENVER (KDVR) A man was hit in an exchange of gunfire with police in Craig on Saturday. The Craig Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a residence at 730 Ashley Road around 8:43 a.m. on a report of a man armed with a handgun. Upon arrival, the police department said the man was actively brandishing a firearm. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shots were exchanged between the subject and law enforcement, the press release states. The man was hit by a shot, and officers provided aid until paramedics arrived. He was taken to a local hospital and was stabilized before being flown for further treatment elsewhere. The 14th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team was activated to investigate the officer-involved shooting, and the Grand County Sheriffs Office is leading the investigation. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave and the department said an internal review will be conducted separately. 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. WINDHOEK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Namibian Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Mac-Albert Hengari has resigned following his arrest, the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) reported Sunday, citing Press Secretary at the Presidency Alfredo Hengari. The former minister had served in the position for only 27 days after being appointed by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on March 22. According to NBC, Hengari was arrested on Saturday along with another person. "Police Inspector General Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo said Hengari would face formal charges during the course of Sunday and was expected to appear in court on Monday," the NBC reported Shikongo did not specify the reasons for the arrest but confirmed that Hengari was under investigation for 11 charges, including kidnapping, rape and assault, it added. NBC said that Hengari was arrested after he allegedly attempted to bribe a victim to withdraw a case involving accusations of repeated sexual contact with a minor between 2019 and September 2024. Shikongo said the events leading to the arrest left the police with "no option" but to take the former minister into custody. He also confirmed that the individual arrested alongside Hengari is related to the victim. Hengari's resignation adds to a small number of cases in Namibia where ministers have stepped down following arrests. In 2019, former ministers Sacky Shanghala and Bernhard Esau resigned after being implicated in a major corruption scandal known as the "Fishrot" case, which involved allegations of bribery and money laundering in the fishing industry. NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) A man was taken to the hospital Sunday following a shooting at an apartment complex in the 400 block of Monticello Avenue, according to Norfolk police. Officers said they were dispatched around 3:46 a.m. for reports of a person with a weapon. Upon arrival, officers saw a man, later identified as 38-year-old Glendon A. Sumner, with a weapon in the courtyard area. Officers engaged the man verbally and the man failed to comply with orders to drop his weapon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers then fired their weapons, hitting the man. Police said he is in the hospital and expected to survive. Nobody else was injured in the incident. After investigation, Sumner has been charged with brandishing a firearm and reckless handling of a firearm. On Friday, Norfolk police were involved in shooting in which a woman sustained life-threatening injuries after pointing a weapon at officers in the 7600 block of Sewells Point Road. She is currently in the hospital. NPD: Officers shoot woman who pointed weapon at them In both of this weekends shootings, officers were forced to react during a situation involving a firearm, and they did so by relying heavily on their training to protect themselves and the public, said Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot following Sundays shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This weekend has been a challenging one for the men and women of the Norfolk Police Department, but they have carried on without reprieve and with great professionalism so that the residents of Norfolk can remain safe, and for that, we are extremely grateful, said Talbot. The incident remains an active investigation and the officers involved will be placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the 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 WAVY.com. Video above: This FOX 5/KUSI video provides driving safety tips. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A 54-year-old man was sent to the hospital on Friday after being struck by a tractor-trailer at a loading dock in Otay Mesa, authorities said. According to the San Diego Police Department, the incident occurred shortly before 2 p.m. at a business located at 2451 Britannia Blvd. A 28-year-old man was reportedly operating a 2013 black Peterbilt tractor and was attempting to back up to the loading docks. Police said he pulled forward to better align the rig when a 54-year-old man walked in front of the vehicle and was struck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man sustained a leg fracture and was transported to a local hospital. His injuries are not considered life-threatening. SDPDs Traffic Division responded to the scene and is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the collision. Police confirmed that alcohol was not a factor in this incident. 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. BLOUNT COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) A Hayden man was killed in a two-vehicle crash that occurred Saturday afternoon in Blount County, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Shawn M. Albright, 34, was killed when the 2000 Honda Accord he was driving collided head-on with a 2011 Dodge Ram 1500. Albright was not using a seat belt, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Dodge Ram was injured and transported to an area hospital for medical treatment. A juvenile passenger was also injured and taken to a hospital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The crash occurred around 2:50 p.m. on Blount County 5 near Pinecrest Drive, about three miles west of Blount Springs. Troopers with ALEAs Highway Patrol Division are investigating the crash. 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 CBS 42. One man was killed and a 14-year-old girl injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, authorities reported on Sunday. Two residential buildings were damaged in the attack, the Dnipropetrovsk regional military governor Serhiy Lyssak wrote on Telegram. He said there was also damage in other towns in the area and that 13 drones were shot down. In the southern Odessa region, a 35-year-old woman was injured when a drone hit a three-storey residential building, the public prosecutor's office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It released a photo showing severe damage to the building's facade, caused either by direct hits or falling debris from downed drones. Ukrainian air defences recorded a total of 149 Russian drone attacks during the night. According to the reports, 57 projectiles were shot down and 67 were lost. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) A Providence man awaits sentencing for his role in a plan to purchase vehicles in Rhode Island and New Hampshire three years ago with stolen identities. Adalberto Mauricio Romero, 28, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud Thursday, according to acting U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom. BACKGROUND: 3 men charged with defrauding car dealerships Romero admitted to trying to defraud a New Hampshire dealership in May 2022 when trying to buy a Land Rover worth over $95,000, Bloom said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said during the sale Romero used a drivers license with a false identity to get financing through an online application. Bloom announced in March the other men involved, Roy Sweets, 27, pleaded guilty to the same charge that Romero did, and Dennis Odoom, 27, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison by a federal judge. Sweets sentencing is scheduled for June 10. Romeros sentencing is set for July 24. 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. Follow us on social media: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. When it comes to battling demons trapped inside your loved ones, maybe it's best to leave it to the professionals. Take that from Alexander Valdez, a 23-year-old man accused of murdering his mother in a botched DIY exorcism in Fort Worth, Texas last week. Police rolled up to Valdez' house a little after midnight last Friday, tipped off about a "satanic ritual" which he allegedly recorded and sent to his friends on Snapchat. When officers knocked on his front door, a nonchalant Valdez emerged, coated in blood and clutching a bible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It was an exorcism," he told police calmly, before allegedly adding contradictively? that "I was doing witchcraft to kill my mom." Asked if there was anybody else in the house, Valdez apparently admitted "there is a dead body in there. It's my mom." The cops then searched the house, where they indeed found the body of the man's mother, 58-year-old Teresita Sayson, as well as that of the family's dog. "Thank goodness for the people that were on Snapchat that said that he wanted to do this satanic ritual," Tracy Carter of the Fort Worth Police Department said, referring to the anonymous tipsters who passed the alleged posts off to local police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The horrifying incident is no doubt the result of a mental health emergency which went unaddressed an all too common occurrence in the US, where nonexistent social services and ineffective mental healthcare exacerbate a systemic crisis of mental illness. And digging into the cultural aspect, the alleged murder also fits with a resurgence of the belief in exorcism and witchcraft in the US, a phenomenon which coincides with disruptions in "social relations, high levels of anxiety, [and] pessimistic worldview," according to social-economy researcher Boris Gershman. As American social norms fray, people aren't just turning to exorcism of their own volition. Rather, they're led to it by a growing clique of pseudo-religious influencers, who use platforms like Tik Tok and YouTube to cash in on wild ritual spectacles via social media. Sam Kestenbaum is a writer who embedded with Greg Locke, an infamous "Demon Slayer" in Tennessee. In a lengthy expose on the resurgence of demonology for Harper's Magazine, Kestenbaum notes that Locke has used his sensationalist platform to tout vaccine skepticism, accuse Democratic politicians of being demons, and stoke claims that the 2020 election was stolen topics which gel a little too well with those already prone to conspiracy hysterics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The controversial stuff really drove traffic," Locke told him. The preacher's cushy media empire includes a team of cameramen to film his "exorcisms" as they happen, production assistants, a drone operator, regular demonology seminars, a podcast, and a publishing house peddling books on faith-based wonders all to keep the magic alive for his flock of eager consumers. The draw for Locke is obvious enough. But when it comes to growing appeal of exorcism for the masses, Kestenbaum puts it well. "Who would deny that this cursed land is in need of a deep cleanse with a power washer?" he wrote. "This, our country of suburban satanic panics, active-shooter drills, and jump-scare franchises, of mob riots, hollowed-out downtowns, and tech paranoias... and lo, a cavalry of screen-ready revivalists has arrived to wage the End Times war against the satanic infantry." More on religion: Atheists Appalled as Elon Musk Embraces "Teachings of Christ' Americas top diplomat was questioned on Sunday about Donald Trumps reasoning for repeatedly calling for Canada to join the United States as the 51st state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday where moderator Kristen Welker asked him if the administration was actually taking any steps to make Trumps vision a reality. The president has made his opinion clear: he wants Canada to join the United States and suggested his administration would also acquire the Danish-held territory Greenland by any means. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The secretary of state gave his own translation of the presidents remarks on the matter: What the president has said, and he has said this repeatedly, is he was told by the previous prime minister that Canada could not survive without unfair trade with the United States, at which point he asked, Well, if you can't survive as a nation without treating us unfairly in trade, then you should become a state. That's what he said. (REUTERS) Rubio told Welker that the administration had taken no action to realize this particular strain of Trumps bluster, which has alarmed U.S. allies. Theres a U.S. military base on Greenland, and the president has cited the self-governing nations geographical importance as a reasoning for his expansionist goal. Trump has made the comments on numerous occasions, including in conversations with his Canadian counterparts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump himself made his goals of northward expansion apparent during his address to Congress in February. We need Greenland for national security and even international security. And we're working with everybody involved to try and get it, Trump said at the time. And I think we're going to get it one way or the other. Were going to get it. But he was making similar remarks publicly as early as December 2024. No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Trump wrote on Truth Social. Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea, added Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in February as having been caught on a hot mic warning a group of business and labor leaders that the presidents threats were serious. Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing, Trudeau said, according to the CBC. Theyre very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those, he continued. Justin Trudeau told a group of business leaders in early 2024 that Donald Trumps goal of annexing Canada was a real thing. (AP) Mark Carney, Canadas current prime minister, revealed this past week that Trump raised those same ambitions with him in a recent call. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president brings this up all the time. He brought it up yesterday. He brought it up before, Carney said Thursday at a press conference as he campaigns for a full term as prime minister. Carney added: To be clear, as Ive said to anyone whos raised this issue in private or in public, including the president, it will never happen. On Sunday, Greenlands new prime minister said the autonomous Danish territory is not a piece of property that can be bought. On a visit to Copenhagen, Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Greenland and Denmark must stand together in the face of disrespectful rhetoric from the Trump administration. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has rejected the notion that the U.S. government is deporting its own citizens, even as children as young as two years old have been sent out of the country. The administration is instead deporting their mothers, who choose to take their children with them, Rubio argued Sunday. Rubio appeared on NBCs Meet the Press, defending the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts, which have included the removal of at least three U.S. citizen children, aged two, four, and seven. They were sent out of the country with their mothers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers, Rubio said. If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if their father or someone here wants to assume them, he added. But, ultimately, who was deported was their mother, their mothers who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the Trump administrations deportation efforts April 27, saying that U.S. citizen children were not being deported; they were simply sent out of the country along with their undocumented mothers (AFP via Getty Images) The secretary slammed the allegations as misleading, arguing that press coverage of their removals sound like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the two-year-old and threw him on an airplane. Thats just not true, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deported mothers werent given the chance to contact their attorneys during their time in custody in the U.S., lawyers said. While Rubio defended the Trump administrations efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, he also said that all people in the U.S., citizens and noncitizens alike, are of course entitled to due process. The two-year-old child, identified in court filings as V.M.L., had been detained along with her mother during a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week. They were swiftly sent to Honduras. The familys lawyers told a judge that the childs father has been attempting to contact the childs mother, but ICE officials blocked him from having a substantive phone call. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump administration lawyers claimed that the mother wanted to bring her child with her. The judge, however, said he had wanted to verify that. The Government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her, Trump-appointed judge Terry Doughty said. But the Court doesnt know that. Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project called ICEs actions horrifying and baffling. We should be gravely concerned that ICE has been given tacit approval to both detain and deport U.S. citizen children despite the availability and willingness of U.S.-based caregivers who, only because of ICEs own actions, cannot find or contact them, she said in a statement. Trumps border czar Tom Homan says having U.S. citizen children is not a get out of jail free card (REUTERS) Meanwhile, White House border czar Tom Homan told Face the Nation on CBS that he is unaware of last weeks case of a mother who had entered the U.S. illegally and was deported to Honduras along with her four-year-old child with stage four cancer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Having a U.S. citizen child after you enter this country illegally is not a get out of jail free card, Homan said Sunday. It doesn't make you immune from our laws. The secretary and the border czar addressed Sunday news programs amid the Trump administrations efforts to push the courts to allow quick deportations of immigrants, including alleged members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, which Trump labeled alien enemies who can be summarily deported under his use of the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to go ahead with some deportations under the Alien Enemies Act as long as those being deported receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the wartime law. They must be allowed to challenge their removal in courts with the jurisdictions where they are imprisoned, the justices said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his appearance on Meet the Press in December as the president-elect, Trump said his mass deportation efforts would likely be applied to families of mixed status, including families with citizens. I dont want to be breaking up families, so the only way you dont break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back, Trump said at the time. Rubio defended the administrations efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, arguing on Sunday that it was part of leaving behind decades of policy that allowed undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States while their asylum claims were processed. Once you come into our country illegally, it triggers all kinds of rights that can keep you here indefinitely, he said. Thats why we were being flooded at the border, and weve ended that. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the deportation of three children who are U.S. citizens, claiming the mothers could have made their kids stay behind. Those children are U.S. citizens, Rubio said on Sundays episode of Meet The Press. They can come back into the United States if their father or someone here who wants to assume them. But ultimately, who was deported was their mothers, who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. According to The Washington Post, the three children were from two different families, ages 2, 4 and 7, and deported early Friday. Their lawyers said both families were taken into custody while attending routine check-ins this week in New Orleans as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which allows individuals to remain in their communities while undergoing immigration proceedings. They were then taken to Alexandria, Louisiana, a three-hour drive from New Orleans, and put on a flight to Honduras, all while preventing any communication with any members of their families. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked on Meet The Press about such deportations violating the due process rights of both citizens and noncitizens, Rubio skirted around the question and said, If someones in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the deportation of three U.S. citizen children and said "ultimately, who was deported was their mothers, who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images Tom Homan, President Donald Trumps border czar and the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said on Sundays Face The Nation that the children werent deported, but rather that the mother chose to take the children with her. When you enter the country illegally, and you know youre here illegally and you choose to have a U.S. citizen child, thats on you, Homan said. Thats not on this administration. If you choose to put your family in that position, thats on them. But having a U.S. citizen child after you enter this country illegally is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. That doesnt make you immune from our laws. Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project told The Associated Press that the mothers did not even have an opportunity to decide whether they wanted their children to stay in the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We have no idea what ICE was telling them, and in this case what has come to light is that ICE didnt give them another alternative, Willis said. They didnt give them a choice, that these mothers only had the option to take their children with them despite loving caregivers being available in the United States to keep them here. Related... At least 8 killed, 750 wounded in blast at southern Iranian port At least 8 people were killed and 750 others injured in a huge explosion that occurred on Saturday at a port in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan, the official news agency IRNA reported. Six people went missing in the incident that occurred at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, according to IRNA. According to China's Consulate General in Bandar Abbas, three Chinese citizens sustained minor injuries in the explosion. They are now in good condition after receiving medical treatment. Ahmad Pouyafar, governor of the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, announced that all educational centers across the city would be closed on Sunday due to the explosion and consequent air pollution. Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Organization, told the semi-official Fars news agency that chemical materials in a container at the port caused the blast. Putin, Witkoff discuss prospect of direct Russia-Ukraine talks during meeting in Moscow Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the possibility of direct Russia-Ukraine talks during their meeting in Moscow, local media reported Friday citing Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov said the talks focused on the possibility of restarting direct negotiations between representatives from Russia and Ukraine, and said the meeting helped to further align the positions of Russia and the United States, both on Ukraine and on other international issues. He called the talks constructive and useful, adding that dialogue between Moscow and Washington would continue at various levels. Putin and Witkoff met in the Kremlin on Friday. The meeting, which lasted three hours, was also attended by Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries. Witkoff reportedly arrived in Moscow earlier Friday. Trump, Zelensky meet on sidelines of Pope's funeral U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in Vatican City. A spokesperson from Kiev was quoted by Italian broadcaster Rai News as saying that Zelensky and Trump held a meeting ahead of the funeral, without providing further details. The White House also confirmed the meeting, describing their conversation as "productive." Several media outlets also reported that Trump and Zelensky agreed to meet again on Saturday following the funeral. The two leaders' meeting came just one day after Trump said Russia and Ukraine were "very close to a deal," following talks between his envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday. Omani FM says Iran, U.S. express "shared aspiration" to reach deal The United States and Iran have expressed "a shared aspiration to reach an agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments" during their latest round of indirect talks in Muscat, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi said Saturday. In a statement issued on the social media platform X, Albusaidi said that "core principles, objectives, and technical concerns" were discussed thoroughly in the Omani-mediated talks, adding that negotiations are set to continue next week and that a further high-level meeting is provisionally scheduled for May 3. The two delegations, headed by Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, respectively, started the dialogue earlier Saturday, following an expert-level technical discussion between the two sides on the same day in Muscat. The talks touched upon the details regarding the two sides' demands and expectations from one another, Iran's state-run IRIB TV reported. Trump administration to reverse termination of legal status of int'l students The Trump administration said Friday that it will reverse the termination of the legal statuses of more than 1,200 international students amid legal challenges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was in the process of manually restoring the statuses for individuals whose Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records were terminated in recent weeks, a government attorney told a federal court in Oakland, California. A similar statement was made by a government lawyer during a separate hearing in Washington, D.C. "ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination," said a copy of the statement provided to media by Brian Green, attorney representing the plaintiffs. At least 34 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza At least 34 Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in airstrikes carried out by the Israeli army across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's civil defense said. Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the civil defense, told Xinhua that the Israeli army targeted several residential homes, gatherings, and tents housing displaced persons in various areas of the coastal enclave. At least 13 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on two houses in the west and south of Gaza City, Basal said. Three other people were killed in two Israeli drone attacks in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while two were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip. Nine people were killed, including four in an Israeli airstrike on a cafe in the city of Deir al-Balah and five in an attack on a Palestinian gathering north of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Basal. Seven others were killed in Israeli shelling targeting a gathering in the town of Al-Zawaida in the central Gaza Strip and another in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis in the south, said Basal. U.S. conducts 1,200 raids on Yemen since March The Houthi group claimed on Friday that U.S. warplanes had conducted 1,200 raids on Yemen since mid-March, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties and widespread destruction of infrastructure. In a press statement, the foreign affairs authority of the group alleged that the U.S. operations destroyed "numerous civilian facilities, including residential neighborhoods, ports, health facilities, water tanks, and archaeological sites, in flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law." The group accused Washington of making "miserable attempts to evade its responsibility for the crimes it is committing in Yemen" and of "working to cover up its sinful aggression against Yemen and its crimes against civilians." The U.S. government has not issued an immediate response to these Houthi allegations. A federal grand jury has indicted a Maryland man on charges of making threatening communications to kidnap and injure Cameroon citizens and providing material support to separatist groups, federal prosecutors announced Friday. Eric Tataw, 38, of Gaithersburg, who allegedly refers to himself as the Garri master, a term he coined referring to mutilation, ordered violent groups to murder, kidnap and maim civilians as part of a separatist campaign against the Cameroonian government, prosecutors said. A Cameroonian national, Tataw surrendered and was set to make his initial court appearance on Friday, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Maryland said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The defendant is alleged to have ordered horrific acts of violence, including severing limbs, against Cameroonian civilians in support of a violent secessionist movement, said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, in the news release. Tataw allegedly referred to the dismemberment as Garriing, using the phrase small Garri for smaller appendages and large Garri for limbs or murder, prosecutors said. The separatist fighters, referred to as Amba Boys, are calling for the northwest and southwest regions to form a new country called Ambazonia, prosecutors said. The Amba Boys strategies include attacking the Cameroonian military and civilians in efforts to pressure the government to allow the regions to secede. The violence in the western regions of Cameroon sparked in 2016, when French-speaking judges and teachers were sent to English-speaking regions, sparking Anglophone demonstrations and protests that Francophones were attempting to reduce their political and cultural significance, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cameroon inherited two legal systems English common law and French civil law following split colonial rule in the early 20th century. When military forces violently broke up the protests in 2016, the current Anglophone crisis began. The indictment alleges that Tataw began to raise funds in April 2018 to finance the Amba Boys attacks in the western regions. Prosecutors said Tataw, with a large social media following, wrote hundreds of posts across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter calling for the civilian attacks and seeking funds to arm the Amba Boys. The posts regularly received tens of thousands of views, and the Amba Boys and Tataw allegedly directed other third parties to circulate the posts further, the department said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From about September 2018 through December 2020, Tataw and his co-conspirators raised more than $110,000, the release stated. Tataw and co-conspirators transferred portions of these funds either directly or through intermediaries to Amba Boys located in Cameroon and neighboring Nigeria. Any alleged co-conspirators were not named in the release. The National AK Campaign sought to arm each Amba Boy in Cameroon with an AK-47 rifle, the department said. Prosecutors said funds supplied Amba Boys with explosive materials and items for enforcing lockdown, or ghost-town, orders. Tataw is alleged to have communicated with the Amba Boy leaders directly, repeatedly taking personal credit for the group's murders and kidnappings, the release stated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tataw allegedly threatened and targeted people he believed were cooperating with the Cameroonian government, such as municipal officials and traditional chiefs, the release stated. Employees of the Cameroon Development Corporation, a public company that grows, processes and sells products like bananas and rubber, were also targeted, prosecutors said. Tataw also called for public, educational and cultural properties to be destroyed, according to the release. Tataw and his co-conspirators masterminded and financially supported a vicious scheme to overthrow a foreign government, U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes said in the press release. They resorted to an unthinkable level of violence while instilling fear in innocent victims to advance their political agenda. Tataw is charged with four counts of interstate communication of a threat to harm and one count of conspiracy to provide material support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If convicted, he could face a maximum penalty of five years on each count of communication of threat to harm, and up to 15 years on the material support count. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The post Matt Pinfield Says He is Slowly but Surely Recovering After Two Months in Coma appeared first on Consequence. Following a recent stroke that left Matt Pinfield in a two-month coma, the former MTV VJ has shared a new health update, assuring fans he is slowly but surely on the mend. The message, which Pinfield shared to his Instagram, comes after it was recently announced that he would host Green Days Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling ceremony on May 1st. Slowly but surely recovering..lots of physical therapy..Fighting my way back!! Pinfield wrote on Instagram. One day at a time. Pinfield, 63, suffered a stroke back in January 2025, leaving him incapacitated physically and cognitively for about two months. During that time, he also suffered from a bout of pneumonia and had to be put on a ventilator. Pinfield came out of his coma in early March. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his March interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pinfield revealed that his medical team initially believed he would never be able to speak or walk again. While he was in a coma, Pinfields daughter, Jessica, requested a temporary conservatorship to make financial and health decisions on his behalf, and he credited her with having saved [his] life. As of late March, it was reported that the radio host was staying at a rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles. Green Days star unveiling is set for May 1st at 11:30 a.m. PT. It will be livestreamed on the Walk of Fames website. Ryan Reynolds and Green Day superfan Serena Williams will provide speeches alongside Pinfields hosting duties. I want to say how great grateful I am for all the people that that were wishing me well, Pinfield said in the March interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The love of the community helped me get through this. Popular Posts Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to Consequences email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox. The United Way of Northern New York will host their annual Kentucky Derby Social at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 3 at Clayton Opera House. This event is an opportunity to help raise funds to support vital services throughout the north country with excellent food, fun activities and a chance to dress to impress. All event proceeds benefit United Way of Northern New Yorks Community Impact programs, which address the needs in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence Counties. The organization helps touch the lives of tens of thousands of individuals across the area every year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The event includes food stations by Embellished Catering, live music by Joe and Shannon Foy, a silent auction, chances to win great prizes, and the Kentucky Derby televised on a large screen. Admission is $75 per ticket. All tickets include access to the event, food, unlimited non-alcoholic drinks, and a complimentary raffle ticket. Tickets are available for purchase online 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 WWTI - InformNNY.com. (COLORADO SPRINGS) Mayor Yemi Mobolade, the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) and the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO), and other community leaders, shared statements regarding the multiagency operation at a local underground nightclub near South Academy Boulevard and Airport Road on Sunday, April 27, in which over 100 people were arrested. RELATED STORY: Underground nightclub bust in Colo Springs: What we know According to CSPD, the department assisted federal and local law enforcement partners in the operation. I want to be clear that it is the responsibility of the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) to investigate criminal activity and make arrests when appropriate. This operation was the result of a months-long investigation into serious criminal activity in our community. While the investigation is ongoing, arrests for these criminal violations are expected. CSPD is aware that our federal partners also detained multiple people for suspected immigration violations during the operation. CSPD is not authorized to conduct immigration enforcement under Colorado law, and our participation in this operation was solely to address criminal violations affecting the safety of our community. Adrian Vasquez, Chief of Police for CSPD. EPSO reported that deputies also took part in assisting federal partners to remove dangerous drug dealers and criminals from the streets, stating that Sheriff Joseph Roybal is committed to ensuring the safety of the El Paso County citizens and that this operation was a critical step towards the mission of public safety in the Pikes Peak region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Roybal said, I am committed to the safety of our citizens. My Office will continue working with our federal partners to ensure dangerous criminals, drug dealers, are held accountable and removed from our neighborhoods Criminals have no place in the Pikes Peak region. Let this be a warning they should go elsewhere. On Monday, April 28, Roybal released the following statement: Months ago, I made clear my intent to allow my deputies to work with our federal partners to ensure the safety and well-being of the citizens in the Pikes Peak region, said El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal. This operation is a perfect example of why local law enforcement needs to collaborate with our federal partners. Since becoming Sheriff two years ago, I have seen a rapid decline in the state of public safety, due to weak laws and a legislative majority focused on reducing penalties for criminals, rather than preventing and deterring crimes. I am grateful to the Rock Mountain DEA, our federal partners, the Colorado Springs Police Department, and my hard-working deputies, who were on scene, assisting with this operation, ensuring everyone involved remained safe. My Office will continue our commitment to our community, and work to ensure families and businesses can prosper and live safely in the Pikes Peak region. Roybal Mayor Yemi Mobolade released the following statement: I was briefed ahead of todays coordinated operation, and I want to thank the DEAs Rocky Mountain Field Division, the Colorado Springs Police Department, and all of our local, state, and federal partners for their work to enforce the rule of law. Let me be clear: criminal activity of any kind, from anyone, will not be tolerated in Colorado Springs. This investigation and the execution of these warrants are the result of clear evidence of serious criminal conduct. Our residents deserve to live in a city where the rule of law is upheld and where illegal behavior is met with firm and decisive action. We will continue working together to ensure the safety and well-being of our entire community. Mobolade The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners commended the actions taken by law enforcement during the operation, stating that the scale and security of the criminal activity posed a direct threat to the safety and well-being of the community. They said, Public safety is and will always remain our top priority. We remain firmly committed to supporting our law enforcement agencies and advocating for policies that keep El Paso County a safe, secure, and thriving place for all who call it home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Special Agent in Charge, Jonathan Pullen, thanked federal and local partners for their assistance, as well as the members of the public for their support. DEA Rocky Mountain thanks Sheriff Roybal and the men and women of the El Paso County Sheriffs Office for assisting with the major federal enforcement operation over the weekend, said Pullen. Were confident Colorado Springs and El Paso County are safer due to everyones efforts. Watch his address in the video player above. The Colorado Springs Peoples Coalition posted a reaction to the operation, stating that the actions taken were attacks on our community and that they condemn the raid and detainment of immigrants, calling on ICE to release the names of all those detained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 FOX21 News Colorado. SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh announced two in-person hiring events to support city operations. The City will host a Department of Water hiring event on April 29 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Meachem Ice Rink. The City will also host a job fair recruiting for positions in various departments on May 12 from 47pm at the Cecile Community Center. The Department of Water is seeking a watershed inspector, water system construction engineers and several water maintenance workers. Some of these positions require a commercial drivers license and driving test. For the April 29 event at Meachem Ice Rink, the department is expediting the hiring process by making job offers on the spot. The May 12 job fair at Cecile Center will feature representatives from several departments across City government interested in meeting candidates with varying skills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The City has hundreds of positions to fill, the majority being temporary summer staff in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Services. Parks and Recreation vacancies include lifeguards, recreation leaders, special events, park maintenance, and grounds workers. For parents with youth interested in positions at Parks and Recreation, applicants must be at least 16 years old, have a work certificate and government-issued photo identification. Open positions can be viewed at syr.gov/jobs. Residents must live in the city of Syracuse as a requirement of employment, some exceptions apply. Questions about the hiring event and job fair can be directed to personnel@syr.gov or by calling 315-448-8780. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WSYR. Buprenorphine tablets, which are used to reduce opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Megan Cantone stumbled out of the hospital in tears from the pain. She sought treatment for an infection from drug use. Medical professionals at the Denver hospital provided the treatment, but as Cantone recalls, it came with a heavy dose of judgment. A doctor refused to numb her wound after recognizing it as being from illicit drug use, she said. The pain was supposed to convince her never to shove a needle in your arm again, Cantone said. More opioids news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I told my husband I feel like a complete failure, like a terrible person, Cantone said. Thats almost when a person could kill themselves because youre at the lowest of your low and somebody treats you like that. Earlier that week, a nurse at a different hospital confronted her while treating another infection. The nurse told Cantone shed end up killing herself and pretty much told me I was disgusting, Cantone remembers. Cantone began experimenting with drugs in high school, but her opioid use started when she attended cosmetology and esthiology school in the Twin Cities. Her use escalated to meth and heroin over the years. A doctor stepped in to defend Cantone, scolding the nurse. The doctor suggested medication to help her stop opioid use; he said she suffered from a medical disorder that could be treated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the opioid epidemic continues in South Dakota, physicians can offer medications for opioid use disorder. But the practice made possible by a change to federal law in 2022 is held back in South Dakota because of stigmas attached to it, advocates say. Stigmas like Cantone experienced, and what she still experiences in South Dakota today. Megan Cantone poses for a photo in her Sioux Falls backyard. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Cantone didnt accept the medication from the emergency room doctor. She grappled with self-loathing. But the doctors kindness and offer stuck with her. Months later, after near-death experiences and the realization she was pregnant, Cantone accepted a prescription and delivered a healthy baby girl. The medication straightened a winding path toward recovery. The 35-year-old mother and wife, who lives in Sioux Falls, credits her Christian faith and the medication for her recovery. She will celebrate six years of sobriety in May. Training providers to recognize bravery Buprenorphine prescriptions in South Dakota tripled in the last five years, increasing from about 2,500 at the start of 2019 to around 7,500 at the end of 2024. The drug reduces opioid withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Naloxone is available in some public spaces throughout South Dakota, especially in Sioux Falls and Rapid City. It prevents opioid overdoses by blocking receptor cells. A chart shows buprenorphine prescriptions in South Dakota tripled between 2019 and 2024. (Courtesy of South Dakota Prescription Drug Monitoring Program) Cantone took a Suboxone prescription for years, which is a drug that contains both buprenorphine and naloxone to treat opioid use disorder. Now she takes buprenorphine. The increased access to both medications is heartening for Craig Uthe, a family physician at Sanford and local spokesman for the national Opioid Response Network. The Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act eliminated a federal waiver requirement for prescribing buprenorphine. But physicians need more education on the prescriptions, he said. We didnt have that many people prescribing buprenorphine before, and we still dont, Uthe said. We have a lot of people still prescribing opioids but not prescribing buprenorphine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Opioids are prescribed for pain management but can be addictive, especially for patients with chronic pain, Uthe said. South Dakota opioid prescription counts in 2024 stood at 437,431. Of the top 10 controlled substances prescribed to South Dakota patients in 2024, opioids claimed three spots, according to the states prescription drug monitoring program data. Two of the three drugs methylphenidate and oxycodone moved up in the rankings to fourth and sixth most prescribed controlled substances. Hydrocodone retained its number one spot. The state and health systems are gathering data to measure how much buprenorphine is prescribed. If we see a county with high overdose numbers, wed like to see a higher amount of buprenorphine prescribed, Uthe said. How can we, as the state Health Department or as health care systems, try to place a resource where there is the greatest need? South Dakota Department of Health Secretary Melissa Magstadt speaks at a press conference in Sioux Falls on April 25, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota Health Department Secretary Melissa Magstadt said medical providers should make it a prescribing habit to prescribe naloxone for each opioid prescription they write. Overdose victims do not always suffer from opioid use disorder, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ive seen very well-meaning patients who took one too many doses or maybe forgot they took a dose or didnt realize they had two different medications that had opioids in them, Magstadt said. She said itll likely take years for prescriber behaviors to change. In 2023, South Dakota reported the second lowest overdose death rate in the nation at 11.2 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the latest data available. Ninety-five South Dakotans in 2023 died from drug overdoses, 47 of which were from opioids. In 2024, 90 South Dakotans died from drug overdoses, 36 of which were from opioids, according to the state Health Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although most overdose deaths are among white residents, Native Americans are disproportionately affected. Native Americans die from overdoses at a rate of 26.6 per 100,000 more than four times the rate among white South Dakotans, according to the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System. Sioux Falls nonprofit Emilys Hope partners with emergency departments. Physicians connect patients with the nonprofit, which works to connect them to medication and other treatment services, said Angela Kennecke, founder and CEO. Kenneckes daughter, Emily, died of a fentanyl overdose, laced in heroin she injected. Her family was planning to enroll her into a treatment program when she died in May 2018. Emilys Hope founder and CEO Angela Kennecke speaks at a press conference in Sioux Falls on April 25, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Medication is the gold star for treatment, Kennecke said. Treating opioid use disorder without medication can be more harmful than no treatment, according to a Yale study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal in 2024. That is our first line of defense in getting people to feel better, to reduce cravings and get them the help they need, Kennecke said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Loretta Bryan, a registered nurse focused on clinical improvement within the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, educates medical providers on opioid use disorder, medications and how to engage with patients. Her work includes motivational interviewing techniques to create authentic conversations with patients and improve screening. It takes a lot of bravery to walk through those doors and admit youre struggling, Bryan said. Finding those words to recognize that bravery and having those in your back pocket is helpful. Expanding opioid use disorder treatment infrastructure Access to medications for opioid use disorder is growing in clinics across the state, but not as fast as needed, Uthe said. The focus remains in emergency rooms and on harm reduction. Aside from clinics dedicated to behavioral health, Uthe said, family physicians and urgent care doctors should be comfortable prescribing the medications. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We dont have the infrastructure in place to address that need at the moment, he said. Lewis and Clark Behavioral Health Services in Yankton runs a telehealth behavioral health program focused on opioid use, with two outreach sites in Pierre and Huron. Rapid City-based Project Recovery is an addiction recovery clinic for opioids, alcohol and stimulant use with satellite clinics in Sioux Falls, Sisseton and Pine Ridge. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX State funds to combat opioid use in the state support both programs. Kendra Joswiak, clinical practice director at Project Recovery, said the organization treated 1,100 people for opioid use disorder in 2024. Of those treated without medication, about 90% will use again, she said, comparing medication for opioid use disorder to insulin for diabetes patients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If we had something as good for cancer as we do for opioid use disorder, wed say we cured cancer, Joswiak said. Patients continue to face stigma after years of sobriety Cantone continues to feel judged when she shares her history with medical professionals, pharmacists, friends and others. She felt icky when she first ordered her prescription at a pharmacy when she moved back to South Dakota in 2020. Medication for opioid use disorder isnt as common or well known in South Dakota as it is in Denver, she said. They looked at me like I was a drug addict or from Mars, she recalled. Friends and family have told her shes switching one addiction for another. But medical professionals say the prescription drugs help restore balance to parts of the brain affected by addiction, allowing patients brains to heal without cravings or withdrawal symptoms. The doubt and stigma undercut the pride and hard work it took to earn Cantones sobriety. But she knows people who struggle with substance use disorder are more than what others see. As much as we worry about what others think, what matters is you being healthy, getting your life together, staying alive and getting the help you need, Cantone said. Whether its medication or counseling or cutting cold turkey. You need to get yourself better and cancel out that noise. Comet was supposed to be common, but he wasnt. He was a marsh tacky horse from the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where his feral forebears had survived for centuries against the longest of odds after being left behind by Spanish explorers. The name tacky came to this endangered breed long ago, to denote a horse of little value, one that was shabby, perhaps, or cheap. No one would have had the nerve to tell that to Comet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was a strong-willed character described by those who knew him best as bossy, feisty, opinionated and pushy, but also loving. In the last 11 years of his life, Comet was a living history exhibit at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn on Hilton Head Island. He was tended in the barn there by volunteers, and roamed a pasture as an ambassador, not only for his breed but for the value of freedom to objectively study, teach and preserve our history and unique cultures. Well need more of Comets traits to keep that freedom. Comets breed is smaller than normal horses, but larger in a lot of ways. Theyre crafty, sure-footed, smart, unafraid, and great in the marsh and on the hunt. Theyre task-oriented, competitive and sturdy as a bulldozer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Comets kin helped Swamp Fox Francis Marion in the Revolutionary War, and roamed beaches in search of German U-boats in World War II. And for the Gullah of isolated sea islands before bridges and electricity, Comets folks served as the tractor, tilling fields; the pickup truck, hauling goods to market; and the family car, going to church, school or the post office. When Comet came to the Coastal Discovery Museum, he was in many ways coming home. He was owned by Landon K. Thorne III of Brays Island in northern Beaufort County. As a boy, Thorne visited Honey Horn regularly when his grandfather, Landon K. Thorne, and his grandfathers brother-in-law, Alfred Lee Loomis, owned some 20,000 acres on the island as a hunting preserve. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thorne kept a little marsh tacky there, named Nellie Bell. And when he moved his family to the Lowcountry as an adult, Thorne turned to marsh tacky breeder D.P. Lowther in Ridgeland to buy one that looked like Nellie Bell. Comet was a goofball from the beginning. Thornes Labrador chased a ball, so Comet wanted a ball. Comet peered in the window when the dog went inside, like he too deserved a spot on the sofa. He was a devil, Thorne said. A little imp. Comet would play a trick on Thorne when he was getting saddled up for a ride. Hed puff up his chest as a strap was being fastened around his girth to make Thorne think it was tight. But it wasnt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And then Thorne would slip and slide around, and Comet would turn and stare, knowing hed pulled a fast one. Comet was 16 when he came to Honey Horn to retire. His main tender was the volunteer in charge of the barn, Laura Badger. He didnt tolerate stupidity, she said. He knew what was supposed to be done and hed glare at you if it wasnt right. You had to be firm and be the alpha in the relationship. He wasnt for the faint-hearted. One day a volunteer said Comet must not be feeling well because he hadnt bitten or kicked her yet. But, Badger said, He could be so loving. He thought I was his girlfriend or his mother, I was never sure which. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And she said, He made me laugh every day. Comets health failed at the end of 2023, and he is buried on the Honey Horn grounds. Recently, Thorne had a marble stone installed near the barn to honor Comet and the volunteers who cared for him. Thorne said his interest in Comet was very personal, but also a deliberate act of cultural preservation. Hes going after it in another way now. Thorne has gotten a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing and his first novel has a Lowcountry theme. Thorne said we must preserve the spirit of the place. Maybe Comet showed us just what that looks like. David Lauderdale may be reached at lauderdalecolumn@gmail.com. The city of Joplin will host an open house and public meeting Thursday to discuss stormwater improvements in the Sunnyvale area east of 32nd Street. The meeting will be held from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, May 1, on the fifth floor of Joplin City Hall, 602 S. Main St. The project design consists of curb inlets being installed at various intersections south of East 34th Street between Park Avenue and Brownell Avenue and north of East 36th Street. This collection system will be serviced with new stormwater pipes conveying water to the ditch east of Brownell Avenue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents can drop by any time during these hours to view the plans and ask questions about the upcoming construction project. City engineers and representatives of OWN, Inc., the projects consultant, will be available to provide information and answer questions. This project was included in the Parks and Stormwater Sales Tax, supported by voters in 2021. Concerns about the project were raised by residents of the Sunnyvale community after the City Council had previously granted a delay in the timeline of the project because of the number of projects requiring city staff attention and occupying contractors. The council voted in late 2023 to return the project to an earlier start rather than wait until 2026. Residents said they have dealt with severe flooding in the area over the years and did not want to wait longer to get the project underway. Those who are unable to attend the meeting but who would like to discuss the project can contact Kaleb Roberts at 417-624-0820, ext. 1520 or kroberts@joplinmo.org or Jeremy Hagerman at 417-624-0820, ext. 1538 or jhagerma@joplinmo.org. A local restaurant was closed Saturday after being vandalized with Nazi symbols and anti Semitic slurs overnight. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] As reported on News Center 7 at 11, the Applebees in Miamisburg was closed Saturday as workers removed the spray paint from the building. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its just sickening, honestly. Its so sad that weve fallen so far back, Josh Cantrell from Miamisburg said. Cantrell, like others, was confused about why the Applebees was targeted. Theres a lot of ignorant people in this world, Cantrell said. News Center 7s Malik Patterson spoke with Cathy Gardner, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Its extremely disheartening, Gardner said. The main thing is that people are asked to never forget what hatred can do. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism is on the rise. Gardner says she wants people to take this hatred seriously and stand against it. News Center 7 is waiting to hear back from the Miamisburg Police Department about their investigation. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] A tourist (L) tries to make a piece of local traditional woodblock print known as Jiama at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). However, the trading hub in the late 19th century saw a decline because it was far away from emerging modern arterial roads, and other means of transport replaced the traveling caravans. Therefore, the local government initiated a restoration project with an aim to preserve its cultural heritage and landscape by improving infrastructure and promoting economic growth in Shaxi. Years of efforts are paying off. The town saw its old buildings renovated and sceneries beautified. Currently, Shaxi has turned into a desirable destination for tourists at home and abroad. In 2024 alone, Shaxi received over 3 million tourist trips from home and abroad, along with a total revenue of 4.298 billion yuan (about 58.98 million U.S. dollars).(Xinhua/Hu Chao) A villager herds sheep by a river in Beilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Villagers practice a folk dance in Shilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) A tourist poses for a photo in front of an ancient stage at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) This panoramic photo taken on April 20, 2025 shows a bookshop at Beilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Yang Siyun, a descendant of local horse train operators, rides an electric bicycle with his son at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) A villager brews coffee at Hualong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) People visit a bookshop at Beilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An aerial drone photo taken on April 19, 2025 shows villagers driving a flock of ducks at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Jiang Wufa (2nd, R), an inheritor of arts for Shibaoshan Song Festival, a national intangible cultural heritage, rehearses with his apprentices in Shilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An aerial drone photo taken on April 20, 2025 shows horses foraging in the field at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) An elderly woman of Bai ethnic group makes embroidered sachets in Hualong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An elderly woman of Bai ethnic group arranges embroidered sachets at Hualong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) People visit a bookshop at Beilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) An aerial drone photo taken on April 19, 2025 shows a view of the Yujin Bridge in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Villagers work in the field in Beilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) An elderly woman of Bai ethnic group weaves at her residence at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An aerial drone photo taken on April 19, 2025 shows a historical building that used to be a hostel at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) People on horseback are pictured at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An aerial drone photo taken on April 21, 2025 shows the scenery of Sideng Village in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Shi Shunhua, a craftsman of Jianchuan woodcarving, works on a piece of artifact at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) An aerial drone photo taken on April 21, 2025 shows the scenery of Sideng Village in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) A child views rabbit dolls in tie-dye outfit of Bai ethnic group at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) This photo taken on April 21, 2025 shows a section of the ancient Tea Horse Road at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Jiang Wufa (1st, R), an inheritor of arts for Shibaoshan Song Festival, a national intangible cultural heritage, rehearses with his apprentices in Shilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) Yang Siyun (1st, R), a descendant of local horse train operators, tell stories of his ancestors to visitors at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) An aerial drone photo taken on April 21, 2025 shows the scenery of Sideng Village in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) People visit an ancient stage at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 21, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) A villager serves coffee to tourists at Hualong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 20, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) A villager crosses Yujin Bridge on horseback at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) Jiang Wufa (R), an inheritor of arts for Shibaoshan Song Festival, a national intangible cultural heritage, instructs his apprentices during rehearsal in Shilong Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) Villagers and tourists are pictured in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) Yang Siyun (R), a descendant of local horse train operators, bids farewell to a foreign tourist at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 19, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) A tourist poses for a photo in front of an ancient stage at Sideng Village of Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 21, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Hu Chao) People visit Sideng Village in Shaxi Town, Jianchuan County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 18, 2025. A remote town in Jianchuan County, Shaxi was once an important trading hub for tea, herbs, silks and salt on the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). (Xinhua/Liu Lianfen) MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) In the year Mica Miller died at Lumber River State Park in Robeson County in what authorities have ruled a suicide, much has changed. Solid Rock Church, a Market Common ministry the 30-year-old loved deeply is no more, while her estranged husband has been investigated by the FBI and sued multiple times over sexual assault allegations. Mica was active at Solid Rock, running its womens ministry, helping with its graphic design and heading up worship sessions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Documented incidents of emotional and psychological abuse by Millers former partner, Myrtle Beach-area pastor John-Paul, have emerged through police reports and court records prompting a grassroots movement to strengthen South Carolinas domestic violence laws. Just days before the anniversary of her death, state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, (R-Murrells Inlet), introduced legislation that would criminalize coercive control. In other ways, much has remained the same. South Carolina still ranks near the top in reported domestic violence cases, and demands for justice on behalf of Mica and others continue to draw attention. Sundays Walk to Remember at The Market Common is the latest reminder that Mica Millers legacy continues to inspire and engage activists pressing for more comprehensive domestic violence prevention and protection laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Heres a look back at News13s coverage of Mica Miller and her life: May 5, 2024: Memorials held across Grand Strand to remember Myrtle Beach woman amid death investigation The earliest indication of just how deeply Micas death would resonate in her community came on May 5, when hundreds of people gathered outside of Solid Rock Church in a display of solidarity, laying a foundation for what would become known as the Justice for Mica movement. I came out today to support her, to support her family, to support her story, said Melissa Snyder. Because her story is important, and it needs to be told. Don Sites, who also attended the morning event, recalled Miller for her warmth. I remember one time, just passing by saying hi, and she had the biggest smile on her face saying hi back, he said. As Micas story unfolded publicly, her strained relationship with John-Paul was at the center of it all. Two days before her death, she served him with divorce papers. Horry County police reports obtained by News13 in early May 2024 revealed that a GPS tracker was placed on her vehicle. MIller made two complaints on March 11 the first coming after her vehicles tire was found slashed near Springmaid Pier, the report said. The second complaint, filed hours later, came after Miller took her vehicle to East Coast Honda on Highway 17 Bypass to have the tire repaired. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The police reports indicate that the suspect in both incidents was a male. According to the police reports, Miller first contacted officers at about 1:20 a.m. on March 11 to report one of her tires had been slashed. Officers met her at a Margarita Drive address. Miller told officers that this is the second time a razor has deflated her tire in the last week, the report states. Miller said she was leaving Springmaid Pier when she heard a pop and noticed that a piece of metal was protruding from her tire. May 6 and May 7, 2024: Court documents, social media posts give look into Micas troubled marriage Probate court documents filed by two of Micas siblings showed that their sister feared for her life amid divorce proceedings, at one point confiding that, if I end up with a bullet in my head, it was JP, Micas sister, Sierra Francis, said in an affidavit asking to be named the special administrator of Micas estate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The May 2 affidavits filed by Sierra and Nathaniel Francis allege a pattern of abuse and harassment toward Mica by her husband. I know my sister to have expressed the abuse and violence against her by her husband to others, including family members and members of the church congregation, Sierra Francis affidavit said. Sierra Francis said her sister told her that people were following her and indicated that her husband had hired people to follow her. The affidavit also alleges that John-Paul transferred assets, including the deed to their home, to one of his sons and moved his wifes personal belongings from their home while she was undergoing treatment at a mental-health facility. Over 10 days in March, Mica Miller used her Facebook page to deliver words of affirmation and messages of strength ending each one with a smile. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five videos posted between March 18 and March 28 totaling just over nine minutes pulled in more than 5,000 positive reactions. My Bible says He took all the abuse you could think of for you so that you didnt have to live that life of slavery and bondage and pain, she said on March 22. You dont have to stay in an abusive relationship, whether thats sexual, whether thats somebody forcing you to take illegal drugs or alcohol abuse or physical abuse, psychological abuse, making you think this is all your fault, or youre a bad mom, or youre a bad wife or youre a bad husband, or youre not giving it your all when you know you are, she said. Mica Miller called 911 on April 27 and told authorities she was about to kill herself purchasing a gun that same day, Robeson County authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im about to kill myself and I just want my family to know where to find me, Miller said in the call, according to authorities. That was at 2:54 p.m., and by 3:03 p.m., deputies were sent to Lumber River State Park where her body was found. Micas relatives were given the information during a May 7 meeting with Sheriff Burnis Wilkins and other investigators. Mica-MillerDownload After that, authorities revealed how Miller spent the final hours of her life releasing a meticulous timeline and other pieces of evidence to substantiate the medical examiners conclusion that Miller committed suicide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities confirmed John-Paul spent the night in Charleston at the time of his wifes death. He was seen traveling on Highway 17 Bypass in Horry County at 2:22 p.m. on April 27. Unfortunately, rumors and conspiracy theories were spreading quickly, and assumptions were being made. However, in the end, we must make decisions based on the facts, and evidence that has been gathered, Wilkins said in a news release at the time. John-Paul began grooming Mica before the couple wed in 2017, according to a Myrtle Beach police report obtained by News13. Miller made the allegation in a Feb. 21 complaint about a stolen vehicle after being discharged from an involuntary hospital stay. Court documents show that John-Paul had power of attorney over Micas healthcare, and he told officers Miller was prone to episodes on an annual basis around Christmas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement John-Paul said his wife spends large amounts of money when she stops taking her prescribed medication, and acknowledged having the car to prevent it from being sold. John-Paul Miller told police the vehicle was martial property and that he was unwilling to give back to his wife for a month, which he stated was usually the timeframe of these reckless episodes. John-Pauls attorney Russell Long denied Micas allegations in a lengthy statement. Following the untimely death of Mica Miller, unfounded rumors and false accusations began circulating on social media and in various media outlets, suggesting Pastor Millers involvement in her demise, he said in a news release. This created a buzz, causing local and national media outlets to be proliferating these falsehoods, on a mammoth proportion. Our client refutes any report that suggests he ever abused his wife. A man who was fishing nearby when authorities said Mica Miller shot and killed herself at a state park near Lumberton says he heard the gunshot and then found some of her personal items on the riverbank when he went to investigate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In an exclusive interview with News13, Johnnie Jacobs, who asked not to be shown on camera, said he has been harassed on social media since the April 27 incident in which authorities said Miller bought a gun in Horry County and then went to the park and took her own life. On the day of the shooting, Jacobs said he remembers hearing cries from that area and a single gunshot. After that, he said the cries stopped. As I decided that I was going to stop fishing, I came back through, stopped where they call it a slew or a lake off of the river, he said. So, I pulled in there with my little boat and, maybe five minutes after, and maybe five minutes into the slew, I heard a cry. I heard it for about two or three minutes. Then I stopped, heard a gunshot. Then, the crying stopped. Jacobs said he could not see Miller but that if he could have seen her he would have tried to help. If it had been a person that was crying in the open, I would have checked on them all day long, he said. I just wish I would have gone in there and checked on her. Jacobs was killed in a March 14 car wreck when authorities say his car was t boned. Mica filed multiple police reports more than month before she died, complaining of GPS trackers tacked to her vehicles. They dont give any indication from police about who placed the trackers on the vehicles, but the documents say Micas brother Nathaniel forwarded him an email from John-Paul in which he apologized for the tires and causing damage to her vehicle. In November 2023, Sierra Francis called 911 after receiving threatening texts from John-Paul, according to the phone call obtained by NewsNation. The call was made by Micas sister when Mica was staying with her. She made the call after receiving threatening texts from John-Paul, quoting him in it as saying you better drive down the road now or there is going to be hell to pay. In the call, Micas sister told the dispatcher that John-Paul was threatening suicide and that he texted blood is going to be on your hands. The sister asked for a police officer to check the roads to ensure John-Paul did not show up. Call the cops, I dont care, John-Paul allegedly told Micas sister. Im armed and ready. According to Horry County and Myrtle Beach police records, Mica reported four instances of GPS trackers being placed on vehicles she was driving. News13 began looking to domestic violence laws in South Carolina for victims of stalking and harassing as Micas story continued to grab attention. According to state law, for someone to be convicted of stalking, victims must be able to show a pattern of two or more acts within a 90-day period. Mica Miller made five police reports related to harassment and stalking in that 90-day period. However, no arrests were ever made. Stalking and harassment are just beginning, and they lead to much bigger things that unfortunately, in this case, Mica lost her life because of it, said Allicia Young, a former Solid Rock Church member and friend of Mica. Young launched an online petition urging lawmakers to adopt Micas Law, which as of April 26 had garnered more than 40,000 signatures with hundreds of comments from people who said they or a loved one have experienced some type of domestic violence. Some of Mica Millers personal belongings were turned over to an attorney after lawyers for her family and her husband John-Paul Miller reached an agreement on June 5. One of the primary issues we were seeking a court order from the judge is possession of Micas personal property thats being held in the possession of the Robeson County Sheriffs Department, Conway attorney Regina Ward said at an hourlong news conference outside the Horry County government building. The deal came shortly before a scheduled hearing in Horry County Family Court to discuss Micas estate. That session was canceled. Ward said the car Mica drove to Lumber River was titled to her godmother, who will retain possession of it under the terms of the agreement. His lawyer would be able to ask us about having access to it to, but right now we are very satisfied and happy that he has been advised by his attorney to allow us to get that property in our possession, Ward said. The agreement also contained several restraining orders. Despite the prior weeks agreement, John-Paul pushed back against Micas relatives in a series of court filings that included asking a judge to bar a posthumous name change. Four days after, Sierra Francis filed her petition to become special administrator of Micas estate on May 3, it was amended to include allegations of collusion between John-Paul Miller and his Solid Rock church to undervalue a Coldwater Circle home. The property was transferred solely to John-Paul on Nov. 17, 2020, records show. The next day, he took out a purchase money mortgage of $199,500 paying it off by Dec. 12, 2023. In July 2021, court documents allege that John-Paul took out a second mortgage against the home, valued at $208,587, both being paid through joint marital funds, court documents say. The Millers then put an additional $90,000 worth of improvements into the home. Mica filed for divorce on Oct. 9, 2023, but that was later dismissed. However, While it was pending, John-Paul sold the home to Solid Rock Ministries for $169,331. Defendant Millers supposed sale of the marital home to Defendant Church is believed to have been his attempt to defraud and deprive his wife from her fair share of the marital asset, the amended complaint says. Church (Solid Rock) is in collusion with the Defendant Husband in an attempt to deprive Wife from the fair share of the marital estate. Micas body was discovered prone and submerged 100 feet from several shell casings found along a Robeson County riverbank where the 30-year-old killed herself in late April, a medical examiners report revealed. And two days before Mica fatally shot herself at Lumber River State Park on April 27, she had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication the latest in a series of treatments to combat mental health problems that included suicidal ideations and bipolar disorder, according to a preliminary summary conducted by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Three casings from a Sig Sauer 9 mm were recovered along the riverbank: Two live and one spent, the medical examiners office said. The gun itself was pulled from the water by magnet about five feet from the shore. The report, which is not based on an autopsy, said a post-mortem blood test performed the day after her death did not show any drugs or alcohol in her system. There were also no signs of a physical struggle near where authorities said the wife of Myrtle Beach pastor John-Paul Miller took her life. The Robeson County Sheriffs Office declined to comment that Monday. When contacted by News13 the next day, John-Paul acknowledged the report but did not comment. Entry and exit wounds were marked just above her ears 4 1/2 inches from the middle of her head. Mica also had seven tattoos including the name John Paul Miller on the right side of her lower chest. On the day she died, Millers relatives were unable to contact her via photo calls or text messages. She was last seen alive at 1:33 p.m. in Mullins. A kayaker reported to authorities exactly three hours later that he found a body in the river that was determined to be Mica. The report also said medical records showed that Mica was hospitalized twice between 2022 and 2024 the first from Nov. 29 through Dec. 5, 2022, on suicidal precautions for bipolar 1 and recurrent manic episode along with THC dependency and a dependent personality disorder. Mica was admitted again from Feb. 7-12 of this year by a therapist. Mica also was using Delta 8 gummies at the time, the report said. John-Paul and Micas relatives on July 29 agreed to end all legal disputes and called on protesters to drop demonstrations in front of his Market Common church. Instead, all sides said they want to press state lawmakers into adopting a coercive control law in her memory. Attorneys announced the deal following an Horry County Probate Court hearing. The unified front ended all pending lawsuits between Micas family, John-Paul and his Solid Rock Ministries have been addressed through a global settlement whose terms are confidential including control of Micas estate. This is over. This global agreement is Micas justice. The next step is the legislative goal. We only ask that you remember Mica as the wonderful, beautiful person that she was, said Russell Long, an attorney for John-Paul Miller. The deal also bars John-Paul from any civil wrongful death claims tied to Micas suicide. In life, Mica loved music, her community and her faith. All three were on display Nov. 17 as part of a daylong event honoring the life of a woman whose April suicide sparked a national conversation about domestic violence awareness and prevention. I know that she would be so very excited to be here for all of this, so we are here standing for Mica and honoring her and everything that she did for his community, said her sister, Abigail Francis. For so many people to be out here is just incredible. The Socastee High School band, where Mica attended, were among those that performed, and pictures of her lined the road leading into the park. She believed that God is the one and only waymaker, so we are out here showing that God makes a way for everything, Francis said. Inspired by Micas story and those of dozens more who called his office, Republican state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch of Murrells Inlet on Tuesday introduced a measure that would amend South Carolinas domestic violence law to add coercive control as a criminal offense. Four years ago, lawmakers filed a bill that would criminalize coercive control, with punishments of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Since that time, efforts to get such a law on the books have stalled in both chambers of the General Assembly. Several states including California, Connecticut and Hawaii have adopted coercive control laws, while similar efforts are pending in Florida, Maryland, New York and Washington, according to the group Americas Conference to End Coercive Control. * * * 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. * * * Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her 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. The Michigan Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Heres a look at April 26, 2025, results for each game: Winning Daily 3 numbers from April 26 drawing Midday: 8-4-3 Evening: 7-6-2 Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily 4 numbers from April 26 drawing Midday: 2-7-6-5 Evening: 7-0-4-0 Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Lucky For Life numbers from April 26 drawing 15-38-40-45-48, Lucky Ball: 06 Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Poker Lotto numbers from April 26 drawing QC-5C-3D-4D-7H Check Poker Lotto payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Fantasy 5 numbers from April 26 drawing 07-15-24-32-33 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 04-20-23-25-35 Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily Keno numbers from April 26 drawing 04-05-12-14-15-27-28-29-31-33-35-39-48-51-57-60-61-62-64-67-69-80 Check Daily Keno payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Classic Lotto 47 numbers from April 26 drawing 04-06-14-23-35-46 Check Classic Lotto 47 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Lotto Double Play numbers from April 26 drawing 06-09-18-27-30-36 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: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Our News Automation and AI team would love to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Lottery Daily 3, Daily 4 results for April 26, 2025 TORONTO (AP) Donald Trump might as well be on the ballot when Canadians vote for a new government. The U.S. president's trade war and threats to make Canada the 51st state have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in nationalism that has helped the Liberal Party flip the narrative heading into Monday's parliamentary election, at least in opinion polls. Trump is the campaign, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said. The ballot question is who is the person we are going to choose to face Trump. Everything has changed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foreign policy hasn't affected a Canadian election this much since 1988, when, ironically, free trade with the United States dominated the political discourse. Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Liberal leader who was sworn in on March 14 following Justin Trudeaus resignation, led in the polls heading into Monday, marking a dramatic turnaround for a party that seemed destined for a crushing defeat until Trump started launching broadsides at Canadas economy and sovereignty. "We are in a crisis. President Trump is threatening Canada, hes threatening our companies, hes threatening our workers, hes threatening the savings of our retirees, Carney said Tuesday. This threat is not only an economic threat, it is an existential threat. Until a few months ago, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become the next prime minister by shepherding his opposition faction back into power for the first time in a decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump's tough talk could hurt his ideological allies abroad Charest, a moderate who led Canada's French-speaking province from 2003-2012, said if Trump wants to help his ideological allies abroad, he needs to tone down the bluster. "At what point are the Trump folks going to think this thing through and measure what are the consequences? Charest said. In the White House, they should sit down and think about the effect Trump has in the world," he added. Carney has accused Trump of severing the close relationship that Canada and the U.S. long enjoyed. Poilievre, meanwhile, would be very much in sync with the new direction in America, said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a Conservative ally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As such, Poilievre has offered a more muted response to Trump's rhetoric and economic maneuvering, imploring Canadians to deny the Liberals a fourth-straight term after what he described as a lost Liberal decade. What will the result of Canada's election mean for the US? Trump has threatened to slap steep tariffs on Canadian goods, and both Carney and Poilievre said that, if elected, they would accelerate renegotiations of the countries' free trade deal in an effort to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies. Carney plans to diversify Canada's exports and is reviewing the remaining purchase order of U.S. F-35 fighter jets to see if there are other options given the changing environment. Carney visited Paris and London, not Washington, for his first trips as prime minister. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But almost 80% of Canada's exports go to the U.S. Let's be honest, if Canada does a remarkable job a remarkable job of diversifying trade, what is that going to look like?" said former Foreign Minister John Baird, noting that even shifting 3% - 5% over five years would be quite an achievement. Lets keep our eye on the main ball. They are 78% of our customers so we need to tackle that challenge," said Baird, a Conservative who works as a senior adviser at a law firm. What do the polls say? In a mid-January poll by Nanos, Liberals trailed the Conservative Party by 47% to 20%. In the latest Nanos poll, which was conducted during a three-day period that ended April 26, the Liberals led by 4 percentage points nationally and 6 points in Ontario, Canadas most populous province, which has 122 of the 343 seats in Parliament. The January poll had a margin of error 3.1 points, while the latest poll had a 2.7-point error margin. CANFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) A baby shower for farm animals took place in Canfield Saturday. Mill Creek MetroParks welcomed the community for their annual Farm Animal Baby Shower. Families were able to see the new arrivals at the MetroParks farm on Columbiana-Canfield Road. There were goats, piglets, cows, chicks and ducklings along with some of the mother animals who are still expecting. Attendees could also watch a sheep being sheared and learn about wool, as well as take a ride on the tractor wagon to tour the farm. The event aims to bring the community together every year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The baby shower has been going on since the 90s. You know, it is really great. Its a nostalgic thing that we do and it really makes us very happy that were able to provide this to the community and that it is so well loved that people come back year after year, and some people you know, have brought their kids here and now theyre bringing their grandkids here. So it is been going on for so many years and were so proud and privileged that were able to bring this to the community, said Metroparks Community Engagement Director Jaime Yohman. If you would like to see the animals, the farm is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Starting in June, the barns will stay open until 5 p.m. through October. Tino DiCenso contributed to this report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BALTIMORE More than 50 University of Maryland grants were canceled or paused by federal funding cuts under the Trump administration, representing tens of millions of dollars, a university official confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. With over 50 grants impacted and the number fluctuating each day, this represents tens of millions of dollars to our research enterprise, University President Darryll J. Pines and Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer King Rice said in a letter to the campus community, reviewed by The Baltimore Sun. We are working with these agencies and our researchers to understand why they were canceled or paused. Explanations range from changes in agency priorities to reductions in budgets and staff. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Similar challenges are being faced by other universities across the country. Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the federal government for withholding more than $2 billion in funds, alleging the decision was made to coerce and control the school. The University of Maryland said it is assessing its options for appealing the grant terminations and keeping a keen eye on how these financial losses may impact our staff, faculty and graduate students. University officials are also communicating with members of Congress to disclose the effect of these funding rescissions. The university has shared its concerns with other schools in the states university system and with national organizations, including the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Association of American Universities. University officials also said they are closely monitoring changes to federal funding priorities and grant proposal procedures, and are working to keep affected researchers informed about these developments. In the meantime, the school is encouraging researchers to continue applying for grants from federal agencies as well as other funding sources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are participating in a national effort with organizations representing Americas academic, medical and independent research institutions to develop a new indirect cost funding model, Pines and Rice said in the letter. They also addressed the unlawful termination of international students lawful status in the U.S. earlier this month. The university confirmed that several people affiliated with the University of Maryland, College Park, unexpectedly lost their lawful status. We are disheartened that international individuals at institutions nationwide, including our own at UMD, have experienced the unexpected termination of their lawful status in the U.S., the letter said. The number of impacted individuals continues to fluctuate, with five people part of our community currently working through issues related to recently revoked visas. To protect their privacy, we will not be sharing additional information, but know that we have been in touch with these individuals and are providing tailored support specific to their cases. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marylands announcement came after developments were reported at other universities. A Johns Hopkins University spokesperson previously confirmed that 37 students and recent graduates have had their visas revoked by the federal government. Four UMBC students have also had their visas terminated, a spokesperson confirmed. At least 1,024 students at 160 colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March, according to a report earlier this month by The Associated Press. We will continue to work with our state and federal representatives, peers and legal experts to support our community and uphold our mission and values, and are deeply grateful to all of our Terps for remaining steadfast in support of our research, scholarship and service, the University of Marylands letter said. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A pedestrian was hit and killed by a minivan Saturday evening in Tigard, police said. The crash near 10800 SW Gaarde Street happened around 7:15 p.m., officials said. The minivan was headed west on Gaarde when the pedestrian was hit. Despite emergency responders efforts, the pedestrian died at the scene. The persons name has not been released at this time. Heard 6 gunshots: Man seriously wounded in N. Portland Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver stayed at the scene. Authorities said the 48-year-old man is cooperating and the initial investigation shows the driver was neither speeding nor impaired. KOIN 6 News will have more information as it becomes known. 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. (FOX40.COM) A Modesto man has been sentenced to prison for the premeditated attempted murder of a police officer. Video above: Fallen Marysville officer honored by loved ones at funeral service According to Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero, Jesse Brooks, 45, from Modesto, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Robert Westbrook to 180 years to life in prison. The sentence follows Brooks conviction by jury on Feb. 5 of three counts of premeditated attempted murder of a police officer, three counts of assault with a firearm and felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, said SCDA. He also had several related allegations, including a gun enhancement that alleged Brooks discharged a firearm that caused serious injury to a police officer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SCDA said this sentencing is related to crimes that were committed by Brooks on August 14, 2021, in Modesto. On this date, police officers executed a search warrant at a home on Orangeburg Road and discovered Brooks to be inside the home. Suspect arrested for stealing package from Vallejo business SCDA said that Brooks stated that he would not go back to prison and would shoot it out with the police. When the officers were able to get into the home, Brooks armed himself with a firearm, barricaded himself in a room, and fired 12 rounds at the officers. During the gun battle, Modesto Police Officer Michael Rokaitis was shot in the abdomen and the upper part of his bulletproof vest, said SDCA. MPD officers then returned fire and struck Brooks several times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SDCA said both the officer and the suspect were transported to a local hospital to be treated for their wounds. On Friday, during the hearing, SDCA stated in a press release that Officer Rokaitis gave a powerful victim impact statement and spoke directly to the suspect about how he almost lost his life and how the experience has affected him and his family. SCDA said that during the statement, Rokaitis forgave Brooks. Officials stated that Rokaitis nearly died from his gunshot wound and faced years of surgery and rehabilitation to recover. He received the law enforcement Medal of Honor for his actions in this incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement D.A. Laugero, who attended the sentencing hearing, stated, The sentencing of Brooks for nearly killing Officer Rokaitis is a powerful affirmation that we will not tolerate violence against our front-line protectors and our justice system stands firmly behind those who risk their lives to keep our community safe. While no sentence can completely heal the deep physical and emotional scars inflicted by such a violent encounter, this conviction and prison sentence serve as an important reminder that our community values and defends its law enforcement officers. 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. Kimberly Panetta is suing Disney Parks and Resorts for $2 million after claiming she was hit by a "mammoth" wave while standing in a kids section of the water park The mom claimed she was pushed under the water and her body "skidded" against the rough base of the pool for several feet The 45-year-old woman claimed her family vacation was ruined and that she still has scars from the 2022 incident A New York woman is suing Disney resorts after she claimed she was injured by a mammoth wave at the Typhoon Lagoon water park. Kimberly Panetta, 45, of Dix Hills, N.Y., said she was vacationing with her family at Typhoon Lagoon a Disney-owned water park in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. in April 2022 when the incident occurred, per a legal complaint filed in federal court in New York on April 11. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the complaint obtained by PEOPLE, Panetta claimed she was standing in a kiddie pool waiting for her young daughter to descend down an age-appropriate slide when a mammoth wave from another area of the pool struck her from the side with so much force that it pummeled her. The complaint stated that her body skidded across the cement or gunite, causing serious road rash or scrapes that were severe and deep. Now, Panetta is seeking $2 million in damages for continued medical care and treatment and mental anguish, per the complaint. The complaint claimed that Panetta's family vacation was ruined because she was stuck limping around applying bandages, salves and creams, and was forced to avoid swimming and enjoying planned visits to the parks. Alamy Stock Photo Typhoon Lagoon (stock image) Typhoon Lagoon (stock image) Related: Woman Suing Walt Disney World for $50K Over 'Injurious Wedgie' on Typhoon Lagoon Water Slide Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The complaint also claimed Panetta now has scars and marks on her legs that cause her to feel self-conscious, and that she now does not wear clothing that exposes her legs, even when it is hot and uncomfortable. The plaintiff also claimed this is a direct result of negligence on behalf of the park. In the complaint, Panetta claimed that the park should not have let the wave pool or typhoon power waves enter the kiddie area and pummel the parents that [were] unwittingly waiting for their young children to descend. The complaint also claimed that the barriers around the kiddie area should have protected mothers standing at the bottom of the slide from being thrown, tossed and pummeled by powerful waves. PEOPLE reached out to Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, as well as Panetta's attorney, for comment on Saturday, April 26, but did not receive an immediate response. Joe Raedle/Getty Disney World (stock image) Disney World (stock image) Related: Disney World Seeks to Dismiss Doctors Wrongful Death Lawsuit Because He Subscribed to Disney+ for a Month in 2019 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Panetta recalled the incident and specifically the wave while recently speaking to The New York Post. It was so powerful it was actually dragging us under the water for several feet, she said. I just thank God I had the sense to push her [my daughter] above as I was getting dragged. I knew if she was the one getting dragged she would have been cut all over. I felt pain immediately and I looked down and there was blood, she continued. You think youre in the happiest place on Earth and the safest place, but its like being dragged on concrete its very rough. Panetta also told the outlet that her children, then ages 3 and 7, were mortified and also shocked to see blood pouring out of their mother. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. We had all these plans and we had to cancel everything. I couldnt even go in the pool where we were staying. I had to stay inside. Everything was completely ruined, she explained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Panettas husband, Frank Panetta, added that their young daughter would have definitely been hurt had my wife not held her up and taken the brunt of the injury, noting that his wife skidded for 15 or 20 feet. He also told The Post that the resort ultimately only offered their family a $250 credit after the incident. Read the original article on People Apr. 26MOORHEAD As Moorhead's Prairie Home Cemetery reaches another milestone, all is in order at the graveyard on one of the city's busiest streets. While traffic whips by on Eighth Street, cemetery manager Mike Skavlem explains that hasn't always been the case for Moorhead's oldest cemetery, which turns 150 this year. Skavlem has managed the cemetery for 38 years. When he started, it was overgrown with trees and bushes. Stones had been tipped over due to vandalism and decades of exposure to the elements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It was a bit of a disaster," Skavlem said. Over the years, he worked to clean up the cemetery cutting down trees, trimming bushes and propping up stones. While the graveyard was once considered full, the cleanup found more space for graves. It is still active today. The cemetery is wedged between Concordia College and a residential neighborhood, but when it was founded in 1875, "Prairie Home" was a fitting name for the cemetery just outside of the growing pioneer town. When the cemetery was founded in 1875, Moorhead had around 1,000 residents. In the 1870s, Moorhead was a rowdy tent city, according to Trista Raezer-Stursa, university archivist at Minnesota State University Moorhead. The town was growing due to the railroad passing through Fargo-Moorhead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Across the Red River, the Dakota Territory, which included all of North Dakota and South Dakota, was a dry territory, so people would cross the river by ferry to drink in Moorhead. "Moorhead just had that kind of reputation for a while. ... They just had all these saloons where people would go to drink and such," Raezer-Stursa said. The need for a cemetery in the boisterous, growing town was made evident when the brother of a local Presbyterian minister died while visiting Moorhead in 1874. The Rev. Oscar Elmer helped start the cemetery after his brother drowned in the Red River during a visit from the East Coast. Elmer was unable to send his brother's body back, and since Moorhead had no cemetery at the time, he was buried in a temporary grave marked by a rope between two trees. In April of the next year, Elmer convened a group with six other prominent residents to establish Prairie Home Cemetery. Founders included attorney and politician Solomon Comstock and doctor Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement John Kurtz. The group signed the articles of incorporation for the cemetery on April 27, 1875. While the cemetery is in the middle of Moorhead now, when it was established, it would have been outside of town, Raezer-Stursa said. Then, the town was confined to the areas around First Avenue, Center Avenue and Main Avenue. The first neighborhood was where the Hjemkomst Center and Viking Ship Park are today. The cemetery's first burial was in May 1875, of 24-year-old Bernard Berg, who died of typhoid fever. The body of Elmer's brother was transferred to the cemetery in June 1875. The cemetery first sold out of plots in 1882, necessitating a new cemetery in Moorhead. Riverside Cemetery, then north of Moorhead, was established in 1884. The Riverside and Prairie Home Cemetery Associations eventually merged. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the years, some of Moorhead's most prominent and influential residents were buried at Prairie Home Cemetery, according to Petra Gunderson-Leith, archivist at the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County. "It's like the who's who of Moorhead history," Gunderson-Leith said. One of the earliest settlers in the area, Randolph Probstfield, is buried in Prairie Home Cemetery with his family. The farmer, and later politician, had a cabin and farm in what would become Oakport Township. Other notable grave markers include those of suffragette Mae Burhnam, policewoman Anna Gates Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement and the Darrow family, who were physicians and women's suffrage activists. The cemetery is also the final resting place of Dr. Thrond Egge, a physician who was murdered in 1909, and O.E. Flaten, a photographer who documented the early days and families of Moorhead. The founders of Moorhead's Rourke Art Gallery + Museum, brothers James O'Rourke and Orland J. Rourke, are also buried in the cemetery. Along with the well-known residents of Moorhead, the cemetery also has the graves of the unknown. Somewhere on the grounds is a potter's field, where people who could not afford a burial were buried, Gunderson-Leith said. Costs to bury people in that section were usually paid for by the county or through donations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "So, a lot of the less well-to-do members of the community were buried in that section," Gunderson-Leith said. Prairie Home Cemetery is perhaps best known for inspiring the name of a popular and long-running public radio variety show. Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" got its name from the cemetery. The show aired from 1974 to 2016 and featured live music, comedy sketches and a weekly report from the fictitious Minnesota town of Lake Wobegon. Keillor stumbled upon the name when he was in the Fargo-Moorhead area for a reading. The morning after a post-reading party, he went for a walk in Moorhead and saw the sign for Prairie Home Cemetery, he told The Forum in 2004. The name stuck with him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When you tell stories about the Minnesota of your childhood, you are tending a sort of cemetery, and so the name seemed appropriate," Keillor said. While the biggest visual changes to the cemetery happened long ago, Skavlem's work never ends as he does the day-to-day maintenance of cutting the grass, trimming trees and making repairs to the aging cemetery. "We used to have a sign over there a long time ago, that said 'restoration project underway' or whatever," Skavlem said, beckoning to the entrance of the cemetery. "And one day, I took it down, because every time we come here, it's a restoration project." Figuring out the locations of graves and where people have purchased plots before their deaths can be challenging, Skavlem said. Over the years, things have been added and were not documented or mapped very well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is a pretty rich history, but it is kind of lost to time, as well," Skavlem said. He did not know how long the cemetery will remain active. "That's hard to say with Prairie Home," Skavlem said. "It's taken a long time to get here, so it could be another 30 years to full, I suppose." (EL PASO COUNTY, Colo) Within the neighborhood parks and typical Saturday activities, there were stands across Southern Colorado set up to collect prescription pills and opioids to prevent drug overdoses and accidental poisoning. It gives residents an opportunity to go through their unused or expired prescription drugs they may have accumulated in their homes over the years, said Jennifer Lang from El Paso County Public Health. Courtesy: FOX21 Photojournalist Hunter Phipps Pills and bottles were dropped off, filling several kitchen-sized trash bags to the brim. The collection site near the Widefield Parks and Rec Center is a small part of a nationwide event where cities across the country set up drop-off points for old and expired prescription pills and opioids. The Widefield location offered medicine cases, Narcan, and other gifts in a bag in exchange for old pills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several other drop-off locations across El Paso County also saw trash bags fill up. In total, the Colorado Springs Police Department tells FOX21 that 1,373 pounds of prescription drugs and opioids were collected during Aprils take-back event. Lang said the event has been successful for the past three years. Weve been doing our partnering with our local law enforcement, since then (2022), the Fountain and Widefield area has collected nearly 1,000 pounds of unused or expired medications, Lang said. While there are two set drug takeback events each year, Lang encourages every day to be a takeback day where people are getting rid of their old and expired prescription drugs properly. To find a location to properly drop off unwanted opioids or prescription drugs, click here. As for the drug collection in Widefield and Fountain, the exact number, according to El Paso County Public Health, is 968.75 pounds collected from the last six drug takeback events at just the Widefield Parks and Rec Center and the Fountain Library. These efforts come as the most recent data shows 534 people between the ages of 15-24 visited the emergency room because of an overdose in 2023, according to El Paso County Public Health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 FOX21 News Colorado. In an era of multiplying crises, few have seen the best and worst of humanity more closely than Tom Fletcher. As UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, he has stood where despair meets hope: in Gaza, where families searched for the remains of their homes using GPS; in Myanmar, where Chinese rescue teams raced to pull survivors from the rubble. Fletcher says the way forward lies in trust, dialogue, and shared ingenuity - a call to action for a world in flux. "We are stronger as humanity when we work together." On his first visit to China in 15 years, Fletcher speaks with Xinhua's Miao Xiaojuan about the urgent need for a "humanitarian reset," the fragile future of global cooperation, and how China's expanding engagement offers new pathways for solidarity and solutions. A Miao Xiaojuan Studio Film A Xinhua News Agency Production More than 100 immigrants were detained early Sunday at what officials described as an illegal Colorado nightclub. Federal and local authorities raided the club in Colorado Springs around 3:45 a.m., local CBS affiliate WCNC reported. Between 200 and 300 people inside were initially arrested, including active-duty U.S. military members, some of whom were working at the club, police said. Of the hundreds of detainees, 114 were suspected of being in the country illegally, cops told the Denver Post. Several people in the club were also cuffed on outstanding arrest warrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other party-goers who were not handed over to immigration authorities or military police were released, officials said. President Trumps administration has launched a widespread crackdown on immigration into the U.S. Federal authorities have rounded up suspected gang members, canceled thousands of student visas and even deported multiple U.S. citizen children. This operation was the result of a months-long investigation into serious criminal activity in our community, Colorado Springs police chief Adrian Vasquez said in a statement. Videos from Sunday mornings raid showed dozens of people outside the club with their hands up or in handcuffs. Witnesses said officers initially entered through a window, sending panicked partiers out the front door and into the hands of waiting agents outside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The building owner told local ABC affiliate KMGH that he had no idea an illegal nightclub was operating inside. Ive never even seen a lot of trash in the parking lot to even suspect that anything like an after-hours nightclub is going on, Mike Moon told the outlet. Its written in their lease. Theyre not allowed to do any illegal activity. BARTON CO., Mo. A Friday evening motorcycle crash leaves one dead in Barton County. It happened on I-49, eight miles north of Lamar and 8 miles south of Sheldon. According to a report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, just before 6:00 p.m., the rear tire of a 2006 Yamaha motorcycle blew out, causing the bike to overturn. Two people were ejected from the bike. The driver, a 44-year-old man from Nevada, was taken to Mercy Hospital by ambulance with serious injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 40-year-old female passenger, also from Nevada, was airlifted to the same hospital. She was pronounced dead at 8:45 p.m. RELATED: Motorcycle safety a priority for Joplin police This is Troop Ds 33rd fatality of 2025. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. Apr. 26MORGANTOWN Statewide, 600 households with senior citizensincluding 300 in the Mountaineer Food Bank coverage areaare no longer eligible for the state's Senior Food Box Program. In the 48 counties covered by the Mountaineer Food Bank, $1.7 million used to purchase fresh food from local farmers has been lost. In recent months, the truckloads of food distributed by Mountaineer Food Bank to local pantries and feeding initiatives through the federal Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TFAP, have been cut by 15 % to 30 %. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's just very volatile right now, " Mountaineer Food Bank Executive Director Chad Morrison said when asked how recent federal spending cuts are being felt locally. "It's one thing one day, and it changes the next day." What doesn't change is the need. Right now, about 15 % of West Virginia's populationone in seven peopleis struggling with hunger. Among the most-impacted are children and senior citizens. Last year, the network of food banks and feeding programs aligned with Mountaineer Food Bank distributed nearly 29 million pounds of food. "And this year, it's definitely been marred with a lot of uncertainty, " Morrison said, noting the TFAP program was hit hard by a $1 billion reduction in federal support for feeding programs. It has historically provided about 35 % of the food distributed by the Mountaineer Food Bank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are trying to fill the gaps from some of those cutbacks, but, you know, the funding is just not there to fill those gaps completely, " Morrison said. In the short term, pantries and nonprofit feeding programs need their communities to rally behind them, he emphasized. "They need that additional support because they're working hard to try to fill that need, and the more volatile it is, the harder it is to plan and adjust. But we also have to be timely in filling those gaps because people are hungry and hunger doesn't wait, " he said. "We can spend a lot of time trying to forecast and predict what will happen, but at the end of the day, we must figure out ways to put food on the plates of our neighbors." In the long term, Morrison said, people in West Virginia and across the country dealing with food insecurity need advocates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "As Congress is looking at federal nutrition programs for things to get stronger or things to get weaker, it's really important that we have a strong federal nutrition program because that's what funds programs like SNAP. A lot of people don't know, but for every meal a food bank or food pantry provides, SNAP provides 10. It's tremendously important for food security, " he said. "We have to figure out a way forward, whether that's through the community-based organizations or through state resources or federal resources, or, most likely all of the above. We've got to find a way forward ... Because one setbacka doctor bill, a car breakdown, your heat pump goes badone little thing like that can set a family back years. It's hard for those families. We see it in our pantries. There are a lot of people struggling, right on the edge." Missouri Southern State University and Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City have signed an articulation agreement that they say will create avenues to obtaining a bachelors degree. A ceremony, led by MCC Chancellor Kimberly Beatty and MSSU President Dean Van Galen, was held last week at the MCC campus in Kansas City. The agreement allows students to transfer credits seamlessly between MCC and MSSU to obtain a bachelors degree in as few credit hours as possible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Missouri Southern is grateful for our expanded partnership with MCC, Van Galen said in a statement. Both institutions prioritize student success and are committed to providing a supportive learning environment we look forward to welcoming more MCC students to our campus in Joplin. Under the terms of the agreement: In most cases, students who bring an associate degree from MCC will enter MSSU as juniors, and the first 60 MCC credit hours will be applied toward an MSSU bachelors degree. MCC graduates with a GPA of at least a 2.0 will be guaranteed admission to MSSU upon submission of an official transcript. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MSSU will provide a dedicated admissions counselor to help MCC graduates with the transfer process. Most students admitted under the agreement will qualify for one or more MSSU scholarships, including merit-based scholarships worth up to $6,000 based on students transfer GPA, and a $1,000 ($250/semester) Community College Transfer Scholarship requiring maintenance of a 2.75 GPA. Metropolitan Community College educates about 20,000 students annually through credit and noncredit courses and business services and has five campuses. MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greenes reporter boyfriend admits he kisses up to President Donald Trump with not-so-hard-hitting questions. My job as a conservative journalist is to ask questions that highlight the good things that hes doing for this country that a lot of the media outlets in there simply wont ask, Brian Glenn, a reporter for right-wing Real Americas Voice, told the New York Times in an interview published Friday. Glenn added on Sunday that he asks questions that highlight the good Trump has done for the country as follow-ups to the harsher questions legacy reporters ask the president, according to Politicos Playbook. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The administration has taken drastic measures to limit press access to the White House, with Glenn remarking that the White House briefing room is now very different than before. The White House banned the Associated Press from its press pool in March and announced a week ago that wire services, including Reuters and Bloomberg, would no longer have a permanent spot in the press pool. As a result, most of the remaining reporters are Trump loyalists who ask the president softball questions to gain his favor, like what his fitness regimen looks like. Will you guys also consider releasing the presidents fitness plan? LindellTV reporter Cara Castronuova asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt two weeks ago, adding that he looked healthier than ever before. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Glenn also made headlines for his reporting back in February during the chaotic Oval Office meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, when he asked the Ukrainian president why he wasnt wearing a suit. Why dont you wear a suit? Youre at the highest level in this countrys office, and you refuse to wear a suit. Do you own a suit? he inquired. A lot of Americans have problems with you not respecting the dignity of this office. Zelensky replied that he will wear costume after this war will finish. Glenn said a few days later on Real Americas Voice that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover and that the Ukrainian presidents wardrobe obviously reflected his attitude. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That question was meant to really see how much respect he had for this country and the American people for funding his war, Glenn later told the Times. Greene expressed her pride and admiration for her beau grilling Zelensky on his outfit, writing on X: Im so proud of @briantv for pointing out that Zelensky has so much disrespect for America that he cant even wear a suit in the Oval Office when he comes to beg for money from our President!! Multiple people were killed when a car drove into a crowd at a Filipino street festival in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, police said late on Saturday. Several others were injured in the incident that took place at an event marking the Lapu Lapu festival, a celebration for the Filipino community. The driver, a 30-year-old from Vancouver who was known to police, was arrested at the scene, police said on X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A broadcaster reported based on eyewitness accounts that the suspect attempted to flee the scene on foot after driving through the crowd, but was held up by passers-by. A police spokesman confirmed that there was "no further danger to the public." Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he was shocked and saddened by the "horrific incident." "Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time," said Sim. The incident came just two days before Canada holds parliamentary elections on Monday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was "devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver" in a post on X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver," he added. "We are all mourning with you." Carney, the head of Canada's Liberal Party, is facing off against Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to lead the country's next government. Poilievre also commented on the incident, writing on X that he was "shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight." "My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more," Poilievre added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lapu Lapu festival celebrates a Filipino national hero who prevented the colonization of the archipelago in 1521. April 27 has been marked as Lapu Lapu Day in the Canadian province of British Columbia since 2023. A victim lies near a food truck at the scene, where multiple people were killed when a car drove into a crowd at a street festival in the western Canadian city of Vancouver. Rich Lam/Canadian Press via ZUMA Press/dpa A man is facing charges after a car plowed into a crowd at a festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday night, killing 11 people and injuring dozens of others, police say. Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, Vancouver police said in a Sunday evening press release. "The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated," the police statement said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At a Sunday news conference, authorities warned that the death toll may rise. The suspect, a Vancouver resident with a history of mental illness, was known to police. Officials confirmed the event is not an act of terrorism. "It would appear that mental health appears to be the underlying issue here," Mayor Ken Sim said at the news conference. Police described the victims as "mixed genders, male, female and young people." They are 5 to 65 years old, Steve Rai, Vancouvers interim police chief, said Sunday. More than two dozen more were injured in the attack, according to the police statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rai said earlier on Sunday that some of those people were injured critically and that some victims have still not been identified. In graphic videos of the incidents aftermath posted on social media and verified by NBC News, first responders and emergency vehicles tend to victims as onlookers appear distressed, crying and in shock. What appears to be the vehicle, a crumpled black SUV, is seen stopped in the middle of the street after it crashed into food trucks that flanked both sides of a street that had been made into a pedestrian mall for what had been, just moments before, a joyous celebration of Filipino culture. Vancouver police investigate after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu-Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture Saturday. The ruins of damaged food trucks also appeared scattered across the area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Last night, as members of Vancouvers Filipino community gathered for a celebration of community and culture in East Vancouver," Rai said Sunday afternoon. "Their collective safety and security were stolen when a man in a vehicle drove through a festival." Police said the crowd, which had gathered for the annual Lapu-Lapu Day block party, captured the driver and turned him over to police. Rai said police worked with the city to assess risks before Saturday's festival and found "no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community." As a result, Rai said, they determined that dedicated police officers and heavy vehicle barricades were not necessary at the festival site. He also stated that the police department and the city will work to review "all of the circumstances surrounding the planning of this event." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 100 Vancouver police officers are working the case, Rai said. The attack occurred on East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street shortly after 8:14 p.m. local time, police said on X. Rai sidestepped questions Sunday about a possible motive except to say that the person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and health care professionals related to mental health. He also stated on Sunday that police had not had any interactions with the suspect immediately preceding Saturday night. Yoseb Vardeh, a co-owner of a food truck that was stationed at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival, told the Vancouver Sun newspaper that he heard an engine revving before a speeding truck drove straight down the middle of a pedestrian-only area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road, and theres just bodies everywhere, Vardeh said. He said police acted quickly to cordon off the area and arrest the man. This is something that happens in the States, not here, he said. Victims were taken to nine hospitals, Rai said Sunday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney kneels at a memorial in Vancouver on Sunday. Deana Lancaster, a spokesperson for Vancouver General Hospital, the regions top trauma facility, said it had received multiple patients from the incident, which she understood to be the Lapu-Lapu Day party. Sim, the mayor, said earlier Sunday on social media, I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at todays Lapu Lapu Day event. He said more information would be coming as soon as it is available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouvers Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time, Sim said. British Columbia Premier David Eby stated that his team was in contact with Vancouver officials and would provide any necessary support. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered condolences on X and said officials were monitoring the situation. Addressing Canadians in a broadcast Sunday morning, Carney described the tragic losses as every familys nightmare. He went on to highlight the resilience and strength of the Filipino Canadian community. Carney referred to a Tagalog term that he said captures the Filipino spirit of community of cooperation and unity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And its this spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time, Carney said. We will comfort the grieving. We will care for each other. We will unite in common purpose. Jagmeet Singh, the leader of Canadas New Democrat Party, said on X that he was horrified. As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience, he said. In 2023, the province of British Columbia officially declared April 27 to be Lapu-Lapu Day, commemorating a battle on the island of Mactan, in what is now the Philippines, on April 27, 1521. Lapu-Lapu was an Indigenous leader who is widely credited, and celebrated, in the Philippines for killing Ferdinand Magellan, the Portuguese explorer who landed in Mactan while he was helming a Spanish expedition to circumnavigate the globe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The islands went on to fall under Spanish colonial rule for nearly 400 years, and Lapu-Lapu is hailed in the Philippines and the global Filipino diaspora as a symbol of resistance to colonialism. There are nearly 1 million Filipino immigrants and people of Filipino descent in Canada, according to the 2021 census. The Filipino community and supporters gathered at a vigil for the victims on Sunday night, where there were rounds of applause and the singing of "Amazing Grace," according to footage uploaded to social media. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com By Harshita Meenaktshi and Chris Helgren VANCOUVER (Reuters) -At least nine people were killed and more than 20 injured when a man rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in the western Canadian city of Vancouver on the weekend before Canada's federal election, authorities said. Police arrested a 30-year-old Vancouver man, who they said was known to them, at the scene of the incident on Saturday evening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism," Vancouver police said in an X post. Speaking on Sunday morning, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that more than 20 people were injured in what police described as a "car ramming attack." He said an investigation had begun into how and why the attack took place, adding that authorities believe the man acted alone. "Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter. Those families are living every family's nightmare," Carney told reporters in Hamilton, Ontario, where he also expressed his condolences to the country's Filipino community. "I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect was initially chased down and held by festival-goers until police arrived, witnesses said. The injured were taken to multiple hospitals, police said. The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. (0300 GMT) in Vancouver's Sunset neighborhood, an area known for its large Asian population, where the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party, celebrating a Philippine national hero, was taking place. One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck. Photos from the scene showed a black Audi SUV with the driver-side door open. Canada's federal election takes place on Monday. Carney's campaign movements were delayed on Sunday morning after the tragedy, but a government official said the prime minister would head to Saskatoon later on Sunday to resume campaigning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he was "shattered to hear about the terrible incident" and extended his "deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the strong and thriving Filipino community in Canada." "The lives lost will not be forgotten," he said in a statement. While mass casualty attacks are far less common in Canada than in the United States, such incidents have occurred with some regularity north of the border. At least two of those attacks involved motor vehicles. In 2021, a man killed four members of a Muslim family by running them over with a pickup truck. In 2018, a man drove a rented van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 along a sidewalk thronged with pedestrians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 'HORRIFIC' Filipino BC, a provincial community advocacy group, said in a post on X that people should refrain from viewing and sharing videos of the attacks circulating online, some of which are graphic. Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, was among the attendees at the event, but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, he told reporters. "We don't know the motives, we don't know any of the details, but ultimately this is something that targeted the Filipino community," he said. "I was there, and I just imagined the faces of the kids I saw smiling and dancing. It's horrific," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another witness, who did not wish to be identified, said he had seen about 15 people lying on the ground after the SUV plunged into the crowd. The witness said the driver had tried to run but was chased down and held against a fence for about 10 minutes until police arrived. The festival, celebrated especially in the central Philippines, honors Datu Lapu-Lapu, a Filipino chieftain who defeated Spanish forces led by Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan in 1521. The government of British Columbia officially recognized April 27 as Lapu-Lapu Day in 2023, acknowledging the cultural contributions of the Filipino-Canadian community, one of the largest immigrant groups in the province. King Charles, Canada's head of state, said in a statement: "Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The centerpiece of the festival in Vancouver is a multi-block street party featuring Filipino food and traditions, live performances and cultural displays. "I didn't get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev," Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia. "I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there's just bodies everywhere," said Vardeh, his voice breaking with emotion. "He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle." (Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi and Devika Nair in Bengaluru, Chris Helgren in Vancouver and Promit Mukherjee in Hamilton; Additional reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Kim Coghill, Alex Richardson, Ros Russell and Mark Porter) "Nine people" were killed and injured in a "mass casualty" event at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday, April 26, according to local authorities "A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene," the Vancouver Police Department confirmed in a statement The investigation is ongoing Vancouver Police have arrested a 30-year-old man at the scene of a crash that left nine people dead and "multiple others injured" on Saturday, April 26. In a statement posted to X on Sunday, April. 27, the Vancouver Police Department said that "As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last nights Lapu Lapu Festival. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This comes after authorities earlier stated on X that they were 'Investigating a mass casualty incident at a neighborhood block party" in South Vancouver after "a man drove into a large crowd of people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival" at approximately 8:14 p.m., near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street. "A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene," the police statement added. The investigation is ongoing and is being led the Vancouver Police Departments Major Crime Section, the release continued. Related: 10 People Killed, 30 Injured After Truck Is Driven into New Year's Eve Crowd in New Orleans: Police Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP Vancouver police at the Lapu Lapu Festival Vancouver police at the Lapu Lapu Festival "I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at todays Lapu Lapu Day event," Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement posted to X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouvers Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time," Sim added. 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. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney added on X that he was "devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver." "I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with you," he added. "We are monitoring the situation closely, and thankful to our first responders for their swift action." Rich Lam/The Canadian Press via AP Vancouver police officers at the Lapu Lapu Festival Vancouver police officers at the Lapu Lapu Festival Yoseb Vardeh, who was operating a Bao Buns food truck at the festival, told the BBC that the incident happened just after the final performance of the day and that the vehicle drove "completely straight, right through the crowd" at a speed of around 60 mph. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added to the outlet that the driver was physically restrained by members of the public after he came to a halt and attempted to run away. "I think he was going for maximum damage," Vardeh told the BBC. "I just saw bodies underneath people's food trucks, and husbands crying out for their wife, or their kids, it was just horrible," Vardeh added about the victims, which reportedly included some of his customers. I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver. We are all mourning with Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) April 27, 2025 Vancouver-based artist Kaya Ko appeared at the festival around 1 p.m. Saturday. In a post on Instagram, she described the incident as a "massacre." Im sending all of my love and prayers out to the families that are affected. My heart is broken, she wrote on her Instagram story. How can we come together as a community after this So much to process. Send your prayers." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was not an accident. This was a massacre, she continued in a second post. I am at a loss for words. Praying that everyone is taken care of and praying for the souls, lives taken and families affected by this terrible crime. "Spirit guide these souls home and guide our people back to our hearts," she added in a third message. "May our community come together in love and in prayer. In honour of our lost people. May we all be held through this. Please please please take care and hold each other closely." PEOPLE has reached out to the Vancouver Police Department for further information. Read the original article on People We all remember Mike Lindell, the disgraced MyPillow founder who lost everything fighting to prove against insurmountable evidence to the contrary that the 2020 US election had somehow been stolen from Donald Trump. Well, he's in the news again this time for using AI to file his legal briefs. As The New Republic reported, a federal judge has accused Lindell of filing a legal document with "nearly 30 defective citations," which one of his attorneys, Christopher Kachouroff, wrote "utilizing generative artificial intelligence." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Go figure: the brief was full of misquotes and miscited cases, sometimes referencing case law that simply didn't exist AI had hallucinated them, as the tech is prone to do in order to "complete" its prompt. "If you type a legal question into the Google search function, then generative AI is all too ready to answer," explained legal columnist Virginia Hammerle. She notes that in a similar case in New York, a federal judge sanctioned a team of lawyers and their firm when they turned in a ChatGPT-generated brief without double-checking it for mistakes. "Not until this Court asked Mr. Kachouroff directly whether the [document] was the product of generative artificial intelligence did Mr. Kachouroff admit that he did, in fact, use generative artificial intelligence," the federal judge admonished. "Given the pervasiveness of the errors in the legal authority provided to it, this Court treats this representation with skepticism." The federal judge has now given Lindell's lawyers ten days to argue why they shouldn't face disciplinary proceedings. They're also required to address whether or not Lindell had any knowledge that his lawyers were using AI to write their documents yet another headache for the embattled entrepreneur. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's far from the first gaffe Kachouroff has been involved in. During a trial which took place over Zoom last year, the attorney was caught relaxing without any pants on before beginning his cross-examination. It's the latest embarrassment in a years-long legal saga for Lindell, who faces a combined $70 million in debt owing to penalties from a civil lawsuits and an FBI investigation after personally championing Donald Trump's 2020 election-fraud hoax. After failing to pay more than $50,000 related to a defamation suit with voting systems company Smartmatic earlier in April, Lindell sobbed that he was broke. "I'm in ruins," the disgraced pillow tycoon said. "I dont have $5,000 or 5 cents." That's a shame, because if he did, he could be out shopping for new lawyers like maybe the kind that keep their pants on during trial. More on AI: Judge Goes Ballistic When Man Shows AI-Generated Video in Court LILONGWE, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Malawian government has written to Washington regarding the high rejection rate of visa applications by Malawian government officials intending to travel to the United States for official business. The Malawian Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised the issue in a written communication dated April 23, which was leaked to the public on Friday. The communication was addressed to the U.S. Embassy in Malawi. The ministry said that it is aware that the issuance of visas and entry into the United States is at the discretion of the U.S. government and that the ministry has made "great efforts" to adhere to the agreed procedures as outlined in a diplomatic note dated May 2, 2024. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since requested clarity on the matter. "The Ministry would be grateful if the esteemed Embassy could provide more clarity on these rejections," the communication said. "Despite reasons being indicated for rejection, the Ministry is currently overwhelmed to explain to government officials denied travel for official duties while having complied with all requirements for visa applications," it said. The U.S. government has yet to respond to the query from the Malawian government. Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, 40, of Bowie, Md., will be sentenced in August after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud this month. Vongs guilty plea is the latest intrigue in what authorities say is a vast fake IT worker scheme that funds North Koreas illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program. Authorities alleged Vong essentially rented out his U.S. identity to developers based in China who used it to get more than a dozen remote tech jobs, some of which involved contract work for sensitive government agencies. A 40-year-old Maryland man is facing decades in prison after he allegedly worked with foreign nationals in China to get remote work IT jobs with at least 13 different U.S. companies between 2021 and 2024. The jobs paid him more than $970,000 in salary for software development tasks that were actually performed by operatives authorities allege are North Korean and working out of a post in Shenyang, China, according to the Department of Justice. The China-based developers used the company IT jobs, some of which involved contracting out software services to U.S. government agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, to get access to highly sensitive government systems that they logged on to from overseas, authorities said. According to the Department of Justice, the Maryland mans scheme is part of a vast fraud operation in which trained North Korean nationals work with American facilitators to fraudulently obtain remote-work IT jobs under various identities, do the work from Russia or China, and then illegally remit their salaries to Kim Jong Un, authoritarian leader of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There have been dozens of indictments in the conspiracy, including Americans who have pleaded guilty to hosting computer farms, where they keep dozens of company-issued laptops in their homes for a fee so that it appears the work is being done in the U.S. The UN has estimated the scheme generates revenues between $250 million and $600 million each year and funds North Koreas illegal nuclear weapons program. The FBI, State Department, and Department of Justice say thousands of DPRK IT workers have been hired for positions at hundreds of Fortune 500 companies in recent years. In the case involving Maryland man Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, the DOJ claims he worked in league with developers in China, including one who called himself William James. Court records show authorities believed James and other John Does in the scheme are natives of North Korea. Vong allegedly told an FBI agent that James approached him through a cell phone video game app and told Vong he could legally make money by getting development jobs and then giving James his computer access credentials. According to the DOJ and court documents, Vong allegedly let James and the other unnamed conspirators draw up a fraudulent resume for him saying he had a degree from the University of Hawaii, 16 years of experience as a software developer, and had previously maintained a secret-level security clearance. The DOJ said Vong, who worked in a nail and spa salon, had neither a degree nor did he have experience in development. At one of the 13 jobs, someone who identified himself as Vong allegedly joined an online interview with a senior software developer who recommended he get the job and took a screenshot of him during the meeting. The CEO of the Virginia-based company later hired him after a successful final interview in which Vong allegedly showed his Maryland drivers license and U.S. passport to confirm his identity, and the company took a screenshot of Vong a second time holding up the documents. (Court records show authorities believe these screen grabs are of two different peopleone who is allegedly a North Korean IT worker posing as Vong, and another who is the real Vong from Maryland holding his license and passport.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The company set Vong to work on an FAA contract that involved an application monitoring aviation assets in flight in the U.S., according to court records. The software is used by government agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Secret Service. The Virginia company shipped Vong a MacBook Pro laptop with administrative rights to download software, and the FAA let Vong have a Personal Identity Verification card to get him into government facilities and systems, court records show. Vong allegedly installed remote access software on the company device so that James and his cohort could use it from China. Between March and July in 2023, the Virginia company paid Vong more than $28,000 while the work was performed by James and other unknown people, the DOJ said. During his time there, someone known as Vong attended Zoom meetings for work and spoke to his team about his task list at a daily meeting. As part of his guilty plea, Vong admitted the Virginia job was only one among 13 different companies that hired him between 2021 and 2024. Several did contract work for the U.S. government, in addition to the FAA. Vong got fired by the Virginia company after it submitted his information to the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency for a secret clearance and found out he might have another job. After he was fired, the CEO showed Vongs picture to the senior developer who initially recommended him. The developer told the CEO that the individual he called Vong in the photo wasnt the same Vong he had initially interviewed and screenshotted. He also wasn't the person who participated in daily virtual meetings and did work. Vong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is facing 20 years in prison. Reached by phone, Vong declined to comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Michael "Barni" Barnhart, principal insider risk investigator at Dtex Systems, told Fortune in a statement the continued efforts by U.S. law enforcement to expose and disrupt the North Korean IT worker operations and the facilitators who enable them are positive advancements. "These indictments are another critical step in thwarting adversarial operations," said Barnhart in the statement. Still, Barnhart said, his group has directly observed IT workers trying to get other highly sensitive jobs, including positions with clearance within the U.S. government and third-party contractors for federal agencies. Furthermore, in a report published this month, Googles Threat Intelligence Group revealed the scheme is expanding, and one DPRK worker late last year operated at least 12 personas across Europe and the U.S., and was looking for more jobs in European defense and with government contractors. Other investigations found fake IT worker identities seeking jobs in Germany and Portugal, according to the latest report. Even if these actors are primarily financially motivated, the risk they pose to critical infrastructure is enormous, John Hultquist, chief analyst at Googles Threat Intelligence Group, told Fortune. This scheme has become so widespread that targeting of these organizations is almost inevitable. Given their connection to the intelligence services, that kind of access could be a nightmare. The FBIs Baltimore office is investigating the case. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com North Carolina Gov. Josh Steins nearly four months in office has been defined by the aftermath of Helene. Its been where the Democrat has found common ground with, and support from, Republicans in the General Assembly. Now, like state lawmakers, he is appealing to Washington to ensure theres enough money for Western North Carolinas recovery. Good morning and welcome to the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. Im Capitol Bureau Chief Dawn Vaughan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just days after taking office in January, President Donald Trump flew to Asheville to tour Helene damage. Stein was there on the tarmac to greet him, a move he referenced in a letter Friday to the president about FEMA funding. Steins letter to Trump referenced their Asheville conversation in January as he appealed the denial of FEMAs decision not to extend the 100% match for North Carolina recovery. Hurricane Helene caused incredible damage to western North Carolina. President Trump, as you noted when you visited the region in January, we need a focus on debris removal to create a clean slate from which we can effectively rebuild, Stein wrote. Little Crabtree Creek is littered with storm debris and vehicles, on Thursday, October 17, 2024, three weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded the South Toe River and adjacent creeks near Micaville in Yancey County, N.C. I therefore respectfully urge you to reconsider FEMAs regretful decision and extend our 100 percent cost share period for six months failing that, then for three months. Doing so would allow us to continue to build on the momentum you have helped us achieve, Stein said in the letter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Steins office said that without the 100% extension, when funding drops to 90%, the state would have a projected cost of $200 million. As Trump talked to reporters in January, he suggested the state also chip in. When I interviewed Stein earlier this month, I asked him about his approach to dealing with Trump. He said the president choosing to visit Western North Carolina so soon after inauguration was a positive thing, adding that Trumps attention on storm debris removal has also been good for the state. Stein told me he has regular meetings with Trump Cabinet members, too, saying that were going to talk to anyone and everyone who can help us help the people of Western North Carolina. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the state level, when Republican senators put forward their budget proposal about a week ago, budget writer and Western North Carolina Sen. Ralph Hise told reporters We must prepare to fend for ourselves. Hise, who is from Spruce Pine in a Helene-hit area, said they remain hopeful that the federal government will provide increased and expedited reimbursements for Helene recovery. Senato Ralph Hise, outlines state budget items directed to Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Western North Carolina, during a press briefing on Monday, April 14, 2025 at the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh, N.C. The Senates budget proposal, which was passed by the chambers Republican supermajority along with four Democrats, also included adding $700 million to the state Helene reserve fund. One of those four was Sen. Dan Blue, the Raleigh Democrat who served until this session as Senate minority leader, and was House speaker earlier in his four decades in politics. Senate Democrats chose Sen. Sydney Batch to lead them, and I interviewed both Blue and Batch for this story we published about Blues votes. It also includes what Blue said about Steins future action on the budget, and what happens if theres a veto. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dan Blue, longtime NC Democratic leader, is now the swing vote to watch Thanks for reading. Contact me at dvaughan@newsobserver.com. Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up on our website to receive Under the Dome in your inbox daily. And listen to our Under the Dome podcast, which is published every Tuesday morning on all podcast platforms and is previewed in your Tuesday Under the Dome newsletter. JERUSALEM (AP) Israeli warplanes last year intercepted Iranian aircraft headed toward Syria, preventing them from delivering troops meant to assist the countrys embattled president at the time, Bashar Assad, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The remarks in a speech gave a new glimpse into Israel's thinking in the final days in power for Assad, a longtime enemy who was overthrown by insurgents last December. Speaking to a conference hosted by the Jewish News Syndicate, a pro-Israel news agency, Netanyahu claimed that arch-rival Iran wanted to save Assad after watching the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in neighboring Lebanon suffer heavy losses in fighting with Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They had to rescue Assad, Netanyahu said, claiming that Iran wanted to send one or two airborne divisions to help the Syrian leader. We stopped that. We sent some F-16s to some Iranian planes that were making some routes to Damascus, he said. They turned back. He gave no further details. In fighting last fall, Israel detonated hundreds of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, days before assassinating the groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Netanyahu told the crowd that he pushed forward the pager attacks after Israel learned that Hezbollah had grown suspicious and sent some of the devices to Iran for testing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I said, 'Well have to do it right away, he said. Israel and a weakened Hezbollah reached a ceasefire in November, ending more than a year of fighting. Israeli forces remain in parts of southern Lebanon. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) More than 58,000 U.S. armed forces personnel were killed during the Vietnam War. KELOLANDs parent company, Nexstar has released a special film 50 years after the war ended. The film, Vietnam War: A Lost Generation, originally aired on KELO-TV Saturday, April 26. It features veterans stories of their time in combat and the political climate once they returned. If you missed the airing, you can watch parts of the special in the video player above. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can also watch a special Inside KELOLAND, where we introduce you to local Vietnam veterans and show you KELOLANDs trip to Vietnam in 1988. It will air at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. KELOLANDs website also includes a special Vietnam page with stories about the war and veterans. 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. The process of selecting the next Holy Father after Pope Francis death is set to begin any day now. The College of Cardinals will sequester and vote. Channel 2s Candace McCowan spoke to an Emory University professor about what is different for this conclave. Dr. Susan Reynolds is a professor of Catholic studies at Emorys Candler School of Theology. Pope Francis, even in death, left his mark on the selection of the next Holy Father. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She says the cardinals that Pope Francis installed are a group unlike any group of cardinals before them. He actually installed about 80% of the cardinals who will be voting on the next pope, she said. He appointed men who are from areas that have never been a position of leadership before in that capacity, so when we look to the future and ask, Whos next? Whats next? We genuinely dont know because the whos who in the room is different than its ever been. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The cardinals have been meeting for housekeeping and gathering for mass since arriving at the Vatican after the popes death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not clear if the College of Cardinals will elect someone like Pope Francis or not. But Reynolds believes the group will make a selection that represents the entirety of the church. The areas of most dynamism or most growth is the global south, Latin America, Africa, Asia, so when Pope Francis talks about going to the margins, in some ways hes challenging us what we used to think of as the margins is now the center, Reynolds said. Once the conclave begins, cardinals will vote twice in the morning and twice in the evening until they make a selection. Its a process that could take days before we see white smoke billow out over the Sistine Chapel. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the upcoming week will be crucial for determining whether the U.S. will continue its involvement in efforts to end Russias war in Ukraine, NBC News reported on April 27. "This is going to be a really important week in which we're going to have to decide whether we want to continue to engage in this effort, or whether it's time for us to shift our focus to other issues that are just as, if not more, important, Rubio told NBC. Rubio emphasized that prospects for reaching a peace agreement are closer than at any time in the past three years but acknowledged that a final deal has not yet been reached. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked how much longer U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to give Ukraine and Russia to reach an agreement, Rubio declined to set a specific deadline. "It would be wrong to set a specific date... The president has spent a lot of time and energy on this, and I think we've brought the parties closer than they've been in a long time, but we're still not there," Rubio said. He added that while there are reasons for optimism, it is also important to remain realistic about the situation. Trump and Zelensky held a "productive" meeting in St. Peter's Basilica following the funeral ceremony their first in-person encounter since their heated argument at the White House in February. While both sides praised the April 26 meeting as constructive, neither party disclosed the details of the leaders' conversation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, Russia has intensified its strikes against civilian areas in Ukraine as Trump pushes for a peace deal, with a Russian attack killing at least 12 civilians and injuring around 90 in Kyiv on April 24. Read also: Hes just tapping me along Trump admits Putin may not be interested in ending war on Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Apr. 26SANTA FE With a key election cycle on the horizon, New Mexico Democrats on Saturday picked Sara Attleson to lead the party for the next two years. Attleson, a school librarian and teachers union fundraising official, received 38.8% of the ranked choice vote points to win election as party chairwoman, edging three other candidates. The votes were cast by more than 460 party insiders via online balloting, with results tallied Saturday at a state central committee meeting in Albuquerque. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She takes over the party reins from Jessica Velasquez of Sandia Park, who did not seek reelection after serving as state Democratic Party chairwoman since 2021. Attleson said in an interview after the meeting that she would seek to unite Democrats across New Mexico. "New Mexico is a blue state, but in order to keep it blue, we need to stay united on a county level," Attleson told the Journal. She also said she would strive to bring the state Democratic Party back to its working-class roots, saying, "I think we've gotten a little far away from that." New Mexico has largely shed its swing state label over the last decade, as Democrats hold all statewide offices and sizable majorities in both legislative chambers. The last Republican presidential candidate to win New Mexico's five electoral votes was George W. Bush in 2004. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the Democratic Party's national approval rating has sagged in recent months, and New Mexico's all-Democratic congressional delegation has found itself in the minority in the Republican-controlled Congress. Given that backdrop, Attleson said the Democratic Party needs to reconnect with many younger voters and Hispanic men who have drifted away from the party in recent election cycles. Attleson and newly elected Democratic Party Vice Chairman Cam Crawford of Santa Fe also raised the alarm about the impacts President Donald Trump's policies could have on New Mexico. In addition to possible changes to public schools and Medicaid, Crawford, a full-time firefighter, also expressed concern about the Trump administration's response to natural disasters as the state prepares for a potentially dangerous wildfire season. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Along with a new party chairwoman and vice chairman, New Mexico Democrats also elected Brenda Hoskie of McKinley County as party secretary and Julie Rochman of Bernalillo County as treasurer during their Saturday meeting. The terms the new party officers were elected to will run through the 2026 election cycle, in which all statewide offices will be up for election. The election cycle could feature several competitive Democratic primary contests, including a race for governor that has already seen Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman announce campaigns. Other Democrats could also enter the race to succeed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is barred under the state Constitution from seeking a third consecutive term next year. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., is seeking reelection next year, and Democrats will also be defending the three U.S. House seats in New Mexico they currently hold, including the hotly contested 2nd Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez. Democrats currently make up about 43% of New Mexico's more than 1.3 million voters, though the percentage of registered Democrats has been decreasing in recent years. European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has stated that denying Ukraine NATO membership will only make it easier for Russia to plan future aggressive actions. Source: Kubilius on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: Kubilius believes that Russias demands that Ukraine be refused NATO membership are not because it fears an attack from the Alliance. "They [the Russians] fear NATO will defend Ukraine against Russia's next aggression," he stressed. "'No-NATO' for Ukraine makes it easier for Russia to plan its next aggression." Background: US President Donald Trump recently reiterated his own earlier claims that Ukraine had provoked the war by seeking to join NATO. Earlier, it was reported that the Trump administration had handed Ukraine a one-page document in Paris, presenting it as a "final proposal" for a peace settlement. Among other things, the document reportedly included US readiness to recognise Russia's control over Ukrainian Crimea and ease sanctions against Moscow. On 24 April, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the United States had proposed its strategy for Ukrainian territories during talks in London, but added that "another paper appeared after the US proposal". Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! On April 27 at roughly 3:46 a.m., Norfolk police responded to multiple reports of a person with a weapon in the 400 block of Monticello Avenue. A man was found with a firearm near a courtyard when officers arrived. Police were engaging verbally with the man when officers discharged their weapons because the man did not comply with requests to put the firearm down, according to a release. The man sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital for treatment and is expected to survive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The involved officers will be placed on administrative duty during the investigation, according to the release. The Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations is now involved. The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information should contact Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations or to submit a tip through the P3Tips mobile application. SHENZHEN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China's self-developed car carrier "BYD Shenzhen," the largest of its kind worldwide, set off on its maiden voyage with more than 7,000 BYD new energy vehicles (NEVs) on Sunday evening, according to the Shenzhen-based carmaker BYD. It set sail from Taicang Port in east China's Jiangsu Province and is expected to reach Itajai Port in Brazil after more than 30 days at sea. Built by a shipyard under China Merchants Group, the BYD Shenzhen is an NEV carrier with 9,200 standard spaces, and is BYD's fourth specialized vessel for transporting NEVs. The previous three vessels were also independently built in China. The 219-meter-long, 37.7-meter-wide BYD Shenzhen was delivered on April 22 in the city of Yizheng, Jiangsu. The ship features cutting-edge green technologies such as high-efficiency, energy-saving main engines and a Boil-Off Gas (BOG) recondenser, and antifouling, drag-reducing coatings. BYD Shenzhen's efficient loading system and advanced protective technologies can provide stable and low-carbon logistics support for BYD's global delivery of new energy vehicles, noted Wang Junbao, general manager of BYD's public business division at the delivery ceremony. "The delivery of BYD Shenzhen represents a crucial step in BYD's globalization strategy. It is more than just a transport ship, but serves as a 'maritime bridge' connecting Chinese innovation with the global market, enabling users around the world to share in the benefits of Chinese technology," said Wang. China's automobile exports exceeded 6.4 million units in 2024, maintaining the top global position for a second consecutive year, according to the General Administration of Customs of China. In response to growing demand for vehicle transport capacity, Chinese automakers such as BYD, Chery, and SAIC Motor have been building their own fleets in recent years. In January 2023, Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Limited announced the confirmation of two dual-fuel car carrier orders for BYD. Chery later announced plans to establish its own fleet, while SAIC Motor's logistics arm, Anji Logistics, has ordered several large car carriers with a capacity of over 7,000 vehicles from Jiangnan Shipyard. Data show that in the first quarter of 2025, BYD's car carriers transported more than 25,000 NEVs overseas. To date, BYD's NEVs have reached over 400 cities in more than 100 countries and regions worldwide. In 2024, BYD's overseas sales reached 417,200 units. Among them, Brazil emerged as a standout market with 76,700 vehicles sold, achieving a remarkable year-on-year growth rate of 328 percent. The launch of BYD Shenzhen is expected to further enhance the company's presence and delivery capabilities overseas. "For automakers, owning a fleet ensures stable export operations, reduces transportation costs, and guarantees timely delivery of products to overseas customers," said Xie Xiaowen, an expert with the China Communications and Transportation Association. North Korea has officially unveiled the Choi Hyon, its air defense-capable frigate that we previously had seen under construction. The warship, which was supposedly built in just over a year, carries the hull number 51, likely to emulate the DDG-51 Arleigh Burke class destroyer that it bears a minor resemblance to. You can read our previous analysis on the vessel when it was under construction here, but now that we are seeing it in full, one thing is very clear, it intends to pack more weaponry than any ship of its size. As for that size, a displacement of 5,000 tons is being circulated, but its unclear if it actually hits that figure. Clearly visible on its bow is a large deck gun, possibly in the 127mm class. Then we also see a primary close-in weapon system (CIWS) towards the rear of the ships superstructure. This looks very similar to Russias navalized Pantsir-ME system that features both cannons and highly maneuverable short-range missiles. This could be a North Korean knock-off, or it could be from Russia directly as part of reimbursement for North Koreas support of Russias war in Ukraine. (KCNA) Giving the ship a credible CIWS capability would be very important, as the rest of its anti-air capabilities will take time to develop and may never reach the point of a highly reliable defense. A pair of AK-630 turreted six-barrel 30mm rotary cannons are also visible on each side of the ship, which can engage air and surface targets over very close ranges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We also see two countermeasures dispensers arrayed on both sides of the ship, along the outer edge of the superstructure, as well as what appear to be the same number of turreted four-cell launchers. These are most likely capable of firing loitering munitions and short-range guided missiles, as well as possibly anti-submarine charges. What could be an enclosure that houses angle-launched anti-ship cruise missiles is seen amidships, although its inconclusive as to what this structure is for. This enclosure does look broadly similar, but also appears to be thinner, than one that conceals angled cruise missile launchers on North Koreas new Amnok class corvette. (KCNA) When it comes to armament, the sheer number of vertical launch system (VLS) cells on this ship is remarkable. Not just that, but there appear to be at least four (possibly even five) distinct sizes of VLS cells that make up its two VLS arrays. This is of particular interest because it would maximize magazine depth for a given loadout and is capable of hosting a wide range of different weapon sizes. It is more complex than having one or even two VLS cell sizes only. In total, the ship features 32 small cells, 12 medium-sized cells, 20 large cells (although these could also be different sized, with 12 forward cells being different than the eight aft) and 10 very large cells, for a total of a whopping 74 cells. That is a remarkable number for a ship this size, which looks larger than it actually is. This is especially true considering some of those cells are quite large. For comparison, the upcoming Constellation class frigate will feature 32 cells, for instance, although, like all Mk41 VLS cells, they can be quad-packed with Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles. An Arleigh Burke class destroyer has between 90 and 96 cells, depending on the variant, and like the Constellation class, all the cells have the same aperture dimensions. KNCA Its very likely that the Choi Hyons large cells will be able to accommodate long-range cruise missiles and the extra large ones will be able to launch ballistic missiles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement North Korea has previously test-launched its Hwasal-2 long-range cruise missile, which is supposed to have strategic (nuclear) capability, from its new Amnok class corvette. Other cruise missiles and adapted guided artillery rockets could also fill the large cells. Hwasal-2 test launch. (KCNA) North Korea has a dizzying array of ballistic missiles in its weapons catalog, with short-range ballistic missile types (such as the Hwasong-11 family) being suited to fit inside the ships extra-large VLS cells. The adoption of ballistic missiles, both in a land attack and anti-ship capacity, aboard surface warships is an emerging trend. North Koreas arch nemesis and neighbor, South Korea, is adopting exactly this weapons capability for its far more capable top-of-the-line warships. So, when you consider this and Pyongyangs affinity to ballistic missiles, as well as the odd dual-role of this ship (which we will get to in a moment), it is unsurprising that North Korea is following suit. The Hwasong-11 family of SRBMs would be a prime candidate to fill the very large VLS cells on North Koreas new frigate. (KCNA) The smaller VLS cells would primarily support the ships stated anti-air warfare mission, carrying various surface-to-air missiles. In the new imagery, we also see the four-sided phased array radar system that will provide the ships primary sensor capability, as well as ancillary sensor and communications systems festooned atop its superstructure. A flight deck is also present on the ships stern, but with no hangar facility to house a rotary-wing asset. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Overall, it is clear that this frigate was designed to absolutely maximize its weapons-carrying capabilities. (KCNA) While this ship should be capable as a launch platform for longer-range strike missiles, its other primary role as an air warfare asset is highly debatable. As with other new high-profile North Korean weapon systems, while they may offer advanced capabilities in relation to what the country already has, in a wartime scenario, they would be the first to be targeted and destroyed. Having a ship that looks loosely like more advanced foreign ones and packed with weapons is one thing, actually making it a survivable asset, with all the technology and training that goes with it, is a far higher bar to reach. Infusion of Russian technologies and assistance could help in this regard, but only to a degree. (KCNA) It is unlikely that Pyongyang will ever be able to build these ships in large enough numbers to give their fleet true depth and resiliency in combat, assuming they even stand a shot in a combat scenario at all. Even if multiple frigates are built, they would be tracked and sunk quickly during the opening stages of a conflict. This is especially true considering they could carry standoff weapons with nuclear warheads. Still, they may have enough time to send their long-range weaponry on its way before they reach their demise. Considering the unique weapons configuration we are seeing, that could very well be their point. An ambiguously assured second-strike deterrent. In that framing, this ship is certainly similar to what we have seen as of late from the nuclear-armed Hermit Kingdom. They may be token capabilities, but the fact that they could deliver strategic attacks makes them a threat that must be dealt with. Even the possibility of them getting a single nuclear armed weapon fired off works as its own deterrent value, although a relatively dubious one. Contact the author: Tyler@twz.com A concerning chemical mixture made by a student was found at North Ridge Middle School Friday afternoon, prompting the school to reach out for assistance from the Danville Fire Department and police, according to an email sent out to parents. While there was no immediate danger, the situation was serious enough to involve the schools Behavioral Threat Assessment team and law enforcement. All students and staff remained safe, the email said. The student(s) involved will face disciplinary action as well as possible criminal charges as the investigation continues, according to the email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This incident comes about on the tails of a bout of violence at the middle school this school year, including a fight involving at least 17 students who were disciplined. Amy McCarty, a parent, called on the board to investigate at the last board meeting on April 9 after North Ridge administration failed to inform her of an incident involving her 12-year-old son. Another student strangled him with a computer charger and threw chairs at him, causing the school administration to check him for marks, which they say he did not have. McCarty said the school never told her about the incident, however, and she only learned about it a week later when a North Ridge teacher mentioned it to her in passing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Dean told me she hadnt contacted me because my son said he was fine, McCarty said, adding that her son does not carry the responsibility of deciding whether I, his parent, should be informed after hes been attacked. This is not his job, that is your job. There were 17 pages worth of calls placed to the Danville Police Department for help at North Ridge over the last 2.5 school years, McCarty learned after she filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to Danville Police Department asking for records of police calls, incidents, and responses to the school. Your childs safety is our utmost importance, as the district emphasizes its commitment to maintaining a safe school environment, the Friday email said. An administrator for D118 said they were unable to respond to calls for comment Friday as they were still dealing with the situation, while Danville Police Chief Yates did not respond before press time. PINE LAKE, Wis. (WFRV) The driver of an SUV was hospitalized following a significant crash into multiple trees in northern Wisconsin early Saturday morning. The Pine Lake Fire Rescue shared photos of the incident on its Facebook page, which shows significant damage to the SUV involved in the crash. 18-year-old from De Pere pronounced dead, thrown from motorcycle in crash with vehicle on Ashland Firefighters were first called out to River Road near Oak Drive around 3:30 a.m. on April 26 for reports of a one-vehicle crash with injuries. Pine Lake Fire Rescue Pine Lake Fire Rescue Pine Lake Fire Rescue Pine Lake Fire Rescue Pine Lake Fire Rescue Authorities noted that the driver crashed into multiple trees after leaving the road near the old Pine Lake School. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UTV crash in Waupaca County under investigation, man dies at the scene The driver was taken to a local hospital for treatment. First responders were on the scene for roughly one hour. No additional information was provided. 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. The White House Correspondents' Dinner continued this year without President Trump or a comedian in attendance. This year, several journalists were honored with awards and White House Correspondent Association President Eugene Daniels spoke about the press saying, "we are not the enemy of the people." NEW COVERAGE: My undercover agents are incredibly brave: DEA RMFD on what led up to underground nightclub operation in Colorado Springs UPDATE: TUESDAY 4/29/2025 3:06 p.m. (COLORADO SPRINGS) In an interview with FOX21 News on Tuesday, April 29, DEA RMFD Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen corrected information previously stated in the press conference on Sunday, April 27: So let me just clarify on the Hells Angels. I think I misspoke at the press conference on Sunday. Its a Bandidos motorcycle gang. SUNDAY 4/27/2025 9:51 a.m. In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 27, the Drug Enforcement Administrations Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA RMFD) led an operation at an illegal underground nightclub in Colorado Springs where drug trafficking and prostitution were identified through a months-long investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With the help of 300 law enforcement personnel representing 10 other federal agencies and local partners, including the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) and the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPSO), the DEA RMFD led the operation, which began around 3:45 a.m. on Sunday near South Academy Boulevard and Airport Road. This is an underground, illegal nightclub and what was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence, [and] we seized a number of guns in there, said DEA RMFD Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen. Enrique Palencia, who was inside when police were trying to get inside the building, described the moments leading up to everything happening. I saw the police lights through the window, and I was wondering what was going on, and the moment I was wondering, I just heard a bang on the window, and then they literally just broke the window, Palencia said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palencia added that tear gas was thrown in to try to get everyone out. Of those who were inside, over a dozen active-duty service members were also found at the club, according to Pullen. We had active duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes, and in fact, we had over 100 illegal aliens inside as well, and the illegal aliens were taken into custody by ICE. There were 200 people inside the club at the time of the operation, and while Pullen said many were turned away, others were arrested on outstanding state arrest warrants. As for the active-duty service members, Pullen said his team is working with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). Its obviously concerning to have active-duty military involved; we are working with our partners at Army CID on that piece, he said. Obviously, where we are in the Springs, there are a lot of military bases here, so its not necessarily surprising, but we are going to take that very seriously. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As far as the drugs confiscated during Sundays operation, heres what Pullen had to say: So as you may suspect, when the cops showed up at the door, most of the drugs hit the floor. We did find some cocaine, it looks like some pink cocaine or the tusi, and there was a little bit of other drugs; we havent had time to test everything, but there were dozens of small packages of drugs that they have recovered so far, that I have personally seen. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Over 100 illegal immigrants taken into custody at underground nightclub Pullen said this has been a long-term investigation by the DEA RMFD and several of its federal partners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So we have been working on this underground nightclub for a number of months to identify whats going on here, and again, months-long information about drug trafficking and prostitution happening inside, he said. Through the investigation, Pullen said they were able to identify other groups at the underground nightclub. In our investigation, we have noticed TdA, MS-13, and I believe Hells Angels in this club; I dont have the information about whether those members were there tonight, but we are still working through a lot of that because we have so many people in custody, we are working through the information about whos who, Pullen added. Courtesy: Drug Enforcement Adnimistration Rocky Mountain Field Division Courtesy: Drug Enforcement Adnimistration Rocky Mountain Field Division Courtesy: Drug Enforcement Adnimistration Rocky Mountain Field Division Courtesy: Drug Enforcement Adnimistration Rocky Mountain Field Division After todays operation, Pullen had this message for the community: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DEA is going to continue to work to keep our community safe, no matter what the criticism is. We are not going to accept drug trafficking and prostitution in our cities, and so absolutely, Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning. 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 FOX21 News Colorado. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wants a fellow Republican to end his bid for state lieutenant governor over a nude picture scandalbut the candidate claims hes getting pushed out because of his sexuality. John Reid, the Old Dominion states first openly gay candidate for statewide office, clinched the GOP lieutenant governor nomination over opponent Pat Herrity on Monday, the Washington Post reported. In Virginia, the lieutenant governor is elected independently of the governor. Reid will go on to face a slew of other candidates for the spot in a November election. Yet Reid said his win was short-lived after he got a call from Youngkins office about some lewd photos posted to an old social media account that allegedly matched Reids current social profiles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Tumblr account allegedly featured explicit photos of men and male genitalia, WaPo reported. Although the account was deleted, and Reid denies any association with the account, the political damage has been done, according to Youngkins office. The Governor did call me today and said there were salacious pictures on the internet reposted by an account that uses my Instagram handle, Reid told WaPo. I have now seen the supposed evidence and its not my account, even though theyve used a similar username to what I have on Instagram. As long as I have been in the public space, I have been a target for malicious and salacious lies. This is the second overt attempt to try to force me from the race. Reid also reportedly received a call from a religious activist urging him to drop out of the race over photos of him at a drag show, 4 Washington reported. The Governor was made aware late Thursday of the disturbing online content, Youngkins Spirit of Virginia PAC said in a Friday written statement. ,Friday morning, in a call with Mr. Reid, the Governor asked him to step down as the Lt. Governor nominee. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a video posted to X on Friday, Reid again alleged that he was the victim of a coordinated character assassination attempt. Please watch and listen intently and hear the facts of the matter! Official Statement!!! pic.twitter.com/q5MxSorBZ9 John Reid (@JohnReid4VA) April 25, 2025 Ive been openly gay for 30-plus years. I have not broken the law. Ive told the truth about who I am for 30 years, and Ill do it again now, he said, standing in front of portraits of Youngkin and current Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. As governor, Youngkin is limited to serving one four-year term, and Earle-Sears is running to fill the top spot next. The number of juveniles shot in New York City has surged 15% percent so far this year over last, and has skyrocketed 67% compared to pre-pandemic 2018, according to NYPD data. The number of teen shooters declined by 5% this year so far over last, but rose a dramatic 114% since 2018. At this point in 2018, there were 14 juvenile shooting victims compared to 30 so far in 2025. There were 10 juvenile shooters compared to 18 in those years, respectively, the data through April 20 show. Shery Olivo speaks about her nephew Juan Pena, 18, who was shot and killed in The Bronx in February. James Keivom The teen victims so far this year include Juan Jose Pena, an 18-year-old hoping to join the Navy who was gunned down around 1:25 a.m. Feb. 2 on Park Avenue near East 176th Street in the Bronx, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since his death, his heartbroken mother has taken her three remaining children and fled to the Dominican Republic, his aunt Shery Olivo told The Post. She does not want to come back, Olivo said. She still has three children to take care of. She does not think they are safe here. A 17-year-old was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in Penas death, police said. Cops were hunting for two additional suspects, police said. Juan, posing for a photo before his prom, suffered critical injuries and died the day before he was set to attend his final interview with the U.S. Navy. Obtained by the NY Post Pena, who had no criminal history, had just texted his mother he was on his way home moments before he was cut down, the family said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My nephew died 10 months ago and he did nothing wrong, the aunt said. The person who killed my nephew is still out there in the streets, maybe committing another crime and getting away with it while my sister is crying every single day. I dont think they are doing enough. The NYPD was seeking three males in connection to Penas killing. DCPI Oliva is alarmed about the number of teens being gunned down and carryng guns in the city, she said. When is this going to end? she asked. What are the elected officials doing? Dont they care about whats going on in the city. This is bad . . . its getting worse. We dont have law and order anymore. To mom Yanely Henriquez, the sick statistics brings back the pain she suffered when her 16-year-old honor student daughter, Angellyh Yambo, was fatally shot in 2022 by 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan in the Bronx. The number of teen shooting victims has increased dramatically since 2018, NYPD data shows. DCPI Police tracked suspects in Penas killing by canvassing the area for video. surveillance. DCPI Its unfortunate because it is going to continue to happen every day, she told The Post this week. The elected officials should be doing more. This is alarming. It means more kids are going to die just like my daughter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She would like to take her children and move away too but she wants to stay close to her daughters grave. I wish I could take my kids and go somewhere else but due to my daughter being buried here, Im stuck here, she said. I dont want to stay in New York. My daughter and I were going to move to Florida but we are stuck here, she is buried here. Crime Scene Unit detectives collecting evidence from the home of a susupect in Penas shooting. Tomas E. Gaston She said kids today dont respect the law. I worry when my children go outside, she said. Im always calling. . . its a constant battle. That is something I have to live with for the rest of my life. Retired NYPD Assistant Commissioner of Youth Strategies Kevin OConnor believes Raise the Age legislation that prevents courts from charging suspects under 18 as adults is a major contributor to the increase in shootings among youth. Yanely Henriquez, the mother of 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo, in Bronx Supreme Court, waiting for the sentencing of 18-year-old Jeremiah Ryan. Brigitte Stelzer Angellyh Yambo, 16, was an honor student who was caught in the crossfire with two other students, who were wounded. manuel.yambo/Facebook Youth crime in NYC is only down 4% compared to last year, while overall crime is down 18%, he said. Its basically flat. Its all because of Raise the Age. Nobodys being prosecuted in the juvenile world. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Raise the Age law mandates minors caught with firearms appear in Family Court. Before the law changed, 16- and 17-year-olds were arraigned in criminal court and many of them ended up jailed on Rikers Island. Andre Cumberbatch fires a gun at rival gang members in June 2024, according to officials announcing the arrests of 16 alleged teenaged gangsters in rival East Harlem crews earlier this month. Manhattan DA Part of the problem is that judges arent clued in on a teens prior charges, which has led to rampant recidivism, said OConnor. The judges cant see prior history when a kid is brought before them, OConnor said. You need to empower the judge to make a full determination on the kid in front of them, which they cannot do right now, he said. Then, they can actually save this kid from becoming a career criminal. GAZA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 43 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, the enclave's Civil Defense said on Sunday. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua that eight people, including three children and a woman, were killed when Israeli aircraft struck a tent housing displaced persons near Hamad City, northwest of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. In another attack, an Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinians and wounded several others, some seriously, in Deir-al-Balah in central Gaza, Basal added. He also reported that six people were killed and 20 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a cafe near the entrance to the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip. Basal said that at least four children were killed in an Israeli drone attack on a gathering of children in the town of al-Zawayda in the central Gaza Strip. Eight people, including three children, were killed when Israeli aircraft targeted a gathering of Palestinians in the Tuffah neighborhood, northeast of Gaza City. At least 12 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air and artillery attacks on several homes in the Shuja'iyya, al-Zeitoun, and al-Tuffah neighborhoods, east of Gaza City, according to Basal. The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents yet. Since Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza on March 18, at least 2,151 Palestinians have been killed and 5,598 others injured, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza since the war began in October 2023 to 52,243, with 117,639 people injured, according to health authorities in Gaza on Sunday. At least 11 people were killed and "dozens" of others were injured Saturday as a vehicle plowed into a large crowd at a street festival in Vancouver, officials said, describing it as a "mass casualty incident." "A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene," the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post, later adding, "At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism." Vancouver police identified the suspect as Kai-Ji Adam Lo. The BC Prosecution Service charged him with eight counts of second degree murder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court on Sunday and remains in custody. The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated. The suspect is believed to have acted alone and there is currently no active threat to Canadians, Prime Minister Mark Carney said while delivering short remarks in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday. The suspect had a history of interactions with police and health professionals for mental health reasons, Vancouver Police Interim Chief Constable Steve Rai told reporters Sunday. PHOTO: Police work on Fraser street, near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 26, 2025. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters) "This is the darkest day in our city's history," Rai said. "Last night, as thousands of members of Vancouver's Filipino community gathered for an important cultural celebration, the actions of a single person shattered our collective sense of safety." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Crowds had gathered in the Canadian city to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. A vehicle "drove into a large crowd of people" at the festival in the South Vancouver neighborhood at about 8:14 p.m., police said. "Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time," Sim said, describing the incident as "horrific." The ages of the 11 victims ranged from 5 to 65, according to Rai on Sunday. He also said the number of dead could rise in the coming days or weeks. PHOTO: An ambulance is parked at the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party, where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 26, 2025. (Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters) The block party celebrating Filipino culture and Lapu-Lapu, a national hero of the Philippines, had been scheduled to run through 8 p.m. on Saturday, according to the organizers. Rai said there was a risk assessment conducted before the festival, and there were "no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is hard to make sense of something so senseless," Rai said. Videos from the scene, which were verified by ABC News, appear to show the aftermath of the incident, which happened on a stretch of East 43rd Avenue that had been lined on both sides with food trucks. PHOTO: A police officer keeps watch from a vehicle, two days after a vehicle was driven into a crowd at a Filipino community Lapu Lapu day block party, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada April 28, 2025. (David Ryder/Reuters) The videos appear to show first responders rushing to help the injured between the rows of food trucks. A black SUV can be seen in one video with what appears to be heavy damage to its hood. Police have not yet publicly identified the suspect's vehicle. Carney said he was "devastated by the horrific events" at the festival, adding that at least 20 people were injured in addition to the 11 killed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I extend my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver," he said in a statement. "We are all mourning with you. We are closely monitoring the situation and are grateful to our first responders for their swift action." PHOTO: A message of support for the families of victims is placed on a sidewalk, two days after a vehicle was driven into a crowd at a Filipino community Lapu Lapu day block party, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada April 28, 2025. (David Ryder/Reuters) The investigation is ongoing, Carney added. Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, who spoke at the festival, said he was "horrified to learn of an incident at Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day celebrations that injured and killed innocent people." "As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families -- and Vancouver's Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience," he said in a statement. Victims of the attack include three family members The attack killed three members of one family, relatives told ABC News, leaving a 16-year-old son as the family's only surviving member. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Richard Le, 47, his wife Linh Hoang, 30, and their 5-year-old daughter Katie Le were all killed in the ramming attack. Sixteen-year-old Andy Le -- the son of Richard Le and the stepson of Linh Hoang -- is the only remaining family member. PHOTO: Richard Le (left), his wife Linh Hoang (right) and their daughter Katie Le (center) were killed when a vehicle plowed into a large crowd at a street festival in Vancouver on April 26. (Toan Le) "We would like to thank all the first responders, doctors, nurses, medical staff, police for their incredible work every day," Richard Le's brother, Toan Le, told ABC News. "We are just one of many families that have been impacted by this tragedy. Our hearts go out to all of them. Please cherish your loved ones every day." Richard Le, a real estate professional as well as a badminton and tennis coach, "always went out of his way to help others," the family said. Hoang, who had been planning a visit to see her family in Vietnam, was known for her "kindness and gentle spirit," the family said. Katie Le, their daughter, was just about to graduate kindergarten and was described as "vibrant, joyful and full of life," the family said. At least 11 killed, dozens injured as driver plows into crowd, Vancouver police say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com NEW YORK (PIX11) Some applications for affordable housing lotteries in New York City are set to close by May 1. The listings for the lotteries can be found on NYC Housing Connect, which is the citys online portal for affordable rentals and homes across the five boroughs. Anyone interested in one of the available housing lotteries can apply through NYC Housing Connect. How to apply for affordable housing in NYC Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Heres a list of lotteries that wont be available within the next few days: Bronx 686 Eagle Avenue Apartments Available units and monthly rent: One bedroom for $2,515 and two bedrooms at $2,790 Income eligibility: $86,229 $218,010 Amenities include air conditioning, parking, bike storage and a recreation room Pet-friendly for animals up to 30 lbs. Tenants will have to pay for electricity, including stove, heat and hot water Lottery ends on April 28 91 Bruckner Blvd Apartments Available units and monthly rent: One bedroom for $3,661 and two bedrooms at $4,376 Income eligibility: $125,520 $218,010 Residents have amenities like a garage, fully equipped gym and car charging station Pet-friendly Tenants must pay for electricity, including stove and heat; hot water is included in the rent Lottery ends on April 28 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 2070 Honeywell Avenue Apartments Available units and monthly rent: One bedroom for $2,440, two bedrooms at $2,484 and three bedrooms for $2,762 Income eligibility: $83,658 $218,010 Air conditioning, shared laundry room, recreation room, package lockers, garage and bike storage, elevator and an on-site resident manager are the amenities included in the rent No pets allowed, with exceptions for service animals Tenants are responsible for electricity, stove, heat and hot water Lottery ends on May 1 More Local News Brooklyn Longview Available units and monthly rent: One bedroom for $874, 1,374 or $2,125 Two bedrooms for $1,031, $1,631 or $2,532 Rent for tenants is based on the areas median income Income eligibility: $35,589 $150,930 Included amenities are a rooftop terrace, gym, dog run, media and cinema room, gaming lounge, private workspaces, childrens playroom, parking, bike storage, a pet grooming station and more Pet policy is one dog per unit, with breed restrictions Residents are required to pay for electricity, including stove and heat; hot water included in the rent Lottery ends on April 28 The Brighton Available units and monthly rent: Studio for $2,199, one bedroom at $2,499 and two bedrooms for $2,999 Income eligibility: $75,395 $218,010 Tenants have access to an in-unit washer and dryer, air conditioning, garage parking, outdoor spaces and two terraces One pet is allowed with a weight limit of 25 lbs. Tenants pay for electricity, including stove, hot water and heat Lottery ends on April 30 Queens 95-25 Waltham Street Apartments Available units and monthly rent: Studio for $1,757, one bedroom at $1,875 and two bedrooms for $2,232 Income eligibility: $65,109 $134,160 Available amenities include a patio, washers/dryers available for purchase, a recreational room, a gym, a terrace, storage, garage and bike storage and laundry services Pet policy is only service animals allowed as an exception Residents pay for electricity including stove and heat; hot water included in the rent Lottery ends on April 28 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The citys Department of Housing Preservation and Development recently announced changes to affordable housing lotteries. Apartments that become available when someone moves out can now be listed on HPDs website or other popular rental portals, allowing applicants to skip the affordable housing application altogether. Erin Pflaumer is a digital content producer from Long Island who has covered both local and national news since 2018. She joined PIX11 in 2023. See more of her 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 PIX11. CHICAGO An off-duty police officer from a department outside of Chicago fired her weapon as someone trespassed onto her Chicago property early Saturday morning. Chicago police said the incident happened in the 6900 block of West Foster Avenue in Union Ridge on the citys Northwest Side. Man charged in Chicago fire that killed fire captain denied pre-trial release The off-duty officer, identified as a 29-year-old woman, called to report someone trespassing on her property before firing her weapon, according to investigators. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police said no injuries were reported and responding officers took a male suspect into custody. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines The 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 WGN-TV. The Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is requiring fishers to kill any chain pickerel and smallmouth bass they catch, according to Cottage Life. The move is an attempt to curb ballooning populations of the invasive species. The mandatory retention order covers the entire Canadian province for chain pickerel, while smallmouth bass must be humanely euthanized in the northeast of Nova Scotia. "We're trying to protect sportfishing in the province," said Jason LeBlanc, director of the Inland Fisheries Division, per Cottage Life. "Our highest priority is protecting remaining native populations of brook trout and Atlantic salmon." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the open season is good news for anglers, sportfishing is exactly what brought smallmouth bass to the area in the first place. They were introduced to Nova Scotia in 1942 and had 13 authorized introductions until 1984. Alongside the chain pickerel, it has been predating and outcompeting native species. This is a common occurrence for invasive species of all types. They're frequently introduced to new areas by human activity. Without the usual checks and balances of their native habitats, invasive species quickly propagate. By monopolizing local resources, invasives force out native species, resulting in a decline in biodiversity and a loss of vital ecosystem services. One report estimates that invasive species worldwide are responsible for $400 billion in economic costs annually. Regulators are hopeful that the retention order will curb chain pickerel and smallmouth bass populations in Nova Scotia. Anyone caught putting either of these fish back in the water faces a $180 fine, while introducing invasives to new areas will result in at least a $100,000 fine. "The negative impacts can be quite drastic and are, more often than not, irreversible," LeBlanc said, per Cottage Life. "It goes beyond just fish and fisheries to broader biological and ecological impacts." 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. FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to 30 years for charges of rape and sexual assault involving multiple Fort Smith teenagers, according to court documents. Dustin Rust, 29 (COURTESY: Sebastian County Sheriffs Office) Dustin Rust, 29, of Muldrow, Oklahoma, received the sentence on April 24 in connection with two separate incidents that occurred in 2023 and 2024. In addition to the 30-year prison term for rape, Rust was given a 10-year suspended sentence on the rape count and a six-year prison sentence for fourth-degree sexual assault, according to court documents. The two prison terms will run concurrently. Case background A Fort Smith mothers report to police in Sept. 2023 detailed multiple sexual encounters involving Dustin Rust and three teenagers, according to a probable cause affidavit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police interviews with the teens revealed two specific incidents. The first occurred in Fort Smith between April and May 2023, when Rust subjected a victim under 15 to sexual activity. More than 70 percent of Arkansans dont have REAL IDs. Can they still fly after the May deadline? A second incident took place in June 2024 at Rusts Fort Smith residence, where the same victim again subjected to a sexual act by Rust. Three teens were present during this encounter, including an additional minor who Rust sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. Rust was arrested by Fort Smith police in November 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Apr. 26Growing up, Ilham Uddin Hussaini used to chase kites with his friends in Afghanistan to escape the realities of a war he didn't really understand. Today, he's chasing a long-held dream of owning a business and providing for his family through a local restaurant that offers a taste of home. Afghan Kebab House, an eatery serving authentic Afghan cuisine in the heart of Downtown Albuquerque, opened earlier this month. Located near the corner of Gold and Third SW, the restaurant serves everything from kebabs to mantu (an Afghan dumpling) and qabuli palow, also known as kabuli pulao (a national Afghan dish featuring rice, caramelized raisins and carrots, and lamb or beef). "I always wanted to have something of my own and to be able to comfortably go home and provide," Hussaini said. "... I'm blessed, to be honest. I love it every part of it." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hussaini, 26, was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan, where his brother served as an interpreter and translator for U.S. troops. His brother came to the U.S. and established roots in New Mexico about four years before Hussaini, his parents and seven siblings made the move in 2016. Hussaini, who was 18 when he came to the U.S., completed high school in Afghanistan but had two options after moving to the U.S.: go through high school again or earn his GED. "I chose to go through high school, even though I was 18. When I graduated, I was 20 years old," said Hussaini. "It did help me to learn English and be able to communicate." The restaurant owner went on to obtain an associate degree in business from Central New Mexico Community College in December. Shortly after, Hussaini, inspired by a lack of authentic Afghan restaurants in Albuquerque, started looking for locations to open an eatery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We do have a couple of places here, but they're more Persian style," Hussaini said. "I wanted to build something authentic with a proper Afghani style." Hussaini found the Downtown spot at 218 Gold SW in March, "instantly fell in love with the place" and signed a lease for three years. The roughly 2,600-square-foot space seats up to 50 people, Hussaini said, through table seating, stool seating and even floor seating for those who want to enjoy their meal Afghani style: crisscross with shoes off. The space is adorned with urban decor and art reflecting Afghan culture. One wall painting features buzkashi, a traditional Central Asian sport played by Hussaini's father, who died two years ago. Hussaini and a friend, Steven Perez, painted the tribute to his father. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A kite also hangs in the space a reminder of where Hussaini came from and the friends who lost parents in the war and joined him in kite-chasing their worries away. "Those little details, it really matters. People really appreciate it, especially in my Afghan community," Hussaini said. Jewelry made by Hussaini's family and women in Afghanistan line one of the restaurant's walls. Hussaini said Afghan Kebab House sends all the proceeds from its jewelry sales to those women, many of whom are widowed or cannot leave the house or conduct business under the rule of the Taliban, which recaptured Kabul after U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. Hussaini said one $40 jewelry sale can feed a family in Afghanistan for two weeks. The dream, Hussaini said, is to roll out a more expansive menu as he hires more help and to open another location. In the meantime, Hussaini is undergoing what many new business owners know as the startup grind a grueling but rewarding process. "As a kid, I was just kind of wanting to get rich to help my family and people around me," Hussaini said. "Now, I'm understanding it's not about being super rich. If have leftovers and I see a homeless person or somebody else, I can give them food, and that's how I can feel like I'm rich, and happy." ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW) The Elyria Police Department is investigating a shooting in the city that happened Sunday morning. According to Elyria police, the shooting happened in the 1000 block of Melvyn Lane around 11:15 a.m. Two Jefferson Area elementary schools closed due to rash outbreak When officers arrived at the scene, they found several witnesses at the home. The suspect, a 24-year-old Elyria resident, was found and arrested, police said. A firearm was also recovered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly after the arrest, a 42-year-old man arrived at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center with a gunshot wound, police said. Man jumps from third story apartment in Canton as building goes up in flames Preliminary information indicates that a domestic disturbance occurred at the premises shortly before the shooting, police said in a Sunday press release. Detectives are continuing to investigate all aspects of the incident, including whether self-defense may have been a factor. The 42-year-old shooting victim was eventually taken to University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, where he is listed as stable, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This 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 8 Cleveland WJW. ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (WNCT) The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has been requested by the Elizabeth City State University Police Department to assist with a shooting incident that occurred on campus. Around 12:30 a.m. today, a shooting took place, resulting in one fatality and at least five others injured. The injured individuals were transported to a local medical center for treatment. The SBI is asking for the publics help in this case. If anyone has any information, videos or pictures at the event, please contact the SBI at 919-662-4500 or the ECSU PD at 252-335-3266. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WNCT. One person was killed and seven others were hospitalized Saturday after a U-Haul truck that was trying to escape from law enforcement crashed, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Four vehicles and two pedestrians were involved in the chain-reaction collision that happened at about 4:55 p.m. in Charleston County, said Lance Cpl. Brittany Glover. The initial collision involved a 2014 U-Haul box truck whose driver was trying to get away from members of the North Charleston Police Department, according to Glover. Information about why the U-Haul was being chased was not available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U-Haul was driving north in a southbound lane on Meeting Street as it led the pursuit, Glover said. Near the intersection with Reid Street in downtown Charleston the U-Haul hit two pedestrians then veered into a northbound lane where it crashed into a 2022 Mercedes-Benz sedan, according to Glover. The Mercedes-Benz then collided with a Honda motorcycle that then crashed into a 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe, Glover said. There were two riders on the motorcycle, and one of them died at the scene, according to Glover. The Charleston County Coroners Office has not publicly identified the motorcycle rider who died. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The other motorcycle rider, along with one of the two people in the U-Haul, all three occupants in the Mercedes-Benz and both pedestrians were hurt and taken to area hospitals, Glover said. Further information on their conditions was not available. Glover said neither of the people in the Chevy were hurt, and no other injuries were reported. No arrests have been reported, and the incident that led to the chase is being investigated by police, according to Glover. The Highway Patrol is investigating the crash. Through April 20, at least 234 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2025, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, at least 948 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported. At least 15 people have died in Charleston County crashes in 2025, according to DPS data. There were 50 deaths in the county in 2024, DPS reported. Hong Kong gears up for Labor Day holiday Xinhua) 13:50, April 27, 2025 HONG KONG, April 26 (Xinhua) -- As the Labor Day holiday of the Chinese mainland approaches, it is expected that 840,000 mainland visitors will travel to Hong Kong during this period, with various units in the city actively preparing to welcome visitors. This year's Labor Day holiday runs for five consecutive days, from May 1 to May 5, during which Hong Kong is expected to become even busier than usual. China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Friday held a meeting of the interdepartmental working group on festival arrangements to coordinate and steer the preparatory work of various government departments for welcoming visitors to Hong Kong during the Labor Day holiday. The HKSAR government estimated a notable increase in visitor arrivals during the Labor Day holiday and will make good preparations for receiving visitors. It will maintain close coordination with relevant organizations and the tourism sector to ensure effective crowd management, information dissemination, arrangements of public transportation and boundary control points. Measures are ready to address various kinds of emergencies promptly. According to the Immigration Department of the HKSAR government's estimate, around 5.71 million passengers, including Hong Kong residents and visitors, will pass through Hong Kong's sea, land and air control points during this year's Labor Day holiday. In terms of mainland inbound visitors, the Immigration Department estimated that around 840,000 passengers will visit Hong Kong via various sea, land and air control points during the five-day holiday. Compared with last year's Labor Day holiday and this year's Chinese New Year holiday, the daily average visitor arrivals are expected to increase by 10 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Major tourist attractions in Hong Kong have formulated special arrangements to accommodate the estimated increase in people flows. The Travel Industry Authority has reminded travel agents receiving mainland inbound tour groups to adopt appropriate diversion measures to enable proper management of visitor flows and tour buses, with a view to offering a pleasant travel experience to visitors. A joint interdepartmental command center, comprising the Police Force, Immigration Department, Hong Kong Customs, and other relevant departments, will be activated from May 1 to May 5 to monitor real-time situations at various control points. The center will maintain close communication with mainland port authorities through established hotlines and real-time notification mechanisms, allowing for swift responses and adjustments while ensuring smooth operations at control points. During the holiday, the Tourism Industry Authority will patrol areas with registered shops frequented by inbound tour groups and assist travelers and tour guides to safeguard their rights. Additionally, the police will continue to step up enforcement actions against any illegal acts of taxi drivers, including overcharging and refusing hires. The customs will intensify inspections of shops serving visitors to combat unfair trade practices. The HKSAR government hoped to ensure the smooth operation of various aspects in receiving visitors and offering a high-quality experience to them while bringing opportunities to various sectors. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) GAZA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A Hamas delegation met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday in the Qatari capital Doha over the latest developments in the Gaza Strip. Hamas said in a press statement that the delegation was headed by Muhammad Darwish, head of Hamas' Shura Council, and the meeting discussed "the grave developments in the humanitarian situation in Gaza, with the continued crime of starvation and the prevention of food aid from entering Gaza by Israel." It added that the delegation briefed Hakan on the latest developments regarding the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the delegation's recent visit to Cairo. The statement indicated that the Hamas leadership is conducting a series of visits and political meetings to discuss the vision it presented to mediators to reach a comprehensive deal that includes a ceasefire, prisoner exchange, aid relief, and reconstruction. On Saturday, a high-ranking Hamas delegation visited Cairo to hold meetings with Egyptian officials regarding the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas said in a statement Saturday evening that the movement held "intensive talks and consultations with Egyptian officials, addressing the efforts being made to achieve a ceasefire and end the aggressive war against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip." Israel has halted the entry of all humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 2, and resumed deadly air and ground assaults on the enclave on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Detectives are investigating after a man was shot on East 4th Street Sunday afternoon. Dayton Police were called to the 3200 block of East 4th Street (near Hedges Street) around 1:40 p.m. Sunday on a report that someone had been shot. Upon arrival, officers located the man, who was transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Officers blocked off the entire intersection with crime scene tape. Dayton Police even brought in a K-9 unit from Huber Heights to help search the area for any evidence or possible suspects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After spending a few hours on scene, the streets were finally reopened around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. As of late Sunday, no suspect was in custody. Investigators are still working to figure out exactly what led up to the shooting. Detectives from the Dayton Police Departments Homicide Unit are actively investigating the incident. A local business owner a street over from the scene of the shooting told 2 NEWS that hearing about the incident doesnt surprise him or make him feel more concerned for his safety because similar situations have been happening so often. 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. Fifty years ago this month, a plane carrying about 300 people out of war-torn Vietnam crashed just after takeoff, killing nearly half of its passengers, most of whom were Vietnamese children. Mia Oddo was supposed to be on that flight. I was missing paperwork, said Oddo, a 50-year-old who now lives in Boynton Beach. That saved my life. Oddo, an infant at the time, wound up on the second flight of what came to be known as Operation Babylift. It was a U.S. government effort to rapidly evacuate thousands of Vietnamese orphans from South Vietnam as the Vietnam War neared its end. Operation Babylift of 1975 flew 3,300 children out of Vietnam to be adopted in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. The war in Vietnam had been going on for 19 years and anti-war sentiment was growing, when in early April 1975, President Ford announced that money from a $2 million special foreign aid children's fund would be used to fly the displaced South Vietnamese children to the United States and other Western countries. But the first of the missions flights out of Saigon crashed 12 minutes after takeoff due to a catastrophic failure of the aircrafts rear cargo door. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The doors locks failed, and it opened, along with a section of the planes loading ramp, and separated mid-flight, causing explosive decompression. Of the roughly 300 passengers onboard, more than 130 died, including 78 children. Mia Oddo was one of the more than 3,300 babies airlifted out of South Vietnam in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, in what came to be known as Operation Babylift. I've always wondered from an early age, Why was my life saved? Oddo said. Why was I one of the babies that wasn't on that first plane? The American family who wanted to adopt her thought she was on that flight. Her mother, Christy, was a realtor and had her own clothing store at the local mall in Boca Raton. Her father, Edward, worked as an attorney, except during a period when he and Christy ran a bed-and-breakfast. Theyd been waiting two years to adopt her and were distraught when they heard the news of the crash, Oddo said. Her father called all over Washington and Vietnam until an American official told him that, because her paperwork was incomplete, she hadn't boarded that flight. Instead, shed be on the next flight to the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was 4 months old, Oddo said. But I weighed 6 pounds. I had malnutrition. Upon landing, Oddo had pneumonia in both lungs and couldnt properly breathe. She spent her first week with her parents in the hospital under the care of five doctors. Birth certificate says 'Vietnamese, parents unknown' Mia Oddo in a portrait at her home in Boynton Beach on April 2. Oddo grew up in Boca Raton with a melting pot of a family. Her mother was German and her father Italian. She grew up with an older sister and two brothers also from Vietnam who were adopted 15 years after she was. Her parents, now retired, live in Palm Coast, about 30 miles north of Daytona Beach. Her siblings live there too. Her birth name is Thi My Quy. To keep part of it, her parents made Thi her middle name. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though she was raised as an American, Oddo knew from a young age that shed been adopted from Vietnam. I was 6 years old when I understood what it meant to be adopted and that I was different, she said. But my parents and my family never treated me that way. Growing up in South Florida was difficult. She was the only Asian student at her school for most of her childhood. Shed get bullied for her looks, Oddo said. Still, she counted the adoption as a blessing. It didnt feel like I was abandoned, Oddo said. It felt like I was chosen. However, as I got older, I wanted to learn more about my nationality. Mia Oddo, of Boynton Beach, was raised in Boca Raton by a German mother and an Italian father. She grew up with an older sister and two brothers who were adopted 15 years after she was. Were her birth parents still alive? Did she have any living relatives? She didnt know, but they were valid questions. Operation Babylift had its share of detractors some headlines asked, Babylift or babysnatch? and The Orphans: Saved or Lost? according to news accounts of the times. The children's paperwork and identification, even their status as orphans, were questioned and the subject of a failed lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For many, like Oddo, tracking lost family seemed impossible. Her birth certificate offered little information. All it says is Nationality, Vietnamese, parents, unknown,' and that I was somehow able to be adopted out of the country. The advent of relative tracking by DNA changed all that. And was waiting for Oddo five years ago when she tried to seek her roots. She took an ancestry test that linked her to some cousins, and then she met one of them on a cruise about three years later. There were 500 people in our group, Oddo said. I was sitting down, and this pretty lady comes and sits next to me, and we just start talking. Naturally, everyone has a story, so we start sharing stories. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It turns out that she, too, was Vietnamese, and that her mother had been on the same flight to America as Oddo. The woman had also just taken an ancestry test and was awaiting her results. She told Oddo shed call her in about two weeks, when they came in. We were just joking, Oddo said. Two weeks later, she calls me, and we're related. She is my cousin. 'I've always wondered, 'do I have a brother or a sister?' Oddo was able to meet some of her cousins family members at a Thanksgiving afterward, but no one directly related to her. So, the search continued. I've always wondered, Did I have a brother or sister, and we got separated? Oddo said. It would be pretty amazing if I did have a sibling. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This year, she set up a fundraising page givebutter.com/helpmiagohome. Her hope is to return to Vietnam for the first time since she left and try to answer these questions. There is a chance my birth parents or siblings have spent decades wondering what happened to me just as I have wondered about them, she said. I dream of looking into their eyes, hearing their voices, and understanding the story of how I came to be on that plane. RELATED: Imagine every stereotype of the Vietnam veteran. Then throw them all away and meet Glenn Mize. RELATED: 'We brought them joy': Jupiter High marching band performs in Hawaii at Vietnam vets parade Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shed want to visit local orphanages to deliver supplies, too, she said. And learn about her culture, its food and Vietnams mountainsides. Fifty years later, she said, I still search for pieces of my identity, for roots that were severed too soon." Oddo, a lifelong Floridian, has found what she called her lifes purpose in healing. Shes been self-employed as a medical esthetician for the past 19 years and runs her own spa, Mias Spa, out of her home in Boynton Beach. She is one of the more than 3,300 babies who ended up being airlifted out of Vietnam on military cargo planes before the fall of Saigon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If I wasnt adopted, Id be dead, Oddo said. I was really one of the lucky ones. Jasmine Fernandez is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Operation Babylift: A Boynton Vietnamese womans remarkable story America currently faces an existential question: Who are we? Recent attacks on individual liberty put the health and soul of our nation in jeopardy. Liberal democratic republics like the United States are founded on a commitment to individuals. The commitment to individuals is plain in The Declaration of Independence, with its assertion that We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Government founded on an inviolable commitment to individuals signified a new type of government one that was restrained and could not idly compromise individual rights for the whims of a ruler or even the good of the whole. If it worked, it would mean citizens could pursue their interests without fear of tyrannical or capricious government intervention. It was a bold idea. Would it work? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The question raised by many observers was whether such a government could sustain the cohesion of society. Would commitment to individual rights lead to chaotic fragmentation? The French sociologist Emile Durkheim did not think so. He argued that liberal democracies are held together by their shared commitment to individuals. He described this commitment as a kind of religion, in which society takes the individual as something sacred: Whoever makes an attempt on a mans life, on a mans liberty, on a mans honor inspires us with a feeling of horror, in every way analogous to that which the believer experiences when he sees his idol profaned. Thus, Durkheim argues, whoever defends the rights of the individual, defends at the same time the vital interests of society; for he is preventing the criminal impoverishment of that final reserve of collective ideas and sentiments that constitutes the very soul of the nation. Let us suppose that we fail in this endeavor. This is not difficult because our own history is replete with both successes and failures. Americas founders secured liberty for many but not for the enslaved (4 million in the South during the Civil War). Constitutional protections did not protect Native Americans who were forced from their lands. During World War II, Americans bravely fought the Axis powers, while forcing Japanese Americans into internment camps. Given our mixed record, is it any wonder we are a divided nation? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If we fail in our sacred commitment to individuals, what holds us together, and what do we become? The answer is sobering. We become a nation without shared values. We become a nation that believes in freedom only for some. And who are these fortunate souls? Those who hold power. They use their power to protect their own while allowing the rights of others to be compromised whenever convenient. If this sounds dramatic, consider the writings of non-white Americans for whom the promise of liberty was only a dream. During Jim Crow segregation, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, the democracy which the white world seeks to defend does not exist. It has been splendidly conceived and discussed, but not realized. In a similar vein, Langston Hughes lamented that America was never America to me. For these Americans, America was a splendid yet unrealized promise. Today we see the executive branch attacking individual liberties. Legal residents are being deported to international prisons without just cause. International students are having their visas revoked for exercising their First Amendment Rights or minor violations like speeding or fishing without a license. American citizens are being arrested by immigration officers, despite committing no crime. To top it off, the president has floated the idea of deporting American citizens who commit crimes. Thus, as Americans, we again face the question: Who are we? Are we a people who truly hold our founding principles sacred, or are we a nation of egoists who will tolerate injustice as long as we get ours? Now is our opportunity not only to correct injustice, but to heal our nation by reaffirming our shared commitment to the sacred ideals which hold us together. Let us be the America worth believing in. The resignation of the executive producer of one of the most venerated news shows in the United States marks yet another notch in MAGAs belt. It wont be the last, with President Trump on the warpath and media conglomerates cowering to avoid retribution. And more ominously, it shows that these attempts to rule over corporate overlords by fear are working. In a parting statement to staff, 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens lamented his diminishing abilityafter nearly forty years as an effective and beloved bossto make independent news judgments about what airs on the long running show. Pointedly, he cited interference from network executives into practices that have apparently impeded its long-standing reputation for destination news reporting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In October 2024, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS alleging bias and claiming that a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris had been deceptively edited to make herhis then-rival in the 2024 presidential electionappear coherent and decisive. (The crux of his complaint was that different edits of a quote Harris gave in the interview were used in different contexts.) Trump has since doubled that amount to $20 billion, adding his displeasure over recent reports about the war in Ukraine and his attempts to take over Greenland. CBS has sought to dismiss the suit as groundless, citing the First Amendment, but there are also efforts underway to settle. Most legal analysts think that, if the case ever reached a courtroom, Trump wouldnt have a leg to stand on. But thats not the point. It isnt about an interview with Kamala Harris any more than the fight with Harvard is about antisemitism, said Jonah Blank, a former senior editor with U.S. News. Its about asserting dominance. President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2025. / SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images The current contretemps is also fueled by the potential sale of Paramount Global, which owns CBS, to Skydance Media, a $28 billion merger that would shake up the media landscape. The FCCs Trump-appointed chairman, Brendan Carr, has yet to sign off on the deal, which is more about the power and money at stake than any high-minded journalistic principles. (Carr has opened an investigation into CBS and the selective editing of the 60 Minutes Harris interview. Hes also investigating ABC News for how it fact-checked in real time the Trump-Harris debate and NBC for whether it violated equal-time provisions by having Harris on Saturday Night Live doing the cold open just days before the election.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bill Owens is showing us what we already knew, that Trump is successfully bullying the news mediaand as long as media organizations are a small piece of larger conglomerates, we are going to see this happen again and again and again, Blank added. Whats happening at 60 Minutes has indeed already happened at ABC, when the network bowed and settled a multi-million suit with Trump after anchor George Stephanopoulos falsely stated Trump had been convicted of rape. (The correct term is sexual abuse.) Follow the money, and the dominoes fall. Take the once proud Washington Post, which brought down President Nixon for corrupt behavior; the paper led the charge to shift its editorial policies to conform to billionaire owner Jeff Bezos concerns about free markets, rather than to stand on the side of those warning of the slide toward dictatorshipand that democracy dies in darkness. I have been made aware of interference in our news processes, and calling into question our judgement, long-time 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl said in an interview with Variety. That is not the way that companies that own news organizations should be acting. She hopes the meaningand the impactof Owens sacrifice reaches their bosses. We have a reputation to uphold, she told Variety. Its one of the reasons that CBS News is valuable. Its what 60 Minutes stands for, and we cant lose that, Stahl continued. We cant afford to lose that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But so much has been lost already that it will take a long time to regain the publics trust. Whatever happens next, 60 Minutes has joined a long and growing list of Trump capitulators. There is no end to Trumps real and imagined grievances, and now that he has the power to redress past and present wounds to his ego, theres more to come. He cant let anything go. Neither can those hes squaring up against. Since it was launched and started operations in 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered many secrets and the beauty of the universe. The telescope may well have outdone itself by revealing evidence of life on a world about 120 light years from Earth. NASA states that the world in question is K2-18b, a super Earth exoplanet that orbits an M-type star. Its mass is 8.92 Earths, it takes 32.9 days to complete one orbit of its star, and is 0.1429 [astronomical units] from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2015. An M-type star is also known as a Red Dwarf. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Space.com, the James Webb Space Telescope found indications of dimethyl sulfide in K2-18bs atmosphere using two of its specialized instruments. In a separate study, the telescope used a third instrument, which also detected the substance. On Earth, dimethyl sulfide is most often created by phytoplankton and other marine microbes. K2-18b is thought to harbor a huge ocean. The possible discovery on K2-18b is not the first time the James Webb Space Telescope may have uncovered evidence of extraterrestrial life. In September 2023, the telescope picked up indications of carbon dioxide on Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter that has a subsurface ocean. The presence of carbon dioxide points to animal life in the subsurface ocean exhaling the gas, which is finding its way to the surface through vents in the moons ice layer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not everyone is convinced that the telescope has discovered indications of actual alien life. According to Ars Technica, some scientists have raised doubts. They are based on three questions. First, is K2-18b a super-Earth with a large ocean? It might have a magma ocean, which would make it too hot to contain life. Or it might be a gas dwarf world, also unlikely to harbor life. Second, the signal may not actually be dimethyl sulfide. The Ars Technica story says that dimethyl sulfide is, the best fit out of the 20 chemicals considered in this paper, but that there are a whole host of other chemicals that could plausibly be produced on a planet like this that werent included in this analysis. Finally, a number of chemical processes exist that can create dimethyl sulfide that dont involve organic matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When, if at all, will we know for sure whether or not life exists on K2-18b? Perhaps we may never know. At the very least, confirmation resides far in the future, though one future planned space telescope might garner more data. Discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope and its sister Hubble telescope confirm the absolute folly of the proposed White House Office of Management and Budget cuts in NASAs science programs. The Artemis program to send astronauts back to the moon, then to Mars and beyond, remains a priority. But Artemis is not the only thing the space agency can or should do. Scientific American notes that the next great space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman, is on the chopping block. The telescope is completed and nearly ready for launch and deployment in 2027. Its two main goals are to study dark energy and to continue to search for exoplanets such as K2-18b. The Nancy Roman Space Telescope is also a prototype for the great space observatory after it, called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which will look for signs of life in the atmospheres of exoplanets like K2-18b. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hopefully, considering the universal condemnation of the proposed hacking and slashing of NASAs science programs, the office will think again before issuing its final budget proposals. Barring a last-minute rise in common sense in the executive branch, Congress should be moved to restore the budget cuts. The answer to the high cost of space exploration and science is better management and not mindless budget cutting. The speedy confirmation of Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator is very important for that to happen. If the federal government will not restore the cuts out of a recognition that scientific discoveries have inherent value, then geopolitics may push the bureaucrats and politicians to reason. Just as the U.S. cant have the Chinese beating it back to the moon, the country should not tolerate its main international enemy discovering life on other worlds, not to mention all the other discoveries waiting to be made out there, because it has abandoned space science. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That honor should be reserved for the U.S. and its allies. Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond , and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. 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. What if I were to tell you that not long ago maybe 30 or 40 years in the past there was a political party in America ideologically devoted to protecting the rule of law, restricting the power of the executive branch and limiting the intrusion of the federal government into the free market. This same party was supportive of free trade, immigration, a strong national defense and muscular internationalism. Could you figure out which party I was describing? Those too young to have come of age in the era of Ronald Reagan will likely be surprised to discover that Im talking about the Republican Party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The makeover of the modern Republican Party into the cult devoted To Donald Trump is not a new story. But, in the context of the presidents current trade war, the evolution of the Republican Party (some might say devolution) from an ideologically conservative party to one defined, from a policy perspective, largely by economic and social populism is one of the most extraordinary party transformations in modern political history. True story: Two generations ago, the Republican Party was the party of free trade, and the Democrats were the party of protectionism. The latter is still evident in the reluctance of some Democratic politicians to criticize Trumps imposition of tariffs. Republicans voiced a clear preference for stability, predictability, and tradition, along with an aversion to radicalism. The DOGE philosophy of move fast and break things might have caused William F. Buckley to roll over in his grave. The GOPs actual practice of conservatism has always been, to put it mildly, inconsistent. Self-described conservative Republican presidents never actually shrank the size of government, often intervened in the economy, generally expanded the powers of the president, and frequently infringed on political and personal freedom. But the gap between conservative rhetoric and the reality of Trumps second term has reached Grand Canyon-like proportions. Over the past month, Trump, the GOP standard bearer for three straight elections, has arguably meddled more aggressively in the U.S. economy than any president of any party in American history. In the process, hes fostered the kind of economic and political uncertainty that Republicans used to rail against. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This week, when asked by Time Magazine about the status of trade talks with China, Trump said, I am this giant store. Its a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and Ill say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay. Its hard to imagine a statement more anathema to Republicans oft-stated belief in the efficacy of the free market. A party that long railed against the government picking economic winners and losers is supporting a president who is doing precisely that. Indeed, the haphazard nature of Trumps trade war is allowing well-connected companies to successfully lobby the government to ensure their products are exempted from tariffs. First, it was Apple and semiconductor companies who coaxed an exemption for their goods out of Trump. Next, after companies like Walmart and Target warned of empty shelves at their stores, Trump said the current 145% tariffs on Chinese goods will soon come down substantially. Then there are the less well-known companies, such as manufacturers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin, which is used to make plastic bottles. They received a tariff exemption for reasons that are unclear. However, ProPublica reports that the exemption is a win for Reyes Holdings, a Coca-Cola bottler that ranks among the largest privately held companies in the U.S. and is owned by a pair of brothers who have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes. Records show the company recently hired a lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump White House to make its case on tariffs (Neither Reyes Holdings, its lobbyists nor the White House responded to ProPublicas questions). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The seeking of exemptions is so ripe for corruption that even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page called the process the Beltway Swamps dream. Welcome to the new tariff economy, says the papers editorial board, where you still pay onerous taxes, endure punishing regulation, and now must also navigate the political minefield of arbitrary tariffs. Its no surprise that the Journals editorial writers would advocate for free-market economic policies. Theyve been doing that for years. Whats different now is that the rhetorical fealty to conservative ideology that once defined the Republican Party no longer exists. The Journal once stood at the forefront of the GOPs governing philosophy in 2025, its been left in the dust. Dictating to private universities what they can teach, denying due process, thumbing its nose at court orders, and the rule of law all of these Trump policies should be anathema to conservatives. The party that once described America as a shining city on a hill and trumpeted Americas global leadership role has now become a virtual handmaiden of Vladimir Putin and a party of belligerent isolationists. Trumps GOP bears more similarities to the Republican Party of the 1920s and 30s, rather than the Republican Party of the past 70 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The irony of all this is that much of what Trump is doing in office is what Republicans said would result from overbearing, big government and an executive branch unchecked by norms and laws or, in simpler terms, from electing Democrats. In its fealty to Trump the Republican Party has become the governing monster that it once warned Americans about. Republicans still define themselves as conservatives, but they have discarded any notion of actual conservatism. The GOP is the party of Trump and defined not by ideology, but rather clownish cultism. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com I was going to let the latest evidence of rampant incompetence in the Trump Administration pass me by without comment. But after listening and reading so many indefensible explanations for the inclusion of a journalist on an unclassified text stream of a highly classified discussion around the March 15 U.S. attack on Yemen, I feel a need to offer some hard truths to those who may actually buy the total pile of BS being spewed from the White House press office and directly from the principals involved. Not that it shouldnt be common sense that events that led to Jeff Goldberg being in on a briefing of this nature were a gross security breach, my opinions here are based on the fact that I served for a year on the Air Force staff in the Pentagon with one of my primary responsibilities being to coordinate the Air Force portion of the annual review of this nations Global War Plans. I know what a war plan is and at what level these things are classified. The only truth I have heard from Hegseth or the White House is that in the strictest semantic definition of a war plan they are correct, the discussion on the text stream was not a war plan. That is where fact ends. The contentions that the details of the attack plan that were discussed did not constitute a classified briefing is so outrageous on its face as to be better scripted for a Saturday Night Live skit than for an official explanation from the White House or Pentagon. Trumps contention that he did not know about the leak is equally unbelievable. If that is in fact the case, the entire press office of the White House should be fired. There is no world I know of in which the president of the United States is not told immediately that a top secret discussion of an attack on a foreign country inadvertently included a journalist, never mind that he is a journalist with no security clearance. Rolling out the tried and true Trump defense of character assassination of the messenger rather than dealing seriously with the message does not cover up the fact that this entire episode from the use of a non-secure messaging app to discuss top secret national security plans, to including a seemingly random journalist to the party, to acknowledging the reported text stream was authentic, to then issuing bizarrely pre-school level excuses and attacking the journalist rather than admitting to the security failure and committing to finding out what happened to prevent a repeat performance, is nothing more complicated than incompetence at every level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another comical line of reasoning first rolled out by the National Security spokesman and then repeated by House Speaker Johnson was that the text stream demonstrated national security professionals having thoughtful discussions about an operation that would lead to recommendations to the president. It was a discussion of a top secret operation taking place on an unclassified commercial messaging service that included a totally unvetted journalist that wasnt even known to be on the stream until he asked a question during the discussion. They are trying to pass this off as a non-issue and slapping themselves on the back for great interagency coordination. This was an arguably criminal mishandling of classified information. The fact that Hegseth confirms on the stream that All is clear on OPSEC screams the ineptitude with which this entire discussion was planned and executed. Lets not forget this is coming less than a week after Hegseth said the Pentagon was going on a search and destroy mission to find out who leaked the alleged China War Plan briefing to co-president Musk. More: Opinion: Hegseth military security breach on Signal shows hypocrisy of Republican Party I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. This was a major breach of security protocol. No messaging from the White House Press podium, Fox News, or Hegseth himself can change that. I havent even touched on the comments of VP Vance who was against the strike because it would be beneficial to Europe. If that is the measure by which we evaluate the appropriateness of using lethal U.S. force against another country, we have some real soul searching to do about who we are as a country and as an ally. Play time is over folks. It is time to put the kids to bed and get serious about running this country. More: Opinion: Trump's vision for making America great only based on money and material wealth Brad Gutierrez Brad Gutierrez, Ph.D., is a retired U.S. Air Force combat pilot, professor of political science, military diplomat, and senior public policy civil servant. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Trump administration seems to have incompetence at every level BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) An Oregon man pleaded guilty to illegal sexual activity with a Connecticut minor on Friday, according to the U.S. Attorneys office. 21-year-old Canyon Beasley admitted to receiving child pornography. Sprague registered sex offender sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for child exploitation to communicating with a minor beginning in January 2023, according to statements and documents presented in court. In July 2023, Beasley began requesting sexually explicit photos and videos from the minor, who was 13 years old at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beasley traveled to Connecticut in June 2024 to engage in sexual activity with the minor, which he recorded. He was arrested on Sept. 30, 2024. He was released on $250,000 bond. Sentencing has not been scheduled. 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 WTNH.com. DAMASCUS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The new Syrian administration on Sunday rejected a recent major Kurdish conference's call for a "decentralized" Syrian state. "We clearly reject any attempts to impose a divisive reality or establish separate entities under the guise of federalism or self-administration without comprehensive national consensus," said a statement issued by the Syrian leader's office. "The unity of Syria, both its territory and its people, is a red line, and any transgression thereof constitutes a departure from the national unity and an attack on Syria's unified identity," it said. It accused the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of disrupting the work of Syrian state institutions in areas under the SDF's control, restricting public services, and monopolizing national resources and exploiting them outside the framework of the state. "The SDF leadership cannot monopolize the decision-making process in the northeastern region of Syria," it added. On Saturday, the "Conference for Kurdish Unity in Rojava Kurdistan," which brought together over 400 figures from Kurdish-controlled areas, concluded in the northeastern city of Qamishli with the release of a final statement calling for resolving the Kurdish issue within a democratic, decentralized Syrian state. The statement urged constitutional guarantees for Kurdish rights, respect for human rights conventions, and full participation of women in all institutions. It also announced the decision to form a joint Kurdish delegation to engage in dialogue with the new Syrian administration and national forces to implement the adopted vision. More than 100 immigrants, allegedly in the country illegally, were detained in Colorado Springs after an overnight raid at what authorities described as an underground nightclub in a strip mall. What was happening inside was significant drug trafficking, prostitution, crimes of violence, Jonathan C. Pullen, the Special Agent in Charge at the DEA Rocky Mountain Division, said at a news conference Sunday morning. We seized a number of guns in there. Over a dozen active-duty military members were also at the club during the raid, and federal officials said some were working at the illicit operation. We had active-duty service members who were running security at the club and involved in some of these crimes, Pullen said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities also found drugs at the underground club, including cocaine and so-called pink cocaine, also known as tusi, Pullen said. The nightclub had been under surveillance by the DEA and partner agencies for a number of months, according to Pullen, who said authorities documented drug trafficking, prostitution, and the presence of alleged members from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and the Hells Angels. I dont have the information about whether those members were there tonight, but were still working through a lot of that, because we have so many people in custody, Pullen said. Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hundreds of agents across over 10 federal agencies participated in the raid, Pullen said. Agents from the FBI, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement joined in carrying out the operation, the DEA said on X. DEA special agents announced their presence prior to entering the nightclub and occupants were given multiple warnings to come out, the Rocky Mountain Field Division said on X. 200 people were inside at least 114 in the US illegally. In addition, more than a dozen active duty military were patrons or security guards, it said. Those believed to be in the US illegally were taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Pullen said, while the active-duty service members were handed over to the US Army Criminal Investigation Division. Video posted online by the DEA Sunday morning showed federal officers breaking a large front window of a nondescript building as people fled through the door into the night, only to be stopped by additional armed federal agents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other DEA video shows agents addressing occupants from outside the building: This is the police with a search warrant demanding entry. Exit the front door one at a time with nothing in your hands, held high above your head. The message was followed by instructions in Spanish. Attorney General Pamela Bondi posted on X that two people had been arrested on outstanding warrants during the raid. Trumps directive to make America safe again is achieving results! she posted. CNN has reached out to ICE for more details on the Colorado Springs raid. A spokesperson for Army Criminal Investigations Division told CNN that it was conducting a joint investigation with the DEA, which was the lead agency. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide additional information at this time, the spokesperson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Donald Trump praised the raid, saying on TruthSocial it had targeted some of the worst people in the US, whom he alleged judges are reluctant to deport. Alongside a video of agents entering the building, President Trump wrote: A big Raid last night on some of the worst people illegally in our Country Drug Dealers, Murderers, and other Violent Criminals, of all shapes and sizes, and Judges dont want to send them back to where they came from. If we dont win this battle at the Supreme Court, our Country, as we know it, is FINISHED! It will be a Crime ridden MESS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade, who was elected as an independent, also lauded the effort on Sunday, saying: Criminal activity of any kind, from anyone, will not be tolerated in Colorado Springs. This investigation and the execution of these warrants are the result of clear evidence of serious criminal conduct. The office of Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, expressed support for cracking down on illegal drugs and firearms, writing in a statement to CNN affiliate KRDO: Governor Polis is focused on making Colorado safer for everyone, and that includes cracking down on illegal drugs and firearms. We await the details from the DEA and federal government on this action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administrations mass deportation program has been facing legal challenges. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court paused the deportation of immigrants potentially subject to the Alien Enemies Act. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has repeatedly asserted it will investigate any local officials who do not assist federal authorities with immigration matters. Last week it charged a Milwaukee County Circuit Judge with allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest, in what her peer described as a message to chill the judiciary. This story has been updated with additional information. CNNs Susannah Cullinane and Hanna Park contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said on Sunday that during a federal raid on a Colorado Springs nightclub, agents arrested over 100 immigrants who the agency alleges were present in the U.S. illegally. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The raid was one of the biggest in the number of arrests since President Donald Trump took office on January 20. Trump has vowed to deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally and has made it a signature issue for his presidency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement BY THE NUMBERS The DEA said 114 people were arrested and were put on buses for processing and likely eventual deportation. It added that the nightclub had over 200 people inside and 114 of those were in the U.S. illegally. KEY QUOTES "This morning (DEA) apprehended over 100 illegal aliens at an underground night club frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized. 2 people were also arrested on existing warrants," U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X. Bondi's post did not directly say if those arrested were part of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and another Salvadoran gang MS-13. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The DEA separately said that "occupants of the illegal underground nightclub in Colorado Springs were given multiple warnings to come out." CONTEXT U.S. agencies have stepped up enforcement actions since Trump took office. A day earlier, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency and state officials in Florida arrested nearly 800 people who were in the U.S. illegally over four days in what it called a "massive, multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown." (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington;Editing by Mary Milliken and by Diane Craft) COURTESY HAWAII POLICE Patricia Ann McConnell COURTESY HAWAII POLICE Patricia Ann McConnell Hawaii island police have charged a Pahoa woman after a domestic dispute in Nanawele Estates late Thursday night ended in the death of a 45-year-old man. Patricia Ann McConnell, 42, was charged Friday evening with second-degree murder and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, the Hawaii County Police Department said in a news release. McConnells bail was set at $1, 505, 000. She remained in custody today at the East Hawaii Detention Facility, with her initial court appearance scheduled for Monday in Hilo District Court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim has been identified as Patrick Gideon John-Bruce Dalrymple-Collins, also of Pahoa. Police said at about 11 :25 p.m. Thursday, a woman called dispatch to report that a man at a Lehua Road home was not breathing. During the call, the woman allegedly told police that she and the man were involved in a domestic dispute when tried to kill her, and that she strangled him to death. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Puna patrol officers arrived, they found the victim slumped over in the drivers seat of a vehicle, unresponsive and without a pulse. His face appeared purple, acording to police. Hawaii Fire Department personnel took over life-saving efforts and Dalrymple-Collins was taken by ambulance to Hilo Benioff Medical Center, but he was pronounced dead at 11 :57 p.m. while en route to the hospital, police said. McConnell was arrested at the scene on suspicion of second-degree murder and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. During her arrest, police said, officers discovered a packet containing a white crystalline substance in her pocket, which later tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An autopsy Friday confirmed the manner of death as homicide by strangulation. Police are asking anyone with information regarding this case to contact Det. David Poohina at (808 ) 961-2385 or at. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous can call CrimeStoppers at (808 ) 961-8300. 13 Comments By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our. Having trouble with comments ? . ISLAMABAD (AP) Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years. The military said in a statement that intelligence reports indicated that the killed militants were Khwarij a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban. Without directly blaming anyone, the military said that the slain insurgents had been sent by their foreign masters to carry out high-profile attacks inside Pakistan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border. This is the first time during the ongoing operations against terrorists that Pakistani forces killed terrorists in such a high number in a single day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters. He praised security forces for carrying out a successful operation against militants and foiling possible attacks by them in the country. We had this information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible" to carry out attacks. He stopped short of saying that India had urged the militants to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have congratulated security forces for eliminating the insurgents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The military also said in the statement that the infiltration attempt came at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan following a recent deadly assault on tourists in India-controlled Kashmir. In recent months, Pakistan has witnessed a surge in violence, mostly blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It's a separate group, but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar on Sunday told foreign media that New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistans security forces from their focus on the war on its western borders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said that New Delhi, without presenting any evidence, blamed Pakistan for the assault on tourists in Kashmir to divert Pakistans attention from the western region. He said that Pakistan had undeniable evidence" about India's backing for the Pakistan Taliban and Baloch Liberation Army, which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan, including one on a train in which more than 30 hostages were killed in March. Balochistan has been the scene of a long-running insurgency with the separatists seeking independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence has persisted. By Ariba Shahid and Krishna N. Das LATIFABAD, Pakistan/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Spraying pesticides on his parched vegetables one street away from the Indus River, Pakistani farmer Homla Thakhur is worried about his future. The sun is at its peak, the river is running very low, and India has vowed to cut supplies upstream after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir. "If they stop water, all of this will turn into the Thar desert, the whole country," said Thakhur, 40, before heading back to the river to refill the tank for the spray gun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We'll die of hunger." His nearly 5-acre (2 hectare) farm is located in the Latifabad area of the southeastern province of Sindh, from where the Indus flows into the Arabian Sea after originating in Tibet and snaking through India. Thakhur's fears were echoed by more than 15 Pakistani farmers and several other experts, especially as rain has been scanty in recent years. For the first time, India on Wednesday suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80% of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until "Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement India says two of the three militants who attacked tourists and killed 26 men in Kashmir were from Pakistan. Islamabad has denied any role and said "any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan ... will be considered as an Act of War". The treaty split the Indus and its tributaries between the nuclear-armed rivals. Government officials and experts on both sides say India cannot stop water flows immediately, because the treaty has allowed it to only build hydropower plants without significant storage or dams on the three rivers allocated to Pakistan. But things could start changing in a few months. "We will ensure no drop of the Indus River's water reaches Pakistan," India's water resources minister, Chandrakant Raghunath Paatil, said on X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He did not respond to questions about the fears in Pakistan. Two Indian government officials, who declined to be identified discussing a sensitive subject, said the country could within months start diverting the water for its own farms using canals while planning hydroelectric dams that could take four to seven years to finish. Immediately, India will stop sharing data like hydrological flows at various sites of the rivers flowing through India, withhold flood warnings and skip annual meetings under the Permanent Indus Commission headed by one official each from the two countries, said Kushvinder Vohra, a recently retired head of India's Central Water Commission. "They will not have much information with them when the water is coming, how much is coming," said Vohra, who was also India's Indus Commissioner and now advises the government occasionally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Without the information, they cannot plan." And it is not just agriculture, a shortage of water will also hit electricity generation and potentially cripple the economy, economists say. Vaqar Ahmed, economist and team lead with UK consulting firm Oxford Policy Management, said that Pakistan had underestimated the threat of India walking away from the treaty. "India hasnt got the kind of immediate infrastructure to halt the waterflows, especially during flood times, so this period creates a crucial window for Pakistan to address the inefficiencies in its water sector," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There are a lot of inefficiencies, leakages." RUNNING DISPUTES In recent years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been seeking to renegotiate the treaty and the two countries have been trying to settle some of their differences in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague over the size of the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric plants' water storage area. "We can now pursue our projects in free will," said Vohra. In a letter on Thursday, India told Pakistan that circumstances had changed since the treaty was signed, including population increases and the need for more cleaner energy sources, referring to hydropower. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A World Bank spokesperson said it was a "signatory to the treaty for a limited set of defined tasks" and that it does "not opine on treaty-related sovereign decisions taken by its member countries". Nadeem Shah, who has a 150-acre farm in Sindh where he grows cotton, sugar cane, wheat and vegetables, said he was also worried about drinking water. "We have trust in God, but there are concerns over India's actions," he said. The three rivers meant for Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, irrigate more than 16 million hectares of farmland, or up to 80% of the total. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ghasharib Shaokat of Pakistan Agriculture Research, a Karachi research firm, said India's actions inject uncertainty "into a system that was never designed for unpredictability". "At this moment, we dont have a substitute," he said. "The rivers governed by the treaty support not just crops, but cities, power generation, and millions of livelihoods." The treaty remained largely unscathed even when India and Pakistan fought four wars since separating in 1947, but the suspension sets a dangerous precedent, Pakistani politicians said. "We're already locked into generations of conflict, and by exiting the Indus Water Treaty, I believe we're locking future generations into a brand new context of conflict," said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's former foreign minister. "That must not happen." (Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Hyderabad and Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Editing by Kim Coghill) SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) Western Massachusetts residents paid their respects to Pope Francis at an honorary mass in Springfield as he was laid to rest in Rome on Saturday. It was a somber day in Springfield as the community gathered to mourn the passing of Pope Francis, whose now been laid to rest. While still within the Octave of Easter, dozens gathered for a mass at St. Michaels Cathedral to honor, remember, and pray for him. Local officials run drop-off sites on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was much beloved and truly touched everybody with his kindness and his compassion towards the people that we often overlook, said Stacy Dibbern of Springfield. It was a heartfelt and moving service as parishioners said goodbye to Pope Francis. For many, they thought of the Holy Father as someone humble and relatable. He didnt put himself above people, said Jim Wehner of Ludlow. He was with the people, among the people, and for all people, no matter their background. In every place he went, Pope Francis was known for embracing the faithful and supporting them. He has been such an inspiration to my Catholic faith and to people around the world, and if we could all live a life like his and be a little kinder, there would be so much more peace in this world, said Sue Wehner of Ludlow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bishop William Byrne of St. Michaels Cathedral remembers him as someone who supported the poor and left behind a legacy of compassion. He recalled the memory of meeting with him two years ago. We were at a meeting and I was able to talk to him, Bishop Byrne said. And it was a great honor and a great edifying moment for me as a young bishop. The impact of Pope Francis will continue to be felt in the hearts and minds of his followers for years to come. The Community at this time is also praying for the next pope who will become the 267th Successor of St. Peter. The Cardinals will choose the date for the beginning of the Conclave, which takes place within 15 to 20 days after the death of the Pope. For those who werent able to attend, the mass will air on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. on Chalice of Salvation which you can watch right here on 22News. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WWLP. Update: 5:45 p.m. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) Illinois State Police said that all lanes have reopened near Ogden at this time. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) Part of I-74 is closed in Champaign County at this time after a crash. Illinois State Police responded to I-74 westbound, near the Ogden exit around 1:40 p.m. Sunday. When they arrived, they found a gold Buick that had crashed into the right ditch. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Danville man honored for Workers Memorial Day The driver was brought to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. A tow truck is heading to the scene to remove the vehicle, according to State Police. The right lane of I-74 westbound is closed due to the crash. The crash in under investigation, and there is no additional information at this time, according to State Police. 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 WCIA.com. Trump White House advisors are reportedly considering a plan to increase birth rates among mothers in the US, called the "$5,000 baby bonus." Skaman306 / Getty Images / Kevin Dietsch / getty images The US birth rate has been on the decline since 2007, and though no concrete decision has been made, President Trump himself was recently asked about the potential $5,000 incentive at a White House event and said, "Sounds like a good idea to me." As many have pointed out, a $5,000 bonus doesn't address many of the reasons women are choosing not to have babies. These reasons include a third of the country living in "maternal health care deserts," high rates of maternal death among minority communities, and a wide range of abortion bans that research says increases existing health disparities. Halfpoint Images / Getty Images In addition to the physical risks, the cost of caring for a child is extremely expensive. According to a recent analysis, it costs, on average, nearly $300,000 to raise a child from birth to age 18, including housing, childcare, food, and clothing. Lisa5201 / Getty Images Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement House Speaker Mike Johnson recently spoke about the potential baby bonus and responded to the accusation that the idea is intended to increase the number of white babies in America. "Absolutely absurd...we are the Republican Party. We're the pro-family party, we always have been. We take great pride in that. We want to build a culture of life in America. We want to advance policies that help families," Johnson said. FOX News / Via x.com Related: Hillary Clinton's Response To The Pete Hegseth Group Chat Scandal Is Going Viral Here's what people online are saying about the $5K baby bonus idea: 1. 2. Related: Donald Trump Supporters Are Losing Their Minds Over The New Trump Tariffs, And It's Exactly The Meltdown We All Saw Coming Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 3. 4. 5. 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 7. 8. 9. 10. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below. Also in In the News: "Imagine Getting Called Out By The Pope For Being A Horrible Person": People Are Ridiculing JD Vance For Being So Confidently Wrong That He Was Apparently Corrected By The Pope Himself Also in In the News: Donald Trump Just Shared A Very Ominous Post, And People Are Calling It "One Of The Worst Statements Ever Made By A Sitting US President" Also in In the News: The 56 Most Clever Protest Signs From "Not My Presidents Day" Protests Update: SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) Salman Ahmed, 21, has been located and taken into custody for questioning without incident, according to South Salt Lake Police. No further information is available at this time. Original Story: SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) South Salt Lake Police are seeking a person of interest in a homicide investigation that began late Saturday night. Police are currently searching for Salman Ahmed, 21. He is described as about 59, 140 lbs, with black hair styled in short dreadlocks, brown eyes, and a dark skin tone, a press release from South Salt Lake Police states. Salman Ahmed, 21 (Courtesy of South Salt Lake Police) He is reportedly a person of interest in an investigation into a homicide that occurred on April 26 at 11:40 p.m. near the 2500 South block of 400 East. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you have any information regarding Ahmeds whereabouts, please contact South Salt Lake Police at 801-840-4000 and reference case number LK2025-12636. This is a developing story. ABC4 will update this post as new information becomes available. Latest headlines: 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. DES MOINES, Iowa With just one more work week in the Iowa legislative session, advocates in the states pharmaceutical industry are calling for lawmakers to pass a bill to reform the system. Thats repeatedly happening with multiple prescriptions and especially you look at some of the more expensive name brands. Its not unusual to lose $50 to $100 on that prescription, so that pharmacist has to make an ethical decision, all the time, said Randy McDonough, owner of Towncrest Pharmacies. How do I keep my doors open? NFL draft ends, nine Hawkeyes, Cyclones enter the NFL Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Iowa Pharmacy Association is advocating for pharmacy benefit manager reform, with 31 pharmacies in the state closing over the last year. 250 pharmacies closed over the last decade. Both bills wait in the Iowa House and Iowa Senate chambers with one week left to go in the session. The bill would set an average rate for every prescription thats dispensed that covers the cost to keep their doors open. That would keep access for patients to choose pharmacies in their communities, said Kate Gainer, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Iowa Pharmacy Association. Both McDonough and Gainer discussed the legislation on Today in Iowa Sunday. The first portion of the interview is attached above, with the second right below. 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 who13.com. DAR ES SALAAM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania reversed the ban on agricultural imports from Malawi and South Africa two days after the East African nation imposed the restriction, citing ongoing diplomatic engagements and hopes for a long-term resolution. In a public notice issued on Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture said that the ban, which had taken effect on Wednesday, was lifted effective Saturday, after Malawi and South Africa sought dialogue and cooperation. The initial suspension was triggered by what Tanzanian authorities viewed as unjustified restrictions by both countries on the entry of Tanzanian agricultural produce into their markets. Tanzania responded by halting imports and transit of agricultural goods from both nations. Following the diplomatic standoff, the governments of Malawi and South Africa initiated contact with Tanzania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, expressing their readiness to resolve the issue through mutual dialogue, according to the notice. The Ministry of Agriculture said that the government of Malawi will dispatch a high-level delegation to Dodoma next week for discussions. The notice also said that discussions are held at the technical level in South Africa involving officials from the two countries. PICKAWAY CO., Ohio (WCMH) A proposal for a new development in northern Pickaway County is being met with concerns from residents. It would be built on more than 300 acres of farmland along Gibson Road and state route 762. The proposal includes more than 1,200 homes and commercial space. Many residents are sounding the alarm on this development. Pickaway County is known as a prominent agricultural area in Ohio and those opposed say a development of that size could be a threat not only to that industry, but to schools and safety. Cory Wasmus lives across from the proposed site. He, along with neighbors, feels the process hasnt been made public enough. Thats why he took his concerns to Facebook to educate the community. That video has gone viral locally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Licking County man sentenced for child sexual abuse material This landowner, our beefs not with him or them. Its more along the lines of this property is the last big section of land in our area and wed like to have some say on the development of it, Wasmus said. The land is currently in Scioto Township. But Pickaway County commissioners could approve an annexation into commercial point. The roads are not capable of handling this kind of traffic, resident Jamie Mitchell said. The village is not capable of handling this kind of traffic. Barton Fannin, a Scioto Township trustee, has doubts on whether the townships infrastructure can keep up with the rapid growth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Can we keep up with the infrastructure fire, EMS? Fannin said. We live in a township that kids go to Teays Valley School System. Teays Valley School system currently is maxed out. Theres a levy that is going to be hitting in May here. Cameron Brackman said hes worried about what a development of this size could mean for his property taxes and kids education. Also, because of the redistricting, that now is putting a larger development in is going to impact the schools in which my kids go to which are already overcrowded, Brackman said. In the meantime, those who farm in the area like Fannin, said it would pose a safety hazard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These equipment are big, Fannin said. Theyre large. Theyre hard to get up and down roads. So with that being said, the more cars and the more traffic that are there, it just makes working a little bit tougher in our region. According to residents, road and traffic have already been a problem in the area. They fear this would only worsen the problem. We are not ready for this, resident Jamie Mitchell said. Our area is not ready for this. Not just the township, but the whole school district, the county. Youre talking one of the largest subdivisions in the county. And were not ready for it. Were not against the growth, just not at this extreme quite yet. Pickaway County commissioners are set to meet Tuesday morning to discuss the potential annexation of the land. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Worshippers began visiting the tomb of Pope Francis on Sunday, as Catholics marked the second day of official mourning for the late pontiff. At a Mass where tens of thousands gathered outside the Vatican, Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, encouraged Catholics to welcome Pope Franciss legacy and make it part of [their] lives. Some 400,000 people travelled for the funeral in St Peters Square on Saturday, during which the late pontiff was hailed as the pope among the people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the service, which was attended by world leaders and dignitaries including Donald Trump and the Prince of Wales, the coffin was transported through the streets of Rome in a white popemobile to Santa Maria Maggiore church for burial. On Sunday, mourners queued at the basilica to see the tomb, which is inscribed with Pope Franciss Latin name Franciscus, as instructed in his will. The structure also features a replica of the late pontiffs cross, illuminated by a warm light. The tomb is inscribed with Pope Franciss Latin name Franciscus, as instructed in his will - Antonio Masiello/Getty Images Elias Caravalhal, who came to see the tomb, said: Pope Francis, for me, was an inspiration, a guide. The Rome resident, who was unable to pay his respects to the late pontiff while he was lying in state at St Peters Basilica, said that he had visited the tomb to bid farewell to Pope Francis and to thank him for what he has done. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Susmidah Murphy took the opportunity to visit the tomb while on a trip in Rome. Ms Murphy, who lives in India, said: Its unbelievable that hes no more with us. She added: Its sad that we dont get popes like this very often. Worshippers queue to visit the tomb on Sunday morning - Claudia Greco/Reuters Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, aged 88, after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest. Sunday marks the second day of the Novemdiales a nine-day mourning period during which nine Masses are held for the late pontiff. At a Mass this morning, Cardinal Parolin praised Pope Franciss eagerness to proclaim and share Gods mercy with all. He added: It is important to welcome as a precious treasure this principle on which Pope Francis insisted so much. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And allow me to say our affection for him, which is being manifested in this time, must not remain a mere emotion of the moment; we must welcome his legacy and make it part of our lives, opening ourselves to Gods mercy and also being merciful to one another. Cardinal Parolin is already emerging as a key name among cardinals considered papabile or popeable. He has extensive diplomatic experience, which could be seen as a key asset in a restive world defined by war, authoritarianism and the election of Mr Trump. A conclave will be held to decide the next pope once the official mourning period is over. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No date has been set yet, but it must begin by May 10. Cardinals who travelled to Rome for the funeral will be meeting regularly this week before the conclave as they prepare to decide who will become the new head of the Catholic Church. 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. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) This week on To The Point, the Senate majority leader talks about navigating a budget and other issues in divided government. State Rep. Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, talks about the current session and what needs to be accomplished. These are very interesting times, to say the least. Its very difficult to talk about the state conversation at the state capitol without putting them in a federal context as well. We have seen unprecedented chaos from Washington, D.C., from the Trump administration, and much of that has bled into some of the conversations that were having here with the Republican led House, Brinks said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks talks about the new reality in Lansing with the divided government on this To The Point episode for the week of April 26. 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 WOODTV.com. Poland has unveiled a new national plan that ensures it has a stronger army than any of its neighbours. Our army must be able to repel any threat, Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said on Friday as he announced the Piast Doctrine, named after the countrys founding dynasty. Mr Tusk said the plan would have three central aims: for Poland to have the strongest army in the region, the strongest economy in the region and a strong position in the European Union. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are ready to build the strongest army in this part of the world. We do this together, regardless of our views, he added. Announcing the plan, Donald Tusk, Polands prime minister, said: Our army must be able to repel any threat - Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto The prime minister did not define what he meant by strongest army or economy, and it was not clear if he meant that Warsaw should be militarily stronger than Russia, with whom it shares a 130-mile border. There is a certain level of strategic ambiguity about what they [Poland] want they will let the Russians speculate said Natalie Vogel, a research fellow at the IWP Center for Intermarium Studies. Poland, which spends 4.7 per cent of its GDP on defence, already has Natos third largest military after a rapid rearmament programme that doubled the size of the armed forces in just a decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Tusk said the new doctrine would cement the countrys pro-West orientation. Putting the crown on his head, Boleslaw the Brave announced that the kingdom of Poland was becoming part of the West the West as a political community, a community of values, a community of religion, Mr Tusk told the crowd at a ceremony in Gniezno marking the 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of the first Polish king. This choice, constantly renewed, sometimes questioned by our enemies, sometimes questioned by some in Poland, requires constant effort and it is still, and will always be, relevant, he added. Ms Vogel said the Polish prime ministers words were a high level of psychological warfare, to demonstrate that they are the Europeans that are able to defend the Nato eastern flank including the Baltic state against Russian invasion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She added that this toughened up language was also intended to combat the threat from the Right-wing opposition Law & Justice party ahead of this years presidential election. Polands rapid rearmament programme has doubled the size of its armed forces in a decade - Jakub Kaczmarczyk/Shutterstock Mr Tusks call on Friday for Poland to become an economic powerhouse came on the same day the Warsaw stock exchanges WIG index topped 100,000 points for the first time, a symbolic milestone reflecting the countrys sustained growth. Polish households have earned more than Spanish ones since 2023, and some economic predictions show they are due to overtake British households by 2030. 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. A Learjet will depart from Wichita this week as pilots try to fly to the South Pole, then the North Pole and back to Wichita in three days. The Polar Mission, more formally known as polar circumnavigation, is a trip through both poles. The flight was organized by the Classic Lear Jet Foundation based in Wichita. No Learjet has ever attempted this aggressive mission, foundation spokesperson Rick Rowe said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Rockwell Polar Flight in November 1965 was the first to complete a circumnavigation. The mission is intended to raise money to restore Lear Jet 23-003, the first Learjet to ever be delivered to a customer on Oct. 13, 1964, Rowe said in a phone call. The foundation is in the early stages of restoration and is dismantling the plane. Rowe could not say how much it would cost to restore it. We have to take all the wiring, plumbing, flight control cables and all the insulation out of the fuselage, Rowe said. In other words, just make it, make it a skeleton. The Learjet 36A that will be flown across the world landed at Stearman Airfield in Benton on April 24. It will depart on April 30 and will return May 3. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The funding and plane were provided by Global Jetcare, an air ambulance company based in Florida. Bart Gray is the CEO of Global Jetcare and the vice president of the Classic Lear Jet Foundation. He is an avid Learjet pilot and a real aficionado of Learjet airplanes, Rowe said. He is the one who suggested we do this and has done all the planning for it. Gray, along with three other pilots, will take turns flying the plane on the polar mission. At each stop on the flight, the crew will perform research by placing a scale on the wing of the plane to help determine if the Earth is bigger on the Equator and document it, the foundation said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are 12 stops on the route, a flight path graphic shows. The foundation provided this graphic that shows the flight path and refueling stops of the Learjet 36A during the Polar Mission. Lear Jet was founded in 1962 by William Powell. It was later renamed Learjet. Bombardier acquired the company in 1990 and announced the end of production for all models in 2021, bringing roughly 60 years of Learjet history to an end. Lear Jet 23-003 has historical significance. Business aviation was alive and well in 1962 to 1964 when Bill Lear first came to town and started building the jet, Rowe said. But during that time they were flying piston prop planes, so when Bill got the Lear all figured out and designed and engineered and delivered, the world became a lot smaller because this airplane would go twice as far, twice as fast than the business aviation airplanes at that time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Learjet used two General Electric turbojet engines. Rowe added: Its iconic to civilian aviation as a business jet, just as Doc [B29] is to military aviation. A real-time tracker will be available to view the planes route after it departs from Wichita at https://www.polarmission.org/ A shooting in the popular South Carolina tourist town of Myrtle Beach left 11 people injured, and police fatally shot one person, authorities said. Myrtle Beach officers responded to a disturbance involving multiple individuals Saturday night in which someone began firing a weapon. In a statement, the department said that based on the immediate threat, an officer then shot one person, who died from their injuries. ALSO READ: 1 dead, 5 in on-campus shooting at east Carolina university Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune told WBTW-TV the officer responded appropriately. The Horry County deputy coroner identified the person shot as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis, according to WBTW. Our officer saw what happened, and when he saw that an altercation was taking place and a gun was being shot, the officer responded very quickly and in my opinion, saved lives, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said. Last night could have been so much worse. A telephone message left with Myrtle Beach police was referred to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which didnt immediately return an email Sunday. The department said 11 people who sustained injuries were receiving medical treatment. (WATCH BELOW: New video shows moments after car crashes into Plaza Midwood apartment building) Police boarded a Wizz Air flight and passengers were held on the tarmac for nearly 90 minutes Friday after staff wrongly accused passengers of stealing a security guards mobile phone. Wizz Air flight W95004 was due to fly from London Luton to the Albanian capital Tirana at 15.10 yesterday. However passengers were told the plane was going nowhere as CCTV footage apparently showed a passenger swiping a phone in the airport. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plane was delayed from take-off by 88 minutes due to the saga, which ended after cabin crew said there was in fact no item on the plane. Staff wrongly accused passengers of stealing a security guards mobile phone on a Friday flight. SWNS An announcement made by a member of cabin crew just before the plane was scheduled to take off said: We know the phone is on board, now we should leave in two minutes we cannot because of this, this is a security issue. We cannot have an item that does not belong to anyone on this flight. We cannot depart knowing that theres something that does not belong to this flight. One 28-year-old passenger, who asked not to be named, said staff had called the missing phone and told passengers they could hear the planes announcements when somebody picked up, leading them to believe a passenger on board had swiped it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The passenger said: Youd think airports would be more secure and this would be resolved much more swiftly. Youre not even safe at Luton airport, somewhere you think is a safe space. Nearly an hour after the first announcement, a different member of crew announced that staff were looking at CCTV footage to find the culprit. He said: We still want to give the chance for this potential person who made the mistake to bring it before they will find it in the video. Then, over an hour after the flight was due to take off, exasperated cabin crew members announced to apoplectic passengers that there was in fact no item on the plane at all. BjAArn Wylezich stock.adobe.com Once again, please voluntarily come to the front or to my colleagues at the back. With the phone still missing, police then boarded the plane as angry passengers remained at Luton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then, over an hour after the flight was due to take off, exasperated cabin crew members announced to apoplectic passengers that there was in fact no item on the plane at all. They said: Theres no item on this plane, were happy now with our security position to go. I appreciate your understanding for this situation. It is for us as well quite a new one, were doing our best and we will be on our way to Tirana very soon. Wizz Air and Bedfordshire Police have been contacted for comment. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) Baton Rouge police are investigating a shooting that left an 18-year-old dead late Saturday night. The incident occurred just before midnight on April 26 at the intersection of North 38th Street and Choctaw Drive. Officers responding to the scene discovered a Dodge vehicle with bullet holes. Inside, they found the driver, identified as Jonathan Triplett, 18, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities have not yet identified a motive or any suspects in the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the BRPD Violent Crimes Unit at 225-389-4869 or Crime Stoppers at 225-344-7867. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a developing story. Latest News 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 Louisiana First News. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R) and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, meet the press in Marienborg, Denmark, April 27, 2025.Frederiksen on Sunday called for unity within the Kingdom to jointly address the increasingly complex international situation.Speaking at a joint doorstep with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, Frederiksen said, "When strong forces seek to do us harm, the entire Kingdom must stand together." (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang) COPENHAGEN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Sunday called for unity within the Kingdom to jointly address the increasingly complex international situation. Speaking at a joint doorstep with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, Frederiksen said, "When strong forces seek to do us harm, the entire Kingdom must stand together." When asked by reporters whether she would be willing to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, Frederiksen said, "We are always willing to meet and negotiate with the American president." On his side, Nielsen noted that recent remarks from the United States regarding Greenland had been "disrespectful." He emphasized that Greenland is willing to cooperate with "all countries that treat us well, respect us, and wish to build partnerships based on mutual respect." Frederiksen expressed her agreement with Nielsen's remarks, stating, "I totally agree with that." According to the Danish Royal House, King Frederik X is scheduled to visit Greenland on Monday. Since taking office earlier this year, Trump has repeatedly expressed a strong desire to seize control of Greenland, stating that he would not rule out the possibility of using "military or economic coercion" to achieve this goal. In March, U.S. Vice President JD Vance and an American delegation visited Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland, formerly known as Thule Base, where Vance criticized Denmark for not doing enough for security in the Arctic or for the well-being of the Greenlandic people. Greenland, once a Danish colony, became an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark in 1953. It was granted home rule in 1979, expanding its autonomy, though Denmark retains control over foreign affairs and defense. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R) and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, meet the press in Marienborg, Denmark, April 27, 2025. Frederiksen on Sunday called for unity within the Kingdom to jointly address the increasingly complex international situation. Speaking at a joint doorstep with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, Frederiksen said, "When strong forces seek to do us harm, the entire Kingdom must stand together." (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen meets the press in Marienborg, Denmark, April 27, 2025. Frederiksen on Sunday called for unity within the Kingdom to jointly address the increasingly complex international situation. Speaking at a joint doorstep with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, Frederiksen said, "When strong forces seek to do us harm, the entire Kingdom must stand together." (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (R) and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, meet the press in Marienborg, Denmark, April 27, 2025. Frederiksen on Sunday called for unity within the Kingdom to jointly address the increasingly complex international situation. Speaking at a joint doorstep with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland's self-government, Frederiksen said, "When strong forces seek to do us harm, the entire Kingdom must stand together." (Xinhua/Zhang Yuliang) A fake bomb threat at Walgreens, 200 S. Nappanee St., Elkhart, had Elkhart police on high alert Friday morning. Dispatch received a call regarding a bomb threat at 9:41 a.m. from a Walgreens employee An unknown caller allegedly told the employee that there was an explosive device in the store and demanded money on gift cards. The Elkhart Police Department dispatched and arrived shortly thereafter. Police, with the assistance of Elkhart County Sheriffs Department deputies, evacuated the store and conducted a search of the building. No devices or suspicious items were located inside the store. Officers determined it was not a credible threat, and that there was no danger to the public. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the investigation, officers made contact with a bicyclist outside the store. The bicyclist was arrested on outstanding and unrelated warrants. Police said they had no information linking the man to the fake bomb threat. Any information may be contributed at 574-295-7070 and anonymous tips may be made at www.elkhartpolice.org. Granger woman hospitalized A man was arrested after he allegedly caused a crash while driving under the influence at 9:26 p.m. Thursday. Austin Martinson, 31, of Elkhart, was traveling south on C.R. 1 at C.R. 10 in a 2022 Jeep Wrangler when police say he disregarded the stop sign and pulled in front of a 2018 Ford Escape driven by April Mast, 51, of Granger. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Granger was transported to Elkhart General Hospital with a possible broken hand and complaint of chest and hope pain. Martinson was incarcerated on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and cited for disregarding a stop sign and not having insurance. HIT-AND-RUN A 47-year-old man reported to Elkhart County deputies at 7:55 a.m. Wednesday that he was involved in a crash near Ind. 15 and U.S. 20. A 58-year-old man reported to Elkhart County deputies at 5:16 p.m. Wednesday that someone struck his fence and fled the scene in the 13000 block of C.R. 44 in Millersburg. ARRESTS Three people, a 44-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman and a 47-year-old woman were arrested and jailed by Elkhart County deputies at 9:30 p.m. Thursday on charges of possession of marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance after police conducted a search warrant on a home in the 58000 block of River Lake Court and found weed gummies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SEX CRIME The Elkhart County Sheriffs Office began an investigation into a Middlebury Township child molestation at 8:28 p.m. Wednesday. CHILD IN NEED OF SERVICES Elkhart County Sheriffs Office received a report of a child in need of services at 5:43 p.m. Wednesday. BURGLARY A 30-year-old man reported to Goshen police at 6:25 a.m. Friday a possible burglary in the 1500 block of Bashor Road. CRIMINAL MISCHIEF A 38-year-old woman reported to Goshen police at 12:27 p.m. Thursday that her vehicle was damaged in the 200 block of South Main Street. Concord Cell Phone Repair, 23737 U.S. 33, reported to Elkhart County deputies that a disgruntled customer knocked over a credit card processing machine, breaking it and knocking over a display case around 3:23 p.m. Wednesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement THEFT An employee of Mercer Transportation reported to Goshen police at 7:40 p.m. Thursday that someone stole a license plate from a semi-trailer while it was parked on the private property of Masterbrand, 1002 Eisenhower Drive North. A 39-year-old woman reported to Elkhart County deputies that between 11:30 a.m. April 19 and 7:15 a.m. April 21 someone took her work computer from her vehicle in the 3000 block of Elizabeth Drive in Elkhart. FRAUD A North Carolina police agency at 10:06 p.m. Thursday requested Goshen police to attempt to make contact with an 80-year-old Goshen woman in reference to identity theft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A 50-year-old man reported to Elkhart County deputies that between April 15 and 16 someone committed fraud against his mother. A 69-year-old man reported to Elkhart County deputies that between April 5 and April 14 fraud was committed. A 30-year-old man reported to Elkhart County deputies at 5:38 p.m. Wednesday someone scammed him out of $9,900 using a telephone scam. JOHNSTON, R.I. (WPRI) Johnston police said an officer fired their weapon after a man drove towards the patrolman and hit him with their vehicle late Saturday night. Around 11:30 p.m., Johnston police officers responded to a reported disturbance at a gas station at 1396 Hartford Avenue. Police said the call was made by a third party and reported a potential argument between a male and female in the parking lot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When police arrived, officers located the involved female and the male, as described by the caller, and said the male was sitting alone in the drivers seat of a white Nissan Sentra. As one of the responding officers exited his patrol vehicle, police said the driver of the Sentra accelerated forward and struck the officer. Thats when police said the officer discharged his service weapon and fired multiple rounds at the driver, who was struck by the gunfire. ALSO READ: Swansea ambulance stolen during medical call Police said the driver continued across Hartford Avenue but hit a pylon in front of a nearby business. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers responded and said they helped the driver, identified as 28-year-old Damian Peterson, who was transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The officer also sustained minor injuries, according to police, and was transported to the hospital for treatment as well. Peterson has been charged with felony assault, assault of a police officer, reckless driving and other offenses against public safety, obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. He was arraigned and is being held without bail as a probation and bail violator. Johnston Police said it will investigate the officer-involved shooting under the Rhode Island Attorney Generals protocol for a review and joint investigation by members of the Attorney Generals Office, Rhode Island State Police, and Johnston Police Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@wpri.com) is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on 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. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. A police officer was killed and another was injured during a traffic stop in Georgia on April 26 The alleged suspect was identified by police as James Blake Montgomery Montgomery's brother-in-law told local media after the incident, "This isnt the person that I knew" A police officer was shot dead and another was injured during a traffic stop in Georgia. The incident occurred at around 6:30 p.m. local time in Columbia County on Interstate 20 near Belair Road on Saturday, April 26, the Columbia County Sheriffs Office (CCSO) said during a press conference, per WJBF. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers approached a man who was identified by police as James Blake Montgomery in an RV in the area, in order to serve him a restraining order tied to domestic violence. Despite initially complying, authorities said Montgomery then opened the door of the RV and began shooting, killing the one deputy, Brandon Sikes. The other officer, Gavin White, was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and is continuing to receive treatment, the CCSO said. Sykes had been a deputy since 2018 on the crime suppression team. His wife is also an employee of the CCSO, police said. Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Ambulance (stock image) Ambulance (stock image) Authorities said Montgomery then retreated into the RV and attempted to drive away, but was unsuccessful. Police later determined that Montgomery "was deceased" in the RV. It is not currently known how exactly he died. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A police robot and drones eventually found possible pipe bombs and possible drug paraphernalia in the mobile home. The Columbia County Sheriffs Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Sunday, April 27. Speaking with WRDW, an eyewitness said, I was just outside, you know, sitting outside, and all of a sudden I just heard, sounded like some fire popper pop-pop-pop-pop." They added: Then about two or three minutes later, I heard sirens and come to find out [...] they were having a shoot-out right here on I-20. Sources told WRDW that Montgomery had been working landscaping jobs while living in his RV. Another insider told the outlet that he had been living separately from his wife, with whom he shares a child, for at least several months. Getty Caution tape surrounding police and police vehicles (stock image) Caution tape surrounding police and police vehicles (stock image) 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. Georgia governor Brian Kemp reacted to the incident on X, writing that he and his family are praying for the loved ones and colleagues of the Columbia County sheriffs deputy that has fallen in the line of duty, as well as his fellow law enforcement officer injured tonight while protecting his fellow Georgians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As they remain in our hearts and prayers, were also painfully reminded of why those who wear a badge have more than earned our enduring respect and appreciation, he added. Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the loved ones and colleagues of the Columbia County sheriffs deputy that has fallen in the line of duty, as well as his fellow law enforcement officer injured tonight while protecting his fellow Georgians. As they remain in our hearts and Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) April 27, 2025 Local news outlet WJBF spoke to the suspects brother-in-law, David Guillebeau, after the incident. "I havent talked to him in quite some time, but this isnt the person that I knew," Guillebeau told the outlet. He continued: And I dont defend him, because this is undependable and inexcusable, but the person I knew back then wouldnt. This wasnt him. So something has changed in him for him to do this." "I would love for people to just remember that he has a child and he has a family thats here locally. ... So do the officers as well. But were all hurting," Guillebeau also said. "Theres people on both ends that are hurting. Read the original article on People Polish President Andrzej Duda, commenting on the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Pope Francis' funeral, has expressed hope that the "special spirit" of the Vatican would inspire "new ideas" to end the war waged by Russia. Source: Duda in a comment to Polish news channel Polsat News, as reported by European Pravda Details: Zelenskyy believes that his meeting with Trump has the potential to become historic. The White House also called the meeting very productive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I hope that the special spirit that prevails there can inspire new solutions and ideas that will help end this war," Duda said. He also added that a speedy end to the war is in the interests of Poland and the Poles. "It's in the interests of Poland and the Poles that this war ends in a just peace, which will also give us a guarantee of peace, so that we can really develop in peace without fear that someone will attack us," Duda concluded. Background: Notably, after meeting with Zelenskyy in Rome, Trump criticised the latest Russian strikes on civilian cities in Ukraine and expressed doubt that Putin wanted to end the war. Trump has also threatened to impose sanctions on Russia. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Related video: Protests speak out against Trump administration policies Americans are delivering a negative verdict on President Donald Trumps performance as he nears the 100-day mark of his second term, according to a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey. That includes a sharp divide on his handling of immigration, long his strongest issue in polls, and deep disapproval of Trumps tariffs. Overall, the results show a majority of American adults 55% disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 45% approve. Whats more, the vehemence of the opposition outweighs the intensity of support from the presidents MAGA base. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just over 4 in 10 Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing, while only a quarter strongly approve. And when asked to label the emotions Trump evokes, strong negatives like angry and furious outweighed responses for the strongest positives, happy and thrilled. Read the full story on NBC News. 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. Pope Francis' tomb has been revealed in new images following the Roman Catholic pontiff's funeral in the Vatican City on Saturday, April 26. The simple stone tomb displays the late popes name Franciscus in Latin alongside a single white rose and a crucifix on the wall. Pope Francis was laid to rest at the Santa Maria Maggiore church also known as the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome in a private ceremony after his funeral, attended by around 250,000 people, on the morning of Saturday, April 26, in St. Peters Square in the Vatican City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pontiffs coffin was later transported in a public procession to the church where he was buried. Francis is the first pope in over a century not to be interred at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Pope Francis died at age 88 of a cerebral stroke on April 21. In his final will he expressed his wish to be buried in a "simple" tomb in the ground," without particular ornamentation, bearing only the [Latin] inscription: Franciscus. Vatican Media/Abaca/Sipa USA The tomb of late Pope Francis in Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome The tomb of late Pope Francis in Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome Related: Pope Francis Buried at St. Mary Major, a Church with 'Very Beautiful' Connection to His Faith "Throughout my life, and during my ministry as a priest and bishop, I have always entrusted myself to the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary," Francis wrote in his testament. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I wish my final earthly journey to end precisely in this ancient Marian sanctuary, where I would always stop to pray at the beginning and end of every Apostolic Journey, confidently entrusting my intentions to the Immaculate Mother, and giving thanks for her gentle and maternal care." Mourners have lined up outside Santa Maria Maggiore church following the funeral to pay their respects to the pontiff, reported multiple outlets, including the BBC. The tomb opened on the second day of nine days of official mourning for Francis. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Eric Vandeville/Abaca/Sipa USA People queue to see the tomb of Pope Francis People queue to see the tomb of Pope Francis Related: Prince William Joins World Leaders at Pope Francis' Funeral Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Santa Maria Maggiore held deep poignancy for Francis and was one of his favorite places in Rome. Father Patrick Briscoe, a Dominican friar and the editor of Our Sunday Visitor magazine, told PEOPLE, It's especially beautiful because of Pope Francis' love for the Basilica of Mary Major, which began when he was a cardinal." "Whenever he made trips to the Vatican as a cardinal, he would come and pray in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary there, the Salus Populi Romani, and he continued that practice as pope it became a signature of his apostolic visits." Read the original article on People When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected to lead the Catholic church in 2013, he chose the papal name Francis, after the 13th-century figure St. Francis of Assisi, known as the patron saint of ecologists and champion of the poor. It was a befitting choice. Pope Francis was the fiercest climate and environment advocate in the churchs history. The pope spoke often about the importance of environmental stewardship in a way none of his predecessors had, connecting climate change to social inequities, going so far as to blame industry, world leaders and irresponsible Western lifestyles for the worsening crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si on the care for our common home, Pope Francis was able to dissolve some of the long-standing tensions between the Catholic church and ecological science, eliminating room for climate denial in the church and bringing the Vatican into the world of international climate action. In the encyclical, a kind of letter addressing the worlds more than 1 billion Catholics, the pontiff argued that Catholic values were aligned with climate change action. He drew points from the Bible, including the first book of Genesis, which outlines the creation of the Earth and how humans are tasked with keeping it safe and clean. He argued that God gave humans the Earth to cultivate and protect, not to conquer and destroy, underscoring how the planet had suffered from human activities since it began rapidly burning fossil fuels to industrialize. Never have we hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years, he wrote. The pope touched on a series of woes wreaking havoc on the planet: polluted air, water poverty, toxic waste, industrial pollution, rising sea levels and extreme weather. A nun reads Pope Francis' new encyclical titled 'Laudato si' at the Vatican June 18, 2015. - Max Rossi/Reuters The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth, he wrote, using frank language. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The timing was crucial and intentional. Pope Francis pushed the Vatican to publish the encyclical early, so that it would play into the UN COP21 climate summit in Paris later that year. The pope was seen as highly influential in the landmark agreement eventually reached. Although popes in the past had addressed issues like environmental destruction, Alberto Pallecchi, head of faith and sustainability at the non-profit World Resources Institute, told CNN that Pope Francis attention to climate change and the environment was unprecedented for a pontiff, with its significance and reach unparalleled to any faith leader. He has consistently put his moral authority on the line, pushing governments, the private sector, and rallying the global environmental faith-based movement, Pallecchi said, in an interview conducted before Francis death. He put climate change firmly on the Catholic Church agenda, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2022, Vatican City, which is also a country, became party to the UNs international climate framework, which presides over annual climate summits. And in the lead up to the COP28 climate talks in Dubai in 2023, the pope published an Apostolic exhortation, calling for binding action on climate. The 12-page document was the popes strongest statement following the encyclical. In it, he blasted the greed and selfishness of the wealthy who consume the most, while emphasizing that the poor were the first victims of the climate crisis. The reality is that a low, richer percentage of the planet contaminates more than the poorest 50% of the total world population, and that per capita emissions for the richer countries are much greater than those of the poorest ones, he wrote. Other initiatives the pope pursued included publishing the Vaticans first pledge to slash carbon emissions, and a plan to green the Vaticans car fleet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many observers say the popes ability to link poverty and the climate crisis over the course of his papacy reflected the time he spent in the slums of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was surrounded by hardship. In 2018, the pope made his first visit to the Amazon in Peru, where he called on industry to end its destruction of the vast biome, saying that indigenous people there had never been so threatened in their territories. We have to break with the historical paradigm that views Amazonia as an inexhaustible source of supplies for other countries without concern for its inhabitants, he said. Pope Francis delivers a speech during a meeting with representatives of indigenous communities of the Amazon basin from Peru, Brazil and Bolivia, in the Peruvian city of Puerto Maldonado, on January 19, 2018. - Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images Despite the popes climate credentials, there are limits to what he was able to achieve. His advice for Catholic institutions around the world to divest from fossil fuels was taken by some, but many have resisted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pallecchi, for instance, said more could be done around the greening of physical and financial assets that contribute to a warming climate, including places of worship and schools, pension funds and endowments. He also said the Catholic church could strongly influence extractive projects that violate the rights of local communities and destroy ecosystems. Nonetheless, observers say the popes passion and influence on climate action will live on. Part of his legacy is that hes ignited a movement of people around the globe, who now embrace care for creation as part of their faith, Christina Leano, associate director of the global Laudato Si Movement, told CNN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So even if hes gone, we know that this will continue to live that hes created this new space and language for us as Christians to continue beyond his physical presence. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Before recent cuts at the federal level, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was supposed to help pay the majority of an engineering project that wouldve protected South Carolinians from flooding. The FEMA program that wouldve supported this flooding project in Conway, Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC), was first established by Congress during the first Trump Administration in 2018. The loss of this federal funding means that the project has been halted after completing the first phase of construction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next time theres a big storm in northeastern South Carolina, these inland neighborhoods could experience major flooding damage again. This loss of funding isnt just happening in Conway or in South Carolina. Recently, a memo about future federal funding the wake of natural disasters talked about making it more difficult for states to get federal aid starting this hurricane season. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that tells state and local governments to play a bigger role in preparing for disasters. The executive order comes after Trump visited Los Angeles during the wildfires in January. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I say you dont need FEMA, you need a good state government, Trump said at the time. FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation. At this point, there hasnt been another source of local funding thats been identified to finish the flood mitigation project in Conway, according to city spokesperson June Wood. The project was already years in the making, with city resources spent on the application process and initial design plans. Wood said the last wire of FEMA funding for this project, known as the Chestnut Bay Resiliency Project, was in late March 2025. How much money is Conway losing due to cuts? The overall cost for Phase 1 of the project is shared by FEMA and the city, Wood said. Grant Award Date: August 25, 2023 Total Federal Share (75%): $136,125 (FEMA pays) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Total Non-Federal Share (25%): $45,375 (City pays) Management Costs (100%) $9,075 (FEMA pays) Total Project Cost Phase 1: $190,575 Out of the above cost breakdown, Wood explained that they have been reimbursed $75,442.50. The city will still be short $69,757.50 for Phase 1. Will did Conway say about the cuts and impact? These cuts have halted further progress for Conways Chestnut Bay Resiliency Project, according to Wood. In response to request for comment about the FEMA cuts in Conway, Wood sent the following statement to The Sun News on behalf of the city: The City of Conway has been notified that the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grant awarded for the Chestnut Bay Resiliency Project has been officially cancelled. As a result, work on Phase 1 engineering and design has been halted, the statement read. Since 2019, City staff, community partners, and residents have invested significant time and effort into the development of this project, which was envisioned to address ongoing flooding concerns while creating enhanced recreational opportunities for the community. The cancellation of this grant introduces many uncertainties for the future of the project, as there is currently no identified funding source to move forward. We thank the community for its continued support and engagement, and we will provide updates as we navigate the path forward. What did FEMA have to say about it? After multiple emails and phone calls, FEMA spokespeople sent the same quoted statement to The Sun News that they had included in their national press release about the BRIC program getting cut. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite questions that asked for a direct response about the FEMA cuts in Conway, SC, there was no mention to northeastern South Carolina, Conway or Horry County. Instead, the agency sent the below statement about how much money will be saved as a result to these cuts. Approximately $882 million of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be returned to the U.S. Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the next fiscal year, an email from a FEMA spokesperson stated. The 2021 law made $1 billion available for BRIC over five years, $133 million to date has been provided for about 450 applications. FEMA estimates more than $3.6 billion will remain in the Disaster Relief Fund to assist with disaster response and recovery for communities and survivors. Whats going to happen with the rest of the project? The citys statement indicates that there is no secured funding source to continue on to Phase 2. Wood said Phase 2 would have begun after Phase 1s completion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Phase 2s estimated cost was $2,528,900, with FEMA funding 75% of that cost, plus $135,520 in management costs. For the Phase 1 engineering and the Phase 2 construction, the total project cost is $2,710,400, not including management costs, according to Wood. In that case, FEMA would pay in total $2,032,800 and the City share is $677,600. These figures do not include management costs, which FEMA also would have paid at 100%, Wood said. SAO TOME, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health experts conducted malaria prevention campaigns in Sao Tome and Principe on Friday, aiming to raise public awareness as part of broader health cooperation efforts between China and the West African island nation. The events, jointly organized by the country's National Center for Endemic Diseases and the Chinese Advisory Mission for Malaria Control in Sao Tome and Principe, were held in the capital, Sao Tome, and in the Autonomous Region of Principe. Activities included free rapid diagnostic testing, distribution of informational materials, and educational sessions about malaria transmission, symptoms, and prevention. In Sao Tome's Cantagalo district, Chinese experts and local health officials demonstrated mosquito control equipment, including sprayers, long-lasting insecticidal nets, and biological insecticide devices. They also staged a performance illustrating the malaria diagnosis and treatment process and provided on-site screening for local residents. On Principe Island, the Chinese team organized a similar event targeting students, featuring quizzes and live displays of Anopheles mosquitoes and larvae to promote disease prevention awareness among the youth. Ana Cristina, health authority director for Sao Tome's Me-Zochi District, said Sao Tome and Principe is working with international partners to achieve malaria elimination, describing the Chinese team as one of its most trusted collaborators. "The campaigns lined up with World Malaria Day and got a great response from local communities," said Guo Wenfeng, director of the Chinese Advisory Mission for Malaria Control in Sao Tome and Principe. According to Guo, the current advisory team is led by researchers from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine and is applying rapid source elimination strategies alongside digital tools to support targeted malaria control efforts. In 2024, the Chinese team carried out screenings and interventions in nearly 200 malaria-affected villages in Sao Tome and Principe, screening more than 18,000 people and training over 1,000 local health workers. Bonifacio Sousa, director of the National Center for Endemic Diseases, said approximately 7,000 malaria cases were recorded last year, a higher number compared to 2022 and 2023. He expressed optimism that the trend could be reversed with Chinese technical support. "Early signs suggest that malaria control efforts in 2025 could outperform this year," Sousa said. "We sincerely thank the Chinese team for their continued support." A friend of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has backed the royal couple as criticism over their life since they stepped back from their roles as senior royals persists. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have come under fire for a variety of reasons since their exit in 2020. Now, their close pal, renowned chef Jose Andres, has slammed the hate they have received, saying Prince Harry and Meghan Markle use their platforms "to bring voice and life to issues" rather than "living in their own cave." Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's Friend Calls Them An 'Amazing Couple' Instagram | Meghan Speaking with Page Six at City Harvest Presents the 2025 Gala: Carnaval in New York City, Jose Andres expressed confusion over the constant criticism targeted at Prince Harry and Meghan since they stepped back from their royal duties and moved to the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He defended the duo, calling them an "amazing couple" and noting that he only wants to" talk about the good things that they do." The chef then pointed out that the Sussexes could have chosen to be "in their own cave and do nothing" after leaving royal life, but they are using their platforms "to bring voice and life to issues." Giving context to his remarks, Andres recalled how Harry and Meghan provided aid for the Los Angeles wildfires' survivors. "When they were in LA during the fires, they were genuinely in the fires," the non-profit ceo added. "When the cameras were not rolling, they were there listening to people, and they made them feel like the most important person in the world." Prince Harry And Meghan Markle's Brand Was Previously Slammed As 'Toxic' MEGA Some of the recent backlash directed at Prince Harry and Meghan has come from Dr. Sophie Chandauka, the chair of Harry's African charity, Sentebale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, following the Invictus Games founder's resignation from the organization, Chandauka made headlines by labeling the couple's brand as "toxic" in a bombshell interview. "The number one risk for this organisation was the toxicity of its lead patron's brand," Dr Chandauka, before adding that the couple stepping back from their royal life led to a decline in the charity's donors and hampered its hiring ability. "When you start to interview people, they're asking questions about, well, these mixed messages around the patron," she added, per The Mirror. The trustee chair had also previously accused Harry of bullying and misogyny, with her claims and the organization now being investigated by the Charity Commission. The Sussexes Were Labeled 'Disaster Tourists' By Princess Diana's Biographer MEGA Another individual who has issued a string of criticisms against Harry and Meghan is former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Tina Brown. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a chat with The Telegraph, she claimed that the Duke and Duchess had a greater positive impact while operating under the royal umbrella than through anything they have done since stepping away from the monarchy. She said, "He and Meghan talk about 'doing good,' but what good are they doing? The good you can do as a royal is so much more potent." The veteran journalist then branded the couple as "disaster tourists," referencing their visit to survivors of the California wildfires. She also claimed that the duo has a large "appetite for money," which she believes led them to make "disastrous decisions," such as Prince Harry's "Spare" memoir and the Oprah interview. The Biographer Called Out Meghan Markle Over Her Multiple New Ventures MEGA Previously, Brown slammed Meghan over her cooking show, "With Love, Meghan," and the former actress's approach to promoting her lifestyle brand, As Ever. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Speaking about the show, Brown claimed it is proof that Meghan has an "unerring instinct for getting it wrong" and that she has "never figured out a convincing persona." She also used sharply worded remarks when referencing Meghan's lifestyle brand. "Who announces a new lifestyle brand, [As Ever], and hounds celebrity friends to talk up her strawberry jam on social media without doing due diligence on the availability of the trademark?" Brown questioned mockingly. The Sussexes Came Under Fire For Their 'Absolutely Abnormal' Motorcade For TIME100 Summit MEGA After Harry and Meghan's appearance at the TIME100 summit in New York, they also came under fire for their four-car motorcade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The arrangement was described as "absolutely abnormal" for celebrity standards by a source who compared it to how pop star Taylor Swift moves around. "Taylor [Swift] usually has two cars her car that she's in and a security car with her team," the insider shared with Page Six, suggesting that Swift was far more modest than the Sussexes. "And if [Swift's] going somewhere, she has a separate car on-site with her team already there, but they don't travel together." The source also questioned whether the "city was paying" for the unmarked police vehicles that were part of the couple's motorcade. The pending agreement between the United States and Ukraine regarding minerals and natural resources will not include financial aid provided to Kyiv prior to the signing of the deal, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 27. Shmyhal visited Washington as part of a Ukrainian delegation holding technical talks with U.S. officials on the long-debated minerals deal April 24-26. The prime ministermet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss "important political aspects" of the agreement. The delegations "made good progress" in their negotiations, Shmyhal said in a Telegram post on April 27. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The main thing is that we have clearly defined our red lines, the agreement must comply with European obligations and not contradict the Constitution and legislation of Ukraine," Shmyhal said. "It must be ratified by the Parliament. It has been agreed that the document does not count the assistance provided before its signing." The U.S. and Ukraine signed a memorandum on the minerals deal on April 27 but have yet to finalize the agreement. According to the memorandum, technical talks should be completed by April 26, with the goal of signing shortly thereafter. U.S. President Donald Trump complained on April 25 that Kyiv was "at least three weeks late" in signing the deal. Trump has touted the minerals deal as a way for the U.S. to "recoup" aid provided to Ukraine over the course of Russia's full-scale war. Earlier versions of the deal granted the U.S. extensive control over a joint investment fund with no offer of security guarantees in return. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ahead of technical talks with the U.S., Deputy Economy Minister and Trade Representative Taras Kachka said the deal would not entail converting previously provided U.S. aid into debt. "The United States, as one of the partners, will earn at least as much from the activities of this fund as the aid provided," Kachka said. The deal has been under discussion for months and has stalled over concerns it contradicts Ukrainian law and could interfere with Kyiv's hopes of joining the European Union. It also became a point of tension between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump, who got into a heated argument in the White House on Feb. 28 when the deal was set to be signed by the two leaders. Shmyhal did not specify a date on which he expects the deal to be signed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: Ukraine, Europes hopes rise for just peace after Trump meets Zelensky at Vatican Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Illinois state lawmakers have a little more than two months to deliver a balanced budget. Its a big challenge given they started the legislative session facing a projected shortfall of more than $3 billion. Governor JB Pritzker delivered his budget proposal in February citing better than expected revenues to shore up some of the deficit. Then last month the states general assemblys Commission on Budget Forecasting reported that revenues will be almost $750 million lower than the governor indicated in his budget address. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far Democrats in Springfield arent hitting the panic button. This figured to be a tough legislative session for Illinois state lawmakers because of the budget deficit. The deadline for answers is June 30 before the next fiscal year starts on July 1. One man very close to those talks is Illinois Deputy Governor Andy Manar. He is Governor Pritzkers point man on the budget and economy and joins host Jim Niedelman for a conversation. He knows how to do this work and his agencies managed through difficult times and that might be a little bit harder this year because of whats happening nationally with the economy, but certainly the Governor hasnt lost sight of that focus, Manar said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To hear more, click on the video. Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. Its a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on whats happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home. 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 WHBF - OurQuadCities.com. Ukrainian forces operating NASAMS air defense systems downed 11 Russian cruise missiles in less than two minutes during a mass aerial attack, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Kyrylo Peretyatko said in a video published on April 27. "We probably broke all records of other countries for reload speed, and we are ready to keep doing it constantly to defend our country, as long as we have the missiles," he said. "In one air defense battle, we shot down 11 cruise missiles. The operation lasted no more than two minutes," Peretyatko said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He did not specify which Russian mass missile attack he was referring to. The U.S./Norwegian-made National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) systems have been in service with Ukrainian forces since November 2022, when the U.S. delivered the first batteries amid escalating Russian airstrikes. The NASAMS system, which has a maximum range of 50 kilometers depending on the model used, is particularly valuable for Ukraine as it uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM interceptor missile, which is the same missile used in air-to-air function in Western fighter jets. Kyiv has consistently urged Western allies to expand air defense assistance, with President Volodymyr Zelensky even offering to buy Patriot air defense systems from the U.S., warning that existing systems are insufficient. U.S. President Donald Trump later rejected the offer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms. It has reportedly intensified its aerial campaign and offensive operations across the front line. Over the past week, the Ukrainian air force downed 442 Russian Shahed kamikaze drones and over 230 other attack drones, as well as 31 Kh-101/Kh-55SM cruise missiles, seven Iskander ballistic missiles, six Kalibr cruise missiles, and four Kh-59/Kh-69 guided air-launched missiles, the Air Force reported on April 27. Apart from the front-line areas, Russian attacks targeted cities all over Ukraine, with a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv overnight on April 24 killing 12 people and injuring 90, including children. Read also: Trump has chance to become greatest president in US history, Ukrainian lawmaker says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A day after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's arrest and felony charges, Milwaukee activist groups organized a second protest April 26 this time, outside the FBI Field Office in St. Francis to demand Dugan be released and charges against her dropped. Rep. Ryan Clancy, D-Milwaukee, and Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski shared statements in support of Dugan to a crowd of more than 200 people. Clancy said Dugan was right to tell federal immigration officials they needed a judicial warrant, not an administrative warrant, to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented Mexican immigrant. "I hope that we can all be as brave as Judge Dugan was," Clancy said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bielinski said the FBI is operating like it's the "Federal Bureau of Instigation." "I don't believe (Dugan) did break the law," he said. "If she did, she did it for a good reason." Dugan is accused of obstructing a U.S. agency and concealing an individual to prevent an arrest for assisting Flores-Ruiz avoid arrest by federal immigration officials at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Her two felony charges carry a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $350,000 fine. After her arrest April 25, about 100 protesters crowded the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Milwaukee. People protest the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan outside of the FBI Field Office on Saturday, April 26, 2025, in St. Francis, Wisconsin. At the April 26 protest, about 100 cars lined both sides of South Lake Drive near the FBI office, from the St. Francis Seminary to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, where a City of St. Francis police car blocked the street. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Janan Najeeb, one of the leaders of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, spoke at the protest, saying Dugan questioning federal immigration officials' warrant shows her loyalty to the Constitution. "The courtroom is not a hunting ground for ICE," Najeeb said. "It is a sanctuary. When our government turns our courtrooms into traps, they are betraying the very laws that they claim to defend." Sara Dady, an immigration attorney, traveled from Rockford, Illinois, to stand up against what she calls a "gross violation of the Constitution." "I have never heard of a state court judge being arrested by the federal government because she chose to control her own courtroom," Dady said. "This is unprecedented." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: Read the charges against Judge Dugan charges, arrested by FBI in ICE case Diana Valencia is an immigration reform advocate for Unity Racine, a nonpartisan organization based in Racine. She said she's concerned that stories like Dugan's and Flores-Ruiz's will cause the immigrant community to be afraid to navigate the justice system, including calling the police. "What can you do if you can't go to the courthouse?" Valencia said. "They're trying to make us fearful." More: Wisconsin Republicans signal they want to remove Judge Hannah Dugan. Here's how that may work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sara Onitsuka, chair of the Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, said she sees the federal government's decision to arrest Dugan as an "escalation." She said immigrant rights activists and especially those who support Palestine, such as Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, are the Trump administration's first targets. "To see a sitting judge, who very much knows the laws, become a target of this is going to spur a lot of people into action," Onitsuka said. Gina Castro is a Public Investigator reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at gcastro@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Protest outside FBI office slams Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan's arrest The alcapurria at El Borinquen Food Truck is nothing like the Puerto Rican street food that I grew up eating. It's not that crispy golden cone the server at my favorite cuchifrito spots in the Bronx would pluck from underneath a warm heat lamp and wrap in a paper napkin for me to eat like an ice cream cone. Its not hearty and gloriously plump, overflowing with meat and soft slivers of red peppers with every bite. The alcapurria at El Borinquen is darker in color an almost-black brown so dark, you might mistake it for charred and rectangular in shape, less reminiscent of the conical Levantine relative that inspired it. A masa of green plantains and earthy root vegetables like yucca, taro or pumpkin is filled with picadillo, a stew of ground beef, sofrito and briny green olives, and deep-fried. Traced back to Middle Eastern settlers in Puerto Rico, it's much like kibbeh. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No, El Borinquens alcapurria is nothing like my childhood favorite Puerto Rican street food from the streets of NYC. It is, however, a verbatim interpretation of the glorious alcapurrias served on the island, a version whose pleasure comes from the starchy flavor of the green banana rather than the grease of a deep fryer. Ive long lamented that Detroits options for Puerto Rican cuisine are lacking. Rincon Tropical in southwest Detroit has been a pillar for more than a decade, with smaller operations run out of home kitchens or as pop-ups over the years. El Borinquen Food Truck serves Puerto Rican food, such as sorrullitos and alcapurrias, in a residential neighborhood in southwest Detroit. But the quest for satisfying Puerto Rican is like the adventure of Goldilocks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Portion sizes are too small, rice is under-salted, the pernil is missing its crunchy-chewy cuero. The place is altogether void of asopao, a tomato-based soup with soft grains of rice at the bottom of the bowl and, outside of my home, I've never seen sancocho, the healing chicken soup laden with vegetables you'd turn to on a sick day. At last, El Borinquen, run by Mary Colon, descended upon the city last summer with just-right offerings, revealing an unconscious bias for this New York native and half-boricua. For years, Id been seeking the New Yorican comforts that shaped my palate. Instead, El Borinquen came along to deliver something entirely better the flavors and techniques straight from la isla del encanto. The island of enchantment. The bacalaitos at the food truck have no resemblance to the cod fish fritters my grandmother would make from Goyas just-add-water boxed mixture. Theyre not the small, crispy rounds that would bubble up in her frying pan like silver dollars on a Sunday morning. But in stature and flavor, theyre just like the fritters I collect from the pinchos stands that line the road to and from Playa Pinones, my favorite beach in Loiza, Puerto Rico. El Borinquen Food Truck serves Puerto Rican food, such as mofongo and pernil, in a residential neighborhood in southwest Detroit. The Borinquen bacalaitos are massive, about the size of my head. They're crisp around the edges and doughy in the middle with tiny bones the size of fine hair strands lending a mildly fishy flavor. They're delicious not too salty, nor too greasy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement El Borinquen is parked on a once-vacant lot in the residential Claytown neighborhood between a barber shop and a private home. The large, royal blue truck wrapped in images of Puerto Rican food and beverage a pilon filled with mofongo, a cup of cafe con leche sits at the back of the freshly paved lot. The islands moniker, the island of enchantment, is scribbled in white just beneath the pickup window. If you dont spot the vibrant truck at first glance, you wont miss the giant Puerto Rican flag flapping in the wind at the entrance. A gazebo covers two long picnic tables, and figurines of roosters and stray dogs are placed throughout the outdoor space, creating the feel of Puerto Rico, where livestock and pets roam. Though the truck is stationary, experiencing El Borinquen is like catching lightning in a bottle. El Borinquen Food Truck in southwest Detroit offers beverages, such as malts and pineapple sodas, all made in Puerto Rico. Colon operates the food truck as a seasonal business. She shut down operations last November and reopened this month, citing winter weather as the reason for the shutdown. Diners like me anticipated her return and were dismayed when the reopening was delayed from March to April. I suppose it would seem disconcerting for a native Puerto Rican to serve guava juice and cheese-filled empanadas with snow coating an unheated patio. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More from Lyndsay C. Green: Still celebrating the best But Colons laissez fair approach to El Borinquens business hours carries into the warmer months, too. Google hours might indicate that El Borinquen is open Thursday through Sunday, but on a number of visits, Ive turned up to no avail. When you do catch her, though, you might find Colon making an appearance on the concrete, which duals as her very own dance floor. Hand to her belly, shell dance a merengue with her red chef's hat on, or belt along to the salsa tunes coming through a loud speaker attached to the truck. Waiting for my order of alcapurrias and sorrullitos, little ladyfingers of cornmeal stuffed with melted white cheese that offers the most impressive cheese pull, I envision myself on the patio among guests emphatically swaying our hips and twirling about during a salsa lesson led by Colon or a skilled instructor. I hope someone will give her the idea to transform the space, evoking nights at La Placita, an open-air market in San Juans Santurce neighborhood. A seating area on the patio at El Borinquen Food Truck in southwest Detroit features a gazebo covering two picnic tables. Without imposing what El Borinquen could be, its enough to celebrate the ways in which the food alone conjures the spirit of Puerto Rico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arroz con gandules, or yellow rice teeming with creamy pigeon peas, is perfectly seasoned with the pungent perfume of sofrito and the portion size is enough for two. Maduros, or ripened plantains, are marvelously plump and sweet. Pernil, or roast pork shoulder, is tender and sits in a pool of garlicy-vinegary, fatty goodness, making the last bite the best end note. During one visit, a customer playfully begged Colon to add the cuero. She obliged, plunking rubbery pieces of the pork skin into his Styrofoam container. Recipes: How do you like them meatballs? The snacks and beverages at El Borinquen emphasize Colons commitment to bringing a taste of Puerto Rico to Detroit. Theyre all stamped hecho en Puerto Rico, made in Puerto Rico to assert their authenticity. Galletas de jengibre, or ginger cookies come in two varieties. Candies laced with sesame seeds and coconut are just as they are sold in baggies in San Juan. Bottles of pineapple soda are fizzy and citrusy and Malta, the bitter-sweet malted beverage that stained my mothers tongue when I was a kid, line the food truck counter. These add-ons are made in Puerto Rico, and adored by a New Yorican. El Borinquen food truck 4409 Central St., Detroit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement elborinquenfoodtruck.com Subscribe to the Eat Drink Freep newsletter for extras and insider scoops on Detroit-area dining. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What to order at Detroit's new Puerto Rican food truck El Borinquen MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin has ordered several planes to be sent to Iran to help deal with the aftermath of a blast at Iran's port of Bandar Abbas, Russia's emergency ministry said on Sunday. Putin has expressed his condolences over the loss of life and offered to provide a help to Iran dealing with the aftermath of a blast, the Kremlin said. It said Putin had conveyed "words of sincere sympathy and support to the families of the victims, as well as his wishes for a recovery to all those injured." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The emergency ministry said a Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft specialising in firefighting, as well as an Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane, would be sent to Iran to help out. Iranian state media have reported that a huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 25 people and injured more than 700 on Saturday at Bandar Abbas, Iran's biggest port. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn and David Evans) MOGADISHU, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre carried out a cabinet reshuffle on Sunday, replacing the ministers of defense, foreign affairs and second deputy prime minister, the state-run Somali National News Agency reported. Barre appointed Ahmed Moallim Fiqi, the current minister of foreign affairs, to the Ministry of Defense, while naming his second deputy prime minister, Abdisalan Abdi Ali Dhaay, as the new minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation. Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi, who had been serving as the Minister of Defense for just three weeks, was appointed as the second deputy prime minister. Prior to this role, Jibril was the minister of commerce and industry. Fiqi, the new minister of defense, previously served as the minister of interior for two years and the minister of foreign affairs for one year. As the United Kingdoms global alliances appear to be becoming increasingly fragile, the importance of less publicly recognised but crucial friendships across the world comes to the fore. It is time we value fully the allies we can trust, especially those who play an ever-greater global role. Qatar is such a country. As UK Ambassador to Qatar from 2013 to 2015, I saw the relationship strengthen and move to a new level. We launched an annual British Festival in Qatar and laid the groundwork for the joint UK-Qatar Typhoon squadron, which has since become the first joint RAF squadron since World War II. We also helped launch an annual strategic dialogue between our two governments. That has evolved and increased in significance. A decade ago, it was led at the lower ministerial level of deputy foreign minister. The lead Qatari official then was Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani; he is now both prime minister and foreign minister. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fast forward 10 years and we have seen a broadening and deepening of the relationship, with intensifying political engagement raising the level of ambition and strengthening cooperation. A report published this weekend by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) should leave no one in any doubt what Qatar means to this country and our interests. The CEBR set out the true nature of the relationship and provides new evidence of the depth and breadth of Qatars investment in the UK in recent years, from retail and hospitality to transport and construction. In the fifteen years up to 2022, Qatari-owned businesses in the UK made a cumulative total revenue of 1.3 trillion across the UK. Great swathes of the UK economy have benefited from Qatari investment, from retail to transport to construction to the financial sector. Qatars investment in British Airways and Heathrow have supported over 36,500 full-time jobs, with more to come if the third runway at Heathrow goes ahead. Qatar is known for its investments in London, but in fact half of the jobs created by Qatari-owned businesses are located outside the capital. The employment multiplier effect is slightly higher outside London, meaning that there is a stronger ripple effect of Qatari investments in regional economies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Given the present challenging fiscal climate and difficult choices facing the Chancellor, it is noteworthy that Qatari-owned businesses, mostly retail, contributed a total of 3.4 billion in taxes to the UK Exchequer in 2022. Qatari students also contributed 1.1 billion to the UK economy between 2018 to 2023 through spending on living costs, course-related costs and fees, and housing costs. The reports publication coincides with a much more significant Strategic Dialogue meeting than I participated in years ago, led now by Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his Qatari opposite number, Sheikh Mohammed. They will look to the future when they meet today. The outlook is encouraging. Qatar has committed up to 10 billion over the 5 years to 2027 under the UK-Qatar Strategic Investment Partnership (SIP). The SIP invests in key sectors such as fintech, zero-emission vehicles, life sciences and cybersecurity. This initiative should support economic growth. The SIP will also support the UKs emerging industries and support its green economy and strategy to decarbonise. The two nations are collaborating in vital sectors, such as the genomics research collaboration between Queen Mary University and Sidra hospital to drive precision medicine, or the joint AI research between Queen Mary University, the Alan Turing Institute and Hamad bin Khalifa University to explore this critical frontier technology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) the sovereign wealth fund is investing in Rolls Royce SMR Ltd to develop small modular reactors to deliver affordable, low-carbon nuclear power and enhance UK energy security. That should create 6,000 jobs by 2025 and thousands more by 2050. The state visit last December by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, provided a significant boost to the UK and Qatars shared economic agenda as well as political cooperation. The Labour Government seems to have understood that as older relationships may be faltering, it is reassuring that slightly newer, quieter friends are showing so much faith in our economy, culture and people. For anyone still questioning the value of Qatars friendship to the UK, the CEBR report seems to provide a clear answer. In the vernacular so beloved of pundits, its a no-brainer. Nicholas Hopton is Director General of the Middle East Association and a former British ambassador 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. EDMONTON, Alberta Mark Carney, the Alberta-raised prime minister hoping to secure a fourth term in power for Canada's Liberal Party, makes for an ironic target of the province's burbling independence movement. Carney is en route to Edmonton on the campaigns final day, sensing opportunity in the oil-rich province where the name Trudeau invoking both Justin and his father, Pierre has been a dirty word for decades. Albertans often feel forgotten, ignored or dismissed by politicians who live and work to the east. If Canada elects Carney on Monday, many in the province will feel unsettled. For the past decade, they've felt that Liberals in Ottawa have ignored Alberta's massive contribution to Canada's economic growth and worked against the oil and gas sector that has fueled so much of it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of their elder statesmen, Preston Manning, recently sounded the alarm about dire consequences of another Liberal win. Manning, the 82-year-old godfather of a prairie populist movement that took Ottawa by storm 30 years ago, penned a high-profile op-ed in The Globe and Mail with a provocative warning: A Carney victory would fuel a separatist movement in the province frequently at odds with Ottawa. A vote for Carney's Liberals, Manning wrote, is a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it. The column reignited questions in Calgary, Edmonton and the nation's capital thousands of miles to the east about just how deep the sentiment runs. Jason Kenney, a former Alberta premier who took Trudeau's government to court over a federal carbon tax and pipeline regulation law, rejected Manning's veiled threat. "Threatening to leave the country because you don't get your desired electoral outcome is counterproductive and unpatriotic. And I don't think it's something that should be thrown around," Kenney told reporters at an April conference of grassroots Conservatives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Nor should central Canadian political elites be dismissive of the very legitimate grievances that people in the West and Alberta have about the attacks on our energy industry." Kenney's successor in the premier's office, Danielle Smith, has laid down nine asks of whichever party wins the election most focused on unleashing the oil and gas sector. "I provided a specific list of demands the next prime minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis," she said in March following a meeting with Carney in Edmonton . What the polls say The Angus Reid Institute recently measured sizeable but hardly overwhelming support for Alberta's departure from Canada. Twenty-five percent said they'd vote to leave no matter the result of Canada's election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That data point ticked up to 30 percent in the case of a Liberal victory. Angus Reid's polling bears out the vibe of western alienation. In 2016, 45 percent of Albertans said they felt respected by the rest of the country. This year, only 24 percent feel the same way. Jared Wesley says the solid core of separatists in Alberta is likely far smaller. Wesley, a professor at the University of Alberta and widely cited expert on evolving Prairie identities, says his research suggests only about one in 10 people in the province would actually vote to leave Canada and most of them don't think Alberta is likely to strike out on its own . Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "They're venting frustration. It's a protest vote. It's not really got a lot of meat behind it. So it's not a grassroots movement, especially this most recent push," Wesley says. "It's absolutely an elite movement driven by folks that have an interest in ginning up separatist support." Their goal, Wesley says, could be simply to gain leverage with Ottawa to extract favorable treatment particularly in the oil and gas industry. Sen. Paula Simons, a former longtime journalist in Alberta who now sits with the Independent Senators Group, says she's heard this song before. "This is not a new phenomenon in this province, and it's a bit like mosquitoes that go dormant in dry summers, then they come out again when it rains," Simons told POLITICO. "This is a prairie cyclical problem, and it happens when people in Alberta are feeling aggrieved." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The alienation isn't made up, Simons said, pointing to the underrepresentation of Westerners in the Senate. The four westernmost provinces combine for 24 senators. Ontario and Quebec are apportioned 24 apiece, and the three Maritime provinces with far fewer residents than the West split another 24. "The amount to which the Canadian paradigm favors the center is not imaginary," Simons said. Prairie roots Both Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre grew up in Alberta the former in Edmonton, the latter in Calgary. Carney left for university first Harvard, then Oxford and never again lived in the province. Still, he launched his Liberal Party leadership bid there earlier this year, part of an effort to showcase his prairie roots to a country just getting to know him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After Carney called an election for April 28, he stopped in Alberta, where the party hopes to flip a handful of Conservative seats. Amarjeet Sohi, Edmonton's mayor on leave, hopes to win one of those electoral districts. Sohi, a former Liberal MP and Cabinet minister who won a seat in 2015, is familiar with the wrath of Alberta voters. They sent him packing after a single term. He acknowledges some Liberal voices in the nation's capital took on a "sanctimonious tone" during Trudeau's first four years in office. Albertans aired "legitimate concerns" about their place in the pecking order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There is a sense of alienation, not because they don't love Canada," Sohi told POLITICO as he knocked doors in a suburban poll. "There's a sense of lack of respect. Sometimes their contributions are not fully understood or appreciated. "I rarely run into people who think or believe they need to separate," he said, mentioning only a single voter ever advocating for "Alberta 51" to his face a reference to the province jumping ship for statehood. Unity watch Simons, the senator, will be watching the Prairie side of the electoral map closely when results start pouring in on Monday. "The worst-case scenario for Western alienation is a Carney victory with no seats in the West," she said. For most Canadians, U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated annexation overtures have buoyed their sense of patriotism. But it's not one-size-fits-all across Canada. Kenney, the former Alberta premier, put it bluntly: "Sadly, in Canada, we can never take national unity for granted." Among the most vivid memories of my childhood is that one afternoon at my grandma Margarita Preciado's home in Hermosillo, Sonora, when I was about 7 or 8 years old. Sitting on one of the couches in her living room, I remember telling her, "Nana, my throat hurts." She strolled over to her kitchen, opened one of the cabinets and took out a huge jar filled with organic honey. After placing the container on the table, we walked out the back door to her plant-filled patio and stood in front of her lime tree. We stared at it until I was able to pick the juiciest one. Back in the kitchen, she took a spoon and filled it with honey, squeezed some lime juice on it, and, before I knew it, she was feeding it to me, ensuring the concoction began to work its magic. Minutes later, that sore throat was gone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I grew up with many home remedies of this sort. How can I forget the day I cut myself on a piece of glass in my nana's home and she ran to the kitchen for the coffee can, took a pinch of the powder, placed it on my blood-dripping finger and suddenly, the blood had curdled; or the aroma of a bowl filled to the brim with "caldo de pollo" (chicken and vegetable broth); or the sweet, floral taste of chamomile tea they brought me in bed when I was sick. My home pantry is stocked with essentials like a jar of organic honey, as well as chamomile, mint, and valerian herbs. And yes, my grandmother is also responsible for these latest additions. Thanks to her, I've learned that chamomile helps with inflammation, relaxation, and menstrual cramps; mint aids digestion; and valerian will make you sleep like a baby. 'The potpourri of Mesoamerican medicine' Traditional medicine, also known as folk medicine, is the healing practice in which herbal medicine, spirituality and physical therapy intersect to treat ailments or illnesses. Other names used to describe this type of medicine today include "holistic" and "alternative" medicine. According to the World Health Organization, at least 170 different countries have reported the use of traditional medicine, and this practice is considered to have African, Aztec, Mayan, Inca, Sephardic, Catholic and magical-religious influences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Mesoamerica, for civilizations such as the Mexica (Aztecs), Mayans and Incas, health was seen as the result of a balance between physical condition, nature and the cosmos. These cultures, along with European colonization, gave rise to the ancestral medicine of that region, which is now popularly known as curanderismo. "I call it the potpourri of Mesoamerican medicine. There's been times when I call it capirotada," Patricia Federico, a healer from Phoenix, told me with a laugh, implying with that last term that, to her, curanderismo can be a mix of a little bit of everything. Get Spanish-language news in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletter here. A curandero, curandera or curandere is a person who has the skill and gift to perform these healing practices. During the colonization of Mesoamerica, most people from Europe spoke Spanish and Portuguese, so they referred to those who were responsible for healing others as curanderos. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Curandero originates from the term "curar," which means to heal. When I asked my 87-year-old grandmother if curanderismo was a common practice during her childhood or if she ever went to a curandera for treatment, she wasn't very familiar with the word. The term became popular in the 1970s, while my nana's childhood and adolescence were spent in the 1940s and 1950s. As I explained the term's significance, she slowly caught on. "Oh, 'natural remedies'? Yes, that's how we were treated at home," she assured me. "My mom made us cinnamon and lemon tea for our throats, or sometimes ginger tea, and before giving us the tea, she would rub VapoRub on our chests and the soles of our feet." Within curanderismo, there are subcategories, some of which are: sobadoras or hueseros, who work with the body through massage therapy or chiropractic methods; yerberos, who focus on the benefits of herbal medicine or plants for healing; oracionistas, who heal ailments through words; and parteras, who accompany women throughout their pregnancy, guiding them until the day they give birth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My nana was the third of seven children and one of six welcomed into the world with the help of a partera. She and her family lived in the small rural area of Pilares, just outside of Hermosillo, and going to the hospital for an emergency was out of the question. Dona Andrea was the well-known and reliable partera among the community whom my great-grandmother trusted with six of her seven children. Some of the ailments that curanderos often treat and that are deeply connected to Mesoamerican culture are susto, mal de ojo (the negative effects caused by someone's envy), empacho (indigestion), mollera (a depression in the anterior fontanelle), witchcraft and muscle strains. 'It is the spirit of the land that embodies this energy' Much of the United States, specifically the Southwest, was once part of Mexico until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, ceded that territory to the U.S. effectively ending the war between the two countries. According to Federico, it is because of this historic event that Arizona is one of the states with the highest concentration of curanderismo practitioners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is the spirit of the land that embodies this energy, Federico affirmed. I always say it is handed down like a chain of love. When it comes to medicinal plants used by practitioners of traditional medicine, the Sonoran Desert an ecosystem that encompasses both the state of Sonora in Mexico and Arizona in the United States is home to countless plants. According to the Yaqui Museum in Sonora, Mexico, some of the popular medicinal plants found along the Sonoran Desert are chicura, ocotillo, choya fruit, cenizo branch, cibiri fruit, and batamote. My grandmother learned about the latter as a child, as it was used in many remedies. "They gave me batamote for stomach pain," she told me. "You take the branches and boil them with water to make a tea." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Batamote, along with muilcle, another medicinal plant widely grown in Mexico and Central American countries, are some of the plants my nana grows in her patio in Hermosillo. a magical place that, for me, embodies the spirit of the desert with the presence of dozens of plant species. New Mexico and California are also home to many practitioners. The University of New Mexico has incorporated a curanderismo course, which Federico took during her training to become a curandera. Felicia Cocotzin Ruiz, also a curandera in Phoenix, told me that the largest concentration of curanderas in Arizona is in the Valley and in the south, near Tucson. The gift, 'a spiritual and cultural privilege' Federico is a native Arizonan living in Phoenix and has been helping others via her curanderismo practice, Mi Tierra Healing Arts, for 30 years. Federico is of Mexican and Indigenous descent, where these ancient forms of healing have always been present. Federico spent much of her childhood with her grandmother and one of her aunts, who was a sobadora. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That's how I was first introduced to curanderismo, although at the time I didn't know it was called curanderismo. I always thought it was just la sobadora, Federico said. At an early age she realized she could sense energies and spirits around her. I always had what my aunt referred to as el don, (the gift) Federico said. She always said that I had 'el don' because I could perceive beyond the five physical senses. But Federico put off developing that gift well into adulthood. She was working as an accounting executive before a traumatic experience changed her worldview. When her son was 19, Federico had a vision in which he was shot. Federico's nightmare came true days later when her son was attacked at gunpoint. Two weeks later, Federico had a very similar vision. Once again, it became a reality, only this time, her son was shot six times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was sitting at the foot of my son's bed when I sensed an angelic presence with us. The presence inspired me to have hope and faith and to have hope and faith into changing my life and to use my gift, because I was hiding it at that point because I wanted to fit in with everybody else, Federico said. That's when I made my commitment to myself, to God, to the Creator, to my son, who laid on the bed with the ventilator hooked up to him, not knowing if he was going to pull through. But he did. Following his recovery in 1994, Federico began helping others using her gift, starting as a natural holistic healer and later evolving to the title of curandera. Her initiation ceremony as a curandera took place in 2005 with the Kalpulli Teocalli Ollin group of curanderismo practitioners, Native traditional healing, shamanism and rituals in New Mexico after studying for four years each summer at the University of New Mexico. It was a very interesting way to transition from a business to being a curandera, Federico said. But the most important thing in my perspective that I, a curandera, must remember is that this is a cultural and spiritual privilege. Cultivating el don Cocotzin is another Phoenix curandera who, like Federico, has been practicing since 1994. Cocotzin says her family has Mexican and Indigenous roots, however, her arrival in the United States dates back several generations to New Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When I asked Cocotzin how she got involved in the world of curanderismo, she told me that her mother was cared for and educated by her great-grandmother, who was well-known in the Old Town neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico, as a curandera and partera. This woman was Cocotzin's first exposure to curanderismo. She described her great-grandmother as a very Catholic woman, but one who possessed the essence of healing people through energy, using her hands and prayer. Today, I think many people would call those practices a type of Reiki (energy healing), but back then it was just putting your hands on people and praying for them, Cocotzin said. I think she worked with energies, but she probably didn't have the vocabulary to explain what was even happening. Since she was little, she had the gift of sensing how her energy was affected depending on the environment she was surrounded by, such as feeling disruption in noisy places and peace outside as she connected with nature. It naturally evolved into me going into what people might say is holistic wellness, Cocotzin said. So, it really found me ('el don'), and I cultivated it. Federico and Cocotzin met while studying body physiology for massage therapy in Phoenix. One of Cocotzin's passions is cooking, and she says food is one of the main medicines for human beings. Food as a vehicle for healing came to her long after Cocotzin began her journey into the world of curanderismo and has become what distinguishes her most today. Her practice is called Kitchen Curandera. Her knowledge of both folk medicine and cooking has resulted in two published books: her semi-biography, fused with recipes, remedies and rituals, Earth Medicines, published in 2021 and winner of two awards; and the children's book Nana Lupita and the Magic Sopita, published in 2024. Cocotzin said that in the past, it wasn't very common to go to the doctor, especially among marginalized communities due to fear and lack of trust in Western medicine. I never call it alternative therapy because for many people, like myself, this was their first and primary medicine, Cocotzin asserted. It was not alternative; going to the doctor was the alternative. My grandmother agreed with her, saying that natural remedies were like community medicine, as neighbors would support each other by sharing plants or other ingredients to cure their ailments. WHO has a traditional medicine program that was integrated in 1976. Today, the organization "recognizes the diversity of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine practices in all countries of the world and their contribution to health, well-being, people-centered health care, and universal health coverage. This medicine, when properly integrated, can improve health outcomes by increasing the availability of services, especially at the primary health care level." However, the WHO has also communicated that folk medicine should not replace modern medicine, which is based on science and research, but should complement it. There are conditions that go beyond the ailments that can develop as a result of someone's daily habits or the environment that surrounds them every day, such as cancer or tumors. This is something that practitioners of curanderismo, like Cocotzin, recognize. Sometimes I am the bridge for them to see a doctor, she said. Medicine is for everybody In recent years, the term cultural appropriation has become very popular thanks to social media. It is used to describe when someone who is not part of a specific culture takes elements of that culture, which can range from traditional or religious practices to clothing, and makes them part of their persona or routine. When I asked Cocotzin if this could or has played a negative role within curanderismo, she replied, I was always taught that the medicine is for everybody. Cocotzin has helped people from all walks of life. I see people who are extremely well-educated with master's and PhDs. But they remember their grandmas giving them 'limpias' (cleanses) when they were feeling a certain way during their childhood, so now they come to see me, Cocotzin said. A limpia is for everyone. Both Cocotzin and Federico believe that approaching the practice with respect is essential, but both agreed on an even more key factor: lineage. Perhaps you are naturally gifted at certain things, and perhaps you are on the healer's path, but maybe this one isn't the right one for you, (Mesoamerican healing), Cocotzin said. Maybe this is the door that opens to what could really be for you. According to Cocotzin and Federico, researching one's ancestors is key, as ancestral medicine is present all over the world and every region has its own ways of healing. I really feel like people should look into their own culture, their own medicine, their own ancestors and the way they can connect, because their medicine can be so much more powerful if they connect it to their DNA and their ancestry, Federico said. A matter of the heart From childhood to adulthood, I had always heard the word "curandera," with an "a" at the end. And having only ever received this kind of healing from my grandmother, it's easy for me to assume that most practitioners are female. However, Cocotzin assured me that there are no rules regarding which gender can practice; there are curanderas, curanderos, and, more recently, curanderas. Federico agreed with Cocotzin, but added that it is more common to see female curanderas. She also said she has noticed that men who work in this field of practice tend to have better skills in the management of bone or muscle tears (hueseros). But in the end, Federico added one last point that encapsulates this healing practice. It's not so much about gender, but it's the heart of the person, Federico asserted. That's what matters. Have story tips on Latino communities in the Valley? Reach La Voz reporter Paula Soria at psoriaaguilar@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Phoenix curanderas connect to the earth to heal their community There is no trade-off between economic growth and net zero. So said Rachel Reeves back in January. Has the Chancellor since changed her tune? Reeves now says that the UKs absolutely insane environmental regulations have become a serious barrier to essential infrastructure investments, having gone too far in one direction. We all love and want to preserve nature, the Chancellor told fellow delegates at last weeks Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. But we also want energy infrastructure to reduce the cost of energy and better transport infrastructure, she observed. Well-meaning regulations end up stopping good things from happening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three months ago, Reeves told an audience gathered in a Siemens factory outside Oxford that she was fixing the foundations of our economy and promoting stability in our public finances. Since then, her own tax rises and profligacy have caused the UK economy to flatline, blowing an even bigger hole in our national accounts. The Government borrowed 152bn during the year to March, we learnt last week, as high spending on welfare and public sector wage rises combined with weaker tax revenues, dented by sluggish growth and downbeat consumer and business sentiment. Borrowing during 2024/25 was 15bn more than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility just a month ago and a staggering 65bn more than official estimates this time last year. During last months Spring Statement, Reeves stressed she had taken tough decisions to restore the full fiscal headroom to our public finances the vague notion that, in five years time, the UKs national debt will be falling as a share of GDP, with a 10bn safety buffer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those tortuously compiled plans have already been blown to smithereens as a direct result of Reevess own tax and spend decisions. The Chancellors 25bn hike in employer national insurance contributions and a slew of other cost increases imposed on companies, including business rates and the minimum wage inevitably caused a slowdown in investment and job creation. Its hardly surprising that the subsequent growth slump has undermined our public finances even more. The question now is whether Reeves will double down on her partys high-tax-big-state instincts, imposing even more tax rises in a misguided attempt to get borrowing under control? Or will she finally grasp that the only sustainable route to fiscal stability is economic expansion which means lowering the tax burden from todays 70-year high and easing regulation, encouraging the investment and growth allowing us to cope with a national debt fast approaching 100pc of GDP, serviced by annual interest payments now well over 100bn. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perhaps the Chancellors flippant Washington aside about the growth-destroying nature of net-zero suggests she is unilaterally reconsidering the deeply statist instincts that drive her politics. But I somehow doubt that. What her words reflect instead is that, when it comes to net zero, the Overton window of debate the range of views seen as politically mainstream is most definitely shifting. Much of the public, witnessing the everyday damage caused by environmental policies pursued by successive governments, is now openly critical not so much of the aims of net zero, but certainly the speed and manner of the move away from fossil fuels. For Reevess claim there is no trade-off between economic growth and net zero was always arrant nonsense. The costs of implementing the Climate Change Act run into hundreds of billions of pounds between now and 2050. And, before then, ever-rising levies on energy bills are already impoverishing thousands of businesses and millions of households, while destroying countless jobs. Scotlands last remaining oil refinery at Grangemouth recently closed, the last two blast furnaces at Port Talbot just shut and Scunthorpe steel works is also in crisis. Vauxhalls Luton plant was axed in December, as countless other UK-based carmakers divest. All these closures were caused by overzealous net zero policies and all involved thousands of job losses directly and along local and national supply chains. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then theres the Tories windfall tax on UK oil and gas production, a levy Labour has raised even more, while introducing a total ban on new energy extraction from the North Sea. Around half a million jobs depend on our oil and gas industry fuels accounting for around 70pc of the UKs energy needs, and which will remain vital even if our ridiculously ambitious 2050 net zero targets are met. UK firms and households are also paying the highest electricity prices in Europe. Residential end-users across Britain paid 36.6 c/kWh for electricity last month, compared to 25.3 in Spain, 15.7 in the US and 7.7 in China. UK firms also face disproportionately high energy bills. This is in large part due to renewable levies which topped 12bn during 2024-25 and which the OBR predicts will reach 16bn over the next three years. Ive spent years arguing for a gradual shift away from fossil fuels. But that transition is happening at a pace that economically, technologically and politically is entirely unrealistic. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch recently gave a well-researched speech explaining why the UKs 2050 net zero targets are simply impossible. And, ahead of this weeks local elections, Nigel Farages Reform party has been dissing net stupid relentlessly, mindful that the policies are detested by countless trade unionists and other traditional Labour supporters in pivotal red wall constituencies across the Midlands and the North. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now Reeves is finally realising that not only are net zero policies unpopular, but that unless Labour performs a major policy U-turn soon, bringing down energy costs and easing net zero regulations, the growth that she and her party so desperately need will be lost to the wind. 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. I remember an old man in white, alone in the rain. The memory is from March 2020, the height of the COVID pandemic. I remember his blessing, yesthe monstrance lifted above his head as he looked out onto the empty dark of St. Peters squarebut mostly I remember how afraid I felt in those days. The clutch and flinch of itnot so different from now. And in the wake of fear comes the memory of his preaching. Not his words, really, but his voice. What I remember is the rush and swell and relief I felt. I remember his reverence for what we were enduring. I remember Traditionis Custodes, the apostolic letter with which he restricted the celebration of the pre-conciliar Latin Mass. I dont remember the letter itself, nor my own response, since I do not celebrate or attend Mass in that form. Instead, I remember my friends and their pain when reading it. Their voices. These are Catholics who had not only stood by Pope Francis and defended him to others, but who had worked to keep their own hearts open. They read his encyclicals, listened to his homilies, and tried to let him be a father to them. What I remember is how wounded and defeated they sounded, as though their efforts to be obedient had not only gone unseen and unappreciated, but were not considered obedience at all. How, they felt, could a pontiff look with mercy on so many and not find some mercy for them? And I remember the crowded floor of the U.S. House of Representatives as he addressed a joint session of Congress in 2015. I remember how slowly he spoke and how thick his accent was. I remember how he said that every people has a gift to give, and then named four Americans who have helped us give ours: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day. I remember feeling then like Ive felt when someone whom I admire and who knows my heartmy mother, my spiritual director, a beloved older Jesuitreminds me what they see in me, who I truly am. And I remember then-Speaker John Boehner, seated behind the popes left shoulder wearing a bright green tie, tears streaming down his face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ive been asking others what they remember about Pope Francisnot what they think will happen in the long wake that will follow the end of his long papacy, but what their hearts will remember. This is because, for those of us who take the Incarnation of Christ to be a historical event and therefore do not take ourselves to be the prime movers of history, before we can step back and analyze what will come next and why, we need to root ourselves in something deeper. We have to try our best to notice how the prime mover is still moving. And this means remembering. The site of our illumination. This is not a new idea. Sixteen centuries ago, in his Confessions, none other than St. Augustine held that memory was the bridge to the world outside ourselves, to ourselves, and to God. It was the site of our illumination. For Augustine this is because, in the words of historian Paula Fredriksen, the meaning of our lives is distilled only retrospectively, through the integrative functioning of memory: it is only in recollection that the person can actually understand what he has experienced and see true meaning in it. So I have been asking people what they remember of Francis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One remembers Lampedusa. Another Laudato Si, his encyclical calling us to care for creation as our home. One woman remembers a homily he gave in Ciudad Juarez on the U.S.-Mexico border in which he invited all those gathered to weep for injustice. These are tears that lead to transformation, that soften the heart, she remembers him saying. Many remember his first appearance on the balcony overlooking St. Peters Square, how he waved so awkwardly and how amazed they felt at being asked to pray for him. Another friend, who is gay, remembers feeling shocked and even betrayed that Pope Francis spoke a gay slur not once but twice. A number of others remember how he knelt, on his bad knees, to kiss the feet of the warring leaders of South Sudan and begged them for peace. And one of my former students wrote to me that his local participation in the Synod on Synodality made him realize that if the Church has to discern, so must I. If the Church has to work to listen, so must I. If the Church has to hope that it can find the will of Christ, so must I. Attending to what we are remembering can help us not only list but dwell in the themes of Francis pontificate: the poor, mercy, care for creation. Important as the memories themselves are, though, what may be more important is the habit of remembering together. That is, as Francis wrote, of learning to be sensitive to the mystery of other persons. Memory and discernment. To grasp the papacy of Pope Francis we need not just an analytic but a discerning attention. Put differently: I am distrustful of answers that step outside of time, that step away from the site of illumination. Instead I want a discerning answer because, like memory, it is old. Or, more accurately, it is traditional. It remains part of a conversation that is still going on, an argument that is happening now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This kind of answer is hard to come by because, as 19th century theologian St. John Henry Newman wrote in An Essay On Development Of Christian Doctrine, it takes time for a real idea to reveal itself as itself in history. Contrary to our expectations, Newman argued that a great idea is not clearest near the spring [but] purer, and stronger, when its bed has become deep, and broad, and full. Like rocks in a tumbler, the most real of our ideas are only burnished by the sacred weapon of time. We human beings tumble our greatest ideas about inside of traditions. As Alasdair MacIntyre has taught us in After Virtue, what we call a tradition is an historically extended, socially embodied argument about the goods which constitute that tradition. Living traditions, then, are ongoing conversations that take place over a long time. And a traditions discerning answer, its real idea, arises from the collective attempt to listen deeply to how God has been speaking in the grammar of Francis pontificate just as he spoke in that of Benedicts and John Pauls. The discerning answer, in other words, is found by remembering the consolations and desolations that Pope Francis provoked, along with wounds we may have received or the healing balm he applied. The real idea is unearthed by remembering precisely these things and making them public. Thinking traditionally about Pope Francis. Learning this kind of traditional thinking and discerning attention is vitalI would even say nonnegotiableas we try to take account of the papacy of Francis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First, because it lowers the pressure. It reminds all those interested in his pontificate and the future of Catholicism and of whether we can live up to the ideals of equality and freedom and community from which our ancestors built our modern moral order that Francis has had neither the first nor the last word in this ongoing argument. Yes, his magnetic and surprising and disruptive papacy added a sentence or a paragraph or a page to that conversation, but it did not close the book. Nor did he want it to do so. Second, it is because of this reminder that Francis is himself part of the tradition that we can ask better questions about what his papacy meanthow the paragraph his life and leadership added ought to be understood, and how it requires us to re-understand things we may have thought we already knew. Questions like this are animated neither by the fear that something has gone irretrievably wrong nor the conviction that Francis was so right as to have ended the conversation. Instead, they are motivated by another style of interest, one that tries to attend to how his inspiring, untidy, provocative leadershipfull of imperfection and of graceturned once more the rock tumbler of the Catholic tradition. I am insisting upon this shift in style because instrumental analysis of the kind that stands back, often skeptically, in order to catalog the bonds and breakages between Francis and his predecessors can forget the central thing: that God too has been at work, shaping the conversation that is the tradition, through Francis papacy. In seeing this we are doing our level best to be obedient to the example Francis gave uswe are learning from his ability to be sensitive to the mystery of other persons. It was not that Francis had some master plan for how to reconcile all of Catholic tradition with the individual rights, universal equality, and popular sovereignty that mark out the modern world. He did not know the outcome of the conversation hes tried to facilitate. Which means that all the analytical and theoretical questions remain now that hes gone, and they remain valid: How can a hierarchical church be reconciled with the equality of all? How can personal freedom be squared with regulated rituals and uniformity of doctrine? How can lay Catholics be expected to be public agents of their faith while not having a voting voice within their church? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The contribution that the papacy of Francis has made to these questionsthe questions that for centuries have dominated the conversation that is the Catholic traditionhas been less an attempt to resolve them than to embody a practical hope: that the entire church might become a subject capable of being guided by the Holy Spirit. That it might become more and more fully the body of Christ that it already is. I admit that there are many times when I am myself less hopeful than Francis was. I remember not only when I have been sensitive to the word God is speaking through the life of another, but also the other times when I have been insensate and self-centered. I remember how much it costs to be a good priest. Just as it costs much to be a good father, a good wife, a good friend. What I will remember most about the papacy of Francis is how often he himself remembered not how hard such sensitivity can be, but how good it is. That is why, I think, he was less afraid than I often am. Pope Francis believed in timewhich, as he often and cryptically said, is greater than space. He believed in taking time to listen and to remember. This would allow us to work slowly but surely, without being obsessed with immediate results, to endure difficult and adverse situations, and accept the tension between fullness and limitation. The time to ask what comes next. What is going to happen to the future of the Catholic Church? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is a fools errand to predict, and not just because of the religious conviction that the Holy Spirit works through the papal conclave even if some in the conclave work for their own goals. It is also foolish in ways particular to our current situation. Remember: When Francis was elected we had a collective sense of what the issues were that needed to be addressed. Now, we do not. In part thats because Francis has radically diversified the cardinalate both geographically and existentially. Unlike previous centuriesor even previous decadesthese are men who do not yet know one another. They lack a shared memory. It will take time for them to pay attention to their own memories of how God has been acting in them personally and in the people they serve, and to build memories of how God is acting in them together. Surely, though, whomever is chosen will speak in a new voice, write a new page, turn the tumbler differently than Francis has. But all of this is just another opportunity to burnish the real idea, which, as Newman put it, feels its way forward over time. From time to time, he wrote, it makes essays which fail, and are in consequence abandoned. It seems in suspense which way to go; it wavers, and at length strikes out in one definite direction. In time it enters upon strange territory; points of controversy alter their bearing; parties rise and fall around it; dangers and hopes appear in new relations; and old principles reappear under new forms. It changes with them in order to remain the same. We must remember this if we are to move forward in time, that is, to live together traditionally. And to do this we must remember the papacy of Francis rightly, ignoring neither the wounds it inflicted, nor those it left untended, nor the manythe manyit helped to heal. Read more at The Dispatch The Dispatch is a new digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary, informed by conservative principles. Sign up for free. Time for Matsui to retire Should Sacramento re-elect Congresswoman Doris Matsui? (sacbee.com, Sept. 5, 2024) I appreciate Congresswoman Doris Matsuis decades of service to Sacramento, continuing the legacy of her late husband, Congressman Robert Matsui, whose advocacy on civil rights and economic justice remains deeply respected. However, at this critical moment for our democracy, its time for her to consider retirement. Matsuis recent online town hall felt overly scripted and failed to address the urgency of the threats we face. Reassurances that courts will protect us and that legislation will be introduced are simply not enough. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We need bold, proactive leadership someone who will stand up to authoritarianism and not follow the passive example of leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer. Sacramento deserves a representative with the energy and courage of someone like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is willing to fight for democracy with urgency and passion. Its time to pass the torch. Donald Stauffer West Sacramento Opinion Open defiance of the courts With El Salvador, Trump has become exactly the tyrant the founders warned about | Opinion, (sacbee.com, April 17) When the executive branch also controls the Justice Department and chooses not to enforce the law, what happens to our system of checks and balances? If the courts rulings can be ignored, what good are they? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I ask the justices especially Chief Justice John Roberts to consider what actions the court can take when its authority is openly challenged. The American people need reassurance that the judiciary will not stand by while our democracy is weakened. Doug Parks Cameron Park No due process With El Salvador, Trump has become exactly the tyrant the founders warned about | Opinion, (sacbee.com, April 17) If the president can disappear anyone without due process, that includes you, me or any U.S. citizens he dislikes. My congressman, Republican Kevin Kiley, refuses to speak up against this. He took an oath to the Constitution, and he has a duty to protect his constituents and his country. Will he protect you? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Edward Farinsky Browns Valley Polluters must pay Why fossil fuel companies must pay for climate damages, (sacbee.com, April 18) Every time an airport cancels flights or when roads, rails or bridges are wiped out from weather made more severe by climate change, consumers (and businesses) pay. The Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (Senate Bill 684 and Assembly Bill 1243) should be passed by the California Legislature. Its time for the polluters making record profits to pay for the damage they cause. Tom Hazelleaf Seal Beach A top White House reporter called out former President Joe Bidens declineand the medias failure to cover it adequatelywhile accepting an award at Saturdays White House Correspondents Dinner. President Bidens decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception, said Axios reporter Alex Thompson, who accepted the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence for reporting on Biden and his cognitive issues. Wemyself includedmissed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it," he added. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. Axios Reporter Alex Thompson speaks at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner. / C-SPAN Biden eventually dropped out of his reelection bid last year after a chorus of Democratic leaders urged him to step aside, fearing the party would suffer a landslide loss if he ran again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thompsonwho is co-authoring Original Sin: President Bidens Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again with CNN anchor Jake Tappersaid it was necessary to reflect on the moment now to avoid making the same mistakes. Multiple books and reports since the election have recounted the chaos surrounding Bidens final year, with aides admitting he suffered from a mental decline toward the end of his presidency. Author Chris Whipples Uncharted recounted how aides operated in a fog of delusion and denial over Bidens ability to serve a second term, while The Wall Street Journal reported how Bidens aides kept meetings short and scripted more of his appearances. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it, Thompson said. We should have done better. Thompson also defended the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), saying it is needed more than ever as the Trump White House wages war on the press. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump White House has gone to war with the WHCA since January, taking control of the press pool system that distributes reports to the wider correspondents association and icing out outlets, including the Associated Press, over coverage decisions it disagrees with. The AP took the White House to court over the matter, where a judge reinstated its access to the White House. I believe our mission is vital in a world where people are struggling to figure out whats true, and people with power are not telling the truth, he added. I also believe that this association has been, is, and will continue to be critical to that mission. Thompson was one of the few reporters who captured Bidens decline throughout the 82-year-olds presidency, prompting the ire of Bidens press team. After Bidens disastrous debate last year, White House reporters told the Daily Beast his press team had lost its credibility over how they handled his declining health. Biden was nowhere near Washington, D.C, on Saturday, as he attended Pope Francis funeral in Rome. Photos from the event showed Biden gripping onto a priest and his wife to get down some steps at St. Peters Square, according to the Daily Mail. CAIRO, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held on Sunday separate phone talks with his Omani and Iranian counterparts and U.S. special presidential envoy to the Middle East, during which they discussed the third round of negotiations between the United States and Iran. During the phone conversations, the Egyptian top diplomat was briefed by Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on the latest developments of the third round of talks, which was held Saturday in the Omani capital Muscat, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Abdelatty affirmed Egypt's full support for all initiatives aimed at reaching political solutions through dialogue and negotiation, which enhance the chances of achieving security and stability in the region. He expressed his hope that the negotiations would lead to a balanced political settlement that would contribute to easing tensions in the region. Oman has been facilitating the dialogue between Iran and the United States to help narrow differences between the two countries and promote regional stability. With the Omani mediation, the first round of Iran-U.S. talks was held in Muscat on April 12, and the second round a week later in Rome. Just before Easter, many Afghan Christians in the U.S. were told they had one week to leave or face deportation. In fact, many worshippers were aghast upon hearing that Afghan Christian members of their own community have received emails giving them one week to get out. This crisis stems from a decision by President Trumps administration to revoke these Christians legal status, effectively ordering them back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan after Easter. We are conservative evangelicals and long-time Republicans. We are also the descendants of Chinese & Taiwanese immigrants. As a child my (Richs) grandmother told me horrific stories of the Rape of Nanjing, which taught me how easily the innocent can be slaughtered when others stay silent. As followers of Christ we see these Afghan Christians as part of our spiritual family. Their plight compels us to speak out, even if it means questioning a president who is so popular amongst us Evangelicals. This moment has a dark historical parallel. In 1930s Germany, many Christians stayed silent while their Jewish neighbors disappeared. Will we repeat that mistake now? Warren Buffett recounts how a Holocaust survivor shared with him that before making friends with someone, she looks at them and asks herself, Would they hide me? If the Taliban were hunting down our Afghan Christian neighbors, would we hide them? Scripture demands Evangelicals protect refugees fleeing persecution As Christians, we know what Scripture demands. In the book of Hebrews, were told to remember those who are mistreated as if you were suffering. Our Afghan brothers and sisters in Christ are suffering. They face torture and death if sent back. Wouldn't sending them away now betray our Biblical values? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Opinion: I wasn't expecting emotional reaction to Pope Francis' death. Yet it was there. American evangelicals overwhelmingly agree that we should protect refugees. A January 2025 Lifeway Research survey found: 70% believe the U.S. has a moral responsibility to accept refugees fleeing persecution. 74% support a law like the Afghan Adjustment Act to let Afghan evacuees apply for permanent legal status. Support for protecting refugees remains high even amongst evangelicals who voted for President Trump. Extending compassion to persecuted people isnt a liberal notion its a faithful Christian one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deporting these believers is not an abstract policy. It will absolutely affect real people right here and right now. Some of these Afghans have American spouses or children. Sending them away will not only endanger them but will also rip apart families and churches. This is not who we are as a country and certainly not who we are as Evangelical Christians. Congress must act to protect rule of law and vulnerable refugees As conservatives committed to the rule of law, we are deeply concerned. These Afghan Christians have done everything right. They came here legally after fleeing terror. U.S. authorities have thoroughly vetted them. They have filed asylum claims and are following all the rules. They have obeyed our laws and committed no crimes. In short, they pose no threat. Yet the government is pulling the rug out from under them and threatening to send them back to certain death all because they loved Jesus and because they helped us Americans over there. This is unconscionable. Opinion: Changes to Social Security would cost average Wisconsin resident $7,000 a year Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We must not only pray but also act. We ask you today to contact your members of Congress and urge them to: Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, a bipartisan bill to let these refugees remain in the US until their applications for permanent status can be fully adjudicated and Insist that the administration reopen the Refugee Resettlement Program that is currently suspended so that persecuted Christians still stuck in limbo abroad can once again find refuge in our great country. We cannot let them be sent back to danger and certain persecution. In Proverbs it is written, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Lets make sure our legislators hear that message. This is a defining moment. Will we be like those silent churchgoers in the 1930s, or will we be the ones who answer the call to hide and protect the vulnerable? We pray that we choose courage and compassion, refusing to abandon our persecuted family in Christ. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rich and Lena Eng are conservative Evangelical Christians and longtime Republicans who have taught Faith & Politics courses at their church. They are descendants of Chinese & Taiwanese immigrants who live in New Berlin. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump shouldnt order Afghan Christian refugees to leave US | Opinion Republican Senator Lindsey Graham responded to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat of additional sanctions on Russia on April 26 by calling attention to his plan to impose secondary tariffs on countries importing Russian energy products. Trump hinted at possible sanctions against Moscow in a social media post criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. "It makes me think that maybe (Putin) doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions?" Trump wrote. Graham praised Trump's efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and said his proposal in the Senate could help advance the administration's aims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "As to additional sanctions on Putin's Russia, I have bipartisan legislation with almost 60 cosponsors that would put secondary tariffs on any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium, or other products," Graham wrote on X. "The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honorable, just, and enduring peace." Graham, alongside Democrat Richard Blumenthal, introduced the secondary tariffs bill in the Senate on April 1, the day before Trump announced sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries with the notable exception of Russia. Trump has previously threatened to impose sanctions and economic penalties on Russia but has yet to follow through on those threats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The administration's push for a peace deal has instead focused on extracting concessions from Ukraine, while the U.S. pursues warmer relations with Moscow. Trump's comments on April 26 nonetheless mark a rare public criticism of Putin. The post followed a short in-person meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican, where the two spoke following the funeral of Pope Francis. Both leaders said the conversation was productive and constructive. Graham, a Trump supporter, has long been an advocate of military aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. He has praised Trump's peacekeeping efforts while calling for the U.S. to "sanction the hell out of" Russia. Read also: Hes just tapping me along Trump admits Putin may not be interested in ending war on Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. In 2024, a Mayan megacity was discovered in Campeche, Mexico. Swallowed by the rainforest, this lost urban center contained pyramids, plazas, amphitheaters, and highways. But this discovery wasn't made by a team of seasoned explorers hacking through the rainforest with machetes. It was made by a Ph.D. student. And he found it by accident. "I was on something like page 16 of a Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization for environmental monitoring," Luke Auld-Thomas, who is pursuing his doctorate at Tulane University, explained to the BBC in October. That overlooked, decade-old survey contained groundbreaking information hidden in plain sight. The survey used light detection and ranging (lidar) technology, a remote-sensing method that sends thousands of laser pulses from an aircraft to map objects buried beneath vegetation. The system measures how long it takes for the signals to bounce back, creating a detailed 3D image of the landscape. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now named Valeriana, this lost metropolis is believed to be one of the densest Mayan cities ever discovered. At its peak (between 740 and 850 A.D.), it may have housed anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 peoplemore than the region's population today. Over 6,000 buildings were identified, ranging from homes to towering pyramids. "The larger of Valeriana's two monumental precincts has all the hallmarks of a classic Mayan political capital: enclosed plazas connected by a broad causeway; temple pyramids; a ball court; a reservoir formed by damming an arroyo (a seasonal watercourse)," said Auld-Thomas in findings published in the journal Antiquity. Lidar is revolutionizing archeology, allowing researchers to peer through thick rainforest canopies without setting foot in the jungle. The technology has helped identify hundreds of thousands of structures in Mayan cities across southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. More than just revealing lost cities, these findings challenge a long-held belief that the Maya civilization was composed mainly of small, isolated villages. Lidar has instead uncovered a vast, interconnected network of cities, roads, and infrastructure, suggesting an advanced society with extensive trade routes and economic cooperation. Lidar also revealed parts of an extensive network of elevated highwaysmassive causeways built centuries before modern roads. Some stretched up to 131 feet wide, connecting cities across vast distances. "They're the world's first superhighway system that we have," said Richard D. Hansen, an archeologist and now an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Utah. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These long-distance trade routes "can be traced by following the cities that were interacting and exchanging not only goods but also ideas," says Christa Schieber de Lavarreda, head of the Tak'alik Ab'aj National Archaeological Park in Guatemala. One such route stretched from Tabasco in the Gulf of Mexico, winding through Tehuantepec and Chiapas, continuing along the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, and reaching as far as El Salvador. According to Schieber, "These routes, which operated for centuries, can be compared to the Silk Road during the time of the Roman Empire." But trade wasn't just about moving goods from one city to another. "There are also 'invisible' traces of raw materials used in products that combine multiple componentssome sourced from different locations than the place of production," Schieber explains. "These traces reveal an entire chaine operatoire (production chain) involved in creating the final product." One example comes from jade production in Guatemala. Archeological evidence from Cancuen suggests that raw jade was transported hundreds of kilometers to be processed into "pre-forms"partially worked pieces that were then exported somewhere else for refinement. Cancuen wasn't just a city, but a hub in a broader regional trade network, where valuable materials were moved and transformed before reaching their final destinations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the Maya civilization. Settlements once thought to be regional capitals have been revealed as mere suburbs of even larger metropolises. What seemed like natural hills have turned out to be long-lost pyramids. Ravines have been identified as remnants of ancient human-made structures. And what was considered simple trade has emerged as a far-reaching import/export system. Yet these findings only hint at the full scale. The vastness of Mayan cities, the sophistication of their infrastructure, and the complexity of their trade networks suggest that much of their world remains hidden beneath centuries of overgrowth. As researchers continue scanning unexplored regions, they expect to find even more lost cities, rewriting what we know about one of premodern history's most advanced civilizations. The post Researchers Accidentally Discovered an Ancient Megacity in a Mexican Jungle appeared first on Reason.com. In many low-income areas around the world, a new behavior is alarming scientists and public health experts. With affordable fuel for cooking and warming homes becoming scant, many people are burning plastic instead which poses a terrible threat to their health. What's happening? Phys.org recently shared a report on a new paper, from Curtin University and published in Nature Cities, that detailed the use of plastic as fuel. Researchers also called for steps to be taken at once to curb this dangerous behavior. The study looked at communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where many low-income households are unable to afford cleaner energy or fuels such as electricity, gas, or even wood. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What they can afford, though, is plastic namely because heaping piles of plastic garbage are already pervasive where they live. 13% of Nigerian households, for example, said in a survey that they use garbage as a cooking fuel. Why is burning plastic so harmful? The immediate impact of burning plastic is that it poses several health threats, not only to the family using it for fuel but also for people in the vicinity. "Burning plastic releases harmful chemicals such as dioxins, furans and heavy metals into the air, which can have a range of health and welfare impacts such as lung diseases," lead researcher Bishal Bharadwaj explained. And the more plastics that are burned, the more they permeate air, water, soil, and other areas of everyday life. Researchers found that in Indonesia, soil and food samples contained "dangerous toxin levels" that could be linked to the burning of plastic. What's more concerning, though, is that despite the dangers, plastic consumption isn't shrinking in fact, it's quite the opposite. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This will be a growing problem," Bharadwaj said, "given global plastic consumption is expected to triple by 2060 and inequality will deepen with rapid, unmanaged urbanization in developing countries." What's being done to curb this behavior? Researchers acknowledged that there was no simple solution to the issue, especially for people living in poverty who don't have affordable alternatives to cook or keep warm. "Many governments are not addressing the issue effectively because it's usually concentrated in areas such as slums, which are often neglected," professor Peta Ashworth said. "... Possible ways to address the problem include subsidies for cleaner fuels to make them affordable for poorer families, better waste management to prevent plastic from piling up in slum areas, education campaigns to inform communities about the dangers of burning plastic and alternative low-cost, innovative cooking solutions tailored to lower-income areas." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even if you live in an area with affordable access to clean energy, you can do your part to limit your own plastic pollution in order to keep your own and other environments clean and free of toxins. Consider buying from circular brands rather than polluting ones, using plastic-free alternatives for everyday products, and buying items secondhand. 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. The administration of United States President Donald Trump has not been coy about its interest in Greenland not only for its strategic value, but for its plethora of oil and minerals. During the congressional hearing on the world's largest island, however, no one seemed concerned about the rapidly melting ice and whether it could prove to be a huge oversight. What's happening? Greenland has been losing ice mass at an increasingly accelerated rate since 2002, according to NASA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Geoscientist Paul Bierman pointed out, in an article published by The Conversation, that the climate change-induced phenomenon has created landslide-prone terrain that would make any sort of extraction dangerous. Per Nature.com, the speed at which the Arctic climate is warming is four times faster than the rest of the world, which only exacerbates the degree of risk, both economic and personal, to pull resources. Bierman, who studies the environmental history of Greenland, emphasized how unpredictable the land is, often called the "land of extremes." The harsh climate and massive ice sheet create natural hazards that have grown exponentially worse as the planet continues to get warmer each year. Bierman wrote, "As the climate warms, permafrost frozen rock and soil which underlies the island, thaws. This destabilizes the landscape, weakening steep slopes and damaging critical infrastructure." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rockslides are capable of triggering catastrophic tsunamis, some of which have taken out nearby villages. With the constant threat of landslides, the conditions are uncertain at best, deadly at worst. Because of the land's instability, the infrastructure for what the United States has in mind simply doesn't exist. In fact, the article stated, "Greenland's government banned drilling for fossil fuels in 2021 out of concern for the environment." There are no routes connecting the coastal communities. Exporting minerals and oil would have to be done by sea, which would leave equipment and operations vulnerable to the elements, including icebergs, which are more prevalent with the warmer temperatures. The monumental risk and cost must be taken into consideration with the future in mind. What source of air pollution do you worry most about at home? Wildfires Gas stove Fireplace Something else Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Why is Greenland's melting ice sheet concerning? What's happening in Greenland isn't just devastating locally it's bad news for all of us. When ice melts into the ocean, sea levels rise. This causes coastal erosion, threatens fresh water, and impacts ecosystems globally. If all of Greenland were to melt, it would raise the global sea level by around 23 feet, as the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Furthermore, the melting ice is being replaced by vegetation growth, creating a wetland of methane production. Methane has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide in its first 20 years in the atmosphere, per the Environmental Defense Fund. This is a direct cause of human-induced changes to the climate, which propel extreme weather events. What's being done about the rapidly melting ice in Greenland? Scientists and researchers are keeping a keen eye on Greenland, but to prevent a total meltdown, global temperatures need to go down, which will require a massive reduction of planet-warming pollution. That means less production and use of dirty energy and more focus on clean energy sources, like solar, wind, and hydro. Individually, it's important to educate yourself on critical climate issues. Being a part of the solution starts with understanding the problem. Use less plastic, walk when you can, use your car as efficiently as possible, and support circular brands to reduce your carbon impact. 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. A convicted robber who was at least the ninth person to escape a reentry program facility for California state prisoners this year has been captured in Las Vegas. Dijon Barber was found almost two weeks after walking away from a Los Angeles County Male Community Reentry Program on April 12, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Barber had been serving a four-year sentence for robbery, theft/embezzlement from an elder or dependent adult and grand theft at a county reentry program facility. A day before Barber escaped, Deshon Daniels was apprehended in Los Angeles after having left a reentry program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The CDCR, which oversees the prison program, could not be reached Saturday for comment. Thousands have gone through the 10-year-old program, and it's part of a broader push by the state to go beyond punishment and rehabilitate incarcerated people and reduce recidivism. Read more: L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. can't get inmates to court on time, angering judges, delaying justice Most of those who escaped since January have been tracked down. On Friday, prison officials announced Barber was apprehended by the North Las Vegas Criminal Apprehension Team. There were no further details about how Barber wound up more than 250 miles away or what he was doing in Sin City, but officials said he was "taken into custody without incident." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To be considered for the reentry programs, individuals must have no more than 32 months and no fewer than 60 days before their earliest release date. There are three facilities housing these programs in L.A. County and there are others in Fresno, Butte, Kern and San Diego counties. The state has plans to expand the program so it serves every county by this summer. Read more: 'Surge' of violence prompts crackdown in California prison system, officials say "The goal of the program is to help participants successfully re-enter the community from incarceration, as well as contributing to reduced recidivism," the CDCR states on its website. Barber was booked into a Nevada county jail and will be sent back to California, where officials said he would be placed in a CDCR institution. His case is being referred to the Los Angeles County district attorneys office for consideration of escape charges, the CDCR said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (MyValleyTributes) Robert Neal Rumberg, 62, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Thursday April 24, 2025, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was born April 22, 1963 in Youngstown, Ohio, a son of John Wilbert Sr. and Marilyn Rose Mantle Rumberg. Find obituaries from your high school Raised in Poland, Bob was a graduate of Poland Seminary High School and continued his education at the Ohio State University earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He went on to work at Texas A&M. Returning to the Youngstown area, in 1988, Bob joined his father, uncle, aunt and cousins in the family business, Mahoning Paint Corporation, as a sales representative. In 2004, after 14 years of service, Bob became an independent sales representative selling industrial coatings for several paint manufacturers. Bob loved nature. As a young boy he loved camping and fishing with family and taking care of wild life such as raccoons, squirrels and family of foxes that found their way to the family yard. As a young teenager he convinced his parents to allow him to experience a summer at Outward Bound USA, an outdoor survival and educational program. Bob was the youngest member of his group but stayed strong and surpassed all the challenges of surviving the elements of nature. In his final years he loved spending time walking his best friend, his dog, Diamond, in the woods of his back yard. With all his physical challenges, Bob was at peace in the woods. A self taught cook, Bob loved spending time in the kitchen and at the grill. He began his culinary talent with a wok cooking up stir fry. Over the years, family and friends enjoyed his grilled meats, Yorkshire pudding, homemade breads, pastas, spaghetti sauce, stuff shells, cheesecake, and gallon bags of Chex mix. When he realized he had maple trees on his property he learned how to tap them and make homemade maple syrup. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bob was a voracious reader and loved working on Sudoku. He was a die hard fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes. In his final years Bob endured physical challenges that were insurmountable, but he faced them with courage. Bob will be missed, but he will remain in the memories of those who knew and loved him. Bob leaves his mother, Marilyn Wagmiller of Indianapolis; wife, Neasha Taylor~Rumberg at home; his two sons, Robert Rumberg and Frederick Fritz Rumberg both of Columbus; two brothers, John (Kelly) Rumberg of Indianapolis and Steven (Orly) Rumberg of Cincinnati; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his father, John and stepfather, Robert Wagmiller. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A private family gathering for Bob was held Saturday, April 26, 2025 at the Cunningham~Becker Funeral Home in Poland. Please visit www.beckerobits.com to send the family condolences and share your memories. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robert, please visit our floral store. A television tribute will air Monday, April 28 at the following approximate times: 7:10 a.m. on FOX, 12:22 p.m. on WKBN, 5:08 p.m. on MyYTV and 7:27 p.m. on WYTV. Video will be posted here the day of airing. 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. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins reinforced SNAP work and citizenship requirements with memorandums sent to state agencies. (Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA) U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued memorandums to state agencies urging them to enforce federal guidelines around work requirements and citizenship status when issuing food assistance. Food security advocates in Iowa say the measures do not change much for the agencies administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Luke Elzinga, policy and advocacy director for Des Moines Area Religious Council and chair of Iowa Hunger Coalition, said the memos are more about sending a message than creating policy changes. The implication is that people on SNAP are not working, and that we have a bunch of undocumented immigrants on SNAP, and neither of those are true, Elzinga said. SNAP rules require that anyone ages 16-59 work at least 30 hours per week, unless they have a physical or mental limitation, are a caretaker, receiving unemployment, participating in addiction treatment or studying at a school or training program. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Failure to comply with the work requirements could result in loss of SNAP eligibility for one month or longer. Further, able-bodied adults without dependents, or ABAWD, aged 18-54, have to complete additional work requirements, or else risk losing access to SNAP benefits for more than three months every three years. States may request waivers from the ABAWD requirements, which Rollins, as the secretary of Agriculture, has the authority to approve or deny. Rollins memorandum to state agencies asked them to be mindful of the law that created ABAWD requirements and its intent to reduce dependence on public assistance programs and to support self-sufficiency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The memo asks states to ensure their waiver requests apply only to those who truly need it so that those who can work, do. Elzinga said Iowa does not have any ABAWD waivers in place, so the announcement doesnt have much impact on the state. In a press release about the memorandum, Rollins said states have abused the system by requesting work requirement waivers. Today marks the start of a new era for SNAPprioritizing work, career and technical education, and volunteering rather than idleness, excess spending, and misapplication of the law, Rollins said in the statement. Since my confirmation, I have reiterated the states are our partners, and this includes ensuring our nutrition programs are tied to putting Americans back to work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elzinga said enforcing work requirements would be effective at getting individuals to stop using the SNAP program, but not because they would be improving their overall economic well-being. We should be supporting people and helping them have access to those (job training) programs, but not necessarily making them a condition of receiving food and health care, Elzinga said. On a local level, the Iowa Legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds are pushing for expanded work requirements for Iowans to receive Medicaid or SNAP benefits. Citizen status The other memorandum instructed states to carefully examine their practices for verifying identity and immigration status, to ensure that ineligible aliens do not receive SNAP benefits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The benefits are only available to U.S. citizens and certain eligible non-citizen groups including: refugees, individuals granted asylum, entrants from specific countries like Haiti, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan and Micronesian islands. Non-citizen children under 18 are also eligible, as are residents with green cards, battered non-citizens and conditional entrants after meeting certain criteria. Elzinga said memo is a bit of a nothing burger, because undocumented immigrants dont receive SNAP. Its not allowed by the program, he said. And we also know that it can be really difficult for legal immigrants who qualify for SNAP to even be able to get benefits. Elzinga said the effort might have an impact by dissuading eligible immigrant families from applying for SNAP benefits, which he said agencies saw during the first Trump administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I do think this announcement could instill fear among mixed status households or even legal immigrants who qualify for SNAP, he said, noting that folks might withdraw from the program out of fear that it would impact their immigration status. The memo outlines processes that state agencies should follow to verify immigration status and eligibility, including the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program which was recently made available to states at no cost. Elzinga said this would be the only real change to the state policy, because having access to the program for free could save agencies some money when running the service. The memo also encourages states to use other strategies, like surveys and in-person interviews to further verify identity and status of SNAP applicants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are stewards of taxpayer dollars, and it is our duty to ensure states confirm the identity and verify the immigration status of SNAP applicants, Rollins said in a press release. USDAs nutrition programs are intended to support the most vulnerable Americans. To allow those who broke our laws by entering the United States illegally to receive these benefits is outrageous. The U.S. Department of Agriculture press release cites a report from the Government Accountability Office that found in 2023, USDA paid about $10.5 billion in improper SNAP benefits. GAO listed failure to verify citizenship, identity, education, employment, finances, household size and residency as the top causes for improper payments. U.S. congressional leaders from Iowa introduced a bill earlier this session to similarly address the problems outlined in GAO study. Processing time Rollins also sent a letter to state governors in early April, calling for improvements to SNAP application processing times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The program guidelines stipulate that applications are to be processed in 30 days for normal applications, but the letter said more than 30 states fail to meet that deadline. Iowas application processing timeliness was rated at 77% in 2023. Elzinga said the letter appears to be a good thing to help improve processing rates in Iowa and other states. The SNAP program is also expected to be impacted by the $230 billion in cuts congressional leaders are tasked with making to the federal House Agriculture budget. Several funding programs that helped food banks purchase food have already been cut at the federal level, despite the fact that food pantries, at least in Iowa, are only seeing an increase in need. No time is really a good time to be talking about SNAP cuts, but especially right now when were seeing this historic need its just a really, I think, a really concerning time, Elzinga said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Romanians are confronting a deluge of online disinformation ahead of a fraught presidential election redo next week, including ominous claims that the NATO member country is surging toward imminent war with Russia. The campaign, attributed to unidentified anti-government and pro-Russian actors, underscores how large social media platforms can be exploited to fuel distrust and spin anti-Western narratives. It's also a somber lesson for other democracies across the European Union. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What happened in Romania? Romanias political landscape was shaken last November when Calin Georgescu, a little-known, far-right populist, won the most votes in the first round of the presidential election, advancing to the runoff against reformist Elena Lasconi of the progressive Save Romania Union party. Soon, allegations emerged of electoral violations and a Russian campaign promoting Georgescu, following declassified intelligence showing a highly-sophisticated, coordinated campaign via TikTok. Moscow denied it meddled. Romanias Constitutional Court then annulled the vote and ordered a redo. Georgescu, who has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized NATO and the EU, is now under criminal investigation. In March, he was barred from running in the May 4 election redo, prompting chaos on the streets of Romania's capital, Bucharest, as his incensed supporters staged protests that descended into violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What happened in Romania unnerved Brussels and raised questions about foreign interference. What did Brussels do? The EU Commission responded by launching an ongoing probe into TikTok to determine whether it had violated the EUs Digital Services Act in failing to deal with risks to Romanias election. Some 8.5 million Romanians aged 18 and above use the platform in the country of about 19 million. For its part, TikTok said it dismantled in December covert influence networks targeting Romanians, removing over 27,000 accounts that posted comments via a fake engagement vendor promoting the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians party and Georgescu. It also removed more than 1,100 accounts impersonating presidential candidates of all stripes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement TikTok also said it has taken steps to protect Romanias election integrity, including expanding its team of Romanian-speaking content moderators, partnering with a local fact-checking group, and in-app tools linking to official election information. But the disinformation didn't stop and it wasn't just confined to TikTok. The declassified intel indicated other platforms Telegram, Facebook and YouTube were also used, though to a lesser extent. How does disinformation work? Unlike misinformation, which covers any false information, including honest mistakes and misunderstandings, disinformation refers to misinformation created and spread intentionally, mainly to confuse or mislead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Funky Citizens, a Romanian nongovernmental organization, those behind disinformation use emotional triggers such as claims of betrayal, injustice or existential threat to erode trust in democratic institutions and create a parallel political reality. The NGO warned in April of a vast ecosystem of false narratives around Georgescu, who is now being promoted in this online sphere as the legitimate president of Romania. Some of the narratives claim that annulling the election was a coup, supported by the EU, globalist elites, and intelligence agencies and portray Romania as a "victim of European or Western control. Others warn of imminent war with Russia or predict that conscription and martial law are next. A post on TikTok, now removed, tells Romanians that within a month, their children will be sent to war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What has complicated matters is that many Romanians feel the authorities have failed to sufficiently explain what led to the annulment of the November election, Elena Calistru, who runs Funky Citizens, told The Associated Press. The fact that we didnt have this kind of post-mortem of what happened, as well as the lack of accountability, is also fueling distrust, she said. Expert Forum, a Romanian think-tank, said this week that online political campaigning has entered a new era, dominated by an industry of political promotion through inauthentic networks. We are witnessing an explosion of masked, coordinated and candidate-friendly content, created with the aim of simulating popular support and influencing public perception, it said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cristian Andrei, a political consultant in Bucharest, says disinformation is here to stay and won't magically disappear ahead of Sunday's rerun. A growing threat The EUs diplomatic service has labelled foreign interference, including disinformation, a growing security and foreign policy threat. Last year, online disinformation surged ahead of the EUs parliamentary elections and Moldova, an EU candidate country, also faced an alleged onslaught of Russian interference in two key ballots last fall. Cyabra, an AI-powered platform that uncovers online disinformation, fake accounts, and influence campaigns, analyzed the discourse on X in Romania related to the pro-Georgescu protests between March 6 and April 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sharing its findings with the AP, it said it has determined that 45% of 639 accounts were fake well above the usual 710% baseline. Cyabra's CEO Dan Brahmy said these accounts "created a fake consensus, making it seem like everyone was outraged when half of that everyone didnt even exist. In a 2024 report, X said its human moderators proactively conduct manual content reviews in high-priority categories such as election-related content, as part of its compliance with EU rules. Still, critics argue that under Elon Musk 's ownership, X has become a hotbed of disinformation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Calistru, of Funky Citizens, expects hybrid attacks on our electoral system to intensify in Romania ahead of next Sunday's vote. Eleven candidates are vying for the top job and if none wins more than 50% of the ballots, a runoff will be held two weeks later. Adding to the storm were remarks by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, and Musk, who like Moscow criticized Romania for voiding last years election and barring Georgescu from the May vote. If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars (euros) of digital advertising from a foreign country then it wasnt very strong to begin with, Vance said at the Munich Security Conference in February. What are Romanian authorities doing? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Between April 13 and April 20, Romania's Central Election Bureau stepped up enforcement. It approved 153 complaints and ordered the removal of more than 500 online posts including unverified content from anonymous accounts, mislabeled ads by politicians and posts by people who don't hold public office but could possibly influence the electorate. It's a difficult balancing act protecting freedom of expression and defending democracy against disinformation. Some of the election bureau's removals drew criticism and accusations of silencing political views of private citizens, which it denies. Lasconi, who was to face Georgescu in the runoff and is running in Sunday's election, said she was mocked when she warned of interference last year. No one took me seriously," she said. It turns out I was right. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) Firefighters from across the state were honored for their outstanding public service Saturday, and the bravery of one firefighter earned him a special distinction. The American Lung Association and AT&T recognized Roswell Firefighter Brand Sturza, naming him as the Firefighter of the Year. The platform has become obsolete: Albuquerque Fire Rescue ditches PulsePoint app They say he embodies loyalty, dedication, and leadership. Sturza was essential to saving lives during the Roswell floods last year. He had water up to his neck, he was throwing a rope to a man standing on the top of his truck in rushing waters. He kept at it until he got that man free and to safety, says Bob Digneo, New Mexico AT&T Director. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And after the ceremony, the organizations held a fight for air climb to raise awareness about the occupational hazards firefighters deal with day-to-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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. KHARTOUM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- At least 31 civilians were killed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Omdurman, north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, volunteer groups reported on Sunday. "An RSF force carried out a horrific massacre, executing 31 people from the Al-Salha area, including underage children, in the deadliest documented mass killing the area has ever witnessed," the Sudanese Doctors Network, a volunteer group, said in a statement. "We consider this mass execution a war crime and a crime against humanity. We call on the international community to act urgently to save the remaining civilians and to open safe corridors to allow them to leave Al-Salha, which is home to thousands of unarmed civilians," it added. Meanwhile, the Central Resistance Committees of Al-Salha, another volunteer group, also reported the killing, saying that the militia abducted unarmed civilians from the area and executed them. "Available data suggests that the number of civilians killed exceeds 30," the group noted. The Emergency Lawyers Initiative, a third volunteer group, also condemned the killing, calling it "a brutal crime and a grave violation of all international conventions, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity." Videos shared by soldiers wearing RSF uniforms showed detainees sitting on the ground before being shot. In the footage, one soldier was heard saying, "We will leave no prisoners anymore." The RSF currently controls the Al-Salha area, situated in southern Omdurman, which has seen frequent clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF. The RSF has not yet responded to the allegations. Sudan has been mired in conflict between the SAF and RSF since mid-April 2023, a war that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, with the exact toll unknown. The International Organization for Migration estimates that the conflict has displaced over 15 million people, both within Sudan and abroad. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the pressure on Ukraine and Russia to negotiate a peace agreement on Sunday. "This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it's time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more important," Rubio said on US television, referring to Washington's role as a mediator. But he refused to provide a concrete answer to the specific question of how long Kiev and Moscow still had to reach an agreement, saying it would be "silly" to set a specific date. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of a possible agreement, Rubio said that the goal had not yet been reached. "There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic of course, as well. We're close, but we're not close enough." "We've made real progress, but those last couple of steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones," he said. The US could not continue to devote time and resources to these efforts if they did not lead to success, Rubio said. US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the funeral service for pope Francis in Rome. During his return journey to the US, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of not seriously wanting to end the war - and threatened Moscow with new sanctions. Washington is putting pressure on Ukraine to accept an agreement to end the war that would involve steep concessions, financially and territorially. Meanwhile Moscow continues to bombard its neighbour despite stated calls for peace, in the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in 2022. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the pressure on Ukraine and Russia to negotiate a peace agreement on Sunday. "This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it's time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more important," Rubio said on US television, referring to Washington's role as a mediator. But he refused to provide a concrete answer to the specific question of how long Kiev and Moscow still had to reach an agreement, saying it would be "silly" to set a specific date. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of a possible agreement, Rubio said that the goal had not yet been reached. "There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic of course, as well. We're close, but we're not close enough." "We've made real progress, but those last couple of steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones," he said. The US could not continue to devote time and resources to these efforts if they did not lead to success, Rubio said. US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the funeral service for pope Francis in Rome. During his return journey to the US, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of not seriously wanting to end the war - and threatened Moscow with new sanctions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington is putting pressure on Ukraine to accept an agreement to end the war that would involve steep concessions, financially and territorially. Meanwhile Moscow continues to bombard its neighbour despite stated calls for peace, in the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in 2022. Raw materials still on agenda The United States and Ukraine continued to negotiate the conclusion of a raw materials agreement over the weekend, according to the White House on Sunday. "The Ukraine deal is going to get done. The negotiators were working hard over the weekend," National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said on US television when asked whether the deal would come about. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, he did not want to reveal any more details and somewhat evasively pointed out that such an agreement was at the top of the agenda for US President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The agreement would give the United States access to Ukraine's mineral resources, particularly rare earths, which are crucial for high-tech industries. A memorandum of understanding on the deal was signed by both sides last week, aiming to finalize the text of the agreement by Saturday, though a day later it remains unclear why the agreement has not yet been officially sealed and what the current status is. For Ukraine, the deal represents a bid to secure the US as along-term protective ally, which the Trump administration has not agreed to. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday that the only solution for the war in Ukraine is a negotiation where both Russia and Ukraine give up something. There is no military solution to this war, Rubio told NBC Newss Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want, and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didnt. Thats how you end wars, and thats what were trying to achieve here so more people wont die, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since President Trumps return to office a few months ago, his administration has pushed to end the war in Ukraine, talking with both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump and Zelensky met Saturday in Rome prior to the funeral of Pope Francis, who died last week. Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one, Zelensky said Saturday on the social platform X of the meeting. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results, he added. Thank you @POTUS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also expressed frustration with Moscow on Thursday in the wake of deadly strikes being launched on Ukraines capital. I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV, Trump posted on Truth Social. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE! In his appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, Rubio said the war between Ukraine and Russia needs to end now. And so, in order for this war to end, there are things Russia wants that it will not get, and there are things Ukraine wants that it will not get, the secretary of State added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. By Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw MORRISTOWN, New Jersey(Reuters) -President Donald Trump urged Russia on Sunday to stop its attacks in Ukraine and suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was ready to give up Crimea as the price of a peace deal with Russia. Speaking to reporters in New Jersey, Trump said he was disappointed that Russia has continued to attack Ukraine, and said his one-on-one meeting with Zelenskiy at the Vatican on Saturday had gone well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Asked if Zelenskiy might be ready to give up Crimea - the Black Sea peninsula seized by Russia in 2014 - as part of a future peace deal with Moscow, Trump said: "Oh, I think so, yeah. Look, Crimea was 12 years ago." Trump then blamed his Democrat predecessors, Presidents Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, for having allowed Russia to take Crimea "without a shot being fired". "So, don't talk to me about Crimea. Talk to Obama and Biden about Crimea. And remember, this is Biden's war. This isn't Trump's war. I came in to try and solve a problem. And the problem is so many people are being killed." U.S. proposals on ending the three-year war in Ukraine have called for Washington's recognition of Moscow's control over Crimea as well as de facto recognition of Russia's hold on other parts of Ukraine. In contrast, European and Ukrainian counter-proposals defer detailed discussion about territory until after a ceasefire is concluded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Zelenskiy, Trump said on Sunday: "I see him as calmer. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said on Sunday that the Trump administration might abandon its attempts to broker a deal if Russia and Ukraine do not make headway. "It needs to happen soon," Rubio told the NBC program "Meet the Press." "We cannot continue to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it's not going to come to fruition." Trump and Zelenskiy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met in a Vatican basilica on Saturday to try to revive faltering efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The meeting was the first between the two leaders since an angry encounter in the White House Oval Office in February and comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the conflict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement REBUKE FOR PUTIN Trump rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin after that meeting, saying on social media that there is "no reason" for Russia to shoot missiles into civilian areas. In a pre-taped interview that aired on the CBS program "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would continue to target sites used by Ukraine's military. When asked about a Russian strike on Kyiv last week that killed civilians, Lavrov said that "the target attacked was not something absolutely civilian" and that Russia targets only "sites which are used by the military." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zelenskiy wrote on the messaging app Telegram that his top military commander reported that Russia had already conducted nearly 70 attacks on Sunday. "The situation at the front and the real activity of the Russian army prove that there is currently insufficient pressure on Russia from the world to end this war," Zelenskiy said. Ukrainian and European officials have pushed back against the U.S. proposals on how to end the war. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that Ukraine should not agree to the American proposal, saying it went too far in ceding swathes of territory in return for a ceasefire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mike Waltz, Trump's national security adviser, said the U.S. president has "expressed his frustration" at both Putin and Zelenskiy but remains determined to help negotiate an agreement. Waltz also said the United States and Ukraine would eventually reach an agreement over rare earth minerals. Chuck Schumer, the top U.S. Senate Democrat, said on Sunday that he is concerned Trump will "cave in to Putin." "To just abandon Ukraine, after all the sacrifice that they made, after so much loss of life, and with the rallying of the whole West against Putin, it would just be a moral tragedy," Schumer said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. (Reporting by Steve Holland, Jarrett Renshaw, Kanishka Singh, David Morgan and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Ted Hesson and Gareth Jones; Editing by Don Durfee, Deepa Babington, Will Dunham, Alexandra Hudson) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia will continue to target sites used by Ukraine's military, Russia's foreign minister said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that Russia had already conducted 70 attacks. Moscow's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, said a deadly Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kyiv last week was not on an "absolutely civilian" target. "We will continue to target the sites used by the military of Ukraine, by some mercenaries from foreign countries and by instructors whom the Europeans officially sent to help target Russian civilian sites," Lavrov said on CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview that was taped on Thursday after the attack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The strike, which killed at least 12 people, drew a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin from U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday on social media, "Vladimir, STOP." Zelenskiy, who met with Trump in Rome on Saturday before Pope Francis' funeral, wrote on Telegram that his top military commander had reported that Russia had already conducted nearly 70 attacks on Sunday. He said the situation remained difficult. "The situation at the front and the real activity of the Russian army prove that there is currently insufficient pressure on Russia from the world to end this war, he wrote on Sunday. Lavrov also said that Russia never received an offer to help operate Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also said Russia would be willing to store Iran's enriched nuclear material if both United States and Iran believe that would be useful. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Don Durfee and Mark Porter) At around 10:00, the Russians dropped two guided aerial bombs on a residential area. The attack damaged medical and educational institutions, a municipal facility, houses and two apartment buildings. Source: Kherson Oblast Military Administration Details: Footage shows that the upper floors of one of the apartment buildings have been destroyed. Four people have been injured, two of whom have been taken to hospital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: On the morning of 27 April, the Russians dropped two aerial bombs on the residential area of the town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast, killing three civilians and injuring four others. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Credit: Telegram/MoD Russia Russia appears to be forming tactical motorcycle squads in an attempt to evade Ukrainian drone attacks. Moscows defence ministry on Saturday released a video showing a paratrooper learning to storm enemy positions using a dirt bike at a Russian training ground. Dressed in full combat gear with a rifle slung across his back, the trooper speeds over hills and around tyres as explosions occur at the side of the track. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Soldiers are practising offensive and defensive combat in two and three-man squads, the caption reads. While Moscows troops have used motorcycles in Ukraine for more than a year, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington said the new video indicates Russia is probably developing a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage. The Kremlin may be preparing to issue an increased number of motorcycles to Russian personnel in Ukraine and could deploy the new tactics in the summer, the think tank added. It said the turn to motorbikes was probably an attempt to thwart Ukrainian drones, which increasingly dominate the battlefield and account for an estimated 70 per cent of casualties. Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Shamshyn, a Ukrainian military spokesman, told the ISW that Russia is training its soldiers in motorbike combat tactics to increase their speed and manoeuvrability, which is crucial for evading drone strikes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, the noise of the bikes prevents troops from hearing approaching drones, he noted. Lost armoured vehicles The ISW said it had observed an increase in Russian units using motorbikes for both transport and assaults. It also said Russia was increasingly using civilian cars for military purposes after it lost high numbers of armoured vehicles in summer and autumn 2024. In one recent incident near the town of Bahatyr, it said Russian forces attempted an assault consisting entirely of motorcycles and civilian vehicles. Ukrainian defence officials said they repelled the attack, destroying 15 out of 18 motorcycles and damaging nine of the other 10 vehicles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Sumy, Russia is reported to be sending assault groups on quad bikes from the bordering Kursk region to grab footholds in Ukrainian territory before awaiting reinforcements. The use of motorbikes as assault vehicles is a novel military concept, although they were used extensively to deliver messages across the battlefield during the early 20th century. 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. Ukraine reported 149 Russian drones launched into the country overnight into the early hours of Sunday, the barrage coming hours after President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Pope Francis' funeral in Vatican City. Ukraine's air force said in a Telegram post that 57 of the drones were shot down and 67 were lost in flight. Six regions of the country -- Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa, Donetsk, Sumy and Cherkasy -- recorded damage from drone attacks, the air force said. The air force said in another post to Telegram that over the previous week, Russia attacked Ukraine with 48 missiles of various types and 442 attack drones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed eight Ukrainian drones overnight into Sunday morning. PHOTO: In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service in Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 26, 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President Donald Trump at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. (Handout/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER) The latest exchange of drones came shortly after Trump and Zelenskyy met in the Vatican City, as the White House continued its efforts to broker a ceasefire and peace deal to end Moscow's 3-year-old invasion of its neighbor -- the ongoing operation the latest chapter in more than a decade of Russian cross-border aggression. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the press pool traveling with Trump that the two men had a "very productive session." Zelenskyy described the meeting as "good" in a post to X. "We discussed a lot one on one," he wrote. "Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After their meeting, Trump hit out at Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow's continued bombardments of Ukrainian cities, which late last week included a deadly ballistic missile strike on Kyiv. MORE: Trump, Zelenskyy meet privately ahead of pope's funeral There was "no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump wrote. "It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Vatican meeting followed special envoy Steve Witkoff's meeting with Putin in Moscow on Friday, before which Trump posted that it was "a good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine" and he suggested it was time for the combatants to meet at "very high levels." "They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to "finish it off," Trump wrote on his social media site. "Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!" Trump added in the post, but provided no additional information about the apparent progress. ABC News' Molly Nagle, Alex Ederson and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report. Russia launches drone barrage into Ukraine after Trump-Zelenskyy meeting originally appeared on abcnews.go.com KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Russia launched a sweeping drone assault and airstrikes across Ukraine early Sunday, killing at least four people, officials said, after U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. Three people died and four were wounded in airstrikes on Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the regional prosecutor's office said. Another person died and a 14-year-old girl was wounded in a drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, Gov. Serhii Lysak said. The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump said Saturday he doubts Putin wants to end the more than 3-year-old war, expressing new skepticism a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were very close to a deal. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote in a social media post as he flew back to the U.S. after attending the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican, where he met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. On Sunday evening, as he left his golf club in New Jersey, Trump told reporters he remained disappointed in Russia's attacks. Trump said of Putin: "I want him to stop shooting, sit down and make a deal. Asked what he would do if Russia does not stop its attacks, Trump replied: I have a lot of things that I can do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Vatican Trump-Zelenskyy conversation was the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since their heated Oval Office meeting at the White House on Feb. 28. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the coming week would be very critical," and that the U.S. would need to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in. Asked on NBCs Meet the Press about possible concessions to Russia, Rubio emphasized the need to be grownups and realistic. There is no military solution to this war. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didnt, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was wounded in drone attacks on the Odesa region and one other was hurt in the city of Zhytomyr. Four people were also wounded in a Russian airstrike on the city of Kherson on Sunday, local officials said. Russias Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Five people were wounded when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, said the Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko. ___ Morton reported from London. Nicholas Riccardi in Bridgewater, New Jersey contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the idea of any changes to the management of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in an interview with CBS News on April 26. "No, we never received such an offer and if we do, we will explain that the power station is run by the Russian Federation state corporation called Rosatom," Lavrov said. "If not for the Ukrainian regular attempts to attack the station and to create a nuclear disaster for Europe and for Ukraine as well, the safety requirements are fully implemented and it is in very good hands." He also added that the plant is under permanent monitoring by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked whether this response took into account the reported proposal for U.S. management of the ZNPP, Lavrov responded, "No, I don't think any change is conceivable." The U.S. has reportedly proposed that control over the ZNPP be returned to Ukraine before transferring its management to the U.S. to supply electricity to areas under both Ukrainian and Russian control. The Zaporizhzhia plant's location, the city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on the east bank of the Dnipro River, remains under Russian occupation, and Ukraine has no access to the surrounding territory. While the station remains under Russian control, it does not generate electricity. The facility has been repeatedly disconnected from Ukraine's power grid due to Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lavrov also justified recent Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, claiming they targeted military sites. "We will continue to target the sites used by the military of Ukraine, by some mercenaries from foreign countries and by instructors whom the Europeans officially sent," he said. This comes just days after a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv took place on April 24, killing 12 people and injuring almost 90. Read also: Ukraine seeks US support in regaining control of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, joint energy projects Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. ISLAMABAD, April 27 (Xinhua) -- An exchange of fire occurred between Pakistani and Indian armed forces along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, security sources from Pakistan said on Sunday. "On April 26th, from 11:30 p.m. to 11:50 p.m. local time (1830-1850 GMT Saturday), Indian troops initiated unprovoked firing with light and medium machine guns targeting the Malta Post in the Leepa Sector of Jhelum Valley District," the sources told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The Jhelum Valley District is located in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. In response, the Pakistani troops retaliated with small arms fire, and the exchange of fire continued until around 2:00 a.m. local time on Sunday (2100 GMT Saturday), after which the situation returned to normal, the sources added. No casualties or material losses have been reported from either side, according to the sources. Tensions between Pakistan and India frequently flare along the LoC, the de facto border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between the two South Asian neighbors. The Russian military is likely preparing to systemically integrate motorcycles into offensive operations in Ukraine during summer and fall 2025, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its April 26 report, citing footage from the Russian Defense Ministry. While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms and has reportedly intensified its offensive operations across the front line. The Russian Defense Ministry on April 26 published footage showing troops at a training ground practicing offensive and defensive tactics on motorcycles, indicating plans to develop "a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage," ISW analysts said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The footage showed groups of two to three people practicing tactics on motorcycles. According to the ISW, Russia may be planning to issue an increased number of motorcycles to front-line units fighting in Ukraine. Pavlo Shamshyn, a spokesperson for Ukraine's operational-tactical group "Kharkiv," also said on April 26 that Russia is planning to carry out assaults on motorcycles in the coming months. "Our intelligence records the fact that in training centers on the territory of the Russian Federation and in the units themselves, active training of motorcycle drivers is taking place, and all this indicates that the assault operations of spring-summer 2025 will be carried out on motorcycles," Shamshyn told the news outlet Suspilne. Motorcycles lend speed and maneuverability to Russian forces, allowing them to more effectively evade Ukrainian drone attacks, Shamshyn said, but their loud noise can also prevent motorcycle drivers from hearing approaching drones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia is increasingly conducting assaults involving motorcycles and using motorcycles to transport personnel, the ISW said. The trend is likely an adaptation to Ukrainian drone tactics and a result of Russia's high armored vehicle losses in 2024. Russian forces have made incremental gains on multiple sectors of the front since the launch of its spring offensive, but military experts say the battlefield situation is not desperate enough to force Kyiv into an unfavorable peace deal with Moscow. President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 26 reiterated his hope for a "full and unconditional ceasefire" after meeting with U.S. President Trump at the Vatican. Read also: Ukraine to continue fighting with or without Trump, experts say Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia aims to "deceive" the U.S. and other countries in order to prolong its full-scale war in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on April 27. Zelensky's comments come a day after his face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Vatican, which both leaders called productive. Following the meeting, Trump questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin's commitment to the peace process while Zelensky reiterated Ukraine's call for a "full and unconditional ceasefire." "The Russians talk a lot about their alleged readiness to accept American proposals," Zelensky said on April 27, while noting that Moscow has shown no indication of preparing for a ceasefire and has resumed assaults across the front line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And every day of such battles at the front proves absolutely clearly that Russia is really trying to deceive the world to deceive America and others and to further drag out this war," he said. Ukraine agreed to a U.S. proposal for a full 30-day ceasefire over a month ago, Zelensky said. Kyiv also proposed a temporary halt on attacks against civilian infrastrucutre. Russia has rejected all calls for a truce and instead responded with missiles, drones, and aerial bombs. "Since March 11, when America proposed a complete and unconditional ceasefire at talks in Saudi Arabia, the Russians have used almost 8,500 aerial bombs, almost 200 missiles of various types, and almost 3,000 Shaheds. The vast majority of them have been on ordinary cities, on civilian targets," Zelensky said. The president called for increased pressure against Russia to force an end to the attacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the coming week would be "crucial" in the peace process and could determine whether Washington withdraws from its role as a mediator. "This is going to be a really important week in which we're going to have to decide whether we want to continue to engage in this effort, or whether it's time for us to shift our focus to other issues that are just as, if not more, important," Rubio told NBC. After promising repeatedly to end the war in Ukraine "in 24 hours" and later amending that to "100 days," Trump has changed his tune in recent comments. Speaking to reporters on April 18, Trump threatened to abandon the peace talks altogether if either side proved "difficult." The U.S. proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine reportedly includes terms more favorable to Moscow, including formal recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and a promise to lift sanctions. The plan also lacks security guarantees for Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine and Europe have created an alternative peace proposal that contains "robust security guarantees" and no promises of territorial concessions before a complete ceasefire is implemented. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Ukraine, Europes ceasefire proposal includes US security guarantees, no recognition of Crimea, Reuters reports Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia continues deploying small assault groups to infiltrate Ukrainian territory in Sumy Oblast to broaden the front line area, the State Border Guard spokesperson Andrii Demchenko told Ukrinform on April 27. According to Demchenko, the situation in the Sumy Oblast remains "challenging," with Russian troops focusing their assaults on specific areas such as the border villages of Basivka and Zhuravka. "Recently, we have observed attempts to expand these activities, both within this zone and to other areas, where we periodically detect attempts by these groups to infiltrate," Demchenko said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sumy Oblast, in northeastern Ukraine, borders Russia's Kursk Oblast a small part of which Kyiv has occupied since August 2024 as well as Bryansk and Belgorod oblasts, making it a critical front line in Russia's full-scale war. Demchenko's statement also comes as Russian authorities claimed on April 26 to have fully recaptured the territory of Kursk Oblast. Ukraine's General Staff has denied the claim. Earlier in March, Russia claimed that its forces had seized the village of Basivka in Sumy Oblast, but Ukraine's State Border Guard Service denied the report, describing it as part of a "disinformation campaign." Basivka remains marked as a "gray zone" on the DeepState monitoring map, indicating contested or unclear control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Ukraine presses for an unconditional ceasefire, in line with proposals from the U.S., Russia continues to reject the terms. It has reportedly intensified its offensive operations across the front line. Demchenko also said Russian troops are attempting to break through the Ukrainian border using quad bikes to enter deeper into Ukrainian territory quickly, establish a foothold there, and await reinforcements, therefore expanding the battle zones. "Sometimes these are groups of just a few people, sometimes around five individuals. In addition, there are, of course, the shelling attacks, which the enemy continues, using various types of weaponry, and also covering the actions of such small assault groups in specific areas," Demchenko said. Earlier on April 26, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily report, citing footage from the Russian Defense Ministry, that Russian military is likely preparing to systemically integrate motorcycles into offensive operations in Ukraine during summer and fall 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Russian Defense Ministry on April 26 published footage showing troops at a training ground practicing offensive and defensive tactics on motorcycles, indicating plans to develop "a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage," ISW analysts said. The footage showed groups of two to three people practicing tactics on motorcycles. According to the ISW, Russia may be planning to issue an increased number of motorcycles to front-line units fighting in Ukraine. On April 21, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also said Russian forces are intensifying efforts to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk Oblast and capture border areas of Sumy Oblast. "Intense fighting continues in Sumy Oblast in areas near the state border, as well as on the territory of the Russian Federation," Syrskyi said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: Ukraine to continue fighting with or without Trump, experts say Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian attacks against Ukraine killed six people and injured at least 28 others over the past day, regional authorities said on April 27. Ukrainian forces downed 57 out of 149 Shahed-type drones and other drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. At the same time, 67 decoys disappeared from radars without causing any damage, Air Force said. According to the report, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Donetsk, Sumy, and Cherkasy oblasts were hit in the attack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Russian drone attack on the city of Pavlohrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast killed one person and injured a 14-year-old girl, according to Governor Serhii Lysak. Two apartment buildings were damaged in the city. A fire broke out in one of them, Lysak reported. The aftermath of the Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on April 27. (Serhii Lysak/Telegram) The attack also hit civilian infrastructure in Zhytomyr Oblast, damaging at least 15 private houses, Governor Vitalii Bunechko reported. One civilian was hospitalized following the attack, he said. Two civilians were also injured in Sumy Oblast in the Shostka and Krasnopillia communities local authorities said. Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast killed four people over the past day and injured 17, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Two people were killed in Kostiantynivka and two more in Novoekonomichne and Zoria. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Odesa Oblast, a Russian drone strike damaged a three-story residential building, injuring a 35-year-old woman, Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office reported. A woman has been hospitalized, according to the report. No casualties have been reported in Cherkasy Oblast. In Kherson Oblast, Russian forces targeted 25 settlements, including the regional center of Kherson. One person was killed, and five other people were injured, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. A 61-year-old man and a 61-year-old woman were injured in a Russian attack near Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: Kyiv denies Russias claim of Kursk Oblast recapture, as Moscow confirms North Korea role Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Acting commander of Russias 810th Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "scattered groups and individual soldiers" of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighting in the Kursk region "will soon be destroyed," Russian government-controlled RIA Novosti reported on April 27. The statement, contradicts an earlier report by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov that Russian forces have fully recaptured the territory of Kursk Oblast, the Russian border region partially held by Ukraine since last August. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, fighting in Kursk Oblast continues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our troops continue active defensive operations in designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions," Zelensky reported on April 27, acknowledging that the heaviest fighting is taking place in Kursk and Donetsk oblasts. Ukraine also earlier denied the Kremlin's claim, saying that the statements "do not correspond to reality." "Ukrainian defensive operations in certain areas of Kursk Oblast continue," Ukraine's General Staff said on April 26, adding that Kyiv's forces repelled five Russian ground assaults in the area on April 26. "The situation is difficult, but our units continue to hold certain positions and carry out tasks as assigned," the statement read, noting that there is no threat of encirclement. A military source also told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv continues to hold territories in Kursk Oblast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024, marking the first large-scale invasion of Russian territory by foreign forces since World War II. The operation aimed to disrupt a planned Russian offensive on the neighboring Sumy Oblast and draw Russian forces away from the embattled Donbas region. Russia launched a push to recapture the region in early March, with Ukraine being forced to pull back from much of the initially taken territory, including the town of Sudzha. On April 26, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov for the first time acknowledged the participation of North Korean troops in the campaign, praising their "fortitude and heroism." Kyiv and Seoul have previously said that North Korea has dispatched around 11,000 troops to Kursk Oblast, though Moscow has not openly confirmed this until now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: Trumps latest Crimea comments put Zelensky between a rock and a hard place, again Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. "You're not listening to me," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at one point in a sometimes circular and often slippery interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." Speaking to host Margaret Brennan, Lavrov both carefully parsed his words and hers in an interview meant to elucidate and clarify Russian positions on the potential for ending the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, among other topics. An excerpt from the interview, which was released Thursday, quoted Lavrov as saying: The president of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction. But the full interview suggested everything was nowhere near that simple on almost any point, unless, of course, maybe it was. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lavrov declined to outline the contours of the current deal outlined by President Donald Trump for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying, "We are really polite people, and, unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations. Otherwise, negotiations are not serious. To ask for somebody's opinion regarding the substance, go to Zelenskyy. He is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to President Trump." When pressed further, Lavrov added: "We are serious people and we consider serious proposals. We make serious proposals, and this is a process which is not supposed to be public until the end of it." At the same time, he denied that a deal was imminent or that it was not imminent: "Now I understand, by the way, why you wanted to get the brief answers to your questions. You want some slogans to be," before Brennan interrupted to seek clarification based on what Trump had said about the Russian position. In the interview, Brennan also pushed back on Lavrov's statement that Ukraine had banned people from speaking the Russian language. "It is not illegal, Minister Lavrov, to speak Russian. The President of Ukraine speaks Russian," she said to him. She also asked about Russia's response to Trump's Truth Social post saying Vladimir, STOP! after a Russian attack on Kyiv. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "You're not listening to me," Lavrov said. "We will continue to target the sites used by the military of Ukraine, by some mercenaries from foreign countries and by instructors whom the Europeans officially sent to help target Russian civilian sites." Brennan tried to gauge how Russia was responding to the impact of American sanctions (and the potential threat of more sanctions), quoting from a recent interview Lavrov gave on the subject in which he expressed concern that the U.S. would lift sanctions "all of a sudden" and then flood Russian markets. "Why do you ask me? You just quoted my statement," Lavrov responded, "and this statement is clear for me and clear to all those who read it. If you have questions to the American side, how they treat the situation. It is not, it is not the right address to raise it with me." Brennan replied: "So you want to keep sanctions in place. Is that really the Russian position?" Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lavrov said: "I don't want to re-explain what I explained, I think, in quite, in quite clear manner." After Brennan said, "I quoted," Lavrov jumped in with "very close to the real content. Yeah. It was a bit longer than normally you prefer. I know." Brennan brought up a potential time frame for a deal, noting that Trump was coming up on 100 days in office, and stating that he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had suggested the window for an agreement was closing. "We understand, we understand the impatience," Lavrov said in response, "because in American culture, you create expectations, and you ignite tension around those expectations. This does not help to do realpolitik. But in our case, as I said, we are always ready for dialogue, ready for negotiations, and we would not, you know, begin by banking on a failure. This would be a characteristic of bad deal-makers, inexperienced deal-makers." He did, however, reference Trump's most famous book ("The Art of the Deal," though he called it "the art to make a deal") in saying why he was being tight-lipped on particulars, suggesting one doesn't show one's cards too early, before taking another dig at Brennan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "You know, I understand that journalists have to speculate," Lavrov said. One subject that Lavrov was definitive on was the future of Crimea, the territory that Russia took from Ukraine in 2014. Lavrov insisted Crimea would remain part of Russia. "This is a done deal," he said. Trump, who repeatedly promised to end the war on his first day in office when he was campaigning last year, has been unable to unlock a formula to bring the fighting to an end. On Saturday, he suggested that perhaps Putin was just stringing him along. "There was no reason for Putin," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday, "to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), occupied by Russia, is "in safe hands" and dismissed the possibility of any "changes" in its management. Source: Lavrov in an interview with CBS News Details: The journalist asked Lavrov to comment on US President Donald Trumps reported proposal for joint US-Ukrainian management of the ZNPP, as previously reported by the media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote from Lavrov: "No, we never received such an offer and if we do, we will explain that the power station is run by the Russian Federation state corporation called Rosatom. It is being under monitoring of the IAEA personnel permanently located on the site. And if not for the Ukrainian regular attempts to attack the station and to create a nuclear disaster for Europe and for Ukraine as well, the safety requirements are fully implemented and it is in very good hands." Details: In response to a clarifying question on whether this means a rejection of the US proposal regarding control of the plant, Lavrov said: "No, I don't think any change is conceivable". He also claimed that the missile strikes on Kyiv during the night of 24 April targeted facilities used by the military and stated that Russia would continue such strikes. Quote from Lavrov: "If this was a target used by the Ukrainian military, the Minister of Defence, the commanders in the field have the right to attack them... We will continue to target the sites used by the military of Ukraine, by some mercenaries from foreign countries and by instructors whom the Europeans officially sent to help target Russian civilian sites." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lavrov also described Russias occupation of Crimea as a "done deal" claiming that "Russia do not negotiate its own territory" and alleged that Trump "understands this". Background: On 24 April, Bloomberg reported that the United States wants Russia to return control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to Ukraine. According to the Trump administrations plan, the plant would then transition under US control to supply electricity to cities both under Ukrainian control and Russian occupation. On 25 April, Reuters also reported on a US proposal for ending the war, which included restoring Ukrainian control over the ZNPP and transferring its management to the US, with electricity supplied to both sides. On 26 April, Reuters published proposals submitted by Ukrainian and European officials to the US side during negotiations in London. These proposals stipulate that Ukraine would regain control over the ZNPP, with US involvement, as well as over the Kakhovka Dam. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Emergency workers retrieved the body of a man in the town of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast on the morning of Sunday 27 April. He had been killed in a Russian airstrike the previous evening. Source: Ukraine's State Emergency Service Details: Emergency workers noted that Russian warplanes had struck residential areas of Kupiansk with guided bombs on the evening of 26 April. One bomb completely destroyed a house and damaged seven others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration reported that a building and workshops belonging to a defunct educational institution had been partially destroyed by the bombardment. The body retrieved from under the rubble. Photo: Ukraine's State Emergency Service Emergency workers retrieved the body of a man, around 89, from under the rubble on Sunday morning. Two women aged 65 and 60 were also injured and diagnosed with an acute stress reaction. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Russian military is planning to increase the use of small squads on motorcycles and quadbikes on the frontlines in Ukraine as it plans fresh offensives, according to the Ukrainian military and analysts of the conflict. The Russian Defense Ministry published video on Saturday showing units practising tactics in groups of two or three motorbikes, with a rider seen navigating a course to the sound of a pulsating electronic soundtrack. Russian forces have used motorbikes and quads in several areas of the frontlines in an effort to evade Ukrainian drones for more than a year. But the Institute for the Study of War in Washington says the latest Russian video indicates that the Russian military is likely developing a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage and may be preparing to issue an increased number of motorcycles. Participants load motorcycles into a truck during a ceremony to hand over to the Russian military in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, November 28, 2024. - Sergey Pivovarov/Reuters Ukraine expects a major Russian offensive in the next few months as Moscow tries to capture more territory before any ceasefire agreement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Ukrainian military calls the motorbike assaults banzai attacks. One Ukrainian commander, Andriy Otchenash, said earlier this month that the motorcycles are designed for a quick blitzkrieg. They can advance very quickly, get behind the lines, he said, but losses on the Russian side were very high. It indicates that the enemy does not have a large amount of military offensive equipment, but on the other hand, it is an adaptation to the conditions of war, said the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication. On Saturday, the Ukrainian military said it had repelled a Russian assault on the village of Bahatyr on the Donetsk frontlines, destroying 15 motorcycles and killing about 40 Russian soldiers. It distributed video of drones eliminating a number of motorbikes in open countryside. The Ukrainian military reported in February the Russians were using more quadbikes around Chasiv Yar, also in Donetsk, where the frontlines have barely moved over the past year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One Ukrainian military spokesman, Lt. Col. Pavlo Shamshyn, said the use of motorbikes was a mixed blessing for Russian troops. Their speed and manoeuvrability helped them to evade Ukrainian drones, but the noise of a bike prevented riders from hearing drones. Participants attend a ceremony to hand over new motocross bikes to the Russian military near a football stadium in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, November 28, 2024. - Sergey Pivovarov/Reuters Russian state media has been promoting the advantages of motorbike units. Russia Today reported last week that motorcyclists were planting mines and interviewed a soldier with the 39th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, who is part of a new motorised group. Our main advantage is that we can drive directly into [the enemys position] and neutralise everyone, he said. The enemy hear the roar of the motorcycles, and it causes panic among them. They simply abandon their positions and run away. The Russian military is also using motorbikes to evacuate the wounded. The Telegram account of the Defense Ministrys publication Zvezda reported last week that Russian marines fighting in the Kursk region were using all-terrain motorcycles to evacuate civilians and wounded soldiers. Video showed a soldier being put on the back of a bike in muddy fields. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, the UKs Defense Ministry said the Russians were increasingly using off-road bikes and all-terrain vehicles for night-time attacks. But it noted that Ukrainian FPV drones, which fly into their target, had already demonstrated how vulnerable such unprotected vehicles were. Late in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected Chinese-made all-terrain vehicles being procured for the Russian army. At that point some 500 were already in service, and the Defense Ministry ordered around 1,500 more. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com One of the two men who were murdered and found dead in a wooded area next to a Salem Walmart Wednesday afternoon has been identified as 41-year-old Andrew Ross Guempel, whose last known address was in Arizona, the Essex County District Attorneys Office announced Saturday. Authorities are still waiting to release the name of the other man who was killed, as his next of kin has not yet been notified of his death, the district attorneys office said. Salem police found the bodies of the two men after they were called to 450 Highland Ave. shortly after 2:20 p.m. on April 23, the district attorneys office said previously. A man walking his dog discovered one of the bodies and notified authorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police arrested 30-year-old Jay Blodget in connection with the killings within a day of finding the bodies, the district attorneys office said. He is charged with two counts of murder and pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Salem District Court on Thursday. Jay Blodget, 30, appeared in Salem District Court for his arraignment on two murder charges on April 24.(POOL CAM/Boston 25) A judge held Blodget without bail during the arraignment. Court filings indicate he is homeless and was living in the woods behind the Walmart near where the bodies were found. In court on Thursday, prosecutors said Guempel and the other man died of blunt force trauma and were stabbed. Their bodies were hidden under dirt and other materials, prosecutors said. Blodget also made statements implicating himself in the two murders after he was taken into police custody, prosecutors said. He is believed to have been the only person involved in the killings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Outside the courthouse on Thursday, Blodgets attorney, Michael Phelan, said it was way too early to discuss motives or other parts the case. The attorney plans to definitely explore whether theres mental health issue, though theres been no definitive answers so far, he said. About a week before the two mens bodies were found, Blodget was arrested and charged with breaking and entering after he broke into into a storage container near the Walmart with a hacksaw, according to court documents. Blodgets next court date is scheduled for May 28. More local crime stories Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. An operation to recover the superyacht of the late British tycoon Mike Lynch will begin this week. The Bayesian sank in minutes during a freak storm while moored off Sicily on Aug 19 last year. Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah, and five others died. The complex salvage mission will involve a remote controlled saw chopping through the 72-metre mast of the Bayesian, which has been lying on its starboard side, 50 metres down on the seabed, near the port of Porticello, a fishing village. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dubbed Britains Bill Gates, Lynch, 59, who co-founded the software giant Autonomy in 1996, was cleared in a US trial in June of fraud over the sale of the firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. The boat trip was to celebrate his acquittal with 22 people on board: ten crew members and 12 guests. Salvage workers will use an undersea drone with laser scanners to pinpoint the yacht and conduct checks to ensure it is not leaking its 18,000 litres of fuel. The operation will also involve two barges. The first is a 55 metre-long craft called Hebo Lift 2, which has a 700 sq metre deck with a crane, specialist diving equipment and a remotely operated underwater vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The second, Hebo Lift 10, is one of Europes largest floating cranes. Weighing 5,695 gross tons, it is currently en route by sea from its home port in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and will lift the yacht out of the water using its 83-metre crane. The lifts are expected to arrive in the harbour around May 4, but monitoring work will start in the coming days. After the mast is cut, work will then begin on raising the ships hull a crucial step for investigators trying to determine how and why an apparently unsinkable vessel sank. About 10 steel cables will be inserted under the yacht to create a harness to raise it, with the whole process expected to take up to two days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Magistrates investigating the tragedy will then pore over the wreck at the nearby port of Termini Imerese a process that could take months. The UKs Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has said it will be on the scene. It is also investigating the disaster as the Bayesian was British-flagged, registered in the Isle of Man and owned by a company controlled by Lynchs widow Angela Bacares, who survived the disaster. Tech tycoon Mike Lynch perished in the disaster alongside his daughter Hannah - Tancredi Group Salvage workers are expected to finish the operation in Porticello, which also entails searching for detached debris, by the end of May. The cost of the salvage operation has been estimated at about $30 million (22.5 million) and will be funded by the Bayesians insurers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sicilian prosecutors are treating the accident as suspected manslaughter and have placed James Cutfield, the New Zealander captain, and Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths, two British crew members, under investigation. The 56m (183ft) Bayesian was built by Perini Navi, an Italian shipyard, in 2008. Last year, Giovanni Costantino, the chief executive and founder of its parent company, the Italian Sea Group, said the yacht was unsinkable. He suggested that doors or hatches must have been left open and has threatened legal action after some experts suggested the huge mast may have been a factor. 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. A man who works at a South Carolina high school was arrested for committing a sex crime that involved a student, according to the Richland County Sheriffs Department. On Friday, 29-year-old Timothy Bryant, the band director at Fairfield Central High School, was charged with sexual battery with a student, the sheriffs department said in a news release. Information on the students condition was not available. The sheriffs department said it was notified about the sexual battery Friday. There was no word about how the sheriffs department learned of the sex crime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Fairfield County 1 district school is in a neighboring county, but the sexual battery occurred in Richland County, according to the release. Bryant was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, the sheriffs department said. Information about Bryants bond was not available, but hes not listed on the inmate roster, according to the Columbia jails records. The man that the sheriffs department called a faculty member is not listed on the high schools website. Information about how long Bryant has been an educator, and worked at Fairfield Central High School, was not available. There was no word if Bryants suspected of committing sex crimes with other victims. Harlem Consolidated School District in Illinois has partnered with solar company New Energy Equity. Together, their goal is to provide clean energy not only to the 11 schools that comprise the district but also to the surrounding community. New Energy Equity is a solar development and finance company dedicated to making solar energy more accessible and affordable. The company said it has "successfully completed more than 250 projects totaling more than 310 megawatts." According to Energy News, this next project seeks to provide 5.54 MW of solar power to Winnebago County, Illinois, via a project built on Harlem Consolidated School District land. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those who stand to benefit the most are the 39,000 students who attend the district. The clean, cost-effective power should slash costs significantly and open the door for greater investment in the students and their futures. Harlem Consolidated School District isn't the only one turning to solar to cut energy costs and reduce pollution, either. Schools across the country are harnessing the sun and saving a ton of money while doing so. With U.S. schools underfunded by an estimated $150 billion every year, per a study from The Century Foundation, turning to clean energy can be a multi-faceted answer to a massive problem. But this particular solar project isn't just for the schools; according to Energy News, residents in the Commonwealth Edison service area will also benefit greatly from it. They'll enjoy expanded access to renewable energy and lower energy costs. They'll also get to enjoy the peace of mind that comes with solar energy's reduced impact on the environment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perhaps the most exciting thing about this project is the cooperation and sense of community it represents. "We are honored to work alongside the Harlem Consolidated School District as they lead by example in environmental responsibility," New Energy Equity CIO Jackie Chambers said in a press release, shared by PR Newswire and KSNT. "This project demonstrates the power of collaboration, allowing public schools and communities to take meaningful steps toward a cleaner future." While climate deniers and dirty fuel lobbyists are bent on keeping us divided and misinformed, it's great to see communities like Winnebago County aligning to better the lives of all its members while also protecting the planet. 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. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he has a great fear that President Trump will cave to Russian President Vladimir Putin over ending the war in Ukraine. Schumer joined CNNs State of the Union on Sunday, where host Dana Bash asked him about the latest developments between Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the effort to wrap up the war drags on. My great fear, Dana, is that Trump will just cave into Putin. Thats been the overall indication all along, Schumer said. And of course, the bottom line is very simple, that if we cave to Putin, if Trump caves into Putin its bad in three very bad ways. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Schumer argued that its bad for the U.S. to abandon Ukraine after the country has sacrificed throughout the more than three-year war. He noted that it would also be bad for the Western societies who have rallied behind Ukraine against Putin because it would undercut the United Statess alliances. The New York Democrat said the third thing, and worst of all, if Trump caves to Putin over ending the war, it will send a dangerous signal to dictators across the world. It sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran, that if you stand up and bully Trump, youre going to get your way, Schumer said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, I am very worried about where he is headed. I think that he is in a position where he feels he can sell out Zelensky, he continued. Hes sort of saying yes one day and no the next day. But overall, the trend is very, very bad. Trump and Zelensky met on Saturday ahead of Pope Franciss funeral in Rome. The White House said the meeting was productive and more details would follow. Zelensky said the two discussed a lot one on one and he was hopeful for results to come, including a full and unconditional ceasefire with Russia. The discussion came just days after the White House said Trumps patience with Zelensky was wearing very thin. Trump isnt thrilled with Putin, either. He said he thinks Putin may be stringing him along after the latest deadly strikes on Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decried President Donald Trumps handling of the Russia-Ukraine war on Sunday, saying that the U.S. is risking its European alliances and making the country look weak against foreign adversaries. The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent weeks to agree to a U.S.-led proposal that would recognize Russias seizure of Crimea. Trump and other White House officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have also started threatening to abandon peace negotiations if both countries dont come to the table soon. Schumer made it clear Sunday he objected to the direction that Trump's diplomacy has taken away from support of Ukraine. The Europeans have stood up for us the whole West has stood up for us, Schumer said during an appearance on CNNs State of the Union. They've put in money. They've used all kinds of diplomatic and economic tools to back us and how is Europe going to trust us ever again if Trump backs out? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Schumers concerns about Europe come after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff skipped a summit last week with European allies to discuss ending the three-year war, signaling the Trump administrations desires to press forward with its Moscow-favored proposal. Schumer warned that Trumps strategy could embolden the nation's adversaries, such as China and Iran. Worst of all, it's a sign that the United States is weak, Schumer said. It sends a signal to every dictator in China, in North Korea, in Iran, that if you stand up and bully Trump, you're going to get your way. Some Republicans are also starting to sour on Trumps approach to the war. On Friday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warned Trump that Putin was playing America as a patsy and urged the president to institute sanctions on Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even Trump seems to be becoming more skeptical about Putins desire to come to a deal. On Saturday, Trump bashed Putin for launching an attack on Kyiv, which killed at least eight people, last week. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump said in a post to Truth Social. Schumer said it would be a moral tragedy to undercut Zelenskyy and withdraw with cease-fire negotiations. Yet, he said he believes the president is headed in that direction. A recent study shows evidence of what scientists have feared for a long time: the effects of microplastics on human fertility. For the first time, scientists have discovered microplastics in the follicular fluid of human ovaries, according to a new peer-reviewed study out of Italy. This fluid plays a crucial role in nourishing and developing a woman's eggs, and researchers have alarmingly found plastic particles in 14 out of 18 samples collected from patients undergoing fertility treatment. What's happening? The study, led by researcher Luigi Montano and published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, marks a major step forward in understanding how deep plastic pollution runs not just in the environment but in our bodies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Follicular fluid surrounds the egg cells in the ovaries and helps regulate hormones, nutrient delivery, and fertilization. The presence of microplastics in this fluid raises the possibility that these tiny particles are interfering with essential reproductive processes. "This discovery should serve as an important warning signal about the invasiveness of these emerging contaminants in the female reproductive system," the study states, according to the Guardian. Montano's broader research has already revealed microplastics in human semen and urine, and animal studies suggest the plastics may disrupt ovarian function and reduce the ability to conceive. Why is this discovery concerning? Microplastics which form when larger plastics break down are everywhere: in our food, water, air, and even in newborns. These tiny particles often carry toxic chemicals like PFAS and bisphenol, which are known hormone disruptors and have been linked to cancer, neurological disorders, and developmental delays. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, scientists suspect these particles could further be contributing to declining sperm counts and fertility struggles in both men and women. The research notes a "possible presence of correlation between the concentration of microplastics" and reproductive health in the women who participated in the new study. "This stuff is increasing in our world exponentially," said toxicologist Dr. Matthew Campen in an earlier New York Times report on microplastic exposure. "And it's already inside us." What's being done about it? Lead researcher Montano is further investigating how lifestyle changes like cutting plastic use in the kitchen and switching to organic foods might help lower microplastic levels in the body. The study, in the meantime, is already spurring the next wave of research into how to reduce the health risks of microplastics. According to University of New Mexico microplastics researcher Xiaozhong Yu, this discovery is a "very important finding," but more work is needed to understand the specific dose and exposure levels that start to impact reproductive health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For a concrete way forward, scientists and policymakers are working on broader solutions including better filtration systems, microplastic bans, and new materials designed to break down more safely. These small swaps and bigger breakthroughs add up to a cleaner, healthier future for us and for generations to come. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Scientists at King's College London say they've successfully grown a human tooth in a lab for the first time. As detailed in a paper published in the journal ACS Macro Letters, the team said it uncovered a potential way to regrow teeth in humans as a natural alternative to conventional dental fillings and implants, research they say could "revolutionize dental care." The researchers claim they've developed a new type of material that enables cells to communicate with one another, essentially allowing one cell to "tell" another to differentiate itself into a new tooth cell. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In other words, it mimics the way teeth grow naturally, an ability we lose as we grow older. "We developed this material in collaboration with Imperial College to replicate the environment around the cells in the body, known as the matrix," explained author and Kings College London PhD student Xuechen Zhang in a statement. "This meant that when we introduced the cultured cells, they were able to send signals to each other to start the tooth formation process." "Previous attempts had failed, as all the signals were sent in one go," he added. "This new material releases signals slowly over time, replicating what happens in the body." However, porting the discovery from the lab, and transforming it into a viable treatment will require years of research. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We have different ideas to put the teeth inside the mouth," Xuechen said."We could transplant the young tooth cells at the location of the missing tooth and let them grow inside mouth. Alternatively, we could create the whole tooth in the lab before placing it in the patients mouth." While we're still some ways away from applying the findings to human subjects, in theory the approach could have some significant advantages over conventional treatments like fillings and implants. "Fillings arent the best solution for repairing teeth," said Xuechen. "Over time, they will weaken tooth structure, have a limited lifespan, and can lead to further decay or sensitivity." "Implants require invasive surgery and good combination of implants and alveolar bone," he added. "Both solutions are artificial and dont fully restore natural tooth function, potentially leading to long-term complications." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new approach, in contrast, could offer a better long-term solution. "Lab-grown teeth would naturally regenerate, integrating into the jaw as real teeth," Xuechen explained. "They would be stronger, longer lasting, and free from rejection risks, offering a more durable and biologically compatible solution than fillings or implants." While nobody knows whether lab-grown teeth will become a viable dental treatment, experts remain optimistic. "This new technology of regrowing teeth is very exciting and could be a game-changer for dentists," King's College clinical lecturer in prosthodontics Saoirse O'Toole, who was not involved in the study, told the BBC. "Will it come in my lifetime of practice? Possibly. In my children's dental lifetimes? Maybe. But in my children's children's lifetimes, hopefully." More on lab teeth: Scientists Grow Living "Replacement Teeth" for Dental Implants SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (WHNT) A Scottsboro family doctors medical license has been temporarily suspended and is set to appear in court, according to the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners. On April 10, ALBME was in session and members motioned to temporarily suspend the medical license of Dr. Alan Joel Wayne. News 19 obtained the ALBME order stating Wayne has accusations of sexual misconduct and unprofessional conduct against him, with a history of sexual misconduct dating back to 1998. CLICK HERE for News 19s Interactive Radar Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the document, in 1988, Wayne was issued a license to practice medicine in the State of Alabama. He was also a family practice physician in Scottsboro. The document says that in December 1998, the Jackson County Sheriffs Office investigated Wayne due to sexual boundary violations and prescribing violations in his practice as a family practice physician. The allegations against Wayne stated he dispensed controlled substances without a license, allowed his office manager to order controlled substances unsupervised, prescribed a controlled substance to his wife, prescribed controlled substances to himself and failed to accept responsibility and accountability for the handling and prescribing of controlled substances at his work. On Jan. 19, 1999, the Board interviewed Wayne in response to the information provided from the sheriffs office, and on March 12, the Board placed restrictions on Waynes certificate of qualification. The Board also entered into a Voluntary Agreement with Wayne where they restricted his ability to possess, dispense, administer and prescribe controlled substances. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement News 19 has been following all the developments in the case of the kidnapping of Huntsville realtor Ronald Dumas Jr. You can find all of our coverage HERE Around Dec. 2, 1999, the document says Wayne asked the Board to terminate the voluntary restriction on his certificate of qualification and on Dec. 22, the Board entered the order to terminate the restrictions. For the sexual misconduct allegations, the document says Wayne served as a patient, identified as Patient One, for more than two years. On August 15, 2024, Patient One filed an Alabama Uniform Incident/Offense Report with the Scottsboro Police Department, saying Wayne harassed her at the medical office while providing her medical treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On or around October 15, the Board received the complaint and, according to the Boards investigation, during a series of clinical office visits between 2022 and 2024, Wayne engaged in a series of acts that had no legitimate medical purpose and were reasonably interpreted by Patient One as being romantic in nature. [Wayne] rubbed Patient Ones back, insisted that Patient One hug him before leaving the exam room, told Patient One that she would feel better if she had rough sex, made inappropriate comments about her body and , after entering the exam room and observing Patient One laying on the exam table, told Patient One he finally got her lying down and could lock the door.' ADME document On or around October 24, the Board let Wayne know of the complaint filed against him and that he was under investigation. Latest Headlines During the investigation, the ADME document said it discovered Wayne engaged in sexual misconduct in the practice of medicine towards another patient, identified as Patient Two. The document says that during a medical examination, Wayne slipped his hands under her waistband and lifted up her pants so he could see her pubic area. [Wayne] also asked Patient Two about her sexual relationship with her fiance on more than one occasion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Board said that during its investigation, it also found out that Wayne had a pattern and practice of making comments to patients that were sexual in nature. Employees of Wayne said this happened on multiple occasions over the duration of their employment. For his prescribing allegations, the Board said that on July 29, 2024, Wayne prescribed Soma, a controlled substance, to himself. During the Boards investigation, it said Wayne saw around 50 to 75 patients per day and often prescribed controlled substances to those patients. The document says Wayne ordered urine drug screens but failed to use the drug screen results in a medically appropriate fashion in the care and treatment of his patients, including those identified as Patients Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven. HPD investigating shooting near MidCity Saturday night Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Oct. 21, Wayne submitted to the Board an application to renew his Alabama Controlled Substances Certificate for 2025. The document says Wayne checked the box labeled yes when asked, Has your privilege for dispensing or prescribing controlled substances ever been suspended, restricted, voluntarily surrendered while under investigation, or revoked in any state. The Board said there is probable cause to charge Wayne with the following: Count one Sexual misconduct in the practice of medicine This charge stems from the complaints filed by Patient One. Count two Sexual misconduct in the practice of medicine This charge stems from the complaints filed by Patient Two. Count three Unprofessional conduct This charge comes from the time between January 2021 and April 2024, where Wayne engaged in unprofessional conduct when he made comments to patients which were sexual in nature, which violated the high standards of honesty, diligence, prudence and ethical integrity demanded from physicians licensed to practice in the State of Alabama. Count four Unprofessional conduct This charge comes from when Wayne prescribed himself Soma. Count five Unprofessional conduct This charge stems from Wayne prescribing, dispensing, furnishing and supplying a controlled substance for any reason other than a legitimate medical purpose with the urine drug screens. Based on the charges listed, the Board has requested that Wayne cease and desist from the practice of medicine in Alabama. The Board also set a hearing for Waynes charges on July 23 in Montgomery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Zimbabwe trade fair exhibitors seek to expand cooperation with China Xinhua) 13:58, April 27, 2025 BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, April 26 (Xinhua) -- A diverse range of African exhibitors at this year's Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) have expressed a strong interest in expanding business partnerships with China, the world's second-largest economy. ZITF, Zimbabwe's premier annual trade fair, featured more than 600 exhibitors, including foreign participants from 28 countries, showcasing their products and services at the six-day event, which concluded on Saturday. Mary Mwalwanda Msukwa, managing director of Tilawe Products, a Malawian company that supplies agricultural products, shared her hopes of introducing and exporting Kilombero rice, a long-grain, aromatic white rice predominantly grown in Malawi, into China. "The Kilombero rice is very good, very flavored, very aromatic, so we want to penetrate the Chinese market because of that, because we know that we can find a lot of markets in China," she told Xinhua on Friday. To market the variety in China, Msukwa plans to exhibit Kilombero rice and other products at the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in China, hoping to seize the opportunity to further develop business ties with Chinese companies. Rachael Dube, sales manager from Samtric Supplies, a South African mining equipment supplier, expressed a similar desire to strengthen business relationships with Chinese firms. She explained that the company already has experience working with Chinese mining companies and is now eager to expand this cooperation. "As Zimbabwe and China have strengthened their cooperation in mining, it also brings equipment suppliers like us more opportunities, and that's why we are here at the trade fair looking for more and more potential customers," she said. Malebo Matlala, another sales manager from a South African clothing company, shared that her company has been importing materials from China to produce safari-related products. With the increasing number of Chinese tourists visiting Africa for safari trips, she sees this as an opportunity to promote the company's products, ranging from safari shoes to backpacks. "We are also trying to find a Chinese manufacturer who can help us manufacture the products in China and tap into the Chinese market," she said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) This photo taken on April 24, 2025 shows the "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The two-day "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" concluded on Friday with strong interest from international buyers, as several participating manufacturers secured orders during the event, highlighting growing global demand for Bangladeshi products. (Photo by Habibur Rahman/Xinhua) This photo taken on April 24, 2025 shows the "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The two-day "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" concluded on Friday with strong interest from international buyers, as several participating manufacturers secured orders during the event, highlighting growing global demand for Bangladeshi products. (Photo by Habibur Rahman/Xinhua) A women is seen at the "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 24, 2025. The two-day "Meet Bangladesh Exposition" concluded on Friday with strong interest from international buyers, as several participating manufacturers secured orders during the event, highlighting growing global demand for Bangladeshi products. (Photo by Habibur Rahman/Xinhua) On Tuesday, an attorney for an Atlanta woman who says her home was mistakenly raided by the FBI will go before the U.S. Supreme Court to ask for her 2019 lawsuit against the U.S. government to be reinstated. A federal judge in Atlanta dismissed the suit in 2022, and an appeals court upheld that decision last year. Trina Martin said on Oct. 18, 2017, FBI agents broke down the front door of her home and pointed guns at her and her then-boyfriend Toi Cliatt, while her 7-year-old son, Gabe Watson, screamed for his mother from another room. At first, Martin and Cliatt thought they were the victims of a home robbery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And I see about four weapons pointed directly at my head, and Im just like, what is all this? Cliatt previously told Channel 2 Action News. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] They ran in my room, pointing guns at my face, said Watson. It wasnt until an agent double-checked the mailbox numbers that the FBI realized it was the wrong home. Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln has been following Martin and her familys fight against the federal government. Finally, our case is being taken seriously, Martin said. I am so happy and filled with gratitude for our case to be seen and recognized, Martin told Lincoln. When something like this happens, whether its intentional or by mistake, it shatters that sense of safety that we all have. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lincoln will have the latest on the lawsuit on Channel 2 Action News this Tuesday. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] It's morning in Khan Younis, and the Al-Zurai family wakes up in a tent pitched on the rubble of the cement house they once shared. The tiles that used to be the floor of their home are loosely laid across the sandy ground, marking the space of what is now a makeshift outdoor kitchen. Today, God sends us cans, so were cooking them for the children, Suad Al-Zurai, 57, said of the canned beans that she stirs in a simmering pot. It's the 558th day of the war, and the children, along with the adults, are hungry, covered in dust, haunted by death and facing another day of scraping together a life from the ruins of the Gaza Strip. NBC News' crew on the ground spent a day with the Al-Zurai family, from early morning to sunset, to see how they, and thousands of families across the enclave, are living after the ceasefire broke, and Israel began a blockade in early March, barring the entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies into the enclave. The Al-Zurai family in Gaza. There are 16 members of the Al-Zurai family to share the single pot of beans, eight of them children. At least five more should be there with them, Suad says. One of her sons was killed along with two of her grandchildren, while another, Khaled Al-Zurai, has been missing for days after an explosion that killed one of his sons. Suad is now taking care of his wife, who has cancer, and their four surviving children. Her third son, Hamed Al-Zurai, and his four children also live with her. Other relatives are displaced to other parts of Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Suad's exhaustion is palpable as she stirs the pot under a blazing sun. For her, enduring survival has begun to feel like death. We all die 100 times, every day, she said, we die 100 times daily from fear and horror. The Al-Zurai children wait with others at a soup kitchen in Khan Younis. Her slain loved ones are among more than 51,000 people who have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, according to the local health ministry, since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks. Some 1,200 people were killed during the attacks in southern Israel and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. Throughout the course of the day, worries over food, water and other necessities dominate the family's discussions, and finding those supplies takes up much of the rest of their time as humanitarian groups warn that aid is running out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At one point, Hamed Al-Zurai's 3-year-old daughter, Anwar, throws herself to the floor, crying out for rice, but there isnt any more to give her. My children are constantly crying, he said. They want to eat. And I answer them, How? There are no open crossings, so how can I get you food, my love? Before the war, most of the children spent their mornings at school. Now, they dedicate hours each day to trying to find food and water. Anwar, 3, with her father and grandfather as she carries two jugs of water. Pushing their fears for their missing father aside, Khaled Al-Zurai's children, Mohammed, 13, and Suad, 12, dutifully pick up their pots and pans and head to the soup kitchen with their cousin, Shadi, 7, taking NBC News' crew with them on the roughly 30-minute walk. At the soup kitchen, there's already a crowd of other children, along with some women and men, waiting for food under the hot sun. The younger Suad stands with her empty pot in her hands, gazing into the distance, bored and exhausted, as she waits, later joining her brother and sister and sitting in a ditch in the shade before they try again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On offer is rice and after waiting for an hour, they fill their pots, carrying it back to their tent. While they're getting food, Hamed and young Anwar are out to get water for the family. Anwar walks swiftly as she carries two water jugs, each nearly half the size of her small body. The children play as the sun sets. Before the war, Hamed Al-Zurai had a cart and a donkey that he would use to rent out transportation services, but after the donkey died in the war and he lost his cart, he no longer has a way to make money. Unable to buy food or water, the family is left dependent on swiftly dwindling aid.The situation is dire, he said. But even at a time of incredible darkness, there are moments of light for the Al-Zurais: smiles as they gather together in their tent, finally sharing their hard-won lunch. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After eating, Mohammed gives his younger siblings and cousins old rubber tires to play with. Anwar grins as she wheels one across the sandy ground. The children get ready to go to bed in their family's makeshift tent. As the sun goes down, the children huddle in a circle outside, laughing as they play hand-clapping games. And for a moment, they look just like any other children anywhere else in the world.Then, they return to their makeshift tent to eat a meager dinner of more rice and beans, before eventually settling down for bed, huddling together on the ground, wrapped in blankets. We hate the nighttime, Suad Al-Zurai said. And, she added, the daytime. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) SeaWorld is honoring service members during Military Appreciation Month. Veterans and active-duty military will be able to receive one-day complimentary admission for up to three guests. Veterans have until May 11 to register for the offer and can use the tickets by July 6, according to SeaWorld officials. The deal lasts throughout the year for active-duty military. San Diego universities make WSJs Best Colleges in the U.S. list Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are proud to honor active-duty military, veterans and their families with a complimentary visit to one of our parks, said Marc Swanson, CEO of United Parks & Resorts. We are incredibly grateful to all members of our military for their commitment and dedication to serving our country. SeaWorld is offering special pricing and promotions for military members through the United Parks & Resorts Waves of Honor program. Service members and their direct dependents must have a valid active military ID to participate Registration for the complimentary single-day tickets can be found here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday defended the Trump administrations agenda of deporting undocumented immigrants but said that of course all people in the U.S. are entitled to due process. Yes, of course, Rubio told NBC News Meet the Press when asked whether citizens and noncitizens in the U.S. are entitled to due process. His comments come as the Trump administration has pressed the courts to allow the immediate deportations of immigrants it accuses of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the Alien Enemies Act without giving them a chance to plead their case before a judge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, the Supreme Court asked the administration to pause deportations of some Venezuelan men based in Texas who the Trump administration said were members of Tren de Aragua, with attorneys for the immigrants asking for them not to be deported before the American judicial system can afford them due process. That decision came after the Supreme Court in early April allowed the Trump administration to move forward with some deportations under the AEA as long as detainees receive notice after the date of this order that they are subject to removal under the Act. The notice must be afforded within a reasonable time and in such a manner as will allow them to actually seek habeas relief in the proper venue before such removal occurs, the Supreme Court justices added. On Sunday, the secretary of state defended the Trump administrations deportation efforts, which have included deporting three children who are U.S. citizens ages 2, 4 and 7 alongside their mothers, according to The Washington Post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers, Rubio told moderator Kristen Welker. If those children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if theres their father or someone here who wants to assume them. But ultimately, who was deported was their mother, their mothers who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers, the secretary of state added. Rubio called the story misleading, saying that you guys make it sound like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the 2-year-old and threw him on an airplane. According to the Post, attorneys for the deported mothers were not given opportunities to contact their lawyers or their families while in custody in the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a December interview with Meet the Press, then-President-elect Donald Trump previewed his approach to deportations involving mixed-status families, or those where some family members are in the U.S. legally and others arent. I dont want to be breaking up families, so the only way you dont break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back, Trump told Welker at the time. Rubio also defended the Trump administrations broader approach to deporting undocumented immigrants, calling the strategy a departure from decadeslong norms in the U.S. that allowed undocumented migrants to remain in the country while pursuing asylum claims. Once you come into our country illegally, it triggers all kinds of rights that can keep you here indefinitely. Thats why we were being flooded at the border, and weve ended that, Rubio said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also spoke about the ongoing negotiations to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, just one day after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis funeral in Rome. Rubio said the deal was closer in general than theyve been any time in the last three years, but its still not there. Speaking about the state of negotiations, the secretary of state told Welker, There are reasons to be optimistic and there are also reasons to be concerned. If this was an easy war to end, it would have been ended by someone else a long time ago, Rubio added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump told reporters on Sunday that Zelenskyy has a "tough road ahead," but still maintained that the two countries have "the confines of a deal." He said he'd like to see Putin imminently commit to an agreement to end the war and implement a ceasefire. "I want him to stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal," Trump said, adding that he was "very disappointed that they did the bombing of those places after discussions." Trump suggested to reporters that his relationship with the Ukrainian leader has improved since the the two leaders confrontational Oval Office clash in February. I think he understands the picture, and I think he wants to make a deal, Trump said. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday responded to criticism from a fellow Democratic caucus member for using the term oligarchy to describe allies of the Trump administration, saying the American people are not quite as dumb as to not understand the term. Sanders remarks come days after Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., a first-term senator who won a competitive Senate race in Michigan the same year that President Donald Trump won the presidential election there, told Politico that she thinks her party should stop using the term oligarchy. Slotkin added that the term doesnt resonate beyond coastal institutions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also recently criticized some Democrats for using terms like "oligarch" and "food insecurity" instead of "hungry" and "greedy billionaires." Neither Slotkin nor Walz mentioned Sanders in their remarks, but their comments come as Sanders and fellow progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., have been traveling across the country and speaking before crowds of tens of thousands as part of their Fighting Oligarchy tour. On Sunday, Sanders referred to those crowds, telling NBC News Meet the Press, Well, Jesus, we had 36,000 people out in Los Angeles, 34,000 people in Colorado. We had 30,000 people in Folsom, California, which is kind of a rural area. I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are, Sanders added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson for Slotkin declined to comment on Sanders remarks. The Vermont senator went on to explain the core message of the Fighting Oligarchy, rallies, telling moderator Kristen Welker, When the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 90%, when big-money interests are able to control both political parties, [Americans] are living in an oligarchy. The spat between Slotkin and Sanders comes as Democrats are still trying to assess how to move forward in a second Trump administration, months after they faced a devastating loss in the presidential election and in multiple Senate races. Many Democrats in recent weeks have agreed that the party must focus on the future and what their post-Trump vision for America could look like but cant agree on what that vision should look like. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a point that Sanders made on Sunday, telling Welker, Were on the same page, but what Democrats lack right now is a vision for the future. Sanders has long been the standard bearer for progressive Democrats, ever since he launched his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. But Slotkin is a new rising star. In 2018, she flipped a competitive Michigan House seat in favor of the Democrats. And months after defending an open Senate seat in her home state for the Democratic Party, she was selected by party leaders to give the official Democratic response to Trumps joint address to Congress earlier this year. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Fears of a possible serial killer targeting victims across New England have sparked growing concern as authorities have been investigating a string of suspicious deaths. Officials havent publicly confirmed a connection between the cases, but unsettling similarities have led many to speculate that a pattern may be emerging. Why Do People Think There Is a Serial Killer in New England? Since March 2025, the discovery of eight sets of human remains across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island has ignited widespread speculation about a potential serial killer operating in New England. The remains belong to mostly women, with the first notable discovery occurring on March 6, 2025, and the most recent on April 22, 2025. In addition to several of the bodies being women and the conditions of the remains were similar. Plus, the locations of the bodies have been close to each other, which has only fueled fears. Despite all of this, officials have not publicly linked the deaths, but theories that a serial killer might be terrorizing New England have continued to gain traction with true crime enthusiasts on social media. Who Are the Victims Linked to the Potential New England Serial Killer? Not all of the eight sets of remains have been identified, but several were. Paige Fannon of West Islip, New York, was found dead in the Norwalk River on March 6, 2025. Her family had reported her missing two days prior, and her personal belongings were discovered near the riverbank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That same day a human skull was discovered by a local hunter who was looking for deer antlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, according to Boston 25. At first, he thought the bones belonged to a dead animal, but the skull was too round, which led him to make the call to the police. The lower front set of the skull, including the nasal area and jaw bone, was missing, and authorities have made no identification. On March 19, 2025, the remains of an unidentified woman thought to be between 40 and 60 years old were discovered inside a suitcase near Groton, Connecticut, and the following day, Denise Learys body was discovered in New Haven, Connecticut. She had been missing since September 2024, and authorities said that her body was in an advanced state of decay. The body of Michele Romano, who had been missing since August 2024, was discovered on March 25, 2025, but her sister, Valerie Romano, has said that she was not a victim of a serial killer in New England. Is There a Serial Killer in New England? Everything to Know [Valerie] told me yesterday, The rumors going around do nothing but torture us all over again. We cant even grieve, podcaster and close friend of the Romanos, Lauren Lee Malloy, told Rolling Stone. Its only been two weeks since shes been found, and we still have a long road ahead, because we dont even have her body to bury her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On April 9 and 10, more unidentified remains were found in Killingly, Connecticut, and Framingham, Massachusetts. However, no other details have been provided. Police were notified of an unresponsive woman near a bike path in Springfield, Massachusetts, on April 22, 2025, according to Springfield Police Department spokesman Ryan Walsh, per Boston 25. The woman was pronounced dead shortly after authorities arrived on the scene, but her name has not been released. Authorities Have Denied Theres a Serial Killer in New England Despite the rumors on social media, several police departments in the surrounding areas have denied that theres a serial killer in New England, per Rolling Stone. There is no indication that the womans remains found in New Haven are the result of a homicide, Officer Christian Bruckhart of New Haven told the outlet in an article published on April 25, 2025. Denise Leary was suffering from some mental health diagnoses, and her remains were found near where she lived. The office of the chief medical examiner performed an autopsy and was unable to establish an exact cause of death, but the investigation is consistent with her death being an accident. Officers from police departments in Norwalk, Groton and the Connecticut State Police also made similar comments. The calls can come at any time. Sometimes the phone rings in the middle of the night. Other times it rings at 9 a.m. The calls can come from anyone: a police officer, a parent or a worker from the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. Whatever the time, whoever the reporter, one of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Centers sexual assault nurse examiners is on call. These nurses, who work in 24-hour shifts, are responsible for assessing patients, collecting evidence and, in some cases, testifying about the medical information in court, said Colleen Dearmin, who manages the team. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 042425_GC_Solace04rgb.jpg Sally DiScenza, a sexual assault nurse examiner, opens a cabinet to retrieve an evidence kit Thursday while speaking about the procedures for sexual assault exams in an examination room at Solace Sexual Assault Services. Christus St. Vincents sexual assault nurse examiners known as SANEs serve patients across Santa Fe, San Miguel, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, Mora and Colfax counties, as well as children in Taos. In 2024, they saw 147 patients in Northern New Mexico. Our primary function, as a SANE nurse, is to take care of the patient medically, Dearmin said. After a sexual assault which can also involve a physical assault we need to make sure that the patients body is safe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Becoming a SANE Sally DiScenza has been a sexual assault nurse examiner for nearly 31 years. Inspired to join the specialty by guest lecture in graduate school, she spent 26 years as an examiner in Memphis before a love for the Southwest led her to Santa Fe to do the same job. The work is emotionally taxing, DiScenza said, but when you can help someone at their kind of lowest point, it really is gratifying. The philosophy for examiners at Christus St. Vincent is to help give power back to their patients, Dearmin said. Theyve had this physical violation, she said. Theyve had a violation of their body, but also of their mind and their sense of self, so we put everything back in their control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 042425_GC_Solace05rgb.jpg Envelopes that contain swabs used to to collect DNA evidence during sexual assault exams are shown Thursday in the examination room at Solace Sexual Assault Services. Its just so important for victims to have somebody that is empathetic and is understanding, DiScenza added. And its important for somebody to have someone that has been trained so that, in their day in court, they get a fair opportunity for justice. In New Mexico, all sexual assault nurse examiners complete the same 40-hour training course, which teaches them how to approach patients, gather evidence, prepare a complete medical record and testify in a trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New examiners at Christus St. Vincent also go through a monthslong preceptorship, during which theyre paired with a more experienced colleague and receive additional mentoring. Sexual assault exams are structured like other medical exams, Dearmin said: When you go to the doctor and you have an earache, you tell the doctor about the earache This is where it hurts, and it goes here. Same thing with a sexual assault [exam]. Patients recount their experience and their injuries, which gives the nurse what Dearmin called a map to medically assess them. From there, evidence collection begins. The nurses swab patients bodies for DNA evidence and take photographs of injuries all of which could be used as evidence in a criminal case. They also document the patients account of the incident in medical records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At any point in the process, Dearmin noted, patients are able to say no; they can decline to have certain parts of their bodies examined or photographs taken. Adult victims of sexual assault are not required to report the incident to the police. Examinations are always free and not billed to a patients insurance provider. If a case results in a trial, the nurse will be subpoenaed to testify, primarily about records created during the examination. Sexual assault nurse examiners work assessing the injuries of patients and collecting evidence is often an integral part of rape investigations, District Attorneys Office spokesperson Catherine Lynch wrote in an email. Their testimony in court helps educate juries and dispel widely held myths about sexual assaults, she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The District Attorneys Office works closely with sexual assault nurse examiners, Lynch wrote, in hopes of ensuring that best practices are followed from the medical exam to the courtroom. 042425_GC_Solace06rgb.jpg A cabinet full of stuffed animals children can choose from for comfort before a sexual assault exam in the family interview room at Solace Sexual Assault Services. A subgroup within Dearmins team of examiners conducts delayed disclosure exams, a special kind of pediatric exam in which the child patient discloses the sexual assault weeks or months after it occurred. In those cases, the nurses look for injuries consistent with the childs description of the assault. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dearmin noted SANEs are nurses first and they bring a caring approach to their patients. Nurses always put themselves out there to be with the patient in the moment, she said. And so, you make the patient comfortable, tell them who you are, that youre here to take care of them, that you want to hear their story. Staying a SANE Dearmin who is a registered nurse but not a sexual assault nurse examiner arrived at Christus St. Vincents SANE program in 2003 on a three-month contract to manage the programs finances. More than 20 years later, she is still there, longevity she attributes to her colleagues positivity and support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I found that the people that work in this field are so dedicated, are so kind, are so committed to serving the patients that I wanted to stay in the field, she said. Though much of New Mexico and the U.S. is grappling with a shortage of nurses and other health care providers, Dearmin said her department doesnt have that problem. With eight SANEs, theyre staffed up and likely to stay that way. Usually, Dearmin said, she doesnt have to advertise job openings. Instead, nurses interested in the work seek her out, and she, in turn, keeps their resumes on file until a position opens up. I am very lucky that I am fully staffed, and I always have been, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 042425_GC_Solace07rgb.jpg A sexual assault evidence kit in the examination room at Solace Sexual Assault Services. The job can be challenging You are exposed over and over again to what these patients have gone through, Dearmin said but the nurses help each other through it. To keep everybody well enough to work, Dearmin and her team meet monthly in a kind of peer support group, sharing their experiences and some of the emotional weight of their jobs. You learn from everyone else, but youre also able to offload some of the trauma that you have to your partners and believe me, the partners are glad to take it, Dearmin said. She added, I come out of that meeting and Im like rededicated to go through it again for another month. EVANS, Ga. (AP) Two Georgia deputies were shot during a traffic stop Saturday evening and one of them is dead, law enforcement officials said. The Columbia County Sheriffs Office confirmed the deputy's death around 6:30 p.m. and said the other deputy was taken to a hospital, WRDW-TV reported. The suspect was identified as James Blake Montgomery, who was believed to have been in a camper near Mile Marker 194 off Belair Road, Columbia County deputies told WRDW. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Helicopters and drones were in the air as part of the effort to capture Montgomery, the deputies said. Communication over police radio told officers to take a photo of the suspect in the trailer. The focus was the Arrowood Mobile Home Community off Wrightsboro Road, WRDW reported. Gov. Brian Kemp issued a statement on X about the shooting. Marty, the girls, and I are praying for the loved ones and colleagues of the Columbia County sheriffs deputy that has fallen in the line of duty, as well as his fellow law enforcement officer injured tonight while protecting his fellow Georgians, Kemp said. As they remain in our hearts and prayers, were also painfully reminded of why those who wear a badge have more than earned our enduring respect and appreciation. KYIV, Ukraine (AP) A peace proposal by the Trump administration that includes recognizing Russian authority over Crimea shocked Ukrainian officials, who say they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula, even though they expect to concede the territory to the Kremlin, at least temporarily. Giving up the land that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is also politically and legally impossible, according to experts. It would require a change to the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote, and it could be considered treason. Lawmakers and the public are firmly opposed to the idea. It doesnt mean anything, said Oleksandr Merezkho, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys party. We will never recognize Crimea as part of Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike a territorial concession, a formal surrender would permanently relinquish Crimea and abandon the hope that Ukraine could regain it in the future. The Ukrainian public largely understands that land must be ceded as part of any armistice because there is no way to retake it militarily. Polls indicate a rising percentage of the population accepts such a trade-off. But much of the public messaging about land concessions has suggested that they are not necessarily permanent, as when Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko told the BBC recently that Ukraine may need to temporarily give up land as part of a peace deal. Saying otherwise would effectively admit defeat a deeply unpopular move, especially for Ukrainians living under Russian occupation who hope to be liberated and reunited with their families one day. It also would call into question the sacrifices made by tens of thousands of Ukrainian service members who have been killed or wounded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. President Donald Trump underscored the Crimea proposal in an interview published Friday in Time magazine: Crimea will stay with Russia. Zelenskyy understands that, and everybody understands that its been with them for a long time. Asked by reporters on Sunday if Zelenskyy was ready to give up Crimea, Trump said, Oh, I think so. Crimea was 12 years ago. That was President Obama that gave it up without a shot being fired. His comments offered the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. Trump has also accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Crimea, a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, was seized by Russia years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. The Russian takeover followed large protests that ousted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who had refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the lead-up to peace talks, Ukrainian officials told The Associated Press for months that they expect Crimea and other Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia to be among Kyivs concessions in the event of any deal. But Zelenskyy has said on multiple occasions that formally surrendering the land has always been a red line. Elements of Trumps peace proposal would see the U.S. formally recognizing Crimea as Russian and de facto accepting Moscows rule over occupied Ukrainian territories, according to a senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions. Whether the U.S. formally recognizes Crimea as Russian is out of Zelenskyys hands. But many obstacles prevent the Ukrainian president from doing so, even under immense pressure. He cannot unilaterally sign any such proposal, and he could be reprimanded by future governments for even attempting it, experts said. Ukraine began to accept that it would not regain its lost territories after the failure of the country's 2023 summer counteroffensive. From then on, the Ukrainian military concentrated on defending the territory it still held. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In return for territorial concessions, Ukraine wants robust security guarantees that ideally would include NATO membership or concrete plans to arm and train its forces against any future Russian invasion with the pledged support of allies. One scenario envisions European boots on the ground, which Russia rejects. Zelenskyy has said negotiations over occupied Ukrainian territory will be drawn out and will not likely occur until a ceasefire is in place. In late March, he told reporters after a call with Trump that the U.S. president clearly understands that legally we will not recognize any territories. He said giving up territory would be the most difficult question and a big challenge for us. Formal recognition of Crimea would also amount to political suicide for Zelenskyy. It could expose him to legal action in the future, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics and a former economics minister. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Signing a potentially unconstitutional document could be interpreted as high treason, Mylovanov said. The Ukrainian government cannot act either. It has no constitutional means to accept a violation of its territorial integrity, and altering the territorial makeup of the country requires a nationwide referendum. If Ukrainian lawmakers were even to entertain the idea of surrendering Crimea, it would trigger a long, drawn-out legal debate. Thats why Russia is pushing it, because they know its impossible to achieve, Mylovanov said. Anything related to constitutional change gives so much policy and public communication space to Russia," he added. "This is all they want. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Soldiers on the front line say they will never stop fighting, no matter what the political leadership decides. We lost our best guys in this war, said Oleksandr, a soldier in the Donetsk region, who spoke on the condition that only his first name be used in line with military protocols. We wont stop until all Ukrainian lands are free. ___ Associated Press writer Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report. KABUL, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,667 Afghan families with 8,090 members returned to their homeland from neighboring Iran and Pakistan Friday and Saturday, Afghanistan's High Commission for Addressing Returnees Problems reported on Sunday. The refugees have come home via the Torkham border crossing in eastern Nangarhar province, the Spin Boldak border crossing in southern Kandahar province, the Islam Qala border point in western Herat province, and the Abrisham border crossing point in western Nimroz province, it said. The commission provides temporary shelters, nourishment, water, medical care, and transportation services to their respective provinces for the returnees. Nearly 120,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland from Pakistan from April 1 to 24, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Thursday. About 7 million Afghan refugees, most of whom are undocumented migrants, are currently living abroad, with most living in Afghanistan's Pakistan and Iran. One person was killed and six injured during an overnight shooting at Elizabeth City State University, a historically Black university in North Carolina. The shooting took place in the early hours of Sunday morning at the center of campus following events for Viking Fest, a week of school spirit events, according to a statement from the university. A 24-year-old man, who was not an Elizabeth City State University student, was killed, according to the statement. His identity is being withheld until his next of kin can be notified. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, six people were injured, four of them with gunshot wounds, the statement said. Three of the gunshot victims were Elizabeth City State University students. None of the injuries are life-threatening and all victims were transported to a hospital for treatment, according to the university. The university instituted a campus lockdown and a shelter-in-place order for all students after the shooting, which was lifted later on Sunday. The university is deeply saddened by this senseless act, an update from the university said. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all members of the Viking community affected by this tragedy. The university said there is no immediate threat to the campus community. The release didnt include any information about whether a suspect or suspects had been identified. CNN has reached out to the Elizabeth City Police Department for more information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident alongside local authorities, according to a statement shared with CNN. The agency asked members of the public to submit any information, videos or pictures related to the shooting. The incident comes more than a week after a deadly campus shooting at Florida State University, where two people were killed and six others were injured after authorities say a student and son of a local sheriffs deputy allegedly opened fire on the universitys Tallahassee campus. Elizabeth City State University part of the University of North Carolina system enrolls a little over 2,000 students. The university is located on North Carolinas coast, around 60 miles southwest of Virginia Beach. CNNs Devon Sayers and Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) A shooting at a small college in eastern North Carolina left one person dead and six others wounded and prompted a campus lockdown early Sunday, the university said. The shooting occurred in the center of Elizabeth City State University's campus following Yard Fest, the final event of the historically Black universitys weeklong Viking Fest celebration, the school said in a statement. A 24-year-old man who was not a student was pronounced dead. His identity wasn't immediately released pending notification of his family, the statement says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Four people sustained gunshot wounds, including three students, while two other students were injured during the commotion. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening. All the injured were taken to a hospital for treatment, the statement says. A call to campus police was referred to a university spokesperson, who didnt immediately return a telephone message. "The university is deeply saddened by this senseless act, the university said in an earlier statement. The lockdown was later lifted, and the university increased patrols across campus as a precaution. Access to the center of campus remained restricted later Sunday. The university has 2,300 students and is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Norfolk, Virginia. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) A shooting in the popular South Carolina tourist town of Myrtle Beach left 11 people injured, and police fatally shot one person, authorities said. Myrtle Beach officers responded to a disturbance involving multiple individuals Saturday night in which someone began firing a weapon. In a statement, the department said that based on the immediate threat, an officer then shot one person, who died from their injuries. Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune told WBTW-TV the officer responded appropriately. The Horry County deputy coroner identified the person shot as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis, according to WBTW. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our officer saw what happened, and when he saw that an altercation was taking place and a gun was being shot, the officer responded very quickly and in my opinion, saved lives, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said. Last night could have been so much worse. A telephone message left with Myrtle Beach police was referred to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which said in an email that its investigation was active and ongoing. It provided no further information. The department said 11 people who sustained injuries were receiving medical treatment. Update: KEARNS, Utah (ABC4) Clarence Duone Pollard, 88, has been found safe, according to the Dept. of Public Safety. No further information is available at this time. Original Story: KEARNS, Utah (ABC4) A Silver Alert has been activated for an 88-year-old man reported missing out of Kearns, according to the Dept. of Public Safety. Clarence Duone Pollard, 88, is described as White, 54, 127 lbs, with gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen on Saturday, April 26, at around 6 p.m. on the 4700 block of 4300 West. He was reportedly wearing a yellow reflective vest, unknown color long-sleeve plaid shirt, red ball cap, blue or black slacks, and black shoes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pollard is considered special needs with memory issues. He also uses a motorized wheelchair, officials said. His residence is reportedly located in Kearns but he was last known to be headed to West Valley City, officials said. If you have any information regarding Pollards whereabouts, please contact police at 801-840-4000. This is a developing story. ABC4 will update this post as new information becomes available. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. MADISON COUNTY, Ill. Illinois State Police have arrested six men in an anti-human trafficking operation in Madison County. The two-day sting focused on identifying people trying to engage in sex acts with minors in the Troy, Illinois area. The suspects range in age from 30 to 43. They face multiple felony charges including indecent solicitation of a child, traveling to meet a minor, and grooming. This operation was all part of ISPs ongoing efforts to fight human trafficking. If you suspect human trafficking, youre asked to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or Text 233733. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) The Myrtle Beach police officer involved in a deadly Saturday night shooting along North Ocean Boulevard following a large altercation acted appropriately, Mayor Brenda Bethune told News13. Horry County Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard on Sunday identified the person shot as 18-year-old Jerrius Davis of Bennettsville. Our officer saw what happened, and when he saw that an altercation was taking place and a gun was being shot, the officer responded very quickly and in my opinion, saved lives, she said. Last night could have been so much worse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eleven people were hurt and one person was shot and killed in what authorities called a disturbance. Neither the officers name nor the person who was shot were immediately identified. It happened just before midnight in the 900 block of North Ocean Blvd., after officers noticed a disturbance involving multiple people. Video obtained by News13 on Sunday shows people scattering and police rushing to the scene. The citys police department said on Facebook it would launch an internal review, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is also investigating, which is standard procedure in any officer-involved shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bethune said once SLED finishes its report, city leaders will release it to the public. Unfortunately, with social media theres going to be a lot of comments being said that are not true, and (people) trying to make more out of this, and we want to get the facts out so that people know what has happened, Bethune said. Myrtle Beach City Council takes step toward increasing public event security Police said that during the altercation, somebody fired a weapon, leading to the officer responding with his own. The individual shot during officer response has passed away as a result of their injuries, police said on Facebook. News13 photo / Skylar Musick The incident which happened in the middle of the citys famed entertainment district comes just as peak tourism season is beginning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sebastian McMillan, a longtime visitor from Washington, D.C., said the violent situation wont keep him away from Myrtle Beach. Theres trouble all over the world, we cant control that. So we just have to come and not let fear spoil our vacation. We still come here to enjoy the sights, enjoy the views, so I dont feel threatened at all, he said. Ive been coming here for years. Ill still come. Councilman Gregg Smith told News13 he hopes others agree. Its very unfortunate that people feel they need to solve their problems with guns but its an isolated incident and not indicative of the reality that most Myrtle Beach visitors encounter, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Police Chief Amy Prock said major crimes including homicides, burglaries and aggravated assaults have dropped nearly in half since 2015, in part thanks to 248 new cameras, expanded neighborhood teams and new technology like acoustic gunshot detection. This path is laid, and our foot is on the gas, I will tell you that, Prock said. I look at my team, and I look at our community. We work together. We may not always get along, and we may not always agree, but I will tell you this: we work hard, and we work together and we find a way to make a difference. Bethune told News13 she was on Ocean Boulevard Saturday night around 11 p.m., and wouldnt have been if she felt unsafe. This was an isolated incident. We had a huge crowd on the boulevard late last night, and we cant always control what people are going to do, but we also cant just shut ourselves in and do nothing, she said. This is a great place to visit. Its not an unsafe place at all. And Im not making light of what happened in any way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nikki Petracco and her daughter Aurora, who are visiting the city, say incidents like Saturdays are upsetting, and could give some pause when deciding on vacation plans. Unfortunately, shootings are an everyday occurrence. They shouldnt be but they are, but it definitely makes you think twice before visiting a tourist area, Nikki said. Bethune said SLEDs probe should take around three weeks. There really wont be a lot to discuss until we get the final report, she said. This is a developing story. * * * 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * * * Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her 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. Reality Check is a SLO Tribune fact check series that holds those in power to account and dives into the accuracy of statements or claims. Have a tip? Email tips@thetribunenews.com. How public records are handled on private devices at local governments in San Luis Obispo County ranges from strict rules with detailed expectations to laissez-faire advice that amounts to virtually no policy at all, a Tribune analysis found. The Tribune investigated the question as it remains locked in a three-party legal battle among the newspaper, the city of Paso Robles and Councilman Chris Bausch over texts and emails Bausch has withheld for more than six months despite 19 Public Records Act requests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After receiving only a single record in response, The Tribune sued the city and Bausch in March, citing violations of state law. The filing has since triggered a series of cross-complaints from both defendants. Beyond the courtroom, The Tribunes case and others like it happening elsewhere in the state and nation shines a spotlight on an oft-overlooked responsibility of local governments, to determine whether they have policies outlining best practices for documenting public communication on personal devices, and if those practices are, in fact, being followed. California law is clear on this in a case that was upheld by the state Supreme Court in 2017. The case, City of San Jose v. Superior Court, determined that records relating to public business should be disclosed under the California Public Records Act, even when those records are stored on an officials private device. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This issue is not unique to San Luis Obispo County. The Los Angeles Times filed a lawsuit in March against Mayor Karen Bass for her deleted text messages during Los Angeles deadly wildfires in January, and in San Francisco, former Mayor London Breed and current Mayor Daniel Lurie have both made headlines for deleting and/or concealing texts about public business, according to the San Francisco Standard. In all fairness to Mr. Bausch, hes not the only one doing this, but that doesnt make it right, The Tribunes attorney Karl Olson said during a March Q&A about The Tribunes lawsuit. Theres a constitutional right of access to communications dealing with public business. Stockton and San Jose have also faced similar issues with private device use among its elected officials. In the wake of the Paso Robles case, it begs the question: Do local governments in SLO County have policies mandating how public records are preserved on private devices and do they ensure their staff and elected officials are fully informed on how to follow California law? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Bauschs case, Paso Robles argues the councilman was well-trained in public records policy and was advised not to use his personal phone for public business. Still, hes found himself embroiled in a courtroom battle that will likely rack up a significant legal bill one that taxpayers could wind up paying. As part of its Reality Check series, The Tribune investigated how each city in San Luis Obispo County and the county itself maintains its public records, and what their procedures are to help officials comply with the law and avoid costly legal battles. What it discovered was that policies vary widely from city to city, with some like the city of San Luis Obispo laying out strict guidelines and others like Pismo Beach having no policy at all. Paso Robles policy Paso Robles encourages councilmembers to use their city emails and accounts to the greatest extent practicable, according to its Council Policies and Procedures Handbook. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city specifically provides councilmembers with direct access to city telephone and computer systems, as well as a cell phone, for officials to conduct city business on city devices and accounts as needed. But Paso Robles does not appear to have a policy for all city employees in its municipal code or other policy manuals. According to the citys lawsuit against Bausch, the city provides extensive training on California open government and transparency laws to city councilmembers including obligations under the Public Records Act and also routinely reminds councilmembers that they should be using their public accounts and devices for city business. It is unclear from the policy manual how records made on private devices should be retained or for how long. It also doesnt state a clear procedure on how councilmembers should look for records made on their personal devices or accounts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mary Sponhalz, deputy city clerk for Paso Robles, told The Tribune in a December email that when the city receives a request for public records store on a city officials or employees personal device, the request is forwarded to them with a request to submit items to the city clerk, deputy city clerk or custodian of records for review and release within 10 days. Less technologically savvy employees or officials can also bring their devices to the clerk directly, she said. We rely on the individual to disclose if they have or may have responsive records, she added. What Atascaderos policy requires In Atascadero, the citys policy for councilmembers requires them to use city email accounts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If a councilmember receives an email pertaining to public business on a private account, theyre encouraged to forward the email to their city account and/or ask the sender to email their city account, according to the Atascadero City Council Handbook. The handbook requires councilmembers who want to maintain a public social media presence to meet with city officials to discuss it. It also encourages councilmembers to think carefully before sending or responding to emails. Never reply when angry or in a bad mood, the handbook states. Do not make derogatory personal comments. As for other officials, Atascadero fire and police are permitted to use their personal devices on duty only in exigent circumstances or as otherwise authorized, according to the citys police and fire department policies. The policies list using a personal phone when radio communications are unavailable as an acceptable caveat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Using a personal cell phone for work reduces the expectation of privacy on that device, the policies state. City agencies can examine these devices for records relating to litigation, public records requests, investigations and other circumstances that may arise, according to the city. The policy also states that public records stored on an employees personal device should be sent to their work device and deleted from the other by the end of the employees shift. In addition to these policies, city spokesperson Terrie Banish told The Tribune that the city reviews and updates its public records policies as needed to comply with the law. When a request for records is received, the City requires its staff to examine their personal devices for responsive records, and if there are any, the City requires staff to sign a declaration attesting to the search for such records, Banish wrote to The Tribune in an email. SLOs policy is strongest in the county The city of San Luis Obispo appears to have the most robust policies in place when it comes to private devices and records retention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City spokesperson Whitney Szentesi told The Tribune that the city consistently advises its employees and officials of its obligations to search personal devices if they possess records responsive to Public Records Act requests and requires staff to search their private devices and accounts, including text messages and social media, when responding to records requests. According to the City Council policy manual, the city advises that any communications regarding city business on private accounts or devices, including social media, can be subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act, and are also subject to the Brown Act and the citys records retention regulations. The citys records retention policy also is very clear on the use of personal email. No city employee shall use their personal email account(s) to send emails relating to or containing city business, it reads. If an employee inadvertently transmits an email or receives an email that relates to or contains city business outside of the city email server, that employee shall immediately transmit an unaltered copy of the message(s) to their city email account to be retained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city retains emails for a minimum of two years, the policy said. The policy also discourages city employees from using texts to conduct official city business. If an employee of elected official does conduct business through text, they are responsible for ensuring the communications are retained and archived, the policy said. Copy records to a city device, Morro Bay says In Morro Bay, officials are encouraged to use city email accounts and devices exclusively, according to the citys policy handbook for City Council and advisory bodies. Limited use of a private device for public business is permissible but not encouraged, and public records on such devices are subject to the Public Records Act, the handbook reads. If an official receives a communication about public business on their personal device or email, Morro Bays policy encourages them to either copy or forward any public records created to their city device. That practice facilitates efficient and prompt responses to Public Record Act requests, the handbook reads. The policy is clear that public records created or stored on a personal device or email account are still subject to public records requests. No citywide policies in Pismo Beach and Grover Beach Pismo Beach does not have a specific policy regarding the use of private devices by city employees and officials, Pismo Beach Assistant City Manager Mike James told The Tribune. The city follows best management practices to ensure all emails and application usage go through the city servers so city records are properly retained, James added. Grover Beach also does not have a citywide policy for the use of personal devices, Grover Beach Assistant City Manager Kristin Eriksson said, because only Police Department Staff and Public Works maintenance staff are provided with city handheld devices. According to the Grover Beach Police Department manual, police employees should not use personal accounts or devices to communicate about the official business of the department. It also states employees do not have a right to privacy when using their department email. Police Department employees also should only use technology provided by the department while on duty or in conjunction with assignments, which also applies to personally owned devices used to access department resources. Arroyo Grande policy only for councilmembers Arroyo Grande also has no standalone written policy regarding the use of private devices by city employees, Arroyo Grande City Clerk Jessica Matson said, but it does have one for its councilmembers. The City Council Handbook advises that all communications regarding city business to and from councilmembers are potentially subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act regardless of how they are sent, received or stored. It asks councilmembers to minimize potential risk, embarrassment or awkward situations and to conduct all city business on city devices and accounts to the greatest extent possible to ensure the city has a record of the communications. It also advises members to use tact and caution when communicating in writing about the citys business regardless of the medium or recipient, adding that exceptions for disclosure of communications about the citys business are narrow. As always, a good rule of thumb before hitting send is to consider how you would feel if the communication were to be reprinted in the newspaper, the handbook said. Matson added that the city clerks office ensures all appropriate measures are taken to verify that city records are collected from all devices, including personal devices, in response to Public Records Act requests and ensures all city employees and officials are aware of their obligations to search their personal devices if they possess records responsive to records requests. How SLO County manages private devices For San Luis Obispo County, employees are not prohibited from using their personal devices for public duties, according to county spokesperson Jeanette Trompeter. However, officials are encouraged to use government devices. According to Trompeter, restrictions are in place that prevent county documents from being downloaded or distributed on personal devices. But the policy Trompeter sent to The Tribune mostly outlined rules around personal cell phone use and stipends, rather than guidelines for records retention. Trompeter said the county regularly advises board members about their obligations under the Public Records Act, including for records stored on personal devices. County counsel has discouraged board members from using personal devices for public business, she said. Employees are responsible for ensuring proper retention and disclosure of documents on personal devices, Trompeter wrote in an email to The Tribune. Where can cities improve? Paso Robles isnt the only city in hot water over potential public records concerns. Recently, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass came under fire for having her texts set to auto-delete, preventing reporters from learning about her communications in the aftermath of the fires that devastated the region, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Times then launched a lawsuit against the city over the deleted texts, it reported in late March. A city councilman in Spokane Valley, Washington, is also facing similar challenges to Bausch after he refused to turn over records relating to his social media use, the Inlander reported. The Spokane Valley City Council voted in February to allow the city manager to take legal action against the councilman, according to the article. These instances, as well as the case in Paso Robles, should inspire local cities to evaluate their own public records policies, said Karl Olson, an attorney for The Tribune. Olson helped litigate the landmark San Jose case that officially established that public records stored on private devices are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act. Olson said every city should have a written policy that clearly outlines public records law, including the precedent set forth in the San Jose case. Olson added policies encouraging officials to use or copy their government phones are different than policies requiring them to which the San Jose case determined cities can do, Olson said. I would definitely encourage cities to follow guidance from the California Supreme Court, he said. I mean, if they dont do that, theyre asking for the same kind of problems that have occurred in Paso Robles. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) Sisters of Providence partnered with Indiana State University to hold an Earth Day Festival at the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College on Saturday. This is all in part of the Were all in this together partnership. The White Violet Center of Eco-Justice from the Sisters of Providence, and the Indiana State University Office of Sustainability partnered together to host the event. The festival hosted many vendors, where eco-friendly products were sold, along with educational booths as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each year, we like to come together on Earth Day to just talk about how much we care for our planet, said Tara Elmore, Program and Events Director for the Sisters of Providence. We hope that everybody works together and does the same. It does so much for us, and we dont have another planet that we can go to. We need to do our part in taking care of it. The Indiana DNR Woods on Wheels and the Vigo County 4-H Alpaca and Llama Club, were a few of many local organizations that attended the event. The goal of the Earth Day Festival was to spread awareness and educate those on how to protect our planet. With the great weather this weekend, the festival was a great turn out overall. 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 MyWabashValley.com. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Prime Minister, Hamza Abdi Barre, reshuffled his government on Sunday, appointing a new defence minister as his government tries to stem an Islamist insurgency. Barre did not give a reason for the reshuffle, which was read out by the government spokesperson in a video posted on the government's Facebook account. Ahmed Moallim Fiqi Ahmed, who previously served as foreign minister and national security chief, was appointed defence minister, replacing Jibril Abdirashid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barre also appointed a new second deputy prime minister, Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi, and a new foreign minister, Abdisaalan Abdi Ali Daay. The appointment of a new defence minister comes as the government struggles to halt recent gains by al Shabaab in an offensive by the al Qaeda-allied group. Al Shabaab briefly captured villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu, raising fears that the city could be targeted. Somali forces have since recaptured those villages but al Shabaab has continued to advance in the countryside, as the future of international security support to Somalia appears increasingly precarious. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The group has been waging an insurgency since 2007, aiming to topple the government and establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of sharia law. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Giles Elgood) KABUL, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation has signed four memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with leading aid agencies to assist returnees and displaced families, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The total sum of the documents reached more than 616,000 U.S. dollars, benefiting over 1,328 returnee families and 50 displaced families, the statement said. The agencies will donate cash, distribute foodstuffs and implement public utility projects in eastern Nangarhar and Khost provinces. In March, the ministry inked MoUs valued at over 12.4 million dollars with aid agencies to implement development and education projects in 16 out of 34 provinces. The Afghan interim government has called on local and international organizations to invest in the country to address its economic hardship and create jobs. Luigi Mangione is being surveilledand not just by his American fans. Lawyers say that someone is spying on the alleged killer and illegally listening to his private phone calls. Mangionethe suspect in healthcare CEO Brian Thompsons shootingpleaded not guilty to federal murder charges on Friday. During his arraignment, his attorneys alleged in court that prosecutors were eavesdropping on Mangiones highly confidential conversations. We were just informed by state court prosecutors that they were eavesdropping on his attorney calls, his lawyer, Karen Agnifilo, said. They said it was inadvertent that they listened to a call between Mangione and me. I am the lead attorney. Luigi Mangione attends a hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 21 in New York City. Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year. / Pool / Getty Images Although she said that the alleged eavesdropping was unintended, she reiterated that measures must be put in place to uphold the sacred attorney-client privilege and ensure that Mangione has full privacy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Margaret Garnett ordered Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile to provide a letter by May 2 that assures the court theres an appropriate line for Mangione to speak to his attorney. She also told Gentile to provide information on what the government is doing to protect Mangiones rights to private calls. Gentile affirmed that he would look into the matter. Prosecutors are allowed to listen to recorded jail phone calls, but they are prohibited from doing so if the conversation is between an attorney and their client. Luigi Mangione, the suspect indicted in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is seen arriving at the South Street Helipad in New York City on Dec. 19 after being extradited from Pennsylvania. / XNY/Star Max / XNY/ Star Max/GC Images Mangione, 26, became a folk hero when he allegedly shot the multi-million dollar healthcare CEO in broad daylight outside of a New York hotel. Two spent shell castings found at the scene had the words deny, depose, and delay etched on them, echoing a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims. After a five-day manhunt, Mangione was arrested at a McDonalds in Pennsylvania. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Dec. 4 killing saddened many, but millions of others rallied behind Mangione, seeing him as a cultural hero for drawing attention to what some see as oppression in the healthcare industry. Hundreds have gathered for Free Luigi rallies in recent weeks, and a crowdfunding effort to support his legal defense has reportedly raised more than half a million dollars. Luigi Mangione arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court on December 23 in New York City. / Spencer Platt / Spencer Platt/Getty Images Mangione arrived at his arraignment, packed with fans=, in khaki jail garb. It was a different style choice than his pretrial hearing at the New York State Supreme Court, during which he wore a dark green knit sweater and brown loafers without socks. Mangione remained emotionless as the judge read out the charges and looked down when the judge mentioned Thompson. The judge ordered the government to complete discovery by May 27 and aims to have a trial date set by December 5. The federal government is seeking the death penalty for Mangione. Disgusting Every member of Congress that went to El Salvador along with Congressional members who are providing narratives that state how this Maryland man must be returned so he can receive the due process hes entitled to is absolutely wrong and they should all be censored for their actions. Define great In 1960, protesters were attacked for integrating the beach on U.S. 90. Is this what Make America Great Again means? Today, Black spring breakers are still being discouraged from enjoying our beach. Milquetoast diplomacy President Trump appealed to Vladimir Putin to stop bombing Ukraine via social media. Should I leave? If birthright citizenship goes away, will I still be a U.S. citizen? I was born here as well as both my parents, but all four of my grandparents were born in the old country, and none of them made the effort to learn to speak any English. So how do I know if they made the effort to become naturalized citizens? If not, then I wont be a U.S. citizen either. How about you? Theyre illegal Personally, I find it fascinatingly funny that liberal judges and the media believe it illegal to deport illegals. Regulations President Trumps answer to our heavily regulated society is to break everything he doesnt like. Regulations have generally been created to remedy a problem. Research food safety in the early 1900s if you dont believe that. Sometimes these regulations outlive their usefulness or become outdated by new ideas. Clinton and Gore had a process called Reinventing Government back in the 90s. This process was collaborative and involved Congress and federal employees as assistants, not the enemy. Google it and check out the right way to modernize our Government. Disaster relief According to CNN, the Trump administration has denied Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders request to declare a major disaster for recent March tornadoes in Arkansas. This denial follows executive orders signed by Trump seeking to shift the financial burden to the states. So far, it is unclear whether Mississippi and Missouri face similar denials. Gov Sanders has appealed the denial. Take note, Mississippi hurricane watchers, a change is coming. Art of the Deal So now were going to back off the tariffs on China? Looks like another L for Mr. Art of the Deal. Repercussions Do you know what will happen to our country, or better still civilization, if we stop scientific research? It looks like we are about to see. OS deal An investigative reporter uncovers a secret plan to develop Front Beach condos. Mayor Holloway to voters: Oh, were just thinking about it. Voters to Holloway: Were kicking you and your minions out of office. The developers then have the pure audacity to approach the incoming council with the same plan. After watching the voters kick Holloway and company out of office, theyre not about to touch the plan. So much for that deal. Maybe try pretty please Donald Trump is making himself look foolish by shouting out to Vladimir Putin on social media, Vladimir, STOP!, as though that will have the least influence on Putins ambitions in Ukraine and eastern Europe. Thanks a lot Taking my life in my hands, I crossed Lorraine Road to hit the McDonalds before I starved to death. As if thats not hard enough, some clown in a dark blue crossover had to blow his horn at me. Such compassion. Such understanding. Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com. MBTA General Manager Phil Eng pledged Thursday to hold commuter rail operator Keolis accountable for staffing problems that caused a string of deflating service disruptions on the brand-new South Coast Rail extension. Several weekend trains have been canceled on the Fall River/New Bedford Line in the month since it launched, in some cases prompting reports of stranded passengers or lengthy shuttle bus rides to replace trips. A representative for Keolis, the private company contracted to operate the commuter rail, attributed the upheaval to problems with train crew availability. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eng said Keolis officials communicated to the T before the extension opened that they were ready to deliver this level of service. Its their responsibility to address these issues. Its their responsibility to ensure that we can deliver that level of service and what theyre going to be doing going forward, Eng told MBTA board members at a Thursday meeting. Were going to hold them accountable for that. A T spokesperson said Thursday that the MBTA has imposed $51,541 in fines against Keolis for the disruptions so far. Keolis Commuter Services CEO Abdellah Chajai joined Eng at the public meeting, where he faced several pointed questions from board members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chajai said commuter rail staff need to receive federally-mandated qualifications, calling the process quite complex. He insisted that Keolis had the right level of staffing for South Coast Rail but didnt have enough resilience about the training. We had enough qualified people from day one. Its just a lack of resilience, Chajai told MBTA board members. Keolis began training and qualifying crews in early January, the company said. By the time the Fall River/New Bedford Line launched, the company had 44 conductors qualified for the 32 shifts per week required. As of Thursday, there were 54 conductors qualified, and Keolis is pushing to reach 65 by early in June, the company said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Asked if he was satisfied by Keoliss explanation and response, Eng said his team has made it clear that [Keolis leaders] need to address the qualifications of employees and they need to accelerate the qualification of employees. The vacancies that they encountered, that should have been addressed in advance. Unfortunately, it wasnt, he said. But they are working right now to accelerate qualifications of not only conductors and engineers, but also managers, to have the ability to backfill some of those positions. Going forward, the directive is that they need to qualify and train every conductor [and] engineer on the whole south side to ensure that they have more than enough, ample employees to cover these shifts, Eng added. Because southeastern Massachusetts and everywhere else, they deserve the same level of robust train service that was scheduled. South Coast Rails first phase launched on March 24 to major fanfare, reviving train service between Boston and the region for the first time in more than six decades. Scores of elected officials attended the ribbon-cutting, where Gov. Maura Healey said the $1.1 billion extension would be transformative. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, a member of the Ts board, on Thursday recalled the vibrancy he observed at the projects opening day. People of the South Coast were so hopeful about what was occurring, and they were so excited, and I think they felt respected in some ways, Koutoujian said. Thats almost the most heartbreaking part of how this has fallen off track, so to speak. The T initially planned to make South Coast Rail trips fare-free on weekends through April, and the agency announced last week that it would extend that period through May amid the challenges. Keolis has been under contract to run the commuter rail network for more than a decade, and after several extensions, the agreement is set to expire in mid-2027. MBTA officials are weighing whether to change the contract model for the next procurement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Apr. 27Goes into effect for April bill SOUTH POINT The village council voted at a special meeting on Tuesday to raise the sewer rates in South Point, in order to afford needed infrastructure improvements that officials said were long overdue. The meeting opened with a presentation from council member David Classing, who outlined an extensive list of necessary expenses and upgrades for the village's aging water and sewer system. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Classing noted that sewer lines and manholes have been collapsing, while costs have been going up, for things such as rate hikes from American Electric Power. Village administrator Russ McDonald, who oversees infrastructure in South Point, said mandates from the Ohio Department of Environmental Protection for a change to an ultraviolet system would also be coming and would bring higher costs. Mayor Jeff Gaskin estimated that change could cost between $1-1.3 million. Gaskin said the biggest issue for the village is the intrusion of stormwater into the sewer system, caused by leaking pipes. He said the need for improvements is urgent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "In some places, we have sewage running in the streets," he said. Classing estimated all upgrades and expenses would total $4-5 million over the next five years. He said the current method of financing is "not sustainable." He said the village had hired a firm, the Rural Community Assistance Partnership, for recommendations on the matter. RCAP is a national network of non-profit partners working to provide technical assistance, training, resources, and support to rural communities The organization had recommended doubling rates, but, after disagreeing with data for that study, they decided on an increase of $10 a month, from a flat rate of $21.50 to $31.50. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Is a sewer increase necessary? Yes," Classing said. "Does it need to be doubled? No." He said they had worked since November to come up with an alternative. The special meeting was a packed house and standing room only, with residents there to express their opinion. While many said they did not want to see rates go up, most who spoke said they understood the need. "If Russ McDonald says he needs money for something, I trust him," Brad Runyon said. The council voted to suspend the three-reading rule on the ordinance to raise rates, and decided to pass it at the special meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gaskin said the alternative to raising rates would be to borrow money have the state take over the system or sell the system to a private company. He said this would not be ideal, because they would lose local control. "We feel we want that," he said. He pointed out that rates in the village for water and sewer were far lower than those of surrounding systems, a sentiment many residents expressed. "We've been spoiled," one woman said of the low bills. One resident, Charlie Withrow, asked if businesses at The Point industrial park could be charges a higher rate, and officials said this was already the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some also asked about a new physical rehabilitation hospital to be built in the village and asked if they could pick up the costs on the system to meet increased demands from the facility. The mayor said this was not the case and that he and the council did not want to lose the 150 jobs the facility would bring and have them go to another municipality. Gaskin said a new lift station would help with those needs. That project, at a cost of $877,000, is being paid for in part through a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission of $646,000. Gaskin advised that this may not be the last increase in rates, as more expenses come up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said needed infrastructure upgrades has been neglected by many previous mayoral administrations and councils and improvements have been needed for decades. "For 65 years, we have focused on cheap and used, abused and patched the system," he said. "The focus was on lower rates and we have had lower rates. Now the focus is on repairs." He said this was a decision that was arrived at after much consideration. "The six people here don't take any of this lightly," he said of the council. "They agonize over these decisions for months." Customers on the Solida Road system, which is newer, were already at a $31.50 rate and will have an increase to $41.50 a month under the new plan, Gaskin said. The special meeting only addressed setting the sewer rates for the village, as this was the only thing listed on the agenda announcing the session. Cameron Nielson is a 27-year-old Sioux Falls resident in recovery from opioid use disorder. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Shame consumed Cameron Nielson as he lay curled and shaking on an emergency room bed. Nurses shouldnt have to rush to care for him, he thought. Other patients deserved attention more than him. This was his seventh relapse. His mother drove him to the emergency room with severe withdrawal symptoms from opioids and Xanax last summer after his drugs were stolen from his safe, he said. More opioid news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I hated myself, the 27-year-old Sioux Falls resident remembered. He accepted medication from one of the nurses to stop the withdrawal symptoms. His head was clearer and he could fall asleep, but the shame remained. Vanessa Needles entered the room after he woke up. She wasnt a nurse, but a peer support specialist meant to connect Nielson to resources. His shame turned to embarrassment, but it soon became gratitude for the medical staff and Needles. Needles spoke his language in a way the nurses and doctors surrounding him couldnt. She overdosed once herself and struggled with alcohol use, eventually leading to a car crash that killed her coworker in 2017. Needles and Nielson started experimenting with drugs and alcohol around 14 years old. Theyd both done things and treated their loved ones in ways they regret. He wasnt alone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Needles, who is seven years sober, offered Nielson grace. When youre trying to get off of it, the littlest thing makes the biggest difference, Nielson told South Dakota Searchlight. The most valuable thing is having someone understand what youre going through. Vanessa Needles is a 30-year-old Sioux Falls resident who works as a peer support specialist. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Needles is one of nine peer support specialists in eastern South Dakota with Sioux Falls-based nonprofit Emilys Hope. Their work is part of a pilot program overseen by the state Department of Social Services and launched in January 2024 to reduce overdoses by providing essential supports and strengthening connections to local resources, according to a statement from the department. Rapid City-based Project Recovery piloted the program in western South Dakota. The pilots are funded by national opioid settlement dollars, costing $346,445. The national opioid settlement was reached in 2021 to resolve opioid litigation against the countrys three largest pharmaceutical distributors and one manufacturer. More than $50 billion in settlement funds are being delivered to state and local governments from the companies accused of flooding communities with opioid painkillers even though they allegedly knew how addictive and deadly the drugs were. South Dakota is set to receive more than 78.6 million of settlement funding within the next two decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The department plans to continue funding the program with settlement dollars through 2029, based on a plan presented to the opioid advisory council in April. What is the program? The two organizations received a combined 34 referrals since the programs launch and connected with 26 people to provide resources. Between 2016 and 2020, there were more than 2,400 drug-related hospitalizations and 684 drug-related deaths in South Dakota. Angela Kennecke, founder and CEO of Emilys Hope, said the organization works closely with emergency room departments for referrals. Sometimes the initial contact yields later results. One woman who ended communication with a peer support specialist last year picked communication back up this year to seek help. I always say a seed is planted, Kennecke said. Even if they dont go into treatment immediately or they dont go on medication and get the help they need, a seed has been planted that there is someone there to help them when theyre ready. Emilys Hope founder and CEO Angela Kennecke speaks at a press conference in Sioux Falls on April 25, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) Kenneckes daughter, Emily, died of a fentanyl overdose, laced in heroin she injected. Her family was planning to enroll her into a treatment program when she died in May 2018. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Project Recovery has found most of its success working with Rapid Citys Fusion Center, which is a law enforcement task force. The clinic receives referrals based on overdose data collected by law enforcement. Kendra Joswiak, clinical practice director at Project Recovery, said her response team connected with 82% of activations, 56% of which continue to be engaged in addiction service treatments. Needles, a 30-year-old mother of two soon to be three served as a peer support specialist for years in other capacities before working with Emilys Hope to meet with overdose victims in the emergency room. Shes previously talked with people struggling with substance use on the street, and shes shared her story with jail inmates. The program bridges gaps in South Dakotas behavioral health infrastructure, she said. It also destigmatizes substance use within the medical profession and in the community, and gives a sense of purpose to those in recovery. By helping someone stay sober, I stay sober another day, Needles said. I can stand in front of them and tell them that this is scary and shy, but that its going to get better. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peer support specialists with Emilys Hope receive a group text when an overdose victim arrives at a Sioux Falls-area hospital. Whoever is available goes, Needles said. Most of the time, people have already checked out of the hospital before a specialist arrives. She remembers when she overdosed a decade ago, and she left the hospital as soon as she could because she was scared. She needed to cope with her emotions, and the only way she knew how was to use again. She and other peer support specialists will follow up with patients after they leave the hospital, dropping off bags of fentanyl test strips or medication to prevent overdose. Shell hand them to the patient, parents or spouses whoever she can find. Everybody deserves a little bit of grace After Nielson was admitted to the hospital and into a treatment program through Avera Health, Needles joined him each Friday. She checks in on him to see how hes feeling and has taken him to support meetings since he completed treatment. She sent him a coin and card when he reached three months of sobriety late last year. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nielson is eight months sober. Hes taking a Suboxone prescription to eliminate cravings, and he feels more like himself, he said. He started reading again, hasnt missed a day of work and spends time with his 3-year-old son each week. Its something he couldnt have dreamed of a decade ago. Needles guidance and support reminds Nielson hes not alone and what hes capable of achieving. Besides Vanessa, I dont have another person to talk to regularly who knows what Im going through or is sober, Nielson said. It can kind of get lonely after you cut off every friend you had, since they were all part of my addiction. One relationship isnt a lot, but its a start, Needles said. She hopes as others learn about medications for opioid use disorder and about efforts to curb overdose deaths in the state, overdose response teams will be able to reach more people. Everybody deserves a little bit of grace, Needles said. Were all struggling one way or another. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX LOS ANGELES (AP) Steven Spielberg proclaimed The Godfather the greatest American film ever made, Robert De Niro teasingly bemoaned being cast in the sequel and not the original and Harrison Ford fought back tears reflecting on his role in the 1974 film, The Conversation. At the center of it all was Francis Ford Coppola, who on Saturday received the AFI Life Achievement Award at a ceremony at Dolby Theatre that brought together legendary stars from a seemingly bygone era of cinema, A founding AFI trustee, Coppolas recognition from the organization was a kind of full circle moment for the Apocalypse Now director. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When I was a kid there was the Oscars and that was it. Now theyre going to have an award show for the best award show, the 86-year-old said on the red carpet ahead of the show. But this is a little different because its a personal recognition of the people that youve known all your life and your colleagues over many years, so its like a homecoming in a way. You, sir, are peerless. You have taken what came before and redefined the canon of American film, Spielberg said. Coppola sat between Spielberg and George Lucas, as actors and fellow filmmakers like Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Morgan Freeman took turns gushing over the Oscar winner. Dreamer of dreams on a dime, teller of tales that cost and lost millions. But tonight, (expletive) the bankers and the bank, Freeman said to laughs and cheers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lucas, Coppolas longtime friend and colleague, presented him with the award. The pair have known each other for decades and cofounded their own production company, American Zoetrope, in 1969. You rounded up a bunch of young film students, gathered us together. We moved to San Francisco, hoping to beat the system. And we did. Like the filmmakers from the dawn of the art form, we had no rules. We wrote them, and you were holding the pen, Lucas said. Coppola was mostly stoic throughout the ceremony as Hollywood sang his praises until he accepted the award at the end of the night. He beamed as he approached the stage and thanked the room, which was filled with some of his family members as well as multigenerational A-listers. Now I understand here, this place that created me, my home, isnt really a place at all, but you friends, colleagues, teachers, playmates, family, neighbors, all the beautiful faces are welcoming me back, he said. I am and will always be nothing more than one of you. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Coppola was the 50th recipient of the award first handed out to John Ford in 1973. Guests were served wine from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and after dinner true to his Italian heritage a trio of cannolis. Actors who have worked with Coppola painted a unified picture of him as a director, reminiscing on how they were invited to participate and educated about film in a way that empowered them. Hes very professorial. He talks about history and things and even older movies in the scene hes inspired by, said The Godfather III star Andy Garcia. You go into working with him in a movie, and you go in seeking an associates degree and you would walk out with a masters. Coppola last year released his long-in development Megalopolis, a Roman epic set in a modern New York. The film drew mixed reviews from critics and flopped with audiences. Coppola, though, has maintained he was compelled to make Megalopolis as an artist, not as a businessman. He self-financed the film. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For a year in our culture when the importance of the arts is minimized, and our industry is seemingly out in the open that the only metric to judge a films success is by how much money it makes, I hang on to individuals like Francis for inspiration, who live through their convictions, said Adam Driver, who starred in the film. Last years AFI honoree was Nicole Kidman. Other recent recipients include John Williams, Mel Brooks, Denzel Washington and Julie Andrews. COPENHAGEN, April 27 (Xinhua) -- As the World Tai Chi Day approaches, a two-day event promoting Chinese Tai Chi culture was held from Friday to Saturday, attracting hundreds of enthusiasts from across Denmark and other European countries. Organized by the China Cultural Center in Copenhagen, the event featured cultural lectures, Tai Chi performances, interactive teaching sessions, and flash mob demonstrations at city landmarks, offering audiences a deep dive into the philosophy and wellness benefits of Tai Chi. "Through various activities, we hope to showcase the philosophical spirit and health benefits of Tai Chi to people in Denmark and beyond," said Mu Xianghong, director of the China Cultural Center in Copenhagen. At the event, renowned Tai Chi master Chen Zhenglei, a leading inheritor of Chen-style Tai Chi, delivered a lecture titled "Tai Chi: China's Gift to the World," elaborating on Tai Chi's core philosophy of harmony between humans and nature and the pursuit of balance and coexistence. Judith Stage, a Copenhagen resident in her sixties, told Xinhua that she used to suffer from chronic pain. After taking up Tai Chi eight years ago, she has experienced significant relief, turning her into an avid practitioner. Karen Inge Schroder Kristensen, a young woman from Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city, said she has a keen interest in Tai Chi, Chinese calligraphy and cuisine. Her passion even led her to study the Chinese language and culture in Beijing. Kristensen said she hopes to act as a "cultural ambassador" between Denmark and China. Since 1999, Tai Chi enthusiasts around the world have celebrated World Tai Chi Day on the last Saturday of April, promoting Tai Chi through performances and exchanges and fostering cross-cultural understanding. Federal immigration agents arrested the spouse of an active-duty Coast Guardsman on Thursday on-base at Naval Air Station Key West. The Coast Guardsman and spouse were at the government housing area on the base on April 24 when agents of Homeland Security Investigations, a part of Immigration and Custom Enforcement or ICE. The family was in the process of moving onto the base in Florida. Reports of the arrest were posted to social media, including military subreddits on Reddit. The Coast Guard confirmed to Task & Purpose that the spouse of an active-duty member of the Coast Guard was taken into custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Coast Guard is aware of a law enforcement action by federal authorities involving the spouse of a Coast Guard service member, a Coast Guard spokesman told Task & Purpose on Saturday. The spouse is not a member of the Coast Guard and was detained by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) pursuant to a lawful removal order. The Coast Guard works closely with HSI and others to enforce federal laws, including on immigration. The Associated Press, citing an unnamed official familiar with the incident, reported additional details. The couple was moving into on-base housing at the naval base and the wifes name was flagged while undergoing a screening to get a pass to go onto the base. Per the official, the womans work visa expired in 2017 and was later marked for removal from the country. She and the Coast Guardsman got married earlier this year. The Associated Press reports that base security as well as Naval Criminal Investigative Service were contacted after the womans information was flagged. They went to the couples home on base, along with HSI agents, who detained her. The Coast Guard is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guard member serves aboard the cutter the USCGC Mohawk, which is based out of Key West, in Coast Guard District 7. The cutter had been at port since mid-March. Task & Purpose reached out to ICE and the specific Coast Guard district for more information but as of press time has not heard back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is not clear what will happen to the wife next or if she is still currently being detained by immigration agents. The latest on Task & Purpose SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) A Springfield man with numerous previous convictions was indicted last Wednesday by a federal grand jury on drug and firearms charges. Convicted felon faces 9 new gun and drug charges after traffic stop in Springfield The charging documents stated that on January 27, 2025, 36-year-old Hector Navarro of Springfield allegedly possessed cocaine that he intended to distribute. On that date, he was also alleged to own a 9mm handgun with approximately 47 rounds of ammunition and no serial number. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Navarro has multiple prior convictions, including heroin distribution, possession with intent to distribute, and assault with a dangerous weapon. Due to these charges, he is prohibited from possessing a firearm and ammunition. On Wednesday, Navarro was indicted for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, being a felon in possession of ammunition, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug distribution felony. He is currently in state custody on additional related charges and is scheduled to appear in federal court at a later date. With these charges, Navarro faces at least five years and up to life in prison, and could pay a fine of $250,000 to up to $1 million. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WWLP. As an audiologist, Rebecca Younk holds a doctorate in the sensitive workings of the ear, making her 11 clinics and offices across Minnesota important bunkers in the war on hearing loss. Increasingly, her St. Paul headquarters also is providing a foothold in a burgeoning, lesser-known battle against falling down. Americans are tumbling more an unusual epidemic that, for obvious reasons, hits the elderly especially hard. Researchers have attempted to pin blame on everything from digital distractions like smartphones to footwear, obesity and the side effects of certain medications. Diabetes, for instance, can cause neuropathy, or a loss of feeling in the nerves, especially in the feet and legs. Thats a dangerous burden for a rapidly aging population. The science of balance is new and evolving, said Younk, who for the past 10 years has run Associated Hearing Care, which is still better known for adjusting hearing aids than for addressing dizziness or vertigo. Balance is often controlled in the ear. Our balance organ is the same structure as the hearing organ. (But) there is no one reason someone falls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Younk last year relocated her companys 50-year-old St. Paul headquarters from the Central Medical/Ries Tower on Dunlap Street to 2550 W. University Ave. for more space. At the time, she decided to hire an inner-ear specialist vestibular audiologist Samantha Rossmann, or Dr. Samantha to focus in part on patients with balance issues, a growing part of Younks practice. My goal is to have it become 100% of her work, said Younk, who provides visiting services each week in rural hospital systems in Morris, Montevideo and Glenwood, counties whose populations are aging even faster than the metro. A spin in a rotary chair Younk said balance screenings which are done in St. Paul now constitute about 10% of her companys business, up from zero, and investments in new technology at her St. Paul hub have come in handy. Patients can go for a literal spin in the new Orion rotary chair while wearing goggles that track their pupils, with the goal of determining if their balance issues are ear-based or should be referred to a neurologist for further study. It helps us determine is there a concern with the peripheral system of our vestibular anatomy so, the organ itself or is someone having trouble with the central processing, from the cerebellum to the inner ear, said Rossmann, who administers the screenings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An even newer device, an electronic screener or balance board, measures foot movements as the patient tries to balance themselves on an uneven surface with their eyes open, and then closed. We get more of an objective test, because the board is identifying where a persons center of gravity is Are they leaning backwards more? Are they leaning forwards more? rather than using our vision and subjectively saying, They were swaying,' Rossmann said. We havent put it into practice to its full potential yet. We just got it. Injuries, fatalities on the rise Its all a far cry from hearing aid fittings and the other work more typical of the audiology industry, but Younk said her companys growing focus on balance challenges isnt just academic. People with hearing loss are nearly three times as likely to fall compared to those with normal hearing, according to the National Council on Aging, which has labeled falls the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults, a rapidly growing portion of the population. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Younk noted that at least one study in recent months has found falling to be less prevalent among older adults who wear hearing aids, though the sample size of the population tested was small. Theres a lot of thoughts on it, but the biggest one is cognitive load your brain is working so hard in the environment to see and hear, sometimes you forget where youre walking, Younk said. Related Articles Overall, the death rate from older adult falls has been going up, rising from 55.3 deaths per 100,000 older adults in 2012 to 78 deaths in 2021, according to the National Council. Meanwhile, the population of older adults is also increasing. Roughly 58 million Americans are age 65 or older, and that age group is projected to rise to 88.8 million by 2060. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As it stands, one out of four older adults falls each year, and 3 million adults over the age of 65 are treated in emergency departments for unintentional falls. That equates to an older adult arriving in an emergency room because of fall-related injuries every 11 seconds and dying every 19 minutes. Those falls come at a cost to the nation of $50 billion per year, according to the National Council. Initial screenings A growing number of experts including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) now recommend that patients suffering from dizziness or vertigo see an audiologist for their initial screening, rather than an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon. In recent decades, new audiologists have been required to get their doctorate in the science, but theyre still more affordable to access than surgeons and physicians in a medical field increasingly overloaded with patients. Related Articles Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With demand for her services growing, Younk recently hired her husband as a business manager, continuing a decades-old tradition of keeping Associated Hearing Care a family-driven business. The company, which was launched in February 1975 by the late Ron J. Perlt, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and still employs one of Perlts daughters as a hearing aid specialist. (WHTM) Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R) says shell make a decision on whether to run in 2026 for Governor sometime this summer. Garrity has increased email fundraising efforts and has publicly stated she is considering a run. One of those fundraising emails from Garritys team came with a subject line: Am I Running for Governor. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe Now This Week in Pennsylvania Am I running? Im thinking about it, Garrity said Friday on This Week in Pennsylvania. Because we could be so much better in the Commonwealth. She affirmed that a decision whether to run will come this summer, setting up about 8-10 months for a primary campaign in a midterm election year. When asked about what her top issues in a campaign may be, Garrity said the state could soon be out of money due to rising spending and noted that Pennsylvania should be a leader in energy production. She also said the state needs a battle-tested leader, pointing toward her time in the military. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Garrity was also asked about the arson attack on the Governors Residence earlier this month while Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping. Garrity said she is grateful that the Governor and his family were not harmed and that an attack on the Governor is an attack on all of us. Garrity also rejected the idea that another potential governor candidate, Congressman Dan Meuser, suggested that Shapiro held some responsibility for the attack due to his ongoing lawsuits against President Donald Trump. I thought they were unnecessary, said Garrity of the comments suggesting Shapiro held blame for the attack. Garrity noted she and Meuser have a great relationship and have talked about their potential runs. Meuser is Garritys Congressman in Bradford County, and Garrity said she thinks Meuser does a really great job representing us in Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Garrity herself will be in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl win at the White House. She said she would not ask President Donald Trump for an endorsement at the event. State Senator Doug Mastriano, the 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee who received Trumps endorsement, has said he is considering another run for Governor and that he would be interested in teaming up with Garrity as a Lt. Governor candidate. Candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor in Pennsylvania do not run on a ticket like the President and Vice President, however, candidates may state who they prefer to run with. Garrity says she has not spoken to Mastriano about a joint run, but says she has a great relationship with Mastriano, saying they attend veterans events together. Garrity described the path for a Republican to beat Shapiro as pointing out how Pennsylvania is, in her view, going in the wrong direction, and the state does not want to run out of money just in time for (Shapiro) to run for something else. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every week, This Week in Pennsylvania gives a comprehensive look at the weeks biggest news events in Pennsylvania, provided by the abc27 News team, along with the latest updates on local stories. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This Week in Pennsylvania Check your local listings for weekly air times. 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 ABC27. CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / REP. ADRIAN TAMS OFFICE Hawaii Rep. Adrian Tam and Sen. Lynn DeCoite during intense negotiations Friday at the state Capitol before reaching agreement on Senate Bill 1571, which establishes major changes to the Hawai i Tourism Authoritys governance model. CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / REP. ADRIAN TAMS OFFICE Hawaii Rep. Adrian Tam and Sen. Lynn DeCoite during intense negotiations Friday at the state Capitol before reaching agreement on Senate Bill 1571, which establishes major changes to the Hawai i Tourism Authoritys governance model. State lawmakers advanced a bill by the Legislature session deadline that will significantly change the governance model for the Hawai i Tourism Authority for the first time since it created the agency in 1998. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Senate and House conference committee delayed votes on Senate Bill 1571 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and met three times on Friday before finally approving a conference draft just before the 6 p.m. deadline. The bill heads to the full House and Senate for a final vote this week. At least four conference drafts emerged throughout last week, indicating that Senate and House conferees were engaged in robust discussion. HTAs overall governance structure had been discussed during previous legislative sessions. Various bills also have been introduced but not advanced in recent years to explore whether HTAs structure as outlined in Hawaii Revised Statutes is the best approach for managing tourism, a top economic driver. However, legislators showed that some lingering doubts about HTAs capabilities remained when they repealed HTAs exemption from the administrative supervision of boards and commissions, which went into effect July 1. The exemption was its last after the Legislature took away its procurement exemption in 2021, and in 2022 the agency lost its special fund status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Late last month, state lawmakers renewed efforts to tighten oversight of HTA after the agency underwent more leadership shake-ups while dealing with ethics allegations that procedural deficiencies allowed for inappropriate freebies at the Hawai i Convention Center and that Hawaii Tourism Conference partnerships were inconsistent. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There also were allegations about potential procurement violations, and late payments to contractors. Sen. Lynn DeCoite (D, Hana-East and Upcountry Maui-Molokai-Lanai-Kahoolawe ), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism, and chair of the Senate conferees for SB 1571 said Friday that the HTA bill represents our efforts to improve and strengthen the organization. DeCoite acknowledged the hard work of Rep. Adrian Tam (D, Waikiki ), chair of the House Committee on Tourism, who chaired the House conferees noting that its been back and forth between the both of us. The conference draft eventually approved by conferees includes the following key changes, which go into effect if the bill becomes law :Downgrades the HTA board to an advisory board.Amends eligibility requirements to serve on the HTA advisory board.Removes the director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development &Tourism from the board.Requires a member of the board to represent a tourism-impacted entity.Allows the House speaker and the Senate president to each appoint an HTA advisory board member.Exempts all positions filled by HTA within DBEDT from the state civil service law.Allows the HTA advisory board to appoint the HTA president and CEO, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.Requires the HTA president and CEO to report to the governor.Allows the HTA advisory board to set the term of the HTA president and CEO in the hiring contract. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DeCoite said that tourism is the biggest economic engine for Hawaii, and that the HTA must increase leadership and accountability to rebuild public trust within our community. She said the bill may not solve all of the problems that lawmakers heard that HTA was experiencing this session, but would provide a time out to get us on the right track. Tam told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the bill represents the biggest governance changes to HTA since it was created, but said, Its been a long time coming. HTA was plagued with issues prior to me becoming chair of the House Committee on Tourism. Ive leaned on people with past experience to help me reform it. Tam said even so, he was hesitant at the beginning of the session to move SB 1571 forward but the idea gained traction during the session as he lost confidence in HTA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The HTA Budget, Finance, and Convention Center Standing Committee held a meeting this month and disclosed that the state Attorney Gen erals Office is reviewing whether the HTA must pay $780, 000 in interest for millions of dollars in late payments to a major contractor. At the same time, DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka told the committee that another pending issue is a possible procurement violation in relation to a $1.5 million Los Angeles marketing contract executed with the Hawai i Visitors and Convention Bureau last fall as part of a Maui recovery plan. David Arakawa, a HTA board member and chair of the standing committee, also brought up the issue of sponsorships and questioned why premier conference partners for the HTAs fall Hawaii Tourism Conference did not pay sponsorship fees. Caroline Anderson, interim HTA president and CEO, told the Star-Advertiser that premier conference partners were different than sponsors without that designation. Its unclear where the discussion about semantics will land. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Tam said with the passage of SB 1571, lawmakers are hoping to gain a level of ethics on the advisory board and trying to prevent the actions of what has happened that transpired and lead us to this point in the past and is happening again. There are actors out there who can find loopholes in anything and anything can be abused, but were hoping that this makes it harder, he said. As Sen. DeCoite said, this wont solve all the problems, but its a fresh start. The board already has undergone leadership changes and had been vetting a new governance model on its own. Todd Apo was elected by the HTA board to serve as its chair in late March. Apo replaced former chair Mufi Hannemann, who stepped down from the role but remains on the board. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I appreciate all the work on (SB 1571 ). The upside is that we now know the foundational landscape that we need to work in, Apo said. Uncertainty is the biggest risk, so we, from an authority standpoint, a board standpoint, and an industry standpoint understand what we need to work within. Apo said HTA will need to factor the changes that SB 1571 will bring into its ongoing review of a third-party governance study. I hope we can do that in relatively short order so that we can spend the bulk of 2025 getting HTA and the industry in the best position to serve Hawaii, he said. In 2023 with the looming threat of bills calling for HTAs repeal, the HTA decided to fund a third-party governance study. Through a competitive bidding process, Better Destination LLC, founded by Cathy Ritter, was selected for a $294, 400 contract, and the top recommendation released in the summer was for HTA to restructure into a destination stewardship organization with a new name. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The recommendations were presented to the HTA board June 27 and have been under consideration by the HTA Governance Study Permitted Interaction Group. For the governance study recommendations to move forward, it also requires the support of state legislators, who may be resistant to giving up even partial control of the states tourism industrya cash cow that delivers some $1 billion annually in transient accommodations taxes. Apo said board members will need to take some time to understand what the new changes mean for HTA now and in the future. Working with both the department and DBEDT as well as the governors office, well figure it out, he said. Well look at the details of the language of the final bill, but our job is now to implement it and put our leading state industry in the best position that we can. KANSAS CITY, Mo. April is Financial Literacy Month, and this week we dive into why the issue is actually a concern in this country. Were joined by Kansas State Treasurer Steven Johnson whose career has included working in the financial services sector as well as running a family farm. One dead after driving off MO-7 Highway bridge into Truman Lake: MSHP Are Americans saving enough? Preparing for retirement? And more. Plus, how should we handle the market volatility? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX4s Jonathan Ketz weighs in on the trouble facing the Jackson County Executive Frank White, in the form of a recall effort. We offered Mr. White the opportunity to join us but his office did not respond. Then, a Johnson County farm is using horses to heal. Veterans and first responders benefitting from a weeklong program as part of the War Horses for Veterans program. They come from all over the country to deal with their anxiety and post-traumatic stress, free of charge. 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 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. Mat Farnum, center, pickets outside Angel of the Winds Arena as striking Boeing employees pass through to vote on a contract Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry for Washington State Standard) Unemployment benefits for striking workers are close to becoming law in Washington after a compromise proposal cleared the state House and Senate. Striking workers could expect to receive the benefits for up to six weeks under the legislation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senate Bill 5041 now awaits a signature from Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, who has remained silent on his position on the bill. Earlier in the legislative session, the Senate approved a 12-week limit on striking workers receiving the benefits, and the House approved four weeks. Typically, unemployment insurance is available for up to 26 weeks a year. Both chambers approved the six-week proposal on Friday. I think really the only changes to this are that it went to six weeks and I think its a nice compromise, said the bills prime sponsor, Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane. Republicans still oppose the bill, arguing that it will encourage more workers to go on strike and result in higher costs for businesses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When you look at how this is going to work in a large, long-term strike, I think everybodys going to pay at some level, and that just seems frankly unfair to me, said Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia. Workers would be eligible for unemployment benefits starting the second Sunday after a strike begins, plus a one-week waiting period. The benefits would also be extended to workers affected by an employer-initiated lockout, something labor advocates point to as a tactic businesses can use to put pressure on workers during contract negotiations. Benefits would have to be repaid if a strike is determined to be prohibited by state or federal law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill would require the states Employment Security Department to submit annual reports to the Legislature with data on the prevalence of strikes in the state and the cost of benefits for striking workers for Washingtons unemployment insurance trust fund. If it becomes law, the bill would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and is set to expire Dec. 31, 2035. Washington would join New York and New Jersey, which already provide unemployment insurance for striking workers. SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) Future scientists, engineers, and innovators showed what they can do on Saturday at Scranton High School. The Ninth Annual NEPA Girls STEM competition brought together students from 13 school districts across Lackawanna, Wayne, Pike, and Susquehanna Counties. Girls in grades four through eight teamed up to solve challenges in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One man dead, Route 6 reopened after crash The event has grown dramatically over the years from just 60 participants in its first year to 225 this year, packing Scranton High School to capacity. Awards were handed out to the top teams, celebrating the future of STEM right in our own communities. 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 PAhomepage.com. The Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations appear to be heading toward a crescendo as the U.S. continues to facilitate the discussions between the two countries. Although top U.S. officials, including President Trump, warned that if substantial progress is not achieved soon, Washington will pull back from its mediating role. Trump contended that Russias President Vladimir Putin might not want to achieve peace in Eastern Europe after all, following a series of Kremlin strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent days. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Too many people are dying!!! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president met briefly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of late Pope Franciss funeral in Rome on Saturday, with Kyivs leader touting it as a good and symbolic discussion. Trump went after Zelensky on Friday, saying the Ukrainian president is late in signing the minerals agreement with the U.S. In an interview with Time Magazine, which was published on Friday, Trump casted blame on Ukraine for starting the ongoing war in Eastern Europe by vying for NATO membership. Zelensky is set to appear on ABCs This Week where he will likely discuss his Saturday meeting with Trump in Rome and Ukraines next steps to get closer to a peace deal. On Capitol Hill, members of Congress are returning to Washington on Monday after recess to continue their push to pass Trumps legislative agenda. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement House Republicans are planning to vote on the presidents package that would include $9.3 billion in cuts, already approved by Congress, to NPR, PBS and the State Department, Punchbowl News reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. Lawmakers will also look to extend Trumps 2017 tax cuts, while increasing spending on defense and border security through the reconciliation process. Several lawmakers, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as well as Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), are slated to make appearances on the Sunday shows. A federal judge ruled earlier this week that the administrations push to shutter Voice of America (VOA) and affiliated news services was likely illegal and ordered VOAs parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), to restore the international broadcaster, billing the outlet as a consistently reliable and authoritative news source. USAGM senior advisor Kari Lake is scheduled to be on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures where she will likely discuss VOAs parent companys response to the ruling. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NewsNations The Hill Sunday: Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.); law professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Jonathan H. Adler. ABCs This Week: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; former national security adviser Jake Sullivan. NBCs Meet the Press: Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). CNNs State of the Union: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins; Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.); Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.). CBS Face the Nation: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.); Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Fox News Sunday: Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fox News Sunday Morning Futures: national security adviser Mike Waltz; Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.); U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker and U.S. Agency for Global Media Senior Advisor Kari Lake. 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. MOSCOW, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Russian authorities had detained a man suspected of planting a car bomb that killed a senior Russian army official, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Saturday. The suspect, allegedly an agent of the Ukrainian special services, holds a Ukrainian residence permit, the FSB said in a statement. Russian Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the General Staff's main operations directorate, was killed Friday in a car explosion in Balashikha, a Moscow suburb, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. A suspect was arrested in the theft last weekend of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noems purse at a restaurant in downtown Washington, D.C, law enforcement officials said Sunday. The purse included some major belongings, including $3,000 in cash, Noems DHS access badge, her passport, her drivers license, blank checks and her keys. The theft occurred as Noem was celebrating Easter with her family. Thank you to Secret Service and ICE and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant, Noem said Sunday in a statement, provided to The Hill through a spokesperson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Law enforcement officials did not identify the suspect by name but accused the individual of being a repeat offender who had immigrated to the United States illegally some years ago. This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years, Noem continued in the statement. Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and thats why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets, she said. U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool said in a statement that the individual was taken into custody without incident in D.C., following an intensive investigation conducted in coordination with local and federal law enforcement agencies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McCool called the defendant a serial offender and said there was no indication Noem was targeted because of her status as DHS secretary. We have also determined that this incident had no protective nexus to Secretary Noem or her role as Secretary of Homeland Security. The investigation revealed alleged criminal activity, including potential device and credit card fraud, McCool added. The Hill has reached out to the Metropolitan Police Department for comment. 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. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A suspect has been arrested in connection with the theft of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's purse at a Washington restaurant, the Secret Service said on Sunday, and Noem said the individual has been living in the United States illegally. The Secret Service did not identify the suspect by name but said the individual was a serial offender who was not a threat to Noem, the former South Dakota governor who was appointed to her post by President Donald Trump. The Washington Metropolitan Police Department said a 49-year-old man named Mario Bustamante Leiva was arrested on Saturday night and charged with two counts of robbery involving two separate incidents on April 12 and April 17. The purse snatching involving Noem was on April 20, Easter Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington police said the man faces "additional charges for an offense being investigated by the United States Secret Service," an apparent reference to the theft involving Noem. "This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years," Noem said in a statement that also credited the Washington police and the Secret Service for their work on the arrest. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security representative confirmed that Leiva was the suspect in the Noem incident but did not respond to questions about his immigration status. Noem, the top official charged with protecting the United States from terrorism and other types of threats, has been a proponent of the Republican president's crackdown on illegal immigration. Shortly after she was confirmed to her post in January, Noem joined officers in an immigration enforcement operation in New York City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statements issued by federal and local authorities did not provide details about how the theft occurred despite a security detail provided to Noem. The Secret Service said it would assume jurisdiction over the case, citing alleged criminal activity including potential device and credit card fraud. Noem's purse contained her Department of Homeland Security badge and $3,000 in cash, according to media reports. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Ted Hesson; Editing by Will Dunham) MOSCOW (AP) A man suspected of killing a Russian general with a car bomb pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and said he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service, Russian authorities said Sunday. The Investigative Committee said Ignat Kuzin admitted he was paid to kill Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. Moskalik was killed Friday by a bomb in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack, the second in four months targeting a top Russian military officer that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine amid the conflict between the neighboring countries. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed on Dec. 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Ukraines security agency acknowledged it was behind the attack. Kirillov was the chief of Russias Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemys use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment. Kirillovs assistant also died in the attack. Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in the fighting in Ukraine. DULLES, Va. (DC News Now) A British Airways flight headed from Washington International Dulles Airport to London was diverted to Boston Saturday night after it reportedly hit a bird, officials said. British Airways Flight 216 landed safely in Boston after diverting there as a precaution following the suspected bird strike, a British Airways spokesperson told DC News Now. The plane was headed to Londons Heathrow Airport. We are sorry for the delay to our customers travel plans, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority, the airline said, in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The emergency landing, which the Massachusetts Port Authority also confirmed, happened at Boston Logan International Airport around 7:30 p.m. after the flight crew reported that the plane may have hit a bird and that there were fumes in the cabin, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA said it is investigating the incident. It is unclear how many passengers were on board at this time, but no injuries were reported. Trumps first 100 days: Steamrolling government, strong-arming allies and igniting trade wars Wildlife strikes with aircraft are increasing in the United States and globally, the FAA says. About 291,600 wildlife strikes with civil aircraft were reported in the U.S. between 1990 and 2023, according to the FAAs Wildlife Strike Database, which contains records of reported strikes since 1990. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2023, about 19,400 strikes took place at 713 U.S. airports, the administration says. The FAA largely attributes the increase in strikes involving wildlife to expanding wildlife populations, busier flight schedules, a trend toward faster and quieter aircraft and outreach to the aviation community. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's Islamist leaders said on Sunday that Kurdish demands for the country to adopt a decentralised system of government in a post-Assad political order posed a threat to national unity. "We clearly reject any attempt to impose a partition or create separatist cantons under the terms of federalism or self-autonomy without a national consensus," Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's office said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The unity of Syrian territory and its people is a red line," the statement said. Rival Syrian Kurdish parties, including the dominant faction in the Kurdish-run northeast, agreed at a meeting in Syria's Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli on Saturday on a common political vision for Syria's Kurdish minority. A communique at the end of the conference, which was attended by U.S. officials, demanded that a future Syrian constitution should enshrine respect for Kurdish national rights in Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. "A joint Kurdish political vision has been formulated that expresses a collective will and its project for a just solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria as a decentralized democratic state," the pan-Kurdish statement said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., last month signed a deal with Damascus on merging Kurdish-led governing bodies and security forces with the central government The Syrian presidency's statement also said recent statements by SDF leaders advocating a federal solution went clearly against that deal. During the 14-year civil war, Kurdish-led groups took control of roughly a quarter of Syrian territory, where most of the country's oil wealth is found along with fertile arable land that produces a major proportion of the country's wheat. Kurdish officials have objected to the way Syria's governing Islamists are shaping the transition from Assad's rule, saying they are failing to respect Syria's diversity despite promises of inclusivity. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by David Holmes) By Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's envoy to the funeral of Pope Francis said he prayed for President Lai Ching-te to be able to attend the inauguration of the new pontiff, and that he had met Japan's foreign minister, easing the island's diplomatic isolation. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal ties with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, whose government had hoped that Lai would have been able to attend Francis' funeral, giving him the chance to mix with other world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, former Vice President Chen Chien-jen ended up representing Lai, a devout Catholic who had previously met Francis on six occasions. Francis had led an wide-ranging outreach to officially atheist China, including signing a deal on the appointment of Catholic bishops in that country, worrying Taiwan. In comments published by Taiwan's official Central News Agency late on Saturday after the funeral concluded, Chen said he hoped Francis continued to pray from heaven for even better relations between Taiwan and the Vatican. "I also hope that when the new pope is elected, President Lai Ching-te will be able to represent our country to attend the inauguration of the new pope, which I mentioned in my prayers at the mass," Chen said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The conclave that will elect a new pope is expected to start some time between May 6 and May 11. Francis' inauguration in 2013 was attended by Taiwan's then-President Ma Ying-jeou. China did not announce that it had sent any delegation to Francis' funeral, though did express its condolences. Chen was accompanied at the funeral by Vice Foreign Minister Francois Wu, previously Taipei's de facto ambassador to France and one of Taiwan's most high profile diplomats who regularly appears in foreign media interviews. Chen and Wu both met and spoke with former-U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration gave strong support to Taiwan, the Central News Agency said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chen also said he met Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and "talked about the good cooperation between the two countries," the report added. China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a position the government in Taipei strongly rejects. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Kim Coghill) In his first 100 days, President Donald Trump exerted his power in a sweep and scale that has no easy historical comparison. His actions target the architecture of the New Deal, the Great Society, and the Reagan Republican orthodoxy of free trade and strong international alliances. He has taken direct aim at law, media, public health and culture, attempting to bring all to heel. Here are some key takeaways from the most consequential start of a term of an American presidency since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Economy Trump has tried to bend the U.S. economy to his will. But one force is unbowed: the financial markets. The president says his tariffs will eventually be beautiful. So far, its been an difficult three months with consumer confidence plummeting, stock markets convulsing and investors losing confidence in the credibility of Trumps policies. He has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, including on Americas two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada. Chinese goods are getting taxed at a combined 145%. He has rewarded the coal and oil sectors by attacking alternative energy, yet his tariffs pushed up the price of the steel and other materials that the energy industry needs to build out production. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By Josh Boak DOGE Trump promised to take on what he called waste, fraud and abuse in government. He tapped Elon Musk to lead the effort. Musk turned his plan for a Department of Government Efficiency into one of the most polarizing and consequential pieces of Trumps first 100 days. The billionaire entrepreneur approached the task with a tech mogul ethos: break things, then see what you want to fix. Firings were widespread and indiscriminate. Programs were eliminated with limited analysis. It is unlikely that Musk will accomplish his grand-scale goals. His plans for slashing $1 trillion out of the budget were pared back to $150 billion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By Chris Megerian Immigration Cracking down on illegal immigration was the anthem of Trumps campaign, and it is the issue where he has the greatest support. He has followed through by implementing some of the hardest-line immigration policies in the nations history, even as the promised mass deportations have yet to materialize. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants with limited due process, then used it to send hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a mega-prison in El Salvador in defiance of a court order. The administration pledged to end birthright citizenship for people who were born in the U.S., while proposing gold cards that would allow foreigners to buy American citizenship for $5 million. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Illegal border crossings dropped precipitously. By Will Weissert Retribution Trump entered office pledging to bring retribution for his supporters. He made good on that on his first day and virtually every week since, taking aim at the prosecutors who investigated him and the law firms that employed them. He went after former officials who criticized him or correctly asserted that he had lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. And he targeted elite universities whose policies irked him. Trump ordered the suspension of the security clearances of the more than four dozen former intelligence officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Justice Department fired the prosecutors who investigated him as part of special counsel Jack Smiths team and demanded the names of FBI agents who participated in investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Executive orders targeted some of the countrys elite law firms, in some cases because they employ or once employed prosecutors who investigated Trump. By Eric Tucker Courts, judges and the rule of law Trump has consistently said he would follow an order from federal judges. But that has not stopped talk of a possible constitutional crisis over defying the courts. His executive orders reshaping the federal government are facing more than 150 lawsuits on issues from fired federal workers and immigration to transgender rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judges have ruled against the administration dozens of times, blocking parts of his agenda for now. The administration has argued that individual judges should not be able to issue nationwide injunctions. Trump issued an extraordinary call for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled against him the case of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being gang members. That prompted a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts. By Lindsay Whitehurst Diplomacy and international relations Trump has rejected the post-World War II order that has formed the basis for global stability and security. He has rejected long-standing alliances and hinted at scaling back the U.S. troop presence in Europe. Longtime allies such as Germany and France have suggested they no longer can depend on Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also pledged a swift end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, so far to little effect. His actions have led allies in Europe, along with Canada, Japan and South Korea, to question their reliance on the U.S. The president has upended other multilateral organizations. And he has effectively shuttered the United States Agency for International Development, long seen as an example of an effective tool to provide humanitarian aid. At the same time, he has repeatedly called for the U.S. to annex Greenland, which is a Danish territory, to retake control of the Panama Canal and to make Canada the 51st U.S. state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By Matthew Lee Congress Congress is proving to be almost no match for this White House. Trump is testing, challenging and even bullying the Congress in unparalleled ways - slashing government agencies, deporting legal immigrants, investigating perceived enemies and churning the economy -- and all but daring lawmakers to object. But Trump has shown he does not necessarily want or need Congress to accomplish his goals. The president has issued almost 10 times as many executive orders as the first five presidents combined, bypassing Congress. DOGE is slashing programs, jobs and entire agencies, including the Department of Education, that by law receive funding under the purview of Congress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By Lisa Mascaro Military For the past three months the Pentagon has been rocked by the removals of top military leadership, including its only female four-star officers, its Joint Chiefs chairman a Black general and its top military lawyers. The defense chief, Pete Hegseth, has been floundering in controversy. He was a key participant in the Signal chat set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz, sending details of sensitive military operations over the nonsecure channel. Hegseth also used a second Signal chat to send similar information to a group that included his wife and brother. That was followed by the purge of his top staff. Trump issued an executive order to remove transgender service members, which has been stalled by the courts. Hegseth ordered the military to eliminate any programming, books or imagery that celebrates diversity. Social media posts that celebrated military women or cultural diversity are gone. By Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor Public health At the Department of Health and Human Services, 10,000 jobs are gone. Billions of dollars in research sent to scientists and universities was shut off. Public meetings to discuss flu shots and other vaccines have been canceled. Fluoride in drinking water may be the next to go, according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedys resistance to launching a vaccination campaign as a growing measles outbreak has worsened, so far infecting hundreds and leaving two young children dead, has elicited concerns from doctors, public health experts and lawmakers. Those worries deepened after he eliminated thousands of jobs across the nations public health agencies, including at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. The move, department officials projected, will save taxpayers $1.8 billion. By Amanda Seitz Energy and environment Trump has reversed Bidens focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. energy dominance in the global market. He created a National Energy Dominance Council, and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, and remove regulatory barriers. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced a series of actions to roll back landmark regulations, including a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change. While Trumps administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind, he has tried to boost what he calls beautiful coal. By Matthew Daly Arts and culture Dana Gioia, a poet and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, liked to say that a key to maintaining support for the NEA and other federal organizations was ensuring they backed projects in as many congressional districts as possible. It was a bipartisan formula that lasted for some 60 years, through Democratic and Republican administrations, until Trumps second term. Trump has ousted leaders, placed staff on administrative leave and cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in funding that artists, libraries, museums, theaters and others in the cultural community had long counted on. Acting without congressional authorization, he has declared that institutions ranging from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the National Endowment for the Humanities have become fronts for a woke agenda that threatens to undermine what he calls our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture. By Hillel Italie Media Many journalists figured a second Trump term would be a challenge for their industry. Few recognized how much. The new administration has aggressively, even innovatively, waged combat against the press since taking office. It has fought against CBS News and The Associated Press in court, sought to dismantle the government-run Voice of America and sent the Federal Communications Commission after perceived media rivals. The Trump administration is on a campaign to do everything it can to diminish and obstruct journalism in the United States, said Bill Grueskin, a Columbia University journalism professor. The future of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and similar services that for generations have delivered unbiased news to countries where it is in short supply is being haggled over in court. By David Bauder The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Democrats in the Washington Legislature unveiled a budget deal Saturday that cuts spending and hikes taxes on thousands of businesses to maintain core public services and erase a projected multibillion-dollar shortfall. The agreement hammered out by House and Senate budget writers does not tap the states emergency reserves or furlough state employees, as prior proposals this year suggested doing. It pays for new collective bargaining agreements for state workers and provides $100 million for law enforcement hiring sought by the governor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Overall, it spends $77.8 billion in the two-year budget cycle that begins July 1, roughly 9% higher than the current biennium. When all the adding and subtracting is done, theres $7.4 billion in new spending, officials said. It will be teed up for votes in each chamber on Sunday, the last scheduled day of the 2025 session. Weve worked diligently to write a budget that addresses the fiscal challenges that we have, and continues to fund the core services that the people of Washington expect us to fund, and they depend on, said Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. There are many reductions throughout the budget that are harmful, are going to be hard for people, and for agencies to implement, she continued. Were all eyes wide open about that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Robinson was one of four Democrats on the conference committee reconciling differences between the spending plans passed by the Senate and House. Two Republican lawmakers on the panel have not been at the table for negotiations. One of them, Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, the budget leader for Senate Republicans, criticized the process, then voted against adopting the final product. Its been developed in the back halls of Olympia, out of view of the public, he said. I honestly believe it brings shame on the Legislature for doing it this way. Overall, there arent many surprises as the blueprint tracks with major contours of what Democrats pushed through in each chamber. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To balance, it depends on $4.3 billion from a combination of transfers from other accounts, plus a slate of new and higher taxes on businesses and services that will start taking effect this fall. Transfers, targeted cuts, and a money-saving maneuver involving pension funds are also needed to make ends meet. Gov. Bob Ferguson, who is completing his first session, fared well. In his inaugural address, he threatened to veto any budget that did not have $100 million to help local governments hire more police. Theres exactly that amount. He also wanted the states rainy day fund left untouched, and it was. Ferguson said in a statement that he was pleased the budget funds the grant program, increases financial support for public schools, and maintains our rainy day reserve fund so we are prepared for the chaos of the Trump Administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That said, I will be carefully reviewing the budget after it is adopted by the Legislature, he added. Robinson and Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, chair of the House Appropriations Committee and a conferee, declined to say if they thought Ferguson would sign the budget. I can just say that the Legislature, pending approval of this conference report, will have fulfilled its constitutional and statutory obligation, Ormsby said. Robinson added: The executive branch is its own branch of government. I cannot predict nor do I know what they will choose to do. The ledger sheet By law, the Legislature must adopt a budget that is balanced over four fiscal years. Practically speaking, the immediate concern is the next two-year fiscal cycle that begins July 1. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the deal, the state will spend $77.8 billion in that period and end with $225 million in its cash reserves and $2 billion stashed in the rainy day fund. It contains $4.4 billion to maintain levels of services required under current law. One of the largest chunks of new spending is for education, with another $682 million for elementary and secondary schools. Most of it will go to districts for providing special education services, buying materials and paying expenses like utilities and insurance. There are cuts throughout. One of the most painful for Democrats: delayed expansions planned under the Fair Start for Kids Act. The 2021 law expands and guarantees access to state-paid early learning programs and subsidized child care for families with lower household incomes. Under the law, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program is supposed to become an entitlement next year. It wont. There will also be delays to broadened eligibility for the Working Connections Child Care Program. Increased reimbursement rates for providers will be pushed off as well. A reprieve for state workers Ferguson proposed furloughing state employees one day a month in the next budget cycle to save $300 million. Senate Democrats proposed 13 unpaid days off to save half as much. Senate Republicans wanted to not fund the recently brokered labor contracts, which include a 5% pay raise over two years, and instead give each worker a $5,000 bonus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement None of that is happening. Nearly a billion dollars is penciled in to cover the contracts. The state needs to be a model employer, Ormsby said. We need to project outward to the rest of the state what it looks like to appreciate the work that people do, compensate them fairly and keep them employed. Taxing matters Democrats had designs for raising up to $21 billion from new and higher taxes in the next four fiscal years. Ferguson shook his head no. They went back to the drawing board and came up with a different approach projected to net $4.3 billion for the coming budget and $4.4 billion in the one after that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It would permanently boost the primary business and occupation tax rates. Sales tax would be applied to more services. New surcharges are coming for Washington companies with more than $250 million in annual revenue. Higher tax rates are in store for financial institutions with more than $1 billion in earnings. A few tax breaks disappear. And an existing tax gets broadened to include nicotine pouches, like Zyn. Two gimmicks gone Democrats put forth two eye-rolling, money-moving maneuvers with their earlier budget proposals. Theyre put away now. One required certain companies to prepay a months worth of sales tax. The thinking was to get those dollars paid into the final month of the next budget cycle that wouldve otherwise been due in the first month of the following one. It would have been like creating a 25th month of collections. The other idea was to change the timing and amounts of apportionment payments to school districts to push hundreds of millions of dollars in spending into the 2027-29 budget. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A new move involving the states pension funds is in. Senate Bill 5357 lets budget writers assume a greater return on dollars invested through the states pension accounts 7.25% up from the 7% set by the Pension Funding Council in 2023. Assuming the higher rate of return means that the state can meet its funding obligations for the pensions while contributing less money to them. But jacking up the rate also raises the risk of investments not meeting higher targets, and the plans gradually becoming underfunded. Washington is generally known for having healthy public employee pension plans. In the next four years, the shift will allow the state to save about a billion dollars by making lower payments into its pension system. Last word Affordability is one of the session buzzwords. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republicans have argued new and higher taxes for the operating budget will drive up costs for hard-working Washingtonians. Gildon said the tax increases will equate to about $2,000 a year for a family of four. Democrats contend the steps they are taking will bolster public schools and preserve access to critical services for the states most vulnerable residents. Robinson said the budget is not the one we thought wed be writing a year ago. Thats the hard job of governing, trying to find the balance between funding the needs of our state, she added, and finding ways to pay for it. This story was updated with comments from Gov. Bob Ferguson. PARIS, April 26 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday that Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire. On his official social media X account, Macron wrote that he held a "very positive" exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome. Zelensky wishes to work alongside the Americans and the Europeans to make the unconditional ceasefire happen, Macron wrote. FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) A sea of Kentuckians eating, drinking, and shopping is what you wouldve seen on the South Lawn of the Capitol Building in Frankfort on Saturday afternoon. It was all part of Team Kentuckys Derby Week Kick-Off. An event geared toward getting the community ready for one of Kentuckys biggest weekends, the Kentucky Derby. This event came just weeks after floodwaters consumed much of downtown Frankfort just weeks ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement RELATED l President Trump approves emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky We didnt know if this is going to happen this year. And so, Im super glad that were kind of up on the hill a little bit. This is our first time, so its been wonderful, said Samantha Tabor, who came to the event from Hopkins County. Addressing the crowd of attendees, Mayor Layne Wilkerson commended the communitys resilience. He said, Frankfort, youve shown that we can pull together, and were going to get through this stronger than ever. Part of whats now helping Franklin County residents get through this time is FEMA assistance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, President Trump approved Gov. Beshears request for a major disaster declaration in Kentucky. What that decision meant is some families are going to have up to $40,000 worth of help to rebuild their lives. Its pretty amazing, Gov. Beshear said to Saturdays crowd on the Capitols South Lawn. FEMA representatives were even at the event to help get the process rolling for those who need the assistance the most. Theres a lot of questions; weve never been through it. So, it gives people the opportunity to sit down, talk to somebody face to face to see whats eligible, you know, whats not, what they can expect, and how long it takes, Franklin County Judge Executive Michael Mueller told FOX 56. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The assistance approval also means that FEMA will have boots on the ground in the coming days to make sure peoples needs are being met. Well have teams out in communities going door to door, knocking on doors to see what your damage was like, said FEMA Public Information Officer Nicole Wilson. If you need to apply for assistance, they can help you right there on your porch. Wilson went on to encourage anyone in the disaster declaration-approved areas to apply for the assistance. Whats important is that if you had damage to your home, your furnace, your vehicle, a septic tank, anything like that, any property you have inside your home, come over and see us. Let us hear your story, and let us determine what you may be eligible for, Wilson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his closing remarks to the crowd, Governor Beshear told the crowd to keep looking at the brighter side of things. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: He said, We know theres more work ahead, but making good memories helps drown out those bad memories. Wilson told FOX 56 that people can also apply for individual assistance by visiting the FEMA website or by calling 800-621-3362. She said there is also a recovery center currently located at 185 Beasley Road in Versailles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) After a much-needed refurbishment, which included a complete rebuild in places, a familiar statue is set to return to downtown Bloomington. The McLean County Museum of History will unveil a refurbished corn statue that was first introduced 25 years ago. The 10-foot-tall corn statue is being placed in downtown Bloomington and will be unveiled at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 2, according to the museum. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sculpture, which is made of wood, stainless steel, fiberglass, hemp, canvas, and acrylic paint, had to be restored and parts completely rebuilt after being displayed outside for more than two decades, they said. It was originally created as part of Bloomingtons sesquicentennial or 150th anniversary and was created by Herb Eaton, who will beat the ceremony, they said. The sculpture is part of the citys Sculpture on the Square initiative, in which the city looks to bring more sculptures to the area in the future, said the Museum Executive Director Julie Emig. This new public art initiative is an interdisciplinary approach to storytelling and place-making, Emig said. Were excited to preserve and share this piece of history with our community and look forward to bringing more locally significant sculptures to the square in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thanks to a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, the museum was able to make the much-needed repairs, it 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 CIProud.com. NEW YORK (PIX11) The 37th annual Sikh Day Parade took place in Manhattan on Saturday. Thousands of Sikhs marched down Madison Avenue during the annual Sikh Day Parade. Paul Hans attended with his family. More Local News This makes me feel more connected with the community here. There are people from NJ, NY, Washington, Virginia, and it makes you feel not alone and that youre part of something bigger, said one participant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Sikh Cultural Society organizes the parade to celebrate Vaisakhi, a spring harvest festival. It also commemorates the birth of Khalsa, the formal order of the Sikh community. Gurdev Kang is with the Sikh Cultural Society. Kang said, This is important because everyones gurdwara already celebrated on April 13, but this is united. We are living in NYC for 45 years because this is our right. Jaspreet Singh was there with his wife and son. They emphasized the importance of gathering with the community. Its a good representation of who we are, where we come from. Our culture, religion. So good experience, good vibes, and good day. Its important to keep our culture. We live in America, and its a mixing pot. But its important to keep our roots and culture. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The parade concluded with a festival at Madison Square Park, which offered free food to all, a core tenet of the Sikh religion. 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. Russian forces dropped two aerial bombs on a residential area in the town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast on the morning of 27 April, leaving three civilians dead and four others injured. Source: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office; Donetsk Oblast Military Administration Details: The attack claimed the lives of a married couple aged 47 and 48, as well as a 78-year-old pensioner. In addition, two women aged 67 and 73 and two men aged 77 and 83 sustained injuries of varying severity. They were diagnosed with mine-blast traumas, shrapnel wounds and bruises. Doctors assessed the condition of some of them as moderate. The aftermath of the Russian attack on Kostiantynivka. Photo: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office The strikes have damaged 21 houses and cars. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Toho Riverboat Adventures owner and captain, Richard Lawrence, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading no contest to charges of sexual assault involving a minor. Toho Riverboat Captain is sentenced to ten years in state prison for Sexual Assault of teen employee. Lawrence and his fiancee, Frances Fernandez, 30, were arrested in November 2024 after an investigation revealed they had sexual encounters with a 17-year-old girl who lived in their home. The arrest affidavit states that Lawrence had legal custody of the teen. Fernandez told police she was aware Lawrence was involved with the minor and described an instance where all three engaged in sexual activity together after a shopping trip. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before accepting the plea deal, Lawrence had faced the possibility of two consecutive 15-year sentences. Lawrences fiancee, Frances Fernandez, was given probation with conditions of truthful testimony, no contact with the victim and contact with Lawrence only to sell their home. The affidavit also stated Lawrence denied everything to the police and told them he would sleep all night. Lawrence owns Toho Riverboat Adventures and is listed as Captain Stitch of the 75-foot commercial paddle wheel replica Riverboat that sails across Lake Tohopekaliga in St. Cloud. A Trump-less White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD) was a night of both celebrating Washingtons journalist elite and, for some, reflection upon the failure of the D.C. press corps to cover Joe Bidens frailty throughout his presidency. The black tie dinner on Saturday featured no host after comedian Amber Ruffin was dropped from the gig only weeks in advance. The focus beyond the usual party atmosphere was the state of journalism under Donald Trumps second administration at a time when the White House is exerting an unprecedented amount of control over Oval Office and briefing room coverage. Also in focus was the annual awards of scholarships to young reporters and recognition of some members of the press corps for coverage in 2024. ABCs Rachel Scott was the first to be recognized for her on-the-scene reporting of the Trump rally-turned-assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But it was the award of the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence to Axios reporter Alex Thompson which provoked a moment of self-reflection for the attending journalists. NBCs Kristen Welker, introducing Thompson, quoted the Correspondents Associations judges to a crowd that cheered his name: Thompsons aggressive reporting ... revealed [that] the presidents cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job, information the White House tried to conceal. .@AlexThomp: "President Biden's decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception...We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it." #whcd #nerdprom pic.twitter.com/L9CtbB3HIZ CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025 Thompson himself delivered a brief speech moments later. President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception, said the Axios reporter. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Members of the former Biden/Harris administration have faced tough questions about the extent to which Bidens cognitive decline was apparent throughout 2024 and before in the wake of the November election. Harriss brutal defeat across the battleground states followed a sprint to the finish line the vice president only began after taking over Joe Bidens place at the top of the ticket in July. The 46th president was forced out of the race after enduring weeks of calls for him to step down. In interviews, Biden has admitted that he is unsure that he was physically capable of serving another four years in office. But a disastrous debate in June at which he appeared soft-spoken to the point of whispering and at times seemed unable to follow what his opponent was saying triggered a series of calls for a new candidate from Democratic members of Congress terrified of polling that projected a bloodbath for the party in November. Kamala Harris had to run a truncated campaign after Joe Bidens late withdrawal, which ended in heavy defeat at the polls. (Getty Images) Now, the ex-president and members of his former team continue to face scrutiny over why they put up so much resistance to the president stepping aside and allowing a formal Democratic primary process to play out in 2024, while Republicans argue that Bidens frailties left him unfit for office entirely. Progressives, meanwhile, continue to fume at both their ideological rivals in the party itself as well as the mainstream media for allowing the concealment of those issues displayed by the president to persist as long as they did. Reporting from The Wall Street Journal in December of 2024 revealed that Bidens aides and campaign officials first began managing the perception of his stamina and physical capabilities in 2020, when he came from behind after a victory in South Carolina to win the Democratic primary, buoyed in part by a consolidation of support around him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thompson, for his part, reported in late June of 2024: From 10am to 4pm, Biden is dependably engaged and many of his public events in front of cameras are held within those hours. Outside of that time range or while traveling abroad, Biden is more likely to have verbal miscues and become fatigued. The Biden campaign would go on to use the latter reason as an excuse for his disappointing debate performance. But many Democrats (both Biden loyalists and others in the party) continue to feel betrayed and let down by the manner by which Biden was forced to step aside and, in general, the urgency with which the party treated Donald Trumps third presidential campaign. BRUSSELS, April 27 (Xinhua) -- In a striking and unprecedented response, the EU's executive has recently issued an updated guidance urging America-bound senior officials to take serious precautions against cyber-espionage, reported the Financial Times (FT). It was only an example of the widening cracks in transatlantic relations in recent months. In the past few months, moves by the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump, including threatening to take over Greenland, slapping tariffs on European imports, and sidelining the EU in addressing the Russia-Ukraine conflict, shattered decades of U.S. diplomatic norms, leaving European allies rattled and scrambling. By late April, the European Commission began distributing disposable mobile phones and untraceable laptops to these officials, citing concerns "about the United States getting into the commission systems," the British daily reported. This marks yet another shift, highlighting the diversion in transatlantic ties from a trusted alliance to a relationship defined by cautious engagement. SECURITY CAUTIONS FOR U.S. TRIPS Ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings in Washington on April 21-26, EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness, and international partnerships commissioner Jutta Urpilainen were issued burner phones and basic laptops, according to the FT. Sources told the daily that the precaution aims to avoid the risk of espionage by U.S. agencies. An EU official said that the commission has recently updated its official guidance for visits to the United States, recommending that phones be switched off at the border and placed in special sleeves to protect them from spying if left unattended. Though the commission has refrained from confirming specifics about the devices, the move underscores a shift in the EU's perception of the United States -- from a trusted partner to a potential security threat. Luuk van Middelaar, director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, told the FT that the guidance came as no surprise, describing Washington as "an adversary" prone to employing excessive or unlawful tactics to pursue its own power and interests. LONG SHADOW OF U.S. SURVEILLANCE It's nothing new for the United States to spy on its allies. But in the past, the EU, long dependent on a stable and predictable partnership with Washington, was far less reactive to such revelations. In 2013, Edward Snowden exposed the PRISM program that the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on a number of foreign leaders, including then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The scandal prompted Merkel to remark, "Spying among friends, that's just not done." Yet the incident ended with little resolution. In 2015, German prosecutors quietly dropped their investigation into the alleged tapping of Merkel's phone, citing insufficient evidence and a lack of cooperation from the United States, which appeared unfazed by the backlash. WikiLeaks' 2015 disclosures that the NSA had monitored three previous French presidents provoked protests in France, but critics argued the outrage from French leaders was largely performative, driven by concerns over jeopardizing strategic cooperation with the United States. From PRISM to the Equation Group and ECHELON, to the 24/7 surveillance of cellphones and computers around the globe, the sheer scale of U.S. espionage underscores a reality Edward Snowden once warned of. Quoted by The Critic, he said the Five Eyes alliance had "inflicted upon the world a system of secret, pervasive surveillance from which there is no refuge." ERODING TRANSATLANTIC TRUST The EU's heightened security posture came amid rising tensions with the United States, which has clashed with the bloc on multiple fronts, including defense, trade and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, since Trump took office in January. Trump reignited longstanding frictions by threatening to withdraw from NATO's collective defense obligations unless EU member states raised their military spending to 5 percent of GDP. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went further, branding the continent "pathetic" and accusing it of "freeloading" on U.S. defense commitments. On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump favored direct dealings with Moscow, marginalizing the EU's role in diplomatic negotiations. Meanwhile, his aggressive tariff agenda provoked widespread outrage across Europe. Trump dismissed EU proposals for mutual tariff elimination and labeled the bloc as "one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World." In response, the EU is steadily shaping a trade framework that operates outside the shadow of the United States. In recent months, the bloc has advanced or finalized trade agreements with the South American trade bloc Mercosur, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, in clear steps toward diversifying its economic partnerships. Moreover, Europe's decision to no longer take longstanding U.S. surveillance for granted is a powerful indication of eroding trust between Washington and Brussels. "Europe can't trust the U.S. anymore," lamented The Atlantic in a recent piece, echoing the stark assessment of an EU official who declared bluntly that "the transatlantic alliance is over." Devastating tornadoes cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and dozens of deaths across the U.S. each year. They upend homes and lives. They remain a constant weather threat for a large swath of the country. While much is known about twisters - such as how they work and their signature - forecasters admit they are missing a key part of the data. "We've gotten really good at forecasting where tornadoes are likely to happen. The missing link is in the last minute or so right before the tornado develops, Dr. Robin Tanamachi, an associate professor at Purdue University, told The Independent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said that while mobile radars have been most effective, every time we improve the technology, we increase the resolution, increase the frequency of the observations, we find that those processes are happening at time and space scales that we're still not able to resolve well." "It's very hard to pinpoint exactly when and where those tornadoes will occur, Dr. Jason Naylor, a professor at the University of Louisville, added. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research scientist Dr. Sean Waugh and his colleagues look for storms that are poised to produce tornadoes. While scientists know a lot about them being able to predict exactly when or where they form remains elusive (NOAA/NSSL: Sean Waugh) In just a matter of decades, scientists have made major strides with forecasting, learning about supercell storms and the importance of factors such as instability and wind shear. Supercell storms, which are the least common type of thunderstorms, have a tendency to produce severe weather. Most tornadoes are spawned from these rotating thunderstorms, which are characterized by the change in wind speed and direction with height. Tornadoes also need atmospheric instability, or the tendency of the air to rise. It provides the fuel and energy for its formation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As warm, humid air rises inside thunderclouds, cool air falls with rain or hail. The conditions can cause spinning air currents inside the cloud, which start out horizontal and then can become vertical, creating a tornado in just a matter of seconds. Currently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Storm Prediction Center is able to identify broad and potentially tornadic environments up to four days in advance. But, its those last 10 minutes that remain elusive to forecasters. Dr. Karen Kosiba says theres a gap in the knowledge of small-scale processes related to tornados. (The FARM Facility) Some of the tornadoes that look ripe for production still dont perform in the moment. "So, these small-scale processes that might be happening very near the surface or might be happening at really fast timescales aren't being captured by our observations and that really gives us a gap in our knowledge of what's happening potentially very near the surface and potentially happening very quickly, Dr. Karen Kosiba, a research scientist and the managing director of the Flexible Array of Radars and Mesonets Facility at the University of Illinois, said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sometimes, two nearly identical storms within a few miles of each other will both produce a tornado or not. "it's wildly frustrating sometimes, said Dr. Sean Waugh, a research scientist at NOAAs National Severe Storms Laboratory. His colleague, Dr. Mike Coniglio, noted that identifying why that happens is where we're really struggling right now. Dr. Bill Gallus poses in front of a storm. Gallus said he used to refer to determining tornado formation as the Holy Grail of meteorology (Dr. Bill Gallus) "And, another part of that is that there's a lot of ways we're realizing, 'Oh, you know, research the last 10 years or so shows that there are a lot of ways you can get a tornado to form. There's no one magic bullet for this, he said. Thats something Dr. Bill Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, echoed. He told The Independent that he used to refer to figuring out how a tornado forms as the Holy Grail of meteorology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And, I finally realized about five or 10 years ago there's some good evidence for a lot of the different theories that there is no one way to create a tornado. I believe there's multiple mechanisms that can give us a tornado, he said. Because tornadoes are so small - in the scheme of weather patterns - they do a good job of hiding, and can destroy pretty much almost all weather instruments. While weather balloons arent intentionally launched next to storms, having data from them to input models is critical to improving forecasting, Dr. Chris Nowotarski, an associate professor at Texas A&M University, said. Dr. Chris Nowotarski poses with his students out in the field. He noted that have the right data is critical to be able to predict tornados and their formation. (Dr. Chris Nowotarski) "So, if that forecast from the model has less accuracy, then that will feed back to our ability to understand the potential for storms and also potential for those storms to produce hail or winds or tornadoes, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Naylor said finding the parent storm is the big issue. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the opposite direction recently. With layoffs at the [National Weather Service], we're collecting even less data than normal, he added. Over the past couple of months, NOAA has taken hits from the Trump administration, with layoffs in meteorology and many other fields. Critical weather balloon operations have been suspended at National Weather Service offices across the country. Now, a new report from ProPublica suggests cuts to the agency could slash its overall funding by as much as 27 percent. Potential budget cuts to NOAA could be disastrous, Gallus noted. And, work to improve tornado warnings and reduce false alarms may be in jeopardy, according to Naylor. While the false alarm rate of tornado warnings is 70 to 80 percent, not responding can be life-threatening. "And, that's why we need to keep doing the research that we're doing is so that those effects continue to pile on going forward into the future, so we can continue to see improvements to that warning process and to that forecast process and our ability to understand everything that's happening in the world around, said Waugh. Catholics on Saturday mourned Pope Francis as a leader of outstanding faith and humility. Springfield Bishop William Byrne celebrated a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in memory of the pope, who died on April 21, the day after Easter. The bishop devoted most of his homily to a reflection on Francis teaching, including his attention to people who felt discarded by powerful governments and technologies. He both recognized every persons worth and encouraged every person not to give up. Pope Francis was the great voice for the discarded of our world, their voice to those in power, Byrne said. Our holy father said not to yield to the logic of fear, which only leads to isolation from others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West Springfield resident Mary Ann Arnold said of Pope Francis: Hell be a tough act to follow. She said she was impressed with the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, from very beginning of his papacy in 2013. I thought, the minute he was elected pope, and he went back [himself] to the hotel to pay his bill thats our guy, Arnold said. I think that he was a man of the people. He reached out to the marginalized. He practiced what he preached. Attendees at the Mass included Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, as well as many students from Pope Francis Prep, the diocesan high school named after the late pope. Emma Caproni, a senior at the school, said she, too, was impressed by Francis humble approach to leadership of a worldwide church. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He didnt keep himself in a high position, said Caproni, a Chicopee resident. Byrne said hes spent the past week reflecting not only on his personal interactions with the late pope, who appointed him as a bishop, but also on the images of the world has seen of Francis serving the sick, the poor, washing the feet of people in prison. These werent photo ops, Byrne said, but true windows into the soul of a man who had dedicated his life to following the example of Jesus Christ. Maria Baez, a cathedral parishioner from Springfield, said that she also will remember Francis for his humanity and his ability to form connections with ordinary people around the world, including non-Catholics. She said she is praying for the conclave to elect another pope with Francis accessibility, but also one who would re-emphasize the churchs traditions and the centrality of the sacraments. The conclave, a meeting of 135 cardinals from around the world, is expected to take place in May in the Sistine Chapel of Vatican City. Charlotte Pohl and Maria Leperes first night in Honolulu was not how they intended. The jet-setting high school graduates from Rostock, Germany, had envisioned island-hopping across Hawaii before flying inland to California. Instead, they woke up from their fever dream on a moldy mattress in a frigid, dilapidated cell, detained by authorities when they arrived at Honolulu airport and had attempted to go through U.S. customs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pohl and Leperes experience is one of several harrowing, high-profile accounts from tourists who have had their vacations derailed at the hands of border officials since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January. Ever since the president promised to stage the largest deportation operation in American history earlier this year, international tourism to the U.S. has plummeted amid reports of detained tourists and travelers. Total foreign visitors were down 12 percent year-on-year in March, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. That drop marked one of the steepest declines on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic. Western European visitors experienced a 17 percent drop-off last month, spearheaded by fewer British and German visitors 14 and 28 percent, respectively. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here are some of the tourists that did try and visit but instead had their American dreams dashed. Charlotte Pohl, 19, and Maria Lepere, 18, from Germany Pohl, 19, and Lepere, 18, were denied entry into the U.S. on March 18 despite holding the required documentation, including the electronic visa required by most visitors. The teens said that they wanted to travel spontaneously, and subsequently hadnt booked accommodation for the entirety of their five-week stint on the archipelago, Pohl told German newspaper Ostsee Zeitung. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham countered this week that the tourists were attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses, and claimed they admitted they intended to work without the appropriate visas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The travelers told the newspaper they were stripped and searched before being given prison garments to wear and locked in a double cell. After three days detained, they returned to Rostock via Tokyo, Qatar, and Frankfurt am Main. We had already noticed a little bit of what was going on in the U.S. But at the time, we didn't think it was happening to Germans. That was perhaps very naive, Lepere reflected. An aerial view of the Maui coast, where two German tourists say they were handcuffed and forced to wear prison uniforms (Getty Images) For tourists like Pohl and Lepere, and others legally in the U.S. and subsequently removed, that so-called privilege was not afforded. Rebecca Burke, 28, Wales Welsh graphic artist Rebecca Burke was detained on February 26 after she embarked on the trip of a lifetime across North America. Rebecca Burke, left, has warned Britons not to go to the US after she was detained for 19 days (PA) (PA Media) The 28-year-old from Monmouthshire was reunited with her family this month after spending 19 days in a processing center after being denied entry at the border between the U.S. and Canada over a so-called visa mix-up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Burke had been residing with host families in Portland, Oregon, whom she helped out with chores in exchange for her accomodation. As she attempted to cross into Canada, border officials informed her that her living arrangements would mean she needed a work visa, not a tourist one. She was sent back to the U.S. where American officials classed her as an illegal alien. Burke was shackled and transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Washington. She was not allowed to fly home to the U.K. despite having the funds to pay for a plane ticket. Burke was detained while attempting to leave the U.S., not entering it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As she was ushered to the plane before finally being flown back to Britain, her father told the BBC she had been taken in leg chains, waist chains and handcuffs like The Silence of the Lambs serial killer, Hannibal Lecter. Lucas Sielaff, 25, Germany German Lucas Sielaff spent more than two weeks at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a prison in San Diego, California, after trying to cross the southern border from Tijuana in Mexico in February with his fiancee, Lennon Tyler, an American psychologist. Lucas Sielaff was detained for more than two weeks after attempting to enter the U.S. from Tijuana (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) The couple, who were on vacation, allegedly drove to Tijuana for medical treatment for Dr. Tylers dog. Tyler, who was handcuffed before being released, said she was chained to a bench and had her arms twisted by border agents, she told the New York Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reportedly because of a language barrier, Sielaff, 25, got an answer wrong regarding where he lived as he attempted to re-enter the U.S. from Mexico. The man said he shared a cell with eight other people and shared one microwave oven with 120 people to heat his food. He was eventually allowed voluntary deportation on a flight that cost him more than $2,700. Sometimes I just wake up because I have nightmares of this situation and what happened, he told The Times. And I just try to go for walks and calm down. Jessica Brosche, 29, Germany Jessica Brosche, a tattoo artist, was traveling with tattoo needles, which made customs officials believe she was planning to work (GoFundMe) A German tattoo artist spent more than six weeks also at the Otay Mesa Detention Center after officials believed that she was trying to illegally work in the U.S. At least eight days of her time in custody were reportedly spent in solitary confinement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jessica Brosche, 29, was on the trip with her American friend Nikita Lofving as a tourist under the ESTA visa waiver program when she attempted to cross the southern border into San Diego in late January. Brosche was traveling with tattoo equipment, leading border officers to believe that she was trying to work unlawfully in the U.S., according to The Guardian. She is said to have planned to tattoo Lofving in exchange for some clothes. She says it was like a horror movie, Lofving told ABC 10 News of her friends experience. They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then shes got blood on her knuckles. Travelers are now avoiding heading to the U.S. An Australian man was detained last month for eight hours in John F. Kennedy Airport after arriving in New York after a 24-hour flight from Sydney, via Hong Kong, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The traveler, who spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity, said he intended to board a cruise in Florida but was questioned by border officials after taking what he described as a very unusual route from Australia via Asia for cheaper air fare. After having his laptop and phone searched, the man said he was deported back to Australia, thousands of dollars out of pocket after his cruise line allegedly refused to refund him. I feel like returning to the US under the current administration would be the equivalent of going back for your hat after escaping a devastating house fire, he said. I have no wish to be burnt again. Stories of distressing detentions, stricter border controls and the Trump administrations imperialistic rhetoric are seemingly only part of the puzzle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tourists also appear to be repelled by consequential changes in foreign diplomacy, not least the president attempting to foment a global trade war as he aggressively attempts to pursue his America First agenda. When pressed on the steep drop-off of tourism in the U.S. in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump retorted: Its not a big deal. Two weeks earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Fox News op-ed that visiting America is not an entitlement. It is a privilege extended to those who respect our laws and values, he added. princeton Children lost to violence and those still suffering violence were remembered Friday with the ringing of a bell and the raising of a special flag during the 2025 Childrens Memorial Flag Day. Supporters met outside the Mercer County Courthouse for the annual event to remember seven children across the region lost to child abuse and neglect in 2024. Bill Archer, president of the Mercer County Commission, rang a bell outside the courthouse seven times in their memory. Besides music and a march around the courthouse, Fridays ceremony included awards and recognitions for professionals and volunteers who worked to aid children in need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Child Protect of Mercer County presented service awards to Eden Scruggs, Sgt. K.L. Ross of the Bluefield Police Department and Amanda Ennis for work in aiding and protecting the communitys children. One award presented for the first time went to the person who got the countys child protection agency underway almost 20 years ago. Shiloh Woodard, Child Protect of Mercer Countys chief executive officer, became the first person to receive the new Beacon of Hope Award. If you have ever met Shiloh Woodard, even for five minutes, then you know why I am up here singing her praise and celebrating her commitment to this work, said Beth Sizemore with Child Protect of Mercer County. Shiloh will be leaving her post as executive director of Child Protect after 19 years of impeccable service. She is starting a new and exciting role as chief executive officer of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sizemore said that when Woodard joined Child Protect of Mercer County, she was its sole employee and had an annual budget of around $50,000. In those years since her humble beginnings, the agency has grown to employ 15 people and have a budget of over $1 million, Sizemore said. That is all because of one person, Shiloh. She will try to deflect the credit, but everyone knows that is true. Woodard, who knew she was the scheduled keynote speaker but not a scheduled award recipient, said Friday was the last time she would be attending Childrens Memorial Flag Day as a member of the communitys strong force of child protection professionals. And with that in mind, I want to spend my few moments of time in front of you all saying what seems to me to be the most important thing, Woodard said. And that is encouragement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Woodard urged everyone present to rededicate themselves to the protection of children within their sphere of influence whether it is through their work, their families or the circles in which they find themselves. I encourage you to go above and beyond what is expected to create safety nets and supports for the vulnerable children and families in your life both professinally and personally, Woodard said. I encourage those of you who have dedicated yourselves, your careers and at times your own wellbeing to the cause of child welfare and child protection to continue to fight the good fight. In 2024, West Virginias Child Protection Services received 41,227 referrals and 24,301 of them moved on to investigations, according to Allison Kelly with the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Mercer County had 1,412 referrals and 931 moved to investigations. Mercer County had the seventh highest number of referrals in the state. West Virginia had 7,034 children in custody during 2024 and currently has 5,955. Mercer County has 170 children taken into custody during 2024 the sixth largest in the state and currently has 231 in custody. Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com AUSTIN (KXAN) Austin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) said travelers should expect delays Sunday morning. AUS posted on social media Saturday that it expected a fairly busy Sunday for travelers, as the GT World Challenge racing event at the Circuit of the Americas ends Sunday. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time for baggage check and TSA screening, AUS said. As of early Sunday morning, AUS was not experiencing any atypical delays, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KXAN Austin. In any era, plenty of reasons can be found to say not now to an important community improvement. Today, Terre Hautes aspirations for progress face a contraction of state funding sources, and the chaotic uncertainty of federal programs and possibilities. Still, the Wabash Riverfront Master Plan unveiled at a Wednesday evening gathering inside Hulman Center needs to be implemented. Those steps should be made prudently, but they need to be made. Resources are less abundant, but should be pursued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other river cities with natural riverfront elements far less historic and scenic have found ways to enhance access and amenities around their waterways. Those changes have taken years and decades, but continued apace through mercurial jumps and dips in state and federal funding, and through strong and shaky economic times. Tenacity is the key. Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun alluded to that quality during and after Wednesdays presentation of the 200-page plan for greater riverfront access; pedestrian friendly streets; development districts and expanded, connected trails and recreation opportunities. It also calls for riverbank stabilization and flood resiliency. Sakbun exuded equal amounts of realism and optimism. The riverfront plan is doable. It will also be difficult. And it will take time, but procrastination should not be the go-to policy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Waiting his turn to speak at the presentation, Sakbun listened to Wabash Valley Riverscape President Bryan Horsman and Riverfront Development Director Lori Danielson promote the new master plan. A steering committee developed that plan over a 14-month period, assisted by global planning firm Stantec and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps provided $250,000 of in-kind work, and lent crucial credibility to the project that could likely involve changes to stabilize the Wabash Rivers eroding east bank. City, county, Riverscape and Thrive West Central leaders shepherded the plan. Community forums helped assemble ideas for what the public would like to see at the riverfront. Horsman and Danielson explained the progress already made along the Wabash, and the possibilities outlined in the new master plan. Both spoke of transforming the east and west banks, from the rivers historic heart at Fairbanks Park northward and southward, into the most beautiful, vibrant, prosperous riverfront in Indiana. The plan, Danielson said, is absolutely something we can pursue and implement. The mayor followed with encouragement and a call for resilience. My ask from this group is, were passionate today, well be passionate tomorrow. Lets keep that passion over the next 10 years. This is not going to happen overnight, Sakbun said. Afterward, Sakbun was asked about the complications of a state funding pullback, and federal upheaval. In a nutshell, he acknowledged both are realities, but not excuses to shift into neutral or reverse. Sakbun pointed out that downtown projects have come to fruition with a blend of public and private funds, and both can still be pursued even if their balance changes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yes, those are going to be more challenging with state legislation, Sakbun said. But I think what Terre Haute needs to do instead of saying, Oh, theres been changes at the state and federal level, were just going to maintain you still have to find ways to improve. Our constituents demand elected leaders to continue to improve and grow, regardless of what happens at the state and federal level, and were going to do just that. Enhancing the Wabash, Terre Hautes greatest natural resource, improves the quality of life for current residents and visitors, as well as prospective Hauteans and employers. Such efforts have paid off in Mishawaka, Columbus, Fort Wayne, Lafayette and smaller towns like Bluffton. It can and should happen here, too. Progress should not stop. Apr. 26WATERVILLE A truck parking facility is being proposed for Airport Road to help ease a chronic shortage of places for truckers to park and rest, either for overnight or longer. The park at 75 Airport Road, off Kennedy Memorial Drive and not far from Interstate 95, is being proposed by RTG Enterprises LLC, the partners in which are Maine resident Andrea Freeman and Steve Baldwin of TLC Signature Homes, based in Ohio. Drivers would pay a fee for using parking spaces. Lack of places for large trucks to park poses a safety concern, both locally and nationally, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The trucking industry is critical to the economy, yet there are not enough safe and accessible places for them to park, resulting in many drivers having to spend time they should be resting in trying to find parking, officials say. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many drivers park in unsafe locations, including on highway exit ramps, road shoulders or in vacant lots, creating a safety hazard for both themselves and motorists. The truck park is planned for 2 of the 6.9 acres Freeman owns at the site, located to the south of the property on Airport Road owned by Central Maine Motors Auto Group, on the same side of that road. While the plan is to be able to house 35, 70-foot trucks, Baldwin said it likely would not reach 50% capacity. A lot of the trucks, mostly semis, would be staying there overnight or for a month at a time, and some truck owners may live in the area and need a place to park their cabs, he said. Baldwin said the need for semitrucks to have safe, accessible overnight parking is huge, as drivers have experienced problems such as theft while parking on off-ramps or large travel plazas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the American Trucking Associations, a lack of parking nationwide for trucks forces drivers to violate federal regulations regarding the number of hours they may drive without breaks, or park in places that are unsafe or unauthorized for that purpose. "This dire shortage of truck parking has a detrimental impact on drivers' quality of life, roadway safety, and our supply chain," the organization's website says. Baldwin and Freeman pitched their plan April 8 to the Waterville Planning Board and the board voted to recommend the City Council revise the city's zoning ordinance by adding truck parking facilities as allowed uses in the Airport Industrial District as the city does not have an ordinance regulating such facilities. The council on April 15 took a first of two votes needed to approve the request and is expected to take a final vote May 6, according to City Planner Ann Beverage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beverage said Wednesday if the council approves the plan, the developers would then return to the Planning Board with an engineered site plan for the truck parking facility. The Planning Board may only recommend zone changes; the council has final authority. The council on March 18 had voted to refer the matter to the board for recommendation. The plan would be to level the Airport Road lot, and pack it down with gravel to create the parking area. A 6-foot-tall fence would be erected at the property but it would not enclose the lot entirely, as Baldwin said they like to have green barriers where possible. There are only three such parks in the state now, Baldwin and Freeman said. They are located in Presque Isle, Steuben and outside of Portland, and they are small, they said. Baldwin said he and Freeman have been working with Truck Parking Club based in Marietta, Georgia. It is an organization that helps truckers save time and fuel by finding and reserving parking places for them across the United States. Baldwin described how reserving spaces works, saying there is an app called Truck Parking Club that has been gaining a lot of momentum. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "They have about 1,750 sites nationwide," Baldwin said. "It's kind of an Airbnb where people can go on there and try to find the location where they're headed to and look through the app and there's reviews and pictures and directions on how to park and everything like that. It's pretty organized." He said about 1,600 semitrucks pass the exit off Kennedy Memorial Drive daily so he estimates if they get 1% to stop by at night 16 trucks would be in the facility per evening. Waterville Regional Airport Manager Randy Marshall told Baldwin at the April 8 board meeting that airport officials look forward to having another neighbor but said they are concerned about wildlife and whether 18-wheelers would be hauling waste in or out of the park. Baldwin said he wasn't sure what the regulations are around that but he could look into the issue. Copy the Story Link President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) On July 25, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a radio address to 125 million Americans in which he coined the term first 100 days. Today the 100th day of a presidency is considered as a benchmark to measure the early success or failure of a president. Mr. Trumps 100th day of office lands on April 30 where the world has witnessed his 137 executive orders, 39 proclamations, 36 memoranda, a few Cabinet meetings and numerous press briefings. In summary, Trumps cabinet appointments and arbitrary, capricious, ad-hoc and erratic actions have created turmoil in the stock market, utter confusion among our international trade partners and confounded unrest with consumers, workers, small business owners and corporate CEOs. Interestingly, an April 17 UMass/YouGov poll found that 26 percent of the people who voted for Trump have lost at least some of their confidence and appeal for our 47th president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It appears The New York Times was the first media agency to report on just the 18th day of Trumps 2.0 presidency that he was creating a constitutional crisis. That claim has been reported in multiple major news agencies, spoken in town-hall meetings and observed in thousands of public protests with demonstrators from all political persuasions requesting Congress and the Supreme Court to stop our democracy turning into an authoritarian dictatorship. On March 25, I sent an e-mail to authoritarian scholar Barbara McQuade (Professor Univ. Michigan Law School; U.S. Attorney Eastern Michigan 2010-2017; author: Attack from within: How disinformation is sabotaging America) seeking her expert opinion on what citizens would most likely witness when a constitutional crisis has occurred and recommended action citizens should take. Two days later, McQuade replied to my inquiry: 1) If a president were to deliberately violate a court order, I think we could consider that a constitutional crisis. 2) Citizens can do many things to push back against abuse of power, such as vote, write to their member of Congress or participate in a protest, but I think the most effective thing a citizen can do is to talk to their friends and neighbors to explain their concerns and rally support. Peter Wehner, Republican, who served as the speechwriter for three GOP administrations (i.e., Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush) and senior fellow at Trinity Forum an American faith-based non-profit Christian organization feels Trump has created not one, not two, but three crisis situations. Wehner stated in an April 19-20 Wall Street Journal article It seems as if we are moving at a rapid speed toward a genuine constitutional crisis, a genuine separation-of-powers crisis and a genuine checks-and-balanced crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can decide if any of the following actions and published repercussions put America in a precarious dilemma: Trump has openly defied federal court directives, refusing to halt deportation flights to El Salvador and return an illegally deported Maryland man. Trump has eliminated and/or dismantled federal agencies like USAID by executive order, bypassing Congressional authority. Trump has claimed the right to withhold or redirect federal funds appropriated by law, undermining Congresss constitutional power of the purse. Trump has fired civil service-protected employees, a violation of federal law. Trump is attempting to end birthright citizenship by executive action, a constitutional right under the 14th Trump has withheld funds from universities without legal justification. Trump has revoked visas solely because of the holders expressed viewpoints, violating First Amendment protections. Trump has attacked federal judges, questioning their legitimacy and authority, which erodes the independence of the judiciary. Trump has created DOGE without Congressional approval, challenging the separation of powers. Trump has set tariffs on our trading partners as opposed to Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution that grants Congress the explicit power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises and to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations. Polling by the revered and non-political Reuters/Ispos found 83 percent of Americans feel Trump must obey federal court rulings even if he doesnt want to. Wall Street Journal polling has shown, voters want to keep constitutional guardrails in place that constrain a presidents power (April 4). Keep in mind, as of April 24 there have been 211 legal challenges to Trump administration actions (Just Security New York Univ. School of Law). Additionally, a probable Trump-related contempt of court opinion was issued by U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg which, if ordered, could lead to incarceration. If you are concerned about Mr. Trumps endeavors, consider the advice offered by law professor Barbara McQuade: participate in peaceful rallies, support political candidates committed to upholding constitutional democracy, communicate with your two Senators and Representative about your concerns and visit with friends about the trifecta crisis that is becoming more evident by political scientists, authoritarian scholars, constitutional law experts and registered voters like you and me. Museum and library funding cuts hurt everyone Libraries and museums across Washington and the nation are under threat. On March 14, the Trump administration issued an executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Staff were placed on leave, and grant termination notices went out to state libraries, effective April 1. This decision strikes at the heart of our communities. IMLS grants have supplemented local funding to provide high-speed internet in rural areas, Braille books for the visually impaired and vital digital resources. In Tacoma, a 2021 IMLS grant helped launch the Community Archives Center, now a national model. Nationwide, IMLS supported 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries while costing less than 0.003% of the federal budget. Dismantling the IMLS undermines education, economic development and access to information. As a long-time librarian and museum advocate, I urge Tacomans and all Washingtonians to speak out and reach out to your networks around the nation as well. We must call on legislators to protect funding for these essential institutions that support learning, preserve history and strengthen community ties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Learn more and find ways to take action at everylibrary.org. Elizabeth Bowman, Tacoma Preserve Washingtons student aid l attend Tacoma Community College studying Electrical Engineering. My goal is to set roots in Washington and become an engineer for the state. I want to build better infrastructure for low-income communities. I am a recipient of financial aid, and understand the financial struggles students face. My financial aid covers tuition, but it doesnt cover transportation, food, textbooks, nor other basics needed to simply attend college. Never mind those who also have to pay for rent, phone, and other bills. The legislature has been considering lowering aid while increasing tuition costs. This action would be a detriment to the state of Washington. We need the legislature to pass the substitute bill to instead make financial aid permanent and not raise tuition. Most of my classmates use financial aid and need support to succeed. We are hardworking, driven, intelligent people who want to be participating members of society. Without the states continued investment, many would have to drop out, leaving Washington without so many of the engineers it needs to grow. Washington needs to reject balancing the budget on students backs and continue to invest in our future. Kaleb McGhee, Tacoma Popes legacy on climate change Laudato Si, is a 184-page letter (encyclical) written by the late Pope Francis that was published in May of 2015. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship between God, humans and the Earth. Francis says that instead of viewing humanity as having dominion over the earth, we must see that everything is interconnected and that all of creation is a kind of universal family. Nature cannot be seen as something apart from humanity, or merely the place where we live. He says that our social and environmental crises are thus one complex crisis that must be solved holistically. Laudato Si had a profound impact all around the world, but eight years later in 2023, Pope Francis published Laudate Deum. Laudate Deum is 73 paragraphs where Francis calls for speedier action against the climate crisis. Pope Francis felt his message had not been heard in Laudato Si. April 22 was Earth Day. Now is the time to hear the words of Pope Francis and put them into action against the climate crisis to save our common home. Karen Quandt, Edgewood In his first few days back in office, President Donald Trump engaged in a whirlwind of executive actions, from exiting the World Health Organization, to deploying military personnel and National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Many of these actions are unprecedented. Some appear to be illegal and unconstitutional, according to legal experts and judges. But none of them should come as a surprise nearly all of them were outlined in 2022 in a plan called Project 2025. A Heritage Foundation representative attends a Moms for Liberty National Summit in Washington on Aug. 30, 2024. Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images Project 2025 is top of Trumps to-do list Project 2025 is a multifaceted strategy to advance conservative policies in the federal government. Part of this effort revolves around the Mandate for Leadership, a 922-page document published in April 2023 that outlines a slew of proposed governmental policy changes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and advocacy group, organized the collaborative effort. A long list of other right-leaning research organizations and interest groups, like Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA, also participated in Project 2025. In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Project 2025 participants wrote on the plans website that to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, they would need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration. In my research on think tanks, Ive investigated how these research organizations can influence public policymaking. The most potent strategy is to ally with a political party and support its objectives through research and advocacy. This is exactly what the Heritage Foundation has done via Project 2025. Even though Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he was not affiliated with the project, evidence of Project 2025s agenda can be seen throughout the beginning of his second term as well as in his first administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For example, on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump echoed the plans statement that men and women are biological realities when he signed an executive order that, in part, recognizes two sexes, male and female that are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. This order led to the removal of transgender references from government websites. Other orders are similarly aligned with Project 2025. Take Trumps executive order that, in part, eliminated the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, or OFCCP, a government office previously charged with ensuring companies working with the government did not discriminate against any employees. Project 2025 recommended, quite simply, to eliminate OFCCP. Some news reports have found that there are already many other examples of Trump policy decisions and executive orders that appear to mirror Project 2025 recommendations. One CNN analysis from Jan. 31 found that more than two-thirds of the 53 executive orders Trump issued during his first week in office evoked proposals outlined in [the] Mandate for Leadership. Heritage Foundations decades of activism Project 2025s influence on Trump reflects the Heritage Foundations growing importance to the Republican Party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In my forthcoming book about the polarization and politicization of policy research organizations, I show the many ways that think tanks like the Heritage Foundation have become embedded within partisan networks and intimately connected to politicians. Increasingly, Heritage and other partisan-aligned think tanks, including progressive groups like the Center for American Progress, use their research to consistently support partisan agendas that align with their policy goals. The relationship between the Heritage Foundation and the GOP represents the most extreme version of this dynamic. The think tank has supported Republican presidents as far back as Ronald Reagan, using another policy document also called the Mandate for Leadership to secure significant policy gains through his administration. But the symbiosis between the Heritage Foundation and the GOP has been particularly notable since Trump gained more influence in the party. At the start of Trumps first term, as one Heritage Foundation researcher told me in 2017, the think tank recognized that the administration didnt have much policy depth, so when they won the election they were sort of like, 'Now what do we do? And thats where Heritage comes in. We work on these issues year-round, so well stand by your side. The Heritage Foundation also vetted potential staffers for federal government positions. This led to more than 66 Heritage employees or former employees working for the Trump administration by the middle of 2018. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Heritage has not entirely dictated Trumps agenda. While the group did say that Trump embraced 64 percent of our 321 recommendations by the end of 2017, the think tank has also revamped its agenda to align with Trump on the issues he cared most about, like trade and culture wars. As the think tanks president, Kevin Roberts, said in 2024, Heritage views its job as institutionalizing Trumpism. The people connecting Trump to Project 2025 Many of the contributors to the Mandate for Leadership had been Trump administration officials, like Russ Vought, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget and current nominee for the same position. This list also includes John Ratcliffe, the former director of National Intelligence and incoming CIA director, and Tom Homan, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and current border czar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In all, more than half of the plans 312 authors, editors and contributors previously worked in the first Trump administration. An incredibly important but often underappreciated part of Project 2025 was its staffing effort: The coalition worked to identify, vet and train potential staffers and appointees who are now making their way into the Trump administration and executive agencies. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gestures toward a visual aid about Project 2025 during a news conference in September 2024 in Washington. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images What people and the law say about Project 2025 Polling from January 2025 shows that a majority of Americans oppose many of Trumps actions since retaking office, sometimes by large margins. Even during the presidential campaign, both Project 2025 itself and the policy ideas it advocated were broadly unpopular. Democrats consistently warned about the plan in their attacks against Republicans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lack of popular approval for Project 2025 and its proposals is notable because the Heritage Foundation has historically invested time and money into gaining public support for its work. It even operates an initiative that polls citizens on how they interpret arguments for and against our policy recommendations and how we can best gain their understanding and support. There are also legal considerations. Many of Trumps actions like saying the government will deny citizenship to children born to some immigrants in the U.S. rest on potentially unconstitutional interpretations and expansions of presidential power. This represents another about-face for the think tank, which has historically opposed efforts to empower the president at the expense of congressional authority. Indeed, the Heritage Foundation was founded to work through Congress to accomplish its goals. But with Project 2025, it seems it is pursuing a new strategy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How successful the Heritage Foundation is in helping Trump implement Project 2025 proposals will partially depend on how the public reacts. Whether Congress asserts its control over budgetary matters and exercises general oversight of the executive branch will also matter, as will the decisions made by the American judicial system. These checks and balances have helped sustain American democracy for nearly 250 years whether they will continue to do so remains to be seen. 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: Zachary Albert, Brandeis University Read more: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zachary Albert 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. Wang Lepeng (R), an associate professor from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM), checks a visitor's pulse during a free clinic hosted by BUCM and New York-based Smart Health TCM Medical Center (Smart Health TCM) in Manhattan, New York, the United States, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Ada Zhang/Xinhua) by Ada Zhang NEW YORK, April 27 (Xinhua) -- A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) event was staged Friday in Manhattan, New York, as part of broader efforts to promote TCM and enhance international understanding of traditional healing arts. The event, cohosted by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) and New York-based Smart Health TCM Medical Center (Smart Health TCM), featured a TCM lecture, a free TCM clinic, a demonstration of traditional Chinese aerobic exercise Baduanjin or Eight Pieces of Brocade, herbal tea tasting and herbal sachet-making workshops. Jonathan Papish, one of scores of participants at the event, joined in practicing Baduanjin. Papish used to live in China for six years and now works as an acupuncturist in New York. While living in Beijing, he turned to acupuncture for relief from a chronic cough and neck pain. "It helped me," he told Xinhua. After returning to the United States, he tried Western treatments and other therapies but found them less effective. "Nothing helped as much as acupuncture and Qigong. I find it very effective for myself," he said, adding that the TCM pulled him out of a "dark place" of health challenges and eventually motivated him to study the practice. "It's a long journey with studying here for a long time," he said. Papish now operates his own acupuncture and herbal clinics. "Acupuncture is bridging two different cultures and countries," Papish said. "The TCM has become a cross-cultural avenue for mutual understanding." Friday's event marked the final stop of the BUCM's week-long U.S. tour, which included a "Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Open Day" in Washington, D.C., as well as visits to the West Chester University and the United Nations. Acupuncture has gained significant mainstream acceptance in the United States in recent years. Major insurance providers, including Medicare and private insurers, now cover acupuncture treatments for specific conditions such as chronic pain and migraines. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has officially recognized acupuncture as a safe and effective treatment option for various conditions. "Just go outside and look -- there are a lot of acupuncture clinics in New York and across the West. It's become part of the wellness industry, focusing on stress management, anxiety and relief from overwhelming feelings," said Papish. Alan Breitman, another participant at Friday's event, has similar experiences with the TCM as Papish's. Suffering from eczema and allergies, Breitman said his TCM treatment is "a steady progression" that requires patience. "It's very incremental, unlike Western medicine where you expect big results quickly," he told Xinhua. "With the TCM, it's a process." Visitors practice traditional Chinese aerobic exercise Baduanjin or Eight Pieces of Brocade, at New York-based Smart Health TCM Medical Center (Smart Health TCM) in Manhattan, New York, the United States on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Ada Zhang/Xinhua) Rep. Shontel Brown of Ohio joined Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss Trump's intimidation tactics against the judiciary, plus the deportations of U.S. citizens, some of whom were children. President Donald Trump admitted Saturday that he may have been wrong to believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants peace in the war against Ukraine, and threatened further sanctions. Shortly after talking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Pope Francis funeral, Trump took to Truth Social to decry Russias attacks on civilian areas in the last week. It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through Banking or Secondary Sanctions? Too many people are dying!!! the president wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The admission came only after Trump had ripped into The New York Times coverage of his handling of the war, and blamed the conflict on former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Trump met with Zelensky at Pope Francis funeral on Saturday. / Handout / Office of the President of Ukrai The meeting between Trump and Zelensky was the first face-to-face since the February Oval Office blow-up between the two presidents and Vice President JD Vance. President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told Axios. Zelensky called it a good meeting in a post on X. Good meeting. We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to pic.twitter.com/q4ZhVXCjw0 Volodymyr Zelenskyy / (@ZelenskyyUa) April 26, 2025 We discussed a lot one on one, he said. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since entering office, Trump has pushed to broker peace in the conflict that has raged for more than three years. On Friday, he had said that the two sides were very close to a deal. Trump has long drawn criticism for his close relationship to Putin. / Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Since his first term, Trump has drawn criticism for his amiable relationship with the Kremlin. Over the past several months, he has frequently assured people that Russias strongman leader genuinely wants peace. On the other hand, he has called Zelensky a dictator and suggested that he doesnt actually want to end the war. As the negotiations have dragged on, though, Trump has taken a more insistent tone in Truth Social missives directed at Putin. Vladimir, STOP! Trump pleaded after Russian strikes on Kyiv this week. 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE! President Donald Trumps approval rating has dipped below 40 percent, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey also found that about four in 10 Americans say Trump has been a terrible president during his second term, with about one in 10 describing his performance as poor, and two in 10 saying he has been average. Only three in 10 Americans rated Trumps performance as great or good. The AP/NORC Center survey is among multiple recent polls that indicate that as the presidents first 100 days in office nears, any public positivity about Trump is waning. Even Republicans, though they still largely stand behind him, are losing confidence that he is steering the country in the right direction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The survey revealed that 44 percent of Americans say Trump is focused on the wrong priorities. Only 54 percent of Republicans say he is focused on the right priorities (with 26 percent saying he is focused on an even mix of issues and 13 percent saying he is focused on the wrong priorities), versus 75 percent of Democrats saying he is focused on the wrong priorities. A growing majority of Americans disapprove of Trump overall as president (59 percent versus 39 percent approving). The survey comprised 1260 U.S. adults and was conducted April 17-21. Meanwhile, a recent New York Times/Siena College poll published Friday finds Trumps approval rating at 42 percent, a historic low this early in a presidents term. Among the issues where his popularity has been tanking are the economy and immigration, despite there being some support regarding deportations. Fifty-one percent of those polled disapprove of his handling of immigration. Fifty-five percent disapprove of his managing the economy. Voters are also opposing several of his executive orders, with the broad majority saying theyd prefer limits to the power Trump has been wielding through unilateral actions. For example, 61 percent of voters, including 33 percent of Republicans, said a president should not have the authority to enact tariffs without authorization from Congress; and 54 percent, including 26 percent of Republicans, say he should not be allowed to end programs enacted by Congress. The numbers rise when it comes to overreach on immigration, with 63 percent, including 40 percent of Republicans, saying a president should not be able to deport legal immigrants who have protested Israel. Trumps threat to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador is also wildly unpopular, with 73 percent of voters, including 56 percent of Republicans, saying a president should not be able to do that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps defiance of the court garnered one of the biggest swings of disapproval in the Times/Siena poll which comprised 913 voters and was conducted April 21-24 with 76 percent of voters, and 61 percent of Republicans, saying a president should not be able to ignore the Supreme Court. The polling plunge is clearly irking Trump. The president ranted on Truth Social about a Fox News poll showing Americans are skeptical of Trumps handling of the economy. Rupert Murdoch has told me for years that he is going to get rid of his FoxNews, Trump Hating, Fake Pollster, but he has never done so, Trump wrote on Thursday. This pollster has gotten me, and MAGA, wrong for years. Also, and while hes at it, he should start making changes at the China Loving Wall Street Journal. It sucks!!! Reuters and Gallup also released polls in recent days showing Trump tanking, particularly on the economy as his on-again, off-again tariffs have led to global instability. Despite the presidents public rage, two Trump advisers tell Rolling Stone that they arent sweating the recent string of negative polls for the president, largely because regardless of what Trumps unpopularity in the coming years could mean for other Republican candidates the president entered office as lame duck. Despite his public flirtations with subverting the Constitution and running for a third White House term, Trump retook power as someone who presumably does not need to worry about his poll numbers weighing down a reelection bid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He usually says the polls are fake anyways, and after the 2024 popular vote victory, he sees even greater justification in saying the bad polls are fake now, one Trump adviser says. On Saturday night, John McLaughlin, one of the top Trump pollsters for his presidential campaigns, messaged Rolling Stone: Thats a terribly skewed poll. Only 37 percent are Trump 2024 voters. We received 50 percent. Id love to know the New York Times explanation. Are we back to the fake polls of the last eight years? The new AP poll that shows the presidents approval rating dipping into the thirties would have set off alarm sirens at Trump headquarters in a past era. During the hellish summer of 2020, when Trump was running for reelection amid the skyrocketing death toll and economic implosion of the Covid-19 pandemic, several top advisers to Trump on his campaign or in his administration were anxiously glued to the public polls and private Republican data, biting their nails over the presidents approval rating dropping. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Trump inched too close to the mid-thirties, a senior Trump adviser at the time said, we lose. In November 2020, Trump indeed lost that election. And today, just three months into his new administration, there is already some high-quality polling showing the president moving closer to the mid-thirties range of wrecked political capital. Trump may be griping on Truth Social about his declining popularity, but his camp doesnt seem to be too worried. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. President Donald Trump has made a bold claim about the projected efficacy of his sky high tariffs, which essentially kicked off a trade war and rattled the U.S. stock market. On Sunday morning, Trump vowed in a post on Truth Social that income taxes for many Americans will be substantially reduced or even completely eliminated in the wake of the tariffs. When Tariffs cut in, many peoples Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated, he wrote. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year. Also, massive numbers of jobs are already being created, with new plants and factories currently being built or planned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump added: It will be a BONANZA FOR AMERICA!!! THE EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE IS HAPPENING!!! Trump previously promoted tariffs during his 2024 campaign trail, and suggested multiple times that tariffs could replace the income tax as the main revenue source for the U.S. government. If the switch were to take place, wealthier Americans would face financial relief while the middle class and the poor would be heavily affected by the tax burden. Trumps post came after he confirmed last week that he would ease up on the steep 145% tariff on goods from China after the country retaliated with tariffs of 125% on the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump claimed at the time that the tariffs will come down substantially, but it wont be zero after also facing backlash from world leaders. While Trump promised Sunday that massive numbers of jobs are already being created, there has been an uptick in uncertainty among American companies since Trump implemented his tariffs, according to the Federal Reserves beige book, which is a report that summarizes current economic conditions eight times per year. Last week, Trump declared that hes on the verge of cutting several new trade deals in a few weeks, but also sent mixed signals after admitting it would be physically impossible to go through negotiations with dozens of countries and we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals. Related... Donald Trump has the chance to become the "greatest president in U.S. history" if he follows the "iconic" examples of previous incumbents such as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, a Ukrainian lawmaker has told the Kyiv Independent. "He wants to be great, and he wants to be remembered in history as a great president. And for him, Ukraine is his chance," Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, said. Merezhko cited Kennedy's 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner", and Reagen's 1987 "tear down this wall" speeches as moments in history when U.S. presidents were immortalized on the world stage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And so for Trump, if he comes to Kyiv and says something like 'Im Ukrainian' or 'We express solidarity with you, we are on your side, youre fighting for the right cause,' he will go down in history as a person who might eclipse even Kennedy and Reagan," he said. "I believe that Trump really can become the greatest president in the history of the United States he could become iconic." The Trump administration has been spear-heading efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine though concerns have been raised that the White House has been favouring the interests of Moscow over Kyiv. Trump has applied various forms of pressure on Ukraine including temporarily cutting off military aid, but has yet to take any meaningful steps to force the Kremlin to make any concessions as part of a possible peace deal, even after a series of devastating Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But in a dramatic change of tone on April 26 after a meeting between Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican, the U.S. president said "there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days." "It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions?" Trump added. Merezhko said it was clearly an "important meeting" and could potentially pave the way for more positive dialogue between Trump and Zelensky. "If he uses this chance, he will become great," Merezhko said, adding: "If not, he will be remembered in a negative way." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zelensky and Trump were among the many leaders who arrived in Vatican City to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after suffering a stroke, at the age of 88. The White House described the meeting as a "very productive discussion," while Zelensky also called it a "good meeting," noting that they discussed "a lot one-on-one." Read also: Ukraine, Europes hopes rise for just peace after Trump meets Zelensky at Vatican Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. President Trump bragged that he had made 200 deals on trade and tariffs in a recent interview, but when pressed for details, two members of his cabinet could not name a single country that has agreed to one of Trumps alleged deals. Two weeks after he announced a 90-day pause on his punishing import tariffs, Trump claimed he has made many deals while refusing to say which countries agreed to those deals. The pause, he said, was to allow time for negotiations with other countries with the exception of China, which was exempted from the pause. Ive made 200 deals, Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Friday, adding, 100 percent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If that were true and every deal is with a different nation, it would mean Trump has already finalized deals with nearly every country in the world. When asked to say which countries agreed to these supposed deals, Trump said, Because the deal is a deal that I choose, before going on a rant about how the U.S. is a department store. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and Ill say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay, the president said. CNNs Dana Bash confronted Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins during Sundays State of the Union, asking her to name one of the deals the administration has reached. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president told Time magazine, quote, I have made 200 deals, Bash said. He didnt give us any details about what those could be, what countries hes talking about. Has he actually inked any trade deals, and with whom? .@DanaBashCNN asks @SecRollins about Trump's trade deals: "My understanding is we should have several this week that are coming forward that are very, very close." pic.twitter.com/lg8aJHyd8b State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 27, 2025 On the deals, we have 100 countries that are knocking on the door, Rollins said. I believe Im not in the room, Im not negotiating the trade deals. But my understanding is, we should have several this week that are coming forward that are very, very close. China is a very important one. Every day, we are in conversation with China, along with those other 99, 100 countries that have come to the table. Of course, having some deals that are very, very close is not the same thing as having made 200 deals, as Trump has explicitly claimed. Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China has already led to an increase in canceled shipments between Asia and North America after Trump jacked up tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent. China, meanwhile, has implemented retaliatory tariffs in addition to economic restrictions of exports of rare earth mineral to the United States and restrictions on 18 major U.S. manufacturers and defense companies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Trump and his administration have claimed they are in ongoing negotiations with China, Chinese officials have said that those talks have not happened. The Chinese ministry of commerce said that the administrations claims they are in daily contact are groundless and have no factual basis. China and the United States have not held consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue, let alone reached an agreement, the ministry said Thursday. When confronted with that statement, Trump insisted a journalist had his reporting wrong. Reporter: [China is] saying it's fake news that trade talks are happening. Trump: Well, they had a meeting this morning. Reporter: Who's they? Trump: I can't tell you. It doesn't matter who they is. pic.twitter.com/lwXsm06gUl The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) April 24, 2025 Another Trump cabinet member, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent, tried to justify Trumps claim of 200 deals by saying he actually meant sub deals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lets talk about the Time interview with President Trump, host Martha Raddatz asked Bessent Sunday on ABCs This Week. He said he has made 200 deals on tariffs. Two hundred deals? Who has he made deals with? Is there actually any deal at this point? RADDATZ: Trump said he's made 200 deals on tariffs. 200 deals? Who has he made deals with? Is there actually any deal at this point? BESSENT: I believe that he is referring to subdeals within the negotiations we are doing pic.twitter.com/LU8H41eA0P Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 27, 2025 I believe that he is referring to sub deals within the negotiations were doing, Bessent said. But those arent actual deals? Raddatz said. Martha, if there are 180 countries, there are 18 important trading partners lets put China to the side, because thats a special negotiation theres 17 important trading partners, and we have a process in place, over the next 90 days, to negotiate with them, Bessent responded, refusing to name any deals or sub deals. Some of those are moving along very well, especially with the Asian countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bessent then justified Trumps chaotic approach to tariffs announcing and then almost immediately postponing them by calling it strategic uncertainty. But what Bessent calls strategic uncertainty looks much more like unorganized chaos and lying by Trump as the 90-day pause deadline approaches, and the administration cant point to a single trade agreement it has successfully negotiated even though the president claims he has 200 to choose from. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. President Donald Trump has ramped up his pressure campaign against the justice system by claiming it was not possible to give migrants the trials theyre entitled to under the law. In a Truth Social post, Trump expressed a desire to circumvent immigration courts and skip due process despite a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that affirmed migrants ability to seek judicial review before getting deported. It is not possible to have trials for millions and millions of people, Trump wrote late Saturday. We know who the Criminals are, and we must get them out of the U.S.A. and FAST!" Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump further railed against the slew of judges who have blocked his immigration agenda, including his push to end federal funding for sanctuary cities and require proof of citizenship to vote. Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have claimed the judges orders subvert the will of voters who elected him to push his hardline immigration agenda. We need Courageous JUSTICE in our Country, the president wrote. If the Courts dont allow what we have been allowed to do for 250 years, America can no longer be the same. Crooked Joe Biden will have destroyed our Country with his Open Border MADNESS, and allowing criminals of every type to enter with no Retribution. The post comes days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a district court judge in Wisconsin for allegedly obstructing federal agents efforts to arrest an undocumented immigrant from her courtroom. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the administration will come after judges it believes are impeding its enforcement efforts. We will prosecute you, she told Fox News on Saturday. We will find you. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It also came a day after USA Today reported the Department of Justice had allowed agents to search the homes of people it suspected were gang members without due process. The March memo, issued by Bondi, argued agents had the authority to conduct arrests without a warrant under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 if circumstances render it impracticable. The Trump administration has issued sweeping deportation orders since January, relying on a mix of executive orders and wartime laws to push migrants out of the country who it says are here unlawfully. The push has faced a bevy of legal challenges due to the administrations repeated wrongful deportations of migrants allowed to remain in the U.S. and its eviction of some U.S. citizens. Still, Trump claimed on Saturday that Murderers, Drug Dealers, Gang Members, and even the Mentally Insane will make their home in our Country, wreaking havoc like we have never seen before should he not be allowed to continue. Donald Trumps chaotic approach to the U.S.-China trade war took an odd turn this week, with the president claiming that trade negotiations are happening every day, with Beijing responding that they have no idea what hes talking about. To recap, the United States has put an import tax of 145 percent on Chinese goods coming into America. As inventories already in the country deplete and new stock arrives, Americans can expect to pay more for products or find shelves unstocked. China responded by putting a 125 percent tariff on U.S. imports. Officials warned other nations striking trade deals with Trump that there will be consequences if they come at the expense of Beijings interests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president has softened his rhetoric over the past week saying he planned to be very nice to reach a deal, calling the current tariff on Chinese goods too high and vowing it would come down substantially. This came after a meeting with major retailers who are believed to have sounded the alarm over what the tariffs mean for their businesses. Nevertheless, no formal talks with China appear to have either been arranged or have taken place, no matter what Trump claims. On the Sunday morning talk shows, Trump Cabinet members were asked to clarify who was talking with China. Things did not get any clearer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ABCs Martha Raddatz asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about China on This Week. He began by explaining that the Chinese business model is selling cheap goods to the United States, and if that were to suddenly stop, they would be forced to negotiate. President Donald Trump during a meeting with Norway's prime minister Jonas Gahr Store, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC (EPA) President Trump, again, said he's spoken to President Xi of China, and negotiations are ongoing, but China has firmly denied this, saying that China and the US have not consulted or negotiated on the tariff issue, Raddatz said. So are negotiations actually happening? Who is talking? Bessent replied: This was IMF, World Bank week, in D.C., as you know, and I had interactions with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He continued: I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi. I know they have a very good relationship and a lot of respect for each other, but again, I think that the Chinese will see that this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business. Why would they deny the negotiations? asked Raddatz. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Pres. Trumps negotiating strategy on trade deals but said he didn't know whether Trump was speaking directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping.https://t.co/xNhmVX2OWS pic.twitter.com/H5GOfZWVmt This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 27, 2025 I think they're playing to a different audience, Bessent replied. So they're actually going on, there are actually things happening, but the Chinese are just denying that it's not true? Raddatz asked by way of clarification. We have a process in place. And again, I just believe these Chinese tariffs are unsustainable because of the Chinese business model, the Treasury secretary reiterated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turning to another Trump statement that trade deals could be arranged with multiple countries in a very short space of time, Raddatz asked about a timeline for an agreement with China, noting Bessent has told Bloomberg it could take two to three years to forge a comprehensive deal. At the IMF meetings, he called it a slog. Well, look, I think that there is a path here. So the first will be again a de-escalation, which I think the Chinese are going to have to have. Then I think there can be an agreement in principle, he said, saying that other trade talks were following a similar trajectory. Raddatz also pressed Bessent on Trumps claim he's made 200 deals on tariffs: Who has he made deals with? Is there actually any deal at this point? Bessent didnt give specifics but said he believed the president was referring to subdeals within the negotiations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also defended the presidents seemingly chaotic tactics as strategic uncertainty. Nobody's better at creating this leverage than President Trump, he said. BASH: You said there are talks with China every day. Who are the talks with and at what level? Because the Chinese are saying that's not true ROLLINS: Well, according to our team in Washington, the conversations are ongoing regarding multiples of trade pic.twitter.com/x68XJpSXzO Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 27, 2025 On CNNs State of the Union, Dana Bash pressed Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on the alleged China negotiations. You said that there are talks with China every day, Bash said. Who are the talks with and at what level? Because the Chinese are saying that's not true. Rollins responded: Well, according to our team in Washington, the conversations are ongoing regarding multiples of trade, but here multiples of the trade goods that are coming out and going in. But, the bottom line with China is this: they need us more than we need them. They need our money. They need our markets. They need our consumers and all of the above. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She called the president the ultimate deal maker working to hold China accountable. And in agriculture, year upon year, decade upon decade, our goods have been taken advantage of, she said. The trade disparity, the non-trade barriers on top of the tariff numbers, are insane, whether it's Argentina, or China, or Brazil, or the UK. On Thursday, He Yadong, Chinas Ministry of Commerce spokesperson, said: Any claims about the progress of China-U.S. trade negotiations are groundless as trying to catch the wind and have no factual basis. Similarly, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said China is prepared to negotiate only under certain conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chinas attitude is consistent and clear: if you want to fight, we will fight to the end, if you want to talk, the door is open, he said. That same day, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: Well, they had a meeting this morning, so I can't tell you. It doesn't matter who they is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we've been meeting with China. MSNBC political analyst and chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, Peter Baker, shares his thoughts on President Trump's first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since their heated exchange in the Oval Office last February. He also reacts to Trump doubting whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to end the war in Ukraine and Trump's criticism of Baker's articles in The New York Times. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: The Atlantic/Ben Hickey Editorial art has the power to make a statement without words, especially when it comes to politics. A single image can evoke a sense of pride, capture the cultural zeitgeist or even question the authority, and no publication does it quite like The Atlantic. In a recent article titled 'America's Mad King', the site published a thought-provoking article covering the recent escapades of America's President, Donald Trump. Alongside the piece was a striking editorial illustration of the Head of State, embracing stripped-back, yet evocative design to make a bold statement. Credit: The Atlantic/Ben Hickey Illustrated by artist Ben Hickey, the artwork features the distinct outline of President Trump with what resembles a crown of thorns on his head. The black outline silhouetted against the red background not only solidifies The Atlantic's editorial aesthetic but also creates an authoritative visual contrast. A closer inspection of the image reveals the crown is, in fact, Trump's signature a sobering metaphor for his self-indulgent ruling. It's not the first time we've seen The Atlantic nail political editorial illustration this provocative cover illustration divided Trump fans (and opposers) for its divisive design. For more creative inspiration, check out the best magazine covers of all time. Description H.M.S. PINAFORE SAILS INTO NORTH MERRICK H.M.S. Pinafore, the classic comic opera that made Gilbert & Sullivan world famous almost 150 years ago, returns to Long Island in the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Islands all-new 2024 production, coming to the North Merrick Memorial Library on April 27. H.M.S. Pinaforewhich debuted in 1878, with book and lyrics by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivanis among the most beloved of all the Gilbert & Sullivan operas, with its combination of sparkling lyrics, beautiful music and satirical dialogue. The current production is the Light Opera Companys first since 2015. The comical plot centers on the love story of Josephine, the Captain's heart-driven daughter, who is torn between devotion and duty. She is betrothed to the wealthy, high-ranking politician Sir Joseph Porter, First Lord of the Navy (a post equivalent to the American Secretary of the Navy), but her heart yearns for the lowly, earnest and strangely eloquent sailor, Ralph Rackstraw. As the sinister Dick Deadeye warns them, love across the boundaries of rank is unheard of, but will he take measures to thwart the lovers? The love story is mirrored by the cheerful shipboard saleswoman Little Buttercup, who hints at a dark secret and a furtive love of her own. Can the Captain steer this ship safely through this maelstrom of emotion? Anne Elise Teeling sings Josephine and Aaron Mor sings Ralph. Chris Jurak of Hempstead is Captain Corcoran, with Chris Diamond of Glen Cove as the supercilious Sir Joseph. Ian Joyal plays the scheming Dick Deadeye, with Henry Horstmann of Lindenhurst as the good-natured Bosns mate, and David Aubrey as the phlegmatic Carpenters Mate. Delaney R. Page of Lynbrook plays the secretive Little Buttercup, with Mary DeMarco Lee as Sir Josephs bumptious Cousin Hebe. The director is David Macaluso and the music director is Isabella Eredita Johnson, with Michael C. Haigler conducting. H.M.S. Pinafore is buoyant, says Macaluso, a Gilbert & Sullivan expert who has been seen frequently with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and other companies. It has an effervescent story with heart, and our talented cast brings these colorful characters to life through a trove of quintessential G&S songs. H.M.S. Pinafore was a global phenomenon when it premiered, and its combination of exciting music and comic wit have charmed audiences for 147 years, it's as bright as ever. Were having a great time polishing this gem. The score for HMS Pinafore is full of classics, ranging from Sir Josephs self-congratulatory When I Was a Lad to the Captains strutting I Am the Captain of the Pinafore, with its famous What, never? Well, hardly ever! refrain. Theres Ralphs captivating A Maiden Fair to See, Josephines thrilling scena "The Hours Creep on Apace" and sailors close-harmony trio, A British Tar Is a Soaring Soul - not to mention Buttercups signature Im Called Little Buttercup and the Bosns patriotic He Is an Englishman. Theres something for everyone, Macaluso concludes. The real secret isnt what Buttercup reveals at the end, the real secret is the way Gilbert and Sullivan seem to come together so closely that its as if the show was penned by one person. H.M.S. Pinafore has been a favorite with American audiences since the day it premiered on these shores, and I think it always will be. H.M.S. Pinafore will be presented on Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m. at the North Merrick Memorial Library, 1691 Meadowbrook Road in North Merrick. Admission is free. For further information, call (516) 378-7474 or visit www.Nmerricklibrary,org. If politics is a team sport as it is increasingly these days then watching Donald Trump is an emotionally exhausting experience of constantly booing and cheering the same side. Going Hulk on tariffs? Huge boos. Menacing Canada? Boos of some bewilderment. Betraying Ukraine, abandoning Europe and siding with one of the worlds most malevolent dictators? Were lobbing brimming pint glasses now. But then Trump goes and secures the US southern border. Hurrah! He dumps the Biden-era hostility to Israel; he bombs the hell out of the Houthis. Loud hurrahs. He tames those hotbeds of radicalism that have passed as universities by dangling their funding over a cliff, and in the case of Harvard, letting go. Now, were cheering like crazy. Its quite the head-spin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, amid the usual chaos, there were further reasons to sing from the terraces. For one thing, Trump embarked upon a slash-and-burn of the legal system, which had been disgracefully captured by identity politics. You thought we had it bad in Britain, with our two-tier sentencing guidelines and activist lawyers? Get this. In the United States, there has long been a legal principle called disparate-impact theory. It means that if any universal institutional standards might have a disproportionate effect on minorities mostly black people they are judged to violate civil rights legislation. If that sounds abstract, lets look at some examples. It has been used to abolish literacy and numeracy tests for police officers and firemen. It has been used to abolish general-knowledge tests for teachers and disciplinary measures for unruly pupils. It has been used to abolish credit-based mortgage lending, criminal background checks for tenants, prosecutions for shoplifting, turnstile-jumping and resisting arrest. It has blocked stop-and-search, and speed cameras. In other words, it is madness. It fails to address the causes of illiteracy, crime and poor education among black Americans, instead forcing society to nod and smile while everyone suffers. Or it used to. The legal principle, which arose alongside critical race theory in the 1970s Derrick Bell, the father of CRT, was a law lecturer, as was his acolyte Kimberle Crenshaw, the genius who came up with such concepts as intersectionality now lies trashed by way of a Trumpian executive order. Oh, I love the smell of executive orders in the morning. There have been many proper stonkers, used to great effect. Ending federal benefits for illegal migrants; reprieving plastic straws (weird but memorable); sanctioning the International Criminal Court for anti-Israel activism; ending anti-Christian bias; banning trans athletes from womens sports. To this we can now add Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy. Ecstatic cheers! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That is not all. Last week, Trump lifted Biden-era legal immunity for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA Why? Well, at least 12 UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 atrocities, such as Mohammad Abu Itiwi, who butchered 16 youngsters hiding in a bomb shelter near Kibbutz Reim and took four hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who lost his arm and, after 11 months of captivity, his life. Ten per cent of UNRWA staff about 1,200 men belong to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Israeli intelligence believes. Caches of weapons and hostages have been held in its facilities. Terrorists have operated from its schools. UNRWA aid was passed to Hamas. On and on. Does UNRWA take responsibility? Does it heck. Now, thanks to Trump, the agency can be sued by terror victims and their families in a massive class-action lawsuit. Yes! Do the cheers drown out the boos? Not while Americas depraved betrayal of Ukraine continues. But that doesnt prevent us celebrating these great victories. 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. President Donald Trump this week addressed an unexpected question from a reporter about whether he intends to release more information on Jeffrey Epstein. His remarks came just days before Virginia Giuffre, one of the first and most prominent survivors of Epsteins abuse to speak out, died by suicide. Epstein, a sex offender accused of orchestrating a massive child sex trafficking ring with his associates, died by suicide in 2019 while in custody on federal sex trafficking charges. He was associated with dozens of celebrities and powerful politicians, bringing international interest to the case. President Donald Trump says he doesnt know when the next round of Epstein files might be released (AP) Much of this interest centered around redacted court documents naming alleged associates and victims known as the Epstein files. Attorney General Pam Bondi moved to release some of these documents in February in what she labeled the first phase of declassified files but much of the information was already public. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump, when asked by a reporter on April 22 when the public could expect to see the release of more documents, said he would speak to Bondi. I dont know, Ill speak to the attorney general about that, I really dont know, Trump said. On January 23, Trump signed an executive order directing the declassification of records surrounding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. I do know that weve done the RFK, the Kennedy, Martin Luther King is out there very shortly, so well find out, Trump added. Weve really announced were doing them in full transparency. What did Attorney General Bondi release in phase one of the Epstein files? Bondi moved to declassify several documents from Epsteins criminal prosecution, many of which were already published. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The files previously published pilot logs related to the prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epsteins close associate, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. The files also included redactions from prosecutors to protect victims. Bondi also published Epsteins little black book, containing names of his alleged associates. However, that too was already published. One never-before-seen document was an "Evidence List," a catalogue of evidence obtained by investigators. Items included a LSJ logbook, believed to refer to his private island Little St. James, and a CD labelled girl pics nude book 4. Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges (New York State Sex Offender Registry) Several big names had already been linked to Epstein through previously released documents, including Trump, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bondi had invited several prominent right-wing influencers to the White House including Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik and Republican activist Scott Presler to see the documents the day they were released. But virtually all of that information was already public, and many Republicans turned to social media to criticize Bondi. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR instead of leaking old info to press, far-right Representative Anna Paulina Luna wrote on social media at the time. Luna, who chairs a House Republican-led Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, said the Justice Department did not provide her or her committee with the documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 1) If the Epstein files are out, where do we find them? (2) Whats the difference between phase 1 and phase 2? asked Republican Senator Mike Lee. Will the Epstein files tell us whether he killed himself? Far-right influencer Laura Loomer raged that THERE ARE NO EPSTEIN FILES!!! Attorney General Pam Bondi saw backlash after many realized the first phase of the Epstein files released included little new information (REUTERS) What have officials said about the Epstein files? Bondi said releasing the first-phase documents sheds light on Epsteins extensive network and begins to provide the public with long overdue accountability. This Department of Justice is following through on President Trumps commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators, she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the release of phase one, Bondi reportedly pushed the FBI and her own agency to urgently review and declassify more files, according to ABC News. The FBI enlisted thousands of agents to help with the effort, the outlet reports. Meanwhile, Trump has vowed to declassify documents in several high-profile cases during his second term. This includes the release of 2,200 files related to the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, which critics blasted as just another nothing burger that revealed little new information. Trump also promised to release sealed files about the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Not even the death of Pope Francis could bring President Donald Trump to make nice and ride with former President Joe Biden. Sitting President George W. Bush rode with former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton on Air Force One to the funeral Mass of Pope John Paul IIs in 2005. Yet when Trump was told that Biden would also be attending the Saturday ceremony, he didnt give his political rival much thought. U.S. President George W. Bush (L), First Lady Laura Bush (2nd L), and former presidents George Bush (3rd R) and Bill Clinton pay homage to Pope John Paul II while viewing the late pontiff's body in the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica April 6, 2005. / STR New / Reuters Oh he is? I didnt know, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, The Daily Mail reported. Trump said that a meeting with Biden during the trip to Italy was not high on my list. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its really not, he added. The MAGA president doubled down on that sentiment during the ceremony as he sat with First Lady Melania Trump and ignored Biden and former First Lady Jill Bidendespite them clearly being within his line of sight, The Daily Mail reported. U.S President Donald Trump and Former U.S. President Joe Biden attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis. / Nathan Howard / REUTERS Yet even after his sweeping second election win, Trump has kept Biden front and center as a scapegoat. The New York Times reported that Trump mentioned Biden more than 300 times in the first 50 days of his presidency, regularly blaming him for manufactured chaos at the border and attacking him as the worst president in American history. However, Trump did make time to sit down with political frenemy Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reported NYT. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump meet, while they attend the funeral of Pope Francis, at the Vatican. / Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser / via REUTERS They are very close to a deal, Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday as he landed in Rome. The two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to finish it off. As part of his attempts to Make Colonizing Great Again, President Donald Trump says he is bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes. The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much, the president wrote Sunday on Truth Social. They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but WOKE, or even worse, nothing at all! Well, youll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback. I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before! Its not surprising Trump is fond of Columbus, given the current presidents stated desire to colonize both Greenland and Canada and make them part of the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite what Trump says, Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, as it has for decades, and is observed on the second Monday in October. Some cities and states including Alaska, Oregon, Vermont, and Seattle have officially recognized Indigenous Peoples Day or Native American Day on the same day. Many states do not celebrate either holiday, according to Axios. I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/SBjEAhcrxy The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 27, 2025 Some places in the United States began to question honoring of Columbus, especially in light of protests for racial equity in 2020, because the explorer killed and enslaved indigenous people in Hispanola. According to analysis by The Washington Post and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at least 40 Columbus monuments have been removed from public display across the U.S., but more than 130 still remained standing as of last October. Celebrating Columbus is intended to erase us and ultimately is celebrating our genocide, Indigenous rights activist Mahtowin Munro told the Post. President Joe Biden did celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day while in office, starting in 2021 with a proclamation acknowledging the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples and recognizing their inherent sovereignty. But Biden also recognized Columbus Day each year throughout his administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last Congress, 67 Democratic representatives and senators introduced and sponsored legislation that would commemorate Indigenous Peoples Day in lieu of Columbus Day, but the bill did not make it to a vote. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt first declared Columbus Day to be a national holiday in 1934, and in 1937, it became a federally recognized holiday thanks in large part to lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization. Although Columbus travels never reached North America, he became a symbol for colonization of the Americas as the first European to land on the Caribbean islands. Given Trumps recent losses the stock market plummeting off news of his aggressive tariffs and his inability to finalize any trade deals, his historically abysmal poll numbers, and his failure to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine its clear hes looking to secure an easy win. Reinstating a federal holiday that was never canceled is certainly one way to do it. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. President Donald Trump made clear Sunday that he would not follow his predecessor's practice of recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day alongside Columbus Day in October, accusing Democrats of denigrating the explorer's legacy as he pressed his campaign to restore what he argues are traditional American icons. Democrat Joe Biden was the first president to mark Indigenous Peoples Day, issuing a proclamation in 2021 that celebrated the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples and recognize their inherent sovereignty. The proclamation noted that America was conceived on a promise of equality and opportunity for all people but that promise we have never fully lived up to. That is especially true when it comes to upholding the rights and dignity of the Indigenous people who were here long before colonization of the Americas began. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump on Sunday used a social media post to declare, I'm bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes." He said on his Truth Social site that the Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much. The federal holiday, the second Monday in October, was still known as Columbus Day during Biden's term, but also as Indigenous Peoples Day. That's been a longtime goal of activists who wanted to shift the focus from commemorating Columbus' navigation to the Americas to his and his successors' exploitation of the indigenous people he encountered there. Though Trump has long objected to telling the country's history through a lens of diversity and oppression, the holiday he seeks to restore to its primacy was added to the calendar as a nod to the country's growing diversity. Columbus expeditions never landed on the North American mainland, let alone any of the places that would become the 50 states. But the native of Genoa became increasingly commemorated in the United States as Italian immigrants flocked to the country and politicians sought to win their support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Indeed, it was the lynching of 11 Italian-American immigrants in New Orleans in 1891 that led to the first Columbus Day celebration in the United States, led the following year by President Benjamin Harrison. President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated Columbus Day as a national holiday in 1934. Trump has long complained about Democrats tearing down statues of Columbus, a complaint he made again in Sunday's post. In 2017, he spoke out against a review of the 76-foot-tall statue of the explorer in New York's Columbus Circle that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio had ordered. It remains in place today, but other statues have been defaced or torn down. In 2020, Trump's administration paid to restore a Columbus statue in Baltimore that was dumped in the harbor during protests against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. A customer looks at a laptop computer for sale last year. States worry that an executive order and federal funding cuts could weaken their cybersecurity efforts. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) For the first half of his career in law enforcement, working as a police officer in South Florida, Chase Fopiano did not think cyberattacks on police agencies were a serious threat. Many of his law enforcement colleagues were under the same impression that since they were the most likely to investigate the attacks, there was no way cybercriminals would go after them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By about 2015, as technology advanced and hackers became more creative, that changed, Fopiano said. Now, from the U.S. Secret Service to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, there are thousands of attempts to compromise networks or organizations every day, he said. A lot of those [attempts] are toward government or even police, especially because they know that were not as prepared as we should be, said Fopiano, who now oversees cybersecurity as part of a regional task force. Spanning health care facilities to court systems, states and local communities are facing a rise in cyberthreats. They include threats to critical infrastructure, increased activity from foreign actors, continued ransomware attacks and more, according to a recent report from the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. But President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order shifting some of the responsibility from the federal government to states and localities to improve their infrastructure to address risks, including cybercrimes. And federal cuts have reduced resources for state and local officials, including a cybersecurity grant program and a key cybersecurity agency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement States and localities are taking steps to address the problems, such as establishing new penalties for tampering with critical infrastructure, centralizing state IT personnel and setting standards in areas from elections to health care. But the Trump order and federal funding cuts, a shortage of IT experts at the local level and an overall lack of preparedness could weaken their efforts. In December, a major cyberattack forced Rhode Island to take down its online portal used by residents to obtain Medicaid benefits and SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. The personal data stolen from Rhode Islands public benefits network including Social Security numbers and banking information was later found on the dark web. In February, a sophisticated cyberattack hit the office of Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, which led agency officials to shut down computer systems and resort to paper court filings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this month, hackers also breached the computer network of the Fall River School District in Massachusetts. The school district is working with third-party experts and law enforcement to determine if anyones personal information was targeted, according to MassLive. In 2023, of the 48 states that participated in the Nationwide Cybersecurity Review, a voluntary self-assessment conducted by federal agencies that examines how well governments are prepared to respond to cyberattacks, only 22 states reached or surpassed the recommended levels of security in their systems. Cybersecurity has become increasingly important over time because more government services and data are digitized, said Samir Jain, the vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. But a national shortage of people with that expertise especially at the local level creates a challenge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal government has traditionally played at least some role in trying to fill some of those gaps, Jain said. And so the notion that the federal government could just withdraw and expect states and localities to step in is just not realistic. Local governments and law enforcement agencies also have other priorities, Fopiano said. The police need cars, guns, shields and other resources that generally take precedence over cybersecurity. Today, Fopiano is the cybersecurity chair of the Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force in Florida, overseeing cyber activity from South Florida to the Florida Keys. The attacks continue to rise, he said. Terrorist groups are getting into cybercrime, cartels are getting into cybercrime, you have kids just learning about hacking and just fooling around, he said. The audience of whos doing it has definitely expanded and led to that rise in overall cybercrime. Cuts to federal resources In 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a first-of-its-kind cybersecurity grant program, providing more than $1 billion in funding for states, localities, tribes and territories to address cybersecurity risks and threats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, created under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, awarded $279 million to states and localities in fiscal year 2024. The Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program awarded another $18 million for tribes in its first year. But the grant program is set to expire in September, with no current plans to renew it. At a hearing this month, several state and local officials urged Congress to reauthorize the program. But U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who refused the federal aid during her tenure as governor of South Dakota, questioned the programs efficacy. The Trump administration is also cutting as many as 1,300 employees from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, which administers the grants alongside the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The program has allowed states to assess the security of their networks, develop cybersecurity training, implement multi-factor authentication features which requires users to provide more than one form of verification to access a site or service and much more, said Alex Whitaker, the director of government affairs at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This has been a really great program because were seeing a lot of great evidence for how states and their counterparts in local government are improving their cyber defenses, Whitaker said. Counties also rely on a number of federal resources to strengthen their defenses, including services provided by CISA, said Rita Reynolds, the chief information officer at the National Association of Counties and managing director for County Tech Xchange. NACo is an organization that represents county governments across the United States. The Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, for instance a key collaboration between CISA and the Center for Internet Security to help state and local governments with cybersecurity operations lost some of its federal funding for certain programs last month, Reynolds said. In trying to keep up with emerging threats, counties are still trying to find resources to help them implement multi-factor authentication, convert government pages to .gov domains and other methods of protecting their infrastructure, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Are counties prepared? Reynolds asked. I would say theyre not as prepared as theyd like to be. And in some cases, they are looking at how to strategically approach this now that resources are disappearing. In a statement, CISA spokesperson Jared Auchey said Trumps executive order empowers state and local governments to make risk-informed decisions and investments to improve their preparedness. The agency will work with state and local officials to ensure they have the information and support they need, Auchey added. Lawmakers step up In 2024, 33 states adopted resolutions or enacted legislation regarding cybersecurity, according to a database from the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan public officials association. Many of those measures sought to protect states critical infrastructure, including water systems, government services, health care and more. Florida, Louisiana, West Virginia and other states created new criminal and civil penalties for people who attempt to tamper with critical infrastructure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Minnesota and Washington state, lawmakers passed measures allowing or requiring state and local governments to invest in cybersecurity protections related to election administration. Connecticut and Florida also passed legislation to secure health care facilities from cyberattacks by having hospitals create plans or by supporting investments in new technologies. Other states are looking for solutions from outside vendors. South Dakota has set aside $7 million for a company to examine local governments for vulnerabilities to hackers. With attacks occurring at every level of government, New Mexico Democratic state Sen. Michael Padilla, the Senate majority whip, sponsored legislation in 2023 to create the states office of cybersecurity. As chair of the Senate Science, Technology and Telecommunications Committee for 10 years, he plays a significant role in most of the states cybersecurity legislation. Through the committees work, Padilla says New Mexico is in good shape to fend off cyberattacks and the states cities and counties are joining in. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think New Mexico is in a very good position because what we decided to do by creating that office is to ensure that any transactions that occur with state government here [in New Mexico] have to meet a minimum set of security standards, he said. In Indiana, Republican state Sen. Liz Brown filed legislation that would encourage state agencies and groups to develop cybersecurity policies. The bill was approved by both chambers, with the Senate agreeing to changes sent from the House. You have to protect your infrastructure, Brown said. We dont want utility systems to be shut down. We dont want wastewater or freshwater treatment plants or even the water supply being contaminated or harmed in some way. Our systems all have backups, but even so, we know there are bad actors. Some states are also preparing to reshuffle their offices or create new ones to centralize their cybersecurity efforts. Arkansas, for example, enacted legislation this month to create a new state cybersecurity office, which will monitor the states computer networks and respond to cyberthreats. In Alabama, rather than having information technology people scattered throughout the government, Republican state Rep. Mike Shaw wants cybersecurity personnel centrally managed. Shaws legislation, which passed the House and is currently in the Senate, would give the Alabama Office of Information Technology central authority to maintain the needs of all of the states departments. The centralization would make it easier to pursue cybersecurity initiatives in the future, Shaw said. The federal government is really big, and its really hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution for things like cybersecurity, data privacy and technology in general, Shaw said. So, in some sense, its good that the states are coming up with their own. Stateline reporter Madyson Fitzgerald can be reached at mfitzgerald@stateline.org. 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. VATICAN CITY President Trump has worked aggressively in his second term to tear at the fabric of Americas post-WWII alliance with Europe. But his decision to fly halfway around the world to attend Pope Francis funeral in St. Peters Square Saturday morning a somber affair under brilliant blue skies, the cries of Roman seagulls and the sonorous basilica bells shows the divorce with Europe is not quite final. Europe needs the U.S. and, by extension, Trump, a point underscored by the meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that took place inside St. Peters Basilica on the sidelines of the service. French President Emmanuel Macron and United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer also privately spoke with the pair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump, in turn, needs their attention and affection. Trump had it in spades holding brief court from his front-row seat before the service began, with some prominent dignitaries making a beeline for the president as soon as he entered, a contrast to former President Joe Biden, seated four rows behind Trump, who jovially roved the crowd taking selfies and chatting with other foreign leaders before the event. Indeed, as most other foreign leaders donned funereal black suits, Trump swapped his for a navy blue one and matching tie offering the subtlest pop of color. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hasnt been shy over the last few days in telegraphing her desire for an audience with Trump at the service, quickly swooped in for a few minutes of Trumps time. During the service, Trump and first lady Melania Trump chatted with Estonian President Alar Karis, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb at one point offered the president his water as the unrelenting sun beat down on the square. The only scripture read in English during the service appeared to be at least a subtle rebuke of America First, asserting that faith does not end at the borders of any one country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Truly, I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him, said journalist Kielce Gussie, an American who works at Vatican News, reading from the book of Acts and quoting the apostle Peter. It was emblematic of the unity that Francis so often stressed in his messages, including his last on Easter Sunday, in which he proclaimed, All of us are children of God. It was one of many that rejoined the hardline position on immigration that Trump has taken since he announced his 2015 presidential bid and the increasingly isolationist posture he has taken this term as he slaps massive levies on friends and foes, and axes millions of dollars in foreign aid for nutrition support in Africa, maternal health care in Bangladesh and hospitals serving refugees in Thailand, among other programs. The global vision was also reflected in the more than 250,000 mourners from across the globe who attended the Saturday funeral, along with at least 130 foreign delegations. Tens of thousands more filed into St. Peters Basilica over the last three days to view Francis open casket as he lay in state. Nowhere has the divide between the U.S. and the world been more visible than in Trumps fixation on the wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, which as recently as Friday he told reporters on Air Force One had been solved, without offering further specifics. Francis, in 2016, said that anyone who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet the president has had overwhelming support among Catholics, who have grappled with division in their own church between the more progressive strain reflected in Francis and the more traditionalist wing embraced by Trumps own vice president, JD Vance. Its a split that was reflected earlier this year when Francis pushed back on Vance for his narrow interpretation of the concept of ordo amoris saying that compassion is open to all and should not be narrowly focused on family, community or national identity. Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups, the pope wrote. That Trump would attend Francis funeral was far from a given: He is only the second sitting U.S. president, after President George W. Bush attended Pope John Paul IIs funeral in 2005, to attend a papal funeral. Trump had planned to make a swing through the Middle East his first foreign trip. And a papal funeral is an inherently awkward affair for a man who not only isnt known for his natural embrace of faith but one who has spent much of the last 100 days alienating many of the most prominent dignitaries at the service. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Francis has often been painted as Trumps ultimate foil a man with immense power who instead of wielding it as a sword adopted the posture of a humble servant, lived simply and embraced the most marginalized. At the conclusion of the service, a processional shepherded Francis casket to Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, where he was laid to rest at a quiet gathering of just 40 people including prisoners, the homeless, migrants, prostitutes and transgender people far from the pomp and privilege of St. Peters and the Vatican grottoes, where most popes are buried. Indeed, the show of support Trump received from Catholics in 2024 appeared to be a major driver of the presidents decision to attend Francis funeral. In November, Trump won 59 percent of the Catholic vote, a group he carried with 50 percent support in 2016 and that Biden won with 52 percent in 2020, according to CNN exit polling , a shift due in large part to Trumps dramatic improvement among Latino voters. Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that he was attending out of respect before turning the subject back to himself: You know, I won the Catholic vote. I dont know why we didnt get more, honestly, he said. But we did well with the Catholic vote, and our relationship is very good so therefore I think its appropriate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also has at least a dozen Catholics in top positions in his administration, including Vance. Vance was likely the last major foreign dignitary to meet with Francis on Easter Sunday at the Vatican before he died at age 88 at his home in Casa Santa Marta after a stroke and subsequent heart failure. The vice president called his meeting with Francis a great blessing. "I'm aware that he had some disagreements with some of the policies of our administration. He also had a lot of agreements with some of the policies of our administration," Vance said. I'm not going to soil the man's legacy by talking about politics. At a meeting with Trump and the first lady at the Vatican in 2017, Francis showed how easy it is to tear down walls, even rhetorical ones, between countries when he asked her if she fed the president potica, a traditional baked roll from Slovenia, her homeland. She broke into a grin and the president laughed. Despite signs of a thaw earlier this week, Washington and Beijing are locked in a standoff on tariffs, and global supply chains are feeling the pressure. Disruption from tariffs is occurring at multiple points in commercial supply lines from factory floors in East Asia, through the shipping and transportation industry, at U.S. ports of entry, and by U.S. retailers who are warning of empty shelves. A quick resolution with Beijing, while desirable for U.S. importers, could spell additional interference, as a sudden demand surge would likely bullwhip through the commercial pipeline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Heres a look at what global supply chains are going through as the U.S. and China dig their heels in. On the Chinese factory floor The tariffs are discombobulating Chinese production, with work drying up for some firms as others pick up the slack, supply chain experts told The Hill. The flow of goods is far less predictable, said Sebastien Breteau, the CEO of QIMA, a quality control firm that inspects factories in China. Some suppliers have excess capacity, while others face bottlenecks driven by shifting demand. Breteau said some of his clients are changing their business strategies. Several large Chinese multinationals we work with are actively repositioning. In some cases, theyre even deprioritizing the U.S. market in favor of more globally stable strategies. Tariff uncertainty and regulatory unpredictability are shaping sourcing decisions at the highest levels, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The concerns from businesses are being echoed by the Chinese Communist Party. A readout of the Politburos Friday meeting translated by China expert Bill Bishop said the effects of external shocks are intensifying. It is necessary to strengthen bottom-line thinking [and] fully prepare contingency plans, the readout said. Global shippers seek alternate routes Shipping and logistics experts say theyre seeing supply chains changing in real time as a result of the tariffs. Ocean carriers the people that operate the ships have already started to reposition cargo ships, Ryan Petersen, CEO of logistics platform company Flexport, said Wednesday. Instead of serving China, theyre going down to Vietnam. Theyre picking up new trade routes going from Southeast Asia to Europe or to the US. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cargo insurers have been raising their premiums in response to the tariffs, adding to the costs of global shipping. Cargo insurance premiums are at punishing and unsustainable levels, David Osler wrote for Lloyds List in March. Tariffs are expected to entail broadly commensurate increases in cargo insurance premiums. As premiums have been going up, container freight rates out of Shanghai have been going down for major world ports including Rotterdam, Netherlands; Los Angeles; Genoa, Italy; and New York. Rates to Los Angeles dropped 2 percent to $3,611 per 40-foot container, shipping indexer Drewry reported Thursday. Port flows recall pandemic disruptions Port operators are seeing increased cancellations from client shipping companies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What Im seeing right now is that weve got about 12 canceled or voided sailings for the month of May thats equivalent to all the voids last May at this time, Los Angeles Port director Gene Seroka said earlier this month. Drewry projected a 1 percent decline in world port throughput for the year, which would be only the third time in the companys history that volumes turned negative compared to the previous year. The predicted drop of 1 percent will be roughly on a par with that witnessed in the pandemic year of 2020, when carriers cashed in with record profits, analysts for Lloyds wrote Friday, calling attention to the return of naked protectionism. To manage their inventories, companies are also making use of bonded warehouses, in which their imports can be stored without having to pay tariffs until theyre released to retailers or reexported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bonded facilities are being used in the hopes that Washington and Beijing strike a deal to bring down the 145 percent U.S. tariff on Chinese imports, logistics experts say. People are starting to scramble to move goods into bonded warehouses, Flexports Petersen said. People are feeling paralysis right now if you know the duties are going to come down, the right move is to wait and hold off on shipping new cargo. Retailers put pressure on Trump At the end of the global value chain, retailers are wringing their hands. The heads of U.S. megaretailers Walmart, Home Depot and Target met with President Trump last week, and they warned about empty shelves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the meeting, they spoke about their fears of higher prices for consumers, including during the holiday season at the end of the year, one source told The Hill. In statements provided to The Hill, spokespeople for Target, Walmart and Home Depot all said their meeting with the president was productive. We had a productive meeting with President Trump and our retail peers to discuss the path forward on trade, Target spokesperson Jim Joice said. The National Retail Federation, a major industry lobby, has been railing against the tariffs. Speak out against tariffs, the group says on its website. The administration should avoid tariffs on everyday consumer goods. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite a tonal shift last week in its trade stance toward China and reports that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told financial leaders the trade war was reaching unsustainable levels, Chinese officials Friday threw cold water on the idea that a deal would soon be reached. China and the U.S. are not having any consultation or negotiation on tariffs. The U.S. should stop creating confusion, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun 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 The Hill. Description Attend One of Our Largest Bridal Shows of the Year Sunday, April 27, 12 PM 3:30 PM Atlantis Banquets + Events Aquarium | Ballroom | Hotel 431 East Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901 Discover the epitome of elegance and enchantment at Atlantis Banquets + Events. Located on Long Island's picturesque waterfront, our unique venue offers an unrivaled experience for couples seeking a truly memorable wedding celebration. From our breathtaking waterfront ballroom to the captivating Long Island Aquarium, your love story will unfold amidst tranquil riverside views, and the magic of aquatic wonders. 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Grand Prize from Atlantis Banquets + Events: Overnight Stay at the Hyatt & a Family 4 Pack for the Aquarium! Adirondack Lodge at Schroon Lake: Overnight Stay for Two, and a $100 Gift Certificate for Dinner Grand Prize from Long Island Bridal Expo: Win a 4 day/ 3 night all Inclusive Resort Honeymoon Getaway Offer (Bahamas, Mexico or Dominican Republic) Must be Present to Win Click to Purchase Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-island-bridal-expo-atlantis-super-show-sunday-april-27-2025-tickets-1269567393249?aff=oddtdtcreator President Donald Trump condemned Russia's deadly air strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine. Trump accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "tapping" him along amid fragile peace talks. His comments came hours after meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Pope Francis' funeral. President Donald Trump accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of "tapping me along" amid fragile peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. "There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities, and towns over the last few days," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through 'Banking' or 'Secondary Sanctions?' Too many people are dying!!!" Trump added. Trump's comments came a few hours after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. The two men were photographed sitting across from each other at the funeral of Pope Francis, the 266th head of the Roman Catholic Church. The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy marked their first diplomatic encounter since a tense exchange at the White House two months ago. During the televised disagreement on February 28, Trump told Zelenskyy: "You're either going to make a deal, or we're out." "We discussed a lot one-on-one," Zelenskyy posted on X. "Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional cease-fire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Late Friday, the president posted on Truth Social: "A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to 'finish it off.'" Trump hinted that negotiations were nearing a breakthrough, saying "most of the major points are agreed to," though he didn't provide specifics on the terms. The US president has acknowledged that the peace talks have become "very fragile" and warned that the US will halt its mediation efforts if they fail to reach an agreement. US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet ahead of Pope Francis' funeral. Office of the President of Ukraine via Getty Images Ongoing peace negotiations During his election campaign in 2023, Trump pledged to "settle" the war within the first 24 hours as president. However, negotiations are still ongoing as Ukrainians, Russians, Americans, and Europeans fail to come to a consensus on the terms of the deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump demanded on April 23 that Ukraine allow Russia the territories it has gained since the invasion. The US also proposed a plan that prevents Ukraine from NATO membership, a rare earths deal, and for Ukraine to accept Russia's annexation of Crimea, per The New York Times. Ukraine rejected the proposal to accept Russia's annexation, which has become a key issue in the negotiations. Zelenskyy said Ukraine will not concede any territory to Russia. "The United States rejects Russia's attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine's territorial integrity is restored," Zelenskyy wrote in an April 23 post on X. On April 24, Russian forces launched deadly missile and drone strikes against Kyiv, killing at least 12 people and injuring 90. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a rare rebuke against Putin, Trump condemned the strikes in a post on Truth Social, saying he is "not happy with the Russian strikes on Kyiv." "Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!" Trump wrote, "5000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the Peace Deal DONE!" On April 1, US senators introduced legislation that would authorize sanctions against Russia if the country refuses to maintain a peace deal and engage in peace talks. "The sanctions against Russia require tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other products," the senators said in a statement. "They are hard-hitting for a reason." But it is unclear if Trump intends to impose new sanctions. Read the original article on Business Insider President Trump said Saturday that American commercial and military ships should not have to pay to travel through the Panama Canal and Suez Canal. American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America, Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social. The president added that he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment. Trump has been saying for months that he wants to take back the Panama Canal from Panama, claiming the trade route is controlled by China. He has not ruled out using military actions to take over the canal and told reporters in January, before being sworn in as president, that the passageway is needed for economic security. Panamas President Jose Raul Mulino has continuously said the canal will remain under the countrys control. The Central American country has had control of the canal since 1999. During his visit to Panama earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. and Panama will work side-by-side to take back the canal from Chinas influence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also said Saturday that U.S. military and commercial vessels should be able to travel through the Suez Canal, a waterway in Egypt, free of charge. The canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and divides Asia and Africa, has been operational since late 1869. It represents a key trade route between Asia and countries in Europe. American naval ships regularly pass through the Suez Canal. Global trade has been slowed down in recent months with continuous attacks on ships by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Between 12 and 15 percent of the global trade passes through the canal annually. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The extent to which the Trump administration has gone to strong-arm the worlds wealthiest university into abiding by its wishes has sent shockwaves through higher education. But the actions taken thus far against Harvard University and other academic institutions across the country were essentially laid out two years ago in Project 2025, a 900-plus page master plan of sorts that reenvisions a federal government with expanded presidential power. Though President Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the controversial conservative initiative while on the campaign trail, many of his moves related to higher education in recent months have come straight from it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Project 2025 is being carried out in almost every aspect of the Trump attacks on higher education, said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and a former president at Mount Holyoke College. Published in April 2023 by the Heritage Foundation a nonprofit whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies Project 2025 proposed some of the following in its blueprint for higher education: Trump has gotten the wheels turning on nearly all of those stated objectives. The administration also carried out mass student visa revocations, and later decided to reverse them after weeks of scrutiny from courts and several restraining orders. Still, the future of international students at American colleges and universities remains uncertain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Harvard has a $53 billion endowment. Could it be a weapon in its fight against Trump? One of Trumps proposals includes creating the American Academy, a federally funded online university that awards a bachelors degree, as an affordable alternative to a traditional four-year college degree, according to his website. It would be paid for by institutions like Harvard University by taxing, fining and suing selective institutions endowments. Harvard has the worlds largest higher education endowment at $53.2 billion. Trump and Harvard are currently in the midst of a historic showdown. Last week, Harvard sued the Trump administration after it threatened to pull $9 billion in federal funding unless the university agreed to a series of demands ordered in the name of addressing antisemitism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sending a wave of resistance through higher education, Harvard said it would not comply with the demands. No government regardless of which party is in power should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue, Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to the school community. Harvard University Provost (now President) Alan Garber applauds during commencement exercises in May 2015.AP Photo/Steven Senne While the Trump administration is positioning its actions against colleges and universities as a quest to clamp down on antisemitism, this was not something that came as a result of the attacks on Israel by Hamas, this was something that they said they were going to engage in years before, Pasquerella said, citing Project 2025. Some higher education leaders took the documents contents seriously when it was first published, she said, though they didnt necessarily anticipate what has actually come to fruition. Others viewed it as a worst-case scenario, and thus, have been shocked. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This couldnt even have been imagined, that this kind of attack on higher education would be leveled, Pasquerella said. Growing resentment toward higher ed predates Trump Bruce Kimball, emeritus academy professor at Ohio State University and co-author of Wealth, Cost, and Price in American Higher Education, said Trump is far from being the architect of whats transpiring between the federal government and the higher education establishment. He cited growing disdain and resentment, specifically toward the countrys wealthiest and most elite universities, that took root in the 1980s and has mounted since. As endowments increased, so did the cost of a college education and student debt. What were now seeing, this attack by the Trump administration, draws on 30 or 40 years of growing resentment in the public, said Kimball, who holds two degrees from Harvard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ryan Wells, a professor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said the sheer cost of colleges and universities alone makes people feel resentment toward them. The authors of Project 2025 capitalized on the snowballing narrative pushed by members of the Republican Party that higher education institutions have become liberal bastions that espouse anti-American teachings. A woman holds a Project 2025 fan in the group's tent at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, whos led the national movement opposing critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), says colleges and universities should reform, or lose funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration has a once-in-a-generation chance to reform higher education, he co-wrote in a February blog post titled How Trump Can Make Universities Great Again. He went on to write that higher education institutions have devolved into left-wing propaganda factories and abandoned the pursuit of knowledge. These schools posture as though their position is untouchable, but their business model is nearly entirely reliant on federal largesse, Rufo wrote. Demanding that universities behave in a manner worthy of their unique financial and cultural position is long overdue. Why Project Esther matters, too UMass Amherst professors Jennifer Lundquist and Kathy Roberts Forde are among faculty members who recently organized a letter signed by approximately 5,000 people at universities and colleges across the country calling for higher education to stand together. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal government is inserting itself into higher education in a way weve never seen before, Lundquist said. They, too, see the fingerprints of Project 2025 on nearly every decision Trump is handing down. Project 2025 is one of the playbooks and a pretty powerful one at that, said Roberts Forde, who cited what she views as being at the heart of the hard-right initiative: maintaining dominance and control of information. The University of Massachusetts Amherst: The commonwealth's flagship campus sign on Butterfield Terrace on Aug. 3, 2024.(Kalina Kornacki) Lundquist said perhaps equally as important as Project 2025, but not receiving nearly the same attention, is Project Esther, another publication by the Heritage Foundation that came out last October before the election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Project Esther describes the pro-Palestinian movement as a Hamas support network thats disrupting the American education system. It advertises its contents as a national strategy to combat antisemitism. It lays out a blueprint for exactly whats happening around the weaponization of antisemitism, Lundquist said. The Boston Globe recently interviewed Jewish students and recent graduates at Harvard University about how they see antisemitism manifesting on campus. The response was nuanced: While theyre concerned about antisemitism, many said they are far more worried about the Trump administrations actions against higher education institutions. UMass Amherst was included on the list of 60 universities the Department of Education released in March, announcing investigations into whether the schools have failed to meet their obligations to Jewish students under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other schools in Massachusetts included on the list were Boston University, Tufts University, Emerson College, Harvard University and Wellesley College. Being named beside Harvard means the schools futures are closely intertwined. What happens to one could likely happen to the rest. Harvard is the test case, Roberts Forde said. If the federal government can bring Harvard to its knees, then there goes higher education. Were watching really closely what Harvard is doing and were hoping they stay the course and continue filing lawsuits. MassLive reporter Juliet Schulman-Hall contributed to this story. More higher ed Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump and his administration this week will highlight the accomplishments of his first 100 days in office, while looking toward the next 100 days with a focus on trade deals and peace talks, White House officials said. After a pace of changes that have thrilled allies and stunned adversaries, including in social policy areas such as transgender rights, one official said Trump has "torpedoes" in store but did not explain what those were. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has enacted sweeping changes on a wide range of U.S. domestic and foreign policy priorities since taking office on January 20. He has upended the world economic order with tariffs, slashed the federal government with job cuts and done away with diversity programs in the public and private sector. He has also attacked academia, law firms and courts. This week, Trump plans to travel to Michigan for a rally to commemorate the 100-day milestone. The White House intends to highlight his economic vision, ejection of undocumented immigrants, changes to foreign policy, and work by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to purge the federal bureaucracy and cut what it sees as waste. Celebrating those moves will be part of a broad victory lap around Trump's second-term launch that the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described to reporters as a conservative's fantasy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Every morning I wake up, its like living in a dreamscape," he said. While Trump officials laud the speed and breadth of his efforts to remake American society, critics say Trump has trampled on the rights of citizens and non-citizens, alienated allies and threatened U.S. supremacy in the world. The president has withheld funding from universities for what his administration considers tolerance of anti-Semitic behavior; cut back on transgender rights; and done away with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government and with federal contractors. This has had a broad knock-on effect throughout U.S. society. The official said there is more to come, with lots of torpedoes under the water." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That includes more executive action, a hallmark of Trump's first 100 days, which the official said would continue like a "snowball rolling downhill." He said the administration was still working on a travel ban for citizens from multiple countries. Courts have stymied some of Trump's actions, drawing scorn from his allies and White House rebukes that those judges are thwarting the will of the head of the executive branch and the people who elected him. While Trump will continue to wage war with the courts and a government bureaucracy that his team views as too bloated and out of line with his world view, another official said he would put more focus in his next 100 days on trade deals and peace talks. The president launched an all-out trade war on numerous countries this year before putting reciprocal tariffs largely on hold to allow for negotiations with individual nations. His administration hopes to secure agreements within 90 days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts say that is extremely unlikely, noting that Trump has not yet secured a single deal. His rhetoric about talks, particularly with China, has often been at odds with what the other country says is true. The president will take an extended trip abroad next month, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and continue to push for peace in Russia's war with Ukraine. Trump had promised to solve that conflict on "Day One," but peace has been elusive. The president conceded on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin may not want to stop the war. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve HollandEditing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio) Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard defended the Trump administrations use of Signal while also taking aim at Biden-era officials for doing exactly the same in an interview Friday. Limited use of end-to-end encrypted apps like Signal is not only authorized under this administration, it was used prolifically under the Biden administration as well, Gabbard said on Fox & Friends. She added the platform remains the most secure form of communication provided its not used to communicate classified information before going on to claim she had been told by people who have first-hand experience that Biden administration officials like former National Security Adviser and ex-Secretary of State Jake Sullivan and Antony Blinken communicated prolifically and in great detail using the Signal app. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Which is interesting, she went on. Because the Democrats on the committee and the people whove been talking about this have never questioned or acknowledged that fact, even though we know that they know. Her comments come hot on the heels of a raft of embarrassing Signal-related leaks and blunders over the past few weeks. The so-called Signalgate scandal first broke last month after The Atlantics editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was accidentally added to a group chat on the messaging platform in which 17 top members of the Trump administrationincluding Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Gabbard herselfshared highly sensitive details of imminent missile strikes against Yemen. In the weeks since, it has also emerged that Hegseth communicated further details of those plans to his lawyer, brother, and wife via another secret group chat on the app, in addition to having bypassed Pentagon security protocols to install the messaging platform on his office computer. Its just practical, Gabbard said of the White Houses continued use of the app. We have to be able to communicate, and that is the most secure way to communicate. Obviously, carefully, limited, but we have to have options. The U.S. Government has issued travel warnings for 10 different countries in April. Travel warnings are issued by the U.S. Government on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Some months, only one or two warnings get issued. Other months, you can have 10-plus travel warnings issued. The warnings range from Level 1 - Exercise Normal Precuations - to Level 4 - Do Not Travel. So far this month, in April, the U.S. Government has issued 10 different travel warnings for various countries, ranging from Level 1 to Level 4. Passengers wait at the counter of American Airlines for their flight at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai on April 17, 2025. HECTOR RETAMAL/Getty Images The 10 different countries that have received travel warnings by the U.S. Government are: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Uganda Morocco The Kyrgyz Republic Bangladesh Colombia Burkina Faso Serbia Ghana Kuwait El Salvador Only one of the 10 countries received a Level 4 Do Not Travel warning - Burkina Faso. "Do not travel to Burkina Faso for any reason due to terrorism, crime, and kidnapping," the alert states. "Terrorists may attack anywhere with little or no warning and may utilize various tactics including the use of common, commercially available items or the use of kidnapping for ransom." The alert states that targets in country could include: Hotels Restaurants Police stations Customs offices Areas at or near mining sites Places of worship Military posts Schools Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. Government is unable to provide assistance to most people in the country due to safety reasons. "Due to the risks, the U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in most of the country. U.S. government employees working in Burkina Faso are prohibited from traveling to regions outside the capital due to security concerns," the alert states. "Due to a historically high crime rate, the U.S. Embassy discourages U.S. government personnel from nighttime travel to the Balkiui and Rayongo (also known as Dayongo) neighborhoods of Ouagadougous Arrondissement 11." There are three countries that received Level 3 Reconsider Travel warnings, including: Uganda, Bangladesh and Colombia. Related: U.S. Issues 'Serious' Travel Warnings for Two Countries UK Defence Intelligence has devoted its latest update on the Russo-Ukrainian war to Moscow's recruitment of foreigners for the war against Ukraine. Source: UK Defence Intelligence update on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: UK intelligence reported that, according to a recent study by Russian media outlet Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories), Russia recruited over 1,500 foreign nationals in Moscow to participate in the war between April 2023 and the end of May 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The majority of volunteers reportedly came from South and East Asia (771 people), followed by former Soviet republics (523 people) and Africa (72 people). UK intelligence suggests that the recruitment of foreign nationals into the Russian military is largely unsystematic. The update emphasises that most are motivated by financial incentives and the potential for Russian citizenship. "It is likely that many foreign nationals are recruited through Moscow due to the city's higher signing-on bonuses, and relative international accessibility," the update says. UK intelligence added that foreigners likely represent only a small proportion of the total number of recruits in the Russian Armed Forces, with the primary focus remaining on domestic recruitment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Nonetheless, some recruitment of foreign nationals will almost certainly continue in the medium term as Russia maintains its current recruitment strategy, intended to replace heavy battlefield losses without resorting to a second wave of mobilisation," the update concluded. Background: UK Defence Intelligence devoted its previous Russo-Ukrainian war update to Moscow's latest large-scale missile attack on Ukraine. Meanwhile, Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre believes that Russia is continuing its war of attrition, depleting Ukraine's military resources, with no signs of preparations for a potential truce. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! In the coming days, cardinals will converge in the Vatican to choose the next head of the Catholic Church. Pope Francis, who died on April 21 at the age of 88, was lauded by his supporters as a reformer who infused the church with compassion and humanity but his legacy in Ukraine is far more complex. The first Latin American pontiff's statements on the Russia-Ukraine war were often seen as relativizing the aggressor's responsibility. His description of Ukrainians and Russians as "brothers" was perceived as painfully out of touch amid Moscow's brutal war and the war crimes that it had committed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next person to sit on the papal throne will play a decisive role in how the Catholic Church reconciles with the moral, social, and political impacts of the largest war in Europe since World War II. The results of the conclave a voting process set to begin 15-20 days after the pope's death, with 135 eligible cardinal electors are famously hard to predict. Yet some cardinals, the so-called papabili, stand out as likely successors to Pope Francis. While by no means a complete list of potential candidates, this summary zeroes in on those notable for their views or actions regarding Ukraine, Russia, or ties to relevant political players. Read also: Pope Francis leaves a mixed legacy in wartime Ukraine, overshadowed by historic Vatican-Moscow ties Pietro Parolin: Seasoned diplomat who 'knows Ukraine' Pietro Parolin, 70, is often named the front-runner to succeed Pope Francis. The Italian cardinal served until recently as the Vatican's secretary of state, the Church's most powerful political role, overseeing its diplomatic affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Often described as a moderate centrist, Parolin has 30 years of diplomatic service under his sleeve, leading the Church's diplomatic outreach to anti-religious regimes in China, Vietnam, and Venezuela. Parolin's 2017 diplomatic mission to Russia, during which he met Russian President Vladimir Putin at his Sochi residence, stirred controversy. Critics said the visit helped Moscow score diplomatic points while having little effect on its actual policies. Still, Ukrainian observers have evaluated the cardinal more positively since the start of Russia's all-out war. Andrii Yurash, Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, described him as a man who knows the country "very well" and who "made an extraordinary effort to ensure that the Ukrainian position is supported by the Holy See in various ways." The Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin attends a mass for Palm Sunday in St Peter's square in the Vatican on April 13, 2025. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images) Parolin has repeatedly supported Ukraine's right to defend itself against Russia's aggression and argued that sending arms to the besieged country is morally legitimate. He has also visited Ukraine during the full-scale war, meeting political and religious leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Talking about U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to broker peace, the cardinal urged an end to the fighting but warned: "Peace cannot be imposed, it is built patiently, day after day, with dialogue and mutual respect." "It is up to the Ukrainians themselves to decide what they want to negotiate about or, possibly, concede," he told La Repubblica. Anatolii Babynskyi, a Church historian at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, noted that Parolin has spoken more decisively and clearly on Ukraine than Pope Francis. "I think that he (Parolin) understands what is happening in Ukraine, and he understands the threat of Russian aggression against Ukraine for Europe and the whole world, for the international order," Babynskyi told the Kyiv Independent. Matteo Zuppi: Pope Francis's peace envoy Matteo Zuppi, the 69-year-old archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian bishops' conference, is another Italian papabile with experience with Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The reform-minded progressive is often viewed as the most likely candidate to continue the late pope's direction, with Babynskyi referring to him as "(Pope) Francis's man." In 2023, Francis appointed Zuppi his Ukraine peace envoy, tasking him to "ease tensions" by facilitating the release of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and a prisoner exchange. This undertaking brought the cardinal to Ukraine, where he met President Volodymyr Zelensky. Italian Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi reacts during a ceremony inside St Peter's Basilica following the procession of the late Pope's coffin from the chapel of Santa Marta to St Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican on April 23, 2025. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images) He has also repeatedly traveled to Moscow for talks with high-level Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Moscow Patriarch Kirill, or Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official under an ICC warrant over her role in the children's abductions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zuppi has urged intensified peace efforts, saying that the "war is a pandemic" that "involves us all," pointing to Russia's invasion's global impacts, for example, on food security. However, one source of Ukrainian frustration with Zuppi is his ties to the Community of Sant'Egidio, a lay Catholic group engaged in global peace initiatives and humanitarian work. "This community has very close ties with the Moscow Patriarchate and, personally, with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Metropolitan Alfeyev," Babynskyi said, noting that the organization has been reluctant to name Russia as the aggressor and urged non-violent resistance on Ukraine's part. Peter Erdo: Orban's ally Peter Erdo is the 72-year-old archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and primate of Hungary, considered one of the foremost candidates of the church's conservative wing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His hardline views on same-sex unions and migration put him in ideological proximity to Hungary's strongman, Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Cardinal Erdo has largely refrained from criticizing Orban over democratic backsliding and rule-of-law concerns including the controversial 2021 anti-LGBT law resembling Russian legislation. Observers have also noted Orban's Fidesz party's efforts to boost Erdo's candidacy, and Orban himself has praised the Hungarian cardinal. Pope Francis greets archbishop of Budapest cardinal Peter Erdo as he arrives at Budapest airport on April 28, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. P(Vatican Media Vatican Pool/Getty Images) Proximity to Orban would not be a positive signal for Ukraine, as the Hungarian leader has been the most vocal opponent of Western aid for Kyiv and an advocate for reconciliation with Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet, Erdo has avoided commenting on the war in strong terms, preferring to keep a low profile in the media. His message was usually that of reconciliation between Ukraine and Russia. "The news of the war that broke out a year ago and went on all this year means a lot of sadness for us," Erdo said in an interview in 2023. "We also regularly hold peace processions and have consecrated Ukraine and Russia to Our Lady, as the Holy Father had invited us to do." Erdo has also strongly advocated for dialogue between the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Christians, being described as a "bridge between West and East." Raymond Leo Burke: Trump-aligned arch-conservative Raymond Leo Burke, 76, is a U.S. cardinal considered the ideological nemesis of late Pope Francis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wisconsin native who served as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 2014 to 2023 has sharply criticized Francis's liberal views on LGBT unions and other social issues. Burke is a fervent opponent of abortion and said former U.S. President Joe Biden should not be allowed to receive Holy Communion over his pro-abortion policies. The U.S. cardinal also has a penchant for conspiracy theories, once saying that the Covid-19 pandemic has been used by "certain forces ... to advance their evil agenda," and he criticized vaccinations. Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke takes part in the national demonstration for life and against abortion on May 19, 2018 in Rome, Italy. (Antonio Masiello/Getty Images) His views positioned him quite clearly on the U.S. political map. Burke has endorsed Trump for the 2016 and 2020 elections based on the latter's supposed "great disposition" towards the Church's moral guidelines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has ended Biden's decisively pro-Ukraine policy, refusing to approve additional military aid for Kyiv in the name of ceasefire talks. His peace efforts have largely favored Russia, offering Moscow significant concessions while exerting considerable pressure on Kyiv to accept it. Robert Sarah: 'Anti-woke pope' admiring Russian Orthodoxy Robert Sarah, the 79-year-old prelate from Guinea, is one of the several papabili hailing from the African continent. While not seen as the most likely successor to the papal seat, Sarah has caught the attention of the online right-wing crowd with his firmly conservative views on issues ranging from migration to secularism. His writings often warn against the decay of Western society due to the abandonment of its Christian roots at times looking for inspiration to the Russian Orthodoxy. "In Russia, the Orthodox Church has to a great extent resumed its pre-1917 role as the moral foundation of society," reads a passage in The Day is Now Far Spent, a 2019 book Sarah co-authored with French journalist and writer Nicolas Diat. Cardinal Robert Sarah leaves after attending the third General Congregation of Cardinals at the Vatican, on April 24, 2025. (Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images) "This arouses political opposition, but also a deep hatred on the part of the post-Christian elites of the West, not only vis-a-vis Russia, but also against the Russian Orthodox Church and, by extension, against Orthodox Christianity itself." The passages preceded Russia's full-scale invasion but came after Moscow illegally occupied Crimea and instigated a war in Ukraine's east. "The overtly political attack that aims to pit Ukraine against the Russian Orthodox Church under the authority of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a dangerous, stupid provocation." Patriarch Kirill has openly supported Russia's aggression in Ukraine, and numerous testimonies point to Moscow carrying out repressions against Ukrainian religious communities in the occupied territories. Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle: A progressive who ran humanitarian aid for Ukraine Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, a 67-year-old Filipino cardinal, is frequently cited as one of the leading candidates for the papacy. Should he be selected, he would make history as the first Asian pope. Tagle is seen as a progressive focused on social issues and pastoral work rather than theological matters. He has his foot in several dicasteries and curias, including the Dicastery for Evangelization. As the former head of Caritas Internationalis, the church-run network of humanitarian aid organizations, Tagle oversaw efforts that provided relief to some 160,000 people in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees abroad at the start of Russia's all-out invasion in 2022. Nevertheless, Tagle has been restrained in his commentary on the war, turning to general phrases about suffering and war rather than denunciations of the aggressor. Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle attends a rosary prayer at Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome on April 24, 2025. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images) When a Russian tank shell killed two Ukrainian Caritas workers and their five family members in besieged Mariupol, Tagle expressed "deep sadness and shock" and urged "the international community to exert every effort to bring this violence to an end, to return to dialogue." Tagle did not oversee Caritas' work in Ukraine for long. In November 2022, Pope Francis dismissed him and the entire staff amid accusations of poor management that affected "team spirit and staff morale." There are other prospective papabili, including the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, Ghanaian Prelate Peter Turkson, and others. Whoever is chosen as the next pope will become the guiding voice for 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, shaping their understanding of today's challenges, including Russia's war on Ukraine. Read also: Ukraine to continue fighting with or without Trump, experts say Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The April 26 meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vatican has raised hopes among Ukraine and its European allies that a just end to Russia's full-scale invasion can still be achieved. "Ending the war in Ukraine this is the goal we share with President Trump," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on April 26. Zelensky and Trump were among the many leaders who arrived in Vatican City to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after suffering a stroke, at the age of 88. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House described the meeting as a "very productive discussion," while Zelensky also called it a "good meeting," noting that they discussed "a lot one-on-one." In a Truth Social post published shortly after he met with Zelensky in the Vatican, Trump said that "there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days." Russia has intensified its strikes against civilian areas in Ukraine as Trump pushes for a peace deal, with a Russian attack killing at least 12 civilians and injuring around 90 in Kyiv on April 24. "It makes me think that maybe he doesnt want to stop the war, hes just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through banking or secondary sanctions?" Trump added, in a dramatic shift in tone to recent statements which have generally been viewed as being favorable to the Kremlin and in line with its interests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the brief meeting with Trump, Zelensky also met with several European officials, including Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. "Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire. President Zelensky reaffirmed it to me today. He wishes to work alongside the Americans and the Europeans to make it happen," Macron wrote on X. "It is now up to President Putin to prove that he truly wants peace." Macron also added that France and its partners would continue working through the so-called coalition of the willing, launched in Paris in March, to push for "both a ceasefire and a full, lasting peace in Ukraine." Very positive exchange today with President @ZelenskyyUa in Rome. Ending the war in Ukraine this is the goal we share with President Trump. Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire. President Zelensky reaffirmed it to me today. pic.twitter.com/7HL2LWnAlG Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 26, 2025 According to Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, it was an "important meeting" because the problem has always been in the lack of "direct contact" between Zelensky and Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump and Zelensky have not met in person since a tense February meeting in the Oval Office, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized Zelensky for what they called a lack of gratitude for U.S. support in Ukraines fight against Russia. Merezhko called their meeting a "good sign" and a "restoration of this direct dialogue between them, which paves the way for more thorough and more detailed meetings in the future." "Its important even psychologically because so far, Trump views the war through the eye of (U.S. Special Envoy Steve) Witkoff, whom he trusts. Witkoff tends to share Putins viewpoint and promote Putins narrative, which is so dangerous," Merezhko told the Kyiv Independent. Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on April 25. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And even though they only spoke for a few moments, Trump's tone changed immediately, and based on his tweet, he began to realize that Putin can not be trusted," Merezhko said. "We need more direct contact; otherwise, people like Whitkoff will prevail and have more influence over Trump's decisions." But on a more cautious note, Yelyzaveta Yasko, a lawmaker from the Servant of the People party, told the Kyiv Independent the meeting was "symbolic" but "I would not call it positive." "There was noting concrete (agreed), it was just a photo," she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In an interview with Polish media Polsat News published on April 26, Polish President Andrzej Duda also said he hoped the meeting had a "specific spirit that could inspire new solutions and ideas that would help end this war." "It is in the interests of Poland and the Poles that this war ends with a just peace, which will also give us a guarantee of peace, so that we can truly develop peacefully, without fear that someone will attack us," he added. Addressing Zelensky following their meeting, von der Leyen reaffirmed Europe's support for Ukraine to end Russia's war against Ukraine, saying, "Europe will always stand by Ukraine in the pursuit of peace." "You can count on our support at the negotiating table to achieve a just and lasting peace," she said. Dear @ZelenskyyUa, Europe will always stand by Ukraine in the pursuit of peace. You can count on our support at the negotiating table to achieve a just and lasting peace. Today, we also discussed the steps Ukraine is taking to earn its place in our family of nations. pic.twitter.com/T8jXnEMbqu Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 26, 2025 Estonian President Alar Karis, who said he spoke with Trump directly following the funeral, told the regional media outlet ERR that Trump has promised not to withdraw as a mediator in Russia's war against Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Karis said he asked Trump directly about the progress of the peace talks. According to Karis, Trump promised that the U.S. would continue to work towards a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. "I asked him how the peace process was going and asked him to do everything to ensure that the process continued, so that the U.S. did not withdraw," Karis told ERR. "He promised to do so and said that we were quite close to a solution, since he had just met with Zelensky." Ukraines Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that "no words are needed to describe the importance of this historic meeting." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Two leaders working for peace in St. Peters Basilica," Sybiha wrote. "Hoping for results on everything we covered," Zelensky said after the meeting. No words are needed to describe the importance of this historic meeting. Two leaders working for peace in St. Peters Basilica. pic.twitter.com/drpwPzM4wN Andrii Sybiha (@andrii_sybiha) April 26, 2025 "Protecting the lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results." Read also: From Ukraine envoy to Orbans ally: Who will sit on papal throne Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. China, Kyrgyzstan agree to support free trade, uphold multilateralism Xinhua) 14:16, April 27, 2025 Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Jeenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 27 (Xinhua) -- China and Kyrgyzstan on Saturday agreed to support free trade, safeguard international rules and protect their respective legitimate rights and regional interests. As close neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, China and Kyrgyzstan have always treated each other with trust and sincerity and are reliable and trustworthy brothers and partners, said visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Jeenbek Kulubaev. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, bilateral relations have developed rapidly, said Wang, noting that the two countries are working together to build a community of shared future featuring good-neighborliness and mutual prosperity. China firmly supports Kyrgyzstan in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, strongly opposes any external interference in Kyrgyzstan's internal affairs under any pretext, said Wang, voicing confidence that Kyrgyzstan will continue to support China's legitimate position on issues concerning its core interests. Wang also expressed willingness to work with Kyrgyzstan to follow through on the consensus reached by the two heads of state, maintain high-level exchanges, deepen strategic mutual trust, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation so as to deliver more benefits to the people of both countries and the region. For his part, Kulubaev said that Japarov's successful visit to China in February has injected strong new momentum into Kyrgyz-Chinese relations, expressing thanks to China for its strong support for Kyrgyzstan's economic and social development. Kyrgyzstan is willing to work with China to follow the guidance of the two heads of state, deepen the good-neighborly friendships and build a Kyrgyzstan-China community with a shared future, he said. During the meeting, the two sides reviewed key Belt and Road cooperation projects, agreed to steadily advance the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, further explore areas of common interest, enrich the content of bilateral relations and facilitate people-to-people exchanges. Kulubaev noted that China has become Kyrgyzstan's largest trade and economic partner and that Kyrgyzstan welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest and operate in the country and is committed to providing a favorable business environment. On tariff issues, both sides agreed that upholding multilateralism is the greatest common ground and stressed the importance of strengthening coordination and jointly addressing challenges. They discussed enhancing cooperation within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Kyrgyz side expressed support for China's chairmanship of the SCO and the upcoming summit to be held in northern China's Tianjin later this year. Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, meets with Jeenbek Kulubaev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) While most of the U.S. stock market has struggled so far in 2025, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A)(NYSE: BRK.B) has been heading in the opposite, more positive, direction. Of the seven American companies with at least a trillion-dollar market cap, Berkshire Hathaway is the only one up in 2025. Led by Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway's success against the struggles of the broader stock market seems right on course. Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire Hathaway since 1965, steering it through some of the best and worst times the U.S. stock market has encountered, and this seems no different. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue With Berkshire Hathaway up 12% year to date (as of April 22), investors could be wondering if the stock is a buy or if they missed the train. Luckily, there are still a lot of positives ahead for the company. Berkshire Hathaway's insurance business is in good hands A lot of attention is paid to Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio and investment moves, but its insurance business, which includes GEICO, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group, continues to thrive. In 2024, Berkshire Hathaway's insurance business earned $88.7 billion in premiums, up from $85.4 billion in 2023. Similar to dividends, insurance premiums give Berkshire Hathaway a steady and reliable income source. This is right on par with the company's preference for owning cash-generating businesses. Owning insurance businesses also gives Berkshire Hathaway a unique advantage because of its float. In insurance, float is money received from premiums that haven't been paid out in claims, and Berkshire Hathaway's sits at a massive $171 billion. This is low-cost capital that can be invested and used to make more money. Berkshire Hathaway makes billions in its sleep More than half of the companies in Berkshire Hathaway's stock portfolio pay dividends, providing guaranteed income. It's not a small amount of dividend income Berkshire Hathaway receives, either; it's billions per quarter. For perspective, Berkshire Hathaway will likely receive around $6 billion in dividends in 2025. For perspective, that would exceed IBM's profits from 2024. And it comes with much less work, that's for sure. From just its stake in Coca-Cola and Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway will receive over $450 million the next time these companies pay dividends. This is easy money that's all but guaranteed and makes Berkshire Hathaway one of the largest cash cows on the market. Ukraine has been left one step away from catastrophic nuclear meltdowns because of Russian bombardments of its atomic power stations, the nations energy minister has warned. Missile attacks on the three nuclear power stations left under Ukrainian control, as well as their associated substations, cables and cooling equipment, are putting Europe at risk of a cloud of nuclear radiation escaping into the atmosphere, according to German Galushchenko, who oversees Ukraines energy systems. Russia has been attacking the substations supplying independent cooling power to the nuclear station. So when there is destruction of these power supplies, the nuclear units go into an emergency shutdown regime, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The electricity for cooling then has to be supplied by a reserve diesel generator but this is dangerous [because reserve generators can fail]. We have been one step short of a nuclear meltdown many times now. Mr Galushchenkos warning came after attending a global energy summit in London last week, where he compared the potential impact of such a meltdown with Japans nuclear catastrophe of 2011, when an earthquake severed the back-up power lines to the Fukushima nuclear power station. A nuclear meltdown in Ukraine would be similar to the 2011 disaster in Fukushima, according to German Galushchenko - Noboru Hashimoto/Corbis via Getty Images Fukushimas back-up diesel generators were then destroyed by a tsunami linked to the same earthquake, meaning there was no reserve cooling power. The result was an explosion and release of a giant radiation cloud. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Galushchenko warned that Russian bombardments of Ukraines nuclear stations risked triggering exactly the same train of events and has raised his concerns in confidential warnings to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He and his staff have even begun holding training exercises to deal with such an event, using weather and wind forecasts to work out which parts of Europe could be affected. Each time it depends on, on the humidity and the winds as to how far this cloud of radiation could go, but they include central Europe, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and of course Ukraine. Its a horrible story, he said. Playing with fire Europe has already experienced two such disasters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An explosion at the Russian-run Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine in 1986 sent a plume of radioactivity across Western Europe including the UK. Rainfall then deposited radioactive dust across upland areas of Wales, Cumbria, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where grazing sheep became so radioactive they were deemed too dangerous to eat. A similar disaster occurred at the UKs own Windscale plant now renamed Sellafield in 1957 contaminating much of northern England, and forcing a ban on milk production because it had become radioactive. Ukraine has four nuclear power plants with a total of 15 operating reactors, plus adjacent stockpiles of used fuel rods and other radioactive waste. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two are in the west Khmelnytskyi and Rivne while the third is in the South, north of Odesa and nearer the front lines. Zaporizhzhia, the furthest east, has already been captured by the Russians, but is still close to the front lines with multiple reports of drone and artillery attacks around the reactors and waste stores. The IAEA has issued multiple warnings about the risk of a nuclear disaster caused by the Ukraine conflict, reporting drone attacks on the south Ukraine plant and another at Zaporizhzhia that punched a hole in a radioactive waste store. It has also been co-ordinating deliveries of safety equipment from across the EU and the UK in preparation for any disaster, warning two weeks ago: At Ukraines nuclear sites, frequent air raid alarms and the sound of explosions in the distance continued to highlight persistent risks to nuclear safety. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director general, issued a further warning. What was once virtually unimaginable evidence of military action in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility has become a near daily occurrence and a regular part of life at Europes largest nuclear power plant, he said. From a nuclear safety perspective, this is clearly not a sustainable situation. We are doing everything we can to prevent a nuclear accident during this tragic war, Mr Galushchenko has told the IAEA that Russias attacks are setting the stage for a European-wide nuclear catastrophe and that such an event would also risk killing off any hopes of a renaissance for nuclear energy in Europe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I have discussed this many times with the IAEAs board of governors where there is a Russian delegate also present, but the Russians always say that nuclear power stations are legitimate targets, he said. We are here [in London] to discuss the global renaissance of the nuclear industry because it is low-carbon energy. But if an accident like this happens it could stop the renaissance. Totally stop. So this is an issue not just for Ukraine its a game of fire which the Russians are playing. Relentless attacks Mr Galushchenko, 51, trained as a lawyer and economist before becoming Ukraines energy minister in 2021, prior to Russias invasion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike his boss, Volodymyr Zelensky, he makes a point of wearing immaculate suits to international meetings but he also has come too close to the conflict for comfort. We were visiting a power site for one meeting and delayed the time by half an hour [for security reasons] and the venue was hit by a missile. We were so lucky, he said. The Russians mostly use ballistic missiles, and there is very short time between launching and impact they are very quick. So there is often no chance to run. German Galushchenko, the Ukrainian energy minister, was himself minutes away from being hit by a missile strike - Chris J Ratcliffe/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Others have not been so lucky. We have had more than 160 of our energy staff killed and more than 300 wounded, when they are doing their jobs, Mr Galushchenko added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest tactic is they attack, wait for us to start repairs and then attack a second time in the same place, knowing that the [civilian] repair brigades are there. The scale of attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure is huge. Since 2022 Russia has seized 18 gigawatts (GW) of Ukraines original 58GW of power generation capacity. This includes six thermal power plants as well as Zaporizhzhia, which produced 6GW before the war forced it to shut down. Missile and drone attacks have also destroyed the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, near the southern city of Dnipro. Targeted shelling of critical energy infrastructure, which began in the autumn of 2022, means more than 63,000 pieces of energy equipment have been destroyed or damaged including all major high-voltage substations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the winter of 2022 and early 2023, an average of 3.3m households were without electricity, prompting the UK and Nato allies to send the country thousands of power generators. Such responses have halted the widespread blackouts but the attacks on energy infrastructure are relentless. UK vulnerabilities Compared to the crisis faced by Ukraine and Mr Galushchenko, the problems for the UK and Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, in particular may seem trivial. But he warns that this could change. Britain, he points out, is massively reliant on a complex network of subsea pipelines and cables. One pipeline alone, the Langeled, connecting Norway to the UK, brings up to a quarter of the UKs gas supplies. For electricity, a network of nine interconnectors bring up to 22pc of our power from European neighbours. Mr Galushchenko warned that an increase in tensions could prompt Russia to attack any of these covertly, leaving the UK instantly at risk of blackouts and gas shortages. Russia always uses energy as a weapon. Thats obvious from history it goes back to Soviet Union times, he said. The energy minister was in the UK with two key messages. His first is a plea to keep the pressure on Russia by maintaining sanctions and not allowing Putins regime back into the energy sector. His second request is for Britain to help rebuild Ukraine, saying it had already helped greatly by supplying 1,000 generators when war was declared, as well as uranium to keep its reactors fuelled. One day this war will be over and we will be thinking about the recovery, he said. That would probably be the biggest rebuilding since the Second World War. And we want British companies to help us rebuild. The countries which stayed with Ukraine from the beginning should come first. 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. Ukrainian forces continue to operate in Russia's Kursk Oblast, despite Moscow's claims to the contrary, the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring service DeepState reported on April 26. Russia announced on April 26 that it had fully recaptured Kursk Oblast from Ukrainian troops, who launched a surprise incursion into the border region in August 2024. Ukraine's General Staff denied the claim. A military source also told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv continues to hold territories in Kursk. Ukraine faces a difficult situation in Kursk, but the Kremlin's announcement was "a fake," according to DeepState. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia has advanced in Kursk, the group reported. Russian forces have "almost completely occupied" the village of Gornal and gained ground near Oleshnya, where Ukrainian forces had been holding onto limited positions. "These are the last villages around which the Defense Forces fighters retain control," DeepState said. "Therefore, the Kursk Operation is still ongoing ... In particular, (Ukrainian troops) are searching for and destroying enemy logistics, their concentration points, etc." The group reported that Ukrainian troops are still engaging in combat with Russian and North Korean personnel in Kursk Oblast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia's announcement on April 26 marked the first time Moscow has acknowledged the participation of North Korean troops in the war against Ukraine. Kyiv and Seoul have previously said that North Korea has dispatched around 11,000 troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast, warning that it represents a dramatic escalation in Russia's war. Read also: Russia lost over 62,400 soldiers in Kursk operation, Ukraine says Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian defence forces have repelled a Russian assault on the village of Bahatyr in Donetsk Oblast, destroying 15 motorcycles, damaging 9 cars and killing about 40 Russian soldiers. Source: Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group on Telegram Details: The Russian military command sent an assault column of 18 motorcycles and 10 cars to break through to the village of Bahatyr in Donetsk Oblast on 26 April. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukrainian forces reported that, thanks to the professional work of their headquarters in organising intelligence, Russian troops were detected in advance and their column was targeted. "Close cooperation between brigades, proper organisation of intelligence and clear command of operations prevented the enemy's intentions from being realised. Out of 18 motorcycles, 15 were destroyed, and 9 out of 10 vehicles were damaged. Enemy losses in manpower amounted to about 40," said the Vuhledar Tactical Group of the Ukrainian defence forces. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, has stressed that there is a chance to achieve peace through strength, commenting on a recent meeting between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump. Source: Svyrydenko on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: Svyrydenko noted that the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy is "a chance to move forward". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Saturday's meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy at the Vatican is a chance to move forward to build real peace through strength," she tweeted. Svyrydenko emphasised that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin does not seek peace but only wants to buy time. "Stronger sanctions and greater pressure are the way to end this war for the benefit of both Ukraine and the United States," Svyrydenko concluded. Background: Zelenskyy believes that his meeting with Trump has the potential to become historic. The White House also called the meeting very productive. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! While political strategists and forensic lip readers scrutinize the photographs of President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking before Pope Francis funeral Saturday, others might be interested in the back story behind Zelenskys attire. The Ukrainian leaders all-black look was somewhat of a change of pace, compared to the more casual military-style ensembles that he has worn for three years, as a sign of solidarity to the soldiers fighting in the war with Russia. Applause for the 47-year-old president could be heard, when he arrived in St. Peters Square Saturday for the historic funeral. Earlier he and Trump had a 15-minute meeting in St. Peters Basilica about the ongoing negotiations over ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More from WWD Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While not completely deviating from his wartime attire, Zelensky partially adhered to the Vaticans dress code for the somber occasion. Men were advised to wear a dark suit with a long black tie, with a black button on the left lapel of the jacket, where only Vatican honors could be placed. Some of the attendees including President Trump and Prince William, who were among the dozens of global dignitaries, opted for blue suits instead. Women attendees were advised to wear a black dress that was preferably long and a coordinating veil and gloves. First Lady Melania Trump (wearing Dolce & Gabbana), Jill Biden (sporting Schiaparelli with Marion Parke pumps) and French President Emmanuel Macrons wife Brigitte (in an all-black ensemble with a gold Louis Vuitton belt) followed the dress code, as did Zelenskys wife Olena Zelenska, who wore a black blouse, a black skirt suit and black high-heeled black boots. Olena Zelenska arrives before the funeral ceremony of Pope Francis at Saint Peters Square. Prior to the funeral, Zelenskys team reached out to the Ukrainian menswear designer Viktor Anisimov about potential options, the designer said Sunday via e-mail. His final choice was a black tailored military-style field jacket with patch pockets that was buttoned to the neck, and was worn with a classic cotton shirt, straight-cut trousers and black shoes. That was more formal than the three-button black Gasanova polo shirt and pants that the Ukrainian president wore for a Feb. 28 Oval Office visit with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. During that meeting, Zelensky was chided by Trump and criticized by Vance for not being more dressed up in a suit. That led to global headlines in the mainstream media and much debate on social media. In his defense, Zelensky said at that time, I will wear costume after this war will finish. Maybe something like yours. Maybe something better, I dont know. Maybe something cheaper. President Donald Trump and Ukraine s President Volodymyr Zelensky clashed during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 28. Anisimov said that several variations of formal attire were developed and were adapted to specific requirements at the request of Zelenskys Protocol Service. His capsule collection for Zelensky featured approximately two dozen pieces classic shirts, turtlenecks, T-shirts, field jackets and coats all of which were made from natural certified fabrics such as linen, cotton and nettle. Those styles were created exclusively for Zelensky and are not currently available to consumers on Anisimovs e-commerce site. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike some Kyiv-based companies that have relocated, shifted production or shut down due to the Russian invasion, Anisimov continues to run his 25-year-old brand from the capital city. Zelensky has encouraged economic resilience and launched a Made in Ukraine platform, and his wife has also championed Ukrainian designers and creatives. Anisimovs collaboration with Zelensky was a first for the designer, who said, We are proud to have had the opportunity to create an image that reflects the strength, dignity, and modernity of Ukraine. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the funeral of Pope Francis in St. Peters Square on April 26, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88. With nine million people currently living in poverty in Ukraine, the country will need at least $524 billion over the next decade to repair and rebuild, which is approximately 2.8 times the estimated nominal gross domestic product for 2024, according to the World Banks February 2025 Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment. Zelenskys capsule collection was meant to preserve the idea of military uniform, while at the same time, reimagining it through a modern design perspective, in order to create a restrained, functional, and dignified image that reflects the reality of the time our country is living through, Anisimov said. The designer said many people who live outside of Ukraine underestimate the strength of the Ukrainian spirit and the scale of the transformations happening in the country every day. Although Anisimov has not fought on the frontlines against Russian forces, as a few designers have, he said his team is contributing by doing what we do best. Through our work, we create jobs for Ukrainians and support patriotic and mobilization initiatives in collaboration with various foundations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There were 43,610 civilian casualties in Ukraine, of which 30,700 were injuries, as of March 31, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Anisimov, whose company designed the official opening ceremony uniforms for the Ukrainian team at last summers Paralympic Games in Paris, spoke of the conflicts human toll. He said, The greatest loss is the people who were the driving force of our country. We feel a deep responsibility for them and strive through our work to contribute to the future of Ukraine. View Gallery Launch Gallery: Pope Francis Funeral Brings Melania Trump, Jill Biden, Brigitte Macron, Royalty and More Dignitaries at Historic Farewell in Rome [PHOTOS] Best of WWD Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Local keepers of the history of the Underground Railroad in the Chicago area and south suburbs are applauding progress of state legislation to create a statewide commission devoted to the subject. They say creation of the Illinois Freedom Trails Commission could increase educational opportunities into an important segment of American history largely unknown to many people, and perhaps boost tourism centered on the journeys of freedom seekers through Illinois. For many slaves escaping from Southern states, the Chicago area was a stopover on the way to Detroit and eventually into Canada, local researchers said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legislation creating the commission recently passed through the state Senate and could be taken up soon by the House, according to state Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Matteson, chief co-sponsor in the House. She was co-chair of the states Underground Railroad Task Force, which helped get the legislation introduced. Illinois Underground Railroad: Tribune series shines light on freedom seekers journeys through state Meyers-Martin said there are enormous amounts of information done by researchers throughout the state who could pour that into a central database should the commission be established. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We would have the opportunity to inform the public about how Illinois was participatory in the Underground Railroad, she said Friday. Meyers-Martin said she learned, through her work with the task force, that Sauk Trail, now a busy road in her district, had been part of the freedom seekers network. The commission would have a chair and 10 members appointed by the governor, with the commissions goals including furthering research into the trail taken by freedom seekers, establishing an online database and biographical information about key persons identified with the Underground Railroad, according to the legislation. The commission would work with the Illinois State Board of Education to develop an educational program available to all public schools, develop standards and guidelines for historic markers and signage, and explore heritage tourism opportunties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Larry McClellan, who has researched the Underground Railroad for many years and is president of the Midwest Underground Railroad Network, said work will start this fall on a very modest statewide network devoted to the history of the Underground Railroad. That would get underway in anticipation of the statewide commission being created. Were glad for the progress but we know it will take time, McClellan said. He helped establish Governors State University in University Park, where he taught for 30 years and is emeritus professor of sociology and community studies. In the mid-1970s, he was village president of University Park, then called Park Forest South, and has been on the boards of the Illinois State Historical Society and the Will County Historical Society. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McClellan said the general public is largely unaware of the Underground Railroad and said there is much misinformation out there. The thinking is the Underground Railroad was a system set up by almost all white abolitionists, and that is just not the reality, he said. Men, women, Black families and white families have all kinds of experiences with freedom seekers. Tom Shepherd is secretary of the recently renamed Midwest Underground Railroad Network, previously the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project. The group has new office space inside South Hollands First Reformed Church and has expanded its scope, Shepherd said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said the Underground Railroad and journeys of freedom seekers is a piece of history that largely gets ignored in this area despite Chicagos South Side and south suburbs being identified as home to safe houses and waystations for freedom seekers. A lot of escaped slaves came through this area, and we want to bring that story to people, Shepherd said. For the past few years, his organization has worked with the Cook County Forest Preserve District to conduct Underground Railroad history tours in the region, and this years first was scheduled to take place Saturday. We have identified a number of sites that were safe houses or stopovers, on the trail, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shepherd said many participants say they had previously had little to no knowledge about the existence of the Underground Railroad. He said that, through the commission, there could be a way to increase tourism centered around the travels of freedom seekers and identified sites on Chicagos South Side and in the south suburbs. We have this story right here in our back yard, Shepherd said. So many people are unaware of this history and unaware of this movement of people through our area. His organization will work this summer with interns from the University of Chicago and Purdue University to do more research on potential historical sites in Illinois and Indiana. If approved by the General Assembly and signed into law, the state commission legislation would put the new commission under the purview of the state Department of Natural Resources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meyers-Martin said she is hopeful the DNR will include funding in its budget for the commission, but was unsure how much might be needed initially, as the commission gets established. McClellan said that we dont need a lot of money, but we really need a central office to help nurture things along. mnolan@southtownstar.com Plans by Kirstie Allsopps husband to reintroduce a historic Victorian lightwell at a London pub have prompted backlash from local residents. The proposed installation of a grilled lightwell, a vertical shaft allowing natural light into interior spaces, over the cellar of the north Kensington pub has been met with a dozen objections, including claims it could be used to upskirt those walking along the pavement above. One resident likened the idea to a voyeurs deluxe box seat, while others feared the change could lay the foundation for the basement to be converted into flats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pub on Latimer Road is being redeveloped by Wentworth Anderson, a property development company run by Ben Andersen, the husband of Location, Location, Location star Allsopp. The company bought the pub, then called Ariadnes Nectar Bar, in 2023, with renovation work currently ongoing. The pub on Latimer Road is being redeveloped by Wentworth Anderson, a property development company run by Ben Andersen - Triangle News Last year, neighbours were left infuriated after a huge sign reading Allsopps appeared on the side of the building, with some claiming the owners were imposing the TV presenters name on the area. But it later transpired Allsopps great-great-grandfather owned a beer brand of the same name, which is now being revived by her cousin Jamie and is expected to be sold at the pub. Now, documents submitted to local planning authority the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea show that Wentworth Andersen hopes to reinstate the original lightwell that once lay on the pavement outside the Victorian pub. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To do so, they would use conservation-grade black grilles painted in black gloss. In an 800-word letter of objection, one resident said the feature was baffling and frankly retrograde. Community spaces are precious, and their return is usually cause for celebration, she said. However, any enthusiasm I felt has been thoroughly eclipsed by the baffling and frankly retrograde decision to reintroduce a design feature that belongs firmly in the past if not in the bin. She said that, as the mother of a young daughter, she wanted to be able to stroll through her neighbourhood without fearing a low-angle photo shoot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And now I find myself wondering whether this grille is intended as some sort of open-air museum piece on how not to design public infrastructure. The former lightwell has been paved over - Triangle News She added that as upskirting has been a criminal offence since 2019, she thought designing public spaces that actively enable it were behind us and the plan seems to forget the last decade ever happened. Whats next a request to reinstall the pillory outside the tube station for character? Should I be grateful the application doesnt include a ladder and subscription viewing service? In short: I would rather not have to explain to my daughter why, in her own neighbourhood, she must avoid a certain patch of pavement lest she inadvertently become the star of someones grainy underground film. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She asked if the council would be installing signs advising women to tread lightly and that nothing says welcome in for a pint like an open viewing grid underfoot. The fact it was concreted over more than two decades ago speaks volumes. Someone, somewhere, clearly saw it for what it was: a liability, not a legacy. She added: Add a few drinks, a gathering crowd, and a conveniently placed grille with a view, and suddenly were no longer talking about a quaint restoration, but a voyeurs deluxe box seat. This is development by stealth Following complaints earlier this year about building materials being left on the pavement, others said they worried the pub owners were attempting to usher basement flats in through the back door. This lightwell application might seem minor, even quaint-on the surface. But lets not be naive, one said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its the opening move in a much larger game...This is development by stealth and its precisely the kind of piecemeal planning strategy that the courts have already warned against. Another said the developer wanted to reinstall a lightwell that had not been used for decades when the pub had not been open for several years and the upper floors had already been carved up into flats. This is not lawful development; its a transparent attempt to sidestep proper planning scrutiny, they said. Reopening a public house serves the community. Reopening a lightwell serves the developer. Plans outline the set up of the ground and basement floors of the north Kensington pub - Triangle News Others complained that for nearly two years the site had languished in a state of perpetual renovation, with precious little sign of progress let alone completion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And yet, behind this protracted facade of activity, a rather more insidious agenda appears to be unfolding, one resident said. The row comes as Wentworth Andersen recently withdraw its latest application relating to the refurbishment of the pub, a day before the council was due to make a decision about it. The company wanted to replace the cellar cooling and kitchen extract systems, and alter a rear flue. It is not known whether they will submit another application at a later date. Allsopp, 53, and Andersen have been a couple for more than two decades and they have two teenage sons. Wentworth Andersen was contacted for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article contained an image said to be of a Victorian lightwell located at the pub on Latimer Road. In fact, the lightwell belongs to an adjoining property. 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. The US Army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, visited soldiers in Alaska training for Arctic warfare. He praised their focus on readiness and cold weather tactics, saying he wanted more of that. Military leaders have made warfighter lethality a top priority. What does the US Army secretary want to see more of? Soldiers out in the field, "out in the world figuring out what we need to do as an Army," not making PowerPoints, he told Business Insider. The US Army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, a former armor officer and Iraq war veteran who became the service's top civilian official two months ago, visited the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The visit sent a message about Driscoll's priorities. In Alaska, where even now, in spring, temperatures are down in the 30s (in the winter, they can be 30 below), US soldiers are tirelessly readying to meet the challenges of Arctic warfare, a necessity as the US attempts to shift its focus to the Indo-Pacific. On a call with BI, Driscoll and Maj. Gen. Joseph Hilbert, the commander of US Army Alaska and the 11th Airborne Division, spoke about how the unit's soldiers and their work in Alaska align with the goals of US military leadership under President Donald Trump, which are all about lethality, a popular Pentagon buzzword that basically boils down to warfighter readiness. Driscoll joined soldiers during a spur ride at the Black Rapids Training Site in Alaska. US Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Mejia Driscoll said that "everything that I saw up here, that the 11th Airborne was doing," was focused on several key questions, including how the Army's tools would help "keep us alive and help us kill the enemy" in the event of conflict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Soldiers in Alaska, which BI previously observed in action, are out testing how equipment, weapons, aircraft, gear, and more are affected by really low temperatures, harsh conditions, and regular exposure to the unforgiving elements. "They were not focused on things like PowerPoint slides and how they could deliver better work products to the Pentagon," Driscoll said of the 11th Airborne Division, telling BI that "they were out there kind of suffering in the cold on behalf of their nation." Trial and error out in the field and programs such as soldier touch points for immersive testing and feedback have long been considered important to innovation and iterative development. PowerPoint presentations, on the other hand, while a useful tool, are often seen as the hallmarks of uninspiring, morale-lowering military briefings and trainings that can oversimplify or unnecessarily complicate ideas and concepts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Such criticisms have been around for more than a decade now. James Mattis, years before he became Trump's first defense secretary, back when he was still a general with the Marine Corps, said that "PowerPoint makes us stupid." At that same 2010 speaking event, H.R. McMaster, an Army general who years later became Trump's national security advisor, said PowerPoint was "dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control." He said that "some problems in the world are not bullet-izable." Driscoll spoke highly of the Army unit he observed, adding that leadership wanted to support efforts to figure out what the Army needs for future fights. US Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Mejia Driscoll and other Army leaders want to signal that field activities are important. They not only promote warfighter readiness, but they also allow decision-makers to get feedback for next steps and procurement plans. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other US military officials have made readiness and lethality top priorities. These have also been goals for previous administrations, and this nebulous expression is used to evaluate defense programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That focus within the Defense Department has come with cuts to programs deemed unnecessary, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, efforts to revive the industrial base, and budget changes at the Pentagon. During Hegseth's nomination, he called for reviving the warrior ethos in the military and has since pushed that. "We are American warriors. We will defend our country. Our standards will be high, uncompromising, and clear. The strength of our military is our unity and our shared purpose," Hegseth said following his confirmation. He has since advocated for tossing things such as DEI and climate change initiatives. Driscoll participated in a simulated casualty recovery during a spur ride run with soldiers, one of several activities during his visit. US Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Mejia In Alaska, soldiers have been honing skills needed for Arctic warfare. The Army has increasingly recognized the region's strategic significance, especially as rivals Russia and China become increasingly active. The Army released its Arctic strategy in 2021 and has been working to refine those capabilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During their Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center training last year, the 11th Airborne and troops from more than a dozen international allies and partners ran wargames, adapting to freezing temperatures and unpredictable conditions. The harsh environment prompts adjustments to systems everything from gear to guns and vehicles, including helicopters, has to be modified and monitored. Driscoll highlighted some of those adaptations during the conversation with BI, noting that many things rubber, fuel, touchscreens on devices are affected by the cold weather. Driscoll watching soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division conduct air assault training at Yukon Training Center in Alaska. US Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Mejia "What the units up here are doing throughout the entire winter is taking out different pieces of equipment and testing how they'll operate," he said. That's a critical learning process for the force as soldiers revive their winter warfare skills after decades of fighting wars in the Middle East. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his visit to Alaska, Driscoll observed and participated in an air assault and received a capabilities briefing on Alaska's strategic importance. He also witnessed other 11th Airborne Division capabilities, such as its specialized cold-weather vehicles. More than assets, operating in the Arctic also requires a specific mindset from personnel to innovate in real time, soldiers told BI at last year's warfighting exercise. It's a very tough operating environment. Maintaining a ready fighting force in Alaska is part of the US military's focus on the Indo-Pacific, as well as the Arctic. Both areas have been identified by leadership as strategically important for the Army and the larger US military as a whole. Read the original article on Business Insider The U.S. military carried out airstrikes on more than 800 targets in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen since March 15, U.S. Central Command said this past week. These strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, advanced weapons storage locations, and killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, CENTCOM spokesman Dave Eastburn said in a statement to Task & Purpose, echoing comments given to reporters at the end of the week. Eastburn added that [c]redible open sources report over 650 Houthi casualties to date, although Task & Purpose could not independently verify if those killed were members of the Houthi movement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the Houthis have continued to attack our vessels, our operations have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks, CENTCOM posted on X on Sunday. Ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69%. Additionally, attacks from one way attack drones have decreased by 55%. The numbers are a rare update on the now month-and-a-half fight around Yemen. Despite multiple posts on the social media site X showing aircraft launching from carriers and messages announcing 24/7 operations against Houthis, the U.S. military has been quiet on specifics on how many airstrikes it is carrying out. After initially confirming operations on March 15, the U.S. military has been extremely vague on the tempo of airstrikes and what impact they are having, even as some other information on the operations has come out. To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations, CENTCOM wrote in Sundays X post. We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what weve done or what we will do. One of the few incidents where information was shared was the April 18 strike on the Ras Isa port in western Yemen, which killed several dozen people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Yemen Data Project, which is tracking the amount of airstrikes in the conflict, reports that strikes in March were the second highest overall since the start of fighting in late 2023, behind only the number of airstrikes in February 2024. The strikes, which picked up after two months of tentative calm, came after Houthis announced plans to restart attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The group began such attacks in October 2023, following the Israeli war in Gaza, which in turn led to American and allied navies shooting down dozens of missiles and drones fired at commercial or military vessels. Two commercial ships have been sunk as a result. From January 2024-January 2025 the United States and allies carried out several airstrikes in Yemen separate from those intercept operations. At the end of 2024 one crewed F/A-18F Super Hornet was accidentally shot down by the U.S. Navy. Increased pace The Associated Press reports that Houthi forces shot down seven U.S. military MQ-9 drones between March 31-April 22, worth roughly $200 million in total. Three of those seven were all shot down within the past week. Houthis had previously claimed to have shot down 14 American drones between fall 2023 and the end of 2024, per the Atlantic Council. Neither Central Command or Houthi officials have said what has led to the high frequency of U.S. drone shootdowns in the last six weeks compared to the previous phase of the conflict. U.S. officials did not point to how many mid-air intercepts have been done in the past six weeks. Houthi forces have made repeated claims of firing on U.S. Navy ships, and the Navy has said it shot down one-way attack drones aimed at vessels, but its unclear how many drones and missiles the Navy has taken out since March 15. Between October 2023-December 2024, those types of intercepts were a common, sometimes daily occurrence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The frequency of such operations put the Navy in its biggest battle since World War II and proved to be a challenge for munitions. Houthi weapons fired are relatively cheap, whereas for months the United States has launched expensive Standard Missiles and other munitions, with each one ranging between $2 million-$27.9 million. At the end of Operation Poseidon Archer, the term for the strikes done between January 2024-January 2025, the Navy reported that it had fired roughly 400 munitions, including 120 SM-2 missiles. The Navy has said that it is pursuing cheaper alternatives to deal with the high tempo of airstrikes and intercept missions. UPDATE: 04/28/2025; this story was updated with information from a statement that U.S. Central Command posted on X. The latest on Task & Purpose We recently published a list of 10 Best German Dividend Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Allianz SE (XETRA:ALV.DE) stands against other best German dividend stocks to buy now. At the end of January this year, Germanys government significantly slashed its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to just 0.3% from the prior estimate of 1.1%. German economy minister Robert Habeck expressed concern, highlighting stagnation despite some positive signs like rising credit demand. This revision is in line with projections from other institutions like the IMF and Bundesbank. Germanys economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024, following a 0.3% decline in 2023. The government pointed to stagnant growth plans, geopolitical uncertainties, and structural issues such as labor shortages and weak investment. While the country faces challenges, there is hope for better growth by 2026. Similarly, Germanys Ifo Institute has also cut its 2025 growth forecast to just 0.2%, pointing to sluggish consumer spending and hesitancy among companies to invest. While a slight improvement to 0.8% is expected next year, the outlook remains shaky due to political uncertainty and possible US trade policies. Despite some recovery in purchasing power, consumer confidence is still low, and industries are feeling the pressure from weak demand and growing global competition. Ifo also warned that US tariffs on European goods could pose a serious threat to German exports. According to the Association of German Banks, a stronger recovery is not likely until 2026, when growth could reach 1.4%. The outlook has worsened, especially after the U.S. announced a 25% tariff on imported cars, causing a major blow to German automakers. Corporate investment is also expected to stay sluggish, with even the projected 3.5% increase in 2026 falling short of previous post-crisis rebounds. Still, experts say that strong reforms and a more competitive tax policy from the next government could help turn things around sooner. Jari Stehn, Chief European Economist at Goldman Sachs Research, shed some light on the German economy and commented back in December 2024: Even though industrial production is down significantly over the last few years, the amount of value added has actually been much more stable. German companies have been able to respond by moving out of relatively low-margin production in chemicals or paper, and so on, into higher value production. I think the way forward essentially is for German companies to continue to do that. With that outlook in mind, individuals who want to diversify their portfolios and add income-generating stocks to their investment mix can invest in some stable German dividend stocks. By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. military said on Sunday it will not reveal specific details about its military strikes in Yemen, citing what it called the need "to preserve operational security" while also saying the strikes had "lethal effects" on Houthi rebels. Republican President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of U.S. strikes on Yemen last month, with his administration saying it will continue assaulting Iran-backed Houthi rebels until they stop attacking Red Sea shipping. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens, including 74 at an oil terminal in mid-April in what was the deadliest strike in Yemen under Trump so far, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. Rights advocates have raised concerns about civilian killings and three Democratic senators, including Senator Chris Van Hollen, wrote to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday demanding an accounting for loss of civilian lives. Hegseth has also come under fire for using the unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss Yemen attack plans. "To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations. We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we've done or what we will do," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The military said it has struck over 800 targets since mid-March that it says killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders as well as destroyed the militant group's facilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The military statement said the strikes "have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations." Washington says the strikes aim to cut off Houthi military and economic capabilities while minimizing civilian harm. It said on Thursday that an April 20 blast near a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yemen's capital Sanaa was caused by a Houthi missile and not an American airstrike. The Houthis said a dozen people were killed in that incident and dismissed the U.S. denial. The Houthis have taken control of swathes of Yemen over the past decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since November 2023, they have launched attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel. They say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza where Israel's war has killed over 51,000, according to Gaza's health ministry, and led to genocide and war crimes accusations that Israel denies. The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israel. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington;Editing by Mary Milliken, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast.) US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has once again highlighted his bill to impose secondary duties on imports of oil, gas, uranium and other products from Russia. Source: Graham on X (Twitter), as reported by European Pravda Details: Graham's comment comes as US President Donald Trump criticised the latest Russian strikes on civilian cities in Ukraine and expressed doubt that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin wants to end the war. He has also threatened to impose sanctions on Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, Graham said he appreciated the efforts of Trump and his team, who are "working diligently to end the war in Ukraine that was created by Putin's barbaric invasion in an honourable and just way". "As to additional sanctions on Putins Russia, I have bipartisan legislation with almost 60 cosponsors that would put secondary tariffs on any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium or other products," he said. Graham noted that the Senate "stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honourable, just and enduring peace". Background: President Zelenskyy met with Donald Trump before Pope Francis' farewell ceremony in Rome. The meeting occurred amid growing US pressure on Kyiv to bring an end to Russia's war against Ukraine. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that President Donald Trump is in no rush to tighten sanctions against Russia, as diplomatic efforts have not yet been exhausted. Source: Rubio in an interview with NBC News, as reported by European Pravda Details: The presenter asked Rubio whether Trumps recent statements signal the possibility of new US sanctions against Russia. The Secretary of State responded that it is "still not the time". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote: "The president is aware that he has these options people ask him about it all the time but what he really wants is a peace deal. He wants the dying and the killing to stop There are options that we have for those who we hold responsible for not wanting the peace. But wed prefer not to get to that stage yet, because we think it closes the door to diplomacy... There is no other country, there is no other institution or organisation on the Earth that can bring these two sides together. No one else is talking to both sides but us. And no one else in the world can make something like this happen but the president [Trump ed.]. This is a very significant responsibility and a really important opportunity, and we want to make sure we work it all the way through, that we don't walk away from something that can actually work and can actually lead to peace." Background: Rubio also stated that the coming week will be "critically important" for the US to decide whether to continue efforts to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine. On 26 April, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump briefly met in the Vatican, where dozens of world leaders had gathered to pay their final respects to Pope Francis. Zelenskyy stated that the meeting with Trump had the potential to become historic. The White House also described the meeting as very productive. On the same day, Trump criticised recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and expressed doubt that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin genuinely wants to end the war, also threatening him with sanctions. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the coming week will be "critically important" for the United States to decide whether to continue its efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Source: Rubio in an interview with NBC News, as reported by European Pravda Quote: "I think this is going to be a very critical week. This week is going to be a very important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it's time to focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: The secretary of state said the prospects for reaching some form of agreement to end the Russia-Ukraine war are "closer in general than they've been any time in the last three years, but it's still not there." He declined to specify how much longer the Trump administration is "willing to give" Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace agreement. "I always think it's silly to set a specific date The president has dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to this, and we think we have brought the sides closer than they have been in a very long time, but we're not there yet," Rubio said. He noted that "there are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic of course as well". Background: On 26 April, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump briefly met in the Vatican, where dozens of world leaders had gathered to pay their final respects to Pope Francis. Zelenskyy stated that the meeting with Trump had the potential to become historic. The White House also described the meeting as very productive. On the same day, Trump criticised recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and expressed doubt that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin genuinely wants to end the war, also threatening him with sanctions. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Sunday Washington was in touch with both India and Pakistan while urging them to work towards what it called a "responsible solution" as tensions have risen between the two Asian nations following a recent Islamist militant attack in Kashmir. In public, the U.S. government has expressed support for India after the attack but has not criticized Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed over two dozen people. Pakistan denies responsibility and called for a neutral probe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. "The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution," the spokesperson added. The State Department spokesperson also said Washington "stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam," reiterating comments similar to recent ones made by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. India is an increasingly important U.S. partner as Washington aims to counter China's rising influence in Asia while Pakistan remains a U.S. ally even as its importance for Washington has diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for the Foreign Policy magazine, said India is now a much closer U.S. partner than Pakistan. "This may worry Islamabad that if India retaliates militarily, the U.S. may sympathize with its counter-terrorism imperatives and not try to stand in the way," Kugelman told Reuters. Kugelman also said that given Washington's involvement and ongoing diplomatic efforts in Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, the Trump administration is "dealing with a lot on its global plate" and may leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the tensions. Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the U.S. and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, also said that there seemed to be no U.S. appetite to calm the situation at this moment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "India has a longstanding grievance about terrorism emanating or supported from across border. Pakistan has a longstanding belief that India wants to dismember it. Both work themselves into a frenzy every few years. This time there is no U.S. interest in calming things down," Haqqani said. ESCALATING TENSIONS Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan who each rule over only parts of it and have previously fought wars over the Himalayan region. Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers to "the ends of the earth" and said that those who planned and carried out the Kashmir attack "will be punished beyond their imagination". Calls have also grown from Indian politicians and others for military action against Pakistan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries. The two sides have also exchanged fire across their de facto border after four years of relative calm. A little-known militant group, Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Ned Price, a former U.S. State Department official under the administration of former President Joe Biden, said that while the Trump administration was giving this issue the sensitivity it deserves, a perception that it would back India at any cost may escalate tensions further. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The Trump Administration has made clear it wishes to deepen the U.S.-India partnership a laudable goal but that it is willing to do so at almost any cost. If India feels that the Trump Administration will back it to the hilt no matter what, we could be in store for more escalation and more violence between these nuclear-armed neighbors," Price said. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft) (Reuters) - Russia launched 149 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force said on Sunday, with the governor of an eastern region reporting one person killed and one wounded as a result. Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said a man was killed in the city of Pavlohrad, and a 14-year-old girl was wounded. He said that 500 heads of cattle were killed when a drone struck the facility in which they were kept. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine's air force said it shot down 57 of the 149 drones, while 67 others disappeared from radars without reaching their targets -- usually a result of being jammed by electronic warfare systems. (Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Bernadette Baum) The Vatican released photos of the tomb of Pope Francis, who was buried on Saturday in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. The release came Sunday morning, as the tomb opened for public viewing. More than 13,000 people filed into the basilica to view the tomb on Sunday, with several thousand more waiting outside, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, citing the police. All the cardinals in Rome are expected to visit the tomb to pay their respects on Sunday afternoon, according to the Vatican. PHOTO: A view of the tomb of Pope Francis, as released by Vatican Media on Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Vatican Media) MORE: Key moments from Pope Francis' funeral as mourners bid farewell to late pontiff Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cardinals are expected to pass through the Holy Door, visit the tomb, then proceed to the chapel where the Salus Populi Romani, an image of the Virgin Mary, is displayed. PHOTO: A view of the tomb of Pope Francis, who was buried on Saturday, April 26, in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, in a photo released on Sunday, April 27, 2025, by Vatican Media. (Vatican Media) MORE: The meaning behind the symbolic items at Pope Francis' funeral Francis reportedly would pray before that Byzantine-style icon of the Madonna before and after each of his foreign trips during his 12 years as pope. PHOTO: Faithful line up to pay their respects to the tomb of Pope Francis inside St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP) Francis, who died last Monday at the age of 88, became on Saturday the first pope to be buried outside the Vatican in over a century. He was the first to be buried at St. Mary Major in more than 300 years. Vatican releases pictures of Pope Francis' tomb, as it opens for public viewing originally appeared on abcnews.go.com For months, parents have been coming forward to the Peninsula School District board with stories about their kids being bullied and harassed. One dad said another student threatened and punched his daughter in elementary school. A mom said her son was called slurs after he came out as LGBTQ in his middle school. And concerned parents, who accused the district of ignoring what they say is a pattern, formed an advocacy group called Moms for P.E.A.C.E. Representatives spoke at many board meetings over the last two years. On April 22, district staff presented the school board with a long-anticipated report to get to the heart of the issue: whats not working? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The complex answer to that question wasnt immediately clear from the presentation, which provided general recommendations for the district to improve their prevention and response to harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents. It found that certain types of incidents have increased in recent years, such as race/ethnicity/nationality-based incidents, but didnt explain how the numbers stack up against other districts or national trends. The report didnt provide measurable goals to tackle the problem, but district officials told the board they will make a plan before next school year. Led by district staff in partnership with Puget Sound Educational Service District, the report was supposed to audit existing school policies, practices and procedures and identify recommendations for change over the long-term, according to Chief of Schools Michael Farmer when he introduced the review at a board meeting in September. Presented by Farmer, Deputy Chief of Schools Julie Schultz-Bartlett and district paralegal and HIB (Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying) Compliance Officer Shelby Morng, the presentation lasted about one and a half hours and covered a slew of areas that staff and members of a separate task force examined to try to find answers: district policies and procedures, reporting and investigation processes and systems, student feedback on school culture and staff support, and more. At the meeting on April 22, three people spoke during public comment about the presentation. All three said they wanted to see more action from the district to address the issue. One of them was Jud Morris, who said he has worked and volunteered in the school district for the last 20 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I thought about (the) meeting after I left and see one of the issues to be how does PSD connect pain families feel from (harassment, intimidation and bullying) with implementation of effective policies/procedures to stop HIB, Morris wrote in an email to The News Tribune the next day. Thats the challenge. A copy of the full report will be available on the districts new harassment, intimidation and bullying website, Farmer told the board on April 22. Data shows verbal and racist incidents on the rise A chart in the presentation showed that reported verbal incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying took up a larger percentage of total incidents in 2023-2024 than in previous years. Verbal incidents took up 72.16% of total incidents in 2023-2024, up from 60.8% in 2022-2023; 68.69% in 2021-2022; and 45.83% in 2018-2019, according to the chart. Physical incidents decreased, from 47.92% in 2018-2019 to 25.77% in 2023-2024. The data skipped over the years impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff shared a breakdown of reported harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents from 2018-2019 and 2023-2024 in presentation to the Peninsula School District School Board on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. The district has previously said publicly that harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents as a whole have increased in recent years. At the March 2024 study session, a district staff member told the board that the number of incidents at the elementary level recorded in PowerSchool, a cloud-based K-12 software provider, increased from 14 incidents in 2018-2019 to 51 in 2022-2023. At the secondary school level, the number went from 24 recorded incidents in 2018-2019 to 53 incidents in 2021-2022, the staff member told the board. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction shows that enrollment numbers were similar in 2018-2019 and 2023-2024 in the Peninsula School District at about 9,000 students. Another chart in the April 22 presentation showed that harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents related to race, ethnicity, or nationality are also on the rise as a proportion of total incidents reported. Race/ethnicity/nationality-related incidents increased from 11.93% in 2022-2023 to 29.9% in 2023-2024. The proportion of reported harassment, intimidation and bullying incidents related to race, ethnicity or nationality increased from 2018-2019 to 2023-2024, according to a presentation to the Peninsula School District School Board on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. The presentation recommended that the district look to districts, including the Bellevue, Snoqualmie Valley and Vancouver School Districts, to emulate their systems and policies. Deputy Chief of Schools Julie Schultz-Bartlett told the board the districts Bullying Action and Prevention Task Force, which she headed, found a gap in curriculum educating students about discriminatory harassment. Students are already learning from curricula like Second Step and CharacterStrong, which teach students life skills and address bullying, but the district lacks training around racial language, homophobic language and identity-based harassment, according to Schultz-Bartlett. Efforts to improve reporting and investigation process Theres now a central location on the districts website for information about harassment, intimidation and bullying, as well as where to report concerns, through the efforts of the Bullying Action and Prevention Task Force. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the pieces that we heard repeatedly from family and community members was that they dont know how to report when something has happened, Schultz-Bartlet told the board. So weve made two pages. The harassment, intimidation and bullying page, psd401.net/hib, explains definitions, how to report an incident, the districts prevention efforts, and related policies. It also features buttons to report a concern directly to school administrators or to the state-sponsored platform, HearMeWA. Another page, psd401.net/report, can be found under Report a Concern from the districts Quick Links tab on the homepage. That page also features buttons to report a concern or tip, as well as a dropdown list showing who to contact for specific topics including school-related concerns, disability discrimination, sexual harassment and other issues. Inconsistencies in harassment, intimidation and bullying data The Bullying Action and Prevention Task Force met five times over six months for a total of about 10 hours in-person, and examined a variety of materials including student handbooks, social and emotional learning curricula, school board procedures and more to identify gaps in the districts anti-bullying strategies, Schultz-Bartlett said at the meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of their exercises included looking at write-ups of real student behavior incidents requiring discipline and categorizing them as harassment, intimidation and bullying or something else, such as inappropriate conduct or violence. All the incidents were inappropriate, but the task force decided some that staff may have deemed harassment, intimidation or bullying didnt actually fit into that category, according to Schultz-Bartlett. The districts Policy 3207 defines harassment, intimidation and bullying as any intentional act that physically harms a student or damages the students property, has the effect of substantially interfering with a students education, is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it creates an intimidating or threatening educational environment, or has the effect of substantially disrupting the orderly operation of the school. We know transparency is important, but we also experienced it ourselves how hard it is to categorize some of these activities that were seeing, Schultz-Bartlett said. Asked by board member Jennifer Butler to speak to the challenges of coding incidents more consistently, Schultz-Bartlett said that the districts principals and assistant principals are already working on aligning their schools student handbooks to consistently decide what types of behavior fall under which categories. That work will likely continue through next year, she said. District to review for 2025-2026 Responding to a question from board President Natalie Wimberly, Schultz-Bartlett said the task force hasnt set any measurable goals to target the issues studied at this point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mostly we set forward actions that we wanted to take with the goal that we would decrease overall (harassment, intimidation and bullying) incidents within our buildings and increase our sense of belonging, Schultz-Bartlett said. She added that existing data for tracking bullying-related incidents is not very clean, in part because the district recently switched data collection systems. Now that the district is using Navigate360 to track incidents, theyll have some benchmark data later this year that they can use to identify metrics to track, she said. The district superintendent and cabinet will review the report and recommendations and make a plan for 2025-2026 and beyond, Farmer said near the end of the presentation. He also said focus groups with students, school principals work to streamline discipline processes and monitoring the effectiveness of staff training and professional development will continue. We recently published a list of 10 Best German Dividend Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where BASF SE (XETRA:BAS.DE) stands against other best German dividend stocks to buy now. At the end of January this year, Germanys government significantly slashed its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to just 0.3% from the prior estimate of 1.1%. German economy minister Robert Habeck expressed concern, highlighting stagnation despite some positive signs like rising credit demand. This revision is in line with projections from other institutions like the IMF and Bundesbank. Germanys economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024, following a 0.3% decline in 2023. The government pointed to stagnant growth plans, geopolitical uncertainties, and structural issues such as labor shortages and weak investment. While the country faces challenges, there is hope for better growth by 2026. Similarly, Germanys Ifo Institute has also cut its 2025 growth forecast to just 0.2%, pointing to sluggish consumer spending and hesitancy among companies to invest. While a slight improvement to 0.8% is expected next year, the outlook remains shaky due to political uncertainty and possible US trade policies. Despite some recovery in purchasing power, consumer confidence is still low, and industries are feeling the pressure from weak demand and growing global competition. Ifo also warned that US tariffs on European goods could pose a serious threat to German exports. According to the Association of German Banks, a stronger recovery is not likely until 2026, when growth could reach 1.4%. The outlook has worsened, especially after the U.S. announced a 25% tariff on imported cars, causing a major blow to German automakers. Corporate investment is also expected to stay sluggish, with even the projected 3.5% increase in 2026 falling short of previous post-crisis rebounds. Still, experts say that strong reforms and a more competitive tax policy from the next government could help turn things around sooner. Jari Stehn, Chief European Economist at Goldman Sachs Research, shed some light on the German economy and commented back in December 2024: Even though industrial production is down significantly over the last few years, the amount of value added has actually been much more stable. German companies have been able to respond by moving out of relatively low-margin production in chemicals or paper, and so on, into higher value production. I think the way forward essentially is for German companies to continue to do that. With that outlook in mind, individuals who want to diversify their portfolios and add income-generating stocks to their investment mix can invest in some stable German dividend stocks. QUICK WEATHER FORECAST: Today: Mostly sunny, high 68 Tonight: Mostly clear, low 42 Monday: Clear skies, high 78 (60) Tuesday: Showers & t-storms, high 81 (57) Wednesday: Chance of rain, high 72 (60) Thursday: Rain & rumbles, high 76 (57) Today there will be plenty of sunshine across the entire region going into the second half of the weekend along with the sunny skies. Therell be a decent bump up in temperatures reaching the upper 60s. That is reasonable for this time of year. This also kicks off a warming trend that will go further into the new week. Above normal temperatures return as early as Monday as highs reach the upper 70s. A few more clouds will build up throughout the day, but the majority of the day is going to stay mostly sunny. Humidity will also begin to rise ahead of the next cold front that moves its way into central Ohio. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This cold front is expected to arrive by Tuesday and will bring the chance for some strong thunderstorms. The Storm Prediction Center has already places all of central Ohio in a slight risk (level 2/5) for severe weather. A few lingering showers will go through the middle of the week as well, then another boundary will bring additional showers and storms between Thursday and Friday to wrap up the work week. Sunshine and seasonable temperatures make their return by the upcoming weekend. 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. With flags waving above the Mississippi Gulf Coasts newest long-term care facility, veterans, state leaders and community members recently gathered in the Tradition community to celebrate the opening of the Vito J. Canizaro Veterans Home. The $65 million, 133,000-square-foot facility officially opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 11. Its the first Mississippi State Veterans Home to open since 1997 and the first located on the coast, where nearly 35% of the states 183,000 veterans live in just three counties, according to Mississippi Veterans Affairs Director Mark Smith. Until now, the closest public long-term care option for veterans in this part of the state was in Collins, about an hour and 15 minutes away from the Tradition community. Smith said the new location is expected to make a meaningful difference for both veterans and their families. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If a family lives here in Ocean Springs, and their family member is in Collins, thats pretty good distance to go, Smith said. Hopefully by putting it here, they will get more regular visits from the family, which also helps their mental health because a lot of them are here because the family just does not have the ability to take care of them. The construction costs of the Veterans Home were at a federal/state match of 65% to 35%. In addition to the 35%, the Mississippi Legislature gave our agency additional funds to purchase commodities for the Home (Beds, furniture, plates, silverware, etc.) Here are our states top 10 counties by Veteran population. And just FYI, according to various studies, the total population of Mississippi is 182,774. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harrison - 22,229 Hinds - 12,778 Jackson - 12,682 Desoto - 11,313 Rankin - 8,335 Lauderdale 6,246 Forrest - 5,930 Madison - 5,105 Lowndes - 4,746 Lee - 4,715 Bringing care closer to home The Canizaro home will serve 100 veterans in private, single-occupancy rooms a major shift from the double-occupancy model used in the states four other veterans homes. The hurricane-ready facility includes three residential wings, each divided into smaller neighborhoods, and features a secure memory care unit for veterans with dementia or Alzheimers disease. Designed to feel less like an institution and more like a home, the facility nearly doubles the square footage of its predecessors. Lois Hendrickson, a retired U.S. Navy health technician and member of the American Legion, said the facility meets a long-standing need for veterans living along the Gulf Coast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were so happy to have this home down here in Tradition near the Gulf Coast, where we have more access to it a lot more people can be taken care of, said Hendrickson, the homes piney wood line expanding behind her. If you are in need of these types of care, if you cant keep up with the house by yourself these facilities offer everything you need. Residents will have access to a variety of services, including physical and speech therapy as well as personalized activity programming. Nurse consultant Kathy Pack said the facility is structured to reduce the need for off-site visits whenever possible. Well have podiatry come in. Well have their eyes checked. Well transfer them to any appointments they need to go to, like dialysis, doctors appointments and the (Veterans Affairs hospital) appointments, Pack said. Mississippi Veterans Affairs Chairman James Max Fenn addresses a crowd of state officials, veterans and community members during the April 11 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Who qualifies and how to apply To qualify for admission, veterans must have served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces and not have been dishonorably discharged, with proof provided via Form DD 214 or an equivalent report of separation. Spouses may qualify if their veteran spouse is currently a resident of a Mississippi State Veterans home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Applicants must be current or former Mississippi residents (non-residents may be admitted if no resident is waiting) and have a medical exam within 30 days of admission showing they have no communicable diseases, do not require care beyond the facilitys capabilities and pose no danger to themselves or others. The home is expected to begin accepting residents later this summer, pending federal inspection. Veterans currently living in other state homes with ties to the coast will be given transfer priority. The facility is named in honor of Dr. Vito Joseph V.J. Canizaro (19061954), a decorated military surgeon from Vicksburg. Canizaro served in the South Pacific theater during World War II and was wounded in New Georgia, earning the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and other honors for bravery. After the war, he moved to Biloxi, where he founded Canizaros Clinic and the High Life Distributing Company. Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, Gulf Coast Chapter 44-1, attend the opening ceremony. The group helped fund outdoor amenities and pledged long-term support for the home. Building workforce, reducing costs The Canizaro home is expected to create more than 200 jobs, many of them in nursing. Mississippi Veterans Affairs Director of Communications Ray Coleman said the decision to build in Tradition opens the door for future staffing partnerships with nearby institutions like William Carey University and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its no secret that when we built there, there were already colleges and universities there, some of them specializing in nursing. We understood that that was going to be a lifeline for us, when maybe we can partner with them and get future staff that can help care for these veterans, Coleman said. Anytime you talk about opening up any type of medical facility, its always going to be the amount of medical staff that you can keep in that facility ... and, as a state agency, we honestly cant compete dollar for dollar with a private institution private hospitals, private long-term care, theyre always going to be able to offer more money in salaries. Coleman said the Canizaro home was designed to modern standards while remaining affordable operating at roughly half the cost of private long-term care. Daily expenses are partially reimbursed by the VA based on a veterans disability rating. A call to connect While the facility has yet to open to residents, local support is already taking shape. The Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association, Gulf Coast Chapter 44-1, has donated funds to furnish outdoor spaces with benches and cornhole boards. Chapter Secretary Shawn Booger Fellows, who served 23 years with the Navy Seabees, said the group is committed to helping make the space feel like home. (The Canizaro home) is beautiful, its state-of-the-art but theyve got this beautiful library with no books, Fellows said. Maybe, this next go round with our next pot of money, we can outfit them with some books its just kind of bare right now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fellows said the new location makes it easier for groups like his to maintain an ongoing relationship with residents. Were hoping for a long, close relationship with the folks up there, and Im sure it will be, because before Tradition, wed to go all the way up to Collins, and so we would ride all the way up there, and sometimes, wed just hang out with them, Fellows said. Well bring the motorcycles up there, and well let them sit on it and rev them up and stuff like that, and just have lunch with them (the home) is going to make life a lot easier for them, and an outlet to do some of the good stuff that our guys want to do, because its in their heart to help these guys. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, state Secretary of Veterans Affairs Douglas Collins encouraged Mississippi communities to continue building relationships with veterans not just systems of care. One of the very core values of being in the military is you leave no person behind. Well, that should apply to our communities as well. For those who may not put on the uniform how about those (veterans) that may need help with something in their life? It may be hot food, it may be shelter, it may be just somebody to listen to. I encourage our communities around here to start taking an interest a friend is somebody who you can talk to, have a cup of coffee with and interact. Weve got to have more of that. Me love you long time, a Vietnamese sex worker tells the U.S. troops, swiveling her hips as she hawks her services. You party? The first female character in Stanley Kubricks Vietnam War classic Full Metal Jacket, she appears for just a moment and halfway through the film. Likewise, its an hour into Francis Ford Coppolas Apocalypse Now when a helicopter suddenly deposits three women onto a stage. They're scantily clad Playboy Bunnies, choppered in to rile up the troops. They, too, appear for just a few minutes. The Vietnam War produced some of the most unforgettable films of the late 1970s and 1980s, as top Hollywood filmmakers like Kubrick, Coppola, Oliver Stone and others grappled with its painful legacy. Few, however, had classic, or even three-dimensional, female characters with the notable exception of Coming Home, which won Jane Fonda an Oscar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But while these films were almost exclusively about how war dehumanized men with female characters mere devices to tell that story the opposite was often true of Vietnamese films about the conflict. Many of these were told from a female viewpoint the stories of brave and loyal women, for example, left holding families together. Here are some ways that classic Vietnam War films used female characters to tell their stories: The girl waiting back home Michael Ciminos multi-Oscar-winning The Deer Hunter focuses on three lifelong buddies from a Pennsylvania steel town who go off to fight, with traumatic results. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the 1978 drama starts and ends at home, theres room for a female character in Meryl Streeps Linda, girlfriend of Nick (Christopher Walken) who also connects with Michael (Robert De Niro). An early-career Streep was such a magnetic presence as Linda earning an Oscar nomination that it disguised a fairly thin role that mainly advanced the men's narrative. A rare contrast was Hal Ashbys Coming Home the same year, in which Fonda and Jon Voight both won Oscars for the tale of a Marine wife embroiled in an intense affair with a wounded veteran at the rehab center where she volunteers. Filmmaker Tony Bui, who teaches Vietnam War cinema at Columbia University, notes that Coming Home is the only Hollywood film about the war with a female protagonist until Stone's Heaven & Earth nearly two decades later, the last film in his Vietnam trilogy. That's really saying something," he says. Village extras and Playboy Bunnies Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its tortured journey to the screen is a drama in itself, but 1979's Apocalypse Now, with Martin Sheen as an army captain tasked with assassinating a renegade U.S. colonel (Marlon Brando), is considered a masterpiece of the genre. As in many Hollywood Vietnam films, women are extras in villages, screaming and running from gunfire and deadly explosions or killed for no reason at all. Then there are the Playboy Bunnies, who gyrate to Suzy Q as the troops become increasingly frenzied with erotic excitement and eventually storm the stage. Lan Duong, associate professor of cinema studies at the University of Southern California, sees Coppola trying to make a connection between sex, warfare and masculinity. With American white women in particular, theyre seen as part of the American mythology around manhood, Duong says. Full-blooded manhood with raging hormones, she says, is as American as apple pie. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The enemy dehumanized In 1986's Platoon, Stone's Oscar-winning depiction of jungle warfare, representation of women comes in a horrific scene in which U.S. troops kills hundreds of innocent villagers, evoking the real-life My Lai massacre. During the slaughter, idealistic soldier Chris (Charlie Sheen) comes upon soldiers raping young women. Shes a human being! he screams. They reply: You dont belong in Nam, man. These women are given no voice. They appear only in relation to the violence inflicted by men, Bui says. In Brian de Palmas Casualties of War (1989), the tragic rape victim actually becomes a central character in the plot. This does not mean, however, that we learn much about this Vietnamese girl (Thuy Thu Le). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Based on a real event, the film follows five soldiers whose leader (Sean Penn) devises a sickening plan: The group will kidnap a young girl for recreation during a mission. Only Pvt. Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) objects. The others rape the girl and eventually pump her with bullets. Eriksson takes the case to superiors, who advise him to drop it. But Eriksson persists, and the men earn punishment. Though important, this brutalized girl is again voiceless. She goes from suffering, to suffering more, and then gets killed thats her arc, says Bui, who includes the movie in a Criterion Channel collection he has curated on Vietnam films. Sex workers and snipers Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kubricks memorable 1987 Full Metal Jacket contains two brief, stereotypical scenes involving sex workers. But the most interesting scene involving a female character comes during battle, where a sniper targeting U.S. troops turns out to be a terrified girl in pigtails. As she lies mortally wounded, she begs quietly, Shoot me. The soldiers oblige. The stereotypical nature of the sex worker scenes is, for Bui, redeemed somewhat by the character of the sniper (Ngoc Le), whose courage is acknowledged. In Bui's own Three Seasons, a 1999 Vietnamese-American production, sex worker Lan (Diep Bui) is central to the story, an exploration of postwar life in Ho Chi Minh City. A cyclo driver falls in love with Lan and trails her around the city, trying to help her find a better life. Widows and orphans Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bui says his research has found that more than half of Vietnamese films about the conflict have female protagonists. One of the most famous, Hai Ninhs landmark The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974), follows a young girl (Lan Huong) searching for her family in bombed-out Hanoi. Another, ang Nhat Minhs When the Tenth Month Comes (1984), tells the story of Duyen (Le Van), a young wife and mother in the rural north whose husband goes to war. Her ailing father-in-law asks frequently why the soldier has not written home. Duyen learns one day that her husband's been dead for a year and enlists a local schoolteacher to help her hide that by forging eloquent letters. The character is emblematic of the way Vietnamese culture has long portrayed the woman: fierce, loyal and resilient in the face of adversity, argues Duong. She is beautiful. Shes suffering. Shes loyal to the memory of her dead husband, notes Duong. Its been argued by ang Nhat Minh himself ... that she's a symbol for the nation itself. So it becomes a really rich metaphor for filmmakers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The risk, she adds, is that such characters, serving as symbols, can also lack dimension. Stone's change of focus Stone is one of the only directors to have explicitly addressed the minimal role of women in his Vietnam works, saying Platoon was deliberately a male-driven narrative. But with his third and last Vietnam War film, Heaven & Earth (1993), Stone shifted to the perspective of a real-life Vietnamese woman: Le Ly (Hiep Thi Le), who endures rape and torture as a young woman, then moves to California with her troubled American military husband (Tommy Lee Jones). There is some truth to the criticism of my treatment of women, Stone said while making the film. I have a lot to learn about everything, not just women. Making his point crystal clear, Stone dedicates the film at the end to his mother, Jacqueline Stone. A fellow sex trafficking survivor, Annie Farmer, has claimed that Virginia Giuffre was dealing with "enormous pressure" before taking her own life. Farmer said that the pressure came from the backlash Giuffre received over her case against the Duke of York, Prince Andrew. In 2021, Virginia Giuffre filed a lawsuit against the Duke of York, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was a minor after she was trafficked to him by the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Annie Farmer Says People Were 'Vicious Towards' Virginia Giuffre Instagram | Virginia Giuffre In an interview with The Telegraph, Annie Farmer, one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, spoke candidly about Giuffre's shocking death by suicide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sex trafficking survivor suggested that Giuffre's act of taking her own life was tied to her no longer being able to deal with the pressure that came with her settled sexual abuse case against disgraced royal Prince Andrew. "I just know that being involved in this case has been an enormous amount of pressure for her, generally, in all the cases she was involved in," Ms Farmer told the news outlet. Reflecting further on Giuffre's death, Farmer noted that there have been people who "have just been really vicious towards" the late 41-year-old ever since she spoke out about her abuse. She believes this made all the support Giuffre received insufficient to make her life "anything easier." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think for her, it was next level because of that, because of the Prince part in particular," Farmer added. "I think that was tremendously hard. These kinds of battles, it feels like it's just always ongoing." Prince Andrew's Old Flame Mocked Virginia Giuffre After Her Passing MEGA Indeed, Giuffre faced much backlash from different individuals, including Prince Andrew's ex, Victoria Hervey. Upon her suicide, Hervey further smeared the Victims Refuse Silence founder with a post that seemed to suggest that she got what was coming to her. "When lies catch up to you, there's no way out," Hervey wrote on her Instagram story alongside sharing a news report about Giuffre's suicide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the post, social media users called out Hervey's actions as "vile" and "despicable." The criticism appeared to make her pause her attacks on Giuffre, which she acknowledged in a second post to her story two hours later. "I have taken the decision to pause my posts on Virginia Giuffre at this time," she said, per the Daily Mail. "Irrespective of the circumstances, suicide in anyone at any time is tragic, and in a young mother who has children, even more so." Virginia Giuffre's Death Was Deemed 'Not Suspicious' Instagram | Virginia Giuffre Concerning Giuffre's death, the authorities have hinted that there was no foul play involved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "About 9.50 pm Friday 25 April, emergency services received a report [that] a woman had been located unresponsive at a residence in Neergabby," read a statement from a WA Police Force spokesperson. It continued, "Police and St John WA attended and provided emergency first-aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene." "The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious," the statement concluded. The Epstein Victim Denied Being Suicidal Instagram | Virginia Giuffre While the autopsy will ultimately determine if Giuffre's death truly had no foul play involved, a tweet she once made about not being suicidal has raised eyebrows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said at the time, "I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal." Giuffre continued, "I have made this known to my therapist and GP If something happens to me for the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me [quieted]." Virginia Giuffre's Family Praised Her As A 'Fierce Warrior' Instagram | Virginia Giuffre Following Giuffre's death, her family shared a heartfelt tribute that also hinted at why she took her life. "Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking," the family said about Giuffre, per People Magazine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "She was the light that lifted so many survivors. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight," they added. According to reports, the Epstein victim's brother, Sky Roberts, was staying with her at the time of her death and may have been the one who made the emergency call. Details regarding Giuffre's burial arrangements remain unclear for now, but may be revealed in the coming days. Virginia Giuffre, a vocal accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, tragically took her own life in Western Australia. While her death was labeled "not suspicious," she had previously denied any suicidal intentions in 2019, warning of potential harm from influential individuals. Virginia Giuffre's family confirmed her death by suicide, remembering her as a fierce advocate against sexual abuse. Virginia Giuffre Said 'Evil People Want To See Me Quieted' Instagram | Virginia Giuffre In 2019, Giuffre responded to a post on X suggesting that the FBI might silence her to protect powerful individuals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said at the time, "I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal." Giuffre continued, "I have made this known to my therapist and GP If something happens to me for the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me [quieted]." In the wake of her tragic passing, the post resurfaced on X and set tongues wagging, especially among notable conservatives, including Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene. Greene, reacting to the Epstein accuser's death, posted a photo of a young Giuffre with Prince Andrew, whom she accused of sex trafficking, with the caption, "The truth needs to come out, more matter who is responsible [sic]." The Epstein Accuser's Family Confirmed Her Tragic Death By Suicide Instagram | Virginia Giuffre On Friday night in the Neergabby area, Giuffre was reportedly found unresponsive by first responders who were called to the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the BBC, it was revealed that Major Crime detectives are investigating the circumstances of her death, although "early indications suggest the death is not suspicious. Giuffre's family eventually released a statement confirming her passing: "It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia. She lost her life to suicide after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking." Remembering her as a courageous advocate, her family paid tribute to her fight for justice, stating: "Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors." Tributes Pour In For Virginia Giuffre: 'A Courageous Advocate And Beacon Of Hope' Instagram | Virginia Giuffre In a chat with the New York Post, Giuffre's uncle, Jet Roberts, revealed that he had only learned of her death on Saturday morning and was unaware of any conspiracy theories surrounding it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "She was a very nice person who had a lot of bad luck," he said, before adding that the family deeply mourns her loss. In a moving statement, Sigrid McCawley, Giuffre's attorney, also expressed profound grief. She said, "Virginia Giuffre was much more than a client to me, she was a dear friend. Virginia was fearless, and her courage pushed me to fight harder." McCawley continued, "Virginia's sunny strength was contagious, and her smile spread hope to so many. She lifted us all to be better, and so we must be better. The world has lost a light that shone bright. Rest in peace, my sweet angel." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Giuffre's long-time spokesperson, Dini von Mueffling, paid tribute to her, calling her "one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honor to know." She described Giuffre as a "beacon to other survivors and victims" and emphasized that it had been "a privilege of a lifetime" to represent her. The Epstein Victim Alleged That She Was Being Physically Abused By Her Husband Before Her Death Instagram | Virginia Giuffre After sharing a post online about being involved in a bus accident, Giuffre made a claim about being a victim of physical assault by her husband, Robert Giuffre. "I was able to fight back against Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, who abused and trafficked me," the 41-year-old wrote in a statement to People Magazine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She added, "But I was unable to escape the domestic violence in my marriage until recently. After my husband's latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent." Although Giuffre did not confirm when the "latest physical assault" occurred, a rep for her informed the news outlet that the 41-year-old had reported an assault to the authorities on January 9, 2025. Giuffre's brother's wife, Amanda, also claimed that the incident occurred and that the sexual abuse victim advocate "almost died" from the injuries she sustained. "I think the last incident that they had, she almost died," Amanda said. "And we had to speak that truth with her on the phone. And I think she had acknowledged that if she had one more instance with him, she wasn't making it out of there." Virginia Giuffre: Vocal Accuser Of Jeffrey Epstein And Prince Andrew MEGA Before her untimely passing, Giuffre was one of the most vocal accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former associate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2015, Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Epstein, accusing him of sex trafficking after Maxwell allegedly recruited her from her job at Mar-a-Lago. In August 2021, she filed a civil suit against British royal, Prince Andrew, claiming that she was forced into having sex with him several times at the age of 17. Although the Duke of York has denied these allegations, he reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Giuffre in February 2022. In an unsigned letter included with the settlement filing, Andrew acknowledged that Giuffre has endured significant trauma as an "established victim" of sexual abuse but maintained that he does not admit to any wrongdoing. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) Some people tell News13 they are worried about traffic and accidents on Ocean Boulevard, now that the Myrtle Beach Police Departments Summer Emergency Vehicle Access Plan (SEVAP) is in full swing. Myrtle Beach Police say the plan is meant to improve emergency response times, officer visibility, and proactive policing. The plan is in effect Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The northbound lane of Ocean Blvd is closed between 9th Avenue North and 16th Ave N. The section between 8th and 9th Aves N. is closed in both directions to create an emergency vehicle lane. Woodrow Turner, a Myrtle Beach visitor, says the city already has summer traffic issues, and the access plan will only make them worse. From Thursday through Saturday, you got a lot of people coming in, Turner said. So, the traffic is going to double, triple substantially. Its going to cause a lot of problems. Drivers can still use Kings Highway, secondary streets, and parking lots to get to businesses. But Turner says Fridays traffic did not make that easy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It took us a little longer to get to where we were trying to go, he said. So, we ended up having to park a little ways away and then walk to our restaurant. Connie Turner says people come to Myrtle Beach to have fun and worry less. However, she says SEVAP is inconvenient and may even lead to accidents. When youre on vacation, youre on that vacation mode,' Connie said. People dont pay as close attention as they typically would, I think. So, thats going to cause some problems. Most businesses affected by the access plan are hotels. We spoke to many hotel employees, who did not want to go on camera, but say they did not even know about the plan until we spoke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although the Turners are not fans of the access plan, they say many drivers do not move over when they hear the emergency sirens. I do believe they should have their own lane, but I dont feel like they should inconvenience the residents to make that happen, Woodrow said. Myrtle Beach Police recommend using Google Maps and Waze for updated traffic patterns. * * * Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, and read more of her work here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Its here. After weeks of working behind the scenes, Washington state Democratic lawmakers released their much-anticipated operating-budget deal Saturday morning. Both chambers will need to give it the green light with a vote, and Gov. Bob Ferguson will still need to sign it. Senate Ways and Means Chair June Robinson, an Everett Democrat, said lawmakers worked hard to land on the final proposal. Its probably not the budget that we thought we were going to be writing a year ago, she said but its one that would address the states fiscal challenges while funding core services that the people of Washington depend on. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement House and Senate Democrats released their respective plans late last month to balance the states budget, which faces a shortfall between $7.5 billion and $16 billion, depending on whos asked. Ferguson said April 1 that he wouldnt sign either one. Both relied too much on taxes, he said at the time. Democrats switched gears and released an updated $12 billion-over-four-years tax package earlier this month. The governor still wasnt pleased, calling the plan too risky amid looming federal-level funding threats. Senate Republicans, by the way, proposed their own budget, one that wouldnt raise taxes. But Ferguson also said that an all-cuts budget isnt the solution either. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats on Saturday unveiled a $77.9 billion, two-year spending deal. They also suggested $5.9 billion in cuts and roughly $8.7 billion added in revenue over the four-year budget outlook. Here are some initial takeaways from the latest budget plan. Taxes, taxes, taxes Democrats floated a bevy of tax ideas this session. The majority partys messaging homed in on increasing taxes for wealthy residents and large businesses, but Republicans and critics said that many of the proposals would also hit everyday Washingtonians wallets. Some revenue-package ideas include hikes on business and occupation (B&O), capital gains and estate taxes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other revenue legislation: the so-called Tesla tax and House Bill 2015, a Ferguson priority that would provide $100 million in police-hiring grants. House Appropriations Chair Timm Ormsby said that while lawmakers are interacting with Fergusons team, the proposal wasnt about a relationship. Rather, he said, it was about getting the budget-job done. Neither Ormsby nor Robinson would speculate on whether the governor would sign the budget. (The executive branch is) their own branch of government, Robinson said. And I cannot predict, nor do I know, what they will choose to do. ECEAP delays Robinson described hits to the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), a state-funded prekindergarten program for qualifying low-income families. Early ECEAP for kids ages 0 to 3 is completely unfunded in the budget, although the structure remains so that it can be funded in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ECEAP entitlement has also been delayed, but there is a 5% rate increase, Robinson said. State employee furloughs When rolling out his own budget ideas, Ferguson suggested that state employees take one-day-per-month furlough days for two years. The Senate opted for 13 days over one year, while the House didnt include furloughs at all. The state-employees union has lambasted lawmakers and the governor for considering furloughs, qualifying them as a betrayal. So, where did lawmakers ultimately land? No furloughs, and collective bargaining agreements would be honored. The state needs to be a model employer, Ormsby said. We need to project outward to the rest of the state what it looks like to appreciate the work that people do, compensate them fairly and keep them employed. Rainy Day Fund Ferguson has advised lawmakers to leave the Budget Stabilization Account, nicknamed the Rainy Day Fund, untouched. He urged them to prepare for more potential cuts from the federal government, given Trump 2.0s ongoing slash-and-burn spree. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although the Senate had initially mulled tapping the fund, Saturdays final proposal would leave it alone. Ferguson said in a statement Saturday evening hes pleased to see that lawmakers budget maintains the Rainy Day Fund to help prep for the Trump administrations chaos. Hes also glad that it boosts the states investment in K-12 education and includes a $100 million grant program for law-enforcement hiring, per his request. That said, I will be carefully reviewing the budget after it is adopted by the Legislature, Ferguson continued. I appreciate the hard work of legislators to finish the session on time. RHC closure Both House and Senate lawmakers budget proposals recommended closing the state-run Rainier School residential habilitation center for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, located in Buckley in Pierce County. The lower chamber had also sought to close Yakima Valley School in Selah. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republican lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee walked out in protest after the Senates version passed out of committee April 23. Democrats current budget deal would close Rainier School, but not Yakima Valley School. Republican response State Rep. Travis Couture, the House Republican budget lead, was not present at Saturday mornings conference committee meeting. Both he and Sen. Chris Gildon, his upper-chamber counterpart, have expressed frustration about Republicans lack of inclusion during the negotiation process. Gildon said Saturdays budget was a complete rehaul done in private. I honestly believe that it brings shame on the Legislature for doing it this way, and it brings shame on the people of Washington state, the Puyallup Republican said, adding that Saturday morning was the first time hed seen the more than 1,300-page budget document. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Ormsby said that the process has occurred throughout his time in the Legislature, regardless of which party was in charge. In an interview, Couture detailed concerns about the unsustainable, largest tax increase in state history, on top of a massive increase in spending. The Allyn Republican also worries about revenue proposals, such as the B&O tax increase, hurting the states businesses and economic health. These are good taxes if you want business to move to Idaho or to another state, Arizona you name it where its more competitive and a more friendly business and economic environment, he said. And that means less jobs. The 2025 legislative session ends Sunday, April 27. BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the worlds largest asset manager, plans to convert its BlackRock GA Disciplined Volatility Equity Fund (BIDVX) and BlackRock GA Dynamic Equity Fund (BIEEX) to exchange-traded funds, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The two equity mutual funds will be reorganized into the iShares Disciplined Volatility Equity Active ETF and the iShares Dynamic Equity Active ETF, respectively, on Sept. 12. The expense ratios will be 0.4%, and both funds will retain their current objectives and managers and maintain substantially similar strategies. Active ETFs are becoming an integral part of investor portfolios around the world, with financial advisors increasingly incorporating them into their practices, a BlackRock spokesperson told etf.com. BlackRocks decision to convert a mutual fund into an ETF underscores this growing demand and our commitment to aligning the strategies we offer with the investment vehicles that best suit our clients needs. The Mutual-Fund-to-ETF Conversion There has been a significant shift from long-term mutual funds to ETFs in recent years. In 2024, mutual funds (excluding money market funds) experienced $579 billion worth of net outflows, while $1.1 trillion moved into ETFs, according to CFRA Research. ETFs have structural advantages that in some cases make them more appealing than mutual funds, Aniket Ullal, head of ETF research and analytics at CFRA, explained to etf.com. They have an in-kind creation/redemption mechanism that provides tax advantages over traditional mutual funds, tend to have lower expense ratios and trade like stocks on exchanges, providing intraday tradability. ETFs in the U.S. generally don't have distribution fees and sales loads, unlike some mutual funds, Ullal added. [And] there are more ETFs than mutual funds that provide targeted exposure to specific sectors, factors and themes. Wall Street Takes Note Last year, Bank of America Global Research reported that funds that convert from mutual funds to ETFs attract an average of $500 million in new money within two years of conversion, reversing previous outflows. Wall Street is taking note. J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Leuthold Group are among firms that have made mutual fund-to-ETF conversions this year, following in the footsteps of Dimensional Fund Advisors, which helped create the playbook for these types of conversions. BlackRock made its first conversion in November, reorganizing the $755 million International Dividend mutual fund into the more flexible wrapper. The Washington state Capitol on April 18, 2025. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) A highly contested bill around the closure of a residential center for people with disabilities passed the Washington state House and Senate this weekend with mixed support from lawmakers and some major changes. Senate Bill 5393 intended to shutter Rainier School, a rehabilitation center in Pierce County for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, by June 30, 2027. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But a Republican amendment approved on the House floor, and agreed to by the Senate, will instead prohibit new long-term admissions starting July 27 this year and stop short-term admissions starting June 30, 2027. Under the amended version, the center would close when there are no more long-term residents. Former long-term residents would have the ability to return within one year of transitioning out of the center. The rewrite gained some Republican support but lost some among Democrats. Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, was one of the lawmakers concerned that the bill was rushing the closure and didnt have enough safeguards. He and other GOP legislators walked out of a House committee hearing this week when the panel advanced the legislation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the amendment, he felt better about the bill, even though he still voted against it. This is a pill I can swallow, Couture said. The bill would also require the Department of Social and Health Services to provide regular reports to the Legislature until June 1, 2030, and offer residents the choice of alternative placements with careful planning. It now heads to Gov. Bob Fergusons desk. Debates around the closure of the Rainier School and the similar Yakima Valley School have been a hot topic in the Legislature this session. Rainier School has faced scrutiny in recent years over incidents of abuse, neglect and safety lapses. Some disability rights advocates have pushed for its closure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The facilities are also expensive, with a year of services for a patient at Rainier running around $775,000. Proponents of closing them said it could allow for resources to be shifted in a way that gives people improved options for services and reduces costs for the state. This isnt about buildings or dollars, this is about the people who live at Rainier, people who have been hurt, forgotten, ignored, and betrayed, said Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle. If home means fear, being silenced, bruised, and even death, we have an obligation to show some better options, Farivar added. But Republicans argued that centers like Rainier provide a crucial form of services and care and that people would be left with few nearby options if the center were to close. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Workers at the facilities also opposed the closure plans. In 2017, the Legislature passed a bill that would close the Yakima Valley School once the number of permanent residents had dwindled to eight people. There are roughly 36 long-term residents at the center, according to figures presented to lawmakers. A House bill that stalled this year proposed closing both the Rainier and Yakima Valley schools by June 30, 2027. The amended version of Senate Bill 5393 does not change when the Yakima Valley School would close. A person using fentanyl on Park Avenue in Portland, Oregon, in January 2024. The drug, one addict tells Rolling Stone, "controls every decision you make." The man at the West Burnside Street bus stop looks stone dead, sprawled out on the sidewalk with his eyes rolled back. Lucky for him, he overdosed on a weekday, just five blocks from the downtown Portland, Oregon, fire station, where the quick-response unit is on duty, and theyre on the scene in minutes. With the sangfroid of someone who has performed this ritual too many times to count, paramedic Justin de Jesus jabs the mans shoulder with a shot of naloxone to reverse the effects of fentanyl, the hyper-potent synthetic opioid that is driving the U.S. overdose epidemic. His partner applies an oxygen mask and, slowly, the mans breathing picks up. After a quick knuckle rub to the sternum, he stirs back to life. But this brush with death is no wake-up call. Hostage to his addiction, the man shows no gratitude. He wont give his name and bristles when asked if hed like more help. Before the first responders have packed up their kit, he disappears around a corner, presumably to score again. If someone overdoses to the point where they have to be revived, de Jesus later explains, they tend to seek out that dealer because, in their words, Thats the good stuff. Theyll just do a little less, so they wont die. But since theres no standardization, you could be getting a fentanyl pill that has nothing in it or 10,000 times the standard therapeutic dose, so you just drop dead. More from Rolling Stone Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drug overdoses killed some 87,000 Americans over a 12-month period ending in September 2024 more lives lost than the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq combined. Although the death toll is down significantly from a peak of almost 114,000 the year before, Oregon and other Western states have lagged behind the downward national trend, making them ground zero of the decade-long fentanyl crisis. Nowhere has the social and economic impact been more acutely felt than in Portland, a proudly progressive, midsize city of more than 600,000 that not long ago was one the most desirable places to live in the country, despite stubbornly high rates of unsheltered homelessness and substance abuse. In late 2020, Oregon voters overwhelmingly passed the most liberal drug law in the country, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of hard drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. Instead of jail time, Ballot Measure 110 aimed to expand addiction treatment services in a state that ranked last in such offerings nationwide, through hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue redirected from a cannabis tax and savings resulting from decreases in arrests and incarceration. Additional funding went to harm reduction services naloxone distribution, needle exchanges, testing kits that make drugs safer to use. Advocates hoped to follow in the footsteps of trailblazing countries like Portugal and France, where nuanced approaches that prioritize health care over punishment have curtailed overdoses and public drug use. In some respects, it was the closest any place in the U.S. had yet come to The Wires Hamsterdam: a drug zone where police permit dealers to operate as long as they dont fight over territory and confine sales to a limited number of blocks, enabling addiction service providers to focus their efforts. The timing could not have been worse. Months into decriminalization, Mexican drug cartels ratcheted up the flow of fentanyl across the border and up the Interstate 5 corridor, where it flooded onto city streets, plunging prices to less than a dollar a pill. As lockdown despair from the Covid-19 pandemic deepened, the killing of George Floyd sparked monthslong racial justice protests that turned violent and engulfed parts of downtown. With police turning a blind eye, Portland became a honeypot for local and out-of-state addicts to score cheap dope and use it freely. It was like a perfect storm that brought us from this really vibrant, amazing downtown to a tourist destination [for drug users], says Rick Graves, a spokesman for Portland Fire and Rescue. Overdose deaths, retail theft, and homicides surged to record levels, running law enforcement and first responders ragged. Wed revive the same people, and revive them again and again, says Dave Friedericks, a veteran paramedic and firefighter whose downtown station responded to 36 overdose calls in a 48-hour period in the summer of 2023. A highly addictive painkiller, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin (two milligrams or the equivalent of five to seven grains of table salt is considered a lethal dose), with black-market analogues that are thousands of times stronger. Dealers mix fentanyl with other drugs to increase profits, and fentanyls effects on users are exacerbated by an evolving array of cuts, notably xylazine (a.k.a. tranq), an animal tranquilizer that, when injected, can rot flesh and lead to amputation. Complicating matters, many addicts in Oregon use fentanyl and psychosis-inducing forms of methamphetamine in tandem, raising the likelihood of a fatal overdose and making it even harder to get them to seek treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In January 2024, Portland made national headlines when Gov. Tina Kotek declared a 90-day state of emergency to tackle the fentanyl crisis. Within months, state lawmakers voted to repeal Measure 110, ending a nearly four-year experiment with decriminalization. Then the reform-minded district attorney of Multnomah County, where Portland is located, was ousted by one of his own prosecutors, in a ballot seen as a referendum for greater accountability. Now, anyone caught with illicit drugs who doesnt have outstanding warrants is given a choice: Be charged with possession and go to jail; or be deflected to community-based addiction treatment. Anti-drug laws, in other words, are back in force, albeit with a brand of tough love that reflects the Rose Citys liberal ethos. I made two trips to Portland last year to see how the transition is working out. In a live-and-let-live city that likes to signal its virtues, can empathy and stricter law enforcement go hand in hand? When does hands-off harm reduction become enablement? And with a drug as deadly addictive as fentanyl, is compulsory detox and treatment a viable option? How Portland manages this next chapter could be a bellwether for larger American cities grappling with the tangle of addiction, rampant homelessness, and deteriorating public safety. The challenge here in the U.S. is massive, says Dr. Andy Mendenhall, CEO of Central City Concern, a nonprofit that provides housing and addiction services to nearly 16,000 people each year. The unrelenting flow of fentanyl combined with a dearth of shelter beds, affordable housing, and behavioral health resources has resulted in an addicted population thats chronically homeless and harder to get into treatment, he explains. On a more esoteric level, people feel stressed out and isolated from each other. Theres a lack of connection, and weve become this soundbite culture where feelings are to be avoided or turned off. And there are so many different distractions that folks are going to turn to something to help them feel different. ON A WIND-BLOWN CORNER near the old Greyhound bus station in Chinatown, homeless addicts muster in front of a white van serving free cups of coffee. The van is operated by the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon, a Measure 110-boosted nonprofit that employs former drug users who apply their lived experience to guide peers into recovery. They offer tickets to a nearby resource center where people can get free showers, do laundry, and eat hot food, no strings attached. Should anyone request detox or a housing referral, staff assess their mental health and other criteria to determine the best fit. Its why I call Portland Supportland, says Ricco Mejia, a charismatic ex-heroin addict raised by whores and bank robbers who serves as outreach manager. I was struggling and asked for help, I received help, and I became the help. Fire department medics treating an overdose in Chinatown last year. In 2024, Oregons governor declared a 90-day state of emergency due to the fentanyl crisis. Word is that 35-year-old Bruce Ferguson is ready to come in for detox, and Mejia is waiting with a smile and handshake when he turns up. A husky skater with a shock of terracotta hair and a soulful aspect, Ferguson says he started taking Adderall and later pot to deal with teenage anxiety. He fell in with a troubled crowd. A Percocet prescription after a dental operation segued to heroin addiction that got him kicked out of the family home. Then came fentanyl. Its not how it used to be, he says. It controls every decision you make. With a powerful high that wears off in less than an hour, some addicts are compelled to use upward of 20 to 30 times a day, leaving fleeting windows of self-possession. People that you would never even guess become users and now, within a couple of days, months, theyre homeless out here, Ferguson says. Theyve lost everything: families, cars, houses, careers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ferguson lost a steady job landscaping, his apartment, and the girlfriend he shared it with. Hes had almost no contact with his parents over the past few years. I just want to be a decent human being and be accountable, be trustworthy, and I want to be a good son to my mom and my dad and make them proud, he says, because Ive done the complete opposite of that. He steals constantly to slake his addiction, which compounds the gnawing sense of shame and the urge to numb out aware hes one false move from another long stint in jail, or an early grave. If I dont get my shit together, Im going to lose everything for good. As Mejia and Ferguson set a time to meet at the downtown center, Fergusons ex-girlfriend appears. Shes recently relapsed, and looks worse for wear. Ferguson later confides that he introduced her to fentanyl, a fact that still haunts him. After they catch up, he tells Mejia that his exs presence is stirring the pot a little. Thats that friendly fire we talk about, replies Mejia, launching into pep-talk mode. The lifestyle firing back at us. Most people get taken out on the battlefield by people on our own side. Could be friends and family. They want whats best for us. But we need a timeout from them to work on ourselves first. So just maybe setting a boundary with her, right? Much to Mejias relief, Ferguson shows up at the resource center a few hours later. He showers, cuts his hair, and organizes his art supplies for a weeklong stay at Recovery Works Northwest, a 16-bed inpatient detox facility that opened with Measure 110 funding. Nervous but upbeat, Ferguson says he wants to sober up and reconnect with his father, a schoolteacher now living in Italy. Past experience has also taught him that feeling normal again can be the hardest part of all. I have energy and get complacent, like, I can handle that [drug] and its not going to hurt me, and it does. Every time. Bruce Ferguson, 35, struggles with fentanyl addiction. If I dont get my shit together, he says, Im going to lose everything. When its time to head over, Ferguson tells Mejia that he needs to run a few more errands and will come back in the afternoon. But he never does. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mejia is unfazed. Having been in and out of detox 15 times himself, he knows better than anyone that the path to recovery is seldom a straight line. Its the lifestyle and the disease of addiction, making choices for them. After so many relapses, he credits getting into supportive housing with outpatient treatment for helping him finally turn the corner from being a community hazard to an asset. People were here to help me when I was ready, and well be here to help him. According to the Multnomah County Health Department, individuals who are homeless and addicted like Ferguson are at 51 times greater risk for overdose death. Of an estimated 7,000 homeless people in Portland, at least 456 died on the street in 2023, the deadliest year on record. And despite the infusion of more than $1.7 billion since 2015, homelessness in the Portland area continues to climb faster than authorities can house people. Decades of underbuilding have led to a dire housing shortage that has spiked rents and home prices, while some addicts find it easier to service their addictions on the street. In a bid to ease the deficit and draw more people into care, Multnomah County is opening temporary housing sites with low barriers to entry. In Portlands Clinton Triangle area, a fenced-off village between train tracks hosts 140 housing pods and another 20 tent platforms that are free of charge, part of a network of some 750 pods across the city. No one is turned away for substance abuse; the site is staffed primarily by people in recovery, with on-site mental health counselors to connect residents with drug treatment should they seek it. I find 39-year-old Sean Smeeden holed up in one of the tiny homes in a cold sweat, raw out of detox. Fentanyl and opioids ruined my life even before I started doing them, he says, explaining that the drugs killed his mother, uncle, and grandmother within a year-and-a-half period. Although the premises are rife with active fentanyl smokers, Smeeden, a self-described nomad from Alaska, is grateful for a space to call his own. After four sleepless nights, his withdrawal pangs are fading enough to look for work as a dishwasher. If he can stay sober, hed like to get certified as a computer programmer and secure more permanent housing. Im going through it right now, he says, but thats OK, because I feel alive. Suffering or not, it feels good to feel. IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND, the proliferation of low-barrier housing, treatment centers, and harm reduction services are in tension with struggling business owners who invested back when the local economy was booming. More than 2,600 downtown businesses, already hobbled by the pandemic and street riots, have shut down, citing customer loss due to homelessness and crime. The citys office vacancy rate stands at 30 percent, the highest in the nation, and job loss is the largest of any major metropolitan area. From San Francisco to Seattle, a similar decline has stoked fears of an urban doom loop: an ever-downward spiral where lower occupancy and property valuation leads to a withering tax base from which to fund policing, first responders, and other critical services. Ive learned that the disease of addiction has a hit on my life. The hit man is me. The citys reputation for drugs, crime, and homelessness has really crushed us, says Jessie Burke, a community organizer and co-owner of The Society Hotel in Old Town Chinatown, a neighborhood thats a perennial hub for the homeless and drug addicted. Burke, of mixed Chinese American descent, bought the rundown 19th-century building for $700,000 in 2013 and invested more than $4 million in renovations, hoping to be a part of the historic neighborhoods renaissance. Business was going gangbusters in the early years, she says but since 2019 has plunged by about 40 percent, at a loss of $30,000 a month. I remember thinking this is hard, but I dont think I ever thought I would witness the things that Ive witnessed now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During decriminalization, overdoses became so common that the city asked Burke to install a naloxone dispenser in the lobby (she refused), and drive-by shootings between rival drug gangs punctured the night. Although the violence has tapered off, the hotels front doors remain locked. Sidewalks outside are lined with tents and addicts nodding off next to pipes and burnt tinfoil. Some are missing limbs. When I visited last May, a half-naked man streaked by in a fit of psychosis. The week before, another man high on meth armed with a machete threatened to chop the head off an employees three-year-old daughter. You have to be tough as nails to work here, says Burke. Most days its like youre entering a war zone, and you dont realize it until you leave. A former competitive fencer with a no-nonsense attitude reflecting her East Coast roots, Burke insists that people high on hard drugs should not be allowed free rein. It doesnt need to be jail, but we used to have something called the Cheers van where the drug of choice was alcohol, and if you were passed out or drunk, they would pick you up and you would go to the drunk tank and sober up, she says. It has to be built a little differently, because the drugs are different. But the fact that people get to walk the streets and be aggressive on meth and have a machete is unacceptable. People deserve predictability its the baseline safety that people expect. Burke also decries the lack of oversight on public funds earmarked for homelessness and treatment services, claiming that there are no hard deliverables for any contract that goes out the door for Multnomah Countys $4 billion annual budget. (Her concerns were echoed in a December 2023 state audit of $264 million in Measure 110 funds allocated to treatment service groups, which cited insufficient data to assess their effectiveness.) One low-hanging measure she calls long overdue is a centralized server, much like the kind hotels rely on, that tracks the availability of beds in public-funded shelters. On any given night, hundreds of beds lie empty. Comparing the poor performance to standards in the private sector, she says, Small businesses dont have the luxury of failing year after year, not delivering the thing that they promised. Community organizer Jessie Burke in front of The Society Hotel, which she co-owns, in Old Town Chinatown. She says the fentanyl crisis has crushed business in recent years. In May, Burke lost her bid for a seat on the Multnomah County board of commissioners. But on the side, she served as campaign manager for her friend Nathan Vasquez, the insurgent county prosecutor who defeated his boss for the district attorney job on a campaign pledge to more aggressively prosecute criminals. At his victory party at a swank hotel on the edge of Chinatown, Vasquez affirmed that he would end open-air drug markets and get more users into treatment, restoring the idea that it is OK to hold people accountable, and do it in a compassionate manner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I RETURNED TO PORTLAND in early November, after Donald Trump won reelection. Scores of downtown storefronts were boarded up in anticipation of clashes between cops and anarchists that, for a change, never materialized. Just as the U.S. electorate shifted right, Portland reasserted its progressive bona fides by using a ranked-vote system to elect the most diverse city council in its history. The law-and-order mayoral candidate was rejected for Keith Wilson, a moderate businessman with no political experience who promised to end homelessness within a year. Contrary to what some might have heard, Portland remains a very liberal city, says Richard Clucas, a politics professor at Portland State University. Two months into recriminalization, it was hard to discern any visible change in the downtown drug market. People smoked fentanyl in plain sight and clustered at the usual spots: around the public library, the Burnside Street McDonalds, along Alder Strett, in the parking lot beneath the closed Montessori school. And after dark, the dealers were impossible to miss: short young men in hoodies and women in pajama pants, slinking around corners with side packs. Overdoses were down slightly across the city, in large part thanks to weaker drugs. Since last May, the fentanyl supply experienced a dramatic shift in potency, locally dubbed the drought. Nearly half the samples tested by the harm reduction group Outside In contained BTMPS, an industrial chemical nicknamed bug spray dope for its acrid taste when smoked. Though toxic, its not known to cause overdose or immediate death, fueling a theory that it may be part of a deliberate effort by Mexican cartels to kill less of their customer base while ensuring profits by requiring users to smoke more to get high. A fentanyl user on the street in downtown Portland. The drug is 50 times more addictive than heroin. For years, fentanyl production in northwestern Mexico was close to a free-for-all: If you had the recipe, you could cook the drug, which yielded wildly varying degrees of potency. In October 2023, the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa cartel imposed a ban on fentanyl production and killed dozens of violators, purportedly in response to intensified pressure from U.S. law enforcement. According to Victoria Dittmar of Insight Crime, a think tank that studies organized crime in the Americas, production continues by other Sinaloa cartel factions, and has since moved into neighboring states like Sonora and Baja California, where cooks operate under the oversight of the cartel. Weaker fentanyl cuts could be a calculated decision, as by doing this, they reduce law enforcement pressure on them while still maintaining profits, Dittmar says. But at this stage, this is just a hypothesis. Additionally, when certain precursor chemicals are in short supply, fentanyl may be cut with xylazine and other ingredients to increase the volume of the final product at any stage of the chain, from cook to U.S. distributor, so even if production in Sinaloa appears to be more centralized, the end product can still vary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One factor behind the decline in deaths thats not in question is more widespread availability of naloxone. While some residents contend that harm reduction measures like the free handouts of drug paraphernalia and tarps have exacerbated a sense of decay around Portland and left addicts more vulnerable to abuse, the impact of the opioid reversal drug on streets where it was once scarce to nonexistent is a major success story, says Dr. Todd Korthuis, the head of Oregon Health & Science Universitys addiction medicine section. He singled out the work of Save Lives Oregon, a network of organizations that has distributed more than 675,000 naloxone doses, resulting in almost 20,000 overdose reversals. Reid Elder, an UberEats driver who obsessively tracks Portlands drug scene and collects free naloxone, says hes administered hundreds of life-saving doses over the past two years. Seven nights a week, he and his partner, Elena Perez, work the graveyard shift downtown in their Toyota Prius while monitoring emergency dispatch on a smartphone app. Anytime an overdose call comes through thats in range, they detour to the scene equipped with naloxone, often arriving ahead of first responders. When things are slow, the couple distribute snacks and hand warmers, along with nudges to seek help. In general, social service workers in Portland are too passive, Elder laments. Getting people off the street is gonna take a lot more assertive helping. On a drizzly Friday night, we check in with Squints, a 34-year-old Black man who Elder says has been on the same corner in Chinatown for four nights. Its 42 degrees out, and Squints is shivering under a thin blanket and a soaked sheet of cardboard. Elder offers a ride to a nearby shelter, but he politely declines and asks for a lighter instead. When Squints finally agreed to be taken into the hospital five days later, Elder found fentanyl foil under his blanket. Following surgery to remove a blood clot in his leg, he returned to the street. Its mind-boggling, says Elder. People get into this state, and theyre not even trying to meet their survival needs. Just after 10 p.m., we pull up to the corner of 13th and Taylor Street as a busted dealer is loaded into an ambulance. Hed tried to make a run for it and was tackled by a member of the Central Bike Squad, a 10-person police unit tasked with disrupting the downtown drug trade (and whose run-and-gun exploits are featured on a COPS-style Instagram account). In his side pack, officers found 50 grams of compressed fentanyl, $1,126 in cash, and a revolver. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though police dont make a point of asking, officer Cristina Serrano, a native Spanish speaker, tells me more than 90 percent of the street-level dealers they arrest are undocumented Hondurans who belong to networks on Mexican cartels payrolls a fact that squares with Drug Enforcement Administration investigations from Oakland to Salt Lake City. Some of them dont even know its a misdemeanor now, she says, so they just keep doing it in the street. (Indeed, a month earlier, when Serrano arrested a woman whod been weighing out fentanyl powder with a scale at this exact same spot, she says the woman was less concerned about going to jail than feeding her infant child.) Typically, dealers give an alias when arrested and skip their court date; if the heat becomes too great, they move on to another Western state where their warrant wont be extraditable, in a distribution merry-go-round. Under Measure 110, the man caught with fentanyl weight and a gun might have walked away with a ticket or nothing at all. Today, its hardly any worse; Serrano says he could normally expect to be released within hours. Only because it was a weekend and there was no judge on duty, the man would have to spend a couple of nights in jail. The remainder of Serranos shift would be spent doing paperwork at the precinct, leaving no bike patrol on duty downtown until Monday morning. Like water probing for gaps, the Hondurans were back on the same block before midnight. You can push people further away by forcing them [into treatment], and those people will just recede into the shadows. THE NEXT MORNING, I ask the central precinct commander, Brian Hughes, if theres any disincentive to dealing fentanyl in his city. Theres none and they know that; its part of the business model, he says. There needs to be more risk [for dealers]. While recriminalization under the new law, HB 4002, has enabled police to make arrests and carry out investigations that have led to up-the-chain arrests and larger drug seizures, he says authorities are still hamstrung by capacity shortages in the jails and on the street. (Following the George Floyd protests, police hiring was put on a freeze that was later lifted.) He says a city the size of Portland should have at least 1,100 officers. Today, there are just 785 on staff, with some entering retirement; another 150 officers are in training but it will take months before they are in service. We are way too low now, says Hughes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hughes was more upbeat about the deflection option available to drug users to avoid the criminal justice system. Provided they have no outstanding warrants and are not a threat, they could choose to be dropped off at a new center across the Willamette River, where they are screened by health workers and referred to additional treatment services. Operated by Baltimore nonprofit Tuerk House, the center offers 13 sobering stations that are open 24-hours, with plans to open a permanent sobering center in 2027 that can accommodate 50 people for longer stays and involuntary holds, including withdrawal management services and medication-assisted treatment. Its still too early to assess the efficacy of the program. As of late February, only 267 have entered deflection (the majority of people arrested with drugs are brought to jail on other charges or an outstanding warrant). Moreover, once they are delivered and officers remove the handcuffs, nothing can stop them from walking away as most appear to be doing, much to the ire of neighbors and business owners. They havent even finished the booking process and theyre out, says Serrano, noting that after 30 days, offenders become eligible for deflection again if arrested. Deflection is a good idea, she adds, but when is enough, enough? Incoming district attorney Nathan Vasquez says hes aware of these loopholes and has a plan to fix them. Being progressive is wonderful, but theres still a social contract, he says. When it comes to [small possession] drug crimes, the goal should never be to lock people up. At the same time, you have to have a motivational piece to push people toward treatment, and sometimes its OK to put someone in jail for a few days. Outreach worker Warren Goodson (center) and his partner, Shawn Mahan (right) try to help a man theyve encountered on the street. To make his point, he shares the story of a key witness in a triple homicide case who was addicted to fentanyl and had overdosed multiple times. As the trial neared and it was obvious she would not show up, he arranged a warrant to have her held for 10 days with an ankle monitor enforcing a de facto detox stint. Since the trial ended, Vasquez says the woman texts him every three months to thank him for helping her get sober, something she told him she never would have done without him. There are many paths to recovery, Vasquez says, and its never wise to take any threat of being held accountable off the table. One component of Vasquezs plan will be involuntary detox in treatment dorms built on county jail grounds. Along with traditional guards, they will be staffed by medical nurses working to use the detox period to get them in the right zone before they are released to an inpatient or outpatient treatment program, with a supervised plan that could include Suboxone, a medication used to alleviate opioid cravings, and a dedicated case manager. He wants to start with 100 to 120 beds and, if enough funding can be raised from the county, federal grants, and private investors, be staffed up and running by the end of 2026. Because he has no plans to seek higher office, Vasquez says he can put results ahead of politics and, hopefully, create a model that other mid-sized American cities can replicate. Enforced treatment is not a new concept in the U.S. state and local governments have used drug courts and other systems since the 1970s to compel people to get sober, and the approach is gaining bipartisan momentum owing to the lethality of fentanyl. California lawmakers, for instance, have passed legislation that makes it easier to detain people and force them into medical treatment for addiction. A half-dozen recovering heroin and fentanyl addicts told me, unequivocally, that they never would have broken free without a nudge from the judge. I got rescued, not arrested, says one, who now works for a recovery nonprofit. Other former addicts counter that involuntary treatment is unethical and dehumanizing, and it does more harm than good. Most people already couldnt quit using drugs when they were facing a bunch of consequences, so when you come in and say theres gonna be one more consequence its not like, Oh, the fucking light switch flipped, says Morgan Godvin, a drug policy researcher and former heroin user who spent four years behind bars as a result of her addiction. You can push people further away by forcing them, and those people will just recede into the shadows. Most empirical data affirms that involuntary treatment is less effective, particularly the cold turkey approaches used in some prisons. A 2024 study in Massachusetts dealing with fentanyl addiction found that civic commitment, whereby family members seek court-mandated treatment for a loved one, increased the risk of overdose after forced abstinence. The goal is to have as many people as possible make the choice between prosecution and treatment consciously, and have a sense of accountability for that, says Central City Concerns Mendenhall, noting that recovery outcomes are better when self-directed. However, when individuals have lost the ability to help themselves due to acute mental illness and addiction, and pose a danger to themselves and others, involuntary treatment is absolutely necessary. Oregon still faces a severe shortage of psychiatric care facilities, and people with dual diagnoses are generally excluded from civil commitment. These people are falling through the cracks, he adds, resulting in the greatest inequities and preventable death from overdose and exposure. Once again, Portland will be a test case as authorities try to strike a balance between care and coercion. Measure 110 was, Were going to let you exist out in the street, and good luck we hope somehow youre gonna decide to make the leap to treatment, not taking into account the nature of the beast [fentanyl and meth], says Vasquez. What if we tried this other path, where there is a medical component, and a criminal justice component, and not shy away from that but embrace it in a way that says, How can we help get these individuals connected to treatment in a long-term way? LATE ONE NIGHT, making the rounds with Elder and Perez, we speed to an overdose call in Chinatown, right across the street from The Society Hotel. An unconscious man named Gilbert is receiving emergency breathing from a woman, and three discarded shots of naloxone litter the ground. His hearts working, but hes not breathing, the woman shouts. The mans lips are turning blue, and Perez, unsure of how long hes been out, jumps in to give him another shot of naloxone. The woman pushes her against the wall: Goddamit, youre gonna kill him if you give him another shot! Perez pleads. Were on the same team, mama! The scene is harrowing and poignant, two strangers trying their damndest to save a dying man on a cold, wet sidewalk. And they succeed: Gilbert wakes up just as an ambulance and fire truck arrive. While I was in Portland, the Centers for Disease Control released preliminary figures indicating that U.S. overdose deaths had experienced their first significant decline in years. There are many theories as to why and no definitive consensus. Some drug policy analysts touted greater international pressure on Chinese companies that make fentanyl precursor chemicals and larger seizures on the U.S. southern border for the drop in fentanyl supply and strength, with some asserting that intensified law enforcement has changed cartels behavior. Just days ago in Portland, a multiagency operation combining the efforts of the DEA, FBI, and local law enforcement led to the arrest of 46 traffickers including Honduran nationals allegedly working with the Sinaloa cartel and the seizure of 44 pounds of fentanyl powder as well as more than 2,500 pills. Since taking office, President Trump has escalated the War on Drugs, designating the cartels as global terrorist organizations and threatening to target them inside Mexico with air strikes and Special Forces. But like other heavy-handed campaigns of the past, such tactics are unlikely to be effective given the cartels diffuse operations, fentanyls low cost and ease of transport, and the insatiable U.S. market for cheap opioids. Even if all fentanyl producers in Mexico are taken out, production would still take place, says Insight Crimes Dittmar, noting that it costs about $60,000 to set up a lab and buy materials. We already see it happening in Canada, and there is some indication that it could be happening in the United States. Devastating as Oregons overdose crisis remains, health officials contend that vigilance on the home front is the best long-term strategy, however slow and messy. Korthuis emphasizes that fentanyl hit Oregon and other Western states later than Eastern states that are now seeing a sharp drop in overdose deaths due to changes in the drug supply, naloxone availability, and expanded treatment services. There seems to be a natural evolution: The decline in overdose deaths maps out almost perfectly with when fentanyl appears in a state, he says. Im confident that by doubling down on prevention and treatment we can demonstrate the success of innovative public health models in Oregon. Travis (seated), a fentanyl addict, awaits transport to a detox clinic. I cant live like this, he says. Supporters of decriminalization maintain it was not given enough time to have an impact. Indeed, a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that decriminalization of drug possession was not associated with an increase in fatal drug overdose rates in Oregon, attributing the surge to the deluge of fentanyl instead. But in the wake of Measure 110, more people are getting access to naloxone and medically assisted treatment with proven drugs like methadone and buprenorphine. Community-based nonprofits offer a broadening spectrum of addiction services from inpatient treatment and low-barrier housing to long-term counseling that give fentanyl users a fighting chance of slipping its grip. And, critically, they are staffed by legions of emerging survivors who know the pain and isolation that lie at the root of addiction, and are ready to meet people where they are. Its all hands on deck here, says Mejia, the outreach manager. Were keeping the momentum going. Back at the coffee van in Old Town, a gaunt addict named Travis walks up and asks for detox. Im just done, says the 43-year-old, I cant live like this anymore. Tommy Richmond, a volunteer who credits a jail term with helping him get clean, starts making calls. The first two places are booked, but Recovery Works Northwest has a single bed available, and Mejia comes to drive them over. On the way, Richmond stays on the phone trying to arrange housing for the day Travis exits detox, so he doesnt slip through the cracks. If he commits to outpatient treatment, he could be eligible for county funds that would cover his rent while he gets back on his feet. Theres going to be a bunch of guys living there, and theyre going to help you stay accountable, Richmond says. Travis worries aloud that hell be kicked back onto the street if he relapses. Even at 13 years clean, I still wanna get high, but I share my thoughts and feelings like youre doing, so I dont put that into action, says Mejia. He adds a parting shot: Ive learned that the disease of addiction has a hit on my life. Whats colder than that? The hit man is me. So, how I get militant and combat that is by doing what youre doing today and asking for help. Set back in a residential area and flanked by towering pine trees, Recovery Works looks more like a cozy family home than a detox clinic. Sean Smeeden had spent a week here in the spring. (Five weeks after we met at the tiny home complex, I learned he was shot dead on a MAX train platform in north Portland.) It turns out Bruce Ferguson had also come through. BY CHANCE I RUN into Ferguson on a downtown corner and invite him to lunch. Over a bowl of Thai curry, he tells me that he skipped his detox appointment that day in May to get high with his ex-girlfriend. But he made it to the clinic a week later and toughed it out, moving on to supportive housing with a group of men. He was building momentum, but having only a month to find a job and place of his own made him feel discouraged and looking for ways to cope. Before relapsing, he left the home to avoid putting anyone else at risk. Over the summer, he did another month-long stint at a sober house, and relapsed again. By his count, it was the 10th time. Since then, hed been sleeping rough and using, too ashamed to reach out to his family. It hurts to even think about it; they care so much, and I dont like to be the bearer of bad news. He recedes into himself for a moment and lets out a groan, the ache of longing taking on a physical dimension. Its all so exhausting, he goes on. Sometimes I wanna curl up in a ball and cry, but out here you gotta keep a certain demeanor so people dont walk all over you, target you. Ferguson was going on three days without sleep. As the heavy meal settles, he can barely finish sentences and then finally drifts off, head slumping on his chest. For the next hour I let him rest, until the cafe closes down and its time to head back out into the darkening street. The headline of this story has been updated to reflect that Portland decriminalized fentanyl meaning the drug remained illegal but the criminal justice system did not prosecute those who used it but did not legalize it. Best of Rolling Stone Sign up for RollingStone's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Washington State Office of the Attorney General (AG) has launched a website to help survivors of sexual assault. A news release from the AGs Office on Thursday explained the website, www.seekthenspeakwa.com, is a tool for survivors and community members to learn about what to do after a sexual assault, connect with local resources, and report sexual assaults to law enforcement. Our work to eliminate the backlog of sexual assault kits statewide means more evidence has been tested and more crimes have been solved, AG Nick Brown said via the release. People who experience sexual assault are not alone in Washington. We are launching the Seek Then Speak website to make sure survivors of sexual assault can access local resources and reporting tools as they seek justice. Sexual assault reporting website offers alternative Special Assault Unit Supervisor at the Yakima Police Department, Sergeant Ryan Yates, added that the website is another outlet for survivors to report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are many reasons that survivors may be afraid to disclose a sexual assault; Seek Then Speak offers an additional opportunity to learn about resources and report their experience to law enforcement, Yates said. One size does not fit all; we need to offer new ways for survivors to reach out so that every person can report in a way that helps them feel safe. According to the news release, the AGs Office has two criminal justice division units and one policy team dedicated to investigating sexual assaults. To learn more about each unit, visit the AGs Offices website. When Joe Welsh stepped down as executive director of Friends of Sinners in October, he had no idea what the future would hold. I just knew that God was calling me to do something different, but I didnt know what, he said recently. I knew I could find a way to make a living. He had been the director of St. Benedicts homeless shelter from October 2011 until 2015, and executive director of Friends of Sinners from then until October. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, he was back in the for-profit world. What Welsh did was start Welsh Construction, 1711 W. Ninth St. Its between Sacred Marks Tattoo and Wild Things. His uncle, Bob Welsh, had had a company of the same name more than 40 years ago. I have a bomber jacket from 1980 that has the companys name on it, Welsh said. He said, I used to work construction with Uncle Bob. Dad worked there most of his life. When I was 10 or 11, I helped Dad with drywall. He did a lot of side jobs too. So, Welsh went back to his roots. I started this in the winter just before Christmas, which was not a good time to start a business, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Welsh said, Ive been putting all I make back into the business. Work doesnt just fall out of the sky. But it started to pick up after January. He said he wanted to start slowly to get my feet wet after years at Friends of Sinners and St. Benedicts. Welsh said, I love working with my hands. I like doing custom work and remodeling. He said the new company was picking up business before the March 15 hailstorm. But it really picked up after that, Welsh said. He said, I dont want to be the biggest in town. I just have three employees. I want to mentor young people and help teach them a trade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kennetheus Whitley II, director of field operations for Welsh Construction, came to Owensboro to attend high school in 2000. I started roofing at 19 and learned the rest of construction with a lot of field experience here and in New York, he said. Welsh said, Hes going to take over field operations and eventually become the majority partner. He said, Theres a danger of taking on too much work too soon. We have about 20 storm-damaged houses that were working on now. The company does home maintenance, pressure washing, drywall, gutter cleaning, remodeling, furniture customization, custom shelving, furniture refurbishing and textured walls. People can call Welsh at 270-302-1161 or Whitley at 270-231-4340. A chorus line of past presidents from past years showed up via old video to give an edited mash-up speech, but there was no current POTUS, no VP, no roast by a comedian and few Hollywood power players at the White House Correspondents Dinner tonight in Washington DC. Yet, with Donald Trump still yet to make his WHCD debut as president, White House Correspondents Association president Eugene Daniels had no intention of burying the lede Saturday of the barricades up between the current White House and institutional media in America. We journalists are a lot of things, Daniels exclaimed to a standing ovation in his First Amendment celebrating closing remarks on this 96th day of Trump 2.0. What we are not is the opposition. What we are not is the enemy of the people, and what we are not is the enemy of the state. More from Deadline Eugene Daniels attends the 2025 White House Correspondents Association Dinner at Washington Hilton on April 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images) Ending the WHCD earlier than in past years, Daniels opened his comments by addressing the elephant not in the Washington Hilton ballroom: Every year we invite the president to this dinner. For decades, presidents on both sides of the political spectrum get gussied up and join us. I want to be clear about something, we dont invite presidents of the United States to this because its for them. We dont invite them because we want to cozy up to them or curry favor. We dont only extend invites to the presidents who say they love journalists or who say they are defenders of the First Amendment in a free press. We invite them to remind them that they should be. We invite them to demonstrate that those of us who have chosen the public service of journalism arent doing it because we love flights on Air Force One or walking into the Oval Office. It is to remind them why a strong Fourth Estate is essential for democracy. .@WHCA President @EugeneDaniels2: "We don't invite presidents of the United States to this because it's for them." pic.twitter.com/PsowgwsRYp CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025 Still, while CAA and UTA had parties this weekend as the WHCD hit its 104th anniversary, the so-called Nerd Prom 2025 did lack the usual cadre of Oscar winners, Emmy winners and legion of the deep pocketed Beverly Hills donor class. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yes, White Lotus Season 3s Jason Issacs was at the WHCD, as was the OG Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, Emmy winner Alex Borstein and Breaking Bad alum Dean Norris. And yes, the cable, network print and online media elite (including Deadlines DC Bureau chief Ted Johnson) were in the house, along with besieged NYC Mayor Eric Adams. Even with short lived ex-White House press secretary Sean Spicer and CNN vet Frank Sesno holding down the fort on the occasionally technically challenged C-SPAN, and MSNBC broadcasting the gathering entree to dessert with commentary from Molly Jong-Fast and others, the vibe was very low-key. Low-key, but perhaps no less poignant compared to past years, with or without Trump in attendance I know this has been an extremely difficult year for all, a distinctly understated WHCA boss and MSNBC host Daniels told the well-heeled crowd at the outset of the 2025s WHCD. Its been difficult for this association. Weve been tested, attacked. Certainly Trump 2.0 has seen the WHCA stripped of its pool rotation power, the Associated Press cast out from covering White House events, and the briefing room hierarchy overturned. With the free press and the rule of law under threat from Trump now, the WHCA did itself no favors hiring Amber Ruffin to provide comic relief and then unceremoniously dumping the Have I Got News For You regular. The lack of a muscular public reaction to the AP being under fire from the Trump team has also exposed divisions in the WHCA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, even with cameras going to Yamiche Alcindor thinking the NBC News reporter was The Grios April Ryan, tonight was, as Daniels said onstage just us. In that excellence and honestly in journalism over the past year was centerstage. The award and scholarship portions of the evening began with ABC News Rachel Scott recognized for her coverage of the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, PA with the Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure. (See the full list of WHCD Award winners here) Looking at the big story standing in front of the media during the last administration, there was a rebuke of journalists covering the Executive Mansion tonight from Axios Alex Thompson. While praising the work of the WHCA, the Constitution and plugging his upcoming book co-written with CNNs Jake Tapper, Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage winner Thompson noted the declining trust in the media. More specific to the ballroom crowd, Thompson also addressed the failure of many in the room to be honest with themselves and the public about the extent of the deception of Joe Bidens cognitive decline and the cover-up of the octogenarian 46th POTUSs health by his aides and supporters up until that disastrous debate last year. .@AlexThomp: "President Biden's decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deceptionWe, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it." #whcd #nerdprom pic.twitter.com/L9CtbB3HIZ CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025 Then still a candidate for reelection, President Biden attended and glowingly spoke of the power of a free press in 2024 at the WHCD. Offering kudos to Biden for being a good man, SNL Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost was the after-POTUS comedian. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the same time, with POTUS just back from Pope Francis funeral and up at his New Jersey estate, the MAGA crowd this year were holding their own shindig across town at the Willard Hotel. The meet-up was the debut of the Donald Trump Jr. co-founded Executive Branch private club. Unlike the WHCD, Executive Branchs $100,000 membership fee is intended to keep its goings-on far from the eyes of the press. In that context, an immediately acclaimed speech by outgoing WHCA leader Daniels summed up the state of the media in America by evoking the months the Wall Street Journals Evan Gershkovich spent behind bars in Russia and added that attacks on journalists dont stop at our borders. Every single day, journalists in this country face threats of intimidation, lawsuits and violence, Daniels said, showing up in many ways as the surprise guest the WHCA had hinted at for the WHCD. Those attacks are meant to do one thing, stop us from sharing the truth with the people. To our friends at the Associated Press. You have taken on more than you should have to but what you have held firm to from the very beginning is that your fight is not about you. Its about the ability of every single person in this room to make free and independent editorial decisions without government interference. A very public club and proof the WHCD doesnt need a POTUS to own the night in DC. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Journalisms big night out returned on Saturday in Washington as reporters, editors and A-list celebrities mingled at the Washington Hilton at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, an event jokingly called the nerd prom, in what was a more muted soiree that, for the fourth time while he has been in the Oval Office, was not attended by President Donald Trump. This year, the WHCA opted to focus on the stellar journalism produced as the current administration charges into uncharted territory. With the absence of the sitting president and the decision to nix a comic brought onstage to roast the leader of the free world a lighthearted and often funny tradition that typically follows the meal, this years dinner continued the events downward slide in relevance as a cultural moment. Previous years have seen memorable roasts of sitting presidents and stand out moments from notable names like Joel McHale and Conan OBrien, as well as some then-up-and-coming comedians, like Michelle Wolf and Hasan Minhaj. In fact, many believe former President Barack Obamas zinging of Trump and his racist birther conspiracy theory as he frowned in the audience at the 2011 event may have motivated him to run. More from The Hollywood Reporter Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ahead of Saturdays event, comedian Amber Ruffins scheduled performance was canceled. WHCA president Eugene Daniels wrote in a letter to organization members, at this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists. With this, the actual reason for the event became the focus on Saturday night, which according to the WHCA, is to acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation. Though Trumps snubbing of the event preemptively challenges that final item, it was acknowledged early in the night that this has been a tough year for the reporters covering Trump and the chaotic first 100 days of his second term amid a whirlwind of changes and controversies. I know this has been an extremely difficult year for all of us. Its been difficult for this association. Weve been tested, attacked, but every single day our members get up, they run to the White House, plane, train, automobile, with one mission, holding the powerful accountable, Daniels, who also serves as MSNBCs senior Washington correspondent, told the crowd before dinner was served. The tumultuous relationship Trump and his administration had with the press throughout his first term returned almost immediately once he retook the presidency. Notable conflicts in the first 100 days of his second term have included the administrations exclusion of Associated Press reporters from attending some Oval Office events because the wire service will not alter guidance and what it calls the Gulf of Mexico to the presidents day-one executive order changing the body of waters name to the Gulf of America (the AP cites the shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico in its style guidance on the matter). More recently, the administration has wrangled control of the White House press pool, a roster that has been controlled by the WHPA for over 100 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The red carpet that preceded this years correspondents dinner was notable for its lack of A-list attendees, who in previous years flocked to Washington for the must-attend event. However, some familiar faces from Hollywood were spotted among the stars of television journalism, which included CNN anchors Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash; ABC News Juju Chang and Mary Bruce; and many more. Celebrities who walked the carpet on Saturday included Lynda Carter, Jason Isaacs, Michael Chiklis, Dean Norris and Tim Daly, among others. CNNs Abby Phillip took to the podium to hand out the first of the nights awards, each of which came with a $2,500 prize. ABC News Rachel Scott took home the award for breaking news coverage for her report on the assassination attempt on Trump as he campaigned in Pennsylvania in July of 2024. The WHCA award for presidential news coverage by visual journalists, which recognizes a video or photo journalist for uniquely covering the presidency at the White House or in the field went to Doug Mills of The New York Times for an image taken of former President Joe Biden as he wrestled with historic challenges, including international crises, amid calls for him to end his reelection campaign. The print award for reporting under deadline pressure went to the APs Amar Mandani and Zeke Miller for their report on White House press officials altering the official transcript of President Bidens remarks in which he used the word garbage to describe Trumps supporters. The Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence went to Alex Thompson of Axios for his reporting on former President Biden leading up to the June debate against Trump, in which Bidens poor performance led to growing calls for him to drop his re-election campaign. The Katherine Graham Award for courage and accountability recognizes an individual or newsgathering team for coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance. Reuters took the award this year for its investigative series about the international fentanyl drug trade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Collier Prize for State Government Accountability Award went to the Associated Press for its report on prisons profiting off Americas captive workforce. The inaugural Center for Integrity in News Reporting Award was handed out at the event to Anthony Zurcher, the North American correspondent for BBC News for his coverage of how Biden faced the diplomatic and political consequences of the Israel-Hamas war. From the stage at the Washington Hilton, Zurcher addressed the crisis that many journalists are facing now that aggressive nature of the second Trump administration has crystallized. Now more than ever, its important for those of us in the media to provide impartial and fair reporting without favor or fear, he said after accepting the award. When I say fear, I mean fear of the fallout from our stories, fear of what people in power may say, do or think, and maybe thats something you learned the first day in journalism school, but I think it lands differently I think it means something more now. The final award of the night, the Dunnigan-Payne Prize for Lifetime Career Achievement covering the White House went to the late Robert Monroe Ellison, who was the White House reporter for what is now the American Urban Radio Network. He was also the first Black president of the WHCA. After this award was handed to his three children, it was announced that this year, the association awarded scholarships to 30 students from 14 colleges and universities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the scholarship winners and future journalists stood up to wave to the gathered members of the media, Daniels returned to address the elephant in the room or lack thereof, with Trumps absence. Ahead of a video montage of former presidents Obama, Bill Clinton Reagan and Carter complimenting or gently joshing members of the media, he spoke on the nature of the presidents relationship to the event. For more than 100 years, the White House Correspondents Association has played a vital role in ensuring that the American public has access to the truth, no matter how difficult or how complex it is. And in America, the truth is usually complex and often difficult, Daniels said. Our responsibility is not to align with any one party or any one agenda, but to serve the people of this country with integrity and dedication. It is a duty we hold in the highest regard, knowing that the work we do helps strengthen the fabric of our democracy. As the ceremony drew to a close, Daniels passed the gavel of the WHCA presidency to Weijia Jiang, the senior White House correspondent for CBS News. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The White House Correspondents Dinner is going to feel a little different this year, the organizations president acknowledged Saturday at the outset of the annual gathering of the White House press corps. Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents Assn. president who is soon to become an anchor for MSNBC, opened the event at the Washington Hilton Hotel with an acknowledgement that the WHCA has had a bumpy ride to this years event. More from Variety Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres no president, theres no comedian, its just an intense focus on our fabulous scholarship students, he said. Just a celebration of all of you thousands of people with a shared commitment to the First Amendment. The WHCA typically has a prominent comedian deliver roast-y remarks about the president. This year, the WHCA tapped Amber Ruffin for the gig in February but then disinvited her after complaints from conservatives about her sharp criticisms of Trump and the MAGA movement. Daniels has been under fire for that decision and for the WHCAs response to Trump administration power moves against the media, including taking control of organization and assignments for the White House press pool. Daniels, a veteran of Politico who will soon be one of three anchors of MSNBCs Saturday and Sunday morning broadcast The Weekend, told the crowd that the larger mission of WHCA members to report on the activity of the President and the White House for the benefit of the American public has not changed. I know this has been an extremely difficult year for all. Its been difficult for this association. Weve been tested, attacked, Daniels said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every morning, WHCA members run to the White House plane, train, automobile with one mission holding the powerful accountable, telling the stories of those who cant tell them for themselves. That has never stopped, and it never will, he said. Daniels did not mention the Ruffin situation specifically but he did nod to it in thanking his fellow WHCA board members: We have been through the wringer, he said. At the end of his brief opening remarks, Daniels joked about the famously competitive nature of the White House press corps. If any breaking news happens, Ill pop back up here let you all in on it, so you can feel free to let your hair down. Unless its too good. Then Im just going to whisper to my new bosses here, Daniels said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The WHCA has about 900 members. The WHCA has held an annual dinner since 1921. In his first term, President Donald Trump became the only president in a century to not to attend the event at least once in his term, a sign of Trumps contentious relationship with the news media. The dinner raises money for the WHCA to fund scholarships and other journalism education outreach activities. In March, when the WHCA dropped Ruffin, Daniels told members that it was important to keep the focus on journalism this year given the threats posed by Trumps extreme antagonism. The WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year. At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists, Daniels wrote. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There was no president. There was no comedian. What remained at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner were the journalists and the First Amendment. The stripped-down festivities Saturday night were a reflection of the somber tone in Washington at the beginning of President Donald Trumps second term, in which he has battled with the press on multiple fronts and wrested from the correspondents' association the power to decide which outlets have the most access to Trump. Trumps deeper involvement in politics began after then-President Barack Obama roasted the New Yorker's presidential ambitions during the 2011 correspondents' dinner. He skipped the annual gala during his first term, and his absence had been widely expected this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The association scrapped a scheduled appearance at this year's dinner by comedian Amber Ruffin after she referred to the new administration as kind of a bunch of murderers on a podcast last month. The organization, a nonprofit that helps White House journalists provide robust coverage of the presidency, decided to forgo the events traditional levity and focus on celebrating journalism. Association President Eugene Daniels said in an email to the organization's 900 members last month that the dinner was meant to honor journalistic excellence and a robust, independent media covering the most powerful office in the world. The event, which raises money for journalism scholarships, remains a highlight of the Washington social calendar. The ballroom at the Washington Hilton was still packed with journalists, newsmakers and even a few celebrities. Daniels singled out Debra Tice, whose son Austin has not been heard from other than in a video, released weeks after he went missing in Syria in 2012, that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. We've been tested and attacked. But every single day our members get up, they run to the White House plane, train, automobile with one mission, holding the powerful accountable, Daniels said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He later showed a video of past presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, who addressed the dinner, saying that the association invites the president to demonstrate the importance of a free press in safeguarding democracy. Trump counter-programmed the last dinner during his first term, holding a rally to compete with the event in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 dinner. This year, Trump had just flown back from Pope Francis' funeral in Rome and had no events Saturday night. The Trump administration has had multiple skirmishes with the press in recent months. The FCC is investigating several media companies, the administration is working to shut down Voice of America and other government-run outlets, and The Associated Press has sued the administration for reducing its access to events because it has not renamed the Gulf of Mexico in line with Trumps executive order. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the administration to stop blocking the AP from presidential events. In response, the White House adopted a new press policy that gives the administration sole discretion over who gets to question Trump and sharply curtails the access of three news agencies, including AP, that serve billions of readers around the world. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For many years previously, the correspondents' association determined which news organizations had access to limited space events. Alex Thompson of Axios, who won The Aldo Beckman Award for his coverage of the cover-up of Biden's decline while in office, addressed complaints from some on the right that the press had gone too soft on the Democrat. We myself included missed a lot of this story, and some people trust us less because of it, Thompson told the room of journalists. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. Saturday's dinner also recognized the winners of a number of journalism awards, in addition to Thompson. They included: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Print): Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller of the AP, for reporting on the White House altering its transcript to erase Biden calling Trump supporters garbage. The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Broadcast): Rachel Scott of ABC News, for her coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists: Doug Mills of the New York Times, for his photograph of Biden walking under a painting of Abraham Lincoln. The Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability: Reuters, for its series on the production and smuggling of the deadly narcotic fentanyl. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Collier Prize for State Government Accountability: AP for its series, Prison to Plate: Profiting off Americas Captive Workforce. Center for News Integrity Award: Anthony Zurcher of the BBC for his coverage of the fallout from Biden's handling of the Gaza War. We recently published a list of 11 Best Prison and Law Enforcement Stocks to Buy According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cadre Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CDRE) stands against other best prison and law enforcement stocks to buy. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, an estimated 11.7 million people were detained in prisons across the globe at the end of 2019. This translates to the population of entire countries such as Belgium, Tunisia, Bolivia, or Burundi. The number of people detained in prisons has increased by over 25% since 2000. While a majority of the people imprisoned over the last two decades are men, at around 93%, the number of women in prisons is rising at a faster pace, undergoing a 33% growth as compared to a 25% rise in men. These growing numbers are being reflected in other trends in the industry as well. According to Grand View Research, the US law enforcement PPE (personal protective equipment) industry had a market size of $839.4 million in 2021. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0% between 2022 and 2030. Since awareness regarding officer safety in riot control and tactical situations is gaining ground, it is positively impacting growth in this industry. Demand for law enforcement PPE, including face shields, protective clothing, respirator masks, goggles, and surgical masks, especially surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ ALSO: 10 Best Stocks That Will Always Grow and 10 Best Telehealth Stocks to Buy Now. Increasing Use of AI in Law Enforcement Various other trends are also materializing in the law enforcement industry. At the end of 2024, CNBC reported that police departments across the United States are beginning to use AI to write police reports. Various companies are developing AI tools to aid police departments in easing the burden of administrative tasks, with law enforcement focusing on slashing budget pressures and crime rates while retaining and recruiting staff. However, legal experts are simultaneously raising red flags over the increasing use of AI in police work, citing concerns such as transparency, accuracy, and potential bias. These challenges can affect the future of AI in law enforcement and policing. A significant part of the impact depends upon the extent to which such tools are used and how they are adopted in the sector. CNBC reported that Utah State Senator Stephanie Pitcher, a defense attorney with Parker & McConkie, said the following about the situation: On Wednesday, April 30, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School v. Drummond. This case is of significant importance to families across Oklahoma who are seeking an education that best meets their childrens needs. Counterpoint: Drummond: Allowing St. Isidore school would threaten religious liberty | Opinion Much of the rhetoric surrounding this case misunderstands what is really at stake. Despite what you may have heard, this is not about what the state of Oklahoma may teach in schools it actually runs. It is also not about whether children in Oklahoma can be required to attend schools that profess religious beliefs with which they disagree. Instead, its about allowing private educators to help address a growing need for educational choice in Oklahoma, particularly for families in underserved communities or children with unique learning needs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As shepherds of our wonderful state-wide flock, it has always been our desire for families to be able to decide what is best for their childrens needs. Parents and family members are the first and most important teachers of their children. But they cant do it alone, and more choices not fewer help everyone. We believe that a wide variety of schools may help a child reach her God-given potential, depending on her own needs. It is this belief that led us to create St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, a privately operated K-12 charter school rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition. We formed it as a joint endeavor of our two dioceses, with the support of Oklahomas state Charter School Board. And it is our mission to bring, through St. Isidore, a new learning option to all interested children across the state. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case over t. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual Charter School on April 30. There are many reasons that allowing this new learning opportunity will benefit Oklahomans, including its virtual curriculum. This means that underserved families in rural areas or with limited educational opportunities will have another high-quality, affordable school of choice. St. Isidore will uniquely prepare students to flourish in the 21st century combining modern technology with the Catholic Churchs centuries of exemplary educational experience. The school will provide Oklahoma students with the tools necessary to thrive, to succeed, and to serve their communities in a way that wasnt available even a short time ago. There is an obvious need for schools like this in our home state. In our largely rural state, 5% of students in Oklahoma are enrolled virtually, far exceeding the national average of 1%. Data shows that Oklahomans have an overall positive experience attending virtual schools, with enrollment ranking sixth out of the 36 states that offer virtual schools. Virtual education serves many Oklahoma families well, and families across the state deserve to see these opportunities grow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: US Supreme Court to hear religious charter school case: What Oklahoma lawmakers are saying Currently, there are over 30 brick-and-mortar and virtual charter schools in Oklahoma, many of which have seen great success. The decision to create St. Isidore stemmed from a desire to join these schools to bring an additional option, especially for families who desire Catholic education but lacked the resources or access to one. The mission of Catholic education is to form students as whole people, guiding them in spiritual and intellectual growth in order to serve their neighbors and build strong communities. St. Isidore's would fulfill this same calling. The schools namesake stands as an homage to a man who held the belief that innovative learning techniques should be used for the betterment of our students. St. Isidore of Seville is known as the last scholar of the ancient world and wrote a compendium for education that served the world for 900 years. Like us, he lived during a contentious time and used education to unite people toward the common good. We feel called to use his life as an example by utilizing the tools available to our generation to educate underserved students throughout Oklahoma. More: Gov. Stitt issues executive order on defending religious liberty Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We understand, of course, that St. Isidore like any other school will not be the right fit for all children. Not everyone desires a Catholic education or a virtual one. Yet there are many, from all walks of life and all beliefs, who do. And that opportunity should not be taken from those families for whom a school like St. Isidore is the right fit. For centuries, we have witnessed the incredible outcomes that Catholic schools have given students, regardless of the beliefs they hold. It is time to provide more diverse options for a great education to our students in Oklahoma. We owe it to our children to see that they have access to the best education possible, one that meets their own needs and helps form them to achieve their greatest potential. Paul S. Coakley David A. Konderla Paul S. Coakley is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. David A. Konderla is the bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Supreme Court should approve state funding for Catholic school | Opinion Sign up here to make you you never miss our weekly updated on the best soap opera anywhere: The ups and downs of the British royals. Prince Andrews disgrace is now set in stone The death by suicide of Virginia Giuffre, 41, has brought a tragic end to the royal scandal that engulfed Prince Andrew and with it, any remaining hopes of rehabilitating his reputation. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen / Miami Herald / TNS Giuffre, a key accuser in the Jeffrey Epstein case, died by suicide at her Australian farm years after alleging that Andrew sexually abused her when she was 17. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She had pursued the Duke of York with tenacity, forcing him to step back from public duties and eventually securing a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 (with no admission of liability from Andrew). Andrew has always denied wrongdoing, and the claims were never tested in criminal court, but his name was dragged through the mire. Now, the damage that sordid episode caused is set in concrete. Public sympathy will henceforth and forever lie with Giuffre, remembered by her family as a fierce warrior for abuse survivors this weekend. In contrast, Prince Andrews pathetic attempts to defend himself have only ever deepened his disgrace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He continues to claim to friends that he has no recollection of meeting Giuffre, despite that photograph of him with his arm around her bare, teenage waist, with a ghoulish Ghislaine Maxwell grinning nastily behind them. His now-notorious 2019 BBC Newsnight interviewin which he bizarrely claimed to have been at a Pizza Express on the day he was alleged to be with Giuffre and suggested Giuffre was lying about meeting him because she said he was sweaty and he claimed to have lost the ability to sweatbackfired disastrously, prompting nationwide ridicule and scorn. The prince, often dubbed the queens favorite son, was stripped of royal patronages and official duties following the interview. He paid a rumored $14 million in an out-of-court settlementa deal reportedly urged on him by the late queen to avoid a humiliating court trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Any notion that Andrew might one day clear his name or return to public life had long been viewed as remote. It is now impossible. Andrews friends have indicated that the prince, 65, will make no comment on Giuffres death. Rightly so: No statement could do anything to ameliorate the personal or the public relations catastrophe that this damning chapter of royal history represents. Prince Andrews name is irrevocably tarnished with a stigma that will follow him for life. He is finished. Prince William represents king at Pope Franciss funeral Prince William took a major step into his future life as a global statesman Saturday, attending the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome on behalf of his ailing father, King Charles III. The gorgeous ceremony in St. Peters Square unfolded under blue skies, drawing a cornucopia of world leaders in an extraordinary display of global power. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a crowd that included kings, queens, and heads of state, the Prince of Waless presence marked a significant milestone in his evolution. King Charles, who is undergoing cancer treatment, decided not to travel. Time, then, for William to assume more duties. The guest list at the Vatican was a whos who of world figures: President Donald Trump was unexpectedly given a front-row seat at the funeral mass, as was Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky (the two managed a brief meeting before the service). Trump met with Zelensky at Pope Francis funeral on Saturday. / Handout / Office of the President of Ukraine Nearby sat Frances President Emmanuel Macron alongside European royals such as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Be in no doubt: Williams appearance was a dry run for his future role as king, and the 42-year-old prince carried himself with the necessary gravitas and diplomacy, all welcome signs of his growing confidence on the international stage. The experience will serve William well in the years ahead, as Charless health issues mean the Prince of Wales will likely have to step up sooner rather than later. Meghan Markle now uses daughter Lilibet to promote jam on social media The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, risks being called a hypocrite after using her young daughter to promote her jam on Instagram, despite having frequently condemned online platforms and intrusion into her family life. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Markle, 43, posted an Instagram story showcasing her homemade strawberry jam complete with an appearance (in the form of a voice cameo) by Princess Lilibet. In the clips shared to her account, Meghan can be seen stirring a pot of berries in her Montecito kitchen and asking three-year-old Lilibet for a verdict on the freshly made preserve. In a jam / Toby Melville/Getty The toddlers replyI think its beautifulis the first time the public has heard Lili speak. While the footage of the little princesss sweet voice might seem heart-warming, it will raise eyebrows given Markle and Harrys past stance on privacy and social media. Both she and Harry have repeatedly warned in apocalyptic terms of the dangers of social media. They also often speak about protecting their children from the media glare. Yet now Markle is actively using Instagramand even featuring little Lilibets voice and handsto boost her personal brand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It all looks very cynical, especially given that Markle and Harry fired off another broadside against the evil social media companies this week. Cynics will dismiss the argument that Meghan is simply sharing an innocuous mum-and-daughter moment as naive. Meghan is now wide open to accusations that she is Instagramming her kids for publicity. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Getty Images Prince William traveled to Vatican City on Saturday, April 26 in order to attend Pope Francis's funeral. King Charles didn't attend the funeral, which brought together a plethora of world leaders. According to a royal expert, there's an important reason Charles decided to send William to the funeral in his place. During an appearance on The Sun's "Royal Exclusive" show, royal expert Hugo Vickers explained why William traveled to Vatican City, but Charles didn't. "Well that's all protocol," Vickers noted. "I mean the Pope didn't come to the Queen's funeral as you remember, and actually Prince Charles went to the last...Pope John Paul II's funeral." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vickers continued, "It's absolutely correct that it would be the Prince of Wales who goes, so I'm not at all surprised...The King doesn't go to those sort of funerals." The royal expert also called Prince William "absolutely the right guy" to represent the U.K. at Pope Francis's funeral. It's also worth noting that Queen Elizabeth never attended a pope's funeral during her tenure as monarch. For instance, Charles attended Pope John Paul II's funeral in 2005, and Elizabeth didn't attend. Prince William attends Pope Francis's funeral in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 26, 2025. | Credit: Getty Images Discussing Prince William's attendance at the funeral, Vickers noted how the Prince of Wales "represented us very well at the re-consecration of Notre Dame Cathedral." During his trip to Paris in December 2024, William spent time with Donald Trump, with the president later telling the New York Post , "We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour...We had a great, great talk." Prince William attends Pope Francis's funeral in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on April 26, 2025. | Credit: Getty Images Vickers also suggested that Prince William has grown more used to handling bigger responsibilities on behalf of the Royal Family. "We have seen him step up and be deputized in such a strong way for King Charles because obviously with The King's health battles last year, even though that's not the reason for this one, he has had to step up a lot and I do think he's doing it very well while juggling family life." Meanwhile, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who serves as the leader of Catholics in England and Wales, revealed how the seating plan for Pope Francis's funeral was constructed. Per Hello! magazine, the seating plan was described by Nichols "as a 'master plan' in soothing the 'big egos' of world leaders." The important question at the heart of this case is one of due process. The Milwaukee County courthouse judges want federal agents to bring federal judge-issued warrants to court if they wish to detain someone in the courthouse. ICE, according to the complaint, brought its own warrant, not one from a judge. In recent days the federal justice department has acknowledge "mistakes" in deporting people it has deported, and seems not terribly worried about those "mistakes." It is not a surprise that a judge, federal or state, would not want to be party to such a "mistake." If ICE was so certain it had evidence to arrest that suspect, it should have been easy to get a warrant from a federal judge. Everyone one of us should be worried about illegal search, seizure and detention. Any judge would want to uphold those protections in his or her courtroom. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kathy Rogers, Whitefish Bay Share your views: Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI. Was that right? Tell us. Trump has trapped people and is hurting them for sport This seems to be the Trump administration overreaching the promise he made about immigration, on the campaign trail. Its made more sinister in that a bipartisan immigration solution was proposed during the Biden administration, but Trump demanded it but voted down, to help his election. He trapped people and now hes hurting them for sport. Hes now trying to threaten any who would stop him. God help us all. Brad Roberson, Bellingham, Washington Opinion: I wasn't expecting emotional reaction to Pope Francis' death. Yet it was there. This case is about the constitutional right to due process All persons have a constitutional right to due process, including non-citizens and persons accused of crimes. This right to have your day in court is so important that it may at times trump other important government processes. That's just our system of democracy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The problem with ICE arresting persons at the courthouse is that people are lured to the courthouse under the promise of due process just to be arrested. Let ICE chase down these people anywhere else but the courthouse. Don't make judges part of this system of deception. You are asking them to violate their oath of office to defend the Constitution by denying due process. Alex Chou, Milwaukee President is convicted felon. He has no credibility on law and order. The Republicans who support Trump and his policies have zero credibility when they talk about law and order. He's a convicted felon who pardoned the violent protestors who tried to derail democracy. And when the Trump policies conflict with our community's values the latter should predominate. The courthouse is the a haven for members of our community seeking safety and justice. To compromise access by intimidation is disgraceful. Tom Hayes, Shorewood Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Letters: Ron Johnson needs to read Constitution, do his job and support the rule of law Judge Hannah Dugan's case is about intimidation, not justice I felt like the actions by the federal government were outrageous, and in keeping with their actions against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Justice isn't their intention intimidation is, because judges are all that stands between their disregard for the law and our democracy, now that Congress has apparently conceded to President Trump's rule by fiat. Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Letters: US has massive national debt and all Democrats do is criticize with no remedies Tips for getting your letter to the editor published Here are some tips to get your views shared with your friends, family, neighbors and across our state: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Please include your name, street address and daytime phone. Generally, we limit letters to 200 words. Cite sources of where you found information or the article that prompted your letter. Be civil and constructive, especially when criticizing. Avoid ad hominem attacks, take issue with a position, not a person. We cannot acknowledge receipt of submissions. We don't publish poetry, anonymous or open letters. Each writer is limited to one published letter every two months. All letters are subject to editing. Write: Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 330 E. Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 500, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. Fax: (414)-223-5444. E-mail: jsedit@jrn.com or submit using the form that can be found on the on the bottom of this page. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The FBI arrested Milwaukee judge. Everyone should be worried | Letters A woman fell more than 260 feet to her death while hiking along a waterfall at a popular national park. Kate Cooper, 36, was visiting Mapleton Falls on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, on Friday, April 25, when she fell at around 3:30 p.m. local time, according to Sky News. Emergency services were called following multiple reports that a woman had fallen a significant distance, and paramedics stated that Cooper had sustained significant, life-threatening injuries." She died at the scene soon after, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service, per Sky News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outlet reported that an 18-year-old male also sustained non-life-threatening injuries at the scene. He was taken to Nambour Hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. PEOPLE reached out to the Queensland Ambulance Service and Nambour Hospital for comment on Saturday, April 26, but did not receive an immediate response. Getty Mapleton Falls in Queensland, Australia Mapleton Falls in Queensland, Australia Related: Man, 40, Falls 200 Feet to His Death While Canyoneering at Zion National Park in Utah According to Australian outlet News.com.au, Coopers partner, Simon Rosenkranz, shared an emotional tribute to her on social media following her death. Rest in peace, my love. You were one of the most beautiful people Ive ever met and made me feel so loved, he wrote. Ill miss and love you more every day and cherish the memories we made." Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Friends and loved ones commented on the tribute, with one person sharing that Cooper was known for her kindness, smiles and jokes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Queensland Police said that the circumstances surrounding Coopers death are not being treated as suspicious at this time, per 9 News. Related: Mother Falls to Her Death While Hiking with 3 of Her Children: 'Left the Earth Doing What She Loved' This is the third death to occur at a waterfall on the Sunshine Coast this year, according to Sky News. A warning posted on the Mapleton Falls page of the Queensland Government website states: "Sheer cliffs and slippery rocks near the waterfall are hazardous. Always supervise children, keep to the walking tracks, stay behind safety fences and follow all warning signs to avoid tragedy." Read the original article on People A 35-year-old woman was injured in a Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on the night of 26-27 April. Source: Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office Details: The woman has been taken to hospital. A three-storey apartment block and several cars were damaged in the Odesa district. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) A driver is facing charges after a crash left a woman dead early Sunday morning in St. Gabriel. Around midnight on April 27, St. Gabriel police officers were called to Louisiana Highway 30 near Highway 3115 for a crash involving a car and a pedestrian. When officers arrived, they found a woman with serious injuries near the intersection. Police said she died at the scene. The driver, 51-year-old Sean Alteri of Gonzales, stayed at the scene. Officers noticed he showed signs of impairment and called the Louisiana State Police to help with a field sobriety test. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the test, Alteri reportedly showed clear signs of impairment. He was taken to the police department, where he gave a breath sample that tested over the legal limit, according to the SGPD. Police investigate shooting that left 18-year-old dead in Baton Rouge Alteri was charged with driving under the influence and vehicular homicide and was booked into the Iberville Parish Jail. The identity of the victim will be released after her family is notified, police said. Latest News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Louisiana First News. We recently published a list of the 30 Growing Dividend Stocks with Low PE Ratios. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) stands against other growing dividend stocks. Value stocks are enjoying a rare period of strength amid this years broader market downturn. With earnings season approaching, it remains to be seen whether their recent edge over high-growth stocks will hold. The S&P Value Indexwhich includes sectors like banking, consumer staples, and healthcare, featuring companies that trade at relatively low valuationshas fallen around 9% this year. Thats a smaller drop compared to the more than 15% decline seen in the growth-focused counterpart. Concerns over steep valuations in the tech sector, coupled with a wave of risk aversion triggered by tariffs, have pushed investors to shift from growth to value. While similar shifts havent lasted long in the past, some investors believe that this time could be different, as expectations for value-oriented firms are modest enough that they may exceed them when earnings reports begin next month. Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, made the following comment about value investing: The bar has been set pretty low for value stocks compared to the uncertainty surrounding growth names and their ability to deliver on earnings estimates. If value can at least match or slightly beat expectations, the runway is clear for them. According to data from Bloomberg Intelligence, analysts are forecasting a 12% decline in first-quarter earnings for value companies compared to the same period last year, while growth companies are expected to post a 20% increase. Supporters of value stocks believe that these lower expectations are already factored into their relatively modest valuations. On the other hand, optimism surrounding growth stocksparticularly in the tech sectorhas soared in recent years, largely driven by enthusiasm over advancements in artificial intelligence. Historically, value stocks have lagged behind. Over the past 20 years, the S&P 500 Value Index has only outperformed its growth counterpart five times on an annual basis. During that period, the value index climbed 202%, while the growth index surged by 600%. Michael ORourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services, made the following statement: GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) Three people have been arrested in connection with a shooting which killed a five-year-old in Greenville County on Friday. Greenville County deputies were called to The Belle Meade Apartments on Fleetwood Drive Friday evening at around 5:30 p.m., after receiving calls reporting gunfire in the area. Upon arrival, deputies said they found multiple victims who had sustained gunshot wounds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three victims were reported, two are five-year-old twins, and an 18-year-old. They were inside the apartment complex when they were shot, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said. One of the twins was pronounced dead Friday night, according to the Greenville County coroner. The deceased was identified as Brite Shalom Acoy. An autopsy performed Saturday, April 26 listed the cause of death as a gunshot wound, and the manner of death a homicide. The other twin remains in critical condition, and the 18-year-old victim remains in the hospital and is expected to survive. Truly a tragedy, Lewis said. It truly makes our blood boil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators have charged 31-year-old Shawnteza La Shay Sherman with murder, two counts of attempted murder and criminal conspiracy in connection to the shooting. Deputies also arrested on Saturday a 16-year-old juvenile at an apartment on Crest Lane. The teen has been charged with murder, two counts of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The sheriffs office has also charged an unnamed juvenile with a weapons-related offense for possession of a firearm while under 18. The teens will be taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice facility in Columbia. The incident remains under investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you have any information, you are urged to call the Greenville Co. Sheriffs Office at 864-271-5210, or CRIMESTOPPERS at 23-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 Queen City News. The Oklahoma County Detention Center says it has launched an investigation into the death of an inmate. Jail officials said a detention officer found Rachel Nalley, 35, unresponsive in her cell in the early hours of April 26. "The medical examiner will have to rule on a cause of death. They don't really have anything in right now or any indication of what it is," said Mark Opgrande, a county spokesperson. The Oklahoma County Jail in Oklahoma City, Okla on Wednesday, March 31, 2021. CHRIS LANDSBERGER/THE OKLAHOMAN Nally's condition was observed during a routine welfare check, and the officer summoned medical staff from the facility and the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Opgrande said. Nally was pronounced dead at 7:27 a.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "She was not taken to the hospital. She was pronounced deceased by the fire department at the facility," Opgrande said. Following protocol, the detention center ruled the incident as a homicide, and an investigation was initiated to determine the cause of death, Opgrande said. He added that the investigation by the State Medical Examiner's Office could take up to six months. Nalley had been detained at the county jail since April 21. The Oklahoma City Police Department arrested her for failing to appear in court for earlier charges. The detention center did not release any other information. Charges against Nalley On October 22, 2024, the State of Oklahoma filed misdemeanor charges against Nalley on two charges, according to court dockets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first was for engaging in prostitution, and the second was for being in possession of a controlled substance. She had been found with fentanyl, according to the records. Court records also show McNally was released on bail and two trial dates were set, one for March 5, 2025, and a later one for May 7. Further details about her court dates, her apparent failure to appear and her subsequent re-arrest were not immediately available. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Inmate awaiting trial found dead at Oklahoma County Detention Center The Glendale and Pasadena fire departments have teamed up for a two-day womens fire academy program. The academy is designed to introduce women to careers in firefighting and emergency medical services. It features hands-on training, mentorship opportunities and a behind-the-scenes look at the physical and technical skills essential to the fire service. Pasadena Fire Department Captain Jodi Slicker told KTLA on Sunday morning that the initiative looks to uplift and empower women to serve the community as first responders, no matter the experience level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We train every daywhether its your first day on the job or [youve been working] for 30 years, Cpt. Slicker said. Its continually training [as a team] and trusting in one another together. Saturday served as an introduction to many aspects of the job such as the water hose, ventilation and power equipment, Cpt. Slicker said, and Sundays itinerary for the academy members included putting that knowledge to use. While this year marks the third iteration of Pasadenas womens fire academy program, it is the first time they teamed up with the Glendale Fire Department for the initiative. 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 KTLA. BRIGHTON, N.Y. (WROC) The Brighton Fire Department held its second annual Female Firefighter Field Day on Sunday. Through the event, women in the community were invited to the station to participate in immersive activities to learn about the jobs of volunteer firefighters. The event was held at the fire station located at 3100 East Avenue from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Participants were allowed to wear firefighting gear, use the jaws of life in different activities, spray fire hoses, explore a maze, and hear stories from current firefighters at the station. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement OCSO participates in Drug Take Back Day News 8 spoke to Alannah Scardino, a Brighton Volunteer Firefighter, on Sunday, about the mission to expose women to the field. I think why we wanted to have a hands-on event is because for a lot of women in the community, they see the physical aspect of firefighting as a barrier, Scardino said. We just want to give women in the community the opportunity to really see what their own capabilities are in a very safe, fun, and supportive environment. Brighton Fire Department Chief Stephen Macadena mentioned Sunday is also recognized as Recruit New York Day across the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its amazing. It makes my heart feel really full just because I know how much the fire service has given me and has really strengthened me in my own personal life and personal skills, Scardino said, So being able to expose the fire service to more women so that maybe its something that sparks joy in one or a couple of them, thats super rewarding. 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 RochesterFirst. STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -\World military expenditure reached $2.72 trillion in 2024, an increase of 9.4% from 2023 and the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War, according to a report released by a leading conflict think tank on Monday. Heightened geopolitical tension saw increased military spending in all world regions, with particularly rapid growth in both Europe and the Middle East, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) showed. "Over 100 countries around the world raised their military spending in 2024," SIPRI said. "As governments increasingly prioritize military security, often at the expense of other budget areas, the economic and social trade-offs could have significant effects on societies for years to come," it said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The war in Ukraine and doubts over U.S. commitment to the NATO-alliance saw military spending in Europe (including Russia) rise by 17%, pushing European military spending beyond the level recorded at the end of the Cold War. Russia's military expenditure reached an estimated $149 billion in 2024, a 38% increase from 2023 and double the level in 2015. This represented 7.1% of Russia's GDP and 19% of all government spending. Ukraine's total military expenditure grew by 2.9% to reach $64.7 billion, which amounts to 43% of Russia's spending. At 34% of GDP, Ukraine had the largest military burden of any country in 2024. "Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military," SIPRI said. "In such a tight fiscal space, it will be challenging for Ukraine to keep increasing its military spending." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Military spending by the U.S. rose by 5.7% per cent to reach $997 billion, which was 66% of total NATO spending and 37% of world military spending in 2024. (Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Sandra Maler) There may be no way back to respectability for a supposedly major nation, let alone a global power, after Vladimir, STOP! Amid the daily storm of sewage and plague of frogs that is Donald Trump's second administration, its difficult to say that anything beggars belief. But that the duly elected president would make such a plea to another world leader in public if the third-rate social media platform he personally owns counts as public space and would perceive such an action as manly and strong, as he clearly does, is inconceivably far beyond fiction, pathos or parody. Many people with my approximate job description have been trying to take the measure of the Trump 2.0 presidency after its first 100 days. That feels like one fallacious premise piled on top of another: First of all, its an entirely arbitrary benchmark, one that doesnt strongly correlate with how a president will be remembered; second, the Trump presidency can only be measured in days or hours, sometimes in minutes. Whatever premise appears valid about Trumpism today will look stupid tomorrow; policies are proposed, enforced, insisted upon in court with gratuitous lies and then partly recanted or fully reversed. At risk of immediately being proven wrong, I will suggest that this past week was when the penny at least temporarily or conditionally dropped for Donald Trump: While the rest of the world views him as dangerous, it does not take him seriously. Trump has projected his fatuous fantasies about global domination onto the wall of world opinion whether its more like Platos cave or the light show announcing the opening of a mall in suburban Indianapolis is a matter of individual judgment while at the same time backing away from all forms of international engagement and obligation. The contradictions are embarrassing, abundant and obvious to everyone. As we supposedly measure these things, Trump is the most powerful individual in the world. He is also a massive global embarrassment, the glaring flaw that proves the entire Rube Goldberg machine is no longer working. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As you may have noticed, Vladimir Putin did not STOP, and Trump justifiably perceived last weeks Russian missile attacks on Kyiv as a personal insult. There may be only one subject on which Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy agree: Trump is an obstacle they must navigate around, but on critical issues of war and peace he is useless. Far too much smart-people thought has been expended on the relationship between Trump and Putin; I've never found it mysterious and see no need for conspiracy theory. Trump thinks Putin is awesome, longs to be his friend, and aspires to his model of pseudo-democratic state capture. Putin, who is shrewd, cynical, clever and possessed of a relatively consistent worldview, views Trump as an intermittently useful symbol (or symptom) of Americas global decline. Hes not wrong. As for Trumps bizarre and self-destructive fixation on Canada as a potential 51st state what can we say? Its beyond inexplicable at this point. I suspect this specific deranged fantasy, in fact, is a key factor in the collective global decision not to take him seriously. This goes beyond ideological questions of left and right, or even twinges of sympathy with the MAGA anti-immigrant agenda, which can be found all over the world. No one with a rudimentary grasp of how nation-states function in the 21st century could possibly entertain this notion. Yes, in Trumps second term he is surrounded by craven, servile yes-men who have convinced themselves that his ego can bend the real world to its purposes, but still: Someone, surely, has tried to tell him that a) this will never happen, largely because Canadian identity is inextricably involved with not being American; and b) his attacks have fueled an unprecedented upsurge of Canadian nationalism (even among Quebec separatists!), and have, by all appearances, rescued the Liberal Party and new Prime Minister Mark Carney from electoral defeat. Some of the presidents yes-men, it would seem, have convinced him to stop talking (at least for now) about his extemporaneous proposal, some weeks back, to expel all the surviving residents of Gaza and redevelop the territory as a Mediterranean beach resort. That one belongs in a category of its own and given the unbearable, unforgivable and entirely avoidable human tragedy involved, offers no opportunity for humor. It is certainly absurd, but could be read as possessing a sinister strategic dimension: The likely reconquest and colonization of Gaza by Benjamin Netanyahus criminal regime seems almost normal, or at least more closely aligned to reality, in comparison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps unrealizable fantasies about Canada and Gaza have cast his long-running Greenland fantasy in a new light. Superficially, that one is a whole lot more plausible. First of all, there is historical precedent, since several previous U.S. presidents have coveted the giant Arctic island for various reasons. Secondly, if Trump actually summoned up the will to order a military invasion of Greenland, no one could stop him. Sure, it would be a major diplomatic crisis. The U.N. and the European Union would condemn the seizure as illegitimate and demand negotiations; stern essays would be written casting America as a pariah state no better than Russia. Denmark would break off relations with the U.S. and insist, with a certain amount of hedging, that this was an act of war, sort of. But that, in fact, would be that. Dont get me wrong: I make no predictions about what this person will or will not do. But with Trumps Maple Leaf delusion blowing up in his face, his incoherent tariff policies torpedoing the global economy and his purported deal-making brilliance accomplishing less than nothing in Ukraine, he looks nothing like an all-powerful stable-genius conqueror-slash-peacemaker on the world stage. He looks like a hapless loser. To be sure, Trump is an exceedingly dangerous loser, one with immense military and economic power under his theoretical control. In his wounded pride, blundering incompetence and massive ignorance he will certainly do more damage, perhaps immense damage, to the world and many of its people. Canada will never be the 51st state and there will never be a Trump Tower in Gaza. Greenland is still sitting there. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. But the lesson for Americans couldnt be clearer, even at a moment when the domestic carnage inflicted by the Trump regime feels limitless and irreparable. To everyone else in the world, his first 100 days have been a flatulent self-own, and an unexpected boon for normie centrist politicians all over the democratic map who seemed, only months ago, to be facing Armageddon. Right-wing populists like Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen have begun to back away in embarrassment: Sorry, new phone. Donald who? The fact that this country elected Donald Trump, not once but twice, speaks to deep and fundamental problems. (News flash!) But take half a step back and look at the guy as several billion other people do: Hes a lame-duck president with record-low levels of support, and a complete failure as a world leader. The sooner we begin treating him that way, the better. Bronze statues dedicated to two groundbreaking former residents UP to Harvey Deselms, Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins, Ed Galavotti, Arlene Ogasawara and the many others who were involved in funding, preparing, installing and dedicating two downtown bronze statues honoring prominent former Cheyenne residents. On April 16, a statue called The Valor of Vernon J. Baker was dedicated across from the Cheyenne Municipal Building, at the eastern edge of Civic Commons Park. It honors the service of former 1st Lt. Baker, a Black U.S. Army veteran who served in both World War II and the Korean War. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lt. Baker received the Medal of Honor the nations highest military award for acts of valor in 1997 for his actions in Italy on April 5-6, 1945. He was the only living Black veteran of World War II to receive this honor (six others were honored posthumously). Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Galavotti, who spearheaded this project, the ceremony featured a variety of active-duty military and veterans groups, as well as his widow, Heidy Baker, who came to the capital city from her home in Idaho to participate. It was a moving and important tribute to a soldier who gave so much for his country. Equally important, though less well-publicized, was the April 19 dedication of a similar statue of Harriet Elizabeth Liz Byrd at the corner of Carey Avenue and 21st Street. In addition to being the first fully certified, full-time Black public school teacher in Wyoming, Mrs. Byrd later served as the first Black woman in the Wyoming Legislature from 1981 to 1993. Her son, former legislator James Jim Byrd, said one of her top priorities as a state lawmaker was to make sure everyone had an equal opportunity to get a strong education. She is probably best known, though, for being the driving force behind recognition of the federal holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday, even though the compromise she had to settle for was to call it Wyoming Equality Day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both Lt. Baker and Mrs. Byrd deserve this public recognition, and the artists who depicted them LaQuincey Reed and John Baker, respectively are to be applauded for their work, as well. Kudos to everyone who has made Day of Giving a massive success UP to founder Greta Morrow, the current Cheyenne Day of Giving board and everyone who has made the program such a success the past 19 years. Thats right, believe it or not, the citys premier charitable donations collection event is about to mark its 20th anniversary. From humble beginnings as the brainchild of a strong woman who fought off Stage 4 leukemia and lymphoma thanks, in large part, to a bone marrow transplant, Day of Giving has grown into a nonprofit that supplements the work of other groups throughout the year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, May 9, volunteers will swarm the Kiwanis Community House in Lions Park from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., accepting donations of nonperishable food, personal care items, leftover medications, diapers, durable medical equipment, craft supplies and more. They also will accept cash, checks and online donations, which are used throughout the year to buy additional items needed by more than a dozen local nonprofits that serve those in need in our community. None of this would be possible without Mrs. Morrows seemingly tireless energy and dedication to the cause. Nor would it happen without the volunteers who surround her and support this important work. But as she often tells us, it really wouldnt be possible without the generous support of Cheyenne-area residents, who come out every year to push the donation totals to ever higher numbers. To which we say simply, Thank you. Well see you again May 9. University botches handling of conflict-of-interest controversy Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DOWN to the University of Wyoming for its handling of a controversy related to the demotion of a popular dean and the related perceptions of a conflict of interest involving the university president. Its the latest example of what has been an all-too-common practice with the states only public four-year university. And its particularly disappointing when you find out that several members of the Board of Trustees voiced concerns early on that demoting Cameron Wright could lead to reputational harm to President Ed Seidel, his partner and the university. Sure enough, when trustees demoted the dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, supporters saw it as retaliation for his opposition to Mr. Seidels plan to shift half a million dollars from the engineering college to the new School of Computing, led by his romantic partner, Gabrielle Allen. And even though there hasnt been a formal conflict-of-interest finding, the response was swift: members of the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly supported a no confidence vote in Mr. Seidels leadership, and two major donors have announced that they are reconsidering future financial support. While standing by their decision to demote Mr. Wright, trustees have appointed a committee to analyze the situation and make recommendations. Meanwhile, the UW Foundation is doing damage control through emails and online surveys. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As with previous situations involving Mr. Seidel and his predecessors, this is yet another example of university leaders including the appointed trustees, whose job includes objectively guarding the integrity of the university failing to make openness and transparency their default position. As parents often tell their kids, its better to own up to your mistakes early than to try to cover them up the pain will be much shorter and less severe. Wyomings community colleges lead the way on meeting workforce needs UP to Wyoming community colleges for continuing to step up and offer workforce development programs that will best serve both high school graduates and communities throughout the state. Last month, Laramie County Community College announced it has been designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency, a recognition that validates the colleges high-quality cybersecurity curriculum and opens doors to exceptional career opportunities for students. LCCC is the only institution in Wyoming to hold this designation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was yet another feather in the cap of a college that has done yeomans work in recent years, adding one workforce development program after another from its general Trades and Technical Studies program to specialties like welding, automotive/diesel mechanics, wind energy and datacenter specialist. This fall, Eastern Wyoming College will add a new Construction Technology Program at its Douglas campus. The goal is to address the persistent need for homes and other infrastructure in Converse County. Since this same need exists in many other parts of the state, its obvious this program could have widespread benefits, as long as it finds young people interested in pursuing this career path. From offering four-year degrees to dual-enrollment options for high schoolers, Wyomings community colleges have consistently shown they are nimble enough to meet the needs of both students and the states industries. We applaud that effort and encourage elected and industry leaders to continue to support it in any way possible. (Editors note: Laramie County Library System Executive Director Antonia Gaona is a member of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Editorial Board and had no involvement in the next item.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Laramie County Library System does strategic planning right UP to officials in the Laramie County Library System and their hired consultants for taking a comprehensive look at current library services and facilities and developing a plan for the next five years and beyond. The library is working with two firms to gather community input and assess potential changes to the layout of the librarys locations in Cheyenne, Burns and Pine Bluffs. LibraryIQ, a well-known library data-analyst firm, is leading efforts to engage stakeholders and develop a vision for future services, which involves a variety of conversations and online surveys. In addition, JLG Architects will conduct a detailed review of library spaces and make recommendations on ways to improve the patron experience. A final, comprehensive strategic plan is scheduled to be presented to the librarys Board of Directors and the Community Needs Assessment Team by the end of August. LCLS, especially the main facility in downtown Cheyenne, has been an award-winning program for decades. The fact that its not resting on its laurels is a testament to the dedication of its leadership and staff. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) West Virginia Junior College held its graduation ceremony for its School of Nursing on Saturday, where twenty-one students officially earned their nursing associate degrees. As part of the tradition in nursing, students received a pin that was put on them by their family members and loved ones. They also took the Nightingale Pledge, named after Florence Nightingale, one of the founders of modern nursing. In the pledge, graduates promised to pass [their] lives in purity and to practice [their] profession faithfully. New Morgantown pool will open in May; new skatepark, courts and more also planned Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President of West Virginia Junior College Samantha Esposito expressed her pride in the students. I have been with West Virginia Virginia junior college for almost 10 years, and its one of the most rewarding things to see students from the very beginning, Esposito said. This is my favorite day of the entire year. We get to witness the combination of all their hard work and dedication. Having completed their 18 month program, the students will move on to emergency departments and ICUs all over the country. 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 WBOY.com. Saturday, the family of 10-year-old Xavier Williams laid him to rest in his home state of Connecticut. The service was at the Lodge Community Chapel. Family and those close to Xavier wore blue, Xaviers favorite and a pin with his face on it. The family shared stories, laughter, and tears as they spoke about a child filled with kindness, faith, and dreams far bigger than his years. Nadeem Romain, who delivered a heartfelt eulogy, spoke of Xaviers favorite Bible verse: Psalm 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Romain shared how Xavier had once started a Bible group chat with his family, wanting them all to stay connected through faith. Beyond his love for scripture, Romain said Xavier adored animals and spending time at the beach. Romain said he often spoke excitedly about wanting to become a police officer when he grew up. Saturdays homegoing ceremony was a powerful reminder of the impact one little boy could have in just ten short years. Xavier moved to Tavares in 2022 with his mother, Kimberley Mills, who is now in Lake County Jail with her boyfriend, Andre Walker. The two were arrested in February after investigators said the pair savagely abused and neglected the 10-year-old. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abuse, including dropping a 10-pound weight on his abdomen. While he was having weights dropped on his stomach---he was duct-tapped to a ladder, a detective said on the stand. Xavier died while in the hospital after fighting for his life for weeks. Xavier was laid to rest at Mount Saint Benedict Cemetery in Bloomfield, a month after hundreds gathered at Wooten Park in downtown Tavares with a determination to honor his memory by fighting for children like him, who deserve protection, love, and a future. Rest in Peace, Star Boy, Romain said, voice trembling. Mills and Walker face several charges, including first-degree murder, aggravated child neglect, Aggravated child abuse, and tampering with evidence. Both are due in court in early May. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. JERUSALEM (AP) Yemen's Houthi rebels launched a missile early Sunday toward Israel, which the Israeli military said it shot down as U.S. strikes in the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa killed two people. Sirens sounded in parts of Israel around the Dead Sea. The military said "the missile was intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted Israel's Nevatim air base with what he identified as a hypersonic missile. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement American airstrikes, meanwhile, continued targeting the Houthis overnight into Sunday, part of an intense campaign against the rebels that began on March 15. The Houthi-run Health Ministry said besides the two killed on Sunday, 10 people, including two women and three children, were wounded in Sanaa. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV aid footage showing responders recovering the body of a woman, one of the two killed in the Sanaa strike. The U.S. is targeting the Houthis because of the groups attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The rebels are the last militant group in Irans self-described Axis of Resistance that is capable of regularly attacking Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Assessing the toll of the month-old U.S. airstrike campaign has been difficult because the military hasnt released information about the attacks, including what was targeted and how many people were killed. The Houthis, meanwhile, strictly control access to attacked areas and dont publish complete information on the strikes, many of which likely have targeted military and security sites. On April 18, a strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest-known attack of the American campaign. By Karen Braun NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS (Reuters) -Speculators held on to bullish bets in Chicago corn and soybeans last week in hopes that U.S. talks with trading partners might progress, potentially stimulating U.S. grain exports. U.S. farmers are off to an efficient start on spring planting and crops in South America have good prospects, neither of which are particularly price supportive. But market uncertainty remains sufficiently elevated as nothing concrete has emerged yet on the U.S. trade negotiation front. Money managers have held a net long position in CBOT corn futures and options since November. In the week ended April 22, they trimmed that position to 112,805 contracts from 124,573 in the previous week. The move was interesting because it included the largest weekly addition of gross short positions in six months. However, a sizable number of gross longs also entered the picture, suggesting mixed sentiment. Both longs and shorts were also added in soybeans, but bulls had the edge. Money managers increased their net long in CBOT soybeans by about 5,000 contracts to 31,067 futures and options contracts. CBOT July soybean futures were unchanged in the week ended April 22. They climbed 1.3% over the last three sessions, on Friday reaching the most-active contracts highest price since early February. U.S. soybeans could be a top casualty of a U.S.-China trade war as they are the leading U.S. export to China of any kind. The two countries escalating tariff battle has been seen as potentially favorable to the soybean market as the extremely steep rates may force a deal sooner rather than later. However, Beijing on Friday denied talks were actively occurring, going against U.S. claims. Meanwhile, reports circulated on Thursday that Brazil will export more soybeans to China in 2025 amid the U.S.-China conflict. But Brazil recently harvested a record soy crop, meaning this was likely to happen anyway, trade war or not. Corn and soybean bulls got a nod last week from Japan, which may be considering upping its U.S. corn and soybean imports as part of trade negotiations. Japan is the second biggest U.S. corn and fifth biggest U.S. soybean importer. SOY PRODUCTS AND WHEAT Money managers in the week ended April 22 increased their net long in CBOT soybean oil by about 10,000 contracts to 50,899 futures and options contracts. Uncertainty about U.S. biofuel policy has caused investor sentiment to swing from bullish to bearish several times within the last few months, though healthy global soybean oil demand and robust U.S. exports have recently been supportive. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) This weekend, the City of Youngstown celebrated its fifth annual May Day Festival to welcome spring. Groups and community leaders gathered at the Calvin Center for the Arts on Mahoning Avenue. The festival is a family-friendly event that celebrates human rights, protecting the environment, organized labor and various religions. May Day is an international celebration of labor and is sometimes called Beltane, a Celtic spring holiday. People enjoyed a Maypole dance in honor of Beltane. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This years theme was Let This Radicalize You, focusing on fairness, civil rights, the environment, education and the law. In Youngstown, weve always known hard times. This is a way to come together and celebrate the good times, as well as how to create that future we desire and want. I think thats the important part, said Erin Timms, owner of Calvin Center for the Arts. Yesterday, a memorial ceremony was held to honor workers who died or got sick at work. Organizers are planning to host sixth May Day next year. Tino DiCenso contributed to this report. 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. Despite the Russian military's assertions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that his troops are still fighting in the Russian region of Kursk. "Our units are continuing active defensive operations in the [Russian] regions of Kursk and Belgorod," Zelensky said in a post on X. He also said fighting continues near Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. On Saturday, the Russian military claimed the Kursk region had been "completely liberated." It said Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov had reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that all Ukrainian units in the Kursk region had been defeated and that only individual Ukrainian soldiers were still "trying to hide." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is not currently possible to provide a precise and independent overview of the situation in the region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces unexpectedly advanced across the border into Russian territory near Kursk in early August last year and initially gained up to 1,300 square kilometres of Russian territory, before being pushed back. Kiev aimed to force Moscow to redeploy troops and take Russian pressure off the fronts in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian General Staff on Saturday also rejected Russia's claim that it had recaptured Kursk as a "propaganda move." Fighting continued not only in some parts of the Kursk region, but also in the neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod, Ukraine's General Staff said. Despite the Russian military's assertions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that his troops are still fighting in the Russian region of Kursk. "Our units are continuing active defensive operations in the [Russian] regions of Kursk and Belgorod," Zelensky said in a post on X. He also said fighting continues near Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. On Saturday, the Russian military claimed the Kursk region had been "completely liberated." It said Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov had reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that all Ukrainian units in the Kursk region had been defeated and that only individual Ukrainian soldiers were still "trying to hide." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Sunday afternoon, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to his generals on the phone, congratulating them on succeeding in liberating the Kursk region. "Putin congratulated them on their victory and thanked them for their heroic work," Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. It is not currently possible to provide an accurate, independent overview of the situation in the region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces unexpectedly advanced across the border into Russian territory near Kursk in early August last year and initially gained up to 1,300 square kilometres of Russian territory, before being pushed back. Kiev aimed to force Moscow to redeploy troops and take Russian pressure off the fronts in eastern Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Ukrainian General Staff on Saturday also rejected Russia's claim that it had recaptured Kursk as a "propaganda move." Fighting continued not only in some parts of the Kursk region, but also in the neighbouring Russian region of Belgorod, Ukraine's General Staff said. Deaths, injuries in attack on Donetsk At least three people were killed in a Russian glide bomb attack on the small town of Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine, according to the public prosecutor's office on Sunday. Four other residents were injured when the two bombs hit private properties, the public prosecutor's office in the Donetsk region said on Telegram. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A married couple, aged 47 and 48, and a 78-year-old pensioner were killed, it said. The four people who were injured are aged between 67 and 83. Photos accompanying the post published by the authorities show extensive destruction to buildings and a burning car. The information provided could not immediately be independently verified. Russia controls large parts of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, one of the four regions of Ukraine it has annexed in the course of the war launched by Moscow in 2022. The Kremlin seeks to overpower and control Donetsk, which borders Russia. Man killed in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk during Russian drone barrage One man was killed and a 14-year-old girl injured in an overnight Russian drone attack on the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad, authorities reported early on Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two residential buildings were damaged in the attack, the Dnipropetrovsk regional military governor Serhiy Lyssak wrote on Telegram. He said there was also damage in other towns in the area and that 13 drones were shot down. In the southern Odessa region, a 35-year-old woman was injured when a drone hit a three-storey residential building, the public prosecutor's office said. It released a photo showing severe damage to the building's facade, caused either by direct hits or falling debris from downed drones. Ukrainian air defences recorded a total of 149 Russian drone attacks during the night. According to the reports, 57 projectiles were shot down and 67 were lost. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for more than three years. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Ukrainian forces continue active defensive operations in Russias Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter), following a report from Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Quote: "On many fronts, the situation remains difficult. By midday alone, there have already been nearly 70 Russian assaults on our positions. Fighting continues. The occupier continues its offensive attempts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The largest number of combat engagements take place on the Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, Lyman and Kursk fronts. Our forces continue active defensive operations in designated areas of the Kursk and Belgorod regions." Details: Zelenskyy emphasised that the situation at the front and the actual activity of the Russian forces prove that the existing global pressure on Russia is insufficient to end the war. "More tangible pressure on Russia is needed to create more opportunities for real diplomacy. I thank everyone in the world who stands with Ukraine," he wrote. Background: On 26 April, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was informed that the last settlement in Kursk Oblast, Gornal, had allegedly been "liberated from Ukrainian forces". Ukraines General Staff stressed that the claims by senior Russian officials about the end of fighting in Kursk Oblast do not correspond to reality. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Nicole Tsong climbs a hill from Seward Park on an e-bike along Lake Washington. A two-week window to apply for between $300 and $1,200 toward buying an e-bike yielded 33,175 eligible applications, according to Adele Peers, who is helping to run the rebate program for the state's Active Transportation Department. (Dean Rutz / The Seattle Times, 2018) Looking for a break? Test your knowledge of this week's news from the Yakima Valley. Tide maker Procter & Gamble said this week that its customers were doing fewer loads of laundry to save money on detergent, the latest sign of a consumer pullback amid economic anxiety caused by trade-war talk and volatile markets. Elsewhere, nervous customers are spending less on body wash, snacks, and burritos as they hunker down for economic turmoil. The White Houses ever-changing tariff regime is injecting record amounts of uncertainty into the economy, and thats now made its way to consumers spending habits. After pulling back on everyday luxuries like travel and self-care and even big-ticket purchases, the uncertainty has come to settle in Americans laundry rooms. Procter & Gamble CEO Jon Moller told Yahoo Finance that customers are doing fewer laundry loads each week to save on detergent. P&G, a major consumer-goods conglomerate, makes Tide, the U.S. best-selling detergent, as well as dozens of brands including Gillette razors, Pampers diapers, and Dawn dishwashing liquid. It cut its financial outlook for the year due to consumer stress, to just 2% growth. Competitor Colgate-Palmolive corroborated the trend on Friday. CEO Noel Wallace told investors on the earnings call that, while consumers are still brushing their teeth, taking showers, cleaning their floors and feeding their pets, they were feeling less inclined to stock up on purchases. You'll see consumers destock their pantries and not necessarily buy that extra tube or that extra body wash as they see, obviously, a very volatile external environment, he said. Uncertainty creates a pensive and anxious consumer, he noted, calling the February tariff announcements a shock to the system that made shoppers very cautious. Makers of household staples from cleaning solutions to snacks are sounding the alarm over the possible impacts of tariffs on China and dozens of global trading partners. Even for companies that source domestically, tariffs represent a major headwind as they threaten to squash economic growth or possibly even lead America into a recessionwhich would make consumer spending dry up. PepsiCo, which makes soda and snacks such as Doritos and Cheetos, said it was making smaller snack packs and individual servings, priced at under $2, to attract customers who were spending less, according to the companys earnings call Thursday and the New York Times. The company expects flat earnings growth this year. And burrito chain Chipotle saw its first drop in same-store sales since the 2020 lockdowns, which the CEO attributed to the consumer sitting on the sidelines. Deliveroos takeover would net founder Will Shu more than 170m based on his current holdings - Gerard Julien/AFP Deliveroo is in talks over a 2.7bn takeover by a US rival in a deal that would end a turbulent four years on the London Stock Exchange. The food delivery company on Friday said it had received a proposal from DoorDash, the $77bn US food delivery giant, to buy the British business for 180p per share. Deliveroo, led by founder Will Shu, said the board was minded to recommend such an offer to Deliveroo shareholders if it received a firm offer for the business. Accordingly, the board of Deliveroo decided to engage in discussions with DoorDash in relation to the possible offer and has provided DoorDash with access to due diligence, the company said. DoorDash must now make a firm offer by May 23. The approach follows months of speculation about a US takeover of Deliveroo, which has struggled to rebuild its share price after a disastrous initial public offering. The company was valued at 7.6bn when it floated in March 2021, but it endured what was dubbed the worst IPO in history as it lost a quarter of its value. Its market capitalisation has since continued to slide to around 2.1bn after the pandemic-fuelled takeaway boom faded. Shares were valued at 146p when markets closed on Friday. DoorDashs takeover would net Mr Shu more than 170m, based on his current holdings. Amazon, the companys biggest shareholder with a 14pc stake, would be paid 387m. Mr Shu, a former Morgan Stanley investment banker, started the business in 2013 personally delivering takeaways around Canary Wharf. Like Deliveroo, DoorDash offers takeaway deliveries via an app through a network of takeaway couriers. It is led by its founder, Tony Xu, a Chinese-American billionaire who set up the business in 2013. He is worth an estimated $2.2bn. The loss of Deliveroo will be seen as another blow for the London Stock Exchange, which has suffered an exodus of high-profile companies and struggled to attract new listings. In November, Just Eat Takeaway, one of Deliveroos biggest rivals, also delisted from the exchange after its value slumped, before confirming in February it had agreed to be taken over by South African-owned investment firm Prosus. DoorDashs approach could prompt scrutiny from competition regulators, who have previously investigated food delivery deals including Amazons decision to take a minority stake in Deliveroo in 2020. Doordash also owns Wolt, a European food delivery company, although it has little crossover with Deliveroo. The deal would put DoorDash into direct competition with its US rival Uber Eats in London, one of the most competitive markets for food delivery. Mumbai: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor recently watched Akshay Kumars recent release, Kesari Chapter 2, and praised the movie for its portrayal. However, he expressed concerns over certain dialogue choices in the film, stating that C. Sankaran Nair would never have used the words spoken by Akshays character in the film. After watching the film, Shashi Tharoor expressed his opinions, praising the historical drama for its overall impact. The Congress MP shared, I thought it was an amazingly well-made, well-crafted film. It took some liberties with historical fact, but it says at the very beginning it's fiction. But what it did was capture the spirit of resistance, especially using the instruments of the British court system. You can't win in the end. And we, sadly, waited 28 years after Jallianwala Bagh to become free. But the message of the film was brilliantly done. I must say, as usual, in a very high-quality production, the acting, the direction, the way the story unfolded, everything was just so compelling. There wasn't one dull moment. I mean, I was worried that for many people, just seeing courtroom scenes might not be so compelling. Shashi Tharoor, who is himself from Kerala, went on to state, But the way the story came out, I think it was impossible to turn your eye away for one second. Very riveting, very well done. I've been a fan of Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair for a long time. In fact, eight years ago, here in Tiruvannamalai, I delivered a speech memorializing him and talking about his life and achievements. But though some of this, of course, romanticizes him, if you like, in a very, very positive way, I think the fact that he was a man of courage and principle and integrity comes through. He would never have used some of the words that Akshay Kumar uses, particularly a certain four-letter word, which would never have come out of Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair. Akshay Kumar, who portrays the role of lawyer C. Sankaran Nair in the film, used the phrase "f**k you" in one of the scenes. Shashi added, I can tell you that for sure. But the spirit, the message, and the very clever way in which the message was allowed to come across were extremely well done. And I will say that, you know, we need films to remind people of some of the atrocities that were inflicted. Jallianwala Bagh, in particular, was in many ways emblematic of the worst sins of the British Raj. I am proud that when I wrote my book about the empire, Inglorious Empire in England in the Era of Darkness Here, and when I then did a book tour in the UK, the point I made very strongly was the need for an apology for the massacre. And I'm glad that at the end of the film, they made the point in their screenshot that the one thing the British have never done is say sorry. On the 100th anniversary in 2019, the Prime Minister did speak in the House of Commons, but all she said was that they regret the events of that day. That's not the same as an apology. And I think this film is a reminder to the British and to all of us that that apology is still due. But my congratulations to the filmmakers. They've done a wonderful job, and I certainly would not hesitate to recommend this film to audiences across our country, with subtitles in English as well. Let them watch it, Tharoor further mentioned. On a related note, Kesari: Chapter 2, directed by Karan Singh Tyagi, also stars R. Madhavan, Ananya Panday, and Regina Cassandra. Set against the backdrop of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the film was released in theatres on April 18, 2025. US airstrikes on Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa overnight killed two people and wounded 10 others, Houthi-controlled health authorities said on Sunday. The strikes targeted multiple locations across Sanaa, the authorities said, adding that two women and three children were among the injured, Xinhua news agency reported. All the wounded were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that US forces carried out additional strikes in several northern provinces and said three US strikes also hit the Galaxy Leader, a cargo vessel seized by the Houthis in November 2023 during attacks on Red Sea shipping linked to Israel. No casualties were reported from the strikes outside Sanaa or on the vessel. Separately, the Houthis on Sunday claimed responsibility for launching a missile at Israel's Nevatim Air Base in the Negev region, marking their second such attack in less than 48 hours. The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile after warning sirens were triggered in the Arava region and near the Dead Sea. No casualties were reported, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service. In a statement carried by al-Masirah TV, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group used a "hypersonic ballistic missile" to target the base, pledging continued military operations in support of Palestinians amid the war in Gaza. "Our military operations in support of the Palestinian people will continue until the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted," Sarea said. The strikes come after US airstrikes hit the Ras Isa fuel port in Yemen last week, killing at least 74 people and wounding 171 others. The strikes follow the resumption of negotiations in Rome between the US and Iran over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, which Washington has linked to its attacks in Yemen. The US is targeting the Houthis because of the group's attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on Israel. The Houthis are the last militant group in Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" that is capable of regularly attacking Israel. Tensions between the Houthis and US forces have escalated sharply since March 15, when Washington resumed airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, a campaign criticised by many regional governments as a threat to wider stability. Karnataka Excise Minister and Congress Leader RB Thimmapur, commenting on the Pahalgam terror attack, said that he did not think the "assailants" would have asked the name and religion of the victims. To this, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader CR Kesavan on Sunday launched a fresh attack against him. Karnataka Minister's Remarks After Pahalgam Attack According to news agency ANI, while talking to the media in Karnataka's Bagalkot, the Congress leader said, "I personally don't think the assailants would have asked the name and religion of the tourists. It is not just to add religious colour to cover up an intelligence failure." After Karnataka Minister's remarks, BJP's Kesavan called it disrespectful to the victims and their families. BJP Hits Back At Congress ANI quoted Kesavan as saying, "The wicked and barbaric remarks of Congress Karnataka Minister Thimmapur have insulted the integrity of the mourning families and humiliated the courageous sacrifices of our victims who were killed in the Pakistan-backed Islamic terror attack in Pahalgam." The BJP Leader accused Congress of playing politics and dividing people along communal lines and said, "Even in this hour of national grief, the communal Congress party, which has completely forsaken and mortgaged its conscience and soul to bigoted vote bank politics of religious appeasement, is fiddling with the politics of polarisation and division." Kesavan slamming Thimmapur stated that it is clear from the families' stories of the victims of the Pahalgam attack were asked if they were Hindus. He said, "Congress Minister Thimmapur shamefully said that these terrorists would not have asked the name and religion of the victims, and he went on to say in the most atrocious way that it is unfair to target religion. It is very clear from the heart-wrenching stories of the families of the victims who were present when their loved ones were asked whether they were Hindu, and when they proudly said yes, they were shot before their eyes and died." "And today, the statements Thimmapur, the Congress leader, has made pretty much imply that these families and the witnesses to these murders are lying. Is that what the Congress leadership is saying? Are they saying that these helpless victims' families, who witnessed the murders, are lying? Shame on the Congress Party for playing politics at this juncture," he continued. Calling out to Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader asked if they are playing a game. Kesavan added, "It is high time Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, and Rahul Gandhi, who is going around saying that they will stand by the centre in whatever action we take, are they playing a double game? Are they trying to do the politics of hit-and-run and shoot-and-scoot, where one set of Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah and this minister, are giving a clean chit to Pakistan, and the other side, Rahul Gandhi, is trying to play the good cop? The people of the country will not forgive the double game and the communal politics the Congress Party is playing." "The Congress leadership, if they differ from Timmapur, cannot just disown or distance themselves from these atrocious remarks. They immediately have to dismiss Timmapur as a minister in the Karnataka government and take action against him for insulting our victims and humiliating the integrity of the families of these victims," Kesavan further said. Siddaramiah's Comments On Pahalgam Attack The remarks by Karnataka's Excise Minister came after the state's Chief Minister Siddaramiah's remarks on the Pahalgam attack. His 'not necessary to wage war against Pakistan' comment sparked a row on Saturday. Siddaramaiah, on Sunday, stated that war should be waged only when it becomes unavoidable. Pahalgam Attack And India's Measures On April 22, terrorists opened fire at tourists in Pahalgam, Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. In the gruesome attack, 26 were killed and several others were injured. According to reports, the terror attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), the frontal outfit of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Apart from the abeyance of the Indus Water Treaty, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) took other measures after the attack, including declaring the Defence and Military, Naval, and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi 'Persona Non Grata' and gave them a week to leave the country. In addition, India will be withdrawing its own Defence, Navy, and Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had informed. He added that the Integrated Check Post at Attari will be closed. (with ANI inputs) DIG and Spokesperson, South Bengal Frontier, BSF, N K Pandey, claimed on Sunday that a Bangladeshi smuggler was killed after BSF personnel fired in self-defence along the Indo-Bangladesh Border (IBB) in the North 24-Parganas district of West Bengal, and recovered 175 cough syrup bottles of Phensedyl. He said that around 1 am on Sunday, a jawan of the 59 Bn BSF, posted at the Madhupur Border Outpost, spotted movement close to the border fence, adding that about 20-25 suspected smugglers were approaching the border fence from both sides. He could see the men on the Indian side carrying heavy bundles. He immediately challenged them. Instead of abandoning their attempt, the smugglers on the Indian side turned on the BSF jawan, he said. He added that while one focused the beam of a high-power torch on his eyes, the others - armed with sharp-edged weapons - attempted to surround him. The brave jawan fired a round from his Pump Action Gun (PAG) at the group, forcing them to disperse, said DIG Pandey. He said that the noise alerted a BSF ambush party ahead of the fence, and they rushed to the spot to find smugglers collecting items thrown across the fence. When this group of smugglers refused to give up even after a non-lethal shot being fired in the air, a shot was fired in their direction. While one of the smugglers was hit, the others took advantage of the low visibility and dense crops to escape, he added. DIG Pandey said that a search of the area led to the discovery of the body of the smuggler, 175 bottles of Phensedyl cough syrup, two bottles of foreign liquor, a torch, three sickles and a sharp machete. The Bangladeshi smugglers body, along with the seized items, was handed over to the police, and an FIR lodged regarding the incident, he said. DIG Pandey commended the efforts of the jawans, saying that they are continuously performing their duties along a difficult border. Cases of infiltration and attacks by Bangladeshi smugglers have been regularly raised by BSF with the BGB. Unfortunately, due to inadequate response, the miscreants continue to indulge in criminal activities. The BSF remains committed to taking all necessary measures to protect the nation's borders in the national interest, said DIG Pandey. Bihar Politics: Ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Sunday reiterated that there is no question of aligning with any political parties, but people who want change can join the party. Speaking to IANS, Kishor announced that the party's state-wide signature campaign will be launched on May 11, focusing on three pressing welfare issues in Bihar and denied the possibility of forming any political alliance, saying his party will have an alliance only with people. He said, "I am starting my journey from Harnath. From May 11, we will launch an official campaign on three important issues in Jan Suraaj. Our workers will go door-to-door in every household across Bihar." The campaign will question the status of three key government commitments. Kishor explained that his party would seek public opinion on whether the 94 lakh families, identified in the caste-based census, received the Rs 2 lakh promised to each of them, whether Mahadalit and Dalit families were allotted the 3 dismil (decimal) of land they were supposed to receive, and whether the digitisation of land records promised under the land survey had been fully carried out. "On these three issues, Jan Suraaj will launch a people-driven campaign. I will visit Nitish Babu's village, Kalyan Bigha, on May 11 and go house-to-house to gather public opinion. If people agree with our concerns, I will take their signatures as part of this movement," Kishor remarked. "If the government claims these promises have been fulfilled, then there should be no objection to people verifying it," he added. When asked about the possibility of a political alliance in the future, Kishor categorically denied any such plans. "In the fight for change, Jan Suraaj will ally with the people. People who want change will have an alliance with Jan Suraaj. With any party, any political organisation, there is no question of an alliance. Jan Suraaj will contest all 243 seats independently. There will be no alliance before or after the elections," he asserted. Pahalgam Terror Attack: Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in an interview, stated that China, Russia, and Western countries could set up an 'international investigation team' and find out if India or Prime Minister Narendra Modi is lying. According to media reports, he said in his recent interview that he believes that China, Russia, and Western nations could play a 'positive role' in this crisis. He added that these countries could form an "international investigation team" to find out 'if India or Modi is lying or telling the truth.' Also Read: 'Assailants Didn't Ask Religion': K'taka Minister After J-K Terror Attack, BJP Hits Back This statement of the Pakistani Defence Minister comes after terrorists in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir gunned down 26 tourists and injured several others on April 22. After the attack, as per reports, the Resistance Front (TRF), the frontal outfit of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility. This led to India and Pakistan's ties to tense up. Following this, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty and shut down the Attari Integrated Check Post, among other measures. As per media reports, Asif, in the interview, continued that there must be some 'evidence' of Pakistan's involvement or that the terrorists were supported by them. Pakistan PM's 'Neutral Investigation' Remark Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on Friday stated that they are open to a "neutral, transparent, and credible investigation" into the terrorist attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir. Also Read: 'You Don't Ask Murderers To Investigate Murders': Tharoor After Pak's 'Neutral Probe' Statement Khawaja Asif Admits To Support For Terror Groups Previously, in an interview with Sky News, the Pakistani Defence Minister had admitted that his country has been funding and supporting terrorist organisations and alleged that they have been doing the 'dirty work' for the United States. According to ANI, a video of an interview went viral on social media, in which the Pakistan Defence Minister is asked by the news anchor if he admits that Pakistan has a history of supporting, training, and funding terrorist groups. Asif replied, "We have been doing this dirty work for the United States for about 3 decades... and the west, including Britain... That was a mistake, and we suffered for that, and that is why you are saying this to me. If we had not joined the war against the Soviet Union and later on the war after 9/11, Pakistan's track record was unimpeachable." (with ANI inputs) A day after his 'no necessity to wage war against Pakistan' remark sparked a massive row, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a U-turn on Sunday, stating that war should be waged only when it becomes absolutely unavoidable. Responding to a media query about discussions surrounding his statement that "war is not needed," CM Siddaramaiah is Bengaluru said, "War cannot offer a solution. It should be considered only when there is no other option." He further questioned the central government over the security arrangements and said, "I have pointed out that there has been a failure in the security system under the Central government. Twenty-six tourists lost their lives in a terrorist attack. Earlier, in the Pulwama attack, 40 soldiers were martyred. The Central government did not provide adequate security." Siddaramaiah further emphasised, "Immediate war is not necessary, but that does not mean war should never happen if it becomes inevitable." Reacting to the debate on waging a war against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, on Saturday, Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah said, "There is no necessity to wage a war against Pakistan. Strict security measures must be initiated. We are not in favour of waging war. There should be peace, people must feel secure, and the Central government should ensure effective security arrangements." When asked about the Central government acknowledging a security lapse in Pahalgam, the Chief Minister said, "I have spoken the truth regarding the security lapse behind the Pahalgam terror attack. Proper security arrangements should have been made. That was a tourist spot visited by a large number of tourists. In the same region, at Pulwama, 40 soldiers were killed earlier. They should have been extremely careful." He added, "There was both an intelligence failure and a security failure. The people believed they were safe, but the Central government could not provide them security. The people trusted them, but the Central government failed." After Pakistan media highlighted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's remarks against waging war over the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, the Karnataka BJP slammed him, accusing him of acting like a puppet of the enemy nation. (With IANS inputs) NEW DELHI: BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Congress for indulging in appeasement politics and calling the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack gunmen instead of terrorists. Talking to IANS, Bhandari spoke about the Congress "dubious" nature. On Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's statement that the country is living with the impacts of the partition, the BJP leader said Congress is playing good cop, bad cop. It is hesitant to blame Pakistan government for the terrorist attack just for the appeasement politics. Elaborating on the fact, the BJP leader said, "Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in an all-party meeting said that they are with the government in the fight against terror. However, Congress' left and right hands give diverse statements." Stepping up the attack, Bhandari claimed that Congress leaders call the victims of the terror attack liars and mention terrorists as gunmen. Claiming that the Congress' intentions are exposed, he said: "During the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack also, the party blamed the majority Hindu population for the dastardly act, not Pakistan." "Do not stoop so low that you (Congress) cannot even utter a word against terrorists who attacked the soul of the country," he said. Making a fervent appeal to the Congress not to play politics, he said," Unite and work in the country's interests. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the country is ready to give a befitting reply to the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives. Notably, acting tough against terror and its backers, India has suspended the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan and cancelled the visas of its nationals residing here. The Union Home Ministry, in its advisory issued to all states, directed them to identify all Pakistani nationals and send them back. The terror attack has drawn worldwide condemnation and global leaders have extended support to India to uproot terrorism. In a tragic incident, at least two people were killed on Sunday after a massive fire broke out at a jhuggi (slum) area near Shri Niketan Apartment in Sector 17 of Rohini of Delhi, police said. The bodies of the two victims have been recovered from the scene and search and rescue operations are ongoing. MK Chattopadhyay, Deputy Chief Fire Officer of the West Zone, said that two children with burn injuries were shifted to the hospital, adding that the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. "We received a call at 11:55 am... As soon as we received the call, according to SOP, our ADO, AK Sharma and 4-5 fire brigades were dispatched to the site. Since the lanes here are narrow, our vehicles could not reach the site. Seeing the intensity of the fire, it was declared a Medium category fire," Chattopadhyay said, ANI reported. "Now, nearly 26 vehicles are deployed here on the scene... Two children with burn injuries were recovered, and they have been shifted to the hospital... The cause of the fire is not ascertained yet; the police will investigate it," he added. Following the fire incident, Union Health Minister and BJP President JP Nadda spoke to Delhi CM Rekha Gupta and Delhi BJP President Virendraa Sachdeva and asked them to provide immediate assistance to the victim. Further details on the incident are awaited. Pahalgam Terror Attack: As soon as India announced the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty which mandates the supply of water from the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum to Pakistan, there was chaos in the Islamic nation. While Pakistan termed India's action an 'Act of War', Indian Minister CR Patil said that the government would not allow a single drop of water flow to Pakistan. If India stops the flow, it will affect millions of Pakistanis and their agricultural livelihoods. The Indus Water Treaty suspension came in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 people were killed. The Pakistan-backed terrorists carried out targeted killings in the valley, shooting non-Muslim tourists mainly. Now, while Pakistan was expecting a drought in the Chenab River, the local citizens are claiming that India has released waters into Jhelum unannounced causing a flood-like situation in the surrounding area. Pakistani social media users are claiming that India released a large amount of water into the Jhelum River without informing Pakistan, causing a sharp rise in water levels near Muzaffarabad. A flood alert has already been issued in the region and State Disaster Management personnel have been deployed. They wanted water BREAKING: Flooding starts in Pakistan after India unexpectedly releases water in the Jhelum River without prior notification. Locals worry that the situations could get much worse if the water keeps flowing from India. Join | https://t.co/bq8DAxMRoA pic.twitter.com/DK3q9uNe15 Satyaagrah (@satyaagrahindia) April 26, 2025 "Indias reckless release of excess water into the Jhelum River from Anantnag has dangerously raised water levels, threatening lives and livelihoods downstream. India should be dealt with accordingly and stop this water terrorism," said another user. Indias reckless release of excess water into the Jhelum River from Anantnag has dangerously raised water levels, threatening lives and livelihoods downstream. India should be dealt with accordingly and stop this water terrorism. pic.twitter.com/4ePSxL2Uc4 Jannat Bilal Mustafa Khar (@jannat_khar) April 26, 2025 Indians are also reacting to the reports of flooding. "Several Pakistani handles are claiming a sudden release of Jhelum waters by India without prior notice. While they were busy preparing for droughts, floods came out of syllabus," said a user. Several Pakistani handles are claiming a sudden release of Jhelum waters by India without prior notice. While they were busy preparing for droughts, floods came out of syllabus. pic.twitter.com/xqAAliauso Riccha Dwivedi (@RicchaDwivedi) April 26, 2025 "Such is the Jalwa of PM Modi sometimes a flood, sometimes a drought. This morning, so much water was sent that it caused floods, and now the Dams have been shut off completely. Jhelum water is no longer flowing to Pakistan," said another user. Such is the Jalwa of PM Modi sometimes a flood, sometimes a drought. This morning, so much water was sent that it caused floods, and now the Dams have been shut off completely. Jhelum water is no longer flowing to Pakistan! pic.twitter.com/LEDJKIQrtx Oxomiya Jiyori (@SouleFacts) April 26, 2025 The users are sharing multiple videos on their social media. Zee News has not verified these claims and videos. We recently published a list of 10 Best German Dividend Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Deutsche Post AG (XETRA:DHL.DE) stands against other best German dividend stocks to buy now. At the end of January this year, Germanys government significantly slashed its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to just 0.3% from the prior estimate of 1.1%. German economy minister Robert Habeck expressed concern, highlighting stagnation despite some positive signs like rising credit demand. This revision is in line with projections from other institutions like the IMF and Bundesbank. Germanys economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024, following a 0.3% decline in 2023. The government pointed to stagnant growth plans, geopolitical uncertainties, and structural issues such as labor shortages and weak investment. While the country faces challenges, there is hope for better growth by 2026. Similarly, Germanys Ifo Institute has also cut its 2025 growth forecast to just 0.2%, pointing to sluggish consumer spending and hesitancy among companies to invest. While a slight improvement to 0.8% is expected next year, the outlook remains shaky due to political uncertainty and possible US trade policies. Despite some recovery in purchasing power, consumer confidence is still low, and industries are feeling the pressure from weak demand and growing global competition. Ifo also warned that US tariffs on European goods could pose a serious threat to German exports. According to the Association of German Banks, a stronger recovery is not likely until 2026, when growth could reach 1.4%. The outlook has worsened, especially after the U.S. announced a 25% tariff on imported cars, causing a major blow to German automakers. Corporate investment is also expected to stay sluggish, with even the projected 3.5% increase in 2026 falling short of previous post-crisis rebounds. Still, experts say that strong reforms and a more competitive tax policy from the next government could help turn things around sooner. Jari Stehn, Chief European Economist at Goldman Sachs Research, shed some light on the German economy and commented back in December 2024: Even though industrial production is down significantly over the last few years, the amount of value added has actually been much more stable. German companies have been able to respond by moving out of relatively low-margin production in chemicals or paper, and so on, into higher value production. I think the way forward essentially is for German companies to continue to do that. With that outlook in mind, individuals who want to diversify their portfolios and add income-generating stocks to their investment mix can invest in some stable German dividend stocks. India and France are all set to sign a Rs 63,000 crore defence deal on Monday in Delhi, under which 26 Rafale Marine combat aircraft will be acquired to strengthen naval aviation capabilities, particularly for deployment on INS Vikrant, defence officials said. During the signing event, officials from the Indian Defence Ministry and the French Ambassador to India will represent both countries. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh is likely to represent the Indian side, while the French and Indian defence ministers are expected to attend remotely, according to the ANI reports. The Cabinet Committee on Security had cleared the deal earlier this month. The 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets are urgently needed for deployment on Indian aircraft carriers, especially the newly commissioned INS Vikrant. The current fleet of MiG-29K fighters has reportedly faced performance issues due to maintenance challenges. To address this gap, the Rafale M jets will be tailored to suit Indian operational needs and integrated into INS Vikrants air wing. These carrier-based aircraft are being procured as an interim solution until an indigenous carrier-borne fighter is developed. The French Minister is predicted to arrive in India on Sunday evening and depart on Monday late evening. The Rafale M jets will operate from INS Vikrant and support the existing MiG-29K fleet. The Indian Air Force already operates a fleet of 36 Rafale aircraft acquired under a separate deal signed in 2016. These aircraft are based at Ambala and Hasimara. The new deal will raise the total number of Rafale jets in India to 62, significantly boosting the country's fleet of 4.5-generation fighter aircraft. (With ANI inputs) NEW DELHI: RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) maintained its lead across all four central panel posts as counting continued on Sunday for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) elections 2024-25. As of 1 PM today, around 2,475 votes had been counted, with ABVP candidates ahead for the posts of President, Vice-President, General Secretary, and Joint Secretary. Polling for the JNUSU elections had concluded on Friday, with a voter turnout of approximately 70 per cent. Out of 7,906 eligible students, around 5,500 cast their votes, according to the JNU Election Committee. In the race for President, ABVP's Shikha Swaraj was leading with 756 votes, followed by Nitish Kumar of the AISA-DSF alliance with 579 votes. For the post of Vice-President, ABVP's Nittu Gautam was ahead with 710 votes. Kunal Rai was leading for General Secretary with 832 votes, while Vaibhav Meena was in front for Joint Secretary with 823 votes. In the councillor elections, ABVP has secured 23 out of 42 seats across various schools and special centres. These include two out of five seats each in the School of International Studies and the School of Social Sciences, one seat each in the School of Biotechnology, the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, and the Special Centre for Nano Science, and two out of three seats in the School of Computer and System Sciences. ABVP also made a clean sweep by winning all four seats in the School of Engineering and three seats in the School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies. Victories were also recorded in the Amalgamated Centre, the School of Environmental Sciences, the School of Physical Sciences, and the Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship. Voting was conducted in two sessions across all schools and centres, including the School of International Studies and the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies. This year's election has seen a four-way contest, with AISA aligning with the Democratic Students' Front (DSF) after splitting from its traditional ally SFI. ABVP and an NSUI-Fraternity alliance also fielded full panels, making the race highly competitive. The elections, initially scheduled for April 18, were postponed following an incident of violence and vandalism on campus. After legal proceedings and administrative intervention, polling was rescheduled to April 25. The counting of votes began on April 27 and is expected to conclude later in the evening. Final results for the central panel are awaited. Kerala Lottery Results Sunday 27-04-2025 LIVE: The Kerala Lottery Department, on behalf of the Keralan government, announces the "AKSHAYA AK-699" Lucky Draw Result today Akshaya AK-699, April 27, 2025. The draw will be held at Gorky Bhavan near Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram. The Kerala Lottery Result 2025 for "Akshaya AK-699" 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 Akshaya AK-699 results right here to see if youre the first-place winner of 70 Lakhs. Stay tuned to this website for the live update of Kerala Lottery Akshaya AK-699 results today. Kerala Lottery Result 27-04-2025 April: FULL LIST OF WINNING NUMBERS FOR AKSHAYA AK-699 Draw LUCKY NUMBER FOR 1ST PRIZE OF RS 70 LAKHS IS: AM 602570 LUCKY NUMBER FOR 2ND PRIZE OF RS 5 LAKHS IS: AH 157880 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 3RD PRIZE OF RS 1 Lakh ARE: AA 431367 AB 135652 AC 675718 AD 799532 AE 567408 AF 367974 AG 796920 AH 440694 AJ 764130 AK 317565 AL 740505 AM 290930 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR CONSOLATION PRIZE OF RS 8,000 ARE: AA 602570 AB 602570 AC 602570 AD 602570 AE 602570 AF 602570 AG 602570 AH 602570 AJ 602570 AK 602570 AL 602570 (For The Tickets Ending with The Following Numbers below) LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 4TH PRIZE OF RS 5,000 ARE: 1518 2664 2671 3849 4249 5779 5957 6503 6657 6706 6918 7184 7428 7871 8089 8669 8686 9220 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 5TH PRIZE OF RS 2,000 ARE: 1110 2731 2738 3252 3579 3752 3872 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 6TH PRIZE OF RS 1,000 ARE: 1217 1355 1556 2202 2505 3364 3683 3877 4163 4643 4753 4928 5191 5738 5918 6035 6206 6321 6500 6525 7230 7292 8872 9266 9295 9865 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 7TH PRIZE OF RS 500 ARE: 0334 0531 0566 0599 0670 1009 1073 1130 1296 1366 1694 1806 1858 1939 1982 2033 2217 2266 2378 2415 2461 2466 2467 2483 2714 2964 3155 3272 3282 3374 3397 3883 3952 4099 4203 4257 4421 4440 4494 4608 4701 4742 4959 4986 5338 5446 5499 5770 5826 5829 6666 6810 6843 7092 7595 7722 7840 7903 8037 8192 8541 8667 8695 9005 9218 9278 9378 9394 9678 9698 9717 9887 LUCKY NUMBERS FOR 8TH PRIZE OF RS 100 ARE: To Be Announced KERALA LOTTERY RESULT 27-04-2025 April TODAY: AKSHAYA AK-698 LOTTERY PRIZE DETAILS 1st Prize: Rs 70 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 Consolation Prize: Rs. 8,000 (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 lottery in anyway.) Pahalgam Terror Attack: As the tension continues to grip the India-Pakistan border following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the charge from the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The national probe agency began its investigation into the deadly attack that resulted in the killing of 26 tourists, top sources told the news agency ANI. The Central anti-terror agency formally registered a fresh FIR on late Saturday following an order issued from the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation (CTCR) division of the Ministry of Home Affairs considering the gravity of the case as Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba's proxy, the Resistance Front (TRF), has claimed responsibility for the attack. The NIA took over the case five days after the incident and four days after its team visited the attack site and started supporting the Jammu and Kashmir Police in probing what is considered the deadliest assault on civilians in the region in almost twenty years. The NIA team, led by a Deputy Inspector General-rank officer, had visited Baisaran on April 23, the day after the attack. Official sources, privy to the development, told ANI that "the NIA has formally taken over the case from the Jammu and Kashmir Police and stated its investigation." The attack comes at a time when Kashmir is experiencing a significant uptick in tourist arrivals after years of militancy. Notably, the 38-day Amarnath Yatra is set to commence on July 3. Meanwhile, as Indias efforts to retaliate following the terror attack continue, security forces destroyed the house of an active terrorist, Adnan Shafi of Wandina, Zainapora. He had joined the terrorist organisation a year ago. Earlier, the house of a suspect in the Pahalgam terrorist attack was demolished by security forces and Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) authorities, officials said on Saturday. Follow ZEE News For All Live Updates On The Pahalgam Terror Attack Former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti took to X to issue a fervent appeal to the Government of India, urging utmost caution and precision in its response to the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam. Emphasizing the critical need to distinguish between militants and innocent civilians, Mufti called for actions that strengthen unity rather than deepen divisions in the region. In her statement on X, Mufti expressed deep concern over reports of thousands of arrests and the demolition of numerous homes in Kashmir, including those of ordinary citizens alongside those of militants. She warned that such broad measures, if not carefully calibrated, risk alienating innocent Kashmiris and fueling resentment, which could play into the hands of those seeking to sow fear and discord. Indiscriminate actions against civilians undermine our fight against terrorism, Mufti posted on X. The government must ensure that innocent Kashmiris are not made to bear the brunt of counter-terror operations. Alienation only aids those who thrive on division. Mufti urged the government to direct security forces and authorities to adopt targeted, evidence-based operations that prioritize the protection of human rights and the dignity of civilians. She stressed the importance of transparent investigations and fair treatment to prevent the wrongful targeting of innocent individuals. Justice and trust are the strongest weapons against terrorism, she added. The PDP leader called for immediate steps to halt any punitive actions against civilians and to engage with local communities to rebuild confidence in the governments commitment to peace and stability in Jammu & Kashmir. Muftis appeal underscores the need for a balanced approach that upholds security while fostering unity and hope among Kashmiris. Pahalgam Terror Attack: Expressing agony and deep pain over the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that families of victims will get justice, and the conspirators and perpetrators of this heinous act, which claimed the lives of at least 26 people, mostly tourists, will face the harshest response. Speaking further about the terror attack during Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, the Prime Minister said that at the time when peace was restored in Kashmir, terrorists hatched a conspiracy in a bid to destroy the valley. "This attack in Pahalgam reflects the frustration of those who patronise terrorism.... At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, enemies of the nation and J&K did not like it. Terrorists and their masters want Kashmir to be destroyed once again. That is why such a big conspiracy was hatched. In this war against terrorism, the unity of the nation is our biggest strength... We must strengthen our resolve to face this challenge," PM Modi said. During the Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi also mentioned the support from other countries that India is receiving against the terror attack and asserted that global leaders have condemned the attack and the entire world is standing with the country in the war against terrorism. "Global leaders have called me, written letters, and sent messages. Everyone has strongly condemned this heinous terrorist attack... The entire world stands with the 1.4 billion Indians in our fight against terrorism. Once again, I assure the victims' families that they will get justice. The conspirators and perpetrators of this attack will face the harshest response," he said. Meanwhile, continuing its massive crackdown on terrorists and terror links, security forces demolished another house belonging to a terrorist in Chotipora village of Bandipora district. The terrorists whose houses have been demolished so far include Lashkar-e-Taiba's Adil Hussain Thoker, Zakir Ahmad Ganai, Amir Ahmad Dar and Asif Sheikh, Shahid Ahmad Kuttey, Ahsan ul Haq Amir, Jaish-e-Mohammed's Amir Nazeer Wani, Jameel Ahmad Sher Gojri, The Resistance Front's Adnan Safi Dar and Farooq Ahmad Tedwa. According to security officials, Ahsan ul Haq trained in Pakistan in 2018 and recently "infiltrated" into the Valley; Lashkar commander Shahid Ahmad Kuttay has been involved in many anti-national activities; and Zakir Ahmad Ganie was under surveillance for alleged involvement in multiple terror-related activities. Officials said Farooq Ahmad Tedwa has been operating from Pakistan. Thoker is suspected to be directly involved in Tuesday's attack. A police spokesperson has said the demolitions and the searches are aimed at dismantling the terror ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. So far, 10 demolitions of terrorists' houses in Kashmir have been done after the April 22 terror attack in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives. The houses of Asif Sheikh and Adil Hussain Thoker, the two local terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack, were demolished by the security forces two days ago. Eight other demolitions were done in Ganderbal, Bandipora, Shopian, Anantnag, Kulgam and Pulwama. So far, 175 suspects have been detained for questioning in the Pahalgam terror attack. (With IANS Inputs) Pahalgam Attack Fallout: With India briefing dozens of countries over the Pahalgam terror attack and countries from across the world extending support to New Delhi, the Narendra Modi government is now mulling a range of retaliatory military options against Pakistan. While many BJP leaders have assured that a military response is inevitable, talks are happening about the type of response and its timing. Union Minister Hardeep Puri has said that India will give a befitting reply and it's just a matter of a few days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already said that India will hunt down the terrorists and their masters to the end of the earth. With the opposition already backing the government for any action, a military response alongside the diplomatic one is highly likely. The Indian Army is also carrying out massive manhunt in Kashmir against terrorists. So far, army has demolished homes of seven local terrorists. According to reports, India is considering multiple options including the one where the Indian security forces are not required to cross the border to launch a strike. India had launched a similar strike in Balakot in 2019 when precision-guided bombs were dropped at terror hideouts in Pakistan without the army crossing the border. The Indian Army has undertaken modernisation of its fleets and weapons in the last five years and is considering targeting terrorists from within the Indian side of the border. Former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Northern Command, Lt General DS Hooda told the Indian Express that India has both options at its disposal - a ground operation and an aerial strike. I wouldnt at this stage completely rule out the military option, said Hooda. The retired army officer said that India has attack drones which are capable of carrying out attacks inside Pakistan from within the Indian side of the Line of Control. Notably, India had carried out a surgical strike by crossing the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 2016. Pahalgam Terror Attack: FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday assured full support from the United States to India following the terror attack in Kashmirs Pahalgam. He also offered condolences to all the victims of the terror attack, which claimed the lives of at least 26 people, mainly including tourists holidaying in the valley. Patel stated that the Pahalgam attack is a reminder of the constant threats that the world faces from the evil of terrorism. "The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir -- and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. Thank you to the men and women of law enforcement who answer the call in moments like these," Patel said in a post on X. As many as 26 people were killed and several others were injured after terrorists attacked tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22. This comes a day after US President Donald Trump took a likely U-turn after expressing full support for India following the terror attack amid tensions between India and Pakistan. Speaking on the unrest between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack, Trump said on Friday that there have always been tensions between the two countries, and they will figure it out between themselves one way or the other. Meanwhile, National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials, on Saturday, spoke to the widow and daughter of Late Samir Guha, a central government officer and one of the three tourists from West Bengal who were killed in Kashmirs Pahalgam terror attack, as reported by news agency IANS. Here Are Top Updates 1. The NIA officers arrived at Guhas residence at Sakher Bazar in Behala, Kolkata and spoke to Guhas widow and daughter for over four hours. Both of them were with Guha at Pahalgam while the ghastly terror attack took place, following the selective killing of Hindu tourists. 2. IANS sources said that the NIA official tried to get information from Guhas widow and daughter about what they actually saw while the terrorist attacks took place. The investigating officials also tried to get a rough idea of the number of terrorists they witnessed during the massacre. 3. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday strongly condemned the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, located in J&K during a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring the shared resolve of both nations to combat terrorism in all its forms. President Pezeshkian expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims affected by the attack. 4. Earlier, US President Donald Trump held a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and offered his condolences for the loss of lives in the terror attack. Trump condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this "heinous attack." 5. In a post on X, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated, "President Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump @POTUS called PM @narendramodi and conveyed his deepest condolences at the loss of innocent lives in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. President Trump strongly condemned the terror attack and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack. India and the United States stand together in the fight against terror." 6. US Vice President JD Vance also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this difficult hour. 7. PM Modi thanked Vance and Trump for their messages of support and solidarity. "Vice President @VP @JDVance called Prime Minister @narendramodi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this difficult hour. He expressed that the United States is ready to provide all assistance in the joint fight against terrorism. PM thanked Vice President Vance and President Trump for their messages of support and solidarity," Jaiswal posted on X. 8. Following the terror attack, the Central government announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides. 9. India also halted the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960, following nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan, with the assistance of the World Bank, which is also a signatory to the treaty. (With agencies Inputs) Pahalgam Terror Attack: Amid the simmering tensions between India and Pakistan following the terror attack in Kashmirs Pahalgam, the Indian Army on Sunday said that Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control (LoC) on the night of 26-27 April in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur Sectors. The unrest remains high along the LoC even as security forces intensified anti-terror operations in the Kashmir valley in the aftermath of the Phalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, on April 22. The Indian Army said its troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire. "On the night of 26-27 April 2025, Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur Sectors. Own troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire," the Indian Army said. Meanwhile, as Indias efforts to retaliate following the terror attack continue, security forces destroyed the house of an active terrorist, Adnan Shafi of Wandina, Zainapora. He had joined the terrorist organisation a year ago. Earlier, the house of a suspect in the Pahalgam terrorist attack was demolished by security forces and Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) authorities, officials said on Saturday. According to the officials, the house of a suspect, identified as Zakir Ahmad Ganie, at Mutalhama village in Kulgam district was demolished. Ganie is believed to have been involved in the Pahalgam terror attack, which has sent shock waves across the country. The officials said that Gaine has been active since 2023. Meanwhile, Kulgam Police, in a coordinated operation with the Army and CRPF, arrested two terrorist associates and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition in south Kashmir's Kulgam district. According to an official release, during a routine checkpoint established at Matalhama Chowk Thokerpora, Qaimoh, two individuals were intercepted and subsequently arrested. They have been identified as Bilal Ahmad Bhat, son of Abdul Salam Bhat, and Mohd Ismail Bhat, son of Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, both residents of Thokerpora, Qaimoh. Upon their search, security forces recovered two pistols, two pistol magazines, and 25 rounds of pistol ammunition from their possession. A case under relevant sections of law has been registered at Police Station Qaimoh, and an investigation has been launched to probe further. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Sunday that the country must wage a decisive fight against terrorism, but cautioned against alienating innocent people. After the Pahalgam terror attack, there must be a decisive fight against terrorism and its origin. People of Kashmir have come out openly against terrorism and the murder of innocent people; they did this freely and spontaneously, the Chief Minister wrote on X. He added that its time to build on this support and avoid any misplaced action that alienates people. Punish the guilty, show them no mercy, but dont let innocent people become collateral damage, he said. Omar Abdullah voiced concerns on the targeting of Kashmiris outside J&K. The Chief Minister has already deputed his cabinet colleagues to different states outside to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students and businessmen. Governments of different states have assured complete support to Kashmiris living outside and also opened helplines to facilitate access to Kashmiris. The terror attack at Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam on April 22 left 26 civilians dead, including 25 tourists and a local. The local, Syed Adil, was also killed in the attack. Eye-witnesses said he snatched the weapon of one of the terrorists when he was shot and killed. He was the only breadwinner for his old parents. People in J&K unitedly have spontaneously condemned the terror attack and observed a protest shutdown on April 23 against the cowardly act of the terrorists. The shutdown against the terrorists was the first shutdown in Kashmir after August 5, 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated. Every section of the local society, religious, political, social, industrialists, professionals and businessmen have unequivocally condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and sought exemplary punishment for the terrorists. Being part of the outrage the nation witnessed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, Kashmiris have been genuinely shocked at some elements attacking Kashmiris in other parts of the country. China's 9th batch of aid supplies arrives in quake-hit Myanmar Xinhua) 14:32, April 27, 2025 YANGON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The ninth batch of emergency humanitarian aid supplies dispatched by the Chinese government on Saturday arrived in Yangon, Myanmar, according to a statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar on Saturday. The aid supplies included 68,000 doses of tetanus vaccines (adsorbed), 570,000 doses of recombinant B subunit cholera vaccine for adults, and 77,910 doses of recombinant B subunit cholera vaccine for children, the statement said. A 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28. As of April 26, the earthquake has claimed 3,769 lives and injured 5,106 people, with 107 others remaining unaccounted for, according to Myanmar's official data. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Lawrence Thomas in his car at his home in Orange in 2022. He is a delivery driver for Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. DoorDash has asked the court to dismiss an Uber lawsuit over web ordering services. (MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images ) DoorDash Inc. asked a California judge to dismiss Uber Technologies Inc.s anticompetition lawsuit against it, arguing that Uber is using an ill-fitting state law to justify its claims. DoorDash, which has two-thirds of the U.S. food delivery market, argued in a statement about the filing in state court in San Francisco that Ubers February lawsuit is nothing more than a cynical and calculated scare tactic. At the heart of the allegations are the white label delivery services that both companies have been expanding to increase their revenue. These offerings allow restaurant chains to build delivery ordering into their own websites and apps, so customers can use their technology and couriers without having to go to the Uber or DoorDash apps or website. In February, Uber alleged in a lawsuit that DoorDash uses coercive practices such as threatening restaurants with multimillion-dollar penalties, or demoting restaurants positions on the DoorDash app if they didnt agree to exclusive or near-exclusive use of its white-label delivery offering. That has stifled competition with Ubers own delivery service, costing it millions of dollars in revenue, Uber said. DoorDash denies the allegations, saying it competes fiercely yet fairly and that merchants have the choice of which providers they work with. Instead of competing through innovation, Uber has resorted to litigation. Uber is trying to deter merchants from working with us and use legal threats to win business it hasnt earned. A DoorDash lawyer said in an interview that Uber isnt using federal or state antitrust laws to make its claims, instead using what the company believes is an ill-fitting state law typically applied to employee noncompete provisions. It seems like the team at DoorDash is having a hard time understanding the content of our complaint, a spokesman for Uber said in response to DoorDashs filing. When restaurants are forced to choose between unfair terms or retaliation, thats not competition its coercion. Uber will continue to stand up for merchants and for a level playing field. We look forward to presenting the facts in court. DoorDash is targeting a July hearing on the motion, its attorney said, but the specific date will ultimately be determined by Superior Court Judge Christine Van Aken. Lung writes for Bloomberg. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Russia-Ukraine War: US President Donald Trump expressed more frustration with Russia and questioned President Vladimir Putins willingness to stop the war after recent airstrikes on Ukraine. He also threatened to deal differently with Moscow through banking and secondary sanctions. Trumps remarks came after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Vatican on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday. The latest meeting between the two leaders was the first since their meeting in the White House, when Zelenskyy faced heat from Trump and Vice President JD Vance over what they saw as a lack of gratitude for the support from Washington. In a post shared on his social media platform, Truth Social, as he was heading back to Washington from Rome, the US President hinted at imposing sanctions against Moscow after Russia's latest missile attack on Ukraine and questioned whether Putin wants to stop the war. After Trump's criticisism of Zelenskyy over his recent remarks on Crimea, calling them "harmful to peace negotiations" with Russia, he had highlighted that Ukraine has upheld a complete ceasefire for 44 days following a proposal from Washington, while Moscow continued its attacks, launching nearly 70 missiles and around 150 attack drones during that time. Donald Trump even criticised former US President Barack Obama and suggested that he "made it possible for Russia to steal Crimea from Ukraine without even a shot being fired." In a post shared on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump shared, "No matter what deal I make with respect to Russia/Ukraine, no matter how good it is, even if it's the greatest deal ever made, The Failing New York Times will speak BADLY of it. Liddle' Peter Baker, the very biased and untalented writer for The Times, followed his Editor's demands and wrote that Ukraine should get back territory, including, I suppose, Crimea, and other ridiculous requests, in order to stop the killing that is worse than anything since World War II. Why doesn't this lightweight reporter say that it was Obama who made it possible for Russia to steal Crimea from Ukraine without even a shot being fired. It was also Liddle' Peter who wrote an absolutely fawning, yet terribly written Biography, on Obama. It was a JOKE! Did Baker ever criticize the Obama Crimea Giveaway? NO, not once, only TRUMP, and I've had nothing to do with this stupid war, other than early on, when I gave Ukraine Javelins, and Obama gave them sheets." "This is Sleepy Joe Biden's War, not mine. It was a loser from day one, and should have never happened, and wouldn't have happened if I were President at the time. I'm just trying to clean up the mess that was left to me by Obama and Biden, and what a mess it is. With all of that being said, there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through "Banking" or "Secondary Sanctions?" Too many people are dying," he added. Trump and Zelenskyy spoke ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis. Describing his meeting with Trump as "good," Zelenskyy said that talks focused on "full and unconditional ceasefire." He expressed hope to see results on everything they discussed. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said, "Good meeting. We discussed a lot one-on-one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you POTUS." Trump and Zelenskyy had a "very productive" meeting in Rome, a White House official said - their first meeting since a tense meeting in the White House in February this year. (With agencies' Inputs) Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi on Sunday accepted the resignations of controversy-stricken Electricity, Prohibition and Excise Minister V. Senthil Balaji and Forests and Khadi Minister Dr K. Ponmudy, on the recommendation of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, and reallocated their portfolios to other ministers. "The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has recommended to the Governor of Tamil Nadu to accept the resignation of V. Senthilbalaji, Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise and Dr K. Ponmudy, Minister for Forests and Khadi. The Governor has approved the recommendation," a Raj Bhavan communique said. The Governor also accepted the Chief Minister's recommendation to reallocate their portfolios, it added. Also Read: DMK Removes Minister Ponmudy As Party's Deputy General Secretary Over Vulgar Remarks Against Hindu Gods Transport Minister S.S. Sivasankar has been given the additional portfolio of Electricity, while Housing and Urban Development Minister S. Muthusamy has now been designated as the Minister for Housing and Prohibition & Excise. Milk & Dairy Development Minister R.S. Rajakannappan will be the new Forests and Khadi Minister. Chief Minister Stalin has also recommended the induction of T. Mano Thangaraj, the MLA from the Padmanabhapuram Assembly constituency, into the Cabinet, and the Governor has approved the recommendation, the communique said. The swearing-in ceremony of Thangaraj will be held at the Raj Bhavan at 6 p.m. on Monday. Senthil Balaji's resignation came after the Supreme Court, in a tough message to the senior DMK leader last week, told him to choose between his ministerial post and bail in the money laundering case linked to an alleged cash-for-jobs scam. A bench of Justices Abhay S. Oka and A.G. Masih cautioned Balaji that if he did not step down from his minister post, it would recall its bail order, noting that the top court had made a mistake by ignoring the judgments against him. "We grant bail, and the next day, you go and become a minister! Anybody will be bound to be under the impression that witnesses will be under pressure," the top court had remarked in an earlier hearing, clarifying that its judgment granting bail required no interference on merits. The Enforcement Directorate had, on June 14, 2023, raided Balaji's house and other places in Chennai, Karur, and Coimbatore and interrogated him about a job for a cash scam while he served as the Transport Minister in the AIADMK-led government. After several hours of interrogation, Balaji was arrested and sent to judicial custody. Even as the opposition demanded the immediate removal of Balaji from the ministry, Chief Minister Stalin did not succumb to the pressure. However, Balaji finally tendered his resignation on February 12, 2024, eight months after his arrest and ahead of his bail plea hearing in the Madras High Court. After the Supreme Court granted him bail, Balaji walked out of Puzhal Central Prison after 450 days and was inducted again as minister on September 29 last year. On the other hand, Ponmudy had sparked off a major row with his controversial and vulgar remarks made at a party meeting earlier in April. The remarks, reportedly made during a DMK workers meeting in Chennai, were perceived as deeply offensive towards the Shaivite and Vaishnavite communities, sparking widespread outrage, including criticism from within his party. The DMK removed him as its Deputy General Secretary on April 11. The Madras High Court had also taken notice of his remarks. Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on April 17, questioned Ponmudy regarding his derogatory public speech against Saivites, Vaishnavites, and women, and sought to know what criminal action had been initiated against him by the state police. The judge posed the questions during the hearing of a suo motu revision petition initiated in 2023 against Ponmudys acquittal in a disproportionate assets case. Expressing displeasure over the ministers remarks, Justice Venkatesh noted that such deprecatory comments against women and religious groups could not be dismissed as mere slips of the tongue, especially when video evidence circulating on social media suggested they were made with full consciousness. Days after India suspended the Indus Water Treaty, the water shortage threat is looming large on Pakistani regions dependent on the Chenab river for their water needs. After Iranian President Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian called Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif made a call to his Iranian counterpart and raised the Indus Water Treaty suspension issue. In his call with Pezeshkian, Sharif also rued the alleged weaponisation of water by India. Sharif also expressed shock over the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee Port, Bandar Abbas in Iran. Sharif's Call To Iran "I spoke to my brother, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran this evening, to express my deep shock at the tragic explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port, Bandar Abbas. Expressed solidarity with Iran on the loss of precious lives and prayed for early recovery of the injured," said Sharif. In his call with Iranian President, Sharif played the victim of terrorism. "We also exchanged views on the regional situation. Reaffirmed Pakistan strong desire for peace in the region and reiterated our condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations. Recalled that Pakistan was itself one of the biggest victims of terrorism. Denounced Indias use of water as a weapon, which was unacceptable to Pakistan," he said. Iran Reaches Out To PM Modi Earlier, the Ministry of External Affairs of India said that President Pezeshkian called PM Modi to express condolences for the victims of the Pahalgam attack. "President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran called PM Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and conveyed his condolences for the victims. Both leaders agreed that there could be no justification for such acts of terror and all those who believe in humanity must stand together in the fight against terrorism," said the MEA. The MEA further said, "PM shared the anger and anguish of the people of India and their resolve to deal with those behind the terror attack and their supporters, firmly and decisively. PM also conveyed his condolences for the loss of lives in the explosion in Bandar Abbas today and wished speedy recovery for those injured." Bandar Abbas Explosion A massive explosion hit Iran's Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas in which at least 14 people were killed and 750 others were injured. A huge plume of thick, grey smoke was seen rising from the Shahid Rajaee port complex. The Iranian government has said that the explosion was likely related to chemicals being stored. Pahalgam Terror Attack On April 22, a group of 5-7 terrorists entered the Baisaran meadow, a popular tourist spot in Pahalgam, and identified non-Muslim tourists one by one and shot most of them point blank. The terrorists killed 26 people, mainly tourists. The attack has attracted widespread global condemnation and support for India. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday stated that he would have no interest in Pakistan's involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack probe and said, 'You do not ask a murderer to investigate his murders.' This remark by the Congress MP comes after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that they are ready for a 'neutral investigation' into the Jammu and Kashmir attack. Talking to news agency ANI, Tharoor said, "Personally, I would have had no interest in Pakistan's participation in any investigation. You do not ask a murderer to investigate his murders." #WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | "... Personally, I would have had no interest in Pakistan's participation in any investigation. You do not ask a murderer to investigate his own murders," says Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif's statement that they are pic.twitter.com/80l1BCgkDC ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2025 Speaking about the measures taken by the government of India after the Pahalgam terror attack, Tharoor said that the human cost of people being forced to go back is sad, and added that there are cases where the parent has the passport of one country while the child has the passport of another. He said, "The human cost of people being forced to go back is sad. Patients here will have to go back in the middle of their treatment. There are husbands and wives across the borders. There are complicated cases where the parent has the passport of one country while the child has the passport of another. I feel sorry for them. But when the government wants to send a strong signal that normal relations are no longer possible, ordinary human beings inevitably become the victims... The Indus Water Treaty is more of a symbolic gesture at this point." Speaking about the "long pattern" of Pakistan, Tharoor added that individuals are trained, armed, and guided from across the border; then Pakistan denies responsibility, but it is eventually proven. The Congress MP said, "This is part of a long pattern we have seen for almost a quarter of a century... People are encouraged, trained, armed, and often guided from across the border. Then Pakistan denies any responsibility. Eventually, responsibility is established and proven." Saying that some military response is unavoidable, he contiued, "It is clear that while we have a range of options, some visible military response is unavoidable. The nation is demanding it and expecting it... I am convinced there will be some response." Tharoor said that the Pahalgam terror attack happened possibly due to an intelligence failure and compared it to the October 7, 2023, strike by Hamas in Israel. "There was no full proof intelligence. There was some failure... But we have got the example of Israel, the world's best intelligence services according to everybody, which were taken by surprise on October 7, just two years ago,' he said. Also Read: 'Assailants Didn't Ask Religion': K'taka Minister After J-K Terror Attack, BJP Hits Back Pahalgam Terror Attack On April 22, terrorists gunned down 26 tourists in Pahalgam, Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports, the terror attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), the frontal outfit of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). (with ANI inputs) Washington: In a recent interview, rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) expressed his wish that he had children with Paris Hilton instead of Kim Kardashian. The rapper, who has four children with Kardashian, believes that having kids with Hilton would have brought him greater success and wealth, as per Billboard. During the interview, Ye compared Kardashian's relationship with Hilton, her former employer, to his own relationship with the late Virgil Abloh. "Kim was like the Virgil," he said, adding, "Kim was like Paris Hilton's Virgil," as quoted by Billboard. Ye believes that Hilton had the vision, while Kardashian was more of a protegee. Ye and Kardashian were married from 2014 to 2022 and have four children together: North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm. Ye's comments come amid his current marriage to Bianca Censori, whom he married in 2022. Watch The Video Here: Kanye West says he should have had babies with Paris Hilton instead of Kim Kardashian pic.twitter.com/Zwpjv7uJfg S.s Alberto (@Ssalberto36) April 25, 2025 Hilton, on the other hand, has two children with her husband, Carter Reum. Ye's recent comments are just the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the rapper. He has faced criticism for his antisemitic rants and public feuds with peers like Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator. Despite this, Ye is teasing a new album, titled 'Cuck' or 'WW3', which will feature lyrics written by rapper Dave Blunts. New Delhi: Bigg Boss 18 winner Karan Veer Mehra recently faced backlash after reciting a poem in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which took place on Tuesday and claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals, leaving several others injured. Taking to social media, the actor wrote: "An eye for an eye will NOT leave the whole world blind. The last person will still have one eye and we all know who that last person might be." He continued, "But the real question is, would YOU rather break the chain of hate and make the world a better place? Thats exactly what the poem meant." Karan Veer also condemned the attack, writing, "My heart goes out to the families of those who lost their loved ones in the Pahalgam attack. May the perpetrators face the strongest punishment they deserve. We are not scared. We are not afraid." An eye for an eye will NOT leave the whole world blind, the last person will still have one eye &we all know who that last person might be. But the real question is ,would YOU rather break the chain of hate and make the world a better place? Thats exactly what the poem meant My Karan Veer Mehra (@KaranVeerMehra) April 27, 2025 He went on to quote actor Suniel Shetty, saying, "Agli chutti Kashmir mein," referring to the sentiment that the next holiday should be in Kashmir to boost tourism and send a message to terrorists that "we are not afraid of them." Also Read | Pahalgam Terror Attack: Mahira Khan Mourns Victims In Now-Deleted Post, Faces Netizens Outrage For the unversed, on Wednesday, Karan Veer shared a video in which he recited a poem that stirred controversy. Watch The Video Here: In the video, he said, "Baat diya iss dharti ko, kya chand-sitaaron ka hoga? Nadiyon ko kuch naam diye, behti dharon ka kya hoga? Shiv ki Ganga bhi paani hai, aabe zam zam bhi paani hai. Pandit bhi piye, Maulla bhi piye, toh paani ka mazhab kya hoga? Ek hai suraj, chand hai ek, ek hawa mein saans hai sabki." Also Read | 'Did Not Have Entire Information..': Shoaib Ibrahim Addresses Backlash Over Vlog Update After Pahalgam Attack He added, "Naslon ka karein jo batwara, rahbar woh qaum ka dhongi hai. Sawaal toh bas ek hi hai: kya Allah ne mandir toda tha ya Ram ne masjid toda tha? Baat diya iss dharti ko. Koi Hindu hai, koi Musalman, koi Sikh toh koi Issai. Bas humne insaan na hone ki kasam khayi," which stirred controversy with leaving many fans dissapointed. Actor Vijay Deverakonda on Sunday attended a press meet for his film 'Retro' in Hyderabad, where he strongly condemned the horrific terror attack which occured on April 22 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Urging people to stay united to defeat terrorism, Vijay said, "The solution to what is happening in Kashmir is also to educate them (terrorists) and ensure they don't get brainwashed. What will they achieve? Kashmir belongs to India, and Kashmiris are ours. Two years ago, I shot for Kushi in Kashmir. I have such good memories with them (the locals)." He even called out Pakistan and said that the neighbouring country struggles to provide its citizens with basic necessities. "Pakistan can't even look after their own, who don't have proper electricity and water. What do they want to do here? India doesn't even need to attack Pakistan because Pakistanis themselves are fed up with their government and will attack them if this continues. They behave like tribals did 500 years ago with the way they fight. We should stand united as people and love each other. We always need to move forward as people and stay united. Education is super key. Let's all be happy and keep our parents happy; only then can we progress," Vijay vented out his anger. The April 22 attack in Pahalgam that took the lives of 26 people is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed. In the 121st episode of 'Mann Ki Baat,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the Pahalgam attack as a plot by those behind terrorism to disrupt the peace in Kashmir. "Today, as I talk my heart out with you, there is a deep agony in my heart. The Pahalgam terrorist attack of 22 April has left every citizen of the country heartbroken. Every Indian feels deep sympathy for the families of the victims. No matter which state one belongs to, no matter which language one speaks, I understand every citizen is seething with anger after seeing the images of the terrorist attack," PM Modi said. "As peace was returning to Kashmir, the enemies of the nation and J&K did not like it. Terrorists and their masters want Kashmir to be destroyed again, which is why such a conspiracy was hatched," said the Prime Minister. He emphasised that the unity of the nation is its biggest strength in the ongoing war against terrorism and urged the country to strengthen its resolve to face this challenge. PM Modi emphasised that the increasing number of tourists, the growing income of the people, and the strengthening of democracy in the region were not being accepted by the forces responsible for the attack. "This attack in Pahalgam shows the desperation of the patrons of terrorism; it displays their cowardice...at a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, there was a vibrancy in schools and colleges, construction work had gained unprecedented pace, democracy was getting stronger, the number of tourists was increasing at a record rate, people's income was increasing, and new opportunities were being created for the youth. The enemies of the country, the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir, did not like that," he added. PM Modi further reiterated that the unity of the country is the country's biggest strength in the fight against terrorism and stressed the importance of national solidarity and the determination of 140 crore Indians in facing such challenges. "In this war against terrorism, the unity of the country, the solidarity of 140 crore Indians, is our biggest strength. This unity is the basis of our decisive fight against terrorism. We have to strengthen our resolve to face this challenge that has surfaced before the country. We have to demonstrate strong willpower as a nation. Today, the world is watching; after this terrorist attack, the whole country is speaking in one voice," he stated. The Prime Minister shared that condolences from around the world have been pouring in following the attack, with global leaders expressing strong condemnation of the incident. "Friends, the anger that we, the people of India, feel, that anger is there in the whole world. After this terrorist attack, condolences are continuously pouring in from all over the world. Global leaders have called me up as well; written letters and sent messages too. Everyone has strongly condemned this heinous terrorist attack. They have expressed condolences to the families of the deceased," PM Modi added. "The entire world stands with the 1.4 billion Indians in our fight against terrorism. Once again, I assure the victims' families that they will get justice. The conspirators and perpetrators of this attack will face the harshest response," he said. New Delhi: The Aadhaar card is a crucial document for everyday needs like getting a SIM card, opening a bank account or applying for a loan. Issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), it carries your personal and biometric details. Even a small mistake, like an incorrect date of birth can cause major issues during official verifications or when accessing government schemes. Thats why its important to spot and fix any errors on your Aadhaar card without delay. Can you update your date of birth on your Aadhaar card more than once? As per UIDAI rules, the date of birth can be corrected only once, so its important to ensure the details are accurate. How to change your date of birth in Aadhaar: - Visit your nearest Aadhaar Enrolment Center. - Fill out the Aadhaar update/correction form and mention the details you want to update, including proof of your date of birth. - Submit the form and provide your biometric details for verification. - Pay a fee of Rs 50 to update your date of birth. - After your documents are verified, your date of birth will be updated within a few days. - Youll receive a slip with a tracking number to check the status of your update request online. - Once updated, you can download the updated Aadhaar card from the UIDAI website. For any issues, you can contact UIDAI by calling 1947 or emailing help@uidai.gov.in. Documents needed to update your date of birth in Aadhaar: If you want to correct your date of birth on your Aadhaar card, youll need to submit any one of these documents: - PAN card - Birth certificate - Passport - Bank passbook - Marksheet or certificate from a recognized education board or university Whatsapp Fraud Alert: The Ministry of Defence on Sunday issued an alert against a misleading message circulating on WhatsApp, which falsely seeks donations to a specific bank account for the modernisation of the Indian Army and for soldiers injured or killed in action. The message falsely claims that the appeal is based on a Cabinet decision and names actor Akshay Kumar as the prime supporter of the initiative. "The account details mentioned in the message are incorrect, resulting in online donations being dishonoured. Citizens are advised to stay vigilant and avoid falling victim to such fraudulent messages," the ministry stated. The government has implemented several welfare schemes to support soldiers who are killed or disabled during active combat operations. In 2020, it established the 'Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund (AFBCWF)', aimed at providing immediate financial assistance to the families of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who lose their lives or suffer grievous injuries during military operations. The Indian Army, on behalf of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence, maintains the accounts for the fund. Contributions can be made directly to the Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund account. Details Of Bank Accounts Are Given Below: First Account Fund Name: Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund Bank Name: Canara Bank, South Block, Defence Headquarters, New Delhi 110011 IFSC Code: CNRB0019055 Account No.: 90552010165915 Type of Account: Savings Second Account Fund Name: Armed Forces Battle Casualty Welfare Fund Bank Name: State Bank of India, Parliament Street, New Delhi 110011 IFSC Code: SBIN0000691 Account No.: 40650628094 Type of Account: Savings The Defence Ministrys statement said donations can also be made through a Demand Draft drawn in favour of AFBCWF, payable at New Delhi, which may be sent by post to the following address: Accounts Section: Adjutant Generals Branch Ceremonial & Welfare Directorate Room No. 281-B, South Block IHQ of MoD (Army), New Delhi 110011 (Inputs From IANS) Iran Port Blast: The death toll in the explosion that occurred at the Shahid Rajaee port in Iran's Bandar Abbas rose to 14, with around 750 others injured, according to media reports. Following the blast, a huge plume of thick, grey smoke was seen rising from the Shahid Rajaee port complex. Authorities have warned that the death toll could rise further as rescue efforts continue. The Iranian government has said that the explosion was likely related to chemicals being stored. Helicopters were deployed to douse the raging fire hours after the initial explosion rocked the Shahid Rajaei port, situated over 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Tehran. However, the fire had not been fully extinguished even after several hours, and the exact cause of the explosion remains unknown, according to local media reports. Rapid reaction teams and rescue units have been dispatched to the site, and all port operations have been suspended, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The number of injured is also expected to rise as emergency services work through the area. With thick smoke spreading across a wide radius, schools and offices as far as 23 kilometres (14 miles) away in Bandar Abbas have been ordered shut on Sunday to help authorities manage the unfolding crisis, reported Press TV. Iran's Minister of Interior, Eskandar Momeni, said six people remain missing as firefighters continue to make efforts to control the blaze, despite facing challenges like high winds, CNN reported, citing Iranian media. A government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, said it would take some time to find the cause of the blast, "but so far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded." She further said, "But until the fire is extinguished, it's hard to ascertain the cause." Iranian authorities have declared a state of emergency in Bandar Abbas to protect the population amid a significant rise in air pollution. The Ministry of Health has mobilised health teams and taken emergency measures to protect the health of citizens. People have been asked to stay indoors, avoid outdoor activities, and keep windows closed, CNN reported, citing official Iranian media. Debris was spread over a wide area and many buildings at the port complex were badly damaged due to the explosion, according to state media. Furthermore, windows within a radius of several kilometres were broken. Some media reports suggested that people were trapped in the wreckage of a complex that was reduced to rubble. The region's governor, Mohammad Ashouri Taziani, said injured people were taken to Bandar Abbas medical centres for treatment, CNN reported. The port has been shut, and maritime operations have been suspended. State broadcaster IRIB reported that the explosion occurred in the chemical and sulfur area of the port. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ordered a probe into the cause of the explosion. He stated that the Minister of Interior has been sent to the site to closely "examine the dimensions of the accident." In a post on X, Pezeshkian stated, "While expressing deep regret and sympathy for the victims of the incident in Hormozgan province, I issued an order to investigate the situation and causes of the incident. The Minister of Interior was dispatched to the region as a special representative to closely examine the dimensions of the accident, make the necessary coordination, and address the condition of the injured." Shahid Rajaee is a large facility for container shipments, and it handles 70 million tons of cargo each year, comprising oil and general shipping. (With agencies Inputs) President Donald Trumps tariff war is expected to cut global container volume by 1% in 2025, Drewry said, only the third such forecast in its history. That would amount to approximately 1.8 million twenty-foot equivalent units based on worldwide container traffic of 183.2 million TEUs in 2024, and approximately 10% of the more than 10 million-TEU increase in global traffic from 2023. Volume fell 8.4% during the financial crisis of 2009 and 0.9% during the COVID pandemic of 2020, said Drewry, which began tracking container data in 1979. Drewry in a slide presentation said contracting demand by shippers will increase capacity in the market, likely putting downward pressure on rates and leading to much more scrapping of tonnage and idling of ships as carriers rebalance supply and demand. While there is a 90-day pause on most tariffs, Trump this week said the U.S. levies on China are likely to be reduced. Drewry said that if two-thirds of the current tariffs stay in place, imports from China could decline by 40%. The analyst also warned that more frontloading by importers during the tariff pause could put container shipping in an operational bind by July due to port congestion, disruptions from canceled sailings, and a shortage of empty containers last seen during COVID. The tariff battle between the United States and China has amounted to a goods embargo between the trading partners, with follow-on effects that are already whipsawing through the supply chain. For the week ending April 14, global container booking volumes slipped 1.57% week over week and 9.94% year over year, according to Vizion. U.S. import bookings declined 12.15% w/w and 22.37% y/y, while China-to-U.S. bookings dropped 22.15% w/w and 44% y/y. In published reports, liner operator Hapag-Lloyd (HLAG.DE) said it had seen trans-Pacific bookings drop by 30%, while Evergreen Marine (2603.TW) noted trans-Pacific capacity has tumbled by 30%-40% on China export-import volumes that have declined 60%-70%. Since nothing in the supply chain happens in a vacuum, while the China-U.S. business dries up, shippers are shifting sourcing, and ocean carriers have been quick to blank sailings, reconfigure rotations and redeploy capacity to more profitable lanes, such as Asia-Europe. The result, some observers say, is that even if Beijing and Washington agreed to a tariff ceasefire by, say, the end of May, and Chinese factories ramped back up, it would likely take 30 days until economic activity returned to the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest U.S. import hub; 45 days for the Midwest and Houston; and 50 days for the Port of New York-New Jersey. Recovery in ocean shipping almost always takes longer than disruptions; it took several weeks to months for ports in Canada and the U.S. to recover from intermittent labor work stoppages in 2024. China has "implemented maritime governance and asserted its sovereign authority" over an uninhabited reef in the contested South China Sea, as it raised the national flag on the small sandbank located just a few kilometers from a major Philippine military base, according to a report by The Japan Times. Images released by Chinese state media on Saturday depicted officers from the China Coast Guard unfolding the flag to effectively assert control over Sandy Cay reef, known as Tiexian Jiao in China, earlier this month. The reef is situated in the contentious Spratly Islands chain, which is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines, as reported by The Japan Times. Sandy Cay is positioned slightly over 3 kilometers from Thitu Island, referred to as Pag-asa by Manila, which hosts Philippine military installations, including a military-grade runway and approximately 250 residents. China's Global Times stated that coast guard personnel had arrived on Sandy Cay "to carry out an on-reef inspection and record illegal activities on video" while also cleaning up "plastic bottles, wooden sticks, and other litter scattered across the reef flat" as referenced by The Japan Times report. In January, Beijing claimed that Chinese forces had intercepted and "dissuaded" Philippine naval vessels that had "entered" the waters near the reef, which they alleged were attempting "an illegal landing and sand sample collection". The Philippines has stated that it has dispatched coast guard vessels to the region to monitor and investigate whether China is attempting to carry out minor island reclamation projects in the area. China asserts that the approximately 200-square-meter Sandy Cay is a natural formation and not a man-made structure, granting it a 12-nautical-mile (22-km) territorial sea under international law, which would overlap with Thitu Island. Between 2013 and 2016, China engaged in a significant land reclamation initiative in the South China Sea, constructing several military outposts in a concerted effort to strengthen its claim over roughly 90 per cent of the resource-rich waters, through which trillions of dollars in trade pass annually, as also mentioned by The Japan Times. "One of the ironies is that China's interest in claiming Sandy Cay is about reinforcing the legitimacy of their claims to the adjacent Subi Reef, which now accommodates a major artificial port and airfield. This results in lawfare that supports further expansionism," wrote Euan Graham, a regional security analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, on X. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Sunday, stating that China is closely monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan, NDTV reported, citing China's state media Global Times. In the telephone conversation, Wang told Mr Dar that China supports an impartial investigation into the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians lost there live. During the call, Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, expressed hope that both sides will exercise restraint, engage in dialogue, and take steps to ease tensions. Wangs comments came after tensions escalated between India and Pakistan following the terrorist attack on tourists near Pahalgam on April 22. The attack was claimed by The Resistance Front, a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba which resulted in the death of 26 people. Following the incident, India has already taken major actions against Pakistan, such as suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and banning all Pakistani visas. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into the Pahalgam terror attack. NIA officials are visiting the scene, a well-known tourist destination, which has been sealed to preserve evidence. Iran Port Blast: After the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in Iran's Bandar Abbas on Saturday, the death toll has mounted to 25, with 800 injured. What Happened At Iran's Port? According to IANS, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that after the blast at the Shahid Rajaee Port, rescue teams were dispatched immediately, and all activities at the port were suspended. After the explosion, thick and grey smoke was seen rising from the Shahid Rajaee port. Talking to the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday, Jalal Maleki, spokesman of the Tehran Fire Department, said that the fire that occurred after the blast was 'almost contained'. He added that there were still flames but described them as "not worrisome". Cause of Blast At Iran Port IANS reported that according to Xinhua, the official news agency IRNA has stated that the exact cause of the blast has not been determined yet. However, Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Organisation, told Fars that chemical materials in a container at the Iranian port may have caused the explosion. On the other hand, Fatemeh Mohajerani, spokeswoman of the Iranian government, has warned not to make any "hasty speculations" about the cause of the Iran port blast. Iranian President's Reaction After Explosion At Port Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on the social media platform X, expressed deep regret, and informed that he has ordered a probe into the explosion at the port. He wrote, "While expressing deep regret and sympathy for the victims of the incident in Hormozgan province, I issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes of the incident." The President Pezeshkian added, "The Minister of Interior was dispatched to the region as a special representative to closely examine the dimensions of the accident, make the necessary coordination, and address the condition of the injured." (with IANS inputs) (Reuters) -Elon Musk's xAI Holdings is in talks with investors to raise roughly $20 billion in funding for his newly combined artificial intelligence startup and social media business, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The transaction would value the company at more than $120 billion, the report said, citing one of the people. The amount in the round could be more than $20 billion, the report said, adding that the total had not yet been decided, and terms could change. xAI didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. xAI acquired X in a deal last month that valued the social media platform at $33 billion and allowed the value of Musk's AI firm to be shared with his co-investors in the company formerly known as Twitter. (Reporting by Disha Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard and Kate Mayberry) By Portia Crowe and Divya Rajagopal DAKAR (Reuters) -At least four subcontractors employing several hundred people at Barrick Gold's complex in Mali are laying off staff following a two-year dispute between the Canadian miner and the state, according to documents seen by Reuters and people familiar with the matter. Some of the subcontractors said they have not received any payments from Barrick for months. The layoffs indicate that the dispute between the world's No. 2 gold producer and the West African nation is not expected to end anytime soon. Operations at Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto complex, a major source of gold production for the Toronto-based company and the largest mining operation in Mali, have been suspended since January after the government seized around 3 metric tons of gold stock from it, accusing the company of not fulfilling its tax obligations. Mali's government, which took power after coups in 2020 and 2021 and introduced a new mining code in 2023, had been blocking the company's gold exports since early November. Boart Longyear's local subsidiary, BLY Mali, said in a letter dated Friday that it was liquidating the company following the suspension of its contract with Barrick on January 25, which it said "placed BLY in an irremediably compromised situation." It employed 98 people at the complex as of March, according to a document seen by Reuters. ETASI, a heavy equipment rental company, said in a letter dated Wednesday and seen by Reuters on Friday that it would suspend all personnel. It employed 68 people as of last month, according to the same internal document. A work-placement firm representing ATC, a metal construction company, sent letters to employees notifying them that they were being laid off following the expiry of a three-month temporary work stoppage that began earlier this year, according to a source who shared one of the letters, dated Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Friday. ATC employed 45 people at the mining complex as of January but only four as of March, according to the internal document. Some of the employee figures could be higher. MAXAM, a civil explosives subcontractor for the Loulo-Gounkoto complex, will announce a temporary work stoppage for most of its employees in Mali as soon as Saturday, according to a person familiar with the matter and a letter seen by Reuters. But while the internal document lists the subcontractor as having 69 employees at the site as of March, the source said the real figure is nearly double that - over 120 - because its employees work in rotations. With pharmaceutical tariffs expected to be announced in the next 30 to 60 days, experts are warning they could negatively impact the "pretty fragile supply" of generic drugs The financial consequences of the levies on countries like China and India, which make many of the ingredients necessary for the drugs, may be so dire that the companies stop doing business with the U.S. entirely This could have massive consequences, as 90% of medications prescribed in the U.S. are generic When President Donald Trump announced his first round of tariffs on April 2, pharmaceuticals were exempted. But at an April 8 dinner of the National Republican Congressional Committee, he told attendees that "major" pharmaceutical tariffs would be announced "very shortly." Now, experts are warning that the imposition of those levies could lead to major shortages and price increases for generic drugs. According to CNN, generic drug companies are already struggling to deal with increasing competition and tight profit margins. Adding hefty levies on top of those existing issues could leave these companies in a position where they'd be unable to recoup the additional expenses, and therefore unable to do business in the U.S. Don't Miss: "A resilient and reliable generic medicines supply chain is critical to patient health, U.S. healthcare and national security interests. Tariffs, however, will only amplify the problems that already exist in the U.S. market for affordable medicines. Without substantive regulatory and reimbursement changes to the U.S. market, tariffs will exacerbate current shortages that hinder patient access today, John Murphy III, CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, said in a statement. There are currently over 250 drug shortages in the U.S., down from the all-time high of 323 in early 2024. According to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, shortages of antibiotics are a particular problem. And it's poised to get worse. Rena Conti, an associate professor at Boston University, told CNN that there's already "a pretty fragile supply" of generic drugs in general, as nearly 40% of generic medications have just one or two companies making their ingredients. If these factories are hit by tariffs or forced to shut down by rising prices, we could see a huge drop in supply and/or a huge spike in prices. A 25% tariff on imported cars is revving up the pressure on European luxury automakers, and high-end buyers in the U.S. could face five-figure price hikes, according to Tim Urquhart, principal automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility. President Donald Trump said on April 10 that his administration would enforce a 25% tariff on imported vehicles as part of his broader reciprocal trade policy, though he has since suggested he may delay the move. While some tariffs were delayed for 90 days, this particular levy stayed in place and its hitting the ultra-luxury market hard. Don't Miss: Inspired by Uber and Airbnb Deloitte's fastest-growing software company is transforming 7 billion smartphones into income-generating assets with $1,000 you can invest at just $0.26/share! How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you? Tax deferring is their number one strategy. Ferrari Raises Prices as Other Brands Scramble Ferrari announced last month that it would increase the prices of nearly all of its models sold in the U.S. by up to 10%. The hike applies even to vehicles ordered months prior, including the newly released Purosangue SUV and the 12 Cilindri grand tourer built in Maranello, Italy. Urquhart told Business Insider, "Its very bad news. Theres no getting around that. Ferrari, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce are in a tough spot they can't absorb a 25% tariff, so that will have to be passed on to customers." Urquhart added that ultra-luxury brands have more pricing flexibility than mass-market automakers due to their premium sticker prices. Rolls-Royce, a subsidiary of BMW, is still assessing the situation. Bentley, owned by Volkswagen AG, will continue U.S. imports but hasnt decided on pricing adjustments. Trending: The secret weapon in billionaire investor portfolios that you almost certainly don't own yet. See which asset class has outpaced the S&P 500 (1995-2024) and with near-zero correlation. Audi, Jaguar, And Mercedes Adjust U.S. Strategies Other European automakers are adjusting quickly. Jaguar Land Rover owned by India's Tata Motors temporarily halted U.S. shipments to evaluate the impact. Audi, a Volkswagen subsidiary, was holding deliveries at U.S. ports as it weighed the next steps, according to Automotive News. Mercedes-Benz is also reevaluating its lower-end lineup. As reported by Bloomberg, Mercedes may pull some of its entry-level models from the U.S. market due to profitability concerns. While several automakers posted strong sales gains in March, Porsche reported its best-ever first quarter in the U.S., with Q1 2025 sales jumping 40.6%. The company credited strong demand for the 911 and Macan models for the record growth. After triggering liquidations at 86 locations across Canada, the Hudsons Bay Co. has decided to liquidate its remaining six Hudsons Bay stores and one Saks Fifth Avenue location. The company had been seeking a buyer for the six stores, but on Friday said it believed that a viable bid for the current six-store model is unlikely, and therefore liquidation sales in those stores began Friday. Should an 11th-hour bid surface, the six stores could stop liquidating. More from WWD A company called Reflect Advisors continues to solicit interest in parts of Hudsons Bay, including certain properties and other assets, as well as a refinancing of all or a portion of the business of the company. But the deadline for these submissions is Wednesday, leaving little hope for Hudsons Bay to live on, even as a sliver of what it once was. The 73 other Hudsons Bay, 13 Saks Off 5th and two Saks Fifth Avenue locations began liquidation sales last month, as reported by WWD. The closure of Hudsons Bay, given that it operated 79 stores across Canada including some huge downtown locations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal dramatically alters the countrys retail landscape and put thousands of people out of work. Hudsons Bay employs 9,364 people. The venerable retailer, considered the oldest company in North America having been founded in 1670, originally as a trading company, was dragged down by more than 1 billion Canadian dollars in debt, a weak consumer economy and an inability to pay bills. Its first department store opened in 1881 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Past talks to secure financing fell apart. Over the years a handful of retail companies and private equity players considered buying Hudsons Bay, but they reconsidered after examining the books. Still, Hudsons Bays business had been floundering for years, even before Richard Bakers NRDC firm took control of the Toronto-based department store chain. However, under Bakers 17 years of control there has been a revolving door of senior leadership, flip-flopping strategies and the abdication of market share as well as some lucrative monetization of retail real estate. Retail experts saw a lack of investment in the stores, diminishing service levels and deteriorating physical conditions, like malfunctioning escalators and water damage in certain locations. The Hudsons Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Canada are expected to operate no later than June 15, although some might close earlier. Additionally, nine Saks Off 5th stores will close Sunday. Through a licensing agreement, three Saks Fifth Avenue and 13 Saks Off 5th locations have been operating in Canada. The global ETF industry set a new high mark for first-quarter inflows, suggesting investor confidence remains strong despite recent market volatility. ETFs worldwide collected $463.5 billion in the first quarter of 2025, according to London-based ETFGI's March 2025 Global ETFs and ETPs report. This surpasses the previous first-quarter record of $397.5 billion set in 2024, according to the research firm's data. The record-breaking quarter comes despite major market indexes posting declines, with the S&P 500 down 5.6% in March, according to the ETFGI report. This marks the 70th consecutive month of positive net inflows for the global ETF industry, demonstrating solid investor appetite for exchange-traded funds. March alone saw $158.8 billion flow into ETFs globally, according to ETFGI. The global ETF industry now manages $15.2 trillion in assets, up 1.6% since the end of 2024. Active ETFs Gain Momentum Active ETFs have emerged as a growth driver, attracting $41.5 billion in March alone and $145.3 billion for the quarter, according to ETFGI. This represents an increase from the $71.8 billion gathered during the same period last year. Equity ETFs remained the dominant category with $211.6 billion in first-quarter inflows, though this was slightly below the $234.7 billion gathered in the first quarter of 2024, according to ETFGI data. Fixed-income ETFs collected $81.3 billion, while commodity ETFs reversed last year's outflows to attract $21.9 billion. IVV, VOO, GLD Lead ETF Inflows The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led individual fund flows in March, gathering $23.6 billion, according to the ETFGI report. Other popular U.S. funds included the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) with $6.5 billion and the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) with $3.9 billion in March inflows. Gold-focused products also saw strong demand, with the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) attracting $2.9 billion in March, according to the ETFGI report, making it the seventh-highest inflow among all ETFs globally for the month. Beyond the U.S., developed markets showed better performance, declining just 0.4% in March while gaining 5.7% year to date, according to the ETFGI report. Among emerging markets, the Czech Republic and Greece stood out with March gains of 14% and 13%, respectively. Denmark and the United States saw the largest decreases among developed markets in March, Deborah Fuhr, managing partner, founder and owner of ETFGI, noted in the report. The global ETF industry now encompasses 13,832 products, with 27,411 listings from 852 providers across 81 exchanges in 63 countries, according to ETFGI. We recently published a list of Jim Cramer Put These 16 Stocks Under a Microscope. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) stands against other stocks that Jim Cramer discussed. On Wednesday, Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, took to discussing how President Donald Trumps influence shapes the markets behavior. When you see a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park, you call a park ranger because these bears are dangerous but the grizzlies turn into teddy bears when the rangers come, and you cant even remember what you were so afraid of. We can only presume that the president can turn the grizzlies on Wall Street into teddy bears with a stroke of a pen or even just a post on the social media platform he owns. Ive never ever seen the market bend so readily to the wishes of one man. Its extraordinary. READ ALSO: Jim Cramer Recently Talked About These 15 Stocks and 9 Stocks on Jim Cramers Radar. Cramer also addressed the tensions between President Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. He highlighted how Powell was painted a major loser whose removal seemed inevitable in Trumps eyes. Cramer noted that the President clarified he had no intention of firing Powell, which eased Wall Streets concerns. When the name-calling between Trump and Powell stopped, Cramer observed that the stock market surged higher as investors were relieved that the possibility of a constitutional crisis was no longer a threat. Now, I want to say something here. I think it is actually, its beyond belief how easy it is for this one man to tame a bear, even if its a bear that he released on us in the first place. Cramer also pointed out that the Presidents suggestion of a potential deal with China, while vague, was seen as an improvement and contributed to the markets upward movement. He noted that for those hoping for higher stock prices, Trumps actions seemed to have worked. Bottom line: Thats how powerful Trump has become on Wall Street. On days like today, its helpful, but for most of the year, its going the other way. Of course, you never know who hell target next. We dont want any of the big CEOs to be trashed. That could hurt. The market doesnt care if he goes after law firms or colleges, but going after the Central Bank, different story. Right now, Trump owns Wall Street and only he can decide if thats going to be a good thing or a bad thing. I think its time to go all in on good. Our Methodology For this article, we compiled a list of 16 stocks that were discussed by Jim Cramer during the episode of Mad Money aired on April 23. We listed the stocks in the order that Cramer mentioned them. We also provided hedge fund sentiment for each stock as of the fourth quarter of 2024, which was taken from Insider Monkeys database of over 1,000 hedge funds. We recently published a list of 10 Stocks on Jim Cramers Radar These Days. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) stands against other stocks on Jim Cramers radar. Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC talked about the latest trends in the AI data center industry and said that based on reports from some of the leading companies, there is no slowdown in demand: Now that earning season is well underway, weve heard from a bunch of companies connected to the AI data center theme, and you know what? Theyve been putting up pretty darn good numbers. Its almost like there was never anything wrong with the AI infrastructure story in the first place. Cramer then talked about several major AI companies and said that most top firms are seeing strong demand for data centers. He believes Satya Nadella-led tech giant slowed down its AI spend amid its breakup with OpenAI. Wall Streets become very skeptical, and I dont think thats really changed. But looking at what weve seen so far this earning season, Im feeling much more sanguine about the story, especially if we get some more trade war de-escalation from the White House and stocks stay as cheap as they are. And man, are they ever cheap. READ ALSO 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In For this article, we picked 10 stocks Jim Cramer recently talked about during his shows on CNBC. With each company, we have mentioned its latest hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Jim Cramer Says Foot Locker Inc (FL) is a Genuine Winner Foot Locker Inc (NYSE:FL) Number of Hedge Funds Investors: 27 Jim Cramer in a latest program on CNBC commented about Foot Locker (NYSE:FL): Bamboo shoot harvest underway in SW China's Yunnan People's Daily Online) 14:07, April 27, 2025 Photo shows freshly peeled bamboo shoots in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Xian) The harvest season for Qiong bamboo shoots has arrived in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. In Xisha village, Mugan town, farmers are busy gathering the shoots. Since 2018, Daguan county has used its rich bamboo resources to make the bamboo industry a key driver of green development and rural revitalization. According to the county's bamboo industry development center, Daguan now has 1.02 million mu (68,000 hectares) of Qiong bamboo more than 70 percent of the world's total earning it the title of China's "hub of Qiong bamboo." The county produces 52,900 tonnes of bamboo shoots and 56,400 tonnes of bamboo annually, with the industry's total output value reaching 2.8 billion yuan ($384 million) and benefiting 190,000 people. Farmers harvest bamboo shoots in Xisha village, Mugan town, Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Xian) A farmer harvests bamboo shoots in Xisha village, Mugan town, Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Xian). Photo shows freshly harvested bamboo shoots in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Xian) Photo shows freshly peeled bamboo shoots in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Hu Shengyu) Photo shows freshly harvested bamboo shoots in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Wang Xian) Farmers smile as they display freshly harvested bamboo shoots in Daguan county, Zhaotong city, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Hu Shengyu) (Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun) By Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK (Reuters) -Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point is building a stake in Kenvue, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, as some investors are pushing for strategic changes at the consumer healthcare company. News of Third Point's investment in the $44 billion Summit, New Jersey-headquartered maker of Band-Aids and Tylenol helped push its share price up more than 2% in late afternoon trading on Friday before giving up some gains to close at $23.01. Kenvue, spun out of Johnson & Johnson two years ago, has faced pressure from activist investors for months and avoided a full-blown proxy fight with Starboard Value in March when it added the firm's founder and chief executive, Jeffrey Smith, to its board. Starboard pressed the company to review how it positions its brands and how they are priced in order to boost its performance. Since reaching its agreement with Starboard, Kenvue has faced pressure from Toms Capital Investment Management, another activist firm that also built a stake and wants the company to consider strategic alternatives including a possible sale of the entire company or portions of it, sources familiar with the firm's engagement said. It could not be established how large Third Point's investment is or whether the hedge fund has engaged with Kenvue's board or management. A representative for Third Point declined to comment. The Financial Times first reported Third Point's stake in Kenvue on Friday. Kenvue said it regularly engages with its investors but does not comment on individual investor discussions. The board acts "in the best interests of the company and all Kenvue shareholders and we remain focused on accelerating sustainable, profitable growth and enhancing shareholder value," the company said in a statement. While Kenvue's brands, including Aveeno, Listerine and Zyrtec, are well-known, net sales were flat at $15.5 billion in 2024. The company's stock price, while up 8% this year, has slid 13.2% since being listed as a publicly traded company in May, 2022. Third Point pursues a variety of strategies including, from time to time, activism in which it engages with management to push companies including Advance Auto Parts, Walt Disney and Bath & Body Works to perform better. It oversees roughly $12 billion in assets and returned 25% in 2024, a dramatic increase from a gain of roughly 4% in 2023 and a 22% loss in 2022. Last year, the firm rotated into consumer discretionary, financial and industrial companies that helped fuel returns after a post-election rally. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Additional reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bangalore; Editing by Will Dunham) However, issues remain. Integrating AI into clinical operations necessitates consistent funding, cultural acceptance, and regulatory clarity. Bias in data, ethical considerations, and the complexity of agentic AI solutionstools that work autonomously to perform multi-step healthcare processesrequire careful management. Despite these challenges, practical applications are gaining traction: AI is currently used in early sepsis identification, breast cancer screening, and pharmaceutical R&D, with the potential to shorten medication development timelines and improve patient outcomes. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of this change. AI, which was once aspirational, is now a disruptive force that improves everything from medical diagnosis to hospital logistics. AI is seen by EU institutions as essential to the modernization of public health. The European Health Data Space (EHDS), which will be launched in 2025, and the European Commissions 2024 AI Act aim to guarantee that AI technologies are reliable and safe, while facilitating access to high-quality, interoperable health data. These frameworks provide patients and developers with legal protection by simplifying liability standards for flawed AI systems, in conjunction with the revised Product Liability Directive. Healthcare earnings in the U.S. are still under pressure. EBITDA as a percentage of national health spending has dropped by 150 basis points since 2019, which has a significant impact on both payers and providers, according to McKinsey. The World Health Organization projects that there will be a 10-million-person shortage of healthcare workers worldwide by 2030, limited reimbursement growth, and high inflationary prices. At the same time, digital transformation has gained importance. According to Deloitte, 90% of executives in global health systems anticipate a faster adoption of digital technology, and over 70% of them intend to increase operational efficiency in 2025. The healthcare industry, an essential component of global well-being and economic resilience, is undergoing significant changes. The industry, which is thought to account for more than 10% of the worlds GDP, is set to enter a new era characterized by demographic shifts, digital innovation, and regulatory realignment. Stakeholders in the life sciences, diagnostics, and healthcare services ecosystem face a conundrum as of 2025: stability is threatened by ongoing financial strain, growing operational complexity, and geopolitical risks, despite the abundance of growth opportunities. We recently published a list of Billionaire Ken Fishers 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stands against other Billionaire Ken Fishers healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential. Story Continues Meanwhile, recent geopolitical developments are casting a shadow on global healthcare supply networks. In April 2025, President Donald Trump announced substantial tariffs, including a 10% baseline and targeted taxes on medical devices, which might disrupt access to vital inputs like diagnostic tools and protective equipment. What Trump unveiled Wednesday is stupid, wrong, arrogantly extreme, and ignorant trade-wise, said billionaire investor Ken Fisher in a harsh indictment of the proposal. Furthermore, Morningstar and Fitch analysts warn of rising expenses for hospitals, which are already dealing with low margins and restricted pricing options. These changestechnological, legislative, and geopoliticaloccur against a backdrop of cautious optimism. While GDP growth in the United States is predicted to drop from 2.7% in 2024 to 1.5% in 2025, the healthcare industry remains strong. As AI integration deepens, policy clarity emerges, and investment cycles reset, the industry may be poised for a new era of growth. Methodology To create our list of Billionaire Ken Fishers 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential, we looked at Ken Fishers Q4 2024 13F SEC filings to find healthcare stocks in his portfolio. We then chose the ten stocks with the highest upside potential based on average analyst price forecasts, as of the time of writing this article. The equities were then sorted in ascending order of predicted upside. This strategy highlights the most promising healthcare investments in Fishers existing portfolio. Furthermore, hedge fund sentiment was also laid out for these stocks, as of Insider Monkeys Q4 2024 database. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK): Among Billionaire Ken Fishers Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential A close-up of a person's hand holding a bottle of pharmaceuticals. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) Upside Potential: 48.91% Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 91 With hallmark medications in oncology, vaccines, and infectious illnesses, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a leading worldwide healthcare company that works in both human and animal health. The company, which is well-known for its innovation-driven pipeline, keeps making significant R&D investments while negotiating the shifting dynamics of the worldwide market. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) generated $15.6 billion in total Q4 sales, which was 7% higher than the previous year (9% ex-FX). Sales of Keytruda increased 21% to $7.8 billion due to robust worldwide demand for both metastatic and early-stage malignancies. Additionally, the companys Animal Health division reported strong 13% growth. Sales of GARDASIL, however, fell 18% as a result of shipments to China being halted due to high inventory levels at distribution partner Zhifei. Merck, however, is still optimistic about GARDASILs long-term prospects worldwide. The companys core business development is anticipated to counteract GARDASILs challenges in China, with revenue projections for 2025 ranging from $64.1 to $65.6 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $8.88 to $9.03. In addition to increasing its dividend, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) increased its authorization for share repurchases to $12 billion, bolstering shareholder returns. Notably, the pipeline contains more than 20 potential blockbusters, such as WINREVAIR for pulmonary arterial hypertension, which has been approved in more than 35 countries and saw initial sales of $200 million. Following promising Phase III findings in TGCT patients, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) exercised its global commercialization rights for pimicotinib, a CSF-1R inhibitor created by Abbisko Therapeutics, on March 31, 2025, expanding its oncology pipeline. Mercks long-term growth prospects are improved by this $85 million acquisition, which expands its extensive oncology bench. Thus, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) continues to be a high-conviction pharmaceutical investment in Ken Fishers stock portfolio because of its innovation-led approach, diversified portfolio, and dedication to capital discipline. Overall, MRK ranks 2nd on our list of Billionaire Ken Fishers healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of these companies, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MRK but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. However, issues remain. Integrating AI into clinical operations necessitates consistent funding, cultural acceptance, and regulatory clarity. Bias in data, ethical considerations, and the complexity of agentic AI solutionstools that work autonomously to perform multi-step healthcare processesrequire careful management. Despite these challenges, practical applications are gaining traction: AI is currently used in early sepsis identification, breast cancer screening, and pharmaceutical R&D, with the potential to shorten medication development timelines and improve patient outcomes. Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of this change. AI, which was once aspirational, is now a disruptive force that improves everything from medical diagnosis to hospital logistics. AI is seen by EU institutions as essential to the modernization of public health. The European Health Data Space (EHDS), which will be launched in 2025, and the European Commissions 2024 AI Act aim to guarantee that AI technologies are reliable and safe, while facilitating access to high-quality, interoperable health data. These frameworks provide patients and developers with legal protection by simplifying liability standards for flawed AI systems, in conjunction with the revised Product Liability Directive. Healthcare earnings in the U.S. are still under pressure. EBITDA as a percentage of national health spending has dropped by 150 basis points since 2019, which has a significant impact on both payers and providers, according to McKinsey. The World Health Organization projects that there will be a 10-million-person shortage of healthcare workers worldwide by 2030, limited reimbursement growth, and high inflationary prices. At the same time, digital transformation has gained importance. According to Deloitte, 90% of executives in global health systems anticipate a faster adoption of digital technology, and over 70% of them intend to increase operational efficiency in 2025. The healthcare industry, an essential component of global well-being and economic resilience, is undergoing significant changes. The industry, which is thought to account for more than 10% of the worlds GDP, is set to enter a new era characterized by demographic shifts, digital innovation, and regulatory realignment. Stakeholders in the life sciences, diagnostics, and healthcare services ecosystem face a conundrum as of 2025: stability is threatened by ongoing financial strain, growing operational complexity, and geopolitical risks, despite the abundance of growth opportunities. We recently published a list of Billionaire Ken Fishers 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) stands against other Billionaire Ken Fishers healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential. Story Continues Meanwhile, recent geopolitical developments are casting a shadow on global healthcare supply networks. In April 2025, President Donald Trump announced substantial tariffs, including a 10% baseline and targeted taxes on medical devices, which might disrupt access to vital inputs like diagnostic tools and protective equipment. What Trump unveiled Wednesday is stupid, wrong, arrogantly extreme, and ignorant trade-wise, said billionaire investor Ken Fisher in a harsh indictment of the proposal. Furthermore, Morningstar and Fitch analysts warn of rising expenses for hospitals, which are already dealing with low margins and restricted pricing options. These changestechnological, legislative, and geopoliticaloccur against a backdrop of cautious optimism. While GDP growth in the United States is predicted to drop from 2.7% in 2024 to 1.5% in 2025, the healthcare industry remains strong. As AI integration deepens, policy clarity emerges, and investment cycles reset, the industry may be poised for a new era of growth. Methodology To create our list of Billionaire Ken Fishers 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential, we looked at Ken Fishers Q4 2024 13F SEC filings to find healthcare stocks in his portfolio. We then chose the ten stocks with the highest upside potential based on average analyst price forecasts, as of the time of writing this article. The equities were then sorted in ascending order of predicted upside. This strategy highlights the most promising healthcare investments in Fishers existing portfolio. Furthermore, hedge fund sentiment was also laid out for these stocks, as of Insider Monkeys Q4 2024 database. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Pfizer Inc. (PFE): Among Billionaire Ken Fishers Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential A medical technician wearing protective gloves and a mask mixing a biopharmaceutical solution. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Upside Potential: 37.43% Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 92 Founded in 1849 and based in New York City, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a leading pharmaceutical company with a diverse portfolio that includes rare illnesses, cancer, inflammation, and vaccines. The companys RSV vaccine, ABRYSVO, is a major factor in its future growth as it keeps growing its presence in the adult and maternal vaccination markets. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) made $63.6 billion in 2024, thanks to robust sales of its non-COVID drugs, which saw an operational growth of 12%. The company paid out $9.5 billion in dividends to stockholders and recorded adjusted earnings per share of $3.11, up from $1.84 in 2023. In addition, Pfizer reduced its debt by $7.8 billion and made roughly $11 billion in internal research and development. Looking ahead, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) projects $61$64 billion in revenue and $2.80$3.00 in earnings per share for 2025. The companys priorities include increasing R&D productivity, starting up to 13 pivotal trials, and advancing important medications, including sigvotatug vedotin (ADC), atirmociclib (a CDK4 inhibitor), and vaccinations like PCV-25 and C. diff. Furthermore, Pfizer is confident in its cost-saving plan, which aims to recover to pre-COVID operating margins and save $4.5 billion by the end of 2025, despite challenges from Medicare reforms under the IRA. Adults aged 5059 who are at a higher risk of developing severe RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) should also receive the RSV vaccination, according to a vote made by the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in April 2025. Among them is ABRYSVO, which the FDA authorized in October 2024 for use in high-risk people between the ages of 18 and 59. The change greatly expands the vaccines eligible population, subject to final approval. The European Commission recently amended the vaccines authorization to cover a larger adult population in March 2025, and it is currently approved in a number of overseas markets. Thus, as Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) negotiates the post-COVID environment, ABRYSVO is becoming a key component of its vaccination approach. A restoration to revenue momentum is shown by the companys wider RSV coverage, which also helps its competitive positioning. Pfizer continues to be a carefully watched healthcare stock with promising long-term catalysts, thanks to significant institutional support, including a position in Ken Fishers stock portfolio. Overall, PFE ranks 6th on our list of Billionaire Ken Fishers healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of these companies, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than PFE but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. When we look at the last reported quarter, 4Q24, we find that CHDs results were sound across the board. The companys revenue came to $1.58 billion, for a 3.3% year-over-year gain and beating the estimates by $20 million. Earnings, reported as a non-GAAP EPS, came to 77 cents; this was up 18.5% year-over-year and was in line with expectations. Those products are available internationally, giving Church & Dwight a wide footprint in Canada, the UK, France, Australia, and China. The companys sales and distribution activities are conducted through three main divisions, Consumer Domestic, Consumer International, and Specialty Products, with the Specialty Products division including a strong business-to-business segment focused on product lines derived from sodium bicarbonate, or the baking soda behind the famous Arm & Hammer brand. The measure of the companys success can be seen in its scale. CHD has a market cap over $24.5 billion and in 2024 saw revenues reach $6.1 billion. Well start with household goods, and a look at Church & Dwight, a company that can trace its roots back nearly 180 years. The company today is probably best recognized as the parent firm behind the Arm & Hammer brand of baking soda and related products, but it also owns such well-known names as OxiClean, Orajel, Waterpik, Nair, Pepsodent, and even Trojan condoms. The line-up of products, in the fabric care, health & well-being, home care, and personal care niches gives Church & Dwight a solid foundation and a reputation as a defensive stock whose products are always in demand. In such an environment, investors may find opportunities by focusing on companies with strong fundamentals and resilient business models. Bank of America analysts are bringing attention to two names they have recently turned bullish on, believing they are poised to thrive in todays unpredictable market. Still, its not all smooth sailing from here. Analysts warn that the rebound, while promising, sits on shaky ground as trade tensions and policy uncertainty continue to cast a shadow. But the mood has shifted since. After hitting a low on April 8, the S&P has clawed back 10%, fueled by renewed hope for progress in U.S.-China trade talks. The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster for the stock market. After President Trumps sweeping tariff announcement, investors watched major indexes nosedive, with the S&P 500 dipping into correction territory. Story Continues For Bank of Americas Anna Lizzul, this stock presents a solid opportunity for investors. She notes several factors that back her thesis. In her words, We see a compelling risk/reward setup due to: 1) improving volumes with consistent market share gains, 2) limited private label risk to the value portfolio, 3) potential for tuck-in M&A, and 4) a history of outperformance in economic downturns. We appreciate CHDs 36% exposure to value products while continuing to elevate the premium portfolio through innovation. These comments back up Lizzuls Buy rating on Church & Dwights stock, while her $125 price target suggests that the shares will gain 25% by this time next year. (To watch Lizzuls track record, click here) The Streets consensus view on CHD is a Moderate Buy, based on 15 analyst recommendations that include 7 Buys, 6 Holds, and 2 Sells. The stock has a trading price of $100.21 and its $112.21 average target price implies a gain of 12% on the one-year horizon. (See CHD stock forecast) Janus Henderson Group (JHG) The next stock on our list is Janus Henderson Group, a global asset management company that uses disciplined investments to steer its clients toward successful and superior financial outcomes. The British-American company is based in the City of London, and has offices in multiple locations around the world, including such financial hubs as Boston, New York, Chicago, and LA in the US; Paris, Amsterdam, and Zurich in Europe; and Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney in the Asia-Pacific. The company employs over 2,000 people and ended 2024 with approximately $379 billion in total assets under management. Janus Hendersons AUM is worth a closer look. The year-end 2024 total was up 13% from year-end 2023, but more importantly, the companys AUM has a record of outperformance. The company reports that, as of the end of last year, compared to relevant benchmarks, its AUM outperformed on a one-, three-, five-, and 10-year basis by 65%, 72%, 55%, and 73%, respectively. A look at the financial results shows that Janus Henderson quality has been bringing profits in recent quarters. The companys top line in 4Q24, the last period reported, came to $708.3 million, up 24.6% year-over-year and beating the forecast by over $30.7 million. At the bottom line, the $1.07 adj. EPS was up from 82 cents in the year-ago period, and was 12 cents per share better than had been expected. Janus Henderson had net inflows during the full-year 2024 of $2.4 billion, compared to the $(0.7) billion net outflows for 2023. This asset managers high quality, and its ability to expand its inflows, caught the attention of BofAs Craig Siegenthaler, an analyst ranked in the top 2% of Wall Street stock experts. The percentage of JHGs US AuM rated 5/4 stars by Morningstar has risen over the last 12 months and is 65%, well above peers at 40% (industry average at 32.5%) the 5-star analyst writes. JHGs investment performance is broadly strong across its active equity and fixed income businesses. We think this places JHG in a strong position to win significant bond reallocations over the next three years as investors move out of cash and extend durations We expect stronger fixed income flows to lift JHGs 2025 organic growth to +2%. More importantly, unlike most peers, its management fee rate is stable and hasnt declined with negative mix shift. Siegenthaler goes on to rate JHG as a Buy, and his $43 price target points toward a one-year upside potential of 30.5%. (To watch Siegenthalers track record, click here) Overall, JHG shares hold a Moderate Buy consensus rating from the Street, based on 9 recent analyst reviews that include 4 to Buy and 5 to Hold. The stock is trading for $32.95 and its $43.33 average target price implies a gain for the coming year of 31.5%. (See JHG stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment. Disclaimer & DisclosureReport an Issue Banks provide a necessary service to customers, from those who simply have bank accounts to those who borrow money. Financial uncertainty, as the United States is facing today, can affect a bank's business, but strong banks will generally muddle through even the most difficult periods. If you are a dividend investor, the relatively high yields on offer from banks will likely be attractive to you. You'll want to choose wisely, however, with Citigroup (NYSE: C) providing an interesting example of why. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue Better than the average yield The average bank in the U.S. has a yield of around 2.6%. Citigroup's dividend yield is a far more attractive 3.5%. The dividend backing that yield has been increased regularly, though not annually, since 2015. That's not a bad story, and Citigroup is one of the best-known banks in the U.S. market. Image source: Getty Images. The first quarter of 2025 was pretty good for Citigroup, despite the uncertainty that has been lingering thanks to geopolitical issues. The bank's revenue rose 3% versus the same quarter of 2024. Operating costs were lower by around 5%, and earnings per share were up a huge 24%, helped along by stock buybacks. It looks like Citigroup is holding up fairly well this time -- which is the real issue with Citigroup when it comes to buying it for its dividend. During the Great Recession, Citigroup floundered badly. Some of the particulars include having to take a government bailout and the reduction of the dividend to a mere token penny per share per quarter. The magnitude of the dividend cut can't be overstated, since prior to the financial turmoil the dividend was as high as $5.40 per share per quarter. There were actually multiple cuts over a roughly two-year period before the dividend settled at a penny. Citigroup is in better financial shape today than it was back then, but investors looking for a reliable bank should see the Great Recession as a cautionary tale. Citigroup basically failed a very real stress test. There's a better option available, and it has an even higher yield of roughly 4.9%. Holding strong in the face of adversity Citigroup's share price has fallen around 10% so far in 2025. The share price of Canadian banking giant Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) is up nearly 15%. As noted, it has a 4.9% dividend yield. Here's the interesting thing: TD Bank, as the company is more commonly known, is facing some headwinds today. Despite the problems, it just raised its dividend by 3%. And during the Great Recession, TD Bank didn't have to resort to cutting its dividend. Southwest Airlines (LUV) was the latest US airline to note that consumers are beginning to hold back on travel spending as tariffs and trade skirmishes perplex the airline industry. "In the first quarter, we had terrific operating results," Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan told Yahoo Finance on Thursday (see video above). "We really beat our cost plan. We had good revenue results. ... But we were highly impacted on the demand side by the tariffs and then just the consumer confidence erosion." Southwest reported first quarter earnings that beat expectations, but it pulled its full-year guidance. The stock rose 3.6% on Thursday. According to TSA passenger data, 2025 air travel is slightly outpacing the same period in 2024, but executives monitoring booking and destination trends have been signaling caution ahead. Since the company laid out its demand expectations in January, "the first quarter fell off about three full points, and the second quarter has fallen off about six full points compared to what we thought," Jordan said. "So that gives you a good indication of the level of impact on demand and just how rapidly the decrease in demand fell." Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet The Dallas-based airline operator isnt alone in needing to navigate a moderation in consumer travel spending. American Airlines (AAL), which also reported quarterly results on Thursday, painted a similar picture. The airline also withdrew its full-year outlook, citing "economic uncertainty." "I think the tariffs, the economic uncertainty that we're going through today, unfortunately, was certainly not anticipated a couple of months ago," Citi analyst Steve Trent told Yahoo Finance. "American, Delta, and others have strongly telegraphed that they're not going to pay tariffs on these planes. So in terms of how long it lasts, it's really hard to tell." Delta Air Lines (DAL), the first major airline to report results this earnings season, disclosed stalled revenue, pulled its full year guidance, and announced plans to activate a "defensive mode" playbook. A Southwest Airlines aircraft taxis as a Delta Air Lines aircraft lands at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 24, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts REUTERS / Reuters In a phone conversation with Yahoo Finance in early April, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said, I think the level of uncertainty that we're facing coming out of the global trade discussions and skirmishes is a bit unprecedented, and as a result, given the lack of clarity we have in terms of the longer-term ability to forecast revenue." "Our bookings are pretty good," Bastian continued. "They have a pretty good line of sight for the next 160 to 90 days, but beyond that, it's a bit murky. Im actually pretty negative for the first time in a while, Cohen said. It may only last a year or so, but its definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and wouldnt surprise me to see a significant correction. Echoing similar sentiments is Morgan Stanley CIO Mike Wilson, who insists a significant correction has been on the cards since 2023. According to Wilson, investors had pushed stocks upwards, with valuation skyrocketing above historical norms and beyond the value of their fundamentals. Therefore, a rapid descent should be expected as headwinds soar left, right and centre. Cohen has warned that the good times that saw the equity market trickle to record highs are over as the US economys outlook is uncertain due to the tariff plan laid out by Trump. True to Cohens warnings, the US stock market has pulled back significantly from record highs. Given the uncertain macro environment, the S&P 500 is already down by about 8% for the year and on the cusp of entering the correcting phase. Tariffs cannot be positive, okay? I mean, its a tax, Cohen said Friday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Florida. On top of that, we have slowing immigration, which means the labor force will not grow as rapidly as the last five years and so. The billionaire investor has fired a warning shots, insisting that President Donald Trumps aggressive trade policy could cause the economy to grow at a much slower rate of 1.5% in the second half of the year, down from an initial growth forecast of 2.5%. The warning comes on Trump touting tariffs for various purposes, including lowering trade imbalances and gaining more negotiating power over other nations. Nevertheless, their negative impact continues as the service sector, a key economic driver, grows slowly from 2023. What does the future hold for the US economy and equities amid punitive tariffs, immigration crackdown and federal spending cuts? Thats the million-dollar question as the chairman and CEO of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management , Steve Cohen, sounds alarm bells warning the US economy could be on the brink amid macroeconomic uncertainties. We recently published a list of Billionaire Steve Cohens 10 Large-Cap Stock Picks With Huge Upside Potential . In this article, we are going to take a look at where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) stands against other billionaire Steve Cohens large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. Story Continues On the other hand, Cohen remains optimistic about the artificial intelligence outlook despite DeepSeeks revelation and development on the development of cost-effective AI models rattling the US markets. According to Cohen, DeepSeeks development of cost-effective AI models is positive despite raising concerns about spending on powerful AI chips developed by US companies. Cohen is one of the billionaire investors taking advantage of the artificial intelligence boom through strategic investments. His portfolio at Point72 Asset Management hedge boasts significant exposure to tech giants developing and leveraging various AI innovations. Likewise, Point72 Asset Management has already unveiled a new artificial intelligence-focused fund that posted a 14% gain in the last three months of 2024 growing to $1.5 billion. Our Methodology We combed Point 72 SEC Q4 2024 13F filings to identify billionaire Steve Cohens 10 large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. We focused on stocks with a market cap of more than $40 billion with significant upside potential. We then analyzed the stocks on why they stand out as solid investments well poised to generate significant value even on the overall equity market turning bearish. Finally, we listed the stocks in ascending order of upside potential. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSM): Among Billionaire Steve Cohens Large-Cap Stock Picks With Huge Upside Potential A close-up of a complex network of integrated circuits used in logic semiconductors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) Market Cap as of April 24: $679.95 Billion Point72 Asset Managements Equity Stake: $492.72 Million Analysts Upside Potential as of April 24: 39.05% Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 186 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is the worlds largest semiconductor foundry, focusing on chip manufacturing for other companies. Its products are used in a wide variety of applications, including high-performance computing, smartphones, the Internet of Things (IoT), automotive, and digital consumer electronics. While the stock has pulled back significantly, Barclays maintains an Overweight rating, having cut the price target to $215 from $255, concerned by a slowdown in the chip industry. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) delivered solid first-quarter 2025 results ahead of new US tariffs that have significantly affected the chip industry. Its profit jumped 60% to NT$361.56 billion or $11.16 billion, beating consensus estimates of NT$351.65 billion. Revenue was also up 42% to NT$839.25 billion. The better-than-expected results come from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) cashing in on the growing demand for artificial intelligence technology. While the company faces the risk of being hit by 100% tax if it does not shift more US production, it has reiterated its full-year outlook. It expects revenue growth to be in the mid-20% range of continued AI development. The company expects its business in 2025 to be supported by strong growth in its 3-nanometer and 5-nanometer technologies. Overall, TSM ranks 7th on our list of billionaire Steve Cohens large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of TSM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TSM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. The Cboe S&P 500 Dispersion Index has spiked to its highest-ever monthly average through mid-April 2025, suggesting tariffs are creating a new economic regime that will widen the gap between stock winners and losers, according to a new CFRA report released Monday. This rising dispersion environment signals potential opportunities for both ETF issuers and investors to develop new strategies that can better capture the differentiated impact of tariffs on specific stocks, as many existing sector and factor ETFs may not adequately address these new market dynamics. The dispersion index, which measures expected differences in returns between S&P 500 stocks over the next 30 days, has jumped to a median value of 41.5 since April 2, according to CFRA research. This marks an increase from the 24.4 median daily value recorded over the previous decade. Through April 17, this represents the highest monthly average in the 10-year history of the index, though it's still below the single-day record of 58.9 set during the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, the report notes. Tariff Winners and Losers Emerge Across Sectors According to CFRA, the limitations of traditional ETFs in the current environment are evident when examining discount retailers with different import profiles. While Dollar General Corp. (DG), Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR) and Five Below Inc. (FIVE) all had negative returns ranging from -46% to -51% in 2024, their performances have diverged since tariffs were announced in February 2025, with Dollar General gaining 30.2%, Dollar Tree rising 10.5% and Five Below falling 26.9% during that period. The nature of tariff impacts varies across industries, with Dollar General outperforming its peers after tariffs were announced due to its lower reliance on imports, according to the CFRA analysis. The company imports only about 10%-15% of its products, compared to approximately 50% for Dollar Tree and 50%-60% for Five Below. Similarly, companies like Coca-Cola Co. (KO) with international sales have benefited from the weaker U.S. dollar, which has declined as a result of the current tariff policies, the report indicates. New Opportunities for ETF Innovation Traditional factor ETFs that effectively captured market dynamics in 2024 have shown narrowing performance spreads this year, as they aren't designed to differentiate stocks based on tariff exposure, according to CFRA data. While growth outperformed value by almost 16.8% last year, that gap has decreased in 2025to 6.8% following the initial tariff announcement on Feb. 1 and then to 0.1% after the global tariff announcement on April 2. Im actually pretty negative for the first time in a while, Cohen said. It may only last a year or so, but its definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and wouldnt surprise me to see a significant correction. Echoing similar sentiments is Morgan Stanley CIO Mike Wilson, who insists a significant correction has been on the cards since 2023. According to Wilson, investors had pushed stocks upwards, with valuation skyrocketing above historical norms and beyond the value of their fundamentals. Therefore, a rapid descent should be expected as headwinds soar left, right and centre. Cohen has warned that the good times that saw the equity market trickle to record highs are over as the US economys outlook is uncertain due to the tariff plan laid out by Trump. True to Cohens warnings, the US stock market has pulled back significantly from record highs. Given the uncertain macro environment, the S&P 500 is already down by about 8% for the year and on the cusp of entering the correcting phase. Tariffs cannot be positive, okay? I mean, its a tax, Cohen said Friday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Florida. On top of that, we have slowing immigration, which means the labor force will not grow as rapidly as the last five years and so. The billionaire investor has fired a warning shots, insisting that President Donald Trumps aggressive trade policy could cause the economy to grow at a much slower rate of 1.5% in the second half of the year, down from an initial growth forecast of 2.5%. The warning comes on Trump touting tariffs for various purposes, including lowering trade imbalances and gaining more negotiating power over other nations. Nevertheless, their negative impact continues as the service sector, a key economic driver, grows slowly from 2023. What does the future hold for the US economy and equities amid punitive tariffs, immigration crackdown and federal spending cuts? Thats the million-dollar question as the chairman and CEO of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management , Steve Cohen, sounds alarm bells warning the US economy could be on the brink amid macroeconomic uncertainties. We recently published a list of Billionaire Steve Cohens 10 Large-Cap Stock Picks With Huge Upside Potential . In this article, we are going to take a look at where UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stands against other billionaire Steve Cohens large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. Story Continues On the other hand, Cohen remains optimistic about the artificial intelligence outlook despite DeepSeeks revelation and development on the development of cost-effective AI models rattling the US markets. According to Cohen, DeepSeeks development of cost-effective AI models is positive despite raising concerns about spending on powerful AI chips developed by US companies. Cohen is one of the billionaire investors taking advantage of the artificial intelligence boom through strategic investments. His portfolio at Point72 Asset Management hedge boasts significant exposure to tech giants developing and leveraging various AI innovations. Likewise, Point72 Asset Management has already unveiled a new artificial intelligence-focused fund that posted a 14% gain in the last three months of 2024 growing to $1.5 billion. Our Methodology We combed Point 72 SEC Q4 2024 13F filings to identify billionaire Steve Cohens 10 large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. We focused on stocks with a market cap of more than $40 billion with significant upside potential. We then analyzed the stocks on why they stand out as solid investments well poised to generate significant value even on the overall equity market turning bearish. Finally, we listed the stocks in ascending order of upside potential. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletters strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here). UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH): Among Billionaire Steve Cohens Large-Cap Stock Picks With Huge Upside Potential A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Market Cap as of April 24: $389.54 Billion Point72 Asset Managements Equity Stake: $190.62 Million Analysts Upside Potential as of April 24: 33.60% Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 150 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a healthcare company that specializes in health insurance and healthcare services. It offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national and public sector employers. The company remains under pressure to slash the annual profit forecast, citing higher-than-expected medical costs in the Medicare plan. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) already feels the brunt of lower government payments and soaring medical costs. Medical costs are rising as more seniors return to hospitals for procedures they postponed during the pandemic. Consequently, it is forcing companies like UnitedHealth Group to incur more costs. For its first quarter of 2025, UnitedHealth Group reported an adjusted income of $7.20 a share, missing analysts estimates of $7.29. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) also cut its full-year earnings guidance to between $26 and $26.50 a share from a previous guidance of between $29.50 and $30. Revenue in the quarter was up $9.8 billion year over year to $109.6 billion. TD Cowen has already cut its stock price target to $520 from $609 while maintaining a Buy rating, concerned by rising medical costs that are eating into margins. Overall, UNH ranks 9th on our list of billionaire Steve Cohens large-cap stock picks with huge upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of UNH as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNH but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. By Mike Scarcella (Reuters) -A U.S. judge has set a May 2 hearing to discuss remedies the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states might ask the court to impose on Google after it ruled the Alphabet unit illegally dominates two markets for online advertising technology. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, in the Alexandria, Virginia federal court, indicated the hearing aims to get an early and broad sense of the potential remedies before focusing on specific measures. The hearing will come after Brinkema in a blockbuster order on April 17 found Google liable for "willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power" in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges that sit between buyers and sellers. Google and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Brinkema presided over a non-jury trial last year before issuing her opinion this month. She will eventually decide how Google must restore competition in those markets, such as by selling off parts of its business. The judge's ruling was the second that declared Google to hold an illegal monopoly. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington in August 2024 ruled Google used exclusive agreements with Samsung Electronics and others to bolster its alleged search engine monopoly. Mehta in that lawsuit, also filed by the Justice Department, is now weighing whether to force Google to sell its popular Chrome web browser as one remedy to restore competition in search. Google has denied the government's claims in both antitrust lawsuits. Google has not offered Chrome for sale. The company has said that it plans to appeal the two rulings that it holds an illegal monopoly in search and advertising markets. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. U.S. customs revenue surged to an all-time high in April as President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs took effect, delivering at least $15 billion in customs duties for the month a more than 60% increase over previous periods What Happened: On April 22 alone, the U.S. saw a record $11.7 billion in "customs and certain excise taxes," as per The data from the Daily Treasury Statement. According to Zerohedge, this reflects a broader monthly accrual rather than a single-day windfall. DHS and the US Treasury did not immediately respond to Benzingas request for comment. Trending: Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target Last Chance to get 4,000 of its pre-IPO shares for just $0.26/share! Earlier in April, a Reuters report suggested that the net customs duties collected in March, as per the Treasury, totaled $8.2 billionan increase of $2.1 billion compared to the same month last year and the highest level since September 2022. The Customs and Excise Taxes listed in the Daily Treasury Statement represent federal revenue mainly collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This revenue comes from import tariffs on goods entering the U.S. and federal taxes on specific items such as fuel, alcohol, tobacco, and certain types of vehicles. This record-breaking figure represents settled, confirmed payments and significantly contributes to the daily federal revenue picture. Why It Matters: The record-breaking collection comes in the wake of President Donald Trumps tariff policies. Previously, the CBP had reported tariff revenue of just over $500 million following the implementation of President Trumps latest trade measures, a figure far below the $2 billion per day estimate often cited by Trump. See Also: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: Schedule your free call with a financial advisor to start your financial journey no cost, no obligation. The U.S. started imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese imports on February 4, which was increased to 20% by March 4. That same day, Trump's 25% tariffs on fentanyl-related products from Canada and Mexicotargeting goods that dont meet the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreements rules of originalso came into force. Currently, the tariffs on China stand at 145%, which Trump is considering to reduce substantially. Trump has placed a 90-day pause on the tariffs announced on April 2, Liberation Day. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) just reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2025. The telecom company improved its revenue and profits, but not at levels that impressed investors. With that, the stock fell amid higher-than-expected cancellations. Nonetheless, Verizon's long-term problems are likely the issue weighing on its stock performance. Until the company addresses those, the telecom stock is likely to struggle. Here's why. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue Verizon's Q1 earnings At first glance, Verizon delivered a stock performance that was consistent and typical for a mature company such as this. The $33.5 billion it earned in revenue was 1.5% higher than the year-ago level. Also, Verizon held the line on operating expense growth, limiting it to 0.2%. Despite lower income from other sources and higher income tax expenses, Verizon delivered just under $5 billion in quarterly net income, a 5.5% increase from the same quarter in 2023. Moreover, what was probably the most impressive number was free cash flow, which climbed to $3.6 billion in Q1, up from $2.7 billion in the same quarter last year. Verizon has just under $2.9 billion in quarterly dividend expenses, which should presumably reassure income investors concerned about the safety of its payout. Still, investors focused more on subscriber numbers, which pointed to some struggle. The company lost 289,000 subscribers last quarter, well above the 197,000 that analysts had expected. This is notable, as Verizon is a domestic business and, thus, does not face any direct threats from tariffs, though struggling consumers may look for lower-cost plans as a way to deal with rising costs. Ongoing challenges However, the concerns about Verizon stock seem to be more subtle but well-known. One issue is the ongoing strains of market competition. The need to avoid falling behind AT&T and T-Mobile forces it to invest heavily in maintaining and upgrading its network. To this end, it spent $4.1 billion on capital expenditures in Q1. The company subtracts that expenditure from free cash flow, and indeed, its competitors have to make similar expenditures. Nonetheless, it weighs on a company that has to service $143.6 billion in total debt. That's a tremendous burden on the balance sheet, considering the $102 billion in total equity. Additionally, that debt fell by only $365 million during the quarter, resulting in $1.6 billion in interest costs over the same period. That rightly leaves investors questioning whether the company should cut the dividend to apply some of the $2.9 billion it spends quarterly on payouts to debt reduction. We recently published a list of 10 Best German Dividend Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Volkswagen AG (XETRA:VOW3.DE) stands against other best German dividend stocks to buy now. At the end of January this year, Germanys government significantly slashed its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to just 0.3% from the prior estimate of 1.1%. German economy minister Robert Habeck expressed concern, highlighting stagnation despite some positive signs like rising credit demand. This revision is in line with projections from other institutions like the IMF and Bundesbank. Germanys economy shrank by 0.2% in 2024, following a 0.3% decline in 2023. The government pointed to stagnant growth plans, geopolitical uncertainties, and structural issues such as labor shortages and weak investment. While the country faces challenges, there is hope for better growth by 2026. Similarly, Germanys Ifo Institute has also cut its 2025 growth forecast to just 0.2%, pointing to sluggish consumer spending and hesitancy among companies to invest. While a slight improvement to 0.8% is expected next year, the outlook remains shaky due to political uncertainty and possible US trade policies. Despite some recovery in purchasing power, consumer confidence is still low, and industries are feeling the pressure from weak demand and growing global competition. Ifo also warned that US tariffs on European goods could pose a serious threat to German exports. According to the Association of German Banks, a stronger recovery is not likely until 2026, when growth could reach 1.4%. The outlook has worsened, especially after the U.S. announced a 25% tariff on imported cars, causing a major blow to German automakers. Corporate investment is also expected to stay sluggish, with even the projected 3.5% increase in 2026 falling short of previous post-crisis rebounds. Still, experts say that strong reforms and a more competitive tax policy from the next government could help turn things around sooner. Jari Stehn, Chief European Economist at Goldman Sachs Research, shed some light on the German economy and commented back in December 2024: Even though industrial production is down significantly over the last few years, the amount of value added has actually been much more stable. German companies have been able to respond by moving out of relatively low-margin production in chemicals or paper, and so on, into higher value production. I think the way forward essentially is for German companies to continue to do that. With that outlook in mind, individuals who want to diversify their portfolios and add income-generating stocks to their investment mix can invest in some stable German dividend stocks. Warren Buffett has always strongly believed in two things: the strength of American companies and the benefits of long-term investing. And if you put these elements together, you can construct an investing strategy that's likely to score a win. But first, let's consider why we should listen to the billionaire. At the helm of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has proven his investing excellence for 59 years. During that time, he's helped generate a compounded annual gain of almost 20%, surpassing the 10% compounded increase of the S&P 500 index. Throughout that time, Buffett encountered a range of market environments, from times of exuberance to recessions and market crashes. Yet, he's scored a major long-term win, and that's why it's a great idea to consider his investing advice. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue So, how can you use those two Buffett beliefs I mentioned above to reach your own investing victory? Part of the plan involves buying shares of a Buffett-approved Vanguard fund, and the other part involves a steady, long-term commitment to it. Let's check out how you could potentially turn $300 per month into $1 million. Image source: The Motley Fool. American businesses over time First, let's consider exactly why Buffett is so confident about American companies. It has to do with their long-standing track record of success. In Buffett's letter to shareholders back in 2013, he wrote, "American business has done wonderfully over time and will continue to do so." And his optimism has not wavered, with Buffett writing the following in his 2023 shareholder letter: "I can't remember a period since March 11, 1942 -- the date of my first stock purchase -- that I have not had a majority of my net worth in equities, U.S.-based equities. And so far, so good." He went on to write: "America has been a terrific country for investors." To benefit from the best the U.S. has to offer, you could and should individually pick stocks. But to complement this effort and pretty much ensure gains over time, it's a great idea to buy an asset that offers exposure to a wide variety of the very best American companies. And this instrument is a fund that tracks the S&P 500. Buffett has mentioned the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) in his shareholder letters and has even invested in this fund himself. The ideal choice for investors In fact, Buffett says that funds tracking the S&P 500 are an ideal choice for the nonprofessional investor, thanks to their inclusion of so many top companies. ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, mimic the composition of their index of reference and, therefore, its performance. In this case, that would be the S&P 500, which, as mentioned, has delivered a double-digit annualized gain over time. On Friday's news that Biohaven (NYSE: BHVN) withdrew its application for a top investigational drug from an important regulator, investors aggressively traded out of the stock. The clinical-stage biotech was one of the biggest decliners in its industry, exiting Friday with a share price decline of over 15%. This was during a session that was essentially bullish; the S&P 500 index closed 0.6% higher. Strategic withdrawal That news came not from Biohaven itself, but from the European Medicines Agency (EMA, the pharmaceutical regulator for the 27-country European Union). In a statement, the EMA revealed that a subsidiary of the company withdrew its application for marketing authorization for troriluzole, branded as Dazluma. It made that move on March 24, the agency added. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue Biohaven originally applied for such authorization for Dazluma toward the end of 2023. The investigational drug targets a rare genetic affliction of nerve cells called spinocerebellar ataxia type 3. According to the EMA, it evaluated Biohaven's provided information about Dazluma and prepared a series of questions for the company. The agency noted that it had several issues that mitigated against approval. If at first you don't succeed... Although Biohaven hasn't yet made a formal statement about its Dazluma withdrawal, it did send a letter to the EMA stating its reasons for doing so. The agency wrote that in the letter Biohaven "stated that they plan to generate additional data to support a new active substance status" for the drug. Additionally, according to the EMA, the company intends to "submit a new application once these data are generated." Regardless, any retreat from a regulatory submission is a significant blow to investor morale. The European Union is huge and sprawling, and therefore has one of the largest patient pools in any jurisdiction throughout the world. Should you invest $1,000 in Biohaven right now? Before you buy stock in Biohaven, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now and Biohaven wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $652,319!* Now, its worth noting Stock Advisors total average return is 859% a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% for the S&P 500. Dont miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks Harvest Portfolio Management Chief Investment Officer Paul Meeks is cautious on the Mag 7 overall, suggesting that investors not buy any of the names until after they report their first-quarter earnings. Moreover, he does not believe that any of the companies will have much confidence in their outlooks, and he does not expect AI to be widely used until 2027. But in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, the veteran investor explained why he's quite bullish on NVDA. Nvidia Has a Low Valuation, Strong Demand NVDA "never got to a stretched valuation," and the demand for its products remains "voracious," Meeks believes. In general, the company should continue to deliver strong results, and the shares "should be pretty attractive, even for value investors," Meeks contended. But he did warn that analysts' estimates for the company could drop "a little" as the large cloud-infrastructure companies reduce their AI outlays and the tariffs on China take a toll on NVDA. The Recent Performance of NVDA Stock In the last month, the shares have dropped 5%, while they are down 28% in the last three months. While we acknowledge the potential of NVDA, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVDA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Shares of SES AI (NYSE: SES) soared on Friday, following the battery materials researcher's impressive first-quarter report. The stock rose as much as 45.3% in the morning session, backing down to a milder (but still huge) 23.8% gain as of 3:25 p.m. ET. Breakeven earnings and a revenue trickle Your average Wall Street analyst had expected SES AI's bottom line to show a net loss of approximately $0.05 per share. That would have been comparable to the year-ago period's result. Instead, the company achieved a breakeven earnings result. Revenues landed at $5.8 million, up from $2 million in the previous quarter with no material revenues to report in the first quarter of 2024. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue New tech, big dreams, and reality checks The price gain didn't lift SES AI's shares to all-time highs. Instead, the stock returned to a level it hasn't sustained since the summer of 2024. The company's advanced battery technologies are brand new and largely unproven, so both SES AI and its investors are only starting to understand how its business opportunity will work out in the long run. That being said, SES AI looks promising. As the company name suggests, SES AI is applying artificial intelligence (AI) tools to research new battery technologies. Potential target markets include electric vehicles, drones, and humanoid robots. I'm not ready to buy this volatile micro-cap stock quite yet, as it is changing hands at a terrifying 193 times trailing sales. It may be worth watching over time, especially if it can present a few robust client deals in the next year or two. Better batteries are always welcome, and the company is off to a good start. However, keep in mind that SES AI burned through $22.8 million of negative operating cash flows in this quarter, leaving $240 million of cash and short-term investments on the balance sheet. SES AI could exhaust those cash supplies quickly if the hunt for committed clients takes too long. In other words, SES AI balances long-term growth potential against financial risk in the short term. Should you invest $1,000 in Ses Ai right now? Before you buy stock in Ses Ai, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now and Ses Ai wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $652,319!* Now, its worth noting Stock Advisors total average return is 859% a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% for the S&P 500. Dont miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks Altcoins were hot this week as investors poured back into the crypto market after a major sell-off early in April. The biggest move came from Sui (CRYPTO: SUI), which has been gaining momentum from users this year, and jumped 68.4% this week. Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) was up 13% on the week, Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) was up 14.8%, and Avalanche (CRYPTO: AVAX) popped 17.6%. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue The macro picture It's hard to discuss crypto trading without acknowledging the impact that market dynamics and trade volatility are having on the value of assets. When President Donald Trump announced tariffs earlier this month the market tanked because of the negative impact they could have on global trade and economies all around the world. This week's move higher has been in large part because the White House is trying to soften its tariff rhetoric. Some exemptions have been given and talks are reportedly ongoing with some countries. And investors took that as a positive enough sign to buy growth and tech stocks, which are also correlated with cryptocurrencies in the market. Sui's hot hand Investors often view network activity as a sign of a healthy blockchain and valuable token and Sui is one of the hottest networks today. In March, decentralized exchange volume jumped to 3.2 billion SUI and total value locked in exchanges hit 2.5 billion SUI. Stablecoins have also hit new highs of $879 million, an 82% increase from a year earlier. As the most common form of currency on the blockchain, stablecoins on-chain are a good way to gauge how much people are using a blockchain. Solana's mobile phone disruption Solana continues to be one of the most active blockchains for developers and this week the Solana project Helium signed a deal with AT&T. Helium is a community-led distribution network for wireless service. Originally, Helium was a series of hotspots around the world that gave users access to the network they were running on. That could have been a home network or cellular network like AT&T's. This deal gives a business like this more viability to expand and gives AT&T another distribution path. It's this kind of experimentation that ultimately drives innovation on the blockchain. The altcoin bump Avalanche and Cardano are two other altcoins based on differentiated blockchains that should bring high utility long-term. To that end, Avalanche project Axiym surpassed $132 million in volume on its cross-border payment platform. For more than three decades the annual Gazette Charities Foundation Best and Brightest Scholarship Program has recognized 20 local high school students for their outstanding academic achievements, leadership and contributions to their community. This image provided by South Bow shows a spill from the Keystone oil pipeline that occurred Tuesday, April 8, 2025, near Fort Ransom, North Dakota. Several people have been credited with uttering famous sayings linking the words living and giving, but Steve Pelican repeated the phrase living is giving and demonstrated what it meant so often that it defined the essence of his being, says his widow, Debi Pelican. Now, with the sudden and unexpected death of her husband of 47 years on April 4, shes hoping that the legacy Steve Pelican leaves will be about how the former 4th Judicial District Court judge spent his life setting an example for others to emulate. We really have lived by the belief that by helping one another, our world would have stronger relationships, more peace and good health and happiness, Debi Pelican said. I hope our story makes people think twice about helping others and giving to others. Pelican, who was 79 years old when he died a few weeks ago, worked as a district attorney for three years before opening his own legal practice specializing in criminal defense in Colorado Springs. He handled numerous high-profile murder cases, Debi said, before being appointed to the bench in 1986, where he would sit for 23 years. He then became a highly regarded mediator with the Judicial Arbiter Group, according to colleagues. He was a good historian, he researched the law, he felt he rendered fairness and justice, and he was rarely criticized, Debi said. In surveys, Steve was always rated at the top by lawyers as respected, fair and thorough. Still, at one point, police got wind of a hired hit a prisoner ordered on Pelican's life and quashed it. We spent a couple months on high alert, Debi remembers. The police surveilled our house, I was told to look under the car to make sure there were no bombs. But nothing ever came of that. In recent years, an intruder broke into their home north of downtown Colorado Springs at 2 in the morning, yelling and entering the kitchen through a rear doggie door. Police were slow to respond, Debi said. What the stranger didnt know is that Steve possessed a calmness that belied his stressful profession. Instead of having a strong reaction, Steve sat down and chatted with him and calmly tried to bring him to reason, Debi said. Police arrested the disheveled, distraught man for breaking and entering. During the trial, Pelican addressed the court to negotiate mental health counseling for the man. Thats just the kind of person he was, Debi said. Steve frequently put others before himself; he was very self-sacrificing and always seemed to be concerned more about others than himself, said John W. Cook, a retired lawyer of 45 years, the same amount of time he and Pelican were friends. Volunteer spirit The volunteer passion The Pelicans shared and what they became well-known for nationally developed when their firstborn, Samantha, who goes by Sam, had immune, respiratory and stomach issues that led to a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis before she was 2 years old. Debi had heard of the genetic disease but didnt know much about it. What she found stunned her to tears. The debilitating disorder fills the lungs of children with mucus and wreaks havoc with the digestive system and other organs. The average life expectancy in the early 1980s when Sam and her younger sister, Libby, were born with the condition, was 15 years old. "We spent months of their childhood in the hospital, usually in Denver at Children's. I never left their room," Debi said. There were many occasions when the girls almost died, she said. With a background in publishing at Current, a former greeting card and stationery manufacturer in Colorado Springs, the first thing Debi did was write to every major magazine in the nation and ask them to write about cystic fibrosis. It was an orphan disease; it felt like no one knew about it, Debi said, and we wanted to make sure the world knew about this tragic disease, where the victims lived to only be in their teens. Family Circle magazine, which had the largest circulation at the time, responded to Debis plea and in May 1984 published an in-depth article about the Pelican family, which today Debi believes elevated cystic fibrosis to the national spotlight. Featured Local Savings The attention motivated Debi and her husband to form a Colorado Springs chapter of the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and raise money for the cause. They hosted charity fashion shows, sold helium balloons at the annual Labor Day hot-air balloon festival, sponsored a rubber duck race, joined a Rotary Club that donated $100,000 a year, earned tens of thousands of dollars aerating lawns with the help of volunteers, and were invited to be involved with a popular American Airlines promotion Celebrity Ski, which in its first year raised $80,000 and now more than $1 million annually. We did a lot of grassroots funding, Debi said, with the goal of backing research to find a cure. The Pelicans believed wholeheartedly that the giving they encouraged others to do saved the lives of their daughters, who beat overwhelming odds and are now 43 and 40 years old. The youngest daughter, Hanna, who does not have cystic fibrosis, is 32. "They're living very rich, normal lives," Debi said. Collectively, the three daughters have given their parents five grandchildren and each built a career around serving others. While a cure remains elusive, treatment has advanced to increase the average life span to more than 50 years old, and a promising new breakthrough drug that works on improving cellular function recently came on the market. Steve and Debi literally willed these girls to live, Cook said. They were admired both for their handling of the two daughters having cystic fibrosis they rolled up their sleeves and dove right in and worked to find a cure and they were admired professionally as well. Everyone who knew Pelican used the same three words to describe him: A good listener. In fact, among the condolence cards and letters Debi received after her husband's passing were notes from nearly 10 different people telling her they each had considered her husband to be their best friend. He didnt tell me what I wanted to hear, he might be telling me something I needed to hear, Cook said. He was genuinely trying to be helpful and not give off-the-cuff advice but would call you later and have a very thoughtful response to what you were asking him about. A brilliant mind, a quick sense of humor, a persistent smile on his face and an ability to make people feel good to be around him are other attributes his friends mention. Bruce Cameron, who owned local NAPA Auto Parts stores, met Pelican at the YMCA, and the pair became running buddies. Pelican placed a high value on friendship, Cameron said, citing the characteristic as one reason, along with astute ethics and admirable integrity, that Pelican was held in such high esteem in various circles. Pelican also inspired Cameron and his wife, Patty, to get involved with fundraising for cystic fibrosis. The Camerons came up with the idea of producing a Race for Life, with local families who had children with cystic fibrosis and supporters forming teams of sponsored walkers. Bruce Cameron emceed and sang at the annual event held at Monument Valley and America the Beautiful parks. After 25 years and the arrival of the pandemic, the event became part of the Great Strides fundraising through the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It was important to me as a friend of Steves to support him, Cameron said. A joyful remembrance of Steve Pelican will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday in the historic El Paso County Courtroom at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, 215 S. Tejon St. Its where Pelican was sworn in as a lawyer. The courthouse closed for legal use in 1973. He purchased black-and-white photos of the courtroom were having the service in, which I didnt know until I found them after his death, Debi said. It felt almost spiritual that we picked that as a place to honor him because he had a lot of respect for that judicial edifice. Another sign the location was the right decision: the old elevator in the building, which opened as the El Paso County Courthouse in 1903, is called a bird-cage elevator, and Pelican was one of those people who went through life with two nicknames: Bird because his surname refers to a genus of water birds, and the shortened "Pel." Debi called him her rock and says life is hard without him. But shes happy that her husband achieved his innermost desire. He always hoped that his daughters would outlive him. Federal law enforcement officials said they detained more than 100 people who were in the country illegally in a raid at an underground Colorado Springs nightclub early Sunday morning. The Drug Enforcement Administration said it also seized cocaine and guns during the raid at the northwest corner of Academy Boulevard and Airport Road. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, said the club is frequented by members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua and international gang MS-13. This morning @DEAHQ apprehended over 100 illegal aliens at an underground night club frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized. 2 people were also arrested on existing warrants, Bondis post read. The Rocky Mountain division of the DEA reported the multi-agency enforcement operation on X around 4 a.m. @DHSgov has taken more than 100 illegal aliens into custody. Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, the agency posted around 6 a.m., sharing a video of the raid. The video shows dozens of men and women stream out of the front door of the building after law enforcement officers break a window. During a news conference, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said Colorado Springs was waking up to a safer community Sunday after agents found pink cocaine, evidence of prostitution and drug trafficking, and firearms during the raid. The DEA estimates there were around 200 people inside the nightclub at the time of the raid; at least half were undocumented immigrants, and more than a dozen were U.S. active-duty service members who were either patrons of the club or working as armed security, Pullen said. In an interview with Gazette news partner KOAA-TV, Pullen said the club has been under investigation for a while, with surveillance and undercover work happening ahead of Sundays raid. Pullen told news media that the Army Criminal Investigation Division was working alongside other agencies in the investigation. According to Pullen, 300 law enforcement agents from multiple agencies participated in the raid, including Colorado Springs police, and the El Paso and Douglas County sheriffs offices. The Douglas County Sheriffs Office assisted with the operation in a support role. This was a criminal investigation for drugs and guns, Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly told The Gazette. Colorado without question has been a hub for illegal immigration due to the sanctuary policies of the city of Denver in conjunction with radical legislation (including this session) from the State Capitol affirming Colorados sanctuary status. As the Sheriff of Douglas County I will do everything I can within Colorado law to support our federal partners. This, in turn, helps keep my community safe. A spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriffs Office said the department assisted the operation in an unspecified role. Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said the raid was the culmination of a months-long criminal investigation, and that CSPDs participation was solely to address criminal violations affecting the safety of our community. In a joint news release, the El Paso County Board of Commissioners commended law enforcement for dealing with a direct threat to the safety and well-being of our community. Todays operation sends a clear message: illegal activity will not be tolerated in El Paso County, the release stated. Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade also released a statement Sunday, saying he was briefed ahead of the overnight operation. Let me be clear: criminal activity of any kind, from anyone, will not be tolerated in Colorado Springs. This investigation and the execution of these warrants are the result of clear evidence of serious criminal conduct. Our residents deserve to live in a city where the rule of law is upheld and where illegal behavior is met with firm and decisive action. We will continue working together to ensure the safety and well-being of our entire community. Law enforcement officials have said that TdA gang members have been involved in a myriad of criminal activities in Colorado, including drug trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering, extortion and human trafficking particularly of immigrant women and girls. John Williams, M.D., is a public health physician and former medical director for OptumRx. He is also a retired U.S. Navy medical officer and combat veteran who has served as an ARIDE-certified reserve law enforcement officer in southern Colorado. Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute in Denver and hosts The Devils Advocate with Jon Caldara on Colorado Public Television Channel 12. His column appears Sundays in Colorado Politics. () Getting dive certification can be an overwhelming thought for the beginner diver. However, Guam is one of the easiest and least expensive places to get your certification, so what are you waiting for? Follow our step-by-step guide and start discovering the 12 Best Dives on Guam. RegisterRegister for a PADI Open Water Dive Course at any PADI resort or dive center such as MDA or Blue Persuasion Dive Boutique. This begins your primary education in dive equipment, procedures, and safety. You have the option of learning in a classroom with other students or online at your convenience. Micronesian Divers Association (MDA) offers PADI courses online so you can learn from the convenience of your home. Unfortunately, this course isnt available on mobile devices or tablets just yet, so youll need a laptop or desktop computer and about a week or two to finish the course. Take the courseThe PADI Open Water Diver certification qualifies you to dive independently, procure air fills and scuba equipment, and plan, conduct, and log open water dives consistent with your training. The course consists of reading material, videos, quizzes, and tests. You must pass the final test before getting in the water with your instructor. You will learn about dive equipment, buoyancy, water pressure, and safety, to name a few. Its pretty technical, so take your time and repeat any sections you dont understand well at first. If taking prescription medication, you will need approval from a physician to dive. A basic physical exam is required for this paperwork.Its more fun and can be more relaxing to take the course with a friend or family member. As you will learn, having a buddy is an essential part of your diving experience. Note: If youre just visiting Guam, check with your PADI dive center about flying after diving recommendations. You need to wait 12-18 hours to assure you remain symptom free from decompression sickness. Gear upHead to your dive center and either rent or buy diving gear and apparel. Divers can rent all necessary diving gear and equipment, but it is recommended you purchase snorkel, mask, fins, and apparel. Cylinder (tank), BCD vest, regulator, and dive computer are standard rental items, though avid divers may purchase them. See our Basic Scuba Diving Equipment Glossary for details. Your dive instructor will help you choose the best fitting mask, as there are many styles and shapes. If you plan to dive or snorkel once a month or more, it makes financial sense to buy. Not all snorkels are created equal. Look for a snorkel with a splash guard to avoid wave water entering your snorkel. Wet suits and swimwear cannot be rented, so choose the level of body coverage you desire. Body skins are lightweight, non-insulating one-piece suits that cover your entire body like long underwear. These are great for Guams warm tropical waters. A thicker neoprene exposure suit provides insulation for those who often get cold in the water. They cost about twice as much as the thinner body skins. Other divers may opt to wear swimsuits and rash guard shirts, short- or long-sleeved. Dive boots with felt soles are recommended for traction on slick underwater rocks. Confined water skillsYoull start applying what you learned in the classroom in confined water first. On Guam, your first time in the water may be in a swimming pool or at a calm beach. But first youll learn how to put on all your gear and how to do pre-dive safety checks. If youre performing the confined water skills at a beach, youll move seamlessly into deeper water to master the open water training. Open water skillsYour instructor will demonstrate then watch as you perform nearly 30 essential dive skills such as clearing and removing your mask, using an alternate air source, and proper ascent. While some adapt to diving like fish, others of us need more time to feel comfortable (eh hem, me!). Dont fret if you get water in your nose or feel anxious when trying to clear your ears! Many say the toughest skills to master are flooding, clearing, and mask removal and replacement. A good instructor is patient and will work with you until you can comfortably complete each task. Ask a variety of experienced divers and youll see that many had fears to overcome too! Once you complete your open water certification, congratulations, youre certified for life! Its wise to brush up on your skills from time to time by reviewing your course material. You may consider earning your Advanced Open Water Dive Certification by going on 5 dives including an underwater navigation dive, a deep dive, and three adventure dives. Check out more PADI specialty courses available from MDA. Email, call, or visit Micronesian Divers Association (MDA) today to get started on these 5 Steps to Diving on Guam! Alternate Air SourceThe Alternate Air Source is often called the Octopus and is your backup second stage regulator. It works just the same as the primary second stage regulator and can be used in the unlikely event that your primary fails or your dive buddy needs to share air. It is usually a bright color such as fluorescent yellow or pink and is normally secured somewhere within the triangle between the chin and the bottom of the rib cages, normally on the right side. BCD Buoyancy Control DeviceA Buoyancy Control Device or BCD for short (also known as a Buoyancy Compensator or BC) is the jacket that scuba divers wear. BootiesIn colder water it is normal to wear neoprene boots with open heeled fins to keep the feet warm. These boots are normally called booties. They are also used to protect the feet, particularly when shore diving, and some divers find them more comfortable than full foot fins. CompassAn underwater compass is a very handy navigational tool and is a common piece of equipment for divers to carry. Compasses can be attached to gauge consoles, worn separately on the wrist, attached to the band of a watch or dive computer, and digital compasses are now even built into the latest dive computers. CylinderThe dive cylinder is also commonly called a tank and is what you use to carry your compressed breathing gas (usually air). Dive cylinders are typically made out of aluminum or steel and come in various sizes with the most common size being 90 cubic feet / 12 liters. Breathing gas is compressed inside the cylinder at up to 3000psi/210bar. Depth GaugeThis gauge shows you how deep you are. Depth is measured in either feet or meters. Dive ComputerThe most basic dive computers will tell you your depth and dive time but it is also common for dive computers to calculate no-decompression limits over multiple dives. Many newer dive computers will also track air consumption and temperature and some even have built-in electronic compasses. Dive computers are commonly found attached to gauge consoles or worn on the wrist like a watch and can now be found built into masks. Dive KnifeIt is good practice to carry a dive knife or shears. Dive knives are not used as weapons, theyre used to free yourself from entanglement, particularly from fishing line. Many divers carry more than one knife for added safety and its advisable to wear one on the BCD and one strapped to a leg. FinsFins are commonly called flippers by non-divers. They are long flat rubber or plastic extensions of your feet that allow you to swim with much greater ease and speed. The two primary varieties of fins are full-foot and open-heeled. Full-foot fins completely cover the foot like a shoe and are most commonly used in warm tropical water. Open-heeled fins have a strap across the back and are worn with booties to allow the feet more warmth and comfort. RegulatorThis is what you use to breathe the air from the cylinder. SnorkelAt its most basic a snorkel is a plastic tube that allows you to breathe while youre swimming on the surface. It is normally attached to the left side of the mask. Its a great way to conserve the air in your cylinder while swimming on the surface. Snorkels also come with such features as purge valves (to make it easier to clear any water inside) and splash guards (to make it hard for water to splash in the top). Submersible Pressure GaugeThe Submersible Pressure Gauge (more commonly called SPG) is the gauge that tells you how much air you have left in your tank. Air pressure is measured in PSI or bar. Most SPGs have a section of the dial highlighted in red which shows you when youre getting low on air. Weight SystemMost people need weights to sink in water. There are two common weight systems: The Weight Belt and Integrated Weights. WetsuitWetsuits keep you warm while underwater. They are made from neoprene and designed to be worn snugly in order to allow little water to move against the divers skin. They work by insulating the diver from the cold water. Wetsuits come in many sizes from one millimeter to seven millimeters or more, with the most common sizes being 3mm, 5mm, and 7mm. Get started with our 5 Steps to Diving on Guam or 12 Best Dives on Guam. SOURCE: About.com Japanese telco KDDI has done a deal with chipmaker AMD to use its latest generation AMD EPYC CPUs for KDDIs advanced 5G virtualised network. AMD EPYC processors power optimised high-performance x86 servers for high demand general purpose and AI-enabled data centre workloads. According to the chipmaker, the adoption of AMD EPYC CPUs will enable KDDI to deliver impressive performance and highly efficient traffic processing capability for its 5G virtualised network. Validation efforts will begin in 2025 and are planned to be rolled out to commercial networks in Japan in 2026. KDDI and AMD will also undergo validation and testing efforts to further enhance KDDI 5G core networks. The companies say they will aim to contribute to the improvement of the KDDI customer experience and the development of energy efficient solutions to power 5G network and next-gen communication infrastructure in the era of AI. We are excited to expand our work with KDDI and President Matsuda to accelerate the transformation of Japans 5G infrastructure, said Dr Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD. The leadership performance and energy efficiency of our 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors will help scale KDDIs network capabilities to deliver faster and more energy efficient network infrastructure that is required to power the next generation of virtualised networks and AI-enabled data centres. Hiromichi Matsuda, president and CEO, KDDI said leveraging AMD's semiconductor development capabilities is expected to dramatically improve KDDI's network capabilities. We are very excited to work with AMD to realise the higher performance and lower power consumption of 5G virtualised networks, Matsuda said. "Furthermore, through this collaboration, we expect that AMD's cutting-edge technologies can be deployed in our data centres in the era of AI, and we are confident that we will be able to accelerate the progress of technological innovation together and evolve the power to connect. RACINE David Groen occasionally didnt feel like working on the project. However, Groen knew his peers were counting on him, so he completed his tasks. Groen led a small group of engineering students that recently helped create salt and pepper mills for a Case High School capstone project. The mills can be used at home and commercially. Twisted Cuisine restaurant and Sebastians restaurant, among other entities, use the mills, which are customizable and available in nearly any color. Capstones are the final project for Racine Unified School District seniors. Students apply their knowledge and skills to solve a real-world problem and demonstrate their mastery of the subject matter and readiness for next steps in life. About 20 Case students worked on the project as employees at Eagle Manufacturing, a student-led company that started in fall 2024. Students said the project was more work than they anticipated but largely enjoyable. It was nothing like Ive ever experienced before, said Brayden Lipari, Case junior. Working together with other departments is mind-blowing. It was really fun getting to know (people) and working all together on one big project. Jayden George, Eagle Manufacturing chief executive officer, said the capstone was an outstanding opportunity to gain a better sense of what his career may entail. Students learned how to use time effectively and collaborate with their peers. You got to find out what motivates people, said Luke Smith, Case senior. Eagle Manufacturing plans to continue next school year, meaning capstone students in 2025-26 will build upon the work started this school year. Area partners RUSD partnered with Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce and Fischer on the capstone project. RAMAC was an angel investor to get Eagle Manufacturing up and running. Fischer is a Racine-based company that specializes in manufacturing spindles. The project originated last summer when Ryan Brath, Fischer managing director, pitched to a RAMAC committee the idea of a manufacturing business run by high schoolers. RAMAC supported the idea and reached out to RUSD and Gateway Technical College, which both quickly agreed. Case students began working on the project in October. They are not paid for their work at Eagle Manufacturing, and proceeds from sales go back into the company. Workers include a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, vice president and general manager from the business pathway; software developers in Cases computer science pathway; and engineers in the engineering pathway. Three pathway teachers oversaw the project and occasionally gave suggestions, but students did the labor. Most work in the first several months involved brainstorming about company goals, intended customers and prices. Prices are $75 for one mill, $146 for two, $355 for five, $690 for 10, $1,675 for 25, $4,875 for 75 and $6,300 for 100. People interested in learning more can email eaglemanufacturing@gmail.com. Materials to make the mills include stainless steel, aluminum and high-density plastic. Students want to lower prices in the future, but it was hard to get the same quality and use cheaper materials, Groen said. There were challenges along the way, including time management, but participants learned as the project went along. Any time you start something new like this, theres going to be bumps in the road, said Mark Lewis, RAMAC president/CEO. We felt some bumps, but then we built some smooth roads as well. I think its a building process for next year. Brath met weekly with students, and Lewis met regularly with them after he started his job at RAMAC in January. They answered questions and tried to help the high schoolers however they could. You guys have come a long way since I got here, Lewis told the students. Congratulations. Lewis gave Brath a lot of credit for his work with the students. Brath enjoyed the students energy, hearing their ideas and seeing how they adjusted their work as needed. In some ways, its been harder than what I expected, Brath said. In other ways, its been definitely more rewarding than expected. Great opportunity Case students initially planned to manufacture parts at Gateway but had to change course. Fischer let the students manufacture the mills at its building, 3715 Blue River Ave., and students received certifications from Gateway to use the Fischer machines. Fischer was a huge, huge support, George said. Case manufacturing pathway students Seth Green and Mason Rowlette said it took time to learn what to do, but they have greatly enjoyed the hands-on work at Fischer. Green likes working on machines and has the type of mind to make things and see how things are made, he said. Brath hopes the capstone project will result in more young people pursuing manufacturing careers by giving them direct experience. That is the case for Green and Rowlette, who said the experience has made them much more interested in manufacturing work in the future. Its a great opportunity, Rowlette said. In recent weeks, students finalized a brochure and presentation. They also presented to RAMAC manufacturers committee members to see whether any were interested in purchasing the salt and pepper mills, and some were. The students are scheduled to present May 1 to Fischer and May 8 to an RUSD committee. At future presentations, Lewis suggested the students talk more about their personal experiences and what they learned working on the project. They could tug at the heartstrings a little bit to get people to open up their wallet, Lewis said. Students based some of their work on a salt and pepper mill manufactured by a Fischer business in Switzerland that is run by young people and makes a variety of products. Similar to the Swiss company, Brath hopes that Eagle Manufacturing will develop a full lineup of products here in five or 10 years. Students appreciated helping start Eagle Manufacturing, and they look forward to what comes next for the company. Lipari will be the CEO next year and said he learned a lot from the seniors. What theyve done with this company is just incredible, Lipari said. It helps out a lot so when I can take on this business, I know what Im doing. Five photos of Eagle Manufacturing capstone project Presenters Case students Luke Smith, from left, Jayden George, David Groen and Brayden Lipari present the Eagle Manufacturing salt and pepper mill to Rac Smith, George Case students Luke Smith, left, and Jayden George present the Eagle Manufacturing salt and pepper mill to Racine Area Manufacturers and Commer Case manufacturing students at Fischer Seth Green Case student Seth Green works at Fischer to assist in producing salt and pepper mills for Eagle Manufacturing. Green likes working on machines Fischer Manufacturing Fischer, 3715 Blue River Ave. Mason Rowlette Case student Mason Rowlette works at Fischer to assist in producing salt and pepper mills for Eagle Manufacturing. Rowlette said the experienc SHANGHAI, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The 21st Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2025) has drawn nearly 1,000 companies from 26 countries and regions and quickly become the focal point of the global auto market. Automakers seized the stage with their latest innovations, underscoring a clear trend: the rise of smarter and more globally oriented vehicles. With 97 new models debuting, Chinese brands led the charge in vehicle intelligence, according to a report by Kaiyuan Securities. Notably, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have become a key differentiator, and tech giant Huawei is among the standout players. Models from Huawei's Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance (HIMA), such as AITO M8, Stelato S9 and Maextro S800, drew big crowds at this year's event, showcasing a suite of smart features that turn cars into fully featured terminals. From adaptive driver assistance and intelligent cockpits to smart keys and customizable welcome-light displays, these models reflect the latest evolution of the car into a connected tech hub on wheels. Huawei's tech support has injected new momentum into traditional original equipment manufacturers, such as Seres behind AITO and BAIC behind Stelato. At this year's Auto Shanghai, running from April 23 to May 2, Huawei's executive director Yu Chengdong and SAIC Motor president Jia Jianxu unveiled a new HIMA brand, pledging deeper collaboration in connected vehicles, electric drivetrains, smart vehicle controls and full-scenario mobility solutions. Established in 2023, HIMA is a dynamic ecosystem alliance focusing on intelligent vehicle technologies. Rather than building cars itself, Huawei plays a pivotal role within the alliance by shaping product planning, design and marketing, enhancing user experience and quality control, and supplying cutting-edge software and hardware solutions to traditional automakers. The alliance's momentum is already considerable. As of mid-April, more than 700,000 vehicles had been delivered under HIMA. Huawei's smart automotive solutions business raked in 26.35 billion yuan (approximately 3.66 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue in 2024, a stunning 474.4 percent leap from 4.58 billion yuan in 2023. Riding the wave of China's tech momentum, many global automakers are deepening local partnerships to supercharge their smart technology and electrification efforts. Speaking to Xinhua on the sidelines of the event, Oliver Zipse, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, said that China is pivotal in driving technological innovation for BMW's next-generation intelligent vehicles, and BMW will begin integrating AI technology from Chinese tech startup DeepSeek into its latest models in China later this year. Earlier this month, BMW announced plans to deepen its collaboration with ByteDance, owner of Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to enhance AI applications in marketing and customer service. In March, the automaker teamed up with e-commerce giant Alibaba to integrate a large language model AI into its next-generation vehicles. It partnered with Huawei to develop a smart in-car digital ecosystem tailored to the Chinese market further. "This country is so innovative that we really enjoy putting all the technology into the cars for China," the senior executive said, adding that the first Neue Klasse models, its next-generation vehicles, will roll off the line at the company's Shenyang plant in 2026. Volkswagen Group, another German automotive powerhouse, is also sharpening its focus on what it calls "the world's most innovative automotive market." Just ahead of the Shanghai auto show, the company unveiled a highly automated, AI-powered driver-assistance system developed by CARIZON, its joint R&D venture in China. This year, the automaker will roll out the first model featuring the new technology, and from 2026, the system will be standard on its next-generation, fully connected compact-class vehicles. "China is the technological pacemaker of global transformation," said Oliver Blume, CEO of Volkswagen Group. "At Auto Shanghai, we are now shifting into 'delivery mode.' With a new generation of intelligent, fully connected vehicles, we are focusing entirely on the digital, smart world in which our Chinese customers live." While global players double down on China, Chinese automakers are setting their sights abroad with a renewed sense of confidence. XPeng Motors announced plans to enter 60 international markets by 2025. The company reported stronger-than-expected overseas pre-orders for its newly launched X9 model, boosting its global ambitions. "We're not just bringing the X9 to Europe," said an XPeng representative. "We're also planning to revamp our entire product lineup around a global vehicle concept tailored to international market needs." NIO founder William Li announced that the company's Firefly brand, focusing on compact smart EVs for urban mobility, will enter 16 international markets this year, including the Netherlands, Norway and Costa Rica, using a hybrid sales model combining local dealership networks with NIO's service standards. The Firefly brand will adopt tailored pricing and sales strategies across European markets. NIO remains optimistic about Firefly's growth potential, projecting that the brand will quickly become a major driver of the company's international expansion. NIO anticipates that Firefly's success may eventually boost sales of its other product lines. China FAW Group Co., Ltd. announced an ambitious development plan for its car brand Hongqi on Wednesday, targeting operations in over 100 countries and regions with 1,000 sales and service outlets in five years. The automaker said it will establish five overseas hub clusters in markets including Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company will also establish more localized low-carbon R&D centers, supply chain and operation centers, achieving an annual overseas production capacity exceeding 200,000 vehicles and creating over 20,000 new jobs across upstream and downstream sectors. "Our layout will truly make the Hongqi brand a globally recognized Eastern cultural icon," said Liu Changqing, vice president of the Hongqi Brand Operations Committee. There are many disparities in health care. Black mothers have a much higher rate of maternal death than do white women. All women are less likely to get guideline-advised cardiac care than do men. Among the many such examples, perhaps the hardest disparity to solve is that of the poorer access to health care faced by rural communities. People living in rural counties have higher death rates from cancer and heart disease than their urban counterparts, and there are more deaths from opioid overdose. Rural hospitals are closing every week, leaving their communities with less local access to needed services. Physicians practicing in rural communities are older and are not being replaced as they retire. To keep small hospitals open, the federal government created the Critical Access Hospital program in 1997 that pays more to small (25 or fewer beds) and isolated (at least 35 miles from another hospital) hospitals. A friend who is an experienced nurse once told me she thought this was akin to the Chrysler bail-out, and these hospitals provided poor care and should be allowed to close. Many studies have documented poorer processes of care at small hospitals compared to larger ones. It is certainly true that small rural hospitals do not provide the same level of service as do larger hospitals. They have few specialists and rarely have anything close to a critical care unit for truly sick patients. I remember an experience from many years ago. I was moonlighting in the emergency department of a small isolated hospital when a patient came in with an obvious acute appendicitis that looked about to rupture. Unfortunately, the only surgeon on staff was quite inebriated after a night of partying and clearly in no shape to even drive to the hospital, never mind operate. The weather was foul, and getting the patient to another hospital was going to be dangerous, so the nursing staff convinced me, a cardiology fellow, to operate. Luckily the OR nurses knew more about the procedure than I did, and I had assisted on a few appendectomies in medical school, so the patient survived, but at a larger hospital, this dilemma would never have arisen. What can be done? Better transportation would help. In truly isolated areas, air ambulances may be needed. Under our current system, these are often exorbitantly expensive and a common source of surprise medical bills that run $10,000+ for non-Medicare patients. State governments and/or referral hospitals should establish fairly-priced air ambulance services if they cannot get commercial providers to bring down their prices. More use of telemedicine would help, both in providing specialty consultation to the small hospitals and in allowing patients to avoid long drives. It has been found that pre-hospital personnel, EMTs and paramedics, can often avoid taking a patient to the hospital if they have telephone back-up at the scene. Consolidation of rural hospitals to provide more of a critical mass of physicians might require longer drive times but would provide better care in return. Medical schools should recruit more students from small communities, as graduates are much more likely to serve their own or similar communities than are students from an urban background. In the meantime, if you are contemplating a move to the bucolic countryside after retirement, look carefully at the medical resources that would be available when you need them. Edward Hoffer is an internal medicine physician and author of Prescription for Bankruptcy: A doctors perspective on Americas failing health care system and how we can fix it. He blogs at Whats wrong with health care in America? Image credit: Shutterstock.com Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Internal medicine physician Edward Hoffer discusses his article, Can rural health care be saved? He outlines the significant health care disparities facing rural communities, including higher death rates from major diseases, increased opioid overdoses, ongoing hospital closures, and an aging physician workforce without adequate replacement. Edward questions the effectiveness of programs like the Critical Access Hospital designation, suggesting they may sometimes support lower-quality care, and shares a personal anecdote illustrating the dire consequences of specialist shortages in isolated settings. He proposes several potential solutions to improve rural health care: enhancing transportation, including establishing fairly-priced air ambulance services; expanding the use of telemedicine for specialty consultations and patient access; better utilizing EMTs and paramedics with remote support; considering strategic consolidation of rural hospitals for improved quality despite potentially longer travel; and focusing medical school recruitment on students from rural backgrounds. Edward underscores the complexity of the rural health care challenge and advises awareness of resource limitations. Our presenting sponsor is Microsoft Dragon Copilot. Want to streamline your clinical documentation and take advantage of customizations that put you in control? What about the ability to surface information right at the point of care or automate tasks with just a click? Now, you can. Microsoft Dragon Copilot, your AI assistant for clinical workflow, is transforming how clinicians work. Offering an extensible AI workspace and a single, integrated platform, Dragon Copilot can help you unlock new levels of efficiency. Plus, its backed by a proven track record and decades of clinical expertise and its part of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcareand its built on a foundation of trust. Ease your administrative burdens and stay focused on what matters most with Dragon Copilot, your AI assistant for clinical workflow. VISIT SPONSOR https://aka.ms/kevinmd SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended Transcript Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast. Today we welcome back Edward Hoffer; hes an internal medicine physician and cardiologist. Todays KevinMD article is, Can rural health care be saved? Edward, welcome back to the show. Edward Hoffer: Thank you very much, Kevin. Glad to join you. Kevin Pho: What led you to write this article, and tell the audience what its about for those who havent had a chance to read it? ADVERTISEMENT Edward Hoffer: As you probably know, I am not a big fan of the U.S. health care system. In fact, I have written a book called Prescription for Bankruptcy discussing some of the reasons the U.S. spends roughly twice as much per capita on health care as most Western countries and yet has mediocre at best health outcomes. One of the problems we have is the wide disparities in health care that someone receives. If you happen to be a well-to-do white person living in Rochester, Minnesota, or New York City, youll probably get world-class care. But if you dont fit that description, your care is probably, in many cases, not a lot better than what youd get in some of the poorer Eastern European countries. I gave a talk at a local hospital a couple of weeks ago on disparities in health care. I dont think anyone was surprised to learn that if you happen to be black in America, your health care is compromised. What seemed to be a little bit of a surprise to many in the audience was you could say the same thing if you happen to live in rural America; rural Americans have poorer outcomes by any number of measures we have. Take cardiovascular disease, where the mortality from cardiovascular disease between 2010 and the present has improved a little bit, whereas in rural America, its actually gotten a little bit worse. Hospitals are closing all over rural America. And with hospitals closing, youre having trouble getting surgery. Its inconvenient if you need surgery. If youre an expectant mother, its a huge problem. Fifteen years ago, about 30 percent of urban hospitals and about 45 percent of rural hospitals did not offer obstetric care. These days its gone up a little bit in urban hospitals, and now about 35 percent of urban hospitals, but over half of rural hospitals are not prepared to do deliveries. Of course, if youre in a city and your favorite hospital has closed its maternity ward, it may be annoying, but there are going to be two or three others that are willing to offer obstetric care. If you happen to live in the middle of Iowa and your local hospital has shut its maternity ward, you may be looking at a 200-mile drive when the time comes. So, cervical cancer mortality, probably because rural women dont have the access to preventive care that their urban counterparts do, is about 40 percent higher for rural women than it is for urban women. You can come up with numbers like that all across the board. It just says that living in rural America means you are a second-class citizen when it comes to medical care. In the paper I wrote, I included a little personal anecdote. I was moonlighting one summer years ago at a small, isolated hospital. I had a patient come in who clearly had acute appendicitis. The disposition was easy: Call the one surgeon that we had on staff, only to be told, Sorry, Dr. X has been partying and has had a few too many. He is in no shape to operate. Again, if youre in a major hospital, no problem, but when Dr. X is the only surgeon on staff, there is a problem. As a cardiology fellow, I ended up having to do an appendectomy. Thankfully, I was guided by some very good OR nurses who told me where to cut and where to stitch. But this is the kind of thing that, again, would be implausible or impossible in an urban setting but all too real in a small, isolated rural hospital. We need to fix that. Kevin Pho: Tell us the root causes why so many rural hospitals are shutting down, and why is it that a lot of rural patients just cant get even the appropriate primary care? What are some of the root causes behind that? Edward Hoffer: One reason is the lack of physicians willing to practice in those areas. The federal government started a program to put physicians into underserved areas, but these are time-limited. You get your medical school tuition paid, and in return, you have to give a number of years in an underserved area. But as soon as that number of years is up, most of the doctors are saying, Thank God, lets get back to the city, and leaving the practice empty again. A lot of rural hospitals are more dependent than their urban counterparts on Medicaid or people who simply have no health insurance, and theyre going broke. They cant keep the doors open when they have so few people with commercial insurance that buoys the bottom line of the urban hospital. I think that is probably those are the two major causes. Kevin Pho: When you talk about rural health care prior in this podcast, a lot of people suggest that telemedicine would be kind of a panacea to help with that access. What are your thoughts on that? Edward Hoffer: I think telemedicine offers something. Clearly, during the COVID pandemic, as we saw a great increase in the use of telemedicine, we saw that a lot of things that you do face-to-face can be done over telemedicine but not everything by a long shot. One interesting study I saw recently showed that if you mailed out stool fit cards to people who didnt have easy access to come in for primary care, you could increase the screening rate and the colon cancer detection rate. But thats a small part. Obviously, a lot of mental health things can be done by telemedicine and are badly needed, but its where you cant do lab tests via telemedicine. You cant really put hands on the belly or listen to the chest. I would say telemedicine and expansion of telemedicine is a good step in the right direction but hardly a panacea. Kevin Pho: In your article, you talk about the critical access hospital designation. Tell us more about that and why you feel that may be inadequate. Edward Hoffer: Part of it is that the government has increased payment rates to hospitals that are below a certain size and serve a very isolated population. One of the problems with that is when you get down to very small hospitals, the care is not the same quality as it is in a more substantial hospital. When you have a 35-bed hospital with a medical staff of two or three, by definition, youre not going to be able to deal with anything but the most straightforward, simple conditions. I think its a stop-gap, again, like telemedicine, but it is not going to solve the real problem. Part of what we need to do is get a lot better joint working relationships between the smaller isolated hospitals and a bigger urban counterpart. We need to get circuit-riding specialists who are willing to come out and have patients ready to be seen, make it an efficient use of their time, and take the ones where theres not an urgent need to be seen and get them all seen efficiently by somebody who knows what hes doing in a given specialty. Allow more teleconsults for the isolated family doctor who is trying to deal with an onslaught of complicated patients. Let them get easy, one-call access to a specialist at an affiliated urban hospital. I think that will help a lot. As far as diagnostic help, I think were going to be seeing more and more done by artificial intelligence. I can easily see within the next one to two years that it will provide a lot of needed consultative help to the rural physician and, in many cases, directly to the patient. I think that is definitely on the horizon. At the moment, its not quite ready for prime time. We havent solved the hallucination problem. We havent solved the problem of needing to put your inquiry into just the right format to get a good answer. But I think it is clearly coming and I think it, again, will help. Another thing that we need to do is improve access via better ambulances and better payment for people to access the larger hospitals. Im sure most of your listeners are aware of the surprise medical bill problem, and a lot of those came from air ambulancespeople for whom it was obvious that in the middle of the prairies they needed urgent surgery, got a helicopter, got in, got the surgery, went home, and discovered they had a $12,000 ambulance bill that was not covered. I think you either need to negotiate with the ambulance providers to get reasonable rates, or states and major hospitals need to subsidize that because neither telemedicine, teleconsultation, nor AI are going to help if you have a dissecting aneurysm. Youve got to get into the urban center, and youve got to get in there quickly. Kevin Pho: I want to talk about bringing more clinicians to rural settings because sometimes I think it may be more than money, right? Because sometimes no matter how much money you offer these clinicians, they may just opt for a more urban lifestyle, and it takes more than just a monetary sum to bring them to rural areas. What do you think about that? What is your path in terms of bringing more physicians to rural settings? Edward Hoffer: Kevin, youve hit the nail on the head with that one. There actually is limited but fairly solid data saying the way to get more physicians practicing in rural areas is to admit more medical students who grew up in those areas. You are not going to get somebody whose whole life has been in Chicago and for whom the opera and the museums are an important part of their lifestyle to go into a small town in rural America. The people who are going to go into rural America and make it their career, make it their life, are the people who grew up there, who feel ties to the local area, who feel ties to the people, and who are not, in fact, so concerned about some of the other lifestyle issues that the urban physician values so muchand the urban physicians spouse. I think if we really want to get doctors who will settle in and make their career in rural America, we need to get more medical students from those communities. Itll do much more than any kind of feasible financial incentive would do. Kevin Pho: If you were in charge of our health care system and you wanted to improve the status of what rural health care is, just tell us the next immediate steps that you would implement to fix this. Edward Hoffer: Immediate steps, I think, are things weve touched on. Number one is expand the payment for telemedicine services to make them more equitably available. Get hookups between urban and rural hospitals so that the physicians in rural hospitals have very easy access to specialists and to get their patients seen promptly when they need to be. I think we need to have either state governments, state Medicaid, and/or the bigger academic hospitals providing rapid air evacuation services for critically ill patients. And I think we need to start seeing that 10 to 15 percent of our admitted medical class are people who grew up in and want to return to rural America. Kevin Pho: Were talking to Edward Hoffer. Hes an internal medicine physician and cardiologist. Todays KevinMD article is, Can rural health care be saved? Edward, lets end with some take-home messages that you want to leave with the KevinMD audience. Edward Hoffer: I would say, if you have thought about it, there is a lot of quality in rural America, but dont go there simply because the government pays you to do so. All youll be doing is putting a Band-Aid on the wound. We want to get people into rural America who like rural America, want to practice there, want to live and die there. And I think theres also a lot that both the government and the academic centers can do to make that a more attractive place to practice and for patients to get care. Kevin Pho: Edward, thank you so much for sharing your perspective and insight, and thanks again for coming back on the show. Edward Hoffer: Thank you, Kevin. I enjoyed it. The Pitt, a medical drama set in a fictional Pittsburgh trauma center, captures the human connections forged in emergency medicine. The show follows a team of residents and medical students through a relentless 15-hour shift under their seasoned attending, Dr. Michael Robby Robinavitch (Noah Wyle). Unlike melodramatic predecessors, The Pitt finds drama in the emotional toll of ER work, emphasizing resilience amid exhaustion. Its commitment to realism shines in nuanced details: From the representation of Filipino nurses to the steadfast charge nurse (Katherine LaNasa) running the department. As an emergency psychiatrist in one of Ontarios busiest ERs, I rarely find medical dramas compelling. Yet, The Pitt authentically reflects health cares grim realities, highlighting experiences of physician burnout, trauma, race, and gender inequities. But when it comes to psychiatric care, The Pitt retreats into caricature, pushing psychiatry to the margins of medical storytelling. Consider the depiction of a patient with schizophrenia (Ian Stanley), labeled by staff as a mythical threat The Kraken. Invoking Alfred Tennysons poem, the nickname casts him not as a patient in distress, but as a monster lying in wait. When he finally awakens from chemical sedation, confused and thrashing against restraints, his suffering becomes spectacle. Instead of swift intervention, the ER team appears indifferent, lingering outside his room and debating restraint methods. A nurse admits to forgetting his scheduled medications. The lack of urgency, in contrast to the rapid responses elsewhere in the show, brands the psychiatric emergency as an inconvenience. When Dr. Robby declines the nurses request for assistance, merely providing a verbal order for sedation, the omission forces his inexperienced learners to haphazardly fill in the gaps. The bumbling medical student, Dennis Whitaker (Gerren Howell), replaces treatment with theatrics, plunging the needle into the patient with an audible battle-cry. The scene heavily implies that psychiatric crises require force, not compassion. For Whitaker, the moment serves as instruction, shaping his approach to psychiatric care. It is a painful testament to the hidden curriculum of medicine, where harmful attitudes can become the standard of practice. The show further punctuates stigma through casual biases. After an ambulance is stolen, ER staff immediately suspect a psychiatric patient or junkie. When the culprit turns out to be a group of white frat boys, the bias goes unexamined. A senior resident jokingly asks whether one pledge could still pass for a meth head. The moment is played for laughs, but underscores the prejudice surrounding addiction and mental illness. In another instance, a resident (Supriya Ganesh) correctly challenges Dr. Robbys directive to just call psych, insisting on a thorough medical evaluation that ultimately identifies mercury poisoning. Her meticulous approach, however, is repeatedly criticized for being too slow and excessive. When its hinted she might be better suited for psychiatry, the remark is meant as an insult implying psychiatry is a fallback for those who cant handle real medicine. The Pitt exposes how mental health stigma thrives amidst resource constraints and unsustainable patient volumes. Despite his gifts for healing, not even Dr. Robby can singlehandedly mend a broken system. Studies consistently show that psychiatric patients receive poorer overall care in emergency settings, where medical concerns are frequently dismissed as manifestations of mental illness. Emergency departments, ill-equipped to manage mental health crises, nonetheless remain frontline providers. But when psychiatric patients are viewed as volatile and unmanageable, policies that prioritize containment are fortified. Historically, acute agitation was met with straitjackets. Today, physical and chemical restraints are meant to be last resorts. Ive seen firsthand that psychiatric crises are rarely resolved through sedation alone. Effective de-escalation is a highly skilled pursuit, requiring situational awareness, verbal techniques, and medication intended to calm rather than sedate. Simple acts introductions, validation, offering choices often take less time than restraints. Stanleys character (eventually allowed to regain humanity) later discloses the familiar hardships of managing psychotic illness without stable housing or affordable medication. In response, a social worker helps Whitaker develop a patient-centered discharge plan, inspiring him to join the street outreach team. But the focus remains squarely on Whitakers transformation, framing the patients earlier mistreatment as a necessary even acceptable catalyst for the learners arc. In truth, psychiatric patients rarely experience tidy resolutions; instead, they face re-traumatization, revolving-door-care, and uncertain discharges. Medical dramas influence public perceptions, and The Pitt a popular show among health care providers has the potential to reshape the portrayals of mental health care. The recurring trope of the unavailable psychiatrist wrongly indicts psychiatric inaccessibility as intentional rather than systemic. Yet access issues cant improve if on-screen narratives reinforce fear over understanding. You ever heard of impact over intent? one character asks. The phrase resonates deeply. As Tennysons Kraken suggests, the true challenge isnt in avoiding deep, mysterious forces its in bringing them to light. Kayla Simms is an emergency psychiatrist. This article originally appeared in MedPage Today. If youve ever published or read scientific research, youve likely encountered the phrase non solus subtly attached to over 720,000 research articles in 2024 alone. Its Latin for not alone. In 1620, a Dutchman named Isaac Elzevir believed this phrase reflected the symbiotic relationship between authors and publishers neither could succeed without the other. He incorporated non solus into his familys publishing logo, alongside an image of a vine entwining a large elm tree, with a scholar standing nearby. According to Elseviers website (the descendent of Elzevirs family company), the tree symbolizes publishers providing the scaffolding, the vine represents research bearing fruit, and non solus reflects the interdependence between them. But is that relationship still true in 2025? The reality is that academic publishing in 2025 looks nothing like it did 30 years ago let alone 400 years ago. Digital access has transformed the landscape, eclipsing traditional print journals. Even within digital platforms, artificial intelligence and automated editing tools have made reviewing and publishing manuscripts faster and more efficient than ever. Research-hosting websites can now be partially coded with AI and run on widely available, affordable content management systems and databases. But if publishing research is easier than ever, why is it more expensive than ever? The bottom line is that most physicians need to publish to advance their careers, and when for-profit publishers control over 60 percent of scientific publications today, the result is a massive money-making machine. The academic publishing industry is now worth $19 billion. For-profit publishers like Elsevier have capitalized on this goldmine, boasting profit margins exceeding 30 percent higher than Google, Amazon, and Target. Its easy to hit those margins when researchers provide much of the labor for free. U.S.-based scientists alone contribute over $1.5 billion annually in unpaid peer review. They also submit research for free or even pay to publish through article-processing charges (APCs), which at some journals are estimated to be 510 times higher than the true cost of publication. This forces researchers to choose between pay-walling their work from the public or feeding the for-profit publishing giants in a pay-to-publish ecosystem. The problem with Elseviers logo is that its backward. A more accurate metaphor would be a tree of knowledge the research with a vine (the publisher) overgrowing it. Vines are invasive, and like any invasive species, their unchecked growth and selfish demand for resources are choking the native ability of research to thrive. The for-profit academic publishing system, in its relentless drive to maximize profits, has fueled a pay-to-publish model, contributed to research waste, and exploited researchers unpaid labor. Researchers must start working together to make scientific publications a public good thats actually open to the public. Over two dozen researchers and I founded a nonprofit organization with this purpose in mind. We created the Researchers Journal of Internal Medicine as not just a new research journal, but as a new way to publish research. We dont charge APCs. We dont hide science behind paywalls. And we dont use free labor for profits. Instead, we recognize our reviewers and authors with honoraria or charitable donations in their name. Our goal is simple but radical: To remove the profiting middle-man in research and make science truly open. At its core, academic publishing should be a communal effort to produce and share scientific knowledge. In that sense, non solus holds true research cant be done alone. But we can do it without for-profit publishers. Brian Elliott is a pulmonary and critical care fellow and author of White Coat Ways: A History of Medical Traditions and Their Battle With Progress. However the world may change, China will not slow down its climate actions, will not reduce its support for international cooperation, and will not cease its efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind, said Chinese President Xi Jinping. BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping shared on Wednesday with the international community his insights on how countries worldwide can come together to tackle climate change at the Leaders Meeting on Climate and the Just Transition. Hailing his call for multilateralism, strengthened cooperation, a just transition and results-oriented actions, observers said Xi's proposals have bolstered faith in jointly tackling the world's most urgent environmental challenges. While presenting China's green development vision and announcing its climate action in his video speech, Xi underscored China's resolve to partner with various stakeholders in building a clean, beautiful and sustainable world. "As long as we enhance confidence, solidarity and cooperation, we will overcome the headwinds and steadily move forward global climate governance and all progressive endeavors of the world," Xi said. "In a turbulent world, the message from Beijing projects a clear vision of where the world should be moving to," said Putra Adhiguna, managing director of Indonesia's Energy Shift Institute, adding that "the respectful acknowledgement of the different needs of countries and the needs to share the fruits of green development is welcomed by many countries." Likewise, Al Mamun Mridha, former secretary general of the Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "Xi's emphasis on multilateralism and the deepening of international cooperation is both timely and commendable." Climate change presents a profound global challenge that no single nation can address in isolation, Mridha said, adding that the emphasis on a just transition is important for developing countries such as Bangladesh, where economic growth needs to be pursued in tandem with environmental sustainability. In his speech, Xi said China will announce its 2035 nationally determined contributions covering all economic sectors and all greenhouse gases before the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil. China's continued commitment to cutting emissions is "extremely important" for global climate action, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "It was among the most diverse meetings of heads of state focused exclusively on climate in some time. Yet I heard a unifying message" toward action, Guterres said during a press conference after the online climate meeting. "The world is getting on with progressing towards net zero emissions," said Gareth Redmond-King, head of International Programme at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a nonprofit organization based in Britain. "Countries committing to deliver new climate targets show that the multilateral process, with all of its frustrations, is still marching on," Redmond-King noted. Xi also pointed out however the world may change, China will not slow down its climate actions, will not reduce its support for international cooperation, and will not cease its efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind. "Upholding multilateralism, promoting just transitions and sharing green innovations are essential for a safe and prosperous future," said Nanda Kumar Janardhanan, deputy director for climate and energy at the Japan-based Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. "Together, the world can build a resilient planet that serves the well-being of all humanity," Janardhanan added. 21:55 Indian goods worth $10 bn reach Pak via third countries Indian goods worth over USD 10 billion are reaching Pakistan every year indirectly through ports such as Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo, bypassing trade restrictions, according to estimates of economic think tank GTRI. Explaining the system, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said... Read more > 21:31 Indian woman stopped at Attari while trying to return to Pak A Meerut woman married to a Pakistani was sent back from the Wagah border with her two children for carrying an Indian passport. Sana, a resident of Sardhana area of Meerut, had came to India with her two children on a 45-day visa, but when she visited the the Wagah border on April... Read more > 20:42 Thiruvananthapuram Airport receives bomb threat via email Thiruvananthapuram International Airport received a bomb threat via email early Sunday, which turned out to be a hoax, police said.The email was received in the official email ID of the airport manager, they added.As soon as the information was received, Kerala police and CISF personnel conducted... Read more > 20:37 Senthil Balaji, Ponmudy step down as TN ministers Tamil Nadu Ministers V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy have resigned from the M K Stalin-led state cabinet and the Governor has accepted the same, the Raj Bhavan said on Sunday.Governor R N Ravi has approved Chief Minister Stalin's recommendation to accept their resignation, a Raj Bhavan communique... Read more > 20:15 54 TTP terrorists killed by security forces in Pakistan At least 54 terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been killed while trying to infiltrate from Afghanistan into northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military's media wing said on Sunday. According to a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations... Read more > 20:13 Fire at ED office doused after 12 hrs; files feared damaged A huge fire broke out at the Enforcement Directorate's office building in south Mumbai in the early hours of Sunday, though no one was hurt in the incident, officials said.A Mumbai Fire Brigade official said the Level III (major) blaze at Kaiser-I-Hind building in Ballard Estate area was doused... Read more > 19:04 11 dead as van hits bike, lands in water-filled well in MP A speeding van plunged into a water-filled well after hitting a bike in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district on Sunday, leaving 11 persons, including a biker and a rescuer, dead, police said.The incident occurred in the Narayangarh police station area.Ratlam range Deputy Inspector General (DIG)... Read more > 18:44 C'garh: Students forced to offer namaz at NSS camp Eight persons, including seven faculty members, were booked for allegedly forcing some students of Guru Ghasidas Central University to offer namaz during a National Service Scheme (NSS) camp in Chhattigarh's Bilaspur district, a police official said on Sunday.They forced 159 students to offer... Read more > 18:06 272 Pak citizens left India via Attari in past 2 days Around 272 Pakistani nationals have left India in the past two days through the Attari-Wagah border point and a few hundred more are expected to exit on Sunday when the deadline for the 12 categories of short-term visa holders of the neighbouring nation ends, an official said.As many as 629... Read more > 18:03 Bollywood actor reaches Pahalgam with 'chalo Kashmir' message At a time when tourism has taken a hit due to the terror attack in Pahalgam, actor Atul Kulkarni has landed in Jammu and Kashmir with an appeal to fellow citizens to visit the Himalayan region in huge numbers. Kulkarni reached Srinagar on Sunday early morning and drove straight to Pahalgam... Read more > 17:40 Pak wants Russia, China's involvement in Pahalgam attack probe Pakistan wants involvement of Russia and China in investigating the Pahalgam terror attack, according to a media report. Terrorists opened fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 26 people, mostly tourists, in the deadliest attack in the Valley since the Pulwama strike in... Read more > 17:26 Bomb scare on Varanasi-Bengaluru IndiGo flight, Canadian detained Panic broke out at Varanasi airport after a foreign national aboard a Bengaluru-bound IndiGo flight claimed he was carrying a bomb, police said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday night, police said, adding that the passenger, a Canadian, has been detained. Security... Read more > 17:01 Properly utilise our support: Cong to PM on JK attack Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said his party has extended full support to the central government in its actions against the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack and that they will have to properly utilise it, take everyone into confidence, and move ahead.The country is... Read more > 16:52 China unlikely to get involved in India-Pak 'instability': Ex-army commander China is unlikely to get directly involved in the instability between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, due to the current geopolitical scenario and tariff-related complexities, a former Indian Army commander has said.He, however, also underscored that China's... Read more > 16:11 2 arrested for fabricating 'love jihad' case to extort money in UP Police have arrested two individuals in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar for allegedly falsely implicating a man in a 'love jihad' case and extorting over Rs 1 lakh from him, officials said. The incident occurred in the Ladhowala locality under Kotwali police station, where a woman alleged... Read more > 15:53 Ban on sale, stitching and storage of army uniforms in J-K's Kishtwar Representative image Authorities have ordered prohibition on sale, stitching and storage of army uniforms and combat pattern dresses in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district to check their misuse by anti-national elements. Deputy Commissioner, Kishtwar, Rajesh Kumar Shavan ordered the prohibition.Whereas, this... Read more > 15:43 Pakistan Ratna: BJP on K'taka CM's 'no need for war' remark The opposition BJP on Sunday slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, with Pakistan media playing up his no need for war comments over the Pahalgam terror attack.Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka accused Siddaramaiah of acting like a puppet of an enemy nation, at a... Read more > 14:59 Exit deadline ends, Pak citizens rush home through Attari My mother's an Indian and she is not being allowed to accompany us to Pakistan, bawled teenage Sarita, not knowing when she could see her in person. She, her brother and father were among the hundreds queued up at the Attari border point to exit India on Sunday as the clock ticked. The exit... Read more > 14:47 16 arrested in Assam for seditious comments post Pahalgam attack At least 16 people have been arrested across Assam for making seditious comments in the wake of the Pahalgam attack, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.Total 16 arrests have been made till now against rogue elements, he said in a post on X.The number of arrests was 14 till Saturday... Read more > 14:04 'Anytime Anywhere': Navy test fires anti-ship missile Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian Navy has successfully conducted multiple anti-ship missile firings in the Arabian Sea, showcasing its long-range precision strike capabilities.#IndianNavy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship... Read more > 13:47 Adnan Sami slams ex-Pak minister in wake of Pahalgam attack Adnan Sami has called out former information and broadcasting minister of Pakistan Chaudhry Fawad Hussain after he raised questions about the singer-composer's citizenship as tensions run high in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Terrorists struck Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir,... Read more > 13:29 After Arijit, Shreya Ghoshal cancel her concert after Pahalgam attack Singer Shreya Ghoshal became the latest artist to cancel her concert following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Ghoshal, who has been the voice behind songs like Dola Re Dola, Sunn Raha Hai and Zoobi Doobi, was supposed to perform at Surat on Saturday as a part... Read more > 12:56 Pakistani nationals missing in Maha? Fadnavis says... Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday rubbished reports about Pakistani nationals being missing in the state and said all of them were accounted for.Fadnavis said arrangements are being made to deport Pakistani nationals from the state as per the Centre's directives.Talking to... Read more > 12:44 Maha sarpanch murder key accused Karad suffers panic attack in jail Walmik Karad, former Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde's close aide arrested for the kidnapping and murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, suffered a panic attack in jail and is undergoing treatment, an official said on Sunday.Karad, who is lodged at Beed prison, complained of some health issues... Read more > 12:10 Enemies of India want to destroy Kashmir: Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated on Sunday that the terrorists behind the Pahalgam terror attack and those involved in the conspiracy will be served the most stringent punishment, asserting that the victims will receive justice. In his Mann Ki Baat address, Modi said the solidarity... Read more > 11:58 Major fire breaks out at ED's Mumbai office A major blaze broke out at the Enforcement Directorate's office building in south Mumbai in the early hours of Sunday, and there were no casualties in the incident, officials said.The fire broke out at the Kaiser-I-Hind building in the Ballard Estate area around 2.31 am, they said.Officials said... Read more > 11:13 MP CM Yadav directs officials to ensure safety of J-K students in state Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav (middle) Amid tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has directed officials to ensure the safety of students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in the state.Yadav also directed the administration to ensure the return of Pakistani nationals as per the... Read more > 11:10 Indian Navy carries out anti-ship firing drills amid tension Indian naval ship during missile a test in Arabian Sea/ANI Photo Indian naval warships have successfully carried out anti-ship firings revalidating readiness for long-range precision strikes, officials said on Sunday. The firing drills came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the Pahalgam terror attack. Indian Navy Ships... Read more > 10:50 J-K: Two suspected overground workers of terror ranks detained in Budgam Budgam police in Jammu and Kashmir have detained two suspected overground workers affiliated with terrorist ranks under the Public Safety Act (PSA), police said in a statement. According to an official statement, in a decisive move against terrorism and acting tough against... Read more > 10:18 Madhya Pradesh CM reviews measures to identify Pak nationals in state MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav Against the backdrop of the recent Pahalgam terror attack, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav held a crucial meeting with the state police officials to review measures for the identification and expulsionof Pakistani nationals from the state, following directives from the... Read more > 09:52 NIA takes over Pahalgam terror attack probe The National Investigation Agency has officially taken over the investigation into the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, as per the sources. The attack which took place on April 22, terrorists attacked tourists at the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, killing 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali... Read more > 09:51 All Pakistani nationals left Bihar ahead of April 27 deadline: Officials The Bihar government has said that all Pakistani nationals, who had been to the state in the recent past, have left well ahead of the April 27 deadline. A total of 19 Pakistani nationals, who came to different districts of Bihar on visit visas and tourist visas left the state on April 25 or... Read more > 09:19 Russian security service arrests suspect in general's car bomb death Russia's top internal security and counterintelligence service has arrested a man for his alleged involvement in the death of a Russian general, who was killed by a car bomb on Friday, officials said on Saturday. Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in... Read more > 09:05 Terrorists gun down social activist in J-K's Kupwara A 45-year-old social activist was shot dead by suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, officials said on Sunday. The terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas late on Saturday, they said. Magray was rushed to a hospital where he... Read more > 08:49 Assam: Woman held for 'anti-national' comments on Pahalgam attack A woman from Golaghat district was detained by the Crime Branch from Guwahati for allegedly making controversial and anti-national comments on the Pahalgam terror attack, a police official said. The woman was later handed over to the Golagat police, who subsequently arrested... Read more > 08:22 Major fire breaks out at ED office building in south Mumbai Firefighting continues at Kaiser-I-Hind building, which houses ED office in Mumbai/ANI on X A major fire broke out at the Enforcement Directorate office building in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate area early on Sunday, civic officials said and added there were no reports of any injuries. The fire brigade received a call about the blaze at the multistorey Kaiser-I-Hind building, which... Read more > 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: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In places like Australia, where metropolitan areas are separated by an entire continent, donor hearts used to go unused simply because transplant teams couldn't get the organ to a recipient in time. "If there isn't a recipient for an available heart in Perth but there's a match in Sydney, that's nearly 2,000 miles of travel, or a five-hour flight," said Emily Granger, MBBS, cardiothoracic and heart and lung transplant surgeon at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, Australia. "Add to that a couple of hours for retrieval and preparation, and that's a seven-hour journey." Dr. Granger addressed organ transportation time at today's Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston. "We've focused much of our research at St. Vincent's on ensuring that we can protect and preserve the donor heart not only for a long distance but also for a long time," she said. Until recently, donor hearts had to be transported in a portable cooler, which gave transplant teams six hours to get a donor heart implanted. The inception of machine perfusion, in which a device pumps a blood-like solution through the donor heart during transport, has significantly extended that window. St. Vincent's, a pioneer of machine perfusion, began using the technology in 2014 for hearts donated following circulatory death (DCD). Today, machine perfusion is used in over half of the center's heart transplants. "We recognized that we needed a system that would enable us to span the country," she said. "We knew we had to remove time from the equation." St. Vincent has pushed the limits of normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), in which the heart is perfused and preserved at approximately 35 degrees Celsius, for up to 8 hours. Other Australian units have even used the system for 10 hours. "Ten years ago, we had to refuse donor organs because of time constraints," she said. "Now we can accept organs from regions we never thought were possible and be confident they'll work." She said in the near future, it may be possible to push the boundaries even more. "We could actually look at an international exchange of donor hearts to allow transport between countries," she said. Australia already retrieves donor organs from New Zealand. However, machine perfusion could allow transplantation teams to travel to the Pacific Islands and Asia. "There are a significant number of patients on our transplant list that are very difficult to match to a donor," she said. "The answer for them could be a donor from a slightly different genetic population than we have in our local area. Their ideal donor might actually live in a different country." Research conducted at St. Vincent's has shown that outcomes for heart transplants involving machine perfusion are comparable to transplants performed without it. "We looked specifically at the primary graft function in the transplanted heart and found no difference across modalities," she said. "We like to think that we're removing the impact of time by using machine perfusion." Dr. Granger said the technology represents a true sea change for heart transplant teams. "When I began my career as a transplant surgeon, we just had a portable cooler," she said. "The space has totally transformed, and the only thing limiting us at the moment is our imagination." Provided by International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation 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: PARINDA SHAAN from Pexels At today's Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in Boston, Angela Lorts, MD, MBA, issued an urgent call for improved mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices for children with life-threatening heart conditions. "Advances in pediatric cardiac disease are underfunded and understudied. Therapies are rarely developed for children. We modify adult therapies to use in pediatrics," said Dr. Lorts, director of the Ventricular Assist Device Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Pediatric hearts fail because of acquired and genetic disorders that affect the heart muscle and structural or congenital heart disease that can't be adequately repaired. Approximately 500 pediatric transplants are performed, and about 300 heart devices are implanted annually in the United States alone. Patients awaiting a heart transplant are often implanted with an MCS device, which helps the heart pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. "Kids really don't get the therapies they need because MCS devices are designed for adults," she said. "The patient population is relatively small, and there is often concern about return on investment for small devices, so companies struggle to invest in them. In many cases, adult devices are used off-label in pediatric patients." According to Dr. Lorts, off-label device use in children not only deters innovation but also does not require data collection and analysis for safety and efficacy. "We're grateful to have a pediatric-specific device, but it is older-generation engineering and has high adverse event rates," she said. "Also, the supply of these devices can't keep up with demand, so children sometimes can't access the life-saving technology when they need it most." Compounding the problem is the fact that children implanted with the pediatric MCS device must remain in the hospital. These patients may be hospitalized for six months to a year before they receive a new heart. "We need to get these kids home to their houses with their devices," she said. "That's what adults get to do, and our children should be in the same position." She and colleagues established the ACTION Network, an international collaborative of 70 centers and 1,500 providers to raise awareness and funding for pediatric heart devices. The network is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the use and monitor the safety of two adult VAD devices in pediatric patients. She said several manufacturers have become great partners for the pediatric heart community, and a handful of promising new devices are on the horizon. The ACTION network, which also includes regulatory organizations, researchers, and industry representatives, is also working to combine real-world data and clinical trial research to develop and monitor the safety and efficacy of pediatric heart devices. "The device manufacturers are aware of the problem," Dr. Lorts said. "But we still need alternative ways to allocate funds to support a pediatric device initiative so we can save these kids' lives and get them home with their devices." Dr. Lorts said the lack of novel therapies designed for children is a systemic problem in medicine. "We always use adult therapies and try to jerry-rig them," she said. "There are kids who die now because we don't have the right device. We can do better." Provided by International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation 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: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Sierra Leone is facing an increase in recorded mpox infections, with 177 new cases reported in recent days, a health ministry official told AFP. The West African country, which in January declared a public health emergency to combat mpox, has sent health teams to carry out screening operations in households of people suspected to be infected with the virus. Amanda Clemens, social mobilization coordinator for the health ministry, said Saturday that health workers had recorded a total of 177 cases over the Friday-Saturday period. Sierra Leone has recorded 763 cases of mpox since January with six deaths and 282 recoveries, according to data from the National Public Health Agency published Saturday. Freetown, the capital, has the highest number of detected mpox cases since the health emergency was declared. As a result, the government has opened four treatment centers in the capital since February. "Misinformation and fear surrounding mpox continue to prevent some people from seeking medical assistance and some individuals were not tested early enough and may have unknowingly spread the disease before their diagnosis," said Sallu Lansana, part of the health ministry's vaccination team. The country started vaccinating frontline health care workers and high-risk individuals and children from age 12 in early April, after securing 61,300 doses from the World Health Organization (WHO) and development partners. "Over 1,000 people have been vaccinated with the majority being health workers and many of whom are women," said Desmond Maada Kangbai, who leads the health ministry's vaccination program. Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox, manifesting in a high fever and skin lesions, called vesicles. First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, the disease had generally been confined to a dozen African countries. But in 2022, it began to spread more widely, reaching developed countries where the virus had never previously circulated. The WHO declared its highest level of alert in 2024. A decade ago, Sierra Leone was one of the countries worst affected by an Ebola epidemic which between 2014 and 2016 killed about 4,000 people, including nearly 7% of health workers. 2025 AFP 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: Vaccination and sampling schedule for RV456/EBL2003 Phase 2 Ad26/MVA Ebola vaccine trial. Credit: Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adq2496 Filoviruses are among the globe's most lethalindeed, so dangerous they can be handled only in high-security laboratories. Yet, more than five decades after the discovery of the Marburg virus and nearly 50 years after the first outbreak involving its infamous cousinthe Ebola virusquestions still abound about the family Filoviridae. Members of this deadly family emerged through zoonotic transmission, most likely jumping across multiple species barriersfrom fruit bats to simian species and forest antelopes, then eventually to humans. It's theorized that humans may have contracted the viruses through hunting and butchering bushmeat. Mindful that only two vaccines exist, and both were designed to prevent Ebola virus infection, a multidisciplinary team of scientists at a U.S. military research institute has analyzed whether one of those vaccines might also confer immunity to other filoviruses. The research arrives as virologists at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston are testing the antiviral pill known as obeldesivir, which so far appears capable of curing Rhesus macaques infected with Ebola virus. The medication is the oral form of the intravenous drug Remdesivir, originally developed for COVID-19. Military researchers, meanwhile, conducted an in-depth series of experiments to determine whether a recombinant Ebola vaccine containing components of multiple filoviruses could serve as an off-the-shelf choice to prevent infection by filoviruses other than Ebola. Their findings, however, didn't produce the outcome they had hoped for. But the discovery that unfolded has helped pave the way to a broader understanding of what's needed for a multivalent vaccine that guards against multiple filoviruses. Details of the research are reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. "Ebola virus is a negative single-strand RNA virus from the family Filoviridae that causes a virulent hemorrhagic fever, termed Ebola virus disease," writes Dr. Thembi Mdluli, lead author of the new research and a computational biologist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Just as Ebolavirus is a negative single-strand RNA virus, so too are other filoviruses, which also cause a devastating hemorrhagic fever. Filoviruses are known for their morbidity and high mortality. Mduli and colleagues pointed to Marburg outbreaks in Africa, where fatality rates have ranged between 83 and 88%. "Marburg virusMARVwas discovered in 1967 and has caused mostly sporadic self-contained outbreaks," Mdluli added, referring to the world's first filovirus discovery. The isolation of the Marburg virus occurred after lab personnel in Europe were infected by green monkeys from Uganda. Laboratory workers were infected in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany, as well as in Belgrade, Serbia. Of the 31 people who were sickened, seven died. In addition to Ebola and Marburg viruses, other members of the filovirus family include Sudan, Bundibugyo and Tai Forest viruses, all named after geographic locations where they were first identified. The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its first known appearance was an explosive and deadly August 1976 outbreak. An estimated 280 people died. The Walter Reed researchers report that a vaccine to prevent infections caused by filoviruses is critical. Likewise, virologists in Texas, working on the obeldesivir antiviral research, say a single pill would solve a global health problem. "We're really trying to come up with something that is more practical, easier to use, that could be used to help prevent, control, and contain outbreaks," Thomas Geisbert, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told Agence France Presse in March. MVA, Ad26 and Ad26, MVA recipients showed strong antibody (Ab) binding responses against EBOV GP antigens at peak immunity. Credit: Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adq2496 Despite the amount of time that filoviruses have circulated on Earth, they emerged only in the 20th and 21st centuries. It has taken until recent years to develop vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies just for Ebola virus disease. "Filoviruses are ancient relative to their initial detection in humans. The most recent common ancestor of Filoviridae is estimated to be several thousand years old," Mdluli asserted. It was in the aftermath of the sweeping 2014 through 2016 West African Ebola outbreak that vaccine-development studies produced the first Ebola inoculation, Ervebo, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in 2019. It's manufactured by Merck & Co. Vaccine candidates are in development for Marburg virus, but there still isn't an approved immunization to prevent infection. Mdluli and her colleagues chose to study the only other approved Ebola vaccine, one developed by Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson. The Janssen Ebola vaccine is a two-part regimen known as Zabdeno and Mvabea. The doses were designed to be administered eight weeks apart. The first part of the vaccinethe Zabdeno doseincludes an adenovirus vector that ferries the vaccine's payloadthe genetic code for Ebola virus's sugary outer coating, its glycoproteininto human cells. The second dose consists of a modified vaccinia Ankara vector, the vehicle that carries the vaccine into cells. It encodes glycoproteins from Ebola, Sudan and Marburg viruses, as well as the nucleoprotein from the Tai Forest virus. In the study, the two vaccines were administered to 583 people. Volunteers hailed from multiple countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States. Seventy-one participants were from the U.S. Volunteers were divided into two groups. This allowed the team to vaccinate some participants in the manufacturer's prescribed order for the two doses: Zabdeno first and Mvabea second. With the second group, the team reversed the order of the vaccines: Mvabea first, followed by Zabdeno, providing exposure to the components of multiple filoviruses in participants' initial shots. Researchers also studied 48 people who were infected during an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus, a filovirus that emerged in Uganda in 2007. When participants' blood was analyzed in the lab, it revealed that antibodies were highly specific to fighting Ebola virus but didn't react strongly to other filoviruses. The scientists also examined blood samples from the Bundibugyo survivors and discovered their antibodies didn't put up much of a fight against other filoviruses, either. Mdluli reported that her team's strategy provided only limited protection against other members of the filovirus family. "These results underscore the vaccine's potential to provide strong, species-specific protection against [Ebola virus] while highlighting the need for multivalent vaccines that can provide broader coverage for other filoviruses," Mdluli concluded. More information: Thembi Mdluli et al, Ebola virus vaccination elicits Ebola virusspecific immune responses without substantial cross-reactivity to other filoviruses, Science Translational Medicine (2025). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adq2496 Journal information: Science Translational Medicine 2025 Science X Network Henry Langrehr, 100, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division that parachuted into France on D-Day, died early Wednesday, his daughter Karen Winters said. Langrehr, a Clinton native, jumped into Sainte-Mere-Eglise during the allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He landed through the roof of a glass greenhouse, as depicted in the movie, "The Longest Day." After months of fighting, and being wounded twice, he eventually escaped from a Nazi prison camp after months of working as a laborer mining coal. The U.S. Army awarded him two Purple Heart and two Bronze Star medals. In 2007, at the age of 82, by decree of the president of the French republic, Langrehr was named a knight of the Legion of Honor for his actions during World War II. The ceremony took place at the French residence in Washington, D.C. Then French President Nicolas Sarkozy presided over the ceremony. Langrehr, who rarely talked about his service, finally chronicled his war experience in the book "Whatever It Took," an American paratrooper's extraordinary memoir of escape, survival and heroism in the last days of World War II. Cremation rites will be accorded. A private ceremony will be held June 6 with burial at Clinton Memorial Cemetery. Langrehr will be interred next to his wife of 77 years, Arlene, who died Feb. 20, 2023, at age 98. The couple had four children, Dennis, Karen Winters, Kay Schneider and Dale. In civilian life after the war, he owned and operated Henry O. Langrehr & Sons, General Contractors in Clinton. Winters said that growing up, the children never knew about their dad's experiences in World War II. "He was just dad," Winters said. "He was such an inspiration to us kids, even though we didn't know the story back then." While her dad enjoyed working, Winters added, when it was time to be with the kids, work was left behind. Fishing was the family vacation, she said. "I remember all the fishing trips and going on the boat early in the morning with him with the fog hanging on the water," Winters said. "It would still be almost dark, not quite dawn, and we'd be casting. "I always ended up in the reeds and he was always to patient with me," she said. "Back in those days there weren't all these fancy eating roadside places they have today," Winters said. "Mom would always pack food and we'd stop and picnic together. "My love of fishing came from these trips," she said. "We have so many great memories of them and that's the real treasure." Winters said it wasn't until the 50th anniversary of D-Day that the family began to learn of their father's wartime experiences. "He thought he'd better talk about them because the kids weren't learning it in school, and he wanted to honor his friends and comrades who lost their lives," Winters said. "That was a big deal. He always wanted people to remember his friends and comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom." Just last May, Langrehr was able to return to France and visit Sainte-Mere-Eglise. "He got to go back to the greenhouse on the 80th anniversary of D-Day," Winters said. "He was able to go inside." Langrehr also was able to look across to the church where the parachute of his friend, John Steele, had gotten caught on a pinnacle of the town's church, leaving Steele dangling against the church's facade. Langrehr and Steele had been friends, Winters said. Steele survived by pretending to be dead, she added. Steele died in 1969. Langrehr, a demolitions expert, and his unit jumped into France about 1 a.m. on D-Day. Their rally point was Chef du Pont, where troops had to either secure a bridge and hold it, or, if they were overrun, blow it up to keep German reinforcements from getting to the Normandy beachhead. They ended up holding it. Langrehrs unit had to fight their way to the bridge. Like most paratroop planes that morning, theirs was off course, in this case by about five miles. His unit jumped and landed in Sainte-Mere-Eglise. It was full of Germans, Langrehr said in an interview with the Quad-City Times in 2007. They killed a lot of guys out of my plane. There was a flare or a shell or something that started a big building on fire. The French were fighting the fire, and the Germans were guarding them. The whole square was lit up by this fire, and in the process, we were pretty good targets for the Germans. But it was a surprise to the Germans, too," Langrehr said. "One good thing about that is that they didnt know how many we were or where we were, and they were afraid to come out. Like most of the men he jumped with, it was Langrehrs first time in combat. Again, it was the hand of God that allowed me to survive, Langrehr said. I fought my way out and knew where the roads were that led to Chef du Pont. While fighting among the bocage hedgerows, he was captured and sent to a German prison camp in Czechoslovakia where he mined coal. The mine, Langrehr said, was run by the Nazi SS, who paid no attention to the Geneva Conventions rules of war and the treatment of prisoners of war. Anyone who refused to work was beaten. Those who attempted to escape and got caught were executed. When you go into a situation like that, you have to go in with the mind-set that youre going to survive, he said. You came out of that mine wringing wet and filthy. During the winter months, he said, youd walk back to camp, and it would freeze on you. Since you only had one uniform, you washed it in cold water. In the cold air, it wouldnt dry overnight. So, the next morning, heading back to the mine, it would freeze again. In March 1945, Langrehr and a buddy escaped. His friend was killed as they worked their way back to Allied lines. For two weeks, Langrehr maneuvered back to American lines without the benefit of an underground organization to help him. I was on my own the whole way through, he said. Eating meant scavenging and living off the land. Also, German soldiers carried foodstuffs in their rucksacks, he said. Youd have to waylay one of them and get a little food, he said. Like many of his generation, Langrehr came home ready to get on with living. Winters said that her father always said it was God who got him through. "His life scripture was Psalm 23," she said. "He would share this passage whenever he spoke at events and shared his testimony." Winters said her father embodied the values of faith, family, hard work and bravery. "His was a life truly well-lived," she said. Since this spring, over 30,000 volunteers from across China have planted over 1.5 million trees to combat desertification in Minqin County, northwest China's Gansu Province. Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) entered into an agreement to acquire 58.96 per cent stake in SML Isuzu Ltd. (SML) at Rs 650 per share, which is an outlay of Rs 555 crore, according to a statement issued by the automobile major. In addition, M&M will make an open offer in accordance with the SEBI Takeover Regulations. The proposed acquisition is a step towards establishing a strong presence in the 3.5T CV segment, where M&M has a 3 per cent market share today, as compared to a 52 per cent market share in the 3.5T LCV segment. Dr Anish Shah, Group CEO & MD of the Mahindra Group, said, "The acquisition of SML Isuzu marks a significant milestone in Mahindra Group's vision of delivering 5x growth in our emerging businesses. This acquisition is aligned with our capital allocation strategy for investing in high potential growth areas which have a strong right to win and have demonstrated operational excellence." M&M's Trucks and Buses Division has made meaningful progress over the past few years. This acquisition will double the market share to 6 per cent, with a plan to increase this to 10 - 12 per cent by FY31 and 20 per cent+ by FY36. Incorporated in 1983, SML Isuzu is a listed company with well-recognized brands, a strong vintage and pan-India presence in the Trucks and Buses segment. SML has a market-leading position in the ILCV Buses segment, with around 16 per cent market share, the company claims. The company reported operating revenue of Rs 2,196 crore and EBITDA of Rs 179 crore in FY24. It has profitable operations, frugal manufacturing, and strong engineering capabilities. As part of the transaction, M&M would acquire the entire stake of 43.96 per cent held by Sumitomo Corporation, promoter of SML, and separately also acquire 15 per cent stake held by Isuzu Motors Ltd, public shareholder of SML, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 555 crore. M&M would also launch a mandatory open offer for acquisition of up to 26 per cent stake from eligible public shareholders of SML in accordance with the SEBI Takeover Regulations, the statement added. Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director and CEO, Auto and Farm Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said, "This acquisition is a pivotal step toward our ambition to become a full-range, formidable player in commercial vehicles by enhancing market coverage, unlocking operating leverage through platform consolidation, a unified supplier and network base, and better plant utilization. Together, we are well-positioned to scale rapidly and drive profitable growth." The transaction, including the open offer, is subject to the approval of the Competition Commission of India and is expected to complete within 2025 in accordance with SEBI Takeover Regulations. Kotak Investment Banking is acting as the financial advisor to M&M and manager to the open offer. Khaitan & Co acted as legal advisor to M&M, added the official statement. (ANI) Indian goods worth over USD 10 billion reach Pakistan via third-country trade routes, according to the estimates of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI). In the wake of trade restrictions arising following the dastardly April 22 terror attacks in Pahalgam, GTRI said in a note that some firms are using ports like Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo to send Indian goods to Pakistan, allowing Indian products to reach Pakistan despite trade restrictions. "GTRI estimates India's Goods worth over USD 10 billion reach Pakistan via this route, annually," the note added. Explaining the creative ways adopted by the exporters, the GTRI added that Indian firms send goods to these ports, where an independent firm offloads and keeps the products in bonded warehouses at the port--places where goods can be stored without paying duties while in transit. "In the bonded warehouse, the labels and documents are modified to show a different country of origin. For example, Indian-made goods may be relabelled as "Made in UAE". After this change, they are shipped to countries like Pakistan, where direct trade with India is not allowed," the note added. This method helps firms to bypass India-Pakistan trade restrictions and sell at higher prices using the third-country route and avoid scrutiny since the trade appears to come from other countries. For example, a firm exports auto parts from India to Dubai, worth USD 100,000. After relabelling them as UAE products, they are sent to Pakistan at USD 130,000. This higher price covers storage, paperwork, and access to a closed market. "While this transshipment model isn't always illegal, it sits in a grey zone. It shows how businesses find creative ways to keep trade going--often faster than governments can react," the note added. Following the terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, the Indian government has announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides. The tension between both countries is likely to have a long-lasting impact on trade activities. India also halted the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. (ANI) 'The Sopranos' creator David Chase wasn't so impressed at first with actor James Gandolfini to cast him in the lead role for the iconic show 'The Sopranos', reported Variety. In an excerpt from Jason Bailey's film historian book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend (via Vulture), Chase states that Gandolfini wasn't "threatening enough" before ultimately casting him in the career-defining role. According to Variety, during the show's development, Gandolfini's manager, Nancy Sanders, told Chase, "I think I have Tony Soprano." However, David Chase wasn't immediately convinced. "All right, here's the deal. I think he's brilliant. I have one concern, and that is, is he threatening enough?" said Chase told Sanders after checking out Gandolfini's reel as quoted by Variety. Sanders stood up for the actor and quickly rebutted Chase's concerns. "If you said to me, 'He's a little chubby,' or 'He's losing his hair,' I could understand. But he's threatening enough. This is your guy," said Sanders as quoted by Variety. "The Sopranos" casting directors, Sheila Jaffe and Georgianne Walken, echoed Sanders' enthusiasm. They remembered that Gandolfini "was really our favorite idea from the beginning." Notably, Gandolfini himself wasn't confident that he would land the role of Tony Soprano. He recalled in the excerpt, "I think my exact words were, 'I could kick this guy right in the ass, but I'll never get cast. They'll hire some fucking pretty boy.' I thought they'd hire, you know, one of these Irish-looking guys who are all over TV now," as quoted by Variety. As per the outlet, the actor was worried about working with Chase, however, after the pair met for breakfast, the series was a smooth sail for the duo. "When he finally settled down and really did a reading, it was just obvious," Chase said on reaffirming his belief in Gandolfini for the lead role in 'The Sopranos'. "The Sopranos" is currently streaming on Max. (ANI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has vowed to remove Pakistani nationals in the state following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam in which over 25 tourists were killed. Saini, speaking to the media on Saturday, stated that all necessary security measures had been put in place and emphasised the need to trace and remove individuals linked to Pakistan from Haryana. Saini said, "We have made all the security preparations. I have told the police to trace and remove all such people (Pakistani nationals) from Haryana, as those who killed our innocent people have no place here." He further declared that Pakistan would be held accountable for the violence, adding, "Pakistan will have to pay a price for that and it is the right time to give a strong fight against terrorism." Earlier, Saini also announced a compensation of Rs 50 lakh and a government job to the family member of Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. According to an official release, the Chief Minister announced that a government job will be given to any family member, as per the wish of Lt Vinay Narwal's parents. Earlier in the day, Haryana State Commission for Women Chairperson Renu W Bhatia visited the residence of Pahalgam terror attack victim, Naval Officer Lt Vinay Narwal, in Karnal. Bhatia paid condolences to the victim's family. Lt Vinay Narwal was among the 26 victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, which happened on Tuesday afternoon. The Haryana Women's Commission Chairperson stated that when she spoke to the family, it reminded her of her own family. She also urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the strictest actions against the perpetrators of the attack so that women and daughters don't have to suffer anymore. On Friday, the ashes of Indian Navy Officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal were immersed in the sacred waters of the Ganga at Har Ki Pauri following traditional rituals and prayers. Narwal, a native of Karnal, Haryana, was given an emotional farewell as his family members, including his father Rajesh Narwal and maternal uncle, performed the last rites in the presence of hundreds. Indian Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal had recently tied the knot, with his wedding reception held just days earlier on April 16. Lt Narwal, who was posted in Kochi, had travelled to Jammu and Kashmir on leave and was in Pahalgam with his wife when terrorists opened fire. The widow of the deceased naval officer bid an emotional farewell during the solemn military ceremony, remembering her late husband as a man who lived with honour and left behind a legacy of courage. As many as 26 people were killed in the dastardly attack by terrorists on tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. (ANI) Against the backdrop of the recent Pahalgam terror attack, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav held a crucial meeting with state police officials to review measures for the identification and expulsionof Pakistani nationals from the state, following directives from the Centre. He further stated that the state government had already taken proactive steps to identify Pakistani nationals residing under short-term or non-official visas and ensure their departure from Madhya Pradesh as per the stipulated guidelines. Addressing the meeting on Saturday, the Chief Minister said, "In accordance with the directions given to the Madhya Pradesh government by the Honourable Prime Minister and the respected Home Minister Shri Amit Shah Ji, I held a meeting today. We have made preparations to expel from the state those Pakistani visa holders who are not on long-term or official visas." Yadav added, "We have issued directives today based on the guidelines given by the government to ensure that such individuals are removed from the state after the 27th. I believe that, just as the recent incident happened in the village, and as the government has consistently issued directives in coordination with all state governments, we in Madhya Pradesh are also following all those instructions diligently." As part of the countermeasures following the Pahalgam terror attack, the central government has taken a series of strong actions against the Pakistani government. These include the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty and the closure of the integrated check post at the Attari border. The government has cancelled any visas issued under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES). India declared Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission as Persona Non Grata and ordered to leave India within a week. India has decided to withdraw its own Defence/Navy/Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the Service Advisors will also be withdrawn from both High Commissions. Speaking to ANI after the meeting, Yadav expressed satisfaction with the police's performance, particularly in combating Naxalite activities, and noted the improvement in areas like Balaghat, which were once heavily affected by Naxalite violence. "I assessed the work done by the police regarding various crimes, including the Naxalite movement in our state. I am satisfied that we have performed better in our area. This is why areas like Balaghat, which are heavily affected by Naxalite activities, have been effectively removed from the list by the Government of India," said Yadav. He added, "With the steps taken by our government and the efforts of our forces, the results have been better. Within a year and a half, we have eliminated several notorious Naxalites in various encounters, taken prisoners, and are trying to meet the deadline given to us by the Home Minister. We are determined to achieve our target within that deadline." Yadav emphasized that wherever police action is necessary, swift and effective measures are being taken. "I am satisfied that we are taking action against criminals through the police, and handling challenges in society to maintain law and order through various reforms." He also praised the coordination between the police and administration, stating, "The government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has been enforcing laws effectively through the Ministry of Home Affairs." Addressing protocol concerns raised by Congress President, Yadav explained, "The government follows state and broader Indian government protocols. Elected representatives like MPs and MLAs have a fixed order of precedence, even above the Chief Secretary. The importance of respecting protocol and giving due respect to officials is critical." On the subject of poverty alleviation, Yadav highlighted the success of government welfare schemes: "Over 170 million people in India have been lifted out of poverty, thanks to the work of the Government of India. Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states showing the best growth rate in this regard." He thanked Prime Minister Modi for his leadership and spoke about the state's commitment to improving the lives of all citizens. "I express my gratitude to the Honorable Prime Minister for his able leadership, and our government will continue working for the betterment of all sections of society, including the poor, women, youth, and farmers." Yadav also shared future plans, saying, "We have declared 2025 as the 'Industry Employment Year.' As a result, we have accelerated industrialisation through welfare schemes for all sections of society." He further added, "Tomorrow, we will be hosting our IT Industry event in Indore, and based on the response so far, I am confident that Madhya Pradesh will be among the leading states in the IT sector in India." Yadav reiterated his government's commitment to providing employment opportunities and improving the lives of the youth. "My commitment remains towards providing employment opportunities to the youth, unemployed, and aspiring individuals in this state. I would like to reiterate my government's commitment to improving the lives of women, farmers, youth, and the poor. I extend my best wishes to everyone," CM Yadav said. (ANI) BJP leader CR Kesavan has called Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah "spineless" after the Congress leader said that he was not in favour of "war" with Pakistan and cited a "security lapse" in the recent deadly terror attack in which 26 people were killed in Pahalgam. The BJP leader contrasted the statements of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with those of Siddaramaiah. "On one hand Rahul Gandhi says we are with the central government and whatever action the government takes we will support it. And here you have Mr. Siddaramaiah. He''s a chief minister of a state, He''s a senior leader of the Congress Party. He speaks like a Pakistan apologist." Kesavan on Saturday accused the Congress of soft-pedaling on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, stating, "As spineless statement exposes how the Congress Party soft pedals on Pakistan sponsored terrorism. It also reveals how the Congress leadership continues to adopt a weak and toothless approach to Pakistan-sponsored terror activities." He went on to claim that the recent attack in Pahalgam was clearly a "Pakistan backed Islamic terror attack," and demanded clarification from Congress regarding its stance. "And the Congress leadership now has to clarify its stand. Because is the Congress Party playing a double game? Is the Congress Party running with the hares and hunting with the hounds?" Kesavan asked. Kesavan continued to question the official position of Congress, asserting, "So what is the official stand of the Congress leadership? Is it the cowardly statement of Siddaramaiah or Rahul Gandhi''s statement? First the Congress Party needs to clarify this." The BJP leader accused the party of failing to act during previous terror attacks under their rule. "One will never forget the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, again Pakistan based. And how you know the Congress party didn''t even retaliate to the attack. In fact they didn''t even revoke the most favored nation status of Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks," he said. Kesavan further pointed to the actions of Prime Minister Modi in contrast to Congress, saying, "And only you know it was Modiji. After the Pulwama strikes in 2019, Modi revoked the most favoured nation status. That is the history of the Congress party." The BJP leader also recalled comments from Congress leaders that downplayed Pakistan''s role in terrorism. "And when 26/11 happened, the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly of the Congress party gave a clean to the terrorist Kasab saying Hemant Karkare was not killed by Kasab. And then you had people like Sam Patroda, the mentor of Rahul Gandhi. And what a shocking statement he made referring to 26/11. Sam Pitroda said eight people came and did something and you don''t jump on a nation meaning Pakistan. Shameful statements," Kesavan said. He called on the Congress leadership to clarify its stance, saying, "This is how you know Congress leadership gave a clean chit to Pakistan. And now, the same you know, Congress leaders trying to have a soft approach to Pakistan is surfacing. It''s time Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leadership either they disown the statement of Siddaramaiah and they need to clarify and explain what is the official stand of the Congress Party to this murderous massacre of Indians and Hindus by Pakistan-based terrorists." On Saturday, Karanataka Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, called for strengthening security in the Kashmir valley to ensure peace. "There has been a security lapse in this incident. We are not in favour of war. Steps should be taken to tighten security measures in the Kashmir region. The central government should increase security to ensure peace in Kashmir," Siddaramaiah told reporters here. The Karnataka CM stated that his government would take steps to ensure that Pakistani nationals residing in the state are sent back as per the instructions of the central government. "Steps will be taken to send back Pakistani citizens as per the instructions of the central government. Information will be obtained about the number of Pakistanis in various cities of the state," Siddaramaiah said. The country remains in mourning over the shocking death of 26 people in the terrorist attack in the Pahalgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, which also left many injured. India has taken strong countermeasures against Pakistan for its support of cross-border terrorism. The government has temporarily suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. This decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) held on April 23, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. (ANI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has defended the arrest of AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam, stating that it was justified due to his alleged pro-Pakistan remarks. Speaking to the media on Saturday, on arresting those who issued statements in favour of Pakistan, the Assam Chief Minister said, "8-9 people have been arrested so far. That is why he (Aminul Islam) is in prison. I will do this again. I will take any action against such people." Notably, a local court in Assam's Nagaon district on Friday remanded AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam to four days' police custody after he was produced before the court here. Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Sarma provided detailed information of those arrested and has vowed stringent action against individuals supporting or defending Pakistan in connection with the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. In his X post, he wrote, "Assam will not tolerate any individual who, directly or indirectly, supports or defends Pakistan in connection with the heinous attack in Pahalgam. So far, the following individuals have been arrested by @assampolice for directly or indirectly promoting the cause of Pakistan in Social media, Hailakandi - Md. Jabir Hussain, Silchar - Md. A.K. Bahauddin, Md. Javed Mazumder, Morigaon - Md. Mahahar Mia, Md. Mujihirul Islam, Nagaon - Md. Aminul Islam, Sivasagar - Md. Sahil Ali Further arrests are underway as part of our ongoing crackdown." In another post, he said two more are arrested in connection to attack, "As part of its intensified crackdown on individuals promoting anti-national sentiments, the @assampolice has made two additional arrests: Barpeta: Md. Jarif Ali (25), also known as Sharif Sing, Biswanath: Anil Bania, District Secretary of the Satra Mukti Sangram Parishad" Earlier on Thursday, according to Nagaon SP Swapnaneel Deka, a video surfaced on social media in which AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam made a very wrong statement on the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. Deka stated that in the video he was defending the terrorists, due to which the police have taken cognisance of the video and have arrested him by registering a case. Deka added that he will be presented in court on Friday. "Today, we saw a video circulating on social media in which MLA Aminul Islam made a very wrong statement on the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. He was defending the terrorists... So we have taken cognisance of this video and registered a case, arrested him, and he will be produced in court tomorrow", Swapnaneel Deka told reporters. Islam was booked under sections 152/196/197(1)/113(3)/352/353 of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS), according to an official 'X' post by Assam police. Islam was booked under sections 152/196/197(1)/113(3)/352/353 of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS), according to an official 'X' post by Assam police. (ANI) According to the Mumbai Fire Department, the fire started around 2:30 a.m. In response, 12 fire engines and other emergency vehicles, including water tankers, ambulances, and breathing equipment vans, were deployed to the site. The fire department further stated that the cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Firefighting operations are currently underway at the spot, and no casualties have been reported so far. More details are awaited. (ANI) A woman from Golaghat district was detained by the Crime Branch from Guwahati for allegedly making "controversial" and "anti-national" comments on the Pahalgam terror attack, a police official said. The woman was later handed over to the Golagat police, who subsequently arrested her. As many as 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in the incident that took place in the Baisaran meadow in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. Golaghat Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajen Singh told ANI a day earlier, "A woman named Dadhichi Dimple alias Dimple Baruah from Golaghat district of Assam was detained by the Crime Branch from Guwahati for making controversial and anti-national comments on the #PahalgamTerrorAttack. She was later handed over to the Golaghat police. The Golaghat police arrested her and brought her to the Golaghat police station..." Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has defended the arrest of AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam, stating that it was justified due to his alleged pro-Pakistan remarks. Speaking to the media on Saturday, on arresting those who issued statements in favour of Pakistan, the Assam CM said, "Eight to nine people have been arrested so far. That is why he (Aminul Islam) is in prison. I will do this again. I will take any action against such people." A local court in Assam's Nagaon district on Friday remanded MLA Aminul Islam to four days' police custody after he was produced before the court here. Earlier, Assam CM Sarma provided detailed information of those arrested and has vowed stringent action against individuals supporting or defending Pakistan in connection with the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. In his X post, he wrote, "Assam will not tolerate any individual who, directly or indirectly, supports or defends Pakistan in connection with the heinous attack in Pahalgam. So far, the following individuals have been arrested by @assampolice for directly or indirectly promoting the cause of Pakistan in Social media, Hailakandi - Md. Jabir Hussain, Silchar - Md. A.K. Bahauddin, Md. Javed Mazumder, Morigaon - Md. Mahahar Mia, Md. Mujihirul Islam, Nagaon - Md. Aminul Islam, Sivasagar - Md. Sahil Ali Further arrests are underway as part of our ongoing crackdown." In another post, he said two more are arrested in connection to attack, "As part of its intensified crackdown on individuals promoting anti-national sentiments, the @assampolice has made two additional arrests: Barpeta: Md. Jarif Ali (25), also known as Sharif Sing, Biswanath: Anil Bania, District Secretary of the Satra Mukti Sangram Parishad" On Thursday, according to Nagaon SP Swapnaneel Deka, a video surfaced on social media in which AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam made a very wrong statement on the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. Deka stated that in the video he was defending the terrorists, due to which the police have taken cognisance of the video and have arrested him by registering a case. Deka added that he will be presented in court on Friday."Today, we saw a video circulating on social media in which MLA Aminul Islam made a very wrong statement on the recent terror attack in Pahalgam. He was defending the terrorists... So we have taken cognisance of this video and registered a case, arrested him, and he will be produced in court tomorrow (Friday)", Swapnaneel Deka told reporters earlier. (ANI) Islam was booked under sections 152/196/197(1)/113(3)/352/353 of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS), according to an official 'X' post by Assam police. (ANI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has appealed to all the people, Non-governmental organisations (NGOS) and Khap Panchayats to join hands with the government in its efforts to spread awareness about drugs. After flagging off one more Cyclothon in Sirsa a day earlier, an initiative of the Haryana government aimed to spread awareness about drugs, Chief Minister Saini told reporters. "We have travelled in the state by cycle. People from the district where the cycle journey starts get along with us, and many people have participated in the cycle journey. We have created a portal and made a law to stop drug abuse. We have also formed a group of five states, from which we share information from time to time, and have made a big plan to rein in this drug abuse strictly." He said that meetings are being held frequently to address the problem of drug abuse and noted the efforts of the saints who worked against drug abuse. "Union Home Minister Amit Shah follows it and sees it. Meetings are held from time to time; a centre has been set up in Panchkula so that drug abuse can be controlled entirely. I want to appeal to all the people, NGOS, and Khap Panchayats who have just welcomed this journey of ours to join us. Our great saints have also worked against drug addiction so that it can be eradicated from its roots...."," he said. Earlier, a cyclothon was flagged off in Panchkula, Faridabad, Gurugram and Jind district. The Haryana government has a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the drug menace through the State Action Plan. The plan focuses on three pillars: public awareness, de-addiction and rehabilitation, and stringent action against drug traffickers. The government has also formed a dedicated Special Task Force to crack down on drug smuggling. 52 de-addiction centres have been established across Haryana, with dedicated wards in government medical colleges and civil hospitals in 13 districts. To support those affected and encourage public participation, the government has launched a toll-free helpline and the 'Manas Portal' where citizens can report drug-related activities. (ANI) As the crackdown on terrorist suspects intensifies amid chaos over the Pahalgam attack, the security forces and Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Sunday demolished the house of a suspect linked to the deadly terror attack that killed 26 people, who were mostly tourists, and left several injured. According to officials, the house in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir allegedly belonged to a terrorist believed to be involved in the April 22 attack in Pahalgam. On Saturday, the authorities demolished the house of another suspect in Chotipora village of Shopian district linked to the assault. In a separate action, authorities also demolished the house of another suspect identified as Zakir Ahmad Ganie, at Mutalhama village in Kulgam district. Ganie is believed to have played a role in the Pahalgam terror attack, which has sparked nationwide outrage. Officials said Gaine had been active in terror activities since 2023. Earlier on Friday, the house of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Adil Thokar, also known as Adil Guree, was demolished. Adil Guree, a resident of Guree village in Bijbehara block of Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, is believed to have been involved in the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people, including a Nepalese national, mostly tourists. He has been declared the most wanted, and the Anantnag Police have offered a reward of Rs 20 lakh for any specific information leading to his arrest. Two Pakistani nationals were also declared most wanted in the case. Adil had illegally travelled to Pakistan in 2018, where he reportedly received terror training before returning to Jammu and Kashmir last year. Meanwhile, a Lashkar-e-Taliba (LeT) terrorist associate was killed by the security forces during the ongoing encounter in the Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Friday. The terrorist associate has been identified as Altaf Lalli of the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit. Two security personnel have also been injured in the exchange of fire in the Kulnar area of Ajas in the district. According to the police officials, the two policemen suffered gunshot wounds and have been shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, where their condition is said to be stable. This comes amid uproar over terrorists attacking tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22, killing 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen while leaving several others injured. The Indian Army is on high alert, launching several search operations to neutralise the terrorists following the attack in Pahalgam. The incident has sparked nationwide outrage, with widespread protests erupting across the country, demanding stricter action against Pakistan over the Pahalgam attack. (ANI) In a massive statewide crackdown on illegal immigration, Vadodara Police have caught more than 500 suspected Bangladesh nationals, officials said on Saturday. Speaking with ANI, Vadodara Police Commissioner Narsingh Komar informed us that over 500 suspects have been "intercepted" and that their document verification is underway. Out of them, five individuals have been confirmed as Bangladeshi nationals, Narsingh Komar added. "A special drive is being carried out in Vadodara to identify and arrest illegal Bangladeshi nationals. Police have intercepted more than 500 such suspects, and their document verification is underway. Five of them have been confirmed to be Bangladeshi nationals," Narsingh Komar said. Narsingh Komar added that this verification drive will continue and the legal actions will be taken against confirmed Bangladeshi nationals On Saturday, over 550 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were detained in Ahmedabad and Surat for residing in India with forged documents, Gujarat police said. Deportation proceedings will follow once verification and interrogation are complete, said the official. The coordinated operations were led by multiple law enforcement units, including the Special Operations Group (SOG), Crime Branch, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB), and local police teams. Officials confirmed that all detained individuals were in India without valid documentation and had used fake papers to establish residence. In Surat, an overnight combing operation carried out jointly by SOG, DCB, AHTU, PCB, and local police resulted in the detention of more than 100 Bangladeshi nationals. "They had entered India illegally and were living in Surat with forged documents. After the investigation, they will be deported to Bangladesh," said Rajdeep Singh Nakum, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Operations Group. A simultaneous operation was carried out in Ahmedabad around 3 am on Saturday. Teams from the Crime Branch, SOG, Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Zone 6, and Headquarters detained over 450 individuals suspected to be illegal immigrants. DCP Crime Branch Ajit Rajian confirmed that more than 400 people were taken into custody during the early morning sweep. Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, Sharad Singhal, stated that these actions were taken in compliance with orders from the Home Minister, the Commissioner of Police, and the Director General of Police. "HM, CP and DGP had directed us that illegal immigrants must be held. The Crime Branch registered two FIRS from April 2024 till now. 127 illegal Bangladeshis were caught and 77 were deported," he said. (ANI) "... The youth of Haryana, the elderly, women and every citizen have now resolved that we have to end drug abuse and make Haryana a drug-free Haryana...Today, this yatra has taken the shape of a public movement against drug abuse. We want the youth of our Haryana to be healthy and strong," Saini told reporters on Saturday after flagging off Cyclothon 2.0 for a drug-free Haryana. He also noted the efforts of the Sarpanchs to make their respective villages "drug-free" "The sarpanchs of the 170 villages in this area, who are a strong aspect of our democracy, have made their respective villages drug-free... In today's cyclathon, some people have donated cycles too. The remarkable confluence of energy, unity and enthusiasm that we are witnessing today in Sirsa is truly inspiring," he said. Earlier, a cyclothon was flagged off in Panchkula, Faridabad, Gurugram and Jind district. The Haryana government has a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the drug menace through the State Action Plan. The plan focuses on three pillars: public awareness, de-addiction and rehabilitation, and stringent action against drug traffickers. The government has also formed a dedicated Special Task Force to crack down on drug smuggling. 52 de-addiction centres have been established across Haryana, with dedicated wards in government medical colleges and civil hospitals in 13 districts. To support those affected and encourage public participation, the government has launched a toll-free helpline and the 'Manas Portal' where citizens can report drug-related activities. (ANI) The Left alliance continued its stronghold in Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) elections 2024-25 by securing three of the four top posts, even as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) made major inroads. Nitish Kumar (AISA) was elected President, Manisha (DSF) won the Vice-President's post, and Munteha Fatima (DSF) secured the position of General Secretary. The ABVP, however, broke a decade-long dry spell by winning the post of Joint Secretary, with Vaibhav Meena emerging victorious. For most of the counting day, ABVP candidates led in all four central panel positions, reflecting a strong challenge to the traditional Left dominance at JNU. Though it eventually fell short in the President, Vice-President, and General Secretary contests, the margins of defeat were narrow, signalling a significant shift on campus. The elections, held on April 25 after a delay due to campus violence, witnessed an enthusiastic turnout of nearly 70 per cent. With approximately 5,500 students casting their votes, the four-cornered contest saw AISA-DSF, ABVP, and an NSUI-Fraternity alliance vying for control. In the councillor elections, ABVP scripted history by winning 23 out of 42 seats -- its best performance since 1999. The organization swept the School of Engineering and made notable gains in the Schools of Social Sciences, International Studies, and Sanskrit and Indic Studies. The ABVP's resurgence has injected fresh energy into campus politics. Leaders and supporters termed the results a "turning point," pointing to both the strong central panel showing and the expansion at the school and centre levels. The newly elected leaders expressed their commitment to representing the interests of the students and continuing their advocacy for student rights. Newly elected President, Nitish Kumar (AISA), assured students, stating, "We will work for the students and their welfare. The aim is to ensure that the voice of every student is heard and respected." Manisha (DSF), the newly elected Vice President, gave credit for the win to the university, stating, "The credit for this win goes to the university... JNU laal tha aur laal hi rahega... We always worked for the students and raised their voices, and we will continue doing this work in the future too." Newly elected General Secretary, Munteha Fatima (DSF), said, "We will continue to fight for the rights of the students, as we have always done." Vaibhav Meena (ABVP), who was elected Joint Secretary, reflected on the significance of his victory, saying, "We have won this after a decade, and ABVP will win all the four seats in the next election. This victory is a stepping stone for further successes." The 2024-25 elections saw a four-cornered contest, with AISA aligning with the Democratic Students' Front (DSF), while ABVP, and an NSUI-Fraternity alliance fielded full panels. The elections, initially scheduled for April 18, were postponed due to incidents of campus violence, with polling eventually taking place on April 25 after court and administrative intervention. (ANI) FBI Director Kash Patel on Sunday offered condolences to all the victims of the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam and affirmed the "full support" of the US to the Indian government. Patel stated that the Pahalgam attack is a reminder of the constant threats that the world faces from the evil of terrorism. In a post on X, Patel stated, "The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir -- and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. Thank you to the men and women of law enforcement who answer the call in moments like these." As many as 26 people were killed in India, and several others were injured after terrorists attacked tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on April 22. Earlier, US President Donald Trump held a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and offered his condolences at the loss of lives in the terror attack. Trump condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this "heinous attack." In a post on X, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated, "President Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump @POTUS called PM @narendramodi and conveyed his deepest condolences at the loss of innocent lives in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. President Trump strongly condemned the terror attack and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack. India and the United States stand together in the fight against terror." US Vice President JD Vance also called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this difficult hour. PM Modi thanked Vance and Trump for their messages of support and solidarity. "Vice President @VP @JDVance called Prime Minister @narendramodi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this difficult hour. He expressed that the United States is ready to provide all assistance in the joint fight against terrorism. PM thanked Vice President Vance and President Trump for their messages of support and solidarity," Jaiswal posted on X. Following the terror attack, the Central government announced several diplomatic measures, such as closing the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, suspending the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani nationals, giving them 40 hours to return to their country, and reducing the number of officers in the High Commissions on both sides. India also halted the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960, following nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan, with the assistance of the World Bank, which is also a signatory to the treaty. (ANI) Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) has said that five sorties of People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, 14 People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels and one ship were detected operating near Taiwan until 6 am (local time) on Sunday. According to Taiwan's MND, one out of five sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's southwestern Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ). In response to Chinese activity, Taiwan's armed forces deployed aircraft, naval ships, and coastal missile systems to monitor the situation. In a post on X, Taiwan's MND stated, "5 sorties of PLA aircraft, 14 PLAN vessels and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 1 out of 5 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly." https://x.com/MoNDefense/status/1916296773229818065 This incident follows a recent pattern of escalated manoeuvres by China around Taiwan, sparking concerns over regional stability as Beijing continues to assert its claims over the island. Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949. However, China considers Taiwan part of its territory and insists on eventual reunification, by force if necessary. Last week, Taiwan's ruling party responded to growing fears about Chinese spying by requiring its members to declare their plans before visiting China, particularly Hong Kong and Macau, according to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA). China and Taiwan have frequently accused one another of spying, and Taiwan has arrested several people it says Beijing has hired to get intelligence or sway public opinion. According to RFA, Beijing usually rejects any role in espionage operations against Taiwan, referring to the charges as "politically motivated" or "groundless. Taiwan's President and Chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, or DPP, Lai Ching-te, declared on Wednesday that all party members are now required to report in advance and submit a follow-up report if they visit China or interact with individuals connected to the Chinese government. "Any betrayal of the party's core values for personal gain must be met with strict disciplinary action and the harshest legal consequences," Lai told the party's weekly meeting, as quoted by the RFA report. Lai announced steps, including enhanced internal education for party members to increase their knowledge of national security and legal responsibilities, as well as the requirement to disclose visits to China. He also called for tighter control over parliamentary and local council aides, with party caucuses being entrusted with creating certain procedures and training courses, according to the RFA report. The actions follow the DPP being the target of previous Chinese espionage investigations. (ANI) Rabat [Morocco], April 27 (ANI/WAM): A delegation from the UAE's National Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organisations Committee (NAMLCFTC), led by Hamid AlZaabi, Secretary General and Vice-Chair of the National Committee, has concluded a three-day official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco. The visit, held from 22 to 24 April, was organised in cooperation with the National Financial Intelligence Authority of Morocco and aimed to reinforce strategic coordination between the two nations in the areas of anti-money laundering (AML), counter of terrorism financing (CFT), and counter of proliferation financing (CFP). The programme featured a series of joint technical workshops, high-level meetings, and the exchange of best practices on key topics, including sanctions implementation, the use of artificial intelligence in AML/CFT efforts, national risk assessments, and the supervision of non-profit organisations. During the meetings, both sides emphasised the importance of bilateral cooperation as part of a broader vision to enhance regional and global financial security. They underscored the need for continued exchange of expertise and closer coordination to strengthen supervisory systems and align with international standards. Commenting on the visit, Hamid AlZaabi stated: "This visit reflects the shared commitment of the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Morocco to deepen their cooperation in confronting growing challenges in financial crime at both regional and international levels. Our collaboration is built on mutual trust, strategic vision, and a shared dedication to innovation and progress. Through technical exchange and constructive dialogue, we aim to foster a more resilient regional financial system that reinforces stability and integrity across the global financial landscape." Jawhar Nfissi, President of the National Financial Intelligence Authority of Morocco, added: "Morocco and the UAE are united by a common vision for regional and international security. This visit comes at a pivotal time, as we prepare for upcoming mutual evaluations and continue to develop and strengthen our national frameworks. The in-depth discussions and technical sessions held in Rabat demonstrate the maturity of our partnership and our shared ambition to set a model for the Middle East and North Africa region." The sessions addressed a wide range of topics, including: Supervision and oversight of casinos and gaming institutions; Targeted financial sanctions and controls on the financing of weapons proliferation; National risk assessment methodologies and inter-agency coordination mechanisms; Utilization of artificial intelligence in AML/CFT frameworks; Supervision of non-profit organizations using risk-based approaches; The role of the private sector in advancing AML/CFT efforts. AlZaabi expressed his sincere appreciation to the President of the National Financial Intelligence Authority in the Kingdom of Morocco for the warm reception and the high level of professionalism that marked every engagement. The UAE reaffirmed its commitment to sustained cooperation aimed at building safer, more transparent, and sustainable financial systems across the region. (ANI/WAM) Facing mounting pressure from new US tariffs, more than a quarter of Taiwanese businesses operating in China are considering closing their operations there, while half are preparing to shift investments to supply chains outside China, Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia said on Friday as per reports by Taipei Times. Luo explained that the uncertainty began after US President Donald Trump, on April 2, imposed a 32 per cent tariff on imports from Taiwan. Although the implementation of the 32 per cent tariff was paused for 90 days a week later, a separate, universal 10 per cent tariff was immediately applied to most imports globally. Further adjustments came on April 12, when the Trump administration announced that computers, smartphones, and semiconductors would be exempted from the new tariffs. Companies operating in China that primarily export to the US and rely on low gross profit margins are among the most severely affected by the tariff changes, Luo said. Taiwanese businesses catering directly to China's domestic market are also facing increased challenges, reported Taipei Times. As tariffs have restricted the flow of imported materials and components for Chinese domestic industries, excess stored products have been redirected into the local market, driving up competition and tightening margins, Luo added. While the impact on sectors such as electronics, information technology (IT), and semiconductors remains relatively limited for now, the Mainland Affairs Council has urged business owners to remain cautious and monitor the Chinese market's reactions closely, Luo said. In the face of short-term uncertainties stemming from the new US trade policies, Taiwanese businesses largely agree on the need to diversify. "The consensus among Taiwanese businesses is to increase investment in non-Chinese supply chains and bolster the resilience of regional supply chains to weather the effects of changes in the international economic order and geopolitical shifts," Luo said. In addition to economic concerns, the SEF also issued a warning to Taiwanese travellers planning to visit China during the upcoming summer break. Luo cautioned that so-called "youth start-up assistance groups" and "youth culture interaction groups" could be used as covers for scam operations. He cited an incident involving the Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs Association, which allegedly used identification documents from Taiwanese tour group members to apply for loans in Sichuan's youth start-up zones without their knowledge, Taipei Times reported. Cultural exchange groups, Luo said, could similarly mask activities focused on cheap tours or political propaganda tied to "united front" efforts. While the number of people reported missing due to such schemes remains unclear, even isolated incidents highlight the serious risks of "disappearing" while traveling to China, he warned. The SEF plans to publicise these cases anonymously to raise awareness about the potential dangers. (ANI) Following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the loss of 26 lives, the World Sindhi Congress has sharply condemned Pakistan's role in "sponsoring terrorism" and accused it of longstanding injustices against Sindh's people regarding Indus water. Speaking to ANI, Hidayat Bhutto, UK and Europe Organiser of the World Sindhi Congress, highlighted the ongoing marginalisation of Sindh with respect to the Indus waters. "We strongly condemn the terror incident in Pahalgam, where innocent lives were lost," Bhutto said. He squarely blamed Pakistan for providing safe havens to UN-designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar, stating, "Pakistan sponsors terrorism across the world, and UN-designated terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar, and hundreds of others are provided safe havens by them. They carry out terror activities from their territory." Turning attention to the water-sharing dispute, Bhutto emphasised that Sindh had no representation in the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. "Pakistan does not represent Sindh even today," he stated. "Pakistan has never thought about the interests of Sindh -- they are only concerned about the Punjab province." He pointed out that prior to the formation of Pakistan in 1947, Sindh's Sindhu Delta was among the most prosperous deltas in the world, characterised by flourishing agriculture, abundant natural resources, and widespread prosperity among its people. However, he lamented that following the country's creation, the region has faced relentless degradation. According to Bhutto, historic water-sharing records from 1945 showed that five rivers from Punjab used to merge into Sindh, with Sindh receiving 25 percent of the water share. The Indus River itself, he stressed, was vital to Sindh's survival and prosperity. "The Indus River water was solely for Sindh, and the region was prosperous," he explained. However, after the signing of the Indus Water Treaty -- under which two rivers were allocated to India and three remained with Pakistan, including the Indus -- the Pakistani government initiated a massive drive to construct dams and barrages. These constructions, Bhutto said, devastated the Sindhu Delta by cutting off the river's natural flow to the sea, leading to severe environmental destruction and economic hardship across Sindh. Expanding on the current situation, Bhutto voiced deep concerns over Punjab's ongoing construction of six new canals. He said the move has sparked widespread protests across Sindh, where resentment has been brewing for decades. "Punjab has historically broken its promises," Bhutto asserted, explaining how canals that were supposed to open only during floods were fraudulently kept open permanently, diverting vital water away from Sindh. "They pledged to open certain canals only during floods, but they committed fraud by keeping them open permanently, leading to water theft from Sindh." Accusing Pakistan of blatant injustice, he stressed that Sindh's very survival depends on the Indus River, noting that even the name "India" is derived from the Indus. "Pakistan only cares about the interests of Punjab and has no concern if Sindh is destroyed," he added. "They hardly care about Sindh's survival." Looking ahead, Bhutto made a firm call for justice: he demanded that any future treaties regarding the Indus must include separate and direct representation for Sindh, accompanied by binding international guarantees to protect the ecological and human rights of the Sindhi people. "We urge that in any future agreements, Sindh must have separate and direct representation to ensure that our interests are protected," he said, emphasising the need for international oversight. He concluded by warning of the dire consequences of continued water mismanagement, highlighting the urgent need to revive the Sindhu Delta to stave off an impending drought. "The revival of the Sindhu Delta is essential to prevent a looming drought and to restore prosperity to our region," Bhutto said. (ANI) As the nation continues to mourn and cries of outrage echo across the country following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, a wave of calls from world leaders poured in as heads of state and government reached out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing their condolences, condemning the act and pleading support to India in its efforts to counter terrorism. US President Donald Trump called PM Modi and conveyed condolences over the loss of innocent lives, condemning the attack and expressing his full support to India in bringing the perpetrators to justice. Vice President JD Vance also called PM Modi and reiterated the US's support for India in the fight against terrorism. "President Donald Trump called PM Narendra Modi and conveyed his deepest condolences at the loss of innocent lives in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. President Trump strongly condemned the terror attack and expressed full support to India to bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous attack. India and the United States stand together in the fight against terror," the Ministry of External Affairs stated on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1914768541951385637?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "Vice President JD Vance called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this difficult hour. He expressed that the United States is ready to provide all assistance in the joint fight against terrorism. PM thanked Vice President Vance and President Trump for their messages of support and solidarity," MEA further added. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915014767044894775?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w Trump's cabinet also condemned the attack, in which 26 innocent lives were lost. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, Under Secretary of Defence Elbridge Colby, and others also condemned the terrorist and reaffirmed the US's support for India. President Mohamed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also conveyed his condolences and expressed solidarity with India. "President HH Mohamed Bin Zayed of UAE called PM Narendra Modi and conveyed condolences on the loss of lives in the barbaric terror attack on the Indian soil of Jammu & Kashmir. He strongly condemned the attack and expressed full solidarity and support with India. PM appreciated his sentiments and words of sympathy and support. Both leaders agreed that terrorism should be rejected in all its forms and manifestations. PM conveyed India's strong resolve to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime and their supporters to justice," MEA stated on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1916128310829949431?s=46&t=8UKaEK2QgPVZ0vNMPH0KnA Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also conveyed their solidarity with the victims' families, offered condolences and extended support in counter-terrorism efforts. "Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He offered condolences on the loss of innocent lives and expressed solidarity with the people of India in this hour of grief. He extended all support in the fight against terrorism," MEA posted on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1914970072243687885?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "PM Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called PM Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack on Indian soil. He expressed solidarity with the people of India, and the families of the victims. PM Modi shared the barbaric nature of the cross border terrorist attack and reiterated India's firm resolve to bring the perpetrators and their supporters to justice," MEA added. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915387755695055263?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also called upon PM Modi, extending support to India, expressing support and affirming cooperation on international platforms to combat terrorism. "President Emmanuel Macron called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed his personal condolences on the brutal killing of innocent people in the heinous terror attack in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He strongly condemned the attack and expressed full support and solidarity with the people of India adding that this kind of barbarism is totally unacceptable. Prime Minister thanked him for his message of support and conveyed India's strong resolve to bring the perpetrators to justice," MEA stated. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915416609860051431?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terrible terror attack on Indian soil. She conveyed her thoughts and prayers for the victims and wished a speedy recovery of those injured. She expressed full support of Italy in the fight against terrorism. PM Modi appreciated her call and the clear message of support against terrorism and those behind it. India and Italy will continue to work together including in international platforms to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts," MEA added. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915418835722686666?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also conveyed condolences and expressed support to India during this time, noting that terrorism cannot be justified. "PM Shigeru Ishiba of Japan called PM Narendra Modi and expressed his deepest condolences at the loss of lives in the terror attack in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that terrorism cannot be justified. Both leaders emphasised that terrorism is a grave threat to humanity. Those who believe in democracy should stand united in the fight against terrorism. PM shared assessment of the cross-border terror attack and India's resolve to deal with it firmly and decisively," MEA stated on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915394562815582451?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "PM Keir Starmer of UK called PM Narendra Modi and conveyed his sincere condolences on the innocent lives lost in the heinous terror attack on Indian soil. He strongly condemned the barbaric terror attack and expressed that UK stands with the people of India in this hour of tragedy," MEA added. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915698245524684930?s=48 Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam also condemned the attack and reaffirmed their commitment to fight terrorism jointly with India. PM Modi also conveyed his condolences on the death of the Nepali national in the attack. "President Anura Kumara Disanayaka of Sri Lanka spoke with PM Narendra Modi and conveyed heartfelt condolences on the tragic loss of innocent lives in the terror attack on Indian soil in Pahalgam and unequivocally condemned the heinous act of terror. President Anura Kumara Disanayaka expressed Sri Lanka's solidarity with India during this difficult time and reaffirmed the shared commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," MEA noted on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915744392834613405?s=48 "Prime Minister of Nepal Mr KP Sharma Oli called Prime Minister Narendra Modi to strongly condemn the heinous terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered his sincere condolences on the loss of precious lives. PM Narendra Modi also conveyed his condolences on the death of a young Nepali national in the terror attack and underlined that India remains committed to bringing the perpetrators of the brutal terror attack to justice. India and Nepal stand together in the fight against terrorism," MEA stated. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1914973168047120421?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "Prime Minister of Mauritius Dr Navin Ramgoolam called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered his deepest condolences on the senseless killing of innocent people in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He strongly condemned the cowardly terror attack. He expressed support and solidarity with the people of India in this hour of grief and stated that the two countries remain united in the fight against terror," MEA added. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1914976416334045190?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Elsisi also conveyed condolences and said terrorism should be rejected in all its forms, reiterating their support to India. "HM King Abdullah II of Jordan called PM Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the ghastly terror attack. He conveyed sincere condolences at the loss of innocent lives. He said that terrorism should be rejected in all its forms and manifestations and there can be no justification. PM thanked HM King Abdullah (II) for his message of solidarity and shared the sentiments of the people of India to take firm action against the perpetrators and those behind this heinous attack," MEA stated. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915393936601846074?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w "President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Elsisi called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed his sincere condolences on the loss of precious lives in the ghastly terror attack on Indian soil. He strongly condemned the terror attack. President Sisi reiterated that Egypt stands shoulder to shoulder with India in the fight against terrorism. PM briefed President Al Sisi about the cross-border terror attack, and thanked him for his support and solidarity," it further mentioned. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915432233533661661?s=48&t=TqclTmDqiWRmxJeKoBA_6w Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also conveyed condolences and support towards India. PM Modi also expressed his condolences for the recent incident in Bandar Abbas in Iran, where at least 14 people were killed and 750 others were injured following a massive explosion. "PM Dick Schoof of Netherlands called PM Narendra Modi and conveyed condolences on the tragic and inhuman cross border terror attack in Pahalgam, India. He strongly condemned the cowardly act and rejected terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. PM Modi thanked PM for his words of support and solidarity and conveyed that India looks forward to closely working with Netherlands to strengthen the global fight against terrorism," MEA stated on X. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1915692696255312344?s=48 "President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran called PM Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and conveyed his condolences for the victims. Both leaders agreed that there could be no justification for such acts of terror and all those who believe in humanity must stand together in the fight against terrorism. PM shared the anger and anguish of the people of India and their resolve to deal with those behind the terror attack and their supporters firmly and decisively. PM also conveyed his condolences for the loss of lives in the explosion in Bandar Abbas today and wished speedy recovery for those injured," MEA stated. https://x.com/meaindia/status/1916132064337723543?s=46&t=8UKaEK2QgPVZ0vNMPH0KnA Prime Minister Modi thanked all the leaders for their messages and reaffirmed India's commitment to bringing the perpetrators and their supporters to justice, who were part of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. (ANI) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed condolences to the people of Canada after a driver plunged a car into a crowd at a street festival celebrating Filipino heritage in Vancouver on Saturday night, killing nine people and injuring several others, CNN reported. "Heartbreaking tragedy at Vancouver's Filipino festival, where a man drove a car into the crowd, killing and injuring innocent people. On this sad day, Ukrainians deeply share the pain of Canadians, Vancouver residents, and the Canadian Filipino community," Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday. https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1916528434291114342 "Our condolences to the victims' families, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery. Stay strong, our friends in Canada and the Philippines," he added. According to CNN, some of those attending the festival helped arrest the suspect at the scene, who police identified as a 30-year-old man. "As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night's Lapu Lapu Festival. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident," Vancouver Police told CNN. The event on Saturday was intended as a celebration of culture and diversity, marking Lapu Lapu Day, an annual festival organised by British Columbia's Filipino community and commemorating an indigenous leader who fought against Spanish colonisation. Food trucks lined the street as performers broke out in traditional Filipino dance in the spring sunshine. Yet the family-friendly event ended in horror. One witness described it as a "war zone". No motive has been given, although police have said they are "confident" it was not an act of terrorism. Canadian officials are investigating whether mental health issues may have catalysed the incident, a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation told CNN. "At approximately 8:14 pm on April 26, a man drove into a large crowd of people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street. A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene," a police statement said. The suspect was known to police "in certain circumstances", Vancouver Police interim chief Steve Rai told reporters in a press briefing later Sunday. He declined to give further details, including whether the person had a criminal record. However, Rai said the suspect was thought to have operated alone, confirming there was "one suspect, one vehicle" as per CNN. The investigation, led by the Vancouver Police Department's Major Crime Section, is ongoing, and police have asked members of the public to contact them with any information about the incident. (ANI) FUKUOKA, Apr 28 (News On Japan) - A 12-year-old girl living with Apert syndrome, a rare condition that causes abnormalities in bones and joints, is pouring her passion into the piano. Having overcome daily challenges through her own ingenuity, she shares the feelings she pours into her music. Her hands are smaller than average, and her finger joints cannot bend, but her determination has enabled her to perform pieces like Mozarts with confidence. On April 5th, a family gathering for children with Apert syndrome was held for the first time in Fukuoka Prefecture. Among the attendees was Haruka Murayama, who at the age of one underwent major surgeries to separate her fused fingers, eventually achieving five fingers on each hand. Apert syndrome affects about one in 150,000 people, with only a handful of cases diagnosed annually. The disorders root causes and mechanisms remain largely unknown. At just six months old, Murayama endured a major operation involving the removal and reconstruction of parts of her skull, and she has since undergone seven surgeries in total. While her fingers were separated, the absence of second joints means she cannot bend them, making everyday tasks like wringing a cloth difficult. Murayamas resilience is supported by her love of music, which she discovered through her mothers influence when she was four years old. Through steady practice at a music school, she honed her skills, even winning prizes at national competitions. Because her hands cannot span the same distance as others, she developed an original style of playing, using both hands to cover notes intended for one. In some songs, she cleverly uses musical rests to shift between hands, covering the left-hand part with her right when necessary. She believes that even when different people play the same piece, the music is never the same because everyone brings their own heart, mind, and body to the performance. Murayamas goal is to share a sound that only her fingers can create. This spring, as she graduated from elementary school, Murayama gave herself a major challenge: performing a two-hour solo concert. During the concert, she also took the stage to speak openly about her condition, explaining to the audience that she was born with Apert syndrome and wanted more people to understand the disease. Her solo concert on March 29th drew over 100 attendees, and she performed ten pieces over two hours, filling the hall with the sound of her small but determined hands. Murayamas words resonated with the audience as she explained that although her bones and joints differ from others, and her fingers are short and cannot bend, she continues to work hard and hopes for their support. After the concert, she said she had shared everything she had practiced and described the experience as fun. She expressed her hope that more people would learn about Apert syndrome and said the piano has become like a close friend, always by her side. Source: FBS Access to free or low-cost birth control for thousands of Iowans may be in jeopardy due to federal funding of Title X family services being withheld by President Donald Trumps administration, Iowa clinics warn. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced at the end of March that it was withholding 16 family planning grants across 23 states, affecting 870 health facilities serving more than 840,000 patients across the country. It includes funding to networks of clinics that include health departments, federally qualified health centers, school-based providers and Planned Parenthood clinics. Enacted in 1970, the Title X Family Planning Program is the only federally funded program dedicated solely to providing comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services, including cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted infections, in addition to education, counseling and access to a wide variety of contraception methods. Federal officials said the funds were being withheld pending an evaluation of possible violations of federal civil rights laws language the administration has used to target programs promoting racial and gender-based equality. Additionally, undocumented immigrants were barred from obtaining taxpayer-funded benefits under a Trump executive order. Politico reported grantees were given 10 days to submit detailed records showing they dont discriminate in hiring or in patient care, but those who did so by the deadline said they still have not received a response. The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The 35-page filing alleges the Department of Health and Human Services unlawfully withheld the tens of millions in Title X funds approved by Congress over disagreements about organizations opposition to racism and providing care to undocumented immigrants. The Family Planning Council of Iowa is one of two organizations in the state that receive funding through Title X. The other is the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. Both organizations have received only partial funding to provide contraception and other reproductive health services to low-income patients. Allison Smith, executive director of the Family Planning Council of Iowa, said it has received about $1 million, less than half its expected funding for this grant year. Smith said the council typically receives $2.2 million annually. And there's been no explanation as to why that is, and we don't know if there's going to be any additional funding or when that might be available, Smith said. A spokesperson for Iowa Health and Human Services said the department applied for more than $1.5 million in Title X grant funds and received a partial award of about $1.2 million for the April 1 project period via a continuing resolution, with the remainder being approved upon passage of a budget reconciliation bill by Congress. The states Title X program supports 15 clinic sites across Iowa, providing more than 11,100 services in calendar year 2024. While partial awards are not common, they have occurred in the past due to federal budget disputes. Congress in March approved a temporary measure to fund the government through the rest of the federal fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, successfully averting a government shutdown. Smith said a similar issue occurred last year, under former President Joe Bidens administration, where the council was awarded 40% of its grant funds in March 2024. However, it was made clear to us that the remaining grant funding would be available later that year, once Congress approved a budget deal, she said. That communication has not occurred currently. And so that's, I think, the most concerning part for us. The Family Planning Council of Iowa supports 15 clinics that provided health care services to more than 21,500 unique clients during the 2024 budget year. They include those run by county public health departments, hospital-based clinics, federally qualified health centers, independent clinics, Planned Parenthood and community action organizations. Smith said shes unsure how theyll be able to keep clinics afloat without full funding, and worries it may lead to Iowans not having places to go to get care. She said the council is trying to operate as usual as best it cab, but has had to offer six-month contracts instead of 12-month contracts due to the uncertainty. She said the funding pause further limits access to care at time when Title X already has been underfunded for years. Congress has appropriated $286 million for Title X, a level of funding that has not increased for the past 10 years. I think the bottom line is this is an attack on access to birth control, Smith said. The Title X program has been crucial for more than 50 years. I think it's important that we reach out to our federal Congress members to let them know how important protecting Title X is to Iowans. Because many Title X-backed health centers are operated by Planned Parenthood, the program has become a target for abortion rights opponents, even though the program itself does not provide funding to support abortion care or services. While Title X clinics are not allowed to use their funds for abortion services, they can provide non-directive pregnancy counseling, including information about abortion, and referrals for abortion services. Heather Montgomery is executive director of Womens Health & Family Services in Clinton, which has been a Title X family planning clinic for nearly all of its 50 years of operation. The clinic sees more than 1,400 unique patients every year. Montgomery, like Smith, worries Iowa clinics like hers will no longer be able to provide free and discounted services, including contraception, to woman to help them plan for the family size that they want and can afford. She noted Title X funds help cover care for people who dont qualify for Medicaid or state programs, as well as low-income people. Theres a lot of insurance companies that have extremely high deductibles or co-pays, which can affect their birth control option and how much thats going to cost them, Montgomery said. She said a long-acting reversible contraceptive implant inserted under the skin of the upper arm can cost $550. And other long-acting reversible contraceptives, like an intrauterine device, can cost $100 up to $400. Additionally, some employers do not cover birth control in their health plans. If the federal dollars dont come through, she said its unlikely clinics will be able to replace them, and clinics could close. We run with pretty much a skeleton crew, because were a not-for-profit clinic, Montgomery said. Losing that funding affects us greatly. Its half what it was last year, and last year wasnt even enough. It gets to be more and more difficulty to keep our doors open. She said she recently eliminated a nurse practitioner due to reduced funding, dropping from 2.5 to 1.5 providers. Which is a huge cost savings to us, but thats less patients that we can see, Montgomery said. Its a beneficial program that keeps a lot of women off state aid when you can have the number of kids that you can afford, she said. It would be, I think, a loss to our community. Theres a lot of clinics that wont be able to sustain without that family planning funding. Thats going to make it a lot harder for women to access that family planning care. I unfortunately think youre going to have a lot of not wonderful repercussions coming back from that. Means of reinforcing military cooperation between Morocco and Ethiopia were reviewed at a meeting in Addis Ababa between , Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces and Commander of the South Zone, Lieutenant General Mohammed Berrid, and Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Field Marshal Birhanu Jula. The two officials expressed their satisfaction with the new momentum witnessed by military relations between Morocco and Ethiopia, the FAR General Staff said in a press release. The two sides also discussed a draft agreement covering various aspects of military cooperation, aimed at bolstering and broadening the prospects of this partnership. The agreement will be signed shortly, the press release said. During the visit he paid to Ethiopia April 23-26 on the instructions of King Mohammed VI, Supreme Commander and Chief of the General Staff of the FAR, Lieutenant General Mohammed Berrid, also held talks with Ethiopian Minister of State for Defense Marta Luigi, on ways of enhancing military cooperation between the two countries. Lieutenant General Mohammed Berrid visited several military facilities and institutes of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, including the Information Network Security Administration, the Artificial Intelligence Institute, the Bishoftu air base and a munitions factory, the press release said. King Mohammed VI was represented by Head of the Government, Aziz Akhannouch, at the funerals of Pope Francis, which took place on Saturday morning in St. Peters Square at the Vatican. After the funeral mass, Pope Franciss coffin was transported to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, in the heart of Rome, where he had chosen to be buried. Following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, King Mohammed VI, in his capacity as Commander of the Faithful, sent a message of condolences and compassion to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals. In his condolences message, the King expressed his sincere condolences and deepest sympathy to Christians around the world and the esteemed Catholic Church. The world has lost an eminent religious figure, who dedicated his life to serving lofty human ideals and common values rooted in faith, freedom, peace, love and solidarity among different peoples, the Monarch said in the message. The late Pope also consistently called for protecting and preserving the environment, which is the home of all mankind, the King said, lauding the generosity and sacrifice of the late pontiff who dedicated himself to combatting marginalization and poverty and defending human dignity. The Monarch who highlighted the late Popes attachment to the ideals of peace, dialogue, tolerance and religious coexistence, recalled the Popes visit to Morocco in March 2019, a visit which, he said, strengthened the foundations of the close and special relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Holy See. It was a significant milestone in our common desire to continue enhancing dialogue, understanding and mutual respect between Christians and Muslims, the King said. That auspicious visit culminated in the signing by His Holiness Pope Francis and myself of the Jerusalem Declaration, which calls for guaranteeing the right of the followers of the three monotheistic religions to freely enter the Holy City and perform their religious rituals therein, King Mohammed VI recalled. In this message, the sovereign expressed his deep sorrow and strong emotion at the loss of a distinguished religious figure who dedicated his life to the service of the supreme ideals of humanity and the common values of faith, freedom, peace, love, and solidarity among peoples. In 2024, the Food Bank of East Alabama received just over 1.7 million pounds of food from the United States Department of Agriculture and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program. Now Executive Director Martha Henk said cuts to that program and others by the USDA will hurt the food bank this year. The challenges keep piling up for the Food Bank of East Alabama as the organization works to meet the rising food insecurity across East Alabama while federal support wanes. Henk said the product brought in by the USDA made up about 40% of the total pounds collected by the food bank last year. With cuts and pauses to multiple federal programs, Henk expects the food bank to lose anywhere from 20% to 40% of the food normally received from the USDA. That is a gap the food bank cannot afford to fill. "We can't fill the gap, but we're going to do the best that we can. We've got really wonderful, supportive community. We've got donors that give very regularly and give generously. And we're going to be going back to them to ask," Henk said. "What we need to communicate is that we're really moving into crisis territory." The United States Department of Agriculture ended two pandemic-era programs in March that provided over $1 billion in funding for food banks and schools to purchase produce from local farmers, according to the Associated Press, and the cuts have gone beyond that according to Henk. The Food Bank of East Alabama serves the seven-county area of Lee, Russell, Macon, Chambers, Randolph, Barbour and Tallapoosa counties. According to numbers provided by Henk, the average rate of food insecurity across those seven counties is 17.5%, or 63,270 people, including 19,310 children. That rate increased by 19.8% from the previous year, and Henk expects the 2025 numbers to be worse. In 2024, the food bank distributed 5.2 million pounds of food and partnered with 200 agencies in the area to serve the community. Henk was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where she saw food insecurity first hand caused by inter-tribal conflicts and the climate. That is not what she sees in the U.S., which has over 47 million people that are food insecure. "What's harder to understand is, what is the deal in United States? It isn't a shortage of food, that is not the issue at all. It's not production. It's having access to it and having the resources to be able to access it," Henk said. Confusion over what will be cut by USDA In the past, the food bank has received thousands of pounds of food, including a lot of produce, from programs like the LFPA, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, The Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Commodity Credit Corporation. Henk said the food bank already budgeted for the LFPA and has always been able to rely on those federal programs for support. "What we got from the local community or what we purchased, that was less predictable, but the USDA...that's the backbone of what we distribute. That is what we are not so sure about at the moment," Henk said. "Our agencies are telling us they're serving more people, and we're saying, 'Okay, we're going to do our best.'" Henk said nationwide food banks are expected to see a $1 billion hit combined. That includes pausing of around $500 million in funding for TEFAP, paused funding for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and $500 million for Commodity Credit Corporation cancelled. "That was like the best program," Henk said of the LFPA. "It basically went to local farmers, mostly ones that were low income, and bought their product. It got delivered to us, went to our agencies, went to people, all this fresh, wonderful product." Henk said there is a lot of confusion and uncertainty, as most of what she knows about the cuts have come from larger food banks in the state, across the nationwide network and in the case of the LFPA cancellation, from Feeding Alabama. In one instance, the Heart of Alabama Food Bank in Montgomery was expecting to receive 23 truckloads of food from the USDA, with some of that product going to the Food Bank of East Alabama. Each truck would hold around 45,000 pounds of food, and Henk said all 23 deliveries were canceled. Henk said she has heard of discussions about reducing benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by as much as 10%. That program distributes 10 times more food than all of the food banks combined, Henk said. The food bank and its network of partner agencies serve an average of 31,390 per month. Henk said 5.2 million pounds is great, but to truly serve the seven counties and the residents that are food insecure, the food bank would need six million pounds in 2025. As the food insecurity has risen, the food bank has seen an increase in the number of people in need while also a simultaneous reduction in donations. "Our food pantries are reporting that they're seeing a lot more people coming for help. You're talking about reduction in food, reduction in funding to support the USDA, increasing food insecurity, more people in need," Henk said. "Then you put in their SNAP benefits being reduced, and it's pretty scary." As of this time, there have not been cuts made to SNAP. How you can help the food bank as it enters this crisis As the food bank faces what could be a difficult 2025, the organization has turned once again to the generous group of donors and community members that can support them. Anyone who wants to contribute monetary support to the Food Bank of East Alabama can make a donation at foodbankofeastalabama.com/make-a-difference. For every dollar donated, the food bank can distribute the equivalent of seven meals to people in need. The food bank recently celebrated the groundbreaking for the new Community Market of East Alabama in Opelika which will be serving the community beyond just supplying food. Henk is hopeful that the food bank team can move into the new facility by early 2026. Henk said the food bank will also be ramping up efforts for what is called retail store recovery. The food bank partners with 19 grocery stores in the area and recovered 1.3 million pounds from the stores in 2024. The way the food bank does it is through recovery of product the stores will not sell, such as a box of chips that has one broken bag inside but other product is in good condition. There is also the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive from the National Association of Letter Carriers. Henk said the drive, which is scheduled for May 10, is the largest in the U.S. and comes at a critical time. "It's more needed than almost any other time that I can remember," Henk said of the drive. "We'll have people from the community that will just stop by with a box or a few bags of food that they've picked up at the grocery store and they're dropping off. Somebody might say, 'Well, that just seems like a drop in the bucket,' but I think you don't keep the fact that you can't do everything to keep you from doing something. So if I do that, and if you do that, and if we can get enough of us to do that, we really can have a real impact." In the past Henk said the food bank has seen a decrease in donations which has led to the food bank spending $600,000 in 2024 to purchase food, something it cannot afford to do this year. The food bank is hopeful the USDA will restore support to food banks, the organization said in a Facebook post. As she looks ahead to the rest of the year, Henk is staying positive, and as the cuts come in, she wants to stress that feeding people is not political. "It's about people. It's not about politics. It's about people, and about our responsibility to feed people in need," Henk said. "That's really the bottom line, regardless of who's in the White House or in Congress." NextEra's CEO calls for energy realism and pragmatism, urging policymakers to support a diverse energy mix rather than favoring specific technologies. The company advocates for viewing renewables and battery storage as the primary bridge energy sources until new natural gas and nuclear plants can be brought online. NextEra Energy emphasizes the necessity of utilizing all forms of energy, particularly renewables, to meet the surging power demand in the United States, driven by AI and the reshoring of manufacturing. The operator of the largest gas-fired electricity generation fleet in America believes that renewables will be vital to meet the rise in power demand driven by AI and the reshoring of manufacturing. NextEra Energy whose 72 gigawatts (GW) operating portfolio consists of 55% renewables, 36% gas, and 8% nuclear power generation says that America will need all forms of energy to meet the expected surge in demand. And wind, solar, and battery storage can act as the bridge energy source until new natural gas and nuclear capacity comes online. For years, natural gas was touted as the bridge fuel between coal and renewables. Now, renewables should be viewed as the energy source to help meet demand until new gas and nuclear power plants are commissioned, NextEras chairman, president, and CEO, John Ketchum, said on the companys Q1 earnings call this week. All forms of power will be needed in the coming years, and the U.S. shouldnt pick winners and losers among the various sources capable of delivering the necessary power generation increase, the executive noted. We should be thinking about renewables and battery storage as a critical bridge until other technology is ready at scale, like new gas-fired plants, Ketchum said. NextEra expects more than 450 GW of cumulative demand for new generation between now and 2030 in the United States. To meet this demand, we believe it's important to exercise what I described as energy realism and energy pragmatism. Energy realism is about embracing all forms of energy solutions and understanding the demand for electricity in the United States is here now, and it's not slowing down, Ketchum added. As many as 75 GW of gas-fired capacity is set to come online by 2030, according to NextEras estimates. While significant, this increase is nowhere close to meeting the over 450 GW of total generation that NextEra believes is needed. Bottom line, don't take this as picking winners and losers. It's not nor can it be, Ketchum said. NextEras top executive stressed the importance of the U.S. Administrations policy in encouraging all forms of energy in America. We cannot isolate ourselves to just a couple of technologies like gas and nuclear, which are much more expensive than they've ever been and take far longer to build. We say all this as a company in our space that does it all, Ketchum told analysts during the earnings call. As early as in March, Ketchum warned the audience at the CERAWeek event in Houston not to overlook renewables as a vital source of electricity in the United States. Renewables should be part of the equation, NextEras CEO said last month, noting that Theres not a one-size-fits-all solution. Were going to need all forms of generation- renewables, gas, and nuclear. AI data centers and the reshoring of some manufacturing will drive U.S. electricity demand growth over the coming decade. The worlds biggest economy will need all energy sources to ensure power demand is met. Natural gas is the biggest near-term winner of AI advancements, but renewables will also play a key role in powering the data centers of next-generation computing, analysts say. Policy and regulation will need to reflect the reality that there is a need for all generation technologies, according to Wood Mackenzies analysts, as the natural gas boom alone cannot meet the soaring electricity demand. AI data centers are set to account for almost half of U.S. power demand growth by the end of the decade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Energy and AI report earlier this month. Driven by AI use, America will consume more electricity for data centers than for the production of aluminum, steel, cement, chemicals, and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to the agency. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Critics argue that COP summits are undermined by the high attendance of fossil fuel lobbyists and the use of private jets by attendees, raising questions about the events' commitment to environmental goals. The annual COP climate summits aim to progress international efforts to reduce the impact of climate change, support a green transition, and decarbonise economies worldwide. However, the organisers have come under fire in recent years for failing to prevent the environmental degradation associated with the conference. Unsustainable development in host countries, high numbers of fossil fuel lobbyist attendees, and the use of private jets to attend the event are just some of the criticisms of the summit. This years COP30 climate summit is set to be held in November in Brazil, an oil-rich country in South America with a long history in fossil fuels. Under former president Jair Bolsonaro, little climate progress was seen in Brazil, as he pursued a strong fossil fuel-driven agenda. During his presidency, the deforestation of the rainforest increased year on year, with 3,988 km2 of the Amazon an area the size of New York City lost in the first six months of 2022 alone. However, since coming to power in 2023, President Lula da Silva has promised to end deforestation in Brazil by 2030, although he has also doubled down on the countrys oil ambitions. In March, it came to light that a new four-lane highway was being built in the Amazon, in preparation for COP30 to be held in the Brazilian city of Belem, destroying tens of thousands of acres of protected land. The city will host over 50,000 people, including world leaders. The government has said that the development of the highway is sustainable, but local communities and environmentalists are not convinced. Residents in the region complain that they have not received compensation for the development of land, which many rely on for their livelihoods. Meanwhile, scientists are concerned that the road will leave two disconnected areas of forest, which could fragment the ecosystem and disrupt the movement of wildlife. President Lula has said the summit will be historic because it is a COP in the Amazon, not a COP about the Amazon. Lula hopes the conference will help showcase the needs of the Amazon region as well as demonstrate the governments commitment to protecting the rainforest to the world. The highway, Avenida Liberdade, was originally proposed in 2012 but has been repeatedly delayed due to environmental concerns. However, the COP30 summit has put several infrastructure projects in the region back on the table. The Para state government's infrastructure secretary, Adler Silveira, said the highway was one of 30 projects happening in the Belem to prepare and modernise it, so that we can have a legacy for the population and, more importantly, serve people for COP30 in the best possible way. It is not the first time that the COP summits have been criticised on an environmental basis. In recent years, the climate summit has been hosted by several oil-rich countries, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan. Environmentalists and leading climate figures have criticised host countries for allowing thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists to be present at the event. In COP29 in Azerbaijan, more than 1,700 coal, oil, and gas lobbyists attended the summit, which many said undermined the efforts of the conference. A group of influential climate policy experts, including the former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, wrote to the UN demanding change. Their letter stated, It is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose. We need a shift from negotiation to implementation. Ahead of COP29, a video was leaked showing one of the core members of the Azerbaijan governments organising team appearing to offer to help facilitate fossil fuel deals. During the summits opening ceremony, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said that his countrys oil and gas were a gift of God. In addition, several world leaders have been criticised for using private jets to travel to previous COP summits. In 2022, during COP27 in Egypt, data from FlightRadar24 showed that 36 private jets landed at Sharm el-Sheikh between the 4th and 6th of November, at the start of the summit, and a further 64 flew into Cairo, 24 of which had come from Sharm el-Sheikh. The website suggested there were likely more scheduled private flights that it could not track. This was lower than the number of private jets transporting leaders to COP26 in Glasgow, U.K. the previous year but still contributed significant carbon emissions. As several world powers work together to take climate action through the annual COP summits, greater efforts must be made to reduce the environmental impact of the event and encourage greater participation from climate leaders. Significant progress has been seen each year from the COP summits, but the high attendance rate of fossil fuel lobbyists and the unsustainable development of host countries could threaten this progress. By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com A recent study by Professor Michael Mische at USC found no evidence of corporate price gouging contributing to the high fuel costs in California. If youve filled your tank in California lately, youve felt the stinggas prices there arent just high, theyre consistently the highest in the nation. As of April 14, 2025, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in California was $4.67more than 55% above the national average. In some counties, including Mono and Alpine, prices exceed $5.80 a gallon. Thats nearly 90% more than what drivers are paying in states like Texas or Mississippi. These arent short-term spikestheyre a chronic condition. And contrary to popular opinion, its not corporate greed or price gouging to blame. A recent report, A Study of California Gasoline Prices by Professor Michael Mische at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, lays out a clear and compelling case for why Californias fuel costs are so highand why theyre likely to remain that way. The reasons are largely structural, policy-driven, and deeply embedded in how the state regulates, produces, and distributes gasoline. Professor Mische notes in his disclaimer that he has not received any special compensation and has no promise or anticipation of any future compensation for the work presented herein. This work and the author are entirely independent and not affiliated with, in any form, and are not advocating on behalf of or representing any petroleum company, organization, or foreign entity. Ive covered some of these dynamics before in California Gas Prices: The State Makes More Money Than Refiners, but Professor Misches report offers a much deeper dive. Below are his major findings. A Perfect Storm of Policy, Regulation, and Infrastructure According to the study, there are seven core drivers behind Californias persistently high gas prices. None of them are accidental, and none are easily fixed. Environmental Regulations California mandates a specialized gasoline blend known as CARBOB (California Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending), along with seasonal reformulations and a stringent Cap-and-Trade program. These collectively add $0.47 to $1.15 per gallon in compliance costscosts not borne by drivers in other states. High Taxes and Fees California levies the highest gasoline taxes and regulatory fees in the nationaround $1.64 per gallon. By comparison, refiners typically make far less per gallon, often just pennies. When drivers look at the pump price, they often miss how much of it is policy-driven rather than market-driven. Declining In-State Oil Production Once a top oil-producing state, California now supplies only about 23% of its own crude needs. More than 60% of its crude is importedmuch of it from politically unstable or distant countries. That reliance adds transportation costs and makes the state vulnerable to global price swings. Refinery Closures California has lost significant refining capacity over the past decade, with more to come. Phillips 66 and other operators are shuttering refineries, with California expected to lose another 8.6% of its capacitytightening supply even further. No Inbound Pipelines Unlike Texas or Louisiana, California has no crude oil pipelines crossing its borders. That forces the state to rely almost entirely on marine shipments and a limited number of rail routesboth of which are more expensive and subject to disruption. Business Climate The states regulatory and political environment is viewed as unfriendly to the oil and gas industry. Since 2018, more than 360 energy-related companies have left California altogether. That includes major oil producers, pipeline operators, and support servicesmany of which have cited excessive red tape and regulatory hostility as key reasons for exiting. Californias Long-Term Policy Goals Finally, the states aggressive push to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035 creates a chilling effect on long-term investment in fuel infrastructure. Why would companies invest billions in refining, storage, and distribution assets in a state that has openly stated its goal of making those assets obsolete? The Ripple Effect Beyond California This isnt just a California problem. Neighboring states like Nevada and Arizona are highly dependent on Californias refineries88% and 48%, respectively. So, when prices rise in California, the pain spreads across the Southwest. And if California loses more refining capacity, its not just residents of Los Angeles or San Francisco who will feel it. No Evidence of Price Gouging One of the more interesting takeaways from Misches report is whats not driving up prices: corporate profiteering. Multiple investigationsincluding those by the FTC, the Federal Reserve, and even the state of California itselfhave found no clear evidence of price manipulation by oil companies. That may not ease public frustration, but its a critical distinction: Californias high gas prices stem from policy, not profiteering. What This Means for Investors For investors, especially those in the energy space, California serves as a case study in how policy can trump market fundamentals. The state has intentionally made it more expensive to produce and consume gasoline, and its seeing the predictable result: higher prices, shrinking supply, and reduced private investment. Investors should be aware of regional regulatory risks when evaluating energy companies, particularly those with heavy exposure to California or other similarly isolated markets. At the same time, Californias energy policies may present opportunities in adjacent sectorssuch as EV infrastructure, battery storage, or renewable fuels. The Bottom Line Californias gas prices arent high by accident. Theyre the product of deliberate decisionssome made decades ago, others more recently. While those policies may align with the states environmental and political goals, they come with real economic costs, not just for drivers, but for the energy industry at large. And those costs are unlikely to go away anytime soon. By Robert Rapier More Top Reads From Oilprice.com 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: Platelet and non-haematopoietic transcripts are enriched in cfRNA. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08834-1 Stanford Medicine researchers have developed a blood test capable of detecting cancers, the ways cancer resists treatments and tissue injury caused by non-cancerous conditions. The new test analyzes RNA molecules in the bloodstream. This type of RNA is called cell-free RNA because the tiny molecules no longer inhabit a cell. There are always fragments of both DNA and RNA floating in bloodbyproducts of natural cell death from all types of tissues and organs throughout the body, including cancerous tumors. The researchers spent more than six years developing novel methods to target messenger RNA in blood and then used it to identify the presence of cancers at different stages, to track resistance to cancer treatment, and to monitor severity of injury to healthy tissue. "Just as archaeologists can learn about ancient societies by studying the garbage they left behind, we can learn a lot about what is going on in the cells of a patient's body based on the degraded RNA molecules that are cleared through the blood," said co-lead author Maximilian Diehn, MD, Ph.D., and the Jack, Lulu, and Sam Willson Professor and a Stanford Medicine professor of radiation oncology. "We have developed a sensitive, versatile new type of liquid biopsy that measures cell-free and circulating-tumor RNA and has the potential to enhance personalized medicine in cancer and non-cancer diseases." A paper explaining the method and applications of the cell-free RNA blood test was published in Nature on April 16, 2025. Monica Nesselbush, a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford Cancer Institute, Bogdan Luca, postdoctoral scholar in pathology, and Young-Jun Jeon, a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford Medicine who is now a professor at Sungkyunkwan University, are joint first authors. Ash Alizadeh, MD, Ph.D., the Moghadam Family Professor and a professor of medicine, oncology and hematology, co-led the study with Diehn. Detecting cancers and resistance to treatment There is not a lot of cell-free RNA in the blood, and around 95% of it is the ribosomal RNA that makes up the cellular structures that manufacture proteins. The new blood test analyzes messenger RNA, which makes up less than 5% of the cell-free RNA pool, because these molecules serve as a signal about which genes are expressed as proteins. The researchers restricted their analysis of gene expression to a group of about 5,000 genes that are not typically expressed in the blood of healthy people. Focusing on these so-called rare abundance genes increased the ability of the test to correctly identify cancer by over a factor of 50. The test found lung cancer RNA in 73% of lung cancer patients, including at early stages. "Analysis of the rare abundance genes lets us focus on the most relevant subset of RNA for detecting disease, just like archaeologists who want to learn about what people ate might focus on a subset of artifacts such as food containers or utensils," Alizadeh said. Detecting cell-free messenger RNA means the blood test is capable of monitoring conditions that do not involve genetic mutations that are the basis of most DNA-based tests, such as certain causes of resistance to cancer treatments. "Unfortunately, a significant fraction of our patients who are being treated for cancer go on to have their therapy stop working, and that resistance is often based on adaptations that do not involve genetic changes, but instead altering how the cells behave or even how the cells look under a microscope," Alizadeh explained. "Our non-invasive approach has the potential of avoiding surgical biopsies and identifying these common types of resistance earlier before substantial disease burden shows up on scans or presents with symptoms like pain, providing an earlier opportunity to change treatment and improve outcomes." Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. Finding a biomarker from what is in the freezer Before the research team could read information from cell-free messenger RNA in the blood, they had to overcome the influence of platelets, cells in the blood that are responsible for clotting and contain RNA but not DNA. To prevent platelets from affecting test results and obscuring signals from cancer, the researchers developed a combination of molecular and computational strategies that subtract contributions from these numerous cells. The computational approach to overcoming platelet contamination means the method works both on newly collected blood samples and on samples that have been previously collected and stored. "This approach means that the test can be used to examine blood samples currently in the freezer from a completed clinical trial, for example, and could help find a molecular signature that predicts who responded to a drug and who did not," Diehn said. "We can save time by using historical samples to discover a biomarker that can then be applied in real time to patients moving forward." Tip of the iceberg The new cell-free RNA method also provides useful information for non-cancer applications. The test detected high levels of normal lung RNA in blood samples from patients who were intubated and on a ventilator for treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome, a condition that severely damages the lungs and causes the cells to die. The amount of normal lung RNA in blood samples from patients with COVID-19 reflected how sick they were. The researchers also found normal lung RNA in the blood of smokers who were healthy, possibly indicating microscopic injury to the lungs caused by smoking. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the University of Washington also contributed to the study. More information: Monica C. Nesselbush et al, An ultrasensitive method for detection of cell-free RNA, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08834-1 Journal information: Nature Speaking during City Councils April 14 public comment period, Egon Shroud invoked J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter. When he who shall not be named walked through (Westover Hills Elementary School) earlier this year, he learned our staff work hard to get kids reading, said Shroud, a Richmond Public Schools teacher arguing for higher pay for herself and her colleagues. What he doesnt know is that we have teachers getting hit, kicked, spit on and cursed out daily. By he who must not be named the alias for Rowlings infamous villain, Voldemort Shroud meant Mayor Danny Avula. But she couldnt say that due to City Councils rules of procedure, which City Council President Cynthia Newbille claims prohibit members of the public from referencing public officials when giving their remarks. Its an interpretation of the rules that arguably violates Richmond residents right to free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, said Kevin Cope, an associate professor of law at University of Virginia. Prohibiting mere mention of the mayor or other city officials could significantly restrict speakers ability to communicate their message, said Cope, whose practice areas include defamation and free speech. Only moments before Shroud spoke during the April 14 meeting, Dennis Holly, a member of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities, had been admonished by Newbille for referring to Avula by name. Calling on the councilmembers to restore funding for dilapidated mobile home repair, Holly pointed out that Avula had promised to include the money in his proposed budget, but hadnt followed through. In response, Newbille told Holly to absolutely feel free to provide your comments, but reminded him not to reference staff or administrative membership. The mayors and others past actions may well be relevant to the issue being discussed, Cope told The Times-Dispatch. It was very relevant to (Holly), who asked the Council to hold the mayor accountable. I strongly suspect that a court would invalidate such a rule under the First Amendments free speech clause, he added. Newbille did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, City Council spokesperson Steve Skinner said that the body supports the right to free speech, encouraging open dialogue and diverse voices. Skinner did not respond to specific follow-up questions about the rules of procedure. What do City Councils rules say? The rules require speakers questions to be presented to the president of the Council, who may, at the presidents discretion, solicit the appropriate response. Persons speaking shall not be permitted to address or question the mayor, city attorney, city clerk or any other staff member directly, the rules say. As theyre written, they probably comply with the First Amendment, said Cope. Under First Amendment caselaw, City Council meetings and the like are treated as limited public forums, meaning a place where government is acting as a proprietor to some degree and can restrict speech to certain speakers, topics and times, he explained. Rules that set limits on speaking time, require speakers to stay on topic and bar personal attacks are perfectly fine, Cope said. Even rules compelling speakers to address their comments to the president or chair of a body in this case, Newbille are constitutionally appropriate. But a rule forbidding referencing public officials, including requesting that they take official action, is a different story, Cope said. In other words: its one thing for speakers to be required to address Newbille directly, but its another thing to entirely ban them from mentioning their own mayor by name. Restrictions on speech in a public forum must be viewpoint neutral, Cope said. They cannot be based on the ideas expressed in the comments, even if the ideas are highly critical of public officials. It seems (Newbille) may have simply misinterpreted the policy, Cope said. It may even constitute viewpoint discrimination, since speakers who are more critical of officials may be more likely to wish to mention them. What about Roberts Rules of Order? Chuck Slemp, formerly commonwealths attorney for Wise County and deputy attorney general of Virginia, agreed with Copes analysis. Under procedural rules, such as Roberts Rules of Order, municipalities can impose restrictions on citizens speech at meetings, Slemp said. Roberts Rules of Order is a parliamentary procedure guide developed by U.S. Army General Henry Martyn Robert in the 1870s. Robert wrote the first edition of the book after being suddenly asked to preside over a public meeting in Massachusetts and completely botching it. His manual, based on that experience, seeks to balance public participation with government efficiency, and is generally considered to be the national standard for public meetings across the country. The guidelines recommend setting strict time limits for public comment periods, requiring speakers to address the head of a public body and maintaining decorum throughout. But they cannot censor a speakers viewpoint or deny access solely to suppress the speakers perspective, Slemp said. So while a speaker during Richmond City Councils public comment period cannot question Avula or call him names, that speaker should be at liberty to talk about or even chastise them. Any restrictions on public comments must be implemented in the least restrictive manner possible, said Slemp. Gibson: Public officials should have thick skin As the citys chief executive public servant, Avula is arguably both the most visible and the most responsible figure in Richmonds government. Councilwoman Kenya Gibson, who represents the 3rd District, during the April 14 meeting suggested that speakers should be permitted to name him and that he should welcome the opportunities to hear directly from his constituents. Look, running for office, you develop a pretty thick skin, Gibson said, addressing the room after Newbille forbade references to Avula. You want to hear from folks. When people come up and speak, they have questions and asks. As elected officials, were up for the challenge. Surveillance cameras found during Chetumal gang member home search Chetumal, Q.R. Police say they seized video surveillance cameras from a criminal gang member during a property search in Chetumal. Investigative Police searched a property located on the streets of the Martires de Antorchistas neighborhood Saturday. The search took place inside a private home after a judge issued a search warrant. Inside the home, authorities located a variety of narcotics, drug paraphernalia and surveillance equipment. Police reported locating DVR equipment and two video surveillance cameras during the property search. Two people were on the property at the time of the search, however, one escaped. Two individuals were found nearby exchanging items. One of them, noticing the police presence, escaped. A man identified as Johnny Salvador N was arrested, police said. They found him with small bags of dried, green marijuana-like weed and a solid pink fragment resembling crack cocaine. According to police preliminary investigations, this individual belongs to a criminal group responsible for violence in southern Quintana Roo. At the end of the investigation, official seals were placed on the property searched, leaving it in the custody of the appropriate authorities. Last week, police reported removing at least 30 unauthorized security cameras around the city of Chetumal. The illegally installed cameras were placed mostly on poles belonging to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) or the Telephone Company of Mexico (Telmex). A Rocky Mount attorney is facing accusations of making a false statement in court documents and manipulating court records to conceal the fact that he missed a filing deadline. C. Holland Perdue III undertook such actions to intentionally deceive the court, according to a motion for sanctions filed by the opposing attorney in a disputed estate case. A May 27 hearing has been scheduled in Franklin County Circuit Court for a judge to consider imposing sanctions, which usually take the form of a monetary penalty for inappropriate or unethical conduct by an attorney. Perdue is the mayor of Rocky Mount, although the matter does not pertain to his duties as an elected official. As a private attorney, Perdue represented Valerie Venning, who was married to Greg Venning at the time of his death last year. Perdue filed a civil complaint that asked a judge to award Valerie Venning $2.5 million, which she contended was her share of the estate left by her husband, a developer who owned numerous Smith Mountain Lake properties. Lindsey Coley, the attorney for Greg Vennings four daughters from a previous marriage who are listed as heirs in his will responded by asking that the lawsuit against them be dismissed because Perdue had missed a filing deadline of Aug. 21. Perdue disputed that in a court document three weeks later, stating that he had filed the required papers Aug. 20, one day before the statute of limitations expired. But in fact, a date stamp on official court records shows the filing was made Sept. 23, more than a month late. In asking that sanctions be imposed, Coley alleged that Perdue signed a false pleading, certifying as an officer of the court that, to the best of his knowledge, his assertion of the Aug. 20 filing date was well-grounded in fact. However, the deceitful acts did not stop there, Coley wrote. Her motion alleges that Perdue supported his claim by submitting as an exhibit a screen shot of online court records records that had been altered. Perdue directly asked the Clerk of this Court to backdate the filing of the complaint to Aug. 20, 2024, Coley wrote in her motion, adding that she expected the allegations to be borne out by testimony at the May 27 hearing. Perdue did not return a message left with his office last week. Roanoke attorney John Lichtenstein, who represents Perdue on the motion for sanctions, released a statement Friday that read, in part: There was no attempt to mislead the court ... Mr. Perdue is dedicated to his clients and his community. And he looks forward to bringing this matter to the Court and demonstrating there was never an attempt to mislead the Court or anyone else. Because the motion for sanctions includes allegations that Perdue colluded with the Circuit Court Clerks Office to have the online record of the case altered, Franklin County Judge Tim Allen recused himself Nov. 6. Retired Circuit Judge William Broadhurst, who presided over cases in the Roanoke Valley, has been appointed to hear the matter. Circuit Court Clerk Teresa Brown, who is not identified by name in court filings that implicate her office, declined to comment last week. Coley also declined to talk about the case. A change in story To date, no formal answer has been filed to the motion for sanctions. But in court documents that followed his initial denial, Perdue admitted that he filed the lawsuit Sept. 23. In October, Perdue submitted a 15-page response to Coleys motion to dismiss the case because the pleading was filed too late. He accused her of deliberately delaying the proceeding by failing to provide the information he needed to timely bring the complaint. Coleys misleading actions show a blatant attempt to disrupt the case, all in an attempt to merely run the clock and provide false claims in an effort to have the case dismissed, he wrote. Coley called those allegations baseless in her motion for sanctions. Perdue also maintained that he was told the estate was willing to reach a settlement which never happened and that was the reason why his complaint was not filed by the Aug. 21 deadline. We had prepared the complaint in August but filed it in September because we were being ignored and denied a response, Valerie Venning said in an answer to an interrogatory, or a written response to questions filed in court. Had she known that a settlement was not possible, this would have been filed in August, Venning said in responses that were given with Perdues assistance. Venning was not asked about the alleged backdating of online court records. In his statement, Lichtenstein said that if Perdues intent was to deceive, he certainly would not have attached to his written arguments a copy of his complaint that was dated Sept. 23. Lichtensteins written statement did not address the allegation that in the same filing, Perdue attached a copy of online court records that showed the filing date to be Aug. 20 or the allegation that he asked someone in the clerks office to backdate the record. The online record has since been corrected to show a Sept. 23 filing date. Perdue had asked in an October filing that the deadline be extended to allow him to file an amended complaint, once he receives a completed inventory of the estate and other details from Coley. There has been no final action on that request, and it appears that the next matter to be heard will be the motion for sanctions. Sanctions rarely imposed Figures were not readily available on how often sanctions are sought in Virginia, or how often they are granted by judges. According to an informal survey of about a half-dozen area lawyers, such motions are rarely filed in Southwest Virginia, but are more common in the urban areas of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. In many cases, judges are reluctant to impose penalties. Unless someone is deliberately or intentionally violating the rules or the law ... sanctions are very unlikely to be granted, said Kevin Martingayle, a Virginia Beach lawyer and past president of the Virginia State Bar. Martingayle wrote an article about sanctions presented at a Virginia Trial Lawyers Association convention. When litigators find themselves in adversarial proceedings, as is often the case, they are given a certain amount of latitude. This may be due in part to the fact that judges still regard themselves as being part of a profession with a healthy respect for advocacy, and a great many judges exercise restraint because they recall well what its like to be an attorney, doing his best to represent a client, stated a second paper co-authored by Steve Emmert, a retired lawyer and legal expert. By and large, most attorneys are cognizant of where the line is drawn, Emmert said last week. I think that most lawyers know to keep their noses clean, he said. Although Emmert was speaking in general, he said claims like the ones made against Perdue are very serious. This will get a judges attention, he said. Allegations like this are a magnet for judicial scrutiny. If a lawyer has actually done these things, hes facing far more serious consequences than a monetary fine, Emmert said. In some cases, six-figure sums have been levied to act as a deterrent to other lawyers. Judges have also barred an attorney from appearing in their court, and the imposition of sanctions can lead to a complaint filed with the Virginia State Bar, which has the authority to suspend or revoke a lawyers license. The most recent filings in Perdues case were two notices: One that Lichtenstein will represent him in the sanctions proceeding, the other that Roanoke attorney Michael Whitlow will now handle Vennings underlying case. In a March 18 order, Broadhurst wrote that while Perdue was being relieved of his duties to his former client, that does not free him from any responsibility or obligation related to the pending motion for sanctions in this matter. SAY: A New Social Media Platform for Christians NEWS PROVIDED BY @SAY April 26, 2025 MEDIA ADVISORY, April 26, 2025 /Standard Newswire/ Piet de Kock has announced his new startup called SAY a social media platform for Christians. He explains, "'Every Day Something to Say' is our slogan and we want people to know that today, in this moment, we have something to say. So, support us! Because SAY is not about denomination. It's not about our differences. It's about our faith. We just want Christians to recognise one other by what we have in common: Gods armor." Piet's recipe for the success of SAY is based on addressing the needs of the 2.6 billion Christians worldwide as he explains how "more than half of Christians believe social media is more harmful than helpful but use it anyway. Christians are ready to move to a platform that serves their collective spiritual and physical needs better. It's all about crossing the divide and moving Christians into a space where they feel comfortable." The SAY platform aims to create a safe online space free from politics, pornography and interdenominational conflict, allowing users to connect, create, and reinvest in their communities. The growth strategy includes establishing high-value Christian investors, public announcements, and product adjustments over the next several years. The inspiration for SAY is Ephesians 6:10-18. The armor of God is the key to our Christian way of life says Piet. Its to be inspired to have something to say every day. No one is being asked to give up their denomination. Quite the contrary because we think it will help every denomination that follows Christ's teachings. This is simply a social media platform for everyone who calls themselves Christian. To join SAY go to https://www.vinly.co/o/say Piet de Kock is the founder of SAY and author dedicated to the restoration of the biblical tradition of handwritten letters in Christian faith. He has a doctorate in Design and his research into visual sustainability in Christian faith is ongoing. SOURCE @SAY CONTACT: Piet de Kock, pietdekock@mailbox.org WASHINGTON, D.C. Local leaders head to a politically-changed Washington this week, looking to drum up federal support for major upgrades to Sioux Gateway Airport's main runway and Sioux City's wastewater treatment plant. Replacement of the main 9,000-foot runway at Sioux Gateway Airport is vital to retaining the 185th Air Refueling Wing and its 1,400 full-time and part-time positions and the millions of dollars in economic activity the Iowa Air National Guard unit annually generates for the metro area, according to local officials. That's why securing federal dollars to complete the $91.8 million airport project is again the top priority of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce's lobbying trip to the nation's capitol. "Failure to secure this essential funding will seriously compromise, if not result in the loss of, the KC-135 mission and potentially cessation of Air National Guard flying activities at the Sioux Gateway Airport, as well as loss of the airport fire department and probable loss of the airport control tower," Col. Sonya Morrison, wing commander of the 185th, wrote in the Chamber's position paper on the issue. During a series of meetings on Capitol Hill this week, local leaders also will renew their efforts to win federal dollars to help defray the cost local ratepayers face to finance a $470 million overhaul of Sioux City's wastewater treatment plant. "Unfortunately, it is well beyond the scope of reason for anyone to logically conclude that a city of 85,000 people, and metro area with a population of 143,000, could realistically absorb a half billion dollar expense, which grows to a monumental expenditure of $700 million when principal and interest are factored into the total cost," Siouxland Chamber President Chris McGowan wrote in a position paper on the issue. Local officials have eyed $50 billion in water and wastewater investments authorized under President Bidens 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as a potential funding source for the treatment plant. But President Trump, in his first day back in office, signing an executive order directing agencies to pause funding approved under the law, pending a review to ensure the spending supported his policies. "With the election of President Donald Trump in the fall of 2024 and a new administration with a renewed focus and emphasis on fiscal responsibility through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there is uncertainty regarding the status of these water infrastructure investments," McGowan wrote in the position paper. "Nevertheless, we respectfully urge our tri-state Congressional delegation to aggressively pursue meaningful and substantive federal funding for the projected $470 million Sioux City wastewater plant investment. As one of the leading food processing communities in the nation, the importance of investing in the infrastructure of this facility, as a means to protect our national food supply, simply cannot be overstated." McGowan has repeatedly warned that the cost of the project will fall heavily on residential users, because, he says, industrial users will build their own systems to treat their wastewater, thus cutting their use of the plant and their monthly share of the bill. 185th's future at stake In 2003, the 185th transitioned from the relatively small, lightweight F-16 Fighting Falcon to the extremely heavy KC-135 Stratotanker. The latter functions essentially as a flying gas station, used to refuel military aircraft in mid-air. (It was during this time that the 185th was re-designated as the Air Refueling Wing; before that it was the 185th Fighter Wing.) As part of that transition, the Pentagon pledged the 185th would get the infrastructure upgrades necessary to support the weight and size of the KC-135. That promise was mothballed amid the upheaval of the War on Terror, as the military prioritized other projects. McGowan has stressed, repeatedly, the unfulfilled-promise aspect of the 185th situation. "This is a request to fulfill a funding commitment that was made two decades ago, during the conversion from one aircraft to another," he said last April. Due to the state of disrepair of the base's infrastructure, the KC-135s have not been able to take off with a full load of fuel from Sioux City, limiting the effectiveness of the 185th as a fighting unit. Runway work completed in 2022 will extend the lifespan of the runway to 2027, after which the runway may become unusable and the base itself could face closure. Schedule The 70th annual Siouxland/Washington Conference begins Wednesday morning and wraps up Thursday evening. Over 40 local leaders are signed up for the trip. The local delegation will meet with members the tri-state congressional delegation, as well as a handful of military, intelligence and think-tank people. Barbara Sloniker, executive vice president of the Chamber, said Thursday afternoon she had made requests for the group to with administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the former governor of South Dakota. As of that time she hadn't heard from Noem's office or any other cabinet-level officials. The Chamber's agenda includes a number of other priorities, from increasing the local workforce to reauthorizing the Farm Bill. The Journal's Dave Dreeszen has contributed to this story. How to Do It is Slates sex advice column. Have a question? Send it to Stoya and Rich here. Its anonymous! Dear How to Do It, My wife is eight months pregnant and no longer feels like having sex. Im fine with that, but when I asked for a blow job the other day, she said bending down was too difficult. I said OK, and asked her for a hand job. She didnt want to even do that! Isnt she being rather selfish to ignore my needs? If she wanted me to do something for her right now Id be glad to. Needlessly Neglected Dear Needlessly Neglected, I dont have sockets strong enough for the eye roll you deserve. Your wife is not being selfish, shes being pregnant. You are the one who is being selfish. For many, pregnancy is uncomfortable and it can become increasingly so as time passes and ones body expands. Thats to say nothing of the hormonal changes, which may result in low libido, among other things. There is no reason not to believe her when she says she doesnt feel like having sex. There is no reason not to believe her when she says that bending down to give you head is too difficult. There is no reason not to believe her when she says she doesnt want to give you a hand job. And she doesnt have to! You have no excuse for pestering and carrying resentment over this. You can take care of yourself and you should while your wife rides out her final month of pregnancy. Id give you the same advice if she wasnt pregnant: You are not entitled to outside help with your supposed needs. Jerk off and leave the woman alone. You mention your giving spirit at the end of your letter, but that has little bearing on what your wife decides to do with her body. You should do things for your wife because she asks. She is, after all, pregnant with what is to be your child. True generosity is not extended expecting anything in return. It doesnt matter that you would do something if she asked; youre you and she is her. Let your wife set her boundaries and continue to be kind even when she tells you no. If you push this issue too much, it may make post-childbirth sexual reunion more difficult or instill general lingering resentment. Theres no reason to foment that, so dont. Advertisement Get advicesubmit a question! Please keep questions short (<150 words), and dont submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication. Thanks! Your question has been submitted. Dear How to Do It, * Your letter signoff Your pronouns Your email (optional and confidentialplease include if you're open to How to Do It following up) Submit Dear How to Do It, My husband Graham is in the habit of sending me dick pics. I couldnt care less about them, but for him its a turn-on, so I indulge him. Unfortunately, he accidentally sent one to my sister, and now shes furious. I told Graham his days of dick pic sending are over after this fuck up, but hes been trying to convince me that an isolated mistake shouldnt cost him something he loves doing. Should I stand firm on this, or does he deserve another chance? Digital Disaster Dear Digital Disaster, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Generally speaking, people deserve another chance after a major accident. These things happen and even though it must have been mortifying for your husband to have sent your sister a dick pic, thats something everyone can get past. No one died. Your sister was already aware that your husband had a dick and now shes more aware. If he had done this on purpose to woo or harass her, it would be a different story. But this was a technological gaffe. They happen. Everyone can understand that, at least once the fury subsides. Advertisement So I think if youre truly neutral on receiving the dick pics and indulging your husband out of the goodness of your own heart, you can allow him to continue. Perhaps to prevent another mistake, choose a texting platform that neither of you already use (like Snapchat or Kik or Telegram), remain each others only contacts, and only send/receive the X pics there. That will make it virtually impossible for him to send to someone that isnt you. If youre more on the negative side of neutral here, though, you can use this as an excuse to stop receiving the pics. Tell him you dont want to risk him making the same mistake again and youre not into it anyway, so itd benefit everyone for him to stop. I dont know what kind of feedback youre giving him when you get the pics, but if hes already aware that you couldnt care less about these pics and hes still sending them, thats a bit of a red flag. Yeah, he has your consent and youre exerting active generosity but you should ask yourself if this one-way enjoyment in a two-way text dynamic is something you want to actually indulge. Totally OK for you to say no and use this incident as your off ramp. Advertisement Advertisement Send Us Your Questions About the Workplace! The columnists behind our new advice column, Good Job, want to help you navigate your social dynamics at work. Does your colleague constantly bug you after hours? Has an ill-advised work romance gone awry? Ask us your question here! Dear How to Do It, I am a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy. Due to the need for ongoing chemo, I did not have reconstructive surgery done when the mastectomy was performed. More than a year later, I am happily cancer-free and have found that I dont miss having my breasts and would be satisfied to keep things as they are. My husband however, has been making increasingly frequent comments about how he misses my breasts in bed and asking when I plan to bring the girls back. Chad always did enjoy my breasts, and if were being honest, was more broken up about their removal than I was. And it has affected our sex life; he doesnt touch my chest and lovemaking now has the feel of a chore. Would it be worth undergoing breast reconstruction to bring the bounce back to our marriage? Missing Some Pieces Dear Missing Some Pieces, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In these parts, we have always believed (and will continue to) that your body means your choice, no matter the magnitude of political threat to this way of thinking. This is your decision to make. Generosity is a wonderful thing and you know that getting breast reconstruction would be a wonderful gift for your husband, but its you who would have to go through the pain of surgery and recovery. In many ways, this would be the gift that keeps on taking. Were you to undergo breast reconstruction, your recovery time would likely be in the six-to-eight-week range, with the first two weeks being marked by soreness, according to the American Cancer Society. And thats just the time it would take you to get back to your usual activitiesit could take upwards of two years to fully heal and your scars may never fully fade. Theres also emotional adjustment to take into account. It can be a fraught process and if you arent fully committed to it, recovery may be that much more brutal. Advertisement Advertisement Generosity, though, has its kickbacks. You dont miss having your breasts, but if you miss the kind of sex that you had with your husband before your double mastectomy, getting the reconstruction could serve to benefit both of you. Of course, thats its own gamblemaybe sex would resume not feeling like a chore, but theres no guarantee that reconstruction would solve all of your issues or that your new boobs will be received with the same fervor that your former ones were. Advertisement You seem to have a strong suspicion that it would improve things, though. That might make it more worth it. Continue to ponder thisperhaps make a pro/con list to be able to visualize the ultimate worth of such a decision. Elective surgery is a major decision, not to be taken lightly, but in this case, it really might be worth enduring. Take your time figuring this out and dont cave to pressure. If you feel like you arent getting anywhere in conversations just between your husband and you, consider counseling, which could provide an environment that fosters tough conversations with the added benefit of a disinterested party weighing in. Rich More Advice From Slate I am deeply confused by the way my husband climaxeshe takes forever to orgasm when Im giving him oral, but he comes almost immediately when were having penetrative sex. Whats going on here? Who knew that agricultural advances in 18th-century England and the Netherlands played a crucial role in creating homosexuality as we know it today? Diarmaid MacCulloch did, for one. Perhaps the foremost living historian of Christianity, MacCulloch writes in his new book, Lower Than the Angels, that while same-sex desires and acts have been around forever, the particular conditions of Northern European life in the 1700s fostered the notion that those desires could constitute a fundamental part of the self. For the first time there was food to spare for more than just the upper echelons of society, and therefore money to spend on non-necessities. Even quite poor people experienced what was once a luxury: consumer choice. While we in the 21st century enjoy the even greater luxury of grousing about consumerism, for the people of that time, MacCulloch observes, this change awakened a wider psychological awareness of making choices, ultimately about ones own personal identity, such as the identity we now call gay. As a result, a much wider social range of individuals began to decide how to live and who they wanted to be, and some of them included women as well as gay men; the 18th century also saw the birth of modern feminism. This posed a problem for the religious authorities who were used to telling everyone what to do. Slate receives a commission when you purchase items using the links on this page. Thank you for your support. Lower Than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianitythe kind of hefty tome inevitably described as magisterial by reviewersteems with fascinating tidbits and insights like this. MacCulloch, a professor emeritus at Oxford and author of the equally eye-opening and definitive The Reformation: A History, has a command of historical detail that would be intimidating if his writing werent so genial and witty. His book encompasses not only Western Christianity, but also the Orthodox churches and todays robust, if often dismayingly conservative, Pentecostal communities in Africa and Asia. MacCullochs perspective, to put it mildly, is Olympian, with a distance that explains the worldly, amused approach he takes to a topic that gives most people one reason or another for being in a rage. Rest assured, he tells his readers, that this book will serve as a receptacle for an impressively contradictory range of furies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not that MacCulloch rages himself, though hes occasionally moved to dismay by the many cruelties, from petty to gruesome, Christians have inflicted in the name of religion. After surveying the past 2000 years, he writes, there is no such thing as a Christian theology of sex. There are multiple Christian theologies of sex, many of which have over two millennia been downright contradictions of each other. When religious authorities attempt to ground their directives in traditionbe it admonishing couples to have more kids or prohibiting abortionthey rarely understand the history they cite. Advertisement Advertisement No example from the early history of the religion demonstrates this more clearly than two Christians in second-century Alexandria. The first was an unnamed young man who, as recounted by the philosopher Justin Martyr, petitioned Roman authorities for permission to castrate himself to demonstrate his commitment to chastity. The second is Epiphanes, who before he died at 17 viewed conventional marriage as a confidence trick designed to protect property rights and argued that it should be replaced by arrangements for communal sexual activity alongside a general communalism. Each of these two Alexandrians, living in the same city in the same century, could find some support for his values in the collection of documents known now as the New Testament. Yet to the contemporary reader, the first young man sounds demented, while Epiphanes sounds like hed fit right in at employee-owned cafe in 21st-century Seattle. (In fact, self-castration was a more popular Christian practice in their time than communal sex.) Advertisement Advertisement In addition, neither, if he had tried, could have found either a clear prohibition against or a condonement of sex between members of the same gender, because this was a subject Jesus never discussed on the record. Furthermore, the Bible, which MacCulloch emphasizes is a library, not a book, was the product of two patriarchal cultural traditions, Greek and Judaic, and all of it was written by men, as was the vast majority of Christian scholarship until fairly recently. To glimpse the experiences, practices, and beliefs of early Christian women, the contemporary historian can only look through a glass darkly. Advertisement Advertisement MacCulloch is particularly alert to the way questions of sexual behavior intersect with matters of power. Perhaps the most enduring controversy in the first 12 centuries of the faith was over the merits of celibacy. For several of those centuries, most Christian priests were married, as was the custom of many officials in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean. Polygynyor multiple wives living with a single husband, a term MacCulloch prefers to the less specific polygamywas also common in wealthier families. Despite this background, the conviction spread among Christians that virginity made a person closer to God, inspired in large part by reverence for the Virgin Mary and by Jesus own apparent virginity. Particularly devout laypeople chose to live in celibate, ascetic communities, the forebearers of monasteries and convents. These groups, MacCulloch writes, constituted a direct challenge to the biological family that was the foundation of mainstream society. Some of these groups even included members of both sexes, a practice called syneisactismalthough the church hierarchy considered this both risky and show-offy. Advertisement No wonder Lower Than the Angels is so long. The history of sex and Christianity is essentially the history of Christianity itself. It wasnt until the Second Lateran Council in 1139 that celibacy became mandatory for Catholic priests. While this decree perplexed and even offended some outsiders, it had several advantages. One, MacCulloch writes, was to prevent the establishment of powerful clerical dynasties and to defend clerical property: clerical marriage and the ties of paternal love expected of any family might disperse land and goods given to the Church. Advertisement Advertisement But it was just as important to set the clergy apart from the laity, exalting them as authorities whose well-guarded powers and superior holiness were made manifest in their sexual purity. As one defender of this rule put it, Who is so stupid as not to be able to consider lucidly that the life of those I call upon to bless my house ought to be different and more elevated than mine? Some particularly pious laypeople sought to emulate the spiritual state of the priesthood by engaging in chaste marriages or refusing marriage entirelywhich was the easiest way for an early Christian woman to attain sainthood, provided she was martyred in some ghastly way for her recalcitrance. Advertisement As one historian put it, a clerical celibate elite requires a copulating laity. Otherwise, you begin to run out of congregants. Laypeople were encouraged by church authorities to marry and procreate, but many were still troubled by the notion that even married sex was sinful. One of the running jokes of Lower Than the Angels is MacCullochs frequent needling references to St. Jerome, a fourth-century theologian who lived for a few years as a hermit in the Syrian desert before going on to minister to a lot of prominent and affluent Roman women. Jerome was no friend to sexual activity of any sort, according to MacCulloch, and in particular admonished his widowed patronesses not to remarry. Marriage was like unwholesome food, Jerome told them, and now that you have relieved your heaving stomach of its bile, why should you return to it again like a dog to its vomit? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate Pope Francis Changed a Lot About the Church. One Thing Cannot Be Reversed. Read More Rejection of the clerical celibacy mandate was one of the cornerstones of the Reformation, along with repudiation of the cult surrounding the Virgin Mary, which in some corners had gone so far as to assert that she, as well as Jesus, was the product of virgin birth.* (As MacCulloch points out, Marian devotees had to deliberately ignore biblical references to Jesus siblings, which suggested that even Mary herself didnt stay a virgin for long.) Protestantism has a tendency to splinter into sects over bitter doctrinal disputes, and was far from immune to extremism in its biblical fidelity. One fanatical leader of the 16th century, John of Leyden, barricaded himself and his followers in the German city of Munster, where they instituted compulsory polygyny (the compelled were girls as young as 11) after the model of the Old Testament patriarchs, outlawed money, and banned private property. When a Catholic army finally retook the city, John and two other sect leaders were tortured to death and their bodies displayed in iron cages that still hang from the exterior of the church in the town center. Advertisement Advertisement Lower Than the Angels goes on to chronicle that surprising emergence of an 18th-century gay (male, urban) subculture that represented a coherent self-recognition, rather than the miscellaneous collection of deviant acts that Western Christianity labelled sodomy. The public response to this, according to MacCulloch, ranged from punishment in court to a good deal of popular collusion and sympathy, with sensational journalism in a middle position. There was also during this period what MacCulloch describes as a masturbation panic, which he regards as yet another symptom of the age of individual choice, for few pursuits are more shaped by individual decision than masturbation. Immanuel Kant (who probably died a virgin) went so far as to argue that self-abuse was worse than suicide. At the same time, a chain of gentlemens clubs in Scotland provided members with the opportunity to gather together for enthusiastic and onanistic contemplation of females hired for the spectacle, a recreation MacCulloch describes as programmatically heterosexual though inescapably homosocial. Advertisement Provocatively, MacCulloch also sees the explosion of evangelism, with its dramatic and emotional narratives of spiritual revelation and rebirth, as recognizably part of the same newly forming world of choice that produced such phenomena as the emergence of homosexual identity and the drive for personal privacy. In place of the automatic infant baptism of Catholicism, evangelism, with its adult baptisms, constituted a personal decision to turn to Christ and accept him as ones personal savior. To make a choice was powerfully to assert individual self. This notion reframes the American evangelical obsession with sexual and gender transgression as a battle for the meaning of self-determination in a country obsessed with individualism. That choice became the rallying cry of the American abortion rights movementalthough MacCulloch, in an atypical lapse, doesnt mention itcan be no coincidence. As a Briton, this issue may not feel immediate to him, but even he can see that sex has become the most salient issue for identity in the Republican Party. Advertisement Advertisement No wonder Lower Than the Angels is so long. The history of sex and Christianity is essentially the history of Christianity itself. Sex is entangled in seemingly every major power struggle in the faith, whether it be the ordination of women as clergy or the inerrancy of the Bible (with all that polygyny). It saddens MacCullochhimself a gay man descended from a line of Scottish Episcopalian priests and an ordained deacon in the Anglican churchthat today, throughout the modern world, the most easily heard tone in religion (not just in Christianity) is one of angry conservatism. He quotes the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who argued that the existence of the clitoris, an organ whose sole purpose is pleasure, provides some strong evidence that God just might have made us for joy. Wed be a lot more like the angels if we lived as if we believed that. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, Azernews reports. The letter reads as follows: Dear Mr. President, On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to you and, through you, to all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of South Africa Freedom Day. I believe that we will continue to successfully pursue our joint efforts to strengthen interstate relations and expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and South Africa, in line with the interests of our peoples. On this festive occasion, I wish you robust health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of your country everlasting peace and prosperity. Respectfully, Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 24 April 2025 https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/battle-for-dysprosium-who-dominates-the-global-market-1121943225.html Battle for Dysprosium: Who Dominates the Global Market? Battle for Dysprosium: Who Dominates the Global Market? Sputnik International China earlier began ordering restrictions on the exports of seven rare earth minerals, most of which are known as "heavy" rare earths, as part of its response to US President Donald Trump's tariffs. 2025-04-27T14:15+0000 2025-04-27T14:15+0000 2025-04-27T14:26+0000 china us world exports production world us automakers donald trump https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/104850/94/1048509437_0:53:1200:728_1920x0_80_0_0_fa61877215c2b894c98f5ec04635d364.jpg hina's restrictions on exports of dysprosium to the US has terrified American automakers. It's impossible to build a motor without this magnet, a senior US automotive executive told the World Street Journal. If the US wants EV production to continue, dysprosium deliveries are crucial.What is Dysprosium?It is a heavy rare earth mineral with unique magnetic properties and high melting point.How It is Used?Who Mines and Who Buys? https://sputnikglobe.com/20250409/chinas-rare-earth-restrictions-could-send-us-nuclear-industry-into-meltdown-1121844672.html china world Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Oleg Burunov https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg Oleg Burunov https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Oleg Burunov https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/09/0b/1080424846_0:0:2048:2048_100x100_80_0_0_3d7b461f8a98586fa3fe739930816aea.jpg us president donald trump's tariffs, china's rare earth restrictions, senior us automotive executive, china's rare earths exports to the us https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/china-declares-jurisdiction-over-south-china-sea-reef-amid-us-philippines-war-games-1121942050.html China Declares Jurisdiction Over South China Sea Reef Amid US-Philippines War Games China Declares Jurisdiction Over South China Sea Reef Amid US-Philippines War Games Sputnik International The China Coast Guard has raised the Chinese flag over a disputed Spratly Islands reef for the first time in many years. 2025-04-27T11:31+0000 2025-04-27T11:31+0000 2025-04-27T11:31+0000 world china philippines pentagon us asia-pacific region southeast asia pivot to asia south china sea ferdinand marcos jr. https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/107408/75/1074087597_0:270:5184:3186_1920x0_80_0_0_9ca2e927c3f46dfa67240729bcc69b0a.jpg China has declared "sovereign jurisdiction" over Sandy Cay reef, according to a report by Chinese media outlet CCTV on April 26. The reef is located several kilometers from Thitu Island, which has been used by the Philippine Coast Guard since 2023 to monitor China's activities in the area. Chinas claim to Sandy Cay effectively grants it a 12-nautical-mile radius of maritime territory that overlaps with Thitu, the Financial Times reports, citing concerns about rising Sino-Philippines tensions. China's move comes amid Balikatan, the joint US-Philippines naval drill - the largest annual exercise focusing on coastal defense and island seizure training. The exercise also takes place in parts of the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely. The US and the Philippines intensified military cooperation since 2022 under the administration of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. In February 2023, the US and the Philippines revitalized their enhanced defense cooperation agreement (EDCA), granting the Pentagon access to nine strategic Philippine military bases and enhancing the US military presence in the region. https://sputnikglobe.com/20241223/philippines-eyes-us-typhon-missile-systems-deal-1121241670.html china philippines southeast asia south china sea Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova china declares jurisdiction over sandy cay, china declares jurisdiction over south china sea reef, us-philippines war games, balikatan, us is enhancing presence in indo-pacific, us enhancing control over south china sea https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/fourth-round-of-iran-us-talks-likely-to-take-place-in-europe-in-next-2-weeks-1121942485.html Fourth Round of Iran-US Talks Likely to Take Place in Europe in Next 2 Weeks Fourth Round of Iran-US Talks Likely to Take Place in Europe in Next 2 Weeks Sputnik International The fourth round of US-Iran talks is likely to take place in Europe within the next two weeks, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing a senior US official and an unnamed source. 2025-04-27T11:47+0000 2025-04-27T11:47+0000 2025-04-27T11:47+0000 world mideast middle east abbas araghchi joint comprehensive plan of action (jcpoa) oman https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/08/05/1119648140_0:0:2048:1153_1920x0_80_0_0_fe4f1d71976ef1da57e4ed1b4b64fa9d.jpg The third round of US-Iran talks on the nuclear issue took place in the Omani capital of Muscat on Saturday. Iran's delegation was led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the US's delegation by special envoy Steve Witkoff. After the talks, Araghchi said that the third round of indirect talks was significantly more "serious" than earlier discussions. The new round of talks will also be mediated by Oman in Europe, the unnamed senior US official told the paper. The other source said that the talks may take place in the next two weeks, adding that the US needs some time to consider information and proposals from Iran and that Washington wants a more convenient location, closer to the US. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250424/great-wall-of-iran-giant-barrier-with-afghanistan-set-to-fully-seal-the-border-1121927977.html oman Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International iran nuclear deal, iran jcpoa, iran nukes program, iran-us talks https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/iranian-president-offers-mediation-in-indian-pakistani-tensions-1121940723.html Iranian President Offers Mediation in Indian-Pakistani Tensions Iranian President Offers Mediation in Indian-Pakistani Tensions Sputnik International Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in a call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has offered to help facilitate the de-escalation between India and Pakistan, Pezeshkian's office has said. 2025-04-27T03:41+0000 2025-04-27T03:41+0000 2025-04-27T04:16+0000 world pakistan pakistan-india relations india iran kashmir https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/09/11/1120181289_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_c0fd5d850e506c3adce05cb0e9a4c66b.jpg "President Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized that Iran is prepared to help eliminate misunderstandings and reduce tensions between India and Pakistan ... Citing a recent terrorist attack in the Indian-administered Kashmir region, the Iranian president called for increased regional cooperation to eradicate terrorism and its financial and arms support networks," the office said in a statement.Pezeshkian also had a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss last week's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir."These tragic events amplify the shared responsibility of all countries in the region and compel the regional states to eradicate the roots of terrorism through empathy, solidarity, and close cooperation, ensuring lasting peace and tranquility for the nations in the region, Pezeshkian stressed," the Iranian presidency said in a separate statement following the call with Modi.On Tuesday, a terrorist attack took place in Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people, including one Nepalese citizen. Police said three armed men in camouflage opened indiscriminate fire on tourists who were horse riding in Baisaran Valley, near the town of Pahalgam. A group of terrorists from the Resistance Front, affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (banned in Russia), claimed responsibility for the attack.On Wednesday, the Indian Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to reduce the staff of the embassies of India and Pakistan in each other's countries from 55 to 30 people, suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, and close the only functioning land border crossing between the two countries, Attari-Wagah. All Pakistani citizens who entered India through this checkpoint were asked to leave the country by May 1, while those who entered via the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Visa Exemption Scheme were asked to leave within 48 hours.In response to the restrictions imposed by Indian authorities, Pakistan's National Security Committee said the country would regard any attempt by India to divert the flow of the Indus River as an act of war, announced an immediate suspension of "all trade with India, including to and from any third country through Pakistan," and closed its airspace to all Indian flights. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/pakistan-does-not-want-to-start-conflict-with-india--defense-minister-1121940591.html pakistan iran kashmir Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International kashmir conflict, pakistan-india tensions, pakistan-india conflict, india-pakistan conflict, india-pakistan war, https://sputnikglobe.com/20250427/lavrov-schools-cbs-on-russian-diplomacy-signals-progress-in-relations-with-us-1121943816.html Lavrov Schools CBS on Russian Diplomacy, Signals Progress in Relations With US Lavrov Schools CBS on Russian Diplomacy, Signals Progress in Relations With US Sputnik International Russo-American talks are ongoing and moving in the right direction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told CBS. 2025-04-27T17:15+0000 2025-04-27T17:15+0000 2025-04-27T17:15+0000 world sergey lavrov donald trump ukraine russia nato us europe volodymyr zelensky vladimir putin https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/04/1b/1121943657_0:0:720:406_1920x0_80_0_0_9ef27c569b8a9c6ffba1e41631e3a884.jpg EU & NATO Twist Trump's PlanEurope and NATO play Trumps peace effort to turn Ukraine into a winner."If you want a ceasefire just to continue supplying arms to Ukraine, then what is your purpose?" Lavrov asks.Confidence-Building MeasuresIt's an illusion that only Ukraine is interested in confidence-building, notes Lavrov. Russia has undertaken several "confidence building" measures, including the 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure, which was blatantly violated by Ukraine.Russia is Ready to Reach a Deal on UkraineTwo Root Causes of the ConflictOne cause is the expansion of NATO and the creation of direct military threats on Russia's doorstep. The other is the brazen violation of the human rights of Russian speakers in Ukraine.High-Level DiplomacyThe Russian foreign minister refused to disclose the details of the US-Russia negotiations. "To ask somebody's opinion regarding the substance, go to Zelensky. He is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to President Trump," Lavrov says.Beyond Ukraine's ScopeThere are many other issues awaiting consideration. Russia has been championing a UN resolution to ban nuclear weapons in outer space. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250426/trump-says-most-major-point-on-ukraine-agreed-1121933019.html ukraine russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova us-russian talks, russian foreign minister sergey lavrov, lavrov's interview to cbs, ukraine war, russian special military operation in ukraine, ceasefire, confidence-building measures, donald trump, vladimir putin The front end was definitely the place to be at Buffalo Raceway on Saturday afternoon and Panettone Hanover ($5.40) captured the $20,139 Open Pace going coast to coast. It was a tough day for closers as eight victories were achieved in gate-to-wire fashion while three other winners were horses stalking from the pocket. Panettone Hanover made the feature a no contest as he blitzed the field by 6-1/2 lengths in rein to Jim Morrill Jr. Setting the way with fractions of :29, :56.4 and 1:25.3 over the "good" track, Panettone Hanover used a moderate :29 last quarter to seal the deal as the other five entrants could only watch. Livononjaxandqueens (James McNeight Jr.) collected second-place honours with Davey Day Trader (David McNeight III) rolling in for third. Co-owned by El Dorado Stables and Michael Torcello, the five-year-old Captaintreacherous-Panera Hanover gelding is trained by Samuel Smith. The win, his second in eight starts this year and 17th overall, moved Panettone Hanover's earnings to $229,474. Vel Mr Nice Guy ($9.30) also led every step of the way in taking the sub-featured $17,361 conditioned pace. Victorious nine times last season, he finally broke into the win column in 2025 with a 2-1/2-length decision over Thorn Toad in 1:57.1. Vel Mr Nice Guy, a winner of more than $100,000 last year, hadn't hit the board in three attempts thus far. But he turned it around nicely this time with Joseph Chindano Jr. Getting the lead at the start from the six spot, Vel Mr Nice Guy stomped out fractions of :28.4, :58.3 and 1:27.4. Down the stretch, he enjoyed a comfortable advantage as Thorn Toad (Kyle Swift) made a belated rally but came up short. Out On Bail (Morrill Jr.) was third. Owned by Jeff Savidge Racing and trained by Maggie Chindano, Vel Mr Nice Guy (Straight Shooting-She Can Dance) is a seven-year-old gelding that has put $331,109 in the bank while winning 38 times. Drew Monti showed the way on the card by posting four driving wins while Kevin Cummings, Morrill Jr. and James McNeight Jr. had doubles. Smith and Shawn McDonough each had a pair of training victories. Racing returns on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with an 11-race card. (With files from Buffalo Raceway) With the 2025 live harness racing season fast approaching, Georgian Downs advises horsepeople that the track will open for training on Thursday, May 8. Training hours throughout the summer months, from May 8 to Aug. 29, will be from 8 a.m. to 12 noon each Thursday and Friday. Qualifiers will once again be held on Saturday evenings at 5 p.m. beginning on Saturday, June 7 with the track's last qualifiers being held on Saturday, Aug. 30. Live racing is scheduled to begin on Saturday, June 7 and will conclude on Saturday, Aug. 30. Once again, post times are set for 7:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and 6 p.m. on Sundays. (With files from Georgian Downs) Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has extended congratulations to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) on the occasion of Freedom Day, Azernews reports. The congratulatory message was published in recognition of this significant day. 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: Conceptual design and demonstration of a lightweight terrestrialaerial microrobot. Credit: Nature Machine Intelligence (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-025-01028-4 A team of roboticists at Tsinghua University, working with a trio of colleagues from Beihang University, all in China, has designed a new type of microrobot that can continuously transform its shape and "lock" into specific configurations. In their paper published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, the group describes the factors that went into their design, the capabilities of the microrobots and possible uses for them. The key to the abilities of the new microrobots is the thin-film-shaped small-scale actuator the team developedit was made by spinning a coating of silicone onto a silicon wafer and then transfer printing a polyimide film onto the substrate. That was followed by adding a layer of copper using electron beam evaporation, photolithography, and wet-etching of the copper layer. It was finished using laser cutting. The actuator allows for building tiny robots with shape-shifting abilities when sensors, motors, and Lego-like blocks are added. The result is a robot just nine centimeters long and weighing 25 grams. The researchers claim it is the smallest untethered robot that can be run on land or through the air. The researchers note that the resulting microrobots can be run without a tether and can assume a wide variety of shapes, from rolling vehicles (that can move along at speeds of up to 1.6 meters per second) to flying drones. The researchers even built one that can do both. The idea, they note, was to build tiny robots that could shape-shift on demand and then lock into the configuration desired for a particular use. Design concept, principle and demonstration of actuators capable of continuous shape morphing and locking. Credit: Nature Machine Intelligence (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-025-01028-4 The research team suggests ideas for the types of microrobots that can be built using their design are nearly limitless, noting they have built prototypes that can roll, walk, run, jump up and down or, as a means of locomotion, climb and fly. They note that their tiny robots are similar in many ways to the robots seen in the Transformers movies. The team concludes by suggesting their robots could be used in a variety of ways, as toys, or in research projects for children. They note there are likely commercial applications as well, including biology research in small venues, such as insect nestsor, like many small robots, they might find use in search and rescue operations. More information: Shiwei Xu et al, Transforming machines capable of continuous 3D shape morphing and locking, Nature Machine Intelligence (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-025-01028-4 Journal information: Nature Machine Intelligence 2025 Science X Network On Saturday the Corps of Cadets had one final chance for comradery at the annual spring showcase part of the story of Texas A&M. Every spring a class of senior cadets graduates and each fall a new class of freshmen cadets comes to A&M to be keepers of the spirit of Aggieland. For the last three years the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M have been working under a plan called March to 3,000 with the stated goal of increasing the total number of members in the Corps to 3,000. The Corps has since seen its numbers increase each year, going from 2,143 members in the fall of 2021 to 2,400 in the fall of 2024. The freshmen class that entered in 2024 numbered 830. Last year the Corps had 165 cadets commissioned into the United States Armed Forces upon graduation from Texas A&M, the largest class of commissioned officers from the corps in nearly 40 years. Most years around 40 percent of the corps graduates join the military, the remaining 60 percent go on to careers in civilian industries. In July 2024 Texas A&M President Mark Welsh created a committee to study the Corps of Cadets and find ways to improve recruitment as well as retention of members in the Corps. The committee was co-led by Vice President for Planning, Assessment and Strategy Joseph Pettibon and Corps of Cadets Board of Visitors Representative Matt Segrest. The Corps has shrunk in relation to the rest of the student body over time. It used to be all the student body and its sort of steadily as the university has grown become a smaller and smaller percentage, Welsh said at a press conference in November. To me and for most of the members of the Corps that means that you need to be even more and more prestigious. You need to have a greater impact. You need to be more of an example of how things should be at Texas A&M and an even stronger defender of the traditions and the legacy of this university. On April 8, the committee released its Quick Look Assessment on the Corps of Cadets, which decreased the goal of cadet enrollment from 3,000 to 2,550 cadets. The results of the study show that 2,550 cadets can be more easily managed based on current conditions in the Quad, the area of campus that contains the Corps of Cadets dormitories and dining halls. The committee interviewed current and former members of the corps along with offices that regularly interact with the corps and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. The committee also reviewed data on Corps student performance, retention and satisfaction. After conducting their study, the committee came up with nine priority recommendations. President Welsh reviewed and accepted the recommendations The first of those nine recommendations calls for the university to focus on ensuring the Corps of Cadets remains a cadet-run organization. The opportunity to make (seemingly) consequential decisions, fail, learn, and develop judgment is what makes the Corps truly unique among leadership training programs and a critical component of the transformative Corps experience, the report states. While we recognize there are risks, the Office of the Commandant and the broader university community should preserve, enhance, and protect the cadets ability to lead, make decisions, succeed and fail, learn and grow with appropriate guideposts, transparency and accountability that do not compromise this essential dynamic. The second recommendation is that the Corps of Cadets and those supporting the cadets in the form of staff, faculty and mentors recommit to and uphold the standard of the Corps. In the report the committee writes The Corps of Cadets should be about demonstrating excellence and integrity, becoming not just an organization that builds camaraderie, but one that draws the best out of everyone interacting with any member of the Corps of Cadets. The committee also recommends that the leadership training of the Corps, the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and the Hollingsworth Center for Ethical Leadership (HCEL) be integrated into one leadership program. Along those lines the committee also recommends that the university review the HCEL and improve the center to be a place of leadership training for non-military contract cadets as presently 60 percent of members of the corps go directly into the civilian world after graduation compared to 40 percent who enter the military. The fifth recommendation of the committee is for the corps to target 2,550 cadets as its optimal size, not the 3,000 sought by the March to 3,000 plan. The committee believes that 2,550 is the best size for the near term because it is the capacity of the residence halls on the Quad. As part of the shift to a target of 2,550 is a transition to a more standardized unit size for the different companies in the Corps. Filling the quad is a sufficient critical mass for the Corps to maintain high visibility on campus and its irreplaceable role as keepers of the spirit, The committee report states. The Corps should operate for multiple years at this maximum capacity before exploring an expansion that may lead to additional residence halls. The sixth recommendation from the committee is for the university to commission a strategic study that would address the near- and medium-term recruiting strategies for the Corps. The idea behind the study would be how to attract new recruits and market the Corps for potential cadets who might not have any interest in a military career. The committee recommends an outside consulting firm should be used for the strategic study. The seventh recommendation by the committee is for increased transparency from the Corps of Cadets. The committee recommends the Corps publish its acceptable/normative standards of conduct for cadets and cadet leaders. As part of this transparency, the processes for discipline within the Corps must be better understood, The committee said in their report. Including ensuring to the extent practicable the cadet leaders direct involvement in those processes. The eighth recommendation from the committee is that the university should prioritize funding for capital improvements such as a new Military Sciences Building, a new cadet life facility and a dining hall to replace Duncan Dining Hall. While we recognize fiscal constraints limit capital investments, the university should develop funding strategies, inclusive of state and federal resources and philanthropy, The report states. These capital investments are fundamental to a well-resourced and well-supported Corps of Cadets. A first-rate Corps of Cadets demands first-rate facilities. The ninth recommendation is that President Welsh engage the Corps of Cadets Board of Visitors for guidance in support of the Corps of Cadets and the committees recommendations. With the recommendations approved by Welsh the next steps are that by September 1 the office of the president will have worked with the Commandant, either current interim commandant Lt. General Loyd S. Chip Utterback or, after he starts on August 1, new commandant Lt. General James W. Bierman and cadet leaders to articulate the vision and strategic direction of the Corps. The Corps Quick-Look Assessment lays out some very thoughtful observations and recommendations. Im excited to see our cadet leadership and staff already taking aggressive action to operationalize several of the elements in the assessment, Utterback said in a statement. Over the summer and into the fall, and as our new Commandant joins the team, our cadets and staff will continue to work with university, corporate, and Department of Defense stakeholders to shape and implement the recommendations. The Commandant will publish the standard and the Corps procedures guide on the Corps of Cadets website as well as establish a firm policy for cadets use of Duncan Dining Hall. There are a few things that must be done by May 15. For Welsh that includes working with Utterback to clarify the role and structure of the Board of Visitors. Utterback will also review the current and planned staff structures to determine if there are any changes needed in personnel or budget. (TBTCO) - Mot trong linh vuc ang uoc nha au tu quan tam la cong cuoc sap xep lai on vi hanh chinh khong chi la cai cach hanh chinh on thuan, ma con huong en muc tieu tao ra nhung on vi hanh chinh co quy mo u lon, u tam phat trien va ket noi. oi voi TP. Ho Chi Minh, ay chinh la co so e thanh pho tro thanh manh at mau mo cho von au tu truc tiep nuoc ngoai (FDI). President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azernews reports. The letter reads as follows: Dear Mr. President, We are deeply saddened by the news of the loss of lives and numerous injuries caused by the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the city of Bandar Abbas. On behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my heartfelt condolences to you, to the families and loved ones of the victims, and to the entire people of Iran over this tragedy. I wish a swift recovery to the injured. May Allah rest their souls in peace! Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 27 April 2025 FULL BLOWNS music isnt made for one time of year. You can listen to it at the gym, the office, the bedroom, on rainy days, during break-ups, and as a pick-me-up. In a genre driven by the cyclical rush to Carnival, the Hart brothers are among a growing group of deliberate outliers. Theyve always made music that lives beyond the season. That very philosophy inspired their latest single, Castaway. India and Pakistan will figure out relations between themselves, US President Donald Trump said on Friday as tensions soared between the two neighbouring countries after an attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, cited historical conflict in the disputed border region and said he knew both countries leaders, but did not answer when asked whether he would contact them. Theyll get it figured out one way or the other, he said as he travelled aboard his plane. Theres great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been. He said, That was a bad one (terrorist attack). On Friday, Indian stock markets fell on fears of fresh tensions as Indian authorities searched for militants in the region, before markets recovered some losses. Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Friday, the clash between two nuclear powers is always worrisome... If things go wrong, there could be a tragic outcome of this confrontation. Drawing the international communitys attention towards the growing tensions between India and Pakistan, he said the world should be worried about the potential for a full-scale conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations. The minister, in an interview with British Sky News, warned that tensions with India over a deadly shooting in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) could escalate into an all-out war. The warning follows the deadly gun attack in the IIOJK, where 26 tourists were shot dead at a scenic location in the Pahalgam area. The victims included one Nepali national. Indias government has blamed Pakistan for the attack, a claim that Islamabad vehemently denied and also termed it a false flag operation. Asif stressed that Pakistans military was prepared for any eventuality amid growing diplomatic tensions. We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India. It would be a measured response, he said. If there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war. However, he expressed hope that the situation could still be resolved through negotiations. When asked whether the global community should be concerned, the defence minister responded in affirmative. When asked whether he blamed India for the shooting, Asif said: Yeah, absolutely. They create these situations. Despite the rising tensions, he added: We should be solving our problems through negotiations. Earlier, Asif said Pakistan had absolutely nothing to do with it, as Pakistan rejects terrorism in all its forms and everywhere. He said India should investigate the Pahalgam incident as merely levelling allegations wont absolve them of responsibility. Meanwhile, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday and vowed a firm, swift and decisive response to any misadventure by India. The Senate, which will continue deliberations on the matter on Monday, rejected outright all the Indian frivolous and baseless attempts to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam attack in the IIOJK. Moved by Leader of the House and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, the resolution condemned Indias unlawful and unilateral declaration to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance in blatant violation of the Treaty and noted that it clearly amounts to an act of war. Through the resolution, the House warned that Pakistan remains fully capable and prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any aggression, including water terrorism or military provocation as clearly demonstrated by its robust and valiant response to Indias reckless actions in February 2019. The Senate also condemned the orchestrated and mala fide campaign by the Indian government to malign Pakistan, which follows a familiar pattern of exploiting the issue of terrorism for a narrow political goal. The House asserted that the people of Pakistan remain committed to peace, but will never allow anyone to transgress the countrys sovereignty, security and interests. The resolution demanded that New Delhi should be held accountable for its involvement in different acts of terrorism and targeted assassinations on the soil of other countries, including Pakistan. The Senate also reaffirmed Pakistans unwavering moral, political and diplomatic support for and commitment to the Kashmiri peoples just struggle for realisation of their inalienable right to self-determination. Ishaq Dar informed the House that Pakistans airspace had been shut for Indian-owned and Indian-operated airlines with immediate effect. Moreover, he added trade with India including to and from any third country, through Pakistan had been suspended with an immediate effect. He said the two actions were in addition to the reciprocal moves to Indian actions following the Pahalgam incident. He spoke of the decisions taken a day before by the National Security Committee in response to the Indian actions. The Foreign Office, he explained, had briefed the diplomats of 26 countries including P5 about the current situation and that diplomats of other countries would also be briefed. He reaffirmed that Pakistans armed forces are fully prepared to respond to any Indian misadventure, adding Pakistan is a nuclear and missile power and that if India tried to cast an evil eye, it will get a tit-for-tat response. Dar warned India to refrain from any misadventure and said it would affect the peace and development of the entire region. Earlier, he moved a motion for suspension of the question hour and then another one for tabling the resolution. Leader of the Opposition Senator Shibli Faraz said it was our duty to pass this resolution; in this situation everyone should come together the resolution sent a joint message to the enemies. He said that in the presence of massive 750,000 Indian troops, occurrence of this incident raises a question mark on their capabilities. From day one, they have not accepted Pakistan as a reality and have gone to every limit to harm us; be it through terrorist activities inside our country or opposition and undermining Pak interests at global fora, he noted. PPP parliamentary leader and party Vice President Sherry Rehman called out New Delhis dangerous trajectory of misinformation, war mongering and water aggression. I am sorry, either it is a false flag operation to revoke the Indus Waters Treaty, which they have been wanting, or a spectacular intelligence failure and all this is being done to cover it up, she contended. Let it be clear, we have sent a unified message to India. We unanimously condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. But we will not accept scapegoating, gaslighting, or smear campaigns, she said, referring to Indias immediate blame on Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam incident without any evidence. Awami National Party (ANP) President Senator Aimal Wali Khan condemned Indias drama and actions and said it will not be allowed to fulfil any of its actions. Modi made a speech in English to those who understand English. He said the decision to close Wahga border crossing in response to Attari is right. He also demanded a ban on visas for Sikh pilgrims and asked whether India allowed the Muslims to go to Ajmer Sharif. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar received a call from Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the current status of bilateral relations. They also discussed the regional developments. Dar briefed Prince Faisal on decisions taken by the Pakistans NSC in the wake of unilateral measures announced by India. He rejected Indias baseless allegations and cautioned against further escalatory moves. He reaffirmed Pakistans resolve to respond firmly to any aggression. Both leaders agreed to continue consultations and coordination on the evolving regional situation. Also, Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with Iranian FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi. He briefed him on recent developments in Pakistan-India relations and rejected Indias baseless allegations. The DPM cautioned against any further escalatory move by India and appreciated the efforts of Iran to diffuse the situation in the region. He also wished all the success for the Iran-US dialogue to be held in Muscat on Saturday. Separately, President Asif Ali Zardari said the entire nation stands with the decisions and actions of the National Security Committee (NSC). The enemy should not remain under any illusion, as Pakistans defence is invincible. Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held a meeting with President Zardari and briefed him about the NSC decisions in the context of Indias irresponsible actions after the Pahalgam incident. Interior Minister Naqvi informed President Zardari about the countermeasures taken by the NSC after Indias irresponsible actions. The president said all NSC decisions were voice of the nation. He said that the entire nation stands with the decisions and actions of the National Security Committee. He said there was no justification for Indias baseless allegations and illogical actions; the enemy should not be under any misunderstanding, as Pakistans defence is invincible. Meanwhile, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson said on Friday Pakistan would take all appropriate steps to preserve the sanctity and smooth implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty. In the absence of any relevant legal provisions in the Treaty, India is in no position to make a unilateral decision to hold it in abeyance, the spokesperson made it clear. The unlawful, unilateral, and irresponsible Indian announcement threatens the very foundations of the entire edifice of interstate cooperation and smooth implementation of the treaties. The statement by the National Security Committee is very unambiguous in terms of explaining Pakistans position on this important issue. The Indus Waters Treaty is of critical importance for Pakistans water security and economy. Naturally, we will take all appropriate steps to preserve its sanctity and smooth implementation, said the spokesperson during the weekly media briefing. Pakistan, he pointed out, is s a responsible country and remains committed to fulfilling its obligations under international law and bilateral agreements. However, it takes two to tango. India should not create a situation where we are constrained to take extreme steps, he said, but to a query did not explain what these extreme steps could be. Pakistan says it has a series of options which it will exercise but for now water keeps flowing to Pakistan. We will see it how it progresses, but all options are on the table for Pakistan. It is our lifeline. It is our right, sanctified by international law, customary law, bilateral treaties. We will do everything to secure this right for our people, said the spokesperson. About the Shimla agreement, the spokesperson was asked that most of its sections favour Pakistan, so how do threats of revoking the agreement would help. Bilateral agreements are for the mutual benefit of two countries. This is not a question of any country doing a favour to another country. We remain committed to all our international obligations. But if one country is utterly disinterested in any kind of relation, civilised discourse or interaction with the neighbouring country, then we also reserve the right to take all necessary actions, was the response. Relations between two countries are based on certain structures and legal agreements including the UN Charter, international law and series of bilateral agreements. If one of the parties is utterly disinterested and if they think that bilateral agreements between the two countries are a favour given to another country, then that is a very unfortunate scenario. And in that case, we will exercise our options as the situation evolves, he asserted. For now, at least Pakistan is in no hurry to seal the Kartarpur Corridor and Pakistans decision to exempt Sikhs from leaving Pakistan was because this would facilitate those pilgrims who are already here. India has almost 800,000 security forces deployed in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who practically have a licence to kill any Kashmiri. So, in these circumstances, it is for them to see why this thing happened and how it did happen, he added. In the evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on X, said that Tehran was ready to use its good offices for Islamabad and New Delhi. To a query about the position of Afghan Transit Trade in the backdrop of Wagah and Attari being closed, particularly those trucks which have reached the Afghan border, the spokesperson said that his was a question of technical detail and the Ministry of Commerce would be the right ministry to check with. When asked specifically to state whether Pakistan-India trade was being conducted presently and how the NSC decision would impact it, the spokesperson avoided a direct response. About the trade, basically at this point in time, if there was trade or not, it does not matter. There wont be any trade, further. This is the clear policy directive. The point is: it is the principle of diplomatic reciprocity. India perhaps thinks that bilateral trade is a favour given to another country, and then created an atmosphere making trade impossible, so, they have made it impossible to continue trade, he added. He also admitted that the Foreign Office did not have the exact number of Indians who are presently in Pakistan. In a related dangerous development, troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire overnight across the Line of Control (LoC) in disputed Kashmir, officials said on Friday, after the United Nations urged the nuclear-armed rivals to show maximum restraint. Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a government official in Azad Kashmir, told AFP on Friday that troops exchanged fire along the LoC that separates the two countries. There was no firing on the civilian population, he added. Indias army confirmed there had been limited firing of small arms that it alleged had been initiated by Pakistan, adding it had been effectively responded to. On Friday, Indian troops blew up homes in Kashmir in their search and issued wanted posters with sketches of three men. Also, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Friday the First Information Report (FIR) of Pahalgam was lodged within 10 minutes of the incident that completely exposed the false flag operation of India, which was orchestrated the whole episode to defame Pakistan. Addressing a news conference, the minister pointed out the FIRs timeline as critical evidence which exposed the mala fide intention of India, which tried to mislead the global community with its treachery and deceit. The FIR states that the incident in Anantnag district, Pahalgam Police Station, began at 1:50 PM and ended at 2:20 PM, but ironically the FIR was registered just 10 minutes later at 2:30 PM, he noted while highlighting the total disregard of procedural formalities in lodging the FIR. He argued that the FIR showed ignorance of prerequisites such as necessary investigation, crime scene assessments, and legal formalities before registration. The minister questioned how an FIR for such an incident could be registered within 10 minutes, suggesting, FIR of this type is typically registered for minor disputes. Tarar stressed that India had tried to internationalise the incident which had backfired, allowing Pakistan to have an edge in the war of narrative which was imposed upon Islamabad by New Delhi. The minister remarked that senior Indian journalists were admitting their countrys narrative failure on social media due to its impetuous actions. He attributed this to a panic attack on the Indian side, which is perturbed by Pakistans successes against terrorism, leading them to concoct the incident. He said Altaf Lali in Bandipora, and Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Deen in the Uri sector have been martyred in fake encounters. The minister said people were being abducted from their home and martyred under the guise of a false flag operation. Indias nefarious designs have failed miserably while their heinous face has been exposed to the whole world, he said, drawing parallels to the aftermath of the Pulwama incident when India revoked Kashmirs special status. He reiterated Pakistans military preparedness while emphasizing Pakistans stance as a peaceful nation and a front-line state in the war on terror. Tarar said Pakistan possesses irrefutable evidence of Indian state-sponsored terrorism in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Meanwhile, Indian Minister CR Paatil asserted on Friday that New Delhi was working on a strategy to ensure that not a single drop of water flows from India into Pakistan. He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had issued a slew of directives, and a meeting was held to follow up on them and several suggestions were made at the meeting for their effective implementation, reported Press Trust of India. We will ensure that not a single drop of water flows into Pakistan from India, he said after the meeting. In the wake of Pahalgam incident, India has launched a series of strong diplomatic and strategic countermeasures against Pakistan. India immediately suspended the Waters Treaty of 1960. The integrated check-post at Attari has been closed. Only those with valid permits are allowed to return before May 1. The Saarc visa exemption for Pakistani nationals has been removed and orders issued for return within 48 hours. The Border Security Force simplified the retreat ceremony at Attari, Hussainwara, and Sidhiki. The handshake is closed, and the gates will not be opened during the ceremony. Only those with valid permits are allowed to return before May 1. Meanwhile, Pakistani nationals have started arriving at the Wagah-Attari border crossing near Amritsar after India asked them to leave in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack. Indian media reported a rush of Pakistani nationals attempting to return after the announcement, suggesting heightened movement on the Attari side of the border. However, speaking to The News, a border official downplayed the reports of panic, stating that the movement of nationals on both sides was proceeding in a routine manner. The official added that Indian citizens were also returning home from Pakistan without any signs of distress or urgency at the Wagah border. There is no panic situation here. Pakistanis are coming back and Indians are returning in an orderly fashion, the official clarified. A PRIVATE contractor is dead after an accident in Tobago. Police have identified the victim as Darryl Figaro of Black Rock, Tobago. He died on Wednesday after falling from a ladder while working at a private villa. An autopsy of Figaros body yesterday at the Scarborough Mortuary determined injuries were consistent with a fall, and it ruled out foul play. The body was previously identified by the victims daughter. My wife and I are in our sunset years and have been trying to deal with the many issues of our health, so our doctors have been giving us prescriptions for medication which is needed to try to control our health issues. We would normally go to distributors of the various medications that are prescribed, and purchase two months supply at any one time. Alas, we no longer can do this because of the recent ruling by the respective Government agencies, and now have to purchase these medications from registered pharmacies. A scientific seminar titled "Aqueous Two-Phase Systems and Their Application Prospects" has been held at the Biophysics Institute of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Science and Education, Azernews reports. The seminar featured Dr. Eldar Masimov, a Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Professor of the Department of Substance Structure at Baku State University. Attendees included Professor Niftala Hojayev from the Department of Optics and Molecular Physics of the Baku State University (BSU) Physical Faculty, staff members from the Biophysics Department of the Scientific Research Institute of Physics Problems at BSU, as well as university graduate students. The seminar was opened with a welcoming speech by Oktay Gasimov, the General Director of the Biophysics Institute and Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan (NASA). He warmly greeted the participants and emphasized the significance of the seminar topic in the fields of science and education. He stressed the necessity of a thorough investigation of both theoretical and practical aspects of this subject and requested Professor Eldar Masimov to elaborate on the theoretical and functional dimensions of the issue. The General Director also expressed hope that future seminars would serve as a source of interesting and useful ideas from a scientific and technological perspective. He acknowledged Professor Eldar Masimovs extensive experience and expressed deep respect for his academic work. During his presentation at the Biophysics Institute, Professor Eldar Masimov highlighted the crucial role of water in living organisms and the importance of two-phase systems in this context. He explained that water functions not only as a solvent but also directly influences biological and biochemical processes. The professor elaborated that hydrogen bonds between water molecules and the dynamic structures that arise from these interactions are responsible for these effects. E. Masimov emphasized the unique properties of water and noted that they can be explained by its physical and physico-chemical anomalies. He pointed out that extremes in properties such as density, surface tension, and dielectric constant distinguish water from other liquids. The two-structural fluid model, which underlies these properties, was proposed by Bernal and Fowler and has since been further developed by many scientists. The speaker indicated that two-phase systems are based on the principle of non-uniform distribution of substances, and this approach opens new opportunities for effective separation and analysis of components, particularly in biological environments. He stressed that the use of two-phase systems for analytical, preparative, and diagnostic purposes paves the way for innovative applications in medicine and biotechnology. One of the significant advantages of this method is the ability to study living systems under conditions that closely resemble natural settings. Professor Masimov also paid special attention to the concept of the "hydrophobic effect." He explained that this effect, observed when nonpolar substances or those with nonpolar groups interact with water, can be understood in terms of Gibbs free energy. At the molecular level, the ratio of hydrophilic to hydrophobic groups determines the solubility and functional characteristics of biological molecules in water. The scientist also discussed the properties of polymeric and electrolyte two-phase systems. In these systems, the aqueous phase is hydrophilic, while the nonpolar phase is hydrophobic. The distribution of substances is related to differences in hydrophobicity between the phases. He pointed out that these systems are important for assessing the hydrophobicity of substances in biological and pharmacological studies, as well as for measuring the impact of substances that change their structure in an aqueous environment. E. Masimov also highlighted the significant role of two-phase systems in the separation of biological particles. He emphasized that such systems operate very "gently" and non-invasively. Additionally, he noted that these methods can be utilized as indicators of pathological changes. Following the presentation, the General Director of the Biophysics Institute, Corresponding Member of NASA Oktay Gasimov; Professor Niftala Hojayev; Executive Director of the Biophysics Institute, Doctor of Biological Sciences Kerim Gasimov; Associate Professor, Candidate of Biological Sciences Taleh Yusifov; Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Gulnara Hagverdiyeva; and Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Khaver Hasanova expressed their questions and opinions regarding the seminar topic. Local governments are using streamlined regulations to try to attract private sector investment and smooth development efforts as officials confront the most pressing issues in the region: affordable housing. Efforts at the city level started in 2020 when the pandemic hit, but once housing costs rose in 2021, it sort of became clear that this is a real emergent need, in a way that you see it, said Ann Chanecka, director of the citys department of housing and community development. That year, 2021, the city council directed Chaneckas department as well as the citys planning and development office, to begin developing an affordable housing strategy for Tucson.. While in development, the departments held listening sessions for feedback, Chanecka said, which produced primarily three suggestions from developers: add support for the permitting process; promote zoning flexibility and regulatory relief; and find ways to give more monetary assistance. Following that, a staff member was dedicated to helping affordable housing developers get through the citys permitting process and support their development efforts. Chanecka pointed to Spire Development, Inc., as an example, when they were new to Tucson. City staff was able to help support Spire through the permitting process as well as get through the tax credit application for its affordable senior housing community Rincon Manor on South 12th Avenue, just south of West Valencia Road. Its set to open next year. In March, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved selling a two-acre property on Tucsons southside to Spire to build an 80-unit, low-income rental project called Drexel Commons. Later that month, the board approved $5 million in funding for a number of affordable housing projects underway, including $1 million for Rincon Manor. Zoning flexibility, regulatory relief In 2023, a package of zoning changes recommended by planning and development and approved by the council began allowing for more development flexibility, including minimizing parking requirements to maximize a lots capacity for housing, fixing code provisions that diminish the ability to build townhouses and changing the rules that determine buildings setbacks. We kept hearing theres not enough zoned land where you could do a development by right that could work, Chanecka said. That is, I think, one of many examples of what PDSD has done to really help bring more folks here to look at building affordable or market rate (housing). Around the time the council also approved its ordinance allowing construction of casitas, also called accessory dwelling units (ADUs). That work ultimately culminated in the planning departments Casita Model Plan Competition two years later. The 10 winning designs from that competition were included in the citys pre-approved model plan library, so if a property owner wants to build an ADU, designs in the citys library are eligible for waived fees, not only making the process cheaper, but faster. Monetary relief David Wohl, president of developer Newport SW LLC., says an effective change made in recent years at the city level has been the impact fee subsidy program. Up until a few years ago, the program was restricted to nonprofit developers only, but a change made by the City Council began allowing for-profit developers to get up to $150,000 in impact fees subsidized by the city. But a big area the city has helped developers in when it comes to monetary assistance is gap funding, Wohl and Chanecka said, and for a few different reasons. Gap funding not only allows for developers to keep their costs down, a crucial component when building affordable housing, but it also has downstream effects, Chanecka said, particularly in the way of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, a competitive federal program that subsidizes affordable housing. The LIHTC competition at the state level works on a points system, Chanecka said previously, and points are awarded if the local government commits at least $500,000 in gap funding. An example of these credits being used in affordable housing projects Chanecka gave is the recently-opened Milagro on Oracle, which the city received $2.5 million in LIHTC funds for. Milagro is the first of nine housing developments planned with the citys non-profit, El Pueblo Housing Development. Wohl, in addition to being president of Newport SW, is a member of Pima Countys Regional Affordable Housing Commission. The most direct impact hes seen come from the commission and the county within this space is its own gap funding endeavors. Since authorizing the housing commission in October 2022, the county has approved nearly $11 million in gap funding for 12 projects that have gone towards preserving or developing 1,059 affordable housing units, the county said last month. In December last year, the commissioned endorsed $5 million in gap funding that went towards supporting seven projects and a total of 273 affordable housing units, the county said. Newport SW has also benefited from tax credits for its Tucson projects. Its Newport at Amphi apartment complex, which opened in early 2022, was awarded a reservation of 2019 Low Income Housing Tax Credits by the Arizona Department of Housing. Last year, it opened Newport at Rodeo, which holds 77 affordable housing units. The companys third project on East 22nd Street near South Swan Road this time for affordable senior housing is called Belvedere Terrace. The complex has set aside 22 units for formerly homeless seniors, and on-site services will be available. The rest of the units will be available to renters making between 40% and 60% of the area median income. Wohl said these projects wouldnt be possible without gap funding coming from local governments, like the city and county. Thats very important. There have been improvements in the permitting process for affordable housing, efforts to fast-track affordable housing so it doesnt get caught up in some of the traffic jams. Thats been a major improvement, Wohl said. With very rare exceptions, its very difficult to do any affordable housing development without some kind of gap financing, and the city was and remains an essential source of gap financing ... We couldnt have done what we do without collaborating with the city. It wouldnt be possible. The state Department of Corrections decision to move Ricky Wassenaar to a lower-security prison in Tucson resulted in three inmates being killed, prison critics say. And, they add, it could have been avoided. Wassenaar, serving multiple life terms related to a prison escape attempt years ago in which a corrections officer was raped, was transferred from maximum custody prisons out of state to a lower level of close custody in 2018 at Tucsons Cimarron Unit. It was a lethal move that likely made it easier for Wassenaar to fulfill his ongoing threats to kill, says Carlos Garcia, executive director of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association, who has worked within the Arizona prison system for 20 years. He said his information about the attacks came from reports he received. And thats what he did, and he fulfilled it with a vengeance, Garcia said. On April 4, prison officials and advocates say Wassenaar went on a methodical killing spree. Within a few minutes, three fellow inmates were dead: Saul Alvarez, who has been in prison since 2004 for first-degree murder in Maricopa County. Thorne Harnage, who has been in prison since 2024 after being sentenced in Pima County for sexual conduct with a minor. Donald Lashley, who has been in prison since 2023 after being sentenced in Pima County for sexual conduct with a minor and molestation of a child. A natural death? Donna Hamm has spent more than four decades fighting for prison reform. Through the years Hamm said thought she heard it all, until a call in November from Wassenaar, who reached out to the Director of Middle Ground Prison Reform with an unusual declaration: He had strangled his new 81-year-old cellmate, Joseph Desisto, but not before warning prison staff hed do so if they forced him to have him as a bunky. Wassenaar told Hamm he strangled Desisto because he got on his nerves. There should be no doubt about it, Wassenaar said, because his sweat, fingerprints and other DNA should be all over the mans body. With the admission, Wassenaar could now get what he wanted, said Garcia, a cell to himself. That didnt happen. The department found no proof Wassenaar had killed Desisto, whose death was listed as undetermined. Wassenaar refused to accept the determination, and called Hamm angry and upset that, despite her call to prosecutors, no charges had been filed against him in connection with Desistos death. In an email to Hamm, Arizona Department of Correction, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director Ryan Thornell wrote that Desistos death had been thoroughly investigated and there were no indications of anything but a natural death. you have my assurance that there is no cover up or other wrong-behavior occurring, regardless of what Mr. Wassenaar may be sharing with you, Thornell wrote. Thornell wrote that Desisto passed away of natural causes due to underlying medical conditions, as reported by the medical examiner. His cause of death was listed, however, as undetermined. These few sentences did not quench Hamms desire to find what she believed was the truth, she said. In a statement released by Thornell, the director makes it clear that the department has no reason to believe that inmate Wassenaar had any involvement in Desistos demise, despite the threats and Wassenaar being so adamant about now having a cellmate that he used his body to try to block officers from opeing the cell door to let Desisto in, Hamm said. Less than six months later, in March 2024, after telling anyone whod listen that he strangled Desisto, Wassenaars custody level was reduced from maximum security based on his good behavior. Nothing to lose With nothing to lose and failing to be charged with a homicide he claimed to have committed, Hamm said Wassenaar found a new way to kill. In a single attack, Wassenaar is accused of killing his cellmate and two more inmates in the prison yard. The two provided a chilling description of what they said happened on the morning of April 4. One man was killed in his cell in the Cimarron Unit, strangled and stabbed in the eye with a makeshift knife called a shank, according to Garcia. The body was then covered and posed as if he were sleeping on his side in his bunk, Garcia said. The killer then walked from the cell and crossed the prison yard to the dining area, where he instigated a fight, Garcia said. He used a laundry bag stuffed with rocks to bash in one inmates head and used the shank to slit the throat of a second, Garcia said. Wassenaar was named the sole suspect in the three killings by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry. The agency has provided limited information, saying an altercation between inmates took place near the dining area, resulting in the death of two men. Garcia said that the department describing Wassenaars attack as a series of altercations minimizes the events and elicits images of inmates fighting, he said. Instead, Wassenaar ambushed inmates after he had warned several people that he was hell bent on killing someone. Hes not hiding it. Hes been warning the department he was going to kill someone and they left him alone with another new cellmate (who he allegedly killed), Garcia said, and put him in the yard with dozens of others, where he allegedly killed two additional men. So, Garcia and Hamm are on the case, trying to confirm how Desisto died and why Wassenaar was never charged or disciplined in connection with that cellmates death. They played chicken with the wrong inmate. They rolled the dice and it didnt work out for them, Garcia said. Youve been warned The day after the killing of the three inmates, Hamm was at her computer feverishly typing a formal letter to Gov. Katie Hobbs. Hamm explained the Nov. 2024 situation with Desisto and Wassenaars allegations of a cover-up regarding his cause of death. She also shared her contact with the prisons director. She told Hobbs that in a phone call Wassenaar all but begged to take claim for killing Desisto. Thornell had been relayed this message, Hamm said, but failed to act. It is incomprehensible why or how (Wassenaar) would be given access to or contact in any manner with other inmates, she wrote Hobbs. Only utter incompetence or deliberate indifference could explain such a tragic error. She pleaded that these murders be investigated by independently. This tragedy for the three men killed yesterday was likely avoidable, Hamm wrote to Thornell, as she reminded him of Wassenaars admission of Desistos death in November. If Ricky Wassenaar had been taken seriously no one, literally no one confesses to a murder as frequently and as adamantly as he did . . . the deaths of these men yesterday could surely have been avoided. I hope the department is prepared for what is now coming your way in a legal sense as a result of the failures to take appropriate action to isolate Mr. Wassenaar after the (Desisto) incident. Nothing short of a tragedy In a public statement, however, Thornell is standing his ground, saying staffing was not an issue during Wassenaars alleged killing spree, and that corrections officers did all they could to deescalate the situation. Staffing issues have plagued Arizona prisons for years, leaving inmates potentially vulnerable to attacks. The ACLU spotlighted staffing shortages in a 2023 lawsuit against Thornell, according to the Arizona Republic. Correctional officer vacancies at the Tucson prison complex remain high compared with other Arizona prisons in 2025, records show. Nine officers were working at the Cimarron Unit during the time of the triple homicide, fewer than half the number needed to fully staff the unit, Garcia said. The unit can accommodate 576 beds. What happened at the Cimarron Unit was nothing short of a tragedy. Violence of any kind is not tolerated, Thornell wrote. what occurred was a senseless act by one person who appeared to be solely focused on seeking harm to these specific individuals without any prior warning. Thornell called the murder of three inmates a heinous act and said Wassenaar will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. I am proud of the quick response by the staff at ASPC-Tucson that morning. Their training kicked in immediately, quickly subduing the situation and ensuring no other inmates were seriously injured, Thornell wrote. No stranger to spotlight This wasnt Wassenaars first headlining case. In 2005, Wassenaar was convicted on 19 charges, including kidnapping, dangerous or deadly assault by a prisoner, aggravated assault, sexual assault and first-degree escape for his involvement in a 2004 hostage situation at the state prison near Buckeye, the department said. Wassenaar has a lengthy criminal record stemming back to 1986 when he was charged with armed robbery and aggravated assault. Ten years into a 15-year sentence, Wassenaar was placed on house arrest in 1996. He went on to be convicted of eight counts of aggravated assault and one count of armed robbery in 1997. He was given a 28-year sentence. A 2004 attempted prison escape landed him 16 life sentences. After four years in the Lewis Prison complex in Buckeye, Wassenaar attempted to escape with his cellmate, Steven Coy. They plotted to escape from the kitchen to an arsenal tower and through the administration building. The Arizona Republic detailed his and Coys attempted escape in 2004. Early that morning the two inmates fled the kitchen, raping, assaulting and tying up two workers while en route to the tower. They made it to the watchtower but were trapped as more and more officers surrounded it. The pair took two correctional officers hostage, one of whom was a mother. Both sexually assaulted her on the first day. The other suffered head injuries, according to The Republic. Negotiations lasted more than two weeks. Eventually, Wassenaar surrendered after being promised a transfer to the Midwest. Coy also gave himself up. The hostages survived. Coy was serving a life sentence for two counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault at the time of the attempted escape, along with a slew of other sentences for previous offenses. He added seven more life sentences. Wassenaar added 16 life sentences to his prior 28-year sentence. He was returned to Arizona in 2018. About getting his own cell I think this is all about getting his own cell, Garcia said of Wassenaars most recent alleged attacks. Wassenaar was transferred to a maximum custody housing unit where he remains, Thornell said. In a statement sent to the Arizona Republic on April 14, the department said commenting on the case would be irresponsible and potentially debilitating to the case. The ADCRR recognizes that persons, including those not affiliated with the Department, may find it advantageous to make public their theories about what occurred or their opinion about motivations, the ADCRR actions, procedures, or processes, the statement said. Keep in consideration these individuals lack firsthand knowledge of the situation, so their perspectives are merely the opinions of people from outside the situation. Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva has met with the Nepal President Ram Chandra Poudel, during her visit to Kathmandu, Azernews reports. During the meeting, Leyla Aliyeva conveyed the greetings of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the President of Nepal and emphasized the importance of the friendship between the two countries. Recalling his visit to Baku during COP29, President Ram Chandra Poudel noted the significance of his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev and stated that the discussions held would contribute to the development of bilateral relations. Leyla Aliyeva mentioned that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation plans to implement several projects in Nepal, including a rehabilitation center for children in need of special care, as well as a visit to a city hospital in Kathmandu as part of the trip. It was noted that the support projects of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Nepal would simultaneously cover the social and health sectors. The meeting emphasized the importance of existing relations encompassing various fields, including humanitarian issues, climate change, and sustainable development. President Ram Chandra Poudel expressed high appreciation for the relations between Azerbaijan and Nepal, as well as the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and thanked for the support provided. I feel that I should confess that Im not much of a Musicals guy. And thats okay. But I do love film, and I understand the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone. What fun is it to live in a world with such varying tastes, so many different stories to be told, and to keep watching the same old thing again and again? Dont get me wrong, we all have our comfort food favorites we can quote from beginning to end and have seen more times than we can even begin to count, but being a lover of cinema is to love exploration. And, for me, that was The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. If youre looking for a thoughtful essay, exploring the themes of the film and its lasting cultural impact, there are plenty of those out there. Its a remarkable, legendary picture, so its been written about extensively. These are the mere thoughts of an admitted philistine who attempted to broaden his horizons by experiencing something I dont tend to see much of. For those unfamiliar, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a musical-musical, I mean a MUSICAL. Every. Single. Word is sung. It takes some getting used to, but once your ear adjusts and welcomes it, its clear that the film is taking on an operatic feel in that way (which is even referenced, early on, with a character lamenting all that signing in those things). The story is that of two lovers who drift apart over the years, due to outside forces outside of their control, and forces well within their control - but theyre young, dumb, and stubborn so they both make mistakes and rash decisions. Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) is drafted for service to fight in the Algerian War. Before he and Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve, in a role that would make her a legend) part ways, they promise to love each other forever, always. They even have a tearful, over-the-top goodbye at a train station, where she sings I love you! I love you! I love you! as he leaves. In the next segment, it is revealed that shes pregnant and he is not writing her as frequently as hed promised her that he would. Her mother convinces her that being with Guy is a lost cause, he doesnt care about her, so she should just move on. And so, too, does Guy, when he returns from the war. The ending of the film is a bittersweet one, that I wouldnt dare spoil (even if the film is over 60 years old at this point), that combines many of the directors sensibilities into one fantastic thesis. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is, at once, a classic musical, emulating the look and feel of pictures directed by folks like Vincente Minnelli, vibrant and saturated in its pastel color palette. It is also a very French spin on these storytelling tropes, combining the realism of the French New Wave. While it would be easy to categorize this spin as cynical its anything but. Jacques Demy has a clear admiration for the films he styles Umbrellas after, and you cant successfully subvert something without having a clear love for your source material. Umbrellas is clearly a classic for a reason. Gorgeously realized, beautifully acted, and unpredictable in its plotting. This may not be my cup of tea, but I was nevertheless charmed by it and Im glad that I saw it. Its nice to step outside of your comfort zone. You never know what youre going to find. Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray The Umbrellas of Cherbourg comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray in a two-disc release housed in a standard case with an accordion-style folded booklet containing an essay by Jim Ridley, plus notes about the films restoration process. The cover of the film is a different one than Criterion used for its Blu-ray release, to effectively showcase the use of color its famous for. As the struggle for liberation of South Viet Nam approached its climactic end in the spring of 1975, all eyes turned to the southern front, where General Van Tien Dung, commander of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, emerged not only as a military leader, but also as a symbol of strategic brilliance and unwavering patriotism. He masterfully created and capitalised on key moments, orchestrating a rapid offensive that led to the fall of the US-backed Sai Gon regime, the Republic of Viet Nam. With that final push, the general offensive campaign brought an end to the prolonged and bloody conflict, concluding the Vietnamese peoples war of liberation of South Viet Nam and opening the path to national reunification. Born in 1917 in the commune of Co Nhue, Bac Tu Liem District, Ha Noi, Van Tien Dung alias Le Hoaiwas drawn early to the revolutionary cause. Committed to the ideals of communism, he dedicated his life to the liberation, building, and defence of the nation. As Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), Gen Dung played a leading role in several major military campaigns. From the Route 9Southern Laos Campaign in 1971 to the Tri Thien Campaign in 1972, he was a mastermind behind key operations that steadily eroded the US-Sai Gon strength during the Vietnam War. But it was in 1975, during the final leg of Viet Nams journey to national reunification, that his commands marked a historic turning point. As the southern battlefield developed rapidly, the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers Party (now Vietnam Communist Party) and the Central Military Commission made a decisive movedispatching Gen Dung to the Central Highlands. Accompanied by key personnel from the Ministry of National Defence, he led a special command group code named Group A75. Operating under strict secrecy, the group served as the forward command of the VPA. Now holding supreme command in the South, Gen Dung was more than a strategisthe was a steady, guiding presence. Staying close to the frontlines, he assessed, adapted, and steered the course of battle in real time. In the Central Highlands Campaign, he worked alongside Lieutenant General Hoang Minh Thao and made what became a historic decision: to select Buon Ma Thuot as the campaigns focal point. The fall of Buon Ma Thuot on March 10, 1975 dealt a devastating blow to the Sai Gon army, shattering their defences in the Central Highlands and sending shockwaves through the enemy military. Recognising the moment, Gen Dung quickly recalibrated the overall campaign strategy. Under his direction, a rapid offensive of the liberation force surged through the Central region. Cities including Hue and a Nang were liberated in swift succession, accelerating the collapse of the Sai Gon regime. Orchestrating the final blow Following sweeping victories in the Central Highlands and the Hue a Nang campaigns, the stage was set. The moment had come to strike the decisive blow. The Politburo issued a clear and urgent resolution: to launch a general military offensive and public uprising to end the war swiftly. It would be best to begin and end in April, came the directive. On April 7, 1975 General Vo Nguyen Giap, Minister of National Defence and Commander-in-Chief, sent telegram No. 157-HDKTK to all units, commanding them to: Speed up, speed up even more; be bold, be even bolder. Make use of every hour, every minute, to advance to the front to liberate the South. Be determined to fight, and to win decisively! On the same day, during a key meeting of the Central Party Office for South Viet Nam, Gen Dung, representing the Central Military Commission and the Commander-in-Chief of the VPA, underscored the countrys strength and urged prompt, decisive action. Time, he stressed, was a crucial advantage. He called on the Politburo and Central Military Commission to rally reinforcements from both North and South, ensuring no delay on the decisive front. Shortly after, the Politburo formalised the Sai GonGia inh Campaign Command. On April 14, it was renamed the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, with Gen Dung appointed as Commander-in-Chief. Under his leadership, the campaign plan was finalised within just a week. From April 15 to 21, a comprehensive and high-stakes blueprint was drawn. The objective was clear: a rapid and complete victory. To achieve this, massive concentrations of troops, firepower, and logistics would be deployed, with strength applied across all fronts. The strategy defined the concerted coordination between military assault and public uprising. The army would strike from without, while the people would rise from within. If the enemy anticipated the time and place, overwhelming force would serve as the surprise. Yet for Gen Dung, victory alone was not enough. He aimed to spare the city and protect civilian lives. His goal was to break the Sai Gon regimes military and political strongholdwithout reducing the city to ruins. A liberated city, not a destroyed one, was the vision. After careful analysis, the final plan was formed. Strategic forces would encircle and isolate Sai Gon, cutting off retreat and reinforcement. Meanwhile, main forces would dismantle outer defences and eliminate key enemy divisions. At the core of the strategy was a five-pronged assault on five vital targets: Tan Son Nhat Airport, the Sai Gon Joint General Staff headquarters, the Independence Palace, the Capital Military headquarters, and the National Police headquarters. Each attacking army wing would be led by the equivalent of an army corps, supported by tanks and mechanised units. Once the above-said targets were taken, all liberation forces were to converge on the Independence Palace. On April 22, during the final strategic review, the command map was laid on the table, crisscrossed with red lines representing the assault directions. Many said that the formation resembled five lotus petals, all converging on the prime target. The palace -- the seat of the Sai Gon regime -- was to become the rendezvous of the liberation forces. Gen Dung, together with Political Commissar Pham Hung, signed the campaign map that day. Soon after, the Politburo gave its final approval. Across the country, troops stood ready. Command at the crucial hour The decisive moment had arrived. By the afternoon of April 26, 1975, Sai Gon was surrounded. Special forces and commandos had already infiltrated the outskirts and inner city, ready to strike. That night, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign officially began. Outer defences were rocked by powerful strikes. From his forward command post, Gen Dung monitored the battle closelyadjusting plans, issuing orders, and ensuring precision with every move. And then came April 30. At dawn, the final wave of assaults surged forward. Under Gen Dungs direct command, liberation forces entered the city. Tan Son Nhat Airport was overrun. Command centres of the enemys airborne division and air force followed. By 11:30am, the red and blue flag with golden star of the South Vietnam Liberation Front flew on top of the palace. President of the Republic of Viet Nam Duong Van Minh surrendered unconditionally. Gen Dung officially declared the mission complete. Reflecting on his comrade, Gen Vo Nguyen Giap once said that Van Tien Dung was a general with a great spirit of determination and exceptional military talenta resilient and unyielding communist who devoted his entire life to the ideals of the Party, to national liberation and reunification, and to the building and defence of socialist Viet Nam. Gen Dung later served as the Minister of National Defence from 1980 to 1986. He passed away on March 17, 2002, at the age of 85. VNS HA NOI High-ranking delegations from Laos and Cambodia will attend the grand ceremony celebrating Viet Nams 50th anniversary of liberation of the South and national reunification at the invitation of the Vietnamese Party and State leaders. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Lao delegation, led by General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, will engage in commemorative events from April 28 to 30. Meanwhile, the Cambodian delegation, headed by Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) President and Senate President Hun Sen, will stay in Viet Nam for the celebration from April 29 to 30. A wide range of activities are scheduled for the celebration, including a grand parade in HCM City starting from 6:30 am on April 30, with the participation of around 13,000 people. Laos and Cambodia also have troops participating in the parade, and the two delegations have joined Vietnamese forces in two full-scale rehearsals before the official ceremony next week. VNS HCM CITY The Central Steering Committee for the Celebration of Major Holidays and Important Historical Events of the Nation for 2023-25 on Sunday morning organised the State-level, full-dress rehearsal of the military parade and procession for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975-2025). This rehearsal, with the participation of around 13,000 people, taking place along Le Duan Boulevard, District 1, HCM City, will be the final one before the official ceremony takes place at 6:30am on April 30. Politburo member, Permanent Member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, and Head of the Central Steering Committee Tran Cam Tu attended the rehearsal, along with Politburo member, Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Party Central Committees Commission for Publicity and Education cum Permanent Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee Nguyen Trong Nghia. Also there were Politburo member, Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, and Head of the Steering Committee for the Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Nguyen Van Nen; General Phan Van Giang, Politburo member and Minister of National Defence; Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh, as well as several leaders from central ministries, sectors, and HCM City. The event commenced with an artistic mass performance including: a drum performance themed "Epic of Complete Victory" by the People's Police Academy featuring over 800 drums of various kinds; a rifle drill dance themed "The Countrys Complete Joy" and artistic formation displays performed by the Military Honour Guard; and performances by artists from HCM City. The rehearsal programme officially began with the flag-raising ceremony, accompanied by a 21-gun salute conducted by the ceremonial artillery team at Bach ang Wharf, District 1. This was followed by the ceremonial introduction of leaders of the Party, State, domestic and international delegates attending the celebration. Then came speeches delivered by leaders of the Party and State, a representative of the forces participating in the legendary Ho Chi Minh Campaign, and a representative of the younger generation. The parade and procession began with a flyover by a helicopter squadron carrying the Party flag and the national flag, accompanied by fighter jets of the Viet Nam People's Army flying over central HCM City. Following this, the ceremonial vehicle group advanced towards the main stage in the following order: a vehicle displaying the national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; a vehicle bearing a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh; and a vehicle symbolising 50 years of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification. The national emblem model vehicle featured the emblem atop a stylised Lac bird, symbolising the nations aspiration and determination. Accompanying this vehicle were 54 outstanding students, representing the great national unity of the 54 ethnic groups in the country, forged over thousands of years of nation-building and defence, and crystallised into the miraculous strength that led to the historic Spring Victory of 1975. Following the Party flag and national flag formations was the vehicle carrying the portrait of President Ho Chi Minh, accompanied by 50 outstanding youths and children the future generation of the nation. Next was the vehicle symbolising 50 years of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification, featuring the red-and-blue flag of the National Front for the Liberation of South Viet Nam, affirming that the historic Spring Victory of 1975 was a glorious chapter in the nation's struggle for independence and unity, marking the start of a new era the era of building an independent, unified, socialist Viet Nam prosperous, strong, democratic, just, and civilised society. Accompanying this vehicle were 50 outstanding youths. Specifically, the Army and Militia formations included: the Command vehicle, the All-Army Flag Unit; the Female Military Band formation; the Officer formations representing the five army corps; the Liberation Army soldier formation; the Infantry Officer formation; the Navy Officer formation; the Air Defence Air Force Officer formation; the Border Guard Officer formation; the Coast Guard Officer formation; the Logistics and Technical Officer formation; the Female Communications Officer formation; the Female Military Medical Officer formation; the Electronic Warfare soldier formation; the Cyber Warfare soldier formation; the Female Viet Nam Peacekeeping Force formation; the Infantry soldier formation; the Tank and Armour soldier formation; the Special Forces soldier formation; the Female Special Task Force soldier formation; the Paratrooper Special Forces soldier formation; the Male Maritime Militia formation; the Female Southern Guerrilla formation; the Female Northern Militia formation; and the Red Banner formation. The Public Security parade formations included: the Command vehicle and the All-Force Flag Unit; the Male People's Security Officer formation; the Male People's Police Officer formation; the Male Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Officer formation; the People's Public Security Air Force Officer formation; the Female Traffic Police Officer formation; the Male HCM City Police Officer formation; the United Nations Peacekeeping Police Officer formation; the Male Mobile Police soldier formation; the Female Special Operations Police soldier formation; the Male Reserve Combat Mobile Police soldier formation; the Male Grassroots Security Force formation; and the Mounted Mobile Police formation. The 12 mass organisation formations included: a formation honouring Heroes of the People's Armed Forces, Labour Heroes, and notable historical witnesses (on vehicles); the Viet Nam Fatherland Front; the Veterans' Association; the Former Youth Volunteers' Association; the Workers' Union; the Farmers' Union; the Intellectuals' bloc; the Entrepreneurs' bloc; Overseas Vietnamese compatriots; the Womens Union; the Children and Youth bloc; and the CultureSports bloc. The military parade rehearsal also included formations from the armies of China, Laos, and Cambodia. This marks the first time Viet Nam hosted a national-level military parade with the participation of foreign armed forces. Following the rehearsal, leaders of the steering committee also presented gifts and offered encouragement to the forces participating in the parade and procession, and conducted a review session to draw lessons and discuss measures to perfect the preparation for the success of the official celebration. VNS General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam described the victory on April 30, 1975 as a shining symbol of revolutionary heroism, the will for independence, resilience, and the strength of the great national unity. In his recent article, titled The country of Viet Nam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one, the Party chief stressed that the victory was the result of the Vietnamese people's unwavering determination to build a unified nation that could never be divided by any force. The following is a translation of his article. The country of Viet Nam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee The moment the liberation flag flew atop the Independence Palace at noon on April 30, 1975, became a monumental event in the nations history marking the complete liberation of the South and national reunification. It was not only a great victory for the Vietnamese people in their arduous struggle against the US, but also a shining symbol of revolutionary heroism, the will for independence, resilience, and the strength of the great national unity. The aspiration for a peaceful, unified, and independent Viet Nam has been a sacred flame, forging the national spirit throughout thousands of years. From the time of the Hung Kings founding the nation to the present day, through numerous struggles to defend the country, patriotism and national spirit have remained the lodestar running through the nations history. Under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, this aspiration has been an incomparable spiritual force, inspiring people across all walks of life to unite as one, overcoming every hardship and challenge to reclaim independence in 1945, expel colonialists in 1954, and reunify the country in 1975. The victory of a heroic nation The victory on April 30, 1975, not only marked the end of the longest and fiercest war in the modern Vietnamese history, but also became a brilliant milestone in the journey of national construction and defence. It was a victory of belief, the aspiration for independence, freedom, and national reunification; a victory of the strength of the great national unity under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam; a victory of the truth that Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom and of the enduring patriotism, fighting spirit, and the eternal indomitable will of the Vietnamese people, along with progressive forces and peace-loving people worldwide. The April 30, 1975 victory was the result of the Vietnamese people's unwavering determination to build a unified nation that could never be divided by any force. President Ho Chi Minh the genius leader of the nation affirmed the eternal truth: The country of Viet Nam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one. Rivers may run dry, mountains may erode, but this truth shall never change. His words were not only a sacred declaration of sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also a guiding light and a source of inspiration, providing strength to all generations of the Vietnamese people throughout the years of harsh and brutal warfare. The victory on April 30, 1975 stands as a living testament to the eras philosophy: Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom. The victory was not only a military triumph but also a crystallisation of the wisdom, mettle, and burning aspiration for lasting peace and the right to self-determination of a nation once colonised, divided, and oppressed. As Party General Secretary Le Duan once said That victory belonged not to any one individual, but to the entire Vietnamese people. And as poet To Huu wrote, No pain belongs to just one person/ This triumph belongs to all of humanity. The Great Spring 1975 Victory also left a powerful mark on the international stage, giving strong momentum to national liberation movements across Asia, Africa and Latin America. It encouraged nations to rise up against neo-colonialism and reclaim their right to freedom and independence. It was a triumph of justice over tyranny, an affirmation to the international community that even a small nation, armed with a just cause, unity, and unyielding will, and with the wholehearted support of international friends, progressive forces, and peace-loving people around the world, can defeat powers many times stronger. The will and aspiration for national reunification Throughout 30 years of protracted resistance wars against colonialists and imperialists (19451975), the Vietnamese people endured immense hardships, sacrifices, and losses, yet their will for an independent and unified Viet Nam was never shaken. In his call on National Day, September 2, 1955, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed: Viet Nam will certainly be reunified, as our country is an indivisible whole, and no one can divide it. In a letter to all Vietnamese people in 1956, he wrote: Reunifying the nation is the lifeline of our people. During the most intense and brutal phase of the anti-US resistance war, on July 17, 1966, he firmly declared: The war may last five years, 10 years, 20 years, or even longer. Ha Noi, Hai Phong, and some cities and factories may be devastated. But the Vietnamese people will never be afraid! Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom. When victory comes, our people will rebuild our country, stronger and more beautiful than ever before. And indeed, under the leadership of President Ho Chi Minh and our Party, the Vietnamese army and people overcame countless difficulties, step by step defeating modern warfare strategies, with unwavering faith in the power of justice and the spirit of national independence. President Ho Chi Minh's "The country of Viet Nam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one" declaration is not only a truth and a strategic direction but also a command from the heart of the entire nation. Amid the flames of war, these words became a tremendous source of strength, inspiring millions of Vietnamese to step onto the battlefield with the resolve of "sacrificing for the country to survive". His words were a sacred call, a symbol of unwavering determination to overcome all pain and hardship, in order to gain independence and freedom for the nation, reunify the country, and bring prosperity and happiness to the people. For more than 30 years of resistance and nation-building, millions of the nations brave sons and daughters fought valiantly and sacrificed their lives. Countless families lost loved ones, villages and cities were devastated, and generations of young people had to set aside their dreams of education and future ambitions to take up arms to protect the Fatherland, swearing that we shall not return until the enemy is defeated. Mothers bid farewell to their sons, wives to their husbands, sending them off to the battlefield, unsure if they would ever return. Children grew up amidst bombardment, learning to read in underground shelters, eating corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava instead of rice. Countless soldiers, youth volunteers, and frontline conscripted labourers perished across the S-shaped land, from the special forces who fought within enemy lines to the militia and guerrilla fighters in villages, and the liberation soldiers who crossed the Ben Hai River and the Truong Son mountain range. All of them carried a strong belief: the Vietnamese people would reclaim the right to own the country, and the North and South would inevitably reunite as one. The victory of April 30, 1975 was the achievement crystallised from the ideals and iron will of a nation that would never be subdued, the blood and sacrifice of millions of Vietnamese people, the love of the homeland, mettle and confidence in victory, and determination to never retreat. A full half-century has passed since the day our country was reunified, the resonance of that triumphant moment still echoes in the soul of the Vietnamese nation. On this momentous anniversary, we respectfully commemorate our beloved President Ho Chi Minh, the genius leader of our Party and people, the great master of the Vietnamese revolution, the hero of national liberation, a world cultural celebrity, and an outstanding soldier of the international communist movement, and the person who laid the ideological foundation for the cause of national liberation and unification. We express our gratitude to and remember the Party's predecessors, heroic martyrs, intellectuals, compatriots and soldiers in every region of the Fatherland who bravely fought and sacrificed their lives for that noble ideal. Today and future generations of the Vietnamese people will forever bear in mind the great contributions and sacrifices for national independence, for the people's happiness and prosperity, and for the enduring prosperity and development of our nation. We express our profound gratitude to international friends progressive forces, fraternal socialist countries, humanitarian organisations, and peace-loving people around the world who accompanied and supported Viet Nam throughout years of struggle for national liberation, as well as in post-war nation reconstruction and development. These sincere, wholehearted and selfless sentiments and support will forever be treasured and cherished by and etched in the hearts of the Vietnamese people. Half a century of recovery, healing, and development For over a century, the Vietnamese people have gone through epic historical chapters, enduring countless pains and losses under colonial and feudal oppression, particularly during two fierce wars spanning more than three decades. War not only claimed millions of lives but also left profound physical, mental, economic, social, and environmental scars that continue to affect generations born after the gunfire ceased. There is no land in Viet Nam that is free from pain; there is no family that has not suffered losses, and to this day, we are still dealing with the consequences of war, unexploded ordnance, and Agent Orange. But time, compassion, and forgiveness have helped our people gradually overcome pain, heal wounds, put the past behind us, respect differences, and look towards the future. After 50 years of national reunification, we now have enough mettle, confidence, pride, and tolerance to transcend our pain and look forward together so that the past war is no longer a divide between people of the same Lac Hong bloodline. On that journey of development, the policy of national reconciliation has consistently been identified by the Party and State as a long-term strategic choice and a pillar of the great national unity bloc. We understand the historical causes that led to war from external intervention and division to schemes undermining solidarity and sowing hatred for political gain. But we also understand that all Vietnamese people - whether at home or abroad, regardless of which side they once stood on in history - share the same roots, language, and love for their homeland. Over the past years, during my working trips across nearly all continents, I have had many opportunities to meet thousands of Vietnamese living overseas from young intellectuals establishing their careers in Europe, America, Asia, and Oceania to successful entrepreneurs, renowned artists, and ordinary workers in "new lands," including many who were formerly on "the other side." Each meeting left a profound impression on me: despite potential differences in political views, historical experiences, or living conditions, they all carry national pride, are Vietnamese people, and have a deep nostalgia for the homeland. I witnessed many moving reunions between Vietnamese veterans and American veterans people who once stood on opposite sides of the battlefield and once held guns against each other, but are now able to shake hands, talk, and share with each other with sincere understanding and without lingering inferiority. Today, Viet Nam and the US former enemies have become comprehensive strategic partners, cooperating for peace, for the benefit of both nations' people, and for regional security and stability. There is no reason for the Vietnamese people sharing the same bloodline, all children of Mother Au Co, always yearning for a unified and prosperous country to continue carrying hatred, division, and separation in their hearts. National reconciliation does not mean forgetting the history or erasing differences, but accepting different perspectives in tolerance and respect, to work towards a greater goal: building a peaceful, unified, powerful, civilised, and prosperous Viet Nam, so future generations will never have to witness war, separation, hatred, and loss as our ancestors did. We believe that all Vietnamese regardless of where they live or what their past may be can join hands and contribute to building a bright future for our nation. The Party and State consistently open arms, value all contributions, and listen to all constructive and united voices from overseas Vietnamese communities those who help connect Viet Nam with the world. We cannot rewrite history, but we can shape our future. The past is to remember, to be grateful for, and to learn lessons from. The future is for building, creating, and developing together. That is the honourable promise of today's generation to those who laid down their lives, as well as the common aspiration of a nation that has endured great suffering, yet has never been defeated. Fifty years ago, the Vietnamese people wrote a brilliant epic with iron will and unwavering courage a symphony of will, determination, unity, and peace. Half a century later, they continue to write a new epic a symphony of innovation, integration, development, and the powerful will to rise strongly in the 21st century. In the past, no genuine Vietnamese wanted their country to be divided. Today, certainly no genuine Vietnamese do not wish for their country to grow stronger and more prosperously, standing shoulder to shoulder with great powers across the five continents. Looking ahead continuing, building, innovating and advancing More than anyone, today's generation understands that independence and reunification were not an end, but rather the beginning of a new journey: the journey of building a country of peace, prosperity, civilisation, development, and permanence. If previous generations etched into history the truth that "The country of Viet Nam is one, the Vietnamese nation is one" through immense sacrifice and loss, then it falls to todays generation to transform that ideal into a driving force for development, and into wings with which the nation soars in this new era. The spirit of national reunification once steadfast and unbreakable belief and will that enabled the country to overcome hardship, challenges, and bombardment must now evolve into political determination, a will to innovate, and concrete action, in a bid to defend independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, foster economic growth, and improve the material and spiritual lives of the people. It is imperative to make every Vietnamese, no matter where they are or what they do, feel proud of their country and confident in its future, and have the opportunity to contribute to its overall development. In a rapidly changing and unpredictable world, Viet Nam must maintain steadfast resolve and clear-headedness, refusing to be swept into geopolitical turbulence or caught unprepared by international conflicts. Every major turning point in world history can either become an opportunity or pose a grave challenge for smaller nations, depending on the strength or weakness of their internal foundations. The Vietnamese people, perhaps more than any other, deeply understand the devastating consequences of war. We are a nation that cherishes peace, never seeks war, and would do everything possible to prevent war. Yet, if the enemy forces us to take up arms, we shall once again emerge victorious. More than ever, it is vital for us to build a self-reliant, resilient economy; a modern, comprehensive system of national defence and security involving the whole population; an elite, streamlined, efficient, and effective political system; and a developed, united, cultured and humane society. To achieve this, we must harness the intellect and strength of the entire nation, including the Vietnamese community abroad an inseparable part of the great national unity bloc. In this digital age, an era of global connectivity, every Vietnamese person across the five continents can contribute to national construction through their knowledge, creativity, patriotism, and the sense of civic responsibility. The new era we are stepping toward characterised by artificial intelligence, digital transformation, green economy, and sustainable development demands new thinking, new development models, and a new generation of people. Ahead of us lie numerous challenges regarding institution, labour productivity, the quality of human resources, environmental security, diseases, climate change, and non-traditional security threats. Yet history has shown that the Vietnamese nation has never shrunk from hardship, adversity, or challenge. The question is whether we have the courage to embrace change, the will to rise, and the unity to turn difficulties into a driving force for development. Today's generation from officials, Party members, civil servants and public employees to workers, farmers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, pupils, students, and people from all walks of life all descendants of the Dragon and Fairy must deeply understand that we are the inheritors of a magnificent legacy left by our forebears, and that we bear the responsibility of bringing honour to our nation in this new era. Every action we take today must be worthy of the blood and sacrifice of past generations, and of the immense losses endured by the entire nation. We must not allow our country to fall behind. We must not allow our nation to miss its opportunities. We must not allow historys cycles to repeat themselves. Therefore, the interests of the nation and the people must always come first. We must act for the long-term future, not for short-term achievements. It is imperative to steadfastly defend independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and to maintain a peaceful, stable environment. At the same time, we must boldly innovate in our thinking about development, push forward with administrative reforms, build a rule-of-law socialist state and a socialist-oriented market economy under state management and the Party leadership, and construct a modern socialist society. Looking ahead, we have every reason to take pride and place our trust in the intrinsic strength of the Vietnamese nation a people who have time and again triumphed over foreign invasion, risen from the ashes of war, and affirmed their place in history and before the world. With a thousand-year tradition of building and defending the country, an unrelenting aspiration for progress, and a young generation that is talented, ambitious, patriotic, creative, and full of resolve Viet Nam is certain to succeed. The twenty-first century is the one of the nations that can master their own destiny. And the Vietnamese nation armed with all the lessons of its past and the unity it forges today will undoubtedly continue to write new glorious chapters in its journey of development. All is for an independent, free, happy, prosperous, civilised, and thriving Viet Nam with stature and a strong voice in the international community. VNA/VNS HA NOI Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and his spouse, together with a high-level Japanese delegation, arrived in Viet Nam on Sunday for a three-day official visit from April 27 to 29. Made at the invitation of Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse, this visit will be PM Ishiba's first trip to Viet Nam since taking office, and also this also marks the first official visit to the country by a Japanese PM since bilateral relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World in November 2023, commemorating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Welcoming the delegation at Noi Bai International Airport in Ha Noi were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son; Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu; and Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu. The delegation accompanying PM Ishiba on this visit includes Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Aoki Kazuhiko, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister Nagashima Akihisa, Mori Masafumi and Iijima Isao, Secretary-General of Japans National Security Secretariat Okano Masataka, the Prime Ministers Secretaries Tsuchimichi Akihiro, Tanaka Mao, Nakashima Akihiro, Inoue Hiroo, Yoshino Koji, and Kaihara Kentaro; and Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Ito Naoki. Sharing with the press about the Japanese Government leaders visit to Viet Nam, Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Ito Naoki stated that the visit aims to strengthen relations with Southeast Asia, which is currently the centre of global economic growth and a region of strategic importance. Strengthening ties with Southeast Asia, particularly Viet Nam, is one of Japans top diplomatic priorities. The Japanese Government hopes that this visit will provide an opportunity for PM Ishiba to further enhance personal trust with Vietnamese leaders, as well as to reaffirm bilateral cooperation in areas such as defence and security, economic collaboration, and addressing regional and international challenges. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu, during this visit, the two countries leaders will focus on deep discussions regarding strategic cooperation areas. Japan will continue to support Viet Nam in achieving its three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources, thereby assisting Viet Nams industrialisation and modernisation. Economic, trade, and investment cooperation remains the central pillar of bilateral relations. As Japan is currently Viet Nams leading economic partner, particular attention will be given to topics such as improving the investment environment, promoting supply chain connectivity, and expanding market access for each others goods. Both sides are striving to expedite market access for Vietnamese pomelos and Japanese grapes, and are discussing the possibility of further opening their markets to other fruits and agricultural products, such as Vietnamese passionfruit and Japanese peaches. Additionally, the two sides will explore new pillars of cooperation to align with evolving circumstances. VNS HA NOI Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has expressed his profound admiration for Vietnams glorious history, affirming that todays Vietnamese youth will continue to write the enduring epic of the historic 1975 Spring Victory, which ushered in a new era of independence and national reunification. During a meeting on April 26 with a high-level delegation from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMYU) Central Committee, led by its Secretary and President of the Viet Nam Youth Federation Nguyen Tuong Lam, President Maduro extended his congratulations to the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), Party General Secretary To Lam, and the countrys leaders on the occasion of Viet Nam's 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 19752025). He praised the Vietnamese people and armed forces for achieving a resounding victory under the guidance and leadership of President Ho Chi Minh and the CPV, noting that this triumph inspired not only the Vietnamese nation but also global movements for peace and national independence, including those in Venezuela. Receiving a Spanish edition of the book "The world's affection for President Ho Chi Minh", President Maduro emphasised that President Ho Chi Minh, an eternal symbol of humanitys aspirations for freedom and dignity, will continue to serve as a guiding light for the young generations of both Venezuela and Viet Nam in building a peaceful and prosperous world. On this occasion, he proposed strengthening practical cooperation between the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Youth Wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (JPSUV), thereby enhancing the traditional friendship and comprehensive partnership between Viet Nam and Venezuela. For his part, Lam affirmed that the youth of both nations are committed to carrying forward and nurturing the deep-rooted friendship built by generations of leaders and people from the two countries. He added that the two youth organisations have agreed on specific measures to deepen bilateral cooperation, prioritising the sharing of experiences in political and ideological education, strengthening youth organisations, and effectively fulfilling the missions entrusted by the two Parties. As part of the visit from April 24 - 27, the Vietnamese delegation also met with Rander Pena, Vice President for International Affairs of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV); held talks with Grecia Colmenares, First Secretary of the JPSUV and Minister of Youth; and participated in a special seminar on the 1975 Spring Victory. VNA/VNS HA NOI General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam on Sunday received President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Prime Minister of Japan Ishiba Shigeru in Ha Noi, as part of the latter's three-day official visit to Viet Nam. Vietnamese Party chief Lam affirmed that the visit held great significance, contributing to opening a new stage in the development of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries. PM Ishiba expressed his delight at returning to Viet Nam for the first time as Government leader of Japan after 35 years, coinciding with Viet Nams celebrations of the 50th anniversary of National Reunification (April 30). He expressed his admiration for the founding father of modern Viet Nam, the late President Ho Chi Minh, as well as the cause for national liberation. General Secretary Lam talked about Viet Nams two centennial development goals (2030, the 100th anniversary of the Party establishment, and 2045, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the country) and the strategy for renewing the economic model to achieve rapid and sustainable growth in the new era the era of nation's rise. He stressed that Viet Nam had steadfastly pursued an independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperation and development-oriented foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification. In its foreign policies, Japan remained one of Viet Nams most important and long-standing strategic partners, he noted. PM Ishiba congratulated Viet Nam on its achievements in socio-economic development, its economic and scientific-technological development orientation and the positive outcomes of the administrative reform efforts under the leadership of General Secretary Lam. He also praised Viet Nams proactive and active role amid complicated regional and international developments. Viet Nam's top leader Lam proposed seven major orientations to strengthen the strategic cooperation between the two countries. These include continuously enhancing political trust, consolidating practical and effective security and defence cooperation, expanding economic cooperation based on science, technology, and high-quality human resources and inviting Japan to actively participate in major infrastructure projects in Viet Nam through new-generation ODA funding. Emphasising the need to establish science, technology and innovation cooperation as a new pillar in bilateral relations, General Secretary Lam proposed enhancing collaboration in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and training high-quality human resources, including for the semiconductor sector. He also called for tapping new potentials in labour cooperation, green transition, energy transition and high-tech agriculture, while deepening local-to-local cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and cultural ties. The Japanese Government leader affirmed that Viet Nam was an "indispensable partner" for Japan and stressed that Japan would continue to accompany and support Viet Nam in building an independent and self-reliant economy, implementing industrialisation and modernisation, and achieving its strategic development goals in the new era. The LDP leader also pledged to work closely to elevate the Viet NamJapan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a new stage, including strengthening party-to-party cooperation between the LDP and the CPV. Japan would also deepen cooperation in economics, ODA, investment, security and defence, cyber security, peacekeeping, culture and people-to-people exchanges, and promote cooperation in emerging fields such as digital transformation and innovation. Furthermore, Japan would continue to support and facilitate the Vietnamese community of more than 600,000 living, studying and working in Japan. General Secretary Lam and PM Ishiba also exchanged views and agreed to closely coordinate at regional and international forums, including ASEAN and the United Nations, amid increasing global volatility, making practical contributions to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world. In their talks, General Secretary Lam congratulated Japan on holding the major Osaka Kansai EXPO 2025, while PM Ishiba confirmed Japan would send a delegation to participate in the World Police Music Festival organised by the Ministry of Public Security of Viet Nam. General Secretary Lam also extended a respectful invitation to the Emperor and Empress of Japan to visit Viet Nam at an early date, while PM Ishiba invited the Vietnamese General Secretary to visit Japan. VNS A NANG Centrium-Air Airways of Uzbekistan began its first flight connecting Tashkent and the central city of a Nang with one chartered flight per week between April and June, offering more options to meet increasing demands of tourism and trade from the Commonwealth of Independent States. The airline, in partnership with Prestige DMC Viet Nam and Red Island Prestige Travel Uzbekistan, is planning to double the number of flights to two a week from June to October, said chairwoman of Prestige DMC Viet Nam company Nguyen Thi Phuong. Deputy director of a Nang Citys Tourism department, Nguyen Thi Hoai An said the newly launched flight would be another exciting addition to promoting a Nang among the new markets in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, following the success of the new Almaty-a Nang air route earlier in April, and an introduction of a Nang hospitality at the recent Kazakhstan International Tourism Fair. Its expected that 10,000 visitors from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan will be booking tours to a Nang between June and October. The department said there would be 11 flights a week from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to a Nang, including two from Almaty and two from Astana, creating smooth connection among Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Russia and a Nang. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's national flag carrier, Air Astana and SCAT Airlines, have scheduled flights from Almaty and Astana to a Nang from this June. Last year a Nang International Airport hosted 13.4 million passengers, of which 6.2 million were international arrivals and landed 32,400 tonnes of cargo. The airport has 24 direct air routes, of which 16 are international, hosting an average of 90 to 140 flights per day.VNS As medics, we didnt carry weapons, but our skills were equally vital. We treated liberation soldiers from the North, civilians, and even supported the Laotian people, forging strong bonds and mutual respect. Our comrades appreciated our work, often sending small gifts to encourage us. Though we missed home, we took part in every taskfrom digging trenches to caring for the wounded. In 1969, I was recognised as an exemplary army medic. I never imagined I would endure such hardship, but Im proud of the role I played in the countrys liberation cause. The joy of victory on April 30, 1975, was overwhelming. We had secured independence, and the people could finally live in peace. Today, as the country continues to grow, I feel privileged to have been part of such a historic era. Our hands became calloused and stiff. Our hair and faces were messy, and our skin darkenednot just from the Quang Tri sun-heat but from the harsh dry winds blowing from Laos that cut through us. As women, we could only dream of having soap or basic hygiene items when we had a period. Nothing was available, and we had to make do with whatever little we had. We longed for the simplest comforts, like a bar of soap, to maintain basic personal hygiene. We didnt even think about love. Maybe there were moments when we had a little crush, but we reminded ourselves that we were on the battlefield. The only thing in our minds was pressing forward to help liberate the South. Looking back, I feel that the path I chose, the one I volunteered for, was meaningful and right. Even now, in old age, I tell my children and grandchildren that if given the chance to help on an island or elsewhere, I would still volunteer. There was a critical shortage of recruits, yet nearly 10,000 applications were submitted for just 1,500 positions. Young people were eager to join the fight; many girls, even as young as 14, lied about their age to enlist. Though I received a university admission letter, I chose to join the youth volunteers. With my fathers support, I left with 12 others. We started as road construction workers on Route 15, later moving to Route 21 in Quang Binh. Conditions were harsh, with food shortages and frequent US air bombings. But morale remained strong. We shared food, letters, and laughter. Even during tough times, we organised cultural activities in air raid shelters. I witnessed the horrors of war. I came to terms with the possibility of death, knowing our sacrifices were for national reunification. Today, Im proud of the role we played. Peace came at great cost, and I honour the memory of those who gave their lives for the national cause. The threat of American bombs was constant. Rockets were fired all the time. But the scariest thing was the thought that if fate was not kind to me on the way, no one would know where I wasand my family might never find my body. That fear stayed with me for quite a long time. Women faced additional hardship. We had no proper hygiene products, even soap, to deal with our period. Sometimes we had to walk one or two hours to a stream, unable to clean ourselves properly. Despite it all, we found joy in cultural performances. On significant dates we staged skits and dances, using army uniforms and paper as costumes. Patriotic songs lifted our spirits and helped us endure the battlefield. Four local authorities to trial automatic voter registration in Wales This article is old - Published: Sunday, Apr 27th, 2025 Four local authorities across Wales will be taking part in automatic voter registration pilots, helping make democratic participation more accessible and inclusive. The pilots, established under the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024, will test different approaches to registering voters without requiring formal applications. Instead, they will focus exclusively on the local government register, which is also used for Senedd elections. Carmarthenshire and Powys will be making a replica of the local government register using locally held data. According to Welsh Government, this will allow the councils to compare which data sources would best identify the local electorate, without changing the existing register. Gwynedd, Newport and Powys will identify and verify potential electors using council-held data, before adding them to the register. Gwynedds pilot also includes additional outreach work targeting harder-to-reach communities. Potential electors identified through the pilots will soon receive notification letters explaining the process and their options, including the right to opt out, with a 60-day response period before addition to the register. These new electors will not be added to the open version of the local government register, which is available for marketing purposes, safeguarding the privacy of people added to the register automatically. Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant, said: By removing barriers to registration, this pioneering work is helping to ensure everyone can participate in our democratic process, particularly young people and traditionally underrepresented groups. This initiative follows our extension of voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds and qualifying foreign nationals for Senedd and local elections, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to a more inclusive democracy in Wales. The Electoral Commission will evaluate the pilots by the end of this year. The Welsh Government will then consider the findings before making decisions on any nationwide implementation of automatic voter registration, which would require further legislation. Welsh Government urged to take Wales future infrastructure needs more seriously This article is old - Published: Sunday, Apr 27th, 2025 The Welsh Government must give greater priority to planning for Wales future infrastructure needs. That is the view of the Senedds Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee. A new report released by the committee found that planning for big projects such as flood defences and energy projects are being held back by the Welsh Government. Lack of commitment The report looks at how the Welsh Government works with the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW), a body created to look ahead at major infrastructure challenges. Despite this, the Senedd Committee finds that the Welsh Government has a non-committal attitude towards NICW. This is because of long delays in responding to their reports and uncertainty regarding their budget which is leading the Committee to question if the Welsh Government values NICWs work. Last year, the Senedd Committee recommended that the Welsh Government should commit themselves to formally responding to any report published by NICW within three months. However, despite the Welsh Government reviewing how they should work with NICW, they didnt come to any conclusion about when they should respond to their recommendations. NICW is still awaiting a response to their report into flooding, published in October 2024. The committees report calls this unsatisfactory and also says that it is overdue for the Welsh Government to decide on the role and objectives of NICW. According to the Committee, this should also go hand in hand with giving the organisation more certainty in their work by extending their funding past the next Senedd elections in 2026. Assessing Wales infrastructure needs The lack of resources available to NICW was also made obvious when the report looked at how a similar organisation in New Zealand, who have a similar population size to Wales, plan their countrys infrastructure work. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission confirmed that the cost of carrying out a comprehensive infrastructure assessment was around 2.5m. With the UK Government also having recently carried out a similar piece of work, the Senedd Committee is concerned that the Welsh Governments decision-making could be weaker and more costly in the long run if a similar effort isnt undertaken here despite the initial extra cost. Response Llyr Gruffydd MS, Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, said: Todays report is clear that its time for the Welsh Government to decide whether or not theyre going to treat the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales seriously. NICW is meant to advise and challenge the Welsh Government on how theyre planning for major things like adapting to climate change, beefing up flood defences and renewable energy developments. This makes sure that Wales is ready for the challenges of the future, so its been incredibly disappointing to see the Welsh Government showing very little interest in NICWs work. Its time for the Welsh Government to back NICW and give them the support they need to do an infrastructure assessment in Wales and at a bare minimum to respond to their reports in a timely manner. The big infrastructure challenges of the next twenty years might not seem like a priority right now, but if the Welsh Government continues to disregard this, it will be the taxpayers of the future who will be paying the price. Press Release April 27, 2025 TOL: Repeal of PH Maritime Zones Law part of Beijing's agenda in the coming PH polls Senate Majority Leader Francis 'Tol' Tolentino believes that the repeal of the Philippine Maritime Zones Law (Republic Act 12064) is among Beijing's primary objectives in supporting pro-China candidates in the coming midterm elections. "If the Maritime Zones Law is repealed in the next Congress dominated by pro-China lawmakers, our basis to assert our rights in the West Philippine and Talampas ng Pilipinas will weaken. Mapipilay tayo," Tolentino warned. ("Our legal basis will be crippled.") "This will allow China unhampered access to these territories to conduct surveys and exploration in the guise of freedom of navigation," he added. If this happens, Tolentino said that the Philippines will stand to lose its hard-earned victories from the 2016 Hague arbitral ruling that nullified China's nine-dash line, and the signing last year of the Philippine Maritime Zones Law, which is an enforcement of the historic decision. He specifically cited the Talampas ng Pilipinas, a resource-rich undersea rise located in Luzon's eastern seaboard. He noted that the map for the Talampas was officially deposited by government representatives with the International Seabed Authority last March 27 in pursuit of RA 12064. He added that Chinese drones and research vessels have been monitored in the area. Meanwhile, Tolentino said that the service contract he exposed at a Senate hearing last Thursday involving the Chinese embassy in the Philippines and public relations firm, InfinitUS Marketing Solutions, Inc. - is part of a parallel campaign to project "supposedly growing pro-Beijing sentiments" among Filipino netizens. "This is a campaign that involves the widespread manipulation of the minds that would lead to an eventual control of public perception that what is being propagated is correct and true, in pursuit of Beijing's interest," he warned. Tolentino noted that the flooding of messages to discredit pro-Filipino candidates amid China's growing aggression in the West Philippine Sea is meant to make the public believe that the views represent genuine sentiments of Filipinos, even if the same are being posted through fake personas operated by the PR firm. "And this is what we do not want to happen, because it seems that their agenda is to divide and conquer Filipinos gradually, without the need to launch an actual invasion," he stressed. He noted that pro-China trolling intensified in social media following the enactment in November, 2024 of RA 12064, which China strongly opposed. Update (4/27/2025, 9:34 p.m.): The Sparks Police Department reports that they have identified the woman in this case, and she has been charged with a misdemeanor battery. They have not made the woman's identification public. Original Story (4/26/2025, 5:17 p.m.): The Sparks Police Department (SPD) is asking for the public's help identifying a person who allegedly threatened and hit a fast food worker. According to police, at around 4:50 p.m. on Friday, officers with Sparks Police were called to the Taco Bell at 200 E. Prater Way in Sparks for a report of an alleged assault and battery. The woman reportedly threatened, then physically hit a cashier at the Taco Bell over a dispute about receiving her money back. The cashier did sustain a minor injury. The suspect drove away in what is believed to be a silver Kia Sportage. A $500 reward is being offered by Secret Witness for any information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect in this case. SPD is asking for your help identifying the person from the image taken by the security camera at the restaurant. If you have any information, please call Sparks Police at (775) 353-2231 or Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900 and reference case #25-2938. Teams from the university will have their creativity and maker skills put to the test this weekend during Makerthon 5, happening at the Innevation Center. Pull Quote "Students participating come from a wide range of majors, backgrounds and skill levels. Each year, we are blown away by the creativity and problem-solving skills of these students. To see them putting their talents toward solving real-world problems is inspiring." -Daniel Smith, Makerspace Manager at the Innevation Center The competition, held at the Makerspace within the center, challenges both university and high school teams to invent a new product based on a real-world challenge. The teams are tasked with using the Makerspace's large variety of tools to develop, test, produce and present prototypes of their inventions to a panel of judges. The kicker - the teams only have 48 hours. The winning team will win $2,000 and entry into a prototype-to-product accelerator, where members of the team will see their invention transformed into a market-ready product. To learn more about the University of Nevada, Reno's Innevation Center, check out their website - or their Makerspace page. A day after Air Force overcame a five-run deficit with 15 unanswered runs, it was Nevada's turn to one-up the Falcons. The Wolf Pack, trailing 14-4 through five innings, roared back from the double-digit deficit to even the weekend series with a 17-15 win. The teams will play the rubber game Sunday at 11:05 a.m. Saturday's game looked like a carbon copy of Friday, through five innings. Nevada jumped out to a four-run lead in the top of the first, followed by a double-digit Air Force run. This time, it was the Falcons scoring 14-straight, beginning with four in the bottom of the first and culminating with eight in the fifth, to take a commanding 14-4 lead. But the Wolf Pack bats came back in a big way. Sean Yamaguchi's RBI single got one back in the top of the sixth, then, with Yamaguchi and Ball aboard, Billy Ham went the opposite way with a three-run homer to cut the deficit to six at 14-8. Caedon Kottinger, who got his first win of the year by going 2.1 innings of one-run relief, got the shutdown inning in the bottom half to bring Nevada (24-18, 11-9 MW) right back to the plate. The Wolf Pack jumped all over three Falcon relievers for a seven-run frame to erase the deficit and take a one-run lead. After an out to start the frame, Nevada's rally started with Taylor Holder being hit by a pitch by Marcus Downing. Donovan Ratfield singled, forcing Downing out with Gaines Estridge coming on. Estridge walked Jake Harvey to load the bases, then issued a pass to Michael Ball to bring in a run. Yamaguchi lined a two-run single to right-center, scoring Ratfield and Harvey to cut it to 14-11 and chase Estridge. With Patrick Davidson on, Junyhuk Kwon blooped a single to left-center, scoring Ball and making it a two-run game. Billy Ham's hard-hit grounder found the gap in the shift , getting through to plate Yamaguchi, then Jayce Dobie delivered the go-ahead blow, lining a double to the wall in the left-center alley to score Kwon and Ham and put the Wolf Pack ahead, 15-14. The teams traded runs in the eighth, the Wolf Pack getting a sacrifice fly from Yamaguchi and the Falcons getting a run on an RBI double against Ethan O'Neal, who came on for Kottinger with a runner on. But in the ninth, Nevada got the lead back to two on Dobie's solo homer, and O'Neal set the Falcons down in order, closing his sixth save with a strikeout of Chase Spencer. Davidson took the loss for Air Force (17-26, 9-11 MW), giving up four runs over the final 2.2 innings. Ham drove in five runs for Nevada, going 3-for-5 and scoring three times. Yamaguchi drove in four runs, going 2-for-5, while Ball was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Dobie was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, a homer and two walks. Nevada Athletics contributed to this report. Two suspects, including a teen, were taken into custody today in the January shooting death of a 20-year-old man in Birminghams Inglenook community. The Birmingham Police Departments Special Operations Bureau arrested both suspects in the 2000 block of Woodrow Avenue in Tarrant, said Sgt. LaQuitta Wade. Landon Jones III, 26, of Tarrant, and a 17-year-old boy are charged with capital murder in the slaying of Nehemiah Wren. Nehemiah Wren, 20, was shot to death Jan. 13, 2025, in Birmingham. (Contributed) Wade said the warrants were issued on Saturday. The suspects were booked into the Jefferson County Jail just after 8 a.m. Sunday. Wren was found shot to death inside a vehicle in a field in Inglenook on Jan. 13. Birmingham police investigate a Jan. 13, 2025, homicide in the city's Inglenook community. (Carol Robinson) East Precinct officers received a call about 8:40 p.m. that Monday of shots fired in the 4500 block of 41st Way North. Officers arrived to find a vehicle in the field. When they approached the vehicle, they found Wren inside. Police at the time said someone heard multiple shots fired and called 911. A motive has not been disclosed. Billionaire and two-time traveler to space Jared Isaacman could soon get the full Senates attention for his nomination by President Donald Trump to be the next head of NASA. Isaacman testified April 9 before the Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation and written responses to questions from Republican and Democratic members were published Thursday. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and committee chairman, set a 10 a.m. session for Wednesday during which members could vote on Isaacmans nomination and send it to the Senate floor for consideration. Members from both sides of the aisle raised concerns about proposed budget cuts, especially to science missions, and pressed Isaacman for commitments to prioritize the moon over Mars. His responses tiptoed around some issues, such as how involved SpaceX founder Elon Musk may have been in Trumps decision to nominate Isaacman, as well avoiding any outright financial promises. Isaacman twice flew as a customer of SpaceX, first with the Inspiration4 mission in 2021 on what was the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight. Last year he was on the Polaris Dawn mission during which he and a SpaceX employee performed the first commercial spacewalk. The entrepreneur earned his fortune founding Shift4, a credit card processing company. He then founded aerospace company Draken, based in Lakeland, Florida, which helps train fighter pilots. He leaned into that 26 years of experience when outlining what someone like himself, whos not a politician, could bring to NASA. What Ive learned is that results dont come from slogans or slide decks they come from leadership thats present, hands-on, and relentlessly focused on mission execution, he said in reply to a question from Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., about costs and delays in the Artemis program. NASA knows this better than anyone based on what has been accomplished historically we just need to restore that mission-first culture. He hammered home his intentions to reduce bureaucracy and speed up decision-making while improving program management and making vendors accountable. If confirmed, Ill roll up my sleeves, get in the trenches with the team and lead a cultural and program management transformation, he said. Well take a hard look at the real problems both internal and external that slow progress and put timelines and budgets at risk. A big focus of several senators has been reports Trumps budget looks to cut NASAs nearly $7.6 billion budget for space science by nearly half. Isaacman assured he was keen to keep funding for existing programs such as the Hubble, James Webb and Chandra space telescopes. If confirmed, I will advocate for strong investment in space science across astrophysics, planetary science, Earth science, lunar science and heliophysics and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate, he said. I also believe we should look to amplify these efforts through partnerships with international partners, commercial industry and academia whenever possible. He also stated a commitment to the not-yet-launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, responding to a question from Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. To my knowledge, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is nearing completion and remains on schedule and within budget something that is unfortunately rare for flagship programs at the agency, he said. Im not aware of any reason why it should be canceled and I would support its completion and successful deployment. The push by the Trump administration to drop space science funding also comes as several key personnel were terminated, including the agencys chief scientist and chief technologist. A ~50% reduction to NASAs science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome, Isaacman wrote in response to a question from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that was concerned about DOGE-type layoffs. He also said he would look into those terminations as well as that of the agencys chief economist, especially since he would need that sort of help to accomplish what he plans for NASA. When pressed by Cruz about how he intends to assist in NASAs goal of fostering a strong low-Earth economy, Isaacman said he would like to understand the agencys current resources and internal capabilities. Im aware that certain economic offices or roles were recently dissolved and Id want to review that rationale and determine whether that expertise should be restored or supplemented, he said. A big push from senators was whether Isaacman would prioritize the presidents desire to put a human on Mars over the current plan for Artemis to return them to the moon which Congress put into law. Im committed to following the law and as a lifelong space enthusiast, I would like nothing more than to see lunar operations become continuous, enduring and routine, he said. That said, maintaining American leadership in space will require flexible policies that ensure clear scientific, economic and strategic value for the American taxpayer and allow the agency, working with the Congress, to adapt to meet the ever changing geopolitical landscape. 2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Bitty & Beau's Coffee Birmingham has announced it will close its doors in Homewood. Bitty & Beau's Coffee website A coffeeshop in Homewood will close one of its two Alabama locations next week. Bitty & Beaus Coffee will close its doors in Homewood on April 30. The business is known for its employment and support of people with disabilities. The decision was not made lightly, a letter posted at the location at 1625 Oxmoor Road said. Unfortunately, the model set by others has proven unsustainable at our location. Despite our best efforts to find a viable solution, we have come to the heartbreaking conclusion that we must close our doors. The business credited the community with embracing its mission and helped create a place where inclusion and belonging thrived. By choosing to be a part of Bitty & Beaus Coffee Birmingham, you did more than enjoy a coffee, you helped demonstrate that meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities matter, the letter said. Your support has made a lasting impact not only on our team but on the Homewood community. The Homewood location is one of two Bittys & Beaus Coffee in Alabama. The other location is in Auburn. The franchise has 20 locations nationwide. Their menu includes various coffees, smoothies, frappes and other drinks, as well as bagels, muffins, brownies and other eats. Amy Wright, the companys founder, is scheduled to speak at the Power of Possibilities lunch in May in support of Glenwood, a local nonprofit that serves people with autism and other disabilities. The company opened in January 2016 in Wilmington, North Carolina, according to the Bitty & Beaus website, and is known for its employment of people with disabilities. The Madison County 911 Call Center on Old Monrovia Road in Huntsville. Scott Turner/AL.com To say people who worked at the Madison County 911 Call Center had their hands full during the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak might be an understatement. Just as a large tornado was taking aim on the Huntsville area that afternoon, another tornado was on a devastating path through Tuscaloosa near the University of Alabama campus. Personnel in Huntsville were answering emergency calls from both Madison and Tuscaloosa counties. People were entrapped in homes, vehicles and buildings. In addition to tornado reports, there were reports of gas leaks, downed power lines and outages, traffic accidents, floods and injuries. Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. alone, Madison County 911 Call Center CEO and Wireless Infrastructure Director Ernie Blair estimates call center personnel took more than 500 calls a normal volume back then for a whole day with about 400 from Madison County residents and 100 from Tuscaloosa County residents. The call center answered more than 1,700 calls that day. As was the case with Tuscaloosa, many of the calls were from outside of the county, including Cullman, Hanceville, Blount County and communities south of Birmingham. Related: Photos from around Alabama on that fateful day I said this publicly, we dont think we mishandled or didnt answer a single call, Blair said. We think we handled them all. We havent had a caller who said I tried to call and you didnt answer, and it just rang, or I called, and you sure didnt send the help we needed. No matter where the calls were coming from, Blair said the Madison County 911 Call Center cant just let go of a call. Weve got to get it where it needs to go, he said. That was the case with the callers from Tuscaloosa. For the far away counties, we might have one number, the sheriffs department, because we never call them, Blair said. All we had in Tuscaloosa was the sheriffs department. When we called, it was either busy, or they would tell us, were busy, hang up and call 911. They didnt understand, we were 911. Blair, a University of Alabama graduate, remembered the universitys police department number from his time there as a student. Blair said the department was told about the issues in Madison County. The university said as long as were not getting hit, well take that information, he said. Madison County was able to pass the information along to the university police. Hexagon system played role The Madison County 911 Call Center partnered with Intergraph now Hexagon- to implement Hexagons computer-aided dispatch technology in 1992. Blair said it helped the center navigate the chaos during the historic outbreak when Alabama was hit by at least 62 tornadoes in several waves. Those tornadoes caused catastrophic destruction in many areas and took at least 250 lives. It works every day, Blair said. Its reliable. On April 27th, we had this wonderful system that stood up to it on our worst day. The call center handles all call-taking and emergency and non-emergency radio dispatching for Madison County and part of neighboring Limestone County. Calls come into the combined center and call-takers determine which agency to dispatch. If all dispatchers are busy, calls overflow to other agencies to ensure a rapid response to emergencies. All dispatchers use the Hexagon CAD solution, which is integrated with several other systems, including a locator, phone system and a software system that provides scripted information to aid dispatchers in gaining information from callers. Eight agencies dispatch from the combined center on Old Monrovia Road: the Madison County Sheriffs Office, Madison County Fire Department, Huntsville Police Department, Huntsville Fire & Rescue, City of Madison Police Department, Madison Fire & Rescue, Huntsville Emergency Medical Services and the Huntsville-Madison County 911 System. Additionally, more than 200 mobile units are in use across these departments, connecting first responders to the CAD system and data. When somebody calls 911, we have the system in place in front of the call takers and dispatchers to receive that phone call and then really have three goals, said Ben Ernst, vice president for Hexagons Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial division. We want to dispatch an asset, police, fire and EMS to the right location at the right time. The system helps the call center to determine who has jurisdiction, which agency needs to respond and the severity of the emergency. The data includes the history of the site for 911 calls which may assist first responders to know what kind of issue they are dealing with. Changes implemented since outbreak There have been some changes with the call center since the outbreak. It moved into its current location on Old Monrovia Road in September 2020. It is a 30,000-square-foot facility that is double in size compared to the centers former location. At the time of the outbreak, the different responding agencies were all on different radio systems, Blair said. Huntsville Police and Huntsville Fire were on a radio system, Madison had their system, HEMSI had their system, county fire, county sheriff, they were all on different radio systems, he said. No one could talk to each other. That was a real problem. Since then, we now have a radio system. Were all on it. The CAD technology has also evolved with the advance in technology. Ernst said residents can now text the 911 center. Fourteen years ago, maybe that was just starting, he said. It wasnt a thing like it is today. Theres a whole generation of citizens where texting is the primary form of communication. That includes communicating with 911. Ernst current systems can integrate cameras into the dispatching solutions. Usually, a big map pops up that a call taker is looking at when they are going through the process of listening to the caller and trying to get assets moving toward the response, he said. That map in many cases has the ability to open up a camera that might be very nearby the call for service. That can be a public camera on a streetlight, on a traffic light on a highway, or it might be a private camera. Maybe you have a warehouse district that allows their cameras to be accessible by the emergency response team. He said video integration is becoming very important. A lot of customers of ours are launching drones, Ernst said. They can do surveillance of an entire region. He said that could speed up directing utility crews and tree removal crews into the most heavily impacted areas. He also said artificial intelligence is also being used to divert non-emergency 911 calls to allow those call takers and dispatchers to focus on the most urgent calls that are coming in. Blair said the call center is planning to upgrade its CAD system to the next generation of technology within a year or two. The call center is focused on using technology to gather the information needed to improve the response from emergency personnel and educating the public on providing the pertinent information needed during a 911 call. The quicker we get that information, the quicker we can respond, said Brian Flinn, the training, development and outreach specialist for the center. A lot of times, seconds count. A medical call, a fire call, a very serious police situation, the times that we delay, the later the response. The delay in the response could be life or death. Most people call us on the worst day of their life. We want to make the response as good as possible with the information that we have. Weve got to get the right information. See story: Tornado memorials in Alabama tripled since the 2011 outbreak: Does your city have one? - al.com https://advancelocal.arcpublishing.com/composer/story/v2/edit/XZHQKUSI2VFYJO7JXRSAP3BHBY Presidents Hall on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa. (Ben Flanagan / AL.com) Ben Flanagan A national organization has filed a civil rights complaint against the University of Alabama, saying a scholarship for Black students is discriminatory. The Equal Protection Project, a national organization that opposes race-based affirmative action, said the university should not require applicants for an English scholarship be a certain race or ethnicity. Regardless of UAs reasons for offering, promoting, and administering such a discriminatory scholarship, UA is violating Title VI by doing so, The Equal Protection Project wrote in its complaint. It does not matter if the recipient of federal funding discriminates in order to advance a benign intention or motivation. The group filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights on April 25. The subject of the complaint is the Norton-Textra Endowed Scholarship for Minority Students in English, which the complaint said requires that applicants be full-time African-American students pursuing degrees in English in the College of Arts and Sciences. The group said that scholarship applications that specified race as a criteria were live as of April 22. On UAs website on April 26, the scholarship only specifically lists enrollment and GPA requirements. The group claims the scholarship violates Title VI Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating on the basis of race, color, and/or national origin. Title VI prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. A 2023 Supreme Court decision said that American universities should not specifically take race into consideration during college applications. In the last two years, some colleges have also stopped offering race-conscious scholarships and programming. President Donald Trumps administration has also issued guidance that universities should stop using race in decisions related to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic and campus life. Put simply, educational institutions may neither separate or segregate students based on race, nor distribute benefits or burdens based on race, a Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter stated. The Equal Protection Project asked the Office of Civil Rights to investigate the university and look into whether it is engaging in such discrimination in its other activities. The University of Alabama did not immediately return a request for comment on Saturday. The university and other Alabama colleges already have been under scrutiny over diversity practices. The Trump administration is investigating the University of Alabama at Birmingham over race-based scholarships. Schools around Alabama closed DEI offices and programs for specific groups in 2024 in response to a state law that said state-funded organizations could not promote divisive concepts. The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) AP President Donald Trumps administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow enforcement of a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed. Without an order from the nations highest court, the ban could not take effect for many months, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote, a period far too long for the military to be forced to maintain a policy that it has determined, in its professional judgment, to be contrary to military readiness and the nations interests. The high court filing follows a brief order from a federal appeals court that kept in place a court order blocking the policy nationwide. At the least, Sauer wrote, the court should allow the ban to take effect nationwide, except for the seven service members and one aspiring member of the military who sued. The court gave lawyers for the service members challenging the ban a week to respond. Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to roll back the rights of transgender people. Among the Republican presidents actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members conflicts with a soldiers commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in ones personal life and is harmful to military readiness. In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service. But in March, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, ruled for several long-serving transgender military members who say that the ban is insulting and discriminatory and that their firing would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations. The Trump administration offered no explanation as to why transgender troops, who have been able to serve openly over the past four years with no evidence of problems, should suddenly be banned, Settle wrote. The judge is an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush and is a former captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps. In 2016, during Barack Obamas presidency, a Defense Department policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military. During Trumps first term in the White House, the Republican issued a directive to ban transgender service members, with an exception for some of those who had already started transitioning under more lenient rules that were in effect during Obamas Democratic administration. The Supreme Court allowed that ban to take effect. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, scrapped it when he took office. The rules the Defense Department wants to enforce contain no exceptions. Sauer said the policy during Trumps first term and the one that has been blocked are materially indistinguishable. Thousands of transgender people serve in the military, but they represent less than 1% of the total number of active-duty service members. The policy also has been blocked by a federal judge in the nations capital, but that ruling has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court, which heard arguments on Tuesday. The three-judge panel, which includes two judges appointed by Trump during his first term, appeared to be in favor of the administrations position. In a more limited ruling, a judge in New Jersey also has barred the Air Force from removing two transgender men, saying they showed their separation would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations that no monetary settlement could repair. ___ Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report. Has the U.S. grown ashamed of its military victories? There are reasons to believe this is true. In April 1988, the U.S. Navy effectively destroyed the Iranian navy following a mine attack on the destroyer USS Roberts. The Navy sank an Iranian frigate, four armed speedboats, blew up two armed oil platforms, and damaged another frigate in one of the shortest and most successful campaigns of the postwar period. Yet even today, there is no actual name attached to the engagement. Its known simply as Operation Praying Mantis, not the obvious Battle of the Persian Gulf. More recent events can also act as evidence for cynicism toward American feats of arms, both within the media and elsewhere. A few months ago, in the AT newsletter, we covered one such instance the stunning victory over Iranian aggression in which USAF jets shot down over eighty missiles and drones launched at Israel, to almost no notice in the U.S. Last month saw another such incident, involving the ongoing campaign against Houthi terrorists in Yemen. Public domain image. U.S. Navy. Operations against the Houthis, a loose aggregation of terrorist groups centered on a single bandit family, had been continuing on a desultory basis since October 2023, when the Houthis carried out long-range strikes on Israel in support of Iranian attacks. In early 2025, the campaign against the Houthis intensified for some reason. Serious strikes began against Houthi targets by both USAF bombers and the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group. On March 15, heavy strikes against Houthi targets were made by B-1 bombers, F-35 Lightning II fighters launched from the Harry Truman, and BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from accompanying warships. These strikes hurt the Houthis badly, destroying weapons stores, headquarters, and oil targets and prompting them to make a serious effort at striking back. The Houthis had launched a series of missile and drone attacks against the task force to no result. Now they decided on a concerted attack with a large number of missiles at once aimed at a single U.S. warship, hoping to overwhelm its defenses. The target was the USS Gettysburg. The Gettysburg (CG-64) is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, a veteran ship first launched in 1989. Sinking or heavily damaging a ship of this class could be presented as a major victory for the Houthis. Apart from that, there was the possibility that U.S. forces would retreat and give the Houthis a reprieve, something that might well have occurred under previous presidents like Obama or Biden. The Gettysburg had endured a rough few months. On December 22, the ship mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 Hornet landing on the Truman while narrowly missing a second plane. After an investigation, in February, the Gettysburgs captain was relieved and replaced. The ship was going into its first major combat under a new skipper. At around noon, the ships crew detected approaching Houthi missiles, a dozen of them closing in from different directions. The problem for the Gettysburg was that, after a long deployment, it was running short of missiles, particularly the SM-6 (Standard Missile), the weapon that acted as its main defense against attacks by aircraft and missiles. The ship was due for replenishment in a week, but until then, it had to make do. The Gettysburgs captain ordered two accompanying guided missile destroyers, the Stout and the Jason Dunham, to take down four of the missiles that were trailing behind the first wave. This left only eight for the Gettysburg to deal with. Still concerned about the number of remaining defensive weapons, particularly in light of the possibility that the missile attack might be followed by a wave of drones, the captain decided on a bold tactic. Navy doctrine called for launching two missiles at each incoming threat to assure that they were taken out. Instead, the captain fired only single SM-6s at the closest six Houthi missiles. Since the probability of a kill from any single interception is a little over 90%, there was a distinct chance that one would get through and have to be dealt with by short-range missiles or Phalanx anti-aircraft cannons. This time it worked all six incoming missiles were splashed a good distance from the ship. That left two other missiles to be taken care of. Rather than play it safe, the Gettysburgs captain doubled down. Along with the SM-6s, the cruiser had a number of RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, descended from a venerable air-to-air missile. Although much faster than the SM-6s at a top speed of Mach 4 (3,000+ mph), the Sea Sparrows were considered useful only as point defense weapons last-ditch ordnance used only after more potent weapons had failed. But the Gettysburg was going to use them as a substitute for the diminishing number of SM-6s. As the Sea Sparrows launched, weapons crews watched their scopes tensely. Within seconds, both successfully intercepted the Houthi missiles, destroying them ten miles from the ship. Little was heard from the Houthis the rest of the day. The Gettysburg resumed its operations a short time later. Yet another example of American intelligence, ingenuity, and simple courage. So why all the silence about this and all the other recent U.S. military successes? I suppose its just not as interesting as waxing hysterical over the attempts to sabotage Pete Hegseth. But I can tell you this: you can be damn sure that Xi Jinping is paying close attention. Another week where America turns its attention to a rotten judiciary, which is fast erasing any respect we once had for it. As the prior outrageous injunctions by a number of (judge-shopped) District Courts make their way up the judicial ladder, even more of them were issued this week. I think everything the President has done is the object of at least one District Court injunction. In the meantime, corruption of the judiciary has become so overt that two judges were placed under arrest this week. The case that particularly caught my attention this week, unsurprisingly, is once again from the District of Columbia. Federal law makes it a crime for non-citizens to vote in federal elections (18 U.S.C. 611). D.C. federal district court judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an injunction against an Executive Order requiring proof of citizenship to vote and for welfare applicants to prove their citizenship before being given voter registration forms (LULAC v. Executive Office of the President): Section 2(a) mandates that the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) revise the Federal Form to require documentary proof of citizenship. Both the civil rights groups and the Democratic Party moved to enjoin Section 2(a). The bulk of the Trump Administrations defense was that the challenge was not yet ripe. However, the DDC pointed to a letter -- which DOJ counsel at oral argument claimed no knowledge of -- sent by the EAC to the chief election officials in the States. As that is a required part of the EACs process, the DDC found that the case was ripe. On whether the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits, the DDC concluded that States have the power to set voting qualifications -- subject to the anti-discrimination voting rights amendments -- and Congress has the power to set registration requirements through the Elections Clause. As the DDC emphasized, the President is not granted these powers. Moreover, Congress in the NVRA and HAVA gave the EAC power to alter the Federal Form. Intriguingly, the DDC invoked the Major Questions Doctrine in rejecting the Trump Administrations position. I suspect that we are going to see this move a lot in the coming months, and many lawyers/academics who were skeptical of that doctrine will find it suddenly useful. It will be interesting to see whether the Supreme Court is willing to apply the Major Questions Doctrine as assiduously against the Trump Administration as it did the Biden Administration. Because the President is not given the exclusive and conclusive power to trump Congresss judgment on voter registration rules, the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claim against Section 2(a). Section 2(d) Section 2(d) directs federal voter registration agencies to assess the citizenship of individuals who receive public assistance before providing a voter registration form. Only the Democratic Party moved to enjoin this provision. Here, the DDC relied on the NVRAs plain language, which provides that federal agencies shall provide the Federal Form to each voter who receives their services, unless the voter declines in writing. In the DDCs view, this mandatory language does not leave room for citizenship checks prior to handing out a voter registration form. The case is likely on its way to the Court of Appeals, but to end this delay in legitimizing federal elections, Congress should enact these provisions into law to make enforcing the existing law feasible. If they dont, unless this ruling is overturned, while it is illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, the federal government lacks a practical means to enforce this criminal provision, and persons receiving federal assistance will still be given registration forms (encouraging them to vote) without first ascertaining their eligibility to do so. Polls indicate that a majority of Americans want illegal aliens deported. Why, then, have Democrats gone to such lengths to fight their deportation? Lengths which include substantial misrepresentations of the cases against them and, often, unpersuasive claims of hardship to them and their families. Two judges were arrested this week, and media reports largely downplayed the extent of their crimes. One, Juan Cano in New Mexico, was arrested for harboring a Tren de Aragua member in his home and obstructing justice by destroying evidence against the alien. In March, HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) arrested Venezuelan illegal alien and guesthouse resident Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, who is suspected of being in Tren de Aragua -- a notorious, ultra-violent criminal gang thats basically the Venezuelan version of MS-13. They nabbed him at Judge Canos home, where the family had both put him up and given him assault weapons to play with. When FBI arrested him, they found Ortega had multiple cellphones. Afterwards, agents realized that one phone was missing. They realized this after Ortega told them. (Theyd offered to let him make a phone call and gave him the phones theyd seized; Ortega said the one he wanted to use wasnt there.) So this week, they returned to the Cano household with a new search warrant. I promise I am not making this next part up. During his FBI interview, former judge Cano -- after being Mirandized -- straight-up confessed that hed found Ortegas missing cellphone, smashed it with a hammer, and threw it in a city dumpster. Cano explained he did it because he knew it had pictures and videos of Ortega with guns -- which were direct evidence of federal gun crimes and gang activity. The evidence against the second judge arrested, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is no less startling. ...on April 18th, Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was presiding over an unremarkable criminal case involving a Mexican national charged with three counts of battery and domestic abuse. A couple of his victims were seated in the gallery waiting to testify. The accused, Jose Flores-Ruiz, was an illegal alien already deported in 2013, but it didnt stick and he came back to commit more crimes. Because of all the media misinformation, here is a link to the governments complaint so you can read it for yourself. Note that a federal judge signed Judge Dugans arrest warrant -- she had ample due process. Or, if youre more of a listener, heres Pam Bondis explanation about both arrests from a Fox interview yesterday (8:00). Anyway, before Flores-Ruizs hearing started, court staff snuck word to Judge Dugan [snip] that FBI, CBP, and DEA agents had staked out the gallery and the hallway outside the courtroom, and were waiting for the hearing to finish so they could arrest Lopez. This enraged the judge (this is absurd!). So she sprang up -- or at least attempted a rough approximation of springing -- and moved ponderously into action. She first adjourned the hearing, grabbed the judge in the courtroom next door for backup and, after demanding to see the agents warrant, ordered them to go to the Chief Judges office. They complied. While agents were on the phone with the Chief Judge, Judge Dugans courtroom deputy came over and warned them the judge was trying to push through Lopezs hearing, to get him out of the building while the agents were tied up talking to the Chief Judge. Meanwhile, back in her courtroom, Judge Dugan ordered Lopez and his attorney to come up to the bench, and after a frenzied, whispered conversation, personally escorted them out the courtrooms private back door reserved for jurors and prisoners. Lopez fled using a back elevator and sprinted off down 9th street. Fortunately, an alert agent spotted the serial crimedoer leaving. The team scrambled and a dramatic foot chase ensued. They finally tackled Lopez near State Street and 10th. How, you may ask, can the Democrats defend such lawless judicial conduct? Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, nails it, in my view: @StephenM Democrats spent the last 8 years stripping Americans of due process to jail them for protected political activity; illegally spying on the Trump Campaign; manipulating and fabricating intelligence and then criminally leaking it for partisan gain; using the FBI and intelligence apparatus to pursue political enemies; launching a coup against President Trump and his Administration; persecuting President Trump, his family, his aides and his supporters; censoring and deplatforming and blacklisting the opposition; removing opposition candidates from the ballot; maliciously fabricating false allegations to inflict outrageous financial punishments; raiding President Trumps home and seizing his property; and weaponizing the entire legal system for the sole objective of incarcerating the Democrat Partys chief political rival and seeking to illegally obstruct and rig the 2024 election. At the same time, Democrats orchestrated and engineered a mass invasion of the United States by foreign cartels and enemy terrorists, resulting in immense casualties and suffering across the nation. And now these same Democrats howl with rage when the invasion is returned and those who criminally harbor the invaders and feloniously obstruct their removal are held accountable under law. Democrats thought they were clever -- they adopted the Cloward-Piven strategy devised by two Columbia professors, imagining that if our borders were left wide open, our social welfare system would be bankrupted and the people would force a redistribution of income through the government. Instead, the open border policy endangered and impoverished the middle class, costing the Democrats at the ballot box. This judicial intransigence is the last gasp of a sure-to-fail strategy of keeping illegal aliens here, on the welfare rolls, and encouraging them to vote. Promoting and supporting illegal immigration wasnt a dumb enough plan -- theyre now doubling down to defend judges engaged in obvious criminal behavior to keep these people here. There is a sentence that has long bothered me. It is treated as a piece of universal wisdom that humans gain with experience, and surely every member of a modern, industrial society has heard it in some form. Whether spoken by a close friend or complete stranger, its utterance usually comes with a sly grin that invites the listener to reconsider a fundamental belief. Here it is: Thats not how the real world works. That dirty, little sentence slithers into conversations meant to turn a persons perception of reality upside down. We hear it when we question why people who commit the same criminal offenses are often punished differently. We hear it when we question why less qualified people are admitted to schools or offered jobs to other applicants detriment. We hear it when we question why certain businesses always seem to get government contracts, even when they routinely overcharge and underperform. We learn that laws, merit, moral character, and hard work exist alongside nepotism, prejudice, favoritism, corruption, and other invisible factors that magnify or hinder individual opportunity. Whats particularly strange about this lesson is that most of us do not learn it firsthand until we have neared the end of our teenaged years. For those who have been fortunate enough to grow up in good families with loving parents committed to moral principles, it can be jarring to step into the real world to discover a society awash with malign influences and untruths. An eighteen-year-old who joins the military is inclined to believe that the government would never recklessly endanger servicemembers lives; military life, however, quickly teaches that reckless endangerment is a large part of the job. A twenty-two-year-old who joins a company is inclined to believe that the best employees will earn promotions; work life, however, quickly teaches that professional advancement is not always fair. A young person who has never held a job is inclined to believe that taxpayers should pay their fair share; a new hire who sees a third or more of his paycheck deducted for a litany of government programs has a much different perspective. It takes most of us two decades to grasp that a great deal of what we have been told about life is different in the real world. Thats an awful waste of adolescence, isnt it? Can you imagine an ancient tribe teaching its youngest members the wrong ways to track and hunt prey only to reveal much-needed survival skills after two decades of life? Of course not. Only in modern, industrial societies does it somehow make sense to disguise the real world from the youngest generation until its members stumble into adulthood. Then we shake our heads in dismay and wonder why so many young adults are stumbling. However, there is something far more nefarious about these abrupt real world lessons: they reveal that much of society is based on deception. In the West, young people are taught that their societies embrace free markets, free speech, and democratic forms of government. In the real world, central banks distort currency values and manipulate markets, while regulatory burdens make it difficult for regular people to own and operate independent businesses. In the real world, governments censor speech that challenges official policy, and prominent public figures, such as Hillary Clinton, openly call for the imprisonment of citizens who express unapproved points of view. In the real world, unelected bureaucrats and espionage agencies manage most domestic and foreign policies with scant interest in the opinions of the national populations they purportedly represent. Young Westerners are taught that bigger and more oppressive forms of government will make them free. Only later in life do some discover that State-controlled economies and institutional policing of speech achieve the exact opposite. What would be so bad about teaching children how the real world works? Shouldnt they be told from an early age that governments are the greatest threats to their lives and liberties? After all, government agents decide what they can and cannot do, what kinds of property they may and may not possess, and how much of their future earnings they must hand over to the State. Government agents decide whether they are extremists who should be kept under surveillance, whether their private communications will be intercepted, and whether their doors will be kicked down in the middle of the night. Government agents decide which religious practices, civil rights, and forms of speech will be safeguarded and which will be criminalized. Government agents decide which groups of people will be protected and which groups will be prosecuted. Government agents decide when borders will be kept secure. Government agents decide when to mandate experimental pharmaceutical injections. Government agents decide what levels of toxicity in food and water supplies are acceptable. Government agents decide when to send the youngest generations off to fight in foreign wars. To prepare children for the real world, we should teach them that governments are not cuddly stuffed animals that hand out free hugs; they are the monsters in the dark that unleash real-life nightmares. For a while, the world was heading in that direction. The European Enlightenment redirected political power away from sovereign monarchies claiming a divine right to rule and toward civilian populations increasingly cognizant of their God-given rights. The War for American Independence and the founding of the United States inverted traditional notions of political power by explicitly linking legitimate government authority to the will of the people. The U.S. Constitution forbids the federal government from exercising any powers not specifically enumerated and reserves the bulk of political power for American citizens and the individual states. The Bill of Rights is a non-exhaustive list of individual rights that government agents absolutely must not infringe a constitutional redundancy that restricts government authority to its finite and itemized obligations. As the apotheosis of Enlightenment liberalism, the U.S. Constitution concretely recognizes that government power is inherently dangerous and that no form of government can be remotely trusted. In other words, Americas political revolution and founding documents shattered the political illusions of the past and declared, This is how the real world works! It is nothing short of tragic that in the two and a half centuries since Americas birth the very lessons that informed her founding have been forgotten or ignored. In essence, we have become a society of children who must relearn what we once considered common knowledge. In describing this historical amnesia in America and throughout the West, Mr. Edward D. Holman wrote beautifully last month, Whats particularly galling is that we have been funding a Cheshire Cat, an ideal still displaying its original grin but showing less and less of its original body. Such eloquent imagery captures our problem nicely. We have a Bill of Rights, but the Supreme Court has habitually failed to protect it from government intrusion on behalf of the American people. In fact, the Judiciary has proved itself no more capable of dispassionately preserving the U.S. Constitution than the politicians who have distorted the powers of the Legislative and Executive Branches for over two hundred years. The end result is that Americans must regularly defend their rights against a federal government that wishes to diminish them. At the same time, institutions that have no genesis in the Constitution such as the Federal Reserve, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, and Central Intelligence Agency endlessly expand their powers over the American people. The Constitutions Cheshire Cat has all but disappeared. All thats left is the Deep States fiendish grin. Thats not how the real world should work, but thats how it works right now. If we want to change that, we must teach the youngest generations that freedom not government is worth preserving. Image: JSMed via Pixabay, Pixabay License. On a sunny day in April 1990, Professor Derrick Bell, one of the founding fathers of Critical Race Theory, stood before a small group of Harvard Law students (including the future 44th president of the United States) outside the Harkness student center and resigned his faculty position in protest because Harvard had not yet hired a tenured black female professor. Professor Bell dedicated his speech to a long train of historically marginalized groups (no one yet used the word identities) who had experienced the sharp sting of institutional prejudice. The list began, as most still do, with blacks, Native Americans, LGB people (T and Q, to say nothing of A and +, had not yet earned separate billing), Latinos (there was no Latinx in those days), the undocumented, the homeless, the disabled, etc. I cant remember all of the groups that Professor Bell mentioned, but I remember well that he ended with French Canadians, which, for many of us, was the first time we had learned of the sufferings of this beleaguered population to our north. What struck me, and what struck many other Jewish students listening to Professor Bells resignation speech, was his omission of Jews, whose historical marginalization, charitably speaking, rivals that of at least French Canadians. Today, however, we know why Professor Bell omitted Jews from his list of historically marginalized peoples. An honest history of the Jewish people is simply incompatible with the most foundational premises of critical theory and its direct descendent, wokeism. According to wokeism, all groups achieve equal outcomes in all human endeavors without oppression, and, conversely, whenever there are unequal outcomes between and among groups, oppression is the cause. The theory is used everywhere today to explain persistent group failure and has acquired the status of a self-evident truth. There have been many refutations of this theory, including and especially the work of economist Thomas Sowell. But one of the most obvious refutations is the history of the Jews, who undeniably have been oppressed just as severely and for just as long as any of the groups on Professor Bells list and yet stubbornly continue to thrive whenever and wherever even the slightest degree of political liberty is allowed to grow. The history of Jews, therefore, requires critical theorists to make a hard choice. Either revise or abandon critical theory or deny, delegitimize, and rewrite the facts of Jewish history and current events to fit the theory. Unsurprisingly, critical theorists have chosen the latter, which has led to modern leftist antisemitism in three predictable ways. First, critical theory requires the minimization of Jewish suffering. This explains not only leftist Holocaust denial, from Paul Rassinier to Louis Farrakhan, but also the decline in Holocaust teaching in K12 classrooms, to say nothing of the soft erasure of Jewish history by activist professors and journalists. Last January on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, no less a Good Morning Britain anchorwoman described the victims of the Nazi death camps without mentioning Jews: Six million people were killed in concentration camps during the Second World War, as well as millions of others because they were Polish, disabled, gay, or belonged to another ethnic group. No doubt this was not her intention, and her apology seemed sincere. She was, after all, just a reader of news copy written by others. But that news copy surely was no accident, written, most likely, by some woke journalist who knew what he was doing. Other examples of this soft erasure of Jewish history in woke classrooms and woke media are too numerous to count. Second, critical theory requires that Jewish achievement be delegitimized. Accusing Jews of cheating is not new. How else to explain Jewish success in the face of millennia of legal restrictions and social animus (to say nothing of murderous pogroms) without implying the failure of other groups who faced neither (or even both) while achieving less? Critical theory has taken this logic to the next level with the incantation of white privilege. According to woke ideology, whiteness is the ultimate form of cheating, and because Jews are white (dont tell the neo-Nazis), their achievements, together with the achievements of white people generally, are illegitimate. (Never mind that 55% of Israels Jewish citizens are dark-skinned Sephardic Jews from North Africa and other parts of the Middle East.) Still, among all variants of white achievement, Jewish achievement is especially embarrassing for the woke left, which is why Jewish success, including and especially the most spectacular of modern Jewish successes the return of the Jewish People to Zion and the creation of the State of Israel is so viciously singled out for special delegitimizing. Third, critical theory requires that Jews be made into oppressors in their own right, which explains the lefts monomaniacal obsession with Israel and its sympathy for Hamas and other terror groups. The International Criminal Courts grotesque indictments of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes is only the latest example of an unbroken chain of perverse condemnations of Israel by international bodies, especially the U.N., which cannot be squared with even the most grudging regard for basic and provable facts. Today, LGBTQIA+ protesters screech invective at Jewish students on American campuses, raising Queers for Palestine placards, betraying a malevolence that cannot comfortably be explained by ignorance alone. Never mind that homosexuality is a crime punished severely throughout the Arab world, whereas the largest pride parade outside San Francisco occurs annually in Tel Aviv. Conceding Israeli tolerance and liberality is simply incompatible with critical theory, which is why the woke bizarrely accuse Israel (those crafty Jews again!) of using inclusive policies as a cynical form of Pinkwashing their oppression of others. Woke antisemitism is not a fringe view. It is, instead, a poison that flows logically from the foundational premises of critical theory. Because Jewish, and especially Israeli, history refutes those premises totally, woke intellectuals must ignore, rewrite, or even erase that history in service of the flimsiest of dogmas. It is not the first time, nor, sadly, will it be the last, when Jews are painted as enemies of a failing utopian ideology. Jeffrey H. Dean is a retired lawyer in Seattle and a 1992 alumnus of Harvard Law School. Image: hendricjabs via Pixabay, Pixabay License. Yesterday, a massive explosion rocked Irans main port. A few hours later, another explosion occurred at its main deep-water port. Iran claimed that the explosions were because of careless handling of explosive (i.e., weapons) materials, but I cant help but wonder if were seeing the work of a fine Israeli hand. The footage from the explosion is impressive: MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION ROCKS IRANIAN PORT: This morning, a massive explosion ripped through the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in Southern Iran. The explosion wounded 700+ people so far and killed at least 10. The port is still burning and rescue operations are still underway. pic.twitter.com/94MpJg8pXL Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) April 26, 2025 According to reports, what exploded was quite literally rocket fuel or, in Iranian terms, fuel for the missiles it lobs at Israel and that it hands out to its violent proxies all over the Middle East: A huge explosion ripped through Irans largest commercial port, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 700 others Saturday, in a fiery disaster authorities are linking to a shipment of chemicals used to create missile propellant. The blast erupted at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, a critical shipping hub on the Strait of Hormuz, sending a mushroom cloud of black and orange smoke towering above the coastline, Iranian state media reported. Initially, authorities provided no clear explanation as to what caused the blast in the port, only that it was linked to a fire that led to the explosion of several containers. But more information surfaced from Iranian officials later Saturday in addition to rising death tolls and injuries suggesting the blast involved fuel intended for Iranian ballistic missiles. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, private security firm Ambrey said. One can certainly see why Israel would be interested in causing problems at that particular port for that particular shipment. But its worse than just a materials explosion. When your largest commercial port is disabled, your supply chain is broken, whether its getting goods to your people or raising revenue by selling your own goods abroad. In essence, its a boycott by blowout. However, it doesnt stop there for the hits to the Iranian economy. A few hours after that first explosion at the Bandar Abbas port, another explosion rocked Irans largest deep-water port: Just few hours after the explosion in Bander Abbas, there was another explosion in the not so distant Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran. There is no confirmation that the explosions are linked, but the coincidence is suspicious. In the videos, you can see how starts with orange pic.twitter.com/8nsAO1rzpa Voice From The East (@EasternVoices) April 26, 2025 The Shahid Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas is #Iran's only deep-sea port, which handles 85% of Iran's foreign trade containerized cargo. If it is paralyzed by the blast, it will be a major blow to the Islamic Republic's economy. pic.twitter.com/h3Po13s2lG Arthur Maghakian (@ArMaghak) April 26, 2025 Yet another boycott (intentional or not) by blowout. I have no beef with the Iranian people. My father, who moved to British-mandate Palestine in 1935 and fought in two wars there, first with the RAF and then with the IDF, before immigrating (legally) to America in 1954, really liked the Iranian people, whom he characterized as incredibly lively and gracious. He disliked the Iraqis, by the way, whom he said were dour, angry people. And indeed, its because I have no beef with the Iranian people that I think the best thing that could happen to them would be for the Mullahs to be overthrown. As we all know, the Mullahs, with their apocalyptic, anti-Jewish (and, therefore, anti-Israel), anti-Christian, and anti-American belief system, and funded by oil money, have long been a force for death and disruption around the worldbut theyve also been a force for oppression, death, and torture against their own people. A conventional war with Iran seems to be a nonstarter. Israel was willing, but Trump put the kybosh on it. Perhaps these port explosions are war by other means, with Israel (and America?) creating the conditions for the beleaguered Iranian people finally to rise against the tyrants who oppress them. Certainly, it would be nice to think that... UPDATE: To increase the misery, Tehran is now experiencing a massive sandstorm: Serious sand storm in Tehran, Iran pic.twitter.com/LYtSjMZuhB Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 27, 2025 Image X screen grab. The left has been all over the fact that Donald Trump dared to show up at Pope Franciss funeral, not dressed in black, but instead wearing a very restrained blue suit and tie. Believe me, this is a non-story. Whats a bit more interesting is the back story of the crowd of 40 prisoners, prostitutes, and so-called transgender people at the funeral. While the prisoners and prostitutes clearly reflect Jesuss outreach amongst societys outcasts, what in the world were so-called transgender peoplewho are a delusional refutation of Gods creationdoing there? First, that fake blue suit story. According to the leftist media, Trump made the ultimate fashion faux pas, not to mention giving the Pope a grievous posthumous insult, by wearing a blue suit to the funeral. You can find the uproar at Bluesky, the lefts hangout ever since free speech (or at least, mostly free speech) returned to X: The blue suit narrative is a great big nothingburger. Whats not getting much coverage is the so-called transgender contingent at the funeral. The Daily Mail first brought those mourners to my attention, but it was completely opaque as to whether they showed up spontaneously or were part of the funeral: Pope Francis coffin was greeted by a group of transgender mourners, prisoners and prostitutes as was he buried in his final resting place. A group of around 40 poor and needy Romans welcomed the pontiffs coffin at the steps of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to pay their last respects before he was entombed on Saturday. The mourners - which included homeless, prisoners, migrants, prostitutes and transgender people - held white roses and saluted the pope as the procession entered the basilica. The extraordinary gesture was made in a nod to Franciss particular care for the downtrodden, whom the pontiff had a well known affection towards. Francis definitely liked the transgender crowdhaving once invited a busload to visit with him and regularly entertaining trans sex workersso one could see how some of them might have wanted to pay their respects. I also understand that Christ was known for his compassion for societys outcasts, but, as I said at the top of this essay, so-called transgender people are a special category, as far as Im concerned. After all, they are literally denying the most fundamental part of Gods relationship to humans: He created them, but he created only Adam and Eve. He didnt create the Canadian man with the God-given penis and the surgically created hole in his body called a vagina. CANADA: A "non-binary" diaper fetishist has won his second legal bid to force the province of Ontario to fund a surgery that would preserve his penis and craft a "vaginal hole" near his anus. The surgery is expected to cost taxpayers upwards of $70,000.https://t.co/RTrMjVbnQN REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) April 26, 2025 Still, the Pope had a thing for the trannies. And in honor of this thing, the Vatican invited them to be guests at the funeral, helping to send the Pope off on his final journey: A group of transgender people will be among the roughly 40 individuals selected by the Vatican to offer a final send off to Pope Francis before he is interred in the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore on Saturday. [snip] Bishop Benoni Ambarus, an auxiliary bishop of Rome, said that the decision to include this group of people in the popes send off is symbolic of his concern for the most marginalized. It seems to me a moving choice, because the Holy Father Francis is welcomed by the Mother he loved so much, Bishop Ambarus said, referring to the church that honors Mary where the pope chose to be buried, according to a translation of the Vatican News story, and by his favorite children, who will surround him in these last steps. It seems to me a truly beautiful thing. (Emphasis mine.) Im not Catholic, so I may be stepping out of line here, but the whole thing strikes me as very peculiar and inconsistent with the most basic Biblical principles. Its one thing to be gracious if so-called transgender people attend the funeral. After all, everyone who mourns the Popes passing should be welcome. Its another thing entirely, not only to invite them, but to give them a prominent role in the proceedings, particularly when they make a mockery of traditional Biblical faith. Image created using AI. During the Bidens Handlers Administration, our armed forces experienced debilitating declines in recruiting. And if that wasnt bad enough, our Idi Amin-resembling Secretary of Defense ejected some 8000 from the military for refusing to take the Covid vaccine that wasnt a vaccine at all. Graphic: Meme Screenshot The Covid hoax was gaslighting all the way down. Fauci, Biden and a variety of other Administration flunkies assured Americans anyone taking the vaccine would not contract Covid, nor would they transmit it. That was what we writers call a lie. It took time, but after years of being called on it serial dissemblers adopted new gaslighting: What, Me? I never said the vaccine would prevent contracting and transmitting Covid. Nobody said that! Unfortunately for them, there exist voluminous print and video records of them saying just that. In the military, forcing lies down troops throats, and vaccine into their bodies, is a bit easier. Unlike civilians, troops follow orders, and if they refuse theyre prosecuted and/or bounced out of the military, and some 8000 were. With the election of Donald Trump, a variety of miracles occurred. Dems flogged a narrative claiming closing our borders was impossible without the bi-partisan border bill, and even then, it was still impossible, just because and shut up you racists. Trump took office and the border was shut down by the simple expedient of enforcing the law. A similar narrative was developed not to explain why we were having so much trouble recruiting, but what absolutely, positively could not be the reasons. It could not be that woke had turned our military into a deranged, sex-obsessed social experiment. It could not be that real warriors were harassed and driven from the service. Pronouns, DEI, drag queens, the elevation of trans to high rank, sexual indoctrination of dependent children in DOD schools, every excess of the forces of woke could not possibly be what was tanking recruiting. Graphic: X Composite Screenshot Nor could the Bidens Handlers militarys focus on denigrating and oppressing white male soldiers, the very people from the South and Midwest who have always comprised most of our warriors. DEI was our strength, the essential element of a military whose rustbucket ships kept running into other ships, and whose officers publicly engaged in drag, pup play and all manner of other perversions. How could those MAGA enemies of our democracy possibly think young Americans who have always joined the military to become warriors would be put off by our strength? Who could have imagined recruiting ads featuring lesbian mothers and flouncing dimwits in uniform, contrasted with the ads of our adversaries featuring real soldiers, wouldnt appeal to young men and actual women willing to serve their country and anxious to test their mettle? Graphic: Twitter Screenshot Only a few months into Trumps second term, another miracle has occurred. Just like that, military recruiting numbers are dramatically up. Where during the Bidens Handlers years, recruiting the minimum number of qualified recruits was impossible, nowmirable dictu!were filling the ranks beyond minimums and without reducing entrance requirements to fill DEI quotas. [Fox & Friends] Host Brian Kilmeade highlighted the figures. "The Army, Air Force, and Marinesyou are up 108% in November, 119% in February, 108% after the election, 105% with the Navy, with the Marines up 112%, and 100%. They are through the roof. The US Air Force, 100% of its goal. Same thing in February, and Space Force is also booming, over 100%." These numbers signal a significant enlistment boom. SecDef Pete Hegseth responded: I didn't hesitate when the president asked me, and I haven't hesitated for a moment because those numbers are a reflection of why we're here, Hegseth replied. We call it the Trump bump internally. The reality is, when war fighting and lethality is brought back, and it's serious that what we're doing here is serious about getting after soldiering and war fighting, the American people wanna come back in. Hegseth emphasized the publics response: "They wanna sign up. These recruiting numbers don't surprise me. They don't surprise me one bit. They're a reflection of a yearning from the American public of young people to be proud of their country, to be proud of their military." He underscored the administrations commitment to equipping troops, stating, "That's why we've, I've fought for the budget that the Defense Department requires. And the president said we'll have our first trillion-dollar budget." Eliminate DEI, remove trans from the ranks, punish insubordination toward the National Command Authority, restore realistic physical fitness standards, obliterate pronouns and drag queens, and reemphasize real military virtues, and young Americans suddenly want to join a military dedicated to deterring and killing Americas enemies? Who coulda thunk it? And all it took was a new president who understood the real reason we have a military. Apparently, everything Dems said about and did to our military was a lie. What a surprise. 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. Pope Paul VIs visit to NY in 1965 was the first time a pope ever visited the U.S. My mothers family was Irish-Catholic. My maternal grandfather came to America first and found work and, over the course of several years, sent money back home to Ireland every month until they had enough saved for his entire family his wife, their three daughters, and one son to make the voyage and join him in America. Hats off to my grandfather, who could have easily been tempted to abandon his family and start a new life, maybe with a new wife, in America. The Irish-Catholics in my family that traversed the Atlantic were extremely religious. Going to Mass (not church) every Sunday was an absolute must. Missing Sunday Mass constituted a sin. One of my aunts disparagingly referred to Catholics who attended Mass only on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday as A&P Catholics, bearing their forehead ashes and palm leaves to fool everybody into believing they were good practicing Catholics. One of my aunts became a nun. Whereas her brother and sisters continued to call her Millie, short for Mildred, her given name, my cousins and I knew her only as Sister Gabriel. Like all Catholic nuns, Sister Gabriel had taken a new name, symbolizing her commitment to a new life. Another aunt became a Catholic schoolteacher. When I was growing up, going to Mass every Sunday remained an absolute requirement of my mother that is, until churches began offering Mass options at 5:30 or 7:30 on Saturday evenings. At some point, churches also began offering a 5:30 Mass on Sunday evenings, which worked out great in the summer. Hang out in the pool all day, go to Mass at 5:30. Check the box, make Mom happy. I cannot recall any in-depth discussions about popes when I was very young, except for one of my Italian uncles who loved relaying that Pope John XXIIIs real name was Angelo Roncalli and that Pope Paul VIs real name was Giovanni Montini. Like Sister Gabriel, when a cardinal is elected pope, he gets to choose his papal name. The biggest pope story in the family took place when it was announced that Pope Paul VI would be visiting New York and saying Mass in Yankee Stadium. Wow, did that news generate a buzz throughout the family, which became even bigger news when Sister Gabriel announced she was able to secure a bunch of tickets for the Mass the equivalent to scoring front-row tickets for a Beatles concert! My uncle and his sisters (including my mother) joined their other sister, Sister Gabriel, and thousands of others (90,000) to hear Pope Paul VI say Mass from second base. The family talked about that experience for years. My uncle was especially impressed that after saying Mass, the pope drove over to the Worlds Fair in Queens, visited a Michelangelo sculpture, and then flew back to Rome. In total, Pope Paul VIs visit to N.Y. lasted just 14 hours, landing around 9:30 A.M. at Idlewild Airport (later renamed JFK Airport) and departing late in the evening. Reading about and watching the funeral of Pope Francis brought back the Yankee Stadium memories. In a strange way, it was easier for me to name a current pope when they seemed cloaked in mystery and never left Rome. Once popes began traveling extensively and appearing all over the internet, to me, the mystery evaporated, and I lost interest in knowing anything about the current pope, down to his real name. (Pope Franciss real name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Thank you, Grok.) Image: Ambrosius007 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Almost six years ago, before I started working at American Thinker, I wrote a post on my personal blog about Obamas purge of many military leaders who believed in traditional American values. I entitled it, Under Obama, there came to be a cancer in the Pentagon. That post, especially the title, popped into my head when I read about the fact that over a dozen U.S. service members were rounded up when the DEA raided an illegal club in Colorado Springs, where they found dozens of illegal aliens, many of whom were also gang members, weapons, drugs, and prostitutes. This is the metastasized result of Obamas efforts, which Biden carried on for him. The original story was simply that thered been a raid on this club, netting over a hundred illegal aliens, along with drugs and weapons: #DEA Rocky Mountain led a multi-agency enforcement operation along with our local and federal partners early this morning.@DHSgov has taken more than 100 illegal aliens into custody. Drugs and weapons have also been seized at this underground nightclub in Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/R4Smb3voAg DEARockyMountain (@DEAROCKYMTNDiv) April 27, 2025 It then emerged that the club was a hangout for members of MS-13, now properly labeled as a terrorist organization, and Tren de Aragua, which has been properly identified as a terrorist organization sent by a foreign power to destabilize America. Confucius would have been proud of this rectification of names, so that words correspond with reality: This morning @DEAHQ apprehended over 100 illegal aliens at an underground night club frequented by Tda and MS-13 terrorists. Cocaine, meth, and pink cocaine was seized. 2 people were also arrested on existing warrants. As we approach his 100 days in office @POTUS Trumps pic.twitter.com/DvYUNrmzvd Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) April 27, 2025 Given these terrorists fondness for the club, its highly likely that they were well-represented among those illegal aliens rounded up, and that they were responsible for the guns, drugs, and prostitution. This is great work on the part of the Trump administration. For the terrorists, the glory days are coming to an end. But as I said, while that was good news, something deeply distressing emerged from the raid, and that was the presence of so many active-duty U.S. service people, over a dozen, who were there as patrons, armed security, or criminal actors: WATCH: DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen describes the federal operation this morning at an illegal nightclub in Colorado Springs. Some active duty military, as well as gang members and many people in the U.S. illegally, were among those detained. pic.twitter.com/21PrvrBU7m Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) April 27, 2025 It then emerged that the club was a hangout for members of MS-13, now properly labeled as a terrorist organization, and Tren de Aragua, which has been properly identified as a terrorist organization sent by a foreign power to destabilize America. Confucius would have been proud of this rectification of names, so that words correspond with reality:Given these terrorists fondness for the club, its highly likely that they were well-represented among those illegal aliens rounded up, and that they were responsible for the guns, drugs, and prostitution. This is great work on the part of the Trump administration. For the terrorists, the glory days are coming to an end. But as I said, while that was good news, something deeply distressing emerged from the raid, and that was the presence of so many active-duty U.S. service people, over a dozen, who were there as patrons, armed security, or criminal actors: Its absolutely true that any large institution will have rot, and the U.S. military is very large. There hasnt been a modern war that hasnt been plagued with criminality. Where there are young men, there will be murders and assaults, and where there are valuables, such as weapons systems, there will be theft. However, I dont believe that there has ever been a situation in which so many military people were working hand-in-glove with criminal illegal aliens engaged in terrorist activities aimed at destabilizing the U.S. Instead, its entirely possible that these terrorists have infiltrated the military itself. And as I said, this kind of behavior represents a fish that has rotted at the head. Obama took a high-functioning, patriotic, disciplined military and turned it into a left-wing, anti-American, anti-male, anti-white, anti-biological-norms institution. You cant expect the troops at the bottom to be pure when the top is so grotesque. Image: X screen grab. Multiple reports, such as one in the U.K. Telegraph, indicate that the U.K. is expected to grant approval for geoengineering experiments that would attempt to block light from the sun in an effort to curb global warming/climate change. The experiments, allegedly to be announced in the coming weeks, are to be carried out by something called the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. The U.K. government announced the creation of the ARIA, a self-described "independent research body to fund high-risk, high-reward scientific research several years ago, saying that it will "help to cement the U.K.s position as a global science superpower, while shaping the countrys efforts to build back better through innovation." It added that the agency was to be led by "prominent, world-leading scientists who will be given the freedom to identify and fund transformational science and technology." Geoengineering is the large-scale attempt to manipulate global environmental processes in order to slow down or reverse global warming. What could go wrong?! Some of us far-right Christian conspiracy theorists might posit that the sun was put there specifically to shine its light on us, literally and figuratively, allowing life to flourish and the planet to avoid being locked in darkness and ice for eternity. But, what the hell. I, for one, am not particularly comforted by the agencys high-risk self-description of its scientific research. Our recent encounters with scientific research, scientists, and experts are similarly problematic, especially those regarding COVID-19 and the plandemic. Transformational science and technology may well be transformational, but not always in a good way and quite possibly in a catastrophic one. It never fails to amaze me how the climate alarmists who bemoan allegedly man-caused global warmingor climate change as their needs may be loudly call for man to interfere, deliberately and experimentally, in the planets climate. And the U.K. is not alone in doing so. Back in 2022, the White House announced a five-year research plan for geoengineering, which would involve spraying fine aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. Shortly thereafter, a rogue start-up firm claimed it was starting to do much the same thing. Bill Gates and George Soros also had plans to block the dastardly suns light and send it packing back towards space, as I noted here at American Thinker early last year, stating: But how can this be? Who authorized this assault on the atmosphere? Surely Bill Gates and George Soros cant simply, unilaterally, impose actions intended to affect weather and climate around the globe. Did I miss something? Did the worlds citizens vote on this? Was the global community consulted? Did each and every nation have a say? Farmers and botanists, the elderly and infirm? The same could of course be said of the Biden White Houses plan and the U.K.s. Paraphrasing a song by The Beatles: Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, and I say, its all right. Little darling, its been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since its been here. The country that birthed the Beatles may soon embark on a program that could potentially make winters longer, colder, lonelier. For everyone. How can any nation be allowed to do this? What if scientists in, say, Greenland discovered a way to increase the strength of the suns rays? Should they be permitted to execute their plans without consulting anyone else on Earth? Geoengineering has the potential to impact, adversely or positively, all life on earth. Plant growth, dissolved oxygen content on land and in water, economies, the health of ecosystems, animals, and humans, the mood and mental health of people around the planet, etc., etc. These planned experiments will not help the U.K.s position as a global science superpower. That ship has long sailed. And, if the country truly wanted to build back better through innovation, it should consider ceasing the arrest of grandmothers silently praying outside of abortion mills and tasking its scientists with finding ways of stopping the incessant knife attacks that young male Muslim immigrants are perpetrating on its citizens. Oh, well, the sun will come out tomorrow. Unless it doesnt. Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License I write these articles as a warning to those in red states: Dont give the Democrats any power over you, your family, or especially your money. If you take just one thing away from this article, it should be this: You must have an election that allows ballots to be given only to those who show identification and are proven citizens of the United States and the state you are in. Democrats will tell you your convenience is more important than a valid election. Please dont buy that line of garbage; while you are at home filling out your ballot, they are out gathering bogus ballots that cancel your vote. Stand in line, show your identification, and make your vote count. I start at the elections because that is the lynchpin for all taxes, bills, and fees. In Oregon, we have vote by mail or, as we call it, cheat by mail. Now the Democrats in Salem can use their supposed supermajority status to force their will on the people. Here are some of the idiotic failures the Democrats have managed to foster in Oregon. Portland now has a $1-billion debt hole that it doesnt know how to fix. As a result, one swimming pool is cracked and unusable. Driving through Portland is like driving in a war zone after a tank battle; the potholes are deep and continuous. Not to be outdone, ODOT, the Oregon Department of Transportation, has made road repairs on Route 26 that act like ramps to launch cars into the roadside ditches. Washington County Clean Water Services spent $92,000 on business lunches last year, and the county commissioners, a majority of whom are Democrats, continue to act like total incompetents. They are willing to accept new guidelines that will track future lunch expenditures. Nobody has been fired or resigned, but the commissioners promise they are looking into it. The Oregon Democrats have also bought in to the Green New Deal and climate change agenda and are trying to eliminate logging in Oregon. These are just a few of the many failures that a one-party state experiences. Instead of looking at both sides of an issue or problem, the Democrats immediately craft a new bill or law. Then they craft another bill or law in the future, trying to fix what they did earlier. I hope others hear this and see that the convenience of voting at home or vote by mail eventually costs them big bucks, wastes time, and puts into place self-important monkeys trying to fix nonexistent problems. John Woods: Father, Husband, Conservative, Activist, Patriot, Veteran, Certified Action Range Shooter, Voting Delegate to the state Oregon Republican Party. Image: Ben Schumin via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Google has announced that it will stop offering software updates for the first and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats. This change affects the models released in 2011, 2012, and a version made for the consumers in Europe, released in 2014. Furthermore, the company is also pulling Nest Thermostats out of the European market entirely, citing unique heating challenges. Google is offering discounts to affected Nest users on the newer models. In a blog post, Google said that starting October 25, 2025, the 1st-gen (2011) and 2nd-gen (2012) Nest Learning Thermostat will not be receiving any new software updates. Essentially, you wont be able to control these devices remotely from your smartphone or Google Assistant. However, you can still adjust the desired temperature and modify schedules directly on the thermostat. Furthermore, Google said that the existing schedules on your Nest Learning Thermostats will continue to operate as usual. Additionally, this change will not affect any other Nest Thermostat models, which will continue to receive software updates. Later this year, you will also be able to create and adjust schedules for your thermostat devices in the Google Home app for the first time. Talking about Europe, Google said that the Nest Learning Thermostat (2nd-gen, Europe version, 2014) will no longer receive software updates. It will continue selling the Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd-gen, 2015) and Nest Thermostat E (2018) in Europe while current supplies last. Moving forward, the company wont launch new Nest thermostat models in the market. Google is offering a discount of $130 on the 4th-gen models In an attempt to ease the anger of the impacted users, Google is offering a discount of $130 on the 4th-gen Nest Learning Thermostat in the US. It is providing $160 off on the same product in Canada. For European users, theres a discount of 50 percent on the Tado Smart Thermostat X-Starter Kit, which users can set up alongside their other smart home appliances in the Google Home app. Google is contacting the Nest Learning Thermostat (1st and 2nd-gen) owners via email with more details. The emails also contain a personalized link that contains the special discounted offers on the 4th-gen Nest Learning Thermostat. Samsungs tri-fold smartphone, which is now reportedly being referred to as the Samsung Galaxy G Fold, has been the subject of several rumors over the past year following the launch of Huaweis Mate XT, and now it looks like one of the devices key specs may have just been leaked the screen size. Samsung popularized the folding phone segment in the industry, but even after all these years of building them, it has yet to release a tri-fold phone. Thats rumored to change this year. More than one rumor has claimed that Samsung would release this phone sometime in 2025. Not much is known about it, though. One rumor states that the phone might not launch globally. While this hasnt been confirmed yet, it would be a pretty big shift from the way it launches all of its other foldables. Yet another rumor suggests that Samsungs tri-fold phone might charge slowly. What hasnt been talked about much is the screen size. The Samsung Galaxy G Fold phone could come with a smaller display than the Huawei Mate XT The size of the display is probably one of the details about Samsungs tri-fold phone that people want to know most. According to the latest leak from Digital Chat Station on Weibo (via Notebookcheck), its potentially going to be smaller than the main display on the Huawei Mate XT. For comparison, the main display on the Huawei Mate XT, when the phone is unfolded, is 10.2 inches. The main display on the Samsung Galaxy G Fold is said to be about 9.9 inches. Making it slightly smaller than that of Huaweis tri-fold. The phone could be unveiled or teased in July More than one rumor has already suggested that Samsung would launch its tri-fold phone this year. When it comes to more exact timing, however, the details are a little more foggy. This most recent leak suggests that once again, Samsung is launching the phone in 2025. More than that, though, it also mentions that it could show up in July. This seems about as good a time as any to at the very least tease it. After all, Samsung holds its big foldables-focused Unpacked event during the Summer. The company is expected to show off the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 at this years event. So it makes sense that it might tease the tri-fold. Similar to how it teased the Galaxy S25 Edge at its Unpacked event at the beginning of the year. Of course, none of this is confirmed. Survivors and their families took part in the ceremony at Bergen-Belsen. Photograph: Liesa Johannssen/Reuters Survivors of the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen and their families have gathered at the site in northern Germany to officially commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation by British troops. Representatives of victims associations and the military took part in the ceremony along with the British deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner. During the second world war, Soviet prisoners of war and later Jewish prisoners were held at the camp under extremely hostile conditions. According to the foundation responsible for the upkeep of the camp as a memorial site, about 20,000 prisoners of war and at least 52,000 concentration camp prisoners died there, including Anne Frank, the Jewish diarist, and her sister, Margot. Debbie Morag, who was born in Bergen-Belsens displaced persons camp in 1948, the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, and now lives in Israel, told the participants: My father had the number 126,715 on his arm, a symbol not only of brutality, but of perseverance. My mother carried her memories silently, yet they filled our home. I often say that I absorbed the Holocaust with my mothers milk thats how deeply it is connected to me. Accompanying about 180 British Jews, including survivors and their relatives, the UKs chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, read a psalm. Lola Hassid Angel, 88, from Greece, described the camp in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month as an abomination that historians will one day refer to as a dark page but which we, as the last survivors, are duty-bound to describe. At the ceremony, another survivor, 100-year-old Albrecht Weinberg, from Germany, recalled being taken half-dead by train from Auschwitz to Belsen. I found myself lying amid the dead and the living on a wagon in Bergen-Belsen. Our bodies were tipped out. Two days later, a tank drove in. I thought now Ill finally be freed by death, but it was British soldiers coming to liberate us. They later told me Id weighed 29kg [4st 8lb]. At the time in April 1945, the Guardian reported how a senior medical officer with the British army had witnessed thousands of typhus, typhoid and tuberculosis cases on entering the camp, calling it the most horrible, frightful place he had ever seen. There was a pile 60 to 80 yards long, 30 yards wide, and 4ft high of the unclothed bodies of women all within sight of several hundred children. Gutters were filled with rotting dead and men had come to the gutters to die, using the kerbstones as back rests, the correspondent David Woodward wrote. Related: I want to tell the world: Bergen-Belsen survivor recounts horrors of Holocaust Accounts from the camp by soldiers and journalists were spread around the world and proved more shocking in many ways than other discoveries of death camps to the east, such as Treblinka, Sobibor and Auschwitz, as they had either been demolished to hide evidence of the crimes committed there, or emptied of their inmates, who, like Weinberg, were sent on death marches. At Belsen, the camp construction and the evidence of what had taken place there remained intact. Some of the Nazi soldiers involved in the death machine were still on site. The sheer number of prisoners and the conditions at the camp led to mass outbreaks of dysentery, typhus and malnutrition, leading to about 500 deaths a day, most during the final weeks of the war. A documented 14,000 survivors died by the end of June 1945, many of whose digestive systems had been unable to cope with the food they were given after the liberation of the camp. China and universities A public register of Chinese donations to British universities must be created, the chairman of Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee has said. Lord Beamish issues the call in a Telegraph article almost two years after the committee first made the recommendation to the Education Department. In his article, Lord Beamish warns the Government not to be naive about Chinese influence in British academia and emphasises the need for transparency. Lord Beamish, who served as a Labour MP for 23 years and was Gordon Browns veterans minister, has intervened after a public debate about the scale of Chinese influence in the UK following the Governments takeover of Chinese-owned British Steel earlier this month. The move triggered a diplomatic spat with Beijing, with the Chinese embassy in the UK accusing some MPs of showing arrogance, ignorance and a twisted mindset. David Cameron, then UK PM, and Xi Jinping, Chinese president, enjoy a pint of beer together in 2015 - Andy Rain/Getty Lord Beamish writes: An urgent reassessment is also needed of the collaboration between UK universities and China. Not an outright ban but an assessment and government intervention where such partnerships pose a risk to our national security. The public register of Chinese donations to UK universities recommended by the Intelligence and Security Committee in its report must also be enacted. Having total transparency on Beijings funding connections to UK academia is essential for us to understand the full scale of influence. We must not be naive here. The intervention follows up recommendations made in the committees 220-page report on China that was published in July 2023. It was produced when Sir Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP, was chairman. One of the recommendations read: The UK Government must ensure that transparency around the source of foreign donations to higher education institutions is improved: a public register of donations must be created by the Department for Education and monitored by the State Threats Unit in the Home Office. It is understood there has been no sign in private from the Education Department that it intends to take up the recommendation. A spokesman for the department declined to comment when approached by The Telegraph. The report spelt out a host of concerns about Chinese influence in British academic institutions. Another part read: Academia is also an easy option when it comes to the theft of intellectual property, by taking advantage of collaborative projects to steal information which is less protected than it might be in the private sector or the Ministry of Defence, for example. The vast number of Chinese students particularly postgraduates in academic institutions in the UK that are involved in cutting-edge research must therefore raise concerns, given the access and opportunities they are afforded. The UK Government took over the formerly Chinese-owned British Steel earlier this month - Danny Lawson/PA Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who took office last July, have publicly outlined a willingness to engage more with China despite the challenges. Ms Reeves, the Chancellor, used an interview with The Telegraph earlier this month to push back on the idea being pressed by Donald Trump and his allies of disengaging with China. She said: China is the second-biggest economy in the world, and it would be, I think, very foolish, to not engage. Thats the approach of this Government. I was in China earlier this year as part of an economic and financial dialogue. I had with me some of the biggest UK financial services firms, so HSBC, the London Stock Exchange group, Standard Chartered, Prudential. We were there to improve the ability of the UK financial services firms to operate out of China. Getting more licences, more quotas for British businesses and a deal that I think was worth something like 600 million for the UK economy. And those sorts of arrangements are clearly in the UK national interest. And thats how I will approach trade talks or financial dialogues with any country in the world. We need our eyes wide open to understand rules China plays by By Lord Beamish The recent controversy regarding the Chinese ownership of British Steel has brought into public focus the question of Chinese control of key parts of the UK economy. But this is not a new debate it formed a major part of an Intelligence and Security Committee report on China published in July 2023. It is also not new to government. In its opening paragraph, the report reproduced the Joint Intelligence Committees assessment on China from 2019 that said: There is effectively a global values struggle going on in which China is determined to assert itself as a world power. It goes on to say that China represents a risk on a pretty wide scale to UK interests. China is the worlds second-largest economy and the UKs third-largest trading partner. This has been achieved by Chinas whole state approach. Chinese state-owned companies and private enterprises work to the states national goal of economic supremacy. Alongside this, Chinese academia and state security structures work to the same plan: to make China the number one world economic power by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China. China has the worlds largest set of security services whose aim is to maintain the supremacy of the Communist Party and promote Chinas interests globally. In the UK, the debate about economic prosperity is often viewed as separate from our security interests. This separation over the last decade has led to the problems we see today facing British Steel. In the golden era of China/UK relations in the Cameron years, a blind eye was turned to security concerns in the search for economic prosperity. There was also a fundamental ignorance of the economic facts about Chinas approach. China claimed to be embracing free-market capitalism but was doing the opposite, using state subsidies and, in some cases, forced labour to get a dominant position in certain sectors and driving out Western competitors. This economic battlefield across the world is littered with the corpses of now defunct companies, from telecoms to manufacturing, as a result of this approach. Chinese investment was welcomed, including in our civil nuclear sector. No sector seemed out of bounds. Alongside this, because of cuts in government funding to our universities, there was an explosion of Chinese students at UK universities and key research tie-ups with some of our best-known universities. So where does this leave us today? It could be argued that because of past decisions we are more vulnerable than others. China hawks advocate we should cut our economic and cultural ties with China as the only logical response. This is not possible or desirable. China is a global economic power that we cannot ignore. The on-shoring of all manufacturing lost to China would not be possible or make economic sense. What is needed now is a clear assessment by the Government of what industries we deem as critical to our economic security. This cannot be left to wait for more examples like British Steel to arise. We need an industrial strategy that looks across sectors to identify those industries important to our national security. UK sovereign capability in the manufacture of drinking straws is obviously not one but the protection of components and IP for our nuclear industry is. This may also mean working with like-minded allies and will need direct government intervention. With the National Security and Investment Act, the Government has the powers to intervene to stop critical industries falling into the hands of China or others we see as a threat to our interests. It must be used proactively. Ministers must also listen and act on the assessments given to them by our security services, even when these may conflict with the short-term economic interests of the UK. An urgent reassessment is also needed of the collaboration between UK universities and China. Not an outright ban but an assessment and government intervention where such partnerships pose a risk to our national security. The public register of Chinese donations to UK universities recommended by the Intelligence and Security Committee in its report must also be enacted. Having total transparency on Beijings funding connections to UK academia is essential for us to understand the full scale of influence. We must not be naive here. The UK retreating from doing business with China is not the answer but, if we are going to, we need to have our eyes wide open and understand the rules they are playing by. Only by doing this will we be able to protect our national interests and avoid future scenarios like the one that faced British Steel. Lord Beamish is chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament An Indian navy ship fires a projectile during a test fire. The navy said its ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings. Photograph: Navy spokesperson/X/Reuters Indias navy test-fired missiles on Sunday, showcasing its ability to carry out long-range, precision offensive strikes, as tensions with Pakistan rise after last weeks terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 civilians. Indian Navy ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to re-validate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems, and crew for long-range precision offensive strike, the navy posted on X, as the prime minister, Narendra Modi, promised a harsh response to the attack at a tourist site, the deadliest against civilians in Kashmir in 25 years. Modi, who has been briefing world leaders to build support for Indias position, told listeners in his monthly radio address that every Indians blood was on the boil. His words echoed previous statements where he vowed to hunt down the attackers to the ends of the Earth and turn terrorist hideouts into dust. The missiles launched are designed for powerful, long-range, high-precision strikes. The navy stressed the importance of the drills in maintaining operational readiness as military rhetoric intensified on both sides. Pakistans railway minister, Hanif Abbasi, warned over the weekend that the countrys nuclear arsenal of more than 130 missiles was not kept as models and was aimed only for India these ballistic missiles, all of them are targeted at you. Related: The domestic pressures shaping Indias response to Kashmir attacks Abbasis comments fuelled concerns the nuclear-armed neighbours were headed for a wider confrontation. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over Kashmir, which each holds in part but claims in full. They have come to the brink many other times, leading the former US president Bill Clinton to call the Himalayan region the worlds most dangerous place. Pakistans military doctrine of Full Spectrum Deterrence focuses on using tactical nuclear weapons to deter conventional threats, while Indias Cold Start doctrine is designed to deliver swift conventional strikes before escalation. These contrasting strategies have raised fears any confrontation could quickly spin out of control. From Delhis perspective, given public pressure, the egregiousness of last weeks attack, and a desire to restore deterrence, some type of military response is quite likely. And if it happens, Pakistan, not wishing to look weak, would most certainly retaliate, said the foreign policy author and analyst Michael Kugelman. An all-out war is unlikely, as India, despite its relentless tough talk, is most focused on limited options like degrading anti-Indian terrorists and restoring deterrence, he said. That said, one cant completely rule out worst-case scenarios, depending on the nature of a potential Indian strike, how Pakistan might respond to any initial Indian military action, and the ever-present miscalculation risk, Kugelman added. And given that these are nuclear-armed rivals, the stakes are quite high. New Delhi has accused Islamabad of links to the attack, in which terrorists singled out Hindu men and killed them. While presenting no public proof, it has pointed to Islamabads past support for terrorists targeting India. In tit-for-tat moves, India suspended the Indus waters treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats, and cancelled Pakistani visas. Islamabad retaliated by expelling Indian diplomats, cancelling Indians visas, closing its airspace, and suspending the 1972 Shimla agreement, a key dialogue framework. While Modis speech marked a continued commitment to retaliation, Pakistans prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, sounded more conciliatory, saying Pakistan was fully prepared to cooperate with any neutral investigators and reaffirmed Pakistans strong desire for peace. At the same time, he reiterated Kashmir remained Pakistans jugular vein, a position enunciated by the late founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. As tensions escalated, Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire on Sunday for a third day along the line of control dividing Kashmir, a frequent flashpoint. Fuelling speculation about possible Indian military action, Indias information ministry issued a media advisory warning against live broadcasting of military operations. Echoing concerns from past crises such as the 1999 Kargil war and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the advisory reflected fears about real-time broadcasts compromising sensitive strategies. In Kashmir, Indian forces have launched an extensive crackdown. Security forces have targeted suspected terrorists, demolishing at least 10 homes linked to militants as part of a wider effort to dismantle what India calls the terrorism ecosystem. Rights groups have raised concerns, and reports have estimated up to 1,500 young men have been detained or questioned. Tensions have flared over water usage. Indias release of water from the Uri Dam caused the Jhelum River to surge, flooding parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It followed Indias suspension of the treaty governing the regions rivers. Pakistan has warned any water interference would be an act of war. Nobel laureate Jody Williams founded the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in 1992. Photograph: Marc Beckmann When leaders from dozens of countries met in Mozambique a decade ago, their aim was to rid the world of one of its most treacherous weapons. Years after signing a landmark treaty banning the use, production and stockpiling of landmines, they seized on the gathering to set out an ambitious deadline for the completion of their efforts: 2025. Now 2025 is here, a very different precedent looms as five European countries have announced their intentions to be the first to withdraw from the treaty. All are Nato members that border Russia, and cite concerns about the growing threat posed by Vladimir Putin. Rights groups have described the move as shocking, and warned of a slippery slope that starts with renewed use of landmines and leads to the erosion of other international humanitarian norms. For Jody Williams, who played a critical role in helping to secure widespread global support for the landmine treaty, news of the reversals prompted a visceral reaction. It makes me want to scream, the 74-year-old Nobel laureate told the Guardian. Its really mind-boggling. Landmines do not stop an invasion. Landmines dont influence the outcome of a war. All they do is mutilate or kill your own people. Thats why it blows my mind its so stupid. Williams was recruited to the cause in the 1990s after a friend introduced her to Bobby Muller, a Vietnam war veteran and staunch peace advocate. Together they created what became the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which, since 1992, has grown to include about 1,300 NGOs in 90 countries. When governments refused to amend an existing weapons treaty to ban landmines, Williams and the ICBL began a years-long effort to create a new one. The result was the Ottawa treaty a 1997 agreement that ranks among the worlds most widely accepted international treaties, with more than 160 signatories. Later that year, when Williams and her organisation were jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize, it was a nod to the significant step the treaty represented when it came to protecting civilians from the ravages of war. Its success was dizzying, sending the number of annual landmine casualties plunging from more than 25,000 to fewer than 4,000, yielding the destruction of more than 55m stockpiled landmines and slashing the number of countries actively producing the weapons from dozens to just a handful. Even so, several of the worlds most powerful countries refused to sign up. We had to do it outside the UN because [there] any one country can veto or stand in the way, Williams said, alluding to the fact that the majority of the UN security councils permanent members the US, China and Russia remain opposed to taking action against landmines. Like most international agreements involving weapons, the Ottawa treaty includes a framework for countries to change their minds. For Williams, this clause remains a logical flaw, given why countries signed up in the first place. It shouldnt be there, she said. If you can understand the logic [of banning landmines], you shouldnt later decide to leave and go make a mess and kill your own people. Williams spoke to the Guardian from her home in Vermont weeks after the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland published a joint statement explaining why they wanted to leave the treaty. Military threats to Nato member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased, they wrote. With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs. Soon after, they were joined by Finland, whose prime minister, Petteri Orpo, described the reversals as necessary to give his country the possibility to prepare for the changes in the security environment in a more versatile way. Russia, which was never a signatory to the treaty, has used landmines extensively since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, making it the most heavily mined country in the world. For Williams, these countries nervousness is justified. Its not illogical. I understand the fear. In a perfect world, or something like that, maybe a landmine barrier would make sense, she said. But it doesnt. It doesnt stop determined soldiers from engaging in battle. All you get is a mess afterwards that threatens your own population. This view seems to be borne out by the statistics. As landmines continue to kill and injure people around the world, the overwhelming majority between 70% and 85% per year are civilians. Nearly 40% of those affected by landmines are children. What Williams sees in the reversals is a deeper question of whether states are now chipping away at earlier efforts to shield civilians from wars. Its a critical moment, she said. The landmine withdrawal does have an impact on how one thinks about the importance of the laws of war part of the laws of war are protecting civilians from the insult of conflict. Days earlier, Williams had travelled to Jerusalem and the West Bank meeting women on the frontlines of resisting violence in the midst of what she called a genocide. She returned home to news that Donald Trump was slashing Pentagon posts that had focused on preventing civilian harm during US combat operations. Its all of those things together, she said, seeing hints that a broader shift was under way. It erodes the belief that the laws of war matter. Controversial cuisine the Duchess of Sussex in her Netflix show With Love, Meghan. Photograph: GapStudio/PA Sadly, we cannot return to a more innocent age before the first episode of Meghan, Duchess of Sussexs Netflix cookery show, with its recipe for one-pan pasta. This was a time when typing the words skillet spaghetti controversy into Google produced no significant matches. Now those three words are inextricably linked. To recap: Meghan piled uncooked spaghetti and other raw ingredients into a shallow pan, poured boiling water from a kettle over them and cooked them with a lid on. Some of the attendant controversies were: the dish was unforgivably bland; the recipe may not have been Meghans alone; Italians, inevitably, consider skillet spaghetti to be a heresy. Subsequently a lot of people recreated Meghans version and, in a backlash against the backlash, pronounced it pretty good. I question the idea that one-pan spaghetti represents some great triumph of convenience. A traditional spaghetti dish may be a two-pan recipe, but one of those pans contains only boiling water, salt and spaghetti. Its not difficult, and it takes 11 minutes tops. But there are plenty of other one-pan pasta dishes out there, some wholly non-heretical. I tried making seven of them. A technical note: the US is the white-hot centre of the one-pan pasta obsession, so most of these recipes use US cup measurements. You can translate by using 240ml to a cup, but I usually just pick a random tea mug, call it a cup, and eyeball the fractions. Another note: all one-pan pasta recipes inevitably call for what seems a preposterous volume of liquid it can feel as if youre making soup. You just need to be confident the pasta will soak it up. Sometimes, I have discovered, this confidence is misplaced. Saute four minced cloves of garlic in olive oil in a casserole pot, add four mugfuls of water into which a vegetable stock cube has been dissolved, then throw in half a bag of orecchiette with some chopped thyme. Simmer until done. With the heat still on chuck in a tin of white beans, drained and rinsed, a bag of baby spinach and some grated parmesan, about 45g, some black pepper, and stir for a couple of minutes. I did not have high hopes for this recipe, but it turned out to be not only palatable, but ready in under 15 minutes. Things were off to a surprisingly good start. The best way to make carbonara already exercises the minds of culinary purists, so a method for cooking the whole thing in a single skillet seems destined to stir up trouble. As with Meghans recipe, youll need a skillet big enough to accommodate dried spaghetti. Then put some olive oil in it, fry some bacon or pancetta on medium heat and put aside when crispy. Next add minced garlic to the pan (I know theres no garlic in a real carbonara). Saute for less than a minute before adding white wine, chicken stock (I know) and water just under a litre and a half in total and 340g dried spaghetti. Turn the heat up until boiling and cook until the pasta is tender a bit longer than normal, possibly up to 18 minutes stirring often. Once its done take it off the heat and whisk in two whole eggs that have been beaten with 80ml of double cream (yes, I know) and 60g of grated parmesan. Really, it should be pecorino, but its no use being doctrinaire at this point. Its in a skillet. To be fair Ive had worse carbonaras than this one in fact Ive had worse carbonaras in restaurants. Its a bit gloopier than it should be, but using slightly less water would probably remedy that. Is it better than a traditional carbonara? No. Is it easier? No. But this is probably how I would make it if I was camping. Mushroom and Swiss chard pasta (How Sweet Eats) I chose this recipe because I happened to have a lot of chard on my hands, and it seemed like an easy way to use it up. Its possible allegedly to slap all the ingredients into a pot, pour water on top, cook for 10 minutes and have it ready to eat, but I took the sensible precaution of sauteing the mushroom and garlic in the butter for a few minutes first. The recommended pasta shape here is gemelli. I used a near-lookalike casarecce but any short pasta should work. The result is fine. Like a lot of these recipes, it tastes of less than the sum of its parts which figures when youre dumping a load of water over the ingredients early on in the proceedings. Theres a good idea for a two-pan pasta dish here. I wish Id made that. Greek baked orzo (Pinch of Yum) I was well into adulthood before I learned that orzo was a small form of pasta, rather than a large form of rice. Because of the residual embarrassment I dont buy it often, but its a sound choice for one-pan meals, because it cooks quickly and therefore doesnt give the other ingredients time to go soggy while submerged. This dish is prepared in a large pan that can then go in the oven, so make sure you own such a thing. After softening some chopped onions in a pan on the hob, add in two minced cloves of garlic, some chilli flakes, dried oregano and salt, four handfuls of chopped kale (I used chard instead, because I still had a lot left and I hate kale). When the greens are wilted add three tablespoons of tomato paste, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of chickpeas (drained and rinsed), one cup or half a bag of orzo and about 600ml of vegetable stock. Stir, bring to a simmer and stick it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 200C. Serve topped with cubes of feta, fresh dill if youve got any and a squeeze of lemon. The result is quite heavy but tasty enough. Id recommend halving all the amounts. A big skillet of this is way too much, even for four people. A safe bet a traditional Italian one-pan meal with many variations, but almost certainly containing carrot, onion, celery, garlic, tinned tomatoes and borlotti or cannellini beans. As a meal, pasta e fagioli lies somewhere between a pasta dish and a soup, so its amazingly forgiving. Sweat chopped onions, carrot and celery. Add garlic and chilli flakes, cook for another minute or so, add a tin of tomatoes and about 1.4 litres of chicken stock. Bring to a low boil and add 225g of pasta ditalini is recommended, but the closest I could come up with was mezzi rigatoni, which is rigatoni cut in half. When the pasta is done add a tin of drained, rinsed cannellini beans and a handful of parsley, and warm through. Of all the dishes I made, this is the only one my wife had a good word to say about, but then she wouldnt even try three of the seven. Pasta e fagiolis chickpea-based cousin, in a one-pot version that uses tinned chickpeas and a squid ring-shaped pasta called calamarata. This can be hard to source, but again, any short pasta will work, even at a pinch smashed-up lasagne sheets. Chances are you have everything you need to make it already, and it takes 20 minutes. Heat some oil in a big pot and saute one chopped onion, then three minced cloves of garlic, followed by a tin of rinsed chickpeas, lightly bashing up about a quarter of them with the edge of a wooden spoon (it will release starch to make the sauce thicker). Throw in some chilli flakes, a bit of salt and a sprig or two of rosemary dont bother chopping it up. Saute until the rosemary goes bendy before adding in one tin of tomatoes chopped or whole. Reduce for about five minutes. Pour in a litre of water, bring to a simmer and throw in the pasta again, about half the bag or box, say 250g. Once its cooked, finish with parmesan, chopped parsley and serve. I love this. Youre supposed to be able to produce a passable single serving of macaroni cheese in a microwave, from equal volumes of dried macaroni and water (half a mugful each, say) and half as much of milk, a fistful of shredded cheddar and a pinch of salt. I realise this already doesnt sound like a good idea. Spoiler alert: it isnt. The idea is you microwave the macaroni, salt and water in a bowl for two minutes at a time, stirring in between, until the macaroni is cooked. This could take 10 minutes or more (it took me 14) depending on your microwave. Then you add the milk and cheese, stirring some more while microwaving in 30-second bursts until youre satisfied its never going to get any better than it looks probably two minutes. The result was thin, gluey and tasteless, and the macaroni had an unfortunate, licorice-like texture. It could be my fault I may have made a mistake somewhere along the line but Im not going to try this again. Ever. Meta and other large social media companies employ armies of content moderators, often based in the poorest parts of the world. Photograph: Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters Meta is facing a second set of lawsuits in Africa over the psychological distress experienced by content moderators employed to take down disturbing social media content including depictions of murders, extreme violence and child sexual abuse. Lawyers are gearing up for court action against a company contracted by Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, after meeting moderators at a facility in Ghana that is understood to employ about 150 people. Moderators working for Majorel in Accra claim they have suffered from depression, anxiety, insomnia and substance abuse as a direct consequence of the work they do checking extreme content. The allegedly gruelling conditions endured by workers in Ghana are revealed in a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. It comes after more than 140 Facebook content moderators in Kenya were diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder caused by exposure to graphic social media content. The workers in Kenya were employed by Samasource, an outsourcing company that carries out content moderation for Meta using workers from across Africa. Majorel, the company at the centre of the allegations in Ghana, is owned by the French multinational Teleperformance. One man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he attempted suicide owing to the nature of his work. His claims his contract was subsequently terminated and he has returned to his home country. Facebook and other large social media companies employ armies of content moderators, often based in the poorest parts of the world, to remove posts that breach their community standards and to train AI systems to do the same. Moderators are required to review distressing and often brutal pictures and videos to establish whether they should be removed from Metas platforms. According to workers in Ghana, they have seen videos of a person being skinned alive and a woman being beheaded. The moderators claim mental health care offered by the firm was unhelpful, was not delivered by medical doctors, and that personal disclosures made by staff about the effects of their work were circulated among managers. Teleperformance disputed this, saying it employed licensed mental health professionals who are registered with the local regulatory body and hold a masters degree in psychology, counselling, or another mental health field. The legal case is being prepared by a UK-based nonprofit, Foxglove. It would be the second case brought by content moderators in Africa, after Samasource workers in Kenya sued in 2023. Foxglove said it was urgently investigating these shocking abuses of workers with a view to using every tool at our disposal, including potential legal action to improve working conditions. It is working with a Ghanaian firm, Agency Seven Seven, on preparing two possible lawsuits. One would allege psychological harms and could involve a group of moderators, and the other unfair dismissal, involving the moderator from east Africa whose contract was terminated after he attempted suicide. Foxgloves co-executive director Martha Dark said: These are the worst conditions I have seen in six years of working with social media content moderators around the world. In Ghana, Meta is displaying nothing short of a complete disregard for the humanity of its key safety workers upon whom all its profits rely: content moderators. They are treated as objects who can be used up, burned out and replaced with no care whatsoever for the permanent damage to their mental and physical wellbeing. Dark said basic wages for content moderators in Accra were below living costs, incentivising them to work overtime, for which pay is understood to be even lower than normal rates. Moderators faced deductions from their pay for failing to meet performance targets, she added. Contracts seen by the Guardian show that the base wage starts at about 1,300 Ghanaian cedis a month just over 64. This is supplemented by a system of performance-related bonuses, the upper range of which amounts to about 4,900 cedis (243) a month, significantly less than the estimated cost of living in Accra. A Teleperformance spokesperson said content moderators enjoyed strong pay and benefits, including monthly pay that is roughly 10 times the countrys minimum wage for domestic moderators, and 16 times the minimum wage for those who have relocated from other countries, when including project allowance, transportation allowance, language premium and more all of which are automatically paid to the moderator and are not performance-based. Foxgloves researcher Michaela Chen said she had seen photos of moderators living quarters, in which they were crammed five to a flat, two to a room. She said there appeared to be a culture of secrecy, including surveillance from managers, who follow workers into the toilets during breaks. This extends to moderators work for Meta. She said: Workers spend all day working on Metas platforms, moderating to Metas standards and using Metas systems, but at the same time, moderators are told constantly: You do not work for Meta, and are forbidden from telling anyone they do. Teleperformance said moderators were offered housing in one of the most upscale and well-known residential and commercial neighbourhoods in Accra. The spokesperson described the housing as safe, with strong security and having air conditioning, recreation facilities, including gyms and pools. Carla Olympio, a partner at Agency Seven Seven, said she believed a personal injury case could succeed in Ghanas courts and would set a precedent establishing that worker protections extend to psychological harms as well as physical injury. [There is] currently a gap in our laws because they havent necessarily caught up with the new developments that cover technology and virtual work, she said. Rosa Curling, a co-executive director at Foxglove, said it was seeking for the court to order immediate changes to the content moderators workplace, including proper safeguards and psychiatric care. A spokesperson for Teleperformance said: At TP in Ghana, we take our content moderation work seriously. From the very beginning during the interview process, within the employee contract and through employee training and resiliency testing, we are fully transparent with our prospective moderators regarding the content they might see during their work to help keep the internet safe for our communities. We have robust people management systems and workplace practices, including a robust wellbeing programme staffed by fully licensed psychologists to support our content moderators throughout their content moderation journey. Meta said the companies it worked with were contractually obliged to pay their employees who review content on Facebook and Instagram above the industry standard in the markets they operate. The tech company said it took the support of content reviewers seriously, including detailing expectations around counselling, training and other support in contracts with the companies it outsourced. It said all content moderators signed client confidentiality agreements because they were dealing with user information which needed to be protected and for their own safety, but moderators may discuss their jobs with doctors and counsellors, and some aspects with family members. This handout photo from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) shows a raid on an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs on Sunday. Photograph: US Drug Enforcement Administration/Twitter X More than 300 law enforcement officers from at least 10 federal agencies raided an illegal after-hours nightclub in Colorado Springs early on Sunday, arresting more than 100 people authorities said were undocumented immigrants and seizing guns, cocaine, meth and pink cocaine. More than a dozen active-duty military members were detained as well, authorities said. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) posted a video on X of the post-raid scene, with dozens of partygoers holding their hands up. Another video showed dozens of people fleeing the building through its entrance after federal agents smashed a window. The DEA Rocky Mountain division said agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), homeland security, the US armys criminal investigation division and the Colorado Springs police had joined the raid. 200+ inside an underground nightclub in CO Springs had their illegal party upended this am, the DEA posted. In a separate post, the agencys Rocky Mountain division added: Nothing good ever happens after 3 a.m. Jonathan Pullen, the DEA agent in charge, told reporters at a news conference that some detained service members were patrons while others were working as armed security guards at the underground nightclub. Pullen said the nightclub had been under investigation for several months for alleged activities including drug trafficking, prostitution and crimes of violence. When the cops showed up at the door, most of the drugs hit the floor, Pullen said, adding: Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer community today. The pink cocaine, or tusi, that was reported to have been seized is a relatively novel drug often containing no cocaine but rather combinations such as ketamine and MDMA, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl or some other combination of pink-dyed powders, according to the DEA. Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, heralded the raid, saying on X: As we approach his 100 days in office @POTUS Trumps directive to make America safe again is achieving results! Colorado Springs is home to a number of military installations, including the Cheyenne Mountain space force station and the headquarters of US space operations command. Sundays raid is the latest DEA crackdown in the area this year. In January, a raid on a makeshift nightclub in Adams county, near Denver, led to the arrests of 41 people living in the country illegally and another eight who had been in the club. David Olesky, a DEA special agent in charge, said at the time that an uptick in enforcement was due to a renewed sense of purpose under the Trump administration. Derek Maltz, the acting administrator of the DEA, told the ABC News affiliate Denver7 last month that Colorado is ground zero for violent criminals in the US and is home to the command and control of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. After Sundays raid, the owner of the building where the party had been held told Denver7 he had no idea an underground nightclub was operating on his property. Ive never even seen a lot of trash in the parking lot to even suspect that anything like an after-hours nightclub is going on. So, its pretty shocking, Mike Moon said. Moon said the space is usually rented out for birthdays, weddings and quinceaneras, and alcohol is not allowed to be served. Its written in their lease. Theyre not allowed to do any illegal activity, he told the outlet. In a statement, Colorado Springs mayor, Yemi Mobolade, said the investigation and the execution of these warrants were the result of clear evidence of serious criminal conduct and that residents deserved to live in a city where the rule of law is upheld and where illegal behavior is met with firm and decisive action. The black SUV that careered into a crowd at the Lapu-Lapu Festival - AP/Rich Lam A five-year-old girl was among 11 people killed when a lone suspect ploughed his SUV into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver on Saturday night. Bystanders were run over after the black car was driven down a road between market stalls and street food vans. Vancouver Police Department announced on Sunday night that they had charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, a 30-year-old local man, with eight counts of second degree murder. Police said in a statement: The charge assessment is ongoing, and further charges are anticipated. The incident happened on Fraser Street and 41st Avenue shortly after 8pm local time on Saturday (4am UK time on Sunday) as crowds celebrated Lapu-Lapu Day, a traditional Filipino event. Video from the scene appeared to show a damaged black SUV and bodies on the road. Credit: Reuters One clip showed what appeared to be a man of Asian heritage being detained in the aftermath, telling those around him he was sorry. Sources told the Vancouver Sun that the man appeared to be suffering from mental health problems. Police identified the lone suspect and ruled out terrorism as a motive. Ken Sim, the mayor of Vancouver, confirmed that there had been multiple fatalities, with many people injured. He said: Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouvers Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time. He said: Im heartbroken, Im shocked, and Im angry. To the Filipino community and the family members of the victims, we see you, we love you, and we grieve with you. Police have said the Vancouver attack suspect was acting on his own - Chris Helgren/Reuters Deputy Chief Constable Steve Rai, of Vancouver Police said in a press conference on Sunday, that the death toll could rise, adding: It is the darkest day in Vancouvers history. The person we have in custody does have a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to mental health. He added he was confident that the attack was not an act of terrorism. The ages of the people killed ranged from five to 65. Yoseb Vardeh, the co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, told local media that the final festival performance had just ended when the SUV came from the direction of a nearby high school. He said it drove past a number of market vendors and sped up before driving down 43rd Avenue, adding: I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and theres just bodies everywhere. He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle. Mr Vardeh added that he was unsure how the SUV was stopped. He said he saw a man being arrested and telling bystanders to stop filming him. Canada holds a general election on Monday, which has been defined by a trade war with Donald Trump. Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor projected to win, said: I am devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening. We are all mourning with you. Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the attack - Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party in Canada who is campaigning to be prime minister in Mondays election, had addressed a crowd at the Filipino festival earlier in the day. Mr Singh said he was horrified to learn that innocent people had been killed. Pierre Poilievre the Conservative leader and main opposition candidate, said he was shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouvers Lapu-Lapu Day festival tonight. David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, said he was shocked and heartbroken to hear of the lives lost. Lapu Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapu-Lapu, a 16th-century indigenous leader in the Philippines who led an uprising against Spanish colonisers. Saturdays event featured a parade, a film screening, dancing and a concert, with two members of the Black Eyed Peas, the US band, shown on the line-up published by the organisers. Landmines have been used extensively in Ukraine since Russias invasion. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Rights groups have expressed alarm and warned of a slippery slope of again embracing one of the worlds most treacherous weapons, after five European countries said they intend to withdraw from the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines. In announcing their plans earlier this year, Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all pointed to the escalating military threat from Russia. In mid-April, Latvias parliament became the first to formally back the idea, after lawmakers voted to pull out of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which bans the use, production and stockpiling of landmines designed for use against humans. Campaigners described the decisions the first reversals among its more than 165 signatories as a shocking step backwards. It feels like a punch to the face, said Zoran Jesic, who lost his right leg to a landmine in Bosnia and now works with UDAS, a Bosnian organisation that supports landmine survivors. Antipersonnel landmines do horrible things to innocent people. They belong to a small group of weapons, including chemical and biological weapons, that are so abhorrent they must never be used again. Jesic was a 21-year-old soldier for the Serb army when he stepped on a mine in a forest, leaving him grappling with a lifetime of trauma and disability. As I later heard, it was our mine, said Jesic. The point is that when you put a mine in the ground, you never know what will happen. Will it wait for your soldiers, your civilians or the enemies? Usually, it hurts your people. His view is backed up by statistics. Each year between 70% and 85% of those who are killed or injured by landmines around the world are civilians. Nearly half of these victims are children, hinting at the indiscriminate nature of these weapons. Campaigners had long assumed that there was little probability of countries reversing their stances against landmines, said Alma Taslidzan of Humanity & Inclusion, which works to help disabled and vulnerable people around the world. We really thought this kind of movement could never happen with landmines, because who wants landmines? Instead her organisation and many others have been left scrambling to again warn of the overwhelming dangers of these weapons. This is really a tipping point for us, said Taslidzan. Its not only about landmines. It is about the norms that are written for the situation of wartimes were afraid this is going to create a wave of weakening the international humanitarian law that has the first obligation to protect civilians. The first public hint of the reversals came in March, when the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland published a joint statement explaining their interest in leaving the treaty. Military threats to Nato member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased, the statement noted. With this decision, we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs. Russia, which is not a signatory to the 1997 treaty, has used landmines extensively since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in-turn helping to make the country the most heavily mined in the world. Soon after, Finland, whose shared border with Russia runs for more than 800 miles, joined the list of countries threatening to leave the treaty. Doing so, the countrys prime minister, Petteri Orpo, told reporters, would give the country the possibility to prepare for the changes in the security environment in a more versatile way. Taslidzan stressed that there was little argument about the threat the five Nato countries were facing. The security situation is real, it is a problem, she said. But choosing the most indiscriminate weapon amongst all to say that you are going to defend your country, that is wrong. Security cannot be built on a weapon that kills indiscriminately, that remains in the ground long after the conflict has ended and that specifically maims civilians. Some of these countries readiness to embrace these long-banned weapons was likely due to misinformation that had circulated about smart landmines capable of curtailing civilian harms, she said. Its just bizarre information. There is not a smart landmine that can think for itself and say Oh oh, civilians, we wont explode now. While some landmines come with self-destruct mechanisms that enable them to detonate after a set period of time, campaigners have pointed out that they remain incapable of distinguishing between civilians and soldiers and that malfunction rates can run as high as 10%, meaning a significant number may fail to destroy on command. At the International Committee of the Red Cross, the potential reversals were being seen as extremely alarming, said Maya Brehm, the legal adviser for the organisations unit focused on arms and conduct of hostilities. From our perspective and this is also a perspective shared by military authorities whatever limited military value anti-personnel mines may still have in todays conflicts, it is vastly outweighed by the appalling and long-lasting humanitarian consequences, said Brehm. The reversals come at a critical moment. Conflicts in Syria, Myanmar and Ukraine have led to an uptick in the number of landmine victims, while funding cuts threatened by US president Donald Trumps administration have left mine-clearance projects around the world facing uncertainty. Brehm worried that the withdrawals could set a wider precedent by suggesting that states could adopt rules in times of peace and later abandon these rules in times of conflict. These treaties are for the protection of people, theyre humanitarian treaties. They are meant to be upheld at the darkest of times, when civilians depend on their protection for their very survival. The concern was echoed by Norways foreign affairs minister, Espen Barth Eide, in explaining why the country, which also borders Russia, was opting to remain in the treaty. This particular decision [by Finland] is something we regret, he told Reuters this month. If we start weakening our commitment, it makes it easier for warring factions around the world to use these weapons again, because it reduces the stigma. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where conflict in the early 1990s left behind an estimated 3 million unexploded landmines amounting to about 152 mines per square mile landmines continue to be a threat for many, said Jesic from the Bosnian organisation that provides support to landmine victims. Were not even close to having a land free of mines, he added. This is not just something that you can put in the ground and then you take it out when the war finishes. As a result, three decades after the factions had put down their weapons, the lingering landmines had perpetuated the violence, killing and injuring hundreds across the country. Jesic described it as a cautionary tale for any country thinking about scattering these weapons across their lands. Tens of decades will probably be needed to clear the land of mines, he said. And in the meantime, who knows how many civilians will be killed and hurt by this terrible weapon. Cell Freed prisoners who commit further lower-level offences such as shoplifting should not be automatically recalled to prison to help tackle the jail overcrowding crisis, a watchdog has proposed. In an interview with The Telegraph, Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, said too many low-risk offenders were being automatically recalled to jail by probation officers, whether for an offence such as shoplifting or infringements of their licence. The number of recalled prisoners in jails had doubled in the past decade to 13,000 and now accounted for one in seven, or nearly 15 per cent of the jail population in England and Wales. But Mr Jones said offenders underlying problems such as drugs or drink, homelessness or joblessness would not be tackled by sitting in a prison cell waiting, potentially for months, for the outcome of a new court hearing. Instead he believes there should be the option for offenders to continue to be handled in the community for the underpinning causes of their criminality, pending the outcome of any further hearings. The judge or magistrates could still decide to remand them into custody or release them on bail before determining whether to hand them a prison or community sentence, he said. Better use of limited places I think we can probably find an approach here where, of course, if you think somebodys at risk of committing a serious domestic abuse or a sexual or violent event, immediate recall to custody would be justified, but for other offenders, you could allow the usual judicial process to take its course, said Mr Jones. Trying to get the decision right in the community will enable us to make better use of the limited number of prison places we have. Ministry of Justice data last week showed there were 37,573 recalls of ex-prisoners for reoffending or breaching their licence in 2024, up 35 per cent on the year before. Of these 9,114, a quarter, committed further crimes in breach of their licences, a 21 per cent rise on 2023. The number of recalled prisoners in jail at any one time increased by 10 per cent in 2024 to 13,583, more than double the 6,000 seven years ago. Mr Jones traced it back to the 2014 Offender Rehabilitation Act, introduced by Chris Grayling, which made the probation service responsible for an extra 45,000 ex-offenders who had served sentences of under 12 months. It meant an overstretched, short-staffed probation service was now responsible for some 240,000 ex-offenders, many of them low risk, whom they still had responsibility to supervise for at least a year. He believed the number should be reduced significantly by around 25 per cent or up to 60,000 so that probation officers had more time to focus on higher-risk offenders and improving the quality of their supervision. This could be partly achieved by ensuring probation officers targeted their efforts on the critical first three to six months after offenders left prison rather than for the entire 12 months. The evidence shows that for most offenders, probably the most critical period is the first three to six months after they leave custody, and if you can get them through that period, they will be in a position to change their lives as part of that. So do they need to be supervised as long as they are? said Mr Jones. He said the Government should also rethink the role of probation officers in preparing prisoners for release and instigate a bonfire of bureaucracies which meant they were often stuck behind a computer screen, filling in forms rather than focusing on the work that really matters. Treatment for addictions Mr Jones suggested such changes would mean probation officers had more time to concentrate on ensuring ex-offenders had a home, a job and treatment for any addictions that might be driving their criminality. Homelessness, drug addiction and employment are what makes a significant difference. Why dont we try to get those things right to then ensure those people have a better chance of succeeding when they get back into the community? he said. He said he had been pushing the Government to look at recalls because of the doubling in numbers sent back to jail. I dont believe that the current people being managed in the community are twice as risky as they were a decade ago, he said. If probation had a little bit less to do, and better tools to focus their time on correctly assessing the risk, I think theyd find that a better route to make the distinction between a very high-risk offender and the offender thats homeless, got a drug addiction or got health issues, he said. Sending them back to prison for a month isnt going to solve the underpinning problems in their life. I think you could be trying to refer that person to other community services. Philip Lowrie as Dennis Tanner with Pat Phoenix as his mother Elsie, 1963 - Bob Thomas Philip Lowrie, who has died aged 88, played the teenage tearaway Dennis Tanner in the first episode of Coronation Street, broadcast on December 9 1960; he remained with the soap until 1968, returning again in 2011 when he earned a Guinness World Record for what was then the longest gap between TV appearances as the same character in the same show. Dennis arrived on the Street having just been released from three months in prison for stealing from a newsagent. He moved in with his mother Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix), but was the bane of her life. He was the sort of boy then who would kick somebody in the shins and run away, Lowrie said in 1962. The loveable rogue was briefly written out in 1962 due to industrial action behind the scenes, but Dennis returned the following year, evolving into the sort of person who is willing to have a go at anything literally anything but never seems to do anything right, Lowrie said. With Pat Phoenix in 1968 - Popperfoto To Elsie Tanners frustration Dennis rattled through countless jobs, including sales rep, warehouse labourer, taxi driver, hair stylist, auctioneer, builders labourer and bookie. His true love, however, was show business and he became a compere at the somewhat seedy Orinoco Club. By 1968 Lowrie had tired of playing Dennis and left the soap for repertory theatre, complaining that his character was not being allowed to grow up. It has just been going round like a little mouse in a wheel, he observed. With his departure, Philip Lowrie was reborn. Despite vowing never to return, Lowrie did just that 43 years later when Dennis, now older and homeless, was spotted at a soup kitchen. He was reunited with his former sweetheart, Rita Sullivan (Barbara Knox) and they married, though soon drifted apart. Lowrie left the show for good in 2014 but Dennis was not officially killed off until 2020, when during the 10,000th episode Rita received a parcel containing a funeral urn with Denniss ashes and a letter saying that he had died from dementia. Lowrie outside Granada studios in 1966 - Popperfoto Colin Philip Lowrie was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, on June 20 1936, the son of Philip Lowrie, a paper mill foreman, and his wife Bertha (nee Collins), a weaver. His childhood stammer was cured at Miss Atherons elocution classes and he was educated at Stand grammar school, Bury. His mother saved 3 a week to pay for him to spend three years at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. After his two years of National Service he began appearing on stage, often in innocuous, boy-next-door roles a contrast to the future Dennis Tanner. In the West End he played Willie Bosworth in John Varis play Farewell, Farewell, Eugene with Margaret Rutherford and Peggy Mount, where he was spotted by Tony Warren, the creator of Coronation Street. Dennis Tanner, centre, with his bride Jenny Sutton (Mitzi Rogers) in 1968 - Mirrorpix In the early days Lowrie was not keen on television, saying he missed the immediacy of a live audience, but he soon warmed to it. After one episode, in which Dennis sang a song, he was invited to record the comical ditty I Might Have Known (1963), produced by John Barry, but it sank without trace. His character attracted many female fans, including two girls from Hampstead, who wrote asking what made his hair so glossy. He replied that for filming he used hair cream. Thereafter they sent a weekly jar with messages and kisses pinned to the lid. Dennis Tanners return to Coronation Street, when he married Rita (Barbara Knox) - ITV/Shutterstock Between Coronation Street, Lowries many periods of unemployment were punctuated by television roles in War and Peace (1972), Crown Court (1975) and Keith Waterhouses adaptation of the newspaper cartoon Andy Capp (1988). He also appeared in Victoria Wood (1989), Victoria Woods All Day Breakfast (1992) and her feature Pat and Margaret (1994). In October 2022 his Guinness World Record was beaten by William Russell, who had returned to Doctor Who after a 57-year gap. Philip Lowrie was unmarried. Philip Lowrie, born June 20 1936, died April 25 2025 The forces include elite groups such as the British Armys Special Air Service and the Navys Special Boat Service - Gorodenkoff Productions Security members of Britains special forces have mistakenly had their identities published online in a significant breach of security protocol. At least 20 elite soldiers, some of whom may be currently engaged in live operations, had their names, ranks and links to the special forces listed in publicly available documents. The documents, intended for members of the Armed Forces, were published online without password protection, according to The Sunday Times. After being alerted to the breach, the Ministry of Defence took down the two publications and notified the affected personnel. The documents were updated only months ago, the report said, with the latest amendments revealing 13 soldiers links to the special forces. The forces include elite groups such as the Armys Special Air Service (SAS) and the Navys Special Boat Service (SBS), which are regularly deployed to combat zones around the world. The documents did not explicitly reveal each soldiers unit but used code names to refer to the special forces and their operations, which are well known among military personnel and can be found online. Breach amplifies external threats The breach has brought about the prospect of external threats such as enemy states or terrorist organisations being able to decipher the soldiers affiliated units and operations. Some of the soldiers identified are believed to have been undertaking supporting roles, which are also highly confidential, while others were active troops. One document revealed the identities of 14 soldiers over a decade, the newspaper reported, while the other disclosed six names within a four-year period. Several have had distinguished military careers and one is the son of a senior politician. Because of the nature of special forces work, there is strict secrecy around soldiers deployment and activity, with the identities of those involved being safeguarded to protect the operations as well as the individuals and their families. Lessons need to be learnt In one case, the publication revealed details of former high-ranking soldier that has since retired, along with a photo of them and information about their family. This was the only public evidence of their affiliation with the special forces. A public inquiry into alleged extrajudicial killings by the SAS in Afghanistan has proved how far authorities will go to conceal such information, where all special forces soldiers are referred to only by cipher. Tom Tugendhat, the former security minister who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Sunday Times: Thirty years ago terrorism coming from Northern Ireland made us all aware of operational security at home. Its clear that some of those lessons need to be learnt again. The MoD said: The safety of our personnel is of paramount importance and we take data security extremely seriously. Where we become aware of any potential risk, we will always take immediate action. Brass Monkey has patented the technology and created the products in the UK. When Dan Bosomworth returned from an annual Wim Hof excursion into impending COVID lockdown, the Yorkshireman converted a chest freezer in his garage into a silicon sealed, rudimentary ice bath as a "meditation and therapeutic tool" for daily practice. Hailing from a marketing agency background, Bosomworth soon hit upon a what do people want, give it to them mentality in a then untapped, cold plunge market. His company, Brass Monkey, was launched in 2021 and is now an ice bath leader in the UK consumer and commercial market with an anticipated turnover of 7m thanks to patented ice creation technology and hand-built products. Read More:'People said it was impossible but our Holy Moly dips are now selling millions' However, the self-funded start-up initially met with a frosty response. Our biggest challenge was how to get expert advice," says Bosomworth. In 2020, going to a refrigeration engineer saying we wanted to build an ice bath and needed some help and advice on components and chilling, people hung up on us. But we came across a guy called Bob, who was in the middle of handing over his refrigeration business to his son. He said he would help us figure it out and helped build our first 500 cooling engines. Bosomworth launched Brass Monkey with his brother Dale before another brother, Dean, who was based in Speyside, Scotland suggested creating a cheaper price point using barrels. He spent many months figuring out which surfboard resin would work best on a reconditioned whisky cask, says Bosomworth. It was then how to connect a water chiller. Dan Bosomworth, right, sold his advertising agency and launched Brass Monkey with his brother Dale, left. Brass Monkey is a premium, software-led company, with their cold plunge barrels and home ice baths costing nearly 6,000 and 12,000 respectively. A third range in the commercial space is where Brass Monkey evisages 80% of future business lies. We never came at it with a drop shipping mentality which is now flooding the ice bath market, says Bosomworth. We wanted to make sure we were generating ice and we wanted premium materials. It plays to the spirit of the company, which was founded on the simple idea of when we are challenged were changed. It means we have to elevate our game repeatedly. Read More: 'We put our life savings into Crimpit our viral toastie tool is loved by millions' The company, which employs around 50 staff, uses cloud based software, meaning that it can control every product on the market through Wi-Fi. We can see performance and see when there are cooling or flow rate issues as well as foreseeing problems," says Bosomworth. If we want to sell into another market, we cant assume things will go well and we have to assume problems, so lets not make our lives difficult by travelling to deal with problems. The mission of the company, the founder says, is to liberate access to cold water. Who invented ice baths? he adds. "If you go back through time it was popularised en masse by the Greeks and Romans, who had frigidarium [cold room of a Roman-style bathhouse]. And the cold water benefits? If you look at the responses that we have physiologically on a hormonal level, theres a 250% increase in dopamine and our biology is primed for it. Celebrities such as Shirley Ballas, pictured, and Joe Wicks are Brass Monkey advocates. (colin matthews) Brass Monkeys investors have also seen the benefits, with Bolton-based equity firm Pitalia Capital putting in a seven-figure investment and founder Anil Pitalia, a cold plunge advocate, even trying one of the firms ice baths on the workshop floor. The capital has helped Brass Monkey move into a 10,00sq ft space near Wetherby, with production shipping 650,000 worth of ice baths in a good month. Bosomworth admits that the start-ups challenges have come whenever we wandered from our values, not least when they decided to buy chiller components from a third party. Read More: 'Studying chemistry helped me sell millions of oat milk bottles' It was a six-figure commitment for a lower price point rather than making it in house, he says. Sensors failed and it was shoddy construction. We are still writing off the cost today. Their success has also seen a painful response from the market with replica copycats in the last few years. It was a case of rather than fight with the masses, do we elevate and push on over a plastic product? The premium and luxury set-up of the company also means that Brass Monkeys products are prohibitive for a lot of consumers. Thus, the companys move into the commercial space has proved beneficial as gyms move into wellness options. Ice bathing has exploded from a niche recovery hack to a $330m global industry. Brass Monkey is rolling out a monthly rental proposition for independent gyms as a regular income generator, while it has inked deals with Canary Wharfs Arc, a social contrast therapy club, David Lloyd Clubs and Village Health & Wellness Club, as well as Virgin Active in South Africa. Nearly four years on from exiting his DIY cold plunger, Bosomworth is now part of an industry which is projected to reach $550m (413m) by 2031. There was no evidence to say this was a good thing, he smiles. But we needed to be at the top end and the one people talked about. We wanted to become that brand, like Dyson is now with hoover. That was the instinctive goal. Behind the brand: Founder Dan Bosomworth on Design and logos I got out of the chest freezer one day and the name hit. If the url was free I would then buy it. The name and logo are some of the things people labour on but it was one of the easiest things we did. I spoke to an Israeli designer and sent him a rough scribble and the logo was designed with the monkey calm under pressure and it was how to build resilience. Thats how it always felt for me in the ice and my job was to keep calm and harness the benefits from it. The Brass Monkey logo. I wanted a logo which summarised and told that story. It acts as a gaze point to keep your eyes open with the logo sitting at the end of the ice bath. The important part is the nervous system knowing whats happening to it and this is deliberate and having no need to panic. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Academics and former journalists say Peter Duttons comments labelling the ABC and Guardian Australia hate media are reminiscent of Donald Trump and could backfire as the election campaign heads into its final week. The opposition leader addressed the party faithful at a rally in the Labor-held seat of Hawke on Melbournes outskirts on Sunday before the 3 May poll. He told supporters the Coalition could still win the election despite opinion polls suggesting support for the Coalition and its leader had slipped since the start of the campaign. Dutton has previously criticised media outlets, including the Guardian, but was more subdued in recent weeks as he attempted to highlight his softer side. Related: Donald Trump in the White House seemed like a plus for Peter Dutton. But after this week, maybe not so much | Josh Butler On Sunday, in front of some of his frontbench and a few hundred supporters who held Liberal placards spruiking the oppositions promised fuel excise cuts, Dutton declared he had no doubt he could still win. Forget about what you have been told by the ABC, in the Guardian and the other hate media, Dutton said. Listen to what you hear on the doors, listen to what people say on the pre-polling, know in your hearts we are a better future for our country. We stand up for the values that are important, more than ever, for families and small businesses, if we stay true to our values and have a strength of leadership. Matthew Ricketson, a professor of communication at Deakin University, said the US president, Donald Trump, had essentially put a patent on attacking the media. The first thing that strikes me about it is that it sounds like Donald Trump, Ricketson said. That is odd to me because most of this campaign, Peter Dutton has been trying to distance himself from President Trump [because of] the perception that the Trump brand is toxic. Its odd that at the start of the final week, when according to the main polls he is behind, hes chosen to go down that route again. Whether its some tactical masterstroke or desperation, I dont know. My reading of it would be more that it smacks of desperation. Andrew Dodd, a former ABC journalist and the director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne, said Dutton should be very careful criticising the ABC, which had done a very good job of fairly covering the election campaign. The irony here is obvious, Dodd said. The only hateful comment is Duttons denunciation of the ABC. The ABC is deeply respected across the country, particularly with rural and regional voters, many of whom are also Coalition voters. The ABC continues to be one of the most trusted media organisations in the country for good reason. Historically, its the case over the last 30 or 40 years, that the ABC has fared much worse under Coalition governments and so friends of the ABC will no doubt be thinking about that when they cast their vote. Quentin Dempster, a prominent former ABC broadcaster, ex-ABC board member and a director of ABC Alumni, said Duttons comments were an egregious smear. It now looks like our concerns that the ABC would be punitively defunded under any Dutton government are fully justified, Dempster said. Rather than de-escalation, its in fact an incitement to hatred of ABC and Guardian staff who are striving to report fairly on the policy contests in this election. Poor show. Dempster, in comments on X directed at Dutton, said: Neither the ABC nor Guardian Australia is the hate media. A robust liberal democracy needs a free and questioning media. By misrepresenting ABC/Guardian you expose your illiberalism. Labors communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said on X: Around the world, free and independent media is under attack from politicians afraid of scrutiny. The last thing Australia needs is for Peter Dutton to import those dangerous ideas here. Guardian Australias editor, Lenore Taylor, said in a statement: I stand by Guardian Australias reporting of the election. We have covered the campaign, informed our readers about the policies on offer and held all parties and candidates to account. An ABC spokesperson declined to comment. The Coalition has not ruled out cutting ABC funding if Dutton is elected. In April, the opposition dodged questions about whether the ABC would be included in plans to downsize the public service by 41,000 workers. Former Liberal leader Tony Abbott vowed not to cut ABC funding before the 2013 federal election but after he was elected prime minister he announced a series of cuts, arguing circumstances change. A 2020 report revealed the ABC lost $783m in funding after 2014. Anthony Albanese held a supporter rally of his own on Sunday. The prime minister said voters would have a choice between building Australias future or a darker, meaner, nastier reboot of the past. A choice between going forwards or getting dragged backwards, he said. One of the suspects in the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian said he plans to take responsibility for his role in the 2016 high-profile heist and will apologise in court as the trial begins in Paris on Monday. Yunice Abbas, 71, who has publicly acknowledged his participation in the heist, is among 10 suspects facing charges including armed robbery and kidnapping. I will apologise, he told The Associated Press. I mean it sincerely. Kardashian, 44, is expected to testify in person at the trial, which is expected to last until May 23. In interviews and on her familys reality TV show, she has described being terrified as robbers pointed a gun at her to steal millions of dollars worth of jewellery in an apartment where she was staying for Paris Fashion Week. She said she thought she was going to be raped and killed. Abbas said he acted as a lookout at the reception area on the ground floor, ensuring the escape route was clear. He said he was unarmed and did not personally threaten Kardashian, but acknowledged he shared responsibility for the crime. Yunice Abbas has admitted his role in the raid (Thibault Camus/AP) He was arrested in January 2017 and he spent 21 months in prison before being released under judicial supervision. In 2021, he co-authored a French-language book titled I Sequestered Kim Kardashian. In her account to investigators, Kardashian described two men forcing their way into her bedroom and pointing a gun towards her, asking for her ring. She said she was tied up with plastic cables and tape while the intruders were looking for jewels, including her engagement ring worth millions. In a 2020 appearance on David Lettermans Netflix show, she tearfully recalled thinking: This is the time Im going to get raped. Im like, What is happening? Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children. I have babies, I have a husband, I have a family. She told investigators the men brought her in the bathroom before they ran off and she managed to free herself. The residencys concierge, held at gunpoint and forced to lead the robbers to her apartment, also suffered psychological impact. Investigators found Abbass DNA on plastic ties used to tie the hands of the concierge. Asked about the trauma Kardashian suffered, Abbas said: Its true, I didnt think about it. I recognise that because I did not brutalise her myself I was not blaming myself regarding this aspect, and yet Im responsible for it too. Kim Kardashian at an Oscars event in Beverly Hills in March (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) According to Abbas, minutes after the raid started, his accomplices came down from Kardashians apartment and gave him a bag of jewellery. As he was fleeing the scene on a bicycle, he saw a police car, but officers were not yet aware of the robbery. Abbas said as he rode the bicycle, the bag containing the jewellery became caught in the front wheel and he fell to the ground, spilling the contents of the bag. I picked the jewels up and left, he said. The following morning, a passer=by found a diamond-encrusted cross in the street and handed it to police. That was the only jewel from the robbery that was ever recovered. French justice estimated stolen items to be worth 6 million US dollars (4.5 million) in total. Abbas said he did not know Kardashians identity at the time of the robbery. I was told about a famous person, a rappers wife, he said. Thats all the information I had. Until the next morning, when I heard on TV about the influencer. Thats when I understood who she was. He said he will detail his role during the trial, which will be conducted with a jury, a procedure in France reserved for the most serious crimes yet he would not denounce his accomplices. Im only an outsider, he added. Im not the one who masterminded the case. I take my share of responsibility. Most of the suspects have denied involvement, except for Abbas and another man whose DNA was also found at the scene. Ed Davey taking part in a chocolate-making workshop with the Lib Dem MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, Manuela Perteghella. Photograph: Jacob King/PA Days before the local elections, with Kemi Badenoch demanding apologies over gender identity and Nigel Farage complaining about mental illness diagnoses, Ed Davey was quietly getting on with what he perhaps does best: having fun. In a converted shed near Stratford-upon-Avon, the Liberal Democrat leader was joking with photographers as he made chocolate truffles alongside Manuela Perteghella, his partys MP for the formerly true-blue constituency. The council, Warwickshire, is also about as Conservative as it gets, and currently has 41 Tory councillors out of 57. But privately, Lib Dem activists say it could move into no overall control next week. I think it feels even better than the general election, Davey said, truffles cooling in a fridge before he headed off for some door-knocking. And this, remember, was the Lib Dems best general election for a century, in which helped in part by Daveys succession of camera-friendly stunts the party won 72 seats, mostly from the Conservatives. With much of the focus before the local elections on Reform UKs rise and the impact this could have on Labour, the Lib Dems have just been, as one party strategist called it, getting on with the job. Part of this is the sheer graft so admired by Farage that he wants to use it as a model for Reform, with 500,000 doors knocked on during March, and 1m leaflets delivered before election spending limits kicked in. Related: Kemi Badenoch says Lib Dems are people who fix church roofs. Yes: thats why were popular and she isnt | Ed Davey But also to the Lib Dems advantage is that many of next Thursdays battles take place in traditionally Conservative counties, where the Tories won heavily amid the brief if spectacular Boris Johnson vaccine bounce of 2021, the last time they were contested. According to Davey, the general election trend of less ideologically minded Conservative voters fleeing a party they see as overly weighted towards populism and culture wars has shown no signs of slowing under Badenoch. People who were lifelong Conservatives havent forgiven them, theyre not impressed by the leader, and some are put off by this talk of some sort of arrangement with Reform, he said. Things are not entirely the same as they were last July, however. One paradox of the spectacular general election result is that in some places, including Warwickshire, the Lib Dems have reversed their usual tactic of patiently building up a mass of councillors before making a tilt at the parliamentary seat. Instead, as in Warwickshire, they hope to use a surprise parliamentary win Perteghella overcame a 20,000 Conservative majority to win by 7,000 votes to create momentum for the council. Plus there is the advent of some early Lib Dem-Reform battles, notably for the new mayoralty in Hull and East Yorkshire. While Davey is making no predictions, he is scornful about Farages success thus far in building up a Lib Dem-style on-the-ground army. This is just anecdotal, but Reform have tried door-knocking one or two places, and they got such a hostile reception from quite a lot of doors, they quickly give up. So theyre not fighting the campaign that we do. But the bulk of the partys targets of councils to potentially win Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Devon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire or to make gains, such as Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, are still mainly in the once Tory-loyal commuter belt areas loosely known as the blue wall. Davey, who gets recognised more regularly on doorsteps after his bungee jumping and water sliding of the general election, faces a Conservative party that seems vastly more focused on tackling Reform than trying to win back the voters and seats taken by the Lib Dems. Asked if he is surprised at this, Davey said: Well, not really, given the MPs theyve got. All the moderate Conservatives, the liberal conservatives, one-nation Conservatives, pro-European Conservatives, theyve all gone. In their place are people such as Badenoch, who memorably dismissed the Lib Dems as people who spurn social media to instead focus on fixing their church roof, a quote party insiders delightedly say could not have been phrased better if they had written it themselves. The Conservatives are in a bit of a bubble, arent they? Davey said. Theyre talking to themselves. Theyre certainly not listening to the public. Its the fact that they inhabit an X-sphere, if you like, a Twitter-sphere. While some Tories argue that a pact with Reform would instantly give this new rightwing block a combined vote share well over 40%, Lib Dem insiders say they are unworried, saying any deal would make the Conservatives even more toxic to many voters, and inspire fervent tactical voting to keep them out. They will decide what they want to do about a pact, but I think there would be a huge number of traditional Conservatives who would be appalled at that process, Davey said. I think they would look round for a different home, and see the Liberal Democrats as that home. To hear Silicon Valley tell it, the end of disease is well on its way. Not because of oncology research or some solution to Americas ongoing doctor shortage, but because of (what else?) advances in generative AI. Demis Hassabis, a Nobel laureate for his AI research and the CEO of Google DeepMind, said on Sunday that he hopes that AI will be able to solve important scientific problems and help cure all disease within five to 10 years. Earlier this month, OpenAI released new models and touted their ability to generate and critically evaluate novel hypotheses in biology, among other disciplines. (Previously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had told President Donald Trump, We will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate thanks to AI.) Dario Amodei, a co-founder of Anthropic, wrote last fall that he expects AI to bring about the elimination of most cancer. These are all executives marketing their products, obviously, but is there even a kernel of possibility in these predictions? If generative AI could contribute in the slightest to such discoveriesas has been promised since the start of the AI boomwhere would the technology and scientists using it even begin? Ive spent recent weeks speaking with scientists and executives at universities, major companies, and research institutionsincluding Pfizer, Moderna, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centerin an attempt to understand what the technology can (and cannot) do to advance their work. Theres certainly a lot of hyperbole coming from the AI companies: Even if, tomorrow, an OpenAI or Google model proposed a drug that appeared credibly able to cure a single type of cancer, the medicine would require years of laboratory and human trials to prove its safety and efficacy in a real-world environment, which AI programs are nowhere near able to simulate. There are traffic signs for drug development, and they are there for a good reason, Alex Zhavoronkov, the CEO of Insilico Medicine, a biotech company pioneering AI-driven drug design, told me. Yet Insilico has also used AI to help design multiple drugs that have successfully cleared early trials. The AI models that made Hassabis a Nobel laureate, known as AlphaFold, are widely used by pharmaceutical and biomedical researchers. Generative AI, Ive learned, has much to contribute to science, but its applications are unlikely to be as wide-ranging as its creators like to suggestmore akin to a faster engine than a self-driving car. There are broadly two sorts of generative AI that are currently contributing to scientific and mathematical discovery. The first are essentially chatbots: tools that search, analyze, and synthesize scientific literature to produce useful reports. The dream is to eventually be able to ask such a program, in plain language, about a rare disease or unproven theorem and receive transformative insights. Were not there, and may never be. But even the bots that exist today, such as OpenAIs and Googles separate Deep Research products, have their uses. Scientists use the tools that are out there for information processing and summarization, Rafael Gomez-Bombarelli, a chemist at MIT who applies AI to material design, told me. Instead of Googling for and reading 10 papers, you can ask Deep Research. Everybody does that; thats an established win, he said. Good scientists know to check the AIs work. Andrea Califano, a computational biologist at Columbia who studies cancer, told me he sought assistance from ChatGPT and DeepSeek while working on a recent manuscript, which is now a normal practice for him. But this time, they came up with an amazing list with references, people, authors on the paper, publications, et ceteraand not one of them existed, Califano said. OpenAI has found that its most advanced models, o3 and o4-mini, are actually two to three times more likely to confidently assert falsehoods, or hallucinate, than their predecessor, o1. (This was expected for o4-mini, because it was trained on less data, but OpenAI wrote in a technical report that more research is needed to understand why o3 hallucinates at such a high rate.) Even when AI research agents work perfectly, their strength is summary, not novelty. What I dont think has worked for these bots, Gomez-Bombarelli said, is true, new reasoning for ideas. These programs, in some sense, can fail doubly: Trained to synthesize existing data and ideas, they invent; asked to invent, they struggle. (The Atlantic has a corporate partnership with OpenAI.) [Read: The man out to prove how dumb AI still is] To help temperand harnessthe tendency to hallucinate, newer AI systems are being positioned as collaborative tools that can help judge ideas. One such system, announced by Google researchers in February, is called the AI co-scientist: a series of AI language models fine-tuned to research a problem, offer hypotheses, and evaluate them in a way somewhat analogous to how a team of human scientists would, Vivek Natarajan, an AI researcher at Google and a lead author on the paper presenting the AI co-scientist, told me. Similar to how chess-playing AI programs improved by playing against themselves, Natarajan said, the co-scientist comes up with hypotheses and then uses a tournament of ideas to rank which are of the highest quality. His hope is to give human scientists superpowers, or at least a tool to more rapidly ideate and experiment. The usefulness of those rankings could require months or years to verify, and the AI co-scientist, which is still being evaluated by human scientists, is for now limited to biomedical research. But some of its outputs have already shown promise. Tiago Costa, an infectious-disease researcher at Imperial College London, told me about a recent test he ran with the AI co-scientist. Costa and his team had made a breakthrough on an unsolved question about bacterial evolution, and they had not yet published the findingsso it could not be in the AI co-scientists training data. He wondered whether Googles system could arrive at the breakthrough itself. Costa and his collaborators provided the AI co-scientist with a brief summary of the issue, some relevant citations, and the central question they had sought to answer. After running for two days, the system returned five relevant and testable hypothesesand the top-ranked one matched the human teams key experimental results. The AI appeared to have proposed the same genuine discovery that they had made. The system developed its top hypothesis with a simple rationale, drawing a link to another research area and coming to a conclusion the human team had taken years to arrive at. The humans had been biased by long-held assumptions about this particular phenomenon, Jose Penades, a microbiologist at ICL who co-led the research with Costa, told me. But the AI co-scientist, without such tunnel vision, had found the idea by drawing straightforward research connections. If theyd had this tool and hypothesis five years ago, he said, the research would have proceeded significantly faster. Its quite frustrating for me to realize it was a very simple answer, Penades said. The system did not concoct a new paradigm or unheard-of notionit just efficiently considered a large amount of information, which turned out to be good enough. With human scientists having already produced, and continuously producing, tremendous amounts of knowledge, perhaps the most useful AI will not automate that ability so much as complement it. The second type of scientific AI aims, in a sense, to speak the language of biology. AlphaFold and similar programs are trained not on internet text but on experimental data, such as the three-dimensional structure of proteins and gene expression. These types of models quickly apply patterns drawn from more data than even a large team of human researchers could analyze in a lifetime. More traditional machine-learning algorithms have, of course, been used in this way for a long time, but generative AI could supercharge these tools, allowing scientists to find ways to repurpose an older drug for a different disease, or identify promising new receptors in the body to target with a therapy, to name two examples. These tools could substantially increase both time efficiency and probability of success, Sriram Krishnaswami, the head of scientific affairs at Pfizer Oncology, told me. For instance, Pfizer has used an internal AI tool to identify two such targets that might help treat breast and prostate cancer, which are currently being tested. Similarly, generative-AI tools can contribute to drug design by helping scientists more efficiently balance various molecular traits, side effects, or other factors before going to a lab or trial. The number of configurations and interactions for any possible drug is profoundly large: There are 10 sequences of mRNA that could produce the spike protein used in COVID vaccines, Wade Davis, Modernas head of digital for business, including the AI-product team, told me. Thats dozens of orders of magnitude beyond the number of atoms in the universe. Generative AI could help substantially reduce the number of sequences worth exploring. Possibly there will never be a drug which is discovered through AI, Pratyush Tiwary, a chemical physicist at the University of Maryland who uses AI methods, told me. There are good companies that are working on it, but what AI will do is to help reduce the search spaceto reduce the number of possibilities scientists need to investigate on their own. These AI models are to biologists like a graphic calculator and drafting software are to an engineer: You can ideate faster, but you still have to build a bridge and confirm that it wont crumble before driving across it. The ultimate achievement of AI, then, may just be to drastically improve scientific efficiencynot unlike chatbots already used in any number of normal office jobs. When considering the whole drug-development life cycle, how do we compress time? Anaeze Offodile II, the chief strategy officer at MSK, told me. AI technologies could shave years off of that life cycle, though still more years would remain. Offodile imagined a reduction from 20 years to maybe 15 years, and Zhavoronkov, of Insilico, said that AI could help you cut maybe three years off the total process and increase the probability of success. There are, of course, substantial limitations to these biological models capabilities. For instance, though generative AI has been very successful in determining protein structure, similar programs frequently suggest small molecule structures that cannot actually be synthesized, Gomez-Bombarelli said. Perhaps the biggest bottleneck to using generative AI to revolutionize the life sciencesmaking useful predictions about not just the relatively constrained domain of how a protein will fold or bind to a specific receptor, but also the complex cascade of signals within and between cells across the bodyis a scarcity of high-quality training data gathered from relevant biological experiments. The most important thing is not to design the best algorithm, Califano said. The most important thing is to ask the right question. The machines need knowledge to begin with that they cannot, at least for the foreseeable future, generate by themselves. But perhaps they can with human collaborators. Gomez-Bombarelli is the chief science officer of materials at Lila Sciences, a start-up that has built a lab with equipment that can be directed by a combination of human scientists and generative AI, allowing models to test and refine hypotheses in a loop. Insilico has a similar robotic lab in China, and Califano is part of a global effort led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to build an AI virtual cell that can simulate any number of human biological processes. Generating novel ideas is not really the main issue. Hypotheses are cheap, Gomez-Bombarelli said. But evaluating hypotheses costs millions of dollars. [Read: A virtual cell is a holy grail of science. Its getting closer.] Throwing data into a box and shaking it has yielded incredible results in processing human language, but that wont be enough to treat disease. Humans designing science-boosting AI models have to understand the problem, ask appropriate questions, and curate relevant data, then experimentally verify or refute any resultant AI systems outputs. The way to build AI for science, in other words, is to do some science. Article originally published at The Atlantic Simply Recipes / Getty Images Key Takeaways Mexican chefs prefer El Milagro Tortilla Chips for perfect crunch and lots of flavor. El Milagro fries day-old corn tortillas the traditional way to create the chips. Made with just four ingredients, El Milagro chips offer a pure corn flavor without additives or preservatives. Whether youre whipping up a big batch of chilaquiles for Sunday brunch or putting out a bowl of guacamole for a late summer BBQ, buying high-quality tortilla chips can make all the difference. Chips that are too thick, too oily, or easily breakable can greatly affect the crunch and flavor of dishes and dips, but with so many brands out there, it can be hard to decipher just which bag to buy. I spoke with a number of Mexican chefs to get the inside scoop on what brand of tortilla chips they use both professionally and in their home kitchens. While most of the chefs I spoke with make their own tortilla chips whenever possible, it turns out many of them share the same favorite brand. The Tortilla Chip Experts I Asked Iliana De La Vega: James Beard Award-winning chef of El Naranjo restaurant Laura Muller: Content creator, chef, and recipe developer at Food Deals by Laura Alejandra Graf: Cookbook author and creator of the award-winning blog AleCooks Simply Recipes / Amazon The Best Tortilla Chips, According to Mexican Chefs Among the chefs I spoke with, there was some variation in their answers, but one clear winner rose to the top: El Milagro Tortilla Chips. Some editors at Simply Recipes are already big fans of the brand, and thus cheerfully applauded the consensus. El Milagro is a Chicago-based tortilleria that has provided the local community (and now the entire country) with fresh tortillas, tostadas, and chips since 1950. Fried from day-old tortillas, El Milagro uses this traditional method to produce perfectly crunchy chips packed with tons of flavor and made with just four ingredients. The chips are extra large, making them an ample vessel for heaps of cheesy beans, pozole, or pico de gallo. Ive been on a mission to taste various tortilla chip brands, says Chef Laura, and the one that stays true to authentic Mexican flavor is El Milagro. With so many brands adding preservatives or filler ingredients to their chips, she truly appreciates El Milagro's commitment to quality and genuine taste. Furthermore, when it comes to texture, Chef Laura finds that these chips offer a delightful crunch thats perfect for making chilaquiles or dipping in salsa. Even though at Chef Iliana's restaurant, El Naranjo, she "buys good quality corn tortillas and fry them in-house daily, she always opts for El Milagro tortilla chips when it comes to store-bought: Ill often use them at home. Chef Alejandra agrees with the other two chefs. She says that along with their top-notch tortillas, El Milagro makes tasty chips that are very good. She explains, A good tortilla chip should have that unmistakable corn tortilla flavor, giving you a taste of authentic Mexican cuisine in every bite. Read the original article on SIMPLYRECIPES New research uncovers how the herpes virus hijacks immune pathways to trigger its reactivation. (CREDIT: CC BY-SA 4.0) Scientists have uncovered a surprising trick used by the herpes simplex virus to wake up inside the body. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have found that a viral protein, called UL12.5, plays a key role in this reactivation. This finding shakes up the traditional view of how the virus escapes its dormant state. The discovery could lead to better treatments for cold sores and genital herpes, two conditions caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV-1). Until now, scientists believed that the virus simply waited for external triggers like stress or illness. This new work shows that HSV-1 is much more active in its own revival. Herpes: A Persistent Pathogen HSV-1 is a highly contagious virus that infects more than 60% of people under 50, according to the World Health Organization. After the initial infection, the virus hides inside nerve cells for life. It can reactivate during times of stress, sickness, or even after sun exposure, causing symptoms to flare up again. Most people know HSV-1 for causing cold sores. However, it can also lead to genital herpes and serious conditions like encephalitis. Studies have even linked it to neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, making this research even more urgent. Representative immunofluorescence images of STING/pIRF3 at 3-days post transduction with either GFP or UL12.5 expressing lentiviral vector. (CREDIT: PNAS) When HSV-1 first invades a cell, the immune systems pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) sound the alarm. These receptors spot pieces of the virus and trigger a defense response meant to wipe out the invader. Yet, like many viruses, HSV-1 has evolved sneaky ways to dodge or even control these defenses. UL12.5 and Viral Reactivation In a twist that surprised researchers, HSV-1 doesnt just hide and wait for the right moment to reactivate. Instead, it helps create the right conditions itself. Scientists at UVA, led by Anna Cliffe, Ph.D., discovered that the virus expresses the protein UL12.5, which tricks the immune system into helping the virus wake up. UL12.5 stimulates the immune system in a way that, paradoxically, promotes viral reactivation rather than fighting it. This clever move shows how viruses can turn the bodys defenses to their own advantage. It opens up exciting new paths for research into how we might block HSV-1 reactivation in the future. Related Stories UL12.5 targets mitochondria, the cells energy-producing structures, causing them to release mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into the cytosol. This triggers the cGAS-STING pathway, a major immune response mechanism that typically fights infections. Under normal circumstances, cGAS detects foreign DNA in the cytosol and activates STING, which initiates the production of interferons and other antiviral molecules. However, HSV-1 exploits this pathway to reawaken from dormancy. By inducing mitochondrial stress and the release of mtDNA, UL12.5 sets off a chain reaction that promotes viral gene expression and reactivation. We were surprised to find that HSV-1 doesnt just passively wait for the right conditions to reactivate it actively senses danger and takes control of the process, said researcher Patryk Krakowiak. Our findings suggest that the virus may be using immune signals as a way to detect cellular stresswhether from neuron damage, infections, or other threatsas a cue to escape its host and find a new one. Researchers Sean R. Cuddy and Anna R. Cliffe have shed light on what causes herpes simplex virus to flare up. (CREDIT: University of Virginia School of Medicine) Implications for Treatment and Prevention Understanding how HSV-1 manipulates the immune system opens the door to new therapeutic strategies. Current antiviral drugs, such as acyclovir, only suppress viral replication during active infection but cannot prevent reactivation. The discovery of UL12.5s role in awakening the virus suggests that targeting this protein could prevent outbreaks. We are now following up on this work to investigate how the virus is hijacking this response and testing inhibitors of UL12.5 function, Cliffe said. Currently, there are no therapies that can prevent the virus from waking up from dormancy, and this stage was thought to only use host proteins. Developing therapies that specifically act on a viral protein is an attractive approach that will likely have fewer side effects than targeting a host protein. The study also found that in cases where another infection was present, HSV-1 did not require UL12.5 for reactivation. Instead, the immune response triggered by the second infection was sufficient to wake up the virus. This suggests that HSV-1 can use multiple pathways to reactivate, further complicating treatment strategies. Schematic of the in vivo model of HSV-1 latent infection. Quantification of the latent viral genome copy number measured by qPCR at 28 days after infection with KOS-SPA or KOS-UL98. The copy number of viral DNA was normalized to host 18s rDNA. (CREDIT: PNAS) The Connection to Neurodegenerative Disease Beyond cold sores and genital herpes, HSV-1 has been linked to serious neurological conditions. Some research suggests that chronic inflammation from repeated HSV-1 reactivation may contribute to diseases such as Alzheimers. The ability of HSV-1 to manipulate immune pathways in neurons raises concerns about its long-term effects on brain health. The virus establishes latency in neurons, where it remains dormant until certain conditions trigger reactivation. The absence of viral proteins during latency means that HSV-1 relies on host signaling pathways to initiate reactivation. One such pathway involves interleukin-1 (IL-1), a key inflammatory cytokine. Previous studies have shown that IL-1 can induce HSV-1 reactivation by increasing neuronal excitability. Our findings identify the first viral protein required for herpes simplex virus to wake up from dormancy, and, surprisingly, this protein does so by triggering responses that should act against the virus, Cliffe explained. This is important because it gives us new ways to potentially prevent the virus from waking up and activating immune responses in the nervous system that could have negative consequences in the long term. Schematic of the in vitro HSV latent infection and reactivation model. Neuronal infection was carried out in the presence of acyclovir (ACV; 50 M). Reactivation was induced using LY294002 (20 M) in the presence of WAY-150138 (20 M) to limit cell to-cell spread. (CREDIT: PNAS) With these new insights, scientists hope to develop treatments that prevent HSV-1 reactivation at its earliest stage. Inhibiting UL12.5 or blocking mitochondrial DNA release could be a strategy for reducing outbreaks and preventing the long-term inflammatory effects associated with recurrent infections. The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), marking a significant step forward in understanding how herpes viruses manipulate the immune system. Note: Materials provided above by The Brighter Side of News. Content may be edited for style and length. Like these kind of feel good stories? Get The Brighter Side of News' newsletter. They came into some sleazy money. Bags full of cash fell off a Brinks Home Security Company truck as it drove through a Chicago suburb last week leaving over $300,000 in cash in the hands of sticky-fingered locals, according to a report. The moolah haulers back door became ajar by unknown means as it rolled through the Oak Park neighborhood of the Second City on Tuesday dropping three cash-filled bags onto Austin Boulevard, according to NBC. The back door of a Brinks truck became ajar, allowing cash-filled bags to fall onto the street. Marvin Samuel Tolentino Pineda Dozens of people in the Oak Park neighborhood of Chicago grabbed over $300,000 from the truck, according to Brinks officials. Jonathan Daniel Brinks claims that between 50 and 100 Chicagoans capitalized on the money mishap making a mad cash-grabbing dash and fleeing the scene, the report stated. Approximately $300,000 was swiped from those bags, the company claimed, according to the report. No arrests have been made, the Village of Oak Park told the outlet. Courtesy of Sarah Penner Sarah Penner scuba diving Sarah Penner likes to get out of the library when researching her immersive historical fiction books way, way out of the library. The pen behind the 2021 bestseller The Lost Apothecary, The London Seance Society and the forthcoming The Amalfi Curse (out April 29) has gone mudlarking in London, attended a seance and explored shipwrecks all in the name of research. "When they pick up a book, [readers] want that feeling of immersion, but they don't necessarily want things they've already done, because then your depiction of it might sort of conflict with theirs," the author told PEOPLE. "And so in some ways, it's an opportunity to just introduce the reader via my words to that experience without them having to leave their couch." Related: Travel with the Bucket List Family in Their New Kids Book! (Exclusive) Park Row 'The Amalfi Curse' by Sarah Penner Penner's books are known for their realistic details, that step-back-in-history feeling that only comes from meticulous research. But the author, who started writing as a way to fulfill her creativity while working a desk job, prefers getting her hands dirty to looking at artifacts in museums. "When you are out in the field on your own, nothing is behind glass and you get to curate what you think is interesting," she explains. "I get to be the own curator of my own experience. And that's part of what I've always really liked about this." Park Row 'The Lost Apothecary' by Sarah Penner That doesn't mean she hasn't also found inspiration the more conventional way, including one very special book she discovered at The British Library while researching The Lost Apothecary. "There was this apothecary's journal from the 1700s, and I remember seeing a portion of a thumbprint on one of these old pages. On another page, there was part of a paw print like someone's cat walked over it," she says. "And I just remember thinking, I am holding this log that is literally 300-400 years old. I might have been the last person to open it. And that's just a really amazing connection with this person that I'll never meet." Park Row 'The London Seance Society' by Sarah Penner While some authors start with a character and build the story around them, Penners often begin with inspiration she gleans from her own travels. "For me, novels always start with a sense of place, so I'll find myself in a location that really speaks to me," she says. "I find myself curious about the history of the area, so I'll start researching. But then my imagination starts ticking and saying, 'Oh, I could see that happening here, that happening here.' So I'm very inspired by a sense of place." And sometimes, going even deeper into those places helps her face her own fears along with the characters she's creating along the way. In preparing for The Amalfi Curse, in which her protagonist is a nautical archaeologist who moves to the Italian village of Positano to investigate some mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast, she and her husband spent a lot of time underwater themselves. Related: PEOPLE Picks Our Desert-Island Reads for World Book Day and 1 Will Definitely Surprise You Courtesy of Sarah Penner Sarah Penner and her husband diving "We got [scuba diving] certified about 10 years ago in Kansas of all places," Penner says, with a laugh. "But we've been diving all over the world. We love the Florida Keys ... We've gone diving in Thailand, Cozumel, all sorts of really fun places in Dominican Republic." But she doesn't discount the danger inherent in the sport. In fact, one scene in which her protagonist gets into trouble on a dive is based on what the self-described "nervous diver" admits scares her about the sport. "I think part of writing that scene I was describing very closely like my own deepest fear," she says. "Call it the deepest form of immersion therapy." Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. So where will Penner's adventures take us next? No spoilers, but she's unfurling her map for future possibilities. Courtesy of Sarah Penner On a private archive tour in Naples, Italy "I would love to set a book in Edinburgh or Prague, but I'd also love to go kind of vastly different to maybe Antarctica, or the remote tundras in Alaska," she muses. "I would love to go to South Africa and see some of the Saharan deserts. And then New Zealand and Australia. Those are on the bucket list as well, so it'll be really interesting to see where my future stories end up taking me." The Amalfi Curse hits shelves on April 29 and is available to preorder now, wherever books are sold. Read the original article on People Unlike mRNA vaccines, the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine uses more traditional protein-based technology. - Hannah Beier/Bloomberg/Getty Images The US Food and Drug Administration has discussed with vaccine-maker Novavax the need for an additional trial of its Covid-19 vaccine as a post-approval commitment, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. The terms need to be negotiated before Novavaxs vaccine could be granted full approval, the source said, declining to be named because they werent authorized to speak on behalf of the FDA. Novavax had anticipated full approval of its vaccine by April 1, but the FDA delayed the decision because it sought more data, a source told CNN at the time. We can confirm we have responded to the FDAs Post Marketing Commitment (PMC) request and are awaiting feedback from the agency, Silvia Taylor, executive vice president and chief corporate affairs and advocacy officer at Novavax, said in a statement Friday. PMCs are not unusual with many approved drugs / biologics having at least one PMC or requirement. We continue to believe that our application is approvable, and we look forward to our continued engagement with the FDA about their request for a PMC and to moving to approval as soon as possible. A spokesperson for the US Department of Health and Human Services, the FDAs parent agency, said Friday that it remains committed to our promise: ensuring products are safe for the American people and grounded in gold-standard science. The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine, which uses more traditional protein-based technology than the newer mRNA vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, has been subject to emergency use authorization since 2022. But with FDA action, it would be the third vaccine against Covid-19 to receive full FDA approval, which could provide additional reassurance to people seeking the shot. The missed deadline came at the same time the FDA named Dr. Scott Steele acting director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees vaccine regulation, days after former director Dr. Peter Marks was forced out. In his resignation letter, Marks cited efforts being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination that he called concerning. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine advocate, has falsely called vaccines for Covid-19 the deadliest vaccine ever made and more recently made misleading statements about the safety of the measles vaccine amid a deadly outbreak centered in West Texas. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com 'Is that a threat? Sure it is: China could make a retaliatory move that experts say would hit us hard especially US homeowners. Heres whats happening and how to protect your wealth Mortgage rates are climbing in response to a sell-off off in U.S. Treasury bonds, according to CNBC. Throw in an accelerated mortgage sell-off in China and things could get much worse. Mortgage rates tend to track the 10-year Treasury yield, so it doesnt bode well for mortgages if investors decide to sell U.S. Treasury bonds. Don't miss Adding to the risk is the possibility that U.S. mortgage-backed securities (MBS), 15% of which are held by foreign countries, could also be increasingly on the selling block If China wanted to hit us hard, they could unload Treasuries. Is that a threat? Sure it is, Guy Cecala, executive chair of Inside Mortgage Finance, told CNBC. At the time of writing, President Donald Trump had imposed tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods, while China retaliated with tariffs of 125% on imported American goods. If countries like China decide to dump U.S. Treasuries and MBS in retaliation for tariffs and trade policies, how could that impact you? Why this matters Treasury securities are bonds issued and backed by the U.S. federal government, while mortgage-backed securities (MBS) contain pools of mortgages. Foreign countries own $1.32 trillion of U.S. mortgage-backed securities, according to a global markets analysis from Ginnie Mae. China is one of the largest holders of agency mortgage-backed securities, along with Japan, Taiwan and Canada. If Chinese institutions started selling off MBS and if other countries start following suit it could ripple through global financial markets. Some doubt it will happen. This would damage Chinas own financial interests by devaluing its remaining holdings and destabilizing global currency markets, Melissa Cohn, regional vice-president of William Raveis Mortgage, told Newsweek. Its generally thought to be in Chinas best interest that the country keep its currency, the renminbi (RMB), lower than the U.S. dollar, since as a nation dependent on exports it wants to keep its prices competitive. Thus, by purchasing U.S. debt, China maintains the balance according to which Americans can continue to buy more Chinese products. Still, an escalating trade war has raised uncertainty and a sell-off isnt off the table if China is willing to absorb losses. China had already begun selling off some of its U.S. MBS last year and theres speculation its continuing to do so. Read more: Car insurance premiums could spike 8% by the end of 2025 thanks to tariffs on car imports and auto parts from Canada and Mexico. But heres how 2 minutes can save you hundreds of dollars right now What does this mean for US homebuyers? MBS investors influence mortgage rates, based on what theyre willing to pay for mortgage-backed securities. Accelerating a sell-off would translate into lower prices for the bonds and, thus, higher mortgage rates for Americans, especially those with variable-rate mortgages. Most investors are concerned that mortgage spreads would widen in response to either China, Japan or Canada coming in with a retaliatory objective, Eric Hagen, mortgage and specialty finance analyst at BTIG, told CNBC. For those unlucky homeowners, even refinancing could leave them with higher payments. At any rate, refinancing would be less attractive, since rising rates could negate any potential savings. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate (as of April 17) averaged 6.83%, according to Freddie Mac. Some buyers could also be priced out of the market. Higher mortgage rates can lead to a reduction in demand and, in turn, lower housing prices, so sellers may be tempted to stay put until the market improves. Since higher rates lead to higher monthly payments and a higher debt-to-income ratio for borrowers this scenario can also lead to a tightening of lending standards. To mitigate risk, lenders may increase credit score requirements or require larger down payments. If youre looking to buy a home, secure a mortgage pre-approval so you have a budget to work with (though a pre-approval isnt a guarantee). If you can get a good rate now, you may want to lock it in. If youre a first-time homebuyer, you might be able to apply for an FHA loan, which is guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. If demand stalls, sellers may want to consider lowering the asking price or offering incentives (such as covering the buyers closing costs) to sweeten the pot. On the other hand, amid economic turmoil and plummeting consumer confidence, buyers and sellers may simply choose to wait it out. In the meantime, its a good idea to build up your emergency fund to help cover higher costs if necessary. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Investigation reveals Californians are forced into the FAIR plan despite living in low-risk areas for wildfires why this is happening and what residents can do about it A recent investigation by CBS News found that since many private insurance companies have stopped issuing new policies, homeowners are being forced into the states insurance plan, the FAIR plan, despite living in low fire risk areas. Don't miss The only other option they have is purchasing a policy from unregulated out-of-state insurers. While it doesnt sound that bad on the surface homeowners can still purchase policies it appears as though having more homeowners on the FAIR plan can cause far more issues. What is the FAIR plan and what's going in? The FAIR plan was established in California around 60 years ago and is a state-run insurance option for homeowners who cant find options elsewhere for fire coverage. This usually means homes classified as being at high risk of wildfires. The California Department of Insurance says that in 2023, only 3.7% of residents were covered through this plan, with the vast majority having more choices with private insurers. However, that may not be the case anymore, as more private companies announced they would limit coverage in the state in recent years. In 2023, State Farm, the biggest insurer in the state, said that it would no longer write new policies. CBS data analysis reveals that more and more homes in low-risk areas are being forced into the FAIR plan. In fact, there are 10 times as many low-risk homes on the FAIR plan as homes in the highest risk locations. Reporters spoke to Ken Cavalli and Lisa Fine-Cavalli who applied for a new policy for their new home and were denied despite their ZIP code being assigned an average risk class of "negligible." And a large FAIR plan is a dangerous liability, noted CBS. The Los Angeles wildfires quickly drained the plan's surplus funds, leading to a $1 billion assessment on the rest of the state's insurers, at least half of which will be passed on to the people with regular insurance polices. Read more: Car insurance premiums could spike 8% by the end of 2025 thanks to tariffs on car imports and auto parts from Canada and Mexico. But heres how 2 minutes can save you hundreds of dollars right now Will insurance premiums go up even more? They could if it means more companies can stay solvent and keep providing policies. Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, told CBS News that home insurance rates are objectively underpriced and private insurance companies will only start writing new plans if theyre allowed to charge higher premiums. State Farm is currently seeking approval to raise premiums for California homeowners by an average of 17%. The Los Angeles wildfires after reinsurance will cost it over $600 million, and its reserves have dropped from $4 billion in 2016 to $1 billion last year. In a move to expand the market and alleviate the current crisis, California Department of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara created a Sustainable Insurance Strategy that will require private insurance companies by law to provide policies for homeowners in higher-risk areas. The goal is for insurers to have at least 85% of their policies issued to homeowners in distressed areas so they no longer need to be under the FAIR plan. In exchange, insurance companies may be able to pass on FAIR assessments (additional charges) to their customers. They can also use new models to assess premiums. However, CBS News noted that there may be a catch, which lies in how the term high risk is defined. For instance, private insurers may have their own criteria as to what constitutes a home being in a distressed or high-risk area. What can I do? Your best bet is to do as much research as possible to find private insurers who offer plans in your area. You can also take steps to see if you can qualify for a discount, whether you end up on the FAIR plan or not. Insurance companies are required by California law to give homeowners a risk score when they apply for a policy, or if they send a renewal or non-renewal notice. The notice should explain ways you can lower that score. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. When the charred remains of prominent commercial real estate attorney Gary Farris were discovered on a burn pile with a bullet lodged in a rib bone, detectives knew they were facing a homicide investigation. The crime scene was on a sprawling 10-acre property in Cherokee County, Georgia, where Gary Farris lived with his wife Melody and their son Scott. It was July 2018 when detectives found Gary Farris' blood and a second bullet in the basement of the home and questioned how his body could have ended up on the burn pile, about 50 yards away. Soon after their arrival on scene, investigators found themselves entangled in a family drama with mother and son pointing the finger at each other. "This is a mother's worst nightmare it has been called the Farris wheel, and it was, but it was our Farris wheel," Melody Farris tells "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant in an exclusive interview. Van Sant and "48 Hours" investigate the murder of Gary Farris in "The Farris Wheel" now streaming on Paramount+. Melody Farris during her trial for the murder of her husband, Gary Farris. / Credit: Court TV/Pool Investigators learned Scott Farris was responsible for the day-to-day operations on the farm and that his work and personal expenses were covered by his father. According to Melody Farris, around the time of Gary Farris' death there was tension between him and Scott Farris, mainly about Scott needing to get another job. Scott Farris, however, says that is not true and tension in the home was caused by Melody Farris disappearing for weeks at a time and spending Gary Farris' money. Gary Farris was the sole bread winner and allowed Melody and Scott Farris access to accounts in his name. Scott Farris said his mother was away for extended periods of time because she was having an affair with her lover who lived in Tennessee. In June 2019, after an almost 12-month investigation, Melody Farris was arrested for the murder of Gary Farris. When her trial began in October 2024, her defense team said she was innocent and pointed the finger at Scott Farris. They said at his size, about 6 feet 8 inches, 280 pounds, he was more capable of moving Gary's 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound body than his much smaller mother. But police and prosecutors believed Melody Farris was the murderer. Prosecutors argued, among other things, that Melody Farris was the only one home at the time they believe Gary Farris was killed. And at trial they called a witness from the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office Intelligence Division who analyzed phone records and discovered that Gary Farris' cellphone moved from the house to the burn pile and back to the house after investigators believe his body was already on the burn pile. Melody Farris was the only one home at that time as well. On Nov. 4, 2024, Melody Farris was found guilty of murdering her husband. She had not spoken publicly until her sentencing hearing a month later when she shocked the courtroom, saying, "Not only did I not do this, I know who did. I know Scott killed his father." Immediately after Melody Farris was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years, she walked into an exclusive interview with Van Sant, where she continued to profess her innocence. Melody Farris didn't take the stand in her trial. Instead, she chose to tell her story exclusively to Melody Farris told Van Sant she saw Scott Farris near the burn pile the morning before Gary Farris' body was discovered. She said she believes Scott Farris used his pickup truck to get Gary Farris' body to the burn pile. And she went as far as saying Scott Farris planted the bullet that was found in the basement to frame her. Melody Farris says she believes Scott Farris killed his father because he wanted the farm to be his and would refer to it as his property in conversation. Melody Farris told Van Sant, " it's the perfect murder. You kill your daddy. You set your mother up. She goes to prison. You get everything." Scott Farris also sat down with Van Sant and told him, "I absolutely had nothing to do with my father's death. And it was 100% Melody Farris who murdered my father. That is the truth." Scott Farris says Melody Farris is the only one who wanted Gary Farris dead, and he never drove his truck near the burn pile. As for the bullet being planted, Scott Farris said, "I didn't even know there was a bullet found in the basement until after she was arrested." Scott Farris says he was an easy target because he lived on the property with his parents and was former military. Investigators were able to rule him out as a suspect and he was not charged with anything relating to the death of his father. When asked if she was willing to sacrifice one of her children's lives to save herself, Melody Farris said, "absolutely not." But Scott Farris says Melody Farris needs to stop with the lies and just come clean: "she knows she did it." Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Thatch" Saturday Sessions: Goose performs "Give It Time" Who will be the next pope? Some of the top possible candidates By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Louise Rasmussen COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Greenland and Denmark agreed on Sunday to strengthen their ties in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in taking control of the strategically located Arctic island, their leaders said after talks in Copenhagen. Greenland's new Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen landed in the Danish capital on Saturday for a three-day visit, in a display of unity between the mineral-rich island, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, and Denmark. "We are in a foreign policy situation which means we have to move closer together," Nielsen said at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Nielsen's visit follows months of tension over Trump's repeated declarations that Greenland should become part of the United States. The leaders of Denmark and Greenland have said only Greenlanders can decide the territory's future. However, they have found themselves treading a delicate line between firmly dismissing U.S. ambitions of annexing Greenland while also trying to maintain good ties with their traditional ally. "We are ready for a strong partnership (with the U.S.) and more development, but we want respect ... We will never be a piece of property that can be bought by anyone," Nielsen said. He said an ongoing expansion of the U.S. consulate in Nuuk, Greenland's capital, which was agreed before Trump took office, was causing anxiety among the people of Greenland. Nielsen did not confirm or deny when asked if he had been in contact with the U.S. administration since taking office earlier this month. The warmer relations between Nuuk and Copenhagen come after Greenland's previous prime minister in December blamed Denmark for a historical "genocide" in Greenland and in January stepped up a push for independence from Denmark. Frederiksen said Denmark was ready to invest more in Greenland and to support Greenland financially as it takes over more responsibility of domestic affairs from Copenhagen as part of what she called a "modernisation" of their relationship. Denmark has called for increased Arctic defence collaboration with the United States, and both Nielsen and Frederiksen said on Sunday they were committed to strengthening defence in the region. Denmark's King Frederik will travel to Greenland on Monday in a further show of solidarity. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Stine Jacobsen and Helen Popper) United has invested in a revolutionary aircraft design with one giant wing and an extra-wide cabin. United Airlines, JetZero United Airlines is investing in a revolutionary new aircraft type. The head of its latest venture, a jet with one big wing, said it will be like a "living room in the sky." The 'blended-wing body' plane built by startup JetZero could replace United's older Boeing jets. United Airlines is investing billions of dollars in funky new aircraft, including electric air taxis and a supersonic jet. Up next? A plane that's essentially one giant wing. The airline on Thursday unveiled a plan to buy up to 200 of the 'blended-wing body' aircraft from California-based aerospace startup JetZero. The startup wants to compete with Airbus and Boeing by creating a plane that burns half the fuel of a similarly sized, traditional tube-and-wing plane. The 250-passenger "Z4" aircraft is not yet certified, but the company is aiming for a 2030 commercial launch and successfully flew a subscale prototype in 2024. Andrew Chang, the managing director of United Airlines Ventures, the division that funds these innovation-focused investments, told Business Insider the Z4's oversized wing could create a "living room in the sky." "Everything around the customer travel experience how they sit in the plane, board, and deplane, and how [crewmembers] serve them can be reinvented around the new space within this new aircraft design," he said. Chang added that the conditional purchase agreement relies on JetZero's ability to prove its revolutionary design with a full-sized demonstrator by 2027 and meet United's operational and business requirements on things like cost, fuel burn, and safety. But he was confident JetZero, which the US Air Force has also backed, could deliver: "If you look at the management team, there's a lot of institutional experience and knowledge there from companies like Airbus and Boeing." More wing means more cabin real estate JetZero's futuristic plane combines the wings and fuselage into a single lifting surface. This unique airframe dramatically widens the cabin, allowing United to accommodate over a dozen seats per row. Widebody passenger aircraft today max out at 10-abreast rows. The densest configuration ever proposed was 11 seats across on the world's largest commercial airliner, the Airbus A380 though no carriers signed on. The Z4 will be shorter than traditional dual-aisle planes. Chang said that instead of 20 or 30 rows of seats, there may be only 10 or 15. A rendering of what the cabin could look like on a JetZero aircraft. JetZero There would also be more aisles for navigating the cabin, and up to four entry doors, improving boarding and deplaning efficiency. Chang added that there would be economy and premium seats with Starlink WiFi and media to create a living-room-like vibe and likely some reimagined spaces: "Every square foot of real estate, you want to have revenue passengers on it," he said. It's unclear what new spaces United could develop, but JetZero competitor Natilus has some ideas for its in-development 200-person blended-wing aircraft design called Horizon. Speaking to BI in October, Natilus CEO Aleksey Matyushev said Horizon could accommodate lounge or playroom areas. He added that this could offset the possible complaint of the longer rows reducing the number of window seats. Delta Air Lines is also working with JetZero as a partner developer. It said the cabin could accommodate accessible seats and lavatories, and dedicated overhead bin space for every passenger. JetZero's wide cabin presents a lot of different design options. JetZero Alaska Airlines' investment, which also has the option for plane orders, said the airframe would provide a quieter flying experience. JetZero could replace some of United's old Boeing planes JetZero said its Z4 plane's better lift and lower drag could cut fuel burn by up to 50% per passenger mile while still flying up to about 5,750 miles nonstop. It would use conventional jet engines and run on traditional or sustainable aviation fuel. Chang said this efficiency and subsequent cost cuts could make the new jet a replacement for midsize airplanes like the Boeing 757 and the Boeing 767. United plans to retire these older aircraft by 2026 and 2030, respectively. For example, United said in a press release that a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, would use up to 45% less fuel than the twin-aisle aircraft flying the route today. United's Boeing 767 operates that summer seasonal transatlantic trek. JetZero's new aircraft could take over, and it would fit into the existing airport infrastructure on both sides of the pond. The Z4 would not require new airport infrastructure, like gates, saving airlines time and money. JetZero JetZero's expected commercialization is years away. United plans to take on next-generation aircraft like the Airbus A321XLR and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as more immediate and reliable replacements for the 757 and 767. If certified, JetZero's aircraft would provide United with another high-range, high-capacity, and cost-effective fleet option that could comfortably sit in between. It would have more range and capacity than the A321XLR but less than United's 787-9 and 787-10. The Z4 could hold a handful more people than the airline's smallest Dreamliner variant, the 787-8. "We believe [JetZero] is a game changer; this is a different way to reinvent aviation," Chang said. Read the original article on Business Insider At least 65 people have died and hundreds more have been injured following an explosion at one of Iran's most important ports, the Hormozgan Gov. Mohammad Ashouri Taziani said in an interview on Iranian state television The explosion originated in a container at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, according to state media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. On Monday, Iran said the fire was finally extinguished, according to The Associated Press. PHOTO: Black smoke rises in the sky as vehicles drive on the road after a massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 26, 2025. (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) At least 800 people were injured in the explosion and subsequent fire, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency, which cited a spokesperson for Iran's emergency services. Six people remain missing, according to Iranian state media. MORE: Trump says US engaged in 'direct talks' with Iran over nuclear weapons Video posted to social media shows damaged buildings filled with smoke. Emergency services rushed to the scene following the explosion. The port plays a key role in trade in the country and is responsible for the vast majority of loading and unloading of goods in Iranian ports. PHOTO: Heavily damaged cars lie along a devastated boulevard following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan, on April 26, 2025. (Mohammad Rasole Moradi/IRNA/AFP via Getty Images) PHOTO: Smoke from the explosion is seen at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, Iran, April 26, 2025. (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters) As of Sunday, there is still no information on the cause of the accident, according to Iranian state media. At least 65 dead, hundreds injured in explosion at Iranian port, officials say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) BEIRUT (AP) Israeli jets struck Beiruts southern suburbs Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, which hit what looked like a metal tent situated between two buildings with three bombs, according to an Associated Press photographer on the ground and footage circulating on social media. The photographer saw two burned and destroyed trucks inside the hangar. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In the warning, the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities in the Hadath area and urged residents to move at least 300 meters from the site before the strike. Two warning strikes followed. Fighter jets were heard over parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Al-Jamous neighborhood, where gunfire was shot into the air to warn residents and urge them to evacuate, as families fled in panic. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollahs top leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah, as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike on Beiruts southern suburbs, calling on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israels continued actions undermine stability and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis posted on X that the latest Israeli strike generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy. She urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding and the implementation of the U.N. resolution that ended the war. Sundays strike follows two earlier attacks on the capitals southern suburbs, the first taking place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning, and the second on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official. The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, has recently warned that if Israels attacks on Lebanon continued and if Lebanons government doesn't act to stop them, the group would eventually resort to other alternatives. Kassem also said that Hezbollahs fighters won't disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese airspace. Under the U.S.-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January, while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. Earlier on Sunday, a drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the Health Ministry. In a post on X that included footage of the strike, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hezbollah member, where he was working to rebuild Hezbollahs terrorist capabilities in the area. Last week, the Lebanese government said 190 people have been killed and 485 wounded in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. The Lebanese military has gradually deployed in the countrys southern region, and Beirut has urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks and withdraw its forces still present on five hilltops in Lebanese territory. ___ Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report. VANCOUVER, Canada - Canadian prosecutors have charged a 30-year-old Vancouver resident with murder for killing at least 11 people aged between 5 and 65 and injuring dozens after he rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in the western Canadian city, police said on April 27. The man, Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was charged with eight counts of second-degree murder by prosecutors in British Columbia and "further charges are anticipated," according to a post on X by the Vancouver Police. Lo appeared in court, hours after police arrested him at the scene of the incident on April 26. Court documents seen by Reuters did not show a plea. Authorities described Lo as having had a "significant history" of interactions with authorities involving mental health. They said there was no evidence of terrorism. "This is the darkest day in our city's history," Vancouver Interim Chief Constable Steve Rai told reporters at a news conference. Police said two dozen people were injured, some critically, and warned that the death toll could rise in coming days and weeks. As of April 27, Rai said he did not believe there were any ongoing threats to the community. More than 100 police officers joined the investigation, as local officials worked with provincial and federal authorities to provide support services. Messages of condolence and support came from across the globe. "The community will feel this for a long time," RJ Aquino, chair of the community advocacy group Filipino BC, told reporters. "We want to tell everybody that we're grieving. We want to tell everybody that we see and hear the support from around the world at this point." The attack took place two days before Canada's federal election on April 28. A spokesperson for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would be traveling to Vancouver. Carney's campaign movements were delayed but he resumed campaigning after making a statement in which he expressed his condolences to the country's Filipino community. "Last night, families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, a father, a son or a daughter. Those families are living every family's nightmare," he told reporters in Hamilton, Ontario. "I join all Canadians in mourning with you. I know that Canadians are united with you." British Columbia Premier David Eby said at a news conference near the site of the attack that it was hard not to feel rage towards the man who "murdered innocent people" for reasons that were not yet known. "I want to turn the rage that I feel into ensuring that we stand with the Filipino community, that we deliver what they need, that we stand with those families who have lost loved ones," he told reporters. "I know it's hard to believe it in this moment, but I know we will come back stronger." More than 12 hours after the incident, police still did not have a motive for the attack at the festival, which took place without a dedicated police presence or heavy vehicle barriers. "There were no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community," Rai said. The suspect was initially chased down and held by festival-goers until police arrived, witnesses said. The injured were taken to multiple hospitals, police said. The incident happened shortly after 8 p.m. local time in Vancouver's Sunset neighborhood, an area known for its large Asian population, where the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party, celebrating a Philippine national hero, was taking place. One witness told CTV News he saw a black vehicle driving erratically in the area of the festival just before the crowd was struck. A photo of the aftermath posted online showed a dark Audi SUV with both front fenders crumpled and the hood pushed up toward the vehicle's windshield. While mass casualty attacks are far less common in Canada than in the United States, such incidents have occurred with some regularity north of the border. At least two of those attacks involved motor vehicles. In 2021, a man killed four members of a Muslim family by running them over with a pickup truck. In 2018, a man drove a rented van into a lunch-hour crowd in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 along a sidewalk thronged with pedestrians. 'Horrific' Online images from the scene in Vancouver showed the bodies of victims on the pavement alongside a row of colorful food trucks as others attended to them on a roadway littered with debris, including what appeared to be a motorized scooter. A witness, who did not wish to be identified, said he had seen about 15 people lying on the ground after the SUV plowed into the crowd. The witness said the driver tried to run but was chased down and held against a fence for about 10 minutes until police arrived. "I didn't get to see the driver, all I heard was an engine rev," Yoseb Vardeh, co-owner of food truck Bao Buns, said in an interview with Postmedia. "I got outside my food truck, I looked down the road and there's just bodies everywhere," said Vardeh, his voice breaking with emotion. "He went through the whole block, he went straight down the middle." The attack came at the end of the festival, following a concert headlined by Filipino-American rapper Apl.de.ap of the Black Eyed Peas, according to Mable Elmore, a member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, who attended the event. "Everybody was happy and getting ready to go. And that's when, that's when the incident happened," Elmore told reporters through tears. "We are in incredible pain," she said. "We will come together out of this catastrophe through the support and the love from the broad community." The festival, celebrated especially in the central Philippines, honors Datu Lapu-Lapu, a Filipino chieftain who defeated Spanish forces led by Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan in 1521. The government of British Columbia officially recognized April 27 as Lapu-Lapu Day in 2023, acknowledging the cultural contributions of the Filipino-Canadian community, one of the largest immigrant groups in the province. The centerpiece of the festival is a multi-block street party featuring Filipino food and traditions, live performances and cultural displays. (Reporting by Chris Helgren in Vancouver and Allison Lampert in Montreal; additional reporting by David Ljunggren, Devika Nair, Promit Mukherjee, Karen Lema, Harshita Meenaktshi; Writing by Julia Harte and David Morgan; Editing by Mary Milliken, Frank McGurty, Sandra Maler and Michael Perry) This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Filipino festival attack: Prosecutors charge Vancouver man with murder Heavy rain in southwest Oklahoma caused severe flooding Saturday. At least one person has died in southwest Oklahoma after flash flooding hit the region, with authorities warning people to stay off the roads as severe weather warnings continue. Emergency responders reported witnessing a vehicle drive into standing water earlier today, the Lawton Police Department said in a statement Saturday. Responders were not able to safely get to the submerged vehicle. The investigation into the death is ongoing, officials said Saturday. The dive team assisted in recovery of the victim and the family has been notified, authorities said. The identity of the victim has not been released. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt thanked first responders on Saturday. Thank you to our wonderful first responders whove been executing water rescues all day due to flooding from heavy rain, he wrote in a post on X. Oklahomans, be extra careful when driving and dont try to drive through flooded roads. Stay weather aware! Lawton city officials said water began to recede in some areas on Sunday afternoon.Further south, in Walters, Oklahoma, Cotton County Emergency Management issued a public notice urging all residents to evacuate flood zone areas. Floodwaters are expected to rise through midafternoon Sunday, authorities said. Emergency management is working to secure more sand and sandbags for residents. Across the Southwest and the Rockies, extremely critical fire weather conditions continue Sunday afternoon due to 60 mph wind gusts, single-digit relative humidity and dry vegetation. Around 7 million people will be under alert throughout Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas. Additional severe weather risks span from Montana to Texas, with storms capable of producing winds up to 70 mph, large hail and potentially tornadoes overnight Sunday. On Monday, 36 million people from Texas to Michigan will be in the severe weather region, including the major cities of Minneapolis, Chicago and Oklahoma City. The strongest storms will arrive late afternoon and continue overnight, with the potential for intense tornadoes, very large hail and powerful wind gusts. Localized flash flooding may occur in the central region of the country. The risk will decrease by Tuesday as storms move north to New York, when 37 million people will be under a slight risk of severe weather in metropolitan areas including Indianapolis, Oklahoma City and Cleveland. As the front travels east, scattered strong to severe thunderstorms may occur with strong wind gusts, hail and an isolated tornado. As the week continues, there will be a moderate risk in parts of the Upper Midwest. Getty A small snake (stock image). A Virginia woman said she had a night to remember when she went to eat at a Mexican restaurant and ended up eye-to-eye with a scaly, slithering creature. Carletta Andrews visited the Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in Sandston with her husband to enjoy a nice night out on April 16. However, at the end of her meal, she found a baby snake in her margarita. "I leaned in to take a sip, and I noticed something hit me in the forehead, and I looked at my husband like, 'What was that?' " Andrews told 8 News. "When I turned around, I saw the snake in my margarita." She also told the outlet that she saw the reptile move and wrap around her straw. Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina/Facebook The Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina. Related: Customer Gets Blasted by Internet for Bringing Their Own Tea Bag to a Restaurant for Health Reasons Workers attempted to remove the snake with a stick, but to no avail. Another restaurant goer eventually grabbed the animal and took it outside. "I left shaking, I was traumatized," Andrews told 8 News of the incident, adding that the restaurant offered to move her to another seat, but she decided to leave instead. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Now, Andrews is worried there may be more snakes in the restaurant. "Is the mom there?" she told the outlet, highlighting how the reptile in her drink was a baby. Getty A small snake (stock image). Related: Restaurateur Claims 'Incredibly Rude' A-List Singer Left a Waitress 'in Tears' and Would 'Belittle' Staff The owner of Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina told 8 News that the snake likely entered through an air conditioning unit. He also reportedly told the outlet that no precautions were being taken to keep the incident from happening again. 8 News reviewed records from the Virginia Department of Health that revealed the restaurant had several violations during an inspection in December 2024, including mold, broken handles and a missing ceiling tile. The violations were later corrected within a week. The Virginia-based restaurant has two locations: one in Sandston and another in Chester. The Patron Mexican Restaurant and Cantina did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Sunday, April 27. Read the original article on People Catholic worshippers on Sunday lined up in crowds outside the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, where Pope Francis was laid to rest on Saturday, to pay their respects to the late pontiff at his tomb. Francis tomb, made of white marble from Liguria, the Italian region where his mothers family is from, was engraved only with his Latin name, Franciscus. Mourners line up outside Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, or St. Mary Major, on Sunday. People take photos of Pope Francis tomb. A single white rose was placed on the stone slab under a crucifix, an enlarged replica of Francis pectoral cross, and illuminated by a spotlight. The tomb is placed in a niche next to the chapel in the basilica that Francis visited more than a hundred times to pray to the icon of the Virgin Mary, for whom he had a long-held affinity during his 12-year papacy. The place of remembrance for the late pope, who died at age 88 on Monday, also symbolizes his final wish for simplicity. Francis chose this as his place of burial because it reflects his humble, simple and essential life, the archbishop who administers the basilica said Friday. The humble tomb of Pope Francis. According to his wishes, it is inscribed only with his name in Latin, Franciscus. A nun prays at the late popes tomb. The tomb was opened a day after hundreds of thousands of mourners and world leaders gathered for a public funeral at the Vatican. His casket was then taken in a final journey to St. Mary Major, where the pope was met, according to his wishes, by dozens of Romes impoverished and needy, including prisoners, migrants, homeless and transgender people. A private burial ceremony presided over by the cardinal camerlengo, Kevin Farrell, followed shortly after, with only senior cardinals and Francis family members in attendance. The hall at St. Mary Major. Francis is the first pope in over a century not to be buried inside the walls of Vatican City. Funeral rites for the late pope are held for nine days after his burial as he is mourned and celebrated by the faithful. During this time, the Vatican will also prepare for the process to elect a new pope, known as the conclave, which must begin within 15 to 20 days of the popes death. The Holy See has not yet released details of the upcoming conclave. Michael Putland/Getty Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach in 1981. Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach's love story is more than 40 years in the making. In fact, on April 27, 2025 it will be exactly 44 years since the pair tied the knot in front of 70 guests in London after meeting on the set of the movie Caveman not long before. In celebration of the couple's anniversary, here's a look back at some iconic photos from the early days of their relationship! In Character Courtesy Everett Collection Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr. Starr and Bach first met more than 40 years ago on the set of the 1981 movie, Caveman, in which they played love interests. The two were both in relationships at the time and told Playboy in 1981 that they "weren't together" until the end of the filming. "A lot of garbage has been written about us, none of it interesting," Bach said. "The truth is, we weren't together until the very end of Caveman. Working, we got along fine, but we each had other people, our respective friends. Then, all of a sudden, within a week the last week of shooting it just happened. We changed from friendly love to being in love." Young Love Bettmann Archive Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr. Not long after wrapping up filming for Caveman, the two cozied up together during an appearance on The John Davidson Show. Wedding Bells Ringo Starr Instagram The two tied the knot in April of 1981 in front of about 70 guests including fellow former Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison (seen here with the bride and groom.) Family Time Express/Getty Images 27th April 1981: Left to right, Francesca Gregorini, American actress Barbara Bach, English musician Ringo Starr, and Lee Starkey walk together hand in hand on Starr and Bach's wedding day, London, England. This was the second wedding for both Starr and Bach. Bach is wearing a wedding dress designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. The couple was joined by their respective children on their special day. Above, Bach holds hands with her daughter Francesca Gregorini, whom she shares with Italian entrepreneur Augusto Gregorini, while Starr locks hands with his daughter Lee Starkey, whom he shared with the late Maureen Starkey Tigrett. Rocking and Rolling Ron Galella Collection via Getty Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach. The pair wore coordinated looks with Starr's tie matching Bach's red shawl while attending an event at the Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1980. On the Move Alan Davidson/Shutterstock Arm-in-arm, the two arrived at a July 4th party hosted by Michael Caine in 1981. 80s Glam Michael Putland/Getty The two looked oh-so-cool while spending time together in London in 1981. Pucker Up Michael Putland/Getty Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach. And were sure to sneak in a sweet smooch! Shades On Mirrorpix/Courtesy Everett It's no surprise that the starry (wink, wink) pair are a couple of jetsetters. here, the two are seen heading to L.A. in the early 1980s. Decades of Love Dave Benett/Getty Starr and Bach were all dressed up star-themed glasses and all at this 1990 soiree. After more than 40 years of marriage, the couple told PEOPLE that their long-lasting love comes down to just a few simple things: "I love the man, and that's it," Bach said. Starr added, "There's no escape I think I love Barbara as much [today] as I did [when we met] and I'm beyond blessed that she loves me and we're still together." Read the original article on People Law enforcement authorities on Sunday arrested a second individual in South Florida connected to the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noems purse, according to two sources familiar with the situation. This second offender is implicated in a pattern of thefts and robberies with the primary defendant who is accused of the robbery of the Secretary. He was taken into custody earlier today with critical assistance from the Miami Beach, Florida police department and immigration and customs enforcement, a Secret Service spokesperson said. The second suspect, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin, is also in the country illegally. The person was charged with drivers license/possession of stolen or fictitious identification, Miami Beach police said, which is a state violation. NBC News confirmed the name of that first suspect involved in the case, Mario E. Bustamante Leiva, a 49-year-old Chilean national. Martin told NBC News that Bustamante Leiva, who was arrested Saturday, is also in the country illegally. It is not believed Bustamante Leiva targeted Noem because she was the Department of Homeland Security chief, Martin said. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters on April 9, 2025, in Washington. There is no indication it was because of that. It was frankly, it was a nice looking purse, Martin said in a recorded telephone interview. In the call, Martin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now involved. President Trumps direction to us is we charge these folks that are here illegally and we prosecute them, as well as deport them when need be, you know, as soon as that can happen, Martin said, adding: What I can tell you is he wont be back on the streets in America. The person who took the bag knew what he was doing, Martin said. This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out. Matt McCool, an United States Secret Service official overseeing the agency's Washington field office, alleged Bustamante Leiva is a "serial offender." "The investigation revealed alleged criminal activity, including potential device and credit card fraud," McCool said in a statement. "Given this, the Secret Service will maintain jurisdiction over the case and intends to present its findings to a federal court in coordination with the United States Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia." The Metropolitan Police Department and United States Secret Service announced in a joint statement on Sunday that Bustamante Leiva has been charged with two counts of robbery, related to two alleged incidents predating Noem's bag theft. In each case, "a suspect approached the victim as they ate in a restaurant, stole their purse from the back of their seat, and fled the scene," the statement read, adding, "Leiva faces additional charges for an offense being investigated by the United States Secret Service." As DHS secretary, Noem receives Secret Service protection. When asked for comment from the U.S. Secret Service agent that was providing protection for Noem, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, For the safety of our agents and officers, we are not in a position to confirm or comment at this time. Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures. Noems purse was stolen when a masked man walked into Capital Burger, a restaurant in D.C., last Sunday night. The man passed two plainclothes Secret Service officers who were sitting at the bar on his way to her table, which was upstairs. He then sat down next to Noems table, where she was eating with her family, and put his foot on her purse to drag it toward himself, according to two sources familiar who viewed the surveillance footage. Then, he swiftly picked it up, tucked it under his jacket and walked out, passing the protection agents on his way out. Noems purse contained $3,000 cash, as well as her DHS access badge, her passport, various credit cards, blank checks, a set of keys and her drivers license. NBC News asked Noem about the situation on Monday at the White House Easter Egg Roll. She said she couldnt provide a comment or details. I dont think I can comment on it yet, she said. Its not resolved yet. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that American military and commercial ships should be allowed to travel through the Panama Canal and Suez Canal free of charge. "Ive asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The Panama Canal crosses the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America, allowing ships to move more quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It carries about 40% of U.S. container traffic each year. The U.S. completed construction of the canal in the early 20th century but gave control of the strategically important waterway to Panama in 1999. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to "take back" the canal. Before taking office in January, he told reporters that he would not rule out using economic or military force to regain control over the canal. (Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Matthew Lewis) Cindy Ord/Getty Pete Davidson attends the "All In: Comedy About Love By Simon Rich" Gala in December 2024 Pete Davidson shared with PEOPLE exclusively the truth behind his confidence, despite what it may appear like in the media The Saturday Night Live alum opened up about his mindset that helps him cope with public perception, pressures and varying interactions Davidson recalled advice a friend shared that sticks with him today about what actually matters in life, including family above all Pete Davidson is getting real. The Saturday Night Live alum opened up to PEOPLE exclusively about his self-confidence, revealing the truth behind his outward-facing personality and mindset despite what it may seem like in the media. "If you guys think I have confidence, I have been fooling everyone," Davidson, 31, admits to PEOPLE exclusively when asked where he gets his own confidence from, before then reflecting on a piece of his past that had a large impact on his life. "It's so difficult to say anything in print and not be afraid to come across the wrong way," he continues. "But I had a really sh--ty childhood and like the worst thing that ever could have happened to me, happened to me when I was seven." Davidson was just seven years old when his dad, Scott Matthew Davidson, an N.Y.C. firefighter, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. He has often spoken about his late father, both in interviews and on social media, and honors him, too. Related: Pete Davidson Admits He's Had Same Smell Since High School. Here's Why He Compares It to a 'Little Angel' (Exclusive) Will Heath/NBC via Getty Pete Davidson on 'Saturday Night Live' in October 2023 Since then, the Staten Island native tells PEOPLE how his mentality has evolved, and opened up about what really matters to him in life despite different pressures and interactions that arise day in and day out. "I've kind of just been like, 'F--k it. Like who the cares?' You know? And like, "F--k everyone'," he says. The comedian admitted that he's "obviously fallen into traps" in the past, before then going on to cite a few examples. "Trying to be of service to others and not take care of myself, and like just try people please," he transparently shares. Over time, Davidson has learned what's ultimately really important in his life. It's "newer" for him, but it's freeing. Related: Pete Davidson's Parents: All About His Mom Amy and Late Dad Scott Theo Wargo/Getty Images Pete Davidson attends Paramount's "Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts" premiere in June 2023. "At the end of the day, it's like your family matters and your two or three friends that you have matter. Everybody else can go f--k themselves," he says, adding, "And you don't have to put all this pressure on yourself." "This is sort of newer for me," he continues of this mental approach to public perception. "But I think it kind of shows if you see me now... it's a little different because I went through something pretty tough." "I just think who cares what people you don't even know think?" he adds. "Like who the f--k cares You don't know them." The Bupkis actor then shared a piece of advice his friend previously told him that helps put anxious thoughts into perspective. He recalled the specific instance that prompted his pal to impart some guidance. Related: Pete Davidson Pays Tribute to His Late Dad as He Makes Rare Public Appearance After Seeking Mental Health Treatment Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Pete Davidson during an interview with host Seth Meyers in February 2025 "I was feeling really bad about... I just thought this certain celebrity didn't like me," Davidson remembers. "It was a couple of years ago and my friend, who I've been friends with forever said, 'Hey man, no one is thinking about you like that. No one gives a f--k about you'." "'Everyone is just thinking about themselves and the only thing people want from you is when they see you on TV, they want to laugh. That's it'," the stand-up comic continues of his friends' advice. "'Everyone's so wrapped up in their own s--t, so don't worry about it'." Elsewhere in the interview, Davidson spoke with PEOPLE about his partnership with AXE and the brand's new campaign centered around helping younger guys embrace their self-confidence and feel comfortable in their own skin. The New Yorker, who's famously not on social media, shared tips about in-person communication and overcoming fears to interact face-to-face as opposed to hide behind a screen. The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Pete Davidson during an interview on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' in January 2025 "As far as young dudes, I'm having a tough time in today's society and I can't imagine growing up with a device, a phone or a computer that just makes you miserable all day and tricks you into thinking you have to go on it all day," he says. To Davidson, he believes "a lot of innocence is taken away" and "a lot of anxiety is provided" as a result. "I just think social media and the internet in general is the devil and I just think there's going to be new studies in the next five, 10, 20 years of how it ruined, you know, the future of humans." Although he acknowledges it can be "scary" and "uncomfortable" to drop the phone, Davidson confidently concludes: "I promise you it's so worth it to talk to a human and see that there is goodness in the world." Read the original article on People It's been six years since she lost her son, yet Linda Preka Thom still wakes up every night haunted by the image of him dying on a hallway floor, surrounded by hecklers who laughed, dumped water on him, recorded video of him struggling to breathe, and then posted it all on Snapchat. Even his death. He was poisoned. Her son's friends had tricked him into thinking they had given him Adderall to help him study, police said, when they actually had slipped him the dangerous party drug known as "Molly," apparently as a joke. Then, over four hours, as he slid into delirium and ultimately died, his friends taunted him with comments like "Keep your eyes straight, dammit" and forced coffee down his throat all while a camera was rolling. "I wake up every single night. All I see are the eyes of my son on the floor, looking at the camera. His eyes are terrified," Thom said through tears in a recent interview, noting she has watched the video too many times. But it's that gut-wrenching video, she said, that keeps her going. After years of sleepless nights, agonizing, crying, begging for answers, Thom still is fighting for justice for her son: Denis Preka, of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, who died one day shy of his 22nd birthday during what was supposed to be a study night at his friend's house on March 19, 2019. To date, no one has been held criminally responsible for his death and it has pushed the grieving mother to her limits. An undated photo of Denis Preka, 21, of Grosse Pointe Farms, a University of Detroit Mercy student who died in 2019 after his friends slipped him "Molly," police said, then mocked his reaction and posted videos of his suffering and death on Snapchat. On March 19, the sixth anniversary of her son's death, Thom filed a formal complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against prosecutors in the case. She alleges they made ethical and legal missteps in dismissing the criminal charges against the man who allegedly fed her son the lethal drugs and livestreamed his suffering and death. This same man, Snapchat and police records show, was a convicted drug dealer who was out on probation the night he allegedly drugged Denis Preka and laughed while he was in distress, telling him: "This is the best moment of your life, dammit." The words make Thom's blood boil. She said she is angry and frustrated about a lot of things: like how a jury concluded this same man and his friend did something so bad, that it awarded her family $75 million last summer in a wrongful death lawsuit that used the same evidence prosecutors had. Yet, the prosecution dismissed the criminal case which involves a higher burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt saying it did not have sufficient evidence. Thom, however, maintains they didn't care enough about her son's case. Attorney General's Office reinvestigating case 'I'm not letting this go' The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office dismissed the case on Feb. 23, 2022, one day before the first big hearing in its historic case against James and Jennifer Crumbley, the now-convicted parents of the Oxford High School shooter. It was the preliminary proceeding when prosecutors persuaded the judge to send the Crumbleys to trial. That same day, after seeing the prosecutor on TV, Thom fired off an email. "With all due respect to the families who lost their children in Oxford, my son's life is no less important," Thom wrote. "Your office didn't want to fight for my son." Thom, though, has renewed hope in her fight for justice as her son's case is now in the hands of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Office, which took over the investigation last fall. She said she is hopeful the AG's Office will soon announce criminal charges against three men who were at the house the night her son died the same men she sued in civil court, though one of the individuals was dismissed from that case. "The Department of Attorney General is investigating this matter. That investigation remains ongoing," Danny Wimmer, press secretary to the AG's office, said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. He declined further comment. Linda Preka Thom celebrates her last Christmas with her son Denis Preka, a college student who died after ingesting a lethal dose of MDMA and MDA. Thom, meanwhile, isn't letting up. "Without finding justice for my son no mother moves on, Thom said. "I'm outraged. I'm not letting this go." A night of studying ends in tragedy 'Oh my God, oh my God' According to police records, court transcripts, and Snapchat reports and videos viewed by the Free Press, here are the events that allegedly unfolded on the eve of spring in 2019 when a University of Detroit Mercy college student, Preka, went over to his friend's house to study for an exam. On March 18, 2019, Preka went to his friend Paul Wiedmaier's house in Novi, Michigan, about a half hour outside Detroit. He intended to spend the night and prepare for a test the next day. At about 10 p.m., Wiedmaier invited two friends over, including Nicholas Remington, a University of Michigan student who had previously been convicted of dealing drugs and was out on probation that night. At some point in the evening, while Preka was studying, he asked Wiedmaier for Adderall to help him study, but Wiedmaier said he didn't have any. Wiedmaier then told the other two friends about Preka's request, and a plan was hatched to give him MDMA and Molly instead, as a joke to see how he would react. According to witnesses, it was Remington who gave Preka the drug, also known as Ecstacy, over a period of several hours. Preka first took a pill. His friends told him it was Ritalin because, they explained, they didn't have Adderall. About 11 p.m., Preka did a Google search on his computer for the "side effects of Ritalin" as he was beginning to lose control of his faculties, records show. What followed were hours of him struggling to focus, talk and breathe. His eyes were sunken and darkened. At one point, he was in a chair with his head thrown back, saying "Oh my God. Oh my God." But the heckling continued, with one person telling him: "Keep your eyes straight, dammit. This is the best moment of your life." This was one of multiple events that were livestreamed to a Snapchat account under the name "Hulkolas." That was Remington's Snapchat handle. Videos show someone pouring water on him and in his mouth. Another shows someone holding a coffee cup over his mouth. One viewer was mortified by what she saw, and preserved the videos and gave them to the police. Several Snapchat users also sent messages to the account asking what drugs he had given him. "Methylone, some Moll," the Hulkolas account responded. The last Snapchat video posted came at 1:50 a.m., March 19, 2019. It showed Preka on the floor with someone throwing water at his face. The video included a filter "it's Watering Time!" Denis Preka died after ingesting a lethal dose of MDMA and MDA. Friends poured water on him and posted clips on social media but did not call 911 until the next day. According to the medical examiner, Preka died from edema and congestion of the brain and lungs within minutes of that video being posted. Toxicology results showed he had 80 times more than a fatal dose of Molly and MDMA in his system. During his four hours of spiraling, no one called 911. At 3:04 a.m., a college student at the house sent Remington, who had left by then, a private Snapchat message: "Come ... Just left me here ... Holy (expletive) ... You're the worst friend" Remington responded at 9:14 a.m.: "Wake him up and give him water." But by then, Preka already was dead. His friends had found his body and called 911 at 9:11 a.m. Friend: 'I dont know what he took. I didnt see what he took' Wiedmaier, one of the two college students found civilly liable for Preka's death, maintains he is innocent of wrongdoing. He said he never saw his friend take any drugs, didnt see anyone give him anything, and had no idea that someone was posting live videos that night to Snapchat. Nick never told me, By the way, Im posting videos, He was doing it on his own volition, Wiedmaier told the Free Press in a March phone interview. Remington, the other student found civilly liable in the wrongful death case, was the only one to be criminally charged. Wiedmaier also said he didnt know the severity of Prekas condition that night, saying he asked him whether he was OK and whether he needed to be taken to the hospital, but that Preka indicated to me that he was OK. He was like, Im fine. Are you fine? I would have done the right thing if I had gotten the right information, Wiedmaier said, maintaining: I dont know what he took. I didnt see what he took. In hindsight, Wiedmaier said: I wish I would have just called the hospital. According to police reports, Wiedmaier gave misleading statements to police when they first questioned him about the incident. I was scared at that point, he explained to the Free Press. I didnt want to get arrested for something I didnt do. Remington could not be reached for comment. His mother declined comment. And his lawyer, Neal Rockind, did not return calls for comment. Snapchats tell a devastating story 'U killed him' During their investigation, Novi police subpoenaed Snapchat and obtained numerous chats or Snaps, as they are called that were shared among users in the hours and days before and after Preka's death. They are among several pieces of evidence that prosecutors had tried to use, and that the family still believes implicate Preka's friends in his death. The day after the tragedy, another student who was at the house all night and was there when Preka's body was found, texted a friend: "Dude he murdered someone ... Denise (sic) parents are rich and they will find out the truth one way or the other." On March 29, 2019 10 days after the tragedy this same student and the Hulkolas account started blaming each other in private Snapchat messages. The Hulkolas account: "You have just as much responsibility as me. And u just throw some (blame) on me like I did it when not nearly no one did nothing." Friend: "But u killed him ... And mol ... U gave him methylone. Giving him more when he was already (expletive) ... U r trying to blame me for any fallout of u (expletive) killing Denis." For District Court Judge Travis Reeds, that last message was especially compelling. "I think that's the most clear SNAP that Mr. Remington actually provided the drugs," Reeds said during a September 2019 hearing, when he concluded there was sufficient evidence to send the case to trial. But that never happened. Case unravels as Snapchat evidence deemed unreliable; prosecutor accused of misconduct Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald inherited the Preka case in 2021, after winning election to the post in the November 2020 election. By 2022, she would dismiss the charges after a judge concluded that the previous prosecutor had engaged in prosecutorial misconduct, declared the Snapchat evidence unreliable, and prohibited it from being used as evidence in the case. At issue was whether someone else could have been posting to Snapchat on the night Preka died, as the defense argued. The prosecution scoffed at that idea. So did a judge, who said "I don't think it's rational. I looked at every single one of these SNAPS." The Snapchat account in question belongs to the man accused of giving Preka the drugs, then recording his suffering. Remington was charged in Preka's death with delivery of a controlled substance causing death, which carries a maximum life sentence. He was jailed on a $1 million cash bond, though his lawyer would ultimately get his bond reduced to $10,000, and the charges dropped. Here's how it happened: Rockind argued early on that someone else other than his client could have used Remington's Snapchat account to post the troubling videos on social media the night Preka died. As he told the judge at a hearing, "all it would take is for someone to have access to the account and a password." Coincidentally, that exact scenario actually did happen the day before the hearing, when someone accessed Remington's Snapchat account while he was in jail. Preka's father had been given a screenshot of what appeared to be someone else using that Snapchat account, and showed it after a hearing to the former assistant prosecutor, who told the father to turn it over to the police for further investigation, court records show. But the former assistant prosecutor did not disclose that to the defense, which more than a year later would trigger claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Prosecutor: 'I fought tooth and nail to save that case' It was Marc Keast, the new assistant prosecutor on the case, who made the misconduct claim, telling the judge that after inheriting the case and reviewing the police file, he had discovered evidence that the former assistant prosecutor did not give to the defense. Keast then provided that information to Rockind, the defense attorney, who, in turn, sought to have the case dismissed on prosecutorial misconduct grounds. Oakland County Circuit Judge Victoria Valentine did not dismiss the case, but she concluded the former assistant prosecutor had engaged in misconduct, and consequently ruled the Snapchat evidence was unreliable and could not be used at trial. Five days after the judge issued that ruling, Remington, who by then had been released on a $10,000 bond, took to Snapchat, posting: "New Court Order Prosecutor hid evidence ... Took u long enough. Nice job tryna pin me. Dis case boutta get dismissed boyyyy!!!!!" He was right. The new prosecution also agreed that the Snapchat evidence was unreliable, but went a step further than the judge, dismissing the case entirely. "Our investigator's findings have caused this office to conclude that we do not have sufficient evidence to proceed, and thus must dismiss this case," Keast wrote in a Feb. 18, 2022, letter to Linda Preka Thom, the victim's mother. "We have determined the records received from Snapchat are not reliable ... That would leave witnesses testimony as the only remaining evidence." According to court documents, the witnesses also were unreliable, uncooperative and kept changing their stories, which could have made for a difficult prosecution. Keast also said the prosecutor's office recreated the investigation using both the Snapchat evidence and no Snapchat evidence, but concluded that in either scenario, it did not have enough to prosecute the case. In closing his letter to Thom, Keast stated: "I am truly sorry to have to share this news with you." In a recent interview with the Free Press, Keast defended his handling of the case. "I fought tooth and nail to keep this case alive," Keast said, stressing his office "did everything by the book" when it inherited the Preka case from the previous prosecutor. He also said that he felt badly for the victim's parents, Linda and Jamie Thom. "I reported to the court exactly what I found. I just represented the facts," Keast said, adding: "My heart breaks for Linda and Jamie. It absolutely breaks for them." Former prosecutor: 'I was crushed ... I was confident in the case' Thom doesn't buy any of it. She has spent years investigating her son's death and has amassed hundreds of pages of investigative reports that, she says, refute the prosecution's claims. She alleges that it's McDonald and Keast who engaged in wrongdoing not the former assistant prosecutor by pushing what Thom views as a bogus claim of misconduct. Linda Preka Thom celebrates her last Christmas with her son Denis Preka, a college student who died after ingesting a lethal dose of MDMA and MDA. Keast, however, has argued that the former assistant prosecutor had access to two police reports involving Remington's Snapchat account being used by someone else. He also produced emails that were sent from a detective to the former assistant prosecutor, showing her search warrant affidavits that were filed to learn more about who was using the Snapchat account. But, he said, she never turned any of that information over to the defense. In an interview with the Free Press, that former Oakland County assistant prosecutor, Beth Hand, denied withholding evidence from the defense, saying: "It absolutely did not happen. I would never do that." "My integrity is everything to me. It has been my entire career. The accusation that I would ever intentionally withhold evidence is absurd, its absolutely absurd," Hand told the Free Press, adding: "I have no recollection of ever receiving a report." Hand, who is now the Mason County Prosecutor in western Michigan, said she was distraught when she learned the case was dismissed by the prosecution, and Valentine declared the Snapchat evidence inadmissible. "I was crushed. I was confident in the case that I had written, and I was confident in the evidence that I had in order to seek justice for Denis and his family," Hand said. She noted the same defense argument that got the charges dismissed had been made in district court proceedings, where the judge did not consider it valid. Hand struggled to talk about the Snapchat videos from that tragic night. "They'll never leave me," Hand said through tears of the troubling images. 'Snapchat is unreliable? Seriously? ... Thank God I was able to see that video' After the prosecution dismissed the case, Thom became her own investigator and submitted a Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, request to the prosecutor's office for all its files in her son's case. She has since become a relentless warrior for her son, contacting law enforcement and government agencies of all sorts for help, including the Novi police, the AG's office, the FBI and legislators. "You're telling me Snapchat is unreliable? Seriously?" Thom said. "My son was murdered on Snapchat." Denis Preka, pictured in the center, poses in this family vacation photo in Scotland. Preka, 21, of Grosse Pointe Farms, a University of Detroit Mercy student, died of an overdose in 2019 after his friends slipped him the party drug "Molly," police said, then posted videos of his reaction and death on Snapchat. Thom alleges that it was Keast and McDonald who engaged in misconduct by not disclosing information that they had before dropping the case. Thom said they had evidence showing the person who used Remington's Snapchat account while Remington was in jail was a friend at the house the night her son died and a witness in the case. "The defendant obstructed justice and gave his best friend and eyewitness ... login credentials to his Snapchat account," Thom argues, stressing the prosecution "had this information. It could have been an obstruction of justice charge. But they never did anything." In her formal complaint with the Grievance Commission, Thom notes that Rockind, the defense attorney, and his wife donated nearly $20,000 to McDonald's 2020 and 2024 political campaigns, and in a 2020 Facebook post, McDonald thanks supporters, including Rockind, who started his career as an assistant prosecutor in the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office. McDonald has adamantly denied the allegation, calling it "outrageous." Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, "This is what remorse looks like," before the sentencing of James and Jennifer Crumbley, in the Oakland County courtroom of Judge Cheryl Matthews on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. The Crumbleys are the parents of the Oxford High School shooter from 2021, and both were found guilty on four counts of involuntary manslaughter. "We can unequivocally state that campaign donations did not influence this case, or any other case, handled by the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office," Jeff Wattrick, a spokesperson for McDonald, said in a statement to the Free Press. "Like all elected officials ... McDonald has received campaign donations from numerous individuals, including many attorneys. " The statement continues: "At no time has Prosecutor McDonald provided Neal Rockind or any of his clients with preferential treatment, nor has she used her office to benefit donors, friends, or special interests in any way. The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney is a sacred trust and a public service that Karen McDonald takes seriously." Thom is unbowed. "I am broken to pieces," she said through tears. "It's been six years. I haven't heard his voice. He was the kindest human being." She remains focused on the video that plays over and over in her head and wakes her up every night at 2 a.m. near the reported time of her son's death. "I know its bad for my heart," Thom said. "But I thank God that I was able to see that video. That was the fuel and I am going to find justice, I have no doubt." Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'My son was murdered on Snapchat': Mom's fight for justice never ends Investigators work at the scene where Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo) MOSCOW (AP) A man suspected of killing a Russian general with a car bomb pleaded guilty to terrorism charges and said he was paid by the Ukrainian Security Service, Russian authorities said Sunday. The Investigative Committee said Ignat Kuzin admitted he was paid to kill Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. Moskalik was killed Friday by a bomb in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow. Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack, the second in four months targeting a top Russian military officer that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine amid the conflict between the neighboring countries. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was killed on Dec. 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Ukraines security agency acknowledged it was behind the attack. Kirillov was the chief of Russias Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemys use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment. Kirillovs assistant also died in the attack. Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in the fighting in Ukraine. By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Sunday Washington was in touch with both India and Pakistan while urging them to work towards what it called a "responsible solution" as tensions have risen between the two Asian nations following a recent Islamist militant attack in Kashmir. In public, the U.S. government has expressed support for India after the attack but has not criticized Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed over two dozen people. Pakistan denies responsibility and called for a neutral probe. "This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. "The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution," the spokesperson added. The State Department spokesperson also said Washington "stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam," reiterating comments similar to recent ones made by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. India is an increasingly important U.S. partner as Washington aims to counter China's rising influence in Asia while Pakistan remains a U.S. ally even as its importance for Washington has diminished after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan. Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for the Foreign Policy magazine, said India is now a much closer U.S. partner than Pakistan. "This may worry Islamabad that if India retaliates militarily, the U.S. may sympathize with its counter-terrorism imperatives and not try to stand in the way," Kugelman told Reuters. Kugelman also said that given Washington's involvement and ongoing diplomatic efforts in Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's war in Gaza, the Trump administration is "dealing with a lot on its global plate" and may leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the tensions. Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the U.S. and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, also said that there seemed to be no U.S. appetite to calm the situation at this moment. "India has a longstanding grievance about terrorism emanating or supported from across border. Pakistan has a longstanding belief that India wants to dismember it. Both work themselves into a frenzy every few years. This time there is no U.S. interest in calming things down," Haqqani said. ESCALATING TENSIONS Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan who each rule over only parts of it and have previously fought wars over the Himalayan region. Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the attackers to "the ends of the earth" and said that those who planned and carried out the Kashmir attack "will be punished beyond their imagination". Calls have also grown from Indian politicians and others for military action against Pakistan. After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries. The two sides have also exchanged fire across their de facto border after four years of relative calm. A little-known militant group, Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen. Ned Price, a former U.S. State Department official under the administration of former President Joe Biden, said that while the Trump administration was giving this issue the sensitivity it deserves, a perception that it would back India at any cost may escalate tensions further. "The Trump Administration has made clear it wishes to deepen the U.S.-India partnership a laudable goal but that it is willing to do so at almost any cost. If India feels that the Trump Administration will back it to the hilt no matter what, we could be in store for more escalation and more violence between these nuclear-armed neighbors," Price said. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Don Durfee and Diane Craft) Members of the U.S. Coast Guard from U.S. Coast Guard cutter James await the arrival of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel for a news conference on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, at Port Everglades, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett /South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP) WASHINGTON (AP) The wife of an active-duty Coast Guardsman was arrested earlier this week by federal immigration authorities inside the family residential section of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Key West, Florida, after she was flagged in a routine security check, officials said Saturday. The spouse is not a member of the Coast Guard and was detained by Homeland Security Investigations pursuant to a lawful removal order, said Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Steve Roth in a statement confirming Thursdays on-base arrest. The Coast Guard works closely with HSI and others to enforce federal laws, including on immigration. According to a U.S. official, the woman's work visa expired around 2017, and she was marked for removal from the United States a few years later. She and the Coast Guardsman were married early this year, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an enforcement incident. Though the Trump administration has made immigration arrests a top priority for federal law enforcement, it did not immediately appear the on-base arrest of the military spouse was part of a broader sweep. The official said that when the woman and her Coast Guard husband were preparing to move into their on-base housing on Wednesday, they went to the visitor control center to get a pass so she could access the Key West installation. During the routine security screening required for base access, the woman's name was flagged as a problem. Base personnel contacted the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which looked into the matter, said the official. NCIS and Coast Guard security personnel got permission from the base commander to enter the installation and then went to the Coast Guardsman's home on Thursday, the official said. They were joined by personnel from Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within Immigration and Customs Enforcement. HSI eventually took the spouse into custody, and the official said they believe she is still being detained. Officials did not provide the name of the country she is from. The Coast Guard referred questions about the womans identity, immigration status and charges to ICE, which did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security also did not respond to a request for comment. The husband of the arrested woman is a Coast Guardsman assigned to the USCGC Mohawk, a 270-foot-long cutter based at Key West. The couple was moving into U.S. government housing at the nearby Naval Air Station. An online database that tracks ship movements shows the Mohawk has been docked in its home port since mid-March. A March 16 media release says the ship had recently returned following a 70-day deployment to the Eastern Pacific Ocean on a mission to intercept shipments of illegal drugs. In a statement, the Navy said that it fully cooperated with federal law enforcement authorities on this matter. We take security and access at naval installations seriously. ___ Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. A dispute over loud music ended with a well-known Wisconsin dentist being killed inside his apartment building. Keionna McGowan sobbed in court on Thursday when she was charged with gunning down her neighbor, Dr. Akintunde Bowden, after he allegedly asked her to turn down her music on Apr. 19, according to WISN 12. The 27-year-old was inside her northern Milwaukee apartment listening to tunes when she heard a banging on her front door, according to the criminal complaint reviewed by WISN 12. Keionna McGowan sobbed in court on Thursday. WISN 12 McGowan told police that she witnessed Bowden, 41, acting aggressively and believed that he was intoxicated. She allegedly opened her door and agreed to lower the volume of her music, but those assurances reportedly didnt de-escalate the situation. McGowan claimed she closed the door, but Bowden kicked it. She allegedly grabbed a gun, reopened the door, and fired at him when he tried to kick again, WISN 12 reported. McGowan reportedly was outside her Park Plaza Court apartment building screaming, Hes in my house, number 207 when Brown Deer Police Department officers arrived. Authorities discovered Bowden lying face down in McGowans doorway and pronounced him dead at the scene. McGowan is accused of shooting a well-known dentist on Apr. 19. WISN 12 The shooting happened at an apartment complex in a suburb of northern Milwaukee. WISN 12 The dentist was allegedly upset that McGowan was playing her music too loud. WISN 12 The dentist died from a single gunshot wound to his lower abdomen, according to a reported autopsy report by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office. McGowan was charged with second-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon on Thursday. McGowans preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 5, according to court records. Police found Dr. Akintunde Bowden dead at her apartments door. WISN 12 Dr. Bowden provided dental services to the community for over a decade. WISN 12 Dr. Bowdens contributions to the health and well-being of our patients and community were extremely impactful, Milwaukee Health Services said in a statement. His Leadership, Compassion, and vibrant personality will forever remain in our hearts. Bowdens brothers, Adeniji and Ogbonna both dentists claimed he loved his patients and spent over a decade providing dental services to those who could not afford them. He always reached for people that didnt have as much or didnt have what we consider a fair chance, Ogbonna told CBS 58. You know, I never thought that the last time I saw my brother would be the last time I saw my brother, Adeniji added. by Giorgio Bernardelli In Vietnamese churches, public memorial services are being held for the pontiff. On behalf of the communist authorities, a government official burnt incense in his memory at the headquarters of the Bishops' Conference. No cardinal from this lively and courageous Church will be at the conclave, but everyone remembers Franciss suggestion that his successor will certainly go to Vietnam. Milan (AsiaNews) Long queues of faithful are openly and freely honouring Pope Francis in cathedrals. An official paid homage to the late pontiff on behalf of the government by burning incense in front of the popes portrait at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam (CBCV). While analysts are trying to read some hidden meaning in the two lines of condolence published in China by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the popes death showed where the seed of dialogue is already bearing much fruit, namely in Chinas neighbour Vietnam, which offers a model for the delicate path relations between the Holy See and China could take. The news of Franciss death reached Vietnam on Monday just as the countrys Catholic bishops were gathered for the spring session of their assembly. Quickly, a delegation led by the CBCV president, Archbishop Giuse (Joseph) Nguyen Nang of Ho Chi Minh City, left for Rome to take part in the pontiff's funeral while the websites of the dioceses were filled with news about Pope Francis, stories from Rome, and the condolences from Vietnamese Catholics. Although it does not yet have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican, the Vietnamese government in Hanoi did not only send a delegation to the funeral service in St Peter's Square, but Vu Hoai Bac, the head of the Government Committee of Religious Affairs, paid tribute to Pope Francis in Ho Chi Minh City, at the CBCV headquarters, lighting incense in front of the pontiffs portrait and expressing his condolences to the Vietnamese Catholic community for the death of the Pastor of the universal Church. Vietnam is ruled by a one party Communist regime. The countrys political leadership is in the middle of power struggle, as To Lam's meteoric rise evinced last year. But in matters of religious freedom, the Catholic Church enjoys a far greater degree of freedom than what is granted to Chinese Catholics. This is the fruit of another process that Francis has strongly supported in his pontificate. In an interview with AsiaNews, Bishop Luy (Louis) Nguyen Anh Tuan of Ha Tinh and synod father, said that a turning point was the selfless service carried out by Christians to everyone during the pandemic. In 2022, after years of patient negotiations, the Vatican and Vietnam reached an agreement, paving the way for the return of a permanent representative of the Holy See in the country, after the last one was expelled 50 years ago with the arrival of the Viet Cong in Saigon. This is a crucial stage in the countrys painful recent history, which Pope Francis underscored in a letter to Vietnamese Catholics. Evoking your courage in working, your tenacity in difficulties, your sense of family and the other natural virtues to which you bear witness, the pontiff invited them to give thanks to God with joy, for Gods love is eternal and faithful forever. It is therefore somewhat of a paradox that in the conclave that is about to open, that of the record number of cardinals from Asia the two Vietnamese cardinals will not be eligible to take part because they are over 80. Both participated in the election of Benedict XVI and Francis. But Vietnamese Catholics are not too worried about this, for they have learnt through very different trials the way of fidelity to the Church. They will look to the conclave, placing their trust in the work of the Holy Spirit. This brings to mind the answer Francis gave a year and a half ago, during his return flight from Mongolia, when asked about the long-awaited trip to the Southeast Asian country, that only health reasons prevented him from doing. On that occasion, he said: If I do not go, I'm sure that [a future Pope] John XXIV will go!, a hint to what his successor might do. In Hanoi they know that thanks to Francis, that day is now near. Never Have I Ever: Participated in an Orgy Ever Been Curious About an Orgy? We Spoke to Someone Who Was Part of a Really Hot One Have you ever played Never Have I Ever before? Here are the rules: Everyone puts up ten fingers, and you go around in a circle and one by one share something sexy or scandalous that youve never done before. When someone else shares something you have done, you have to put one finger down and of course, drink. The first person to put all 10 fingers down loses (or wins, depending on how you look at it). Well, AskMen is still playing Never Have I Ever, and the rules are simple: In each edition of this column, we speak to someone about doing something new in bed, whether its a long-time fantasy, something that just happened, or even something they regret. They tell us everything so you get an inside look at what some sexual experiences are actually like. Full-blown orgies, where one is having sex with multiple people (at once), make threesomes seem vanilla by comparison. Few of us ever get an invite, and if we did, we might not know what to expect, or how to deal with such sensory overload. But because its impossible not, at the least, to be curious about orgies, a primal type of parties that have been happening since antiquity, we spoke with Mary, a 37-year-old, bisexual woman from Utah. RELATED: Here's What It's Really Like to Attend a Sex Party Mary participated in her first orgy last summer. There were twelve people present. Mary told us about the ice-breaker games, the scariest part, and the hottest part (phew!), plus advice for anyone considering the experience themself. AskMen: What were the circumstances under which you attended an orgy? Mary: My partner at the time had hosted or been involved with group sex parties. I was invited by him, he knew I had been interested and intrigued with group sex dynamics. This particular orgy had a dom/sub theme, roughly half the group showed up to participate in a dominant role and half in a submissive role. Hot. How did the orgy begin, and were their safety precautions? We began the night talking as a group, each person shared STI testing/status, desires for the orgy, kinks, safe words, hard limits. We did some icebreakers to help everyone loosen up (the group had a mix of people experienced in group sex and first timers). I know for participants that had different group sex experiences before, this party was different in that there was no heavy drinking/drugs allowed, and the conversations at the beginning of the night around consent/testing/limits/desires may not happen at other events. What did you wear? I wore a sexy black bodysuit, with a tight black dress over top for the beginning of the night. Did you have previous group sex experience before this? My other group sex experiences had only been threesomes. So what was it like? Everyone who identified in the sub role was blindfolded and led to the bedroom by the dom. For the beginning of the group sex, us subs were paired off with a dom/domme, plus we were blindfolded, so there was a lot of auditory stimulation, which is a big turn on for me. I could hear what was going on around me, directions being given, moans, but I couldnt see what was happening. RELATED: How to Use Blindfolds to Make Sex Even Hotter The best part was the connection I made with another girl at the party in a submissive role, she and I bonded right away, and ended up being paired off with a husband/wife dominating us. I was somewhat nervous, so she and I holding hands and being directed to get each other off was really beautiful. Once the night went on, blindfolds came off and it was more of a traditional group sex dynamic. I found that I loved watching this beautiful woman ride my partners dick until she came, while she and I kissed. I loved seeing the different forms of pleasure and sex going on around me. Another favorite moment was when several people restrained me, holding me down, while one person used a magic wand on me and forced me to orgasm over and over with everyone else watching. What, if anything, was challenging? The most challenging part for me was only initial nerves and fear, as I had not met my partners other partners and was worried I would be jealous or want to flee. However, I am glad I pushed myself to face my feelings and insecurities. It led to an intense night of pleasure, personal growth, and strengthened my relationship. What advice would you give to someone else considering trying an orgy? Advice I would give to someone considering group sex is to evaluate your insecurities and communication if youre in a relationship and participating in group sex together. RELATED: Possible Negative Consequences of a Threesome At this party, there were several couples that ended up leaving shortly after people started having sex, because someone was triggered and had a large, unexpected, emotional response. I would also think about the people youre engaging with, maybe more anonymous is your style, or maybe it will be a more positive experience with people you know and can debrief with afterwards Would you do it again? I would definitely like to have group sex again! It confirmed some of my kinks, like how much I like watching and being watched. Editors Note: This marks the 69th instalment of the Never Have I Ever series. Nice. We think that's a fitting point to call it a day; this column has been ongoing since 2018, after all, and there are only so many sexual experiences! We're going to end regular monthly publication of the column here, but there may still be new ones from time to time. In the immediate future, Sophie will be launching a new monthly column for AskMen shortly. Keep your eyes peeled! You Might Also Dig: Champion local news. Join our community of readers who value daily beat reporting and in-depth stories alike. Your membership allows us to continue the legacy of local, independent journalism in the Roaring Fork Valley. With your support, we can remain a free and accessible source of news for everyone, always without paywalls or corporate influence. Together, we can ensure that vital local stories are told. 27 April 2025 09:00 (UTC+04:00) Akbar Novruz Read more In an era defined by growing fractures in the global order and intensifying East-West rivalries, new alliances are quietly redrawing the map of economic cooperation. As traditional structures strain under geopolitical pressure, emerging partnerships are beginning to offer an alternative visionone grounded in connectivity, mutual respect, and shared development. The latest wave of strategic agreements, infrastructure investments, and reciprocal policies signals a deepening commitment among mid-sized powers to chart their own coursebuilding bridges across Eurasia and cultivating a multipolar foundation for resilient economic growth. The state visit of President Ilham Aliyev to China has ushered in a new chapter in AzerbaijanChina relations, one that extends far beyond ceremonial diplomacy. Taking place amid rising global tensionsparticularly the ongoing tariff war between the United States and Chinathe timing of this visit speaks volumes. It signals Azerbaijans growing geopolitical relevance and its commitment to diversifying alliances in a world increasingly shaped by multipolar dynamics. As Washington and Beijing drift further apart, with no signs of de-escalation, Baku's strategic outreach to China reflects a calculated and forward-looking foreign policya departure from a strictly Western-dominated geopolitical outlook. The optics of this visit underscore Beijings trust in Azerbaijan as a stable and reliable partner in the heart of Eurasia. The highlight of the visit was the elevation of Azerbaijan-China relations to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership. This upgrade confirms that the two nations view each other as priority partners in political, economic, and security terms. Mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and chosen development paths was emphasized, with China notably expressing full support for Azerbaijans peace agenda in the South Caucasus. Importantly, this new level of partnership is not rhetoricalit is grounded in sustained, high-level diplomacy. Over the past year, a steady stream of government and private sector delegations has flowed between Baku and Beijing, fostering connectivity and unlocking cooperation in energy, technology, infrastructure, and cultural exchange. What Azerbaijan seeksand what China offers? The visit also delivered tangible gains in line with Azerbaijans development priorities: foreign investment, joint ventures, technology transfer, and enhanced logistical infrastructure. The establishment of a Working Group on Investment Cooperation and the signing of an Agreement on International Multimodal Transport show that both countries are committed to practical outcomes. A key achievement is the agreement on mutual visa-free travel, making Azerbaijan only the 26th country globally to enjoy this privilege with China. This move will accelerate bilateral tourism, business travel, academic exchanges, and cultural engagement. With China sending 87 million tourists abroad in 2023, Azerbaijans tourism sector could soon witness a significant boost. Additionally, Chinese investors and industrialists, now able to visit Azerbaijan visa-free, will find expanded opportunities in Alat Free Economic Zone, industrial parks, and tech hubs. Interest from Chinese firms in green energy and digital innovation aligns well with Azerbaijans energy transition strategy and ambitions for a tech-driven economy. Central to the strategic dialogue was the Middle Corridora key axis of the Belt and Road Initiative. Azerbaijan, positioned at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, is not only a bridge but a core pillar of connectivity. The development of the Zangezur Corridor, which would open a direct transit route from Central Asia to Turkiye and Europe, further cements Azerbaijans value in Chinas vision for global trade diversification. The corridor also carries a broader strategic message: Baku is not merely aligning with Western-centric transport networks but carving out a role in alternative routes that challenge unipolar trade systems. Increased collaboration in green technologies, smart logistics, and intellectual property protection adds new layers to the AzerbaijanChina partnership. Beijings interest in Azerbaijans startup ecosystem and innovation potential is a signal that Baku is being seen not just as a transit point, but as a platform for value-added production and technology development. The cultural and tourism dimension is also significant. Visa liberalization and targeted campaigns to attract Chinese tourists can help reshape perceptions of Azerbaijan as a destination. On the other side, leisure travel from Azerbaijan to China is also growing rapidly, moving beyond business and diplomatic circles. Perhaps the most meaningful takeaway from this visit is its symbolic break from an overreliance on Western-centric diplomacy. Azerbaijans ability to cultivate strong, independent relations with rising powers like Chinawithout being constrained by geopolitical binariesis a testament to its mature and pragmatic foreign policy. China, for its part, is seeking reliable partners outside traditional Western spheres of influence. In Azerbaijan, it sees a nation that combines political stability, strategic geography, and a willingness to engage across economic and technological domains. The increase of 27.7% in trade turnover in 2024, bringing bilateral trade to $3.7 billion, is only the beginning. Given the scale of Chinese investment potential and Azerbaijans readiness to open its markets, the trajectory ahead points toward exponential growth. President Aliyevs state visit to China was more than a diplomatic eventit was a strategic realignment. By embracing a comprehensive strategic partnership, Azerbaijan has signaled its readiness to engage with the world on its own terms, building alliances that reflect national interests, regional stability, and global opportunity. Through pragmatic diplomacy, strategic connectivity, and a shared commitment to sovereignty and sustainable growth, countries like Azerbaijan are not merely adapting to changethey are helping shape it. The new web of alliances being woven across Asia, the Caucasus, and beyond reflects a growing desire to build a future that is less dependent on traditional power centers, and more rooted in balanced, inclusive, and mutually beneficial cooperation. In this landscape, resilience is no longer defined by alignment with the West or the Eastbut by the ability to stand firm, connect smartly, and act independently. 27 April 2025 09:32 (UTC+04:00) The Congress of Azerbaijani Doctors, organized by the German-Azerbaijani Medical Workers' Association (DAMV), was held at the Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Berlin. Azernews reports, citing Azertag, that the congress brought together over 200 doctors from Germany and various countries around the world. Opening the congress, Abbas Ahmadli, co-founder and the first chairman of DAMVs Board of Directors, spoke about the associations and the congresss main goals. He stated that the purpose of the congress was to bring Azerbaijani doctors together to discuss current healthcare issues, expand opportunities for international cooperation, and explore prospects for the development of medical education in Azerbaijan. Aqil Huseynzade, chairman of DAMVs Board of Directors, emphasized that the organization not only unites Azerbaijani doctors in Germany but is also actively engaged in diaspora activities. He noted that discussions would be held regarding the involvement of Azerbaijani doctors working in Azerbaijan, Germany, Turkey, Britain, and Russia in the development of healthcare in Azerbaijan and the strengthening of their networking. Nasimi Aghayev, Azerbaijans Ambassador to Germany, stated in his speech that Azerbaijani doctors, who represent the intellectual core of the diaspora, successfully promote Azerbaijan with their knowledge, professionalism, and commitment to humanitarian values. He expressed confidence that the congress would contribute to Azerbaijani doctors acting as a unified force in Germany. The ambassador highlighted that in recent years, Azerbaijan has undergone broad reforms to modernize its healthcare infrastructure. He stressed the importance of Azerbaijani doctors in Germany supporting this process with their expertise and experience. Aghayev noted that Azerbaijan-Germany relations are developing successfully across various fields, emphasizing that numerous high-level mutual visits have taken place over the past two years, opening new opportunities for cooperation. He expressed confidence that Azerbaijani doctors would play an important role in further strengthening these ties. Touching on defamatory campaigns by certain circles in Europe, including Germany, against Azerbaijan, the ambassador underlined the importance of joint efforts to effectively counter these attempts and to convey the truth about Azerbaijans development and its peace and stability policies in the region to German political and public circles. He also mentioned that, as part of the reconstruction of territories liberated from occupation, modern education, science, and healthcare systems are being established. He noted with pride the establishment of Karabakh University in Khankendi and highlighted the historic significance of its representation at the congress. Following the opening speeches, Fuad Mahmudlu, a member of DAMVs Board, gave a presentation on the activities of the association, detailing its goals, key areas of work, the organization of Azerbaijani doctors in Germany, and contributions to the development of healthcare in Azerbaijan. Professor Geray Geraybeyli, rector of Azerbaijan Medical University (AMU), emphasized that Azerbaijani doctors abroad, by achieving professional success and organizing themselves, contribute to the healthcare reforms carried out by the Azerbaijani state. He underlined that, thanks to the high attention and care of President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, significant achievements and innovations have been made in Azerbaijans healthcare sector, with Azerbaijani doctors abroad sharing their experiences and closely participating in these efforts. Samir Babayev, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Karabakh University, pointed out that alongside other fields, healthcare is receiving great attention in the liberated territories, thanks to the leadership of President and Victorious Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and the heroism of the Azerbaijani Army. He emphasized the importance of utilizing the knowledge and experience of doctors working abroad and called on his colleagues to actively contribute to healthcare development in these regions. Araz Nasirov, Deputy Executive Director of TABIB (Azerbaijans Management Union of Medical Territorial Units), stressed that Azerbaijani doctors abroad are actively participating not only in projects in Baku but also across various regions of Azerbaijan. After the opening session, the congress continued with panel discussions: The first panel, moderated by Nasrulla Nasrullayev (DAMV Board Member), was titled "Organizing Practical Medical Education and Global Experiences" , featuring speeches by Geray Geraybeyli, Professor Natig Hasanov (Clinicum Idar-Oberstein, Germany), Samir Babayev, and Faiq Orucoglu (Biruni University, Turkey). The second panel, moderated by DAMV Deputy Chair Gulshan Ahmadli, focused on "Organizing Doctors" , with speakers including Professor Qurbanxan Muslumov (founder of GAMCA), Erdal Safak (Chairman of the Berlin Turkish Medical Workers' Society), Orkhan Isayev (Vice-Rector of AMU), Konul Mammadova (AMD Board Member), Suraddin Ismayil (DAMV Board Member), and Vugar Yagublu (founder of AzerMDS). The third panel, "Participation of Azerbaijani Doctors Abroad in Azerbaijans Healthcare" , was moderated by Ziya Mammadzade (Head of Process Optimization at TABIB), featuring Araz Nasirov, Tural Qalbinur (member of AMUs Ophthalmology Department), Turab Gasimov (Hegau-Bodensee Clinic, Germany), Fidan Israfilbeyli (Birmingham Womens Hospital, UK), and Abbas Ahmadli (plastic surgeon at Cosmopolitan Aesthetics Braunschweig, Germany). The fourth panel, "Open Discussion", was moderated by DAMV Board Member Nigar Mucha. Speakers included Ilhama Jafarli (founder of Azerbaijan-Britain Professionals Association), Araz Jalilov (International Marketing and Development Manager at Memorial Hospitals Group, Turkey), Vasif Ismayil (urologist-andrologist at AMUs Teaching-Surgical Clinic), Aqil Huseynzade (DAMV Chairman and specialist at KRK Nordstadt Hospital, Germany), and Ariz Jabrayilov (Healthcare Manager at Referans Medical Group). During the congress, presentations were also made: Togrul Mmmdli presented "Tibbia Medical Encyclopedia", highlighting the role of innovative information systems in healthcare. Elchin Ismayilov presented on "Application of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Medical Education", discussing AI's role in diagnosis, clinical decision-making, and education. After the closing ceremony, a banquet was organized. It should be noted that the German-Azerbaijani Medical Workers' Association (DAMV) was founded in January 2021 by a group of Azerbaijani doctors working in Germany. Xi urges promoting healthy, orderly development of AI Xinhua) 08:01, April 27, 2025 BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has urged efforts to promote the healthy and orderly development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a beneficial, safe and fair direction. Xi made the remarks while presiding over a group study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Friday. Xi emphasized that in the face of rapidly evolving new-generation AI technologies, China shall give full play to the advantages of the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide, uphold self-reliance and self-strengthening, prioritize application-oriented development, and promote the healthy and orderly advancement of the country's AI sector toward a beneficial, safe and equitable direction. Zheng Nanning, a professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, gave a lecture on this issue and put forward suggestions. Members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee listened carefully to the lecture and held discussions. Speaking after these discussions, Xi pointed out that AI, as a strategic technology leading the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, has profoundly changed the way humans produce and live. Xi noted that the Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the development of AI, and has improved top-level design and strengthened implementation efforts in recent years, thereby driving a holistic and systematic advancement of the country's comprehensive AI strength. Noting that there are still gaps and deficiencies in areas such as fundamental theories and key core technologies, Xi urged acknowledging these shortcomings and strengthening efforts to comprehensively advance sci-tech innovation, industrial development and applications of AI, to improve AI regulatory systems and mechanisms, and to firmly grasp the initiative in both AI development and governance. Xi stressed that breakthroughs must be achieved in fundamental theories, methodologies and tools to gain a first-mover advantage and secure a competitive edge in AI. He urged efforts to consistently strengthen basic research and focus on overcoming challenges regarding core technologies such as high-end chips and foundational software, thereby building an independent, controllable, and collaboratively-functioning foundational software and hardware system for AI. He emphasized leveraging AI to drive paradigm transformation in scientific research and accelerate breakthroughs in technological innovation across all fields. Pointing out that China has rich data resources, a complete industrial system, a wide range of application scenarios and huge market space, Xi stressed that an industry-academia-research-application collaborative innovation system led by enterprises should be built to promote the in-depth integration of AI technological innovation and industrial innovation. He highlighted AI's roles in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and opening up new tracks for strategic emerging industries and future industries. The construction of computing power infrastructure should be promoted in a coordinated manner, and the development, utilization and sharing of data resources should be deepened, Xi said. He stressed the importance of policy support for AI, including policies concerning intellectual property rights, fiscal and taxation matters, government procurement and the opening of facilities, while he also called for advancing financial services for science and technology. He underlined the necessity to promote AI education across all phases of schooling and general education for the entire society, in order to continuously cultivate high-quality talents. The mechanisms for AI scientific research support, career development and talent evaluation should be enhanced, and platforms and conditions should be created for talents to showcase their abilities, Xi added. Xi noted that AI not only introduces unprecedented development opportunities, but also brings unprecedented risks and challenges. It is essential to grasp the trends and patterns of AI development, and to accelerate the formulation and improvement of relevant laws, regulations, policy systems, application standards and ethical guidelines. It is also crucial to establish systems for technology monitoring, early risk warning and emergency response -- to ensure that AI is safe, reliable and controllable. He emphasized that AI can serve as a global public good that benefits humanity. It is important to widely carry out international cooperation in AI, help Global South countries strengthen their technological capacity building, and to make contributions to bridging the global AI divide. Efforts should be made to promote the alignment and coordination of development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards among all parties, and to form a global governance framework and standards with extensive consensus as early as possible, Xi said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) 27 April 2025 10:45 (UTC+04:00) The signing of the Khankandi Youth Pact is planned within the Simulation Conference of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP), Azernews reports. The COP Simulation Conference commenced on April 26 at Garabagh University in Khankandi, organized collaboratively by the Youth Organization of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAMYO) and the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum. The opening ceremony attracted 60 young representatives from Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Education, prominent universities, as well as international participants. Notable speakers included Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister and COP29 Lead Negotiator; Metin Karimli, Head of the Ministry of Science and Education; Shahin Bayramov, Rector of Garabagh University; Leyla Hasanova, Chairperson of NAMYO and COP29 Youth Climate Champion; and Rafig Ismayilov, Director of the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum. The speakers highlighted the significance of hosting Azerbaijans inaugural national COP29 event in Khankandi and at Garabagh University. They emphasized the crucial role of youth in global environmental protection and climate change initiatives, discussing how the outcomes of COP29scheduled for November 2024 in Bakucould enhance global ecological efforts. Following the opening, a keynote address was given by Elshad Iskandarov, Ambassador-at-Large of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He outlined Azerbaijans climate and peace initiatives, including the Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace established at COP29. Iskandarov pointed out that Garabagh suffered from environmental damage and mine contamination during its occupation, but stated that the resolution of the conflict has opened opportunities for ecological restoration in this vital natural region. Over the course of the two-day conference, participants will engage in group discussions focused on the effectiveness of climate change initiatives across various nations, youth involvement in these processes, the advancement of alternative energy sources, and the vision for a sustainable future. A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation was also signed between NAMYO and the Eurasian Regional Center of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, with plans to also sign the Khankandi Youth Pact. 27 April 2025 10:30 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has expressed its condolences following the tragic explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, Azernews reports. In a message shared via the social media platform X, the Ministry expressed deep sorrow over the devastating incident. They extended heartfelt sympathy to the families and loved ones of the victims and offered support to the people and government of Iran. Additionally, they expressed hope for the swift recovery of those who were injured in the explosion. 27 April 2025 11:30 (UTC+04:00) Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva has met with the Nepal President Ram Chandra Poudel, during her visit to Kathmandu, Azernews reports. During the meeting, Leyla Aliyeva conveyed the greetings of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the President of Nepal and emphasized the importance of the friendship between the two countries. Recalling his visit to Baku during COP29, President Ram Chandra Poudel noted the significance of his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev and stated that the discussions held would contribute to the development of bilateral relations. Leyla Aliyeva mentioned that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation plans to implement several projects in Nepal, including a rehabilitation center for children in need of special care, as well as a visit to a city hospital in Kathmandu as part of the trip. It was noted that the support projects of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in Nepal would simultaneously cover the social and health sectors. The meeting emphasized the importance of existing relations encompassing various fields, including humanitarian issues, climate change, and sustainable development. President Ram Chandra Poudel expressed high appreciation for the relations between Azerbaijan and Nepal, as well as the activities of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, and thanked for the support provided. 27 April 2025 11:23 (UTC+04:00) President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Azernews reports. The letter reads as follows: Dear Mr. President, On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I sincerely congratulate you and, through you, all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of Sierra Leone Independence Day. On this festive occasion, I wish you good health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of your country peace and prosperity. Respectfully, Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 24 April 2025 27 April 2025 17:30 (UTC+04:00) A meeting has been held at Baku State University (BSU) with Muhammad Sharif, the Science and Technology Advisor of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), Azernews reports. During the meeting, Rector of the Baku State University Elchin Babayev provided information about the scientific potential of the university, the steps taken towards international cooperation, and particularly the relationships developed with ICESCO. He noted that the ICESCO Biomedical Materials Department operating under BSU significantly contributes to deepening collaboration with the organization. To further expand this partnership in the future, joint projects, conferences, and training programs are planned. In his speech, Muhammad Sharif discussed the initiatives undertaken by ICESCO in the fields of science and technology, the support for scientific development in member countries, and the priorities concerning the international visibility of potential researchers. He emphasized the particular importance of collaboration with Azerbaijan's educational and scientific institutions for ICESCO, highlighting that the established connections with BSU serve as a model. During the meeting, discussions were held on future cooperation opportunities between BSU and ICESCO, the realization of joint research projects, support for startup initiatives, and engaging students in innovative activities. With its rich cultural legacy, Azerbaijan joined the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (ICESCO) in 1991. Since then, Azerbaijan has actively promoted the preservation of its Islamic cultural heritage. 27 April 2025 15:10 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) has hosted a round table dedicated to the 102nd anniversary of the birth of outstanding ophthalmologist, Academician Zarifa Aliyeva, Azernews reports. The event was jointly organized by the ANAS Presidium, the New Azerbaijan Party organization of the Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli, the Women's Council, the departments of the study of manuscripts of the Turkic world and Turkic-language manuscripts. Before the round table began, participants visited an exhibition prepared by the Institute of Manuscripts dedicated to Academician Zarifa Aliyeva. The round table on the topic "In the Light of Zarifa Aliyeva: Woman and Statehood" was opened by the President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Academician Isa Habibbayli. In his speech, he underlined that events dedicated to the anniversary of Zarifa Aliyeva, an outstanding scientist who made a significant contribution to the development of Azerbaijani science, healthcare and public thought, are being held in scientific institutions and organizations of the Academy. He pointed out that the current event was organized in a special format at the initiative of the Institute of Manuscripts, where medieval manuscripts of the 12th-17th centuries dedicated to medicine, the field to which Academician Zarifa Aliyeva dedicated her life, are being displayed. The Academician Isa Habibbayli emphasized that the academician's scientific merits in the field of ophthalmology are recognized not only in Azerbaijan, but also throughout the former Soviet Union and beyond. He noted that Zarifa Aliyeva is considered one of the founders of ophthalmological science in the USSR and the founder of this industry in Azerbaijan. He also noted that significant scientific directions and practical innovations that have found wide practical application and are highly appreciated in the professional environment are associated with the name of Zarifa Aliyeva. Prevention of trachoma and development of its treatment methods in Azerbaijan are inextricably linked with the name of Academician Zarifa Aliyeva. On her initiative, medical teams were formed that actively fought the disease in Baku and the regions of the country. Zarifa khanum also has a special merit in the fight against eye diseases that occur in industrial enterprises. On her initiative, laboratories were created in a number of industries where diagnostics and treatment of occupational diseases of the organs of vision were carried out on site. Thanks to her scientific and practical activities, Academician Zarifa Aliyeva laid the foundations of industrial ophthalmology in Azerbaijan, Isa Habibbayli said. The speakers noted that on the initiative of Zarifa Aliyeva, a specialized laboratory for the study of occupational pathology of the organ of vision was created at the Institute of Physiology. Large-scale scientific research was conducted here and highly qualified ophthalmologists were trained. For this scientific activity, the academician was awarded the Prize of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences named after Academician M.I. Averbakh, demonstrating to the whole world the strength and intellect of an Azerbaijani woman. Isa Habibbayli emphasized that the memory of Zarifa Aliyeva is immortalized in the name of the National Ophthalmology Center, lyceums and streets. He said that her nobility, humanity, personality and scientific heritage continue to serve as an example for everyone and contribute to the development of Azerbaijani science. Director of the Institute of Manuscripts, Academician Teymur Kerimli emphasized in his speech that Zarifa Aliyeva's path from an ordinary doctor to an academician reflects her as a true intellectual with a high spiritual world. He noted that her scientific research and achievements occupy a special place in the history of medical science in Azerbaijan. The name of Zarifa Aliyeva evokes the image of a true Azerbaijani woman - a faithful companion in life, a devoted mother, a selfless doctor and a respected scientist. Speaking about the life and scientific work of Zarifa Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Academician Irada Huseynova noted that she stood at the origins of the national school of ophthalmology, since 1968 she purposefully dealt with issues of professional diseases of the visual organs. In 1976, she defended her doctoral dissertation on the topic "The state of the visual organ of workers in the chemical industry of Azerbaijan" at the Helmholtz Institute of Eye Diseases in Moscow. In 1977, she was awarded the academic degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences, and in 1979 - the title of professor in the Department of Eye Diseases. All these areas are reflected in her fundamental monographs: "Therapeutic Ophthalmology", "Current Problems of Ophthalmology", "Herpetic Eye Disease", "Acute Viral Conjunctivitis", "Physiology of Tear Drainage", "Iridology" and others, which made a significant contribution to the world ophthalmological science. The Academician-Secretary of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Arif Gashimov, Deputy of the Azerbaijani Parliament Ulviya Aghayeva, Chairman of the Yasamal District Organization of the New Azerbaijan Party Bakhtiyar Nabiyev and Head of the Research of the Turkic World Manuscripts Department at the Institute of Manuscripts, Associate Professor Aygul Hajiyeva also addressed the event. In their remarks, they emphasized that Zarifa Aliyeva was a worthy representative of the Azerbaijani woman - a faithful wife, mother, doctor, scientist and public figure, whose high culture, nobility, sophistication, humanity and bright mind earned the respect and love of all who knew her. 27 April 2025 12:03 (UTC+04:00) President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a congratulatory letter to Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, Azernews reports. The letter reads as follows: Dear Mr. President, On my own behalf and on behalf of the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my sincerest congratulations and best wishes to you and, through you, to all your people on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of South Africa Freedom Day. I believe that we will continue to successfully pursue our joint efforts to strengthen interstate relations and expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and South Africa, in line with the interests of our peoples. On this festive occasion, I wish you robust health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of your country everlasting peace and prosperity. Respectfully, Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 24 April 2025 27 April 2025 18:00 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more The 4th International Bakshi Art Festival and the 2nd Turkic World Cultural Forum have been held in the ancient city of Khiva, Uzbekistan, Azernews reports. The festival is organized by Uzbekistan Culture Ministry under the auspices of UNESCO and ICESCO. A delegation from Azerbaijan, led by Culture Minister Adil Karimli, participated in the festival and forum. In his opening speech at the festival, Uzbek Culture Minister Ozodbek Nazarbekov noted that international festivals, competitions, and conferences organized in brother countries in recent years contribute to ensuring the spiritual unity of our peoples, preserving our common values, and further strengthening cultural ties. Minister Nazarbekov mentioned that the first Turkic World Cultural Forum, held in October 2023 in Shusha, Azerbaijan, played a significant role in deepening our friendly relations and raising cooperation to a new level. Speaking about the 4th International Bakshi Art Festival, the minister emphasized the important work being done in Uzbekistan to preserve, develop, and promote bakshi art (the art of storytelling with music), a beautiful and rare example of oral folk creativity. He stated that this festival, held every two years, is a significant event for the preservation and promotion of this ancient art. Azerbaijan Culture Minister Adil Karimli stated that the relationship between the two brother countries is currently experiencing a renaissance in the field of culture, just as in other areas. He stressed the importance of holding the forum under the auspices of UNESCO and ICESCO, as well as the partnership of Turkic cooperation organizations, saying: "Today, the city of Khiva not only hosts another prestigious event but also brings together international organizations, state institutions, academic circles, cultural figures, and media representatives committed to preserving, protecting, and promoting the common values of the Turkic world on an international level. We believe that the discussions held in the forum and the decisions made will make a significant contribution to deepening cultural cooperation in the Turkic world and strengthening our unity." He pointed out that in the past two years, the city of Shusha, which has served as the cultural capital of the Turkic and Islamic world, successfully hosted the first Turkic World Cultural Forum in 2023. "The first forum brought together cultural institutions from the cooperation organizations of the Turkic world and participating states, creating a platform for discussing and solving common problems in relevant fields. Our intellectuals and specialists from various fields held discussions around three important topics: common cultural heritage, language, and creative industries, leading to innovative solutions for the future of our culture. At the first forum, the Turkic World Cultural Route project was presented for the first time with the support of the International Turkic Academy, the first meeting of leaders in the field of cultural heritage was held, and the establishment of the Turkic Animation Association was discussed. It is gratifying that our joint initiative has also received the appreciation of our heads of state. During the 11th Summit of the Turkic States Organization held in Bishkek last November, our leaders emphasized the importance of holding the II Turkic World Cultural Forum in 2025. I am confident that the sustainable cultural cooperation format that began in Shusha and continues in the brother city of Khiva will open new horizons for us," said Adil Karimli. The minister emphasized that the main principle of the national cultural policy implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev is to deepen cooperation with Turkic states, organizations, and peoples, as well as to jointly promote our common values: "President Ilham Aliyev's words 'Our family is the Turkic world' have become a guiding motto for all state institutions in Azerbaijan, including the Ministry of Culture. In addition, during the informal summit of the Turkic States Organization held in Shusha last July, President Ilham Aliyev's statement that 'the 21st century should be the era of development for the Turkic world' is the main goal and principle of our activities." It was noted that the contributions made by brother countries to the restoration and reconstruction efforts in Azerbaijan's liberated territories serve as a vivid example of respect for our common historical and cultural heritage. The construction of the Mirza Ulughbek Secondary School No. 1 in Fuzuli by Uzbekistan, the establishment of the Kurmangazy Children's Creativity Center by Kazakhstan, and the ongoing construction of a secondary school in the village of Khdrl in Agdam, initiated by the Kyrgyz Republic, are genuine manifestations of brotherhood and solidarity. Such projects serve not only infrastructure needs but also contribute to the reconstruction of the common memory of the Turkic world. At the end of his speech, the minister wished success for the festival and the forum. Other speakers also emphasized the importance of both events for the unity and cooperation of the Turkic world, highlighting the necessity of the continuous organization of such cultural projects. 27 April 2025 16:43 (UTC+04:00) On April 26, movements of seven unidentified individuals attempting to breach the state border from Iran into Azerbaijan were observed by the border patrol of the Lankaran border unit of the State Border Service, Azernews reports citing the State Border Service. The border post was put on high alert with the "Armed" command, and the service area was completely closed off. The border patrol issued a "Stop" command and pursued the border violators, firing warning shots into the air. However, the violators did not comply with the order and, presenting armed resistance, opened fire with the intent to threaten the lives of the border guards. In accordance with the requirements of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on "State Border," the border patrol used firearms, resulting in one of the violators being neutralized at the scene. The other three individuals who demonstrated armed resistance managed to flee. As a result of subsequent searching and operational measures conducted in cooperation with employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, three additional individuals were detained: residents of Balakan district, 21-year-old Rajab Ibrahimov, 33-year-old Isa Isayev, and 41-year-old Kamran Uzunov. During the inspection of the area, three packages containing a total weight of 51 kilograms and 884 grams of a substance resembling narcotics, along with a large number of psychotropic pills, were discovered and seized. In connection with the incident, a meeting was held with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran's border service. Necessary operational-investigative measures are ongoing by the State Border Service of Azerbaijan and the Military Prosecutors Office regarding this case. 27 April 2025 17:44 (UTC+04:00) President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Azernews reports. The letter reads as follows: Dear Mr. President, We are deeply saddened by the news of the loss of lives and numerous injuries caused by the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port in the city of Bandar Abbas. On behalf of myself and the people of Azerbaijan, I extend my heartfelt condolences to you, to the families and loved ones of the victims, and to the entire people of Iran over this tragedy. I wish a swift recovery to the injured. May Allah rest their souls in peace! Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 27 April 2025 28 April 2025 00:18 (UTC+04:00) Today, Azerbaijan commemorates the 102nd birthday of one of its most distinguished scientists, Zarifa Aziz gizi Aliyeva a celebrated Doctor of Medical Sciences, professor, and a full member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Born on April 28, 1923, in the Sharur district of Nakhchivan, Zarifa Aliyeva made lasting contributions to ophthalmology through groundbreaking research that earned her wide acclaim. Her innovative therapeutic methods and comprehensive preventive strategies quickly found widespread application. She was instrumental in establishing Azerbaijans first specialized ophthalmology research laboratory, setting a new standard for the field. Committed to upholding medical ethics, Aliyeva dedicated her career to training a generation of skilled professionals, significantly advancing medical education and research in Azerbaijan. A 1947 graduate of the Azerbaijan State Medical Institute, she went on to hold influential academic roles including professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Azerbaijan Institute for Advanced Medical Training. Her scientific achievements were pivotal in addressing trachoma, once widespread in Azerbaijan, and she was among the first to explore and treat occupational eye diseases in the chemical and electronics sectors. Aliyeva authored major works like "Therapeutic Ophthalmology" and "Fundamentals of Iridodiagnostics," alongside 12 monographs, nearly 150 academic papers, 1 invention, and several innovative proposals. She served on key scientific committees, including the Presidium of the All-Union Society of Ophthalmologists and the editorial board of "Vestnik Oftalmologii" journal in Moscow. In recognition of her outstanding contributions, Zarifa Aliyeva received the prestigious M.I. Averbakh Prize from the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in 1981. She married future Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev in 1954. Together, they raised two children: Sevil and Ilham Aliyev. Zarifa Aliyeva passed away in Moscow in 1985. In 1994, her remains were brought back to Baku, where she was laid to rest in the Alley of Honor beside her father. 27 April 2025 08:30 (UTC+04:00) Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky briefly met in Rome during the funeral of the Pope, discussing the ongoing war in Ukraine. A photograph captured the two leaders seated across from one another inside St. Peters Basilica, after each had paid respects to the late pontiff. British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were also reportedly nearby during the encounter. The U.S. has been encouraging Ukraine to consider a peace agreement that would require Kyiv to acknowledge Russias control over significant occupied territories. However, President Zelensky firmly opposes any concession of sovereignty, particularly regarding Crimea and other areas seized since 2014. He has reiterated calls for an unconditional end to Russian aggression. According to the White House and Ukrainian officials, Trump and Zelenskys discussion lasted about 15 minutes and was described as very productive by White House Communications Director Steven Cheung. Further updates on the meeting are expected later Saturday, with additional talks possible while both leaders remain in Rome. This meeting marks their first direct interaction since their tense exchange during Zelenskys visit to Washington earlier this year. During the funeral ceremony, Trump and Macron were seen exchanging a handshake as part of the "sign of peace" tradition observed during the Catholic mass. Sir Keir Starmer's presence at the funeral also provides an opportunity for discussions with global leaders on topics including sustained support for Ukraine and U.S. trade tariffs. 27 April 2025 21:40 (UTC+04:00) Two tourists have discovered a treasure valued at 300,600 on the slope of a low mountain near the town of Dvur in the Czech Republic, Azernews reports. The tourists handed over two boxes containing gold coins, jewelry, and other items with a total weight of 7 kilograms to the police, who were called to the scene. The archaeology department of the Ministry of the Interior has reported that the coins weigh 3.7 kilograms and are made of gold. Experts are examining other metal items found in the treasure. The boxes were hidden in an artificially created stone mound at the edge of a forest area that was abandoned in the 20th century. Inside an aluminum container emerging from the surface of the hillside, there were a total of 598 coins divided into 11 columns and wrapped in cloth. According to the Ministry of the Interior, a metal box found nearly a meter away from the first contained items made of yellow metal, including 16 cigarette cases, 10 bracelets, a finely woven bag, a comb, a keychain, and a powder container. Washington Coast Gets Another Green Light for Razor Clamming, April 26 - May 3 Published 04/24/25 at 6:25 p.m. By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff (Long Beach, Washington) Washington's coastline will again be buzzing with razor clam activities this week. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has announced eight days of razor clam digs scheduled to begin Saturday, April 26. Bryce Blumenthal, WDFWs recreational razor clam manager, said that the recent tide series felt like spring, with sunny weather and calm surf. Were starting to see a lot of soft sand accumulating on beaches, increasing the likelihood of getting your vehicle stuck, Blumenthal said. Be careful when driving on and off the beach approaches and stay below the high tide line where the sand is harder packed. Digs happen at Long Beach, Copalis, Twin Harbors and Mocrocks. Its important to note that not all beaches along Washingtons coast will be open for every dig. Diggers are advised to confirm their chosen destination is open before heading out. For the best results, digging is typically most successful one to two hours before the posted low tide time. Confirmed dates during morning (midnight to noon only) low tides: April 26, Saturday, 5:53 a.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis April 27, Sunday, 6:40 a.m.; -1.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks April 28, Monday, 7:25 a.m.; -2.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks April 29, Tuesday, 8:12 a.m.; -2.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis April 30, Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.; -2.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis May 1, Thursday, 9:52 a.m.; -1.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis May 2, Friday, 10:47 a.m.; -0.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks (digging extended until 2 p.m.) May 3, Saturday, 11:48 a.m.; -0.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks (digging extended until 2 p.m.) Tentative dates during morning (midnight to noon only) low tides: Courtesy Seaside Aquarium May 10, Saturday, 5:58 a.m.; 0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis May 11, Sunday, 6:32 a.m.; -0.4 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks May 12, Monday, 7:05 a.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks May 13, Tuesday, 7:38 a.m.; -0.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis May 14, Wednesday, 8:13 a.m.; -0.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis May 15, Thursday, 8:49 a.m.; -0.8 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks The confirmed digging period, running from April 26 to May 3, has been fully approved, and marine toxin tests have been conducted by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), giving the green light. These tests have verified that the razor clams are safe for consumption. Marine toxin testing, required by DOH, ensures that levels of domoic acid - a naturally occurring toxin produced by certain marine algae - fall below the safety threshold before opening beaches to diggers. Domoic acid can pose serious health risks if ingested in high quantities. Final test results are typically available about a week prior to each digging series. For details on domoic acid and current toxin levels at ocean beaches, visit WDFWs domoic acid webpage. At all open beaches, the daily limit for razor clams is 15 per person. Each digger must store their clams in a separate container and is required to keep the first 15 clams they dig, regardless of size or condition, to minimize waste. Courtesy Seaside Aquarium As spring sets in, Washingtonians are reminded that a valid 2025-2026 recreational hunting and fishing license is required. Licenses can be purchased online through WDFWs licensing website or from licensed vendors across the state. All diggers aged 15 or older must possess a fishing license to harvest razor clams at any beach. As in past years, WDFW is asking beachgoers to avoid disturbing nesting snowy plovers a small bird with gray wings and a white breast by staying out of the dunes and posted areas along the southwest coast, WDFW said. Snowy plover nests are nearly invisible, and it is vital to give birds the space to live and thrive during the nesting period, especially along the southern end of Twin Harbors known as Midway Beach and north of Second Avenue in Ocean City to the north end of Copalis Beach and the north end of Long Beach. MORE PHOTOS BELOW More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight 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. LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on Oregon Coast Beach Connection All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Stock Image - Armed Response teams used a taser on the male (Photo by Kevin Scott) A man was shot with a plastic bullet and tasered during a domestic incident in east Belfast, the PSNI has confirmed. Police attended a house in the Strathearn Park area of east Belfast following a report of a domestic-related incident on Saturday evening, April 26. On arrival shortly after 7.15pm, officers became concerned for a man's safety. The PSNI said: Specially trained officers were requested and an Attenuating Energy Projectile (AEP) and a Conducted Energy Device (CED) were deployed during the incident to prevent a male from harming himself. He was safely detained and taken to hospital. A man in his 40s arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and possession of a class A controlled drug following the incident remains in police custody at this time. As is normal procedure when AEP and CED have been discharged, the office of the Police Ombudsman has been informed. A man in his 40s is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday 28 April for breach of bail. Enquiries are continuing in relation to the incident. The AEP forms part of the common weapon system approved for use by members of the police service, according to the College of Policing UK. Operational use of the AEP in the UK police service is limited to authorised officers who have been specifically trained in the use of the system. Meanwhile, a CED (taser) is a less lethal weapon system designed to temporarily incapacitate a subject through use of an electrical current that temporarily interferes with the bodys neuromuscular system and produces a sensation of intense pain. The College of Policing says CEDs will not be routinely used to police public order or public safety events, but may be used as an option to respond to circumstances within the operation. The use of CED ranges from the physical presence of a drawn device through to the application of electrical discharge to a subject. Even before a CED is drawn, the mere visibility of an overtly carried holstered device may serve a deterrent value. It is one of a number of tactical options available when dealing with an incident with the potential for conflict. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, met with Donald Trump as they attended the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday (Ukrainian presidential press office/AP) Donald Trumps apparent change of heart about Russia is welcome, a senior UK minister has signalled. The US president turned his criticism towards Vladimir Putin on Saturday after meeting with Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky on the fringes of the Popes funeral in Rome. Images of the encounter within the Vatican showed the two leaders locked in intense discussion in their first meeting since a fraught clash in the White House in late February. The Trump administrations proposed peace agreement has raised eyebrows among allies, as it appears to benefit Moscow far more than Kyiv. The deal on the table would reportedly result in large swathes of territorial concessions by Ukraine, something which Mr Zelensky has insisted he will not accept. Mr Trump continued his criticism of Mr Zelenskys position on Saturday, describing the prospect of Ukraine regaining occupied Crimea as ridiculous. But in an apparent change of heart, he also turned his fire towards Russia. In a post on his Truth Social website, he suggested Mr Putin maybe doesnt want to stop the war, and that the Russian leader could be just tapping me along. New sanctions could be placed on Russia, the US president suggested. Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was the first senior UK minister to publicly comment on Mr Trumps latest position. He told Sky Newss Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: Certainly the tone that was adopted yesterday in terms of recognising the consequences of Russian aggression was right, was welcome. Cabinet minister Pat McFadden said the conflict is a war of Russian aggression (Jeff Overs/BBC/PA) This is a war of Russian aggression, so I hope that president Trump and his administration can bring the parties together in a way that stops the fighting and gets a lasting peace. Asked if he thought there had been a change of mind in the White House about Mr Putin, Mr McFadden said: Well, you know those words speak for themselves. Theres certainly no reason for President Putin to be ordering strikes on civilian areas in Ukraine. The minister was also pressed about whether the UK would support Ukraine conceding territory to Russia in a peace deal. This is for Ukraine to decide, not for the UK Government to decide if thats on the table, he said. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who served in the previous government, described Mr Trumps comments as definitely a sign of progress. She said it was really heartening to see the US president speaking to Mr Zelensky in the Vatican on Saturday after that really awful press conference, adding: I think we should all be pleased to see these positive signals. Denmarks Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenlands Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen during their meeting in Denmark on Sunday (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) New Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Sunday that US statements about the mineral-rich Arctic island have been disrespectful and that Greenland will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone. Mr Nielsen made the remarks in defiance of US President Donald Trumps interest in taking control of the strategic territory as he stood side by side with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on the second day of a three-day official visit. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. The talks from the United States have not been respectful, Mr Nielsen said at a news conference at the prime ministers Marienborg official residence in Lyngby, 12km north of Copenhagen. The words used have not been respectful. Thats why we need in this situation, we need to stand together, he added. Denmarks Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, left, and Greenlands Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen during Mr Neilsens visit (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, recently agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Mr Trumps designs on the territory. Greenlands government said Mr Nielsens three-day visit, which began on Saturday, was aimed at future co-operation between the two countries. Denmark has the will to invest in the Greenlandic society, and we dont just have that for historical reasons. We also have that because we are part of (the Danish) commonwealth with each other, said Ms Frederiksen. We of course have a will to also continue investing in the Greenlandic society, she added. Mr Nielsen is set to meet King Frederik X on Monday, before returning to Greenland with Frederik for a royal visit to the island. Ms Frederiksen and Mr Nielsen were asked whether a meeting between them and Mr Trump was being planned. We always want to meet with the American president, Ms Frederiksen said. Of course we want to. But I think we have been very, very clear in what is the (Danish commonwealths) approach to all parts of the kingdom of Denmark. Containers burn and thick black smoke rises from the scene of the massive explosion and fire in Bandar Abbas, Iran (Meysam Mirzadeh/Tasnim News/AP) Irans president has visited those injured in a huge explosion that rocked one of the Islamic Republics main ports, a facility purportedly linked to an earlier delivery of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. The visit by President Masoud Pezeshkian came as the toll from Saturdays blast at the Shahid Rajaei port outside of Bandar Abbas, in southern Irans Hormozgan province, rose to 40 killed and about 1,000 others injured. While Irans military sought to deny the delivery of ammonium perchlorate from China, new videos emerged showing an apocalyptic scene at the still-smouldering port. A crater that appeared metres deep sat surrounded by burning smoke so dangerous that authorities closed schools and businesses in the area. Iranian state television described the fire as being under control, saying emergency workers hope it will fully be extinguished later on Sunday. Overnight, helicopters and heavy cargo aircraft flew repeated sorties over the burning port, dumping seawater on the site. Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of Irans Red Crescent society, offered the death toll and number of injured in a statement carried by an Iranian government website, saying only 190 of the injured remained in hospital on Sunday. The provincial governor declared three days of mourning. Private security firm Ambrey says the port received the missile fuel chemical in March. It was part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times. A helicopter drops water on the fire, amid clouds of thick black smoke (Meysam Mirzadeh/Tasnim News/AP) The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Ship-tracking data analysed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said. In a first reaction on Sunday, Iranian defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaeinik denied missile fuel had been imported through the port. No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port, he told state television by telephone. Men walk through debris following the massive explosion (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless but offered no explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. He said authorities would offer more information later. It is unclear why Iran would not have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel meaning potentially it had no place to process the chemical. Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, like in the Beirut explosion. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin deployed several emergency aircraft to Bandar Abbas to provide assistance, Irans state-run Irna news agency reported on Sunday. Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh in the southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday (Bilal Hussein/AP) Israeli jets struck Beiruts southern suburbs on Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, which hit what looked like a metal tent situated between two buildings with three bombs, according to an Associated Press photographer on the ground and footage circulating on social media. The photographer saw two burned and destroyed trucks inside the hangar. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In the warning, the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities in the Hadath area and urged residents to move at least 300 metres from the site before the strike. Two warning strikes followed. Bombs dropped from Israeli jets fall before hitting a building (Bilal Hussein/AP) Fighter jets were heard over parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Al-Jamous neighbourhood, where gunshots were fired into the air to warn residents and urge them to evacuate, as families fled in panic. In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollahs top leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah, as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike, calling on the US and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israels continued actions undermine stability and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis posted on X that the latest Israeli strike generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy. She urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding and the implementation of the UN resolution that ended the war. Flames burn after the Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh (Hussein Malla/AP) Sundays strike follows two earlier attacks on the capitals southern suburbs, the first taking place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning, and the second on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official. The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, has recently warned that if Israels attacks on Lebanon continued and if Lebanons government does not act to stop them, the group would eventually resort to other alternatives. Sheikh Kassem also said Hezbollahs fighters will not disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese airspace. Under the US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January, while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. Earlier on Sunday, a drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the health ministry. In a post on X that included footage of the strike, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hezbollah member where he was working to rebuild Hezbollahs terrorist capabilities in the area. Israels near-daily airstrikes have killed scores of people, including civilians and Hezbollah members, in southern and eastern Lebanon since the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect, saying it targets Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah holdouts in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese military has gradually deployed in the countrys southern region, and Beirut has urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks and withdraw its forces still present on five hilltops in Lebanese territory. Iraq War film almost as unsettling as the real thing Alex Garlands new release transported me back to my time in the Middle East with the Royal Irish Regiment A scene from Warfare Ivan Little Sun 27 Apr 2025 at 09:00 It says a lot about the stunning new movie Warfare, which is set during the Iraq conflict, that I was nearly as unsettled watching it as I was witnessing the real thing. One of the many scary things about the widening world of scams in the information age is that they can target anyone at any time. Unfortunately, a couple of business-owners in Great Barrington learned that lesson the hard way recently when they lost tens of thousands of dollars to a sophisticated cyber-fraud scheme. PITTSFIELD One of the busiest and most important School Committee meetings of the year is set for Wednesday, with three items directly tied to its immediate future up for discussion and votes. Committee members will debate and vote on the district's proposed $86.9 million budget, discuss interview questions for interim superintendent candidates and, if the United Educators of Pittsfield approve a tentative contract proposal, vote to ratify the deal. The union is expected to vote on the three-year deal Tuesday. A yes vote would lead to a School Committee vote Wednesday. Union members have been working under the terms of the previous contract, which expired in August. The School Committee and union reached the tentative deal in January. Apparent differences over the two sides' interpretation of its language emerged, leading to the union decrying delays in getting it done. But subsequent meetings on both sides led to a vote being scheduled. Details of the contract will be made public if and when the School Committee votes to ratify it. The budget is largely unchanged from what the School Committee has reviewed for two months, with two notable additions: $20,000 for communications services and $80,000 for a person or firm to manage the elementary school building project. It's proposed that $100,000 currently in the technology renewal line item will be used to cover these costs. School Committee members are concerned that the task of providing information to the public and the media, which has fallen to Superintendent Joseph Curtis, is more than a superintendent can be expected to handle while running an 1,100-employee, 14-school district. As for the building project: Committee Chairman William J. Cameron has sought reassurances that the project, which would replace Crosby Elementary School and Conte Community School with a new building on the Crosby campus, will not fall between the cracks as an interim superintendent takes over for Curtis on July 1. The project faces a number of state-mandated deadlines, including securing local funding for a feasibility study and building plans by the end of October. Meeting those deadlines allow the district to receive state funding, without which the cost would fall solely on taxpayers. Also on the agenda is a renewal of the district's retainer agreement with Dupere Law Offices of Westfield, its legal counsel. The agreement sets a rate of $4,000 per month $48,000 yearly plus special education counsel at $225 hourly, Massachusetts Turnpike tolls and parking fees in Boston if needed. The School Committee, through the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, has received five applications. Public interviews of finalists will be held, and the questions must be formulated during an open meeting. Not specified on the agenda, but still looming over the School Committee, is its decision to prepare an executive summary of an investigation into alleged misconduct by Pittsfield High School educators being completed by the law firm of Bulkley Richardson & Gelinas. The law firm's retainer with the committee is set to expire May 1, under a one-month extension. City Council members have unanimously called for a summary of the report to be made public. The School Committee decided not to release the entire report a version of which several members have already seen due to concerns doing so would violate the privacy of its subjects and witnesses. People filing new unemployment claims this week, as well as eligible existing claimants, can now receive benefits for up to 30 weeks, up from the previous maximum benefit period of 26 weeks. An extension of jobless benefits is triggered under state law when the unemployment rate in any of the commonwealth's seven metropolitan statistical areas exceeds a 5.1 percent threshold, measured across a 12-month average, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. New federal data show the Springfield area hit an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. "This change is required by state law that was passed in 2003. The [Department of Unemployment Assistance] will be in communication with claimants on next steps," EOLWD spokesperson Matt Kitsos said in a statement to the News Service on Tuesday. "Our administration is working with stakeholders and our state and local partners as we conduct a comprehensive review of the UI Trust Fund and implement our new, modernized online system to best serve the residents of Massachusetts. We will continue to connect skilled workers with employers, train and prepare future talent, and make life more affordable for everyone." Since July 2023, Bay Staters have been eligible for a shorter benefit window of 26 weeks due to a lower level of unemployment. That change kicked in after all metro areas logged unemployment rates at or below 5.1 percent. The 12-month unemployment average is currently below 5 percent in the other six metro areas, according to EOLWD. The Barnstable area trails closest to Springfield, at 4.9 percent. The National Federation of Independent Business, which called attention to the benefit period extension before state officials confirmed it Tuesday, urged lawmakers to tackle unemployment insurance reform. Business groups like NFIB contend that employers are strained by steep costs from the unemployment system, including due to large benefit amounts and broad eligibility parameters. "The cracks in our broken unemployment insurance system are now becoming chasms," Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB, said in a statement. "This is yet another example of the Commonwealth's outlier policies compounding a worsening UI crisis, as we are the ONLY state in the nation that allows recipients to collect 30 weeks of benefits." The statewide unadjusted unemployment rate for March was 5 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is 0.8 percentage points above the nationwide unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, EOWLD said. The statewide seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in March was 4.4 percent, compared to a national rate of 4.2 percent. The state's labor participation in March was nearly 67 percent, which is 4.1 percentage points above the national average, EOLWD said. Earlier this month, the state DUA published the latest quarterly report about the trust fund used to pay joblessness benefits, again projecting the account funded by a tax on employers will dip into the red by 2028. On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance pointed out that data from the state's Department of Economic Research showed Massachusetts had lost nearly 25,000 private sector jobs over the last year amid a major increase in state and local government jobs. "Private sector employers are facing rising energy costs, burdensome mandates, and an unfriendly business climate," Paul Craney, MassFiscal's executive director, said. "The state is doing serious long-term damage to its economic competitiveness. Every government job added without private sector growth is another step toward eventual fiscal ruin. Massachusetts needs a private sector comeback, not more bureaucrats on the state payroll." The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development later said the data displayed by DER and cited by Mass Fiscal was incorrect. After updating the DER website to accurately reflect numbers provided (and routinely revised) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state said the net change in private sector jobs here between March 2024 and March 2025 was a decrease of 12,100 jobs, a number that corresponds with data provided directly by BLS. Between March 2024 and March 2025, some 400 federal workers here lost their jobs, while state government added 1,700 jobs. The local government sector also lost 300 jobs. BillOReilly.com is not available in this country. We apologize for any inconvenience. Eurovision star Sam Ryder has said one of the most meaningful and heartwarming things Ive ever done has been singing with critically ill children at Disneyland Paris. Ahead of the performance on Saturday, the children joined Ryder at the AIR Studios in Hampstead, London, to rehearse the song Viva La Musique, before going on to perform in France at the theme park. Advertisement Jax Morris, who was diagnosed at the age of two with a rare genetic blood disease and lives in North Ayrshire, Scotland and Kent-based Molly Townsend-Blazier, who was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukaemia, were among those performing. Sam Ryder at the launch of the Disney Music Festival at Disneyland Paris (Daniel Kennedy/Disneyland Paris/PA) The two nine-year-olds were joined by Habiba Konate Naim, 13, from Greater London, who is living with genetic condition Williams Syndrome and has had a life-saving kidney transplant, and Eve Wilson, 16, from the south coast of England, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour. Singing with these amazing kids was honestly one of the most meaningful and heartwarming things Ive ever done, Ryder said. They met as strangers, and it was a joy to watch them become friends as we bonded over the power of music and singing. The whole experience was so pure, and its been a real honour that I will cherish forever. Advertisement Molly Townsend-Blazier, nine, participated (Daniel Kennedy/Disneyland Paris/PA) The Make-A-Wish UK supporter said the charity is the best of humanity. He added: It transcends everything politics, beliefs, all of it. Its only good. It brings out the best in everyone, and I just feel so lucky to be around that energy. Ryder said that getting to meet and hang out a few weeks while rehearsing with the children helped break the ice so we could just sing, dance, and enjoy the moment together. He said: The main thing was making sure it felt like their day, building those bonds between them. Advertisement If music was just the backdrop for all of that, then Im humbled and honoured to have been part of it. Theyre amazing people pure beauty, honestly. The performance in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the launch of the Disney Music Festival came ahead of World Wish Day which takes place on Tuesday and was a collaboration between Disneyland Paris, charity Make-A-Wish and Ryder. Sam Ryder at AIR Studios in Hampstead, London, during rehearsals (Daniel Kennedy/Disneyland Paris/PA) Eve recently received a place at dance college, ahead of her GCSEs, and said her dreams always been to perform at Disney, and its happening. Mollys father Ian said: At first, we thought we only had months with her. Advertisement We had to wait a week for further tests, and eventually they confirmed it was leukaemia. Its been a challenging journey over the last two and a half, three years, with quite intensified chemo every day. When Jax was four, he underwent chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant and then had complications, viruses and autoimmune encephalitis, which the NHS says is a serious condition leading to swelling of the brain. This caused brain trauma and mobility impairments, but he is determined to try to walk again, and is still in and out of hospital, according to the charity. Disney and Make-A-Wish have worked together for 45 years, bringing children more than 165,000 wishes around the world and some 20,000 at Disneyland Paris. Advertisement Ryder represented the UK at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second with the single Space Man. He was nominated for an outstanding original music and lyrics Emmy in 2023 for co-writing Fought & Lost, featuring Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, for the hit Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso. Pope Francis' death has drawn renewed attention to the recently released film Conclave. Recent figures showed viewership of the film has surged by 238 per cent since the Pope's death. Advertisement The film was based on a novel of the same name by Robert Harris. Following Francis' funeral, attention will now turn to the real life Conclave to elect his successor. So what does the film get right, and what is dramatisation? Location Cardinals will be living in close proximity at the Casa Santa Marta, a guesthouse on the grounds of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican City, as portrayed in the film. Advertisement Voting The voting process takes place in the Sistine Chapel, as it does in the film. The politics, bargains, and dealings will obviously be hidden from the public but they are likely to be just as complex as they were on screen. Camerlengo Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence, the camerlengo. This important role comes following the death of a Pope, the camerlengo effectively becomes the interim administrative leader of the Church, tasked with observing a set of traditions as well as following the late Pope's wishes. In real life, the camerlengo is Irish-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell. The 77-year-old, born in Dublin, had only been in Rome for a few years, summoned out of the blue from his job as bishop of Dallas, when he was asked by Pope Francis in 2016 to reorganise the Vaticans laity office. Advertisement This was followed three years later, in 2019, by a request from Francis that he take on another role, steeped in myth and mystery but with real-world responsibilities, managing the Vatican as camerlengo, or chamberlain, during the often traumatic interregnum between papacies and helping to organise the conclave to elect the next pontiff. Dean of the College of Cardinals Entertainment Conclave review: Masterful Ralph Fiennes performan... Read More In the film, Fiennes' character is also the dean of the College of Cardinals. In real life, this role is held by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, an Italian. Ending We won't spoil the film for those who haven't seen it, but the twist at the end is highly unlikely in real life. However, what it does get right is the possibility of a surprise selection. There are six or seven names consistently linked with the papacy, but there are often surprises produced by the secretive Conclave. For example, Pope John Paul II's election in 1978 was seen as a surprise. The annual number of complaints about aircraft noise at Dublin Airport more than doubled last year to almost 71,000, with one individual submitting a record 7,535 complaints in a single month. Figures published by the airports operator, DAA, show a total of 70,939 complaints about noise from aircraft landing and taking off in Dublin were recorded last year an increase of over 37,000 on 2023 levels. Advertisement They include large numbers of complaints from a handful of individuals with DAA claiming that serial complainants account for nine out of every 10 cases. The figures show one individual living close to a main flight path in St Margarets, Co Dublin submitted 7,535 complaints in August 2024 a daily average of 243 complaints as part of over 18,000 complaints filed between July and September last year. While a few individuals who file large volumes of complaints can skew overall numbers, the latest figures show that more complaints are still being received even when the impact of serial complainants is excluded. DAAs figures show the top five individual complainants each month accounted for 46,197 complaints last year representing 65 per cent of the total number of complaints and up from just over 19,700 in 2023. Advertisement However, complaints from others rose by 81 per cent to 24,742 last year an annual increase of over 11,000. The figures also show that the average number of individuals who filed complaints each month in 2024 was 152 down from 290 the previous year. The trend would indicate that while fewer individuals are now submitting complaints to DAA about noise from aircraft using Dublin Airport, they are doing so on a more frequent basis. According to DAA figures, approximately five per cent of aircraft do not adhere to designated flight paths and are considered off track. Advertisement DAA did not comment on what sanctions, if any, were applied for such deviations but said it worked closely with airlines to improve adherence to flight paths. DAA media relations manager, Graeme McQueen, said some flux in complaint levels in recent years was not surprising given that North Runway is still a relatively new piece of infrastructure which is bringing new noise to some people for the first time. DAA did not provide a breakdown of complaints relating to the 330 million North Runway which became fully operational in late 2023, although its use is generally limited to 7am-11pm. However, DAA figures show that 65 per cent of all departures last year used the North Runway, while 81% of arrivals land on the South Runway. Advertisement Mr McQueen claimed significantly fewer people were now impacted by aircraft noise than previously as a result of the opening of North Runway. He added: That's due to the significantly reduced usage of our Crosswind Runway, which resulted in planes flying over heavily populated areas of Dublin City, the use of more modern and quieter aircraft and the adoption of DAA's extensive noise mitigation measures. The figures show that during the winter season, the largest volume of complaints relates to flights between 7am and 9am with a smaller peak in the evening. However, complaints are spread more evenly across the day during the peak season in the summer. Advertisement Approximately 37 per cent of complaints relate to flights operated by Ryanair, while 28% are linked to Aer Lingus aircraft with the remainder accounted for by other airlines. Data published by DAA indicates that the main locations where complainants reside include St Margarets, Ratoath, The Ward, Ashbourne, Swords, Kilsallaghan, Malahide and Portmarnock. Airlines using Dublin Airport are required to adhere to a noise preferential route as their flight path until departing aircraft reach 3,000 feet altitude or 4,000 feet for flights using the North Runway. Arriving aircraft must fly in a straight line for at least the final 11km of their approach when they are at a height of 1,800 feet. A recent study commissioned by St Margarets/The Ward Residents Group, who are fighting a campaign to keep the controversial cap of 32 million passengers using Dublin Airport annually, estimated that noise from aircraft is seriously affecting the health of 17,000 living in the area at a cost of almost 800 million. The research carried out by PMCA Economic Consulting used figures from the latest annual survey by the Aircraft Noise Competent Authority which showed 71,388 local residents were highly annoyed by aircraft noise with 32,562 classified as highly sleep disturbed. The research said the ANCA statistics indicated 16,746 people living around the airport have been impacted by heart issues with a total of 120,696 affected with general health problems. The groups spokesperson, Niamh Maher, said aircraft noise was causing real harm to local residents with the research now showing the cost in economic terms. The health impact on peoples lives by the relentless pursuit of driving up passenger numbers at Dublin Airport surely demands a rethink, said Dr Maher. The residents have called for more balanced airport development in the Republic with greater use of airports at Shannon, Cork and Knock. Earlier this month, DAA launched a new noise information portal on its website to provide interactive information about flights to and from Dublin Airport. Mr McQueen said the initiative was introduced after an extensive community survey had shown people wanted more transparency, openness and access to information on airport operations and noise management. The portal allows individuals to analyse the noise situation from aircraft at their location as well as to check their eligibility for insulation and home buy-out schemes. DAA said it had spent over 20 million to date on insulation schemes and purchasing homes in the vicinity of the airport. It claimed almost 230 homeowners most affected by aircraft noise were eligible for insulation schemes with 186 homes already completed. A further 400 homes are to benefit from a grant scheme for insulation worth 30,000 per property. In addition, a voluntary buy-out option has been made available to 41 families living near the airport with offers about 30% over market values plus generous allowances for stamp duty, conveyancing and moving costs. DAA said six purchases have been completed so far with a further 14 in process. We have to strike a balance between operating a major international airport and ensuring Ireland has the connectivity it needs, with the needs of those living close to the airport, said Mr McQueen. Thats always going to be difficult, but we are constantly working to minimise the impact and listening to community feedback, he added. Here, we have a look at the issues likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come. Anti-immigration protest suggests trouble to come There was a heightened Garda presence in Dublin for an anti-immigration protest and counter demonstration on Saturday. Advertisement Public order units, mounted gardai and a helicopter were involved in policing the two rallies. Gardai said no major incidents occurred but three people were arrested for public order offences. Made up of disparate groups, the main protest was generally organised against the sitting Irish Government and its policies on immigration and housing in particular. The Taoiseach has rejected the negativity expressed by those who spoke at the major protest in Dublin over the weekend. Advertisement Asked by reporters about the protesters also invoking the the memory of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, Micheal Martin said: The message of the 1916 proclamation is an inclusive, internationalist vision, not one that is narrow. It never had at its core a narrow nationalism. It was very internationalist. It was inclusive, it was open. And thats the spirit which Fianna Fail will be continuing and thats a very important point. We dont believe in a narrow nationalism, and we are part of modern European society, members of the European Union since the early 1970s and thats brought great transformation to the country. Advertisement We have a thriving economy in Ireland, and I would be very cautious about those who are advocating those yesterday and some who would advocate policies that in my view would be detrimental to the future of the country and of our people. Immigration has been a big issue for the Government, and it is likely to continue to be one. Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan has promised changes including increased deportation for illegal migration, and a faster processing time for asylum seekers. However, the extreme fringes that took part in Saturday's protest will not be satisfied with these measures. Advertisement Government warned not to ignore McGregor's 'far-right American messaging' Conor McGregor has "completely adopted American far-right messaging" with his anti-immigration rhetoric, according to an expert in global extremism. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (Gpahe) "centres its work on countering the threat from the far-right while emphasising human rights and progressive values". Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Global Project Against Hate and Extremism co-founder and president Wendy Via said political leaders would be foolish to dismiss McGregor just because his presidential bid looks unlikely. Ms Via said his recent interview with former Fox News broadcaster Tucker Carlson hit a number of far-right talking points, such as adopting seemingly religious themes and dehumanising migrants. Advertisement "I don't know if it's permanent, but during that interview he seemed to be moderating a little bit saying I'm the good guy, I just want to protect my family and my country... I want to be led by God. I was thinking ok Conor, we'll see. "It seems to me that he is completely adopting the American far-right messaging. "Its this is what's right and what's good for our people. He's setting himself up to be a bit of a hero, which is what a lot of far-right figures do, especially political figures. "I know that McGregor doesn't have any political power right now. "The people who adopt this far-right messaging, their ability to prey on people, prey on their fears, their economic fears, their safety fears, because immigrants are criminals', as they say." While far-right groups in Ireland are divided and not organised, Ms Via said figures like McGregor often become a "mouthpiece" for their movements. Varadkar says US is no longer 'reliable political and economic partner to Europe Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said it is "no longer the case" that the US is a "reliable political and economic partner" to Europe. He also said the EU should be "generous" to the UK and "willing to make concessions" in the current negotiations as "Europe needs Britain" as a security and defence partner. Mr Varadkar made the comments on LBCs Tonight with Andrew Marr. Explained Trump's first 100 days: America First president is... Read More He also told Mr Marr there would be "no harm in dusting down the old backstop" agreement between the EU and UK to "give a boost to the British economy". Abroad In the UK, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has been playing down the threat of Reform UK to her party as Nigel Farage's party continues to enjoy increased popularity. Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, after US president Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian president Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. It comes after a positive meeting between Mr Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in St Peter's Basilica as the pair were in the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis. A wide range of stories feature on the front pages of Irish newspapers on Sunday. Many include the funeral of Pope Francis, which took place on Saturday. The Sunday Independent reports on the funeral of Pope Francis, which was attended by world leaders, royalty and thousands of faithful in Rome. Advertisement Jerome Kavanagh, who fatally cut five-year-old Ciaran Malones throat, was confronted by the Sunday World. Kavanagh was released from Shelton Abbey Open Prison in Wicklow last week after spending more than three decades behind bars. The Pope's funeral takes centre stage on the front page of The Irish Mail on Sunday. The Irish Sunday Mirror reports on peace talks between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after they met in Vatican City on the sidelines of Pope Franciss funeral. Businesses are to get more time to prepare for the introduction of auto-enrolment pensions for 811,000 workers as cabinet will delay the move until 2026, according to the Business Post. The Sunday Times also covers Trump and Zelensky's peace talks as the Pope was laid to rest. The paper also reports on Mary McAleese saying only "fake theology" bans women from being priests. At least 25 people have died and 800 others were injured after a massive explosion and fire rocked a port in southern Iran. Saturdays blast was reportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant. Advertisement Helicopters dumped water from the air on the fire hours after the initial explosion, which happened at the Shahid Rajaei port just as Iran and the United States met on Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear programme. No one in Iran outright suggested the explosion came from an attack but even Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response. Firefighters work as black smoke rises in the sky after the explosion (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) State media offered the casualty figures, saying authorities have identified only 10 of the dead, including two women. There were few details on what sparked the blaze just outside of Bandar Abbas, which burned into Saturday night, causing other containers to explode. Advertisement The port took in a shipment of sodium perchlorate rocket fuel in March, the private security firm Ambrey said. The fuel is part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by The Financial Times. The fuel was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said. Advertisement Ship-tracking data put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. Iran has not acknowledged taking the shipment and the Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. It is unclear why Iran would not have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. Advertisement Men walk through debris after the massive explosion rocked a port near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas (Mohammad Rasoul Moradi/IRNA via AP) Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel. Social media footage of the explosion at Shahid Rajaei showed reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast, as in the Beirut explosion. Get back, get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go! a man in one video shouted just before the blast. Advertisement Tell him to go, its going to blow up! Oh God, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back! On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area for the blast, without elaborating. An aerial shot released by Iranian media after the blast showed fires burning at multiple locations in the port, with authorities later warning about air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air. Schools in Bandar Abbas were closed on Sunday. New Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Sunday that US statements about the mineral-rich Arctic island have been disrespectful and that Greenland will never, ever be a piece of property that can be bought by just anyone. Mr Nielsen made the remarks in defiance of US President Donald Trumps interest in taking control of the strategic territory as he stood side by side with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on the second day of a three-day official visit. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Advertisement The talks from the United States have not been respectful, Mr Nielsen said at a news conference at the prime ministers Marienborg official residence in Lyngby, 12km north of Copenhagen. The words used have not been respectful. Thats why we need in this situation, we need to stand together, he added. Denmarks Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, left, and Greenlands Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen during Mr Neilsens visit (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, recently agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Mr Trumps designs on the territory. Greenlands government said Mr Nielsens three-day visit, which began on Saturday, was aimed at future co-operation between the two countries. Advertisement Denmark has the will to invest in the Greenlandic society, and we dont just have that for historical reasons. We also have that because we are part of (the Danish) commonwealth with each other, said Ms Frederiksen. We of course have a will to also continue investing in the Greenlandic society, she added. Mr Nielsen is set to meet King Frederik X on Monday, before returning to Greenland with Frederik for a royal visit to the island. Ms Frederiksen and Mr Nielsen were asked whether a meeting between them and Mr Trump was being planned. Advertisement We always want to meet with the American president, Ms Frederiksen said. Of course we want to. But I think we have been very, very clear in what is the (Danish commonwealths) approach to all parts of the kingdom of Denmark. Israeli jets struck Beiruts southern suburbs on Sunday after issuing a warning about an hour earlier, marking the third Israeli strike on the area since a ceasefire took effect in late November. A huge plume of smoke billowed over the area after the strike, which hit what looked like a metal tent situated between two buildings with three bombs, according to an Associated Press photographer on the ground and footage circulating on social media. Advertisement The photographer saw two burned and destroyed trucks inside the hangar. There were no immediate reports of casualties. In the warning, the Israeli military said it was targeting Hezbollah facilities in the Hadath area and urged residents to move at least 300 metres from the site before the strike. Two warning strikes followed. Bombs dropped from Israeli jets fall before hitting a building (Bilal Hussein/AP) Fighter jets were heard over parts of the Lebanese capital before the strike near the Al-Jamous neighbourhood, where gunshots were fired into the air to warn residents and urge them to evacuate, as families fled in panic. In a statement following the strike, the Israeli military said it targeted a precision-guided missile storage facility for the militant Hezbollah group. It added that storing such equipment is a violation of the agreement reached to end the Israel-Hezbollah war. Advertisement During the last Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli drones and fighter jets regularly pounded the southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has wide influence and support. Israel views the area, where it has assassinated several of Hezbollahs top leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah, as a militant stronghold and accuses the group of storing weapons there. President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli strike, calling on the US and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire, to assume their responsibilities and pressure Israel to halt its attacks. He warned that Israels continued actions undermine stability and risk exposing the region to serious security threats. Advertisement UN special co-ordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis posted on X that the latest Israeli strike generated panic and fear of renewed violence among those desperate for a return to normalcy. She urged all sides to halt any actions that could further undermine the ceasefire understanding and the implementation of the UN resolution that ended the war. Residents inspect the area following the Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh (Bilal Hussein/AP) Sundays strike follows two earlier attacks on the capitals southern suburbs, the first taking place on March 28, when Israel also issued a warning, and the second on April 1, when an unannounced strike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official. The leader of Lebanons Hezbollah group, Sheikh Naim Kassem, has recently warned that if Israels attacks on Lebanon continued and if Lebanons government does not act to stop them, the group would eventually resort to other alternatives. Advertisement Sheikh Kassem also said Hezbollahs fighters will not disarm as long as Israeli troops remain in southern Lebanon and the Israeli air force regularly violates Lebanese airspace. Under the US-brokered ceasefire that ended the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war, Israeli forces were supposed to withdraw from all Lebanese territory by late January, while Hezbollah had to end its armed presence south of the Litani River along the border with Israel. Earlier on Sunday, a drone strike killed a man in the southern Lebanese village of Halta, according to the health ministry. In a post on X that included footage of the strike, the Israeli military said that it had targeted a Hezbollah member where he was working to rebuild Hezbollahs terrorist capabilities in the area. Israels near-daily airstrikes have killed scores of people, including civilians and Hezbollah members, in southern and eastern Lebanon since the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect, saying it targets Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. Advertisement Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah holdouts in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese military has gradually deployed in the countrys southern region, and Beirut has urged the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacks and withdraw its forces still present on five hilltops in Lebanese territory. Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday, targeting multiple regions, after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. Three people died and four were injured in air strikes on Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, while another person died and a 14-year-old girl was injured in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was hit for the third consecutive night, regional officials said. Advertisement The attacks came hours after Russia claimed to have regained control over the remaining parts of the Kursk region, which Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials said the fighting in Kursk was still ongoing. Mr Trump said on Saturday that he doubts Mr Putin wants to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine, expressing new scepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Just a day earlier, the US president had said Ukraine and Russia were very close to a deal. Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had no reason to target civilian areas of Ukraine (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP) After his return to the US following Pope Franciss funeral in Rome at which he briefly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Mr Trump said on social media: There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. He also hinted at further sanctions against Russia. Advertisement The Trump-Zelensky conversation on the sidelines of the funeral was the first face-to-face encounter between the two since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February. Russia fired 149 exploding drones and decoys in the latest wave of attacks, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that 57 were intercepted and another 67 jammed. One person was injured in drone attacks on the Odesa region and another in the city of Zhitomir. Four people were also injured in a Russian air strike on the city of Kherson on Sunday morning, according to local officials. Russias defence ministry said on Sunday that air defences shot down five Ukrainian drones in the border region of Bryansk, as well as three drones over the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Advertisement Five people were injured when Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, the citys Russian-installed mayor Ivan Prikhodko said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday that the coming week would be very critical, and that the US would need to make a determination about whether this is an endeavour that we want to continue to be involved in. Asked on NBCs Meet The Press about possible concessions to Russia, Mr Rubio emphasised the need to be grownups and realistic. There is no military solution to this war. The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didnt, he said. The craziest thing about this election is that were into the last week of the campaign without anyone much bothering to mention the word wages. Really? Were too obsessed by the cost-of-living crisis to have any interest is what has happened, and will happen, to our wages? Is it possible our voters could be so detached from reality that they dont see the link between prices and wages? It reminds me of the person who voted for Trump because prices went up, and theyve never come back down. Thats right, sir, the general level of consumer prices goes up and rarely falls back. Thats why its nice to see your wage rising in line with the rise in prices, or even a bit faster than prices. If thats what happens, you dont have a lot to complain about. Anthony Albanese (left) and Peter Dutton. Credit: Fairfax Media Is it possible some people think the government can do something about rising prices but has nothing to do with wages? They even engaged in a meaningless exchange about who might have Trumps mobile phone number. Neither leader tried to take a deep breath, slow the pace and give a thoughtful answer that departed from their daily lines. Dutton was provocative on the Welcome to Country issue, saying he thought they were overdone. Albanese played it safe in his response. Any voter who dislikes the Indigenous Welcome would know to vote for Dutton. But will this really be the big issue for many voters? The debate was uneven, full of carping, and might not influence many voters. Loading Albanese knew the price of eggs better than Dutton, but it is hard to see that changing the election. Albanese had a memorable moment when shown a picture of his holiday home at Copacabana, on the NSW Central Coast, and asked for a rapid response. Marriage, he said. His point was that the clifftop home was purchased equally with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon and he noted that she had been erased from the media furore about the house. It was his most personal answer of the night. As with the three earlier debates of this campaign, the Seven debate was mostly a draw. Both leaders slugged it out on the economy. Neither leader was straight with Australian voters about national security. Dutton sought to provoke Albanese, but the prime minister did not snap back. And the result? Dutton had sharper complaints about the cost of living, but Albanese had stronger lines about what to do next. You have no solutions, he shot at Dutton at one point. Albanese repeatedly contrasted the temporary help from the Coalition on fuel excise and tax with the permanent tax cut from Labor. Who won: Albanese was sound and consistent on the cost of living and the economy. This was enough but only just enough to give him an edge on an ordinary night. It was billed as The Final Showdown, the last debate before election day. The debates thus far have been so lacklustre that a new gimmick was required to heighten the drama. Channel Seven supplied one by giving both party leaders a strict 60-second time limit on their answers, and putting a soundtrack of stagey music to their answers. As their time ticked out, the music swelled to a crescendo. It was similar to the way they attempt to wrap up Oscars speeches that go on too long, but with more discussion of gas reservation policy, instead. Loading Conducting the orchestra was Mark Riley, who tried to do some real-time fact-checking, and to keep both leaders on track with their answers. Much of what they said we had heard before, although we did learn that the prime minister does not have President Donald Trumps mobile number, but only because he doesnt think Trump has one. Thats not the way it works, he told Riley, rather condescendingly. Dutton interjected across the stage did the prime minister have UK Prime Minister Keir Starmers number? (A supplementary question: what does Albanese think Trump uses for his prolific social media posting? An iPad? Or does he buy the reports that Trump dictates his posts to more technologically savvy aides?) Towards the end of the debate, things loosened up a little into a proper showdown, with some back and forth between the leaders. Youre going to wreck this economy if you keep doing this ... and youre doing it now, Dutton interrupted the prime minister, as the latter discussed renewable energy. Peter can attack me, but I tell you what, I wont let him attack the wages of working people, the PM said. An interesting moment came when both men were asked the cost of a dozen eggs. Dutton guessed $4.20, and Albanese said about $7. The price is more like $8, but to be fair, its doubtful either man has been making pancake breakfasts much lately. In a week, one of them will have more leisure time for such simple pleasures. Verdict: this one was a dead heat. Peter Dutton saved his best for last. Projecting strength and passion, he took control of proceedings several times by asking Albanese direct questions and interjecting to accuse the prime minister of misleading the audience at home and to attack him over his management of the economy. Duttons answers were sharp and declarative: he made a point of directly answering the questions he was asked rather than falling back on soundbites. A standout moment came when he was asked to name Australias greatest security threat and did not hesitate to name the Communist Party of China, referring to the intelligence and defence briefings he received when in government. His biggest stumble: not coming close to being able to name the price of a dozen eggs (nominating $4.20 rather than $8). The topics pursued by debate moderator Mark Riley suited Dutton more than Albanese. Notably, there was no standalone section on health or climate change, which are areas of strength for Albanese and of weakness for Dutton. Meanwhile, a lengthy section on Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies allowed him to re-litigate the failed Voice to parliament referendum and sell himself as a unifying figure. I will represent Australians whether they have been here for 60,000 years or whether they arrived six days ago, Dutton said in a cut-through line that will appeal to many outer-suburban and regional voters he is targeting. Albaneses answers were substantial and detailed, packed with information about Labors policies to cut taxes, reduce HECS debts and boost housing supply. He also came far closer to correctly naming the price of a dozen eggs. The Coalition is promising to let first-home buyers claim a tax deduction on the interest bill on their mortgage, subject to financial thresholds over five years, as well as offering the super-for-housing policy, but it has vowed to block the Labor policy to ease student debt. Labor is offering to reduce all HECS debts by 20 per cent if it is returned to power, saying someone with the average debt $27,600 would have about $5250 wiped from their loan. On housing, it offers first-home buyers a government guarantee so they can buy their first home with a 5 per cent deposit, as well as a $10 billion plan to encourage more housing construction. Labor is acting on government data, prepared before the election, that shows more than three million people have HECS debts and therefore stand to gain if the party is returned to power. This target group includes 426,000 people who are aged under 35 and live in marginal seats in the three biggest states. This includes 123,000 in the key Sydney and NSW seats, 146,520 in target seats in Brisbane and 157,702 in the Melbourne marginal seats. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted the issue of student debt in an address to Labor supporters on Sunday, while also listing Duttons decisions to cut public servants and oppose the $17.4 billion personal income tax cut in the federal budget. If hes already promising to raise your taxes and increase your HECS debt you have to ask: what else is there? Albanese said. The prime minister warned on Saturday that a Coalition victory at the election would keep debts higher for younger Australians. They are literally saying to 3 million Australians, if you vote Liberal or National, we will increase your debt by more than $5500, he said. Hows that going to help them get into home ownership? Those are precisely the people who are looking to buy a first home, who are going to be saddled with more debt from the Coalition. Loading The Labor campaign includes social media messages from Education Minister Jason Clare that contrast Dutton with a photograph of Albanese as a young student. Both leaders are scaling up their campaigns when millions of Australians are expected to lodge early votes this week, after 2.4 million people cast pre-poll ballots from Tuesday to Saturday. Another 500,000 have returned a postal ballot, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. There are 18.1 million eligible voters at this election. Dutton went on the offensive on Sunday as part of a plan to campaign in as many as 27 seats this week, visiting the Labor-held electorate of Hawke in Melbourne before speaking to supporters alongside former prime minister John Howard in the Sydney seat of Mackellar. The event was Duttons first visit to an east coast teal electorate since the formal campaign began on March 28. Liberal candidate James Brown is seeking to defeat independent MP Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, on Sydneys northern beaches. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton with former prime minister John Howard at Mona Vale Bowling Club during the opposition leaders foray into teal territory. Credit: James Brickwood The Labor campaign seeks to confront Coalition and Greens candidates in some of the nations most marginal seats by appealing to voters with student debt such as almost 25,000 people in the swing seat of Brisbane. The message has the potential to shape contests in Coalition seats such as Menzies in eastern Melbourne, won by Liberal MP Keith Wolahan by just 1400 votes at the last election, and the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield, a Liberal seat being contested by a teal independent. Menzies has 17,332 residents with a HECS debt, according to federal government figures, and Bradfield has 17,137. Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is seeking to win Bradfield against independent candidate Nicolette Boele. Other Liberal seats with large cohorts of people with HECS debt include Deakin in Melbourne (15,718 people with HECS debt) Forde in southern Brisbane (14,920 people) and Dickson (Duttons seat in northern Brisbane, with 13,565 people who have HECS debts). The message about HECS debt is also being aimed at all the lower house seats held by the Greens: Brisbane, Ryan, Griffith and Melbourne, the last of which has been held by Greens leader Adam Bandt since 2010. Loading Griffith, held by Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather, has about 23,000 voters with a HECS debt, according to figures collated by the government before the election. Chandler-Mather gained victory at the last election by securing 6000 more primary votes than Labor and then winning on preferences, highlighting the task for Labor candidate Renee Coffey in convincing voters to give her their primary vote. What airline would separate a nine-year-old child from their parents? For more than a decade, Traveller reader Mark Hardy of Seaforth, NSW, had been a faithful customer of China Airlines, the Taiwanese national flag carrier, but that ended abruptly earlier this year. On a New Years Eve flight from Sydney to Taipei, Hardy, his wife and nine-year-old daughter were seated at opposite ends of the cabin, many rows distant from one another. Despite selecting seats when he made the booking in mid-2024, China Airlines seated our young child far from us on all four flight legs, including two nine-hour overnight flights, Hardy wrote in a letter to Traveller. If you dont pre-book your seats, you may find yourself seated away from your family or travel companions. Credit: iStock Somehow, our selections were changed, and their inflexible policy ignored our concerns about our childs welfare. At check-in, there was no resolution. Onboard, I asked the cabin crew to assist, as our daughters seat was well out of our sight. Though I was assured she would be cared for, she was not. She repeatedly sought help but was ignored. What airline seats a nine-year-old child far from either of their parents, especially on a long, overnight flight? Its uncaring, unnecessary and totally out of order. No surprise Hardy has jettisoned his long-standing preference for China Airlines. photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer photo by John Shearer Previous Next Several dozen residents, including a small number of family members of loved ones buried there, turned out Saturday to celebrate the first annual Red Bank Cemetery Decoration Day. White carnations were placed on graves, attendees enjoyed fellowship, members of the Red Bank High Jr. ROTC unit presented the colors and raised the American flag, and four members of the schools band played the national anthem and Taps. Also, remarks were made by Red Bank City Manager Martin Granum and Red Bank Citizens Cemetery Advisory Board chairman Sal Arrigo Jr. A prayer was offered by longtime Red Bank resident Jim LaMance. The event came after the city of Red Bank-owned cemetery had been cleaned up and many of the gravestones were restored over the last couple of years with the help of the Cemetery Advisory Board and the public works department. Also, a new metal fence, a new arched entranceway and a flagpole were installed in recent months. Here's what a lip-reading expert observed the Duchess of Sussex saying when she cut off her husband before he could get any words out. Even though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not officially working royals anymore, they did make a couple of visits abroad in 2024. The couple touched down in Nigeria in May for their first trip and then three months later, traveled to Colombia. The Sussexes deemed both trips a success, but there was one awkward moment that people still talk about today. Thats when Harry tried to speak to some schoolchildren they were meeting in Colombia, but Meghan didnt let him. Heres more on that and what a lip reader is saying about that moment now. Lip reader decodes what Meghan said after she interrupted Prince Harry When the duke and duchess visited Colegio Cultura Popular, a public school in the city center of Bogota, they met with some children there. Forensic lipreader Nicola Hickling observed that Harry was about to say something, but didnt get a chance to because his wife had no regard for that and just started talking to the kids herself. Hickling pointed out that the prince was about to say something to one youngster, but Meghan interrupted that by jumping in and talking to the child first. That resulted in Harry quickly closing his mouth and nodding. Hicking told The Mirror: Harry is about to say something (look) when Meghan interrupts him and speaks to the boy. Meghans eyes are closed and she clasps her hands together. Its almost like she is straining to speak at first. According to the lip reader, Meghan said to the student: So, so you won an award in products, is that right?' Once she finished speaking, Harry recognized that he was free to ask the boy a follow-up question, saying: How serious were you when you took on this offer? The Duke of Sussex was later seen laughing with the children as he tried to count in Spanish. And the former Suits star described the group of students they met that day as incredibly impressive, smart, and savvy. She also highlighted the importance of the children aiming to be self-reliant and not tech reliant in todays world. Meghan does not like being interrupted when shes speaking Some found the fact that Meghan interrupted Harry when he was getting ready to say something odd, considering that memes were created after she showed how much she dislikes being cut off by someone else when shes speaking. A video went viral in 2023 of the Duchess of Sussex at an event with her mother, Doria Ragland, and Prince Harry when all of a sudden, Meghans mom jumped in and talked while her daughter was mid-sentence. Many commenters picked on Prince Harrys reaction when that happened. Prince Harry looks scared, one person wrote, while another observed: Notice Harry caught her death stare and was probably thinking he was glad it wasnt at him this time. A third user posted: Anybody notice Harrys eye flutter after he sees her reaction? That tells you something. Another chimed in: Notice how Harrys eyelids started panic fluttering. And a fifth person added: At least her mother is not afraid of her like Harry is. Home News 28 Killed, 800 Injured in Massive Port Explosion in Iran An enormous explosion and subsequent fire at Irans Shahid Rajaei port killed at least 28 people and injured about 800 others on Saturday. The blast reportedly involved a chemical used in missile propellants that had been stored at the port. The explosion took place just outside Bandar Abbas, a city in southern Iran, prompting authorities to deploy helicopters and aircraft overnight to battle the intense blaze, The Associated Press reported. CNN, citing state media, reported that at least 28 people died and 800 others were injured in the explosion. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The fire erupted among containers storing hazardous chemicals, triggering additional explosions and significant damage in the vicinity, according to the newswire. Irans Customs Administration attributed the disaster to a stockpile of hazardous chemical materials improperly stored at the port. The private security firm Ambrey identified the chemical involved as ammonium perchlorate, a compound typically used in solid rocket propellants. Ambrey noted that the chemical had been delivered from China in March as part of a larger shipment intended to replenish Irans missile supplies, which had been significantly reduced during direct attacks on Israel amid the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to NPR. Footage shared widely on social media captured the moments preceding the explosion, with reddish-colored smoke rising rapidly from the fire. A mans voice urgently warned others to evacuate the area, shouting about imminent danger shortly before the massive blast occurred. Videos after the explosion showed dense black smoke billowing into the sky, shattered windows, and structural damage extending miles from the epicenter. Casualty figures provided by Iranian authorities confirm that the injured crowded local hospitals, overwhelming medical services in Bandar Abbas. Emergency medical personnel worked rapidly to manage the influx, with ambulances arriving continuously throughout the night. One building reportedly collapsed following the explosion, but further details have not been disclosed by state media. Iranian authorities responded by shutting down schools and offices across Bandar Abbas for Sunday due to air quality concerns. Hazardous pollutants such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide have significantly contaminated the local atmosphere, prompting health warnings from environmental officials. President Masoud Pezeshkian publicly extended condolences to victims and their families. This incident occurred amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel following a prolonged conflict involving Hamas in Gaza. Although no Iranian official explicitly labeled the explosion as sabotage or an attack, Irans Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had previously warned of heightened alertness among the countrys security forces in a post on X. Araghchi stated Iran was wary of attempts at sabotage or assassination, actions historically designed to provoke a response from Tehran. Iran and the United States coincidentally resumed negotiations over Tehrans nuclear program on the same day as the port explosion. Delegations met in Oman for a third round of talks aiming to curb Irans advancing nuclear capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. It remains unclear why Iranian officials had not relocated the ammonium perchlorate from Bandar Abbas, especially given the significant risks demonstrated by previous international port disasters. In Beirut port in 2020, improper storage of ammonium nitrate caused an explosion that resulted in more than 200 deaths and injured over 6,000 people. In March, Ambrey reported tracking ships believed to be carrying ammonium perchlorate, though Iranian officials have not publicly acknowledged receiving such shipments. Irans mission to the United Nations did not respond to media inquiries about the chemical delivery or its storage conditions. Shahid Rajaei port, located about 650 miles southeast of Tehran on the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, has previously faced external threats. In 2020, a cyberattack attributed to Israel targeted the ports digital infrastructure following an alleged Iranian cyberattack against Israeli water supply systems. Home News Christian groups take on EEOC official fired by Trump over transgender, abortion mandate in legal battle Two Christian organizations have asked a federal court to rule against former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Jocelyn Samuels, a Democrat who is suing after being fired by President Donald Trump, arguing that her support for employment gender identity and abortion mandates violated their religious freedom. On Thursday, the Christian Employers Alliance and Choices Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix, Inc. filed a motion to intervene in Samuel's reinstatement suit. They are being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom. "The Court should not assess Samuels' removal's validity without hearing from the very employers that the removal seeks to protect," the brief says. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe "Many employers including CEA members recognize that gender transition efforts and elective abortions harm employees and others. Affirming or facilitating transition efforts or elective abortions ignores the biological realities that humans are male or female and that human life begins at conception." During her time at the EEOC, Samuels and fellow Democratic Commissioner Charlotte Burrows interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to impose gender identity and abortion discrimination mandates on employers, such as compelling coverage of body-mutilating gender transition surgeries or elective abortions. After President Trump took office in January and ordered the independent agency to rescind those mandates, the commissioners refused, leading to their removal. Samuels was first appointed during the Obama administration and retained under President Joe Biden. She contends that the EEOC's five-year fixed term bars at-will dismissal and is suing for reinstatement. The Christian groups counter that the president must be able to remove officials whose policies conflict with his constitutional duty to execute the laws. The Christian Employers Alliance says it unites Christian-owned businesses to defend religious freedom, while Choices Pregnancy Center offers life-affirming counselling to women with unplanned pregnancies. The Christian organizations say they could not comply with the EEOC's mandate because they uphold beliefs that God made humans male and female and that life begins at conception. CEA obtained a March 4, 2024, judgment forbidding the EEOC and the Department of Health and Human Services from enforcing similar provisions under Title VII or Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act against entities receiving federal funds. The dispute also revisits presidential control over independent agencies. In the 1935 Supreme Court ruling of Humphrey's Executor vs. United States, the court limited dismissal power, but more recent precedents have expanded it. In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the president has the power to terminate appointees at "independent agencies," citing a previous ruling against Trump appointee Roger Severino at an independent agency who was dismissed during the early days of the Biden administration before his term was up. The intervenors also rely on Severino v. Biden, arguing that allowing Samuels to return would undercut court precedent. "As for agencies within the president's executive authority, the president retains that right," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing last month. "And we've seen there have been bureaucrats at some of these agencies that have been trying to act independent. They need to remember who they work for. It's the executive of the executive branch." If the court grants reinstatement, the employers warn, the EEOC could restart enforcement immediately. That prospect, they contend, justifies their intervention to defend Trump's dismissal decision alongside the government. "CEA supports President Trump's right to control the EEOC. He has the mandate of the American people, not un-elected commissioners who have imposed woke policies on businesses and nonprofits across this nation," CEA President Margaret Iuculano said in a statement. "We also continue to encourage the President to nominate EEOC Commissioners who will help overturn unlawful mandates such as the PWFA abortion rule and the Title VII gender-identity workplace harassment rule, which harm CEA's membership." Earlier this week, EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas named former CEA President Shannon Royce to serve as her chief of staff. Home News COMIBAM 2025 closes with call to leave legacy of integrity, humility and radical obedience The Ibero-American Missionary Congress COMIBAM 2025 concluded Friday night in Panama City, closing four days of activities with a final session focused on gratitude, reflection and renewed commitment to missions. The closing program included artistic presentations, biblical teachings, liturgical acts, and prayers that symbolically commissioned participants to return to their home countries with a strengthened vision for mission. Recognition of past leaders and future vision Cristian Castro, executive director of COMIBAM, opened the evening by thanking former directors and presidents of the movement. His remarks acknowledged the contributions made over nearly four decades of Ibero-American missionary cooperation. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Thank you for coming, for investing your money, your time, and being part of the movement. We ask forgiveness from one another if something did not turn out as we wanted. But the important thing is that we return home with a flame ignited, he said. The cultural segment featured a performance in which individuals dressed as visitors from the future appeared on stage, encouraging attendees to write letters to future generations with advice on continuing Gods mission in a complex world. The presentation was well received by participants. Helder Favarin emphasizes legacy based on Acts 20 The final plenary session was delivered by Helder Favarin, a Brazilian missionary and CEO of Community Bible Study, who addressed the question, What kind of legacy are we leaving? based on Acts 20:1738. He organized his message around three key points, which he said characterized the apostle Pauls legacy and should also guide the church today: integrity, humility and radical obedience. Paul said, You know how I lived the whole time I was with you. Our legacy begins here: with a life of integrity, Favarin said, noting that current cultural trends have normalized practices inconsistent with Christian teaching. The proper use of money, sexuality, the way we speak our integrity is a gift to our loved ones. Favarin stated that humility is essential for both mission work and a genuine relationship with God. Only the humble can learn. Humility is what allows us to live in unity in Christ. It reminds us that we are who we are by grace, not by merit, he said. He also called for radical obedience, even when it involves hardship. The idolatry of success is producing thousands of disappointed former believers. God is not here to fulfill our dreams, but He will be with us. And one day He will say, Well done, good and faithful servant. Mission includes pain. Let us leave a legacy of radical obedience. Celebration of the Lords Supper and commissioning prayer The evening also included the celebration of the Lords Supper, led by veteran missiologist Bill Taylor. Participants recited the Apostles Creed and read passages from 1 Corinthians. The communion service served as a reminder of the significance of community in mission and symbolically reinforced the theme of being sent into the world. Pastor Luis Marti of El Salvador led a final commissioning prayer. Participants were invited to join hands across the auditorium in a symbolic act of unity. Father, we commission each brother and sister for what you have called them to since before the foundation of the world. Use them with the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless the next generations. Help us to be generous in giving from the abundance we have received, Marti prayed. Looking ahead In his closing remarks, Cristian Castro expressed appreciation to those who attended and outlined a vision for the next decade. We are praying for 10,000 new workers and 20,000 new churches to join this movement over the next 10 years. Please continue praying and giving for missions, he said. COMIBAM 2025 concluded with an emphasis on challenges ahead but also a continued commitment to participation in global mission. Organizers and participants affirmed a vision of an Ibero-American church engaged in the task of missions, with integrity, humility, and a willingness to persevere through difficulties. Originally published at Diario Cristiano, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition. Home News Islamic State claims popes burial is marketing tool in theological war as it gains renewed strength The Islamic State has declared Pope Francis burial a marketing tool in a theological war, asserting that tributes paid to the late pope undermine Islamic beliefs. The terror group is concurrently experiencing a resurgence, raising concerns about its growing strength and influence in the Middle East. In its latest issue of the weekly newsletter Al-Naba, the Islamic State, or ISIS, specifically condemned the extensive praise directed at Pope Francis following his death, characterizing such gestures as part of a soft war aimed at diluting the principles of Islamic monotheism, known as tawhid, according to MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor. The editorial also criticized Egypts Al-Azhar Grand Imam and regional media for portraying the pope sympathetically, arguing that this creates spiritual confusion among Muslims. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The Islamic State editorial contended that the popes humble burial arrangements using an iron cross instead of gold and choosing a modest burial site rather than an elite tomb are not genuine displays of humility, but rather tactical moves in a larger ideological battle. ISIS further accused those offering condolences and admiration to Pope Francis of crossing religious boundaries, effectively acting as spokespeople for the Vatican and betraying fundamental Islamic doctrines. Further, ISIS questioned the sincerity behind the late pope's repeated calls for peace in Gaza. The group portrayed his vocal support for Gaza as a calculated attempt to mask his religious beliefs and garner positive publicity. According to ISIS, the popes gestures toward Gaza are not meaningful support but superficial actions designed to enhance his image rather than genuinely assist Palestinians. ISIS also targeted the alignment of Al-Azhar and the Vatican, accusing both institutions of replacing religious authenticity with a generalized humanist message. The extremist group argued that such messages of coexistence and secular ethics undermine the exclusive truth claims of Islam. The editorial equated the methodologies of the popes Jesuit order combining contemplative mysticism with social activism with Al-Azhars theological stance, alleging both institutions care more about humanist coexistence than strict religious observance. ISIS also accused regional media outlets of distorting reality by praising Pope Francis while demonizing Islamic State fighters as extremists. The double standard, ISIS argued, is part of a coordinated strategy to weaken Islam by shifting the moral framework from religious absolutes to secular humanism. ISISs condemnation of Pope Francis coincides with concerns raised by U.S. and United Nations officials about the terror groups renewed vigor in Syria. Recent reports indicate ISIS is actively recruiting new members and increasing its attacks, especially as the country goes through instability following the fall of Bashar al-Assads regime. Despite being weaker than its peak strength a decade ago, when ISIS controlled vast areas across Syria and Iraq, there is considerable anxiety about the groups potential resurgence, noted The New York Times. About 9,000 to 10,000 ISIS fighters and nearly 40,000 of their family members remain detained in northeastern Syria, guarded by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Experts warn that a successful prison break could dramatically bolster ISIS ranks and serve as a potent propaganda tool. Colin Clarke, head of research for the Soufan Group, an intelligence and security firm, was quoted as saying that releasing experienced fighters from these detention centers could significantly enhance ISISs operational capabilities and recruiting efforts. Recently, ISIS released a propaganda video denouncing the transitional Syrian government under Ahmed al-Sharaa, accusing it of apostasy and complicity with foreign interests. The Islamic States narrative targets former jihadist allies now integrated into Syrias post-Assad military and political structures, attempting to exploit ideological divisions and foment internal dissent. A recent visit by Sky News to the al Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria, where over 55,000 detainees are held, revealed alarming scenes of children born to ISIS fighters making beheading gestures, shouting threats, and taunting guards. Kurdish forces warned that the threat inside and outside these camps is escalating, with commanders describing them as breeding grounds for the next cubs of the caliphate. Despite reinforcements and 24-hour surveillance, incidents of stabbings, bombings and smuggling are frequent. Commander Kane Ahmed, overseeing al Hol camp, told Sky News that ISIS cells smuggle weapons into the camps and orchestrate escapes, hiding individuals in hollowed-out truck seats or using waterways. Weapons, explosives and contraband are routinely recovered in raids, while detainees, including women, openly pledge allegiance to ISIS, declaring, ISIS is coming back. Home News Senior missions leader David Ruiz sounds alarm over churches entering 'post-missionary phase' 'We need to ask why churches are stepping back. Is it fatigue? Disillusionment? Lack of theological grounding?' PANAMA CITY As missions leaders from across the Ibero-American world gathered for COMIBAM 2025, one seasoned voice offered a long-view perspective on the movements development, challenges and future. David Ruiz, former executive director of both COMIBAM and the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission, sat down with Christian Daily International during the April 2225 gathering to reflect on four decades of missional growth in Latin America and the road ahead. With deep roots in local church ministry and continental mobilization, Ruiz has spent his life building structures and relationships to help Latin America take its place in global missions. In the interview, he shared his personal journey into missions, insights from COMIBAMs formative years, and his vision for how Latin American churches can continue to respond to the Great Commission in an increasingly complex global context. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe A grassroots calling Ruizs missional journey began unexpectedly in the early 1980s, when his local church in Guatemala, led by theologian and strategist William Taylor, began to grasp the biblical mandate for global outreach. In 1983, our church had a shift in understanding, Ruiz said. We began to think seriously about reaching the unreached, even though, in Latin America at that time, there was very little infrastructure or imagination for sending missionaries. This awakening came before any formal training institutions or agencies had been established in the region. We were pioneers in a context where there was no roadmap, he added. Eventually, members of his church helped launch the planning process for what would become COMIBAM Cooperacion Misionera Iberoamericana a collaborative missions platform across Latin America, Spain, and the Latino diaspora. Ruiz later became pastor of that same church during what he called its golden era of mission involvement. It wasnt about me, he emphasized. The church had already caught the vision. We became a model of how a Latin American church could engage globally. The churchs growing role in the regional missions movement led to more opportunities for Ruiz to serve in leadership. He was invited to serve as COMIBAMs executive director, where he helped lead both strategic congresses and an internal reevaluation process to shape the movements long-term identity and mission. In 2000, Ruiz became executive president then the top leadership role. The Lord gave me the privilege to help plant 23 national missions movements across Latin America, he said. It was a time of tremendous growth and consolidation. He articulated three pillars that would become central to COMIBAMs identity: the centrality of the local church in mission; the supportive but not dominant role of mission agencies; and the necessity of training centers to equip churches for effective cross-cultural engagement. Those three components helped the movement gain maturity and traction across the region, he said. Sharing lessons beyond Latin America After completing his term at COMIBAM in 2006, Ruiz took on a new assignment as associate director and later executive director of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission. There, he sought to contextualize the lessons learned in Latin America for other regions of the world. I had the opportunity to visit countries in Eastern Africa and Eastern Europe and share the model we had developed, he said. In several places, they tried to adapt those insights to their own realities. Later, Ruiz returned to direct a mission agency Avante Espanol with a fresh mandate: to send missionaries from Latin America, not just to it. We began the process of recruiting, training, and sending Latin Americans to the ends of the Earth, he said. Yet as he sought to scale up this work, he encountered a critical obstacle. We realized that many churches werent ready to send, he said. They lacked vision, structure and theology for missions. That discovery led him to launch the Missional Church Network, an interdenominational platform aimed at helping churches understand their role in Gods global mission. We work directly with pastors to help them see the biblical vision and take practical steps to become sending churches, he said. A movement in transition Returning to Panama for the 2025 COMIBAM congress, Ruiz offered a historically informed perspective as one of the elders of the movement. He noted that todays COMIBAM looks quite different from the one he helped shape two decades ago. Theres much more diversity now, he said. In our time, the key players were churches, mission agencies and training centers. Today, you see a broader range of initiatives Bible translation, ministry among the poor, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities. Its exciting to see that expansion. He also sees a generational transition underway. Many of the current leaders were participants or junior staff during my time, he said. Now theyre leading, and thats very encouraging. It shows the fruit of long-term investment. At the same time, Ruiz acknowledged that COMIBAMs leadership today faces new pressures. There are strong expectations from global and regional organizations that want COMIBAM to support their agendas, he said. We experienced that, too, but I think its intensified. I dont envy those leading now its not easy to navigate those dynamics while trying to maintain an indigenous vision. Ruiz also suggested that this gathering represents a new phase in the movements life cycle. For many participants, this is their first COMIBAM congress, he said. They dont carry the same history. For them, this event is a starting point rather than a continuation. That brings new energy, but it also means rebuilding identity from the ground up. North-South dynamics and the struggle for mutuality One of the broader challenges Ruiz addressed is the evolving relationship between the Global North and South in missions. As Latin America and other southern regions have emerged as mission-sending forces, questions of power, representation, and mutual respect have come to the fore. The good news is that the global church is beginning to recognize what God is doing here, Ruiz said. Leaders from Africa, Asia, and beyond came to this congress to observe and learn. Thats a sign of growing respect. He also noted a rise in Latin American leadership within global organizations. There are now Latin Americans heading international agencies. Thats significant it shows that the region is not only sending missionaries but producing leaders of global stature. Still, he cautioned that certain colonial patterns persist. Some organizations still see us as heirs of a movement that began in the North, he said. But thats the wrong framework. The Lord is giving us the baton not handing it down, but placing it in our hands afresh for this generation. Its our call, not just their legacy. Ruiz also expressed concern that Latin American voices are often excluded from strategic planning conversations. Were invited to participate in programs, but not in shaping the vision, he said. Thats a challenge. We need to move from token inclusion to meaningful partnership. Signs of plateau and post-missionary drift What stands out as a major concern for Ruiz is what appears to be a stagnation in local church engagement. While the number of missionaries being sent is increasing, were seeing a plateau in the number of churches actively involved in missions, he said. And in some cases, churches that were once leaders in the movement are no longer sending. Its as if theyve entered a post-missionary phase. Ruiz called this trend deeply troubling. Between the first COMIBAM in 1987 and today, the church in Latin America has grown tremendously, he said. But if that growth doesnt translate into missionary engagement, weve missed something vital. He urged leaders to address this issue directly. We need to ask why churches are stepping back. Is it fatigue? Disillusionment? Lack of theological grounding? Whatever the cause, we must reawaken the church to its global calling. Looking to the future As COMIBAM 2025 concluded, Ruiz outlined three hopes for the movement going forward. First, I pray that this congress wont be seen as just an event but as the beginning of a process, he said. Especially for first-time participants, I hope they return to their churches and agencies with a renewed, challenging vision for the nations. Second, he hopes COMIBAM will gain greater respect and inclusion in global mission conversations. We shouldnt just be implementers we should be at the table where strategies are shaped, he said. Finally, Ruiz called for a renewed commitment to the centrality of the church. In recent years, theres been a drift toward agency-driven models, he said. But the church must be at the heart of missions. Thats how God designed it. And thats what will ensure the movements future. This article was originally published at Christian Daily International Home News Bishop TD Jakes to hand over Potters House to daughter, son-in-law Bishop T.D. Jakes announced at church on Sunday that he's handing over the leadership of The Potter's House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, to his daughter Sarah Jakes Roberts and son-in-law Toure Roberts. I cannot afford, especially after November, to risk something happening to me and you be sheep without a shepherd, Jakes told his congregants at the end of his sermon. The news comes after he suffered a heart attack in November and filed a defamation lawsuit against a man who accused him of sexual assault. I cannot afford to let all the work of all the saints, living and dead, to hold this so tight so long that I wither away. So I'm suggesting to you, I'm recommending to you, that you receive Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah, he said to cheers and applause while noting that the move is a continuation of legacy. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Not because they're kin but because ... they've immersed themselves into the DNA of this church for years. Sat quiet, preached, he explained. What you didn't know from November forward, they've been running the church anyway. Jakes announcement to the 80,000-member congregation comes a month after he revealed that the "slight health incident" he suffered on stage while preaching on Nov. 24, 2024, was a heart attack. Last month, Jakes told NBC's "Today" show that when his heart stopped, he found himself in a "cloud-enveloped space" during the near-death experience. "You know, I didn't really realize what was happening to me on stage until I got to the hospital in an ambulance. And [I was] fussing that it happened on stage, by the way, because I didn't want it to happen," Jakes said. "The doctor leaned over in my ear and said, 'You had a massive heart attack.' And the reason I didn't realize it is I had no symptoms [of a heart attack]: no numbness, no sharp pain, no anything. I just kind of drifted off to sleep. I didn't know what it was, but I almost died," Jakes explained. On Sunday, Jakes told churchgoers that while his daughter and son-in-law are not meant to replace him, he believes if they take over the leadership of the church they may extend me. Jakes said he hopes to have the leadership transition formalized by the time the church celebrates its anniversary later this year so he can focus on other things. There's some things I want to do in the community before I get too old to do it, and the clock is ticking, he said. There's some ways that I want to prepare us for the days ahead that I can't do it completely from the pulpit. Every now and then I think they'll let me preach, but there's some work in the vineyard that needs to be done. Jakes, who has been in ministry for nearly 50 years, is expected to continue as chairman of the T.D. Jakes Group where he also made the announcement in a news release. For nearly 50 years, Ive had the honor of connecting with and serving the local and global community as a pastor, global faith leader and unwavering truth teller, Jakes said in that statement. As I enter my 50th year in the public spotlight, I recognize the urgent need to address more challenges of our time, particularly the looming threat of a disappearing middle class, social unrest and closing opportunity gaps. This pivotal moment calls me to focus on a legacy of economic empowerment, serving as a bridge between community, culture, and corporate alliances to help position our nation for a stronger future, he added. Elevating Pastor Toure and Pastor Sarah as the new senior pastors of The Potters House, we will honor our rich history while embracing a future that demands innovative ministry for the coming age. This elevation is not a departure but a rebirth. I will never stop preaching and will continue to minister. This moment isnt an ending, its an expansion. We are not only passing a mantle we are multiplying impact. Leadership is not static, it is dynamic. It demands the courage to evolve. Home News Trump's week in review: Dem funding platform probed; anti-Christian bias task force meets As the first 100 days of the second Trump administration come to a close, another week brought more headline-grabbing statements and actions from President Donald Trump and his administration. The administration's efforts to combat anti-Christian bias were front and center this week, along with the celebration of Easter, the death of Pope Francis and actions to investigate a Democratic funding platform. Here are five developments that unfolded over the past week. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Home Opinion 3 lessons Christians cant ignore from faith crisis of YouTube star Rhett McLaughlin Rhett McLaughlin, co-creator with Link of Good Mythical Morning, talked with atheist Alex OConnor about his deconstruction from the Christian faith. They discussed a variety of topics, ranging from when Rhett began to believe in evolution to his denial of the claims regarding Jesuss resurrection, ultimately leading him to abandon his Christian faith. However, I want to highlight three moments that stood out. I believe these timestamped moments peel back Rhetts heart, revealing the importance of recognizing the human side and building rapport with people who no longer believe in Christianity. First Moment: Living a life of meaning rather than pleasure Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe The first part of the conversation Id like to touch on is Rhett's emphasis on the emptiness resulting from excessive and hedonistic living. Heres what Rhett had to say, "A human that is simply focusing on pleasures ... like that [will] ultimately end up just being empty pretty quickly. That's just a universal truth so now as someone who doesn't really know what I think about God, I still recognize like the emptiness of a place like Las Vegas Did you catch that? Even after leaving his Christian beliefs, Rhett still acknowledges this sense of emptiness, which he believes is a universal experience not tied to any specific faith. We can find common ground here because Romans teaches us that God has placed His truth and morality in our hearts (2:15). This is very insightful regarding Rhetts desire to live a life not focused on pursuing pleasure and indulgence, which he clearly points out is unfulfilling. Rhett wants to live with purpose and meaning, filling his life with service to others and pursuing a life that matters. We can often get caught up in winning the argument or disproving Rhetts deconstruction, which can cause us to miss their story and overlook what we have in common. Staying curious and avoiding defensiveness will go a long way in building relationships with those you may disagree with. Second moment: Double standard of Christian apologists This part of the conversation exposes some of Rhetts hurt and distaste for what he calls professional Christians. Heres what he says, I just find it so interesting the way these Christian apologists go so hard trying to prove it. Do you really believe that is going to be the [way] that changes somebodys mind? I agree with Alex and Rhett that we, as Christian apologists, need to extend grace and be more relatable than cerebral there are certainly some apologists I know who fit that description. That said, I believe many of my Christian apologist friends arent so hard-nosed on the facts that they come off as off-putting, as Alex and Rhett confidently assert. Just to be clear. Im not implying that Alex and Rhett believe all of us apologists are just a bunch of arrogant intellects trying to prove them wrong. To defend the faith, winning arguments isn't enough. What genuinely counts in apologetics, and what enhances its effectiveness, is the alignment of the apologist's character with the clear teachings and actions of Christ. Pete Bocchino rightly points out, the degree to which we can serve Christ is contingent upon the degree to which we surrender ourselves to Him. Notice that, according to Peter, before we can give an answer, we first need to ensure that we sanctify the Lord God in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15). I know many in the apologetics ministry who answer peoples most inquisitive questions with grace and truth and have helped so many who have had negative church experiences, rather than argue with them or be consumed with being right. Third moment: The need to defend Jesus As Alex wrapped up the podcast, he naturally asked Rhett where his relationship with Christianity stands today. Surprisingly, Rhett responded by saying, Theres a fascination with it that I think is just a natural inclination I would be lying if I didnt say it was an essential part of who I am. I think there will always [be] this fascination with Jesus I almost feel this compulsion to defend the person of Jesus from the way He is used, especially in America. I appreciate Rhetts vulnerability here. He talks about how he doesnt just toss aside everything he learned from Christianity. Instead, he admits that many of his morals stem from his past beliefs, even when he feels the need to defend Jesus against those who twist His message for their own agendas. It is commendable that Rhett cares enough to stand up for the person of Jesus. So, rather than immediately cornering Rhett about who he believes Jesus is, the kind and wise approach is to ask him why he still feels a compulsion to defend Jesus. Im curious to know why that is exactly the case. Once Ive listened to Rhetts reasoning and personal reflection, I will then ask what he says about Jesus to defend him from those he believes have hijacked him. It certainly breaks my heart to hear Rhett vividly recount how his doubts, loneliness, and frustrations eventually led to his no longer believing in Christianity. What Rhett shared and how he discussed his de-conversion from Christianity caused me to reflect on my own intentionality in befriending and building rapport with guys like Rhett. Instead of focusing solely on finding flaws in Rhetts arguments, let's shift our perspective to embrace the opportunity for meaningful conversations. It's great that hes open to exploring these topics, and this serves as a wonderful starting point for constructive dialogue. We can gain valuable insights from his perspective while sharing our faith as we connect with one another along the way. Home Opinion 4 stages of 'Jesus derangement syndrome' The term "Trump derangement syndrome" is applied to people who experience intense anxiety at the mere mention of our current president. People with this condition tend to constantly badmouth the president while blindly clinging to the absurd belief that every decision President Trump makes is bad for the country. But since you are not going to stand before President Trump on Judgment Day (see 2 Corinthians 5:10), I encourage you to turn your attention to the Person who is a trillion times more significant than any president. The King of Kings rose from the dead and will live forever with His people in His eternal Kingdom (see 2 Peter 1:10-11). While presidents come and go, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Presidents are flawed human beings, whereas Jesus never sinned even once (see 1 Peter 2:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; Hebrews 4:15). So, how do you feel about Jesus? What emotions rise up within you when you hear about the Messiah and His exclusive path to Paradise? (see John 14:6; Acts 4:12) If you have a cynical attitude about Jesus and resentful feelings about the narrow road to Heaven (see Matthew 7:13-14), your unhealthy perspective presents a huge obstacle to being forgiven of your sins and welcomed into Paradise one day. Thankfully, God changes the heart of anyone who humbly receives Christ by faith (see John 1:12) and graciously accepts the Lord's plan of salvation. Get Our Latest News for FREE Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know. Subscribe Consider the four stages of what I call "Jesus derangement syndrome." And then check your heart to see if you currently experience any of these dangerous symptoms: Stage 1: You ignore the Gospel message Some people with stage 1 symptoms have had no exposure to religion, while others have experienced some religious oppression earlier in life. They were forced by either parents or spiritual leaders to jump through certain religious hoops, without ever having experienced a loving relationship with the Savior. This stage is marked by a cold heart and complete apathy toward the Gospel message Jesus delivered: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). People at stage 1 feel nothing when presented with this good news. In fact, their hearts may have been hardened to the message decades earlier. The Gospel soars over their head because they convinced themselves years ago that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has absolutely no relevance to their life today or throughout eternity. Stage 2 : You actually get annoyed by the Gospel message Annoyance is the next stage after apathy. People at stage 2 have a negative emotional reaction to the Gospel message. They do not like to be bothered by the idea of a Savior who died on a cross for our sins and rose from the grave on the third day. The Gospel does not square with their progressive definition of enlightenment. They have no appreciation whatsoever for the biblical teaching about God's grace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal salvation in Heaven. Stage 3: You burn with anger when you hear the Gospel message When you reach this advanced stage, you find yourself unable to say anything good about Jesus. Instead, you feel only anger toward Christ and His followers, and the hatred burning within your soul is all-consuming. And even though your hostility and hatred toward Jesus and His faithful followers are irrational, your intellectual inconsistencies do not seem to bother you. People at stage three are fueled by rage and pure emotion and have stepped right into Satan's trap. The devil hates Christ and His followers, and he schemes to successfully fill others with the same hatred. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first" (John 15:18). Stage 4 : You seek to carry out violence against followers of Christ More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. CP reported two months ago: "70 Christians Beheaded in DRC Church Attack." And two weeks ago, the following report caused more shock and sadness: "Dawn Attack Kills 51 Christians in Nigerian Town Amid String of Massacres." Brutal attacks such as these have been taking place for the past 2,000 years. Tertullian was a second-century church father living in Africa when the persecution of Christians was in full force. Tertullian famously said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Those at stage four demonstrate a strong desire to become both judge and executioner of Christians. If your instant reaction to these 4 stages of Jesus derangement syndrome is to make some sarcastic comments about those with whom you disagree, I encourage you to resist that haughty urge. After all, hating others is the major indicator of a spiritually dead soul, regardless of whether hatred is related to race, religion, politics, or some other emotionally-charged issue. The Bible declares, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). If you hate others, or if you show symptoms related to any of these four stages, Jesus can change your heart. But you will first need to repent and get real with God. On the other hand, if you perceive the fault to always be with others, but never with yourself, you may have already gone beyond the proverbial point of no return. I certainly hope that does not describe your heart today my friend. Harrison Carter, a partner with NAR Cannabis in Monroe, MI, opens a jar of marijuana flower nugs, which allows customers to examine and smell it for freshness and flavors. Prices in Michigan remain far lower than in Ohio. (Laura Hancock/cleveland.com) Laura Hancock/cleveland.com COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohioans are paying less for marijuana than when recreational sales began but prices remain much higher than Michigan. When recreational sales launched in August 2024, the average price of flower was $9.40 per gram. Now, it costs about $6.30, according to data from the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control. 6th China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Almaty Xinhua) 08:05, April 27, 2025 Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, poses for a group photo during the Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) ALMATY, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting held here on Saturday laid the comprehensive political groundwork for the upcoming second China-Central Asia Summit later this year and facilitated in-depth discussions on advancing China-Central Asia cooperation in all aspects. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the United States, acting unilaterally, has imposed arbitrary tariffs on more than 180 countries, infringing upon their legitimate rights and interests. China has stepped forward and taken necessary countermeasures, not only to defend its own legitimate rights and interests, but also to safeguard international rules and order as well as international fairness and justice. As the world's second-largest economy and a responsible major country, China will unswervingly advance high-level opening-up, seek common development with neighboring countries, share opportunities with the world, shoulder its due international responsibilities and fulfill its international obligations. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, put forward five proposals from the Chinese side for deepening China-Central Asia cooperation. First, be firm in upholding good faith and fostering harmony. Second, stick to mutually beneficial cooperation. Third, continue to advance institutional development. Fourth, adhere to fairness and justice. Fifth, be firm in friendship for generations. The attending foreign ministers from Central Asian countries said that each country is ready to strengthen the synergy between their national development strategies and the Belt and Road Initiative, jointly combat the "three evil forces" of terrorism, extremism and separatism, and transnational crime, so as to maintain regional peace and stability. All sides agreed that China serves as a stabilizing force in a turbulent world, and has demonstrated leadership in supporting multilateralism. They also expressed support for international trade rules and their rejection of unilateral protectionist practices. The Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting is held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, April 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Renzi) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a bilateral lunch with Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in the Cabinet Room at the White House on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. The leaders are expected to discuss security, trade, NATO and the war in Ukraine. Americans are delivering a negative verdict on President Donald Trump's performance as he nears the 100-day mark of his second term, according to a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey. That includes a sharp divide on his handling of immigration, long his strongest issue in polls, and deep disapproval of Trump's tariffs. Overall, the results show a majority of American adults 55% disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 45% approve. What's more, the vehemence of the opposition outweighs the intensity of support from the president's MAGA base. Just over 4 in 10 Americans strongly disapprove of the job the president is doing, while only a quarter strongly approve. And when asked to label the emotions Trump evokes, strong negatives like "angry" and "furious" outweighed responses for the strongest positives, "happy" and "thrilled." Those broad assessments come as Trump falls short of majority support on any specific policy issues tested in the survey. On immigration, a strength of his throughout the 2024 campaign and still his best issue among those polled, adults were split, with 49% approving of his handling of border security and immigration and 51% disapproving. Meanwhile, the tariffs at the center of Trump's economic agenda (and of recent news coverage of his administration) earned Trump's lowest issue ratings, with 39% approving of his handling of the issue and 61% disapproving. The results reflect responses from 19,682 adults who were surveyed from April 11-20, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. And they illustrate a tough road ahead for the Trump administration unless something shifts. Sixty percent of Americans said the United States is on the wrong track, compared to 40% who said it's on the right track. Republicans were the group most likely to say the country is on the right track (80%), including 89% of Republicans who identify as MAGA-aligned the core of Trump's base. When looking at the intersection of race, gender and college attendance, the only group where a majority thinks the country is on the right track is white men without college degrees (54%). There are predictable partisan splits on how people see Trump, with the vast majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning respondents (88%) approving of the job Trump is doing, while only 7% of Democrats and Democratic leaners do. Critically, adults who identify as independents are far more likely to disapprove (68%) than approve (32%). Looking beyond a simple measure of approval reveals even larger asymmetry in how Americans feel about the Trump presidency. A majority of adults overall (51%) have negative feelings about the actions the Trump administration has taken so far, with 23% saying they are furious. On the other side, 32% have positive feelings toward the administration, with 13% feeling thrilled about its actions so far. Among partisans, Democrats have stronger negative feelings toward the Trump administration than Republicans have positive feelings. Nine in 10 Democrats said they are dissatisfied, angry or furious with the administration, including 52% who said they are furious. By contrast, three-quarters of Republicans reported having positive feelings toward the Trump administration, including 32% who said they're thrilled. One outstanding question for the Democratic Party is whether it can capitalize on the anger felt in its base and to what degree its voters might take out some of those feelings in their own party's primaries. The poll also shows that the Democratic Party has significant work to do to convince people it is up to the task of taking on the Trump administration, as a plurality of adults say that they believe neither party fights for people like them. Revelers attend the annual LGBTQ+ Capital Pride parade in Washington D.C., U.S., June 8, 2024. Leah Millis | Reuters Companies that were once loud and proud in supporting LGBTQ+ community celebrations are pulling back. LGBTQ+ Pride festivals across the country have faced significant sponsorship challenges this year, with some losing corporate partners that collectively provided six-figure donations. As a result, organizations say they've had to modify their programming, pivot to other funding sources and reconsider their dependencies on corporate dollars. Many companies have cited economic concerns as their impetus to delay or exit partnerships with Pride groups. But LGBTQ+ group leaders also noted an increasingly hostile climate for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that has prompted some businesses to rethink their support. In turn, Pride organizations are seeking clarity on how much their values still align with those of their corporate contributors. "For this many companies to be dropping off, I think, points to that we're in a different political environment than we have been maybe in a long, long time," San Francisco Pride executive director Suzanne Ford told CNBC. Financial challenges Many LGBTQ+ groups consider certain corporations to be longtime partners, but organizers said they often ink one-year deals that are negotiated in the months before the annual Pride celebrations. That leaves them vulnerable if once-reliable companies decide to withhold their dollars, and several organizations said they are facing sponsorship deficits that weigh on budgets and plans for festivals in the summer. Among the largest shortfalls, Seattle Pride and New York City Pride say they have to make up for $350,000 deficits, and San Francisco Pride and Minnesota's Twin Cities Pride say they are each facing a $200,000 cut. Some festivals have named which previous sponsors aren't returning, while others said they are keeping that information private to avoid burning bridges. San Francisco Pride's Ford said Anheuser-Busch , Comcast , Diageo and Nissan have told the organization that they are not sponsoring the festival this year. All were previously longtime partners, Ford said. The companies gave a variety of reasons for the change. A Comcast representative said the company is participating in other Pride events in San Francisco and is supporting Pride parades in California in Oakland, Sacramento and Silicon Valley. A Diageo representative said the company will appear at Pride events across the country through its Smirnoff brand this year. A Nissan spokesperson said in a statement that the automaker will not sponsor any Pride festivals this year as it reviews all marketing and sales spending. Anheuser-Busch didn't respond to a request for comment. Washington, D.C.-based Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing the biannual, global WorldPride celebration this year, said Comcast and Deloitte had regularly supported the group's Pride festival but declined to do so this year, while Booz Allen Hamilton initially committed to sponsoring the event before later withdrawing. A Booz Allen Hamilton spokesperson said in a statement that the defense giant's sponsorship decisions do not reflect a pullback in support for employees. Ryan Bos, Capital Pride Alliance's executive director, said economic uncertainty, safety and security issues, and fear of losing federal funding have all discouraged companies from returning as sponsors. He highlighted President Donald Trump's executive order ordering government agencies to investigate and sue companies supporting DEI. "The sad thing is corporations have long been the first to step into our corner," Bos said, citing companies' support of domestic partner benefits and LGBTQ+ employment programs. "The fact that some are questioning their commitment now during this uncertain time is very disheartening, hurtful and frustrating for many." Parade participants are seen marching during the 2024 Kentuckiana Pride Parade on June 15, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. Stephen J. Cohen | Getty Images Ford said the White House's anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and executive orders targeting transgender people have impacted corporate America. "We've all seen the culture wars playing out as far as how corporations respond, and I think this is part and parcel of that movement," she said. The White House didn't respond to a CNBC request for comment. Even corporations that are sticking with Pride festivals have reduced their support. Denver Pride's returning sponsors have pared down their contributions by 62% on average, according to Natalie Zanoni, interim CEO of LGBTQ+ organization The Center on Colfax. The center organizes the Denver Pride celebration, which faces a total deficit of $230,000. Festivals are also still in wait-and-see mode. St. Pete Pride president Byron Green-Calisch said several sponsors had asked the Tampa Bay, Florida-area organization if they could discuss sponsorships closer to April rather than the usual period beginning in January. As of late March, St. Pete Pride said it had achieved 55% of its fundraising goal, compared with the usual 80% to 90% at this time of year. Seattle Pride executive director Patti Hearn said the group expects about $400,000 in sponsorships this year, compared with its total budget of $1.5 million. While she said the organization will be able to pull off its planned events this year, it would need to change its programming in the future if its $350,000 deficit became permanent. Corporate sponsors are responsible for 75% of Twin Cities Pride's budget, executive director Andi Otto told CNBC. As a result of sponsorship losses, the Minnesota organization had to cut a performance stage for the upcoming festival and will have to reduce its year-round programming, Otto said. Not all businesses are taking a step back from festival sponsorships. Several groups said Delta Air Lines , among others, remains a strong supporter of their events. Others said small businesses have been steadfast. Reevaluating partnerships Pride organizations are also reexamining their relationships with sponsors that have rolled back DEI policies or visible support for their communities, further complicating their financial outlook. Seattle Pride hasn't engaged with previous sponsor Boeing this year, Hearn said, because she had a sense that the aerospace giant didn't align with the organization's values and would decline to return as a festival partner. Boeing reportedly shut down its DEI team in November, according to Bloomberg. The company didn't respond to a CNBC request for comment. Cincinnati Pride development director Jake Hitch said the Ohio group has rejected sponsorships from previous partners this year based on their nondiscrimination policies, involvement in the LGBTQ+ community and support for employees. "With everything happening politically and in 2025 that is consistently coming against our community, we thought, what better time to really reset our expectations and align with our community on what they want to see?" Hitch said. Twin Cities Pride dropped Target , which had sponsored its festival for over 15 years, after looking into the retailer's DEI policy changes announced in late January. Changes to its supplier diversity commitment, community representation principles and participation in external DEI surveys concerned Otto enough for him to refuse the $50,000 sponsorship offer, he said. "It did not feel right for my community to accept that money," Otto said. After publication of this article, a Target spokesperson said the company will continue to participate in and sponsor local Pride events around the country. Pride Month merchandise is displayed at a Target store on May 31, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images San Francisco Pride's Ford said the group no longer has a relationship with previous sponsor Meta , in part due to its changes to fact-checking policy but also because Meta staffers who had previously worked with SF Pride had left the company in the past couple of years. A Meta spokesperson said in a statement that since 2024, the company has allowed local employee resource groups to make their own decisions on Pride sponsorships. Some organizations have maintained productive relationships with corporations that have modified their DEI efforts, although understanding the policy changes can present its own challenge. Dave Wait, chairperson of Detroit's Motor City Pride, said some community members were spreading misinformation on social media about a sponsor shutting down its LGBTQ+ health care services, and that Motor City Pride had to clear it up with the company before signing the sponsorship deal for this year. Twin Cities Pride's Otto said although festival sponsor 3M has removed several DEI-related pages from its website, the industrial giant explained to the organization that it was only changing the language, not the substance of its DEI policies. 3M did not respond to a CNBC request for comment. Lowe's had sponsored Charlotte Pride's festival and parade in North Carolina for nine years, but in August the home retailer ended its support for parades amid other DEI policy reversals. Lowe's has pivoted to funding the LGBTQ+ group's job fair and scholarship and internship programs, Charlotte Pride managing director Meredith Thompson told CNBC. Some community members spoke out against the decision to continue working with Lowe's, Thompson said, but she didn't hesitate to do so because of their previous relationship. "My attitude is, we need our corporate sponsors and we meet them where they are," Thompson said. Lowe's did not respond to a CNBC request for comment. Some national corporations that have curtailed DEI efforts are still showing up as sponsors through local affiliates and operators. McDonald's , which retired numerous diversity goals in January, has regional operators sponsoring WorldPride and Charlotte Pride. And although Anheuser-Busch is not sponsoring San Francisco Pride or Pride St. Louis this year, Bud Light distributor Adams Beverages is returning as a sponsor for Charlotte Pride. Diversifying funding Spurring European deregulation and economic growth was a powerful theme that emerged as an answer to challenges raised by the U.S. tariff campaign and questions about American "exceptionalism" at the International Monetary Fund's annual spring meeting in Washington last week. European officials pointed to the idea of regulatory "simplification" as a way to boost business after years of sclerotic growth. "We have gone too far in regulating the risk, and we've forgotten about regulating the growth," Rachel Reeves, the U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer, said during a panel discussion moderated by CNBC's Sara Eisen on Thursday. At the same forum, German Finance Minister Jorg Kukies highlighted the need to lower "duplicative and multiplicative" regulations on companies. "We do have to also encourage and grow and make more prosperous the venture capital investing scheme in Germany, in the European Union," Kukies said. Britain and Germany are Europe's two largest economies. Sentiment shift The views from London and Berlin are part of a notable sentiment shift throughout Europe, long plagued by slower growing economies and stock markets that until recently have lagged the U.S. ever since the Global Financial Crisis. Over the past few months, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi each raised concern about the region's lack of competitiveness and fading productivity. In response, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, adopted a package of proposals in February that it said "will cut red tape and simplify EU rules for citizens and business," aiming to "reduce administrative burdens by 25%, and by 35% for small- and medium-sized businesses" sometime in 2029. Reeves in the U.K. has also taken aim at excessive regulation, especially environmental rules governing major infrastructure projects. Kukies, the German finance minister, has a history in the private sector that's informed his push for deregulation, according to Isabelle Mateos y Lago, chief economist at BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France. "He's been one of the strongest proponents of deregulation, and I think he actually means deregulation, not just simplification," Mateos y Lago told CNBC. "And then in the U.K., they've already made a number of high profile decisions around permitting that really show that there is now a desire to make growth really a priority and not the number five priority, after a lot of other things." The economist, who calls herself "a permanent, perennial, indefatigable optimist about Europe," pointed to increasingly positive sentiment toward European growth. "Most of the time, you feel lonely being in that mindset, especially in the U.S.," said Mateos y Lago. 'Moment of opportunity' "But I cannot tell you the number of panels or meetings or conversations I've had this week, where you hear people say, 'this is a moment of opportunity for Europe,'" she added. "There is really reason to be optimistic, because there's this consensus at the policy level. There is a blueprint now [and] the intention to get all this administrative simplification done." The culture shift on the continent and U.K. plus easier credit from the Bank of England and European Central Bank has excited investors about economic growth prospects, especially against a backdrop of tariff-induced instability and weakening confidence in U.S. exceptionalism and dollar dominance. Both the continent's Stoxx Europe 600 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are up about 3% in 2025 while the S & P 500 has fallen 6%. Including reinvested dividends, the recent outperformance is even greater. But Europe has a long way to go to turn things around and convince the skeptics. Since the financial crisis in 2008, the Stoxx 600 index has returned 223% and the FTSE 100 even less, at 191%, according to FactSet data. The S & P 500 has soared 510%. CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report. Get Your Ticket to Pro LIVE Join us at the New York Stock Exchange! Uncertain markets? Gain an edge with CNBC Pro LIVE , an exclusive, inaugural event at the historic New York Stock Exchange. In today's dynamic financial landscape, access to expert insights is paramount. As a CNBC Pro subscriber, we invite you to join us for our first exclusive, in-person CNBC Pro LIVE event at the iconic NYSE on Thursday, June 12. Join interactive Pro clinics led by our Pros Carter Worth, Dan Niles, and Dan Ives, with a special edition of Pro Talks with Tom Lee. You'll also get the opportunity to network with CNBC experts, talent and other Pro subscribers during an exciting cocktail hour on the legendary trading floor. Tickets are limited! United States Capitol building and an Iranian flag are seen at the National mall in Washington D.C., United States. Iran and the United States have agreed to continue nuclear talks next week, both sides said on Saturday, though Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi voiced "extreme" caution about the success of the negotiations to resolve a decades-long standoff. U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled confidence in clinching a new pact with the Islamic Republic that would block Tehran's path to a nuclear bomb. Araqchi and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff held a third round of the talks in Muscat through Omani mediators for around six hours, a week after a second round in Rome that both sides described as constructive. "The negotiations are extremely serious and technical ... there are still differences, both on major issues and on details," Araqchi told Iranian state TV. "There is seriousness and determination on both sides ... However, our optimism about success of the talks remains extremely cautious." A senior U.S. administration official described the talks and positive and productive, adding that both sides agreed to meet again in Europe "soon". "There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal," the official added. Earlier Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi had said talks would continue next week, with another "high-level meeting" provisionally scheduled for May 3. Araqchi said Oman would announce the venue. Ahead of the lead negotiators' meeting, expert-level indirect talks took place in Muscat to design a framework for a potential nuclear deal. "The presence of experts was beneficial ... we will return to our capitals for further reviews to see how disagreements can be reduced," Araqchi said. An Iranian official, briefed about the talks, told Reuters earlier that the expert-level negotiations were "difficult, complicated and serious". The only aim of these talks, Araqchi said, was "to build confidence about the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief". Trump, in an interview with Time magazine published on Friday, said "I think we're going to make a deal with Iran", but he repeated a threat of military action against Iran if diplomacy fails. Shortly after Araqchi and Witkoff began their latest indirect talks on Saturday, Iranian state media reported a massive explosion at the country's Shahid Rajaee port near the southern city of Bandar Abbas, killing at least four people and injuring hundreds. U.S. brands are rapidly losing their appeal in China as locals increasingly prefer competitive homegrown players, especially as economic growth slows, according to a TD Cowen survey released Thursday. While overall preference for Western brands dropped to 9%, down from 14% last year, certain American companies face higher risks than others, the report said, citing in-person interviews of 2,000 consumers with varied income levels in larger Chinese cities. TD Cowen partnered with an unnamed Beijing-based advisory firm to conduct the survey in February 2025, following a similar study in May 2024. The analysts see Apple ranking among the better-positioned brands in China. But they warned that several other American companies face high regional risks despite management optimism. China's top leaders on Friday acknowledged the growing effect of trade tensions, and pledged targeted measures for struggling businesses. The official readout stopped short of a full-on stimulus announcement. "This year's survey was conducted before the US-China trade war intensified, though threats were on the horizon," the TD Cowen analysts said. "Add this factor to the equation, and it's easy to see why uncertainty will remain elevated and households are likely to remain cautious going forward." The survey found income expectations declined, with the share of respondents expecting a decline in pay over the next 12 months rising to 10% from 6%. In particular, Chinese consumers plan to spend less on a beauty items over the next six months, the survey showed, while increasing their preference for Chinese brands. U.S. cosmetics giant Estee Lauder retained first place in terms of highest awareness among Western beauty brands in China, but preference among consumers dropped to 19.6% of respondents, down from 24.3% last year. That contrasted with increases in respondents expressing a preference for the second and third market players Lancome and Chanel, respectively. In the quarter that ended Dec. 31, Estee Lauder said its Asia Pacific net sales fell 11%, due partly to "subdued consumer sentiment in mainland China, Korea and Hong Kong." Asia Pacific accounted for 32% of overall sales in the quarter. In the lucrative sportswear category, Nike "lost meaningful preference in every category" versus last year, while local competitors Li-Ning and Anta saw gains, the survey found. TD Cowen's analysis showed that among U.S. sportswear brands facing the most earnings risk relative to consensus expectations, Nike has the highest China sales exposure at 15%. "The China market is one characterized as a growth opportunity for sport according to Nike management in its recent fiscal Q3:25 earnings call in March 2025," the analysts said, "but that the macro offers an increasingly challenging operating environment." It's not necessarily about slower growth or nationalism. While the survey found a 4-percentage-point drop in preference for foreign apparel and footwear brands, it also showed a 3-percentage-point increase in the inclination to buy the "best" product regardless of origin. "The implied perception here is that Western brands are offering less in the way of best product or value," the TD Cowen analysts said. Starbucks similarly is running into fierce local competition while trying to maintain prices one-third or more above that of competitor Luckin Coffee, the report said. The survey found that the U.S. coffee giant "lags peers in terms of value and quality perception improvement." Other coffee brands such as Manner, Tim's, Cotti, %Arabica and M Stand have also expanded recently in China. Starbucks' same-store sales in China fell 6% year on year in the quarter that ended Dec. 29, bringing the region's share of total revenue to just under 8%. More worrisome is that a highly anticipated coffee boom in China may not materialize. "We note daily and weekly frequency of purchase among coffee drinkers are decreasing, suggesting the coffee habit seen in the U.S. is not taking hold in China," the analysts said. They noted a new ownership structure for Starbucks China business would be positive for the stock given the lack of near-term catalysts. TD Cowen rates Starbucks a buy, but has hold ratings on Nike and Estee Lauder. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media during a refueling stop at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, March 12, 2025, as he travels from talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia to attending a G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Canada. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump hasn't yet imposed penalties on Russia over its ongoing war with Ukraine because the White House is still hoping diplomacy can end the war. "The minute you start doing that kind of stuff, you're walking away from it," Rubio said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' Rubio said that the coming week will be "very critical" for the White House as it makes a "determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in." "There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic," Rubio said, adding: "We're close, but we're not close enough." "Throughout this process, it's about determining, do both sides really want peace and how close are they or how far apart they are after 90 days of effort here ... that's what we're trying to determine this week," Rubio said of negotiations. Rubio's comments come as Trump is ramping up pressure on Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace deal. Trump met Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just before floating the possibility of tougher sanctions against Moscow. Rubio said that Trump has "made real progress" in nearing an end to the war, but "those last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest ones, and it needs to happen soon." "We cannot continue, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this effort if it's not going to come to fruition," he added. Through the magic of cinema, we can travel all over the world: Cutizs Casablanca, Kurosawas Japan, Afflecks Boston, etc. That sometimes means hearing a language other than English, which shouldnt be a problem for modern audiences that are increasingly comfortable with subtitles, but theyre not always provided, even when necessary (especially by Affleck). It turns out weve been missing a lot by remaining monolingual in a polyglottal cinematic universe. 5 The Thing John Carpenters 1982 ode to practical effects would have been over a lot sooner if someone at the American research station spoke Norwegian. Before hes shot by Donald Moffat, the gunman who chased the thing-dog to their camp tells them, Get the hell away! Its not a dog! Its imitating a dog! Its not real! Get away, idiots! To be fair, when youre dealing with an armed dog killer, pause to hear them out isnt usually a winning strategy. 4 The Da Vinci Code Likewise, The Da Vinci Code wouldnt have wasted quite so much of our time if Dan Brown hadnt been so confident in the American publics inability to understand basic Italian. For much of the novel and film, Bishop Manuel Aringarosa looks like the villain, but he wouldnt if we knew that his name literally translates to red herring. Thats just the kind of subtlety Brown reliably delivers. 3 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Theres a hidden and only slightly racist Godzilla joke in the first bad Jurassic Park movie. As a group of businessmen flee from the T. rex tearing through downtown San Diego, one of them shouts in Japanese, I left Tokyo to get away from this! This does imply that InGen and Godzilla exist in the same universe, so T. rex. vs. Zilly when? 2 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Advertisement Speaking of mild racism in San Diego, anchorwoman Veronica Corningstone and her friends probably wouldnt have chosen Escupimos en su Alimento for their girls night if they knew what the restaurants name meant: We Spit in Your Food. It was the 70s, though, so it wasnt like you could just look it up, and any Spanish speaker they asked would hopefully keep the bit going. Thats what you get for not speaking Spanish in Southern California. It was kind of a breakthrough, according to Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond. He told NBC News My Generation, per People, that Carl Reiner innovated a storytelling technique that he instilled in the writers for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Carl Reiners whole modus operandi was he would say to his writers, every week, What happened at your house this week? Sounds simple enough. But that was a big change from the plots of, say, I Love Lucy, where writers would try to imagine wacky situations for Lucille Ball. Lucy goes to work in a chocolate factory. Lucy stomps grapes in Italy. Lucy gets tipsy filming a vitamin commercial. Reiner didnt come from that kind of writing background. In fact, he had no idea how to write a sitcom when his wife suggested he try to script one. I said, What piece of ground do you stand on that nobody else stands on? And the answer was, Well, I live in New Rochelle, I have a wife and two kids, I work on a variety show in New York, I commute every day. And so, that was the genesis of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Its about a writer who lives in New Rochelle with one kid I had two kids at the time. And he writes on a show, although I was actually a writer/actor on that show, he said in the book Sitcom Writers Talk Shop. Don't Miss Reiner ended up writing 13 episodes right off the bat and 40 episodes during the first couple of seasons. Out of necessity since he wrote so many of the Dick Van Dyke scripts himself, he constantly borrowed plots from his everyday life. Reiners wife hated his habit of always offering to pick up dinner tabs, for example. Her annoyance became the episode, My Husband Is A Check Grabber. Most comedy writers and sitcom viewers have never battled a haywire conveyor belt at a chocolate factory. So neither would Rob Petrie nor anyone else on the show. Carl Reiner said those characters wouldnt do anything you wouldnt do. And so that was the core of it all, says Dick Van Dyke Show writer Bill Persky. Everybody could identify with the people in it and find a piece of themselves. I mean, we were crazy maybe, but there was a recognizable human behavior in everything that happened. And then Dick would make it funnier. The stories were never outlandish, and the laughter came from situations and not from jokes. We never wrote jokes. Advertisement Wacky went by the wayside, and the What happened at your house this week? question has continued to drive sitcom plots ever since from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Everybody Loves Raymond. You have to imagine yourself as not somebody very special but somebody very ordinary, Reiner said in Carl Reiner: An American Film Institute Seminar on His Work. If you imagine yourself as somebody really normal, and if it makes you laugh, its going to make everybody laugh. My first experience of being under direct fire happened while I was lying in an alpine meadow near Batusha, Kosovo, on a glorious spring morning in 1999. I'd taken cover next to an Albanian guerilla, as a furious, fully-automatic gun battle between his comrades and the Yugoslav Army erupted in the beech-wooded ridge above us. That debut bullet passed between our noses, which were no more than two feet apart. He'd just turned his face towards mine to tell me about his girlfriend in Canada. The round fizzed I'll never forget the noise rather than cracked, by us, because it had already travelled far enough to have slowed to below the speed of sound. But not too slow to kill. I was as much amazed as afraid. 'Would you like to swap places?' the fighter asked me, because he was a polite fellow and I was slightly closer than him to the beech-wood sniper. I said I would, actually. And so we crawled around each other in the lush pasture as more bullets flew by. With hindsight, mine was a genteel if not misleading introduction to combat. The dialogue could have been lifted from the kind of 1950s Second World War film that I watched on Saturday afternoon TV as a kid. But in the days that followed, and the subsequent quarter century spent reporting on many other front lines, I experienced the norm: ugly, horrifying, terror-stricken, profane, confusing, brutal, cruel. And very loud. Which brings us to Warfare. In a quarter century spent reporting on many other front lines, I experienced the norm: ugly, horrifying, terror-stricken, profane, confusing, brutal, cruel. And very loud. Which brings us to Warfare (pictured) Yesterday afternoon, I sat in a cinema in Leicester Square, central London, and watched was assailed by this new and highly acclaimed film (pictured) It's been described as the most accurate portrayal of combat that has yet been seen on the silver screen. Pictured: Warfare Yesterday afternoon, I sat in a cinema in Leicester Square, central London, and watched was assailed by this new and highly acclaimed film. It's been described as the most accurate portrayal of combat that has yet been seen on the silver screen. I left not quite knowing what I felt other than that I recognised it as some kind of truth. Warfare was written and directed by Alex Garland English author of The Beach and director of dystopian thriller Civil War and former US Navy Seal Ray Mendoza. It is based on the latter's service in Iraq, specifically what happened to Mendoza and his platoon one day in November 2006 in the city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital Baghdad. Ramadi is in the so-called Sunni Triangle, Saddam Hussein's former heartland, and where the insurgency against the American occupation flourished following his toppling in 2003. Warfare is no vehicle for a matinee idol. The film is a stripped-down-to-bare-bones depiction literally of the kind of combat I have sometimes witnessed over 25 years of frontline reporting but have never seen depicted so convincingly on screen. Unlike other war films now regarded as classics of the genre, it eschews almost all extraneous detail. We learn little or nothing about the individual characters or their internal or domestic lives. I left not quite knowing what I felt other than that I recognised it as some kind of truth, writes Richard Pendlebury (pictured) Warfare (pictured) was written and directed by Alex Garland English author of The Beach and director of dystopian thriller Civil War and former US Navy Seal Ray Mendoza There is no parallel storyline about a love interest or alcoholism as in the Second World War film Ice Cold In Alex. No Private Ryan to save, nor Colonel Kurtz to find and kill, a la Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now. Nor broad brush historical context to put across, as in The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far. It's simply about what happens when a handful of elite professional soldiers find themselves trapped for a few hours in a house in a very hostile neighbourhood, as a far superior number of enemies close in for the kill. Nothing much takes place for the first half-hour of the 95-minute long film. Then a grenade is tossed through a window and all hell breaks loose. This is cinema verite. Everything we see, happened, as far as the participants can remember. And some combatants have the lingering disabilities to support it. Yet what is really brought to the fore as never before is the physics of battle and killing bullets breaking the sound barrier and penetrating flesh. What then happens to that flesh, and the bones beneath; the nerve endings. And how the victim and those around him respond to that impact. There is a lot of screaming and feverish radio traffic. As well as sustained gunfire in a confined space. It is a sensory overload. The death of an Iraqi translator, who is browbeaten into going into the firing line, ahead of his American colleagues, is appalling, degrading and depicted in vivid anatomical detail. He is blown to bits. His internal organs are on display. His other, scattered, body parts provide a backdrop to the rest of the action. Until now, the depiction of a functioning human being reduced to offal has been avoided, largely, in mainstream cinematic history. There is no parallel storyline about a love interest or alcoholism as in the Second World War film Ice Cold In Alex. Pictured: Warfare In Kosovo, I had come across a Yugoslav soldier decomposing in the grass as the artillery crashed around us. He was just a shape. A little later, I met a garrulous French volunteer sniper armed with a .50 calibre Barrett rifle who claimed to have once been an officer in the Foreign Legion. I'd spent an afternoon in a fog-bound forward position with him. The next time I saw him hours later his brains were spilling out. Cause? High-speed metal. It's the sort of incident that must have happened hundreds of thousands of times in real combat. But I'd never seen that detail before in a Hollywood war film. No doubt it was considered too disgusting for a Saturday matinee. Until now. The Sunni Triangle, by the mid-2000s, was a very uncomfortable place to be, for anyone. The Americans may have claimed victory in May 2003 but they were no longer in control. I hated Baghdad. From the moment you left the airport after a high-speed, stomach-churning descent to evade ground-to-air missiles, you were in a shooting gallery. It seemed that every other vehicle at the pick-up point set back from the terminal to protect against car bombs had a light machine gun poking from the tailgate, like an Avro Lancaster bomber, and a sign reading, 'Come any closer and you will be killed'. Most were picking up Western mercenaries. The rest of us just hoped for the best. On one of my first nights, having survived the airport road the Americans named it Route Irish, after the Fighting Irish infantry regiment that was charged with securing it the ceiling of my hotel room collapsed when a mortar landed in the street outside. Warfare (pictured) captures the claustrophobic feeling of this totally dysfunctional occupation Warfare captures the claustrophobic feeling of this totally dysfunctional occupation. The platoon enters the house at night and smashes its way noisily into an upper floor to get a better view of the area. By doing so, the Seals announce their presence to Al Qaeda units nearby. The die is cast. The innocent Iraqi families living inside the Seals' chosen observation point are corralled and warned to shut up. 'Nothing will happen to you,' they are told. It will, of course. In the film, the Iraqi civilians are treated with a degree of politesse. I remember it otherwise. At the time when the film occurs, I was working in Baghdad. Dodge City. Rightly, the Americans feared the worst. Death was on every corner. No Iraqi was trusted. For several days, I accompanied a cavalry unit as it patrolled. It was a nerve-jangling experience. The IED and ambush threat was sky high. At the end of each journey, the thighs of my trousers bore the sweaty imprints of my hands. One day, I returned to the American base to find my Iraqi driver waiting at the gate for me in tears of humiliation. The American sentry had told him to go away. When my driver argued that he was waiting to pick me up from an officially sanctioned assignment, the sentry levelled his M-16 at him and put a boot into his chest. When we spoke, he still had a clear print of the sole on his otherwise pristine shirt. He would be killed later in the insurgency, in circumstances that were never made clear. I suspect he was fighting the Americans. If so, I perhaps witnessed one of the catalysts for him to change his mind. At the time when the film (pictured) occurs, I was working in Baghdad. Dodge City. Rightly, the Americans feared the worst. Death was on every corner. No Iraqi was trusted The 19th-century Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, said: 'No plan survives contact with the enemy.' In recent times boxer Mike Tyson refined it to: 'Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.' In Warfare, the Seals' plan is intact until the civilian street population suddenly recedes from their view, as seen through their sniper's murder hole, like the sea just before a tsunami hits. And the plan falls apart. The expression of disbelief on the face of one of the wounded Seals reminded me of the Libyan rebel fighter I encountered on the Brega front during the Libyan civil war. Stripped to the waist, he had taken a bullet just above his heart and the life blood was beginning to drain out of him. Intentionally or otherwise, Warfare illustrates the collateral damage both in terms of material and the loss of hearts and minds which the Americans' hard prosecution of the Iraq counterinsurgency had on the wider civilian population. God knows how the Ukrainians are managing to cope or will do in the future. Last night I dreamed, as I often do, of kamikaze drones. Being chased into a ditch by one which hovered at my nose then moved in for the kill. Such is the psychological impact of time spent on the current Ukraine front line. Today, a platoon of Seals in a house would be bombarded by drones until their refuge collapsed. That's not to say Warfare is not a cinematic milestone. It's just that warfare is developing at a terrifying pace. And there's no end in sight. On a warm June afternoon, a grey-haired man with a German accent checked into the Sligo City Hotel. He'd arrived by taxi, after getting a bus on from Derry to Sligo, a seaside town in the west of Ireland. He checked in with the name Peter Bergmann. He paid with cash, and then carried three pieces of luggage to his room. Four days later, his body washed up on the beach. His death marked the first act of a mystery that has baffled police forces and compelled journalists and internet sleuths for more than a decade. Why? Because Peter Bergmann didn't exist. The mystery man used a fake name, gave a fake address, and apparently appeared in Ireland without a passport or any record. At the hotel he gave an address in Austira as his home, but police later discovered, the address didn't exist. The man looked to be in his late 50's or early 60's, he was 5ft 10in with blue eyes and a slight tan. Under the fake name Peter Bergmann, the grey-haired man checked into the Sligo City Hotel on 12 June paid with cash and carried three pieces of luggage to his room Over the next three days, he was captured by security cameras leaving the hotel with a full plastic bag and returning to his room with nothing. On the fourth day, he went to the nearby seaside village of Rosses Point, where he would later wash up on the shore. Bizarrely, he hadn't drowned, the official cause of death was determined to be acute cardiac arrest, as there was no water in his lungs, it is thought that his heart failed just moments before he went into the sea. Irish Times journalist Rosita Boland, who spent years investigating this case, joined Sarah McGlinchey to go through the bizarre details of the case BBC podcast The Man With The Plastic Bag. Rosita spoke to every witness in the case and visited the hotel and the beach were his body was found to try and find out some answers. She said: 'He had a navy T-shirt on and he had a pair of Speedo type swimming trunks but then over those he had his underwear, which is just bizarre, why wouldn't you take off your underpants and T-shirt if you were going swimming.' Other items of the man's clothing were carefully folded nearby, however no ID was found and the tags had been cut off all his clothing. It appeared he had gone to great lengths to remain anonymous. In the hopes to uncover why he was in Ireland and how he managed to go undetected, police looked back at the man's final footsteps, but 16 years on, it remains a mystery. The man looked to be in his late 50's or early 60's, he was 5ft 10in with blue eyes and a slight tan, it was believed he boarded a bus from Derry, in northern Ireland to Sligo, however there was no record of him entering Ireland A living depiction was created in the hopes to refresh anyone's memory or in the hopes family or friend's will come forward to identify the man Rosita said: 'The first we know of his existence in Ireland is him turning up at the bus station in Derry on that Friday afternoon, it's very unlikely he was living in Northern Ireland but we don't know how he got there. 'He was caught on CCTV at Derry bus station, he was consciously looking for the bus to Sligo, he first got on a bus to Galway and then got off when he heard it wasn't for Sligo.' Arriving at 6.30pm in Sligo he took a taxi to 'somewhere cheap to stay' so the driver took him to the Sligo City Hotel. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and he had two bags with him, one was a small laptop bag. During the police investigation they discovered the address in Vienna that 'Peter' used to check into the hotel didn't exist. He was spotted leaving the hotel 13 times with a purple plastic bag, each time the bag was full on contents but when he returned the bag was nowhere to be seen. 'Either he dumped the contents and put the empty bag back in his pocket or he had lots of bags in his room,' Rosita said. 'One person emailed me and said maybe he had murdered somebody and he was disposing of the limbs in those bags, maybe a small person or a child, the bags were not terribly big.' At the hotel he provided the Austrian address, 'Ainstettersn 15, 4472, Vienna, Austria', as his own and witnesses say he spoke in a German accent but when police checked the address didn't exist He was spotted leaving the hotel 13 times with a purple plastic bag, each time the bag was full on contents but when he returned the bag was nowhere to be seen However police didn't think the bags were that suspicious, saying he may have had clothing or personal items in them. On his first day in Sligo he made his way to the General Post Office at 10.50 AM, where he bought eight stamps and some airmail stickers. However he was never seen posting anything and the stamps were not found on his possession after his death. On Sunday, in the early afternoon he left the hotel for the towns only taxi rank and asked to be taken to a quiet beach, where he could swim. The driver took him to Rosses Point, however on arrival he surveyed the beach, seemed satisfied with the choice and asked for the taxi to take him back to Sligo. After requesting a late check out 'Peter' left the hotel and deposited his key at reception. He was then seen carrying the three bags he arrived with, a black holdall, the laptop bag, and a purple plastic bag. However by the time he got to Sligo bus station the holdall bag was missing, it was never found by police. After requesting a late check out 'Peter' left the hotel and deposited his key at reception just after 1PM on Monday the 15 June, he's carrying the three bags he arrived with, a black holdall, the laptop bag, and a purple plastic bag Later, he was spotted by 16 people on the beach, but no one saw him enter the water. At 10.30 that evening he was seen along the beach carrying his purple plastic bag. The last time he was seen was at 11.50 walking along the edge of the water. The next morning, not long after six, he was found washed up on the beach by a father and son who were out for a jog. Peter Bergmanns body had been taken to post mortem there wasnt any hint of foul play. The post-mortem revealed that he was in poor health, he had advanced stages of prostate cancer and bone tumours. Meanwhile his heart had signs of previous ischaemic heart disease - despite all of these conditions, there was no trace of medication in his system. Rosita said: 'Was he thinking that perhaps I'm terminally ill, I'm just going to go into the ocean, we know that he didn't die of drowning, did he tae something that brought on a heart attack. 'It's a crazy coincidence, did he die spontaneously, did he have a hand at his own death. It's a total mystery.' In 2019 the Guardi, allowed Rosita to inspect 'Peter's' clothes which were kept in evidence. 'They were still full of sand, his T-shirt, trunks and underpants, they lifted those out and there was just sand falling out. 'It was the items in his pocket, those were the only things that he choose to keep, there was no passport, no phone, no credit cards.' Found in his pockets was a watch, a packet of German tissues, a small bar of soap which wasn't from any hotel in Ireland. The Guards kept the man's body for three months in the hopes that some family member would come forward but he was eventually put to rest. 'The state had to step in and provide a plot and cover the cost of the funeral. 'There was one other unidentified body underneath him and the plot can take three, but there was nobody to go on top in case they did find out who he was, they could dig his remains up and repatriate the bones to wherever he came from. 'There is a small wooden cross but it's not for him it's for the person who was underneath him who was also unidentified. ' Guardi circulated the man's DNA profile and pictures of an Interpol system but nothing has flagged up. They also made public appeals in Austrian and German publications in an attempt to find out who he really was. 16 years on from the mysterious death, the man is still unidentified, with no relatives or friends coming forward. If you have any information that might help in identifying the man please contact us at appeals@locate.international or call 0300 102 1011. One moment, Amelia Keam was dancing to live music with her best friends - the next, she was fighting for her life in hospital. Now the 26-year-old from Sydney, who once enjoyed an active and social life, is trapped inside her own body. In a devastating twist of fate, Amelia suffered a catastrophic stroke in March that has left her paralysed from the neck down and dependent on a ventilator to breathe. The condition, most closely resembling Locked-in Syndrome (LiS), is incredibly rare and heart-wrenching. Amelia is fully conscious and aware, but unable to speak or move - only able to communicate through her eyes and by mouthing words. Her loved ones describe her as the last person you'd expect to be struck by a medical emergency. 'She was the picture of vitality. Healthy, active, and full of life,' said Chloe, a close family friend. A psychology graduate who worked in mental health, Amelia had dedicated her life to helping others before her own world came crashing down. That fateful night began like any other for Amelia, who according to her father Stephen, was out with mates in Newcastle, NSW for a small concert. While out enjoying a concert, Amelia suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed, going straight into cardiac arrest, and her heart stopped beating Amelia pictured with her father Stephen on her graduation day, before her catastrophic stroke in March that has left her paralysed from the neck down 'I was actually on my way home from work when my eldest daughter, Beck, rang me at quarter-to-one in the morning to tell me Amelia was in hospital,' he told FEMAIL. While out enjoying Newcastle's nightlife, Amelia had suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed, falling into cardiac arrest. Miraculously, two Australian Defence Force members - complete strangers at the time - stepped in, performed CPR and gave her a fighting chance before paramedics rushed her to hospital in Newcastle. 'I live in Mackay [Queensland] nearly 2000 kilometers away, so I Googled Newcastle hospitals, and there's only two there,' said Stephen. 'They put me through to emergency and [then] to ICU, and the nurse said, "I'll get the doctor". That was a little bit of an alarm bell.' On the phone, Amelia's initial diagnosis didn't seem so bad, with a doctor telling Mr Keam that she'd had a minor stroke, so they were going to run some tests and a CT scan. 'A couple hours later they told me she had a small tear in her right cervical vertebral artery [one of two vertebral arteries that supply blood to the brain and spinal cord], but he said with some medication and rest she should be fine.' However, both the doctors' and Stephen's worst fears were confirmed after Amelia's MRI scan later that day. Amelia's stroke has caused a condition so rare it affects less than 15 people out of every million. She is currently dependent on a ventilator to breathe. Pictured: Amelia in ICU with her father, Stephen Before her medical incident in March, close family friend Chloe (right), said Amelia (left) was 'the picture of vitality and health' The stroke had in fact caused a bilateral cervical arterial disconnection, which is so rare it affects less than 15 people out of every million. Both the internal carotid arteries and vertebral arteries were torn each side of Amelia's neck, disrupting blood flow to the brain affecting her motor reflexes and leaving her unable to move or breathe on her own. 'Her communication is by mouthing words and using eye movements. She is unable to produce any sound because a ventilator is breathing for her,' said Chloe. Now, Amelia's long road to recovery begins - but it won't be easy. The extensive care she needs includes around-the-clock support from neurology and spinal specialists, physiotherapists, and a dedicated rehabilitation team. Although Stephen said there was a recent glimmer of hope when Amelia's tube was removed and she breathed unassisted for a few minutes, the experts have warned that she may never fully recover. 'The specialist said he couldn't see Amelia even being off the ventilator for probably six months, and while she's on that, to my knowledge, she will be in ICU,' he said. For now, the Keam's priority is to sell their family home in Mackay and relocate to Sydney to be closer to Amelia and her rehabilitation. Now, Amelia's extensive care will include around-the-clock support from neurology and spinal specialists, physiotherapists, and a dedicated rehabilitation team. Pictured: Amelia in good spirits before her stroke. The Keam's priority is to sell their family home in Mackay and relocate to Sydney to be closer to Amelia and her rehabilitation. Pictured: Amelia (right) and her sister Beck (left) 'The hospitals down there are much better than what's available here,' Stephen said. 'Amelia's very outgoing, very kind and puts on such a bravado and she deserves a chance to fight for her future.' With support, the experts believe Amelia could reclaim parts of her life and maybe even walk again one day, but for now it's a day-by-day progress. 'It's hard to talk about, [but] the support of the community so far is overwhelming,' Stephen said of Amelia's GoFundMe campaign, which has already gained momentum in such a short amount of time. You can donate to the family's campaign via the link in the bullet points at the top of this article. A Canadian influencer who loves to party claims she's solved the age-old dilemma of how to avoid a hangover with an innovative trick. Lucy Welcher, 21, from Nova Scotia, shared her 'life hack' in a clip posted on Instagram with the aim of sparing people around the world from sore heads the morning after the night before. While some people rely on paracetamol, 'hair of the dog' or a greasy fry-up for breakfast to stave off the dreaded hangover, Lucy relies on another ingredient - electrolytes. The Criminology student filmed herself opening a sachet of the supplement before pouring it into her glass of vodka and lemonade to ensure she remained hydrated. Glammed up in a black dress with her long blonde hair in a bouncy blow-dry, she stirred the contents of the sachet into her drink and before taking a sip. Lucy explained in her caption that she makes sure she's hydrated with her lemon-flavoured electrolytes, writing: 'Lemon electrolytes in a vodka soda is so good and youre hydrating'. A hangover is, in part, caused by a loss of fluids which results in dehydration. The symptoms of this can include thirst, headache, fatigue and dizzyness. Among the many benefits of taking electrolyte supplements is rehydration, meaning that taking electrolytes could, in theory, help to counteract the effects of alcohol. Lucy Welcher, 21, from Nova Scotia, Canada , has shared her trick to avoid the dreaded nauseous feeling and pounding headache after a night out While medical professionals tend to agree that the only tried and tested way of avoiding a hangover is to avoid drinking entirely, there are ways to minimise the effects. A hangover is the result of excess ethanol that the liver cannot process because it has become too saturated. The main effect of a hangover is dehydration because alcohol affects the body's ability to retain water. The effects are made worse by the disruption alcohol causes to the metabolism, suppressing hormones which the body uses to control urine - making trips to the toilet a common side effect of drinking. Dehydration related to alcohol is also worsened if there is vomiting and all of this can lead to an imbalance in electrolytes. Hangover symptoms include tiredness, feeling thirsty, a headache, muscle aches, nausea and stomach pain. sensitivity to light and sound, sweating and anxiety. While electrolyte drinks may help to some extent, according to EatingWell, they are not a miracle cure and shouldn't be seen as an excuse to drink excessively. While electrolyte drinks can restore fluids and vitamins, easing headaches and quenching your thirst, they might not banish other symptoms. Lucy explained in her caption that she makes sure she's hydrated with her lemon-flavoured electrolytes, writing: 'Lemon electrolytes in a vodka soda is so good and youre hydrating' Instead, Dr Sally Adams, an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham suggests lining the stomach with carbs, protein and fat to slow down the absorption of alcohol. A greasy fry-up the next day is also a tried and tested method, but according to GQ, it might be more psychosomatic than anything else and the result of doing something caring for yourself. Other bizarre hangover hacks that have been de-bunked by doctors include dunking your face in ice water. The hack plays on the survival instinct to prevent drowning - dropping the heart rate, shutting down nonessential processes and shifting blood flow to conserve energy. These changes, known as the mammalian diving reflex, reduce the anxiety and nausea you feel after a night of drinking. But the pains come rushing back after your body realizes it is not in danger of drowning. Dr Karan Raj, an NHS Surgeon, explained mammalian diving in a TikTok video, ending his post with a plea not to try this at home,' which is likely because you may actually drown. While many social users praised the hack, which made the rounds on TikTok, others have shared that plunging their face in cold water for a few seconds is not enough to do the trick. Professor Ahmed Hankir took to TikTok this week with his findings A psychiatrist has revealed five signs that may be indicative of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in women. Professor Ahmed Hankir, a professor in the UK and a consultant psychiatrist in Canada, took to TikTok to reveal common signs to look out for. Characteristics of autism in girls and women may differ from those of other autistic people, according to the National Autistic Society. This means it is more difficult to diagnose women and, as a result, far fewer receive an official diagnosis and, according to researchers at Durham University, nearly 80 per cent are misdiagnosed with other conditions, such as anxiety. Girls, for example, are more likely to 'mask' certain traits in an attempt to fit in with neurotypical people in society. The male-to-female ratio for autism has long been estimated to be 4:1, but some research suggests that, with more effective diagnosis, this could be closer to 2:1, per Embrace Autism. There are currently over 170,000 people in the UK are waiting for a doctor to assess whether they have the condition, a figure that is five times higher than before the pandemic in 2020. Professor Hankir advised people to seek an official diagnosis if they resonated with any of the signs in his video, which he said is just for educational purposes. 1. Stimming Professor Ahmed Hankir, a professor in the UK and a consultant psychiatrist in Canada, has revealed five signs that may be indicative of autism in women Professor Hankir said one common trait in autistic women is 'stimming' - which stands for self-stimulatory behaviour - which he described as 'repetitive or ritualistic movements'. These may include rocking, hand flapping or skin picking, feet rubbing or hair twirling. 'The familiarity with the sensation associated with stimming behaviours can be soothing, and can provide comfort to autistic women, who often feel intense discomfort and distress, triggered by certain situations and stimuli,' he explained. These behaviours may often come in useful in social gatherings, which can feel overwhelming. 'It's the behaviour that a lot of people do as a form of self regulation,' one autistic person explained, in a Channel 5 documentary that aired earlier this month. In addition to helping cope with high concentrations of stimuli, it can also be used to express a range of emotions including anxiety and even joy. Stimming has in the past been associated with severe behaviours, such as head banging, but it can be something as little as twirling hair or playing with jewellery However, it can also lead to bad habits, such as skin picking and nail biting. Dr Kim Sage, a California-based psychologist, emphasises that everyone 'stims to some degree' and 'doing these does not make you autistic'. However, autistic people are more likely to find the behaviours calming and regulating. 2. Emotional disregulation and meltdowns @profahmedhankir #autisminwomen #autism #neurodivergent #stimming 5 symptoms of autism in women [1] Stimming. Stimming or self-stimulating behaviours refers to repetitive or ritualistic movements such as rocking, hand flapping, skin picking, feet rubbing and hair twirling. [2] Emotional dysregulation and meltdowns. [3] Camouflaging. Camouflaging also known as masking is when a person hides or conceals signs that they have autism to blend in or adapt to the neurotypical world. [4] Sensory sensitivity. [5] Intense interests. original sound - Professor Ahmed Hankir Women with autism may find it difficult to regulate their emotions, Hankir explained. This may lead to feelings of an overwhelming intensity, which can lead to a meltdown. A 'meltdown' is a physical reaction to an overwhelming emotional or sensory experience and all adults across the spectrum can be vulnerable to them. The loss of control may be shown through crying, screaming or even physically lashing out. After an episode ends, many adults may have difficulty remembering it. Emotional disregulation is one of the main reasons why women are often misdiagnosed, and subsequently receive the wrong treatment. Some of the common conditions it is mistaken for include bipolar disorder, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. 3. Camouflaging aka 'masking' Many autistic women engage in 'camouflaging' or 'masking', which mean they hide or conceal the common signs of autism in order to blend in with the neurotypical world. It's something women are thought to engage with more than with men, and also makes it difficult for women to be diagnosed, as they are 'good at' masking the symptoms. Professor Hankir explained that these can include imitating facial expressions in social situations. But, he explained: 'Camouflaging or masking can come at a great psychological cost for autistic women as it can drain their social battery and result in emotional, physical and mental exhaustion, which can then lead to burnout.' Autistic women and non-binary people may be more likely to mask, potentially due to stereotypes of how people should behave Women are more commonly encouraged to be well behaved and socially sensitive than men, so are more likely to imitate expected social behaviours. Masking can help women in social situations, such as school and work, and can even be an unconscious behaviour. It's carried out by mirroring the behaviour of other people in their life, or people seen on TV and in books. Autistic people may hide their needs, preferences, opinions and interests based on the anticipated reactions of others. It can include scripting responses, managing facial expressions, and changing their tone of voice. 4. Sensory sensitivity Characteristics of autism in girls and women may differ from those of other autistic people One common neurodiversity trait is sensory sensitivity which makes people super sensitive (or conversely particularly insensitive) to smells, tastes, textures, pressure, touch and sounds. As Professor Hankir explains, autistic people, especially women, 'perceive their environments differently than neurotypical people do'. This often causes a heightened awareness of stimuli, such as scents, sights, sounds and textures. Autistic women may find discomfort in certain fabrics of clothes or if they're faced with a strong smell, such as petrol. They may refuse to wear certain fabrics, or become overwhelmed in noisy environments. This again can cause sensory overload, which Hankir said can be 'unbearable'. Dr Sohom Das is a forensic psychiatrist and described it as 'a hyper sensitivity to sensory stimulation, such as sounds or smells that don't seem to bother other people, or bright lights'. He explained 'So this can manifest insensitivities - to not just sounds, but also even textures and smells. So basically, it's almost like you're a human mood ring. 'So here's an example. You and your friend, you go into a cafe, and you both get a double mocha cappuccino and you both get a croissant each, and you both enjoy it. But your friend, she's taking some huge bites like a slob. 'She's speaking with a mouthful. Bits of crumbs are flying out everywhere, and she's just droning on [...] She's spitting crumbs all over the table, and it's sacrilegious, and it's kind of ruining your vibe, because from your experience, the smell, the textures, that flakiness in your mouth [...] are all amazing to you, and you want to savour it.' 5. Intense interests Autistic women may have 'intense interests', which may in fact be 'perfectly normal'. Professor Hankir said one of his patients has an intense interest in reading literature and learning about autism, meaning she's very eloquent. This can also develop into an 'intense interest', which manifests differently to just a typical passion or hobby for a non-autistic individual. The differences lies in the fact that passion for a non-autistic person 'is almost always enjoyable', whereas an intense interest can become 'almost necessary rather than optional'. In comparison to autistic men, who often have focused interests in niche topics such as transport links, girls' intense interests may be more 'socially acceptable'. Examples can include intense interests in animals, books, celebrities - and autistic women will tend to collect extensive information about each. When it comes to treating adults with autism, there are various approaches that can help address individual needs and challenges. Treatment options can include psychotherapy and counseling, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), social skills training, and occupational therapy. King Charles's goddaughter, India Hicks, who was a bridesmaid at his wedding to Diana, has recalled a 'nerve-wracking' encounter with the late royal in her younger years. The glamorous British businesswoman, who is now based in the Bahamas, remembered the occasion that her 'thoughtful' godfather tasked her with taking the family Christmas card photo - despite being 'young and inexperienced' at the time. The 57-year-old, who is the daughter of Lady Pamela and David Hicks, was invited by Charles to photograph himself alongside his wife, Princess Diana, and their sons William and Harry. She revealed in an interview with Hello! magazine: 'So, I went to Highgrove and photographed him and Diana and the boys, which was quite nerve-wracking.' At the time, India had recently finished photography school and was 'quite young and inexperienced', but her 'thoughtful' godfather entrusted her with the job anyway. She said that Charles had taken a big 'risk' when employing her as photographer since she 'could have been a complete idiot with a camera'. The fashion designer called the King 'a very considerate godfather', and spoke affectionately of his dutiful habit of always remembering to write Christmas and birthday cards. King Charles 's goddaughter, India Hicks , who was a bridesmaid at his wedding to Diana, has recalled a 'nerve-wracking' encounter with the Princess during her early days as a photographer (pictured) India is the goddaughter of King Charles (pictured together on her Instagram account, when India was a child) She also praised the monarch's vision for the future, as well as his long-standing commitment to combating climate change and backing for green energy. She said he was 'ahead' of the curve' in his progressive beliefs. India was one of five bridesmaids at Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981 and was aged 12 at the time. Her mother was a lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II and cousin of Prince Philip. The mother-of-five has caused a stir recently after sharing domestic tips - drawing parallels with Meghan Markle's Netflix cooking show. The business mogul took to Instagram last week where she shared her tips for hosting, declaring even 'an unskilled culinary idiot' can do the job. In the clip, she shared how she recently prepared to host guests, supermodels Jerry Hall and Helen Christensen. It draws striking parallels with Meghan's performance in Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, in which the former actress shared her own vision of domestic bliss, including how to arrange aesthetically pleasing fruit boards. 'It seems that trays and platters laden with edible displays are on-trend for a reason,' India said. 'First, even an unskilled culinary idiot like me can gather together some inventive ingredients and lay them out temptingly.' While Meghan, 43, has been widely panned for her polished-but-bland show, Indias account of hosting drinks at her Bahamian island home is refreshingly 'unpolished', self-deprecating and chaotic. India was a bridesmaid at Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981 Speaking in an interview with Hello!, the glamorous British businesswoman remembered the occasion that her 'thoughtful' godfather tasked her with taking the family Christmas card photo - despite being 'young and inexperienced' at the time 'Its hard to say what creates the perfect drinks hour,' India said. 'In reality, who has the time to make it perfect, especially since most of us haven't slept since 1997.' Revealing her tips, she said: 'Jerry Hall and Helena Christensen came over for last minute drinks. 'I ran around like a headless chicken lighting candles, putting on music and setting up our plastic folding table, and spreading out my newest Pomegranate tablecloth, which didnt quite fit. 'I worried, only briefly, about them seeing our dining table also laid up for a family supper in our courtyard, would they think they have been included for dinner as well as drinks? 'Unbreakable plastic plates (also from Pomegranate) and good fake palm leaves were rushed out onto the drinks table and lots of stinky cheese, which David says, doesnt go off, it just changes its name. Intimate, unpolished, and slightly haphazard, this is how I entertain.' India, who moved to the Bahamas to embrace an 'unconventional' life, married David Flint Wood in 2021, having already had five children together. She had long insisted there were no plans to marry the former advertising executive, even after five children together. 'Having lived a fairly unconventional life together on a small island in the Bahamas for more than two decades, we decided that our wedding should, in contrast, be very conventional,' India wrote in an article for Vogue. Speaking to the Daily Mail before the big day, she said: 'He very much asked me to marry him. I said: "I love you dearly, but no. I don't want to be a wife." I didn't. 'I wanted to be this fiercely independent woman. I wanted children, and I wanted them to have his name, but I didn't want to be married.' She later admitted: I didnt really expect being married to feel any different than not being married. We had been locked in a loving relationship for 26 years already. But it took my breath away to find how spiritual it felt to walk into the church on the arm of my eldest son and to say those vows to David in front of all our friends and family, in the church where I had been christened and where my father lay buried just outside. It felt intensely intimate. Virginia Guiffre confessed that she's 'tired' from 'fighting for so long' in one of the final interviews published before her tragic death at the age of 41. The mother-of-three, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, was found dead at her farm near Perth, Australia, on Friday night. A newly resurfaced interview from 2021 - one of the last she gave before her suicide - saw Virginia confess that she was 'tired, because I've been fighting for so long'. She told The Cut: 'But Ive still got that fight in me. What Im going through right now is going to help somebody out there one day, and thats my goal. 'Thats my focus, by telling my story over and over again.' In the heartbreaking interview, Virginia spoke about how she was handling her trauma, pointing to time spent exercising and at the beach with her French bulldog Juno. She said: 'Im doing as many things to clear my mind as possible so that I can be sharp and be focused when it matters. 'Junos the love of my life; we dont go anywhere without each other.' Virginia Guiffre confessed that she's 'tired' from 'fighting for so long' in one of the final interviews published before her tragic death at the age of 41 Virginia also spoke about her decision to speak out about her alleged abuse, which came after the birth of her daughter Emily in January 2010. She said: 'I dont want my little girl growing up in a world that is so vicious.' It comes as The Mail on Sunday learned that Virginia was plagued by fears that her enemies were trying to smear her reputation in the months before she died. 'Being discredited was one of the many things distressing her in recent months,' said a friend. In the end, a rancorous divorce and ongoing separation from her three children, who remain in their father's custody, appeared to have finally tipped her over the edge. Her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, said: 'She wished for all survivors to get justice. That is who she was. We lost our sister. Her children lost their mother and her mother lost her daughter. She was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet. Virginia had accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked to London She claimed she had been involved in a car crash that left her with only four days to live but the accident was nothing more than a minor bump A newly resurfaced interview from 2021 - one of the last she gave before her suicide - saw Virginia confess that she was 'tired, because I've been fighting for so long' 'But I think sometimes, that load and that weight becomes too much to carry.' Before she died, family members had expressed fears over her mental state. Her father Sky Roberts said his daughter was 'very depressed' and 'in really bad shape'. Friends of the 41-year-old said Virginia was 'deeply upset' about being mocked over a picture she posted of herself in a hospital bed last month. She claimed she had been involved in a car crash that left her with only four days to live but the accident was nothing more than a minor bump. A spokesman for Virginia said she had 'made a mistake' and had not intended to make the post public. But it led to claims that the episode had destroyed her credibility, with some of Andrew's supporters calling her a 'fantasist'. Virginia had accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked to London. It led to him 'stepping back' from public life in 2019. He has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Virginia launched a civil lawsuit, alleging she was coerced into having sex with him. In 2022 the Duke agreed an out-of-court settlement thought to be between 3 million and 12 million despite denying he sexually abused her. Sources close to Andrew said yesterday that he intends keeping his thoughts on the death of his accuser to himself. Princess Lilibet's adorable American accent was heard for the first time as the three-year-old gave her one-word verdict on mother Meghan Markle's jam. On Saturday, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, posted a video on Instagram in which she can be heard asking Lilibet what she thinks of her strawberry jam while preparing a fresh batch of the sweet treat. 'It's beautiful,' the toddler gushed, as her Californian accent shone through. Since relaunching her Instagram account on New Year's Day, Meghan has routinely shared glimpses of her life in Montecito, California - including pictures and videos of her and Prince Harry's two children, Lilibet and Prince Archie. The first time royal fans heard Lilibet's voice was in January 2025, when the Duchess posted an emotional tribute in memory of the Sussexes' late beagle, Guy, on social media. Meghan's video included a tender moment of the royal children singing to the beloved pooch as well as a clip of Prince Archie and Guy that was taken during a car journey. It appears that both Lilibet and Archie, five, have developed strong American accents since moving stateside; at one point, viewers can hear Archie say 'he might fall' with a pronounced twang while referring to the family's beloved dog. Meghan's latest Instagram video comes after she attended the Time100 Summit on Thursday. Princess Lilibet's adorable American accent was heard for the first time as the three-year-old gave her one-word verdict on mother Meghan Markle's 10 jam On Saturday, the Duchess of Sussex , 43, posted a video on Instagram in which she can be heard asking Lilibet what she thinks of her strawberry jam while preparing a fresh batch of the sweet treat 'It's beautiful,' the toddler gushed in a strong Californian accent During a conversation with Time CEO Jessica Sibley, Meghan confessed she had 'always' loved to 'make things in my kitchen, do small flower arrangements, make a lot of jam', she added with a laugh. When she began sending those items as gifts, Bela Bajaria, chief content officer of Netflix suggested 'there's a show here', the actress-turned-entrepreneur claimed. Explaining how her lifestyle series As Ever came to be, Meghan then revealed: 'I hadn't at the onset thought that was something I wanted to share in that way.' With a final thrust of enthusiasm for her latest project, she added: 'Creatively we worked as partners to really find a way for it to land and for me to be able to share it and just have fun, which I think is really the goal in this chapter.' The Duchess' suggestion that she was initially bashful about the project will raise eyebrows in the face of the fact the show was several months in the making. It was also inexorably tied to the launch of her lifestyle brand, As Ever - which she has also confessed to spending 'so many years working on' - and a line of merchandise 'inspired' by the show. 'With Love, Meghan' finally aired on Netflix in March after it was initially postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. But for all the hype and build-up to the show's release, it was slated by reviewers as 'gormless lifestyle filler' with a 'tangible desperation'. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Meghan with her children in a promotional photo for her lifestyle brand, As Ever Others said it shows the Duchess is 'attempting to cling to fame by any means possible', while another described how she was 'joylessly filling kids' party bags with seeds'. Marina Hyde in The Guardian described the show as 'sensationally absurd and trite', adding: 'The mildest way to describe this show is as a ghastly artefact of a particular cultural era that recently met its apocalypse.' Meanwhile, The Telegraph gave the show just two stars. In a review, they said the series was an 'exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs'. Criticism was also levelled at the show for being about Meghan's 'intimate glimpse' of life at home - yet it was revealed that it was not filmed in the Montecito-based mansion she shares with Prince Harry and their two children. The Duchess' Instagram account, on the other hand, now routinely features Archie and Lilibet. In February, Meghan shared a Valentine's Day post that included a video of the former Suits actress making themed bagels with Archie and Lilibet - much to the delight of her fans. One person wrote: 'Harry and Meghan are blessed with a beautiful family. Archie is so tall now and Lili seems so comfortable in the kitchen. She is wielding that butter knife like a pro.' Another added: 'OMG a little Glimpse of Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet. What a beautiful day.' Meghan Markle shared a video (pictured) of herself making a treat for the children, featuring cream cheese bagels and strawberries cut into heart shapes, on Valentine's Day this year Ahead of the premiere of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, last month, Meghan shared a photo of her and Lilibet being joined by 'Auntie' Serena Williams for a game of Candy Land. A separate video Meghan shared featured Archie's voice, as he helped her to water some plants. Royal experts have suggested Harry and Meghan appear to have very different views when it comes to sharing photographs of their children with the public. During a recent appearance on Hello!'s Right Royal podcast, the magazine's royal editor Emily Nash joined The Sun's royal editor Matt Wilkinson for a conversation about the topic. 'My understanding of this is that, up to a certain stage, Harry would much rather his children were not seen,' Matt said. He added: 'Whereas Meghan grew up in California, she once said she would like to have a more California style lifestyle, take them down the beach, go out, do stuff. She doesn't want to hide them away.' He noted that the Duchess does not share her children's faces in images and videos she posts - something the panel said Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also do when it comes to images of their children. While the panel discussed the possibility of Archie and Lilibet getting snapped when they are older, Matt said: 'I think Harry's living in [like things are] the way they were when he was a child [...] the media landscape has shifted.' An Instagram post Meghan shared ahead of the launch of her lifestyle programme featured a glimpse of three-year-old Lilibet (pictured, centre) When appearing on the Drew Barrymore Show last month, Meghan revealed she had enlisted the help of her children to make cookies for the show's crew and audience - and shared a short video clip (here, she is seen with Archie) Many of the posts Meghan shared on Instagram featuring glimpses of the children were in the run-up to the release of With Love, Meghan. The video Meghan shared featuring Lilibet (alongside Serena Williams) was tagged with the caption: '3 days until the party begins. All are invited @Netflix.' Archie and Lilibet were also featured briefly in a short clip played when Meghan appeared on the Drew Barrymore show at the beginning of March. During the episode, the Duchess revealed she had enlisted her children to help in the kitchen as she baked hundreds of cookies for guests attending the Drew Barrymore Show. While appearing on the episode, Meghan revealed that she made treats for the entire cast and crew, as well as all the lucky people who snagged tickets to the show. A clip of her working on the desserts then flashed across the screen, and it showed her and Prince Harry's two young children lending a hand. Shoes from classic orthopaedic brands like Dr Scholls are back on trend They may have been designed to help with painful bunions and other foot-related maladies, but so-called 'orthopaedic' ugly shoes are back in style. Footwear from brand like Dr Scholls and Crocs will be the top choice among fashionistas this Summer - despite their lack of aesthetic appeal. According to the Telegraph, the practical footwear is coming back in vogue as part of the 70s boho revival. Shoes that were once born from pharmacies for being practical are set to become highly desirable as a style statement this Spring and Summer. The most recognisable style of Dr Scholls is the Pescura design, which features a flat wooden sole and a leather strap across the toes. They retails for around 117. And some pairs are selling for eye-watering sums, as designer brands are cashing in on the style. In a bid to attract high fashion lovers, Dr Scholls has teamed up with major fashion houses to create pricy new options. Among the designers to partner with the orthopaedic brand are Balenciaga, which created a line of 'ugly chic shoes'. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker (pictured) was snapped wearing a pair of Dr Scholls last year, prompting fans to say they liked the style There are six different pairs in the line, including high heeled versions of the Pescura design - with the most expensive pair from the Scholl x Balenciaga line costing a staggering 625. According to Demna Gvasalia, the former creative director of Balenciaga, she wanted to create 'the most comfortable heels ever made'. The result was a twist on the Pescura - heels were added to the traditional style, with a stiletto version and a lower heeled option, which boasts a cork sole. According to a description on Balenciaga's site: 'This Balenciaga product is part of a collaboration with Scholl. Combining creativity and savoir faire with technical expertise, this series of products aims to propose the most conformable shoes ever made. ' Another designer crossover is the Scholl x Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini option. Philosophy is a diffusion line from the extremely upmarket Italian label Alberta Feretti. Among the options available in the range is the Mary Jane Clog Philosophy x Scholl, which has a RRP of 600. Among the most expensive options when it comes to shoes from the orthopaedic brand are heeled versions created in collaboration with Balenciaga, which have an RRP of over 600 Inspired by traditional Mary Jane strap shoes, the clogs come in multiple colourways including black and brown. They boast a thick wooden sole with an enclosed toe and double strap with buckles. The description on the brand's website says: 'Mary Jane Clog in polished abrasive calfskin made in collaboration with Scholl. Characterized by a wooden structure and a leather upper with double strap, it features a design reminiscent of the seventies. 'Available in two color options: a total black version for a more glam-rock style and a leather variant for a more bohemian vibe.' The most famous Dr Scholl style - the Pescura - was designed in 1956. Old advertisements for the shoe say wearing them will 'shape, tone and firm your legs with every step you take'. Meanwhile, a collaboration with Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini - a diffusion line from the extremely upmarket Italian label Alberta Feretti - yielded these 600 clogs This is due to how wearers are forced to grip onto the shoes with their toes, as they only have a strap at the front. Before their recent renaissance, the Pescura was considered a shoe for hippy-types, and desperately unfashionable. Fashion editor and ceramicist Deborah Brett told the Telegraph that when she was growing up, her mother wore Dr Scholls, specifically the Pescura model with a cream coloured strap. She said: 'Even as a child, I understood they were uncool. Theres a German word: oko. It translates to eco, and basically means that youre a bit crusty.' However, she has now changed her opinion, and wears her mother's Scholls - which she has not yet had to get resoled, as they are so hardwearing. The most famous Dr Scholls shoe is the Pescura, which features a thick wooden sole and a strap across the toes Describing how she likes to style them, Deborah said: 'I love Scholls with capri pants. You see a little bit of an ankle and they look really cool. Same with an A-line skirt the shoes give you a bit of height, which you need with that silhouette. You can also pair them with a white linen suit in the summer, elevating your look from classically elegant to fashion-forward elegant.' Despite their utilitarian appearance, the Pescura is set to win over a legion of new fans, after actress Sarah Jessica Parker was spotted wearing on the set of And Just Like That last year. Perhaps surprisingly, the casual sandals received a lot of positive reviews as something fans seemed to definitely want to emulate when an image of the Sex and the City star was posted on Instagram. 'Loving the Dr. Scholls,' wrote one. 'The Dr Scholls! Im so jealous ' said another. 'Where do you get the Dr Scholls?' asked designer Isaac Mizrahi King Charles and Queen Camilla were spotted as they made their way to church in Scotland this morning. The royal couple were attending the Sunday service at Crathie Kirk church, near Balmoral. Snaps of the monarch, 76, and his wife, 77, show Camilla sitting in the front passenger seat of their car, with the King in the back. The sighting comes comes just a day after their Majesties did not attend the funeral of Pope Francis. World leaders, clergymen, and reigning monarchs attended the three-hour mass in St Peter's Square as the Argentine pontiff was laid to rest on Saturday. Among them were Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, former US First Lady Jill Biden, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. The Argentine pontiff, 88, died on Easter Monday from a stroke, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia. It was confirmed ahead of his funeral that Prince William would be travelling to the Vatican for the event. Queen Camilla was spotted while making her way to Crathie Kirk church in Scotland on Sunday morning The decision was in keeping with modern tradition: Charles as the Prince of Wales went to Pope John Paul II's funeral, representing his mother the late Queen, in 2005. According to reports, protocol dictates that the heir, rather than the sovereign, attends funerals. However, while King Charles did not attend the event, he did pay tribute to the late pope via a statement. It said: 'My wife and I were most deeply saddened to learn of the death of Pope Francis. 'Our heavy hearts have been somewhat eased, however, to know that His Holiness was able to share an Easter Greeting with the Church and the world he served with such devotion throughout his life and ministry.' He continued: 'His Holiness will be remembered for his compassion, his concern for the unity of the Church and for his tireless commitment to the common causes of all people of faith, and to those of goodwill who work for the benefit of others. 'His belief that care for Creation is an existential expression of faith in God resounded with so many across the world. King Charles was just visible sitting in the back seat of the car as he made his way to the Sunday service 'Through his work and care for both people and planet, he profoundly touched the lives of so many.' King Charles and Queen Camilla met with the late pope recently, during a tour of Italy. They visited him at Casa Santa Maria, where he gave them a 20th anniversary gift. The King released another statement today, via the Royal Family Instagram account, after nine people were killed at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver this weekend, when a car ploughed into the crowd. His statement said: 'Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. 'Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada. Charles R.' The Vatican has released the first images of the Pope's tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome after he was laid to rest on Saturday. The burial site, which today opened tot he public, has already hosted a huge number of mourners, including cardinals and nuns, many of whom queued for hours to enter the church. Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, was entombed at Santa Maria Maggiore church in a private ceremony after his public funeral in the Vatican, which drew more than 250,000 mourners from around the world on Saturday. The 266th Pope's tomb at the church he visited frequently during his time as cardinal and pontiff is inscribed simply with his papal name, Franciscus, and adorned with a single white rose. Above it is a crucifix illuminated by a single spotlight, making for a powerful display. On Sunday, April 27, thousands of mourners queued outside the church - one of four major basilicas in the Italian capital - to pay their respects to the late Pope. While some brought flowers, others were eager to get a photograph of the Pope's final resting place on their smartphones. Numerous cardinals were seen arriving for a celebration of the Second Vespers - the evening prayers - and nuns were pictured praying in front of the late Pope's tomb. Pope Francis was buried yesterday with a heartwarming obituary describing the first pontiff hailing from Latin America as a 'simple and much-loved shepherd'. A mourner visits Pope Francis's tomb at the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome Mourners queued to visit the tomb of Pope Francis in Rome today after his public funeral and private burial on Saturday Some of the faithful were eager to get pictures of the tomb where the 266th pontiff was yesterday laid to rest The obituary placed in his coffin described how Francis was the 266th Pope and that he would 'remain in the heart of the Church and of humanity'. The funeral service was attended by the world's leaders, including US President Donald Trump, Prince William and Sir Keir Starmer. Francis had been lying in state in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc at the St Peter's Basilica since Wednesday morning for three days in public view, before the coffin was sealed ahead of his funeral yesterday. It added that while in Buenos Aries as Archbishop he was a 'simple and much-loved shepherd' who 'traveled far and wide across the city on the underground and the bus, cooking his own meals because he felt one of the people'. It closed by saying: 'Francis has left everyone a wonderful testimony of humanity, life of a saint and universal fatherhood.' The zinc inner lid that covered his body carried his name, a cross and his coat of arms and the of his papacy, 2013-2025. Unlike previous Popes his was just a single coffin whereas previous ones had three caskets. World leaders, dignitaries and tens of thousands of mourners gathered in St Peter's Square on Saturday to bid farewell to Pope Francis, one of the most radical Catholic leaders of modern times. From first light, thousands of people made their way along Via della Conciliazione - the grand thoroughfare that leads to the Vatican - singing hymns, praying and swapping stories about Pope Francis. The tomb bears the simple inscription of Franciscus - the 266th pontiff's papal name Mourners waited hours in the queue for their turn to visit the late Pope's tomb Above it is a crucifix illuminated by a single spotlight Upon the beginning of the service, archbishops and bishops began to assemble in the Constantine Wing, a corridor adjacent to St Peter's Basilica. They wore chasuble (the outer garment worn by clergy during services), alb, belts and a simple white mitre. Priests and deacons assembled at 8.30am in the area set aside for them in St Peter's Square. They wore a chasuble, alb, belt and a red stole. At 9am, the patriarchs and cardinals met in Saint Sebastian's Chapel in the Basilica. They wore the white Damascene mitre. They all then walked in the funeral procession alongside Francis's coffin, where the late Pope was dressed in a red chasuble, damask and golden papal mitre. The funeral began at 10am local time and the coffin was set in the square in front of St Peter's Basilica. The service was presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Deacon of the College of Cardinals. The Prince of Wales, who attended the service on behalf of the King, was listed beside the Prince of Norway in the 'order of precedence' for international attendees. William and Haakon were listed in their own category as crown princes, and were followed in the order of precedence by representatives from the Andorran government. Cardinals are pictured arriving for the celebration of the Second Vespers at the Santa Maria Maggiore church Cardinals attend a celebration of the Second Vespers at the Santa Maria Maggiore church on Sunday A nun prays in front of the tomb of Pope Francis on the first day of its opening to the public on Sunday The British Government delegation included Sir Keir Starmer, who was accompanied by his wife Victoria, as well as Foreign Secretary David Lammy, UK ambassador to the Vatican Chris Trott, and Ailsa Terry, the Prime Minister's private secretary for foreign affairs. The UK Government delegation was listed between groups from Qatar and Serbia led by those countries' heads of government. Ireland's delegation came ahead of both William and the British Government delegation as it is led by head of state President Michael D Higgins. It fell between groups from Indonesia and Iceland, also led by those countries' heads of state. Francis's birth country Argentina took precedence in the seating, followed by Italy. The reigning sovereigns were then seated in alphabetical order in the French language, followed by heads of state. The French language is used as traditionally French was considered the language of diplomacy. Other figures in attendance included US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as former US president Joe Biden. Mourners queueing to pay their respects at the burial site of the late Pope brought flowers People queued to enter Santa Maria Maggiore church today to pay their respects to the late Pope The funeral followed the Funeral Rites of the Roman Pontiff and the guidelines set out in Universi Dominici Gregis, a document issued by Pope John Paul II in 1996. The ceremony began with the entrance antiphon, a selection of psalm verses or scripture passages that were traditionally sung or recited. This was followed by the Penitential Act which allows the faithful to confess their sins to God. The opening prayer came after the Penitential Act. The first reading was given in English by Kielce Gussie, a journalist from Vatican News. The second reading was delivered in Spanish by Edgar Pineda. Before the end of the mass, Cardinal Re sprinkled the coffin with holy water and incense. At the end of the service, valedictory rite and final commendation, where the Pope is formally entrusted to God, took place. Francis's coffin was then carried to the left of the altar at St Peter's. A nun is pictured praying in front of the tomb of Pope Francis, which was adorned with a single white rose A cardinal wearing a red Zucchetto attends a celebration of the Second Vespers at the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, which holds the tomb of the late Pope, on the first day of its opening to the public after the Pope's funeral Francis's coffin wastaken from St Peter's Square to Santa Maria Maggiore where he was buried. The route crossed the river Tiber and passed Piazza Venezia followed by the Colosseum. Francis left instructions asking to be buried in a simple underground tomb in Rome's papal basilica of Saint Mary Major. This makes Francis the first pontiff in more than a century not to be buried at St Peter's Basilica. The last pope who asked to be buried outside of the Vatican was Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903. The simple bedroom which Pope Francis occupied for 12 years has resurfaced in the wake of his death - with fans praising his very humble lifestyle. Pope Francis, who was laid to rest on Saturday after his death on Easter Monday, decided to remain in Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse next to St Peter's Basilica, rather than move to the Apostolic Palace when he became pontiff. Rather than take over the traditional papal apartment, Francis lived in Room 201 - a suite of three rooms - from March 2013 to his death on April 21 this year. Discussing this decision in 2013, Pope Francis said: 'I chose to live here, in Room 201, because when I took possession of the papal apartment, inside myself I distinctly heard a "no".' Room 201 includes a small bedroom, an office and a reception room, all decorated with a few pieces of dark wood furniture - and a wooden crucifix hanging behind his desk. In the office there are four chairs - including a more comfortable armchair - a simple desk and a cabinet, above which hangs the colourful image of a saint. The minimal bedroom includes a small bed, two bedside cabinets, a large wardrobe, chest of drawers and another small chair. There are no decorations on the walls. His sitting room has a five-piece sofa set in a powder blue colour, with a small TV on a desk to the side. The simple bedroom which Pope Francis occupied for 12 years (above) has resurfaced in the wake of his death - with fans praising his humble lifestyle Room 201 comprises of a small bedroom, an office (above) and a reception room, all decorated with a few pieces of dark wood furniture - and a wooden crucifix hanging behind his desk Another photograph of a bedroom inside Casa Santa Marta has circulated since Pope Francis' death, claiming to be the room he inhabited in his later years. However, this photograph was taken in 2005 - long before he became Pope. It has been suggested that he stayed there very briefly before moving to his larger suite. But the true images of Room 201 have also caught the attention of fans of Pope Francis, who have praised his 'simple' and 'inspiring' life in Vatican City. One person noted that there was very little modern technology in his rooms. He said: 'Don't you see that the Pope's [bed]room didn't have a TV, table or six-seater sofa. Let's be simple, guys.' Another said: 'Pope Francis' life in Vatican was beautiful and inspiring. Pope Francis owned three personal items. One pair of black leather shoes made by a cobbler in Argentina, a Casio wristwatch, and his bible. His sitting room has a five-piece sofa set in a powder blue colour, with a small TV on a desk to the side Pope Francis leads his weekly Angelus Blessing from the chapel of his residence in the Casa Santa Marta in December 2024 Casa Santa Marta was originally built in 1996 to house cardinals during a conclave The images of Room 201 have caught the attention of fans of Pope Francis, who have praised his 'simple' and 'inspiring' life in Vatican City 'He donated his salary to charity every year, lived in a small room with a single bed which he made every morning himself.' A third noted: 'Throughout his 12 years as Pope, Pope Francis made Room 201 at Casa Santa Marta his home. 'This small bed is where he slept for 12 years.' The papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace, where pontiffs typically live, is much larger than Francis' three-room suite at Casa Santa Marta. The pontiff said in 2013: 'The papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace is not luxurious. Pope Francis attends the Council of Cardinals from his residence Casa Santa Marta in 2021 A view of Holy Father's Private Chapel inside the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo Pope Francis decided not to move into the papal apartment (above) when he became pontiff 'It is old, tastefully decorated and large, but not luxurious. But in the end it is like an inverted funnel. It is big and spacious, but the entrance is really tight. 'People can come only in dribs and drabs, and I cannot live without people. I need to live my life with others.' It is for this reason that Francis stayed in his second-storey suite in the guesthouse, which was originally built in 1996 to house cardinals during a conclave. The papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace (above), where pontiffs typically live, is much larger than Francis' three-room suite at Casa Santa Marta Another photograph of a bedroom inside Casa Santa Marta (above) has circulated since Pope Francis' death, claiming to be the room he inhabited in his later years. However, this photograph was taken in 2005 - long before he became pontiff - and is the wrong room It features a total of 105 suites and 26 single rooms, half of which are occupied by permanent residents. Casa Santa Marta is where Pope Francis spent his final days, after being discharged from Gemelli Hospital in Rome on March 23. He died in his rooms on Easter Monday, and was laid to rest in a ceremony attended by upwards of 250,000 people on Saturday. An airport flight attendant has revealed how criminals prey on travelers - and what you can do to protect yourself. Argentina Airlines crew member Barbara Bacilieri, known as Barbie Bac online, explained that the airport and planes are prime hunting ground for opportunistic thieves, as reported by What's The Jam. She claimed that many thieves actually buy plane tickets so that they can access airports without the intention of even flying. And there's one common practice that most travelers do that she warned may actually putting them at risk. According to the flight attending, charging your phones in airport USB ports is a potential danger for flyers as they can be hacked, allowing thieves to access a wealth of personal information and bank details. Barbara said: 'Airports operate like small cities, and just like in any city, crime happens every single day - only here, it's harder to see, and even harder to stop. '[Criminals'] only goal is to pass through security, access the boarding gates, and rob passengers or duty-free stores, then disappear before the flight departs. 'And it gets worse. Some of these thieves are repeat offenders, caught on camera, exposed on Instagram or TikTok, and yet - they're still there, walking through terminals like regular travelers. An airport flight attendant has revealed how criminals prey on travelers - and what you can do to protect yourself Barbara Bacilieri, known as Barbie Bac online, explained that the airport and planes are prime hunting ground for opportunistic thieves, as reported by What's The Jam She claimed that many thieves actually buy plane tickets so that they can access airports without the intention of even flying 'Nobody stops them. No one follows up.' Barbara added that bank cards are also at risk in the airport and what's known as a hidden NFC scanner can extract data in seconds simply by being brushed past the card. This tiny act is often not noticed until days later when travelers see unknown transactions on their cards, often in foreign countries, making the crime even harder to stop. Barabara said the threat to travelers continues on board planes, especially once the lights are dimmed, and warned to stay vigilant. She added: 'The [thieves] wait for the lights to dim, for passengers to fall asleep, and then quietly open overhead bins, unzip bags, and take what they want. Jewelry, cash, electronics. 'I've seen it happen. I've reported it. And the truth is, without cameras on board, there's often nothing we can do. And yes, they steal from the crew too.' Thankfully, the airport attendant said there are ways to protect yourself when traveling. She suggested you always carry your own USB charging port for your devices, which should not be left unattended or out of sight for even a second during security checks. And there's one common practice that most travelers do that she warned may actually putting them at risk: charging their phones at a USB port in the airport Barbara said: 'Airports operate like small cities, and just like in any city, crime happens every single day - only here, it's harder to see, and even harder to stop' According to the flight attending, charging your phones in airport USB ports is a potential danger for flyers as they can be hacked, allowing thieves to access personal information Barbara warned: 'Use RFID-blocking wallets to protect your cards from NFC skimming. 'Lock your carry-on, even during the flight. Avoid leaving valuables unattended, even for a second. 'Be cautious of overly friendly strangers, both in terminals and on board. If something feels off, report it to the crew immediately.' Last month, Barbara also spoke out about why travelers should never clap their hands when a plane lands. She posted a video on TikTok, where she has over four million followers, claimed that passengers shouldn't put their hands together right after the tires hit the tarmac because accidents can still occur as long as the plane is still moving. 'Until [it stops moving], unexpected situations can still occur,' she explained, listing potential incidents such as brake failure, emergency reverser activation, or tires bursting. Meghan Markle has given fans a sneak-peek into her family's 'cosy weekend' at their home in California in a series of Instagram Stories. On Saturday, the Duchess of Sussex, 43, posted two separate videos featuring her and husband Prince Harry's children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, on the social media platform. One video opens with a shot of the fish pond located on Harry and Meghan's sprawling $14m Montecito estate as Archie can be heard excitedly asking his 'mama' to watch him feed the koi. 'Mama, watch it!' he says enthusiastically. 'I just fed it!' Meghan, laughing, replies: 'Good job, that's enough.' In another clip, Lilibet's American accent can be heard for the first time, as the toddler offers her two-word verdict on Meghan's signature strawberry jam - declaring 'it's beautiful'. Since relaunching her Instagram account on New Year's Day, Meghan has routinely shared glimpses of her life in Montecito, California - including pictures and videos of her and Prince Harry's two children, Lilibet and Prince Archie. The first time royal fans heard Lilibet's voice was in January 2025, when the Duchess posted an emotional tribute in memory of the Sussexes' late beagle, Guy, on social media. Prince Archie's voice, with his distinct American twang, could be heard in a recent video shared by Meghan Markle Meghan's video included a tender moment of the royal children singing to the beloved pooch as well as a clip of Prince Archie and Guy that was taken during a car journey. It appears that both Lilibet and Archie have developed strong American accents since the Sussexes moved Stateside; at one point, viewers can hear Archie say 'he might fall' with a pronounced twang while referring to the family's beloved dog. Archie will celebrate his sixth birthday on May 6, weeks after his cousin Prince Louis - the youngest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales - turned seven on April 23. To mark the occasion, his mother, Catherine shared an adorable photograph of Louis flashing a toothless grin. The sweet snap, which was shared on her and Prince William's Kensington Royal social media accounts, is captioned: 'Wishing Prince Louis a very Happy 7th Birthday!' Shortly after, Meghan revealed Archie is on the verge of losing his first tooth during an appearance at the Time100 summit in New York City, where she where she discussed everything from her latest business ventures to how she handles hate. One of the clips Meghan shared over the weekend on Instagram Stories showed koi carp (pictured) thought to be in the grounds of the sprawling Montecito home she shares with Prince Harry and their two children Archie and Lilibet The duchess also opened up about life with Archie and Lilibet, candidly telling the audience that her eldest has a loose tooth and is 'just about' to lose it this week, adding that she hopes she's back in California in time to see it. 'What we're going to put out during our next launch is equally as important to me as Archie getting his first [big] tooth this week,' she said. 'It's about to happen, I might get back just in time for it!' Archie was just eight months old when his parents announced their plans to step back as senior royals in 2020, and then subsequently moved to the US. There, he and his sister Lilibet have grown up outside the public eye - and without contact with their cousins George, Charlotte and Louis back in the UK. Since her return to Instagram this year, fans of the Sussexes have been able to learn more about the family as Meghan now features Archie and Lilibet in her Stories - though she does not show their faces. In February, Meghan shared a Valentine's Day post that included a video of the former Suits actress making themed bagels with Archie and Lilibet - much to the delight of her fans. One person wrote: 'Harry and Meghan are blessed with a beautiful family. Archie is so tall now and Lili seems so comfortable in the kitchen. She is wielding that butter knife like a pro.' Another added: 'OMG a little Glimpse of Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet. What a beautiful day.' Meghan Markle shared a video (pictured) of herself making a treat for the children, featuring cream cheese bagels and strawberries cut into heart shapes, on Valentine's Day this year Meghan with her children in a promotional photo for her lifestyle brand, As Ever Ahead of the premiere of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan in March, Meghan shared a photo of her and Lilibet being joined by 'Auntie' Serena Williams for a game of Candy Land. Many of the posts Meghan shared on Instagram featuring glimpses of the children were in the run-up to the release of With Love, Meghan. The video Meghan shared featuring Lilibet (alongside Serena Williams) was tagged with the caption: '3 days until the party begins. All are invited @Netflix.' Archie and Lilibet were also featured briefly in a short clip played when Meghan appeared on the Drew Barrymore show at the beginning of March. During the episode, the Duchess revealed she had enlisted her children to help in the kitchen as she baked hundreds of cookies for guests attending the Drew Barrymore Show. A clip of her working on the desserts then flashed across the screen, and it showed her and Prince Harry's two young children lending a hand. Then separate video Meghan shared featured Archie's voice, as he helped her to water some plants. Royal experts have suggested Harry and Meghan appear to have very different views when it comes to sharing photographs of their children with the public. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet An Instagram post Meghan shared ahead of the launch of her lifestyle programme featured a glimpse of three-year-old Lilibet (pictured, centre) During a recent appearance on Hello!'s Right Royal podcast, the magazine's royal editor Emily Nash joined The Sun's royal editor Matt Wilkinson for a conversation about the topic. 'My understanding of this is that, up to a certain stage, Harry would much rather his children were not seen,' Matt said. He added: 'Whereas Meghan grew up in California, she once said she would like to have a more California style lifestyle, take them down the beach, go out, do stuff. She doesn't want to hide them away.' He noted that the Duchess does not share her children's faces in images and videos she posts - something the panel said Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also do when it comes to images of their children. Discussing the Prince's attitude towards showing his children in public, Matt said: 'I think Harry's living [like things are] the way they were when he was a child [...] the media landscape has shifted.' Prince Andrew was seen for the first time since his accuser Virginia Guiffre's suicide as he left the Royal Lodge accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson earlier today. Andrew, 65, and the Duchess of York, known fondly as Fergie, appeared solemn as they drove out of the gates of their home in Windsor - two days after Ms Guiffre died by suicide at her farm in Perth, Western Australia. Born Virginia Roberts, she was one of the most prominent victims of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself while awaiting trial in a US prison in 2019, and his jailed associate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. She alleged they trafficked her to the disgraced Duke of York when she was 17 and was sexually assaulted by him thrice - a claim which Andrew has vehemently denied. He reached an out-of-court settlement with Ms Guiffre in 2022. Andrew's expression was inscrutable in the first photos of the royal since Ms Guiffre's death, after sources close to the duke suggested he would not be making a public statement but rather keeping his thoughts to himself. 'What can he say now? [Ms Giuffre] is a mother of three children. It's a tragedy,' one source said. Royal experts have also suggested Andrew will only face further turmoil in the wake of her suicide and claimed he will need to show he has 'genuine regrets' if he ever wants to play a public role again. Meanwhile, Fergie, also 65, will be bracing for impact after the duchess has remained by Andrew's side through the scandal that saw him stripped off his titles by his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, and forced out of public life. Prince Andrew was seen for the first time since his accuser Virginia Guiffre's suicide as he left the Royal Lodge accompanied by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson earlier today Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein Ms Guiffre's family remembered her as a 'fierce warrior' who fought tirelessly for the victims of sexual abuse and sex trafficking in a statement confirming her death on Friday. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,' the message read, adding Ms Guiffre will be 'missed beyond measure'. Her death has sparked conspiracy theories on social media - especially after X users unearthed a 2019 message posted by Ms Guiffre on the platform - then known as Twitter- claiming she is 'not suicidal'. 'I am making it publicy [sic] known that in no way, shape or form am I sucidal [sic],' Ms Guiffre wrote. 'I have made this known to my therapist and GP- If something happens to me- in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. 'Too many evil people want to see me quiteted [sic].' The 41-year-old - who gained prominence after she went public with the allegations against Epstein and Andrew - spent the final months of her life gripped by the fear that her enemies were trying to smear her name, the Mail on Sunday reported. Ms Guiffre's family members were also growing increasingly concerned about her mental state - with her father Sky Roberts revealing she was 'very depressed' and in a bad way. Andrew's expression was inscrutable in the first photos of the royal since Ms Guiffre's death, after sources close to the duke suggested he would not be making a public statement but rather keeping his thoughts to himself Giuffre claimed she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew at the behest of Epstein's associate, jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was just 17. She is seen here alongside the two She was reportedly 'deeply upset' about being mocked over a picture she posted of herself in a hospital bed last month. The photo showed Ms Guiffre covered in bruises and lying in a hospital bed alongside a caption in which she claimed she had been involved in a car crash that left her with only four days to live but the accident was nothing more than a minor bump. A spokesman for Ms Giuffre said she had 'made a mistake' and had not intended to make the post public. But it led to claims that the episode had destroyed her credibility, with some of Andrew's supporters calling her a 'fantasist'. 'Being discredited was one of the many things distressing her in recent months,' said a friend. Concern for Ms Guiffre's wellbeing began on March 30 when she shared the troubling photograph of her 'battered and bruised', claiming she was dying after being hit by a school bus. Ms Guiffre wrote she was 'ready to go' in the caption if only she could see her children 'one last time', adding: 'This year has been the worst start to a new year, but I won't bore anyone with the details.' Following the bombshell post, Brad Edwards, a US lawyer who represented Giuffre in her previous legal cases, said it was a 'very bad situation'. He told MailOnline that they were 'hoping for better news in the coming days' and that he hoped Giuffre would pull through with good medical care. Most recently, she had been sharing images of herself to Instagram from a hospital bed after being in a car crash His update came after Prince Andrew's former girlfriend, socialite Victoria Hervey, branded Ms Giuffre a 'fantasist', suggesting she was lying over the extent of the crash. Lady Victoria, 48, was dubbed 'nasty' and 'vile' by many social media users since she posted Ms Giuffre's selfie in a hospital bed with the word 'Karma' added to it. But the aristocrat, who briefly dated Prince Andrew in 1999, refused to back down from her brutal Instagram post. Ms Guiffre's concerning selfie was part of a string of mysterious posts in the weeks leading up to her death. Two days before the crash, on March 22, Giuffre posted multiple pictures of her children, including a sun-tinged snap of them playing on a beach, accompanied by an apparent desperate plea to see them. 'My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they're being poisoned with lies,' she posted. Then, in April, Giuffre abruptly returned to social media where she shared odd Instagram stories with her 21,000 followers, leaving many concerned due to their confusing contents. Initially, she posted a YouTube link to the chart-topping break-up song by Australian artist Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know. Giuffre is seen here arriving at Federal Court in New York in August 2019 for a hearing into the case against Epstein Giuffre alleged she was trafficked for sex at age 16 after Epstein's associate and ex-lover, Ghislaine Maxwell, recruited her from her job as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida That post was quickly followed by a second story, which had no title, photo or sound. The mysterious second post, which was just a black screen, was soon made into a 'highlight' on her profile - accompanied by a broken heart emoji as its title. The suspicious posts came as a shock to many global viewers, with many believing that Ms Giuffre had lived a fairly quiet life with her husband Robert and their three children since 2023. However, her father Sky later confirmed that Ms Giuffre was going through a 'messy' divorce and no longer lives with Robert at their beachside mansion in Perth. Prince Andrew's first sighting since Ms Guiffre's suicide comes after The Cut republished one of her final interviews, when she admitted 'I'm tired' from 'fighting for so long' 'But,' she told the magazine, 'Ive still got that fight in me. What Im going through right now is going to help somebody out there one day, and thats my goal. 'Thats my focus, by telling my story over and over again.' Ms Giuffre had accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked to London. It led to him 'stepping back' from public life in 2019. Giuffre's suspicious posts came as a shock to many global viewers, with many believing that she appeared to be living a fairly quiet life with her husband Robert and their three children since 2023 - though they recently separated after 22 years of marriage (pictured) Ms Giuffre later launched a civil lawsuit, alleging she was coerced into having sex with him. Andrew vehemently denied the charges and agreed to an out-of-court settlement reportedly worth around 12million after Ms Giuffre alleged Epstein trafficked her across the world to have sex with the prince. Andrew maintains he never had sex with Ms Guiffre and his settlement did not involve any admission of liability. Pockets bulging with Brie, cases full of salami and usually a slab of French butter stuffed in my hand luggage to smear on a baguette aboard the Eurostar home. No trip abroad is complete without a tour de force Supermarket Sweep-style of a European supermarket en route to the airport or station. As any foodie knows, there are few greater joys than the cheese counter at Carrefour, where luscious, oozy Brie de Meaux comes in wheels so big they barely fit in the trolley. Or the charcuterie aisle in Mercadona, where youll find hulking great jamons and strings of smoky chorizo. They simply dont make it back home like they do on the continent. So I use every family holiday as a chance to stock up and satisfy my epicurean need for aged meats, stinky cheeses and whatever other delicious treats I can find. But British holidaymakers hoping for a tasty supermarket haul this summer are in for a shock, due to a government ban on importing meat and dairy products from the EU. The rules, brought in earlier this month, mean tourists returning home cannot bring back products containing meat from pigs, cows, sheep, goats or deer, as well as dairy products. The ban, which aims to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease after a rise in cases across Europe, even applies to cheese and ham sandwiches, cakes with fresh cream and meat-filled pasta. Off-limits: Sarah Rainey can no longer bring back French fare Mercifully, other products, such as Belgian chocolate, French champagne and German beer are exempt but anyone found smuggling banned food faces a fine of up to 5,000. Sacre bleu! I, for one, would have reconsidered our family holiday to Brittany this year if Id realised my usual supermarket haul would be off-limits and no doubt countless others would, too. In normal times, we Brits spend a fortune on continental groceries. According to a recent report by the Post Office, 32 per cent of holidaymakers who overspend abroad cite food and drink from local supermarkets as the reason. But fear not. Theres a host of great British produce that tastes just as good and, in many cases, better than the European equivalents. And forget lugging it back by car, plane or train; youll find it lovingly hand-crafted by producers up and down the country. Heres where to get your fix of continental deli foods closer to home BRILLIANT BRITISH CHEESES TO SUIT ALL There are plenty of delicious, different cheeses being made in this country, says Ned Palmer, a cheesemonger of 25 years experience and author of A Cheesemongers History of the British Isles. Although we lost almost all our traditional producers by the 1970s, we have recently had a renaissance based on recipes from the continent so youre in luck. A government ban on importing meat and dairy products from the EU means British holidaymakers will miss out on their favourite French cheeses this year (stock image) If youre in the mood for Brie, the soft, white mould-ripened cows milk cheese and more particularly the finer Brie de Meaux, which hails from the Ile-de-France region of France then tuck into a slab of Baron Bigod (from 10, fenfarmdairy.co.uk). Made in Suffolk, the creamy raw milk cheese has a fudgy centre and an oozy, gooey outside, perfect for slathering on crackers or a hunk of baguette. Farmer Jonny Crickmore learned his craft from a French cheesemonger, who showed him the delicate ladling technique used to make Brie and it boasts A-list fans in the form of the Prince and Princess of Wales. For those craving Camembert, Ned suggests Tunworth (12.45, nealsyarddairy.co.uk), made in rural Hampshire, which has a rich, mushroomy flavour and aroma. Or theres Corscombe, a new cheese from Hollis Mead Dairy in Dorset (15.15), which is smooth and slightly garlicky. If its Swiss gruyere youre after, try Summer Field Alpine (from 9.95, thecourtyarddairy.co.uk), made in a North Yorkshire village in the summer when the cows graze outside on grass. Sharp, sweet and hard in texture, its similar to a gruyere or comte cheese. You could also try Lincolnshire Poacher (from 6, thecheesesociety.co.uk), which Ned describes as the love child of cheddar and gruyere, with both a savoury tang and fruity aftertaste. The Wyfe of Bath (from 8, parkfarm.co.uk) from the Bath Soft Cheese Co is a great Gouda substitute for your cheeseboard, with its caramel colour, semi-hard texture and buttery flavour. Sinodun Hill (from 15.45, nealsyarddairy.co.uk) and Perroche (from 7.25, cambridgecheese.com) will hit the spot if youre missing soft French goats cheese. A slab of Baron Bigod is a good substitute for Brie, the soft, white mould-ripened cows milk cheese (stock image) Perroche in particular is really fresh you can bring it to a picnic, nibble it alongside Champagne or put it on a fig and grill it, Ned suggests. Instead of Spanish Manchego, theres Yorkshire-made Ribblesdale Chego (from 14.25, thecheesesociety.co.uk) which has a milky, nutty flavour and pairs perfectly with a glass of red wine or sangria. And rather than French Roquefort, tuck into Lanark Blue (from 12.70, thecourtyarddairy.co.uk), a creamy blue-veined variety made in Scotland. Feta fans can try the comically- named Fetish by White Lake Cheese at Somerset Dairy (6.80, whitelake.co.uk) which has been barrel-aged in brine for four months for a crumbly texture and salty flavour. Or theres Crumbly Cheshire (available at most supermarkets; Waitroses Belton Farm block, 3, is delicious) which is lower in salt than the traditional Greek sheeps cheese and works well on a salad in the sunshine. Finally, for the ultimate cheese toastie, swap out Raclette for Ogleshield (from 10, nealsyarddairy.co.uk), made from Jersey cows milk thats been washed in brine, which melts beautifully under the grill. MOUTHWATERING CHARCUTERIE Do not despair if, like me, your summer entertaining usually revolves around a charcuterie board, with all sorts of weird and wonderful cured meats sourced from your European travels. Charcuterie from Spain and elsewhere in Europe must also not be brought into the UK (stock image) British charcuterie has come a long way in 20 years, says Ian Whitehead who, with his wife Sue, runs the Suffolk Salami Co at Lane Farm in Suffolk, and was one of the first producers of salami and chorizo in the UK in 2005. He swears their salami (from 3.50, suffolksalami.co.uk), flavoured with red wine and cracked black pepper, rosemary or fennel, is just as good if not better than the German stuff and I can vouch for that. Tender, piquant and succulent, its hard to beat. Each batch, made from the finest cuts of pork, is cured for six to eight weeks, delicately-flavoured and hung to dry until ready to eat. The good part about buying British charcuterie is that the animal welfare tends to be higher, says Ian. And charcuterie contains a lot of lactic acid bacteria, so its good for the gut. The Suffolk Salami Co also offers its take on Spanish chorizo, made from the finest-grade pimento and gently smoked for a fuller flavour, as well as coppa, or air-dried pork shoulder, which makes a mouthwatering alternative to Italian Parma ham. Hartgrove Coppa (5.50, therealcure.co.uk) from Dorsets The Real Cure is another great Parma swap, dry-cured in herbs and spices and air-dried for three months. Brilliant in sandwiches or wrapped around asparagus. If its Italian charcuterie youre craving, go to town at Somerset Charcuterie, where youll find everything from free-range duck pancetta to wild venison peperone (from 3.84, somersetcharcuterie.com), as well as an award-winning take on coppa made with Mexican chillies. Theres also Sunday Charcuterie in Lowestoft, Suffolk, which does a tempting line in pancetta, guanciale and nduja (from 4, sundaycharcuterie.co.uk), all made from free range British pigs. If youre feeling indecisive, they do an antipasti board for two for 7.50. Salami from Suffolk Salami Co at Lane Farm in Suffolk, flavoured with red wine and cracked black pepper, rosemary or fennel, is on par with German varieties (stock image) Fans of bresaola, the cured beef from Lombardy, should try Bray Cured (from 6.50, braycured.com), where the classic bresaola hearty slices of British heritage beef, doused in wine before being dried is only outshone by its cacao-cured venison version. For a continental feel, Norfolk-based Marsh Pig wraps its cured meats in paper and sells them whole (from 16, marshpig.co.uk). Try the Kalamata black olive salami its divine. Even German bratwurst isnt off the menu. Yorkshire Bratwurst, made from pork reared on North Yorkshire farms, is coarse-cut and seasoned with white pepper, just like the European sausage (8.95, gridironmeat.co.uk) and perfect in a bun with mustard. BUTTER, YOGHURT AND DELICIOUS DESSERTS Instead of French butter on your bread, stock up on creamy Bungay Butter (from 7.95, fenfarmdairy.co.uk), made from its grass-fed Montbeliarde and Friesian cows or theres Coombe Castles lightly-salted British butter, a rich yellow-gold slab. Italy might be the home of ravioli, but you cant bring back meat or cheese-filled pasta any more so sign up to Pasta Evangelists (from 6, pastaevangelists.com), which delivers British-made fresh pasta meal kits to your door, from beef agnolotti to lamb ragu. Instead of French butter on your bread, stock up on creamy Bungay Butter from Fen Farm Diary (stock image) When it comes to yoghurt, Tims Dairy, in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, does a delicious, authentic-tasting Greek yoghurt in honey, blackcurrant or vanilla flavours (from 2, at Asda, Budgens, Coop and Waitrose). And if its French patisserie youre missing, there are plenty of UK bakeries making buns, eclairs and pastry from scratch. Try Londons Le Choux (choux from 16, lechoux.co.uk) or M&S stores for its Best Ever chocolate eclair (5.50) bursting with British cream and truly indistinguishable from the Parisian sweet treat. A couple found a shocking note with an eerie warning hidden in their new home... and it sparked a fierce investigation on the web into uncovering its true meaning. Anita Rainier explained to Newsweek earlier this week that she and her husband moved into their new abode just outside of Seattle, Washington, back in December. Recently, they began doing some planned renovations, when they accidentally unearthed a secret message that left them shaken up. They were preparing to redo the cabinets in the kitchen when Anita was examining them and found a small piece of paper tucked into the corner. 'It was this really well-hidden bit of paper tightly tucked into the top of the cabinet, totally out of sight unless you got all the way down like I was looking up,' she explained to the publication. And what it said was certainly shocking. 'Don't look under the floor,' the chilling message read, while the back contained a series of 'random numbers.' 'It was both hilarious and kind of exciting to think there might be some hidden mystery here,' she said. A couple found a shocking note with an eerie warning hidden in their new home... and it sparked a fierce investigation on the web into uncovering its true meaning (stock image) Anita Rainier told Newsweek that she and her husband unearthed the secret message while preparing to redo their kitchen cabines Anita said she and her husband wondered if the note and the numbers were part of some 'scavenger hunt' that the old owner had left for them to solve. They became determined to decode the message, and started by Googling the numbers - 29065300489382 - hoping to find some answers, but nothing came up. They tried everything to figure out what the numbers could be related to, but eventually hit a dead end and decided to turn to the internet for help. 'We divided it by our unit number, ZIP code, year the building was built, etc., to see if we could get a whole number or phone number or something,' she continued. 'No luck.' They shared their finding to Reddit, under the subreddit Weird, and it quickly went viral, raking in more than 1,600 comments filled with theories. 'We were hoping someone would be able to do some detective work and identify the number or know how to decode it,' Anita added. 'It feels weird to have been sleeping in a place with a little hidden secret for five months.' '2906530 is a bolt action slug shotgun. 2005-(048938) is the library of congress identifier for a Private Investigator handbook The Private Investigator Handbook: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Protect Yourself, Get Justice, or Get Even,' one person replied to the viral Reddit post. 'That's all I got lol, I'm grasping at straws.' 'Don't look under the floor,' the chilling message read, while the back contained a series of 'random numbers' They shared their finding to Reddit, under the subreddit Weird, and it quickly went viral, raking in more than 1,600 comments filled with theories 'That looks like a library card number,' a second penned. Another agreed, 'Thats a library card number. Probably the name of a book.' 'Dammit now I'm invested in another random a** Reddit post,' joked someone else. 'You are not alone. Lets get a Gofundme going for OP to tear up the floorboards,' added a different user. 'I sold a home in 2023 and I left cryptic notes all over that place. Its a good laugh for me and the new owners will be left wondering,' wrote a fifth person. A sixth comment read, 'Imagine you tear up the floor board and find another note that just says, "Made ya look."' 'Flooring company takes marketing to a whole new level,' someone else said. In the end, Anita told Newsweek that 'odds are,' they're going to 'take a look under the floor' if they don't get any definite answers soon. Meghan Markle has posted adorable unseen photographs of her 'little loves' Archie and Lilibet picking flowers. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, took to Instagram today to show her two children helping her select pink roses from a bush, alongside the caption: 'Sunday kind of love....with my little loves.' Princess Lilibet could be seen with her hair down and wearing a pink top, while Prince Archie wore a navy blue, long-sleeved shirt. It comes after Lilibet's adorable American accent was heard for the first time as the three-year-old gave her one-word verdict on her mother's jam this weekend. Meghan posted a video on Instagram in which she can be heard asking Lilibet what she thinks of her strawberry jam while preparing a fresh batch of the sweet treat. 'It's beautiful,' the toddler gushed, as her Californian accent shone through. Meanwhile, the Duchess also posted a shot of a fish pond located on her and Harry's sprawling $14million Montecito estate, as Archie excitedly asks his 'mama' to watch him feed the koi. 'Mama, watch it!' he says enthusiastically. 'I just fed it!' Meghan, laughing, replies: 'Good job, that's enough.' Princess Lilibet, three, could be seen with her hair down and wearing a pink top in the sweet snap with her mother Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Prince Archie wore a navy blue, long-sleeved shirt to pick flowers with his mother and sister Meghan has often shared glimpses of her life in Montecito, California - including pictures and videos of her and Prince Harry's two children Since relaunching her Instagram account on New Year's Day, Meghan has routinely shared glimpses of her life in Montecito, California - including pictures and videos of her and Prince Harry's two children. The first time royal fans heard Lilibet's voice was in January 2025, when the Duchess posted an emotional tribute in memory of the Sussexes' late beagle, Guy, on social media. Meghan's video included a tender moment of the royal children singing to the beloved pooch as well as a clip of Prince Archie and Guy that was taken during a car journey. It appears that both Lilibet and Archie, five, have developed strong American accents since moving stateside; at one point, viewers can hear Archie say 'he might fall' with a pronounced twang while referring to the family's beloved dog. Meghan's latest Instagram video comes after she attended the Time100 Summit on Thursday. Princess Lilibet's adorable American accent was heard for the first time as the three-year-old gave her one-word verdict on mother Meghan Markle's 10 jam On Saturday, the Duchess of Sussex , 43, posted a video on Instagram in which she can be heard asking Lilibet what she thinks of her strawberry jam while preparing a fresh batch of the sweet treat 'It's beautiful,' the toddler gushed in a strong Californian accent During a conversation with Time CEO Jessica Sibley, Meghan confessed she had 'always' loved to 'make things in my kitchen, do small flower arrangements, make a lot of jam', she added with a laugh. When she began sending those items as gifts, Bela Bajaria, chief content officer of Netflix suggested 'there's a show here', the actress-turned-entrepreneur claimed. Explaining how her lifestyle series As Ever came to be, Meghan then revealed: 'I hadn't at the onset thought that was something I wanted to share in that way.' With a final thrust of enthusiasm for her latest project, she added: 'Creatively we worked as partners to really find a way for it to land and for me to be able to share it and just have fun, which I think is really the goal in this chapter.' The Duchess' suggestion that she was initially bashful about the project will raise eyebrows in the face of the fact the show was several months in the making. It was also inexorably tied to the launch of her lifestyle brand, As Ever - which she has also confessed to spending 'so many years working on' - and a line of merchandise 'inspired' by the show. 'With Love, Meghan' finally aired on Netflix in March after it was initially postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. But for all the hype and build-up to the show's release, it was slated by reviewers as 'gormless lifestyle filler' with a 'tangible desperation'. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Meghan with her children in a promotional photo for her lifestyle brand, As Ever Others said it shows the Duchess is 'attempting to cling to fame by any means possible', while another described how she was 'joylessly filling kids' party bags with seeds'. Marina Hyde in The Guardian described the show as 'sensationally absurd and trite', adding: 'The mildest way to describe this show is as a ghastly artefact of a particular cultural era that recently met its apocalypse.' Meanwhile, The Telegraph gave the show just two stars. In a review, they said the series was an 'exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs'. Criticism was also levelled at the show for being about Meghan's 'intimate glimpse' of life at home - yet it was revealed that it was not filmed in the Montecito-based mansion she shares with Prince Harry and their two children. The Duchess' Instagram account, on the other hand, now routinely features Archie and Lilibet. In February, Meghan shared a Valentine's Day post that included a video of the former Suits actress making themed bagels with Archie and Lilibet - much to the delight of her fans. One person wrote: 'Harry and Meghan are blessed with a beautiful family. Archie is so tall now and Lili seems so comfortable in the kitchen. She is wielding that butter knife like a pro.' Another added: 'OMG a little Glimpse of Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet. What a beautiful day.' Meghan Markle shared a video (pictured) of herself making a treat for the children, featuring cream cheese bagels and strawberries cut into heart shapes, on Valentine's Day this year Ahead of the premiere of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, last month, Meghan shared a photo of her and Lilibet being joined by 'Auntie' Serena Williams for a game of Candy Land. A separate video Meghan shared featured Archie's voice, as he helped her to water some plants. Royal experts have suggested Harry and Meghan appear to have very different views when it comes to sharing photographs of their children with the public. During a recent appearance on Hello!'s Right Royal podcast, the magazine's royal editor Emily Nash joined The Sun's royal editor Matt Wilkinson for a conversation about the topic. 'My understanding of this is that, up to a certain stage, Harry would much rather his children were not seen,' Matt said. He added: 'Whereas Meghan grew up in California, she once said she would like to have a more California style lifestyle, take them down the beach, go out, do stuff. She doesn't want to hide them away.' He noted that the Duchess does not share her children's faces in images and videos she posts - something the panel said Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also do when it comes to images of their children. While the panel discussed the possibility of Archie and Lilibet getting snapped when they are older, Matt said: 'I think Harry's living in [like things are] the way they were when he was a child [...] the media landscape has shifted.' An Instagram post Meghan shared ahead of the launch of her lifestyle programme featured a glimpse of three-year-old Lilibet (pictured, centre) Many of the posts Meghan shared on Instagram featuring glimpses of the children were in the run-up to the release of With Love, Meghan. The video Meghan shared featuring Lilibet (alongside Serena Williams) was tagged with the caption: '3 days until the party begins. All are invited @Netflix.' Archie and Lilibet were also featured briefly in a short clip played when Meghan appeared on the Drew Barrymore show at the beginning of March. During the episode, the Duchess revealed she had enlisted her children to help in the kitchen as she baked hundreds of cookies for guests attending the Drew Barrymore Show. While appearing on the episode, Meghan revealed that she made treats for the entire cast and crew, as well as all the lucky people who snagged tickets to the show. A clip of her working on the desserts then flashed across the screen, and it showed her and Prince Harry's two young children lending a hand. They stun with their glowing, taut skin and flawless faces but the youthful appearances of six A-list celebrities have sparked speculation that they have recently gone under the knife for a facelift. Now Dr Barry Weintraub, a top New York City surgeon, has pulled back the curtain on the Hollywood stars who likely got a facelift this year and revealed the subtle signs that give their secret away. Dr Weintraub, named as one of America's best plastic surgeons for facelifts in 2023, has performed hundreds of these surgeries during his over 30-year career and knows exactly what to look for, whether it's super-tight jawlines, barely-there fine lines around the mouth or subtle scars by the ear. While the surgeon didn't examine the celebrities in person to confirm any work, he studied photos to suggest surgeries that they may have had. 'Celebrities today are mixing it up,' he told the Daily Mail. 'They'll have surgical procedures to the face, eyes and nose, jawline and neck, but also couple them with non-invasive procedures like micro-needling and various tightening methods.' Dr Weintraub looked at Anne Hathaway, Donatella Versace, Lindsay Lohan, Kris Jenner, Sharon Osbourne and Lauren Sanchez. So which of them does he think has undergone a facelift in the past six months? Anne Hathaway: Stunned at Ralph Lauren show Anne Hathaway (pictured above in May 2023, left, and April 2025, right) sparked speculation over her appearance after stepping out for the Ralph Lauren Fall Fashion Show, with some suggesting she may have had a facelift Last week, Anne Hathaway sparked speculation that she'd had work done when she stepped out for the Ralph Lauren Fall Fashion Show in New York looking radiant. Fans of the 42-year-old actress were wowed by her appearance, saying if she'd had work done it was 'very, very good' and made her look 'beautiful'. Reviewing the above photos Dr Weintraub said she looked 'refreshed', adding, 'it looks to me like she had her upper and lower eyelids operated upon, they look less heavy, and in the lower eyelids there is less excess skin and fat. She has some Botox in her forehead because there's an angulation on the corner of the brow on each side. 'She may have also had a face lifting procedure, because in the before, you see a deeper nasolabial fold, and in the after, you see a more minimal one with smoother cheeks and a sharper jawline.' Nasoloabial folds, also known as smile lines, are the wrinkles that run from the side of the nose to the corners of the mouth. Dr Weintraub also suggested Hathaway may have used skin-tightening procedures like micro-needling to boost the appearance of her skin, though strategically done makeup could also achieve this look. Micro-needling is a cosmetic procedure that uses tiny, sterilized needles to create microscopic punctures in the skin and stimulate the body's natural healing process, boosting collagen and fighting aging. Some have suggested that Hathaway's appearance may also have been due to her hair, which was tightly pulled back into a ponytail for the show. Hathaway has never said she's received any plastic surgery but she told The Express in 2008 that 'there's a lot of pressure on young women' from an early age 'when you first become aware of your own looks'. 'You just want to be cookie-cutter beautiful,' she added, 'And sometimes you think, "Maybe, I could change something about myself to fit that mold". I am no exception to that.' Hathaway has previously faced speculation that she's had a nose job and said growing up she wanted one because she didn't think her nose was 'good enough', but now says that it sets her apart. 'I think it's what lets me change my face a lot,' she said. 'Your face needs to have character if you're going to be an actor or you're just kind of a face.' Representatives for Hathaway did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment. Donatella Versace: Debuted a refreshed look Donatella Versace is pictured above in September 2023 (left) and in a photo from December 2024 (right), which sparked speculation she had received more work The world-famous fashion designer turned heads in December when she debuted a dramatically younger and more refreshed look at The Devil Wears Prada Opening Gala in London. Dr Weintraub said that the 69-year-old may have had a face and a neck lift to correct previous work she is alleged to have had. As evidence, he pointed to her smoother jawline and neck. 'She may have had eyelid surgery, mid-face suspension or facelift,' he added. A mid-face suspension is a procedure that lifts the cheeks and improves the appearance of the nasolabial folds or the lines from the nose to the mouth. It is considered to be a type of facelift. 'I'm seeing a sharpening of the jawline,' Dr Weintraub continued. 'And she certainly had a neck lift because you don't see her platysma bands anymore.' Platysma bands are the vertical cords or lines of muscle at the front of the neck. They become more visible as someone ages because of sagging skin and loss of muscle tone. He also suggested that, like Hathaway, Donatella may have had non-invasive micro-needling or other procedures to smooth her skin. It has previously been suspected that Donatella who famously said in 2010 that she 'doesn't believe in a totally natural woman' has received a facelift, eye and brow lift, fillers, Botox and lasers to the face. The designer has confirmed she has had Botox in the past, and in 2013 said at the Vogue Festival: 'I'm not like this genetically.' Donatella has not admitted to any other procedures and her representatives did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment. Lindsay Lohan is shown above in February 2023 (left) and in November 2024 (right). Her glow-up wowed fans, but also led to suggestions she may have had surgery Dr Weintraub says it's possible Lohan has had a facelift but the actress has denied having plastic surgery Thrust into the public spotlight as a child actor, Lindsay Lohan has had a difficult experience with her promising career derailed by multiple box-office flops and a string of legal problems and substance abuse issues. But in 2022, the now 38-year-old relaunched her career, with hit movies and a stunning new look. And in 2024, she wowed again. Lohan turned heads in November after appearing looking youthful and radiant at the Los Angeles launch of her Netflix rom-com 'Our Little Secret' with fans quickly complimenting her glow-up. Dr Weintraub said he believes it is possible Lohan had a facelift, pointing to her sharper jawline and the slightly angled up corners of her eyes. 'She's [also possibly] had volumization of her mid-face, more than likely, with fat,' he said. Volumization aims to increase volume in certain areas of the body, often using fillers or fat transplants. 'The nose may also be tampered with,' Dr Weintraub continued. 'In the before picture, it looks very, very narrow and skeletonized, and in the second picture, it has a little more natural width to it.' Her father Michael Lohan has denied she's had plastic surgery, with the former Wall Street trader telling reporters at Page Six in November last year: 'Lindsay never had any plastic surgery done ever. Her look [is] so natural just like her talent.' Though he did say that she had done peels, fillers and Botox. A spokesperson for Lindsay Lohan told the Daily Mail, 'She has not had plastic surgery. She admits to facials, lasers and self-care.' Kris Jenner is pictured above (left) in May 2024 and above (right) in March 2025. She sent fans wild as she debuted a more taut look in a series of photos on Instagram The 69-year-old Kardashian empire matriarch sparked rumors of a facelift last month after she posted photos on Instagram sporting a much more youthful appearance. Fans were quick to comment on Kris Jenner's latest photo from March, marveling at her youth and saying they could easily mistake her for one of her daughters. Dr Weintraub told the Daily Mail it appeared that Jenner had received a facelift sometime in the last six months. 'She looks like she may have had, or almost certainly has had, a mid-face suspension and also volumization to her cheekbone areas,' he said. 'Her jawline is sharper, her neck is snugger. Her lips have a little more volume, and she may have had superficial lasering or radio frequency micro-needling as well. 'She does have make-up on, so it is kind of hard to tell, but she definitely looks younger in the second picture.' Jenner has not confirmed receiving a new facelift, and her representative did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Mail. But in 2011, Jenner did undergo a facelift on her family's show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Sharon Osbourne: Surgery after Ozempic? Sharon Osbourne is pictured above (left) in October 2021 and again in November 2024 (right). She was photographed at a department store with a notably taut visage and raised eyebrows Sharon Osbourne doesn't seem to be able to catch a break from her headline woes. In 2023, she sparked concerns over her weight after revealing she had lost 42 pounds in four months while on Ozempic with fans saying she was 'too skinny'. And then in November last year, fresh fears over surgery were raised after she was photographed in a Los Angeles department store with a notably taut visage and raised eyebrows. After examining the above photos, Dr Weintraub said she was clearly losing volume in her face likely due to the weight loss but didn't see signs of a facelift. Osbourne said she received a facelift in 2021, but claimed she hated the results and that it made her look like a 'cyclops'. 'I had one eye here and one eye there and my mouth was all skewiff,' she told UK newspaper The Times. 'And then I had to wait for that to heal before I could go back and have it corrected.' Osbourne has had a range of procedures over the years, including a gastric band, full facelift, tummy tuck, eyelift, breast implants, abdominoplasty and Botox but representatives for the star declined to comment on whether she had received further plastic surgery. Lauren Sanchez: Sharper features Lauren Sanchez is pictured above at President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2025 (left) and in a video (right) posted on Instagram in April 2025 The fiance of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos appeared to debut a much smoother appearance online earlier this month. Lauren Sanchez, 55, smiled in a video posted on Instagram showing a small device that she was planning to take with her on her flight to space. Dr Weintraub said that it appeared as though she may have had a facelift or other face-altering procedures. 'In the first picture, you see a lower upper brow, a deeper nasolabial fold and some neck laxity,' he said. 'But in the second picture, you see much smoother cheek skin, sharper eyelid contour, a sharper jawline and a neck with not as much platysma bands.' 'It could be any number of things that she's had, which I can't confirm without the opportunity to examine her.' Earlier this month, plastic surgeons Dr Timothy Katzen and Dr Smita Ramanadham suggested based on photos that Sanchez has recently received Botox and filler to give her a more refreshed appearance. Sanchez has not previously admitted to plastic surgery and her representatives did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment, but many have speculated online that she's received a number of procedures. Nine million patients would need to move GPs if surgeries adhered to 'safe limits', startling analysis shows. Under widely accepted guidelines, practices should have no more than 1,800 patients on their lists for every full-time equivalent GP employed. Yet MailOnline's investigation exposing the abysmal state of general practice today reveals 3,000 breach this threshold. That is close to half of all GP surgeries open in England, with the offenders catering for almost 30.6million patients between them. Getting them within the safe threshold would mean either purging them of 9.4million patients or hiring another 5,200 family doctors. Experts say the system is like an 'elastic band stretched to breaking point, with MPs branding it a 'national scandal'. Ministers are under renewed pressure to fix the crisis in general practice and banish the hated 8am scramble for appointments millions face every morning. MailOnline readers can see how dire the situation is in their area by using our search tool. Simply type in your postcode or town to see how practices within a 5-mile radius of your home fare, in regards to how many patients are competing for GP time and how many doctors actually work there. You can also your surgery's actual name to see its results, if it happens to be located further afield. Your browser does not support iframes. The figures for March this year, the latest NHS data available are listed in terms of the number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) GPs. FTE is considered a more accurate measure compared to a simple headcount, given how swathes of doctors only work part-time. Monks Park Surgery in Bristol had the lowest ratio of doctors to patients in the data one per 47,249. This was followed by The Bowling Green Street Surgery in Leicester (1:44,325) and Jai Medical Centre in Edgware (1:38,050). Yet neither had the equivalent of one full-time GP. For GP practices meeting that criteria, Wembleys GP Pathfinder Clinics recorded the highest ratio of 1:18,151 patients. It runs five sites across north west London but all of its books are linked to the one site at Hazeldene Medical Centre. The Modality Enki Medical Practice in Birmingham ranked second under that method (1:14,014). Such figures are far above the widely accepted 'safe' ratio of 1,800, peddled by trade magazines, industry leaders and local NHS committees. The British Medical Association (BMA) warns even that threshold is too high. GPs tasked with bigger lists might feel rushed or overworked, which experts warn can increase the risk of missing early signs of serious illness in patients. MailOnline's audit found 48.9 per cent of the 6,219 practices with available data were above the safe threshold. Sixty surgeries exceeded the 10,000 ratio, including 14 with at least 20,000 patients for the equivalent of one full-time GP. NHS Digitial's statistics are self-reported by practices and, therefore, may have been logged incorrectly. Some practices's may have list-sizes inflated by so-called 'ghost patients'. These are patients who may have died or relocated but are still registered. The analysis doesn't include nurses or other patient-facing roles who might carry out appointments. The GP crisis has been bubbling away for years, despite multiple ministerial promises to fix it. In total, there are now 28,281 fullly-qualified full-time GPs in England. Numbers have dwindled over the past decade despite attempts to recruit thousands more. Many are retiring in their 50s, moving abroad or leaving to work in the private sector because of soaring demand, paperwork and aggressive media coverage in the NHS. Studies suggest most GPs, who pocket up to 110,000/year on average, now only work three days per week. At the same time, the population has also grown, exacerbating the problem. It means millions of patients are rushed through, in scenes compared as 'goods on a factory conveyor belt'. Some have described it as being impossible to see a GP, with a Glastonbury-esque to get an appointment. Patient satisfaction has, as a result of the never-ending appointments crisis, plunged to its lowest level in four decades. Health Secretary Wes Streeting earlier this year announced a 900million package which the Government claimed would 'bring back the family doctor' and finally end the scramble for appointments. As part of the agreement, from this October surgeries will be required to let patients request appointments online during working hours. GPs will also be freed from 'pointless box-ticking' exercises to give them more time. This represented the first time in four years the Government and GP representatives have agreed reforms to GP contracts. Edward Argar MP, shadow health and social care secretary, said: 'GPs are the backbone of the NHS in our local communities, working incredibly hard to deliver for their patients, but they remain under real pressure, added to by the cost of Labours NICs Jobs Tax. 'Under the last Conservative government, 50 million more GP appointments a year were delivered compared to 2019, and thousands more GPs were recruited in England to help make it easier for patients to see their doctor. Your browser does not support iframes. 'The Labour Government must ensure their GP contract announcement earlier this year isnt just a headline, but genuinely delivers real change in reality for GPs to allow them do what they do best - treat patients.' Jess Brown-Fuller MP, Liberal Democrat primary care and hospitals spokesperson, said: 'Millions are being forced to endure a standard of care that is simply unacceptable and potentially unsafe. 'We have heard countless stories of people waiting anxiously, in pain and unable to get the care they need. It is a national scandal. 'The Conservative partys shameful record brought us to this point but the Labour government has done next to nothing to turn this awful situation around. 'Ministers can no longer sit idly by and just accept this situation as the new normal. GPs are leaving in their droves and with an ageing population we cannot allow this to deteriorate further.' Dr Katie Bramall, chair of the BMAs general practice committee in England, said: 'GPs and anyone who has tried contacting their own practice already appreciate that we have a huge shortage of GPs in this country. 'We are stretching the ability and capacity of our family doctors to breaking point. 'We urgently need a national GP retention strategy and funding to recruit GPs who are actively completing their training programmes and looking for work. 'We would even argue 1,800 patients per GP is too many and needs to be reconsidered in light of the number of patients with complex and multiple illnesses rising, which has a knock-on impact on the amount of work needed to deliver safe patient care. 'We need Government support and funding into general practice, so we can bring back the family doctor, and give patients the best care possible.' Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: 'As of last month, every full-time GP is on average responsible for a huge 2,254 patients, 111 more than five years ago. 'This is really concerning as the workloads we are facing arent sustainable for GPs and arent safe for patients. 'Our own polling found over three quarters of GPs think that patient safety is being compromised by their excessive workloads. 'GPs and our teams are now delivering more appointments than ever before - nearly two million more a month than last year but with just over 150 more qualified GPs than in 2019. 'Were working incredibly hard to deliver more and more but we dont have the GP numbers to keep up - and its our patients who are bearing the brunt when they cant get the care they need when they need it.' She added: 'General practice is struggling, but with the right investment and initiatives to recruit and retain GPs - and break down barriers to qualified GPs securing employment - we can turn this around. 'We just need to be given the right tools to enable GPs to get back to delivering the care that we want to deliver and that our patients need.' What the GP practices said Saurabh Johri, of Bowling Green Street Surgery in Leicester, said: 'The national figures only take into account salaried GPs. Bowling Green Street Surgery has several regular GPs who have worked at the surgery for a number of years and are not salaried, therefore will not appear in the figures. In addition, care delivery at GP Practices has changed significantly with a wide mix of specialist health professionals available to patients. Depending on their condition, our patients will see one of our Advanced Practitioners, Pharmacists, a First Contact Physio or Nurse to ensure GP appointments are there for those who specifically need a GP. This allows us to continue to meet increasing demand and ensure patients receive the right care for their needs.' People living in Iowa may be at the greatest risk of lung cancer in the next decade, a new study suggests. Researchers at the University of California San Diego surveyed 1.7million Americans in all 50 states to track rates of cigarette use from 1992 through 2022. They also used that data to predict which states would have the most smokers in 2035. The researchers found since the early 2000s, smoking rates have decreased by more than 60 percent nationwide, from 23 percent to 9.4 percent. Statewide, Utah recorded the lowest rate of smokers in 2022 with 4.4 percent. Maine, however, had the highest smoking rate in the country at 16.4 percent. And by 2035, even as nationwide smoking rates dip to just five percent on average, experts estimate Iowa's rate - which is about 16 percent - will remain unchanged, making it the highest in the country. Smoking and tobacco use is the number one cause of lung cancer, responsible for 80 to 90 percent of cases. The disease is America's deadliest and third-most common cancer, with 226,000 cases per year and 130,000 deaths. And while smoking is on the decline, lung cancer rates will take significantly longer to drop in areas with heavy smoking rates, researchers warned. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have revealed which states may be at the greatest risk of developing lung cancer (stock image) The above map shows smoking rates per state in 2022. Darker colors are associated with higher smoking rates Your browser does not support iframes. They also cautioned an increase in vaping among young people may further stall progress. Matthew Stone, first study author and assistant professor at the UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, said: 'The rapid decline in smoking among young adults is clear evidence that the smoking epidemic will come to an end in our lifetime. 'Indeed, we project that the national smoking prevalence will be under five percent by 2035. However, the much slower decline in smokers over the age of 50, particularly in previously high smoking states, will mean that the high rates of lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that are caused by lifelong smoking will take longer to decrease. The researchers analyzed US Census Bureau data on smoking and tobacco use from 1992 to 2022, which included responses from 1.7million Americans in 54,000 households. The vast majority (78 percent) were white, and the largest age group (30 percent) was 35 to 49-year-olds. Respondents were asked 18 times whether they had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime. Those who responded 'yes' were asked if they currently smoked every day, some days or none at all. The researchers used the survey data to calculate a smoking rate for each state from 1992 to 2022 and a projected rate for 2035. From 1992 to 2001, the national smoking rate was 23 percent. During that time, Utah had the lowest rate of 15 percent while Kentucky had the highest at 31 percent. However, by 2022, smoking dropped significantly down to nine percent nationwide. Utah again had the fewest smokers that year with a rate of just 4.4 percent, while Maine had the highest at 16.4. The above map shows smoking prevalence by state in 1992. Darker colors are associated with higher smoking rates Among states with the highest smoking rates, following behind were Iowa and West Virginia both at 16 percent, Oklahoma at 15 percent and South Dakota at 14 percent. States with low rates following Utah were California (5.6 percent), Colorado (six percent), Connecticut (6.5 percent) and Arizona (6.7 percent). Based on the current trends, the researchers predicted Hawaii would have the lowest smoking rate in 2035, with a projected rate of 1.4 percent. Following close behind in the predictions were Colorado at 1.5 percent, Utah at 2.5 percent, California at 3.3 percent and New Jersey at 3.5 percent. Nationally, the researchers estimated the smoking rate will dip below five percent in 2035, nearly half that of 2022. However, in 2035, Iowa is expected to have the highest smoking rate at 16 percent, followed by Oklahoma (15 percent), Wyoming and West Virginia (14 percent) and Maine (12.7 percent). The findings are in line with rates of lung cancer, which are highest in Midwestern and some New England states. The national average is 54 cases per 100,000 people. The above map shows projected smoking rates for 2035. Researchers believe the US will drop to an average smoking rate of five percent in a decade from now Maine, which had the highest smoking rate in 2022, had the fourth-highest rate of lung cancer in 2021, at 63 cases per 100,000 people. Kentucky (79.3 cases per 100,000 people), West Virginia (74 per 100,000) and Mississippi (65.6 per 100,000) were all in the top three states for worst lung cancer rates. Iowa has a rate of 61 cases per 100,000 residents. Utah, which had the fewest smokers, had a lung cancer rate of 24.4 cases per 100,000 people in 2021. While the team found all 50 states experienced 'significant' declines in smoking, they warned the rise of vaping may stall this progress. The use of e-cigarettes among high schoolers has surged from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 27 percent in 2019. John Pierce, corresponding author and distinguished professor at UC San Diego, said: 'While the ongoing decline in cigarette smoking is a major public health success story, recent evidence suggests that the tobacco industry has successfully recruited a new generation of teenagers into e-cigarette use and nicotine addiction. 'Further research is needed to assess the long-term impact of this shift.' With unflinching honesty, Theo Clarke yesterday laid bare the brutal realities of childbirth in todays NHS and her own 48-hour labour which left her fearing for her life. In todays extract from her powerful birth memoir, the ex-Tory MP who led Parliaments first debate on birth trauma reveals how she turned her own experience into a rallying cry for change My baby daughter was handed to me and I felt an instant rush of love. I truly forgot everything despite the horrors of the previous few hours as my husband Henry and I hugged as a family of three, agreeing to call her Arabella. We were so wrapped up in the joy of meeting our daughter I didnt notice that I was still bleeding. Henry called for help and suddenly the room was full of people. My baby was taken away; I felt her loss as if my arm had been cut off. My legs were covered in blood. I was rushed into theatre: the trolley bumped into the walls and I was slid on to the operating table, where I lay bleeding out. I shook from terror as I was stitched. The only thing that stopped me from blacking out was the desire to see Arabella again. Nurses took away huge cotton pads soaked with blood and the surgeons needle and thread went back and forth, up and down, as they sewed me back together inside, and out. I only half heard when a more senior surgeon was asked to step in to try to fix the extensive damage between my anus and vagina. By the time I was transferred to the recovery ward my daughter was nearly three hours old and I had not seen her; no cot was brought in and no one took the time to update me on what had happened to her. I was kept in recovery with concerns over a spike in my temperature. I lay on the trolley, a dead weight, with my arm hanging out as the nurse took six test tubes of blood. It was more than six hours after Arabellas birth when I was taken back to the ward. I rang the emergency bell and, very agitated, repeatedly asked to see Arabella. Had something happened to her and they hadnt told me? My baby daughter was handed to me and I felt an instant rush of love. I truly forgot everything despite the horrors of the previous few hours, writes THEO CLARKE It was midnight, the staff had changed, and I didnt recognise anyone. I was aware of the strangest sensation of feeling both shredded and stitched up inside. I had suffered a third-degree tear, a horrifying and debilitating injury that involves the partial tearing of the anal sphincter and I now know that thousands of women suffer this every year. I had no idea of the shame and silence that surrounds post-natal injuries, nor how many women have the same dismal experience of the NHS as I did. I was the Conservative MP for nearby Stafford, elected in the Boris landslide of 2019. The raw experience of giving birth was to change my political life. Some might recall the first time I spoke in Parliament about birth trauma, when I broke down in tears as I described my own experience. Hundreds of women got in touch with me, telling the same, distressing stories of inadequate care. Since then, I hope I have helped to change things: with Labour MP Rosie Duffield I founded the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma, then led Britains first national inquiry into birth trauma, which reported last year. Going by the experiences of the many, many women I have talked to, the maternity unit where I gave birth was typical no better, no worse than hundreds of others around the country. That night, as I lay exhausted and depleted after giving birth, I was ignored. I asked for more medication, but the midwife said she was busy, adding in a dismissive tone that she had 28 other patients to look after. No one offered Henry or me any food. I fell asleep eventually, with my exhausted husband lying next to me on the floor. I woke up and suddenly my daughter was there, lying in a transparent cot. My hand was still hooked up to the IV with tubes and I had a urinary catheter in. My legs felt heavy and frozen from the epidural and I couldnt move my feet. The moment Theo wept in the Commons as she described the 'terrifying' moment she thought she was going to die in childbirth I was devastated that I could not pick up my baby and hold her. I watched her sleeping instead. She was in a white and pink onesie and I could see there was a minuscule drip in her small hand, attached to a splint so she could not pull it out. She was so small and calm and I loved her completely. I wanted desperately to walk over and pick her up, but I couldnt move, so I asked Henry to do it. I lay immobile on the bed as he brought her to me to hold, then wept as the three of us were finally together again as a family. At 1.30am I was finally brought a hot meal, which was mushy and tasteless. Instead, I ate little bites of plain brown bread like a sparrow and sipped water from a cup, which I found difficult to hold while hooked to the IV. My catheter had been removed, but my body no longer seemed to be under my control. When Henry returned, he carried me to the bathroom to use the bedpan, where I passed urine and blood. He lifted me to the bath and hosed me down with the shower. I was desperate to feel clean, but I constantly bled all over the floor and excrement ran down my legs. Henry gently held me upright on the toilet. I felt weak and ashamed. At 8am, the day shift began and a nurse came to top up my antibiotics. I was so overwhelmed by pain it was difficult to think about Arabellas needs, too. I was unable to sit up on my bottom. This was not how I had imagined my first few days with my daughter to be. I felt like a total failure. Henry had been awake since the start of my induction, three days earlier. When he went home to sleep, Arabella began to scream. I pressed the bell for help, but no one came. After a long time calling out repeatedly, a nurse entered the room. She took one look at me lying pitifully on the bed and told me, Not my baby, not my problem. When she went public, a huge number of women wrote to Theo sharing their stories Then she walked out, leaving me there. I had never felt so vulnerable and alone. Finally, I was moved to the midwife-led unit where I had originally planned a water birth. That now seemed a lifetime ago. There were more people around, but the ward seemed understaffed. A senior midwife tried to help me breastfeed, but Arabella could not latch. I tried every 15 minutes, but I started to flag and feel disheartened. The midwife resorted to manually pumping my breasts to start colostrum production, but Arabella was starving. Henry had to drive to the nearest supermarket in Stoke-on-Trent to buy pre-made bottles with sterilised milk in to feed our daughter. The next morning, a doctor told me I would have a follow-up appointment with the specialist clinic for my obstetric anal sphincter injury the third-degree tear. I did not understand what this meant. I was so tired that I could barely listen. Over six days in hospital, I learned to press the emergency buzzer at least 30 minutes before the painkillers wore off, knowing it might take a long time for anyone to come. I longed for my own bed with soft pillows and privacy when I went to the toilet. Just as I was being discharged, a message was left on my voicemail from a local resident complaining about not being able to have a face-to-face surgery appointment with me, suggesting that as Id had my baby nearly a whole week ago, I should be available to them as their local MP. It was agonising to walk. Once Id crawled into bed, I wanted to stay there for weeks and rest, but I had to try to breastfeed. My nipples were bleeding and I still could not sit. I only left our bedroom to painfully inch my way to the bathroom. I couldnt risk the stairs yet, so Henry had to bring me food every day in bed. I didnt read or watch TV, but I never once felt bored. I just lay there trying to rest when I could. I constantly needed the toilet and it was impossible to hold anything in. I often didnt make it in time and excrement and urine ran all over the floor. I bled everywhere, with a constant, heavy period that seemed to never end and which caused me deep embarrassment. I began to think I might never be able to leave the house again. I was on an array of painkillers and Henry had to inject me with a large needle to prevent blood clots, which left bruises up my legs. It was a struggle to get through each day, but Arabella was beautiful and I was so relieved to feel a strong bond with her, despite us being separated so early on. Her fluffy dusting of sandy hair had the unique smell of a newborn baby and when she snuggled up to me on the bed, I could feel her warm body against mine. I still could not feed properly and when Arabella screamed with hunger, I would have to resort to giving her formula. The antenatal classes I had attended led me to believe I would be able to naturally feed my daughter with ease, so breast pumping made me feel like a failure as mother. I wore a hands-free pumping bustier, which was a black stretchy bra with two holes in it. Plastic bottles were attached and I was then hooked up to the bright yellow machine, which was a double pump that attached to my breasts with suction cups for around 20 minutes at a time. I felt like a cow being milked. I couldnt bear for anyone to see me like this. No one had met Arabella bar us and my mother, and I put off my in-laws coming to visit for as long as I could. In the House of Commons Theo described her difficult labour, post-partum haemorrhage and being rushed into surgery I sent a short text with a photograph of her to close family. I felt numb and I wasnt ready to acknowledge the shocking truth of what had happened to me. The only medical appointment I was invited to in those first few weeks was for Arabella, not me. At her six-week check-up with my local GP, the only reference to myself as the mother was the final question, asking if I suffered from postnatal depression. One night I woke covered in sweat and shaking as if I had jungle fever. I was so disorientated that I thought I was suffering from a bout of malaria. My sheets were soaked through and my drenched nightie clung to my clammy skin. Postpartum night sweats were a discomfort I was not expecting. No one had told me that they happened after having a baby, due to changing hormone levels as my body attempted to regulate itself. Low oestrogen levels made my body believe it was too hot, so it cooled itself by excessive sweating. The sweats lasted for more than a week and left me even more tired and irritable each morning. I was still constantly needing the loo and finding it impossible to control my bowels. One morning, Henry found me passed out on the toilet, pants around my ankles, with Arabella asleep in her cot and a stinking mess on the floor. When I consulted my GP because my stitches had become red and inflamed, she told me that was not her job and that I needed to drive half an hour to A&E at Royal Stoke and queue to be seen again. She didnt have access to my medical notes as it was a different computer system from the hospitals. I wondered how this was even possible when both the surgery and hospital were only 13 miles apart in Staffordshire. It was only when I attended the perineal clinic at Royal Stoke that I finally felt like anyone was checking up on my physical health. The specialist, Nicole, was the first person to make me feel she cared. She confirmed that my symptoms were normal after a serious birth injury and talked me through how to help my body to recover. She was also the first person to mention sex, though that was the last thing on my mind I didnt know how I would have penetrative sex ever again. It was a relief that the Speaker had arranged for me to vote via proxy for six months. I had designated my constituency office manager, James, to be my official representative for the duration but, while I could vote remotely, he was refused admittance to MP-only briefing calls on policy and ministers would not speak to him about casework. This meant that despite having to recover from major surgery and the stress of looking after a newborn baby, I was never truly off duty. I felt lazy every time I lay on the sofa to close my eyes when my baby was asleep. It was a new challenge for me not to constantly work. Westminster had become an addictive bubble where the daily thrill of breaking news and world events had made life manic. On September 5, 2022, when Arabella was nearly three weeks old, Liz Truss was elected leader of our party. Three days later, the Queen died and a period of national mourning began. Residents and councillors complained when I failed to attend a local service of thanksgiving for the new King. It added to my stress and agitation that I was being criticised for not doing my job. I knew what a huge moment it was in our history and I felt shame that I was seen as absent from my duties. My first Monday morning back in Parliament felt strange. It was by now late February and the last time I had been at work full-time, Boris Johnson had been the Prime Minister. It was now Rishi Sunak. It felt like nothing and everything had changed. I was still trying to recover. At my first Prime Ministers Questions where I was determined to ask about a proposal to relocate 500 single male asylum seekers to Stafford I was terrified that I would be unable to control my bowels properly. What would happen if I had to run out to the toilet in the middle of speaking live in front of the cameras? Four days after returning from maternity leave my constituency association tried to deselect me. I was astonished. The Conservatives were supposed to be the party of the family, but an actual newborn baby seemed to be an unwelcome distraction. I fought back and won on a second vote, but I was disillusioned. It was often difficult to point to any visible proof that I was making a difference to my constituency. One of the few times was setting up the Stafford Network for Mental Health. On a visit to its new crisis assessment centre, I was invited into its parent and baby unit. It was the first time I had heard the term postpartum psychosis and I was dismayed to hear from mothers about symptoms including hallucinations, delusions, manic behaviour and confusion. I was also shocked to hear that suicide was the leading cause of direct maternal deaths between six weeks and 12 months after birth. CATALOGUE OF MISERY WE MUST ADDRESS The Birth Trauma Inquiry, which opened in January 2024, received more than 1,300 submissions from people who had experienced traumatic birth, as well as nearly 100 submissions from expert maternity professionals. They ranged from stillbirths, premature births, babies born with cerebral palsy caused by oxygen deprivation and life-changing injuries to women through severe tears. All of us were shocked to hear of errors being covered up by hospitals. I related strongly to accounts of women ringing the bell for help but no one coming, being left in blood-stained sheets, not being listened to, being denied pain relief and a general lack of postnatal care. A pattern began to emerge of poor care, which showed us that the current maternity system was not fit for purpose. There was (and still is) no formal definition of birth trauma according to the World Health Organisation, but we heard research that showed that between four and five per cent of women every year will experience PTSD after birth equivalent to about 25,000 to 30,000 women in the UK. Our recommendations included a national maternity strategy led by a new commissioner, improved staffing and better antenatal and postnatal care. Advertisement That night, I did some research and discovered that there were only 19 mother and baby units in England. I had no background or expertise in health care at all, so I didnt feel confident Id be able to make any difference on improving maternity provision, but I felt compelled to try. I had a responsibility to at least ask the right questions. I contacted the Birth Trauma Association. Its CEO, Kim Thomas, told me 30,000 women a year suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to birth trauma. She brought a group of women to Parliament to talk to me. I had nothing specific to offer them, but I felt the weight of their expectations, given that they were meeting a politician and clearly thought I could do something to help. An hour flew by as I listened intently to their harrowing experiences. I then asked for the mothers views on how to improve maternity care. Their advice included increased trauma-informed care, more listening to patients, better access to pain relief, more post-birth services for mums and support for partners. It was clear that there was a postcode lottery across the UK, given their experiences of care appeared to be so different. Improving maternity care within the NHS seemed such a huge campaign that I knew it had to be cross-party. I contacted Labour politician Rosie Duffield who had spoken in a debate on perinatal mental illness. Rosie said she was happy to help but asked if I was OK to talk about my experiences publicly, given how stressful it could be. I decided to give an interview to The Times to try to put birth trauma on the news agenda, assuming my story would be a tiny piece buried at the back of the paper, as I was only a backbench MP. I woke up on the Saturday morning it was published to find my phone bombarded with notifications. I tweeted the article link and announced that we would be launching an all-party group on birth trauma. I was gobsmacked when the post quickly racked up nearly half a million views. Hundreds of comments were posted below my article with women sharing their experiences of birth trauma and hundreds more emails from affected mothers had streamed into my parliamentary inbox. Support only intensified when I broke down in tears in the Commons debate in October 2023. The response was amazing, but triggering. I was mentally unprepared to read the deluge of horrific experiences that I had been sent. I spoke to a therapist online. I was sceptical when she suggested trying eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) as psychotherapy. She told me that using the side-to-side eye movements, combined with talking therapy, would help me process and recover from the traumatic experiences Id experienced during childbirth. I still had flashbacks and nightmares of the hospital and Id often wake up with my hand throbbing from the cannula, even though I was safe in bed at home. I would still relieve the terror I had felt on the operating table. In our therapy sessions, I watched my white computer screen as a black ball, similar to a pinball in old computer games, bounced across my vision and my therapist asked me to focus on a specific memory, such as having the epidural injection. I flicked my eyes from side to side and followed the black dot as I tried to remember the emotions and bodily sensations from the time that my traumatic events occurred. I thought the therapy wasnt working until, out of the blue, I burst into hysterical tears. Memories of my daughter being taken from me flooded back and I was filled with intense grief. I remembered how I believed that my baby had died as no one had told me where she was. EMDR made me relive the memory, but it also helped me to process and archive it, almost as if I was watching myself on a DVD. I lost my seat in the last general election. My daughter is now two years old. It feels strange to have left behind the cut and thrust of politics, but I enjoy being a mother in ways that I never anticipated. I dont know what my future holds but I have made one important decision with Henry, which is not to have another baby. I feel grief to know my daughter will never have a sibling to play and grow up with, but I also know I couldnt face the stress of pregnancy and childbirth ever again. Theo Clarke 2025 A week after the first bomb dropped, sparking an all-out nuclear war, the ruins of cities worldwide are still smouldering. In the areas hit directly by the 4,000 explosions in the targeted countries, there is nothing left: the firestorms produced intense heat and virtually all flammable material was consumed. Some 770 million people have been killed and skeletons are everywhere, alongside the haunting shadows left by people who were caught outside during the first blasts and vaporised. Given what is about to unfold, they were the lucky ones. The survivors from cities, where they are able, have begun to move. Everyone, no matter their former status or profession, is now a refugee. Roads are strewn with debris, so no one drives a car. Those with half-incinerated clothes and hair, many with horrific burns over their legs, faces and torsos, shuffle along, clinging to parents and partners, but they will not last long. Apart from makeshift bandages made out of torn-up clothes, there is no medical aid of any sort, and the walking wounded will soon succumb to radiation sickness, blood loss or septicaemia. Although many have never encountered a dead body before, now they have seen hundreds and they are numbed to the horror: people with shattered limbs, burned-off faces, bodies twisted and disfigured where they fell. Human civilisation is finished, and those who have survived the initial holocaust are about to experience what nuclear winter means There is no effort to gather or bury cadavers there are too many, and, after all, there is no point. These dead people were all once someones son or daughter, mother or father, uncle or aunt, colleague or girlfriend, but that no longer matters. Now they are just the nameless and numberless dead, and soon there will be no one left to even mourn the mourners. Human civilisation is finished, and those who have survived the initial holocaust are about to experience what nuclear winter means. Terrifying though it is, the scenario outlined above should be no surprise. That a full-scale nuclear war could precipitate a planet-wide deep freeze has been understood since the early 1980s. Today scientists have a much greater understanding of the impacts, thanks to the same climate models widely used to project the planets future under global-warming scenarios. Their findings are almost indescribably horrific, but very few have any idea what a nuclear war would realistically mean and kick the can down the road, saying maybe it will happen but theres nothing I can do about it. As I wrote yesterday, I believe we must confront these realities head-on if we are to replace this fatalism with an activism which can help to reduce the threat. So lets return to our world a week on from the attacks. Already the disc of the sun is visible at midday through a brown haze, as if on a foggy day or a solar eclipse, and it grows dimmer as time passes. Up in the stratosphere, the sun is heating the tops of the smoke clouds that were produced by the burning cities, and billions of tons of particles of soot are moving to circulate worldwide in both hemispheres. In America, Europe and Asia, temperatures have begun to fall, even though it is still midsummer. Overnight, ice has appeared on the dirty puddles that line the empty roads as the refugees shuffle past, and people have begun to pile more coats and blankets on themselves that they strip now with no ceremony and little thought from corpses. The chill lasts all day, and frost becomes a nightly occurrence. Despite the horror, some are making an effort at community. Protection squads are brought together to defend shops and supermarkets from looters, with makeshift weapons distributed to aid in the effort. Few people have guns, and ammunition will not last long, but spiked clubs are effective deterrents for now. Would-be looters stay in the shadows and bide their time. Organised national government ceased with the war. Electronic communications were knocked out and there is no broadcast media or internet. The electricity grid went down too at night the darkness is total, with only the fires set by refugees providing any light. The real military has vanished: most army and air force installations were directly targeted in nuclear strikes and there is no command and control system left to issue orders to soldiers or other military personnel who survived. Arms stores are emptied, with small arms and ammunition in particular demand. Thereafter, men in uniform occasionally appear among the refugees they carry guns openly and people glance nervously in their direction. But some seek them out for protection, and soon groups appear, headed by those with loaded weapons. Those who openly challenge these armed gangs are hanged to save ammunition, their emaciated bodies swing gruesomely from trees and lamp posts. Glimpsed through the gathering gloom, these macabre shapes send a useful signal to the dwindling refugee army about who is now in control. After two months, the darkness is almost total. Even in the middle of the day only the barest outlines can be distinguished in the blackness. With no electricity, the only light is from flaming torches carried by those in marauding gangs as they roam in search of food and other supplies. For a while they form territories with defined borders patrolled by members. Those refugees who still have no affiliation hide as best they can in ditches and behind the embankments of empty motorways, while householders in remote, forested areas who have survived so far on their own cans and preserved foods wait in terror for the assault they know must come. They dare not provide any illumination, lest they attract unwelcome attention, so families sit in the cold. There is no news, and people have little contact with each other, but it is clear what is happening to keep the gangs alive: out in the freezing darkness, unspeakable things are taking place. Sheep and cattle, cats and dogs, all have already been consumed, and the only fresh meat still widely available is human. The smell of roasting flesh, an increasingly familiar aroma faintly reminiscent of pork, hangs in the valleys, along roadsides and around houses requisitioned by gangs. There is plenty of firewood: every tree is dead or dying, and abandoned buildings can be hacked down for dry wood or occupied for temporary shelter. There is no God and no law, but people in the gangs swear loyalty oaths and perform ceremonies around large fires lit specially in the gloom, banging ominous rhythms on makeshift drums. People cower for miles as they hear these noises echoing through the endless night. No one can even remember why the war was fought and which side they were supposedly on. The old affiliations of nations and states, regions, tribes and families are increasingly meaningless, but new ones have appeared. The gangs have names, totems and brands, and these strike fear as they are intended to do. They travel long distances through the emptying land, as stored food in any single area is quickly used up. Some people know how to dig up roots and collect bark that is scraped from dying trees. These are boiled, together with old crop residues looted from farms. Viewed from space, it looks as if Earth has been switched off, as suddenly as a light bulb. A planet that once radiated light on its night side from a thousand vibrant cities has plunged into a darkness as deep as the grave Protein-rich animal feeds, stored in plastic sacks in barns, are particularly valuable augmented with human flesh, they provide a gruel-like daily hot meal that lasts for weeks. Small wars break out over these treasure troves, as gangs engage in gunfights. These do not last long, and with no first aid and raging diseases,a single bullet wound is a death sentence, and the wounded know they will end up in the pot. Most prized of all in some parts of the hinterland, particularly in what used to be America, are the preppers. These are mostly single, armed men who have stockpiled vast amounts of food in expectation of just these sorts of times, but they soon run out of ammunition once they have been found and engaged in shootouts. Winkled out of their bunkers and hiding places like fat grubs, their bodies are dismembered with particular care and ceremony, while their camo-gear clothing is given out according to rank. The treasure trove stores of prepper food are distributed to the victors: rare treats such as tinned fruit, beans, preserved non-human meat and other dried goods. Three months have now passed and the temperature is below freezing virtually the entire time. There is no distinction between day and night and no fresh water to be had. There is some discoloured snow, which falls like ash from invisible skies, but little wind disturbs the stillness of this new ice age. Even in temperate countries it is now as cold as Siberia. Winters grip is becoming stronger all the time. A polar night has descended on the world. Viewed from space, it looks as if Earth has been switched off, as suddenly as a light bulb. A planet that once radiated light on its night side from a thousand vibrant cities has plunged into a darkness as deep as the grave. I have only written so far about humans but, of course, all life on our planet is affected. With no light penetrating the soot cloud that shadows most of its surface, food webs have collapsed. Tropical forests have died or desiccated, unleashing conflagrations as the lack of rainfall turns leaves brown and parches peaty soils. These new sources of smoke augment the brown cloud that hangs ever-present in the stratosphere. Phytoplankton in the seas die and sink to the ocean floor, causing a mass die-off as fish and other species quickly succumb to the lack of food. On land, frosts devastate plants in the tropics, where some sunlight still penetrates and occasional dirty rain still falls, but starving humans or herbivores quickly strip away anything that is green. The only life that survives is that which can lay dormant for long periods: seeds, or roots, or plants that are adapted to long winters and able to sit out the brown cloud in stillness and silence, or small animals or insects that can hibernate or survive underground. Nothing lasts for ever, the deep freeze included, and a decade after the war the sun is finally breaking through the planet-wide soot cloud. But now a new killer is appearing. The nuclear blasts and soot-driven heating of the stratosphere have driven chemical reactions that are destroying the ozone layer, with losses of 75 per cent or more in the higher latitudes. Thus nuclear winter gives way to a UV spring, as scientists have termed it. With ultraviolet (UV) levels soaring, the exposed skin of any human survivors is burned within minutes, and a wave of skin cancers joins the pulse of carcinogenesis driven by the radioactive isotopes that now pollute every scrap of land and waterway. As long-dormant seeds sprout with the springtime temperatures and sunlight, fragile young leaves are scorched and burned by the intense UV. The penetrating radiation both solar and bomb-related leaves whole landscapes virtually sterile under the harsh glare of the returning sun. As solar heating increases across the land and oceans, it restarts the long-dormant atmospheric circulation, which in turn begins to generate clouds and renewed rainfall. Monsoons long absent during the freeze produce sudden floods, which wash torrents of mud off denuded hillsides and through skeletal cities, whose exposed steel fabric now starts to rust. Some humans may have hung on through this apocalypse, perhaps even retaining vestiges of civilisation. Australia and New Zealand have been proposed as sanctuaries, as have some tropical islands with favourable geographical locations, cultivation potential and relatively small populations. But supply lines have been cut since the beginning of the war, global communications have ceased and trade is now a distant memory. There is no petrol to run vehicles, no imported foodstuffs or spare parts and no fertilisers arriving by ship to grow crops. Solar power might still generate electricity in a few areas, but with no grids and not much left to use electricity for, this will be largely a return to primitive times for any survivors. They will not be in a position to simply reboot industrial civilisation the modern era has vanished, for ever. The Impossible Journey Thor Pedersen Robinson 25, 308pp As a child growing up in Denmark, Thor Pedersen dreamed of being a great explorer, his mind filled with images of tangled forests, abandoned temples and lost empires. After a spell working as a United Nations peacekeeper, he started a career in shipping and logistics. In 2013, his father sent him an article about an Englishman who had gone to every country in the world, travelling by land and sea, although he had paused his trip several times to fly home. Bored with his job, and eager for adventure, Pedersen, right, decided he would do similar, but with no interruptions and definitely no sneaky flights home. Thor Pedersen at Machu Pichu in Pero Armed with a modest amount of sponsorship, and having been appointed a goodwill ambassador by the Danish Red Cross, he set off in 2013 with a list of the 201 countries he needed to visit. His plan was to pass through a country every seven days, and he calculated the journey would take no more than four years to complete. Looking back, he writes, I was delusional from the very first seconds of the project. He criss-crossed Europe before travelling on a container ship from Iceland to Canada, and then journeying through North, Central and South America. In each new country, he noticed, he would be told he was lucky to have survived the place he had just come from, and how dangerous his next destination was. His real problems started in Africa. He contracted malaria in Liberia and found it almost impossible to get an entry visa to Equatorial Guinea, a tiny, paranoid petrol state. When he finally got there, he was bitten by chimpanzees. A part of the journey that should have taken six weeks had lasted nine months. The Impossible Journey is available now from the Mail Bookshop On the top of a windswept Mount Kenya, he proposed to his long-suffering doctor girlfriend, Le, who was visiting from Denmark. By now, his enthusiasm for his journey had waned, but he ploughed on through Asia, before gearing up to tackle the far-flung Pacific islands. Arriving in Hong Kong in January 2020, he was puzzled to be handed a face mask. Pedersen spent the pandemic years in Hong Kong; with only nine countries still to go, he refused to give up on his quest. Finally, in May 2023, he made it to Sri Lanka and then the Maldives, the final countries on the list. After 3,576 days and having covered 380,000km, he could go home by boat, of course. The Impossible Journey is never less than entertaining, but gets bogged down in endless struggles with unyielding bureaucrats for the visas he needs. When he does write about watching hundreds of dolphins frolicking off the coast of the Solomon Islands, or wild days drinking vodka with the locals in Turkmenistan, the book really comes alive. Now married to Le, and with a baby daughter, he is proud to be the first person to visit every country in the world without taking a flight, but admits: The project damaged me, and I cannot be sure Ill ever be right in my head again. What he remembers most about his travels are the people he met, and the kindness they showed him. His conclusion is that the world is far safer than people realise. This Is Assisted Dying Stefanie Green Scribner 20, 304pp On her way home from work, Dr Stefanie Green was in an upbeat mood, singing along to the radio and kind of dancing while driving. Moments later she pulled over and sat in her car, shocked at her behaviour. What would her friends and family say, she wondered, if they knew that I helped someone to die today, and I feel really great about it? Green, who practises in and around Vancouver Island in British Columbia, was one of the first doctors in Canada to be a provider of MAiD, or medical assistance in dying in other words, doctor-assisted suicide. After winding its way through the courts and then parliament, voluntary euthanasia became legal in Canada in June 2016. Dr Stefanie Green The new law allowed doctors and nurse practitioners to help someone end their life if they were capable of making decisions about their care and were suffering from a grievous and irremediable condition. People who chose to die could either opt for a self-administered drink hardly anyone chose this or for medication, delivered intravenously. At the time the law was passed, Green had been a doctor for more than 20 years, specialising in maternity and newborn care. Although she loved her work, she found herself drawn to the idea of supporting people at the other end of life, as she puts it. The first patient Green helped to die was Harvey, who had end-stage liver failure. I know my life is over, but I want to be in charge of how it happens, he told her. The day before the procedure, Green nervously checked and rechecked all the paperwork, knowing that if she didnt comply with the letter of the law it could lead to a 14-year prison sentence. On the day, she agonised over what to wear, eventually deciding grey jeans and a black sweater were appropriate, and she was careful not to speed on her way to Harveys house, not wanting to explain to the police why she had a box of lethal drugs in the trunk. As Harveys family gathered outside, she spent time alone with him, asking if he had any second thoughts. They held hands and talked about his life and whether he had any regrets. She has helped dozens of people end their lives Finally, Harvey said he was ready and his wife and children came into the room. Green noticed his eyes are full of expression, still sparkling with life he is calm, he is smiling, and he appears certain. One by one she administered four different medicines; the whole process took less than ten minutes. Harvey died exactly as he wanted, in the arms of his children and gazing into his wifes eyes. As for Green, she was overwhelmed by his familys gratitude and strangely untroubled by the whole experience. Rather than having ended a life, she felt she had been facilitating someones wishes. Over the next year, Green helped dozens of people to end their life. She came to cherish the time alone with her patients just before they died, when she would check they hadnt been coerced and chat to them about their lives. I was struck with the honesty of our conversations, she writes. Most people want to die in their own home, surrounded by their family, with their favourite music playing anything from classical music to AC/DCs Highway To Hell. One elderly couple lay naked in bed, talking of their love for each other, the wife holding her dying husband tightly as the medicines took effect. Another of Greens patients didnt want anyone in the room but her, and for the occasion he had dressed in a clown suit, complete with a comedy nose and a wig. He told her he wanted to go out laughing. This is Assisted Dying is available now from the Mail Bookshop Green comes across as an almost impossibly perfect doctor: deeply committed, caring, thoughtful and sensitive. She works hard to fade into the background, to be sensitive to the families and to keep her emotions in check. The mother of two children, she had overseen more than 40 deaths before she cried for the first time, as she watched her patients elderly mother lean forward to embrace her dying daughter. She believes that simply knowing there is the possibility of a legal, painless death at the time of your own choosing is hugely reassuring to terminally ill people, even if they never decide to go out that way. When people ask her what she does for a living, her reply is that I help people. This Is Assisted Dying is her account of her first year as a MAiD practitioner, and one of the weaknesses of this otherwise absorbing and deeply moving book is that Green comes across so few difficult cases in that time. There are no hints of coercion, no children who regard their parents as a burden, and only one patient who is clearly struggling with mental illness rather than a terminal disease. She declines to treat him. From a British perspective, this book raises many interesting questions about how assisted dying would work here, how doctors would cope, and what an important role good palliative care plays in the choices available to people with terminal illnesses. (The inadequacy of palliative care in Britain was the reason Health Secretary Wes Streeting gave for voting against the Bill that MPs are currently scrutinising.) Wherever you stand on the assisted dying debate, its impossible not to warm to Greens sincerity and her compassion for her patients. For me, the work is less about how people wish to die than it is about how they wish to live, she says. I have learned we can make the choice to embrace our life at any time, even its final moments. THIS IS ASSISTED DYING by Stefanie Green (Scribner 20, 304pp) On her way home from work, Dr Stefanie Green was in an upbeat mood, singing along to the radio and kind of dancing while driving. Moments later she pulled over and sat in her car, shocked at her behaviour. What would her friends and family say, she wondered, if they knew that I helped someone to die today, and I feel really great about it? Green, who practises in and around Vancouver Island in British Columbia, was one of the first doctors in Canada to be a provider of MAiD, or medical assistance in dying in other words, doctor-assisted suicide. After winding its way through the courts and then parliament, voluntary euthanasia became legal in Canada in June 2016. The new law allowed doctors and nurse practitioners to help someone end their life if they were capable of making decisions about their care and were suffering from a grievous and irremediable condition. People who chose to die could either opt for a self-administered drink hardly anyone chose this or for medication, delivered intravenously. At the time the law was passed, Green had been a doctor for more than 20 years, specialising in maternity and newborn care. Although she loved her work, she found herself drawn to the idea of supporting people at the other end of life, as she puts it. Stefanie Green was one of the first doctors in Canada to be a provider of MAiD, or medical assistance in dying in other words, doctor-assisted suicide The first patient Green helped to die was Harvey, who had end-stage liver failure. I know my life is over, but I want to be in charge of how it happens, he told her. The day before the procedure, Green nervously checked and rechecked all the paperwork, knowing that if she didnt comply with the letter of the law it could lead to a 14-year prison sentence. On the day, she agonised over what to wear, eventually deciding grey jeans and a black sweater were appropriate, and she was careful not to speed on her way to Harveys house, not wanting to explain to the police why she had a box of lethal drugs in the trunk. As Harveys family gathered outside, she spent time alone with him, asking if he had any second thoughts. They held hands and talked about his life and whether he had any regrets. Finally, Harvey said he was ready and his wife and children came into the room. Green noticed his eyes are full of expression, still sparkling with life he is calm, he is smiling, and he appears certain. One by one she administered four different medicines; the whole process took less than ten minutes. Harvey died exactly as he wanted, in the arms of his children and gazing into his wifes eyes. As for Green, she was overwhelmed by his familys gratitude and strangely untroubled by the whole experience. Rather than having ended a life, she felt she had been facilitating someones wishes. Over the next year, Green helped dozens of people to end their life. She came to cherish the time alone with her patients just before they died, when she would check they hadnt been coerced and chat to them about their lives. I was struck with the honesty of our conversations, she writes. Most people want to die in their own home, surrounded by their family, with their favourite music playing anything from classical music to AC/DCs Highway To Hell. One elderly couple lay naked in bed, talking of their love for each other, the wife holding her dying husband tightly as the medicines took effect. Another of Greens patients didnt want anyone in the room but her, and for the occasion he had dressed in a clown suit, complete with a comedy nose and a wig. He told her he wanted to go out laughing. From a British perspective, this book raises many interesting questions about how assisted dying would work here Green comes across as an almost impossibly perfect doctor: deeply committed, caring, thoughtful and sensitive. She works hard to fade into the background, to be sensitive to the families and to keep her emotions in check. The mother of two children, she had overseen more than 40 deaths before she cried for the first time, as she watched her patients elderly mother lean forward to embrace her dying daughter. She believes that simply knowing there is the possibility of a legal, painless death at the time of your own choosing is hugely reassuring to terminally ill people, even if they never decide to go out that way. When people ask her what she does for a living, her reply is that I help people. This Is Assisted Dying is her account of her first year as a MAiD practitioner, and one of the weaknesses of this otherwise absorbing and deeply moving book is that Green comes across so few difficult cases in that time. There are no hints of coercion, no children who regard their parents as a burden, and only one patient who is clearly struggling with mental illness rather than a terminal disease. She declines to treat him. From a British perspective, this book raises many interesting questions about how assisted dying would work here, how doctors would cope, and what an important role good palliative care plays in the choices available to people with terminal illnesses. (The inadequacy of palliative care in Britain was the reason Health Secretary Wes Streeting gave for voting against the Bill that MPs are currently scrutinising.) Wherever you stand on the assisted dying debate, its impossible not to warm to Greens sincerity and her compassion for her patients. For me, the work is less about how people wish to die than it is about how they wish to live, she says. I have learned we can make the choice to embrace our life at any time, even its final moments. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow gleefully mocked President Donald Trump while reviewing several devastating poll numbers on his first 100 days in office. The Rachel Maddow Show host tore into the president over his horrible ratings with a smirk on her face Friday night, suggesting his desperation has led him to do 'crazy' things. The Trump critic referred to polls from the New York Times, Pew Research Center, Fox News, the Washington Post, and more to show how Trump's numbers are 'brutally bad.' 'So, correlation is not causation. Just because things happen together doesnt necessarily mean that one of those things caused the other one to happen. Still though, its hard not to think that these things happening right now in the news might not have something to do with one another,' Maddow said of the Commander in Chief who reaches his 100th day in office on Tuesday. 'Its about public opinion. We started last nights show with a look at public opinion concerning this president and this presidency as he approaches the end of his crucial first 100 days in office. And as we discussed on last nights show, the numbers for him are brutally bad,' she added. After previously discussing how American citizens believe he has hurt the country more than help it by a 24-point margin, according to the Economist/YouGov poll, Maddow dug deeper into what citizens really think about the president. She specifically referred to the New York Times' banner headline that read 'Voters Sour on Trump in Time/ Siena Poll, before touching on the full headline that read 'Voters See Trumps Use of Power as Overreaching, Times/Siena Poll Finds.' 'And then its just a litany of all the things Trump has been trying to do and how much the American public hates all of it,' Maddow stated. MSNBC host Rachel Maddow gleefully mocked President Donald Trump while reviewing several devastating poll numbers on his first 100 days in office The Commander in Chief (pictured February 24) reaches his 100th day in office on Tuesday The poll found that 66 percent of voters described Trump's second term as 'chaotic,' while 59 percent said he was 'scary,' and just 42 percent said he was 'exciting.' Maddow went over nearly every question asked in each poll, making it abundantly clear that these low scores are part of 'a national consensus view.' 'Do you support or oppose Trump withholding funds from universities? Oppose by a 25-point margin,' she said. 'Should Trump be allowed to impose tariffs without authorization from Congress? No by a 33-point margin. 'Should Trump be allowed to eliminate programs enacted by Congress? No by a 33-point margin.' Maddow then highlighted the seriousness behind his low ratings, adding: 'When you are losing polling questions about stuff youve said you might want to do or stuff youre trying to do, when youre losing polling questions like that by 40, 60, 70 point margins were pretty close to something that looks like a national consensus view, in this country and the view is no no to what Donald Trump is doing.' She credited The New York Times for getting the 'big takeaway' correct from its poll, adding that 'voters see Trump's use of power as overreaching.' 'I mean, outright majorities of the country say that Trump has gone quote too far on tariffs, too far. On his cuts to the federal workforce, too far. On immigration enforcement, too far. On his overall changes to the political and economic system, too far,' the host added. The pundit then referred to other polls that came up with similar results, and specifically touched on a new Washington Post/ ABC and Ipsos poll about immigration. She tore into the president over his horrible ratings with a smirk on her face Friday night, suggesting his desperation has led him to do 'crazy' things The poll found that 53 percent of Americans do not agree with Trump's handling of immigration in the US, while 46 percent are for it. That's quite a turnaround from his numbers in February when 50 percent approved and 48 percent didn't. 'So, its its all bad for Trump in terms of the public just soundly rejecting everything hes doing even the stuff that he says just for political effect, its having the opposite political effect that he intends,' Maddow continued. 'I dont know that we have ever seen another first 100 days from any president this roundly rejected and hated by the American people.' She then brought up her dismay with Trump's recent decision to arrest Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan after she 'intentionally misdirected federal agents away from' an illegal migrant, according to FBI Director Kash Patel. 'But on the day weve got on the front page of The New York Times, voters sour on Trump. Americans think Trump is overreaching in his use of power. On the day that is the news on Donald Trump, what does Trump do? He arrests a judge. He arrests a judge,' Maddow emphasized. She credited The New York Times for getting the 'big takeaway' correct from its poll, adding that 'voters see Trump's use of power as overreaching' She added: 'If you want to talk about a portrait of desperation, show me the political leader who is just flipping the table over. Just pulling the pin on the grenade and rolling it into the room. 'Show me the elected leader who has decided to start arresting judges to see what happens.' Her arrest has even sparked another Wisconsin judge to threaten to shut down her courtroom. Sawyer County Circuit Judge Monica Isham said: 'I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County. 'If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harm's way.' Rachel Reeves' trip to Washington last week caught the headlines over a potential trade deal with the US, her support for Donald Trump's concerns on global imbalances, plus the inevitable glum forecasts from the International Monetary Fund about the British economy. But, as far as the Chancellor's future is concerned, the important and devastating news was that the Government's borrowing is shooting out of control. It came from the Office for Budget Responsibility. In the financial year just ended the Government borrowed 152 billion. That's 21 billion more than the year before, which is bad enough. But, more worrying still, it was 15 billion more than the OBR expected just four weeks ago, at the time of the Spring Statement. In public finance terms, that may not sound much, but the overshoot is as big as the receipts from inheritance tax and vehicle excise duty together. Each brought in about 8 billion last year. The reason for this, according to the OBR, is lower-than-expected tax receipts coupled with higher-than-forecast spending. Talking shop: Commentators say that the Chancellor will either have to increase taxes in her next Budget in the autumn, or cut spending, or borrow yet more That has led commentators to say that the Chancellor will either have to increase taxes in her next Budget in the autumn, or cut spending, or borrow yet more. However, in reality she can't increase tax receipts. She can put up tax rates, but, aside from the impact on the economy, higher rates may not bring in more revenue. That seems to be what is happening at the moment. She can't borrow more, or at least were she to try to do so our long-term borrowing rates would shoot up even more. Already the UK pays the highest interest on its national debt of any G7 country. Our key rate, the ten-year gilt yield, is 4.5 per cent. For the US, it's 4.3 per cent, for Italy 3.6 per cent, France 3.2 per cent, Canada 3.1 per cent, Germany 2.5 per cent and Japan 1.4 per cent. Reeves has sought to blame her troubles on the previous government, but a year ago, when it was Jeremy Hunt representing the UK at the IMF/World Bank spring meetings, we were paying less to borrow than the US 4.3 per cent against 4.6 per cent. That's a brutal comment on her reputation for fiscal management. The markets don't go a bundle on how this US administration is handling its finances either, and it was a spike in bond yields that forced Donald Trump to row back on his more extreme positions on tariffs. But they self-evidently trust our Government even less. So it will have to be spending cuts on a scale well beyond anything ministers seem to be thinking about now. Can they do it? Well, they can see what not to do. Elon Musk and the US Department of Government Efficiency have failed quite aside from distracting him from doing something he is good at: running Tesla. The chainsaw doesn't work. It has to be the scalpel. The person who in the first instance has to wield it is Reeves' number two, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones. He says all the right things: the need for better financial reporting, spotting overspending early and so on. The fact the borrowing figures are 15 billion worse than a month ago reveal a systemic problem. But there is a chasm between what minsters say and what they actually do. Remember Reeves' stuff about this being the most pro-business Government ever? What we need is a different mindset across government; a rethink not only of how to do things more efficiently but whether to do them at all. An example is that a third of the 1.2 billion spent so far on the Lower Thames Crossing has gone on planning applications essentially Government departments arguing with each other about the details of the project. Can this Government really get its collective mind around the scale of the problem it faces? This isn't about the detail of the OBR forecasts or fiscal rules. The budget deficit last year was 5.3 per cent of national output. And that's in what you might call a normal year, with the economy running at close to full capacity and unemployment towards the bottom of its 25-year range. It's not sustainable. Something has to give. While the world was transfixed on the mayhem on Wall Street, there was a landmark moment in the City of London. The Square Mile surpassed 100billion of economic output for the first time, according to the Office for National Statistics. The number, the latest available, is for 2023 so does not take account of the latest Trump-induced shocks. But coming after the trauma of Covid and the upheaval of Brexit, it is still a testament to the City's resilience. Brexit and the Liz Truss bond debacle were seized upon by international rivals to brand the UK stupid and retrograde and to try to lure business from the City. The mood in the Square Mile has been dour of late, with the US seen as a land of milk, honey and high valuations and London being painted as a hidebound market in an over-regulated and retrograde country. Those views are, thanks to Trump, being reassessed. There are opportunities for the UK to take advantage of the fear and chaos of Trump's America. The question is whether this Labour government has the wit to grasp them. Global investors, including British defined contribution pension funds, have poured money into the US market with abandon in recent years, dwarfing the sums invested in UK shares. Man with a plan: There are opportunities for the UK to take advantage of the fear and chaos of Donald Trump's America In Trump's first 100 days, however, the US markets have looked less like the engine room of growth for global investors and more like a screeching emergency brake on an intemperate president, who bulldozes over legalities, defies convention and lacks civility. The City seems almost an oasis in comparison, offering investors respect for the rule of law, a commitment to free markets, an independent central bank and indeed basic sanity. Senior figures in the Square Mile see chances to steal a march. They spy the potential for London to lead in green finance, given that Trump has been so disparaging of environmental concerns. They also see a chance to do more business with developing nations in Asia and Africa, which do not wish to be hostages either to Trump or to China. And the UK and Europe need to bankroll a much stronger independent defence capability, now that Trump has made clear the US cannot be relied upon. The natural home for a 'Bomb Bank' to finance rearmament would be the City of London. The UK should also be a natural home for financiers who are not at home in Trump's America. But Labour's spiteful non-dom rules, in particular the dragging of non-UK assets into the inheritance tax net, are driving people away, including Richard Gnodde, the hugely respected Goldman Sachs boss, who is moving to Milan. Sir John Kingman, the chairman of Legal & General, has written recently of a 'tragic crisis' in US science, caused by Trump's assault on universities and his tariff threats to pharma companies. This, Kingman believes, will 'imminently' provoke 'the greatest migration in scientific talent the world has ever seen, probably larger than that from 1930s Germany'. The Aussies and the French have been quick to try to lure these big brains the Government should not allow the UK to miss out. Even if ministers have the sense to make the best of the situation, the silver linings may not be enough to compensate for the needless harm the US President is inflicting on the world and its wallets. But defeatism helps no one: some of the greatest achievements are created out of crises, by the clever and the resourceful. Investment fund Evenlode Global Equity is approaching its fifth anniversary with returns for investors since launch in excess of 50 per cent. A satisfactory result and better than the average for its global peer group of 35 per cent. For managers Chris Elliott and James Knoedler it is testimony to their robust investment process, which is built around buying stakes in some of the world's leading companies at attractive valuations and then holding them long-term. Businesses which generate lots of cash through thick and thin. 'We want to build trust with our investors,' says Knoedler, 'and keep them on the proverbial bus for as long as possible. 'Of course, as equity investors we can't defy the big market movements we have all witnessed in recent weeks, but we try to mitigate their impact by finding companies deep in the wave rather than at the top of it.' Unlike many rival global equity funds, this approach means the 470 million fund tends to be light on exposure to the Magnificent Seven stocks in the US: Alphabet (Google parent), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. Currently, Global Equity only has exposure to Alphabet, Amazon (both top-ten holdings) and a smaller stake in Microsoft, which has been reducing since July. This was due to concerns over the mismatch between growth in the company's artificial intelligence capital expenditure and revenues. Of the other Magnificent Seven, only Nvidia makes it into the fund's 83-company strong 'investable' universe from which the managers select the stocks to hold. 'The portfolio, comprising 33 stocks, is not constructed on the back of what is going on in the world of macro economies,' says Elliott. 'Across Europe and the UK, there are a lot of companies whose valuations are attractive, their businesses are multi-national and revenues robust.' European companies such as Dutch information services Wolters Kluwer and French cosmetics brand L'Oreal have been part of the fund's portfolio since July 2020. The same applies to UK FTSE100 companies RELX and Diageo. Other UK holdings include London Stock Exchange, events organiser Informa and shipbroking company Clarksons. 'This is not a fund where we are constantly trading in and out of stocks,' adds Elliott. 'Sometimes there are valuation opportunities, but the idea is to hold the companies we own for six, seven years plus.' So far this year, the only portfolio changes it has made is to buy stakes in The New York Times and Booking Holdings, while disposing of its position in Airbnb. 'The New York Times is enjoying strong growth in subscriptions,' says Elliott, 'and has the ability to offer customers products such as its popular Wordle game.' Knoedler adds: 'Booking Holdings is a digital business benefiting from the growth in leisure travel. It's also less reliant on the US for business than Airbnb.' Evenlode is a tight investment ship, built around just five fund managers. Based in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, it manages funds with assets in excess of 4.6 billion. Apart from Global Equity, it also runs Evenlode Income and Global Income, plus two funds aimed at the European market. Unlike other investment houses, it concentrates on what it knows it does well namely, investing for income and managing global portfolios. Scrutineer FundCalibre gives Global Equity, Income and Global Income all 'elite' status. Annual charges on Global Equity are 0.85 per cent. The fund has a yield of 0.3 per cent, so is not suitable for investors seeking income. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has been accused by US activists of being complicit in the pollution of a town in Mississippi by handing billions in taxpayer cash to a UK power firm that they claim is harming the health of residents. Drax Group operates a power plant in Selby, North Yorkshire, that generates electricity by burning wood pellets. Many of these are sourced from forests in the US and shipped to the UK. Activists from Gloster in Mississippi, where Drax runs a wood pellet factory, say pollution from its plant has caused health issues for people nearby, including heart disease, cancer and respiratory problems. Drax burns millions of tons of wood pellets each year. It claims this is carbon neutral, because the planting of new trees can compensate for the carbon dioxide produced. Environmental groups dispute these assertions. Nonetheless, the company has received billions in green energy subsidies from the Government. In February, Miliband agreed to hand the group another 2 billion in taxpayer cash over four years. The complaints, which activists will raise at the Drax annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, threaten to embarrass Miliband, who prides himself on his green credentials. 'Carbon neutral': Drax Group operates a power plant in Selby, North Yorkshire, that generates electricity by burning wood pellets Even more awkward for the 'woke' former Labour Party leader is the fact that Gloster's population is more than 70 per cent black with a third living below the poverty line. Campaigner Katherine Egland said: 'Poor, mostly communities of colour as the descendants of slaves in the south-eastern US, are being subjected to toxic levels of emissions in the Drax manufacturing of wood pellets.' Egland chairs the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, which is among those representing Gloster residents at the annual meeting. The association worked with Dr Martin Luther King in the 1960s for civil rights in the US. Egland said Miliband and the Government were 'guilty of aiding and abetting' the pollution caused by Drax, adding: 'Miliband and the UK Government gave Drax a 2 billion incentive to continue robbing poor people of the right to breathe clean air and drink clean water.' Drax's activities have come under heavy scrutiny from local US officials. Earlier this month, Mississippi authorities turned down an application from the company to increase the amount of pollution it is legally allowed to emit from the Gloster plant. Last year, the firm was slapped with a $225,000 penalty by the state for emitting 50 per cent more hazardous air pollutants than it was permitted to do. This followed a $2.5 million fine issued in 2020, one of the largest such penalties in Mississippi history, for underestimating the amount of pollutants emitted since 2016. Under fire: Ed Miliband And the firm was fined 25 million last year by regulator Ofgem over its sourcing practices. There are mounting concerns from MPs about the level of taxpayer money being paid to the company to provide electricity. In a report published on Friday, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee said that there was a risk that energy bill payers are not receiving 'value for money' from the subsidies given to Drax by the taxpayer. A Drax spokesman said: 'The safety of our people and the communities in which we operate is our priority, and we have created a community advisory panel made up of local leaders and citizens to help us better understand and respond to their concerns. All Drax facilities in the United States have been below the permitted air emissions requirements since December 2023.' A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: 'Investing in clean power is the route to ending the UK's energy insecurity and tackling the climate crisis. We are halving the amount of support for Drax, saving money on people's energy bills and contributing to our energy security. 'Under a clean power system Drax will operate for less of the time and will need to use 100 per cent sustainably sourced biomass, with not a penny of subsidy paid for anything less.' Britain's biggest oil firms are set to see their profits drop by nearly $4 billion next week after Donald Trump's tariff chaos caused a slump in global energy prices. Profits at BP are expected to have fallen to $1.6 billion in the first three months of 2025 from $2.7 billion in the same period the previous year, when it reports quarterly figures on Tuesday. Shell's earnings are forecast to have dropped to $5.1 billion in the first quarter of this year from $7.7 billion in the first three months of 2024 when it delivers its results on Friday, according to estimates from market data site Refinitiv. The profit drop comes as global oil prices have steadily declined due to growing fears of a slowdown in demand from many countries but particularly from China, a major oil consumer. All at sea: Britain's biggest oil firms are set to see their profits drop by nearly $4 billion next week after Donald Trump's tariff chaos caused a slump in global energy prices On the slide: Shares in both BP and Shell are down heavily The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, has fallen around 12 per cent so far this year and is trading at about $67 a barrel. Prices had been slowing falling from January on, but they declined sharply earlier this month after Trump unleashed a swathe of tariff measures as part of his 'liberation day' announcements designed to reorder global trade. It sparked concerns that mass disruption to global supply chains would reduce shipping and other forms of travel. In turn, this would dent demand for fuel. The issue has been exacerbated by the Opec+ cartel of oil-rich states, which includes Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, deciding to increase the amount of crude oil pumped from their wells. This is creating a glut of supply. Weak oil prices present a potential headache for BP as it tries to push through plans to pivot its business back towards fossil fuels. It is reversing a shift towards green energy masterminded by its previous boss Bernard Looney. Chief executive Murray Auchincloss is coming under immense pressure from activist investors, including hard-nosed US firm Elliott Management, to boost performance. His task is likely to be made harder by cheap oil. The company's chairman Helge Lund has already announced he will step down next year. But reports emerged last week that Elliott was now targeting BP's head of strategy Giulia Chierchia, who was hired by Looney in 2020 and is seen as one of the key architects of the firm's ill-fated shift to green energy. Shell is facing its own challenges as it tries to ramp up fossil fuel output under boss Wael Sawan. Earlier this month, the company lowered its oil and gas production forecast for the first quarter as unexpected maintenance work and cyclones hit output from some of its wells. Sawan has pioneered Shell's own pivot towards oil and gas, slashing the group's spending on green energy in a bid to boost its value and compete with US rivals such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Farsley, close to Leeds, has been singled out as one of the country's coolest postcodes no surprise considering its smart and bustling high street, with artisan bakeries and family butchers. But the shops in the picturesque LS28 enclave are feeling the hit from the triple whammy of cost increases ordered by their local MP: none other than the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. While Reeves was schmoozing American powerbrokers in Washington last week in an effort to get a trade deal for the UK, small store owners in her constituency were struggling to cope with her Budget tax grab. This will cost British retailers 5 billion in this financial year and has already started to bite this month. Joining the chorus of discontent on Farsley's Victorian streets is Arlington Interiors. Reeves visited the company in July 2023 in her role as the MP for Leeds West and Pudsey. In a thank you letter, displayed on the wall of Arlington's premises in a converted mill, she described it as a 'wonderful example of a local company selling such high-quality products'. Stewing: Kitchen maker Nick Tindall's costs are soaring thanks to Chancellor Rachel Reeves The commendation now rings hollow. The company, a specialist in upmarket kitchen design, faces an extra bill of up to 80,000 a year following Reeves's cuts to business rate relief. Nick Tindall, Arlington's joint owner and managing director, said: 'Reeves struck us as someone who wanted to listen to small business owners when she was in opposition. 'I'd be very interested in her coming to see us again now. I'd like to see here for a one-on-one!' Tindall said that the main hit for the firm was the cut in business rate relief from 75 per cent to 40 per cent. 'Our kitchens are priced at up to 40,000. We'll have to sell a couple more of them to cover that extra cost alone,' he revealed. He fears that the other big cost increases affecting businesses the rise in National Insurance Contributions and an increase in the national minimum wage are likely to hit his customer base. He said: 'A lot of our customers are business owners. If their costs keep going up, they'll have to reconsider what they pay themselves and may think twice or delay home improvement projects.' He believes that the Chancellor's days may be numbered unless there is a dramatic upturn and soon. Elsewhere in Farsley, business owners are making frantic efforts to absorb thousands of pounds of extra costs. Hardware store owner Mark Cox is bracing himself for a business rates increase of about 2,500 this year. He said: 'They came in with the mantra of change and growth. Most people would say there's been change for the worse, which doesn't promote growth. 'At school, they used to mark you for effort and attainment. I'd say she is putting the effort in but her skills are low.' Sign of the times: Rachel Reeves won't receive a warm welcome back by villagers In its review of Farsley once ranked as 'the happiest place in Leeds', The Sunday Times praised its mix of 'micro-breweries, sourdough bakehouses and great live music venues' saying it has 'all the cultural catnip that hipster dads can't get enough of'. But grocer Raymond Sutcliffe who last year threatened to bar Reeves from his family-run store if she dared to venture in feels angry. 'I'm now in my 42nd year of running the shop and I've never been as worried as I am now,' he says. 'I've never felt like this including when Labour were in before under Blair and Brown. She's near the bottom in terms of worst Chancellors.' Two decades after Glasgow was named Europe's murder capital, the city is burning. A vicious gangland revenge plot between three rival gangs is being waged on the streets that has left even some of the most feared mob bosses scuttling away to safe houses abroad. Now, innocent Glaswegians are seeing masked gangsters bring terror to their suburban communities with homes and shops firebombed because they were supposedly associated with the Daniel and Richardson crime families. The attacks are thought to have started when thugs belonging to the Richardson gang allegedly stole a 500k shipment of cocaine owned by another gangster, nicknamed Mr Big - a top-level Irish criminal based in Dubai who has been flooding Scotland with cocaine. Although MailOnline and others in law enforcement and the media know his identity, he has not been named so as not to hinder current police investigations. His enforcers, a group called Tamo Junto, have released videos of their terrifying attacks in Glasgow and also Edinburgh with a sinister message: 'It's time to remove this vermin from our streets... every associate, every business will be targeted. Leave Scotland immediately.' And so despite murder rates falling since 2005, in part owing to a crackdown by the government and Police Scotland, once again the city is in the grip of a terrifying crime wave. A source close to Richardson allies, the Daniel crime family, told MailOnline: 'I don't f****** know about crime figures. It's the same it'll never change.' Meanwhile, former undercover police officer Simon McLean, 66, who infiltrated the Glasgow mobs, told MailOnline that 'organised crime has taken over' the city. Former undercover police officer Simon McLean, 66, (pictured) told MailOnline 'organised crime has taken over' A series of firebombs across the country has rocked a relative peace within some of Scotland's largest cities. Pictured: A gangster throws a firebomb into a house Glasgow, which was Europe's murder capital in 2005, has been plagued with torchings (pictured) Edinburgh-based mob boss Mark Richardson (pictured) is thought to be on Mr Big's hit list Fellow gangster Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel (pictured), who is thought to be the head of the Daniel crime family, has also reportedly been targeted The Richardsons, from Edinburgh, and the Daniel gang from Glasgow, are major players in Scotland's drugs underworld. Alongside bitter Daniel rivals the Lyons gang, associates of the infamous Irish Kinahan Cartel, the crews have fought to keep their turf in north Glasgow. Ex-undercover cop McLean, who runs the Crime Time Inc podcast, was part of a group of elite detectives in the murder and drugs squads during a 40-year career in the police. He believes the recent gang war attacks are a result of the Scottish government going 'soft on crime'. McLean told MailOnline: 'When we go soft on crime, which we are now because there are no policemen, crime moves in and fills the vacuum. Right now, the organised crime has taken over.' When you disrespect someone, they have no choice but to kill you. He added: 'We're throwing fuel on the fire and we call it a success. Every time we have a "success", what we actually do is make the problem worse. 'What we do is create a vacuum where there are funds to be made. There's a lot of turf wars going on. That's the real consequences of enforcement. 'There's money to be made. It's a marketplace. And there are two or three similar organisations more than ready, not just to take over the patch, but to fight for the patch. 'In the 80s, crime was through the roof because of drugs. Murders and violence were fairly prominent. 'Glasgow has always been like that. Gangs aren't a new thing. There were the razor gangs [of the 1920s and 30s], the sectarianism has always been there as well. This beauty salon in Glasgow was targeted by a firebomb in April. Police discovered a cannabis farm in an unconnected neighbouring house Innocent Glaswegians have been forced to watch their city burn because of the gangland revenge plot Pictured: The charred remains of a carpet shop owned by an associate of the Daniel family Mr Big's enforcers in Scotland have filmed themselves setting homes on fire in their campaign of violence Messages from Mr Big's enforces Tamo Junto said the Daniels and Richardsons should 'leave Scotland immediately' 'Afghan heroin hit the streets in the early 80s in Edinburgh, Glasgow and every other major city in the UK and that changed everything. 'That got us to where we are today, not because of those changes but because of the way we handled them with enforcement and prohibition, thinking we could snub out the drug problem by locking people up. 'Drugs are a gift for [organised crime groups].' Mark Dempster, 60, is a former international drug smuggler who grew up with and was friends with well-known gangsters including Paul Ferris. After spells in prisons in Spain and the UK, he turned his life around and is now 28 years sober and a Harley Street addiction counsellor. He told MailOnline: 'Cocaine use is off the scale in terms of what it was 15 to 20 years ago. It's everywhere. 'In every social pocket, cocaine is normalised. Every pub you go into will probably have a cocaine dealer or someone who knows one. Glasgow has been rocked by a number of suspected gangland attacks after a shipment of cocaine was allegedly stolen The city's murder rate has dropped from its high levels in 2005 but Glasgow remains plagued by violence A source close to the Daniel crime family told MailOnline: 'I don't f***ing know about crime figures. It's the same it'll never change.' Pictured: A street in north Glasgow Pictured: The Possilpark area of north Glasgow where some of the city's most notorious gangsters have their base 'The police have no way of controlling it. That went years ago. Not to mention the corruption within the police. 'I used to work with people who paid off police officers left, right and centre. 'No matter how much any [crime] family gets, they want more. It's the same process of expanding their empire. They have got to commit violence. 'There's always been Mr Bigs, those overlords. 'In 2011, my friend Thomas Sharkey's house was firebombed. His two kids got killed in that. One was eight, one was 21. 'That was a cocaine debt. That what happens when you have that greed for money. 'You get people whose egos are fragile. It's no different to when you have mafia - when you disrespect someone, they have no choice but to kill you. 'It's all about feeding the egos for the people in power.' Another former Glasgow police detective, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: 'It's a vicious circle. The gangs are capable of anything. They don't make idle threats. There will be action. 'Murders, robberies - everything links in to serious and organised crime. 'If a vacuum is created when someone is put away, there could be a power struggle. 'You can never eradicate the problem. All you can do it try to keep a lid on it. It's a very difficult one to manage. 'If it all goes horribly wrong with [the Daniels and Richardsons] and there's a vacuum, someone is going to fill it. Your browser does not support iframes. Who could be on Mr Big's hit list? Mark Richardson Mark Richardson, the head of the Richardson clan, is currently in solitary confinement at HMP Low Moss serving almost nine years since his imprisonment in 2018 for being in possession of a Glock handgun and being part of a 65-mph police car chase in north Glasgow. Dale Richardson Mark Richardson's younger brother Dale is also at risk. The 36-year-old survived a machete attack by a rival in a Tesco in 2021. Although his ulnar artery was slashed, he was saved after a 10-hour operation at St John's Hospital, in Livingston. David Togher Richardson enforcer David Togher is also at risk. He was released from jail in 2023 after a stint in prison for slashing heroin kingpin Sean 'Lugs' McGovern in Edinburgh in 2016. Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel is thought to be the boss of the Daniel family. He was scarred for life after Lyons gangsters slashed his face while he was unconscious at the wheel of his car following a high-speed car chase in 2017. When emergency workers found him, they thought he had been shot because of the severity of his wounds. He is believed to be in hiding abroad following a firebomb attack on his home on April 14 and an attack on his mother's house on April 18. Francis 'Fraggle' Green Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel's cousin Francis 'Fraggle' Green is the son of former mob boss Jamie Daniel, who passed away from cancer in 2016. Fraggle is the number two within the Daniels family and was best friends with Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, who was infamously shot dead by masked men with handguns in front of shoppers in an Asda car park in Robroyston, north Glasgow, in 2010. Zander Sutherland Zander Sutherland is another son of the late Jamie Daniel. While previously on release from jail in 2023, he went on the run, prompting an international manhunt. He was arrested in Norway in 2024 and extradited to the UK. He is now back behind bars. Craig 'Rob Roy' Gallagher Craig 'Rob Roy' Gallagher is part of the Daniels crew. It was his Bishopbriggs carpet outlet business that was firebombed this April. However, he is currently in prison after being jailed earlier this month for two-and-a-half years for chasing rival gangsters from the Lyons family with an axe. Advertisement 'Where there's money to be made, there will be serious and organised crime. Drugs are probably the main driver. That's where the big money is.' He said 'nail bars and Turkish barbers' were often used as 'washing machines' to clean dirty money and make it seem like legally-made cash. The ex-detective added: 'What goes on in the real world is murky and horrible. These people just don't care. 'People are just collateral damage if you get in the way. That's just how cold and callous they are.' At at least one site of a firebomb that MailOnline visited there appeared to be a person sitting in a blacked-out Range Rover just metres from the crime scene. At another, two men appeared to exit a damaged building just a few minutes after our team arrived. Former drug smuggler Dempster told MailOnline they could have been gangsters tasked with watching the site. He said: 'I imagine there would certainly be [someone watching]. If people are involved in violence, then they are monitoring. Criminal networks want to monitor the area or patch or whatever it may be. 'They have scouts who sit around. Who specifically that [was] I don't know. I don't want to be involved in that.' Former undercover cop McLean, who also founded Scotland's Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) that is aimed at bringing about drug law reform, said the gangs' power could be diminished by ending the enforcement of the prohibition on drugs. He said decriminalising, regulating and taxing drugs in the way alcohol and cigarettes are, as well as then helping addicts directly, could lead to less crime, fewer deaths and more money for the public. He said murder rates may have dropped for a number of reasons including the introduction of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit that aimed to prevent crime by going to the source of the trouble, as well as stricter firearms laws and a propensity for killers to plea murder charges down to manslaughter. During his time in Glasgow's Govan area, McLean pioneered a weeklong operation to rid the area of drugs. Although no drugs were sold for the entire week, McLean said the operation was actually a failure that highlighted how police had and are sometimes still taking the wrong approach. He said: 'We closed Govan. You could not buy smack, you couldn't get drugs anywhere. 'I was getting phone calls from detectives from the Gorbals and Possilpark and Easterhouse and all these parts of Glasgow, saying, ''Are you Simon McLean? Have you got this f***ing operation going? We're getting inundated with all your junkies up here.'' 'Because all we did was change the shape. The demand was still the same. They couldn't get it in Govan, so they went elsewhere. 'So nobody went without, although we were hugely successful [in Govan]. It's the same now. No matter how much drugs you take off the streets, nobody is going without.' Speaking about the firebombs ravaging Glasgow, he said: 'The methods criminals use to intimidate and murder people goes through phases. 'It's the same with crime in general. Things become fashionable for the neds [Scottish slang for lowlifes and petty criminals] to do. They copy each other and they probably discuss it in jail. 'It might be bogus workmen. When you look at the figures, it's incredible how they peak and trough. 'And it's the same with murder. Now you've got less cops on the street [and] it's picking up again.' Simon McLean infiltrated Glasgow's gangs and helped dismantle criminals' operations He told MailOnline reporter Chris Matthews (left) there were a number of times he thought he would be killed while undercover Former international drug smuggler Mark Dempster (pictured) said: 'No matter how much any [crime] family gets, they want more. It's the same process of expanding their empire. They have got to commit violence' According to the Scottish government, in the latest year on record, 2023/24, Glasgow had 10 murders, the highest number in Scotland. Despite having just 12 per cent of the Scottish population, murders in Glasgow accounted for 18 per cent of the national total. However, Glasgow has seen a fall in murders over the last 20 years. In the latest five-year period from 2019/20 to 2023/24, there have been 47 homicides in Glasgow, a 71 per cent reduction compared to 162 for the five-year period from 2004/05 to 2008/09. In comparison, Scotland nationally had a 49 per cent reduction during the same time frame. Alistair Fraser is a Scottish gangs expert. He is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Glasgow, and part of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research. Prof Fraser told MailOnline: 'Between the years 2005 and 2015, Scotland in general and Glasgow in particular saw a sustained reduction in rates of recorded violent crime, and research suggests that this was attributable to a reduction in violence involving young people in public space. 'More recently these rates have started to increase but remain at a comparable level to similar jurisdictions in North and Western Europe. 'The role of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit was central to both the change in national conversation and growth in targeted interventions in Glasgow but there were many other important changes, including funding for grassroots organisations, the dedicated work of high-quality youth work, changes to youth justice and policies that aimed to centre the experiences of young people.' According to the Scottish government, in the latest year on record, 2023/24, Glasgow had 10 murders, the highest number in Scotland Despite having just 12 per cent of the Scottish population, murders in Glasgow accounted for 18 per cent of the national total In the latest five-year period from 2019/20 to 2023/24, there have been 47 homicides in Glasgow, a 71 per cent reduction compared to 162 for the five-year period from 2004/05 to 2008/09 Yet despite the reduced murder rate, the city has continued to struggle with gangland turf wars The latest figure show Glasgow has a population of just 635,000 people. Pictured: The Bridgeton area in the East End of Glasgow A Scottish Government spokesman told MailOnline: 'Whilst of no comfort to victims, the latest statistics published in December 2024 show that overall recorded crime in Scotland is at one of the lowest levels since 1974 and down 40 per cent since 2006/07' McLean believes the only way to end the war on gangs is to control how the public consumes drugs like cocaine. He added: 'In high-level gangs like the Lyons in Glasgow, they've been on the go since I was a boy. 'Thompson, Ferris, they're all the same. They dominate the headlines. You don't have a hierarchy, what you have is an all-encompassing spread. Because of the lengths of time they've been in business, they've got tentacles all over the country. 'Every time we make something illegal, we create an opportunity for these guys. 'They have no boundaries because there is no regulation. The big thing is the drugs market feeds [organised crime groups] because it's a cash business. And what does it give them when we give them all that money? Power and corruption. 'A big part of my job latterly in the police was dealing with cops and lawyers and judges and politicians and councillors who these guys were buying. 'They find a weakness and they fill it with cash. 'Our whole society is being undermined right now by organised crime because we've got no tools to fight it because we underpin it with drugs. We give them all that power. 'When we waged the war on drugs, nobody said we were going to win the war. There's plenty of people making money from [rehabilitation]. Chemists, private prisons, lawyers, the courts, the police. The support of our communities is vital when it comes to tackling serious organised crime. Your information really can make a difference. 'So the war on drugs isn't bad for everyone, just for the victims who are dying in the streets. 'Rehabilitation is the third part of a strategy but you can rehabilitate all the people all you want but because of the underlying causes, they keep coming back at the other end. 'A controversial reason why murders might be less than 20 years ago is this: the most commonly abused drug I'm aware of now is cocaine. 'Cocaine has flourished in the last 20 years. It's become the normal social drug alongside cannabis. 'If you go into A&E on a Friday night, you won't see anybody sitting there having smoked too many joints and they're in there because of violence. 'They're raiding their fridge at home, generally chilled out, amongst like-minded [people] creating music or whatever they think they're creating. 'Coke is similar to that. Drink's not. The nightlife in Glasgow is decimated. Nightclubs and pubs are really struggling because people aren't using them anymore. They're using coke and they're sitting at home, out of their head and happy. 'We're becoming more isolated from one another. There's not the same social environments that there were 20 years ago for people to meet and fall out. 'If we're not socialising the same, there are not the same opportunities [to kill]. 'People aren't out meeting and falling out and having relationships and all the daily stuff that goes on where you end up with a murder. 'It's a positive thing about drugs. [Imagine] if we controlled that. We talk about safe consumption rooms. We've already got hundreds in Glasgow alone, but we call them pubs. 'We regulate alcohol. You have to be a certain age, you can only get in at certain times. You can only buy things that we say you can buy and we're going to tax it as well. And if you get drunk in here, you'll get arrested and thrown out.' Police Scotland have arrested at least 20 people in connection with the recent spate of fire bombings throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh. Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry said: 'The arrests over the past week highlight the ongoing work that officers have been doing to target those responsible for these attacks. 'While we believe these incidents are linked to rival groups who are targeting each other, I want to make it clear this violence will not be tolerated. 'As well as carrying out these days of action and disruption activities, there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, including exploring forensic opportunities and analysis of digital devices. 'While this may not be as visible, please be assured we are working tirelessly to build cases and are following a number of significant lines of enquiry. Police Scotland have arrested at least 20 people in connection with the recent spate of fire bombings throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh Detective Chief Superintendent David Ferry said: 'The arrests over the past week highlight the ongoing work that officers have been doing to target those responsible for these attacks' He added: 'While we believe these incidents are linked to rival groups who are targeting each other, I want to make it clear this violence will not be tolerated' 'We have had a good response to our appeals and I want to thank the public for their help and information so far. 'The support of our communities is absolutely vital when it comes to tackling serious organised crime, preventing violence and getting justice for victims. Your information really can make a difference. 'If you know anything about who is responsible for these dangerous and abhorrent acts, please do the right thing and speak to us.' Anyone who can assist their enquiries is asked to contact Police Scotland via 101 quoting incident number 0562 of Friday, 21 March, 2025. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where information can be given anonymously. Policing and justice are devolved matters under control of the Scottish rather than the UK Government. A Scottish Government spokesman told MailOnline: 'Whilst of no comfort to victims, the latest statistics published in December 2024 show that overall recorded crime in Scotland is at one of the lowest levels since 1974 and down 40 per cent since 2006/07. 'We are investing a record 1.62billion for policing in 2025/26 an increase of 70million on 2024/25, and Police Scotland took on more recruits last financial year than at any time since 2013, with further intakes planned throughout 2025. 'The reported incidents in Glasgow and Edinburgh are an operational matter for Police Scotland, and it would not be appropriate to comment on a live investigation. 'We strongly encourage anyone who has information to report it to Police Scotland or anonymously through Crimestoppers.' For most of his life, Kevin McMahon couldn't explain why he felt like a stranger in his own home - almost like a guest in a family where he was supposed to belong. Raised in Richmond Hill, Queens, Kevin remembers puzzled glances, stinging silences, and a grandmother's unspoken scorn that seemed to follow him. It wasn't just that he looked different with darker eyes, olive skin, a face that didn't look much like others in the family photo - it was something deeper, harder to name and impossible to prove, reports the New York Post. But in 2020, six decades after he was born at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, the suspicions that had nagged Kevin for most of his life were suddenly confirmed after his sister took a DNA test on a genealogy website. What Kevin learned upended everything he thought he knew about his identity: he had been switched at birth with another baby boy, born just 45 minutes after him, with the same last name - and placed into the wrong family. 'It was like the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle,' McMahon told the Post. '[It] explained everything about why my childhood was the way that it was.' At the age of 64, McMahon has now filed a lawsuit in Queens Civil Court against Jamaica Hospital, accusing the institution of catastrophic negligence that tore two families apart before they had even left the maternity ward. On May 26, 1960, Kevin McMahon was born at Jamaica Hospital. Just 45 minutes later so was Ross McMahon. Both infants were tagged simply 'Baby McMahon.' Their birth certificates were even stamped with consecutive numbers. For most of his life, Kevin McMahon, third from left, felt different to his brothers and sister. He recently found out he had been switched at birth. From left, Raymond, Carol, Kevin and Donald McMahon Kevin is seen left, while the true biological brother to the siblings, Ross, is seen to the right of the painting on the wall next to Carol, his biological sister. Keith, who is Kevin's biological brother, is seen wearing the black 'Rush' shirt on the right Kevin McMahon finally learned the truth in 2020 when Carol Vignola, 66, pictured, the woman he knew as his sister, submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com and discovered she had a biological brother she had been completely unaware of And it appears that somewhere in the chaos of a busy maternity ward, someone made a terrible error. According to Kevin's lawsuit, the mistake led to him being switched at birth, handed to the wrong parents, and growing up in a home where his presence seemed to be questioned from the very beginning. Kevin's childhood was marked not just by confusion, but by cruelty too. Family members, especially his grandmother, seemed to harbor an unspoken belief that he wasn't truly 'one of them.' 'She believed that I was not my father's child, and she was correct,' Kevin told the Post. 'It made me feel worthless. It destroyed my confidence.' His appearance, darker and more Mediterranean compared to the fair-skinned, blue-eyed family who raised him, became an invisible line between him and a sense of belonging. 'I had certain interactions with my grandmother that were abusive, physically abusive, and I learned to fear her and just stay away,' Kevin recalled. A chain of events soon unravelled the truth which began with a gut-held belief Kevin's sister, Carol Vignola, now 66. Kevin, pictured as a baby, said his father always treated him differently growing up Kevin was switched in the hospital with Ross McMahon, pictured here as a baby. The pair shared the same last name and were born 45 minutes apart 'I was probably 7,' she told the New York Post. 'He was laying on his bunk bed without a shirt on... and I said, "Kevin, you came from the milkman."' Even as a child Carol noticed Kevin didn't look like the rest of them. She remembers confronting her mother, asking why Kevin's appearance was so different. The response was sharp and immediate: 'Don't you ever speak like that, Carol. That's your brother.' But the question never truly went away and in 2020, Carol submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com. The results revealed she had a biological brother - someone she had never met, and that man was not Kevin but Ross McMahon. When Carol showed the results to Kevin, he was in complete disbelief. '[It was] like a shock reaction. I literally couldn't come to terms with the information,' he said. 'I thought to myself, "I'm nobody I don't exist."' Kevin took his own DNA test in January 2021 and confirmed that he was not biologically related to the family that raised him. Both infants were tagged simply 'Baby McMahon.' Their birth certificates were even stamped with consecutive numbers. Pictured, Kevin McMahon's birth certificate Ross McMahon's birth certificate was just one digit away from Kevin's Instead, he had a different family and even a biological brother named Keith McMahon. Additional blood tests confirmed what the DNA had already made plain. Kevin and Keith were brothers. Carol and Ross were siblings. The two 'McMahon' babies born on the same day had been accidentally swapped a horrifying mix-up hidden for decades under the matching last names. Neither Ross McMahon nor Keith have spoken publicly about the case, and all four parents involved have now died never knowing the truth about their children. Kevin can't help but wonder what his life might have been like had he grown up in the home that was rightfully his. 'I have a little bit of jealousy,' Kevin admitted. 'My [biological] father was Ross's biggest fan, always had his back. I would have loved to have that.' Instead, Kevin endured a boyhood of doubt, discipline, and distance. His supposed father, the man who raised him, never showed him the same warmth he extended to Kevin's younger and older siblings. 'I feared my father. I got hit a lot when I was a kid I just thought my father didn't really care for me,' he said heartbreakingly. Kevin's attorney, Jeremy Schiowitz, isn't letting the hospital off the hook and says Jamaica Hospital's failure to ensure proper infant identification is a betrayal that has permanently scarred two families. 'This wasn't a fluke. This was a preventable tragedy,' Schiowitz said. 'With the rise of DNA testing, we're going to see more of these stories come to light. Kevin's just happens to be one of the first.' Kevin is seeking unspecified financial damages - but more than money, he wants an apology from the hospital and an acknowledgement that mistakes were made. So far, the hospital has not responded to his lawsuit. 'It makes them seem cold and heartless that they're not even coming across and acknowledging that this took place,' Kevin said. A young man, around 19 years old, balls his hand into a fist and punches himself in the face along his jaw and cheekbones. Another picks up a hammer and repeatedly hits his chin, leaving a trail of red marks. At first glance, these TikTok videos seem like an alarming form of self-harm, but the young men involved in these unsettling posts market them as quite the opposite. They perversely claim that what they are doing is a form of self-care, called 'bone-smashing,' that makes their bone structure sharper. Indeed, this disturbing practice is one of the darkest extremes of a trend called 'looksmaxxing,' which first emerged in the 2010s but has since ballooned in popularity, with hundreds of thousands of American men following the most popular influencers online. Now, the Daily Mail can reveal the ugly truth of this sinister phenomenon after speaking to multiple medical and mental health experts, investigating the most popular looksmaxxing websites that have tens of thousands of members and interviewing a 24-year-old who spent thousands to transform his face - only to be left temporarily disfigured. Looksmaxxing, the umbrella term for trying to make yourself as attractive as possible, is, at its most basic level harmless: men aim to improve their personal hygiene, go to the gym and develop a skin care regimen. But as they are sucked further into the aesthetics trend, the practices get progressively more extreme - using steroids, chemical peels, having cosmetic surgeries or procedures, and even trying risky at-home fixes like 'bone-smashing.' Looksmaxxing, the umbrella term for trying to make yourself as attractive as possible, is, at its most basic level harmless: men aim to improve their personal hygiene, go to the gym and develop a skin care regimen. (Pictured: 21-year-old Ahmet after looksmaxxing). As they are sucked further into the aesthetics trend, the practices get progressively more extreme - using steroids, chemical peels, having cosmetic surgeries or procedures, and even trying risky at-home fixes like 'bone-smashing' (pictured here). Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr Lara Devgan told the Daily Mail that drastic looksmaxxing like bone-smashing is 'extremely unwise, highly dangerous, and betrays a total lack of understanding of the complexity of facial anatomy.' It can lead to 'a fracture, a muscle injury, a nerve injury, a vascular injury, a hematoma, patient, facial paralysis, the list goes on and on,' she added. Rather than helping young men, Dr Devgan thinks looksmaxxing takes advantage of their natural insecurities. 'I think that some of these darker corners of the internet prey upon insecurities of a patient population that is not knowledgeable about all of the harm that they can do to their bodies,' she said. And experts tell the Daily Mail that the target audience is getting younger and younger. 'It starts with boys, probably as young as 13,' sociologist Dr Jamilla Rosdahl from the University of Melbourne said, calling for parents and schools to educate children about the dangers of looksmaxxing. 'It's boys in high school who start off by just wanting to perhaps build more muscle,' she said. 'But with just a couple of clicks they are taken down into sort of more radicalized attitudes and ideas.' One of the most popular forums, Looksmaxxing.org, has over 66,000 members and more than 19 million posts. When the Daily Mail signed up to see inside the forum, the content was shocking. There are pages and pages of schoolboys as young as 13 posting photos of themselves and asking other users to 'rate me' and 'how can I improve?' The replies are brutal. In response to one entry, someone wrote, 'I would roidmaxx if I were you,' suggesting he start taking steroids. In response to another 'rate me' post, someone wrote 'surgery will save you. Getting rich and learning how to get surgery should be your main goals.' In other posts, commenters suggest the poster is 'too ugly' to improve how they look, and they suggest they contemplate suicide - which they refer to as 'roping' - instead. And it takes an extreme toll on some users' mental health. In one post viewed by the Daily Mail, which was penned in March, the user says he was just 'born inferior' and adds 'it's over either I rope within the month, or I seclude myself completely from social interaction.' 'Roping' is a slang term in the looksmaxxing for suicide by hanging. And there is a certain callousness with which other users handle these issues. Under that post, the first comment was 'dnr' meaning, did not read. The community has developed its own language and bizarre scales for attractiveness. If you're rated a one to three out of 10, then you're termed an 'incel,' a four is a 'low tier normie,' five is a 'mid tier normie,' then 'high tier normie,' followed by 'Chadlite,' 'Chad' and, for the most attractive people, 'Gigachads.' The forums encourage young men to obsess over the minute details of their appearance, sharing home-made manuals for measuring different distances between your features and formulas for what they claim are the most desirable ratios and angles. When the Daily Mail signed up to see inside the forum (pictured), the content was shocking. There are pages and pages of schoolboys as young as 13 posting photos of themselves and asking other users to 'rate me' and 'how can I improve?' The forums encourage young men to obsess over the minute details of their appearance, sharing home-made manuals for measuring different distances between your features and formulas for the most desirable ratios and angles. (pictured: Ahmet after looksmaxxing). Plastic surgeon Dr Akshay Sanan told the Daily Mail that he can always tell when his patients have tried these methods. 'They come in talking like they've read a surgical textbook,' he said. 'They're getting their information from Reddit forums, Instagram, TikTok.' 'If they're talking about specific angle measurements, or saying, 'I want my eye canthal tilt to be a certain way,' that, to me, is a red flag,' he added. 'Those specific measurements should be reserved for surgical textbooks and surgical conferences.' Both Dr Sanan and Dr Devgan believe looksmaxxing is driving more and more men to contemplate plastic surgery. 'In the past two or three years the number of young men coming in has skyrocketed,' said Dr Sanan. James*, 24, from New York, told the Daily Mail that he got sucked into the world of looksmaxxing in 2022. 'I definitely felt insecure about my appearance. I felt like the outside wasn't reflecting who I was inside, which was this super outgoing bubbly confident person,' he said. 'Every time I would see pictures of myself I would get upset.' He had always cared about how he looked, and had dabbled with cosmetic procedures like filler before, but after discovering looksmaxxing, he started spending more and more time online obsessing over his facial ratios and what procedures he thought he needed. 'I spent more than I would like to admit,' he said. 'I would look up procedures during my free time at night, at least an hour a day. It's a rabbit hole.' He started booking appointments for more serious operations - he has now had two nose jobs, chin and jawline augmentation, filler and Botox. In total, James estimates he has spent $75,000 on surgeries and procedures - money he saved himself and was given by his parents. 'I've had procedures done that I wasn't happy with at all, and didn't give me the outcome I wanted, and then I was out of money, and not happy,' he said. Then, in November 2023, when he got filler in his jaw, it went horribly wrong: 'I looked swollen, I looked heavier, and then I had a delayed reaction to the product as well, where, because there was so much put in at once, I would get nodules, and I had to get it dissolved and injected with steroids and all these things.' James*, 24, from New York, told the Daily Mail that he got sucked into the world of looksmaxxing in 2022. (Pictured: Before and after shots of James). When James*(pictured) got filler in his jaw, it went horribly wrong: 'I looked swollen, I looked heavier, and then I had a delayed reaction to the product as well, where, because there was so much put in at once,' he said. It was a wake-up call. He booked himself in to see a board-certified plastic surgeon Dr Jennifer Levine, who made him realize that the procedures were not only unnecessary but could actually make him look worse. 'For someone like me, I want every single thing perfect,' he said, 'but Dr Levine reminds me, you don't need it.' Now, James warns other young men to stay away from the obsessive side of looksmaxxing. 'I think knowing what you want and doing research on what you want, so that you go to a doctor being able to properly describe it is important,' he said, 'but trying things at home, like bone smashing stuff or things like that is super dangerous.' Some looksmaxxing creators have recognized the risks, too. One of the most prominent names in looksmaxxing, Ahmet, 21, who posts his content under the name Adix, is trying to create a healthier community for his 250,000 TikTok followers. 'I was never a fan of that side. I've seen the dark side when it goes wrong, because people were harming themselves, or people were trying to inject stuff into their face,' he told the Daily Mail. Instead, Ahmet tries to focus on the positives of looksmaxxing. 'I realized it's an amazing niche where men try to look and feel better. I was always the guy posting non-toxic content and also giving real advice and simple advice and really trying to help people and improve them,' he said. Ahmet is also concerned about the social impacts of looksmaxxing. He says there are close links to the incel - meaning involuntary celibate - community, and that men who struggle to find a partner even after trying looksmaxxing will often start to blame women instead. 'There's lots of hate speech, there's lots of misogynistic stuff,' Ahmet added. 'I was always suggesting my viewers and my followers did not go on that side.' Ahmet (pictured before looksmaxxing) tries to focus on the positives of looksmaxxing. 'I realized it's an amazing niche where men try to look and feel better,' he said. Ahmet (pictured after looksmaxxing) is also concerned about the social impacts of looksmaxxing. He says there are close links to the incel community, and that men who struggle to find a partner after trying looksmaxxing will often start to blame women instead. Searching for someone to blame, the deep-rooted self-loathing morphs into an immense hatred for others, posing a risk not just to the obsessive bone-smashers, but to the world around them. 'In a lot of these looksmaxxing forums with just a couple of clicks you will be taken to misogynist beliefs and the glorification of violence against women,' said sociologist Dr Rosdahl. 'It creates hatred, competition and anger.' And that, perhaps, is the sickest irony his pursuit of beauty has, in turn, made some young men far uglier. *name changed to protect individual's privacy When chef Marcus Volke stabbed his wife Mayang Prasetyo to death in their Brisbane home and then tried to 'melt' her corpse in a pot filled with caustic soda, it made headlines around the world. Now former soldier, firefighter and daredevil pilot Kevin Hughes, 67, has broken his silence about the shocking and terrifying day in 2014 he walked in on his new neighbour cooking his beautiful wife. 'I glanced to my right towards the stove and then a very cold shiver passed through my body. It was like we had entered the middle of an Alfred Hitchcock movie set,' he says in his just-released memoir, Courage and Resilience, One Man's Story. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Mr Hughes, a former firefighter who has rescued people from burning buildings and horror road crashes, says it was one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. He started to realise something was very wrong when he and his wife Debrena, 67, noticed a horrible smell coming from the apartment of the 'softly spoken young couple' who had only just moved into their building. 'We were leaving, going down in the lift, and I said, "What the hell is that smell?" Straight away with my experience I thought it's either a drug lab or the smell of death,' Mr Hughes says. Just as Debrena, who was the property manager at the apartment complex, called Double One 3, in the upmarket riverside enclave of Teneriffe, decided to enter and see what had happened, Marcus Volke arrived home. 'He's walked up with his arm wrapped in a bandage which he'd said he'd cut at work. He was carrying two drums of acid. He'd cut her up, but we didn't know that at this stage. Even, so the alarm bells started going off,' Mr Hughes says. Chef Marcus Volke stabbed his wife Mayang Prasetyo to death in their Brisbane home and then tried to 'melt' her corpse in a pot Indonesian-born Mayang, who was transgender, met Volke in Melbourne after he became a male escort Unbeknownst to Mr Hughes, there were two feet in the pot on the stove. Volke used the colander to strain the body parts after boiling them Volke, 27, told them he was cooking pig's head broth on the stove to explain the 'pungent and putrid' smell, and edged around them to enter the apartment, locking the door behind them. It was a couple of hours later that Debrena received a call to say an electrician Volke had called was downstairs and needed access to the main electrical board because his apartment had lost power. When they followed the electrician into Volke's apartment, he told them his wife had left suddenly after an argument. Mr Hughes immediately knew something was very wrong. 'The carpets were wet, and I could tell it was where a body had bled out. There were bits of skull and skin on the cornice,' he says. 'I said to him, "If your partner has left, how come her bag is still here?" I thought that was a bit strange. Turns out there were two feet in the pot on the stove, but I couldn't see what was in the pot at that stage. There were bones in the dishwasher and her head and parts of her torso were in a black plastic garbage bag in the washing machine. 'I firmly believe we came close to never getting out of there at a couple of stages.' Still unaware of what horror had unfolded in the apartment, a furious Debrena argued with an increasingly agitated Volke about the damage, until Mr Hughes finally got her attention and made her leave with him. 'I barely knew them, but I knew he had a black belt in karate and owned knives. I didn't know if he had a gun. And she was giving him a right royal dressing-down. When we were out of there and in the lift, she asked why I had stopped her,' he says. 'I said, "Because she's cooking in the f***ing pot." I remember that as clear as day.' The spot on the carpet where Mayang bled to death - Mr Hughes says he immediately knew what had happened Volke left a trail of blood after leaping out of his apartment and climbing a fence while fleeing police The alleyway which Volke ran down before taking his own life in an industrial bin They immediately called the police and when they arrived Mr Hughes showed them the photos he'd taken on his mobile phone of the 'damage' and the cooking pot, but the police thought it might all have been part of a sick prank. When the two police officers knocked on Volke's door to do a welfare check, he answered, but said he needed to secure the two French Bulldogs that Mayang was often seen walking in the neighbourhood and promptly shut the door in their faces. Moments later Debrena saw him jump over a balcony and run down an alleyway at the side of the apartment complex. The police officers and Mr Hughes gave chase, but it wasn't until hours later that the dog squad helped locate him. Volke was found dead in an industrial bin with a carving knife and self-inflicted wounds to his wrists and a slashed neck. The murder-suicide made headlines around the globe and forced Mr Hughes and Debrena into hiding to avoid hordes of media wanting interviews. A coronial inquest held into the murder-suicide in 2017 found that Volke had bought a large cooking pot, rubber gloves, a scrubbing brush, garbage bags, wipes and laundry soaker from a supermarket in Newstead about 6pm on October 3, 2014. With his shopping list of things needed to 'melt' Mayang's bones complete, he went to hospital by taxi to treat the wound on his hand, telling the taxi driver 'he had been cutting onions and the knife slipped'. The following day he went out and bought a meat cleaver, with a doctor later determining that Mayang's 'body was dismembered after death with attempts to dispose of the body made by cooking and dissolving the body parts'. The coronial inquest also heard evidence that Indonesian-born Mayang, who was transgender, met Volke in Melbourne after he became a male escort to try and pay off $9,000 worth of credit card debts. Mr Hughes says he had no idea Mayang was transgender and thought she was extremely 'pretty' when he ran into her in a hallway in the unit complex Kevin Hughes and his wife Debrena, 67, noticed a horrible smell coming from the apartment of the 'softly spoken young couple' who had only just moved into their building Mr Hughes detailed the grotesque discovery of Volke cooking Mayang in his new memoir, Courage and Resilience, One Man's Story He promised to help get her a permanent partner visa in return for her help in plying his business in transgender clubs. The couple married in Denmark in August 2013, and were sex workers in Asia and Europe before moving to Brisbane in August 2014. Volke, who grew up in the small country Victorian farming community of Haddon, near Ballarat, kept his secret life as a prostitute and his marriage to a transgender woman secret from his parents and siblings. Before the brutal murder, he worked part time as a chef at Bulimba in Brisbane and had suffered mental health issues for nine years. He told an ex-girlfriend that he was again struggling with mental health before he killed Mayang. Mr Hughes, who says he had no idea Mayang was transgender and thought she was extremely 'pretty' when he ran into her in a hallway in the unit complex, admits the crime still haunts him today. He has detailed the grotesque discovery of Volke cooking Mayang in his new memoir, Courage and Resilience, One Man's Story. Mr Hughes is a former daredevil pilot who won a major bravery award after famously clambering out of the cockpit to rescue a female parachutist trapped beneath his plane in midair, and dodged missiles in Afghanistan on top of flying top secret 'ghost planes' transporting terrorists to black sites. He also worked for many years as a firefighter in Brisbane, and says the horrors and tragedies that first responders routinely witness will always haunt him more than Volke's shocking crime. You can read more about his extraordinary life in Courage and Resilience, One Man's Story, which is published by Bilby Books and available in soft cover, hard cover and audio book. A prisoner advocate has married a convicted murderer she met behind bars while campaigning for his release, the Daily Mail can reveal. Sherri Maier fell in love with inmate Bronson Gordon, 40, after lobbying to get him removed from solitary confinement in 2018. In March 2018, a jury had convicted Bronson, Andrew Bellegarde, and Daniel Theodore of the 2015 killing of Reno Lee, who was taken to a house in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, before being bound, shot, and dismembered on April 16, 2015. All three were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. According to reports, during a five-week trial, the prosecution argued that, though he was not present at the time of the killing, Gordon directed the kidnapping and subsequent shooting. Prosecutors raised a number of motives, including an attempt to take out a competing drug dealer, according to the Regina Leader Post. The felon was serving time at Regina Provincial Correctional Center, when he contacted Sherri, a prison reform activist, for help. While Bronson was immediately drawn to her, it wasn't love at first sight for Sherri, she told DailyMail.com. Sherri Gordon, 44, (nee Maier) tied the knot with inmate Bronson Gordon, 40, in 2023 after meeting him behind bars Sherri, a prisoner advocate from Saskatchewan, eventually fell for the convict while campaigning for his release in 2018 'Of course he tried to chase me, I said, "yeah, I am not getting involved with an inmate",' she said. 'He would tell people that I was going to be his wife. I must have rejected him about 10 times before I finally said yes.' In August 2019, when Sherri, now 44, had been going through a tough time in her life and moved to Melville, Saskatchewan, she received a surprise phone call from Bronson checking in on her. 'When he called, I was thinking "what the heck?" He asked me if he could call me the following day too. I had spoken to my friend, and she said I should give him a chance,' she said. 'We have been together since that day.' The two would eventually have their first date in prison, but, due to the pandemic that followed shortly after, for years their relationship survived on 20-minute daily phone calls. 'When the visits opened up again, I drove eight hours to see him I really enjoyed that,' she said. 'That was the first time I could see him, but we couldn't touch as they were behind glass.' Sherri began working on his case and claims she rejected Bronson at least 10 times before finally giving in in 2019 The couple's relationship survived on daily phone calls until April 2022, when Bronson was moved to Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Center, and he was able to see Sherri and propose Bronson was serving time at Regina Provincial Correctional Center. He was one of three suspects sentenced to life in prison in connection to a 2015 murder Sherri and Bronson were finally able to hug each other in April 2022 when Bronson was moved to Saskatoon Regional Psychiatric Center to deal with some 'unaddressed mental health issues.' 'I didn't get to touch him until 2022, it was too good to be true. It was so good because after three years, we never thought we would get to this point,' she said. 'I got to hug him, feel his face it was magical.' Adding to the special moment, Bronson got down on one knee and popped the question, to which Sherri immediately said yes. 'Before we were able to meet, he had proposed to me over the phone, and I said yes,' Sherri explained. 'I didn't really think about it, and then when we could finally touch, he got down on one knee.' However, there was no diamond ring at the time. Instead, Bronson sent money home for Sherri to buy her own. Her big day was also far from traditional and the wedding planning did not come without its challenges. The happy couple tied the knot in a ceremony at the psychiatric center in June 2023 and were able to spend 72 hours together for a conjugal visit as newlyweds Now that he is in custody in Saskatoon, Sherri drives three hours there and back to see him every weekend While Bronson was prepared with his suit, Sherri's wedding dress did not arrive on time, so she nearly got married in jeans. However a friend lent her a traditional ribbon skirt. 'Bronson is indigenous, so I wanted to find the perfect dress to honor his religion. Sadly, the dress wasn't ready in time, so I had to leave without it,' she said. 'I was going to get married in jeans as I couldn't find a dress. 'Bronson's buddy called and said, "Don't worry about the dress. He loves you. He will marry you in institutional clothes if need be".' The happy couple tied the knot in a ceremony at the psychiatric center in June 2023 and were able to spend 72 hours together for a conjugal visit as newlyweds. 'It was such a special day, I was grateful that everyone wanted to be there to celebrate our day,' Sherri said. 'The warden went, Bronson's treatment team were there, there were 15 to 20 people there. 'After the ceremony, they brought us food and cake, then we got to spend 72 hours together. Sherri believes her husband is innocent and is preparing for a Ministerial Review for Gordon in the hope he could be released in 2026 'I call it my government honeymoon.' Sherri, who currently works as an interprovincial children's advocate, said it was 'tough' leaving her husband behind, but says she now drives the six-hour round trip to visit him every weekend. 'We have spent Valentine's Day together, I have spent Christmas with him and Thanksgiving. 'I will drive up every weekend to visit him, and I have done so for the past three years,' she said. Since being moved to the psychiatric hospital, Bronson has received the help and programs he needed, Sherri explained. 'In the other institution, he would never have got those programs such as dialectical behavior therapy, dog therapy, and addiction support, which have all helped him be sober now for over two years. 'Overall, like most people in prison, he had some unaddressed mental health issues over the course of his life. Bronson's legal team have argued that he was not present at the time of the killing, however his appeal was denied in December 2020 'This place helped him deal with his past trauma that led him to addiction and incarceration, and so grateful for that.' In December 2020, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal denied Bronson's appeal of his first-degree murder conviction. But Sherri believes her husband is innocent and is preparing for a Ministerial Review for him in the hope he could be released in 2026. 'It is challenging, but I know he is innocent,' Sherri said. 'Some people will say otherwise, but we make it work. 'My husband is a big Christian, so we use a lot of prayers to get us through. 'I don't sugar coat it, as it is tough we do have our problems. But through communication and prayer, we get through it.' Bronson told DailyMail.com, 'I saw the heart Sherri had for helping inmates. I never thought I would meet another human being as special as Sherri. 'I never thought I would have met a human being who is passionate about the prisoners. 'When I first started talking to her, I was realizing how hard it was for people in the world to pay attention in prison. 'When I met Sherri, she was fascinated by helping people who were suffering from isolation and segregation, and she wanted to end it. 'I knew I wasn't going to meet another human being like her, I was willing to settle for being her friend, but the more I spoke to her, the more I fell in love with her.' Sherri and Bronson Gordon run Beyond Prison Walls Canada Society Inc., a non-profit organization advocating for prisoners and their families. When you think of Five Guys, you probably picture juicy burgers, crispy fries and a casual dining experience, but the story behind the Five Guys name is more personal - and a bit more complicated - than you might expect. Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Jerry and Janie Murrell in Arlington, Virginia. At the time, the couple had four sons: Jim, Matt, Chad, and Ben. When their oldest sons, Matt and Jim, approached the end of high school, they were reportedly not so keen on heading off to college. Matt even told Forbes he was 'terrified' of the idea, that's when Jerry offered them a choice: attend college or invest in a family business. The two eldest boys unsurprisingly chose the latter - a decision Jerry said he was '100 percent in support of' - and the Murrells used the money set aside for college tuition to open the carry-out burger joint. 'My two eldest sons, Matt and Jim, said they did not want to go to college. I supported them 100 percent. Instead, we used their college tuition to open a burger joint,' Jerry explained in an interview with Inc. Now with a budding business, Jerry and his family sat down and sought out deciding a name for their soon-to-be burger spot. Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Jerry and Janie Murrell in Arlington, Virginia. Pictured: Jerry and Janie Murrell inside a Five Guys location in Hybla Valley, Virginia in March 2006 Now with a budding business, Jerry and his family sat down and sought out deciding a name for their soon-to-be burger spot. Pictured: Five Guys restaurant in Mount Laurel, New Jersey 'Our lawyer said, 'You need a name.' I had four sons - Matt, Jim, Chad - from my first marriage. And Ben from my second to Janie, who has run our books from day one. So I said, 'How about Five Guys?' That was it! The restaurant was then named Five Guys, initially paying homage to Jerry and his four sons. However, the family's touching story took an unexpected turn when a fifth son, Tyler, was born in 1988. Rather than change the name of the now-iconic restaurant, Jerry decided to shift its meaning, taking himself out of the equation. Soon the name Five Guys would come to represent Jerry and Janie's five sons: Jim, Matt, Chad, Ben and Tyler. Despite the adjustment, there are still technically six men in the Murrell family - a complicated twist to the brand name. 'So technically there are actually six guys...' Jerry told LadBible. From its humble beginnings nearly 40 years ago, Five Guys has since grown into a global brand with over 1,700 locations worldwide. The Murrell family however still remains deeply involved in the business, with each son taking on specific roles. 'Our lawyer said, 'You need a name.' I had four sons - Matt, Jim, Chad - from my first marriage. And Ben from my second to Janie, who has run our books from day one. So I said, 'How about Five Guys?' Pictured: The Murrell family, the original Five Guys Burgers and Fries family, host patriarch Jerry (From left: Matt, Ben, Tyler, Jerry, Jim, Chad and mom, Janie) From its humble beginnings nearly 40 years ago, Five Guys has since grown into a global brand with over 1,700 locations worldwide The Murrell family however still remains deeply involved in the business, with each son taking on specific roles. Pictured: Jerry Murrell, founder of Five Guys, poses for a photograph inside the company's new hamburger outlet in London, UK Matt and Jim travel the country inspecting stores, while Chad oversees training, Ben selects franchisees and Tyler manages the bakery operation ensuring fresh buns to locations nationwide. Fans also may be surprised to learn that the uber-successful burger joint did not begin franchising until 2003 - nearly two decades after its first location in Virginia. The company's growth has been nothing short of explosive since then, earning a 'cult-like' following for its simple 'quality-first' philosophy. There are no freezers in Five Guys kitchens, no microwaves, and everything is made fresh daily, according to their website. Despite widespread popularity and premium pricing, the Murrells have remained grounded in their original mission. According to founder, Jerry, the business has never chased facades or gimmicks. 'We figure our best salesman is our customer. Treat that person right, he'll walk out the door and sell for you,' Jerry said in an interview. 'From the beginning, I wanted people to know that we put all our money into the food. That's why the decor is so simple - red and white tiles. We don't spend our money on decor. Or on guys in chicken suits. But we'll go overboard on food.' A South Carolina man allegedly used his close relationship with a local police officer to influence an investigation into a fatal shooting he was involved in, according to newly unearthed recordings. Weldon Boyd shot and killed Scott Spivey, 33, on September 9, 2023, following a road rage incident in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A drunken Spivey is said to have waved his .45 caliber pistol at Boyd and his friend Bradley Williams following a near miss with their vehicles. The two men had to swerve to avoid him. After giving chase, Spivey eventually pulled over to tell the two to stop following him. A shootout ensued, with Spivey dying at the scene. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Boyd had called his close friend at the Horry County Police Department, Dept. Brandon Strickland. The officer, who is currently under investigation in connection with the case, told Boyd that he would 'deal with it', and hand-picked detectives to investigate it. Detective Alan Jones would investigate the shooting and conclude the killing as a manner of self-defense under state laws. According to social media posts, Boyd and Strickland appear to know each other well - having shared images of themselves hunting and fishing together. Boyd owns Buoys on the Boulevard, a popular restaurant that offers free meals to uniformed police and charges half-price for those who bring their families. Strickland, left, is seen here alongside Weldon Boyd in a picture posted to Boyd's Facebook in August of 2020 Strickland, far right, and Boyd are seen here in pictures shared to social media of them hunting together Scott Spivey, pictured here, was shot and killed on September 9, 2023, following a road rage incident in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina The restaurant is known for hosting police department functions and events. Strickland appears to have been a patron in the past. Boyd had been automatically recording all his phone calls amid a custody battle with his ex-fiancee and seemingly forgot that he'd also recorded the call to the cop. Those recordings did not emerge until Spivey's sister Jennifer Foley began pulling records into her brother's killing and appear to seriously-undermine Boyd's stand-your-ground claims. One hour of bodycam footage is also missing from the scene with questions arising about the content of what was captured. In a new report by the Wall Street Journal, the outlet said that Strickland explicitly told Boyd that he would protect him. At least 25 minutes have also been erased from the nine recorded calls between Boyd and Strickland in the police file that Horry County officials handed over to lawyers. From what calls have been salvaged, Strickland told Boyd: 'I got the people coming that need to come', telling him that he handpicked a detective for the case. The next day, Boyd again called Strickland telling him: 'Thank you for what y'all did behind the scenes last night.' Strickland said: 'Alan's a good dude, I wanted to send the right person down there', adding that had Spivey been a black man it would have been more complicated. 'I'm glad it's a white male, you would've really had people running their mouths then "white business owner shoots black male", he added. A drunken Spivey is said to have waved his .45 caliber pistol at Boyd and his friend Bradley Williams following a near miss Strickland also told Boyd in a recorded call that he had picked Jones specifically, and told the captain overseeing that Boyd was 'a good guy'. He also told Boyd that he had been assured from Horry County Solicitor Jimmy Richardson that the prosecutor assigned in the case agreed with Jones's view that he acted in self-defense. Richardson refuted this to the Wall Street Journal, saying: 'Absolutely no assurances were ever made to or about Mr. Boyd by anyone in our office.' Strickland informed Boyd that within a week the whole case would be wrapped up, and even apologized about his gun and truck being seized. They then laughed when Strickland offered to buy Boyd's 2022 Dodge Ram truck for a fraction of the price. Strickland also inquired about buying a 5-carat diamond engagement ring from Boyd, after his ex-fiancee had returned it to him on the day of the shooting. Boyd said: 'We'll work something out', before going on to speak about arranging a boy's night with their other friends in law enforcement. Days after that call, Boyd then rang up Jones to complain about anonymous callers ringing his restaurant to accuse him of murder. He asked the police department to put out a statement clearing his name, Jones told him: 'Chill. Let everything kind of work itself out, bud.' Spivy's Silverado is seen here on the scene, his body was left inside and hauled away to a lot The windshield of Boyd's truck is seen here. The tablet that would have captured the whole scene is seen directly in the middle of the dashboard From what bodycam clips are available, Officer Kerry Higgs could be seen arriving on the scene with his lights and siren on. Boyd tells him: 'He shot us first', before gesturing to other drivers saying: 'They saw everything'. Higgs checks if Spivey was alive, before calling in for an update, saying: 'I got multiple witnesses stating that the victim had jumped out and brandished a pistol.' The outlet reported that Higgs had been on the scene for a matter of minutes and hadn't interviewed anyone but Boyd, according to the clip. Paramedics and fire crews soon arrived on the scene, with four of them examining Spivey's body, identifying a wound in his torso. According to Higgs bodycam footage, they started to question the wound as the bullet appeared to enter from his back. Paramedic Jeremiah Zimmerman asked Higgs: 'A question, because I'm nosy. If Boyd shot him in the back, is he at fault now?', Higgs told him no. Around 30 minutes passed before detectives and a local prosecutor arrived on the scene, with officer Damon Vescovi turning to Higgs. He asks Higgs 'are you off?', referring to his body camera. There are no more bodycam clips for the next hour. Boyd is seen here raising his arms and speaking with officer Kerry Higgs at the scene of the shooting in bodycam footage Paramedic Jeremiah Zimmerman, left, is seen here questioning if Boyd could be held at fault for the shooting By the time officers turned their cameras back on Spivey's truck had been towed to a police impound across the county, his body was still inside it. Prior to the incident, Spivey had been drinking it a local bar for several hours before deciding to get behind the wheel of his truck. Foley and her parents had arrived on the scene and were told the news, but the truck and Spivy were already 20 miles away across the county. A crime-scene investigator took photos of his body before rolling him out of the vehicle and onto a body bag on the ground. He was stripped in order to photograph his injuries, and rigor mortis had already stiffened his body. Jones watched on as Spivey was looked over at the impound before ruling a few hours later that Spivy had fired first and Williams and Boyd had acted in self defense. The witnesses that had the best look at what happened are Frank McMurrough and his wife, who have visiting the area from Virginia. McMurrough told officers that he saw Spivey get out clutching a pistol that was by his side. 'He told the guy [Boyd] do not follow me anymore. The guy in the black truck kind of moved his pistol and the guy in the white truck just unloaded a complete magazine', he said. He added that he never saw Spivey shoot, and recalled only seeing Boyd pointing his pistol at Spivey. A police officer is seen here speaking with Weldon Boyd following the shooting The state attorney general's office reviewed the case and ruled that they would not be filing charges against Boyd, seen here Four days after the shooting, Foley found out via phone call that Boyd and Williams had been cooperating and they would be turning over their phones. Detective Jones had assured her in the call, that she recorded, saying: 'Let me assure you of this. I was at that scene. 'Everybody was a victim, everybody was a suspect. Everybody still is a victim. Everybody still is a suspect.' The next day, Strickland told Boyd on the phone: 'I can't officially tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you, you-all are good to go.' In the days after the shooting, Boyd had also told his mother about his concerns of being labeled a murderer. He told her: 'Spiveys family might say that I knew that the guy had a gun, but yet I still pursued him as if I was looking for a fight, and that Scott was scared and got out and thought he was defending himself against me. 'They're gonna make me out to be a murderer.' Following a seven month investigation by local officers, the state attorney general's office reviewed the file following complaints from the family of Spivey. In April of last year, the family were called to meet with assistant general Heather Weiss who said she would be closing the case and not filing charges against Boyd. The office cited a lack of evidence in the case in their decision to close the case. Following a seven month investigation by local officers, the state attorney general's office reviewed the file following complaints from the family of Spivey, seen here Boyd, left, and Williams, right, are seen here on the rear of Boyd's trailer following the shooting Weiss said that Spivey had brandished his gun, and that under South Carolina's stand-your-ground laws Boyd and Williams had the right to follow him. Foley's lawyer Mark Tinsley, told the outlet this idea was offensive - finding it hard to believe a person could follow a driver for 9 miles and claim self-defense. He said: 'How do you stand your ground when youre chasing someone elses?' Foley and Tinsley had been working through the trove of evidence that was handed over to them after filing their suit when she found the recordings. The next day, Tinsley started questioning Boyd, and did not let on that the recorded conversations had been uncovered. He asked him: 'If you chased Mr. Spivey, do you think you can claim self-defense?', Boyd responded: 'I didnt chase Mr. Spivey.' Despite this, Tinsley was sitting on a recorded call of Boyd to his mother which portraits a different story. Boyd told her: 'I was like, "he just ran me off the road and aimed a gun at Bradley's head? F*** this guy. 'I chased him. Oh I was on his ass, and his truck couldn't outrun my truck, and he knew it. So yeah he was terrified.' Strickland, seen here, had to stand down from his position following a probe on him the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division over alleged misconduct in connection with the case Tinsley later asked him: 'Youre not gonna apologize for anything, right?', 'No, sir', he responded. 'Because you loved it?', Tinsley asked. Boyd responded: 'I wouldnt say that. I might have - I mean, I might have made a comment that Id like to see if youd show it to me.' A recording of Boyd telling Williams on the day of the shooting that 'he had a f****** blast', and that he 'had a good time'. He also grilled Boyd over a dash-mounted tablet inside his truck, and whether it recorded the encounter with Spivey. Boyd said it did not. State investigators however said they received a screenshot last February of a text Boyd had sent his ex-fiancee. In it, he said that he 'had a video' of Spivey aiming at passing vehicles, according to the state law enforcement division. The state said that they passed this on to the police, but the outlet report that the text is noticeably absent from the case file handed over by cops. Prior to the incident, Spivey had been drinking it a local bar for several hours before deciding to get behind the wheel of his truck Boyd furiously claimed he was being defamed by new coverage of Spivey's killing...and warned that lawsuits are imminent Tinsley then approached the Horry County Attorney David Jordan about the case, asking him: 'Have you listened to all these calls? Because if you haven't, you need to.' Jordan called him back days later, questioning over 'how the f*** weren't these guys charged.' He then informed the police chief about the recordings. Strickland was forced to resign from his job and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division now faces calls to reopen the investigation into Spivey's death. His lawyers told the Wall Street Journal that the recorded conversations were all 'braggadocio' and that he hadn't exerted any influence on the case. According to the outlet he had been unaware that he was recorded, his lawyer Bert von Herrmann said: 'Theres a huge difference between public corruption and poor taste.' Horry County leaders are now asking state officials to reopen the investigation into Spivey's death. In a letter to Governor Henry McMaster dated April 17, Councilman Johnny Gardner said he 'felt there was an apparent conflict of interest with the shooter.' Boyd's restaurant Buoys On The Boulevard is seen here, after removing his own Facebook page he decided to share a large statement to the establishments Despite his Facebook having been taken down, he has continued to post on the Facebook of his restaurant Most recently, Boyd has removed his Facebook page after just last week saying that lawsuits would follow those sharing the 'flat out lies' about the case. Despite his Facebook disappearing, he has continued to post on the Facebook of his restaurant. In a lengthy post, Boyd said 'there are no secret recordings' adding 'there can be no cover up of a crime, when there was no crime'. The case is the biggest police corruption scandal to hit South Carolina since lawyer Alex Murdaugh murdered his wife Maggie and their 22 year-old son Paul at the family's hunting lodge in 2021. It subsequently emerged the Murdaugh family had been linked to three other horrific deaths, but gotten away with all of them. Alex Murdaugh was heir to a legal dynasty which had held powerful prosecutorial positions in his native Coleton County for decades. Locals said for decades that the Murdaughs had been too rich and powerful for justice, but Alex now rots in jail while the family's reputation lies in tatters. The mother of a British man who died in Spain has accused authorities of a 'cover-up' after finally receiving his autopsy results, which revealed multiple injuries and signs of a struggle. Brett Dryden, 35, was found dead at his home in Mojacar on the Costa Almeria on July 22. His mother Sandra Adams said authorities initially told her that her son - who leaves behind his young daughter, Charley - had died of a pulmonary embolism. But according to the autopsy report, seen by MailOnline, there were definite 'signs of a struggle' and Mr Dryden had multiple head injuries at the time of his death, including a four-cm gash to the head. Last week Ms Adams made the heartbreaking journey to where Mr Dryden died, in a voyage she described as 'soul destroying'. The trip coincided with what would have been his 36th birthday - and Ms Adams was joined by extended family and friends. She had planned to stage a protest against Spanish authorities, but cancelled this after learning she could face prosecution without giving them 40 days notice. Now Ms Adams is searching for answers about what happened to her son, and said authorities in Spain were extremely reluctant to hand over a copy of the autopsy report. She fears police are reticent to investigate for fear of damaging the tourism trade. Brett Dryden, 35, was found dead at his home in Mojacar on the Costa Almeria on July 22 (Pictured during a trip to Disneyland days before his death) His mother Sandra Adams said authorities initially told her that her son - who leaves behind his young daughter, Charley - had died of a pulmonary embolism According to the Spanish report, Mr Dryden was found with a number of injuries after his death, including to his legs, arms, head and neck. Some of these were found to be fingernail marks to his face, suggesting he had attempted to fight off an attacker. Mr Dryden's injuries included abrasions to both knees, and abrasions and bruising to his right arm. He had a contusion to the left side of his face, an abrasion to the right cheekbone, nail wounds to his lips and neck, and further abrasions to his chin and lips. There was also a four-centimetre wound with irregular edges to his head, and bruising to his ear, eye and skull on his left side. During their internal examination, pathologists also found internal bleeding to the right side of his head and 'intense encephalic congestion' - an injury resulting in the brain's blood vessels becoming swollen and congested. Police initially told the family that Mr Dryden had been attacked, possibly with an axe, before authorities backtracked and said he had died of a pulmonary embolism. Now the autopsy report reveals police had admitted to pathologists after their autopsy that Mr Dryden had been the victim of a home invasion. The report stated: 'During the examination signs of a struggle were observed on the body such as droplets of blood in various locations on the body. Ms Adams travelled to Spain alongside family and friends last week to commemorate Mr Dryden's death on what would have been his 36th birthday According to the Spanish report, Mr Dryden was found with a number of injuries after his death, including to his legs, arms, head and neck 'The judicial police subsequently said he had suffered a robbery in his own home.' But his family say police have refused to acknowledge the robbery when speaking with them. Speaking to MailOnline, mother Ms Adams revealed she had spoken to her son on the morning of his death and had seen them on a trip to Disneyland Paris just two days before - a birthday gift for his young daughter. She described him on their final FaceTime call as 'dead happy'. She continued: 'He looked well and happy and we were talking about our upcoming visit [to Spain]. He was his normal self.' She added she was worried someone in Brett's close circle of friends in Spain could have information about his death, saying his dog was also home at the time of the attack and was unharmed. Ms Adams said: 'All I know is somebody hurt my boy and if it's the last thing I do in my life I will get justice. 'It's terrible to not have any answers all this time later. I try not to imagine what happened because I would just crumble. 'I just want to know what's happened to my boy and then maybe I can move on with my life.' Speaking to MailOnline, mother Ms Adams revealed she had spoken to her son on the morning of his death and had seen them on a trip to Disneyland Paris just two days before Mr Dryden had lived in Mojacar for five years and was found dead by friends on July 22 last year Mr Dryden had lived in Mojacar for five years and set up a legal cannabis club called The Dawg House. He was found dead by friends on July 22 last year when he didn't return from a siesta and officers initially told them 'there's been a violent murder' and that he had been hit with an axe. His cash savings, designer Gucci glasses and phone were later discovered to be missing. CCTV footage also shows three men running away from Brett's home on the night he died, his neighbours told his stepfather Robert. Sandra is now planning on returning to Mojacar on the anniversary of his death in July to hold a protest saying that she 'won't rest until I get justice'. A court spokesman previously said of the case: 'The investigation hasn't been suspended or closed. It is still open and this incident remains under investigation. 'The court is waiting for the Civil Guard to complete their full report and present their conclusions. For the time being there's nothing more we can say.' Pauline Hanson's hands are trembling and her stomach in knots as she feels the walls slowly closing in around her - her every move closely monitored by troubled prison guards who are worried she may try to take her own life. Little do they know, the One Nation party leader fears this too. It is August 2003, and the one-time fish-and-chip shop owner has just been wrongly sentenced to three years in jail for electoral fraud - a ruling that would ultimately be overturned on appeal, though not before she has spent 11 weeks locked up in Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre. Even now, two decades on, the firebrand Queensland senator believes that first night behind bars could very all have been her last were it not for her then-young daughter, and now One Nation senatorial candidate, Lee Hanson. 'I'll never forget the night they took me to prison,' the country's most recognisable politician tells Daily Mail Australia. 'I was in the prison hospital ward... and I didn't know what was going to happen. 'Then I turned on the TV and saw my daughter, Lee, who was just 19 at the time. 'The way she spoke on that TV that night, I just sat there listened to her: the way she held her head high, and how she defended me and said she was proud of her mother. Senator Pauline Hanson and her daughter Lee Hanson caught up with Daily Mail Australia for some fish and chips and a candid interview about their complex relationship while on the campaign trail in Tasmania Pauline Hanson spent 11 weeks in prison after being wrongly convicted of electoral fraud in 2003 before her sentence was overturned on appeal Hanson credits her then-19-year-old daughter Lee (seen visiting her in Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre with brothers Adam Hanson and Tony Zagorski) with helping to save her life in her darkest moments after being locked up 'She was devastated, of course, but the way she stood by me in the light of all that had happenedit is the proudest moment of my entire life, and something I've never forgotten. It will stay with me always.' It's a moment that Lee Hanson says she will never forget either - an enduring memory as painful for her now as it was more than 22 years ago. 'I was in New Zealand when I found out that Mum had been sent to prison,' the now 41-year-old mum-of-two recalls. 'I wasn't going to go because of the court case, but it was my first time overseas and Mum insisted, she said, "Go. Don't be stupid. Nothing's going to happen to me, it's whole bunch of rubbish." And so, I went. 'I remember getting the call and being told Mum had been sent to prison - I was absolutely devastated I wasn't there with her and that I couldn't do anything for Mum or my family. 'So I did want I could - a live-cross on the news. I tried to be strong for Mum but ended up breaking down in tears in the middle of it because I was just in shock and disbelief. 'I later learned that Mum was on suicide watch at the time because of how much the prison sentence had impacted her and she was at that ultimate low point in her life. 'And I managed to talk to her, even if it was through the TV, and let her know I'd always be by her side no matter what. 'Sorry,' she says, her voice quivering. 'I'm getting all upset just thinking about it.' As difficult as it is to dwell on the memory, it's a private moment Senator Hanson is open to sharing for the first time because, she says, she believes it underscores the daughter's courage and loyalty as she makes her first tilt at in public office. Hansons hoping to make political history In little more than a week, Senator Hanson hopes Lee will join her in making Australian political history as the first mother and daughter in history to have served together in country's federal upper house. After years of actively avoiding the cut and thrust of the world of politics, Lee has joined her mother's One Nation party, announcing last month she was running as a Senate candidate in her home state of Tasmania. The former real estate agent and human resources executive is campaigning on the same core values that has made her mother a mainstay of conservative politics and hopes to take votes away from sitting senator Jacqui Lambie and her party. Senator Hanson says her daughter's decision to stand for office has been a long time coming, having wrestled for much of her life with growing up in her famous mother's shadow. 'It was actually only very recently that Lee came to me and said, "Mum, this is something I'm interested in doing",' the elder Hanson says. Lee and Pauline Hanson are hoping to make Australian political history this month as the first mother-daughter double-act to represent the country in the nation's senate The younger Hanson is running for her mother's eponymous political party, Pauline Hanson's One Nation, in Tasmania where she hopes to topple sitting senator Jacqui Lambie 'For a long time, she resisted it and didn't have any desire to follow me into politics at all - for years she wasn't interested in that world at all. 'I even spoke to her before the last election [in 2022], and she wasn't ready, because she felt her two sons were too young, and she didn't want to be away from the children. 'Having seen everything I had been through - both the highs and the lows - she has always struggled with idea of political life. 'She would always say, "Mum, I'm not you - I don't know if I can do it." 'And I'd say, "Don't underestimate yourself, honey. You're not me. You're not Pauline Hanson, but no one wants you to be - they want you to be your own person and find your own path in life". 'It just so happens that, in the end, that path has led her into politics after all.' Racism, death threats and coming full circle All parents are naturally protective of their children, but Pauline Hanson admits she still feels pangs of guilt about the difficulties her high profile - and often controversial policy stances - caused for her daughter throughout her childhood and adolescence. But for Lee, it's the only life she has ever known. She was just 12-years-old when her mother stormed to prominence in September 1996 as the newly elected member for Oxley in western Brisbane. She attracted widespread criticism that she was a racist by warning in her maiden speech that Australia was at risk of being 'swamped by Asians'. 'Growing up with me as a mother was extremely hard on Lee,' Senator Hanson says. Born in 1984, Lee is Hanson's fourth child and only daughter, and has an older brother, Adam, and two older half brothers, Tony and Steven. A one-time fish and chip shop owner, Pauline Hanson rose to fame after being elected as the federal member for Oxley, in Ipswich, in 1996 The fledging politician faced accusations she was a racists after she claimed Australia was at risk of being 'swamped by Asians' during her maiden speech in parliament (pictured) 'As a single mother and a politician, it was impossible to juggle everything and I ended up having to put the kids into boarding school because I just couldn't do my job and have my children at home at the same time,' Senator Hanson says. 'Lee absolutely hated it - it was particularly difficult for her: She got constantly teased about she was my daughter and even had threats made against her life [in 1997] and the federal police had to get her out of Ipswich [where she was going to school]. 'And then with my prison time, that was another blow to her, for her to have to come see me in those surrounds; she's had to deal with a hell of a lot.' Despite her challenging childhood, Lee insists she has never felt embarrassed or ashamed of her mother's outspoken political views - though, she admits she has struggled at times with the way she has been publicly portrayed. 'I know it sounds silly, but Mum's just Mum, right?' she tells Daily Mail Australia. 'The woman I know is loving and caring - I love my mum and I've never seen this false perception that has been portrayed of her as the racist or whatever. That's not the woman I know. 'And it's a struggle because, when it's someone you love and care about. you don't want anyone to think negatively or poorly off them if that is not who they are. Lee Hanson says she has always been proud of her mum (pictured together in 2004) but is often frustrated by the way she falsely portrayed in public 'It's really hard not to take it personally and get defensive but it's taught me a lot about what sort of person I want to be and how I want to live my life. 'I don't want to be one of those people who has pre-conceived opinions or judges others before they've done their research and understand where they're coming from. 'I want to be a better person and approach life in a way that gives people a go, the same way I've always wanted people to give Mum a go. 'And I think that kind of seen me come full circle: from growing up saying it was a definite 'no', that I didn't do what Mum does because I'd seen what she's been through, to where I am at now. 'You know, being a mother myself, my mindset has really changed where I feel now I actually have duty to stand up and fight our children and their future.' Hitting the roof in the Hanson household They say an apple never falls far from the tree - but Pauline Hanson jokingly insists Lee has all of her virtues and none of her vices. Like any proud parent, she sees only the best in her beloved girl. 'I'm love my daughter and I'm continually amazed by her, mostly because I don't see myself in her at all - but in a good way!' she laughs. 'Lee's very different to me. I'm very strong in my views and will go out and express them in a strong way. 'Lee is more consultative the way she goes about things - not that I don't consult people! It's hard to explain really.' Typically, Lee knows just what her mother means. 'Mum's certainly more... polarising,' she laughs. 'Mum is very blunt and very direct - even with me. 'She cracks me up because she's always so direct and straight forward. For all their shared views, Pauline and Lee Hanson say they are actually have quite different personalities and approaches to life However, the duo (pictured together in 2002) share an unbreakable bond forged by the trials and tribulations they have tackled together over the past three decades 'She'll ring me and I'll be like, "What are you up to?" And she'll say, "Oh, I'm up on the roof cleaning the gutters." 'I'll be like, "What the bloody hell are you doing on the roof - you're 70 years of age, woman!" 'And she'll say, "Stop being so bloody stupid, Lee. The gutters need cleaning and I'm quite capable so I'm not going to get someone to come and clean them for me; don't be stupid!" 'Whereas I probably have a softer delivery style to Mum,' she adds, still laughing. 'And I hope by doing that, I can actually cut through the false perceptions of who Mum is and who One Nation truly represents, and show people that we genuinely care and, in a practical, common-sense way, want to help Australians.' One Nation - and one topic they disagree on Running through One Nation's list of policies with Pauline and Lee Hanson ahead of the election, it's quickly apparent mother and daughter are united on most fronts... But even they admit they don't see eye to eye on absolutely everything. 'We think the same, basically, about a lot of things,' Senator Hanson says. 'But Lee has just raised a couple of things over the years that I don't agree with at all. 'The main thing we disagree on is that I believe that, when you run business, you have the right to advertise for whether you want hire a male or female to work for you - if it's your business so you should be able to choose. 'Lee will say, "Mum, you can't do that." But I'll say, "Business owners know who they want to hire and what will work best for their businesses - so why waste everyone's time?' 'When I had the fish and chip shop, I needed someone to come in and help for a few hours once a week - and I wanted them to be female, I didn't want to hire a man, that wasn't going to work for me. 'But Lee said, "Mum, you can't do that. You need to advertise for both males and females." Pauline and Lee Hanson admit they don't see eye to eye on everything - and never shy away from having a robust conversation about their differing views Senator Hanson strongly believes small businessowners should have the right to be upfront about who they want to hire - a view formed by her years running a fish and chip shop - while her daughter Lee believes it is important not to discriminate based on gender 'I said, "I'm paying the wages. I know who I want so why should I have males turn up and applying for the job when I don't want a male? Why put people through that? Why put me through that?" 'I'm sorry, I've got very strong views on this, whereas Lee has a difference of opinion on that.' Indeed, Lee agrees to disagree. 'We don't actually butt heads, Mum's always been really good my whole life about stuff like this,' she says. 'But when we do have a difference in opinion about issues and topics, Mum will be keen to talk about it and we'll have a challenging conversation and both listen to each other. We don't always come to a consensus and that's okay. 'And this is one of those issues where we just don't see eye to eye - I can see where Mum is coming from, but in my opinion, you should not disadvantage someone or make assumptions based on their gender. 'Sure, there are certain jobs that can be gender-specific but my view is don't assume, because I've seen too many instances where people have been proven wrong and the best person for the job isn't the one they first thought they would be.' Mum's the word on final pitch for parliament Disagreements, though, prove to be few and far between, with both Pauline and Lee Hanson adamant the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and rising real estate prices remained the most important issues affecting everyday Australians. They are topics they hope they can soon work on tackling together in the Australian Senate before the elder Hanson recontests her own seat at the next federal election in 2028. 'To be honest, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be in politics,' Senator Hanson confides. 'I will definitely see my term out, and I will stand at the next election, but it'd be nice to have that opportunity to actually work with my daughter in parliament as a team before I retire. Pauline Hanson says her daughter has been by her side through thick and thin (pictured attending court together while the senator was facing electoral fraud charges in 2002) ... and that she hopes Lee has the chance to show Australia just how courageous and loyal she can be 'I am very proud of Lee. Always have been. She's my only daughter, and I just find that, apart from mother-daughter, we're great friends as well - and I know she will be a great senator. 'She's a caring, loving person and this is not just going to be a job for her it. She'll take it on with passion and gusto and really represent the people of Tasmania.' And she'll do it, Senator Hanson insists, with the same courage and loyalty she offered her all those years ago, when she was at her lowest ebb in that prison ward in 2003. 'What would I ultimately say to people about Lee?' she says. 'I'd say, "You underestimated me... Do not underestimate my daughter. She's one lady who will always stand up for what she believes - and stand by the people who need her when times get tough - trust me, I know from personal experience".' If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. Debra Mapes struggled for words when her identical twin sister, Diane Bowerman, called her and their mother, Jean, from jail and simply said: 'I didn't do it.' It was August 6, 1987, and Bowerman had been arrested two days earlier for murder after her lover, Matt Nickel, was found bludgeoned to death on the floor of his apartment in Seattle, Washington. The attack was so brutal that Nickel could only be identified through his dental records. Now detectives were accusing Bowerman of hiring the hitman who killed him. As she listened to her sister's voice that day Debra wanted more than anything to believe Bowerman's assertions of innocence. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail she admits: 'When you're caught in the unknown, you really don't want to believe that your identical twin could have committed such a horrific crime.' Little did she know that worse was to come. Because, though the sisters share the same DNA, their lives could not be more different nor their relationship more fractured. And, as Debra would come to learn, her sister was capable of even more heinous acts than she could have imagined. According to Debra the girls, who grew up in Seattle, did so in an abusive household where both were subjected to sexual abuse by their stepfather from the age of 11. Shockingly, she claims, their mother Jean was aware of what was going on but turned a blind eye. To this day Debra, now 72, refers to her late mother not as 'mom' but by her first name. Identical twins Debra Mapes (left) and Diane Bowerman as young women. The sisters took very different paths in life one becoming a career woman and mother, the other destined for prison. Bowerman (left) and Debra during a prison visit when they were in their mid-50s. ''I would put a brave face on things and try and smile through it all,' Debra says. 'I guess it was partly because I didn't want her to know she had gotten to me.' But where some might expect the shared trauma to tighten the sisters' bond, the opposite seems to have been true for Debra and Bowerman who did not confide in each other until they were 13 about the abuse they were enduring. Psychologist Nancy Segal, who has reviewed the case in her position as director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, says the sisters' lack of connection goes against scientific findings. 'It's a puzzle to try to figure out how, when these two people have the same genes, they could have such disparate personalities,' she says. She says that dire situations such as abuse will often result in twins developing a mutual support system. Still, she adds: 'Sometimes, when things are so dysfunctional, it can lead to all kinds of desperate moves.' In truth, Debra and Bowerman seemed set on very different paths from adolescence. Where Debra was popular at high school, Bowerman was introverted and, Debra reflects, displayed the jealousy that, she believes, would come to poison the pair's relationship. Debra fled the family home to move in with friends at 15, before leaving their native city of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. In later years she learned that Bowerman, who didn't leave until she was 21, felt abandoned by her. 'I worried about her constantly,' Debra says. 'But, when I tried to reach out and ask if it was still going on, she didn't want my help.' Debra was determined to carve out a life for herself, becoming a bookkeeper in Coeur D'Alene and marrying her husband, Chuck, when she was 21 and he was 24. She gave birth to two sons across the next three years. She was eight months pregnant with her first when she and Chuck moved back to her home state of Washington, setting up home less than an hour away from Bowerman. But if she hoped the proximity might mend their strained relationship, she was disappointed. She says: 'Things had already gotten worse after I married and had children.' The twin sisters with Diane on the left had been horribly abused by their stepfather. Sadly, they were unable to support each other during the ordeal. It led to bitter repercussions. Bowerman accused her sister of being too busy as a mother and career woman to spend time with her and the jealousy which had lurked since girlhood raised its head once more. While Debra's life was settled a husband, two children and a home with a swimming pool and white picket fence Bowerman's was chaotic as she bounced from one failed romance to the next. According to Debra her sister wanted what she already had. She admits: 'Diane had always been very competitive, but now she wanted a young family and a nice home.' When handsome and funny Matt Nickel entered the picture in 1981 Bowerman seemed to be within touching distance of having it. Debra says: 'It was obvious that Diane thought he was 'the one' and I hoped so, too.' But after six years of on-and-off dating, and with Nickel apparently reluctant to take the next step, the couple split, and Nickel moved onto another woman. For Bowerman, Debra now believes, this was a breaking point. Because despite her initial reluctance to believe her sister capable of ordering a cold-blooded hit on a man she once claimed to love - even finding an attorney to defend her - when the case came to trial in February 1988, she was forced to face the awful truth. The evidence against her sister was damning. Bowerman had tried to point the finger at Nickel's new girlfriend. But the man she was accused of hiring to kill her ex a mutual friend called James Hutcheson, then 29 admitted the whole sordid scheme to police. The identical twins were born in Seattle in April 1953. Debra went on to call their mother by her first name, Jean, because the family became dysfunctional after Jean married the girls' abusive stepfather. Debra (left) and her identical twin, pictured as teens, often dressed alike. 'We were like two peas in a pod,' Debra says about their common looks. He told investigators that Debra had hired him to kill Nickel in exchange for $5,000 half of which was paid upfront with the other half due after the murder. Hutcheson had broken into Nickel's apartment in Seattle and waited for him to return from work. 'I was shocked when I heard his version of events,' Debra says. Hutcheson was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in December 1987. Two months later some of his testimony was heard at Bowerman's trial during which prosecutors portrayed her as a 'Fatal Attraction'-type killer, who has been jealous and enraged about Nickel's new girlfriend. The jury heard about the more than 40 telephone calls between Bowerman and Hutcheson during which she engaged his services. And they learned that she went with him to hire the car which contained the tire iron with which Nickel was so brutally beaten. Prosecutors said that, after she was arrested, police asked her, 'What brought you to this?' They said that Bowerman answer: 'I was jealous. My feelings were hurt and I was angry.' The two-week trial drew national attention with Debra's daily attendance sparking something of a media frenzy. Journalists couldn't get enough of the twins' identical looks, noting that Debra's presence in the courtroom confused people who saw Bowerman standing in the dock. Debra, pictured today at the age 72. She says she doesn't think she will ever see her twin sister again. Her sibling was sentenced to life without parole for aggravated murder in 1988. 'Sometimes it feels that two women are on trial for murder in King County Superior court, not just Diane Elaine Bowerman,' one reporter wrote. When Bowerman was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, Debra leapt up to console her sister before she was led back to her cell. She recalls: 'I put my arms around her, and we just cried and cried at least for as long as we were allowed to by the guards. 'We'd had our differences, and I knew she was guilty by then, but I also saw a vulnerable woman with a bleak future.' In the coming months, as Bowerman settled into life at Washington Corrections Center for Women in Purdy, Debra made a point of making the 40 minute drive from her home in Auburn to visit her around once a month. It had initially taken some time for her to get clearance to visit because of her status as an identical twin. After that, Debra says, she would be stamped with a black-light mark on both her wrist and ankle so she could be identified when leaving the jail. 'They were concerned we might swap places after I'd been coerced into doing so,' she tells the Daily Mail. At first, Bowerman seemed touched by her visits even grateful. But then she started making vicious phone calls to her sister. 'She accused me of deserting her for the second time because she said I'd 'left her behind,' with Larry and Jean,' Debra says. 'All of a sudden, I became the villain.' In 1995, Debra and Chuck divorced. Their marriage had ended, she says, because 'he didn't want to be associated with the identical twin of a convicted murderer. He didn't like the notoriety.' Bowerman began a vendetta against her twin in prison, even threatening her in letters to relatives and friends. Here she writes, 'And I pray every day that Debbie Mapes will rot in 'hell.' I'll also make sure of that. Debra (left) and Bowerman pictured in their 20s. Psychologist Nancy Segal, who studies relationships between twins, says their lack of connection is unusual among sisters who share the exact same DNA. Yet despite Bowerman's words Debra felt sorry for her. Segal, the twins expert, isn't surprised to hear of this complex reaction. 'These sisters are intertwined in a way they just can't walk away from the twin-ship.' She says that, even though Diane was horrified by Bowerman's actions, she was programmed to try to build a connection. She sent Bowerman $100 a month to pay for phone calls from prison and continued to visit every few weeks or so. 'I would put a brave face on things and try and smile through it all,' she says. 'I guess it was partly because I didn't want her to know she had gotten to me.' Then, just over a decade into her sister's sentence, Debra was shocked to learn that her twin had begun writing letters to relatives that were full of bile towards her. In these letters Bowerman admitted that she was jealous of Debra's lifestyle and, according to Debra, included terrifying threats to her life. In one written to their aunt who shared it with Debra, Bowerman wrote that she wanted to break out of prison and kill her sister. In another, seen by the Mail, Bowerman states: 'I pray every day that Debbie rots in hell. And I'll make sure of that.' Debra says: 'My cousin warned me that my life was in danger because Diane had all sort of connections in the criminal world. I was scared.' And as if that wasn't bad enough, Debra claims Bowerman then embarked on a campaign in which she tried to blame her twin for committing the horrific crime for which she had been convicted. Incredibly, Debra says that Bowerman told two of her best friends that it was her sister who had murdered Nickel in an apparent campaign to pin the blame on her innocent twin. She says: 'It was ridiculous to think that as a respectable, law-abiding mom of two, I would drive down to Seattle and kill my sister's boyfriend that night. I couldn't believe that she was trying to pin it on me. She is a sociopath.' Debra, who relocated to Palm Desert, California when she was 60, stopped visiting her sister following the move. But Bowerman remained intent, she says, on spreading vindictive lies about her innocent sibling. Behind the smiles, Debra (left) and her twin were bitter rivals This photograph showing Bowerman (left) and Debra was taken inside the maximum security prison where Bowerman is serving life without parole. Debra has heard that her twin is about to be transferred to a secure assisted living facility. According to Debra, Bowerman has falsely claimed that she contacted the governor of Washington to nix her plea for clemency in 2020. 'I did no such thing,' she says. 'If anything, I think she might as well be released. She is too old to kill anyone else.' An appeal against Bowerman's conviction had previously been denied in 1990 and a further bid for review ended in failure when the Supreme Court of Washington affirmed her conviction and sentence the following year. Debra recently learned that Bowerman was in poor health and was about to be admitted to a guarded assisted living facility, although, at the time of writing, she was still in custody at Washington Corrections Center for Women. 'I'm very sorry that she is sick,' says Debra, who thinks it is unlikely she will ever see her twin again. 'But I can never forget what she has said and written about me. 'People ask whether she has ruined my life, but I wouldn't go as far as that.' To this day Debra, now living in Phoenix, Arizona, struggles to reconcile herself with the fact that the two women who shared everything from their genetic code to their traumatic childhood could have turned out so differently. She says: 'We have identical genes and came into the world within a few minutes of each other. We look like peas in a pod, but our personalities are poles apart.' She reflects: It's sad that we never shared a bond like most other twins. But, even if we had, I don't know if I could have changed the route that Diane chose to take.' Do you have a powerful story to share? Please send details to jane.ridley@mailonline.com For over 100 years it has been known as the 'town of flowers', but economic turmoil, bomb hoaxes and royal snubs mean things are far from rosy in Shrewsbury. Last week, the organiser's of Shrewsbury Flower Show announced they were cancelling this years events meaning the town will go without its flagship event for just the fourth time since 1854. The Shropshire Horticultural Society cited 'changes to National Insurance (NI) and the minimum wage' alongside rising security costs making the event unsustainable. In 2024 alone, the festival was forced to spend over 150,000 on additional security and barriers due to disruption at the 2023 event. However, furious residents and business owners have hit back at the news, accusing festival organiser's of being 'too cocky' and even suggesting that the absence of any royals at the show last year 'killed' it. The 2020s have not been kind to the event with the 2020 iteration cancelled by Covid and the 2023 addition being derailed by a bomb hoax. Although the event made a successful return in 2024, attendees complained of intense security arrangements making parts of the town unnavigable. This year's festival would have likely required even more security due to the effect of the new Martyn's Law - a new bill that require all premises with a capacity of more than 200 to ensure they have a plan in place for an attack. Residents and business owners in Shrewsbury reeling from the news that their historic flower show has been cancelled The 2023 festival was derailed by a bomb threat which later turned out to be a hoax When MailOnline visited the town this week the atmosphere of mistrust and anger towards the festival was palpable The cancellation seems excusable in the current economic environment, however when MailOnline visited the town this week the atmosphere of mistrust and anger towards the festival was palpable. Many hospitality businesses in the town count the long August weekend over which the festival runs as the busiest of their year. Rooms in hotels and bed and breakfasts can often be booked up years in advance, but this year, they will be empty, costing many venues thousands in lost revenue. One such business owner is Danielle Ditella, who runs the trendy bar The Loopy Shrew as well as some local B&Bs. She told the MailOnline: 'We will be losing thousands because of it, others will lose more. We are guaranteed the B&B business during the festival and some of the rooms are actually booked up a full year in advance. 'We won't necessarily get the trade back. It will really affect the town's economy. There has been a decline in the festival over the last few years, it hadn't really kept up with the times if I'm honest. 'We're the town of flowers without a flower show. I would like to think we can replace it with something else. 'The government need to wake up and see how desperate the hospitality industry is.' These sentiments were concurred by a local landlord set to be heavily affected by the lack of trade. He said: 'It's always been popular and brings thousands of people here every summer. That's a lot of people suddenly not coming to Shrewsbury every year. We're known for it and have lost our identity overnight.' Danielle Ditella, who runs the trendy bar The Loopy Shrew as well as some local B&Bs, says she will lose thousands Some locals fear the festival is a key part of their identity and they will be poorer without it For over 100 years, the festival has been held in the town park named the Quarry Despite what outsiders might think, local feeling towards their town's signature event is far from rosy. Although they are known as the town of flowers, many locals we spoke to expressed resentment and even jubilation towards the festival's struggles due to its perceived elitist attitude. Traditionally a favourite haunt of the royal families summer calendar, 2024's edition saw no members of the family attend - a fact that was as pleasing to some locals as it was apparently distressing for organisers. 'That killed them', one man who preferred to stay anonymous said, ' every year prices would go up and up and they'd cling to this idea that they were a 'royal event'! 'You reap what you sow in the end, local people had been priced out.' Two people who will miss the flower show are Welsh couple Gillian and Wayne Llewellyn who have been attending for over twenty years and even bought a holiday home in the town to be closer. 'One of the attractions was going to the show every year. This is the county town -you've had thoughts cost wouldn't be a problem for them', said Wayne. 'Shrewsbury will suffer for this, anywhere is a security threat', Gillian added. Two people who will miss the flower show are Welsh couple Gillian and Wayne Llewellyn The 2023 bomb hoax which evacuated the festival has since become part of local legend in the town The security threat referred to is of course the now infamous 'bomb scare' of 2023 which saw scenes of pandemonium as thousands of elderly flower enthusiasts were forced to scramble up the steep hills of the quarry after a threat was called in. West Mercia Police said it believed the 'serious threat' was a hoax however the two-day event was all but derailed. The hoax has since come part of local legend in the town. 'Everyone around here knows who called in the bomb hoax', one man tells us, 'but nobody will tell you.' The knock on effect of the hoax however saw claustrophobic security arrangements introduced for last year's show with the entire park shuttered to the public over the weekend. But many locals still believe the security costs are too convenient an excuse for the cancellation and allege darker arts were at play. One man, who refused to give his name other than 'Dave who works in hospitality' due to his reputation in the town, alleged that the ultra wealthy had clamped down on the show disturbing their weekends. He claimed: 'It's a question of funding, the government really should have stepped in. It brings so much to town, its a massive boost for the town. It will kill it, it brings in so much money in terms of hospitality and funding. 'The bomb scare element is silly, nobody would ever bomb a flower show. The security last year was over the top but locals don't think that was the reason it is gone. 'People think that the people who live in the nice houses on the river complained about the noise and crowds from the fireworks.' Some locals claim wealthy homeowners pressured for the festival to be cancelled due to noise Val and John Winchester told us they were sad that the iconic festival had been brought to its knees Despite the anger, many residents including Val and John Winchester told us they were sad that the iconic festival had been brought to its knees but said the writing had always been on the wall. Val said: 'Personally I think there's so many RHS shows around and they burned themselves trying to compete with the the others. 'They got too cocky. It became too expensive for a family to go. They were also charging trade stands an arm and a leg to even set up a pitch so they aren't coming. 'And the ones that do had to up their prices to make ends meet, one of my friends paid 5 for a Mr Whippy in there! 'The death knell was when the royals didn't come last year', John added, 'That's when you know it had properly ran out of road. 'It will have a huge knock on effect for the town obviously, it brings in a lot of money every year.' 'The security last year was ridiculous, continued Val, 'Nobody could get through the Quarry at all for the entire thing. People had to walk around the entire town to get where they needed. 'It wasn't that bad before the bomb hoax. It might be a bit far to say that person killed the town, but they've arguably killed the festival. I mean who would bomb a flower show?' MailOnline has contacted the DCMS, Shropshire County Council and the Shropshire Horticultral Society for comment. For more than two decades, one of cinema's most enduring debates has centered around a pivotal moment in Titanic: why didn't Jack climb onto the floating door with Rose? Director James Cameron has consistently defended the logistics of the scene, but a newly uncovered chapter of real Titanic history offers a much deeper and more poignant answer to this long-standing question. The answer lies in The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors, a meticulously researched book by maritime historian Steven Schwankert. The book reveals the largely forgotten stories of six Chinese men whose survival stories were nearly lost to history. Among these survivors was Fang Lang, a man whose real-life rescue after the Titanic sank directly inspired Cameron's portrayal of Jack's final moments. 'It was amazing that one of our Chinese survivors inspired one of the most iconic cinematic moments of the 20th century,' Schwankert told the Daily Mail. Cameron has penned the book's foreword in which he reveals that, while filming Titanic, he shot a scene based on the rescue of a Chinese third-class passenger found floating on debris. For over two decades, debate has raged over one of cinema's most famous moments: why didn't Jack climb onto the floating door with Rose in Titanic? Director James Cameron (pictured) has long defended the scene's logistics, but, a newly uncovered chapter of real Titanic history offers a deeper answer to the burning question Although the scene was ultimately cut from the final film, Cameron discloses that Fang Lang's survival story was the inspiration for the dramatic sequence in which Jack sacrifices his life so that Rose can stay afloat on a wooden door. 'When I made my film Titanic and told the story of fictional third-class passenger Jack Dawson, there was another storyline I filmed and wanted to include,' Cameron writes in the forthcoming book. 'And that was the real-life rescue of a third-class passenger, a Chinese man found floating on a piece of wreckage. That man's grit and determination to survive and my admiration for him inspired the now-famous Jack and Rose ending to Titanic,' Cameron revealed. Fang Lang, later known as Fong Wing Sun, was rescued by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, who returned to the wreck site with Lifeboat 14 in search of survivors. According to testimonies and survivor accounts, Fang was discovered tied to a wooden panel - likely a door or part of the ship's interior - face down and unresponsive. Fang had used a rope or a belt to secure his body to the wood. 'He had lashed himself with a rope to his frail raft, using the broken hinges to make knots secure,' Schwankert writes, referencing an interview with Charlotte Collyer, a second-class passenger who had been traveling on the ill-fated ship with her husband, Harvey, and their daughter, Marjorie. Charlotte and Marjorie left the Titanic aboard Lifeboat 14; her husband, Harvey, tragically perished in the sinking. Charlotte Collyer recalled that, when the rescue team found Fang, he looked lifeless. 'As far as we could see, he was dead,' Collyer recounted in an interview for The Semi-Monthly Magazine in May 1912. 'The sea washed over him every time the door bobbed up and down, and he was frozen stiff. He did not answer when he was hailed, and the officer hesitated about trying to save him.' Officer Lowe initially dismissed the possibility of rescuing Lang, reportedly saying, 'What's the use? He's dead, likely, and if he isn't, there's others better worth saving than a Jap.' The Six: The Untold Story of the Titanic's Chinese Survivors by maritime historian Steven Schwankert is a meticulously researched book that sheds light on a forgotten group of survivors - six Chinese men whose stories were nearly lost to history Maritime historian Steven Schwankert Despite this discriminatory remark, Lowe ultimately changed his mind, hauled Fang aboard, and watched in astonishment as he revived and immediately began rowing to assist others. 'The Japanese was hauled on board, and one of the women rubbed his chest, while others chafed his hands and feet. In less time than it takes to tell, he opened his eyes,' Collyer said. 'One of the sailors near him was so tired that he could hardly pull his oar. The Japanese bustled over, pushed him from his seat, took the oar, and worked like a hero until we were finally picked up.' Schwankert's book, based on years of research, interviews with descendants, and historical records, identifies the six Chinese survivors as Ah Lam, Chang Chip, Cheong Foo, Fang Lang (Fong Wing Sun), Lee Bing, and Ling Hee. 'A historian who has spent the last quarter-century exploring China's lakes, rivers, and seas, and delving into the country's rich maritime history, Schwankert and his team solved what was an enduring mystery - the identity and fate of Titanic's six Chinese survivors,' Cameron wrote in the foreword. After their rescue, these men were immediately expelled from the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act, and their names were largely erased from the Titanic's legacy. The book not only documents their journeys before and after the disaster but also places their experiences in the broader context of anti-Asian sentiment in early 20th-century America. As for the question of the door - whether Jack could have fit or survived - Cameron has long maintained that the physics of the situation would not support it, a sentiment echoed by the historian. Schwankert, a native of New Jersey, explained to the Daily Mail that he, along with some of his colleagues, tested the age-old door dilemma. 'The water where the Titanic sank that night was just about freezing. To be submerged in that water for any period of time, eventually, you are going to start to lose functionality,' he said. The historian, who volunteered as a test subject in 40-degree water - a bit warmer than the 28-degree waters the Titanic passengers faced - explained: 'What we ultimately determined was that you only have about 15 or 20 minutes to do anything like pull yourself up onto a floating piece of wreckage, otherwise, you'd still be conscious, but you might not have the arm strength or the hand strength to do it.' Schwankert explained that his inspiration for The Six stemmed from his deep love for everything 'on, in, and under the ocean.' He told the Daily Mail that he had been living in China when Titanic was released and that the Academy Award-winning film 'changed the landscape of cinema' in China. As for the question of the door - whether Jack could have fit or survived - Cameron has long maintained that the physics of the situation would not support it, a sentiment echoed by Schwankert. Pictured: Scenes from James Cameron's 1997 movie Titanic 'I was there in China when the Titanic movie, the James Cameron movie, was released in 1997,' he said. 'It was just a story people were crazy about. It really changed the cinema landscape there in China. Before that, people didn't go to the cinema very much.' Having lived in China for 25 years, Schwankert discovered the 'unique opportunity' to investigate the lack of knowledge about the ship's Chinese passengers. 'When I saw that there were Chinese passengers on the Titanic, I thought "that's so strange," because we know so much about various groups that were on the Titanic. It just seemed like we had so much information about those passengers but we didn't really know anything about the Chinese,' he told the Daily Mail. Compiling the survivors' information was a lengthy investigative process. 'We were able to use shipping records to identify at least their Chinese names, which made it easier to track them from ship to ship prior to boarding the Titanic,' he said. Schwankert clarified that the men, although they had worked aboard other ships, were in fact passengers on the Titanic. 'We knew that they were mariners, we knew that they were professional seamen and were working on board ships, but they were not working on board the Titanic,' he explained. 'They were passengers on the Titanic and they were being sent from the company that they worked for. They were being sent from that company's UK operations to their US operations. That's why they were passengers on board Titanic.' Schwankert added that there had been 'a lot of confusion' and 'half-truths' surrounding why these men were aboard the ship. 'They were accused for a very long time of being stowaways on Titanic and on the lifeboat that some of them escaped on,' he said. 'There was some confusion that they were part of Titanic's crew and what they were doing there in the first place.' This is the incredible moment a fearless firefighter tackled a raging inferno in a house fire in Chile. Dramatic first-person footage filmed on a GoPro by fireman Joseth Abel Espinosa shows the moment he bravely entered a building engulfed by flames in the Chilean capital of Santiago, showing viewers just how dangerous the job really is. The exhilarating three-minute-long clip shows Espinosa pointing his hose at the huge flames as he charges into the house, while pieces of burning debris fall on the ground around him. The video also shows thick, dark clouds of smoke, while sounds of water hitting the fire and Espinosa's colleagues shouting instructions at him can be heard in the background. The firefighter can also be heard breathing heavily as he and fellow firefighters move through the crumbling property. Espinosa, who works for the Third Fire Company of Nunoa in Santiago, filmed the incredible clip in November last year. While firefighters were unable to salvage the house, no injuries were reported following the devastating fire. The clip, titled 'Firefighter's Raw POV' was shared on GoPro's YouTube channel and has since racked up over 6.9 million views. Firefighter Joseth Abel Espinosa captured the incredible moment he charged into a burning video The clip has racked up nearly 7 million views on YouTube, with scores of viewers praising the firefighter for his bravery The video was shared online in November and was filmed in the Chilean capital of Santiago Viewers were quick to praise the firefighter for his heroic act, expressing their 'respect' for the profession. 'Damn that's wild', one user wrote. 'Much respect. I think we all logically know what firefighters do, but to see it from this perspective brings a whole new level of understanding'. 'I've never heard of a single firefighter not being an absolute hero. All the respect possible to them', another user added. A third commented: 'Unbelievable that a human would willingly step into a room of fire.' Espinosa's video has also been commended for giving an insight into the dangers firefighters face, while also showing their dedication and resilience when it comes to tackling fires and saving lives. Regarding the heart-stopping video, GoPro wrote: 'The brave men [and] women of the Third Fire Company of Nunoa went to work to put out the flames engulfing a burning house in Santiago, Chile. 'With a GoPro filming, the firefighting team arrived on scene, rolled out the hose, [and] sprung into action, as seen in fireman Joseth Abel Espinosa's POV. The video has also been commended for giving an insight into the dangers firefighters face Although the burning building was not saved, no injuries were reported in the fire 'While the house was lost, thankfully nobody was injured as a result. We thank our first responders [and] everyday heroes for their selfless actions day in [and] day out. Following its release in November, the video resurfaced in January amid the Los Angeles wildfires, with several social media users claiming the footage had been captured in California. At least 30 people were killed when the California wildfires began on January 7, while more than 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed, as well as 57,000 acres of land. Post sharing the clip included captions such as: 'This is GoPro footage capturing firefighter Joseth Abel Espinoza in action as he works tirelessly to extinguish the flames, showcasing bravery and dedication to those on the front-lines.' Meanwhile, the post included the hashtags 'Los Angeles' and 'CaliforniaWildfires.' But the clip of the first responder in action was quickly fact-checked by Reuters, with the news agency confirming that the clip was not filmed during the wildfires and was published on the GoPro YouTube channel in November. It is famed for its puddings, peaks and moody moors - but now Yorkshire is bubbling up in the most unexpected of ways. Thanks to balmier British summers, 'God's Own Country' has quietly transformed into the UK's fastest-growing wine region. The White Rose county now boasts more than 20 commercial vineyards producing over 120,000 bottles a year, from zesty whites to award-winning fizz. One of these is Dunesforde Vineyard, which is run by ex-accountant Ian Townsend, who swapped spreadsheets for soil in 2016. A former pony paddock, near Boroughbridge, now produces up to 15,000 bottles a year and to acclaim. Last year, its Pinot Gris 2022 scooped the top white wine gong at the WineGB Awards the first time a Yorkshire wine had ever done so. Ian, 67, said: 'When we started in 2016, it was an experiment, 'But I said we've got two things in common with Bordeaux we're 60 feet above sea level and we've got clay soil. 'The Romans made wine two miles down the road 2,000 years ago so why not us?' It is famed for its puddings, peaks and moody moors - but now Yorkshire is bubbling up The White Rose county now boasts more than 20 commercial vineyards producing over 120,000 bottles a year MailOnline reporter John Siddle put two of Yorkshire's most lauded bottles - Dunesforde Vineyard's 25 Pinot Gris and Yorkshire Heart's 31 Sparkling White up to bat against supermarket favourites He believes Yorkshire wines should embrace their unique characteristics, and not be compared directly to contemporaries on the continent. The rise of English wines The first Fine Wines and Restaurants Market Monitor report by Bain & Company suggests climate change could push traditional grape-growing regions north even as far as Hull. The report predicts cabernet sauvignon, the grape behind many bold French reds, could thrive in parts of the UK by the end of the century as places like Bordeaux become too hot and dry. Global warming has already made thousands of acres in Essex and Suffolk ideal for growing Champagne grapes. Wine writer Jane Clare, of One Foot In The Grapes, said: 'Yorkshire may never have the warmth to ripen black grapes for big, bold red wines, but it is already showing itself capable of being the home of some delicious English wines. 'We are a 'cool climate' in terms of grape growing and so the white styles can be crisp, citrussy with orchard fruits. Add in some sunshine from Yorkshire's rolling hillsides, then lovely ripe flavours can develop. 'As there's more investment, and wine producers begin to recognise the opportunities the Yorkshire landscape offers, then the future is very exciting.' At Little Wold Vineyard, on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, 10 grape varieties are thriving including chardonnay and pinot noir, producing sparkling wines already being likened to Champagne. In Meltham, near Huddersfield, Helme Edge Vineyard - run by three generations of the same family - has just opened its gates to the public. Advertisement He added: 'If the French are Paris St Germain, then we're probably York City. We don't have the means or resources to really compete on their level. 'Just trying to copy what the French do is not the way I think we should go. 'We're British, let's produce what comes naturally to us.' Rival Yorkshire Heart, based near Nun Monkton, is aiming to bottle more than 55,000 wines this year from its sprawling 19-acre site. It last year scored seven regional awards including for its Sparkling Red. Managing Director Tim Spakouskas said: 'I don't like to compare our wines to anything else in particular. 'I think English wine has to find its own identity, and Yorkshire wine has to find its own identity, so it stands on its own two feet, really. 'We do get people come in and ask, what's your wine like? Is it compared to this or compared to that? And you can give people a rough idea of what it does compare to. 'Our wines are a bit Riesling/Sauvignon Blanc in flavour and style; the crisp, dry, fruity white wines. Reds are almost like a light body French wine. 'A few years ago, there was a big thing about local produce. And it didn't get as far as drink. People were eating a nice piece of local beef with a bottle of red wine they bought from the supermarket that's come from Chile or Australia or Italy. 'Whereas nowadays, people are a bit more interested in what they're drinking as well and where it's come from and the provenance of it.' Winemaking in Yorkshire is not for the faint-hearted, despite warmer climes. Cold temperatures can result in grapes struggling to reach their full sugar levels, while the early harvesting, which occurs in cooler climates due to autumn frosts, can cause high acidity in wine. Ideal temperatures to grow grapes are generally thought to be between 20C and 30C, with long hours of sunshine needed to create full-bodied reds. But the question is - does wine from the Cote du Yorkshire actually taste good? To find out, MailOnline put two of Yorkshire's most lauded bottles - Dunesforde Vineyard's 25 Pinot Gris and Yorkshire Heart's 31 Sparkling White to the ultimate test: a blind tasting against supermarket tipples. Could tourists in York pick the premium plonk from the budget booze - Aldi's popular 7.99 Freeman's Bay pinot gris and its Nicholas de Montbard Champagne, 13.99. Here's how all our intrepid tasters got on. Josh, 21, was bowled over by the Yorkshire still white wine - but preferred Aldi's Champagne Josh Tempest Josh, 21, was bowled over by the Yorkshire still white wine - but preferred Aldi's Champagne to its local sparking wine rival. He condemned Aldi's Freeman's Bay as 'too sugary' whereas Dunesforde's award-winner had 'more balance'. Josh from Ruthin, North Wales, said: 'Overall, I liked nearly all of them, apart from the Aldi Pinot Gris. That one didn't do it for me. The others, especially the Yorkshire ones, were really good, which I didn't expect at all.' 'I never would've guessed the wine I liked best came from around here. When I think of wine, I usually picture Germany or France - not Yorkshire.' Pointing to Dunesforde's Pinot Gris, Josh added: 'When I go to a shop now, I'll be looking out for one like this. I didn't know we made stuff like that - but now I'll be looking for it, for sure.' David, 75, plumped for Aldi's budget wine over the more expensive, and award-winning, Dunesforde number David Allonby David, 75, plumped for Aldi's budget wine over the more expensive, and award-winning, Dunesforde number but admitted: 'I like them both, to be fair.' He said he preferred Freeman's Bay - but 'only just'. He also opted for the 13.99 Champagne but admitted he could happily drink both. David, from Flintshire, North Wales, said: 'I wouldn't refuse either of those, to be honest. Both of them were something I would choose. 'Usually you find the Australian, Spanish, French, all that sort of stuff. But when you see that these really nice wines are made in your own country, it's quite unusual.' Darrin Smith and Kim Hill Darrin, 58, said the Yorkshire sparkling was really impressive - whereas Aldi's Champagne 'burns when it goes down a little bit'. He said Yorkshire Heart's offering was 'more sparkly, a bit more fruity' and 'far outweighed' its rival, and correctly guessed: 'I'd probably say that was the premium one'. Darrin, from Telford, Shrops, said: 'It seems to have more like body - as if more time had been taken over it, rather than just mass-produced.' Kim, 63, from Chester, described Aldi's Pinot Gris as 'more like a cordial than a wine'. But she said she preferred it to the still 'very nice' Yorkshire wine. She said: 'To be honest, either of these wines would be fine. They're both really good.' Darrin added: 'I think normally I would go with the Aldi. But that's just for convenience, I think, more than anything. 'But tasting the Yorkshire wine, it does make you think for a special occasion it would be nice to have something like that.' Darrin Smith and Kim Hill said they were really impressed with the Yorkshire bubbly Cerys James and Will Stafford knew their wines but were still bowled away by the quality Cerys James and Will Stafford Cerys, 46, liked Aldi's Champagne for its easy-drinking style but said Yorkshire Heart's bubbly had 'more body' perfect with a meal. Cerys, from Welshpool, mid-Wales, said: 'Because we're in the environment of just having a taste and the time of day, Aldi's is an easy drinker. But if you were to kind of sustain that drinking, it would just be quite sickly. 'Whereas if I was sat down for an evening meal, I'd probably gravitate to the second [the Yorkshire Heart],because of the depth.' Will, an amateur winemaker, described Aldi's wine as tasting 'more home-brewy' and said its Yorkshire opposition was 'very nice' - first plumping for the supermarket before changing his mind. He said the flavour of the Freeman's Bay drop quickly disappeared, whereas Dunesforde's aromas persisted. Will, also 46, added: 'We tend to buy home-grown foods and locally sourced things where we live. So I think it's encouraging really the fact that even in Yorkshire you're getting these wines. He added: 'I won't be spitting it out.' Anne and Alan Whitnall were not surprised at all by the regional offerings Anne and Alan Whitnall Like Will, Alan also first opted for Aldi's still wine before later changing his mind upon a few more sips. Alan, 77, from Dunblane, Scotland, said: 'Now, after having more, that one [Aldi] does taste bland. 'Whereas the Yorkshire one is very nice. 'After going back to that one, it's got much more life in it.' Anne, also 67, opted Yorkshire Heart's sparkling wine - describing it as 'fruity' and 'alive'. She said: 'It doesn't surprise me that we're getting wines of this quality here. With the south-facing slopes and warming climate, it makes sense. 'The soil's right, and you can really taste that in the wine. It's impressive, honestly.' Removing self-checkouts will not work for all supermarkets, a leading retail expert said today after a chain became Britain's first to return to fully-staffed tills. Booths bucked the trend by axing its self-service checkouts at all but two of its 27 stores in northern England in November 2023 and favouring staffed tills instead. It was the first such shift by a significant UK supermarket, after years of all its rivals opening thousands of self-checkouts and dramatically reducing tills with staff. Managing director Nigel Murray has since revealed the change is playing a major role in improving customer satisfaction at Booths, dubbed the 'Waitrose of the North'. Today, retail expert Jonathan De Mello said it was a 'bold move given the increased volume of staff needed to offset the loss of self-checkout terminals' amid higher payroll costs for firms after changes to the minimum wage and national insurance. But he added that the idea will likely work better for Booths than for its rivals, given it is an aspirational retailer in more rural environments and small towns with stores that tend to be visited by customers for a 'major day out weekly grocery shopping trip'. Mr De Mello, founder and chief executive of JDM Retail, also told MailOnline that scrapping self-checkouts would not work for the bigger national supermarkets. He said this was because they 'have a mix of large stores and convenience stores, and are more reliant on shopper volumes', adding that a 'mixture of actual staff and self-checkout - with greater self-checkout in urban environments - will still be key'. Booths has bucked a trend by favouring staffed tills over self-service checkouts (file image) People pay for shopping at the self service checkout tills at a Tesco supermarket (file image) A customer uses a self-checkout terminal to pay for her shopping at an Aldi store (file image) Mr De Mello explained: 'Booths scrapping self-checkout is a bold move given the increased volume of staff needed to offset the loss of self-checkout terminals. 'Retailers have had to bear significantly higher payroll costs following the government's changes to the minimum wage and national insurance, which came into effect at the start of this month, and many are actually increasing their investment into automation, AI and self-checkout as a result - not reducing it.' ANALYSIS: Scrapping self-checkouts is a bold move given increased volume of staff needed By JONATHAN DE MELLO Booths scrapping self-checkout is a bold move given the increased volume of staff needed to offset the loss of self-checkout terminals. Retailers have had to bear significantly higher payroll costs following the government's changes to the minimum wage and national insurance, which came into effect at the start of this month, and many are actually increasing their investment into automation, AI and self-checkout as a result - not reducing it.' Self-checkout remains a highly convenient way to manage queues, and is essential in urban environments where there are high volumes of shoppers buying only a handful of products on their store visits. It is less necessary in more rural environments and small towns - where Booths stores are mainly concentrated - as these stores tend to be visited for a major day out weekly grocery shopping trip. As an aspirational retailer similar in positioning to Waitrose, Booths is less reliant on high volumes of shoppers, and customer service - versus the faceless nature of self-checkout - is more important in such environments. Whilst scrapping self-checkout entirely will work better for Booths than for most, it would not work for the bigger national grocers, as they have a mix of large stores and convenience stores, and are more reliant on shopper volumes. For these retailers, a mix of actual staff and self-checkout - with greater self-checkout in urban environments - will still be key. With shoplifting on the rise, this move by Booths will help reduce the amount of shrinkage they have to bear, as there is greater potential for theft with self-checkout. Mitigating this requires staff members policing tills more effectively, and potential security staff - which defeats the object of self-checkout reducing staff costs somewhat. However, on balance, self-checkout is still more beneficial to retailers than not - and particularly beneficial to grocery operators that are heavily weighted towards smaller convenience oriented stores. Jonathan De Mello is the founder and chief executive of JDM Retail Advertisement 'Self-checkout remains a highly convenient way to manage queues, and is essential in urban environments where there are high volumes of shoppers buying only a handful of products on their store visits. 'It is less necessary in more rural environments and small towns - where Booths stores are mainly concentrated - as these stores tend to be visited for a major day out weekly grocery shopping trip. 'As an aspirational retailer similar in positioning to Waitrose, Booths is less reliant on high volumes of shoppers, and customer service - versus the faceless nature of self-checkout - is more important in such environments.' The history of self-checkouts can be traced by to the automated teller machine which was invented in London nearly 60 years ago in 1967. The self-service till was then invented by David R Humble in Florida in 1984, before they became popular in the 1990s. The number of self-scan tills in the UK has soared over the following decades to now stand at about 80,000. Now, the decision by Booths to return to fully-staffed checkouts comes at a time when many rival supermarkets have been bringing more self-service tills into their stores. But Mr De Mello pointed out that Booths is a different type of business to many of its rivals in terms of the types of stores and the areas in which it is located so scrapping self-checkouts therefore would not be a good move for all supermarkets. He said: 'Whilst scrapping self-checkout entirely will work better for Booths than for most, it would not work for the bigger national grocers, as they have a mix of large stores and convenience stores, and are more reliant on shopper volumes. 'For these retailers, a mix of actual staff and self-checkout - with greater self-checkout in urban environments - will still be key.' It comes as figures this week showed the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales in a year had passed half a million for the first time. A total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces in 2024, up 20 per cent from 429,873 in 2023. The figure is the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). And Mr De Mello said: 'With shoplifting on the rise, this move by Booths will help reduce the amount of shrinkage they have to bear, as there is greater potential for theft with self-checkout. 'Mitigating this requires staff members policing tills more effectively, and potential security staff - which defeats the object of self-checkout reducing staff costs somewhat. 'However, on balance, self-checkout is still more beneficial to retailers than not - and particularly beneficial to grocery operators that are heavily weighted towards smaller convenience oriented stores.' The move by Booths has been welcomed by Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams who told MailOnline that some older supermarket customers 'really dislike' using self-service checkouts, and can find it difficult paying for or scanning their own shopping. She added: 'Many older people also enjoy having a chat with the member of staff at the till and so it is a positive step if some supermarkets are going to have fully staffed checkouts once again. Booths made the decision to ignore what rival supermarkets were doing by favouring staffed tills over self-service checkouts in November 2023. Pictured: Booths, Keswick A shopper at Booths, which was founded in 1847 and now has 27 stores across the North 'As technology develops it's understandable that organisations are looking at how they can automate functions but it's important they remember that some of us, particularly if we are older, can find these new approaches difficult to navigate. 'If businesses want to meet the needs of all their customers, they must find the right balance so that a non-automated, human option is also always available.' MailOnline's coverage of Mr Murray's interview to The Grocer also prompted a huge reaction this week, with our article on Monday attracting more than 1,700 comments. Best-rated comments included 'I only use staff tills'; 'good, keep people in jobs'; 'top idea! Let's bring people back not machines' and 'at the end of the day I would rather have a person, more service and interaction. Well done.' A further top comment said: 'Well done Booths - I've only been to a few of your branches and they are near the Lake District when we holidayed there. Lovely, clean, well-run supermarkets. Just as good as Waitrose and cheaper.' Another said: 'Anyone singing the virtue of self service checkouts should be given a spatula and shown the kitchen when they want a McDonald's burger. Me? If I pay for goods or services I expect to be treated as a customer not an unpaid staff member.' Other comments urged rival supermarkets to follow suit, with one saying: 'Self checkouts are c**p, especially the ones in Sainsburys, every second item scanned requires an assistant. It takes you twice as long to check out.' Booths was founded in 1847 by Edwin Henry Booth and has remained a family owned business The first Booths store in Blackpool is pictured. The company now has 28 stores in the North A further reader wrote: 'Always have to wait ages for staff in Sainsburys as they are nowhere to be seen. Often, I see three or four other customers with flashing red lights above their checkout standing there like lemmings.' Full list of Booths stores that no longer have self-checkouts LANCASHIRE Barrowford, Nelson Burscough, Ormskirk Carnforth Chorley Clitheroe Fulwood, Preston Garstang Hesketh Bank, Preston Longridge, Preston Longton, Preston Lytham Penwortham, Preston Poulton-le-Fylde Scotforth, Lancaster St Annes The Gallery Wine Bar at Lytham CUMBRIA Kendal Kirkby Lonsdale Milnthorpe Penrith Ulverston YORKSHIRE Ilkley Ripon Settle CHESHIRE Knutsford Two Booths stores that continue to have self-checkouts, both in Cumbria: Keswick Windermere Advertisement And another said: 'I wish many of the others would follow suit. I actually enjoy speaking to staff rather than being one and putting through my own goods.' It comes after Mr Murray revealed that the change by Lancashire-based Booths has brought a reduction in theft and a faster checkout experience. And he told The Grocer of their customer satisfaction rating: 'We're at 74 now, up from 70 (out of 100). Not all of that is due to the fact that we've taken self-service checkouts out of many of the stores. 'But when you look at things like service, into the 'promise of things to come' section, we've scored brilliantly.' He added: 'In really simple terms if you've got somebody who is doing a job repetitively for six, seven, eight hours a day, they are going to do it faster and better than if you are just turning up to do it once every three days. 'Over the last year, where we've put more self checkouts in, we're always making sure that the traditional kind of belted checkout is there.' Booths was founded in 1847 by Edwin Henry Booth and has remained a family owned and run business ever since. It now employs around 3,000 people. As for its competitors, Tesco last month continued to rollout further self-checkout measures with their new Scan As You Shop (SAYS) measure. While some were delighted with the advanced new system, many likened it to airport security, and some thought the move was a step 'too far' from traditional, staffed tills and described it as 'dystopian'. Shoppers using SAYS pick up a scanning device when they enter the store, and then they scan each item as they put it in their trolley or basket. When they have finished, they can pay for all their items without having to scan them through the staffed or self-serve checkouts. Upon paying, SAYS customers may be randomly selected for a 'service check' where a staff member makes sure each item has been processed correctly. The new checkouts are said to weigh the trolleys of those using SAYS to ensure the weight is the same as the items scanned. Meanwhile, last year Sainsbury's claimed its shoppers love their self checkout machines and value the 'speedy checkout'. Some of the comments from MailOnline readers about Booths scrapping self-checkouts Boss Simon Roberts said that Sainsbury's had invested in more self checkouts in recent years but was committed to having non-automated belt checkouts as well. Discussing the importance of self checkouts in April last year, Mr Roberts said: 'If you visit one of our supermarkets, what you'll see is definitely more self checkouts than a number of years ago, because actually a lot of customers like the speedy checkout. 'Over the last year, where we've put more self checkouts in, we're always making sure that the traditional kind of belted checkout is there.' Other supermarket chains in the UK, including Amazon Fresh use 'Just Walk Out' technology which uses cameras, sensors and AI to track what customers have picked up and bought. It allows customers to walk out with their items without using a self-checkout or a fully-staffed till. Canadian voters want a prime minister who can stand up to President Donald Trump as they prepare to elect a leader on Monday, and they have a favorite when it comes to who would win in a fight with the U.S. president. Mark Carney, the Liberal prime minister, is facing off with the head of the Conservatives, Pierre Poilievre, in next week's contest. A new poll conducted for DailyMail.com by J&L Partners showed the level of influence the American president has on Canadian politics. And while the voters thought both men could do well against Trump in a fight - at 44 percent each - they gave Poilievre a better margin of victory at 25 points versus 17 points for Carney. The poll showed Trump is heavily on voters' minds as they make their decision. And Canadians said one of their top goals - at 60 percent - was 'to get a PM to stand up to Donald Trump.' They also listed standing up for Canada - at 40 percent - as their top goal, followed by solving the cost living at 21 percent and 'negotiating a good deal' with Trump at 15 percent. Additionally, voters revealed which of their candidates they see as most like the American president. That is where Poilievre may have a disadvantage. More voters - 47 percent - saw him as similar to Trump compared to the 19 percent who see Carney that way. Poilievre has campaigned in a Trump-like style, even taking a page from the 'America First' president by adopting the slogan 'Canada First.' President Donald Trump said he doesn't want to get involved in Canada's election but voters there see him as a major influence on who they vote for Trump has infuriated Canadians with his bashing of their country and openly musing about making it a part of the United States. As a result, a fiery feeling of nationalism has sprung up among America's neighbor to the north. 'Trump has immersed himself into our lives and has defined the ballot question,' former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said. The president also has imposed multiple tariffs on Canada - and threatened there could be more. He slapped a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods in March, with an exception for energy products and potash, which received a 10 percent tariff. And he put a 25 percent on all steel and aluminum imports. Additionally, on Wednesday, the president warned that a 25 percent tariff imposed on cars imported from Canada to the United States could go up. But, despite all that, he said he doesn't want to get involved in Canadian politics. 'Oh I don't want to predict other nation's elections,' he said Wednesday when asked about it. 'It's tough enough doing this one. Look, I love the Canadian people. I like Canada, but it's costing us $200 billion a year to support Canada. 200 billion and I say, why are we doing that?' His trade war and attacks have led Canadians to cancel trips to the U.S. and refuse to buy American goods. And it may have contributed to record early voting in that country, with 7.3 million Canadians casting ballots before election day. Voters said they saw Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre (left) as being more like President Donald Trump than Prime Minister Mark Carney (right) Your browser does not support iframes. Both Carney and Poilievre said that if elected, they would accelerate renegotiations of Canada's free trade deal in an effort to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies. Carney, in particular, has notable experience navigating economic crises, having done so when he ran Canadas central bank and when he later became the first non-U.K. citizen to run the Bank of England since its founding in 1694. Meanwhile, the DailyMail.com/JLPartners poll found Trump is deeply disliked among Canadians - 72 percent disapprove of him while only 16 percent approve. Voters used words like 'arrogant,' 'bully' and 'stupid' to describe the American president. Additionally, Trump is seen as biggest threat to Canada. A vast majority - 73 percent - gave him that moniker. The next world leader doesn't even come close: Chinese President Xi Jinping came in at 9 percent, followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at 6 percent. Your browser does not support iframes. The poll also found that just 15 percent of Canadians are planning a holiday trip to the US right now far fewer than the number who visited in 2024. Roughly 20 million Canadians visited the US last year, before Trump's second term in the White House, according to researchers at J.L. Partners. Another 39 percent of Canadians sad they would normally be planning a US trip, but were avoiding it this year. Some 40 percent said they did not typically travel to the US, and another 7 percent said they were not sure how they felt about it. A key suspect in the sensational Kim Kardashian $10 million robbery has 'died suddenly' just as the case against him was finally to reach trial, MailOnline can reveal. Marceau Baum-Gertner, 72, was said to be the 'super fence' working with the gang that held the reality TV star at gunpoint in Paris in 2016 - and had recently had death threats from gangland sources. Baum-Gertner was allegedly responsible for finding buyers for the American's prized possessions, including a $4million engagement ring that has never been recovered. Nicknamed Nez Rape Rough Nose, the French equivalent of 'Rough Diamond' Baum-Gertner was a leading figure in the Paris underworld, with multiple convictions for handling stolen goods, forgery, and robbery. He was due to go on trial on Monday, alongside ten others accused of a variety of charges linked to the 'robbery and kidnap' of Ms Kardashian by 'an organised gang'. But MailOnline can reveal that the career criminal died in Paris's 10th arrondissement on March 6. The legal authorities were initially in the dark about Baum-Gertner's demise an official communique issued on March 14 names him as the fourth key defendant due to appear at the Paris Assizes next week. The French Justice Ministry operational note says his crimes were 'to the detriment of Ms Kim Kardashian,' who will fly into Paris from Los Angeles to give evidence as star prosecution witness at the long-awaited trial. Marceau Baum-Gertner, 72, was said to be the 'super fence' working with the gang that held-up the reality TV star (pictured) at gunpoint in Paris in 2016 - and had recently had death threats from gangland sources. Pictured: Kim Kardashian in Paris on October 2, 2016, a day before she was robbed Baum-Gertner was allegedly responsible for finding buyers for the American's prized possessions, including a $4million engagement ring (pictured) that has never been recovered. Pictured: An Instagram post by Kim Kardashian on September 29, 2016 Nicknamed Nez Rape Rough Nose, the French equivalent of 'Rough Diamond' Baum-Gertner was a leading figure in the Paris underworld. He was due to go on trial on Monday. Pictured: The engagement ring that was stolen But MailOnline can reveal that the career criminal (pictured) died in Paris's 10th arrondissement on March 6 She feared she would die during the ordeal, shouting, 'Don't kill me, I have babies.' Baum-Gertner's cause of death has not been released, but an investigating source said it was unexpected. The source said: 'Mr Baum-Gertner had been released on bail following his arrest over the Kim Kardashian robbery eight years ago, and was living in Paris, while regularly reporting to police. 'His name was on the defendants' list for the trial, and he was very enthusiastic about clearing his name in court. 'This was until he died suddenly in the 10th arrondissement of Paris on March 6.' The source continued: 'He was suspected of liaising with mafia gangs from across the world over the Kardashian jewellery, and criminals are known to have issued threats against him following widespread publicity connected to the case.' While Baum-Gertner refused to name any associates during multiple pre-trial interrogations, other criminals believed this might have changed when he was cross-examined in court. There was the constant possibility that he would 'name names' as a means of keeping any possible prison sentence down, said the source. Baum-Gertner had visited Antwerp at least eight times since October 3, 2016 the day the gang broke into Ms Kardashian's luxury apartment hotel during Paris Fashion Week. Pictured: Ms Kardashian in Paris on October 2, 2016 Alleged 'mafia' buyers from Georgia, Israel, and the USA, are among those seen meeting up with Baum-Gertner in Antwerp, Belgium the diamond capital of Europe. All hoped to buy the Kardashian jewels and luxury watches, which were worth up to $10million in total, it is alleged. Baum-Gertner had visited Antwerp at least eight times since October 3, 2016 the day the gang broke into Ms Kardashian's luxury apartment hotel during Paris Fashion Week and held her up using a vintage Mauser revolver. Baum-Gertner was first arrested in January 2017, after regular meetings with Aomar 'Old Omar' Ait Khedache, the 68-year-old who has already confessed to being the ringleader of the Kardashian gang after his DNA was found at the scene of the crime. The pair were caught on surveillance cameras at motorway service stations in the Paris suburbs, with Baum-Gertner arriving in his white Renault Scenic. Rather than arrest the suspects straight away, officers from the elite Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB) of the Paris Judicial Police launched tailing operations. Baum-Gertner's numerous mobile phones were bugged, and a GPS tracking device placed on his car. He was a well-known money launderer, counterfeiter, diamond dealer and 'fence' who always pledged to get the highest price possible for stolen goods. Baum-Gertner regularly drove to Antwerp from Paris with 'Old Omar', as well as Christiane 'Cathy' Glotin, 78, and the only female defendant who will be in the dock on Monday. A combined operation by Belgian and French detectives filmed Baum-Gertner and his associates meeting up with known underworld 'faces'. The prize asset stolen from Ms Kardashian was the easily recognisable 18.88 carat diamond and platinum engagement ring which American rapper Kanye West had bought for his future wife before their 2014 marriage. The diamond was classified 11a the purest type in the world because it has no measurable nitrogen or boron impurities and signed LS, for Lorraine Schwartz, the New York designer loved by showbiz celebrities including Barbra Streisand, Beyonce, and Angelina Jolie, as well as Ms Kardashian. The room in the Hotel de Pourtales in Paris where Ms Kardashian was staying when the gang broke in Armed police standing guard outside the exclusive set of apartments in the French capital Chilling images (pictured) show the gaffer tape used to gag the star and bind her hands while the gang carried out the robbery The LS made the tiny diamond very distinctive, and so particularly hard to 'fence off', according to enquiry sources. Despite their reconnaissance, and obtaining search warrants to open dealer safes in Antwerp, police were never able to intercept the Kardashian swag. Instead, during interviews following their arrest, the gang members said they were simply selling small amounts of melted gold. Baum-Gertner himself told instructing judge Armelle Briand that he had also been buying gifts for family members in Antwerp, 'but I never had the Kardashian jewels, and I never sold them.' Rouen-born Baum-Gertner was brought up in a gypsy caravan for the first seven years of his life, before leaving school in the northern Paris suburbs aged 14. Before his death, he had been convicted 11 times for receiving stolen goods and counterfeiting money, while also being linked with other jewellery heists, and other violent crimes. In 2011, he was sentenced to four years in prison for the 'aggravated theft' of around $7million worth of Cartier diamonds. They were taken from security vans by fake police officers using a car with flashing blue lights on A-roads close to Paris. Throughout his trial, Baum-Gertner insisted, 'I have no explanation to give, since I know nothing.' All the while, Baum-Gertner tried to cover up his criminal activities with various legitimate ventures, including a lingerie retail outlet in the Paris suburbs. The robbers received a tip that a 'big American star was coming to town' and that she was showing off her fabulous wealth on Instagram. That tip allegedly came from from Florus Heroui (above), who ran a bar in Le Marais. Heroui is said to have got precise information about Ms Kardashian's movements during Paris Fashion Week from Gary Madar (above), a VIP greeter who regularly met stars as they arrived at Paris Le Bourget airport by private jet Michael Madar, Bodyguard Pascal Duvier and Gary Madar are seen at Charles-de-Gaulle airport on September 29, 2016 in Paris Bodyguard Pascal Duvier, Gary Madar and Kourtney Kardashian are seen at Charles-de-Gaulle airport on September 29, 2016 in Paris Marceau 'Rough Nose' Baumgertner (left) and Didier 'Blue Eyes' Dubreucq (right) Francois 'Big Guy' Delaporte (left) and Pierre 'Big Pierrot' Bouianere (right) He always tried to project himself as a regular businessman, despite having a pet dog named Al Capone, after the legendary American mobster. Baum-Gertner's last trial was in 2016, when prosecutors called for him to be imprisoned for his alleged role running the largest counterfeit banknote production workshop ever discovered in France, but a jury failed to convict him. Detectives are meanwhile furious that the Kardashian trial has taken so long to get to court, saying that all those responsible for the raid could have been tried and potentially convicted as early as 2017. In turn, the French authorities say court timetables have been clogged up by other big name trials, including of former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been found guilty and sentenced to prison on corruption charges. There was also a fear that a Kim Kardashian trial would harm the five-star Paris tourist industry at a time of massive international events, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Kardashian defendants originally numbered 12, but Pierre Bouianere, 72, and considered one of the 'brains of the operation' by prosecutors will also now be excluded. The convicted drugs trafficker is suffering with Alzheimer's, and his ill health means his alleged connection to the Kardashian gang will now be considered at a separate trial. This means that a total of ten alleged gang members will appear in the dock on Monday, at a trial due to last until the end of May. Aomar Ait Khedache and Yunnis Abbas, 72, have both confessed involvement in the robbery, while the rest deny any wrongdoing. Michael Rhodes, Ms Kardashian's US lawyer, said: 'We can confirm that Ms. Kardashian will be testifying in person at the upcoming French criminal trial involving the 2016 incident in which she was bound and robbed at gunpoint by a number of masked assailants.' Ellen DeGeneres has written off hundreds of thousands of pounds with a dramatic decision to quit her 15 million dream home in the Cotswolds - and move to an alternative luxury mansion around the corner. The former talk show superstar is understood to have given up on the mansion she shared with partner Portia De Rossi, 52, following a series of disasters including epic flooding, MailOnline can reveal. DeGeneres and her wife bought their 43-acre property last year in the hope that it would be the perfect place to escape the perils of Donald Trumps America. But the couple have now moved to the safety of higher ground in a spectacular new property which is perched on a hilltop on the edge of a village in Oxfordshire. It is around a 30 minute drive from their original home and planning documents show it has a sustainable drainage system and is not at risk of flooding. The couple have recently posted pictures taken around their new home which they are believed to have bought for around 15 million - but there could be issues with their new home too if they haven't been briefed on the property's grisly past. A Cotswolds property expert told us: The house is a real Grand Designs number - and its plain that Ellen and Portia are loving it. Ellen DeGeneres has given up on the 15million mansion she shared with partner Portia De Rossi following a series of disasters including epic flooding for an alternative luxury mansion around the corner (pictured) The couple have now moved to the safety of higher ground in a spectacular new property which is perched on a hilltop on the edge of a village in Oxfordshire It is around a 30 minute drive from their original home and planning documents show it has a sustainable drainage system and is not at risk of flooding But their stylish new mansion has a dark past - it was built near the site of an old farmhouse where a man was murdered DeGeneres and her wife bought their first 43-acre property last year to try escape the perils of Donald Trump s America Everything has been done very discreetly so its not clear what the terms of the deal was but it seems that it has recently changed hands for not much less than they paid for their previous place. To buy two properties for eight figure sums in the space of a few months really is unusual, even given the many multi-millionaires around here. And at even a conservative estimate it must have cost Ellen hundreds of thousands of pounds in fees and costs to change her mind so dramatically - perhaps millions. At the time she first moved to England, DeGeneres - who stepped back from the media spotlight after ending her long-running talk show in 2022 - was so keen to make a quick getaway that she was prepared to pay 2.5 million over than the asking price. But their new life in the quaint English countryside quickly went dramatically wrong - after the seemingly-idyllic bolthole was swamped by astonishing flooding just days after they moved in. Dramatic images showed the six bedroomed property had become surrounded by a torrent of flood water following the devastating impact of Storm Bert last November. The couple were left virtually marooned after a tributary of the River Thames which runs beside the property broke its banks. The surrounding fields of the six bedroomed property became flooded after the devastating Storm Bert last November The couple were left virtually marooned after a tributary of the River Thames which runs beside the property broke its banks Roads surrounding the bolthole were left impassable after being deluged in five feet of water - leaving locals trapped in their homes. It was the first of a series of setbacks for the couple, who are both retired, as they struggled to fit into their new country life. They found themselves in something of a tight spot after discovering their vintage Land Rover Defender was barely wide enough to squeeze through bollards which restricted the width of vehicles entering their local village. Locals reported that the couple had taken to making a detour of a mile-and-a half to get round the issue. Last month it was reported that the couple were planning to leave the mansion and were looking for other properties in the area. But the move seems to have gone down well with both. Just this week, DeGeneres gave fans their first glimpse of her new home. The comedian posted an image on Instagram of Portia surveying the spectacular view from their new property with the image also featuring a rainbow. Describing the three things which make me happy to her 136 million followers she wrote: My wife, a rainbow and my wife taking a photograph of a rainbow. She also recently shared videos of the couples growing family of chickens that they keep at the grounds. Amidst all this sunshine its unclear however if the couple are aware of the dark backstory of their new hideaway - their stylish new mansion was built near the site of an old farmhouse where a man was murdered. Our source told us: The murder was a few years ago now and it was quite a grim one so for people around here who have long memories the place will always be notorious. And just because they demolished the old place, anyone who has grown up around here will always say: Oh thats where the murder was. After the murder, the farmhouse stood empty for many years before it was finally sold as a derelict building only fit for redevelopment to a local architect for almost 2million. DeGeneres and her wife moved to the Cotswolds last year in the hope that it would be the perfect place to escape the perils of Donald Trump s America Planning permission was granted demolish the farmhouse and erect a 'replacement dwelling' with associated buildings and for the surrounding site to be landscaped. The minimalist single-storey house features floor-to-ceiling windows offering breathtaking panoramic views of the Cotswolds - that can also be enjoyed by a giant outdoor infinity pool. The modern home with 10,000 square feet of living space has its own cinema, gym and steam room as well as a huge open plan kitchen and lounge area with a hanging fireplace as a striking feature. The massive master bedroom has a huge walk-in wardrobe and two en-suite bathrooms while four further bedrooms are also en-suite. More than 1,000 trees have been planted on the surrounding estate to help reduce the noise. Ellen had previously made light of her flooding issues saying the waters had been kept at bay from entering her home - despite this apparently eventually forcing her to decide to move. In the run up to Christmas she went on to post footage of a visit to the property from a holiday swan-a-swimming. Ellen added: Please note, the swan- a-swimming was swimming in our river meadow. Not our house. According to US magazine People, DeGeneres is a well-known collector of 'multi-million dollar homes' including a 24 million ($32 million) property in Montecito where Harry and Meghan live. In 2023 she told one US outlet that she had bought and sold 'over 50 houses' including a house in Malibu that once belonged to Brad Pitt. Earlier this year it was reported that she had put two homes in Montecito on the market which are thought to be among her last remaining properties in California. Two naive tourists were in for a shock reaction from a King's Guard after they attempted to grab the reins of his horse while posing for a photograph. In the first incident, a bearded man wearing a blue waterproof jacket, smiled as he approached the disciplined military animal at Horse Guards Parade in London. But just seconds after touching the leather straps of the reins, the usually silent King's Guard sitting on the horse suddenly screamed out: 'Go away!' A tense look between the two men then followed, with the man - who looked visibly shocked at the outburst - recovering himself to stand back in position and smile for a quick photograph. With the picture taken, the man's smile quickly dropped and he looked back again at the ceremonially-dressed soldier before walking away. In a second incident, a female tourist wearing a grey jumper and trousers attempted the same feat and grabbed at the reigns of the animal while posing for a photograph. This prompts the King's Guard to scream out at the entitled tourist: 'Don't hold the reins!' But after the tourist failed to react to his words, he motioned to the horse to step forward, causing the woman to recoil in fright. Determined still to get her photo, she stood close to the horse but looked tense as the image was taken. A naieve tourist was in for a shock reaction from a King's Guard after he attempted to grab the reins of his horse while posing for a photograph One of two tourists caught on camera grabbing at the reins of a King's Guard horse before discovering the consequences The woman recoiled in fright after the soldier shouted at her not to touch the reins. Determined still to get her photo, she stood close to the horse but looked tense as the image was taken This latest episode at the popular tourist destination follows a string of incidents where sightseers have got to close for comfort with the regal animals. The horses - which have signs next to them saying 'Beware, horses may kick or bite. Don't touch the reins. Thank you.' - have been known to bite unfamiliar people when they get too close to them. Earlier this month, a Spanish tourist was scolded by the King's Guard after she repeatedly flapped her umbrella to agitate his horse. The young woman clad in a rain coat was seen turning to laugh with her friends after quickly opening and closing the umbrella in front the animal. After provoking the animal, the King's Guard sitting on the horse then calls the emergency bell several times while trying to calm his horse. He repeatedly strokes the animal and pats their back while he waits for two other guards to appear on foot. The soldier then alerts them of the reckless tourist and after a few moments of identification, the guard walks over to the woman. He then calmly tells her 'we'd appreciate it if you don't flap that in the horses faces'. The young woman with the black backpack - encouraged by her laughing friends - repeatedly flapped her umbrella in front of the horse The guard then presses the emergency bell when the horse begins to get agitated The sheepish tourist was then told by a guard her flapping 'can spark a reaction out of the horses and they're just doing their job' The sheepish tourist was then told her flapping 'can spark a reaction out of the horses and they're just doing their job'. 'They're nice to look at but please be respectful, they are doing a job,' the guard added. Last month, a female tourist was trying to pose for a photo outside the Household Cavalry Museum in London when she was forced to dodge the horse as it moved in to nip her in the face. The woman, wearing a bright pink coat and hat, can be seen stroking the horse on the face, which appears to wind the animal up. On this occasion, the horse tries to nip her on the shoulder, forcing her to step backwards. Determined to connect with the horse, the woman then moves back towards the animal but gets more than she bargained for. The horse is seen throwing its head up in the air before this time lunging at the tourist's face, leaving her stunned by the near miss. And last summer, another female tourist was bitten on the arm by one of the King's Guard's horses and dragged her in closer. The King's Guard horse could be seen lunging at the woman after she had been stroking it Last summer, a female tourist was bitten on the arm by one of the King's Guard's horses while standing under the warning sign The woman screamed as the horse bit her on the arm before she fell to the ground Last May, a tourist could be seen putting her hand on the horse's neck while posing for a photo But the horse reacted angrily, swinging its head before clamping down on the woman's saree The tourist stumbled back and very nearly fell over but grabbed the wall for support The tourist let out a scream and was flung back towards a group of other holidaymakers filming the horse. After being bitten, she fell to her knees and clutched her arm as other tourists surrounded her trying to help. And in another incident, a tourist was thrown backwards by the force of a horse's bite on her chest as she posed for a photo. Footage from May last year shows the woman putting her hand on the horse's neck while posing for a photograph. The horse then swings its head towards the woman before clamping down on her saree. She stumbles backwards in shock after being bitten and very nearly falls over, but steadies herself by putting her hands back on the stone wall. Member's of the King's Guard are usually under strict instruction not to interact with tourists but they have become known in recent years for their furious commands for tourists to get out of the way or not get too close. However in a video that went viral, a guard who is wearing his customary plumed helmet, salutes a blind boy by stamping his foot. A King's Guard broke protocol to make a heart-warming gesture to an eight-year-old blind boy In the video the boy walks over to the guard while guided by a voice off camera and stamps his foot to salute the guard In the footage, the boy walks over to the guard while guided by a voice off-camera and stamps his foot to salute the guard. The child can be heard saying 'have a good day' to the guard before leaving. The King's Guard is made up of elite serving soldiers who guard Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace. A massive floating crane is on its way to raise the doomed superyacht which sank last summer, killing billionaire tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter. The HEBO Lift 10 was yesterday sailing to Sicily, where the 184ft (56m) Bayesian went down last August after a freak storm. It is key to a 20million salvage operation which seeks to explain why the vessel sank in just 16 minutes and is complicated because Italian prosecutors are insisting all evidence must be preserved. Divers will descend on to the 500-ton, 30million Bayesian early next month to start preliminary preparations, beginning by wrapping slings around her hull. A source said at least two slings will be used to righten the yacht before lifting her from the seabed, adding: 'A lot of planning and preparation has gone into it. Compared to the raising of a container ship, this is a lot easier to handle, but nevertheless it is still a complicated process.' Officials are keen to prevent any spillage from the 18,000 litres of fuel still thought to be within the yacht's tanks, with booms being set up to protect the environment. The huge salvage cost is being covered by insurers, and the operation is being overseen by British-based marine consultancy TMC Marine. Onsite work will be led by the Dutch firms HEBO and SMIT Salvage, with support from Italian specialists. Marcus Cave, a director of TMC Marine, said: 'The safety of personnel on site, environmental protection and recovery of Bayesian intact have been pivotal to the planning and decision-making process.' Entrepreneur Mr Lynch (right), 59, and daughter Hannah (left), 18, were among seven people who drowned when the Bayesian sank off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo The HEBO Lift 10 was yesterday sailing to Sicily, where the 184ft (56m) Bayesian went down last August after a freak storm Divers will descend on to the 500-ton, 30million Bayesian (pictured) early next month to start preliminary preparations, beginning by wrapping slings around her hull Entrepreneur Mr Lynch, 59, and daughter Hannah, 18, were among seven people who drowned when the Bayesian sank off the coast of Porticello, near Palermo. Mr Lynch was on board celebrating after a US jury cleared him of fraud and other charges that could have seen him jailed for 20 years. The founder of software and data firm Autonomy had been accused of selling the company for a vastly inflated price of 8.3billion to Hewlett Packard. The Bayesian went down after it was hit by a freak storm, but Italian officials are looking at whether the ship's captain and crew were partly to blame. There has been speculation that portholes and doors were open, allowing water to flood in, and the keel had not been lowered, which could have prevented the capsizing. Some are also pointing the blame at the Bayesian's 237ft (72m) mast. Bad weather had been expected on the night of the tragedy, and investigators are looking at whether the crew took proper precautions. The yacht's designers, Italian Sea Group, had insisted it was 'unsinkable'. Skipper James Cutfield, 51, from New Zealand, and British chief engineer Tim Parker Eaton, 59, and nightwatchman Matthew Griffin, 22, are under formal investigation in Italy for manslaughter and causing a disaster. The HEBO crane, which can lift 2,200 tons, will take the Bayesian to a dry dock 15 miles away at Termini Imerese for inspection. A second vessel, the HEBO Lift 2 barge, will bring a remotely operated underwater vehicle to monitor the yacht to ensure there is no fuel spillage. A total of 22 people 12 crew and ten guests were on board when the Bayesian sank. Other victims were Britons Jonathan Bloomer, 70, chairman of Morgan Stanley International bank, and his wife Judy, 71, American lawyer Chris Morvillo, his wife Nada and the yacht's chef Recaldo Thomas. An inquest earlier this month at Suffolk Coroner's Court heard from Simon Graves, principal investigator for the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch, who hope to publish an interim report soon. They are involved as the Bayesian was UK registered, with Italian authorities running a parallel criminal probe. An Israeli air strike has killed 10 people after flattening a three-storey home in Gaza. Strikes across the region have killed at least 49 people in the past 24 hours, according to health officials. Three women and five children were found dead following the latest bombardment in the western part of Gaza City and were sent to Shifa Hospital. Israel's military said it had struck a Hamas militant and the structure where he operated collapsed, adding that the collapse was under review. 'There is no-one from the resistance among them,' said Saed Al-Khour, who lost his family in the bombing run. 'Since one o'clock until now we have been pulling out the remains of children, women and elderly people.' Three other people were killed in the Shati refugee camp along Gaza City's shoreline. Hamas said on Saturday it had sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to try and bring the ceasefire, shattered last month by Israeli bombardment, back on track. Strikes across the region have killed at least 49 people in the past 24 hours, according to health officials Israel 's military said that it had struck a Hamas militant and the structure where he operated collapsed, adding that the collapse was under review Israel has vowed to continue the war until all hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile Israel has vowed to continue the war until all hostages are returned and Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. It says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement US President Donald Trump's proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries, which has been widely rejected internationally. Hamas said it will only release the dozens of hostages it holds in return for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire, as called for in the now-defunct agreement reached in January. Hamas said its delegation will discuss with Egyptian officials the group's vision to end the war, which also includes reconstruction. Earlier this week, other Hamas officials arrived in Cairo to discuss a proposal that would include a five-to-seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said. Egypt and Qatar are developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, officials said. Israel has continued its nearly two-month blockade of Gaza, even as aid groups warn that supplies are dwindling. On Friday, the World Food Programme said its food stocks in Gaza had run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. It said the dozens of charity kitchens it supports are expected to run out of food in the coming days. Israel says it will hold parts of Gaza indefinitely and implement US President Donald Trump's proposal for the resettlement of the population in other countries Israel's offensive has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians About 80 per cent of Gaza's population of more than two million relies primarily on charity kitchens for food because other sources have shut down under Israel's blockade, according to the UN. 'Meanwhile, nearly 3,000 UNRWA trucks of lifesaving aid are ready to enter Gaza,' the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media. 'The siege must stop.' Hamas has called on the Trump administration to immediately reverse its decision that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is not immune from being sued, calling it a dangerous step by Israel's close ally. Israel's offensive has killed more than 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. The militants still have 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Imagine if Brussels suddenly announced that the vast vineyards of France were a 'common resource' and that everyone in the EU could come along and pick their grapes. This is more or less what happened to Britain's fishing grounds when we first joined the Common Market. In one of the great ambushes of history, British negotiators suddenly found that membership would involve an invasion of our waters by foreign fishermen, which meant years of disaster for a once-thriving industry. The sheer underhand legal chicanery involved in this episode is one of the many reasons why those affected came ever afterwards to mistrust the Brussels monster, and also one of the reasons why Norway has continued to stay out of the EU. The EU's takeover of our fishing grounds devastated the UK fishing fleet. One of the great opportunities given to this country by Brexit was the chance to reverse the Common Fisheries Policy and to re-establish a flourishing British fishing sector. Since we left, we have made real progress, including increased quotas for our fishermen and less access for foreign vessels. But with so much at stake, it was never going to be that simple. Several EU countries were determined to lose as little as possible, and to exact as high a price as possible for any gains we might make. The EU's takeover of our fishing grounds devastated the UK fishing fleet. One of the great opportunities given to this country by Brexit was the chance to reverse the Common Fisheries Policy and to re-establish a flourishing British fishing sector (stock image) Sir Keir Starmer is close to agreeing a 'reset' with the European Union which will allow British defence companies to bid for a share of a new 150billion European defence fund. But in return, it appears we are expected to make significant concessions on fishing rights Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is raising the alarm over this deal, due to be unveiled on May 19, and she is wise to do so So it is no great surprise to discover the shape of their latest effort. Sir Keir Starmer is close to agreeing a 'reset' with the European Union which will allow British defence companies to bid for a share of a new 150billion European defence fund. But in return, it appears we are expected to make significant concessions on fishing rights and on another vexed issue so-called freedom of movement, otherwise known as control of our own borders. No doubt Brussels enthusiasts will attempt to claim that the two are not connected, but the EU octopus knows very well what all its tentacles are doing. Obviously, the extra defence cash would be welcome to major contractors such as BAE Systems and Babcock. The Security Action For Europe fund is aimed at helping countries invest in missile defence, drones, ammunition and cyber security. British companies were originally excluded from it, supposedly because the UK has not signed a defence and security pact with Brussels. But these British firms can surely survive without EU cash if they have to, especially if Britain itself expands its defence budget, as it must. And national strategic assets, such as our own home waters, should surely not be for sale now that we have at last got them back. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is raising the alarm over this deal, due to be unveiled on May 19, and she is wise to do so. Mrs Badenoch, who has recently been giving Sir Keir a run for his money, says 'instead of capitulating to the EU, Labour should be pressing home our Brexit benefits'. She is doubly right to speak in this fashion. Firstly, she is correct in principle. This country needs to make full use of all the freedoms it regained through Brexit. Secondly, Labour is highly vulnerable because of its thinly disguised desire to get Britain back into the orbit of Brussels, millimetre by millimetre, when most people want us to put good British miles of clear blue water between us and the EU. A wife who was given sole power of attorney over her dementia-suffering husband has lost control of their $25million wealth after the court heard she cheated on him. Queensland's Civil and Administrative Tribunal this month determined the farmer wouldn't have allowed his wife control over their estate if he was able to recall her affair. Their wealth was valued at $24.5million in June 2024 and was mostly comprised of rural land holdings. Disputes within the family on what to do with one of the main properties saw the matter land in front of the tribunal, the Courier Mail reported. The wife was open to selling the property while two of the couple's children were concerned they'd miss out on the benefits of inheriting the property - a decision their father didn't have the capacity to weigh in on. At the centre of the tribunal's decision was a document which declared the wife power of attorney over the farmer's health, personal and financial matters, and his children as successive attorneys. The Queenslander had struggled with symptoms of cognitive decline, likely mixed Alzheimer's dementia/vascular dementia, for several years before appointing his wife and his daughter severally as his attorneys in 2022. This was followed by a document declaring only his wife as attorney in September 2023. Queensland's Civil and Administrative Tribunal this month nullified a woman's power of attorney after learning she cheated on her husband The farmer's children sought to have the 2023 document nullified, arguing their father's cognitive capacity significantly declined after 2022. They claimed their father could not go shopping, prepare meals or carry out domestic tasks when he appointed his wife as his only attorney. The wife admitted that by the end of 2022 her husband's behaviour had shifted so drastically 'that the person she had once known was not there anymore'. She told her husband of her affair in August of 2023 - just one month before she was appointed his sole attorney. 'His immediate reaction was extreme distress,' tribunal member Clare Endicott said. 'Being in tears, threatening suicide and exhibiting emotional collapse.' However, the farmer would often forget about his wife's infidelity unless prompted by others. 'When he did recall this information, he was fearful that his wife's relationship could result in his assets being accessed by another man,' Ms Endicott said. The farming couple's children went to the tribunal after fearing their mother would sell their father's assets, affecting their inheritance 'The tribunal is satisfied that (he) did not want (her) to be in control of his finances at those times when he had recall of his wife's relationship. 'That is, when he lacked trust in his wife due to her new relationship.' The tribunal determined the farmer most likely would not have appointed his wife as his sole attorney if he'd had the capacity to remember her affair. It declared the 2023 document invalid and sought submissions on how to proceed with future management of the farmer's affairs. Virginia Giuffre was plagued by fears that her enemies were trying to smear her reputation in the months before she died, The Mail on Sunday has learned. The suicide of the woman who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse came after her troubles overwhelmed her. 'Being discredited was one of the many things distressing her in recent months,' said a friend. In the end, a rancorous divorce and ongoing separation from her three children, who remain in their father's custody, appeared to have finally tipped Ms Giuffre over the edge. She was found dead at her farm near Perth, Australia, on Friday night. Her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, said: 'She wished for all survivors to get justice. That is who she was. We lost our sister. Her children lost their mother and her mother lost her daughter. She was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet. But I think sometimes, that load and that weight becomes too much to carry.' Before she died, family members had expressed fears over her mental state. Her father Sky Roberts said his daughter was 'very depressed' and 'in really bad shape'. Friends of the 41-year-old said Ms Giuffre was 'deeply upset' about being mocked over a picture she posted of herself in a hospital bed last month. Before she died, family members had expressed fears over her mental state. Her father Sky Roberts said his daughter was 'very depressed' and 'in really bad shape'. Pictured: Virginia Giuffre center, with attorneys David Boies, left, and Brad Edwards, right, in 2019 Ms Giuffre had accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked to London She claimed she had been involved in a car crash that left her with only four days to live but the accident was nothing more than a minor bump. A spokesman for Ms Giuffre said she had 'made a mistake' and had not intended to make the post public. But it led to claims that the episode had destroyed her credibility, with some of Andrew's supporters calling her a 'fantasist'. Ms Giuffre had accused the Duke of York of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked to London. It led to him 'stepping back' from public life in 2019. He has always vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Ms Giuffre launched a civil lawsuit, alleging she was coerced into having sex with him. In 2022 the Duke agreed an out-of-court settlement thought to be between 3 million and 12 million despite denying he sexually abused her. Sources close to Andrew said yesterday that he intends keeping his thoughts on the death of his accuser to himself. They said he resolved to draw a veil over the Epstein scandal long ago, conscious that any public intervention would be foolhardy in light of his humiliating 2019 Panorama TV interview, which resulted in nationwide ridicule and criticism for failing to express regret for his involvement with Epstein or sympathy for the victims. One source said: 'What can he say now? [Ms Giuffre] is a mother of three children. It's a tragedy.' Yesterday, Ms Giuffre's family described her as 'a fierce warrior' and 'the light that lifted so many survivors'. She claimed she had been involved in a car crash that left her with only four days to live but the accident was nothing more than a minor bump Virginia Giuffre was plagued by fears that her enemies were trying to smear her reputation in the months before she died, The Mail on Sunday has learned They said in a statement that 'in the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle'. Their sentiments were echoed by her lawyer David Boies. He said: 'Her courage, caring, and strength were an inspiration. She was one of the strongest people I have ever known, but the physical abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, and the verbal abuse she continued to suffer at the hands of his collaborators trying to salvage their reputations by attacking hers, finally wore her down. God bless you, Virginia. And God damn your abusers.' Spencer Kuvin, who represented several Epstein victims added: 'Abuse victims never truly recover... Despite her remarkable strength and resilience, [Ms Giuffre] fought valiantly against her wealthy and powerful abusers. It is both saddening and not surprising that she chose to end her life.' Last night a source said: 'Virginia's life imploded in recent months. Her marriage broke down and she was in severe physical and mental pain. 'She had been taking prescription pain pills since she was with Epstein. She has not seen her kids since her husband filed a restraining order earlier this year.' 'She was due in court as she broke that order. She was concerned about all the things being said about her. But her main worry was not being able to see her children. That was what broke her.' Emergency services received a report about a woman found unresponsive at a home in Neergabby, 12 miles north of Perth, at about 9.50pm local time on Friday. She was declared dead at the scene. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,' said her family's statement. A source said Ms Giuffre felt 'ashamed' she was able to bring down Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, but was unable to find the strength to leave her unhappy marriage. Her father Sky told the Daily Mail before her death: 'There's everything else she's been going through with the divorce and not being able to see her kids. 'I'm hoping she can hang on. She's only 41. She's got a lot of life to live.' Two weeks earlier, Ms Giuffre posted several photographs of her three 'beautiful babies', writing: 'I miss them so very much. I have been through hell and back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don't take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens.' Pakistan has deployed artillery to India's border as tensions continue to grow with its nuclear-armed rival India following a tourist massacre in Kashmir. The footage, which has emerged online, shows several Pakistani guns making their way to the border following a second consecutive night of exchanged fire. Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarised frontier in disputed Kashmir on Friday, the Indian military said yesterday. Tensions have begun to flare between the nuclear-armed rivals following Tuesday's militant attack in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Vikram Misri, the Indian foreign secretary, accused Islamabad of sponsoring 'cross-border terrorism' as New Delhi ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave within 72 hours. Pakistan denies the charge. The assault, near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance. India also suspended a decades-old water sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank in 1960 as part of its response. Any attempt by India to cut off water to Pakistan will be considered an 'act of war', Islamabad has said, after the historical adversaries exchanged fire earlier this week. Pakistan appears to have deployed artillery to India's border as tensions continue to grow with its nuclear-armed rival India following a tourist massacre in Kashmir The footage, which has emerged online, shows several Pakistani guns making their way to the border following a second consecutive night of exchanged fire The UN urged both New Delhi and Islamabad to show 'maximum restraint' after troops exchanged fire along the border overnight India also suspended a decades-old water sharing treaty brokered by the World Bank in 1960 as part of its response The UN also urged both New Delhi and Islamabad to show 'maximum restraint' after Pakistani troops reportedly fired at an Indian position on the border. The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed up by Modi, decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty 'until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism', Misri said. The Indus river, which flows through India to Pakistan, is crucial for millions of farmers in both nations. The suspension of water sharing ahead of the sowing season in Pakistan may have a significant impact on its crop production, with experts warning it will lead to a spike in food prices. A statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office said: 'Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force.' Senator Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's former Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environment, told MailOnline: 'With zero evidence, India has laid the entire blame on Pakistan, and used this tragedy as an excuse to dismantle all diplomatic and other ties like the Indus Waters Treaty that have stood the test of time and several wars.' Khalid Hussain Baath, chairman of a national farmers' union in Pakistan, said India's move came at a time when there is both a water shortage and low predicted rainfall. 'This is a true war,' he added. Pakistan responded to the moves by suspending all visas issued to Indian nationals under an exemption scheme with immediate effect and closing its airspace to Indian flights. The suspension of water sharing ahead of the sowing season in Pakistan may have a significant impact on its crop production, with experts warning it will lead to a spike in food prices Supporters of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), carry flags and banners, during a protest against the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty by India UN officials urged both sides to engage peacefully after troops exchanged fire overnight along the Line of Control (LOC) that separates the two countries, though Pakistani officials played down the incident. 'There is post-to-post firing in Leepa Valley overnight. There is no firing on the civilian population. Life is normal. Schools are open,' said Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a senior government official in Jhelum Vally district. Three Indian army officials said that Pakistani soldiers used small arms to fire at an Indian position in Kashmir late on Thursday. The officials said troops retaliated and no casualties were reported. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said: 'We very much appeal to both the governments to exercise maximum restraint, and to ensure that the situation and the developments we've seen do not deteriorate any further. 'Any issues between Pakistan and India, we believe, can be and should be resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement.' But earlier today the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram K Doraiswami, refused to rule out a military response to the Kashmir attack. He told Times Radio: 'Let's see. All options are on the table. 'We will bring these people to justice. I think there should be no doubt on that account. 'We will reserve the right to deal with the people who attack civilians.' Your browser does not support iframes. Relations between the historical adversaries have plunged to their lowest level in years following Tuesday's militant attack in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists UN officials urged both sides to engage peacefully after troops exchanged fire overnight along the Line of Control (LOC) that separates the two countries Pakistan warned it could suspend the Simla Agreement, a critical peace treaty brokered after the 1971 war between the two nations. Under the agreement,and Pakistan went on to establish the LOC, previously called the Ceasefire Line, a highly militarised de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir between the countries. India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The two sides have long accused each other of backing forces to destabilise one another, and New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. India's army chief is to visit Pahalgam, the tourist hotspot where Tuesday's deadly attack took place, to lead a high-level security review. Authorities have already demolished the houses of two suspected militants, according to Indian media. One of the properties belonged to Asif Sheikh, a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, who were allegedly involved in the deadly shootings in Pahalgam on Tuesday. Earlier today UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Modi he was 'horrified' by the incident. A Downing Street spokesperson said: 'He expressed his deep condolences on behalf of the British people to all those affected, their loved ones and the people of India.' Authorities have already demolished the houses of two suspected militants, according to Indian media Students pay homage at a school in Chennai to the deceased who were killed by gunmen in Kashmir's Pahalgam Yesterday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an all-party meeting with opposition parties to brief them on the government's response to the attack, with fears that New Delhi's retaliation could go even further. In 2019, when insurgents rammed a car packed with explosives into a paramilitary convoy, killing 40 soldiers, India claimed to strike a militant training camp inside Pakistan. Pakistan responded with air raids, downing an Indian military aircraft and captured an Indian pilot who was later released. Two years later, in 2021, the two countries renewed a previous ceasefire agreement along their border, which has largely held despite attacks on Indian forces by insurgents in Kashmir. A hard-Left ex-fireman chosen to run a major teaching union is facing multiple allegations of racism and bullying, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Matt Wrack, a militant socialist who formerly led the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), was named as the new general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) on Tuesday despite having no teaching experience. A day later, an injunction application to have Mr Wrack's appointment rescinded was made after a would-be candidate was barred from running for the post. An MoS investigation has discovered that Mr Wrack is at the centre of three different employment tribunal disputes relating to his time at the FBU. Among the claims, it is alleged Mr Wrack racially discriminated against an Asian member of the FBU's executive council and personally blocked a black firefighter from joining the union. The claims are set to go to separate tribunal hearings. The MoS asked if Mr Wrack had declared the claims. He and the NASUWT declined to answer. Mr Wrack's appointment to the UK's second largest teaching union has prompted fears that the NASUWT could swing to the Left. The Jeremy Corbyn ally has been criticised by government sources for being 'overly combative'. Matt Wrack (pictured), a militant socialist who formerly led the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), was named as the new general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) on Tuesday An MoS investigation has discovered that Mr Wrack is at the centre of three different employment tribunal disputes relating to his time at the FBU. Pictured: Then-FBU leader Wrack with then-PCS secretary general Marc Serwotka at a trade unionist march last year The Jeremy Corbyn (left, with Wrack, right) ally has been criticised by government sources for being 'overly combative' Jewish leaders have also accused Mr Wrack of being insensitive to the problem of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. Speaking at the FBU's conference in 2016, Mr Wrack said 'the so-called furore about so-called anti-Semitism in the Labour Party' was 'in reality about an attack on the Left'. Now his uncontested appointment to the 130,000-per-year job has triggered legal action, with lawyers acting on behalf of potential candidate Neil Butler, the NASUWT's national officer for Wales, claiming that Mr Butler was barred from running. It is the first time the union has not been run by a former teacher, despite being Britain's only union exclusively for teachers. Separately, Mr Wrack has come under scrutiny in recent years over the FBU's use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Tens of thousands of pounds were paid in NDA payments to at least two FBU officials and one FBU staff member, all of whom left their roles after complaining that Mr Wrack mistreated them. The new allegations about Mr Wrack are set to be aired at upcoming employment tribunal hearings. Two claims are against the FBU and involve allegations about Mr Wrack in his capacity as FBU general secretary. These have been brought by FBU official Jon Lambe and union member Mohammed Ahmed. The third, brought by FBU executive council member David Shek, is against both Mr Wrack and the FBU. Last night Mr Wrack said: 'These claims are false and without merit as will be shown in a tribunal in due course. I am pleased that the FBU, on very strong legal advice, is defending the union itself, other FBU officials and me from these false claims.' Among the claims, it is alleged Mr Wrack racially discriminated against an Asian member of the FBU's executive council and personally blocked a black firefighter from joining the union. Pictured: Wrack addressing FBU members in 2019 The MoS asked if Mr Wrack (pictured at a rally in 2022) had declared the claims. He and the NASUWT declined to answer An FBU spokesman said: 'The Fire Brigades Union is aware of claims brought against the union and our former general secretary, Matt Wrack. 'We will not go into any details of these claims as they are all still subject to legal proceedings. However, we can report that all of the claims lodged against the FBU and Matt Wrack will be vigorously defended by the union. 'We have robustly defended both ourselves and Matt Wrack from the outset against these claims and will continue to do so. Our legal team's advice is that the claims brought against the FBU and Matt Wrack are without merit. 'The FBU has a long and dedicated record of campaigning against racism and all forms of discrimination. Our record speaks for itself.' On May 8 and in the days before, millions of Britons will celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking perhaps the greatest moment in our nation's history. At the centre of ceremonies up and down the country, our soldiers, sailors and aviators will have pride of place in their full dress uniforms, with boots polished and brass buttons shining. It is a sight as stirring as it is now rare for, outside of major commemorations, when was the last time you actually saw a soldier in the street? The men and women of our Armed Forces are simply nowhere to be seen. Head abroad to more patriotic climes and you'll find that men and women in uniform are a familiar fixture in town squares, giving directions and posing for photos, or at ease in shops and cafes, chatting and drinking. Go to many Baltic cities and you will even see our own troops, uniformed and looking more relaxed there than here. Of course, there was a time when our forces were as visible in Teesside as in Tallinn, action men and women instilling in many a youngster a sense of wide-eyed admiration and giving a reassuring sense of safety. So what has happened? The truth is tragic. In 2013, Fusilier Lee Rigby was murdered outside his barracks in Woolwich in south-east London. While he had not been in uniform, his sweatshirt bore the logo of the 'Help for Heroes' military charity and a camouflage-patterned rucksack was slung over his shoulder. Two Islamist terrorists ran him down in a car and set about him with knives and a meat cleaver in a barbaric attack that shocked the nation and left an indelible scar on the Army. At the centre of ceremonies up and down the country, our soldiers, sailors and aviators will have pride of place in their full dress uniforms. Pictured: The Red Arrows fly past over Horse Guards Parade during the VE Day Parade in 2015 It is a sight as stirring as it is now rare for, outside of major commemorations, when was the last time you actually saw a soldier in the street? Pictured: Officers and soldiers during a two-minute silence on VE Day in 2020 On May 8 and in the days leading up to it, millions of Britons will celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, marking perhaps the greatest moment in our nation's history, writes Christopher Welsh (pictured) The Ministry of Defence (MoD) temporarily ordered soldiers not to wear their uniforms in public outside official engagements while they assessed the risk. Overnight, the culture changed. The public might be dangerous, it was reasoned, and wearing a uniform was unwise. And so the sight of squaddies in fatigues down the pub or out in town suddenly became vanishingly rare. Recruiters followed, forced away from visible leafleting in the high street by budget and personnel cuts. Today, the MoD says service personnel are 'encouraged' to wear uniform in public outside official engagements though not in Northern Ireland, for sadly obvious reasons. In practice, however, it simply isn't worth the hassle to identify yourself as serving in the Armed Forces. Some units still ban it outright. And, as the guidance points out, soldiers are not insured if anything happens to them while off-duty. So, inevitably, soldiers feel more comfortable behind the high walls and razor wire of their bases. I should know; for six years, I was one of them, rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Artillery. Often I was advised to change into civvies before leaving barracks. Sometimes, I was ordered. If I did find myself wearing camouflage in public, I felt exposed. Eyes bored into me and I wondered how friendly they were. But why should it matter that the Armed Forces have retreated almost entirely from our public spaces? Well, for one thing, we are facing a recruitment crisis. Even at its hugely diminished headcount of 70,000, the Army cannot find enough full-time soldiers. Last November, Defence Secretary John Healey revealed the Armed Forces had been suffering a net loss of 300 full-time personnel each month. As war looms ever larger on the horizon the size of our Armed Forces is of critical importance. Increased defence spending is welcome, as is a new quango (the Armed Forces Recruitment Service) to streamline the inefficient application process, but the task of filling our barracks remains enormous. Each journey into the Army is personal. As a boy, I marvelled at the smart, confident soldiers I saw at a military-organised hiking event on Dartmoor; I will never forget the Marine who offered me a ride in a Sea King helicopter, nor the flight that followed. Then there were my grandfathers, veterans from the Second World War and the Suez Crisis respectively good, brilliant men who told me time and again how the Army had been the making of them. It was little surprise that at 14 I decided I would join the military. I was also lucky. I had no health issues, no skeletons in the medical closet that might prevent me from joining. Many did, and today more than ever. In 2013, Fusilier Lee Rigby (pictured) was murdered outside his barracks in Woolwich in south-east London 'So, inevitably, soldiers feel more comfortable behind the high walls and razor wire of their bases. I should know; for six years, I was one of them, rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Artillery,' writes Christopher Welsh (pictured) Yet what followed was the most exhilarating, challenging and fulfilling time of my life. I drove the moonscape deserts of Oman and hiked in skis over the frozen mountains of Norway. I fired artillery so powerful, the very earth beneath shakes with ferocity. Then once, while looking for a fuel depot, I managed to navigate my entire unit to the middle of a farmer's empty field. I had been given the wrong grid by a superior officer a practical joke that was a gift to the greatly amused soldiers under my command, and an early lesson in humour and humility for me. It is a career today that too many young people don't even consider, inspired more by influencers than our Captain Toms. The top brass fear the risks of uniformed soldiers in public, of people goaded into confrontation or worse. It can be sinister. One friend running a Covid testing centre during the pandemic was continuously insulted by the same man every day. Thankfully, most self-righteous keyboard warriors go very quiet when faced with the real deal. But the top brass should also see the opportunities, trusting their soldiers will be seen helping the public, engaging with people, perhaps inspiring more youngsters to join, as happened with me. Right now, it's like the military is scared to reveal itself in public. As if the terrorists have won. I would encourage all those in the Armed Forces to wear their uniforms proudly. It would show that they are here, and that they are ready. After all, if they can't cope with Crawley High Street, do we seriously believe they could hack the steppes of Ukraine and face down Putin's murderous mob? It is a career today that too many young people don't even consider, inspired more by influencers than our Captain Toms. Pictured: Captain Sir Tom Moore My grandfather appreciated the importance of being visible in public as a veteran. Every year, he would lay a wreath at his village church service on Remembrance Sunday, a living link to the terrors and triumphs of the Second World War. He died part-way through my officer training course, never quite getting to see me in the uniform that he had once worn. But later that year on Remembrance Day, wearing the khaki tunic of the Royal Artillery, I joined my grandmother at their church to lay the wreath in his stead. I have never stood so tall in all my life. Eighty years after the end of the war in Europe, the very last of that noble generation are passing on, men who sacrificed and achieved so much. They are irreplaceable, of course. But somehow we must find a way to inspire our young people to carry the torch. Christopher Welsh spent six years in the Royal Artillery and retired as an Army captain. Angela Rayner has repeatedly threatened to resign from the Cabinet over the 'impossible' target of building 1.5 million homes in the next five years, according to the new updated biography of Sir Keir Starmer. Lord Ashcroft writes in Red Flag it was only a call from Tony Blair that prevented the Deputy Prime Minister from quitting. The book also says she resented having to fight to be given the use of a grace-and-favour property such as Dorneywood after Labour won the election with the Prime Minister's aides reportedly trying to 'fob her off with a property in Northern Ireland'. Eventually, in December 2024, she was handed an apartment in Admiralty House. Earlier this year, Ms Rayner warned there was 'no excuse' not to meet her goal of 1.5million new homes before the next election in 2029. Labour sources told The Mail On Sunday last night Ms Rayner was justified in her scepticism about the housing goal. One said: 'The fact is we don't have enough bricks and there isn't enough water to supply these houses'. One Labour MP said: 'I think Rayner realised a while ago that the 1.5million new homes target is undeliverable. But now the penny's dropped for Angie's team that she was set up to fail on this all along. Lord Ashcroft writes in Red Flag it was only a call from Tony Blair that prevented the Deputy Prime Minister from quitting Earlier this year, Ms Rayner warned there was 'no excuse' not to meet her goal of 1.5million new homes before the next election in 2029 'There are some people around Starmer who made sure she was given an impossible task because they never wanted her to succeed Keir. They wanted to finish off any chance she had of becoming PM and I think that plan is working.' Lord Ashcroft writes: 'She is still prone to stirring up trouble... one occasion she threatened to resign because she felt she'd been set the impossible target of Labour building 1.5 million new homes. 'It took a call from Tony Blair to talk her down which, incidentally, tells you how important Blair is to the Starmer project.' A source close to Ms Rayner said: 'We do not recognise the claims made. Angela is proud to be serving as Deputy Prime Minister in Keir's cabinet and delivering on Labour's crystal clear commitment to build 1.5 million homes as part of our Plan for Change.' They added the OBR forecast in March that planning reforms would deliver the highest level of UK housebuilding in 40 years. A Lufthansa flight carrying over 400 passengers from Los Angeles to Munich was forced to divert after a passenger's iPad became 'jammed' in a seat. The flight took off from LA late on Wednesday bound for Germany but diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston after an iPad became 'jammed in a Business Class' seat. 'Flight crew and air traffic controllers became concerned that the iPad would overheat and cause a fire, after it was already showing visible signs of deformation due to the seat's movements,' WCVB reported. The Airbus A380 landed in Boston around 2.30am on Thursday, where an airline technical team member removed the iPad. Lufthansa told the outlet that the diversion of Flight LH453 was 'a purely precautionary measure' for passenger safety. 'At Lufthansa, the safety of our passengers and crew is always our top priority,' the airline said, Business Insider reported. The diversion resulted in a three-hour delay for the 461 passengers on board, who then landed in Munich at 4.35pm local time. Lithium batteries used in iPads can pose a serious fire risk to passengers on board if the device becomes damaged. Flight LH453 took off from LA late on Wednesday bound for Munich but diverted to Logan International Airport A passenger's iPad became 'jammed in a Business Class seat,' as flight crews feared the tablet may overheat and set alight Flight crew and air traffic controllers became concerned that the iPad would overheat and cause a fire, after it was already showing visible signs of deformation due to the seat's movements' A United Airlines flight in 2023 to Newark Airport in New Jersey was forced to return to San Diego Airport after a passenger's laptop burst into flames. Four flight attendants working in the cabin of the United Airlines Boeing 737 prevented the blaze from spreading further as they put out the flames with fire extinguishers. Their heroic efforts led to them suffering smoke inhalation as they put out the fire. The four attendants were taken to hospital for treatment following the emergency landing. It is not clear what caused the battery to ignite just after the flight, with 159 passengers, took off at 7:15am. Just 11 minutes later, the plane was back on the ground. The situation would have been all the more perilous had the battery pack been within checked baggage and not in the main cabin. 'Shortly after departure, the aircraft declared an Alert 2 which indicates a major difficulty with the aircraft, in this case there was an electrical device fire in the cabin,' a statement from San Diego Airport read. 'The aircraft landed safely at San Diego International Airport where emergency crews responded to the aircraft and assisted passengers.' A passenger on board the flight, Caroline Lipinski, saw everything happen from her seat. The diversion to Logan Airport in Boston resulted in a three-hour delay for the 461 passengers on board, who then landed in Munich at 4.35pm local time A United Airlines flight bound for Newark had to return to San Diego due to a cabin fire caused by an external battery. Fire engines could be seen parked at the side of the aircraft 'There was a gentleman whose bag was smoking and he threw something out on the ground. It was a battery charger or a pack from his laptop and it burst into flames.' 'I heard somebody yell fire I looked forward and could see the glow,' said another traveler. Lithium battery fires on US flights have risen 388 percent since 2015, CBS News reported, with airline flight fires cause by the batteries occurring nearly twice a week on average. The primary cause was reported to have been from power banks, accounting for 43 percent of all reports. Marks & Spencer shoppers were unable to buy goods online for a second consecutive day yesterday, as the retailer continued to fight the fallout from a cyber attack. Stores have remained open but the company has entirely paused orders on its website and apps, including for food deliveries and clothes, while pledging to refund orders. The firm's click and collect service, where customers order items online then pick them up from a store, was also down. Some accused M&S of a lack of communication. One shopper, who visited a store to collect an order, said: 'They need to do a better job communicating about click and collect. "May be some disruption," does not equal "Don't travel to store, you can't collect your order".' Another added: 'Communication is non-existent. Got my email to collect my order, went into store, no one around click and collect area, screens were black, but the scanner was still working. Had to go to the checkout at the other side of the store to find staff to ask.' More than 500 million has been wiped off the value of M&S on the stock market in the wake of the problems which began last weekend and the company faces losing up to 3.7 million a day as problems continue. M&S has called in cyber experts to help tackle the system meltdown including CrowdStrike, the US cyber security giant. Marks & Spencer shoppers were unable to buy goods online for a second consecutive day yesterday, as the retailer continued to fight the fallout from a cyber attack The firm's click and collect service, where customers order items online then pick them up from a store, was also down Stores have remained open but the company has entirely paused orders on its website and apps, including for food deliveries and clothes, while pledging to refund orders It is not known who is behind the attack but last night a source close to the situation dismissed suggestions that Russian agents could be to blame, with 'criminals' suggested to be the most likely option. In such attacks, criminals typically infiltrate an IT system, freeze it and demand payment from companies. M&S has not provided an expected time frame for the problem to be resolved but the attack comes amid a busy period for retailers, as stores head into the summer season. Nicholas Found, from consultancy Retail Economics, said the incident was 'a stark reminder that no retailer, no matter how established or digitally sophisticated, is immune from the escalating threat of cyber crime'. A Wisconsin judge is threatening to shut down her courtroom following the shocking arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who stands accused of helping an undocumented Mexican immigrant evade federal agents. In an extraordinary act of defiance Sawyer County Circuit Judge Monica Isham is now refusing to hold court. 'I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County,' Isham, who was elected in 2023 as the first Native American and first minority to serve as a circuit judge in Sawyer County, wrote in a blistering email to judges across the state. 'If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harm's way.' Her message, titled 'Guidance Requested or I Refuse to Hold Court', included an explicit warning that she was prepared to raise bail money for defendants herself and blasted the arrest of Dugan as a criminalization of judicial duty. The arrest, carried out by the FBI on courthouse grounds on Friday, has ignited a political and judicial crisis, pitting federal immigration authorities under the Trump administration against members of the judiciary who claim their independence is under siege. 'Judge Hannah Dugan of Milwaukee County stood on her Oath in the very building she swore to uphold it and she was arrested and charged with felonies for it,' Isham wrote. 'Enough is enough.' The controversy erupted when Judge Dugan, who has served on the Milwaukee County bench for nearly a decade, was arrested on federal felony charges of obstruction of justice and concealing a person from arrest. Monica Isham, a circuit judge in Wisconsins Sawyer County, threatened to stop holding court over the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of escorting an illegal immigrant and his lawyer out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that immigration authorities were seeking his arrest Prosecutors allege Dugan intentionally escorted 30-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant previously deported in 2013, out of her courtroom through a jury door last week, just moments before federal agents moved in to arrest him Prosecutors allege Dugan intentionally escorted 30-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an undocumented immigrant previously deported in 2013, out of her courtroom through a jury door last week, just moments before federal agents moved in to arrest him. Flores-Ruiz, who reentered the US illegally, was in court on charges of misdemeanor domestic battery after allegedly assaulting multiple people during a fight over loud music. According to court documents, the violent confrontation included hitting one victim nearly 30 times. FBI Director Kash Patel accused Dugan of deliberately helping Flores-Ruiz evade custody, stating in a post on X that the judge 'intentionally misdirected federal agents away from' the suspect. The post was briefly deleted before being reposted with Patel adding: 'No one is above the law.' The FBI affidavit alleges that Dugan was 'visibly angry' upon learning of the agents' presence at the courthouse, called the situation 'absurd,' and led Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer through the restricted jury exit - an area not typically accessible to defense attorneys or free defendants. Judge Dugan was released after a brief federal court appearance on Friday, with her arraignment scheduled for May 15. If convicted on both counts, she faces up to ten years in prison. Sawyer County Circuit Judge Monica Isham of Wisconsin is threatening to shut down her courtroom following the shocking arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan, who stands accused of helping an undocumented Mexican immigrant evade federal agents 'I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County,' Isham, who was elected in 2023 as the first Native American and first minority to serve as a circuit judge in Sawyer County, wrote in a blistering email to judges across the state Dugan's arrest has sparked fury from Democrats and civil rights advocates while it has been met with cheers from Republican officials and immigration hardliners The outrage over Dugan's arrest spilled into the streets as protesters gathered outside the Milwaukee division of the FBI on Saturday Demonstrators protest in front of the federal courthouse on Saturday where Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan appeared in front of a judge after being arrested by the FBI FBI Director Kash Patel accused Dugan of deliberately helping Flores-Ruiz evade custody Wisconsin county judge Hannah Dugan is escorted by officials in handcuffs following her arrest, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin 'Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest,' her attorney, Craig Mastantuono, told the court. 'It was not made in the interest of public safety.' Judge Isham's furious reaction to the arrest reflects what some are calling the most explosive judicial rebellion in Wisconsin's recent history. Her email, circulated widely among colleagues, accused federal agents of transforming courtrooms into battlegrounds of fear. 'I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process, as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support requires,' Isham declared. The reference to 'concentration camps' immediately polarized the legal community and political observers, drawing praise from immigration activists and fierce condemnation from conservative lawmakers. 'If this costs me my job or gets me arrested, then at least I know I did the right thing,' Isham concluded in her statement. The outrage over Dugan's arrest spilled into the streets as protesters gathered outside the Milwaukee division of the FBI on Saturday. Chants of 'Immigrants are here to stay!' and 'Liberty and justice for all!' echoed through the crowd as demonstrators accused the Trump administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement against the judiciary. Demonstrators protested on Saturday as Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan arrived for work this morning at the Milwaukee County Courthouse Judge Dugan has been charged in federal court for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid arrest Chants of 'Immigrants are here to stay!' and 'Liberty and justice for all!' echoed through the crowd as demonstrators accused the Trump administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement against the judiciary The protest took place outside the FBI Milwaukee Division in St. Francis on Saturday 'The judiciary acts as a check to unchecked executive power. And functioning democracies do not lock up judges,' declared Democratic state Rep. Ryan Clancy during the protest. Other local leaders echoed the sentiment. Emilio De Torre, executive director of the Milwaukee Turners civic group, warned that sending federal agents into courthouses risks intimidating not only defendants but everyday citizens seeking justice. 'Armed FBI and ICE agents in buildings like this will intimidate individuals showing up to court to pay fines, to deal with whatever court proceedings they may have,' De Torre said. While Dugan's arrest has sparked fury from Democrats and civil rights advocates, it has been met with cheers from Republican officials and immigration hardliners. 'The corruption and determination of these anti-American activist judges to put illegal aliens ahead of American citizens is appalling,' said Republican Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger. Donald Trump Jr. echoed the sentiment on social media, sharing an image of a handcuffed figure with the caption: 'From the bench to the backseat. This is what accountability looks like.' Pam Bondi, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney General overseeing the FBI, issued a chilling warning to anyone who might help undocumented migrants evade deportation. 'We don't care who you are. If you are harboring a fugitive, we will come after you and we will prosecute you,' Bondi said in an interview with Fox News. 'We will find you.' The Dugan case is being widely compared to a similar prosecution of Massachusetts Judge Shelley Joseph during the Trump administration's first term - a case that was later dropped under President Joe Biden's Department of Justice. But this time, the stakes may be even higher. Dugan's arrest comes amid a broader DOJ directive encouraging prosecutors to pursue charges against any state or local official who obstructs federal immigration enforcement. The arrest has already widened the chasm between the White House and the judiciary. Demonstrators protest in front of the federal courthouse where Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan appeared in front of a judge after being arrested by the FBI Protestors held up various signs to make their displeasure known Judge Dugan was released after a brief federal court appearance on Friday, with her arraignment scheduled for May 15 If convicted, Judge Dugan faces up to ten years in prison Democratic Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin called the arrest a 'gravely serious and drastic move' that could undermine the separation of powers. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers accused the Trump administration of 'dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level.' House Democrat Darren Soto didn't mince words, calling the arrest 'third-world dictator type of stuff' and predicting it would fail in court like other controversial enforcement actions by the administration. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin told MSNBC, 'The Trump administration has spent the past month waging an intense assault on judicial independence.' Beyond the politics, Judge Isham's message reveals the emotional toll on those behind the bench. She described enduring repeated racial slurs and harassment since taking office, including being told in her own courtroom that she had 'no jurisdiction over white people' and witnessing a prospective juror proclaim they would never take orders from 'a brown or black person.' Her plea to colleagues was clear: 'I no longer feel protected or respected as a Judge in this administration.' The next flashpoint in the saga may come on May 9, when Wisconsin's Judicial District 10, which includes Sawyer County, holds a meeting where Isham has requested formal guidance on how to proceed. A Labour Minister who was sacked after a Mail on Sunday investigation revealed he was part of a racist and sexist WhatsApp group is now facing calls to quit as an MP. Andrew Gwynne was dismissed as Health Minister hours after the MoS showed Number 10 and the Labour officials vile messages he and others posted on a WhatsApp group called Trigger Me Timbers. Mr Gwynne, 50, who represents the Manchester seat of Denton and Gorton, had his Labour whip taken away immediately, as did Burnley MP Oliver Ryan, who was also a member of the WhatsApp group. In the group, Mr Gwynne joked that a 72-year-old pensioner who complained about her bins would be dead before the next council elections. He also mocked veteran Labour Parliamentarian Diane Abbott for becoming the first black MP to perform at the Opposition Dispatch Box during Prime Minister's Questions, as well as deriding a person whose name was 'too Jewish,' asking 'Is he in Mossad?' Since quitting as a Minister, Mr Gwynne has kept a low profile as an MP, rarely attending any local events, and has not been seen in Parliament. Local residents have been questioning if he deserves to receive his annual 93,904 as an MP when he does so little, said sources. Last week, more than a hundred protesters gathered outside Denton Town Hall where Mr Gwynne has his office demanding he stands down as an MP. Andrew Gwynne (pictured) was dismissed as Health Minister hours after the MoS showed Number 10 and the Labour officials vile messages he and others posted on a WhatsApp group called Trigger Me Timbers Mr Gwynne, 50, who represents the Manchester seat of Denton and Gorton, had his Labour whip taken away immediately, as did Burnley MP Oliver Ryan (pictured), who was also a member of the WhatsApp group The MoS expose (pictured) led to a national outcry over the vile messages a Labour Minister, an MP and over a dozen of the party's councillors and senior officials sent each other The protesters chanted 'Andrew Gwynne in the bin,' a reference to him joking he wanted the Stockport pensioner dead after she dared to complain about her bins. Others held placards that read: 'Trigger Me a By-election Now!,' while a huge sign was hung below the Denton Town Hall sign, which read: 'ANDREW GWYNNE, QUIT NOW!!!' As well as Mr Gwynne, the protesters also demanded that that the 11 Labour councillors from Tameside and Stockport councils who were members of Trigger Me Timbers must also quit, one of whom is Mr Gwynne's wife, Allison, 50. She represents the Tameside ward of Denton North East. The MoS expose led to a national outcry over the vile messages a Labour Minister, an MP and over a dozen of the party's councillors and senior officials sent each other. The Labour Party suspended all members of Trigger Me Timbers pending an investigation, while Mr Gwynne is facing a separate Parliamentary Standards inquiry. Greater Manchester Police launched it own probe after receiving dozens of complaints, but last month it emerged that the force decided no further action will be taken. After three months, however, local anger in the North-West has not abated. Two weeks ago Mr and Mrs Gwynne were spotted at Denton's Crownpoint shopping park and were met by dozens of shoppers booing and heckling when they tried to get out of their car. The Labour Party suspended all members of Trigger Me Timbers (pictured, messages from the group) pending an investigation, while Mr Gwynne is facing a separate Parliamentary Standards inquiry As well as Mr Gwynne, the protesters also demanded that that the 11 Labour councillors from Tameside and Stockport councils who were members of Trigger Me Timbers must also quit, one of whom is Mr Gwynne's wife, Allison (pictured), 50 Last week, Mr Ryan one of the youngest MPs in Parliament at the age of 29 faced a vote of no confidence motion at Burnley Council, during which all Labour councillors walked out at the time of voting. The motion did not pass, but councillors strongly condemned their MP during a fiery debate. Last night, a Labour spokesman said the party will not give a timeline when its investigation will be concluded. He added: 'Andrew Gwynne has been administratively suspended as a member of the Labour Party. We are investigating comments made in this WhatsApp group in line with the Labour Party's rules and procedures. 'Swift action will be taken if individuals are found to have breached the high standards expected of them as Labour Party members.' Around 20 former members of the SAS who shot dead IRA gunmen more than 30 years ago are facing murder charges, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Details have been disclosed for the first time in a letter sent to every British Army regiment by the SAS Association, the first step in a military-style fightback launched by senior SAS officers called Project Verity. SAS leaders are considering a 'mass expression of outrage' by the UK's two million veterans. The letter, which has been obtained by the MoS and National Security News, says: 'We are about to see a surge of Northern Ireland cases instigated by nationalist activists and targeted at individual veterans. 'They are fundamentally designed to undermine the British State and its military forces and rewrite the history of the Troubles whilst persecuting ad infinitum scores, possibly hundreds, of former soldiers, decades on from their service. 'We have recently seen around 20 former Special Forces officers and soldiers referred to the Director of Public Prosecution for investigation, with a view to charging them for offences as serious as murder and conspiracy to murder relating to operations in Coagh and Clonoe in 1991 and 1992. 'In most cases the terrorists in question were heavily armed and died as a result of their own misadventure, often killed whilst... being arrested when caught in the act of trying to commit murder. 'These cases are now hijacked by activists seeking to wreak vengeance on former soldiers under the pretence of searching for further truths from more than 30 years ago.' The Government is in the process of repealing the Legacy Act, which banned inquests and offered conditional amnesty to those suspected of crimes relating to the Troubles SAS leaders are considering a 'mass expression of outrage' by the UK's two million veterans Three members of the IRA were killed by the SAS at Coagh, and four at the Clonoe ambush. The Government is in the process of repealing the Legacy Act, which banned inquests and offered conditional amnesty to those suspected of crimes relating to the Troubles. Yesterday, an ex-SAS officer told the MoS it was absurd former members of the regiment could stand trial for murder when senior officials and politicians were involved. The MoD said: 'We recognise the dedicated service and sacrifice of the Armed Forces... in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and are committed to supporting veterans. 'There can be no rewriting of history. The approach taken by the previous government through the Legacy Act... has been found by the courts to be unlawful.' It said it aims to ensure there are legacy mechanisms in place that are fair, lawful and proportionate. A journalist who featured on the BBC's Arabic channel has called for Jews to be 'burned as Hitler did' in sickening social media posts. Samer Elzaenen has appeared on the channel several times reporting on the conflict. Last June he reported on the Nuseirat refugee camp, after an Israeli military operation to rescue four hostages held by Hamas, which led to hundreds of Palestinian deaths. It has now been reported that the 33-year-old journalist has taken to social media to condemn Jews and even appear for them to be killed, according to the Telegraph. It's the latest in anti-Semitic links to the corporation, which has left the broadcaster under huge pressure. In February, a Beeb documentary about Gaza was pulled from iPlayer after it was accused of spreading terrorist propaganda. The programme aired on BBC Two and is narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who describes life in the city during the conflict between Israel and Hamas. But, following an investigation, it later emerged the boy is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Samer Elzaenen has appeared on the channel several times reporting on the conflict It has now been reported that the 33-year-old journalist has taken to social media to condemn Jews and even appear for them to be killed In a sickening social media post, Mr Elzaenen's social media, he said: 'When things go awry for us, shoot the Jews, it fixes everything.' In another rant, he seemed to call for a repeat of the Holocaust, saying that Palestinians would 'take our land back' and saying that 'we love death for Allah's sake in the same way you love life'. He added: 'We shall burn you as Hitler did, but this time we won't have a single one of you left.' In many posts, Mr Elzaenen has seemingly backed more than 30 separate attacks against Jewish civilians in Israel, calling the actions 'blessed' and 'heroic' whilst those behind the attacks are called 'heroes' and 'martyrs'. When referring to an attack in February 2023 in which a terrorist killed two children after ramming his car into a bus stop in Jerusalem, he said the victims would soon 'go to hell'. The current war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking over 200 hostages, including civilians. It was the deadliest attack on Israel in its history. Mr Elzaenen has repeatedly called those who carried out the attack 'resistance fighters'. The current war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on southern Israel Meanwhile, another freelance journalist who contributes to the regional channel, Ahmed Qannan, appeared to endorse violence against Israelis in a social media post related to a deadly attack near a synagogue in Jerusalem. The shooting, which occurred on Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2023, left seven civilians dead. In response to a Facebook comment from a friend saying, 'We want to see some throats cut,' Qannan replied, 'Don't give up on your ambition,' seemingly encouraging the sentiment. Sources have told the newspaper that neither journalists were members of staff at the broadcaster. A BBC spokesperson told the newspaper the organisation cannot access Gaza directly due to restrictions on international media, so it relies on a range of eyewitness reports from within the area. It said these contributors are not BBC employees or part of its official reporting team. The spokesperson added that the BBC was not aware of the individuals' social media activity before airing their accounts and emphasised that the broadcaster has zero tolerance for antisemitism on its platforms. The BBC was approached for comment. Transgender women should not be allowed to use female toilets, according to the Government's equality watchdog. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued their guidance to charities and public sector organisations following the Supreme Court's ruling that trans women men who identify as female are not women under the law. Following the court's decision there was a debate among charities for women about how to interpret the finding. Many, including Refuge, the UK's largest domestic abuse organisation, and the Girl Guides said they would not let the ruling change the way they treated trans people and looked to the EHRC for support. But the EHRC's guidance reiterated the Supreme Court ruling, saying: 'Trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities.' The advice continued: 'Pupils who identify as trans girls (biological boys) should not be permitted to use the girls' toilet or changing facilities, and pupils who identify as trans boys (biological girls) should not be permitted to use the boys' toilet or changing facilities.' Transgender women should not be allowed to use female toilets, according to the Government's equality watchdog. Pictured: File photo The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued their guidance to charities and public sector organisations following the Supreme Court 's ruling that trans women men who identify as female are not women under the law. Pictured: Protesters gathered in support of transgender rights following the ruling Following the court's decision there was a debate among charities for women about how to interpret the finding. Pictured: Susan Smith, left, and Marion Calder, centre, co-directors of For Women Scotland, celebrating the ruling outside the Supreme Court The EHRC's view on safe spaces for women, and access to changing rooms and toilets, is likely to infuriate some Left-wing Labour MPs who opposed the Supreme Court ruling. Ahead of the guidance, vocal pro-trans Labour MP Nadia Whittome said: 'Discrimination, harassment and violence will rise if trans people lose access to toilets and other spaces. 'Many will be driven from public life. That's what's at stake here. There's no benefit to women. Just harm to trans people and anyone who doesn't fit gendered stereotypes.' Rattlesnakes are beginning to emerge from hibernation as the springtime approaches, including up to 2,000 serpents from a mega den in a secret location in Colorado. Researchers from California Polytechnic State University have set up webcams near the secret spot in Colorado to record the serpents' behavior. The research is a part of Project RattleCam, which monitors rattlesnakes in Colorado and California. The webcams were placed last summer so scientists could learn more about the reptiles' daily behavior in the wild. A snake removal company called Central Coast Snake Services and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania are also involved in the project. Scientists made the live stream footage public so anyone can watch the snakes moving in real time. The footage captivated audiences as snakes have recently been observed leaving the mega den. Around 2.5 million people watched the live births of baby snakes, also known as pups, last year. Rattlesnakes are beginning to emerge from hibernation as springtime approaches, including thousands in a Colorado mega den The prairie rattlesnakes hibernate in the fall and emerge around April until September, when they give birth Snake enthusiasts can watch the serpents on a live stream provided by scientists with Project RattleCam Rattlesnakes hibernate in the winter and begin to emerge when the weather gets warm. Currently, there've only been a few snakes seen on camera, but scientists estimate that there will be thousands by the end of May. Some of the snakes pictured at the Colorado rockery are named Pirate, Loki, Scarly, Honeybee, and Olga. The prairie rattlesnake is are native to grassland, sandhills, semidesert shrubland, riparian zones, and montane woodland habitats, according to the Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. The rattlesnakes give birth at the end of the summer, for two weeks in late-August to early September. Contrary to popular belief, rattlesnakes give birth to their young and don't lay eggs. Max Roberts, a CalPoly graduate student researcher, told the Associated Press last year that rattlesnakes are pack-like creatures. Mothers care for the young together and protect the newborn pups with their body heat until they enter hibernation. 'We regularly see what we like to call "babysitting," pregnant females that we can visibly see have not given birth, yet are kind of guarding the newborn snakes,' Roberts said. The scientists set up the webcams in a secret location to learn more about the snakes and monitor their daily lives Some of the snakes even have names and were photographed for Project RattleCam's website Graduate students at California Polytechnic State University are studying a variety of factors contributing to the snakes' behavior The researchers are studying different aspects of the serpents' daily lives. Last year, Roberts focused on how temperature changes and ultraviolet sunlight affect the reptiles. Another graduate student studied the familial and social relationships of the rattlesnakes. 'We are interested in studying the natural behavior of rattlesnakes, free from human disturbance. What do rattlesnakes actually do when we're not there?' Roberts told AP. The webcam was turned off last fall since the snakes were in hibernation, but is live once again as they emerge from the infamous mega den. The live stream is on at all hours, but stops for 15 minutes at 7am and 7pm PST. Snake enthusiasts can also watch the California RattleCam from 7am to 8pm PST starting in July. President Donald Trump has called for American military and commercial ships to be allowed to travel through the Panama and Suez Canals for free. In a post to his Truth Social, Trump said: 'American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! 'Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America. Ive asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!' Trump has repeatedly said he wanted to 'take back' the canal before he took office in January. His remarks on Saturday night come after insiders claimed last month that he had ordered the military to draw up plans to seize the Panama Canal. The US Southern Command has developed an array of potential plans to ensure the America has full access to the Panama Canal, two military sources confirmed to Reuters. Draft strategies reportedly range from partnering closely with Panamanian security forces to using American troops to forcibly seize the waterway, which officials say is the less likely option. Officials allege Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander of US Southern Command, presented the proposals to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Trump points as he arrives at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., Saturday, April 26, 2025, upon returning from a trip to attend the funeral of Pope Francis A cargo ship transits through Panama Canal Cocoli locks in Panama City on February 21, 2025 His remarks on Saturday night come after insiders claimed earlier this week that he had ordered the military to draw up plans to seize the Panama Canal Trump has asserted that the US needs to take back the canal because China controls it and could use the waterway to undermine American interests. Any move by a foreign power to take the canal by force would almost certainly violate international law. A US invasion of Panama is unlikely, the insiders cautioned, telling NBC News that such a move would only be seriously considered if increased presence of American troops in the area did not achieve Trump's goal to 'take back' the canal. Trump has said repeatedly he wants to 'take back' the waterway, but has not offered specifics about how he would do so, or if military action might be required. One insider said a document, described as an interim national security guidance by the new administration, called on the military to look at military options to safeguard access to the canal. A second official said the US military had a wide array of potential options to safeguard access, including ensuring a close partnership with Panama's military. The Suez Canal, seen here, connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, accounting for 10 to 12 percent of global trade The Panama Canal cross the narrowest part between North and South America, which allows ships to move quickly between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. It is considered one of the world's most strategically important waterways. The U.S. completed construction of the canal in the early 20th century but gave control of the strategically important waterway to Panama in 1999. The US and Panama are treaty-bound to defend the canal against any threat to its neutrality and are permitted to take unilateral action to do so. The Suez meanwhile connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, accounting for 10 to 12 percent of global trade. In his inaugural speech in January, Trump repeated accusations that Panama has broken the promises it made for the final transfer of the canal in 1999. The world has come close to accidental nuclear war many times most terrifyingly in January 1995. That was when a Norwegian rocket launch, carrying scientific equipment to study the Northern Lights, was mistakenly identified by Russian early-warning stations as a US missile attack. The Norwegian government had notified the Russians about the launch to avoid exactly this kind of confusion, but the Russian foreign ministry had failed to pass this on to the military. The alert was passed all the way to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who opened his nuclear briefcase containing the launch codes to begin measures for a retaliation, while submarine commanders were put on alert to launch a counter-strike. However, when satellites failed to detect any follow-up missile launches, it was eventually declared a false alarm. There have been numerous near-misses since the invention of nuclear weapons in the Second World War. The US military calls such nuclear-related mishaps broken arrows and just the American list alone makes alarming reading. One night in June 1980, the US was put on high alert as it appeared the Soviets had launched 2,200 missiles. It was only as defence officials were preparing to call President Jimmy Carter to get authorisation for the nuclear response that they discovered that the failure of a computer chip costing 50 cents had transferred software simulating a nuclear attack to the regular warning display. The world has come close to accidental nuclear war many times most terrifyingly in January 1995. Pictured: A warhead missile launch exercise simulating a tactical nuclear attack in Cholsan county, North Pyongan Province, North Korea That was when a Norwegian rocket launch, carrying scientific equipment to study the Northern Lights, was mistakenly identified by Russian early-warning stations as a US missile attack The Norwegian government had notified the Russians about the launch to avoid exactly this kind of confusion, but the Russian foreign ministry had failed to pass this on to the military. The alert was passed all the way to Russian President Boris Yeltsin (pictured), who opened his nuclear briefcase containing the launch codes to begin measures for a retaliation, while submarine commanders were put on alert to launch a counter-strike Similar incidents took place on the Russian side. In September 1983, incoming data reported that the US had launched five Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Soviet Union. It turned out the Soviet satellite system had misinterpreted the reflection of the Sun on clouds as missile launches, and the world was saved from Armageddon only by the actions of a Soviet officer who suspected things were not right. In 2007, six nuclear-armed cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded onto a US B-52 bomber at Minot air force base in North Dakota and flown to an air force base in Louisiana. The weapons remained mounted to the aircraft unguarded while the B-52 sat on the tarmac overnight. For 36 hours, no one realised six live nuclear weapons were missing. Based on our experience of such mishaps and near-misses over just a few decades, I would not put money on us surviving very long into the future. While I hope we might one day get rid of nuclear weapons, it is important in the short term to get them off the state of hair-trigger alert favoured by both the Americans and Russians. The campaign group Global Zero includes in its list of values the statement: We recognise that nuclear violence reinforces oppressive systems of white supremacy and patriarchy. Does it really, though? Are North Koreas nukes reinforcing white supremacy? And what has patriarchy got to do with it?, asks Mark Lynas. Pictured: Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, supervises artillery firing drills in North Korea in 2024 Also, the US must cancel its posture of launch-on-warning meaning its nuclear weapons would be out of their silos and in the air almost immediately after the first warning of an incoming missile attack is confirmed. These changes could happen very quickly and be applied by all parties with international verification, reducing the risk of inadvertent nuclear war. Yes, I know that achieving something like this might seem hopeless. But we mustnt give up hope, because where we are now reminds me of when I began work on climate change more than 20 years ago. Even those who believed it was a reality did not think there was much we could do about it. But today, the risk of civilisation-ending global climate breakdown is gradually being reduced. We broke the cycle of denial on climate and we must do the same with nuclear weapons with a mobilisation that does not get sidetracked. The campaign group Global Zero, for example, includes in its list of values the statement: We recognise that nuclear violence reinforces oppressive systems of white supremacy and patriarchy. Does it really, though? Are North Koreas nukes reinforcing white supremacy? And what has patriarchy got to do with it? While I care about these issues, I do not think we can allow injustice in other areas to become a roadblock. If new entrants to the movement must sign up to a roll call of progressive issues in order to participate, fewer people are going to get involved. We cannot be another movement of hippies, eating vegan food in protest camps with compost toilets and obsessing over women-only spaces. Both wokery and wonkery can destroy a movement from the inside. We cannot be a peace movement either. We will never get world peace, but we can avoid world war. Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of 'selling out' British fisheries in exchange for a new trade deal with Brussels. The Prime Minister is close to agreeing a reset with the European Union which will allow British defence companies to bid for a new 150 billion defence fund, but is expected to also announce significant concessions on fishing rights and freedom of movement. Brexiteers have responded with fury. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: 'Every time Labour negotiates, Britain loses. Keir Starmer tried repeatedly to overturn Brexit, and it beggars belief that now he's in government he's selling out our fishing rights. Instead of capitulating to the EU yet again, Labour should be pressing home our Brexit benefits.' Government sources denied there was a link between fishing and defence in the EU talks. Critics questioned the EU defence fund's benefit to the UK defence industry and said the Prime Minister should instead be doing more to champion British defence companies. The Security Action for Europe fund, announced by Brussels last month, is aimed at helping countries to invest in missile defence, drones, ammunition and cyber security. British companies such as BAE Systems and Babcock were originally excluded from the fund because the UK has not signed a defence and security pact with Brussels. But a defence source said: 'We want access to EU cash. But do we need it enough to be bending the knee to France's fish demands? No. In fact they are disparaging the UK sector by acting like they aren't strong enough and we need EU support to be viable. 'All defence firms need is for the Government to actually place orders.' Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of 'selling out' British fisheries in exchange for a new trade deal with Brussels. Pictured: File photo The Prime Minister is close to agreeing a reset with the European Union which will allow British defence companies to bid for a new 150 billion defence fund, but is expected to also announce significant concessions on fishing rights Brexiteers have responded with fury. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch (pictured) said: 'Every time Labour negotiates, Britain loses' The source added that the EU fund is seen by ministers as 'a way to support firms without having to spend UK cash'. And Tory environment spokesman Victoria Atkins said: 'The EU's Common Fisheries Policy decimated our fishing fleet. When we left, we made real progress, including increased quotas for our fishermen and less access for foreign vessels. But now, Keir Starmer wants to hand our fishing grounds straight back to the French.' Under the 2020 agreement struck by Boris Johnson, by next June Britain will have seized back 25 per cent of catching rights in its waters that were surrendered before the 2016 Brexit vote. There was hope that the return to UK control would continue after the deadline, but France and Spain are reluctant to agree. Former environment secretary George Eustice urged the Prime Minister to immediately halt negotiations on fisheries. He said: 'The UK has the upper hand in current reset negotiations because the EU has most to gain from reduced border checks and defence cooperation. There is no reason to allow freeloading by the EU on British fisheries resources.' Sir Keir is expected to announce the deal at a UK-EU summit on May 19. It would include a new 'youth experience scheme' which will bring back a form of freedom of movement. The EU first proposed a youth mobility scheme, which would allow young people to study or work for up to four years, last April. That plan was rejected by both Labour and Tories in the run-up to the general election. Now EU sources have said they will accept a watered-down version, with young people allowed for a year, but with an option of a further one or two-year extension. There has also been a proposal of a 'one in, one out' system by the Home Secretary. A Government spokesman said: 'The upcoming UK-EU Summit will cover a range of issues as we look to build a stable and positive relationship that aligns with our national interest. No agreements have been reached and we have always been clear we will protect the interests of our fisheries.' The nation's coffers have missed out on more than 1billion in capital gains taxes after wealthy individuals quit the UK in their droves. New figures from HMRC reveal capital gains tax (CGT) paid to the Treasury dropped by 1.4 billion in the 12 months to March. The sharp fall in revenues comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles to balance her books. Many non-doms UK residents whose permanent home for tax purposes is outside the UK and members of Britain's home-grown wealthy elite are leaving the country to escape the heavy tax burden on their assets and earnings. High-profile defectors include top Goldman Sachs banker Richard Gnodde and British property tycoons the Livingstone brothers. Inquiries about leaving the UK in the first three months of this year were nearly three times higher compared with the same period in 2024, according to Henley and Partners, which provides global relocation services. CGT is paid on profits on assets including second homes, stocks and shares. New figures from HMRC reveal capital gains tax (CGT) paid to the Treasury dropped by 1.4 billion in the 12 months to March The sharp fall in revenues comes as Chancellor Rachel Reeves (pictured) struggles to balance her books Many non-doms UK residents whose permanent home for tax purposes is outside the UK and members of Britain's home-grown wealthy elite are leaving the country to escape the heavy tax burden on their assets and earnings. Pictured: File photo At the start of this month, the rate rose from 20 per cent to 24 per cent for high tax rate payers following changes in Ms Reeves' Budget in October. Non-domiciled people who live in Britain are for the first time having their worldwide earnings subject to UK tax after changes implemented by Labour last year. Figures show the amount of CGT paid to the Treasury dropped by more than 10 per cent to 13 billion in the 12 months to March 2025, from 14.5 billion last year. It is a blow for Ms Reeves, who is struggling to improve public finances amid a global trade war instigated by US President Donald Trump's tariffs. Interview: "Individual countries will be stronger if they're willing to work together," says UN under-secretary-general Xinhua) 08:09, April 27, 2025 This photo taken on Feb. 29, 2024 shows an exterior view of the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Shi Song) UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said that the initiatives China proposed around peace and security, global development and cultural cooperation closely align with the UN's core mission of peacemaking, humanitarian efforts and global security. BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Countries can only achieve broad-based economic development by forging partnerships rooted in trust and dialogue -- a fact exemplified by China, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said. Fletcher, who visited China this week, told Xinhua on Friday that such cooperation is especially critical now, as the global humanitarian system faces immense strain amid ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. "And partnerships require us all to listen, as well as to talk," he said, adding that China's approach to international engagement reflects that principle. "It's not seeking to impose its view on others. It's seeking to build that dialogue and trust," Fletcher said. "And that's the spirit that I think we should all be cooperating in." He added that the initiatives China proposed around peace and security, global development and cultural cooperation closely align with the UN's core mission of peacemaking, humanitarian efforts and global security. "There is a huge synergy there, and a huge potential as well for more partnership," he said. "I think there are immense amounts of practical work we can do together, for example, the green humanitarian movement, preparing for climate disasters, and practical support in countries, where I want to see much more day-to-day cooperation between our diplomats." Fletcher said the concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind" is another key idea that highlights global solidarity and "the world coming together, not pulling apart." Such concepts have created "partnerships that we really need if we're to meet the challenges ahead of us, including climate change," he said. Fletcher highlighted the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, a flagship project of China-Kenya Belt and Road cooperation. He recalled driving between the two cities while living in Kenya back in the late 1990s. "It was a very bumpy road, and it took us a long time to get from Nairobi to Mombasa," he said. "So to see those transport links shrinking the time and the distance between cities, I think, has a huge impact on the global economy and on global development." "The fact that the infrastructure is improving means I can move faster, but more importantly, it means we can move humanitarian supplies much faster. We can get our convoys moving with food and medicine and shelter to reach those communities who need them so badly," he added. As a proponent of multilateralism, Fletcher said he's "very worried about that potential impact" of the United States' retreat from international cooperation, aid cuts and sweeping tariffs. "I don't believe that countries can really build extensive economic development by retreating from the world," he said, adding that the tariffs risk an impact on the economies of the countries where humanitarian needs are already demanding. "I'm very worried about that potential impact," he said. "There's also a risk that they have an impact on the economies of many of our partners and donors whose support is so essential for that humanitarian work." "So clearly we want dialogue. We want solidarity. We want more international cooperation, and I hope that dialogue and engagement can resolve some of these differences around trade and tariffs, and help us to work together rather than separately," he noted. Meanwhile, the funding shortfall caused by the U.S. aid cuts "is a big short-term challenge for us," Fletcher said. "Because of those cuts, we are closing massive numbers of programs, and we're saying goodbye to fantastic colleagues across the sector. And it's heartbreaking to lose those programs, and to see the impact on the people we serve. And what we now need to see is other countries stepping forward," he said. He highlighted China's "real leadership role" in Myanmar's earthquake rescue operations. "I was in Myanmar and saw the Chinese rescue teams going in 24 hours a day after the earthquake to pull survivors from the rubble," he said. "In all those situations, you feel the despair, but you also feel hope, because it's in those moments when people are under such great pressure that they look out for each other, that they respond," he said. "And to see the preparations that they have developed, and the expertise of the Chinese first responders, I thought the world needs this. They need that experience and expertise." "We need that support from China, and that leadership from China," he said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Australia's birth rate is at an all-time-low with many young Aussies blaming the cost-of-living crisis for their decision to not have children. Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed the country's birth rate has halved since 1960 with 52 per cent of Aussies under the age of 35 delaying their family plans. Among the highest reasons for people choosing to have children later in life, or not at all, were finances, career and relationships. The cost of raising a child was the biggest factor with 49 per cent of childless young adults citing it as the main reason. Others blamed job security, housing and mental health concerns. The decision to have kids later in life was reflected in an increased median age of parenthood which rose to 31.9 for mothers and 33.8 for fathers. Families are also having less children with the birth rate dropping from 3.55 children per woman in 1960 to 1.5. 'Desire for personal freedom and flexibility (eg travel, hobbies)' was also in the top 10 concerns for people having kids at 19 per cent. Australia's birth rate has halved since 1960 with 52 per cent of Aussies under the age of 35 delaying their family plans McCrindle social researcher Geoff Brailey added Aussies that do want children are choosing to have smaller families. 'I think this complex equation of establishing a career is important, finding security amidst uncertainty is important, and that's both financial. It's also that mental health and managing mental wellbeing,' he told the Courier Mail. Founder Mark McCrindle claimed the growing preference for smaller families would 'reshape society for decades to come' as it meant the birth rate was not high enough to sustain the current population. The survey results were widely reflected in online comments with many young Australians agreeing they wouldn't have children until their 30s, mostly due to the costs involved. 'Who can afford to have kids! Childcare, medical costs, cost of living in general,' one wrote. 'With the current huge housing prices and costs of living. How is anyone affording to start a family? No wonder the birth rates are dropping,' another said. 'I would not start a family if I was in that era of life. As it is my children's outlook is very bleak. I wish I had known what hell they were going to be trying to live in,' another wrote. 'Its scary having kids these days. Most people cant afford to support themselves let alone add children to that,' another said. Among the highest reasons for people choosing to have children later in life, or not at all, were finances, career and relationships 'They are being clever. The future seems a little scary at the moment,' another wrote. Others, like 20-year-old Nicole Hanssens, have used the decreased pressure to have children as a young adult to decide whether they'd be good parents or not. Ms Hanssens was blunt in saying she didn't want kids. 'I don't think that's ever going to change,' she said. 'I can barely look after myself, let alone a whole other human being.' Police in Washington DC have arrested an illegal immigrant in connection with the theft of homeland security secretary Kristi Noem's hand bag. Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC, when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag last Sunday. It contained roughly $3,000 in cash, her makeup bag, driver's license, passport, medication, apartment keys, DHS access badge and some blank checks. Sources close to the investigation confirmed with DailyMail.com on Saturday night that one suspect has been apprehended, while another is still at large. Their identities was not immediately available. NBC News reported that the suspect apprehended had been in the country illegally. In a statement, the Secret Service said: 'For the safety of our agents and officers, we are not in a position to confirm or comment at this time. 'Should criminal charges be filed, the Department of Homeland Security will provide public information in accordance with established procedures.' Reports indicate that a man sat alone at a table next to the secretary and was able to snatch her purse while no one was looking. A source that spoke with CNN said that surveillance footage shows the criminal sit down at an empty table next to Noem. Noem attends a meeting with El Salvador president in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 14 April 2025 DHS Sec. Kristi Noem had her bag stolen from her table as she dined with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown Washington Sunday evening He then uses his left foot to drag and slide the bag into his possession and away from Noem. The suspect then takes a look around the restaurant and then picks up the big and puts hit under his jacket as he bolts. Noem had no idea anything had even happened until the rose from her table to see the purse was gone. Speaking on The Vince Show, a podcast with Vince Coglianese, this week, Noem said: 'He hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it 'I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet.' The brazen theft is significant when considering that Noem has an around the clock Secret Service detail watching her every move. Ronald Layton, a 26-year veteran of the Secret Service, told The New York Times: 'Its embarrassing as hell.' Layton added that he wasn't entirely shocked by the theft, saying it was common for the protectee to sometimes want more privacy when sharing moments with family. Kristi Noem, pictured with her daughter and grandchildren Noem's bag contained tons of personal items including her house keys, passport, and DHS access badge. She is pictured above carrying a purse in 2022 He added: 'They may not want to see agents hovering over their shoulder, especially in restaurants.' She confirmed during the same interview that her purse has yet to be returned, which means her passport, DHS security badge and more are still unaccounted for. The secretary also disclosed that she believes the criminal is a professional. 'It was professionally done,' Noem said on the show. 'It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger,' she added. Earlier this week DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told DailyMail.com in a statement that the cash in the purse was for the secretary's family. Noem was going to give it out as presents for Easter, she said. 'Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren - she was using the cash withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,' McLaughlin shared. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, whose panel oversees DHS, told DailyMail.com this week he is working with Secret Service to investigate the crime. 'The Committee is in contact with the Secret Service concerning this brazen theft of Secretary Noem's belongings this week, and we will continue conducting oversight of the agency to ensure any security lapses are properly and swiftly addressed,' he shared. 'The security of our nation's leaders is a vital part of DHS' mission, and it must remain a top priority,' he continued. A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Boston due to a 'possible bird strike' and cabin smoke during a trip from Washington DC to London. The flight took off at 5:36 pm from Dulles International Airport, but was diverted to Boston Logan International Airport at 7:30 pm on Saturday, according to flight logs tracked on Flight Aware. Crew on board the Boeing 777 plane reported a bird strike and fumes in the cabin, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA announced an investigation into the incident but clarified that all passengers on board British Airways Flight 216 landed safely in Boston. The flight departed from Boston at 8:45 pm and is scheduled to land in London at 6:15 am GMT. 'The flight landed safely after diverting to Boston as a precaution following a suspected bird strike,' a spokesperson for British Airways said in a statement. 'We are sorry for the delay to our customers' travel plans, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority,' the statement continued. It was not immediately known how many passengers and crew members were on board or if there was any damage to the aircraft. British Airways Flight 216 landed safely in Boston after it was diverted en route to London due to a 'possible bird strike' (file photo) The FAA said crew members reported 'fumes in the cabin' and the flight emergency landed at Boston Logan International Airport (pictured) (file photo) The Boeing 777 plane departed from Dulles International Airport in Washington DC (pictured) at 5:36 pm but wasn't even in the air for two hours before the flight was diverted (file photo) Bird strikes are a common occurrence in the air, but can be hazardous if the bird flies into the engine. According to the FAA, there have been around 292,000 reported wildlife strikes in the US between 1990 and 2023. About 61 percent of bird strikes occur when a flight is descending or ascending. Only 3 percent of strikes occur when the plane is en route. Even though it may seem like a minor problem, 499 human fatalities and 361 aircrafts were destroyed from 1988 to 2024 due to wildlife collisions. On December 29, 2024, a passenger jet crash-landed at an airport in South Korea, killing 179 people. The plane landed on its belly and burst into flames after striking a concrete structure on the runway. The cause has yet to be determined, but a preliminary investigation revealed that feathers and bird blood stains were found on both engines of the plane. Investigators found that air traffic controllers warned the pilots about a possible bird strike just minutes before they issued a distress signal. The flight departed from Boston at 8:45 pm and is scheduled to land in London's Heathrow Airport (pictured) at 6:15 am GMT (file photo) The incident is the latest in a string of aviation accidents that have generated increased attention from the public since the deadly crash in Washington DC in January (file photo) The devastating crash prompted South Korean officials to require bird detection cameras in all airports. There's been an increased attention on the aviation industry since an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington DC, killing all 67 passengers on board both aircraft. The deadly collision shocked the public and became the deadliest plane crash in the US since 2001. The National Transportation Safety Board has logged 250 aviation accidents across the US so far this year. An Arkansas bank worker claimed to have only been 'borrowing' money from customers after she allegedly transferred more than $240,000 into her own account. Heather Pankey, 45, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly stealing over $241,900 from her former job at First National Bank of Commerce in Pocahontas. 'I borrowed money from a couple of customers that I knew wouldn't need the money at the time,' Pankey said in a statement, the affidavit stated. Pankey's alleged theft from multiple customer accounts was initially discovered when a transaction was initiated on the account of a customer who had passed away, according to court documents. 'This transaction had been entered into from another employee's computer using that user's credentials,' the affidavit said. The other employee was then questioned on the matter but had no knowledge of the transactions. An investigation led to the discovery that Pankey had allegedly accessed customer accounts and initiated fund transfers into a joint account she shared with her grandmother. Funds were also allegedly drawn from at least eight other customer accounts to a total of more than $241,900. Heather Pankey, 45, was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly stealing over $241,900 from her former job at First National Bank of Commerce in Pocahontas Pankey has been charged with theft of property, forgery, financial identity fraud and computer fraud. She was booked into the Randolph County Detention Center on Wednesday morning 'I borrowed money from a couple of customers that I knew wouldn't need the money at the time,' Pankey said in a statement, the affidavit stated 'The movement of these funds was part of a pattern of behavior in which Heather transferred money from one customer's account to another to conceal prior unauthorized withdrawals,' the affidavit stated. Pankey has been charged with theft of property, forgery, financial identity fraud and computer fraud. She was booked into the Randolph County Detention Center on Wednesday morning. Former Australian of the Year and sexual assault survivor activist Grace Tame has seemingly weighed in on a conspiracy theory on Virginia Giuffre's death. Ms Giuffre's family on Friday confirmed the 41-year-old, who is best known for testifying against disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, had taken her own life in her home near Perth. However, a previous social media post by Ms Giuffre that claimed she was not 'suicidal' has fuelled conspiracy theories over whether her death was actually self-inflicted or part of a larger plot to hide sex trafficking among the ultra-elite. 'I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal,' she wrote in 2019. 'I have made this known to my therapist and GP. If something happens to me in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. 'Too many evil people want to see me quieted.' Ms Giuffre's blunt statement was in response to a user who wrote: 'FBI will kill her to protect the ultra rich and well connected.' US House Republican Nancy Mace shared the old tweet on X, saying: 'This gave me goosebumps.' Virginia Giuffre (pictured), an alleged victim of disgraced American financier Jeffrey Epstein, took her own life Conspiracy theories ran wild after a 2019 tweet of Ms Giuffre's resurfaced (pictured) of her claiming she was not suicidal Ms Tame appeared to weigh in on the alleged murder plot under a post by Marie Claire Australia on Saturday. The post, picturing Ms Giuffre, simply stated: Virginia Giuffre, Epstein survivor and advocate, has died.' Ms Tame commented under the post '*been killed'. It is unclear if Ms Tame was hinting at a more sinister intent behind Ms Giuffre's passing, or if she was referring to the external environment - such as the alleged abuse and public scrutiny - as responsible for her death. Ms Giuffre's family confirmed her death and contributed her suffering to the alleged abuse she suffered throughout her life. 'It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,' the 41-year-old's family said. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.' Fuelling suspicion around Ms Giuffre's death is her connection to her alleged sexual abuser and trafficker, Epstein. Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame (pictured in March) commented that Ms Giuffre was 'killed' Similar claims Epstein did not take his own life but was murdered as part of a larger conspiracy have run rife since he committed suicide in jail. As the disturbing details of his alleged sex trafficking network came to light, conspiracy theorists believed he was killed in order to protect the secrets of his 'customers'. Ms Giuffre launched proceedings against Epstein in 2015, allegeding he trafficked her when she was 16 years old after she was recruited by his ex-lover and convicted madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. She claimed she was forced to have sex with UK Prince Andrew three times with her evidence including a now-notorious photo of her posing with the royal at Maxwells London home. Prince Andrews has long denied the allegations and settled the matter out of court. US House Republican Taylor Green posted a photo of Prince Andrews following news of Ms Giuffre's death, writing: 'The truth needs to come out more matter who is responsible.' Ms Giuffre's paternal uncle, Jet Roberts, told The Post he was unaware of any conspiracies surround his niece's death. 'She was a very nice person who had a lot of bad luck,' he said. Ms Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with UK Prince Andrew with her evidence including a photo (pictured) of her posing with the royal at Maxwells London home He declined to share any further comment but added the family is taking her death hard. Ms Giuffre's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, also shared a statement in tribute of the late advocate. 'Virginia Giuffre was much more than a client to me, she was a dear friend. Virginia was fearless, and her courage pushed me to fight harder,' McCawley said. 'Virginia's sunny strength was contagious and her smile spread hope to so many. She lifted us all to be better, and so we must be better. 'The world has lost a light that shone bright. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.' Just weeks before her death, Ms Giuffre shared a disturbing Instagram post claiming she only had 'four days to live' following a collision with a bus. The bus driver later claimed she exaggerated the seriousness of the crash. Adding to Ms Giuffre's distress was the separation from her husband of two decades in January. Ms Giuffre (centre) had shared details of a bus collision and her separation from her husband of two decades in recent months Her three children were staying with their father inside their $1.9 million mansion in north Perth's Ocean Reef while she moved to the small town of Neergabby, about 60km away. Ms Giuffre last month shared a post detailing her heartbreak at being away from her children. 'My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they're being poisoned with lies. I miss them so very much,' she wrote on March 22. 'I have been through hell and back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don't take my babies. 'My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens.' Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Tame for further comment. If you or a loved one need support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested nearly 800 illegal immigrants after launching a statewide crackdown in Florida. Operation Tidal Wave - a joint effort by ICE agents, Homeland Security and local law enforcement - resulted in officers arresting 780 migrants. As part of the massive sweep, 275 people were arrested with final orders of removal, meaning a court has mandated that they leave the country already. One of those busted was Jose Sanchez Reyes, a Colombian immigrant who entered the US illegally after being convicted of homicide in his home nation, according to Fox. Rafael Juarex Cabrera, a Guatemalan immigrant and alleged MS-13 member, was also caught. He had illegally reentered the US three times, officials said. Russian immigrant Savva Klishchevskii was also detained for an Interpol Red Notice out of Russia for vehicular manslaughter. Officials said Honduran Aron Isaak Morazan-Izaguirre was taken in. He is a suspected member of the 18th Street Gang and had illegally re-entered the US twice. ICE had used their 287(g) authority which allows for state and local law enforcement to be deputized and to arrest those in the US illegally. In a joint effort by ICE agents and Florida law enforcement, the four day crackdown, dubbed Operation Tidal Wave, officers arrested 780 migrants As part of that, 275 people were arrested with final orders of removal, meaning they can be removed from the US in short order The Trump administration has sought to bring in local authorities to help in their immigration operations to speed up deportations. 'This is one of the first large-scale missions we've done like this ever,' ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News. 'We brought a "whole the government" approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods.' Officials also told the outlet that they would be using the 287(g) type operation across the country. Officials in government have also started turning to warning undocumented immigrants to leave the US. In a statement on Monday, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said: 'President Trump and I have a clear message to those in our country illegally: LEAVE NOW. 'If you do not self-deport, we will hunt you down, arrest you and deport you.' The widespread arrests come after two judges were arrested this week for allegedly hiding immigrants from ICE officers. Kristi Noem speaks as prisoners look out from a cell during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Wednesday, March 26, 2025 ICE had used their 287(g) authority which allows for state and local law enforcement to be deputized and to arrest those in the US illegally The Trump administration has sought to bring in local authorities to help in their immigration operations to speed up deportations Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan has been accused of obstructing the arrest of Eduardo Flores Ruiz, 30, on April 18. Flores-Ruiz, who is from Mexico, had been charged with battery for allegedly punching someone 30 times in the face after they complained about his loud music. When ICE agents showed up to arrest him in court, Dugan, the government claims, hid him. She was taken into custody Friday at the Milwaukee County Courthouse according to the US Marshals Service. Dugan appeared briefly in federal court in Milwaukee later Friday before being released from custody. She faces charges of 'concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest' and obstructing or impeding a proceeding. County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan is accused of obstructing the arrest of Eduardo Flores Ruiz, 30, on April 1 Cano, a Democrat who served as a judge since 2011, resigned last month after Ortega-Lopez was detained in February after a separate raid on the home Her attorney Craig Mastantuono said: 'Judge Dugan wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety.' Former Dona Ana County Magistrate Judge Joel Cano and his wife, Nancy, were arrested on Thursday after a raid on their home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. They are facing charges of evidence tampering after they were allegedly caught harboring an illegal immigrant, named as suspected Venezuelan gang member Christhian Ortega-Lopez, in their home. Prosecutors say the alleged Venezuelan gangster had been living with the judge and his family and often posted images with them on his social media. Prosecutors say Ortega-Lopez entered the US illegally from Mexico in December 2023 and met Cano's wife Nancy when he was hired to install a glass door for her. In shocking images that emerged this week, Ortega-Lopez was seen enjoying Christmas with the couple as the judge and his wife posed with firearms. The arrest of Cano and his wife follows the detainment of Ortega-Lopez in February after a separate raid on the home, which led the judge to resign from his position. Firefighters in Massachusetts carried out a dramatic rescue after a five-year-old boy became stuck high in the branches of a backyard tree, perched an astonishing 35 feet above the ground. The rescuers in the small town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, are used to handling the occasional feline in distress but retrieving a child from a tree was a very different kind of emergency. 'Everyone knows fire departments respond to cats stuck in a tree,' the Rehoboth Fire Department wrote in a statement posted to Facebook. 'Well today was a first for us we responded to a kid stuck in a tree. We successfully removed the little fella from the tree and placed him safely on the ground where he belongs.' The 'little fella' in question was Malachi Eckerson, an adventurous and clearly determined kindergartner whose climbing expedition outside his family's home almost turned tragic. Malachi's mother, Hayley Eckerson, said her son managed to climb the tree within a matter of minutes. Hayley recalled how quickly her son's curiosity and energy led him into trouble. 'I think he put a board up against a tree that he had found from his daddy's wood pile, which got him to the lowest branches,' she told 12 News. 'And he scampered his way up to the top and called me over excited to show me.' What began as a proud moment for the youngster quickly turned into panic - and while the climb up had been thrilling, getting back down was another story entirely. Firefighters in Massachusetts carried out a dramatic rescue after a five-year-old boy became stuck high in the branches of a backyard tree, perched an astonishing 35ft above the ground The Rehoboth Fire Department answered the call, dispatching their ladder truck to the family's home 'We responded with the ladder truck and we were able to get the truck down the driveway. It was long and narrow, but we were able to rescue him,' Fire Chief Frank Barresi said Once Malachi realized he was stuck fear began to set in. But despite the growing concern below, Hayley noted how her son remained calm. 'He was perched comfortably on a branch holding onto another branch,' she told reporters. 'So we knew he was stable for the moment.' Realizing they needed help fast, Hayley and husband, Nate, wasted no time dialing 911. The Rehoboth Fire Department answered the call, dispatching their ladder truck to the family's home. The rescue was anything but routine with the family's long, narrow driveway posing something of a challenge for the emergency vehicle. 'We responded with the ladder truck and we were able to get the truck down the driveway. It was long and narrow, but we were able to rescue him,' Fire Chief Frank Barresi told local outlet WJAR. Barresi said one of the department's captains carefully secured Malachi with a rope and a safety belt before lifting him out of the treetop and guiding him safely back down the ladder to solid ground. 'He's safe. That's what matters,' Chief Barresi stated simply. Malachi came away from the ordeal without a scratch - but perhaps an important life lesson learned The little boy had been playing in the woods when he decided to climb one of the trees Little Malachi loves the outdoors and has a rather adventurous streak when it comes to playing 'We're going to tell the story about Malachi climbing the tree for a very long time,' dad, Nate, said Mom, Hayley, noted how her son remained calm throughout the ordeal Malachi is seen playing with his two sisters - well away from the trees! Malachi is promising to stay on the ground... for now Malachi came away from the ordeal without a scratch - but perhaps an important life lesson learned. 'We're going to tell the story about Malachi climbing the tree for a very long time,' Nate promised. In the aftermath of the incident, the family said they plan to make a few adjustments to the yard to prevent any repeat performances. The wood pile, Malachi's makeshift ladder, will no doubt be off-limits for the foreseeable future. A California man was caught red-handed giving a Nazi salute from a Tesla Cybertruck - but his identity was immediately revealed as his company and phone number was branded on the side of the vehicle. In a now-viral video posted to Reddit, Marco Diaz was captured on camera repeatedly motioning the Sieg Heil salute and yelling at pedestrians while sitting in the front seat of a Tesla. The car appeared to be a company vehicle and had a branding on the side that read, 'Cyber Electric,' with a phone number underneath. Diaz owns the electrical contracting company in Modesto, California, just outside of San Francisco. Social media users were quick to connect the dots and identify Diaz as the man from the Tesla. He's seen in the video with two other passengers who have yet to be identified. It's unclear what led to the altercation between the three in the Tesla and the pedestrians. The clip begins with someone uttering a homophobic slur before Diaz makes the salute. The video captured inaudible remarks, but one of the pedestrians seemingly asked if the men in the Tesla were going to the 'Kylie Minogue concert.' Marco Diaz, the owner of an electrical contracting company near San Francisco, California was captured on video repeatedly giving the Nazi salute Diaz issued an apology video on his company's website and his YouTube channel after the clip went viral online and social media users identified him Diaz was in a branded Tesla Cybertruck with his company name and phone number written on the side of the car during the altercation Diaz is then heard slurring his words and declaring that they 'work for the government.' 'Work for the government?! Bye girl,' the individual capturing the video responded before the Tesla sped off. Keen social media users spotted the branding on the side of the car and flooded Cyber Electric's reviews on Yelp and Google, slamming Diaz's hateful actions. The increased attention prompted Yelp to restrict reviews, and the company's profile has a pop-up warning users of 'unusual activity.' 'This business recently received increased public attention, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news rather than actual consumer experiences with the business,' the pop-up read in part. Yelp has temporarily disabled the comments on Cyber Electric's page, and the company has seemingly deleted its social media accounts. The company confirmed in a statement to SF Gate that the business's account was disabled and didn't provide a date for when restrictions would be lifted. The video has since made the rounds on social media, with many condemning Diaz's actions, writing, 'So weird, Ive been drunk plenty of times but Ive never accidentally repeatedly done the Nazi salute..' Social media users were quick to identify Diaz due to his company branding and flooded Cyber Electric's Yelp and Google reviews slamming him for the egregious behavior 'Love the nervous side glance at the light to see if its turned once he knows hes being recorded. Almost like they know its wrong and are choosing to be scum anyways,' another said in a Reddit thread. A third simply commented, 'Absolutely disgusting.' Diaz posted an apology on his YouTube channel and Cyber Electric's website after the video went viral. 'I am deeply sorry and I take full responsibility. We didn't go to San Francisco to target anyone or cause trouble. We were there to watch a Giant's game and this happened on the way out,' he said. Diaz went on to say that he was 'intoxicated' and said he 'reacted foolishly' to the pedestrians yelling at him. 'The Nazi salute is a symbol of hate and I regret ever using it in any way. I do not support Nazism or any form of hatred.' He added that he didn't say the homophobic slur heard in the video and blamed the individual recording him for saying it. In a separate statement to DailyMail.com, Diaz attested that he didn't say the homophobic slur and claimed the individual who posted the video edited it in. Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously came under fire earlier this year for making the gesture during an Inauguration event for Donald Trump Diaz said he was 'devastated' that the incident was linked to him, and he apologized to his community and his customers. He concluded that he was 'committed to learning' and 'welcomed feedback.' The comments on the video have been disabled. 'Regarding the gesture, Ive acknowledged to other outlets that it was a Nazi salute, made while I was under the influence. This was a grave mistake that does not reflect my character, beliefs, or the values of my business,' Diaz said in a statement to DailyMail.com. 'As a proud Mexican with immigrant parents, I reject any form of hate or bigotry. I am deeply sorry for the hurt caused by my actions, as expressed in my apology video, and I am committed to making amends through my work and community,' he added. The video comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk was accused of giving the salute while speaking on stage at an Inauguration event for Donald Trump in January. The identities of the pedestrians who recorded the video haven't been revealed. Multiple people have been killed after an SUV rammed through a packed street festival in Vancouver on Saturday night. Dozens more were injured after the black vehicle caused carnage at the Lapu Lapu Day event - to honor Filipino heritage - at around 8pm local time. Horrifying video and pictures showed utter devastation as mangled bodies were strewn across the road following the crash. Dazed bystanders could be seen racing away from the scene and from victim to victim as local cops swooped and arrested the driver. The suspect was alleged to have told witnesses he was 'sorry' as he was dragged out of the car. Sources told The Vancouver Sun he appeared to have been suffering from mental health problems. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was 'devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening'. Writing on X, he said: 'We are all mourning with you.' This black SUV plowed through a crowd of dozens of festivalgoers on a street in Vancouver, Canada killing many A peaceful night of music, food, and celebration in Vancouver turned into unimaginable horror on Saturday evening when a vehicle barreled into a packed street festival, killing many people Vancouver police secure the scene after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival -- April 26, 2025 Cops have not yet released an official death toll, referring only to 'a number of people' confirmed to have passed away. Vancouver Police said: 'A number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove into a crowd at a street festival.' Officers have not said whether the incident was intentional or the result of reckless driving, but an active investigation is underway. Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, was among the attendees at the event, but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, CTV news said. 'This is so horrific, I don't even know what to say,' CTV quoted Singh as saying. 'I was just there, and I just imagine the faces of the kids that I saw smiling and dancing.' Usually the city parks dump trucks to block streets for festivals but for unknown reasons that didn't happen on Saturday. The VPD emphasized that they would be providing updates as the investigation unfolds. 'I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening, scouring the area for evidence and interviewing witnesses Vancouver Police look over a black car involved in the incident at the Lapu Lapu Festival Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening 'We will work to provide more information as soon as we can, but at this time we have confirmed that there are a number of fatalities and multiple injuries,' Vancouver's Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. 'Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.' Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening, scouring the area for evidence and interviewing witnesses. The festival had drawn families, children, and neighbors from across Vancouver, many eager to enjoy the warm spring evening, unaware of the horror about to unfold. Instead, the street became a makeshift triage center as bystanders rushed to provide first aid before paramedics could arrive. Videos posted on social media showed stunned festivalgoers standing beside twisted tents, toppled chairs, and scattered belongings, the aftermath of what should have been an ordinary, joyous community event. Eyewitness videos from the scene show severe injuries among festival attendees, including reports of a baby trapped under a vehicle, while emergency responders could be seen performing CPR on victims. Police have asked anyone with video footage of the incident or who witnessed the crash to contact them immediately. Police work on Fraser street, near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party -- April 26, 2025 Cops have not yet released an official death toll, referring only to 'a number of people' confirmed to have passed away. Pictured: Paramedics working at the scene 'Today was supposed to be a joyful and proud moment for my Filipino community - a celebration of Lapu Lapu Day at our Block Party. 'It was meant to be a day filled with music, food, laughter, and the honoring of our heritage. Instead, it turned into one of the most traumatizing days we will never forget,' wrote Jen Idaba-Castaneto who attended the celebration. 'After the event, a tragic accident occurred that took multiple lives. What was supposed to end with smiles and memories became a nightmare. 'Families, friends, and loved ones are now mourning and in shock. It's heartbreaking beyond words. 'Our community came together to celebrate our history, but we are now united in grief. 'My heart is broken for everyone affected by this tragedy. Please keep everyone involved in your prayers,' Idaba-Castaneto went on. 'We will remember those we lost today, and we will honor their memory in the way we continue to support each other through this unbearable pain.' Leaders to weigh in on Welcome to Country Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will be asked to weigh in on the appropriateness of Welcome to Country ceremonies in the final leaders' debate on Sunday night. The pair will go head to head at 8pm (AEST) on Seven in an 'intimate' debate hosted by Sunrise host Natalie Barr and moderated by political editor Mark Riley. Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton will be asked six questions, including a rapid fire session consisting of yes or no responses. Daily Mail Australia can reveal both leaders will have to answer a question regarding the place of Welcome to Country ceremonies in Australia. It comes after a group of protesters booed the Welcome to Country ceremony during the Anzac Day dawn service in Melbourne on Friday. Victorians gathered under pre-dawn darkness to commemorate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, before Bunurong elder Mark Brown began the Welcome to Country. But boos and heckles emanating from the front of the crowd began shortly after Mr Brown commenced his speech. 'It's our country!' one heckler yelled. Anthony Albanese will be forced to confront recent anti-Welcome to Country sentiment in the final leaders debate 'We don't have to be welcomed!' another screamed. Jacob Hersant, a prominent neo-Nazi figure, was allegedly among those loudly booing. 'This is a day for the Anzacs, it's not for Aboriginals,' he told media after the service. The public was divided opinion following the incident. A veteran defended the disruptors in a heated exchange with Channel Nine reporter Mark Santomartino in the aftermath of the service. 'The reason why we're here, is because our friends fought and died for this country, blood sweat and tears - like their ancestors did,' the veteran told the reporter. He questioned whether it was 'the right time and place' for a Welcome to Country. 'I have a lot of veteran mates that haven't come today solely because of the Welcome to Country. Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese are poised to enter their final head to head battle on Sunday night 'Because our friends died for this country, for this soil - and for them to be welcomed is a slap in the face.' The reporter said he wasn't suggesting there 'aren't people that feel that way'. 'What I'm saying to you is: to get up there and boo during a sacred ceremony is going to be seen by a lot of people as disrespectful,' he added. Defence Minister Richard Marles described the booing as 'outrageous and appalling', and branded those responsible as 'just idiots'. 'It should be condemned in the strongest possible terms,' Mr Marles told Sky News. 'It was a small number of people. 'The vast majority of people who were here this morning were wanting to commemorate and acknowledge Anzac day in the ways we should expect.' Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called for the police to 'come down heavily' on the disruptors. Protesters' boos echoed through loudspeakers during Uncle Mark Brown's Welcome to Country at the Anzac Day service 'Our diggers fought against the Nazis. That this movement, the neo-Nazis, has any presence in our country at all is just an outrage and a disgrace,' he told Channel Nine. Just hours later the Melbourne Storm made an eleventh hour decision to axe their pre-game Welcome to Country on Friday. Though the club said it was unrelated to the events earlier in the morning. But many members of the public felt the ceremonies do not belong at the beginning of other memorials or celebrations, including Anzac day, as debate raged. A Welcome to Country is a traditional ceremony performed by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander elders to formally welcome visitors to their land and to give their blessing for events taking place on their traditional lands. While the small ceremonies are intended to be friendly and inclusive, they have become increasingly the focus of national debate. Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton will have to discuss a range of topics affecting voters on Sunday night. The debate will air for one hour, starting at 8:10 pm, and each leader will have one uninterrupted minute for both an opening and closing address, with a 30-second countdown timer. Both leaders will respond to six questions, including a rapid-fire round with yes/no or brief responses, as well as viewer questions gathered from broadcast and online audiences. Each leader will have one minute to answer each of the first six questions, with the order of responses rotating. A four-minute debate follows, allowing the leaders to ask each other questions. No winner will be declared during the debate itself, but the post-debate show, The Verdict, will determine the winner based on the reactions of a studio audience of 60 undecided voters, independently selected by Roy Morgan. A man is fighting for his life after being attacked at a Morrisons petrol station. The male was seen 'drenched in blood', reported The Sun, as he was carried to an ambulance and rushed to hospital with life threatening injuries. The brutal assault happened yesterday at about 1.27pm at the Pennine Service Station on Bradley Road, in Huddersfield. A 32-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder. He has been taken into police custody for questioning. A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: 'Police are appealing for witnesses after a man was seriously injured in an incident in Huddersfield 'Kirklees District CID would like to speak with anyone who saw or has information about an incident at a petrol station on Bradley Road. 'Officers were called at about 1.27pm on the 26th of April 2025 to a report of a serious assault at the Pennine Service Station. 'An adult male was located with life threatening injuries. He was transferred to the LGI where he remains in a critical condition. The brutal assault happened yesterday at about 1.27pm at the Pennine Service Station (pictured) on Bradley Road, in Huddersfield 'A 32 year old male was located at the scene and he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. 'A scene is currently in place with an enhanced police presence within the area. 'Kirklees CID are currently investigating the incident and would like any witnesses to contact WYP on 101 referencing police log reference 763. 'Information can also be given online at www.westyorkshire.police.uk/livechat or anonymously to the independent Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.' Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew has called out Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton to do more to address violence against women following the death of 19-year-old Audrey Griffin. The teen's partially submerged body was found in Erina Creek on the NSW Central Coast on March 24, a day after she was last seen leaving a nearby pub following a night out with friends. Ms Griffin had been walking home after trying and failing to order an Uber. Adrian Torrens, 53, was charged with her murder last Monday but took his own life while in custody at western Sydney's Silverwater Correctional Complex three days later. It has since emerged that Torrens had a history of violence against women. Ms Griffin's death was not initially deemed as suspicious because a preliminary autopsy indicated she had drowned. However, subsequent inquiries led to Torrens's arrest and police say her DNA was found under his fingernails. Bartholomew has issued an 'impassioned plea for politicians to take gender-based violence seriously' in an opinion piece for 7news.com.au. Opposition Leader Mr Dutton has promised a $90million pledge towards a 10-year plan to end violence against women and children if the Coalition is elected on May 3 while the Prime Minister announced $4.7billion investment last year. Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew (pictured) has blasted Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton following the death of Audrey Griffin Ms Griffin (pictured) was found dead on Sunday, March 24 in Erina Creek after last being seen on the Entrance Road in Erina on the NSW Central Coast the previous day Adrian Torrens (pictured) was found unresponsive in a cell at western Sydney's Silverwater Correctional Complex after being charged with Ms Griffin's murder 'That's it,' Bartholomew wrote. 'The impact was over in a day, and we quickly returned to our housing crisis and electricity prices.' She echoed the calls of thousands who braved the rain in Ms Griffin's hometown of Gosford on Sunday to call for urgent national action to end violence against women and urge government leaders to treat the issue as a national emergency. Ms Griffin is the 22nd woman to die from gender based violence this year, according to Bartholomew. 'Who is actually listening? How many more rallies will there be? How many women will be killed? How many more must flee from harm before something serious is done?' she asked. Torrens had previously avoided prison last October after pleading guilty to using a carriage service to harass, menace or offend, and for breaching an AVO. He was granted an 18-month community corrections order, which he had been serving at the time of Ms Griffin's murder. Torrens also had a history of violent offending and breaching restraining orders. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Gosford on Sunday to call for urgent national action to end violence against women (pictured) Protestors gathered in Gosford at a rally against gender-based violence following the death of Audrey Griffin Ms Griffin's mother said her daughter (pictured) 'had the world at her feet' When he was arrested for Ms Griffin's murder, Torrens was also charged with 11 other unrelated domestic violence charges. Bartholomew pointed to a resurfaced video of criminologist and former police officer Vincent Hurley, who branded politicians as 'disgraceful' in a Q&A panel discussion on domestic violence. Speaking on the ABC program in May 2024, he directed his anger at federal frontbenchers Murray Watt and Bridget McKenzie and NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, who were all on the panel. The Macquarie University criminology lecturer previously spent three decades as a police officer and detective in Western Sydney. 'How dare you go into politics, in an environment like this, when one woman is murdered every four days, and all you... can do is immediately talk about politics? That is just disgraceful,' Mr Hurley told the panel. 'If a male has a history of crimes of violence, of any form of domestic violence, coercion, physical, emotional, they should not have the presumption of bail.' Ms Griffin's family said the 19-year-old 'brought endless laughter and joy to everyone'. Pictured is Audrey visiting Japan News of Torrens' death in custody came to lights as 1000 mourners packed Terrigal Beach at a sunset vigil last Thursday night in Ms Griffin's honour. Her mum Kathleen Kirby told Daily Mail Australia last week that her daughter was a fit, intelligent and beautiful young woman who 'had the world at her feet'. The sporty teenager had travelled to New Zealand to compete in the ANZCO half-ironman event, which she completed in just over six-and-a-half hours, a fortnight before her death. She was remembered as a 'determined athlete, talented student and well-liked teenager'. At least nine people have been killed after an SUV rammed through a packed street festival in Vancouver on Saturday night. The vehicle rammed through the crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day event at around 8pm local time, leaving multiple people dead and scores more injured. Detectives said a 30-year-old man, from the city and 'known to police', was 'taken into custody by people in the crowd' before being arrested at the scene following the 'mass casualty incident'. Issuing an update on the death toll early on Sunday morning, Vancouver Police said: 'As of now, we can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last night's Lapu Lapu Festival.' 'Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident,' the statement added. Dozens more were injured after the black vehicle caused carnage at the event - to honour Filipino heritage - on Saturday night. The Vancouver Police Department said it was 'confident' this 'was not an act of terrorism'. Acting Police Chief Steve Rai told press at the crime scene the suspect was 'known to police in certain circumstances'. This black SUV plowed through a crowd of dozens of festivalgoers on a street in Vancouver, Canada killing many A peaceful night of music, food, and celebration in Vancouver turned into unimaginable horror on Saturday evening when a vehicle barreled into a packed street festival, killing nine people Vancouver police secure the scene after a car drove into a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival -- April 26, 2025 He would not confirm whether he had a criminal record saying it 'would be inappropriate for me to get into those kind of details at this point'. Horrifying video and pictures showed utter devastation as mangled bodies were strewn across the road following the crash. Dazed bystanders could be seen racing away from the scene and from victim to victim as local cops swooped and arrested the driver. The suspect was alleged to have told witnesses he was 'sorry' as he was dragged out of the car. Sources told The Vancouver Sun he appeared to have been suffering from mental health problems. King Charles and Queen Camilla said they were 'profoundly saddened' by the attack in Canada, a member of the Commonwealth. In a statement released by Buckingham Palace, the monarch said: 'Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. 'Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada.' The message was signed by Charles R. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was 'devastated to hear about the horrific events at the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver earlier this evening'. Writing on X, he said: 'We are all mourning with you.' Police earlier said in a statement published at midnight local time: 'A suspect has been arrested by Vancouver Police after several people were killed and multiple others injured at a neighbourhood street party in South Vancouver earlier tonight. 'At approximately 8.14 p.m. on April 26, a man drove into a large crowd of people attending the Lapu Lapu Day Festival near East 43rd Avenue and Fraser Street. Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening, scouring the area for evidence and interviewing witnesses Vancouver Police look over a black car involved in the incident at the Lapu Lapu Festival Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening 'A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene. The investigation is ongoing and is being led the Vancouver Police Department's Major Crime Section.' Elizabeth May, the co-leader of Canada's Green Party, said her prayers were with Vancouver and its Filipino community. 'I'm horrified and heartbroken that such an attack could occur, and on an occasion celebrating Filipino culture, resilience, and resistance. I am sending my love to affected families,' she wrote on social media. Officers have not said whether the incident was intentional or the result of reckless driving, but an active investigation is underway. Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada's New Democratic Party, was among the attendees at the event, but left minutes before the vehicle arrived, CTV news said. 'This is so horrific, I don't even know what to say,' CTV quoted Singh as saying. 'I was just there, and I just imagine the faces of the kids that I saw smiling and dancing.' Usually the city parks dump trucks to block streets for festivals but for unknown reasons that didn't happen on Saturday. The VPD emphasized that they would be providing updates as the investigation unfolds. 'I am shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific incident at today's Lapu Lapu Day event. 'We will work to provide more information as soon as we can, but at this time we have confirmed that there are a number of fatalities and multiple injuries,' Vancouver's Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. 'Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver's Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time.' Police released a statement at midnight local time to confirm a 30-year-old man, from Vancouver, had been arrested at the scene Police work on Fraser street, near the site of the Lapu Lapu day block party -- April 26, 2025 Major crime detectives and collision reconstruction teams remained at the scene late into the evening, scouring the area for evidence and interviewing witnesses. The festival had drawn families, children, and neighbors from across Vancouver, many eager to enjoy the warm spring evening, unaware of the horror about to unfold. Instead, the street became a makeshift triage center as bystanders rushed to provide first aid before paramedics could arrive. Videos posted on social media showed stunned festivalgoers standing beside twisted tents, toppled chairs, and scattered belongings, the aftermath of what should have been an ordinary, joyous community event. Eyewitness videos from the scene show severe injuries among festival attendees, including reports of a baby trapped under a vehicle, while emergency responders could be seen performing CPR on victims. Police have asked anyone with video footage of the incident or who witnessed the crash to contact them immediately. Cops have not yet released an official death toll, referring only to 'a number of people' confirmed to have passed away. Pictured: Paramedics working at the scene 'Today was supposed to be a joyful and proud moment for my Filipino community - a celebration of Lapu Lapu Day at our Block Party. 'It was meant to be a day filled with music, food, laughter, and the honoring of our heritage. Instead, it turned into one of the most traumatizing days we will never forget,' wrote Jen Idaba-Castaneto who attended the celebration. 'After the event, a tragic accident occurred that took multiple lives. What was supposed to end with smiles and memories became a nightmare. 'Families, friends, and loved ones are now mourning and in shock. It's heartbreaking beyond words. 'Our community came together to celebrate our history, but we are now united in grief. 'My heart is broken for everyone affected by this tragedy. Please keep everyone involved in your prayers,' Idaba-Castaneto went on. 'We will remember those we lost today, and we will honor their memory in the way we continue to support each other through this unbearable pain.' A Labour-run council chief who fled from a drink-drive collision has pocketed a taxpayer-funded 'golden goodbye' worth almost 90,000, it has been revealed. Bayo Dosunmu, who was chief executive of Lambeth council in south London on a salary of 190,000, was charged last June with driving offences. He was held by the Metropolitan Police after allegedly fleeing the scene of a car accident in the capital - and later pleaded guilty to charges he faced. The then-46-year-old from Hammersmith in west London was charged with failing to stop after a road accident and being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He had been paid 187,775 a year, according to a Lambeth Council document from November 2022, while also receiving a further unknown payment for his role as Returning Officer for elections. After being arrested in June last year, Mr Dosunmu was later barred from driving for two years. Now documents have revealed how the 46-year-old received 87,879 after he and the Lambeth local authority 'agreed to jointly enter into a settlement agreement', the Telegraph reported. Campaigners have condemned the payout as a waste of taxpayers' money. Bayo Dosunmu, who previously ran Lambeth council in south London on a salary of 190,000, was charged last June with driving offences He was previously CEO of Lambeth Borough Council, which has its HQ in Brixton (pictured) Bayo Dosunmu had been paid 187,775 a year, according to Lambeth Council documents Mr Dosunmu was behind the wheel of a white Jeep ahead of the crash with a blue Toyota just before 9am on June 23 last year, near Wandsworth Bridge Road in Fulham. The CEO, said to be living in a flat in Chelsea Harbour, was discovered to be three times the drink-drive limit - and when appearing before Westminster magistrates last September, he admitted to being uninsured, drink-driving and failing to stop. The sentence was a 12-month community order, while telling him to attend 15 days of rehab sessions as well as 150 hours of community service. The Telegraph has now revealed a freedom of information request asked whether Lambeth council deemed his behaviour to have been gross misconduct. The local authority responded by saying: 'The council considered the issues as ones which gave rise to the question of whether trust and confidence in Dosunmu as chief executive had broken down.' And it went on to tell how he was handed 46,943 'in respect of his notice period', as well as 6,687 for 'untaken annual leave' plus two 'pro rata payments'. Those later ones were for his duties as acting returning officer at the general election last July as well as a simultaneous by-election, adding up to an extra 34,250. Mr Dosunmu is also reported to have kept his local government deferred pension. Elliot Keck, from campaign group the TaxPayers Alliance, said: 'Its an absolute disgrace that a council boss on a six-figure salary was handed nearly 90,000 of taxpayers' cash after being convicted of drink-driving and fleeing the scene of a crash. 'Residents expect their hard-earned money to fund frontline services, not soft landings for disgraced officials. 'Lambeth council should explain why someone who brought the council into disrepute was handed a golden goodbye instead of being shown the door without a penny.' When contacted today, a Lambeth Council spokesperson said: 'Bayo Dosunmu stepped down as chief executive of Lambeth Council in July 2024. 'He received payment in respect of his notice period, untaken annual leave and for his work as acting returning officer for the general election and a by-election. 'These were paid in line with his contract and for work already completed.' MailOnline has contacted Mr Dosunmu's legal representatives for comment. A millionaire former Tory donor has pledged 1million to Reform UK and urged Nigel Farage to cut taxes for non-doms if he becomes prime minister. Property owner and tech businessman Bassim Haidar accused the Conservatives of having 'lost their way' after the party's election manifesto pledged a similar clampdown on non-doms to that introduced by Labour. The magnate, a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) said that Mr Farage had what it took to return the UK to its 'glory', ahead of local elections next week expected to show support for the hard right party strengthening. He has already given around 200,000 and is ready to offer the balance on the 1million as and when it is required, having given the Tories 700,00 when Rishi Sunak was PM. Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Haidar, who was born in Nigeria to Lebanese parents, said Mr Farage was 'talking about immigration in a way that no one has actually spoken about, he is willing to do things that I think the other parties aren't willing to do'. 'I believe he would reform tax, he would encourage investment, maybe come up with a new non-dom tax regime, so hopefully once he becomes prime minister we're going to see the UK becoming great again,' he added. Mr Farage added: 'With a donation like this, we can rapidly build out our team and professionalise further as we head towards the next general election. This is especially true if others follow Bassim's lead.' It is another blow for the Conservatives, who have lost a string of high profile backers since their election drubbing last year, but leader Kemi Badenoch said this morning she was 'not worried' by his defection. Property owner and tech businessman Bassim Haidar accused the Conservatives of having 'lost their way' after the party's election manifesto pledged a similar clampdown on non-doms to that introduced by Labour. The magnate, a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) said that Mr Farage had what it took to return the UK to its 'glory', ahead of local elections next week expected to show support for the hard right party strengthening. It is another blow for the Conservatives, who have lost a string of high profile backers since their election drubbing last year, but leader Kemi Badenoch said this morning she was 'not worried' by his defection, adding: 'We are doing fine on donations.' She told Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: 'We are raising money as well in the Conservative Party. 'The last release showed that we raised more than the Lib Dems, Reform and Labour combined. 'So we're doing fine on donations. Obviously, we want we don't want to lose, our donors, but we need to make sure that what we are doing is about the public's not just about winning elections. What are we winning? Okay, what's the agenda?' In September Mr Haidar told MailOnline he had left Britain for Dubai due to concerns over Labour's policies and was looking to sell the 80million luxury portfolio he had built up in London. He moved to London in 2020 but decided to leave to avoid paying millions of pounds in tax on his overseas income. 'My biggest concern was tax on global assets and inheritance tax on global assets,' he told this website. Ms Reeves confirmed the Government would abolish the non-dom tax regime from April 2025. Mr Farage and Reform are said to be wooing donations from super-rich British expats and foreign nationals with UK businesses, which allow them to donate to UK political parties. Last month Mr Farage criticised changes to the non-dom tax regime over fears it would lead to an exodus of millionaires. He told a campaign event in Birmingham: 'We cannot help those on lower incomes, we cannot help those that need to access public services, if we get rid of those that pay the most tax because they leave and go to Monaco, Dubai, America, or wherever else it is. We need to be grown-up.' Conspiracy theories have been surging with the sharing of a social media post by Virginia Giuffre saying she was not suicidal. The US president's son Donald Trump Jr has been among those drawing attention to a haunting online comment by Jeffrey Epstein victim Ms Giuffre. She died on Friday aged 41, with a family statement saying she had killed herself at her farm home near Perth in Australia. The tragedy comes after two other young victims of billionaire convicted paedophile Epstein previously died. There has been focus on a post Ms Giuffre wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in December 2019, in which she wrote: 'I am making it publicy [sic] known that in no way, shape or form am I sucidal [sic]. 'I have made this known to my therapist and GP- If something happens to me- in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quiteted [sic].' Donald Trump Jr has now shared the post more widely, including to his 15million followers on Elon Musk-owned X, adding the words: 'This is wild.' Ms Giuffre was one of the most prominent accusers of convicted sex offenders Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who she said kept her as a sex slave while flying her around the world and offering to their powerful associates 'like a platter of fruit'. Virginia Giuffre, pictured here outside a court in New York in August 2019 amid the case against abuser Jeffrey Epstein, died on Friday aged 41 at her home near Perth in Australia Billionaire financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is seen here in a police mugshot The US Department of Justice issued this picture showing, left to right, the Duke of York Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and now-jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell She alleged they trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17 and was three times sexually assaulted by him - a claim which Prince Andrew has denied. The prince reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022. Ms Giuffre won a multi-million pound settlement from Prince Andrew following claims she had been forced to have sex with him three times at the age of 17 when she was trafficked by his friend Epstein. Andrew has denied her allegations and said he could not recall ever meeting her. A photograph has been widely shared of them together in a London townhouse, his arm around her bare midriff, and was included in Ms Giuffre's lawsuit against him. Now, following news of Ms Giuffre's death on Friday, President Trump ally Laura Loomer has pointed to a car crash the Epstein victim was in on March 24 as evidence of a conspiracy against her. Ms Loomer wrote on X: 'I dont believe Virginia Giuffre committed suicide. Just like I dont believe Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. First she gets in a car crash, now they say she killed herself? Sounds like someone wanted her dead.' US President Donald Trump's son has shared a previous online post by Virginia Giuffre On Saturday, Giuffre's brother Danny Wilson (left) paid tribute to her on social media by displaying a photo of him and his sister Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on Instagram that Ms Giuffre had died by 'suicide' - pointedly putting the word in quotemarks. The Georgia politician posted: 'The truth needs to come out more matter who is responsible.' Another of Epstein's victims, Carolyn Adriano, was found dead in a hotel room in May 2023 - having previously given testimony that put Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. The 36-year-old mother-of-five died from a suspected accidental overdose, police said at the time, though her mother Dorothy Groener called for more information - saying: 'Nobody's giving me any answers. 'This is my daughter, and she deserves justice. She got to a point where she was turning her whole life around.' That came after another of Epstein's victims, Leigh Patrick, died of a heroin overdose in Palm Beach in Florida, in May 2017, weeks short of turning 30. She previously told DailyMail.com in an unpublished interview in 2015 about her abuse by Epstein. Following her death, Ms Patrick's twin Selby said: 'My sister suffered tremendously - and it started with Epstein. Something happened in her when she met him that got her out of control. Virginia Giuffre is pictured here alongside her brother earlier this month in western Australia 'She struggled with addiction since the time she met that guy. She went to rehab several times. She fought hard, but she eventually succumbed to the addiction. We miss her.' Recent concerns for Ms Giuffre's wellbeing began on March 30, when she shared a photograph of herself from her hospital bed covered in bruises, with her left eye nearly swollen shut. The photograph showed discoloration to her face and chest, which has been described as severe bruising. She claimed she had 'four days to live' and that she had kidney failure. Western Australia Police publicly dismissed the severity of Giuffre's collision, describing it as a 'minor' accident that left no one injured. She was discharged on April 7. Her family later came out and said she had been on painkillers when she posted to Instagram and believed she was writing on a private social media page. Weeks after the crash, Ms Giuffre then claimed in April that her husband, Robert, whom she had three children with, was beating her. They had recently split up after 22 years of marriage. In a statement to People, she said: 'I was able to fight back against Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein who abused and trafficked me. But I was unable to escape the domestic violence in my marriage until recently. Virginia Giuffre posted online last month about being hospitalised and said she only had four days to live after a bus crash 'After my husband's latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent. Again, I thank everyone for their support. I have faith that justice will prevail.' Her husband has so far not responded to the allegations. Ms Giuffre's family confirmed her death in a statement on Friday, writing that she had lost her life to suicide after dealing with being a sex trafficking victim in her teens. They wrote: 'It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia. 'She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. 'Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.' Her family added that 'the light of her life' were her children Christian, Noah and Emily. They added: 'It was when she held her newborn daughter in her arms that Virginia realised she had to fight back against those who had abused her and so many others.' Virginia Giuffre is seen here arriving at Federal Court in New York in August 2019 for a hearing in the criminal case against abuser Jeffrey Epstein Virginia Giuffre (pictured) took her own life at her home in Australia on Friday, her family said A Western Australia Police Force spokesperson has told the Mail preliminary findings indicated Ms Giuffre's death was 'not suspicious' and that paramedics had provided 'emergency first aid' shortly after arriving at the home. The force said: 'About 9.50pm Friday 25 April, emergency services received a report a woman had been located unresponsive at a residence in Neergabby. 'Police and St John WA attended and provided emergency first-aid. Sadly, the 41-year-old woman was declared deceased at the scene. 'The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.' Epstein killed himself in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14. In lawsuits, Ms Giuffre said she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's Palm Beach club, when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein's girlfriend and later employee Maxwell. Ms Giuffre said Maxwell hired her as a masseuse for Epstein, but the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Originally born in Florida, Ms Giuffre had moved to Australia with her husband Robert in 2019 prior to Epstein being arrested. The couple shared three children. Pictured: Virginia Giuffre, with attorneys David Boies, left, and Brad Edwards, right, in 2019 Virginia Giuffre, seen in an interview in August 2020, was among Jeffrey Epstein's accusers Prince Andrew, 65, stepped back from frontline royal duties in 2019 following controversy over his former friendship with Epstein. Andrew, who has previously strenuously denied allegations against him, paid millions a year ago to settle a civil case out of court with Ms Giuffre. There was no admission of guilt after she accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ms Giuffre, formerly Roberts, said in a 2015 lawsuit she was made by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions when she was 17 - and later, in 2021, she filed a lawsuit against the prince over the alleged encounters. A 'prophetic' letter by a passenger on the Titanic sent days before it sank has been sold for a record amount. Colonel Archibald Gracie - who survived the sinking but died months later from injuries he sustained in the freezing water - told his great uncle he would 'await my journey's end' before judging his experience on the 'fine ship'. The hauntingly eerie letter sold for 300,000 ($400,000) - five times higher than it was expected to. It is also the most expensive piece of correspondence from the Titanic bought after its sinking. The letter has been described as 'prophetic' as the 54-year-old was one of the 2,200 passengers and crew on board when the ocean liner struck an iceberg in the Atlantic five days into its journey. An anonymous buyer nabbed the moving artefact at Henry Aldridge and Son auction house in Wiltshire today. The wealthy American wrote the letter on the first day of the Titanic's sailing, 10 April 1912, from the first class passenger's cabin C51. It was then posted when the ship docked in Queenstown, Ireland, the next day before the Titanic carried on with its journey to New York. Colonel Archibald Gracie told a friend he would 'await my journey's end' before judging his experience on the 'fine ship' The hauntingly eerie letter sold for 300,000 ($400,000) - five times higher than it was expected to The piece of correspondence arrived in London the day after. Colonel Gracie survived the tragic sinking that saw more than 1,500 die by clinging onto an overturned lifeboat. His accounts of what happened that fateful night are some of the most famous, detailing how more than half the man who also reached the boat died from exhaustion or froze. His book The Truth About The Titanic described his lifestyle in the luxurious first class accommodation where he was a chaperone for several unaccompanied women. He enjoyed squash and reading in the library during the first part of his trip and when the boat began sinking, the business man helped women onto the lifeboats. The former soldier was trying to free the trapped lifeboats when the front part of the ship dipped below the water. He was sucked down by the undertow but managed to free himself from the shop and surfaced near the lifeboat. Colonel Gracie and the other survivors began paddling away from the masses of pleading swimmers for help but no one gave him hardship for not letting them on. The Titanic leaving Southampton on its ill-fated maiden voyage He wrote: 'In no instance, I am happy to say, did I hear any word of rebuke from a swimmer because of a refusal to grant assistance... [one refusal] was met with the manly voice of a powerful man... "All right boys, good luck and God bless you".' When dawn broke, an officer who survived the night clinging on began to blow his whistle so that the other lifeboats could find them. Colonel Gracie was so exhausted that he was unable to make the jump himself and was pulled onto lifeboat No. 12 before reaching the RMS Carpathia - the first ship to arrive. Although Colonel Gracie's perseverance that night saved him, the impact of being in the freezing water drastically affected his health. He caught hypothermia as well as suffered physical injuries the night of the sinking and fell into a coma months later. He died from complications from diabetes on 4 December 1912 two days later. Andrew Aldridge, auctioneer at Henry Aldridge & Son, said: 'It really was a fantastic sale that shows the appeal of one of the most important events of the twentieth century. 'It is impossible to overstate the rarity of the Gracie lot. It was written by one of the highest profile survivors, with excellent content and on the rarest of mediums a lettercard and for it to bring 300,000 is an amazing result. Also at the auction was a gilt silver and brass watch that was found among the possessions of Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard The ladies pocket watch was recovered from the 27-year-old's body, who had been travelling to the US with two friends who also died 'It really was a sale full of museum-quality items.' Also at the auction was a gilt silver and brass watch that was found among the possessions of Danish second-class passenger Hans Christensen Givard. The ladies pocket watch was recovered from the 27-year-old's body, who had been travelling to the US with two friends who also died. 'The watch's movement is frozen in time at the moment the cold North Atlantic waters consumed not only its owner but the most famous ocean liner of all time, Titanic, on 15 April 1912,' Mr Aldridge said. His other belongings, like a savings book, some cash in his wallet, his passport, keys and a compass were sent back to his brother in Denmark after the disaster. Th descendants of his family decided to put the items on sale and was set to fetch 50,000. Other auction items included the violin used by the bandmaster in the iconic 1997 epic film Titanic. British actor Jonathan Evans-Jones played Wallace Hartley in the movie that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The meal ticket for another passenger, Ernest Tomlin, for the third-class restaurant sold for 65,000 Tomlin's immigration inspection ticket that revealed how he was moved from the RMS Adriatic to the Titanic at the last moment due to a coal strike sold for 90,000 Tomlin carried $14 with him at the time of the sinking, which were put on auction this weekend Some of Tomlin's letters were also recovered that he had sent to his family The waterlogged artefacts were put on auction at Henry Aldridge and Son auction house in Wiltshire today Ernest Tomlin's body was among the few that were recovered but he was buried at sea after his possessions had been recovered The instrument - which sold for 50,000 - was used in one of the most poignant scenes, as the band famously played on while the luxury liner sank. A Titanic-related archive that belonged to tragic passenger Ernest Tomlin was also sold, including his water-stained immigration inspection ticket that revealed how he was moved from the RMS Adriatic to the Titanic at the last moment due to a coal strike. The item, that was recovered days later from his drowned body, sold for 90,000. His meal ticket for the third-class restaurant was also found in his pockets. It sold for 65,000. Other items in the Tomlin collection included two US dollar notes he had intended to use in America sold for a combined 25,000. A collection of items belonging to first-class passenger Erik Lind sold for 38,000. The archive included a hand-written letter by Erik, who was sailing to New York to escape loan sharks in his native Sweden. One of the UK's most historic boarding schools is cutting teachers' jobs as pupil numbers fall in the wake of the Government's VAT raid on schools. Loretto School the alma mater of former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling and broadcaster Andrew Marr said the decision had been made because rising costs caused by VAT on fees were deterring parents from enrolling their children. Staff at the school the oldest school in Scotland which will celebrate its 200th birthday in 2027 - were told last week when they returned from the Easter Holidays that their jobs were at risk because of 'significant financial challenges' which were 'outside the school's control'. The school near Edinburgh which also has day pupils - has seen pupil numbers fall since Labour imposed its education tax on school fees in January, a school source told the Mail on Sunday. It raised fees by 17% in January to up to 49,632 a year, absorbing 3% of the 20% VAT levy, with fees for the next academic year yet to be announced. In a letter to parents seen by this newspaper, Head Pete Richardson and Chair of the Board of Governors Peter McCutcheon told parents a staff review was underway 'based on projected pupil enrolment which has been directly impacted by the VAT imposition'. They told parents that they had been 'navigating the complexities of running a school in the current financial climate' and challenges including 'increases in VAT, national insurance and the minimum wage' had led to the decision to launch a staffing review. Up to 8 teaching jobs are now expected to be lost after a redundancy process. Loretto School said the decision had been made because rising costs caused by VAT on fees were deterring parents from enrolling their children Loretto School counts former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling among its alumni Loretto School is the alma mater of ex-BBC political broadcaster Andrew Marr One parent said parents had been particularly affected by the imposition of VAT on fees in Scotland because they already faced higher tax rates than the rest of the UK. Calling it 'a tragedy for the whole community including the wider community', she said: 'We are all shocked that staff now face losing their jobs and it shows the impact and the ripple effect of this awful tax not just on our children, on us and on schools but on staff and on wider communities who rely on schools as important employers. 'In what other country during such uncertain times, would any government strike at the private sector like this. It is incredibly frightening. Many of the staff live in this community and local suppliers and businesses rely on the school which is a big part of the local economy.' Head Pete Richardson, who is in his first year leading the school, confirmed that he had the 'difficult task' of speaking to academic staff about job losses, and said the school was 'deeply committed' to ensuring they were treated with 'the utmost kindness, care and consideration'. Hitting out at the tax, he said: 'The Labour Government's decision to implement VAT on school fees has had a marked impact upon the independent sector's ability to both retain and attract pupils. Your browser does not support iframes. 'This is especially true when applied to the international market, a key element of our boarding numbers.' He added: 'As Scotland's oldest boarding school, Loretto is also the custodian of several Listed buildings and these require investment in terms of upkeep, including the recent roof replacement of one of our oldest buildings, but schools like Loretto are so much more than bricks and mortar - it is its people, especially its staff, which make a School like Loretto great.' Labour's VAT raid has now seen 22 independent schools around the UK close or announce closure since January with thousands of pupils forced to leave their schools and seek state school places, causing particular issues in over subscribed regions such as Edinburgh, the South East of England and Bristol. A decision on a landmark High Court challenge against the Chancellor Rachel Reeves by parents of children with special educational need and the Independent Schools Council opposed to the VAT levy is expected within days. Pope Francis final resting place has been opened to the public with a Brit being first in the queue. Building boss Marcel Farcas, 43, was with his mum Elena, 73, and had arrived at 5.30am in order to beat the rush at Santa Maria Maggiore church. In a break with tradition the Argentine born pontiff, who died on Easter Monday aged 88, was buried in Santa Maria Maggiore church and not St Peter's. Officials opened the church at 7am on Sunday, the day after his two hour long funeral mass that was attended by more than 250,000, with billions more watching on TV. Another 750,000 lined the streets as his coffin on the back of a converted Popemobile made its way from the Vatican to Santa Maria Maggiore just under four miles away. Marcel, who lives in London, had arrived in Rome with his mother last Thursday, and headed straight to St Peter's to see the Pope Francis lying in state. He joked:' We've queued to see the Pope in St Peter's when we arrived, then we queued to get into the Square to see his funeral and now we are queuing again to see his grave. 'The last few days have been very emotional and intense; the service was so moving, and my mum and I cried for much of it. Building boss Marcel Farcas, 43, was with his mum Elena, 73, and had arrived at 5.30am in order to beat the rush at Santa Maria Maggiore church In a break with tradition the Argentine born pontiff, who died on Easter Monday aged 88, was buried in Santa Maria Maggiore church and not St Peter's The tomb of Pope Francis at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome 'He was such a humble man; he was a man of the people, and his message came straight from the heart. 'The idea was to give my mum a present for her 73rd birthday and we planned to go and see the Pope today (Sunday) for the blessing but sadly he had died. 'We decided to come all the same and it's been a pilgrimage for us, his lying in state, the funeral and now we will see his tomb.' Pope Francis said in his will he wanted to be 'buried in the earth' at Santa Maria Maggiore with just a simple tombstone carrying his name in Latin, Franciscus and a black cross for decoration. A lone light also shone on a silver cross set in the wall above the tomb and crowds jostled to take a picture as mass was celebrated in the background. On Sunday when the tomb was opened to pilgrims, a single white rose was on the stone, it was left by one of 40 mourners from a group of transgender, homeless and migrants who had greeted the Pope's coffin on Saturday when it arrived. The Vatican said the Pope had expressly asked that 'poor and marginalised people' be among those to pay their respects. By early afternoon more than 20,000 people had filed past Pope Francis tomb. It added: 'The poor held a privileged place in God's heart and therefore also in the heart and teachings of the Holy Father, who chose the name Francis so as never to forget them. ' Pope Francis said in his will he wanted to be 'buried in the earth' at Santa Maria Maggiore with just a simple tombstone carrying his name in Latin, Franciscus and a black cross for decoration A barrier had been set up to prevent people from getting to close and those with flowers were told they couldn't leave them by the tomb and instead had to hand then to an usher A barrier had been set up to prevent people from getting to close and those with flowers were told they couldn't leave them by the tomb and instead had to hand then to an usher. At one point mid morning at Santa Maria Maggiore, as Sunday mass was being said the priest briefly halted the service as crowds trying to visit the tomb were too big. He said: 'There are too many of us, there is a security problem, the basilica is small, we invite those who have already visited the Pontiff's tomb to leave. 'The security rules must be respected, so we ask you to leave immediately. Outside there are thousands of people trying to enter.' For a few minutes pilgrims were stopped from entering because so many were trying to get in and made to wait in a long line that snaked along the outside of the church. Those that were lucky enough to make it were quickly ushered past by Vatican police officers known as Gendarmes and lingering for photos was not encouraged. Inside his wooden coffin are medals and coins minted during his 12 years as Pope and also 'deed of life' known as a rogito, which is written in Latin and a form of obituary. It describes how Jesuit trained Francis was the 266 pope and details his life from his installation as Archbishop of Buenos Aries where he was a 'much beloved pastor...travelling everywhere, even by subway and bus.' It describes how he took the name Francis, in honour of St Francis of Assisi, because he wished above all to 'care for the poorest in the world'. The document ended: 'Francis left to all a marvelous witness of humility, of holy living and of universal fatherhood.' Cardinals who celebrated his funeral mass on Saturday are due to arrive for a vespers service at 3pm on Sunday and the church will remain open until 6.30pm so pilgrims can pay their respects. The British boss of one of Pope Francis favourite charities was among mourners at his moving funeral service. Alistair Dutton, secretary general of Caritas International, was among VIPs with a close-up view of the service and had met Pope Francis several times in the course of his work. Mr Dutton, who was wearing Isle of Man tartan, also had a brief chat with PM Sir Kier Starmer ahead of the service and, described the funeral as 'profoundly moving'. Pope Francis is seen lying in state in a simple wooden coffin lined with zinc at the St Peter's Basilica ahead of his funeral He added: 'To be there and just to see the immense fondness that was in the square, it was actually quite incredible, an event on that scale, that still had humility to it. 'You could see that Pope Francis had pared back a lot of the pomp and circumstance because he didn't want it to be like that. 'The funeral mirrored the humility of the man, and it was such a privilege to be in the square and so close. 'For me personally the most moving bit was watching him going into the Basilica and thinking that's him leaving the square for the last time. 'It was wonderful to be there, and I had worked with Pope Francis quite a bit and I thought the eulogy summed him up perfectly.' Caritas is known for its humanitarian work and in the UK works with CAFOD, the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development. Mr Dutton, who is from Oxford, added:' From the words I the sermon he repeated the messages that just came so naturally to Francis. 'He said time and time again that war is a failure and people are always worse off because of it, when elephants fight its always the grass that gets damaged. 'It's always the poorest people, those on the margins that are affected the most and Pope Francis was always an advocate for them. 'The eulogy was an essence of what Pope Francis said, and he was a great friend of ours, visiting homeless shelters and working with us on food poverty and migration.' Mr Dutton added:'Pope Francis had a very real and urgent faith that really understood the urgency of the Gospel message.' Besides Sir Kier, Mr Dutton also met with Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill. In his will Pope Francis specifically asked that his final resting place be 'in the niche of the side nave between the Cappella Paolina and the Capella Sforza'. Above his, is the marble memorial plaque of Paul V who died in 1621 and who was Pope at the time of the Gunpowder Plot. The Cappella Paolina holds the Salus Populi Romani icon, which according to tradition was painted by St Luke and shows the Virgin Mary holding the baby Christ and which was also brought to the altar for his funeral yesterday. Before each international trip Pope Francis would visit the chapel and spend time in quiet prayer and he is said to have visited the Basilica 100 times in 2023 alone. Pope Francis is not the first Pope to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore but he was the first to be buried outside the Vatican in more than 100 years. In his will Pope Francis specifically asked that his final resting place be 'in the niche of the side nave between the Cappella Paolina and the Capella Sforza' According to tradition those that pass through the Basical's Porta Santa (Holy Door) on the left-hand side of the building, will have 'redemption and forgiveness' The last Pope not to be buried in the traditional 'papal cemetery' under St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican was Leo XIII who lies in in St John the Lateran church. Several other Popes are buried at Santa Maria Maggiore and the last to be laid to rest there was Pope Clement IX who died in 1669. In his autobiography Pope Francis wrote:' I've always had a great devotion to Santa Maria Maggiore, even before I became pope.' He visited the church more than 120 times and returned there on his way back from the Gemelli hospital on March 23, after his 38-day stay, to lay flowers and he was there on April 12 to pray one final time. The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is particularly significant to Catholic faithful this year as Pope Francis had decaled 2025 to be a Jubilee year. According to tradition those that pass through the Basical's Porta Santa (Holy Door) on the left-hand side of the building, will have 'redemption and forgiveness.' Santa Maria Maggiore means St Mary Major in Italian, and the church is a spectacular building with a ceiling covered in gold, brought back by from the Americas by the explorer Christoper Colombus. It is one of the oldest in the city of Rome and dates to AD358, where according to tradition the Virgin Mary told Pope Liberius in a dream to build a church where snow would fall. The story goes that the following day, despite the searing August heat, snow fell at what is the city of Rome's highest point and the church was duly built. To mark the event every year white flower petals flutter down onto the altar from the ceiling above. A woman has been rushed to hospital in a critical condition after a horror fall from a RSL balcony. Emergency services were called to Penrith RSL on Tindale Street in Sydney's west just after 11am on Sunday. It's understood the woman aged in her 70s may have reversed the scooter through glass before falling to the ground several storeys below. An NSW Ambulance spokesperson said the woman had a 'long fall' and suffered multiple life-threatening injuries. She was treated at the scene for facial injuries and cuts to her leg. A Toll Ambulance Helicopter landed nearby for medical crews to provide critical care. A woman was treated at the scene (pictured) for multiple life-threatening facial injuries and cuts to her leg Emergency services were called to Penrith RSL (pictured) just under 11am on Sunday The woman was transported by road ambulance to Westmead Hospital, where she remains in a critical condition. Confronting photos show the ground covered in shattered glass and blood as multiple paramedics treated the woman shielded by a green sheet. Firefighters also attended the scene. A woman in her 70s was rushed to Westmead Hospital after falling from a Penrith RSL (pictured) balcony Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton faced off for the final time in Sunday night's leaders' debate, hosted by Channel Seven. It came less than a week until Australians head to the polls on Saturday, May 3. The debate was hosted by Sunrises Nat Barr and moderated by 7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley, from the network's Sydney studios. Immediately afterwards, Michael Usher anchored a special edition of 7NEWS Spotlight including expert analysis and a final verdict from an audience of 60 undecided voters. Follow Daily Mail Australia's coverage below. An 'infatuated' pervert who filmed his neighbour getting changed for months has been told he must tell his social worker if he gets a girlfriend. Andrew Thomas, 49, disguised an iPhone stuck to a vase in the pensioner's bedroom which she discovered when she rearranged the artificial flowers. There was more than 40 hours of the 65-year-old in varying states of undress at her home in Perthshire. The groundskeeper admitted to stockpiling the intimate footage of her for over six months after befriending her on dog walks. Thomas has been put under social work supervision for two years and a 12-clause conduct order means he has restricted phone and internet use as well as restrictions on any new friendships or relationships. A court heard how the sex pest said he had 'deeper romantic feelings' for the woman who lived alone and had 'shared coffees, alcoholic drinks and dog walks'. But when he told her in December 2022 how he felt, she did not return his affections. A month later, he set up the camera at the foot of her bed, Velcroed to a vase with the top inch poking out. Andrew Thomas, 49, more than 40 hours of footage of his neighbour after secretly filming her undressing with a camera disguised in a vase The Daily Record reported Fiscal depute Rachel Hill said: 'On July 29 2023, the complainer was in the process of rearranging artificial flowers in a vase at the foot of her bed. 'She became aware of an object within the vase, which had a camera lens pointing in the general direction of her bed. 'Upon further investigation, this was found to be a mobile phone attached to the inside of the vase, connected to a power bank also inside the vase.' The footage had been rolling for 40 hours and 45 minutes. When her daughter looked through the photo gallery, she found 34 files of 'intimate images of her mother in various stages of undress and also while naked'. The next day, the daughter and her partner saw Thomas enter the property shortly after the pensioner had left for church. When they went into the house, they found Thomas in the hallway, who had used the key stored under the porch to enter. He paused for some time before explaining what he was doing there and said he was fetching a hedge trimmer battery. He left after he was told he had no business in the house and the police went to home later that day. Thomas later told them he had returned numerous times to her house to replace the battery but could not remember how many. When he was caught, he was in the process of checking on the phone. 'This is a small rural and close-knit community where most locals know one another,' Ms Hill said. 'Many residents often leave their homes insecure. 'She considered the accused to be a friend and they regularly socialised together with shared coffees, alcoholic drinks and dog walks.' Thomas's solicitor Linda Clark said 'it seems that Mr Thomas was infatuated with the complainer. He thought a friendship was going to materialise into something different'. 'That is no excuse to explain his decision to place a recording device within the complainer's household. He misinterpreted a situation, but again that's no excuse,' he added. Thomas was told he is neither allowed to approach the victim nor her home in the hamlet near Pitlochry where the offence took place. Sheriff Alison McKay also imposed a six-month curfew at the homeless unit he now lives at, was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years and must carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community. The sheriff told the court: 'I'm not certain whether it's made better or worse that she was someone you befriended, rather than a stranger.' This was not the first time Thomas had been caught filming women without their permission. In 2014, he was given an unpaid work order from his employer when he was an offshore worker after he secretly filmed a female colleague showering. He snuck his camera phone into her cabin on a North Sea rig by hiding it under a piece of white paper. The victim said it 'makes my flesh creep to think what he might have done with the videos' Many voters don't believe Peter Dutton is the right man to lead Australia less than a week out from the federal election, according to the latest poll. While almost half don't want Anthony Albanese to serve a second term as Prime Minister, the Coalition leader's approval rating has plummeted to a new low. Neither Labor or the Coalition have recorded a shift in primary support in the last week pointing to the real possibility of a hung parliament. Support for both parties remains at a near record low six days before voters head to the polls, according to the latest Newspoll for the The Australian. Mr Dutton continues to declare the election winnable for the Coalition, despite failing to convince voters he deserves the top job. Labor's primary vote remained steady at 34 per cent for a second consecutive week, just one point behind the Coalition and it's best result since January 2024. Labor was elected on its lower ever primary vote at an election in May 2022 and its current vote is a 1.4 per cent improvement on the last election result. Meanwhile, the Coalition's primary vote is lower than its 2022 disastrous election result of 35.7 per cent when the party was booted from office. A new poll has found almost half of those asked do not want Anthony Albanese (pictured on Sunday with partner Jodie Haydon) to serve a second term as Prime Minister Voters remain unconvinced that Peter Dutton (pictured at a campaign rally on Sunday) is ready to govern Australia The last federal election saw the lowest level of representation for the Coalition since the Liberal Party was formed under Robert Menzies in 1944. It's also the narrowest gap between the two major parties on primary support since the failed Voice referendum 18 months ago. While Labor still trails the Coalition on primary votes, it remains ahead on a two-party preferred basis with a 52-48 lead for a fourth Newspoll in a row. Mr Albanese has also failed to convince voters that he deserves another chance as Prime Minister with almost half (48 per cent) believing he shouldn't be re-elected. Only 39 per cent believe that Mr Albanese should lead the country again, although it's a five point improvement for the Prime Minister since February. Despite this damning result, there are even more voters unwilling to give Mr Dutton a shot at leading the country as his net approval rating plummeted to a new low of minus 24, compared to minus nine for Mr Albanese. The percentage of voters who are unconvinced that Mr Dutton is ready to be Prime Minister has increased by seven points to 62 per cent since February. Female voters have less confidence in Mr Dutton, with two thirds believing the Coalition wasn't ready to lead the country. Mr Albanese (pictured) has seen a five point improvement since February on the percentage of voters who think he deserves to lead the country again Anthony Albanese and Mr Dutton (both pictured) went head to head in the final televised debate on Sunday Male voters were slightly more forgiving, with 58 per cent having little or no confidence in the opposition. It was a mixed bag of results for the minor parties with primary support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation rising by one point to eight per cent, while the Greens dropped by one point to 11 per cent. Primary support for the Teal independents and Clive Palmer's Trumpet of Patriots remains steady at 12 per cent. About 1254 voters were surveyed for the Newspoll conducted last week. Only 39 per cent of voters surveyed believe that Anthony Albanese should lead the country again The poll was released as Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton went head to head in the fourth and final televised debate on Sunday night. The Prime Minister was voted the winner of the first debate while no winner was announced for the second debate. Mr Dutton was declared to have won the third debate on April, 22 'by a nose'. A group of undecided voters overwhelmingly backed Albaneses performance in Sunday's debate. Labour 'will get its head kicked in' by Reform in the local elections this week and must 'stop talking gibberish about diversity' to win back disillusioned working class voters, a senior party peer has warned. Maurice Glasman, the founder of the influential Blue Labour group, issued a grave warning days before the May 1 vote in which Nigel Farage's party is expected to make significant gains. Reform is expected to win mayoral votes in two Red Wall Labour heartlands in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. They are also in with a chance of winning the Runcorn and Helsby by-election triggered by the resignation of incumbent Labour MP Mike Amesbury. Mr Glasman, who attended the inauguration of Donald Trump, has previously lashed out at Labour for being too 'progressive' and abandoning traditional working class voters. In an interview with the Observer he praised the US president's tariffs, saying he felt 'fantastic' witnessing 'the end of globalisation'. Discussing the upcoming elections he said Labour had to alter course to the right. 'It's game over if they don't change. People are losing faith in government, in the most general way, and someone has to stop that. Labour must be a pro-worker, patriotic party, not talking gibberish about diversity.' Maurice Glasman, the founder of the influential Blue Labour group, issues a grave warning days before the local elections in which Nigel Farage's party is expected to make significant gains. Reform are expected to win mayoral votes in two Red Wall Labour heartlands in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Your browser does not support iframes. Lord Glasman's Blue Labour group, which is pressing for the party to rebuild its links with working class voters, is enjoying a growing influence with senior Labour figures, including the PM's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. Lord Glasman said in January Mr McSweeney was 'one of ours, we love him'. But he suggested the government was still going in the wrong direction, and attacked Attorney General Lord Hermer as an 'arrogant, progressive fool' - and called for him to be sacked over the deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands. The only Labour figure at Donald Trump's inauguration, he also criticised Rachel Reeves, saying the Chancellor had become 'just a drone for the Treasury'. A senior minister admitted today that Labour has made some unpopular decisions in Government, but insisted its agenda was starting to bear fruit. Mr Glasman, who attended the inauguration of Donald Trump, has previously lashed out at Labour for being too 'progressive' and abandoning traditional working class voters. Pat McFadden, a senior Cabinet Office minister, was asked by Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips about Labour trailing behind Reform UK in opinion polls ahead of the coming local elections. He told the programme: 'Look, we had some tough stuff to sort out after the election last year and I accept that some of those decisions have not been the most popular, but we are starting to see things turn around now.' Mr McFadden pointed to a fall in NHS waiting lists for 'six months in a row', adding: 'So, we're starting to turn things around, but it will take some time to feel the benefit of these things, and at year end we know we've got more to do, because people want to see delivery. They want to see a Labour Government turn around the NHS.' In an attack on both the Tories and Reform, he added: 'We will do that and it's a big contrast to what we inherited with the NHS, or, indeed, another force on the right that doesn't believe in the NHS at all.' A search has been launched for an 'extremely dangerous' and 'Islamophobic' knifeman after a young Muslim man was stabbed to death at a mosque in France. The suspect, identified as Oliver H, 21, was still at large today after allegedly attacking his victim 'at least 60 times' on Friday morning. He entered the main Islamic place of worship in La Grand-Combe, a southern village close to Ales, and killed the man, named locally as Aboubakar, aged 24. Aboubakar, a migrant originally from Mali, was alone in the mosque, after arriving early for Friday prayers and to clean the building. Oliver H, a non-Muslim Frenchman, allegedly pretended to pray with him, before launching the savage attack, according to enquiry sources who had seen video footage shared of the atrocity. While filming Aboubakar dying, Oliver H shouted out multiple hateful slogans against Allah and the Muslim faith, they said. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou led a chorus of nationwide outrage. He posted on X, formerly Twitter: 'A worshipper was murdered yesterday, near Ales at the Grande-Combe mosque. A hunted killer entered a mosque in La Grand-Combe, a southern village close to Ales in France, and killed a Muslim man (pictured) who has been named as Aboubakar, aged 24 French police are seen blocking access to a road at La Grand-Combe in southern France Investigations are continuing after a worshipper was stabbed to death at a mosque 'The shame of Islamophobia was displayed on video. We stand with the victim's loved ones and with the shocked believers. 'State resources are being mobilised to ensure the murderer is apprehended and punished.' Abdelkrim Grini, the regional prosecutor, told how Oliver H had posted a video of the killing online before deleting it. Mr Grini said: 'The individual is being actively sought. This is a matter that is being taken very seriously. 'All possibilities were being considered, including that of an act with an Islamophobic dimension.' Describing Oliver H as 'extremely dangerous', Mr Grini confirmed that France's anti-terror prosecutors' office was considering taking take over the murder probe. The crime was reportedly caught by CCTV cameras inside the mosque, along with recordings of Islamophobic insults. The footage also appeared to show Oliver H saying: 'I'm going to be arrested that's for sure.' The wanted knifeman entered the main Islamic place of worship in La Grand-Combe, a southern village close to Ales, and killed the man, named locally as Aboubakar, aged 24 France's anti-terror prosecutors' office was considering taking take over the murder probe Police are pictured near the scene of the crime in La Grand-Combe, a village close to Ales The alleged killer is an unemployed French national who was born in Lyon in 2004. He is non-Muslim and from a Bosnian Serb background, said another enquiry source. Oliver H lived with his family in the Gard department and had no prior criminal record. France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described the murder as 'appalling' and also expressed his 'support for the victim's family and solidarity with the Muslim community affected by this barbaric violence in their place of worship on the day of prayer'. Students may initially have mistaken the attacker who launched a terrifying crossbow rampage as a reveller in fancy dress and carried on drinking, it emerged today. It came as counter-terror police revealed that one of the two women hurt in the attack - aged 19 and 31 - suffered life-threatening injuries in yesterday's daylight carnage in Leeds. She was tonight in a stable condition following surgery, while the other victim has been discharged. A male 'key' suspect, 38, was tonight in a critical condition in hospital due to a 'self-inflicted injury' following the incident near popular student pub crawl route The Otley Run. Two weapons were recovered from the scene - a crossbow and a firearm, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said. Police were today guarding a modern block of flats less than a five-minute walk away where the suspect is understood to live. A neighbour who knows him said: The police have been there all night. Those poor girls are never going to be the same. Damage was visible to cafe windows as locals spoke of their horror at the carnage. Residents and traders said believed many of the students did not realise what was happening because they were having such a good time. Cries of 'What's happened?' were heard as students piled into local cafes at the end of the Otley Run route when they came under fire yesterday. One of the cafes, The Gelateria, had its front door shattered, while police vehicles were parked outside, although it was unclear if the damage was connected to the incident. Police officers guarding cordons near the Otley Run route in the Headingley area of Leeds today following the terrifying daylight crossbox rampage in which two women were seriously injured Police vehicles today were parked outside an ice cream parlour with a smashed window on Otley Road, although it was unclear if the damage was connected to the incident Pictured left to right: Weapons found at the scene, a break barrel air rifle that fires lead pellets, and a crossbow Just minutes before it happened, the road was packed with students in fancy dress - some as the Pope - queuing to get into packed-out pubs. Today Gregory Dritschel, 25, said: 'I have done the Otley Run myself but not for a year or two. 'But when I saw the police my first thought was it something to do with the Otley Run. 'It is a crowded run and an obvious target. 'There were quite a few people dressed as the Pope.' Residents said the first thing they knew something was wrong was when they spotted revellers fleeing inside pubs along the route. 'There were quite a lot of people we saw piling into there,' one eye witness said. Another horrified local said: 'It could have been a lot worse. 'I am glad they caught a suspect. Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken the lead on the investigation, with the support of West Yorkshire Police, as they continue to make enquiries to establish the circumstances and motive behind the attack Three people have been left injured amid reports of a man spotted 'armed with a crossbow' in a major city today (Pictured: Police at the scene in Leeds yesterday) 'The Run has been going on for years and it is so big now. It is just shocking.' Robert Crapsey, originally from Ohio, has lived in Leeds in 17 years. 'Me and my daughter were coming up Otley Road as they started blocking everything off,' he said. 'There was a lot of police stopping the traffic. Some of the pub runners stopped but the rest carried on. 'I don't think they knew anything had happened. 'I just thought someone had been hit by a car.' Mr Crapsey said some of the revellers may have initially mistaken the attacker for a student in fancy dress. 'You see swords and scythes. People may have seen him and just thought he had a really bad costume.' Local resident April Place agreed, saying: 'They all dress up with axes and things so no one would have taken any notice.' Visiting the scene, local councillor Julie Hesselwood said: 'We just want to say thank you to the police and ambulance service really quickly. 'They were here straightaway on Saturday afternoon and contained the incident. 'The paramedics were fantastic and took the three injured people to hospital. 'Luckily and thankfully there were no fatalities. 'It was a really nice on Saturday with a lot of people on the Otley Run. 'We are just thankful there were no fatalities.' Ailith Harley Roberts, a mother to two teenage daughters who runs a cafe nearby, said: 'It feels really close to home. 'I have two teenage daughters who are still at school. But one is 17 and will be at university next and wanting to be out and about. 'So we are feeling very vulnerable and wary.' Vicky and Steve Wilson had been visiting their university student daughter from Hull and narrowly missed the carnage. 'We hope the girls are all right,' Mr Wilson, 54, said. 'The injuries will change their lives.' Officers were called to Otley Road in the Headingley area of Leeds at around 3pm yesterday, with West Yorkshire Police later declaring a major incident. Several areas are cordoned off along the road, and buses were stopped with passengers forced to get off. Now Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken the lead on the investigation, with the support of West Yorkshire Police, as they continue to make enquiries to establish the circumstances and motive behind the attack. They have emphasised that efforts to establish what has happened are at an early stage. Shocking footage has emerged of a man strolling along a street in Leeds, carrying items in both hands. This evening police said the crossbow suspect was in a critical condition as a result of the self-inflicted injury sustained at the scene. They revealed that one of the injured women had undergone surgery after suffering life-threatening injuries and was now in a stable condition. The other has since been discharged. Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: The investigation continues and officers are working at pace to establish the full facts and circumstances of Saturdays incident. We are not currently seeking anyone else in connection with this matter, which has caused understandable concern. 'We believe it was an isolated incident. The evil teenager who senselessly hurled a rock through a female driver's windshield in Colorado was found guilty of first-degree murder. Joseph Koenig hurled a nine-pound landscaping rock through Alexa Bartell's windshield on April 19, 2023, killing her. At the time, Koenig, now 20, was speeding in a truck going 103mph with two friends, Zachary Kwak and Nicholas 'Mitch' Karol-Chik, both then-18. On Friday, a jury found Koenig guilty on all 19 counts after a two week trial and about eight hours of deliberation. In addition to first-degree murder, Koenig was found guilty of six counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of assault in the second-degree and five counts of criminal attempt to commit assault in the second-degree. He was also found guilty on two counts of criminal attempt to commit murder in the first-degree and two counts of criminal attempt to commit murder in the second-degree. The convicted killer sat emotionless in court as the guilty verdict was read before he was placed in handcuffs and led out of the room. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Bartell's family filled the courtroom and burst into tears and applause after the verdict was read. Joseph Koenig was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday in connection to the tragic death of Alexa Bartell Bartell was killed on April 19, 2023 after Koenig and his two friends sped down a road in Jefferson County and threw a nine-pound landscaping rock through her windshield The trial, which started on April 14, was extremely emotional, especially when Kwak revealed the vehicle they were in was racing down the road at 103pmh while they hurled the rock at the late teen. 'This has been the hardest two years. And we got justice today. I dont know how to feel about it. Im happy, but it doesnt bring Alexa back, and thats horrible. But we dont ever want this to happen again to anybody else,' Kelly Bartell, the victim's mother, said. 'That has been our main goal to make sure that justice is served. Its hard to be happy or feel satisfied that justice is served today because I feel one amazing life was lost, and three others are also lost and impacted. I dont want to celebrate that, but I do think justice was served.' That day, the three high school students were throwing gigantic rocks at passing cars in Jefferson County, when one was hurled through Bartell's windshield, hitting her in the head and killing her. Prosecutors say the men had thrown giant landscaping rocks and hit six other cars that night. Bartell was on the phone with a friend when a rock smashed into her car and she went quiet. Her friend tracked her phone and drove to the location to find her dead in her car, which had plowed off the road into a field. At the time, Koenig was on trial for first-degree murder as prosecutors claimed he was the one who ultimately threw the rock at her. Meanwhile, the defense said Kwak was the one who threw it. Bartell was on the phone with a friend when a rock smashed into her car and she went quiet. Her friend tracked her phone and drove to the location to find her dead in her car, which had plowed off the road into a field. (Pictured: Bartell's windshield after the incident) Nicholas 'Mitch' Karol-Chik (left) and Zachary Kwak (right) were also involved in the fatal accident. They both accepted plea deals in May 2024 'All three of the boys in that truck, including Joe Koenig, are guilty of causing Alexa Bartells death. We are not running from that. But the evidence will show that Alexa Bartells death, as tragic as it was, was not first-degree murder,' defense attorney Thomas Ward said. Kwak and Karol-Chik both took plea deals in exchange for lesser charges after agreeing to testify at Koenig's trial. Kwak pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, one count of second-degree assault and an added count of criminal attempt to commit assault. He will serve no less than 20 and no more than 32 years behind bars. Karol-Chik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, criminal attempt to commit murder in the first-degree and crime of violence. He is set to serve a minimum of 35, but no more than 72 years in jail. Just days before he was convicted, Koenig's attorney claimed his undeveloped brain should less the punishment of his crime. The defense called an expert testimony to argue that his then 18-year-old brain wasn't developed enough to be considered an adult and that his charges should be dropped to manslaughter, The Denver Post said. They brought on Temple University Psychology Professor Laurence Steinberg, who claimed Koenig's brain would 'not yet [have] a good braking system in place' at the time of the crime. 'Adolescence is a time when the accelerator in the brain is pushed down to the floor that is the limbic system,' he testified. This has been the hardest two years. And we got justice today. I dont know how to feel about it. Im happy, but it doesnt bring Alexa back, and thats horrible,' Kelly Bartell (center), the victim's mother, said after the verdict was read He said the young man would have been egged on by his friends which would have caused a heightened emotional sense that would compromise his decision-making skills, the outlet said. Steinberg said that although an 18-year-old's brain can operate like an adult, up to the age of 21, they can act immaturely when in heightened states and when they're with their peers. The psychologist also argued that young people are more impulsive and focused on short-term reward. Bartell's fatal incident was not the only time Koenig and his friends had thrown rocks at cars, The Post said. On the night of the attack, Karol-Chik and Kwak were allegedly cheering Koenig on and encouraging each other to throw rocks. The psychologist argued this would have compromised the then-teen's decision-making. A friend of the trio told police he'd watched them several hours earlier as they loaded a truck with landscaping rocks taken from a Walmart parking lot. The friend claimed the three boys picked up 'as many as they could carry.' He said he knew 'something bad was going to happen' so asked Koenig, Karol-Chik and Kwak to take him home. Koenig was described by a friend as someone who likes creating 'chaos' and would often act in a destructive manner The three alleged killers then patrolled roads in the area and searched for passing cars to target. Kwak said they would use 'marine terms' when launching the rocks, adding: 'Mitch would say things like, contact left, before Joseph would throw the rock at a car on the left side of theirs.' He said the rock which killed Bartell made a 'very loud noise... like a rail gun' when it struck her windshield. A bloodstained rock was discovered next to the young woman's yellow Chevy Spark. Koenig was described by a friend as someone who likes creating 'chaos' and would often act in a destructive manner. 'Joseph and Mitch were talking about them now being blood brothers and they could never speak of the incident,' Kwak added. The three reportedly met up the following day to 'get their stories straight.' Karol-Chik and Kwak were interviewed by detectives and each gave different accounts about who threw the rock. Koenig refused to speak to police. Koenig's sentencing hearing is set for June 3. Anthony Albanese held his nerve in the final leaders debate, even though Peter Dutton clearly won it. The issue that haunted the PM throughout was that he can't be taken at his word. Having made promises three years ago that he has since broken, each time he sought to neutralise fears during the debate, his past performance was used against him. But it almost certainly won't be enough to shift the election result, which is why the PM was so careful with his tone and commentary. Channel Seven hosted the final leaders debate of the 2025 election campaign and started with a not so humble brag plastered across people's television sets: 'This broadcast across Australia will determined who will be the next Prime Minister'. Who needs democracy when you have Natalie Barr hosting right? At least Seven's political editor Mark Riley was there with her - one of the few remaining adults in the press gallery. Although he did open proceedings by asking both candidates: what will you do to make people's lives easier and cheaper from next weekend? Just what we needed, to finish a campaign completely lacking in fiscal responsibility: another list to prove it, which both leaders helpfully provided. Although in political terms it was slightly more awkward for Albo, because his handouts haven't been crafted with the immediacy of Dutton's, leaving the PM to only offer up his code of conduct for supermarkets. Anthony Albanese held his nerve in the fourth and final leaders debate on Sunday night Talk about being hit over the head by a wet lettuce! It didn't take long before the PM was asked to definitively rule out changes to negative gearing, a policy script I wouldn't mind getting proper analysis if we're serious about embracing proper tax reform. But that's not how Labor sees the issue. It privately would love to cut access to negative gearing, but it sure isn't going to say that on the campaign trail, lest it result in a tightening of the polls. The problem the PM has on such issues of what he will or won't promise to rule in or out is that he has form breaking such pledges. He promised no changes to super and to stick by the stage three income taxes during the last campaign, only to break both commitments once in government. Albo ruled negative gearing changes out with a straight face, but because his word means nothing anymore it was a meaningless moment based on his past performance. A point Dutton gleefully made. Perhaps he should have added the fact that Treasurer Jim Chalmers asked his department to model the effects of cutting negative gearing. Having witnessed leaders talk overtime during previous showdowns, Channel Seven instituted loud dramatic music to signal time was up when the leaders answered questions. Peter Dutton (pictured) won Sunday's night leaders debate, according to Daily Mail Australia's Peter van Onselen It was clunky and ridiculous, but served its purpose of shutting them up. The PM sought to list achievements during his three years in office, but as is too often the case, a real time fact check wasn't cast across his claims. He said Labor has gotten real wages moving, but they are actually down by two percent his the change of government. Albo also claimed to have addressed childcare challenges, but the data tells us that nationally childcare is 22 percent more expensive than it was in 2022. And talking up the Housing Future Fund might be in the Labor talking points, but I bet they don't mention that not a single how home has been completed since the initiative was legislated. It took roughly halfway into the debate for the welcome to country issue to be raised. Dutton didn't mince his words, declaring they are overdone and their value diminished when that happened. The PM said that his personal view is that he's fine with them being used whenever people want them to be. Riley finally grew sick of Albo sticking to the talk points and called him out for it. It highlighted that the PM knows this election is his to lose and that he didn't want to risk moving off script. A funny moment came when the PM was asked if Donald Trump has his mobile number. He responded that he's not sure if the US President even has a phone. If Trump doesn't have it, I'd be happy to pass it on Albanese (left) and Dutton (right) faced off for a final time six days out from the election In the back half of the debate, the attention turned to national security and the region. Dutton was very direct about the threat China is. The PM eventually conceded China is the greatest threat to our region, but you could almost see his brain ticking over as he waffled away thinking about whether or not he should admit as much. This was comfortably the most assured performance by the opposition leader. The first time he likes truly comfortable and dare I say it, prime ministerial. It was probably too little too late with Labor seemingly on course to win (even if only as a minority government), but Dutton won this debate and Albo looked too guarded and too afraid to be genuine. His talking points were more than a friend tonight, they were a crutch to try and keep his winning election campaign on track. Dutton knew he needed a good start to the final week of the campaign to have any chance of pressing for a close result, and his debate performance did just that. A Democrat strategist has brutally compared Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's popularity to 'OnlyFans culture' as she attempts to rally the broken left. Julian Epstein, former House Judiciary Committee Democratic chief counsel, unleashed the scathing remarks during an appearance on Newsmax Friday. When host Rob Finnerty suggested the 35-year-old congresswoman might be the 'real deal' for the ailing Democratic Party, Epstein didn't hold back. 'She's the real deal,' Finnerty said. 'She's got millions of followers on social media, she's young, attractive. she's packing arenas. We treat her like she's on idiot on the right but the left did the same thing to Donald Trump ... I think she's for-real.' In response, Epstein boldly shot down the statement, stating: 'I don't. I disagree with that. I think she's got incredible appeal within the progressive bubble. 'But I don't think she has broad appeal beyond that. I don't think she has appealed to the centrists of the party and certainly not a majority of the American electorate.' Epstein didn't stop there. He labeled the current Democratic Party brand as 'toxic' while claiming they are 'no longer responding to voters.' He said: 'AOC highlights what I think is becoming the culture, which is it's becoming an OnlyFans type of culture.' OnlyFans is a platform used by more than three million people, where creators - usually sexual in nature - can provide exclusive content to paying customers. Julian Epstein, former House Judiciary Committee Democratic chief counsel, unleashed the scathing remarks during an appearance on Newsmax Friday Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives to speak during a 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour event at Arizona State University in March 2025 Epstein used the comparison to the raunchy site to show that he believes AOC has a 'narrow' fan base, rather than a mainstream electoral appeal. He added: 'These politicians are interested in appealing increasingly to a narrow cast of online activists, donors, foundations, activists who will all exalt them as heroes within the progressive movement, all of whom depend on this identity grievance politics, but it doesn't have broad appeal.' 'I think while she's very popular within progressive activist circles, I don't see the appeal being wider than that,' he concluded. The clip made its rounds on X, formerly Twitter, with one user agreeing with Epstein claiming: 'Indeed, AOC is super appealing to the Blue Base, but beyond that she is toxic.' Another user slammed the congresswoman, writing: 'Everything about her is fake.' Others called out Epstein, saying: 'Per diem 'consultant ' running his mouth on right wing propaganda network.' The scathing critique comes as polling guru Nate Silver predicted that Democrats will choose Ocasio-Cortez as their 2028 presidential nominee. Silver made the bold claim in a video for his Silver Bulletin Substack Wednesday alongside journalist Galen Druke, who actually brought up AOC as a viable contender first. 'AOC highlights what I think is becoming the culture, which is it's becoming an OnlyFans type of culture,' the strategist said The scathing critique comes as polling guru Nate Silver predicted that Democrats will choose Ocasio-Cortez as their 2028 presidential nominee 'That was going to be my f***ing pick!' Silver exclaimed. 'We both are on the AOC bus.' Silver explained that he picked AOC 'because of some of the polling, because she has this kind of progressive lane, probably not to herself, because she is younger and media savvy.' He pointed to polls that showed her leading Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer should she try to challenge him for his New York Senate seat. Silver said he thought this could mean that she has appeal beyond the progressive left as New York Democrats are actually 'a pretty moderate lot.' 'I think there's a lot of points in her favor at this very moment,' Druke argued. 'In a Yale poll just out late week, AOC has the highest net favorability rating of any of the Democrats that they asked about.' Ocasio-Cortez had a 62 percent positive rating among Democrats in the survey, with former Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, trailing her slightly. When host Rob Finnerty suggested the 35-year-old congresswoman might be the 'real deal' for Democrats, Epstein didn't hold back Druke noted that this means that AOC 'has broad appeal across the Democratic Party.' 'She has very fervent support,' he added - something that could come in her favor should she announce a presidential run and get through a crowded primary field. 'I think a lot of people are gonna run in 2028 and it's going to be a contest for attention and getting those sort of people who might be in your boat to turn out and stay with you through thick and thin, and I think that's Ocasio-Cortez,' Druke said. Rachel Reeves has sent the strongest signal yet that Labour plans to allow young EU nationals to live and work in Britain under a new post-Brexit deal with Brussels. The Chancellor said she wanted young people from Europe and the UK 'to be able to work and travel overseas' amid claims a youth mobility deal could be announced as early as next month. Ms Reeves stressed that there would be no return to freedom of movement see when the UK was in the EU. But speaking to the Times she suggested that a one in, one out arrangement that did not raise immigration figures could be agreed. Ms Reeves told the Times: 'We're going to bring down net migration and we aren't going to return to freedom of movement. But we are hosting the summit next month. 'We do want to see better trading relationships between our countries and we do want to enable young people from Europe and the UK to be able to work and travel overseas. 'But we've got to get the balance right, because I do not want to see net migration increasing. I want to see net migration falling.' However shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the chancellor of trying to 'import cheap foreign labour to make up for the damage she has inflicted on the economy'. The Chancellor said she wanted young people from Europe and the UK 'to be able to work and travel overseas' amid claims a youth mobility deal could be announced as early as next month. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the chancellor of trying to 'import cheap foreign labour to make up for the damage she has inflicted on the economy'. 'Be in no doubt, this is just another attempt by Labour to betray Brexit and re-open the door to uncontrolled and unlimited immigration,' he added. Reports last week suggested that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has softened her position to back such a plan, allowing UK nationals to live and work in member states in return for the same number of EU nationals coming here. The UK already has similar deals with countries including Australia and Canada. But Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden was more circumspect on television today, refusing to 'negotiate it by interview'. A UK-EU summit is scheduled to take place on May 19 to discuss a closer post-Brexit relationship. Last week Ms Reeves said Britain's relationship with the EU is 'arguably even more important' than trading links with the US - even as she tried to hammer out an agreement with the Trump administration. Ahead of a meeting with Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Friday she told the BBC the Government was working 'flat out' to secure a deal that would mitigate the impact of tariffs imposed by Donald Trump earlier in April. But Ms Reeves also suggested that improving links with the EU was a more significant priority. She said: 'I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners.' Downing Street said the Chancellor's remarks had been 'a statement of fact that the EU is our largest trading partner'. A total of 114 illegal migrants were dramatically arrested after cops swooped in and busted a nightclub in Colorado in the early hours of the morning. The Rocky Mountain Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) led a multi-agency enforcement operation alongside local police and federal agents at 3am Sunday, the agency said. Dozens of armed personnel were waiting outside the doors as partyers fled from the building - while women in dresses and heels looked bewildered at the ordeal. Another woman, who was on the phone at the time, dropped to the ground while cops pointed guns in her direction after bashing in the door of the illicit establishment. Another man ran out of the nightclub, and upon seeing the officers he desperately put both arms in the air and dropped to his knees. Another was seen on video dropping his bottle of beer on the ground before listening to cops' instructions. Sirens glared in the background as officers shouted for people to get on the ground - while some of the revelers screamed and attempted to run away from the situation. The operation itself was part of a probe into drug trafficking, prostitution and crimes of violence taking place in the club, the DEA added. Authorities made their way to an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs - about an hour away from Aurora, where Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua is based. The operation itself was part of a probe into drug trafficking, prostitution and crimes of violence taking place in the club, the DEA added. A total of 114 people were arrested Many party goer's appeared to comply as they were seen placing their hands above their heads and dropping to their knees The Rocky Mountain Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) led a multi-agency enforcement operation early Sunday morning, arresting over 100 illegal immigrants at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and Hell's Angels gang members are known to frequent the underground club. It is unclear how many members were there at the time of the raid, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen said. More than a dozen active duty service members were also in the building, some as patrons and others working security. The United States Army Criminal Investigation Division is now a part of the investigation into those individuals, Pullen said. Many of those detained were not in the country legally and taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Drugs and weapons were also seized during the operation, the agency said. Pink cocaine, also known as 'tusi,' was among the drugs found, Pullin said. At least a dozen small packages of drugs were found as investigators are testing them to identify the substances. 'Colorado Springs is waking up to a safer city this Sunday morning,' Pullen said. Dramatic video revealed the massive bust operation - including the moment a slew of officers surrounded the building before one of them smashed through a glass window. Officers were seen with their guns out as they instructed people to put their hands up and surrender. Pullen said many of those detained will face federal immigration charges, while some were arrested with outstanding warrants. It is unlikely they will face drug charges because it was hard to prove possession during the raid, he added. This comes just after ICE agents arrested nearly 800 illegal immigrants after launching a statewide crackdown in Florida. Operation Tidal Wave - a joint effort by ICE agents, Homeland Security and local law enforcement - resulted in officers arresting 780 migrants. The side doors of the nightclub then swung open as a herd of people, both men and women, ran out frantically Many of those detained were not in the country legally and taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and Hell's Angels gang members are known to frequent the underground club. It is unclear how many members were there at the time of the raid As part of the massive sweep, 275 people were arrested with final orders of removal, meaning a court has mandated that they leave the country already. One of those busted was Jose Sanchez Reyes, a Colombian immigrant who entered the US illegally after being convicted of homicide in his home nation, according to Fox. Rafael Juarex Cabrera, a Guatemalan immigrant and alleged MS-13 member, was also caught. He had illegally reentered the US three times, officials said. Russian immigrant Savva Klishchevskii was also detained for an Interpol Red Notice out of Russia for vehicular manslaughter. Officials said Honduran Aron Isaak Morazan-Izaguirre was taken in. He is a suspected member of the 18th Street Gang and had illegally re-entered the US twice. ICE had used their 287(g) authority which allows for state and local law enforcement to be deputized and to arrest those in the US illegally. The Trump administration has sought to bring in local authorities to help in their immigration operations to speed up deportations. 'This is one of the first large-scale missions we've done like this ever,' ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News. 'We brought a "whole the government" approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods.' Peter Dutton has risked the ire of Donald Trump's right-hand man with a brutal two-word sledge. The Opposition Leader and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese were shown a series of pictures in a final quickfire round during Channel Seven's leaders' debate on Sunday night. One of the images presented by host Nat Barr and moderator Mark Riley, the network's political editor, was a shot of the world's richest man, Elon Musk. The Prime Minister was very diplomatic, answering: 'Tesla - and a very rich man'. But Mr Dutton was apparently unconcerned about upsetting the notoriously think-skinned X owner and the head of Trump's 'Department of Government Efficiency'. 'I think evil genius,' Mr Dutton responded, to laughter from Barr and Riley. The Sunrise host chose to quiz the Coalition leader on his affiliation with Trump, which has dogged him throughout the campaign. 'Mr Dutton, have you distanced yourself from Mr Trump's style?', Barr asked. Peter Dutton (pictured) has risked the ire of Donald Trump 's righthand man with a brutal two-word sledge The Opposition Leader named the X and Space X owner an 'evil genius' (pictured: Musk and Trump) The Opposition Leader claimed he had 'not sought to style myself on anybody other than myself' and named John Howard as his 'political mentor'. But the Prime Minister saw an opportunity to capitalise, asking him why he had followed some of Trump's policies, such as promising a Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Jacinta Price, and ending work from home for civil servants - which he rowed back on. Mr Albanese also accused him of aping Trump in comments made earlier on Sunday when Mr Dutton described the ABC and the Guardian as 'hate media' to supporters in Melbourne. But Mr Dutton batted the questions away with one of his own: 'Do you believe in government efficiency?' It fell to the Coalition's campaign spokesperson, James Paterson, to play down Mr Dutton's comments after the debate ended. 'I think you all know, as you've seen on this campaign trail, Peter engages very well and very respectfully with all media outlets who had great access to him on the campaign trail,' Mr Paterson told Channel Seven. 'Everybody gets questioned every day.' Musk has regularly criticised the Australian government, branding them 'fascists' over the move to regulate X. Musk was named the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, with a remit to slash red tape and bureaucracy in Washington (the billionaire is pictured on stage next to Trump at one of his rallies) He clashed with the head of the ABC, Kim Williams, over his claims that Joe Rogan preys on people's 'fear' and 'vulnerabilities'. 'They prey on anxiety. They prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society, and they entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative,' Mr Williams told the National Press Club in November last year. 'I personally find it deeply repulsive, to think that someone has such remarkable power.' Musk re-shared a post from Rogan caption 'LOL WUT', with the comment: 'From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda'. Pravda is the former official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which still operates in the Russian Federation. Musk has also accused a major Australian newspaper of 'boring its readers to death' after a journalist predicted he would lose control of Tesla. A shark attack survivor has recalled the terrifying moment she thought she would die as she slipped in and out of consciousness. Mangyon Zhang, 57, was swimming laps just metres from shore at Gunyah Beach at Bundeena in Sydney's south on March 7 when her life changed in an instant. She had no idea the danger lurking underneath until she felt something brush past her. She didn't see the bull shark or feel it latch onto her right leg but immediately knew she'd been bitten due to the amount of blood in the water. 'I knew something stinged me and then there's like a very eerie feeling,' Ms Zhang told 60 Minutes. 'I was frozen for a minute. I was so scared. I was like, 'what was that?' 'And then I just saw lots of blood coming out and the water just became too red. 'I was freaking out because I was scared the shark would come back. I thought I would be dead.' Mangyon Zhang (pictured) fought back tears as she recalled slipping in and out of consciousness after she was was bitten by a bull shark Ms Zhang shared an emotional reunion with Blake Donaldson, who raced into the water and saved her life (pictured) It's unlikely she would be still alive today if it wasn't for Blake Donaldson and his partner Ellen Melchert, who were the only other people on the secluded beach at the the time and heard Ms Zhang's frantic screams for help. A quick thinking Mr Donaldson raced into the water with his paddleboard without hesitation or any thoughts for the shark and his own safety. 'The fight or flight kicks in and I just made a decision,' he said. 'It's either you just watch someone drown or you go out and help them a couple seconds could mean someone's life.' By the time he reached Ms Zhang, she was already extremely weak due to the loss of blood and struggled to hold onto the paddleboard. 'I didn't have the strength to do anything anymore,' she said. Ms Zhang recalled the terrifying moment she felt her 'eyes wanting to close' as she slipped in and out of consciousness when the pair returned to shore. But she was determined to stay awake to see her partner Maria Masutti one last time as Mr Donaldson's partner tried to stem the bleeding. Mangyon Zhang (pictured recovering in hospital) believed she was going to die during the terrifying ordeal Ms Zhang (pictured) was determined to stay awake to see her partner Maria Masutti 'one last time' 'I was scared that I go to sleep I won't wake up,' Ms Zhang recalled as she fought back tears. 'I think I probably will die, but I said to myself,' I wanted to let Maria know.' 'I don't know if I would make it, but I wanted to see if I can see her last time.' Despite her condition rapidly deteriotating, Ms Zhang can still remember the couple and emergency responders trying to save her life. 'All I could see was colours ,' she said. 'I think I heard people say, 'She doesn't have any pulse.' 'I can't move. I can't even think. I can't breathe. 'I don't feel any oxygen coming into my lungs.' The loss of blood was so catastrophic that a doctor was airlifted in with more to save Ms Zhang's life. 'It was like a movie,' she recalled. 'But I wasn't frightened anymore. If its meant to be, its meant to be.' Ms Zhang was airlifted to St George Hospital, where she underwent multiple surgeries. She recalled her shock that she was still alive when she woke up the next morning. Doctors also managed to save Ms Zhang's leg, thanks to the heroic efforts of Mr Donaldson and Ms Melchert. Ms Zhang did not feel the shark bite her leg (pictured) Ms Zhang has since met with the two strangers who saved her life, along with the paramedics. 'Words cannot express how thankful I am,' she told the couple during the emotional reunion. 'You're my lifesaver and hero!' Ms Melchert replied: 'We're just so glad you're alright.' The life-threatening ordeal has changed Ms Zhang's perspective on life. 'It's unlucky this happened, but it's lucky I have all these people there to support me,' she said. 'Most importantly, I feel lucky I still have my leg. Hundreds of people have been taking to the streets in a coastal town centre in clashing protests over immigration - some showing support and others in opposition. There have been slogans shared such as 'Stop the boats' and 'Save our children' by demonstrators bearing Union Flag designs in Dover, Kent. The border town has become a focus for concerns about migrants coming to Britain, being the first destination of many asylum seekers arriving across the Channel. The number of Channel migrants in small boats has surpassed 9,500 this year so far - a third up from the previous all-time high. Official figures showed a contrast with the 6,691 in the same period in the record-breaking year of 2022 - while 5,916 reached the UK in the same time frame last year. Some 184 people were intercepted in the English Channel in three boats last Monday, bringing the total this month to 2,918 passengers in 52 boats. One demonstration staged today in Dover was promoted on Facebook with the title: 'Stop the boats now! 10,000+ bikers and friends illegal migrant protest ride to Dover.' Counter-protests were also organised by campaign groups including one called Stand Up To Racism. Anti-immigration protesters have been demonstrating in the centre of Dover in Kent Police patrols were stepped up for today's demonstrations and counter-protests also held Border Force officials are seen here escorted 150 migrants into Dover on April 12 Slogans called out by anti-immigration demonstrators today included 'Get them out', 'We want our country back' and 'Send them home', KentOnline reported. One of the anti-migrant protests was spearheaded by an organisation named Kent Motor Heads Events. A post shared online raising awareness about today's demo said: 'Enough is enough. Nothing is and never will be done to stop the mass invasion of our tiny island. 'As bikers we are known to do what we say we are going to do and will line the roads and the whole area of Dover in a mass protest to show how p***ed off everyone is with this now. 'It's not racist. It's not right-wing. So please don't try and make out it is.' The group also insisted the demo would be a 'peaceful protest' and that 'there won't be any trouble or anti-social behaviour'. The counter-protest's posters vowed that supporters would 'stand up for migrants and refugees' and 'oppose the Stop The Boats mass protest ride to Dover'. Hundreds of people on both sides swarmed across Dover town centre today, with police officers also massed in patrol in response. Today's anti-immigration protests include calls of 'Save our children' and 'Stop the boats' Organisers of the demo insisted on Facebook the event was neither 'racist' nor 'right-wing' The anti-migrant protests was led by an organisation named Kent Motor Heads Events Your browser does not support iframes. Rival groups were seen facing each other in the main shopping districts, at sites including Market Square and outside a central car park. Paul King, chairman of Reform UK's local Dover and Deal branch, told GB News: 'There's a point with illegal migration in the country where we say enough's enough, and we are way beyond that - this is what today is about.' Among those participating in the counter-protest was National Education Union member Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, who told KentOnline: 'We need to build solidarity in our communities - theyre fleeing here for safety or for a better life. 'My grandparents came here for a better life and to flee anti-Jewish pogroms in Russia, Germany and Ukraine.' Dover's Labour MP Mike Tapp said: 'I hope those that have travelled to the area take the opportunity to visit our fantastic cliffs, castle and seafront. 'It's important that they make use of the many small businesses for refreshments and dont cause any disruption for local people.' This month has seen the highest number of arrivals in the single day so far this year, with 705 migrants arriving from 12 dinghies on April 15. It has also been revealed that government officials are appealing to landlords to host asylum seekers, with private contractors working on their behalf, offering five-year guaranteed rent deals. A protester is seen at today's 'Stop the Boats' rally in Dover in Kent People have been arriving in the town on the Kent coast throughout today for the demos Union Flags were seen being held aloft across Dover town centre during today's activities Protesters expressed their opinions about immigration in the Dover demonstrations An event promoted on Facebook urged bikers to come together in Dover for Private contractor Serco - one of three working for the Home Office - are offering five-year guaranteed rent deals to landlords, with the taxpayer footing the bill. Their website states the company is responsible for housing more than 30,000 asylum seekers, with an 'ever growing portfolio' of over 7,000 homes. The firm organised an event at a four-star hotel in the Malvern Hills next month, as part of their drive to house more asylum seekers, according to The Telegraph. Serco is said to be 'looking for' landlords, investors and agents, with properties in the North West, the Midlands and the east of England to lease for more than five years. The deal also reportedly includes promises of rent paid 'on time every month with no arrears', free property management, full repair and maintenance, as well as utilities council tax bills paid by Serco. Promotional material claims to prospective clients that the offer is 'an attractive and competitive proposition within the industry'. It is understood that it has been the Government's statutory duty to accommodate destitute asylum seekers since 2005. In response to the latest migrant arrival figures, a Home Office spokesman said last week: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. Hundreds of people have been gathering today in Dover for pro- and anti-immigration events 'Leave our kids alone' was among the slogans being toted by anti-immigration demonstrators A record number of migrants have crossed the English channel in the first four months of 2025 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. 'That's why this government is investing in border security, increasing returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade, and imposing a major crackdown on illegal working to end the false promise of jobs used by gangs to sell spaces on boats. 'We have already secured agreement from the French to deploy a new elite unit of officers at the coast, launch a specialist intelligence unit, increase police numbers and introduce new powers for the French authorities to intervene in shallow waters. 'We are introducing tougher enforcement powers with new legislation and intensifying our collaboration with France and other countries who face the same challenges by exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs.' The US Airforce is urgently searching for an escaped Florida-based airman who stands accused of child porn possession and distribution. Airman First Class Branden Cecil Standifer, 27, is under investigation for crimes related to child sexual abuse materials and was due in court on April 18, but he did not attend the martial hearing. He is believed to have gone on the run to avoid prosecution and is wanted for military desertion, according to a warning issued by the US Airforce Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI). The fugitive fled Hulburt Field in Florida and was last seen on surveillance video roaming the Bozeman Yellowstone Airport in Montana, wearing sunglasses and a hiking backpack, the day after he went on the run. His most recent location, according to a ping of his cellphone, was in the area of Minnesota's Grove Heights. It is unclear if he is still in Minnesota. In a social media post from Thursday, the AFOSI revealed he has ties in Michigan and Ohio. DailyMail.com has reached out to the office for an update. The aircraft maintainer detailed plans to kill himself by jumping off a cliff in a journal he left behind at his station, according to his wanted poster. Airman First Class Branden Cecil Standifer (pictured), 27, is under investigation for crimes related to child sexual abuse materials and was due in court on April 18 Standifer (pictured) was last seen on security cameras traveling through the Bozeman Yellowstone Airport in Montana , wearing sunglasses and a hiking backpack According to his social media accounts, Standifer has a wife and small daughter (pictured) US Air Force officials are asking anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact 911 immediately. Standifer is a white man with brown hair and blue eyes. He stands at six-feet-tall and weighs about 160 pounds. According to his social media accounts, Standifer has a wife and small daughter. Standifer's sickening alleged crimes come as a former US Army solider was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for producing child sex abuse materials. Jason Charles Manuelito, 27, pled guilty to the offense in 2024, but was finally sentenced on Wednesday, according to the US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina. He was investigated by the FBI and the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) after investigators received an influx of tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCMEC raised the alarm that someone using an IP address from Manuelito's military base was uploading child porn to Kik, Google and Dropbox. The US Attorney's Office did not specify where he was stationed or what his title was. US Air Force officials are asking anyone with information about Standifer's (pictured) whereabouts to contact 911 immediately Standifer (pictured) is said to have ties in Ohio and Michigan, although his current location is unknown Investigators seized the culprit's devices and uncovered inappropriate discussions he was having with minors, during which he would 'encourage the child to send specific images of their genitals and engaging in sexual acts.' He also sent explicit images of himself to multiple child victims. Nine of them were identified and interviewed by investigators, while many others remained unidentified. Some of the children were as young as 11 years old, according to the office's statement. Manuelito reportedly admitted to the disgraceful online relations he had with minors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Russia and Ukraine this is a 'critical week' and if there's no sign of a peace deal, President Donald Trump's administration may move on. 'I think this is going to be a very critical week,' he told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. 'This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it's time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important.' His comments came the day after President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Vatican ahead of Pope Francis' funeral. Trump has shown impatience recently with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his continued bombardment of Ukraine. Rubio noted the clock was ticking. The Trump administration hits the 100 day mark next week and the president would like a peace deal to be part of his accomplishments. 'The president has dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy to this, and we think we brought the sides closer than they've been in a very long time. But we're not there yet, and it needs to start happening,' the secretary of state said. He said of the talks: 'We're close, but we're not close enough.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the clock is ticking for a Ukraine-Russian peace deal The Trump administration has been pushing Ukraine to accept a peace plan that would end Kyiv's desire to join NATO and give Crimea to Russia. Zelensky has called that a non-starter. But Trump also has questioned why Putin would continue to bomb Ukraine as the U.S. is trying to broker a deal that many see as favoring the Kremlin. 'It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along,' Trump wrote on Truth Social of Putin after meeting with Zelensky. The Russians shrugged off American impatience. 'We understand the impatience, because in American culture, you create expectations, and you ignite tension around those expectations,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told CBS's Face the Nation. 'This does not help to do realpolitik. But in our case, as I said, we are always ready for dialogue, ready for negotiations, and we would not, you know, begin by banking on a failure. This would be a characteristic of bad deal makers, inexperienced deal makers.' While Trump was with Zelensky in Rome, his envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow meeting with Russian officials. Zelensky described his meeting with Trump in positive terms. The meeting was the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and Zelenskiy since an Oval Office meeting in February that turned into a shouting match. But the Ukrainian president said Saturday's meeting has 'potential to become historic.' 'We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out. Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you @POTUS,' he wrote on social media. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (right) meets with US President Donald Trump (left) at St Peter's Basilica on Saturday President Trump is showing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) Trump had previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon. He has taken a tough stand with both leaders, taking to social media earlier this week to write 'Vladimir STOP' as the Russian president dropped bombs on Kyiv. He has threatened Zelensky that he will withdraw all U.S. support. Rubio noted that the 'only solution' for a peace deal is where Russia and Ukraine both 'give up something.' 'There is no military solution to this war,' Rubio said Sunday. 'The only solution to this war is a negotiated settlement where both sides are going to have to give up something they claim to want, and are going to have to give the other side something they wish they didn't.' 'That's how you end wars, and that's what we're trying to achieve here so more people won't die,' he added. There was something awkward about the interaction between Trump, Zelensky, Macron and Starmer when they came face-to-face at St Peter's Basilica shortly before Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday. A body language expert has revealed the potential meaning behind the subtle movements displayed by each world leader in the clumsy huddle. In video footage, Zelensky and Trump are seen striding towards a set of three chairs laid out in the middle of the church before the President of France comes up behind them. He is immediately greeted by the Ukrainian leader, who abandoned his conversation with Trump for a strong and meaningful hand shake with Macron. Judi James told MailOnline Macron's intervention seems to champion Zelensky as the one 'the crowd's cheering for' and could be a signal to show Trump he is 'My guy'. She added: 'Zelensky extends his arm and what might have been a simple handshake is upgraded to a "Bro shake" - a ritual that suggests close allegiance and loyalty.' The US President seem slightly startled by the interruption, pausing for a moment before taking a step and a half back to observe the pair. Ms James said Trump's retreat 'suggests he might have thought Macron had come to pay homage to him' at first. After being a bystander to the powerful display of Ukrainian and French unity, Trump tried to regain control by placing a hand on both of their shoulders (pictured) In doing so, he completely missed Macron's attempt to shake his hand (pictured) There was something awkward about the interaction between Trump, Zelensky , Macron and Starmer (pictured) when they came face-to-face at St Peter's Basilica shortly before Pope Francis ' funeral on Saturday After being a bystander to the powerful display of Ukrainian and French unity, Trump tried to regain control by placing a hand on both of their shoulders - a technique the body language expert called a 'touch ritual'. In doing so, he completely missed Macron's attempt to shake his hand which left the Frenchman reaching out to place his hand on Zelensky's back 'to keep him tight in the group'. According to lip reader Nicola Hickling, Trump appears to have said to the pair: 'Slow down, let me bring...' followed by 'you are not in the right here, I need you to do me a favour, you should not be here'. As Macron replied to the US President, Ms James said Zelensky was 'generally tense'. Adding: 'His body language overall suggested a desire to re-boot his signals of warrior power and strength plus resilience after his humiliation if the US. 'He would have been braced for more from Trump during this meeting and worried that Macron would irritate Trump unnecessarily. 'His best chance with Trump was one-to-one, as soon as anyone like Vance or even Macron steps in theres a risk Trump will begin to showboat in terms of personal power.' Keir Starmer's body language seemed closed off and perhaps protective when he hurried over to join the trio. In video footage, Zelensky and Trump are seen striding (pictured) towards a set of three chairs laid out in the middle of the church before the President of France comes up behind them He is immediately greeted by the Ukrainian leader, who abandoned his conversation with Trump for a strong and meaningful hand shake with Macron (pictured) The US President seem slightly startled by the interruption, pausing for a moment before taking a step and a half back to observe the pair (pictured) Keir Starmer's body language seemed closed off and perhaps protective when he hurried over to join the trio. He held his hands in front of this chest with his arms bent up at the elbows, almost like a T-Rex (pictured) He held his hands in front of this chest with his arms bent up at the elbows, almost like a T-Rex. Ms James said: 'Starmer likes to display top level power and global influence but he doesnt have the body language skills to compete with the likes of Trump and Macron. This would produce some closed off signals.' She added: 'Starmers expression suggests he was suffering from leadership FOMO (fear of missing out). 'There has been speculation Macron thought the third chair was for him but with Starmer racing in this could have ended up looking like a game of musical chairs!' King Charles has issued a statement after nine people were killed when a car was driven into revellers at a street festival celebrating Filipino culture in Vancouver. A message from Charles was posted on social media after a vehicle is reported to have entered the street where the Lapu Lapu Day festival was taking place just before 8.15pm local time on Saturday. A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene, local police said. The King, on behalf of himself and his wife Queen Camilla, said 'we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada'. The statement from Charles said: 'Both my wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the dreadful attack and utterly tragic loss of life in Vancouver, which took place as the Filipino community came together to mark the celebration of one of their most special festivals. 'Our hearts and prayers go out to all those whose lives have been shattered by such a desperate tragedy and we send our deepest possible sympathy at a most agonizing time for so many in Canada. 'Charles R.' King Charles has issued a statement on behalf of himself and his wife Queen Camilla after nine people were killed when a car was driven into revellers at a street festival in Vancouver The black car is understood to have ploughed through a crowd of dozens of festivalgoers on a street in Vancouver last night Vancouver police secured the scene after a car drove into the crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on X: 'I am shocked and deeply saddened by the terrible events at Vancouver's Lapu Lapu festival last night. 'Our thoughts are with all of those affected, their families and loved ones.' People were killed after an SUV rammed through the packed street festival last night. Dozens more were injured after the black vehicle caused carnage at the Lapu Lapu Day event. Horrifying video and pictures showed utter devastation as mangled bodies were strewn across the road following the crash. Dazed bystanders could be seen racing away from the scene as local officers swooped and arrested the driver. The identities of some of Britain's most elite soldiers - including the son of a senior politician - were accidentally made available online by two publications linked to the armed forces, it has emerged. The 20 servicemen named, some of whom were in supporting roles while others were active troops, included members of the Special Air Service (SAS), The Sunday Times reported. In total, 13 soldiers with links to the special forces were identified in the documents, which were intended only for the eyes of military personnel but ended up on the internet with zero password protection. The most recent example occurred in the last few months, suggesting some of the soldiers may even have been in action at the time their names were visible online. The first publication inadvertently identified 14 soldiers over the course of a decade, while the second published six names in a four-year period, some of whom have risen to the highest ranks of the UK military. Investigative reporters alerted the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on April 23 and within hours the offending documents were taken offline. The MOD also notified those named. The documents did not overtly specify which units the soldiers' belonged to, only their names and two codenames that refer to the special forces and their operations. Such codenames are easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection and clearly identify the individual as being affiliated with the special forces. The identities of some of Britain's most elite soldiers were accidentally made available online by two publications linked to the armed forces, it has emerged The 20 servicemen named included members of the Special Air Service (SAS), whose logo and slogan is pictured here While the SAS members' identities are are a fiercely kept MOD secret, several former soldiers have gone public after they left the force, including Steven Billy Mitchell CBE, usually know by his pen name Andy McNab - although his face is always concealed in photographs for his safety The Freedom of Information Act 2000 defines the 'special forces' as 'those units of the armed forces of the Crown the maintenance of whose capabilities is the responsibility of the Director of Special Forces or which are for the time being subject to the operational command of that Director.' That includes the SAS, the Special Boat Service, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the Special Forces Support Group, 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing. Together these units comprise the UK's elite military personnel and they are frequently at the heart of operations in some of the world's most dangerous military conflicts. While the SAS members' identities are are a fiercely kept MOD secret, several former soldiers have gone public after they left the force. They include Steven Billy Mitchell CBE, usually know by his pen name Andy McNab, and presenter Bear Grylls, who served in the SAS as a trooper from 1994 to 1997 until he broke his back in a parachuting accident in Africa. The SAS was founded in 1941 by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling to carry out raids behind enemy lines during World War 2. It was reconstituted as a corps in 1950 and now handles some of the most sensitive aspects of British military life including counterterrorism, hostage situations, special operations and reconnaissance. The MoD said: 'The safety of our personnel is of paramount importance, and we take data security extremely seriously. Where we become aware of any potential risk, we will always take immediate action.' Tom Tugendhat, the former Conservative security minister, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said: 'Thirty years ago terrorism coming from Northern Ireland made us all aware of operational security at home. It's clear that some of those lessons need to be learnt again' Tom Tugendhat, the former Conservative security minister, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said: 'Thirty years ago terrorism coming from Northern Ireland made us all aware of operational security at home. It's clear that some of those lessons need to be learnt again.' Veterans reacted with shock today after the Mail on Sunday revealed that around 20 former members of the SAS - who have no relation to the names accidentally published online - are facing murder charges for shooting dead IRA gunmen more than 30 years ago. Details have been disclosed for the first time in a letter sent to every British Army regiment by the SAS Association, the first step in a military-style fightback launched by senior SAS officers called Project Verity. SAS leaders are considering a 'mass expression of outrage' by the UK's two million veterans. The letter, which was obtained by the Mail on Sunday and National Security News, says: 'We are about to see a surge of Northern Ireland cases instigated by nationalist activists and targeted at individual veterans. 'They are fundamentally designed to undermine the British State and its military forces and rewrite the history of the Troubles whilst persecuting ad infinitum scores, possibly hundreds, of former soldiers, decades on from their service. 'We have recently seen around 20 former Special Forces officers and soldiers referred to the Director of Public Prosecution for investigation, with a view to charging them for offences as serious as murder and conspiracy to murder relating to operations in Coagh and Clonoe in 1991 and 1992. 'In most cases the terrorists in question were heavily armed and died as a result of their own misadventure, often killed whilst... being arrested when caught in the act of trying to commit murder. 'These cases are now hijacked by activists seeking to wreak vengeance on former soldiers under the pretence of searching for further truths from more than 30 years ago.' A beloved Missouri mother refused to get out of the car she was in with her teenage daughter just before two teen thugs shot her during an attempted carjacking. Kay Johnson, 38, was pulling into her driveway in Mt. Pleasant - a suburb of St. Louis - with her 14-year-old daughter Evelyn on January 24, 2023 when Deshaun Harris and Brian Wellington approached the vehicle with guns in their hands. Wellington, who was 13 years old, and Harris, aged 15, each went to one side of the car demanding that Johnson get out, but she refused. Harris then shot Johnson in the face while her helpless daughter watched on in the passenger's seat, according to court records reviewed by KSDK. Her body was found inside the vehicle that was parked in an alley just before 7pm that day. Wellington, who is now 15, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to second-degree murder, armed criminal action and first-degree attempted robbery. He's been sentenced to two decades in prison, records reviewed by DailyMail.com revealed. After his plea, St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Boyer ordered Wellington be transferred from the juvenile facility to the St. Louis Criminal Justice Center. His accomplice Harris is facing charges of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and attempted robbery. He was charged as an adult in 2023 and is currently awaiting trial. Kay Johnson, 38, was fatally shot in the face on January 24, 2023 during an attempted carjacking with her 14-year-old daughter in the car Deshaun Harris (left) shot Johnson in the face after she refused to exit the car. Brian Wellington (right) was also armed as he approached the passenger's side of the vehicle that day Police also found that the pair were connected to a string of previous carjackings and robberies and that the car they used in Johnson's murder was stolen, records showed. The entire ordeal was captured on surveillance video and audio, police said. Johnson has been remembered as a 'dedicated' and loving mother who made sure she was 'present for all the important moments,' her obituary read. 'She fulfilled her role as a mother with a fierce love for her child and a deep courage only few may possess,' it added. She was born to her mother and father Mark and Yoriko Johnson in Osaka, Japan in December 1984. Professionally, she 'always put her best foot forward and met lifes challenges with awareness and compassion,' her biography read. She worked in the hospitality industry, and got a job at the Ritz Carlton where she was known 'for her generosity and fun-loving personality.' Her family and friends held a birthday memorial party for her at a local bowling alley. Loved ones also donated money toward a scholarship for her child. As of Sunday afternoon, more than $7,000 was raised. Johnson (pictured as a child) has been remembered as a 'dedicated' and loving mother who made sure she was 'present for all the important moments' She worked in the hospitality industry, and got a job at the Ritz Carlton where she was known 'for her generosity and fun-loving personality' In July 2024, an Ohio teacher, Alexa Stakley, 29, tragically died while saving her son during a carjacking. Her six-year-old child was sleeping inside the vehicle when Stakely, a speech-language pathologist, spotted the thief. She heroically threw herself onto the hood of the car as the robber ran away on foot, leaving her to fall from the moving vehicle and suffer fatal injuries. Police said the mother had loaded her sleeping boy into her Honda CR-V but ran back to the babysitter's apartment to pick something up. That's when the carjacker jumped into her car, which was turned on, and drove away, per WSYX. Stakely chased after the suspect and tried to stop him before throwing herself onto the car while the suspect fled on foot from the scene. Three suspects, Gerald Dowling, 19 and two 16-year-olds, were charged in connection to her death, USA Today reported. The illegal migrant who was arrested for snatching Kristi Noem's Gucci handbag while she was at dinner has been unmasked as a Chilean career criminal. Secretary of Homeland Security Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC, when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag last Sunday. It contained roughly $3,000 in cash, her makeup bag, driver's license, passport, medication, apartment keys, DHS access badge and some blank checks. Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, was arrested for the brazen theft, according to the NY Post. He has been living illegally in the US for years - and is believed to be a part of a wider robbery organization terrorizing the East Coast. This is not the Chilean's first run-in with the law. He made DailyMail.com headlines back in 2015 for being one of London's most prolific robbers. He was jailed in the UK for three years after stealing $27,957 worth of phones, wallets and computers during a five-month crime spree. Bustamante-Leiva was a jobless father-of-three at the time with no fixed address. Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, was apprehended for the theft in DC. He is pictured here in his mugshot from his robberies in the UK Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC , when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag last Sunday The Chilean national trawled exclusive bars, restaurants and coffee shops looking for laptops, mobile phones, iPods and tablets. In 2015, the Old Bailey court in London heard in one case he even stole a bag containing an entire familys passports and airplane boarding passes. Police released CCTV footage which showed the brazen thief swipe an unsuspecting womans handbag from under her nose as she chats with a friend. He admitted 22 charges of theft between July and December 2014. Noem thanked law enforcement for arresting her suspected robber. She wrote on Sunday: 'Thank you to Secret Service and ICE and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant. 'This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years. 'Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and thats why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets.' Reports indicate that Bustamante-Leiva sat alone at a table next to the secretary and was able to snatch her purse while no one was looking. He used his left foot to drag and slide the bag into his possession and away from Noem. The suspect looked around the restaurant, picked up the bag, put it under his jacket, and bolted. DHS Sec. Kristi Noem had her bag stolen from her table as she dined with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown Washington Sunday evening Noem had no idea anything had even happened until the rose from her table to see the purse was gone. Speaking on The Vince Show, a podcast with Vince Coglianese, this week, Noem said: 'He hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it 'I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of 4, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet.' The brazen theft was significant when considering that Noem has an around the clock Secret Service detail watching her every move. The secretary also disclosed that she believed the criminal is a professional. 'It was professionally done,' Noem said on the show. 'It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger,' she added. I have spent longer than I care to remember documenting the ineptitudes and inadequacies of the Scottish Parliament. Years upon years given to gathering evidence of the sundry ways in which an over-sold institution has under-delivered and then some. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of columns marshalling my case that devolution was a historic error and that, far from closing the democratic deficit, it has rent open a new chasm between the Scottish public and a remote, unaccountable elite at Holyrood. A lifes work. And along comes Maggie Chapman and makes my job obsolete. Because who needs me to point out the absurdity of a parliament to which Chapman is capable of getting elected? Who needs to be told that Holyroods committee system is weak, ineffectual and unfit for purpose when Chapman is not only a member of the equalities, human rights and civil justice committee but its deputy convenor? Chapman is not some oddity who wandered in off the street. She is the living, breathing, rainbow-lanyarded embodiment of devolution and its elevation of a class of self-righteous mediocrities and self-deluding cranks who believe they can solve world peace when they cant even solve A&E waiting times. Ultra-woke Green MSP Maggie Chapman is refusing to back down over comments she made describing a Supreme Court ruling on gender as 'bigotry' and 'hatred' The Scottish Green MSP will face an attempt this week to remove her as deputy convenor. The Conservatives want her gone for her outrageous comments on the Supreme Court in the wake of its landmark ruling clarifying that sex in the Equality Act 2010 refers to biological sex. At a rally of gender activists in Edinburgh, Chapman decried the bigotry, prejudice and hatred that we see coming from the Supreme Court. Im with the Tories on this one: Maggie, Maggie, Maggie out, out out. And not just the Tories. The Faculty of Advocates issued a rare statement denouncing her appalling comments as outrageous as well as irresponsible and reprehensible. The legal professionals association accused Chapman of fail[ing] to respect the rule of law, creat[ing] a risk of danger to the members of the Court, and even an egregious breach of the law. The Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008 says members of the Holyrood parliament must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary. The Faculty has called her comments incompatible with her continued role as deputy convenor. There are some who view this as a freedom of speech issue, and its important to address that charge. Judges should not be above reproach. In an open society, people must be at liberty to critique, decry, mock and insult all aspects of the state, and that includes the courts. Ms Chapman also shared a tweet from another X user that read: Dont let the Western media fool you into thinking its terrorism, this is decolonisation in the wake of the October 7 rape and slaughter of Israeli civilians by Palestinian terrorists That goes for a member of the public just as much as a renowned legal scholar. If anything, we are a little too delicate about adverse commentary on the judiciary, who are a more resilient lot than theyre given credit for. The difference here is that Chapman is an MSP and, whats more, deputy convenor of a committee intimately involved in equalities legislation. She has obligations under the 2008 Act. Still, in the view of this layman, these obligations should not preclude MSPs from critiquing judgments. Criticising court rulings does not imperil the independence of the judiciary where those criticisms relate to the proper application of the law and are expressed in measured, respectful tones. If Chapman believed the Court had erred in its interpretation of, say, the Sex Discrimination Regulations 1999, and had said so in those terms, there would have been none of this furore. Instead, she attacked the motivations of the justices in the most incendiary way possible. Words have meaning and the meaning of the words she used is difficult to dispute. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines bigotry as the fact of having and expressing strong, unreasonable beliefs and disliking other people who have different beliefs or a different way of life. Similarly, it describes prejudice as an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge. As for hatred, it is an extremely strong feeling of dislike. Each term identifies the Court with instincts and biases that are at odds with a judicial temperament. To use such language against Lord Hodge and his colleagues is to imply they were not interpreting statutes but substituting their own personal, hateful preferences. They were, in effect, discriminating against trans people from the bench purely because they dont like them. Every MSP who votes to keep Chapman on as deputy convenor is endorsing this character assassination. They are saying that this is acceptable behaviour in politics, that their committee aspires to the lofty discursive heights of an ill-tempered Facebook post. They are also setting a precedent for parliamentarians to speak in similar terms about court judgments they disfavour. An MSP who accuses judges of a two tier approach to sentencing could expect a scolding from the Faculty of Advocates but no one who backs Chapman would have any standing to do likewise. Lower standards for your mates and you lower them for your foes too. Maggie Chapman is not worth lowering your standards for. She is a political horror show who would embarrass a parliament more worthy of the name. In response to the October 7 attack on Israel, she shared a tweet from another X user that read: Dont let the Western media fool you into thinking its terrorism, this is decolonisation. October 7 saw Palestinian terrorists slaughter 1,200 Israelis, including children, while also raping women, kidnapping babies, and shooting family pets. Chapman later expressed regret that her soft-peddling of the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Shoah caused significant upset and anger for some. She supported a 2022 Scottish Green motion to suspend ties with the Green Party of England and Wales over its supposed transphobic rhetoric and conduct. Asked whether the age limit should be lowered to allow eight-year-olds to change their sex legally, she said: I think in principle we should be exploring that. When Pam Gosal objected to LGBT Youth Scotland promoting trans ideology in primary schools, Chapman said the Tory MSPs complaint was categorically more of a risk to children. Chapman was born in what is now Harare, Zimbabwe. Its some achievement to be the most ludicrous politician your country has produced when the competition is Robert Mugabe. The equalities committee ought to ditch its deputy convenor in favour of someone less prone to throwing tantrums when a court wont give them their own way. A committee that keeps Chapman on as deputy convenor is either saying it agrees with her or that it cant find someone capable of replacing her. Im honestly not sure which is worse. Whatever faith I had in Holyroods ability to drag itself out of the mire and become a parliament Scotland could respect has long since depleted. But MSPs owe it to the people who send them there to at least try to improve the quality and the dignity of the institution. Standing up for the independence of the judiciary should not be a daunting task for parliamentarians who care about the rule of law. I doubt any Supreme Court justice had heard of Maggie Chapman before this row erupted. Judges are not the audience MSPs are being asked to consider. When they come to vote on Chapmans future, it is the Scottish public who will be watching and hoping their representatives do something right for once. Seizures of potentially dangerous weight loss drugs being sold on the black market in Scotland have soared as online dealers gamble with peoples lives. Enforcement teams from the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said they confiscated a massive 400 pre-filled pens claiming to contain semaglutide the drug used in Ozempic in the year to April 1. The figure is four times higher than the 100 doses the agency seized the year before showing the increase in attempts by criminals to sell knock-off versions of the drug through illicit channels. The crackdown by the MHRA comes after it warned of people being hospitalised after using potentially fake pens. Medics have expressed grave concerns over the situation, stating people are dicing with death by buying the drugs illicitly. Products peddled online have been found to contain dangerous doses or have been filled with completely wrong medicines, such as insulin posing life-threatening risks if used incorrectly. There are also concerns over the hygiene of the black-market laboratories suspected to be based abroad where the knock off jabs are produced. Jacqui Cooney, Director of the UK Medical Aesthetics Safety Group, said: People are running the risk of being supplied with fake drugs that could see them die or end up in a coma. Enforcement officials confiscated a massive 400 pre-filled pens claiming to contain semaglutide the drug used in Ozempic Even if the drugs are genuine, they can cause serious side-effects. Mrs Cooney said she is aware of instances of people being sent the drug in powdered form with buyers expected to make up the liquid they will then inject themselves with. She added: It beggars belief that people would inject themselves with this stuff but sadly many people are so desperate to lose weight. Often the people selling this stuff dont have the medical knowledge and are doing it purely for financial gain. She also believes that the 400 doses seized this year will be a fraction of the true scale of the black market in Scotland. She said: This is a huge problem. People will die because of this. Its just a matter of time. The UK Medical Aesthetics Safety Group isnt alone in its fears about the situation and its disgust at the practices used by unscrupulous drug peddlers. Scottish medic Dr Michael Mrozinski, who has amassed a huge online following for his videos documenting his work as a doctor in Australia after moving there from Glasgow, has been vocal on the issue. In a video he posted on social media, he hit out at an unnamed Scots blogger, as he accused her of selling weight loss jabs, which were said to contain semaglutide, illegally. He said: Ozempic, or Semaglutide, is a prescription only medication which means if you havent got a prescription, which means if you havent got a prescription then it might not be Ozempic youre taking. He added: The thing is, when you buy something like this you have no idea whats in it despite what the clinic owner might tell you. The MHRA has repeatedly warned the public not to buy pre-filled pens claiming to contain Ozempic (semaglutide) as well as other weight loss medicines, such as Saxenda (liraglutide). Instead, it said people should consult a healthcare professional qualified to prescribe medicines and obtain a prescription. In a statement, the agency said: Buying products such as Ozempic or Saxenda without a prescription, from illegally trading suppliers, significantly increases the risk of receiving something which is either fake or not licensed for use in the UK. Products purchased in this way do not meet our strict quality and safety standards, and taking such medicines may put your health at significant risk. We are advising all members of the public not to use any pre-filled weight loss pens they may have bought online and instead to report it to us so that we can investigate and take any necessary action. Jennifer Finestone knows only too well the dangers associated with sourcing weight loss jabs on social media. Last year she bought what she believed to be Saxenda from a private seller from an online website. After taking the injection she began to suffer cold sweats and went to bed feeling ill. When she woke up she was unable to move or speak. The 38 year old was rushed to A&E where doctors discovered she had suffered a mini stroke. After she recovered and got home she investigated the medicine she had bought and found a warning online that suggested she had been sold a fake Saxenda pen that in truth contained diabetic drug insulin. She said: I woke up paralysed, with no speech and unable to move, which went on for about an hour. It was absolutely terrifying. Ms Finestone has since spoken of her regret at having bought and taken the jab and allowed her story to be shared to warn others tempted to do the same. Reacting to the Mail on Sundays finding on the scale of the black market in weight loss jabs, she said: Its scary to think that this is happening at this level. Everyone wants to look better and feel better but taking this sort of risk is not a safe way to do it. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Glasgow drug dealers are now pushing weight loss medication such as Wegovy and Mounjaro alongside cocaine and other illegal substances, prompting warnings from health officials that buyers risk receiving counterfeit products. Susan McGowan from Airdrie became the first person in the UK last year whose death was recorded as being directly linked to a weight loss jab after buying it from a registered online pharmacy. The 58-year-old nurse suffered multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis after taking two low-dose injections of tirzepatide, known by its brand name Mounjaro. There are fears more people will risk turning to non-licensed street peddlers who are reportedly offering black market jabs for as little as 80 for a months supply - less than half the typical 200 cost for a four-week supply. Prescription-only Wegovy and Mounjaro were approved for use by NHS Scotland to help tackle the nations growing obesity crisis. They were originally designed as medications for type 2 diabetes but UK regulators approved them for use as a weight loss medication after semaglutide was found to suppress peoples appetite. Sham Saxenda pen was full of deadly insulin Jennifer Finestone knows only too well the dangers associated with sourcing weight loss jabs on social media. Last year she bought what she believed to be Saxenda online from a private seller. But after taking the jab she began to suffer cold sweats and went to bed feeling ill. She said: I woke up paralysed, with no speech and unable to move, which went on for about an hour. It was absolutely terrifying. Jennifer Finestone from Glasgow bought what she believed to be Saxenda from a private seller on Facebook Marketplace and suffered a mini stroke after taking it A&E doctors discovered 38-year-old Ms Finestone, from Glasgow, had suffered a mini stroke. She later found a warning online that suggested she had been sold a fake Saxenda pen that contained insulin. Ms Finestone has since spoken of her regret at having bought and taken the jab and allowed her story to be shared to warn others. Reacting to the Mails scary findings on the scale of the black market in weight loss jabs, she said: Everyone wants to look better and feel better but taking this sort of risk is not a safe way to do it. One of California's most beautiful waterfalls is illegal for hikers to visit - but that has not stopped thousands wading through dangerous terrains to get a picture. A breathtaking hidden gem near a tiny Northern California town has thrill seekers risking arrest - and even death - just to see it with their own eyes. Mossbrae Falls, a stunning cascade of icy water spilling over moss-draped cliffs into the Sacramento River, sits just minutes from downtown Dunsmuir - but getting there is a perilous journey. It's so magical that locals compare it to America's most famous national parks like Yosemite, and now officials are fighting to establish a safe, legal way for the public to get to the beauty spot. Native American tribes have long considered Mossbrae Falls sacred, believing the waters possess healing powers. About a century ago, Southern Pacific Railroad ran special trains so wealthy travelers could disembark and sip from a spring at the top of the falls. An estimated 30,000 visitors make the dangerous visit every year, according to city studies, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. And most are breaking the law to do it, by sneaking a mile down active train tracks to reach the secluded spot. But the risk isn't just getting caught. At least two people have been hit by trains near the falls since 2012, and countless others have reported terrifying near-misses. Mossbrae Falls, a stunning cascade of icy water spilling over moss-draped cliffs into the Sacramento River, sits just minutes from downtown Dunsmuir - but getting there is a perilous journey At least two people have been hit by trains near the falls since 2012, and countless others have reported terrifying near-misses. But thanks to Instagram and TikTok, interest in Mossbrae Falls has exploded. Social media feeds have been flooded with jaw-dropping photos of visitors, some even bringing small children and dogs along the narrow, deadly corridor. Adding to the chaos is a complicated legal mess over who owns the land. The east side of the river, where the misty falls tumble down, is owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, a religious group that considers the site sacred. The group, part of the so-called 'I AM' movement, believes Mount Shasta and the falls are sacred and must be protected from 'desecration.' Meanwhile, Union Pacific Railroad controls the opposite bank, and the tracks that thousands of hikers are illegally using every year. Union Pacific has demanded repeated studies and reviews, and advocates say the railroad is reluctant to set a precedent by opening land elsewhere, as reported by the outlet. Officials have been battling for decades to open a safe, legal trail to the falls, but efforts have stalled over and over. But negotiations to build a public trail have gone nowhere for decades. A breathtaking hidden gem near a tiny Northern California town has hikers risking arrest - and even death - just to see it with their own eyes California 's 'most beautiful' illegal waterfall has hikers willing to die to see it with their own eyes An estimated 30,000 visitors make the dangerous visit every year, according to city studies, as reported by the Los Angeles Times Social media feeds have been flooded with jaw-dropping photos of visitors, some even bringing small children and dogs along the narrow, deadly corridor 'We have not spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and 30 years on this just because we want to have a trail to this pretty place. It's also a safety issue,' John Harch, president of the Mount Shasta Trail Association, told the LA Times. Locals also told the outlet that reclaiming access to Mossbrae Falls is critical to boosting Dunsmuir's struggling economy, which has never fully recovered from the 1991 toxic train derailment that poisoned the Sacramento River for 40 miles. It also devastated the region's famed trout fishery. To raise funds, the city set up a QR code donation system at nearby Hedge Creek Falls with only about $5,000 raised thus far. One of North America's largest supermarket chains has bluntly told its suppliers they will not accept increased prices related to Trump-imposed tariffs. Albertsons, which operates more than 2,200 supermarkets and is the second-biggest grocery chain in the continent, drew a hard line with it suppliers last month. The Idaho-based company - which also runs stores including Balducci's, Kings and Safeway - sternly declared they will not tolerate any unauthorized price spikes. 'To maintain transparency and ensure consistency across our supply chain, we are writing to clarify our Company's policy regarding how these tariffs should be handled in our ongoing partnership, Albertsons wrote in a letter obtained by BIG. 'Our customers rely on us for our competitive pricing and quality products, and we are committed to maintaining the value proposition our customers expect.' Albertsons acknowledged that hiked-up foreign taxes may put pressure on many businesses, but suppliers are not to include tariff-related fees in their invoices without the chain's approval. 'Therefore, with few exceptions, we are not accepting cost increases due to tariffs,' the message reads. The company explained that if a supplier absolutely must increase their costs, they have to provide at least 90 days notice before billing Albertsons any differently. Vivek Sankaran (pictured), Albertsons current CEO, is set to retire effective May 1. Albertsons is the second-largest grocery chain in the continent President Donald Trump (pictured) has imposed strict trade tariffs on every nation, which Albertsons said cannot be used as an excuse for suppliers to increase prices Suppliers must also provide valid proof that tariffs really are increasing the price of their products. Albertsons will then look over the request, which could take another month before it gets okayed or denied. President Donald Trump has placed a temporary pause on his previously imposed reciprocal tariffs and given most nations until the beginning of July to work out new trade policies with America. But there is still a universal 10 percent tariff rate on almost every good being imported into the US. He has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on automotive parts and vehicles, as well as on steel and aluminum. Mexico and Canada have been hit with a 25 percent tax on most goods coming into the US, except those covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. China has been slammed with the heftiest tax of all - a 145 percent rate with hardly any exceptions. With the unavoidable nature of these tariffs, American Economic Liberties Project researcher Matt Stoller believes Albertsons' plan is too idealistic and the letter was arrogant. Albertsons (pictured) operates more than 2,200 supermarkets across North America including Kings and Safeway American Economic Liberties Project researcher Matt Stoller believes Albertsons' plan is too idealistic and the letter was arrogant (pictured: the inside of an Albertsons in Washington) 'Thats absurd, since the cost of many items is going to spike, and suppliers will go out of business if they cant cover those increased costs,' Stoller wrote in the BIG newsletter. 'Yet, the arrogance speaks to the power of buyers like Albertsons. And Albertsons is nothing compared to Walmart or Amazon.' Vivek Sankaran, Albertsons current CEO, is set to retire effective May 1 - just days away - according to a company press release. He will be replaced by Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Susan Morris. 'It has been a privilege to lead Albertsons Cos. through a critical period of evolution and I couldnt be more confident in the Companys future with Susan at the helm,' Sankaran said when he announced his retirement in March. According to the company, keeping food affordable for its customers has always been a top priority. 'The Company is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood,' a March press release reads. Albertsons had previously tried to position itself to be a strong competitor against the grocer giants Stoller mentioned, such as Costco and Walmart, by merging with Kroger. The Idaho-based company sternly declared they will not tolerate any unauthorized price spikes in a letter sent to suppliers last month However, this grand plan fell through last year because of legal hurdles and regulatory concerns brought up by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorney generals. The FTC claimed: 'Kroger and Albertsonss inadequate divestiture proposal is a hodgepodge of unconnected stores, banners, brands, and other assets that Krogers antitrust lawyers have cobbled together and falls far short of mitigating the lost competition between Kroger and Albertsons.' The commission believed the merger would eliminate competition and be detrimental for the grocery chain industry. A disturbing video has emerged from Loudoun County, Virginia, showing a middle school student taunting a 5-year-old Asian boy with ethnic slurs and harassmentall while recording himself. The footage from April 5th captures a middle school student harassing a 5-year-old Asian boy with racist insults. The self-recorded incident begins with the older child directing a racial slur at the visibly scared kindergartner. As seen in the video, the young boy frantically retreats towards his home, his voice filled with fear as he pleads, 'No! Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!' The distressing scene continues as the 5-year-old runs along the porch, desperately crying out to other children for assistance: 'Don't do it! Save me! Save me!' The recording also picks up the sound of laughter from bystanders, yet no one steps in to help the terrified child. The taunting takes a specifically offensive turn when the middle schooler asks, 'Are you having dumplings for dinner?' This harassment persisted for nearly two minutes, finally ending when the boy's mother opened the door, allowing her son to rush inside to safety. The disturbing video was subsequently shared among students at Eagle Ridge Middle School via a group chat. The victim's family was ultimately made aware of the incident by another parent, who was reportedly in tears when delivering the news. A disturbing video has emerged from Loudoun County, Virginia , showing a middle school student taunting a 5-year-old Asian boy with ethnic slurs and harassmentall while recording himself Caught on video, the 5-year-old rushes to his front door, pleading, 'No! Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!' To protect the privacy of the young victim, News4 is not disclosing the family's identity. The little boy's mother expressed her profound distress upon viewing the video: 'Every time I saw that, my heart's broken every time. As a mother, to see my son insulted by other older kids, my son's only 5 years old. I just don't know why those kids are so cruel to say that to my son.' The boy's father recounted his son's innocent confusion regarding the racial slur, revealing that he asked if he was being called 'King Kong.' With a breaking voice, the father shared his internal struggle: 'Should I keep lying and say, 'Yes. They're calling you King Kong because you're strong,' or should I try to explain to him what does that word and why they're saying that to you? It's hard.' The parents conveyed their deep concern not only about the student who recorded the harassment but also about the other children who simply watched and laughed. 'Nobody came to step out and to say, 'Stop,' his mother lamented. 'Nobody think this is not right. They just laughing. Yeah, nobody stood up.' Having moved to the United States from China and chosen Loudoun County after careful consideration of its schools, the couple now feel their aspirations for a secure and welcoming community have been destroyed. ' 'We thought that this would be a great place, however though, it ended up like this,' the father said. The disturbing video was subsequently shared among students at Eagle Ridge Middle School via a group chat Continuing their reflection on the painful incident, the boy's mother shared a deeper layer of hurt: 'So, what hurts me most is then, where else should I be? That hurts me most, not just the words.' Due to the off-campus location of the harassment, disciplinary action against the responsible student by Eagle Ridge Middle School is improbable. Nevertheless, school spokesman Dan Adams informed News4, 'The school division does not condone the behavior and is quite disappointed. Even though this child is not an LCPS student, we have offered this student counseling and potentially restorative practices.' Adams clarified that these restorative practices would be directed towards the middle school student. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that an investigation is underway but refrained from providing comments due to the involvement of juveniles. The boy's parents are hopeful that by sharing their experience, they can instigate change and serve as a cautionary tale. 'Let other families know and never say the bad words to the kids, never say racist words to other kids,' his mother urged. 'It's not right.' His father further emphasized the broader implications: 'I think children means the future,' he stated. 'If children are sinking down, then the future of this country is sinking down.' A young man has been caught repeatedly breaking into a stranger's backyard and using their pool after his neighbourhood run. Queensland woman Holly Stevens has been left deeply concerned after spotting the man on CCTV footage trespassing at her family's home in New Farm, Brisbane. The stranger has taken at least four swims in their backyard pool since January and always on a weekend or public holiday, with the most recent dip on Anzac Day. The footage shows the trespasser arriving on foot and entering the property through the front gate before he walked down the side of the house and into the backyard. The unwanted guest then peered through the windows to check that no one is home before taking his shoes and T-shirt off and going for a dip in the pool. Unaware that he is being filmed, the man even stopped to stretch in the pool before putting his clothes and shoes back on and leaving. Ms Stevens believes the man lives within 10km of the family home as he is always wearing running gear. 'From all the footage, it looks like he's gone on a run, then he's just jumped in the pool and continues running,' Ms Stevens told 7News. CCTV footage has caught the young man entering the the Brisbane home's backyard and going for a swim four times since January (pictured) 'I'm assuming he's within a five to ten kilometre radius of where we actually live because he's always on foot, doesn't seem to have any car keys.' Ms Stevens has reported the trespasser to police but was told unless the man was caught in the act there was little that could be done to stop him. Timestamped CCTV footage of every incident was provided to police along with clear images of the man's face. 'There hasn't been a whole lot of support. It feels like we can't really do anything unless we're home all day to catch him,' Stevens said. Ms Stevens said she felt deeply concerned for her family's safety and privacy and fears the trespasser might grow bolder. 'If you're comfortable enough to access someone's property and trespass four times, you'd start to get comfortable and try new things,' Ms Stevens said. The family has since upgraded their home's security and hopes that someone will recognise the man's face and stop him from continuing to break in to the property. Queensland Police is investigating the reports of trespass. The maximum penalty for trespassing is one year of imprisonment, according to Queensland Police's official website. 'If you want to enter private land, you need to seek the permission of the land owner before entering the property boundary,' the website states. 'This includes front and back yards, and shared or enclosed residential property. If you do not have permission to enter the property, it is trespassing, and you can be prosecuted.' Federal authorities have tracked down a second illegal migrant in Miami and charged him as an accomplice in the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's luxury Gucci handbag. The pricey bag stuffed with $3,000 in cash was snatched right out from under her as Noem dined with her family on Easter Sunday at The Capital Burger, just a mile from the White House. The primary suspect, Mario Bustamante-Leiva, a 49-year-old Chilean national with a long history of international theft, was taken into custody in the nation's capital on Saturday. Now law enforcement sources tell DailyMail.com that police have captured his alleged accomplice with a second arrest in Miami. Investigators believe the arrest could be connected to an organized East Coast robbery ring - a network of career criminals exploiting America's immigration failures while targeting wealthy and high-profile individuals. The brazenness of the theft, carried out in broad daylight stunned politicians and law enforcement alike, not least because the victim was the nation's top Homeland Security official and under 24/7 Secret Service protection. 'Thank you to @SecretService @ICEgov and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant,' Noem wrote on X. Federal agents, following leads and surveillance footage, moved swiftly to arrest a second suspect in Miami, believed to be an accomplice of Bustamante-Leiva. Mario Bustamante-Leiva, 49, was apprehended for the theft in DC. He's pictured in a mugshot from his robberies in the UK. But sources tell Daily Mail a second man has now been caught Noem, 53, was dining with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown DC on Easter Sunday when a man in a medical mask was able to sneak off with her Gucci bag Federal authorities have confirmed the arrest of a second illegal migrant, this time in Miami, connected to the theft of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's luxury Gucci handbag The pair are also thought to be part of the same network accused of terrorizing patrons of upscale restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops from New York to Florida. Mario Bustamante-Leiva, the alleged ringleader, is no amateur. A father of three from Santiago, Chile, he has been living illegally in the United States for years, despite a rap sheet that stretches across continents. Bustamante-Leiva made DailyMail.com headlines back in 2015 for being one of London's most prolific robbers waging a five-month robbery spree across the capital's swankiest venues. He was jailed for three years after stealing nearly $28,000 worth of laptops, mobile phones, wallets, and passports. London's Metropolitan Police at the time described him as one of the city's 'most prolific' pickpockets, targeting exclusive bars, restaurants, and coffee shops. One victim, a family preparing to travel, lost an entire bag containing all their passports and boarding passes - a level of callousness that prosecutors in London called 'cold and calculated.' He admitted 22 charges of theft between July and December 2014. CCTV footage from the spree showed Bustamante-Leiva nonchalantly swiping handbags from directly beneath the noses of unsuspecting patrons. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had her bag stolen from her table as she dined with her family at The Capital Burger in downtown Washington last Sunday evening Kristi Noem, pictured with her daughter and grandchildren Now, nearly a decade later, Bustamante-Leiva stands accused of pulling the same stunt in the shadow of the US Capitol - but this time, his victim was one of the highest-ranking officials in the federal government. The crime unfolded just before dusk on Easter Sunday. Noem, 53, was enjoying dinner with her family at The Capital Burger, accompanied by her grandchildren - all under the age of four. She no idea anything had even happened until she rose from her table and noticed her purse was gone. Her handbag, a luxury Gucci shoulder piece, sat at her feet under the table. Describing the moment the theft occurred, Noem told The Vince Show podcast exactly what happened. 'He hooked it with his foot and dragged it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it I think I was a busy grandma with four grandkids under the age of four, and I was taking care of them and feeding them food and enjoying my family, yeah, but certainly had my purse even touching my feet.' By the time Noem realized what had happened, the bag was gone. Inside: $3,000 in cash, her makeup bag, passport, driver's license, apartment keys, medication, DHS access badge, and several blank checks. The level of skill displayed by the thief led both Noem and federal investigators to the same conclusion: this was the work of someone who knew what they were doing. 'It was professionally done,' Noem said. 'It tells me that this happens all the time to people, and that they live in communities where this is a danger.' Noem poses with DHS agents while holding up guns earlier this month Even with her full Secret Service detail present, the thief managed to slip away unnoticed - at least until the footage was reviewed. Surveillance video captured a masked suspect, clad in dark pants, a 'fur-type' collar, a ball cap, and a surgical mask, using his foot to slide the handbag away before concealing it beneath his jacket and fleeing. 'It was frankly a nice-looking purse,' US Attorney Ed Martin told NBC News. 'This was not an amateur. This was a person, a thief, that knew how to do this. You could see how he scouted the room out.' Martin added that Noem was unlikely to have been targeted specifically because of her political profile. Instead, the flashy Gucci bag made her an appealing mark. The case has become yet another flashpoint in the nation's immigration debate, as Noem and allies of President Donald Trump seize on the crime as evidence of systemic border failures. 'This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country illegally for years,' Noem wrote on X. 'Unfortunately, so many families in this country have been made victims by crime, and that's why President Trump is working every single day to make America safe and get these criminal aliens off of our streets.' US Attorney Martin echoed those sentiments, stating: 'President Trump's direction to us is we charge these folks that are here illegally and we prosecute them, as well as deport them when need be, you know, as soon as that can happen What I can tell you is he won't be back on the streets of America.' With the arrest in Miami of a second suspect, federal law enforcement now believes Bustamante-Leiva may be just one cog in a far larger machine - an organized ring of migrant thieves. Sources described the group as well-coordinated, targeting high-end establishments where distracted patrons - often tourists or families - are easy prey. The identity of the Miami suspect has not yet been released, but ICE officials confirmed that the individual was also in the country illegally and is being held on federal immigration violations in addition to pending charges related to the Noem theft. Liberal leader Peter Dutton dropped the ball when answering a classic 'gotcha' question during the Channel Seven leaders debate: How much would a dozen eggs set you back? Mr Dutton guessed a very specific $4.20 but massively undershot the actual cost. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese guessed about $7, which was closest to the $8 that a dozen eggs will cost at either Coles or Woolies. 'Seven dollars if you can find them, because it's hard to find them at the moment,' he said. Aussies were not impressed with Mr Dutton's answer. 'It was really shocking to see how out of touch someone can be with a carton of eggs,' said one voter in the audience. Polling throughout the five-week race has consistently shown Mr Albanese cement his lead as preferred prime minister over Mr Dutton as the Coalition has similarly fallen behind in voter surveys. The latest polling from YouGov, released on Friday, showed Labor ahead of the coalition by 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis. Liberal leader Peter Dutton dropped the ball when answering a classic 'gotcha' question during the Channel Seven leaders debate: How much would a dozen eggs set you back? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese guessed around $7, which was the closest to $8 a dozen eggs will cost in either Coles or Woolies. However, Mr Dutton declared 'I have no doubt in my mind we can win this election' during a speech to cheering Liberal party supporters on Sunday "Forget about what you have been told by the ABC, in The Guardian and the other hate media,' he added. The Coalition needs to gain 21 seats to secure a majority, a figure its leaders insist is still achievable. Labor has been pitching itself as the better choice to protect government health services, despite the coalition matching its signature multibillion-dollar commitment to bolster bulk-billing. The party has also been repeatedly accused by the Coalition of running a repeat of the notorious 2016 'Mediscare' campaign, targeting voters with fears of future budget cuts. The Prime Minister accused Mr Dutton of overseeing costly defence and nuclear energy policies without talking about where the money would come from. 'He's going to get it by ripping into health, education and childcare,' Mr Albanese said. The opposition leader in turn branded the Prime Minister a liar who had failed to deliver on promises to lower power bills and other living costs. 'Does anybody believe that our country is better off today than we were?' Mr Dutton asked the crowd on Sunday, most of whom wore blue Liberal t-shirts. He warned of the risk Labor would be re-elected with the support of the Greens, which would 'make it even worse than the worst government in Australia at the moment, the (Victorian Labor) Allan government'. Australians will head to the polls on May 3, while more than 2.4 million votes have already been cast nationwide at pre-poll centres. Hundreds of fat-cat public officials were paid more than the Prime Minister last year sparking calls for Labour to speed up its promised 'bonfire of the quangos'. More than 350 quango bosses received a higher taxpayer-paid salary than the 172,153 Keir Starmer is entitled to. And almost 1,500 staff in publicly owned bodies received more than 100,000 in pay and perks last year, according to research published. As taxpayers were forced to tighten their belts amid economic turmoil, some executives in public organisations were handed five-figure bonuses. Sir Keir has pledged to shrink the bloated state by culling expensive and unaccountable bodies in a bid to save millions of pounds. But there are fresh demands for him to 'light the fuel on the bonfire' after Labour actually created more than 20 bodies since the election. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, which compiled the figures, said: 'Taxpayers will be shocked to hear that there are hundreds of quangocrats heading up bodies they may never have heard of, taking home massive pay packets the average Brit can only dream of. 'But beyond the healthy remuneration, arguably the bigger problem is that in many areas of government policy, these quango bosses reign supreme, with minimal ministerial or parliamentary oversight, despite the often highly sensitive and significant nature of what their organisation is responsible for. More than 350 quango bosses received a higher taxpayer-paid salary than the 172,153 Keir Starmer is entitled to Whitehall departments have since been told to justify the existence of every arms-length organisation they fund 'The Government may have signalled an intent to get a grip of the quango state, but as well as restoring political accountability there needs to be a serious review of some of the functions they perform.' Sir Keir's promise to slim down the state and cut costs started earlier this year when he announced the abolition of NHS England, known as the world's biggest quango. Whitehall departments have since been told to justify the existence of every arms-length organisation they fund. But Labour has in the meantime created 27 new bodies including quangos, taskforces and advisory councils since coming to power last year. This month, an equal-pay watchdog was created as part of a new law forcing firms and public bodies to record staff wages by race. Almost 300 bodies were abolished during the Tory/Lib Dem coalition's own 'bonfire of the quangos', but many more remain, costing taxpayers 353 billion in 2022-23. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: 'There are too many quangos wasting taxpayers' cash, but Labour's only answer is to create 27 more including Rachel Reeves' pet project, the Office for Value for Money, which will cost millions of pounds without any benefit for hardworking people.' Maxwell Marlow, of the Adam Smith Institute think-tank, urged: 'The Government must move quickly and ruthlessly to streamline the regulatory state. Labour has in the meantime created 27 new bodies including quangos, taskforces and advisory councils since coming to power last year 'Quangos cost taxpayers hundreds of millions, much of which can be saved, and cost the economy billions in regulations the quicker these bodies are pruned and abolished, the faster the economy will be unleashed.' The report finds that 1,472 quango staff received remuneration salaries, bonuses, compensation for loss of office and pension benefits above 100,000 in 2023-24. At least 343 received more than 200,000. In one quango Homes England 111 staff had pay packets above 100,000. There were 33 employees of the Parole Board who took home similar sums and 30 in HM Prison and Probation Service. Among the best-paid 'quangocrats' was Nuclear Decommissioning Authority chief executive David Peattie, whose remuneration totalled 710,633. This included a bonus of 282,429. Ninety BBC employees received pay packets above 100,000, with director general Tim Davie receiving 525,000. But a spokesman insisted: 'The BBC is a global broadcaster operating in a fiercely competitive commercial market, and it's well known that senior BBC staff are paid significantly less than their industry counterparts.' Although a public corporation, the BBC is funded through the licence fee rather than general taxation. Britain's best-paid quangocrat is Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon, whose remuneration totalled 993,000 last year. Ninety BBC employees received pay packets above 100,000, with director general Tim Davie receiving 525,000 It comes as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency claims to have saved $160 billion (120 billion) since Donald Trump took office at the start of the year The broadcaster which is publicly owned but not taxpayer-funded said: 'Channel 4 is funded from commercial activities mainly advertising and receives no government funding or taxpayer money for its core operations.' A government spokesman said: 'The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has launched a review of all arms-length bodies across government and we will close or merge any that cannot be justified. We have already announced we'll get rid of the largest arm's-length body, NHS England, by merging it with the Department of Health and Social Care.' It comes as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency claims to have saved $160 billion (120 billion) since Donald Trump took office at the start of the year. And in Argentina, president Javier Milei famed for wielding a chainsaw has slashed government spending by 30 per cent, including laying off tens of thousands of officials. Callum Price, of the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, told the Mail: 'The Government must light the fuel on its bonfire of the quangos as soon as possible. With our national debt almost 100 per cent of GDP and the tax burden approaching new heights, it is imperative. 'Scrapping quangos should not just be about copying and pasting jobs, and their costs, into government departments. 'The Prime Minister should follow Javier Milei's lead and take a chainsaw to the bloated state.' Police are hunting a man who allegedly raped a woman in her 20s in a UK seaside holiday hotspot last week. The reported attack took place at Hotham Park in Bognor between 11.10pm on Sunday April 20 and 00.45am on Monday April 21. The large 22-acre park is only minutes walk from the waterfront promenade, Butlin's holiday resort and the University of Chichester. The woman is being supported by specially-trained officers while police investigate the crime and track down the alleged perpetrator. Detective Chief Inspector Steve Cobbett said: 'Officers have been carrying out enquiries, and the public can expect to see a heightened police presence in the area while this matter is investigated. 'We are in the early stages of this investigation, however it is believed to be an isolated incident. Anyone with concerns can approach officers to speak with them. 'Reports of rape are taken extremely seriously, and we urge anyone with information to come forward, including witnesses in the area or those with CCTV, doorbell, or dashcam footage.' District Commander William Keating-Jones said: 'We understand the public's concern and we are working hard alongside partner agencies to tackle crime in the town. The reported attack took place at Hotham Park in Bognor between 11.10pm on Sunday April 20 and 00.45am on Monday April 21 The large 22-acre park is only minutes walk from the waterfront promenade, Butlin's holiday resort and the University of Chichester Bognor Regis is a well-known traditional seaside resort in West Sussex, which attracts upwards of 385,000 visitors a year to the area 'Officers will continue to carry out high-visibility patrols in Bognor to provide reassurance, to catch offenders, and to prevent new offences being committed. 'We continue to encourage anyone who is impacted by crimes to report them to us.' Anyone with information about the incident in Hotham Park on 21 April is asked to report it to Sussex Police online or call 101, quoting Operation Westbeach. Further guidance on support available for victims of rape and serious sexual offences is available on the Sussex Police website. A trade deal with the US is not certain despite Government efforts to avoid Donald Trump's punishing tariffs, a senior minister has admitted. Minister for Intergovernmental Relations Pat McFadden said an agreement with the White House is 'possible' but it was better not to rush it. His comments came after the US Treasury's account of Rachel Reeves' talks with her counterpart in Washington DC appeared to play down the prospect of a trade deal. It raises fresh fears for the economy after President Trump imposed a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all imports from the UK, on top of a 25 per cent levy on cars crossing the Atlantic and the same rate on steel. Cabinet Office minister Mr McFadden was asked by Sky News yesterday how close Britain was to a trade deal with the US and replied: 'I think an agreement is possible I don't think it's certain and I don't want to say it's certain. Far better to have the right agreement than to rush and have a hasty agreement for the sake of having one.' He said he would not put a timeframe on it 'because it's an unpredictable world'. While Chancellor Ms Reeves was optimistic about a trade deal following her talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday, the US's readout focused more on Ukraine. It also appeared to highlight President Trump's desire for other countries to buy more from the US and to reduce trading deficits. British chancellor Rachel Reeves held crucial talks with her US counterpart Scott Bessent on Friday as the UK government scrambles to find a way of dodging president Trump's tariffs US ambassador Lord Mandelson acknowledged at a reception last week that the process so far had been a 'rollercoaster'. Ms Reeves emphasised the looming Brexit 'reset' next month, with signs Sir Keir Starmer will make concessions on fishing, a youth mobility scheme and taking EU rules to get a closer relations. 'I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners,' the Chancellor told the BBC last week. 'Obviously I've been meeting Scott Bessent this week whilst I'm in Washington, but I've also this week met the French, the German, the Spanish, the Polish, the Swedish, the Finnish finance ministers. 'Because it is so important that we rebuild those trading relationships with our nearest neighbours in Europe, and we're going to do that in a way that is good for British jobs and British consumers.' Transgender civil servants will be banned from using toilets and changing rooms meant for the opposite sex, a senior minister confirmed yesterday. Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the Government will follow new guidance on trans access that means people should use facilities aligned with their biological not chosen sex, but admitted there will be no 'toilet police' to check the rules were being properly implemented. It comes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that the term woman is defined by biological sex. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now issued guidance stating unequivocally that in workplaces and places open to the public 'trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities and trans men (biological women) should not be permitted to use the men's facilities'. Asked by the BBC yesterday if the Government will stop trans people from using the changing rooms or bathrooms they wish to use, Mr McFadden agreed: 'Yes, that's the logical consequence of the judgment and the guidance that's come out that people use the facilities of their biological sex. That's what the court said and that's what the guidance has said.' He added: 'There isn't going to be toilet police but that is the logical consequence of the court ruling and the EHRC guidance.' It comes as the Government faced fresh calls to publish long-awaited guidance for schools on pupils who identify as the opposite sex. Draft rules for teachers, which urged caution when children ask to change their names or uniform without parental consent, were published by the Tories in late 2023. Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the Government will follow new guidance on trans access that means people should use facilities aligned with their biological not chosen sex (file image) Following the court's decision there was a debate among charities for women about how to interpret the finding. Pictured: Susan Smith, left, and Marion Calder, centre, co-directors of For Women Scotland, celebrating the ruling outside the Supreme Court Yet Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told MPs last week that the guidelines on gender-questioning children would still not be finalised until 'later this year'. Writing in the Mail, shadow education spokesman Laura Trott says: 'The Government must stop dithering and publish the long-overdue guidance for schools to follow to help them make decisions regarding gender-questioning children.' She said the guidance provides clarity and included 'sensible steps', such as parents not being excluded from decisions taken by a school in relation to requests by their child to socially transition. She also accuses Ms Phillipson of having 'slammed the brakes' on separate guidance on sex education, published in draft form by the Conservatives last May, which would have banned lessons on contested gender ideology. In the Commons last week, the Education Secretary said: 'I do agree it is important parents are involved in important decisions about their children's lives. 'Alongside that, potential safeguarding considerations will always need to be taken into account. 'That is why we are looking at these areas very carefully to make sure we get it right and provide the clarity schools leaders are quite rightly asking for.' Marjorie Taylor Greene's reporter boyfriend has sparked liberal ire after he claimed his 'job' as a conservative journalist was to help President Trump. Brian Glenn, 55, a reporter for Real America's Voice, is among a growing list of right-wing pundits who has gained increased White House access as the Trump administration weeds out critical journalists at legacy outlets. Glenn was even set to travel onboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump on Tuesday for an event marking his first 100 days in office, according to the Politico Playbook. But when asked Friday about his role in the White House Press Corp, Glenn told The New York Times: 'My job as a conservative journalist is to ask questions that highlight the good things [Trump is] doing for this country that a lot of the media outlets in there simply won't ask.' He added on Sunday that he asks these easier questions as follow ups to harsher questions that 'legacy' reporters may ask. Many online, however, said Glenn's answer proves he is not a real journalist. 'That's not journalism... that's sucking up,' one X user wrote, as another claimed his 'only job is to kiss Trump's a**, and he's perfect at it.' A third responded by placing 'journalist' in quotes along with a meme from the movie Goodfellas of Ray Liotta laughing. Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend Brian Glenn, a reporter for Real America's Voice, has opened up about what he sees as his role as a conservative pundit among the White House Press Corps He told The Sunday Times he wants to showcase 'the good things' President Donald Trump is doing for the United States Glenn has already displayed his strategy of showing the president his support - and made headlines back in February when he asked Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky why he wasn't wearing a suit to a tense Oval Office meeting with Trump. 'Why don't you wear a suit? You're at the highest level in this country's office and you refuse to wear a suit. Do you own a suit?' the reporter pressed Zelensky. 'A lot of Americans have problems, with you not respecting the dignity of this office,' he added. Responding to the criticism, the Ukrainian leader - who is often seen wearing casual combat clothes since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 - said he faced more pressing problems with the war in Europe. He added that he 'will wear a kostium (Ukrainian for 'suit') after this war will finish' and it would be 'maybe something like yours, maybe something better, maybe something cheaper'. In a sign of support towards Zelensky, before the meeting escalated into a tense war of words, Trump quickly came to his aid and defended the president's clothing. 'I do like your clothing by the way,' Trump said. 'I don't know if you two like each other, but I think he [Zelensky] is dressed beautifully.' Glenn is one of a growing number of conservative pundits who has gained increased White House access as the Trump administration weeds out journalists at some legacy outlets. Liberals online claimed Glenn's answer proves he is not a real journalist Still, Glenn defended his question. A few days after the fiery Oval Office exchange, he said on his show that 'sometimes you can judge a book by its cover' and that Zelensky's outfit obviously 'reflected his attitude.' He reiterated that notion in his interview with The Sunday Times, saying: 'That question was really meant to see how much respect he had for this country and the American people for funding his war.' Congresswoman Greene seemed to agree, as she shared her support for her boyfriend following the tense meeting with the Ukrainian leader. 'I'm so proud of @briantv for pointing out that Zelensky ahs so much disrespect for America that he can't even wear a suit in the Oval Office when he comes to beg for money from our President,' she wrote on X at the time. Glenn previously made waves when he asked Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky why he wasn't wearing a suit to an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance Glenn and Greene started dating in late October 2022 when DailyMail.com exclusively found them together in Rome, Georgia. At the time, they insisted their relationship was professional as he was working on a documentary about her. But in an interview with Semafor five months later Greene confessed to the romance and said her new beau had been a 'great resource' for dealing with the media. 'He's from the industry, so he is a great resource. He's explained a lot, like how things work and yeah, it's great,' she said, before adding: 'So maybe I'm falling in love with the press.' North Korea has confirmed for the first time that it has troops fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials believe the hermetic kingdom has deployed as many as 14,000 troops, which includes 3,000 to replace previous losses, Sky News reported. North Korea has also reportedly supplied millions of shells to Russia in a bid to tip the balance of the conflict in the latter's favour, a Reuters investigation found. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has also provided ballistic missiles, 120 long-range artillery systems and 120 multiple-launch rocket systems, Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said. That would represent the most significant direct military package handed to the Russians by any country since the war broke out. State media in North Korea said fighters from the East Asian country had made an 'important contribution' to the war by driving Ukrainians out of Russian territory - assumed to be a reference to Kursk. North Korean 'supreme leader' Kim Jong Un was quoted saying: 'They who fought for justice are all heroes and representatives of the honour of the motherland.' However, Ukrainian military leaders challenged the messaging emanating from North Korea and said that their soldiers retain a presence in the city. 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 Ukrainian officials believe the hermetic kingdom has deployed as many as 14,000 troops to the frontlines to fight against them Pictured: 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 reportedly show a row of North Korean soldiers killed in the Russian city of Kursk Valery Gerasimov, the Russian chief of general staff, told Russian president Vladimir Putin: 'I want to point out the participation of servicemen from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the liberation of the Kursk Region's border areas, who, in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between our countries, provided significant assistance in defeating the invading group of the Ukrainian armed forces. 'Soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army, carrying out combat missions shoulder to shoulder with Russian servicemen, displayed high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism in repulsing the Ukrainian invasion.' On Friday Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky claimed a North Korean missile was used to destroy part of Kyiv in a devastating overnight attack that left 12 dead and dozens injured also contained American components. Russia attacked Kyiv with an hours long barrage of missiles and drones on Wednesday night in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since last July, just as peace efforts are coming to a head. After Zelensky initially revealed the attack had been carried out with a North Korean missile, he took to Telegram today to accuse American companies of supplying components for the offensive weapon. It comes after US president Donald Trump said he was 'not happy' that Vladimir Putin launched a deadly barrage of missile strikes on Kyiv after talks to reach a peace deal failed. 'I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing,' he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump urged his Russian counterpart: 'Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!' The first North Korean prisoner of war has been captured by the Ukrainian armed forces, confirmed South Korea's National Intelligence Service on 27 December 2024 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 A North Korean soldier held after being captured by the Ukrainian army on January 11 Ukrainian troops recovered diaries and fake passports on slain North Korean troops President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at their contentious Oval Office meeting in February Posting on the platform as he was leaving Rome, where he had been attending Pope Francis' funeral, Donald Trump also questioned whether Putin had been 'tapping me along'. The US President said the Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities 'makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through "Banking" or "Secondary Sanctions?".' Last month North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine after he vowed to continue backing Russia amid its ongoing deadly invasion. Kim met with Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Security Council secretary, in Pyongyang, 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. Back in December Kyiv's forces reportedly captured the first North Korean prisoner of war fighting for Vladimir Putin in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A photograph allegedly showed the first fighter sent by Kim Jong Un to bolster Putin's war effort who is believed to have been held in Russia's Kursk region by Ukrainian forces. South Korea's National Intelligence Service confirmed a POW had been taken by Ukraine soon after the picture emerged. In a brief statement, they said: 'Through real-time information sharing with a friendly nation's [Ukraine's] intelligence organisation, [we] confirmed the capture of a wounded North Korean soldier and plans to thoroughly examine the subsequent development.' The South Korean spy agency issued a second statement reporting that the POW later died from his wounds. Joel Fitzgibbon served as the Labor Member for Hunter from 1996 to 2022. He held several ministerial roles, including Minister for Defence under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Tragically, his son, Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, died on March 6, 2024, following a parachuting accident during a routine Australian Defence Force training exercise at RAAF Base Richmond in Sydney. Jack, aged 33, was a member of the elite 2nd Commando Regiment and an experienced parachutist. Mr Fitzgibbon's Anzac Day Dawn service speech at North Bondi has been praised by many Aussies for greatly honouring he memory of his son and others who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country. Read it in full below. On this day 110 years ago early morning, dark, freezing cold, and in a shower of bullets thousands of Australian and New Zealand troops stormed the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula. They did so against all odds, let down by those who planned their mission. Former defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon addressed young Australians in his Anzac Day speech at North Bondi, Sydney on Friday 'To maintain peace in our region we must maintain vigilance,' Mr Fitzgibbons told the crowds packed onto the foreshore at North Bondi Despite that, they did all that was asked of them and more. By the end of the day 600 Australian soldiers had sacrificed their lives. By the end of the campaign, around 6,000 more fell with their faces to the foe. Thousands more were wounded, many for life. The ANZAC legend was born. Today we honour them, and we thank them for their deeds and their sacrifice. Just as we pay tribute today, to all those who have been inspired by them and have given their own lives defending or training to defend our national interest. More than one hundred thousand of them. The overwhelming majority of them, volunteers. But in this increasingly uncertain world, we must do more than honour them and thank them. Thats easy. We must show how much we mean it, by ensuring their legacy lives on, and their deeds were not in vain. We owe it to them, to be as committed to the defence of our national interests as they were today, tomorrow and beyond. Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon (pictured) passed after a parachute incident at Richmond RAAF base near Sydney 'The history of the world is largely a story of war. Its the one great constant,' the former MP for Hunter said To protect what weve built and what we stand for our values and our commitment to democracy and its institutions. This we owe them. ANZAC Day our most solemn day is as much about our future as it is about our past. It must be. As we gather this morning, our men and women in uniform are pausing to reflect too. Some of them are with us. Like the rest of us, theyll be drawing strength from the deeds of those who marched before them. But theyll soon be back at it, preparing to venture into harms way in our name. Preparing to put their lives on the line for us. Pushing themselves to their physical and mental limits. Honing their skills and procedures. Thinking about the relative strengths and capability of the foe they might face. Any day. Yet as a civilian community, complacency has grown amongst us. The history of the world is largely a story of war. Its the one great constant. Channel Seven reporter Grace Fitzgibbon (left) shared a photo of her father Joel (centre) and her boyfriend Az (right) at North Bondi RSL Club on Anzac Day Royal Australian Navy personnel take part in the Anzac Day March in Sydney Yet some amongst us act as if they believe human nature has changed. As if the world has matured beyond the futility of war, and now clearly sees the folly of it. That is despite, the conflicts currently playing out in the Middle East and Ukraine. Despite rising tensions in our own region in our own back yard. Just as we in the West appear to have lost the will to reproduce ourselves in sufficient number, we seem to have lost the will to adequately protect ourselves. Peace is worth fighting for, but avoiding conflict is a better option. To maintain peace in our region we must maintain vigilance. That means more than just hoping for a capable Defence Force, the will must be there too. That means we need our people all of us, including our young people to appreciate that we need the capacity to deter an enemy and if necessary, to defeat an enemy. Not just as a defence force but as a nation. And we will only have a nation capable of doing so, if thats the message we are constantly sending our political leaders. If its our priority, it will continue to be a priority for them its up to us. Defence policy should be a matter of absolute bipartisanship. The financial cost of it demands it. The complexity of it demands it. The challenges of it demand it. And the need for it demands it. We owe our fallen no less. We owe it to those who have returned but lived or will live shorter lives due to injury or mental trauma. And we owe our living veterans no less those who served in the Second World War, Korea, the Malayan Emergency, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, East Timor, Afghanistan, Solomon Islands and every deployment before, since, and in between. And we owe our nation no less, including those who made significant sacrifices on the home front, and those who lost a partner, a parent, a son or daughter, or a brother and sister. Lest we forget. A teenage girl who was reported missing over the weekend has been located. Mia Duffy, 16, was found after she was last seen at Maroubra, at 4pm on Saturday. Police began their search after she could not be located or contacted. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, NSW Police confirmed 'she has been found'. Details around the circumstances of her disappearance and where she was located are not publicly known. Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding on April 29, 2011 was the most regal and romantic event of the year. Kate gracefully walked down the long aisle in Westminster Abbey, past rows of guests with her nine-foot train flowing perfectly behind her. She wore an elegant dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, the lace bodice and flowing skirt echoed Grace Kelly's own gown for her wedding to Prince Albert of Monaco. Kate's father, Michael Middleton, held her arm as she walked towards her husband-to-be and future King. William stood at the altar, with Prince Harry by his side, and wore an Irish Guards officer tunic, Garter sash and star, Royal Air Force 'wings', and Golden Jubilee medal. Harry wore his Captain uniform from the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals after being promoted. 'We're supposed to have just a small family affair,' William joked to his father-in-law, Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2013 book, Kate: The Future Queen. But it was very much not a 'small family affair' - two billion people reportedly tuned in to watch the ceremony worldwide. Prince William talking to his new wife Kate Middleton and father-in-law Michael Middleton on their wedding day in 2011 Michael waving to well-wishers as he travelled in a carriage to Buckingham Palace after the wedding ceremony Westminster Abbey had 1,900 guests inside who witnessed the wedding first hand. William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth - who died in 2022 - was sitting in the front row wearing a yellow dress and coat by Angela Kelly. Beside her were Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla. Across the aisle sat Kate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, with her younger brother James. Carole wore a sky blue coat dress by Catherine Walker while Michael was smartly dressed in a suit and top hat. The guests ranged from government officials and royal families from around the world, to celebrities including David and Victoria Beckham, Sir Elton John and Rowan Atkinson. Outside the abbey, thousands more waited to try to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. The Mail reported at the time that a million well-wishers filled the streets of London on the day. After the ceremony, the newlyweds left Westminster Abbey in a horse-drawn carriage and made their way down the procession route where thousands of royal fans waited to greet them with cheers and waves. Later, Kate and William appeared on Buckingham Palace's balcony with other members of the Royal Family and treated the public to not one, but two kisses. The father of the bride arriving at Westminster Abbey in 2011 for his daughter's wedding Michael, Kate, William and Harry during the wedding ceremony in Westminster Abbey The four standing in Westminster Abbey during the wedding service Afterwards around 600 guests who attended the church service enjoyed a lunch reception at the Palace and were served champagne and a hefty 10,000 canapes. The new royal couple then cut into their eight-tiered wedding cake made by Fiona Cairns. The rest of the world watched on television or listened to the radio. Ms Nicholl wrote how Americans even woke up early to tune in when the couple exchanged their wedding vows. In Australia, fans threw parties that lasted all night long in celebration of the big day. Kate and William ended the day with a party in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace with 300 of their close friends and family members. Guests were served a feast of Welsh seafood, lamb and a selection of desserts, as well as bacon sandwiches and ice cream from vans later on. The day was a grand celebration and certainly not a 'small family affair' as the Prince had quipped. William's joke perhaps suited his nervous father-in-law's sense of humour as in less formal settings, he is reportedly known to enjoy making people laugh. Michael and Carole Middleton stood on Buckingham Palace's balcony alongside Prince Charles and Camilla Pippa holding Kate's train as Kate and Michael walk into the Abbey 'My father has developed this funny tradition of surprising us at some point by appearing in fancy dress,' Michael's daughter, Pippa Middleton, previously told The Spectator. 'He buys a new costume each year and typically gets a bit carried away. A couple of Christmases ago, he appeared in an inflatable sumo outfit.' Now, 14 years after their spectacular wedding, William and Kate have three children together, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. It has been crowned the 'happiest place' to live in America but some residents of the Golden State city have a major gripe about their hometown - the boredom! Fremont, California, has been deemed the happiest city in America based on its financial stability, high life satisfaction and healthy living conditions, WalletHub revealed last month. The San Francisco Bay city has earned this ranking five years in a row. It is widely known for nationally recognized public schools, gorgeous parks - such as the local-favorite Mission Peak Regional Preserve - and thriving economy. However, with the high quality of life comes the unexpected side effect of boredom. Just ask Fremont-born director Sean Wang, whose 2024 movie 'Didi' was a semi-autobiographical tale about growing up in the city. 'Me and my friends are always like, "Whos voting on this? Wang told SFGate. But despite his disbelief, Wang find the quiet parts of his hometown are worth it. 'The boring parts of Fremont made the best parts of Fremont for me,' he added to the publication. Fremont has been dubbed America's happiest city for six years in a row (pictured: Niles Boulevard in Fremont) Residents of the Golden State city ranked the happiest place to live reacted to their home's applaudable status - but not everyone believes the area has earned its title (pictured: Fremont) Fremont-born director Sean Wang, whose 2024 movie 'Didi' was a semi-autobiographical tale about growing up in the city, admitted the metro was a bit boring 'You think about the things that were happening because of that sort of mundaneness. 'We were creating our own fun. Its in the movie - walking around, doing crazy stuff with your friends just to entertain each other.' Analysts say an 'ideal city' has living conditions that 'foster good mental and physical health', including reasonable work hours, short commutes, good weather and caring neighbors. 'Well Fremont's a great place to live, we have a lot of jobs, great parks, affordable housing, a lot of things for people to do,' Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan said while speaking with Congressman Eric Swalwell about the ranking last month. 'Great for our youth, our seniors and it's a great quality of life.' However, not everyone was thrilled with Fremont's title, with some social media users echoing Wang's criticism and claiming it was undeserved. 'Couldn't pay me to live there,' one man wrote on Facebook. 'Happiest to not be living there any more,' a former Fremont resident chimed in. One woman devoted an entire post to her disagreement with the decision: 'How is Fremont deemed the happiest city in America. WTH?' 'Its literally top boring - lived there for years,' someone responded. Fremont Mayor Raj Salwan (pictured) said the city is a great place to live because of its job opportunities and affordable housing 'I lived there. It was not very memorable. Theres not one thing I ever be like I miss this from when I lived in Fremont.' But what can't be missed about Fremont are the earnings of those who live there. WalletHub's study also found that cities where a substantial percentage of residents earn annual salaries of at least $75,000 are likely to have greater happiness. According to 2023 US Census data about Fremont, the average annual income is $75,673 for individuals and $176,350 for households. Additionally, Fremont is home to the first and largest Tesla manufacturing site, which directly employs more than 20,000 people. It was also the site of Apple's first manufacturing facility. Then there's Mission Peak, a breathtaking vista just east of Fremont that offers impressive views of the city. In fact, one hiker Donna Johnson, who was preparing for a trip climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro, used Mission Peak as practice. Some 2,500 feet below, there's also the town's Central Park, which, although smaller than the original, offers a beautiful lake in the middle: Lake Elizabeth. Beyond the 's natural beauty, DailyMail.com spoke with local businesses to get their takes on the fourth largest city in Silicon Valley. Genaro Lopez, the manager and part owner of Skillet'z Cafe in Fremont, praised the city for its kind people and scenery. Apple's first manufacturing facility was headquartered in Fremont Mission Peak Regional Preserve (pictured) is coveted by locals for its scenic views Pictured: A hiker reaches the summit of Mission Peak Another hiker Donna Johnson, who was preparing for a trip climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro, used Mission Peak as practice 'Fremont is a beautiful city so it's beautiful to have a business, we're definitely blessed to have a business here,' the lifelong resident who has worked at Skillet'z for more than a decade. 'It's stressful sometimes, but it's a blessing. It's a lot of work you put in, a lot of your time.' Lopez said all of his customers are 'always happy, always smiling,' as a result of the gorgeous parks and natural elements in the city. The family-owned restaurant serves up 'homemade American diner food' and has glowing Google food reviews. Amy Davis, the owner of another Fremont business called Banter Bookshop, shared Lopez's enthusiasm. 'As a long time resident of Fremont, I am very happy to have been able to open a business in the community where I have lived for over two decades,' Davis wrote to DailyMail.com. 'The City of Fremont and the Economic Development team have been supportive of our business from the start, and fellow residents have been very welcoming. There is often a lot of friendly chatter in the bookshop!' Banter Bookshop opened its doors in 2022, but as Davis said, she has lived in Fremont her entire life. She said she was 'delighted' when she heard of her city's five-year streak. Amy Davis (pictured), the owner of Banter Bookshop, said she is grateful to have been able to open a business in the city It is widely known for nationally-recognized public schools, gorgeous parks (pictured: Central Park in Fremont) Fremont is home to the first and largest Tesla manufacturing site (pictured), which directly employs more than 20,000 people The bookshop not only sells reading materials, but hosts author events and book club meetings in order to bring the community closer together, Davis explained. Home to more than 226,200 residents, Fremont has more than 3,600 small business, according to Think Silicon Valley. Of those establishments, 68 percent are owned by women or minorities. Of those owners, 66 percent were born outside of the US. 'Fremonts strength is found in the diversity of our community,' the City of Fremont wrote on its website. 'More than 98 languages are spoken in Fremont homes and you can find almost any kind of delicious international cuisine you desire in our family-owned restaurants.' Bay Area realtor-influencer Jess Williams shared the quaintness of the town with her followers, and highlighted another local gem: Tyme for Tea. As she sipped on tea, some of the costumed waiters could be seen helping guests young and old in the background. Bay Area realtor-influencer Jess Williams shared the quaintness of the town with her followers, and highlighted another local gem: Tyme for Tea Genaro Lopez (pictured), the manager and part owner of Skillet'z Cafe in Fremont, praised the city for its kind people and scenery. The family-owned restaurant serves up 'homemade American diner food' and has glowing Google food reviews (pictured: Skillet'z Cafe) In terms of security, WalletHub ranked Fremont the 24th safest US city. Two other California cities beat Fremont in this category - Irvine in 11th place and Chula Vista in 23rd out of 182 cities. According to Security Gauge, Fremont's violent crime rates are lower than the rest of the state's and the national average. The chances of being a victim of violent crime in Fremont are one in 443, while those odds increase on the state-level to one in 197. However, property crimes in Fremont are more common than in the rest of California. Every one in 34 Fremont residents will experience a property-related crime, while one in 43 Californians will experience one. In fact, Skillet'z was targeted last march when a thief broke into the restaurant and snatched its safe, NBC reported. Co-owner Priscilla Bravo wrote in a Facebook post, featuring a video of the restaurant's shattered glass door: 'THEY BROKE INTO SKILLETZ AND THEY TOOK EVERYTHING WE WORK SO HARD FOR!!! 'THEY LITERALLY TOOK ALL OF OUR HARD WORK!!!! WE ALL WORK 7 DAYS A WEEK DOUBLES AND THEY TOOK IT ALL!!!' Bravo told NBC she broke down in tears after the incident. The restaurant has to shut down for weeks to repair damages. In October 2024, some Fremont residents told the Tri-City Voice they wished the city was doing more to prioritize safety. Banter Bookshop opened its doors in 2022, but its owner has lived in Fremont her entire life Another local shared a picture of him with his dog in Fremont's Central Park 'I dont feel like being out at night, Im afraid I could get mugged,' Wendy Locher told the outlet. 'Everybody blames the homeless people, but really its the punks and people who want free stuff in life.' Over the past few years, Fremont and other Bay Area neighborhoods have seen a rise in homelessness, the city reported. There are about 800 homeless people living in Fremont, according to ABC7. In February, the city council passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for people to set up encampments. The measure originally also targeted anyone who is 'causing, permitting, aiding, abetting or concealing' a homeless encampment. This would mean anyone enabling a homeless encampment can be charged with a misdemeanor, punishable with a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. In February, the city council passed an ordinance that makes it illegal for people to set up encampments (pictured: a sign on a homeless encampment in Fremont) There are about 800 homeless people living in Fremont (pictured: a Fremont homeless encampment) But last month, the city walked back that part of the plan. 'We've repeated so many times that this whole aiding and abetting thing was never meant to you know to refer food water, medical supplies, any of that to people,' Councilmember Raymond Liu said last month. In response to the ordinance, which many have dubbed controversial, 36 charitable organizations are suing the city to stop the law's enforcement. From Interstellar to Star Wars, science fiction is filled with stories of how humans might travel through the universe to visit distant worlds. But even with our most advanced modern rockets, travelling to the edges of our own solar system might take most of a human lifetime. However, scientists say that there is a way humanity could travel millions of light years in seconds. By passing through wormholes in the fabric of space and time itself, we might be able to travel to the most distant stars with ease. A wormhole, much like a black hole, is a structure which arises when gravity is so strong that it bends the fabric of the universe. Einstein's theories about the universe predict that spacetime can be bent in such a way that it creates a 'bridge' between two different points in the spacetime. Professor Dejan Stojkovic, a cosmologist from the University at Buffalo, told MailOnline: 'Theoretically, there is no limit on how far we could travel that way. 'Two distant points could be billions of light years away along the regular space, and only a few seconds away along the wormhole.' Science fiction films like Star Wars (pictured) often imagine how travellers might leap from star to star in just seconds. Now, scientists say this really could be possible using wormholes What are wormholes? Dr Andreea Font, a theoretical astrophysicist from Liverpool John Moores University, told MailOnline: 'Wormholes are tunnels in the fabric of space and time that can shortcut the normal path between two far-away regions in our universe.' According to Einstein, an object with mass warps the fabric of spacetime like a weight being dropped onto a rubber sheet. These curves are what create the force of gravity. But Einstein's equations also have some extremely weird solutions when gravity starts to become extremely strong. 'For example, we know that black holes can bend the space around them under the influence of gravity,' says Dr Font. 'In principle, the geometry of space-time can be folded and bent in such a way that a tunnel can be established between two massive black holes at faraway places.' The connection between these distant points is what scientists call a wormhole. Where this tunnel emerges into space is called the mouth and the tunnel is called the throat. A wormhole is a structure formed when intense gravitational forces fold spacetime over on itself and make a bridge connecting two points A wormhole is made up of two mouths which could be anywhere in the universe, and a throat which connects them. Can wormholes be used to travel through space? In Einstein's view, spacetime isn't flat, but curved, crumpled, and bent by the forces of gravity. Professor Stojkovic explains that wormholes take advantage of these folds, punching right through from one point to another. Instead of taking the long journey over the curving surface of spacetime from one point to another, we can just take the direct route through the throat of the wormhole. It doesn't even matter how far apart the mouths are in conventional space, with enough folding from gravity they can be almost touching in spacetime. In theory, humans might be able to exploit this fact to travel enormous distances in just seconds. Professor Stojkovic says: 'If the wormhole's throat is large enough to fit a spaceship, then we can use the shortcut that the wormhole provides.' Like falling into a black hole as imagined by Interstellar (pictured), a wormhole's intense gravity could allow you to travel billions of light years across the universe in seconds or even travel through time How can humans travel billions of light-years Even travelling near the speed of light, distant stars and galaxies still might take many human lifetimes to reach. If we want to get there faster, we could use galactic 'shortcuts' in the form of wormholes. Wormholes are structures formed when intense gravity bends spacetime over on itself. Where two 'sheets' of spacetime become stuck together, this forms a bridge known as a wormhole. By traversing this wormhole, we could travel billions of light-years in just seconds. Advertisement Provided there is a wormhole mouth at your starting point and another at your destination, you could travel anywhere in the universe faster than the speed of light. How to build a warp drive Although this is fantastic in theory, the difficult part is keeping a wormhole open long enough for you to safely pass through it. Dr Font explains: 'Wormholes come in two categories, some are traversable and some are not. 'Of those that are traversable, meaning that the path between the two ends remains open, it is not always possible to keep it open long enough for actual travel to take place.' Because of the intense gravitational forces involved in folding spacetime, wormholes are very unstable and the throat is likely to collapse in on itself. To get around this any future 'warp drive' technology would need a way of holding the wormhole's mouth open for long enough to traverse it. Professor Stojkovic says: 'To provide stability one has to counter the attractive force of gravity and prevent the collapse of the wormhole walls. But if we want to have a warp drive like in Star Trek, this will require finding a way to hold a wormhole open for long enough to pass through Because of the strong gravity involved, wormholes will naturally collapse in on themselves. To avoid this an advanced civilisation could use 'negative energy' to hold the tunnel open 'For that, we either need large amounts of negative energy, or some equivalent setup which would provide repulsive force to stabilize the wormhole. In physics, 'negative energy' occurs when a region of space has less energy than the surrounding empty void of space. Although this sounds like something out of science fiction, negative energy is a consequence of quantum physics and scientists have managed to make small amounts under laboratory conditions. However, the amount of negative energy required to stabilise a traversable wormhole far exceeds anything humanity is able to produce. Professor Stojkovic says: 'Currently we have such capabilities. But this does not mean that we will not have them in a distant future, nor that some alien civilization does not have them now. 'Finally, human building power is hardly capable of competing with the building power of nature. So nature-made wormholes may already exist, and we may take advantage of them someday.' Are wormholes real? However, if we want to build a warp drive out of natural wormholes we might encounter a pretty major problem. While we don't have any evidence for wormholes right now, like black holes they are predicted by Einstein's theories of relativity. Just as we have now observed black holes for the first time, scientists hope we might one day be able to observe wormholes. Pictured: An image of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way While wormholes are theoretically possible, scientists don't have any direct evidence that they exist. That could be because wormholes are extremely difficult to detect, or it might just be because they don't exist in our universe. Since wormholes are so inherently unstable, some scientists think they couldn't possibly exist in reality. This has led some scientists to suggest that wormholes might be nothing more than a useful theoretical tool to help think about Einstein's equations. However, scientists are now developing the tools to find wormholes if they are out there, and Professor Stojkovic is optimistic that the evidence will arrive someday. 'Nature, whose building power is much superior to human one, always finds a way to build something which is described by solutions of legitimate theories like General Relativity. 'The Schwarzschild solution describing black holes was derived in 1916, and leading scientists for the next 50 years simply refused to believe there is anything in nature which is that strange. 'Today, we see black holes everywhere in the universe. I believe something similar will happen with wormholes.' Some of Donald Trump's strangest birthday gifts to his wife Melania have been revealed. From turning the big day into a campaign stunt to shunning presents altogether, the president's record on milestone tokens is decidedly unconventional. And when she does receive a traditional gift from her 78-year-old husband, it can range from the lackluster to the downright bizarre. Whatever next: From skipping the present altogether to turning her special day into a campaign stunt, Donald Trump's gifts to his wife have been somewhat unconventional This year, Trump told reporters he and Melania will be dining on Air Force One for her birthday to ring in her 55th birthday. 'I'll take her for dinner on the Boeing. I'll take her for dinner on Air Force One,' he told reporters while traveling aboard the presidential aircraft en route to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday. Melania's birthday falls on the same day leaders and clergy from around the world marked the passing of Pope Francis at his funeral service at the Vatican. Trump and the first lady were set to attend the funeral service Saturday morning and then fly back to New Jersey. Given the tight turnaround and the circumstances, an elegant Roman meal for two doesn't appear to be in the cards. 'She's going to have a great birthday. She's got a working birthday,' Trump said. 'Haven't had much time to buy presents. Things are working out for us. People are starting to understand how good tariffs are for us.' Here, DailyMail.com has rounded up some of the most shocking gifts President Trump has given his wife since he stepped into the political spotlight. 2018: 'Birthday shout-out' For her 48th birthday on April 26, the president called into Fox & Friends to give his wife a bizarre shout-out. 'I picked a very, very special day because it's Melania's birthday. So I said, 'Let's do it on Melania's birthday.' So happy birthday to Melania,' he said at the start of the interview. When asked about what he got Melania for his birthday, he said: 'Well, I better not get into that because I may get in trouble. 'Maybe I didn't get her so much. 'I tell you what... I got her a beautiful card. Peck on the cheek: As she rings in her 55th birthday, DailyMail.com has rounded up some of the most shocking gifts President Trump has given his wife since he stepped into the political spotlight Appeal: For her 48th birthday on April 26, the president called into Fox & Friends and gave his wife a shout-out. He also paid tribute to Melania, calling her his 'rock' and 'foundation,' in an email asking supporters to celebrate her birthday and donate to his campaign 'I'm very busy to be running out looking for presents. I got her a beautiful card, beautiful flowers.' He also paid tribute to Melania, calling her his 'rock' and 'foundation,' in an email asking supporters to celebrate her birthday and donate to his campaign. In the email, he wrote: 'Family is one of life's most wonderful pleasures, and serving as America's First Family has been a truly great privilege! This month, our family is looking forward to a very special day. 'Please join us in celebrating the First Lady and my beautiful, kind-hearted, and exceptional wife Melania's birthday by signing her card. 'Melania is my rock and foundation, and I wouldn't be the man I am today without her by my side. 'She's the cornerstone of our family, and an incredible mother to our son, Barron. I'm so proud of her accomplishments, and I hope you'll wish her well on her special day.' 2019: Now-viral tweet and digital card Pressed for time: On her 49th birthday, Melania became the butt of jokes after the White House chose an awkward picture of her to post on her birthday Sign of the times: In the lead-up to her birthday, Trump's Facebook page also released about 3,300 ads to encourage people to sign her digital birthday card On her 49th birthday, Melania became the butt of jokes after the White House chose an awkward picture of her to post on her birthday. The White House tweeted a picture of Melania seated by herself in the Oval Office during Trump's meeting with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. In the image, Melania sat at the far end of the couch in a green double-breasted coat. Her legs were crossed, and she was staring off into the distance, away from her husband. To add insult to injury, the photographers who surround her are focused on the president and prime minister not her. Users on X, formerly Twitter, quickly made the awkward picture into a slew of memes. In the lead-up to Melania's birthday, Trump's Facebook page also released about 3,300 ads to encourage people to sign her digital birthday card. 'Attention Ladies in Richmond Heights,' read one ad that targeted female users in a town in Missouri, per Vice. 'Our FANTASTIC First Lady Melania's birthday is in three days, and I want to do something special for her.' The First Lady spent the evening of her 49th birthday at a private dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe in the White House, per Stephanie Grisham, Melania's communications director. 2020: Surprise birthday card signed by 'one million' Americans X marks the spot: President Trump wished wife Melania a happy 50th birthday via Twitter Trump wished Melania a happy 50th birthday via Twitter in 2020. 'Happy Birthday to Melania, our great First Lady!' Trump wrote on X. The Trump family celebrated Melania's golden jubilee birthday in a quiet fashion at the White House as it was during the covid lockdowns, according to her chief of staff Stephanie Grisham. An email was also sent out from a fundraising committee including of Donald J Trump for President, Inc and the Republican National Committee,' according to The Atlantic. 'I have exciting news to share, but you have to keep it a secret,' the email began. 'Melania does so much for our Nation and I want to make sure she knows just how much she means to us. 'I want to surprise her with a birthday card signed by 1 MILLION Americans from all around the Country.' 2021: Yet another digital card and donation Waving it off: In 2021, Republican supporters were sent several emails and texts asking them to sign Melania's digital birthday card In 2021, Republican supporters were sent several emails and texts asking them to sign Melania's digital birthday card. 'We know how much the First Lady means to YOU so we're going to give you ONE MORE chance to sign her card, but you must ACT FAST!' the email read, according to The Times. After signing, supporters were taken to another page that encouraged them to make a donation toward the party. The $100 option was pre-ticked for anyone who was unsure about how much to give. 'We are working hard to defend the Trump Legacy from Biden and the Radical Left, but we need you to join us!' the page read, alongside a picture of Melania. 'We only need a few more donations today to stay on track will you quickly step up and help close the gap?' 2024: Birthday wishes from trial Courting controversy: A few years later, Trump sent long-distance birthday wishes to Melania at the start of Day 8 of his Stormy Daniels trial in 2024 A few years later, Trump sent long-distance birthday wishes to Melania at the start of Day 8 of his Stormy Daniels trial in 2024. 'I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very happy birthday,' Trump said inside Manhattan criminal court on her birthday last year. 'Would be nice to be with her, but I'm at a courthouse for a rigged trial. 'But we're doing very well in this rigged trial. Everybody knows it. Yesterday was a big day. 'But I do have to begin by wishing Melania happy birthday. She's in Florida.' Holidays to Antarctica have become increasingly popular in recent decades Antarctica, with its gleaming icebergs, crystalline waters and stupendous wildlife - from minke whales to Gentoo penguins - has become the adventure destination of choice for high-wealth individuals in recent years. The average cost of a trip to this hard-to-reach corner of the globe - two days by boat from South America's tip - sees little change from 10,000, but buys bragging rights that'll last for decades. Book on a journey to the ends of the earth and you'll transcend from casual tourist to serious traveller, starring in your very own David Attenborough documentary. However, a word of warning from someone who's been; take heed that a holiday this isn't - with horizontal sleet, tumbling wine glasses and deathly seasickness on the menu for many who board the 70 or so 'luxury' cruise liners that depart the Argentine port of Ushuaia each year. In 2009, I landed a spot on a cruise ship bound for what remains one of the world's most fascinating natural landscapes and, let's be clear, I was very lucky to get to take this trip as a passenger - one of 1,000. My first indication that this wasn't going to be quite the trip I'd had in mind? When I was side-swiped by a rogue selfie stick in a scrum of excitable visitors at the first sight of a penguin. Back in the late 1920s, a sturdy ship, The Fleurus, began to make an annual journey across choppy Antarctic seas to deliver mail and supplies to remote whaling stations in South Georgia and the South Shetlands. A few tourist tickets were offered, so that people with the means could set eyes on the otherwise inaccessible shores of the Antarctic Peninsula. These were the Blue Origin flights of the day, the super rich paying for voyages with a hint of derring-do, which had previously been the exclusive domain of skilled explorers. Writer Paul Oswell pictured during his visit to Antarctica in 2009; he says while the opportunity to see wildlife up close and personal is a lasting memory, he warns that trips can often be hampered by bad weather - with cancellations common - and numerous other pitfalls Strike a p-p-pose: Tourists snap away amongst the penguins; Paul says that the high price of the trip - on average between 5,000 and 10,000, means that some of the guests have 'a sense of entitlement to the optimum experience' Then, 1969 saw the first bespoke commercial tours to the region, and now, even bungling arrivistes like me can gaze upon Antarctic wonders - and then share it all later on TikTok (if you can get the wi-fi, more of that later). Tourism to the region exploded in the early 1990s and the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) reported that around 100,000 people visited in the 2022-23 season - with around 70,000 of those people setting foot on land. How was my own experience? At times, it was sublime. Wildlife sightings included Gentoo and Adelie penguin colonies, leopard seals lolling on stony coves, curious minke whales nosing up out of the waters. Waking up to see virgin-white berg floes jutting out of sapphire waters is a lasting memory. Knowing what I know now, though, would I do it again? Thats an icy issue. Lets talk about the realities. Cruises usually sail from Ushuaia (at the southern tip of Argentina) and spend a couple of days crossing the 600 nautical miles of the Drake Passage. Even in the height of summer, its a dreary, grey expanse, with temperatures around zero and horizontal sleet often greeting you on deck - not ideal conditions for shuffleboard. And it can be a bumpy ride. Errant wine glasses rattle across the dinner table and sea legs quickly need to be developed to navigate the corridors of the swaying vessel, lest you lumber into passing members of staff (sorry about that, Captain Frank). 'The bigger the camera lens, the more obnoxious the punter in my experience', says Paul (pictured) Zodiac boats ferry passengers from the liners to the shore - and Paul says arguments often broke out over who should board them first amongst passengers Rocky: Green passengers are par for the course, with decent sea legs essential to get across the precarious Drake Passage (Pictured: Saga's Spirit of Adventure vessel) Internet was spotty at best, and outside of a couple of presentations, theres not a huge amount to see or do. You get very acquainted with antibacterial handwash, outbreaks of norovirus or even Legionnaires disease being every cruise ships worst nightmare. Its undeniably exciting to arrive at your first port, typically research bases run by isolated resident scientists. People want the best bang for their buck, and for some, that means elbows and passive aggression... They are built around the more hospitable regions, where the local wildlife nest and breed. Environmental treaties mean that limited numbers of people can be ashore at any one time, dozen-strong groups ferried there on inflatable Zodiac craft in strict rotation. Understandably, every landing guest must undergo decontamination procedures to preserve the ecosystem. Clothes and boots are thoroughly disinfected, and less patient passengers soon found this an annoyance. More than once, arguments broke out about who should board the first Zodiacs - cue some awkward silences around the shared dinner tables of an evening. Everyone has invested a substantial amount of money to be here, which engenders - and again, Im not unsympathetic - a sense of entitlement to the optimum experience. People want the best bang for their buck, and for some, that means elbows and passive aggression. Almost 50 per cent of Antarctic cruisers are American (a statistic presented without comment). Grey: Blue skies can be rare - with temperatures around zero even in the height of summer Paul's 20-day trip, which would cost around 12,000 now, was cut short after extreme weather forced the liner back to safer waters Once at the Peninsula, half-day expeditions take place almost daily. People soon twig the process and start to stake out the lines, jockeying for prime spots on the Zodiacs, the equivalent of waking up at 5am to put your towel on a sunlounger. The excursions themselves swing between exhilarating and genuinely shocking. This is nature, red in tooth and claw. Paulet Island had 250,000 breeding pairs of penguins. Newborn chicks were being reared as I walked among the nests. The parents dont move much, and their bathroom facilities are very localized with attendant odours. Food is at a premium, so astonishingly bloody fights ensue, and seabirds swoop in to pick off and devour smaller newborns. P-p-p-pick up a penguin, indeed. Photo opportunities are stunning, but with limited time on land, everyone wants the same shots, and so the aforementioned throngs of polar paparazzi can get tetchy. Tripods are wielded like medieval weaponry. The bigger the camera lens, the more obnoxious the punter in my experience. The wildlife here were undisturbed for around 30 million years, so theyre vulnerable to even small environmental changes. Even with strict conservation protocols, carbon from the ships causes ice to darken and melt, and invasive species arrive, hitching a ride in clothing and food. A cruise highlight of bathing in the thermal springs at Deception Island had to be cut as extreme weather conditions might have grounded the ship. The deflated, grey journey back to Ushuaia began early, the sleet feeling even more unforgiving. Chunks of an itinerary can be spontaneously abandoned. For a 20-day, 12,000 holiday (including flights, meals, and excursions), thats a risk youll want to factor in. Again, I fully accept that Im very privileged to have seen the polar coastlines once surveyed by Hodson and Lindblad. Now that cosseted parvenus like Doris and Elmer from Iowa and people like, well, me, can damage this exceptional biosphere, though, perhaps its time to rethink the numbers at least. As the world prepares for summer, many of us are expecting to take to ferries and cruises to travel to far-flung locations to soak up the sun. But since one in three people suffer from sea sickness, these watery journeys to and from paradise may be hell for those predisposed to the nausea caused by rolling waves. An experienced cruise worker has now revealed her top tips to avoid sea sickness before it even started, honed after years at sea. Lucy, a cruise ship worker who goes by @cruisingascrew on Instagram, revealed five ways for ordinary people to abate sea sickness symptoms while on holiday. Lucy, a cruise ship worker who goes by @cruisingascrew on Instagram, (pictured) revealed five ways for ordinary people to abate sea sickness symptoms while on holiday Location is key Lucy said in a recent video that one of the most important things to be aware of, if trying to mitigate sea sickness, is that your location on a ship will determine how bad your symptoms are. She said: 'When you are booking your cruise, and you are selecting your cabin, you want to make sure your travel agent puts you in a cabin that's in the middle of the ship. 'And I do mean as central as you can get. You want to be mid-ship, you don't want to be forward or aft, but you also want to be in one of the middle decks.' She said that the higher or lower on a vessel you are, the more you will feel the motion, meaning the more likely it is you will become sea sick. The cruise worker also recommended booking a cabin with a balcony overlooking the sea: 'One of the worst thing for sea sickness is being in an inside cabin. When you're seasick, your equilibrium is thrown off so something that really helps your mind when you're in this state is seeing the horizon.' Try to limit days on sea Lucy recommended that those who know they suffer from seasickness ought to limit their sea days as much as they can. While this can be difficult for longer cruises, she said that there are many cruises that prioritise days spent on land which may be better for first time cruisers. She said: 'When I worked on cruise ships, we would have people coming on their very first cruise, and it would be a two-week transatlantic crossing. 'They'd spend the whole time throwing up, and then vow to never go on a cruise again.' She said that cruises involving multiple days of seafaring at a time were for more experienced cruisers, not beginners looking to dip their toes in the waters. 'Trust me when I say there is nothing worse than finding out you are prone to seasickness, and it's your first sea day of five. You're not going to be having a good time.' Lucy also recommended checking routes, as some bodies of water, like the Bass Strait south of Australia or the Bay of Biscay, are notoriously choppy, meaning they're more likely to induce seasickness. Avoid going to the ship's medical bay, if possible The experienced cruise-hand recommended passengers stay away from the medical bays of vessels. Lucy said: 'Not only is it time consuming, it's also very expensive if you end up needing medication or needing medical assistance.' She recommended bringing a small bag of essential items along, including sea sickness medication. She also recommended non-invasive measures, including sea bands and sea sickness patches, which can help alleviate symptoms. Go all-natural! Lucy also recommended several naturally-occurring cures. She emphasised how quickly ginger teas can help with symptoms, along with ginger ales. She also said eating greens apples was a 'firm favourite' cure for sea sickness among crew members. 'The reason a green apple works is that it contains sugars and acids that can settle the stomach', she said. Stop drinking water Her final recommendation was to avoid drinking water when nauseous, as this can exacerbate these feelings. She said: 'I'm pretty sure it wasn't until my second contract that one of my managers said "that's one of the worst things you can do if you're feeling sick".' Lucy said that filling up on water means that the stomach gets even more upset, as liquid 'sloshes' around. Instead, limiting water intake and loading up on 'stodgy and carby' foods can help settle upset stomachs and 'stabilise'. 'I know the last thing you feel like doing when seasick is eating, but if you can eat just half a slice of bread it will make you feel a bit better.' A Race Across The World contestant has revealed what it's really like when they get to each checkpoint hotel. The new series of BBC adventure show kicked off this week and saw five pairs from different walks of life embark on a 14,000 kilometers race across China, Nepal and India. So far, viewers have spotted a possible problem with one team's luggage after brothers Brian and Melvyn were shown carrying a suitcase while the others all had backpacks. Mother and son duo, Caroline and Tom, faced their own issues when they found themselves stuck in Beijing's train station for quite some time. While this season looks to be full of action and chaos, previous contestants and crew members have revealed all about what really happens behind-the-scenes. Series four winner Alfie spilled that the teams can stay in secret hotels for up to two days at each checkpoint. So far, viewers have spotted a possible problem with one team's luggage after brothers Brian and Melvyn (pictured) were shown carrying a suitcase while the others all had backpacks Mother and son duo, Caroline and Tom (pictured), faced their own issues when they found themselves stuck in Beijing 's train station for quite some time The stay doesn't make it to screens and the former player shared how they had to stay in the hotel due to 'safety' concerns in a Facebook group about the show. Alfie explained: 'It does change depending on finishing times to make sure nobody leaves at an utterly ridiculous time - mainly for safety.' Meanwhile, series two contestant Jen, who took part with her husband Rob, also revealed the teams are accompanied by members of the crew at all times. While she insisted there 'isn't much viewers don't get to see', the two producers who travel with the teams aren't revealed to viewers on screen. Jen also revealed that there is a 'local fixer' and a medic travelling about an hour behind them in case of an emergency. She told the i: 'You are always with two crew members and a medic, with a local fixer close behind. The crew really don't contribute, despite what people think however nonsensical our decisions might be. 'I remember crossing into a different time zone and almost missing a vital transport link, and the crew just had to roll with it. It's the same with our jobs directory all genuine jobs on offer in the local areas, simply compiled.' While this season looks to be full of action and chaos, previous contestants and crew members have revealed all about what really happens behind-the-scenes including series four winner Alfie (pictured) Meanwhile, series two contestant Jen, who took part with her husband Rob, also revealed the teams are accompanied by members of the crew at all times. Pictured: Series five contestants When asked if it was really as hard as it seems on screen, Jen said: 'People always ask me if it was really as hard as it seemed. In short, YES. I was convinced that once the cameras stopped rolling, they'd wheel out the buffet cart and hand over the keys to the luxury hotel, but heck was I wrong. I really did have to sleep in that hammock. In my case, ignorance was bliss.' Jen told how the crew travelled with them constantly and there always had to be space for them on various points of transport such as buses. She explained that they were only able to travel if at least one member of the crew was able to come with them, but insisted this never impacted their route. Executive producer Mark Saben told the BBC: 'They had to do the same journey as them, sleeping alongside them on the bus. 'So they were almost like a family, with its ups and downs. And while we had done recces, the teams found bits of the world which were totally surprising.' Mark informed Broadcast that visas and vaccines for 'every conceivable country' are arranged in advance, with 'every likely bus and train option, cost and connection' being researched. He said 'It's all very well doing it theoretically, looking at timetables and things' before adding 'but until someone does it for real, you don't know where the difficulties might lie. The BBC adventure show sees five sets of contestants go head-to-head in a 14,000 kilometers race across China, Nepal and India for a huge cash prize. Pictured, contestants Fin and Sioned 'We drew up protocols that set rules for how the teams could hitchhike, travel at night and cross borders safely.' Despite having a fixer and a medic at hand, Mark revealed that they are instructed to keep their distance to make their experience feel authentic. He said 'How they made their journey was up to them. This meant as a production we had to react to their decisions, however nonsensical. 'It was a nightmare for production management as the competing contributors decided how and where to go. You cannot underestimate how challenging the journey could be at times.' Race Across The World airs on BBC One and is available to stream on iPlayer. Louis Theroux: The Settlers (BBC2) Rating: Mae West made her final movie, Sextette, when she was 84. She stars as a movie queen so irresistible that an entire squad of athletes are desperate to seduce her. 'I do the role I always do,' she told an interviewer. 'I do Mae West. I've kept my looks.' Louis Theroux is turning into Mae West without the wigs. Aged 54, he's still doing the schtick that launched his career in the 1990s, the faux-naive bumbler with an air of boyish puzzlement. And it's wearing uncomfortably thin. 'You've come armed, but we're so friendly,' he teased a twitchy Israeli radical with a sub-machinegun slung over his back, as he toured Jewish outposts on the West Bank in The Settlers. For a ghastly moment, I was afraid he was going to use Mae's famous line from the Broadway play Catherine Was Great: 'Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?' That sort of jejune flirtiness worked wonders with eccentrics such as Christine Hamilton and Debbie McGee on When Louis Met..., but it had no effect on the belligerent Zionist evangelists. Like an increasing number of people, they were immune to the Theroux charm. Daniella Weiss, a veteran campaigner for increasing Israel's territory, became so tired of his pretence at gaucheness that she placed both hands on his chest and shoved him hard. Her aim, she explained frankly, was to provoke him into shoving her back so she could claim he'd physically attacked her. If he was as unworldly as he likes to make out, Louis might have fallen for it. Instead, he shot her a hurt, bewildered look like a puppy that's just had its nose smacked. 'You've come armed, but we're so friendly,' he teased a twitchy Israeli radical with a sub-machinegun slung over his back, as he toured Jewish outposts on the West Bank in The Settlers (pictured) For a ghastly moment, I was afraid he was going to use Mae's famous line from the Broadway play Catherine Was Great: 'Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?'. Pictured: Louis Theroux on The Settlers The BBC can't afford a repeat of the disaster earlier this year, when the teenage narrator of a film about children in the Gaza Strip (pictured) turned out to be the son of a senior Hamas official Plot twist of the weekend: Grilled by people with learning disabilities on The Assembly (ITV1), Danny Dyer revealed why he quit EastEnders... but wouldnt confirm whether his character, Mick, really drowned at sea. 'I might come back with seaweed in me hair,' he hinted. Advertisement A deep streak of cynicism lies under his charade. His interviewees are carefully chosen, to reinforce the BBC narrative that Israelis are the oppressors and Palestinians their victims. Weiss is a crackpot, who believes Jewish settlers should be rushing into the Gaza Strip to establish tarpaulin homesteads amid the rubble. Aside from all the other arguments, the fact that this would be suicidal, inviting barbarous reprisals by Hamas, doesn't appear to bother her. While Louis's camera team was following her car in a military convoy, she veered away and made a break for the Gaza border. Israeli soldiers intercepted her, but when Louis caught up, her eyes were sparkling with manic glee: 'I wanted to show the rabbis that Gaza is not something beyond reach.' By contrast, his main Palestinian spokesman was the avowedly non-violent Issa Amro, a long-time activist who advocates peaceful protest and has denounced Hamas terrorism. Every aspect of this documentary, and Amro's involvement most of all, will have been scrutinised in minute detail by BBC lawyers and spin doctors. They can't afford a repeat of the disaster earlier this year, when the teenage narrator of a film about children in the Gaza Strip turned out to be the son of a senior Hamas official. Louis isn't naive enough to make a mistake like that. One of the most successful British rapper's with five No.1 singles has revealed he retrained as a plasterer and nobody knew who he was. Dizzee Rascal, 40, whose real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills, told how he paid 1,495 during the pandemic to enrol in the course and learn the new skill. The performer explained that he completed the course and received a certificate, which confirms he is qualified in City and Guilds Certificate in Plastering. Dizzee enrolled onto the course at the Able Skills Construction Training in Dartford, Kent, during the Covid 19 pandemic after becoming keen to learn a new skill. The course gives trainees the option to do Monday to Friday over four weeks or six weekends with a nine day block. The star admitted that he has already forgotten the skills he learned on the course and explained his reasons for doing it. Dizzee Rascal, 40, whose real name is Dylan Kwabena Mills, told how he paid 1,495 during the pandemic to enrol in the course and learn the new skill The performer explained that he completed the course and received a certificate, which confirms he is qualified in City and Guilds Certificate in Plastering He said: 'I did a plastering course for however long. I forgot how to do it, I got the certificate and everything. 'In the pandemic yeah, for some reason I felt like I needed to learn to do stuff. Big up able skills It was wicked.' - But Dizzee claims other people on the course were 'miffed' about him enrolling he also told Fix Radio: 'People were miffed, when I get in the queue people were like 'What's he doing here'. However, others that he had spent weeks with didn't recognise him and only clocked towards the end of the course that he was a famous rapper. He said: 'Towards the end there was a couple dudes I've been with them for weeks. They were like "Hey oh my God it's you, hey man, he's rich man, he's famous man". 'Right at the end is when they clocked it.' Despite his foray into blue collar-work, Dizzee returned with a UK tour last year to celebrate 15 years since the release of his groundbreaking album Tongue n' Cheek. The rapper burst onto the UK hip-hop scene with his Mercury Prize-winning debut album Boy in da Corner in 2003. The performer explained that he completed the course and received a certificate, which confirms he is qualified in City and Guilds Certificate in Plastering Dizzee, who got his start as a DJ at the tender age of 14, parlayed that early success into a career that has spanned 25 years and prompted many to dub him a pioneer of UK hip-hop and grime music. Dizzee has released eight albums, with his 2009 record Tongue n Cheek peaking at number three on the UK album charts. He has also scored four number one UK singles Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers, Holiday and Dirtee Disco, and collaborated with the likes of Robbie Williams, Calvin Harris, and Ty Dolla Sign. His long career has not been without controversy though, with the rapper convicted of assaulting his former partner Cassandra Jones in 2022. An appeal against his conviction was dismissed in January 2023 and he received a community order that included a 24-week curfew and a retraining order preventing him from contacting Cassandra for 12 months. The rapper lost an appeal against the conviction in 2023. In a statement released after Dizzee lost the appeal, Cassandra, who shares two children with the star, said the appeal had been 'hugely upsetting' for her, adding the experience has helped her understand why 'so many women drop out of the criminal justice system'. 'This verdict today once again shows wealth and status cannot be used to silence women,' she said in the statement. 'Domestic abuse is a crime impacting one in four women in their lifetime. 'I would like to thank my family and friends and the specialist organisations who have supported me throughout and also say to other women experiencing abuse that regardless of money or influence, support is out there, and you are not alone.' In the Noughties, brothers Christopher and Danny Masterson dominated the TV scene. Danny, 49, was famed for his role as Steven Hyde in That '70s Show, while Christopher played Francis in Malcolm in the Middle - which is now coming back for a reboot after two decades off screen. Despite being well-known in the industry, the brothers ended up retreating from the spotlight, both taking up careers as DJs and raising families. While the brothers stepped away from the public eye, their half-siblings Alanna and Jordan began to make a name for themselves in Hollywood, landing roles in The Walking Dead and The 40-Year-Old Virgin respectively. In 2020, the Masterson brothers were thrust back into the spotlight, however, when Danny was accused of raping three women at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. The Mastersons were all raised as Scientologists, and their religion ultimately played a large part in the trial. The Masterson's Scientology roots: How the famous family's religion formed a key part in disgraced actor Danny's rape case (Danny pictured with Christopher in 2009) Christopher is set to return to the spotlight with the Malcolm In The Middle reboot (pictured on the show with Frankie Muniz and Justin Berfield) Chris, Danny, Alanna and Jordan Masterson (L-R in 2006) were raised by Scientologists and their religious upbringing formed a part of Danny's rape case Danny's accusers were all ex-Scientologists and were also suing the Church of Scientology in civil court, claiming that they'd been harassed and intimidated since reporting Danny to police. He was ultimately sentenced to 30 years in jail for two counts of rape with force, violence or fear of bodily injury. After his sentencing in 2023, Danny was expelled from the Church of Scientology and declared a 'suppressive person' or 'SP' which the church defines as someone whose behavior seeks to impede the spiritual progress of those around him. But even with the expulsion, the church maintains that Danny is innocent of all charges, according to insiders. From childhood to today, the Church of Scientology had been a mainstay in the Masterson sibling's lives. Their mother Carole was a Scientologist. She split from Danny and Christopher's father Peter in the early Eighties and married fellow Scientologist Joe Reaiche in 1984. The couple then took the joint decision to join the church's clergy or Sea Org. Danny was nine and Christopher five when the family moved into the Sea Org's Clearwater, Florida, headquarters, having signed obligatory contracts vowing allegiance to the church for 'a billion years.' Within a year Carole had given birth to their first born, Jordan. The siblings are pictured with their mother Carol, a Scientologist, who once lived with the church's clergy, named Sea Org, in Florida Danny and Christopher's stepfather Joe Reaiche, who is the biological father of Jordan and Alanna previously claimed his children had been 'brainwashed' by Scientology WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY? The word Scientology literally means 'the study of truth' and is a religion based on the works of science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard. Scientologists believe that the 'reactive mind' - the part of the mind that isn't under your control - exerts power and command over your thoughts and actions. They believe that a person is an immortal, spiritual being (known in Scientology as a thetan, derived from the Greek letter meaning thought). Thetans are basically good and trying to survive. No person survives alone, but does so ultimately in co-ordination with others. Advertisement Yet they soon decided to leave the headquarters after Joe claimed to witness seeing members punished by RPF - the Rehabilitation Project Force. Joe previously told DailyMail.com in 2015 how being a Sea Org was tantamount to 'slave labor' as he and Carole worked 60 or 70 hour weeks for $30 a week. 'You're basically signing your soul away,' he said. 'And it goes from bad to worse at that point,' he said. The couple left in 1986 and became lay members of the community. They went to California where the kids began auditioning for roles. They later moved to New York for Joe's work and in 1988, Alanna was born. Throughout this time both Carole and Joe were taking course after course on the Church of Scientology's insistence that it was necessary and shelling out tens of thousands of dollars each year. It became a strain on Joe's relationship with the church and on the marriage. A failed business venture that ended up costing him thousands placed even more pressure on the already strained union and, in 1995, Carole and Joe divorced. By then, Joe admitted, he was 'just done' with Scientology. He said: 'You begin to lose the faith and you start to see that you're buying the idea of being a supreme being but that's not being delivered.' Joe had been determined to stay on good terms with his ex-wife and children so he tried to avoid any confrontation with the church. But in the eyes of the church Joe had traduced Hubbard's teachings and technologies and his ex-wife Carole had reported him to the church. In October 2004 Joe was summoned but couldn't come as he was in Atlanta on business. It wasn't until January 2005 that he ended up in front of a Court of Ethics in Clearwater, Florida. Joe said it was a 'kangaroo court' and that he 'knew it was going to be a hatchet job'. Danny (2L) was famed for his role as Steven Hyde in That '70s Show. He is pictured with Mila Kunis, Wilmer Valderrama, Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace and Laura Prepon Christopher was known for playing Francis on Malcolm In The Middle Eventually Joe was formally shunned and deemed a 'suppressive person' for questioning certain teachings. He tried to make contact with his family and friends in the church but no one would answer him. Ever since, he has had no contact with Matterson or any other of his children or step-children. He told DailyMail.com in 2015: 'I love my kids. Maybe I'll bump into them one day. They're probably going to be shocked. But I'm just going to say: "I love you. I hope you do well. I'll miss you for the rest of my life. I'll always be your dad".' A Scientology spokeswoman said at the time: 'Mr. Reaiches expulsion from the religion occurred a decade ago. He has had ample opportunities to resolve his personal relationships, but has instead used his one-time association with the Church to generate publicity.' The Masterson siblings declined to comment. While Joe has not seen his children for years, both him and The Church of Scientology played a major role in Danny's rape trial. When Danny was charged, his younger siblings Jordan and Alanna wrote asking for leniency for their older brother, painting their father Joe, as a deadbeat and convicted rapist Danny as a parental surrogate. In letters to LA Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, Jordan and Alanna both wrote their father left them 'for all intents and purposes' when they were under age 10, forcing Danny, then 16, to step up. All of the Masterson children have acted. Jordan is pictured with Amanda Fuller ABC sitcom in Last Man Standing Alanna Masterson played Tara Chamblera in The Walking Dead In response, Joe claimed his children had lied to help their brother and doubled down on his claims that Scientology 'brainwashed them'. Christopher did not send a letter and has not spoken publicly about his links to Scientology or Danny's sentencing. During Danny's trial the judge allowed expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership who had become a prominent opponent. The church said in a statement after the jury's verdict that the 'introduction of religion into this trial was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment and affects the due process rights of every American. 'The Church was not a party to this case and religion did not belong in this proceeding as Supreme Court precedent has maintained for centuries.' Tensions ran high in the courtroom between current and former Scientologists, and even leaked into testimony, with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members in the room. The women testified that when they reported Danny to church officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programs themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing. 'They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against,' Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors in his closing argument. 'Scientology told them there's no justice for them.' The church called the 'testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs' during the trial 'uniformly false.' 'The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone - Scientologists or not - to law enforcement,' the statement said. Despite being well-known in the industry, the brothers ended up retreating from the spotlight, both taking up careers as DJs and raising families (pictured in 2009) The Church of Scientology of Los Angeles is pictured. Scientology was founded in the Fifties by L. Ron Hubbard As for Danny's personal relationship with Scientology, he opened up about his membership of the church in an interview with Paper Magazine in 2015. 'In Scientology, there's no belief system or anyone who's worshipped or whatnot; it's all sort of like college of the mind,' the now-convicted rapist told the publication. 'And so I grew up not having to go and pray to anyone. I grew up just sort of like, "Oh, if you're thirsty, drink water".' Danny said it wasn't until high school that he started taking his participation in the church more seriously. He said he read Dianetics, a book of ideas written by the Church Of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard '[Hubbard] basically spent his entire life studying every great religion, found everything that worked, found things that didn't work, took the stuff that worked, started like questioning it and grilling it and drilling it, going over and over until he could find the things that worked every time, guaranteed,' Danny said. Danny has continually remained loyal to the highly controversial church and has hit out at those questioning his beliefs. He told Paper Magazine: 'I work, I have a family and I'm a spiritual being who likes to understand why things happen in the world and want to learn more so that I can have them not affect me adversely. 'So if that's weird, then, well, you can go f*** yourself.' Blake Lively has found herself in the spotlight, again, amid her ongoing legal battle with her former It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni. As she steps back into the spotlight to promote her latest film, Another Simple Favor, alongside Anna Kendrick, there has been a noticeable shift in her public style. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, fashion designer, Teresa Fernandez, explained how the Gossip Girl star, 37, has been 'using style as a subtle shield' as she tiptoes back into the public. 'Instead of reactive or loud fashion statements, shes opting for high-caliber, composed looks that convey professionalism and poise. Its a quiet form of brand control,' the Spanish designer, currently based in the Barcelona, speculated. Fernandez noted that she believes Lively's latest looks reflect an attempt to reaffirm her brand as 'stylish, in control, and elegantly distanced from chaos.' 'During the It Ends With Us press tour, her looks leaned romantic soft tones, vintage-inspired pieces, and silhouettes that carried a sense of nostalgia,' Fernandez, a stylist at Sumissura, pointed out. 'In more recent appearances, particularly around Another Simple Favor, shes pivoted.' As Blake Lively steps back into the spotlight to promote her latest film, Another Simple Favor, alongside Anna Kendrick, there has been a noticeable shift in her public style; seen in 2024 Unlike her glamorous, floral-inspired press tour wardrobe during the It Ends With Us press tour, Fernandez highlighted how the actress is, now, leaning more toward 'sharper tailoring, more structured silhouettes, luxe fabrics like leather, and power labels like Chanel.' 'Its a noticeable shift from softness to strength and it feels incredibly intentional,' she stressed. 'Your clothes speak before you do.' Fernandez went on to describe how public figures tend to use clothing as a 'non-verbal press strategy' during times of controversy or turbulent press cycles. Fernandez pointed out that, last week, Lively appeared to be sending a message with her look as she attended a special screening for Another Simple Favor in London. Unlike her preppy Chanel ensemble, worn to a photo call for the movie just hours earlier, the fashion expert called her plunging leather gown a 'bold move.' She opted to style the edgy leather David Koma jacket, complete with floor-length fringe, with thigh-high Christian Louboutin boots. 'Not only was it fashion-forward, but symbolic,' she insisted. 'Leather connotes strength, confidence, a bit of edge. It reads like: "Im unshaken."' Fernandez also theorized that there was a 'clear strategy' to her Chanel look too. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, fashion designer, Teresa Fernandez, explained how the Gossip Girl star, 37, has been 'using style as a subtle shield' as she tiptoes back into the public Fernandez noted that she believes Lively's latest looks reflect an attempt to reaffirm her brand as 'stylish, in control, and elegantly distanced from chaos' down to her every accessory While discussing Lively's press looks for Another Simple Favor, Fernandez highlighted how the actress is leaning more toward 'sharper tailoring, more structured silhouettes, luxe fabrics like leather, and power labels like Chanel' She explained that Lively went for an 'understated but meticulously elegant' outfit with her Chanel black-and-yellow cardigan, leather skirt and knee boots. She completed the polished ensemble with a quirky crossbody shaped like a camera. Despite looking effortlessly put together, it is clear every accessory was meticulously from her dangling lemon wedge earrings to her diamond-encrusted flower barrette. During both events, she sported a sheer, nude manicure with gold accents. This is a far departure from her style during the It Ends With Us release and rollout that landed her in hot water with critics, who found her overtly stylized ensembles tone-deaf and at odds with the story's themes surrounding domestic violence. 'Many fans saw this as a tone-deaf representation of Lily Blooms character. Rather than honoring the weight of the story, particularly its themes surrounding domestic violence, the styling felt more like a fashion-forward rom-com and the dissonance didnt go unnoticed.,' Dr. Lyric Mandell told DailyMail.com. More recently, Dr. Mandell (PhD, Media and Public Affairs) says Lively's latest looks have felt 'distinctly intentional and image-conscious.' 'While her current style isnt exactly Serena van der Woodsen-esque, it undoubtedly echoes the classic old money aesthetic tailored, elevated, and confident, but now filtered through a more mature, grounded lens,' she explained. Dr. Mandell noted that Lively may be trying to remind audiences of the woman they 'first admired during her Gossip Girl era: aspirational, trustworthy, and in control.' 'In doing so, she subtly distances herself from the chaotic It Ends With Us rollout and reasserts the polished, cultural icon status that has long anchored her public persona,' she speculated. Unlike her preppy Chanel ensemble, worn to a photo call for the movie just hours earlier, the fashion expert called her plunging leather gown a 'bold move' 'Not only was it fashion-forward, but symbolic,' she insisted. 'Leather connotes strength, confidence, a bit of edge. It reads like: "Im unshaken"' Fernandez went on to describe how public figures tend to use clothing as a 'non-verbal press strategy' during times of controversy or turbulent press cycles For the SXSW premiere of Another Simple Favor, Lively seemingly attempted to keep the focus on her fashion as she arrived in a custom '50s-inspired dress by Renee Masoomian. While strutting down the red carpet, she removed her short-sleeve mauve midi coat and revealed a striking, latex corset and skirt. For the occasion, she wore her long blonde tresses in retro victory rolls and sported multiple cocktail rings on her fingers. The look was very much a calculated choice and commitment to method dressing as most stars would not dare wear a full latex dress in 80 degree weather. According to the designers Instagram, the latex wedding dress worn by Lively's character, Emily Nelson, in the upcoming thriller was also designed by Masoomian. For the SXSW premiere of Another Simple Favor, Lively seemingly attempted to keep the focus on her fashion in a custom '50s-inspired dress by Renee Masoomian While strutting down the red carpet, she removed her short-sleeve mauve midi coat and revealed a striking, latex corset and skirt For the occasion, she wore her long blonde tresses in retro victory rolls and sported multiple cocktail rings on her fingers According to Fernandez, Lively is navigating the 'delicate balance' between relatability and professionalism during a scandal. 'You want to appear grounded, but not vulnerable,' she said. 'Blakes recent choices strike that tone perfectly: timeless, tailored, and undeniably composed. Its the same approach many of our clients take when navigating leadership roles or high-pressure moments fashion becomes a tool for clarity and quiet confidence.' Celebrity PR and branding expert, Sarah Schmidt, also told DailyMail.com that she believes Lively's 'parade of grayscale suits, luxe neutrals, and blackout jumpsuits' are an attempt to appear 'above the noise.' 'Its textbook image recalibrationbuttoned-up silhouettes and sober palettes designed to rebuild trust without saying a word,' Schmidt claimed. Among the most iconic looks was a floor-length Tamara Ralph dress, worth more than $33,000, at the film's UK premiere at Odeon Luxe (seen on August 08, 2024) Still, she cautioned that while 'fashion can shift the frame' it can't erase scrutiny. 'When controversy circles, a wardrobe pivot alone wont save the storyline. A black jumpsuit wont rewrite what the headlines already printed; a neutral dress cant erase the narrative on TikTok,' Schmidt noted. 'Celebrities often turn to clothing as armor during scandals, hoping the right hemline or hue telegraphs contrition or control.' As for whether her rebrand will work, Schmidt, who has worked with celebrities like Bill Maher, Melissa Rivers and Bella Thorne, stated 'audiences today are too savvy.' 'Its a smart start, but ultimately, the damage and the redemption will live in the scroll, not the seams,' Schmidt concluded. As Lively keeps her head held high, the Green Lantern actress has not allowed backlash to steer her away from a number of glamorous looks, including the shimmering silver gown she wore to the SNL 50th Anniversary Special in February. Flowers have been a key theme in Blake's wardrobe during her promotional tour. Here she is pictured in three different floral outfits The event marked her first red carpet appearance of 2025 and first following her lawsuit against Baldoni, who vehemently denies her sexual harassment allegations. Her floral-covered gown was reminiscent of her glitzy It Ends With Us press tour looks and accessorized with plenty of diamonds and a pair of strappy metallic pumps. Last year, the performer wowed with a number of knock-out floral dresses on behalf of It Ends With Us, a romantic-drama based on the 2016 novel by Colleen Hoover. Her looks her a nod to her character in the film, Lily Bloom, who owns a flower shop. Among the most iconic looks was a floor-length Tamara Ralph dress, worth more than $33,000, at the film's UK premiere at Odeon Luxe. Another standout look included the $19,000 cutout jeans she wore to an early screening of the flick in Grapevine, Texas; seen in June 15, 2024 The dress was adorned with crystal mesh petals, featuring a crystal orchid and cherry blossom neckline. She finished off her look with floral-themed pieces from Lorraine Schwartz Jewelry. The actress completed her look with a striking scarlet feather shawl, while glittering silver heels were visible beneath her floor-length hemline as she made her way across the white carpet. To the New York City premiere, she sent the internet into a frenzy over her Versace dress, previously worn by Britney Spears in 2003. Another standout look included the $19,000 cutout jeans she wore to an early screening of the flick in Grapevine, Texas. Dr. Mandell detailed how these looks are a 'stark contrast' to her more recent red carpet moments. 'Her decision to wear Britney Spears vintage floral dress a look that was not only visually loud but also carried associations with an unpredictable, even chaotic image,' she noted. 'Now, were seeing Blake embrace sleek lines and monochromatic palettes that reflect the poise of a legacy celebrity consciously repositioning herself.' Ultimately, Dr. Mandell stated Lively's style evolution is 'lassic damage control but through the lens of couture.' Virginia Giuffres death by suicide at the age of 41 should force us all to ask an uncomfortable question: how are we still living in a society where so many victims of sexual abuse are not just left unsupported, but treated as criminals themselves? Suicide is always complex and it is unwise to attribute it to one single thing. But we know, from Ms Giuffres heartbroken family, that her experiences with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had continued to haunt her, as is so often the case with victims of sex crimes. Virginia lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking, her family said in a statement. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. Ms Giuffre had been open about the impact that Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell had had on her. There are scars that will never, ever heal, ever, she said in 2019, when interviewed about the reasons why she had dedicated her life to advocating for victims of sex trafficking. But to me, more than anything, its a responsibility that I have, and I implore the community to please stand next to me and help me bring down all these bad people. And if youve got somebody in your life thats doing this to you too, speak out, stand up, the times are changing, as they should be. And its a good time to start holding these monsters accountable. She was ruthlessly attacked by strangers on the internet, not to mention so-called allies of Prince Andrew (Virginia pictured in a hospital bed this year) Virginia Giuffre with Sarah Ransome (left) and Marijke Chartouni (right) after having met at an emotional court hearing for victims of Epstein in 2019 Reading those words back now, I feel absolutely heartbroken for Ms Giuffre. She was ruthlessly attacked by strangers on the internet, not to mention so-called allies of Prince Andrew. Yesterday Lady Victoria Hervey posted a screenshot of the news about Ms Giuffres death, alongside the words: When lies catch up to you theres no way out. Lady Victoria later added that she had taken the decision to pause my posts on Virginia Giuffre at this time. Irrespective of the circumstances, suicide in anyone at any time is tragic, and in a young mother who has children, even more so. But for many this was too little, too late. Just a month ago, Lady Victoria had mocked Ms Giuffre when she posted from her hospital bed, claiming she only had four days to live. Karma, wrote Lady Victoria, adding the mocking strains of The Final Countdown to her Instagram post. Royal experts at the time suggested the strange episode could work in Prince Andrews favour, calling into question the credibility of Ms Giuffre as a witness. (All of this while conveniently ignoring the royals own credibility, given that earlier this year, doubt was cast on his claims to have cut all ties with Epstein in 2010 after the emergence of emails that showed the pair were still in contact a few months later.) At the time, I wrote a column in the Mail saying how disgusted I was that establishment figures would see it as an opportunity to rehabilitate Andrew, rather than calling it out for what it clearly was: a desperately sad example of the devastating impact of paedophile Jeffrey Epsteins wicked crimes. I was shocked when my social media accounts were bombarded by trolls smearing Ms Giuffres name in the most disgusting way. It was a small glimpse into what she must have had to put up with since 2011, when she took the brave step to go public with her story. Born Virginia Roberts in California in 1983, she experienced childhood sexual abuse. As a 14-year-old, she lived on the streets before being drugged and raped by sex trafficker Ron Eppinger. She was not the only victim of Epstein but Ms Giuffre was the most high profile and she doggedly campaigned for justice for victims of sex trafficking (Pictured with Prince Andrew and Maxwell in 2001) At 16, while working as a locker room assistant at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago club, she was accosted by Maxwell, who asked her to work as a massage therapist for Epstein. She was not the only victim of Epstein Julie K Brown, an investigative journalist at the Miami Herald whose work helped to bring down the financier, identified around 80 of his victims but Ms Giuffre was the most high profile and she doggedly campaigned for justice for victims of sex trafficking. He had enough money to get the finest prostitutes that he wanted but he didnt want that, said Ms Brown in 2021. He wanted scared, young girls. That was all part of his fantasy... it was like a revolving door... he wanted fresh, young girls all of the time... he wanted a continuing parade of young girls. Ms Brown added that he didnt do this alone. He had a whole ecosystem that he created that allowed this to happen. Will those people today be feeling any remorse at the death of this young mother? Or will they simply forget about her, like so many of Epsteins other victims? Leigh Patrick died at the age of 29 of a heroin overdose, her sister saying that her life spiralled out of control after she met Epstein at 16 (he paid her $300 to take her top off). Dainya Nida, also molested by Epstein at 16, attempted suicide. One woman, identified in court only as Jane Doe 15, said she was assaulted by Epstein at 15 and that his abuse pushed her to the point where I purchased a gun and drove to an isolated place to end my suffering. Michelle Licata was 16 when she was molested by Epstein. She said that the anger she felt at her abuse had led her to punch holes in the wall. These are just the women we know about, the ones who dug deep and somehow found the courage to speak out. Its a grim roll call and underlines that sad fact that the people who have experienced the most severe punishment for Jeffrey Epsteins crimes are the women themselves. And like far too many victims of sexual abuse, Virginia Giuffre has now paid the highest price of all. Britpop legends Oasis are firmly back in fashion thanks to their hotly anticipated reunion tour this summer. And ahead of the band's sold-out dates, frontman Liam Gallagher has headlined a new outdoor festival... although it's not quite all it seems. I can reveal that luxury fashion brand Burberry spent a rumoured six-figure sum building a fake event where they could shoot an advertising campaign featuring the Mancunian rocker. The 'mini-Glastonbury', in a Hertfordshire field, features five marquee stages, a campsite, hay bales and billowing flags and even a bouncy castle. Liam, 52, will appear in the ads alongside his children Molly, 27, Gene, 23, and Lennon, 25, who has previously appeared in campaigns and on catwalks for the fashion house. But although Liam and his brother Noel, 57, have buried the hatchet on their 16-year feud for the comeback tour, the pair will not reunite for the Burberry ad. Nor will Noel's photographer daughter Anais, 25, feature, even though she was on the front row of the brand's catwalk show in February with Liam's children. Instead Liam and his family will be joined by other previous Burberry models. Last week, Liam and Noel were pictured at a working men's club in North London filming a promotional video for their 50 million tour. Burberry did not respond to a request for comment last night. Liam Gallagher's children will appear in a Burberry ad with him (left to right) Gene, 23, Molly, 27, and Lennon, 25 The 'mini-Glastonbury', in a Hertfordshire field (pictured), features five marquee stages, a campsite, hay bales and billowing flags and even a bouncy castle Rosie's outfit is a sheer delight She has her own range of lingerie with M&S so maybe it's little wonder Rosie Huntington-Whiteley doesn't want to keep her bra under cover. The model, who is engaged to action hero Jason Statham, embraced the underwear-on-display trend when she attended a Tiffany gala in New York on Friday, alongside other A-listers including actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Rosie wore the same sheer outfit to Gigi Hadid's 30th birthday bash later that night. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (pictured) at the Tiffany gala in New York on Friday Too spicy even for Saltburn's director! Society jewellery designer Theo Fennell may have lived a rich, glamorous life, but not all his exploits have made it into his second memoir, The Glory Years. That's because his daughters Saltburn director Emerald and fashion designer Coco, censored it. Explaining their stance, Theo told me: 'The essence of it was, one: absolutely no sex. That was forbidden by my family. 'Two, no famous people. And third, nobody must suffer.' Pictured: fashion designer Coco (left) and Saltburn director Emerald (right) at the launch of their father's new book When most of us enjoy a great Airbnb stay, we might leave a positive review online. Margot Robbie had such a good time in her Notting Hill rental flat that she bought the place. The 34-year-old Barbie star, is said to have been particularly impressed with the hot tub. That seems apt given her memorable scene explaining financial complexities from a bubble-filled bath in The Big Short. The star, married to English producer Tom Ackerley, has spent the last few weeks in the UK filming a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights in the Yorkshire Dales. Margot Robbie (pictured) has spent the last few weeks in the UK filming a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights in the Yorkshire Dales A novel take on Megxit... She was entrusted with interviewing Meghan Markle for Vogue last month and has covered the Royals extensively now I hear that Michelle Ruiz, is going one step further and writing a novel 'inspired by the Royal Family saga'. But who are the heroes and villains in Ruiz's version of events and how will she portray the Megxit drama? Can't wait to read it to find out whether fiction can be stranger than fact. Pictured: Meghan Markle in her Netflix series With Love Meghan where the duchess was joined by guests as she offered lifestyle tips David Cameron had a choice of delicacies such as devilled eggs and cuttlefish stew when he dined last week at The Blue Stoops, the Kensington restaurant owned by City stalwart Jamie Allsopp. No such fare for the former prime minister's security detail, alas they had to make do with sausage rolls and pork scratchings in the bar. Jeremy Clarkson stocks only British produce at his Cotswolds pub, The Farmer's Dog. But he's been making his wines seem more French by sticking the word 'Chateau' in front of the UK region they come from. Glass of Chateau Stourbridge, anyone? Wellness influencer Janelle Rohner is receiving backlash after admitting to, and then apologizing for, using a weight loss drug. The 37-year-old TikTok star, who boasts 5.2 million followers on the app, created a name for herself in the fitness and health space after launching her account in 2020. Earlier this week she revealed she's been using a GLP-1 medication, sparking fury as people demand she refunds anyone who purchased her $200 weight loss course. The plan, dubbed Macros 101, promises buyers that it will help them 'experience food freedom and change your life.' One person wrote online, 'Girl, if you want sympathy you better start giving some people their money back. Like, from the time you started the meds.' Rohner, a married mother-of-two, issued a desperate apology with the YouTube title: 'I truly am sorry for anyone who felt mislead, Im trying to make this right.' Wellness influencer Janelle Rohner is receiving backlash after admitting to, and then apologizing for, using a weight loss drug Earlier this week she revealed she's been using a GLP-1 medication, sparking fury as people demand she refunds anyone who purchased her $200 weight loss course Rohner didn't specify what drug she's been using, but the most recognizable GLP-1 brands are Ozempic and Mounjaro. The confessional clip that initially ignited criticism was in response to a social media user who asked flat-out, 'Are you Ozempic or Mounjaro?' Dressed in a bright, sky blue sweatshirt, Janelle appeared on TikTok in a 25-second outtake, stating, 'I have seen this question all over my page, on all of my videos over the last couple of months and let's talk about it.' She directed followers to another platform, telling them, 'I recorded a whole YouTube because it is just way too long to talk about here.' 'I know that sharing this might open me up to judgment, but hiding it would mean, losing something important, my truth. And I owe it to you all to be honest,' the influencer wrote in the caption. In the five-minute YouTube admission she spilled, 'I started working with a doctor, and we did decide to add a GLP-1 to my plan. GLP-1s are not magic. 'They dont change your lifestyle overnight its just a tool to help. I still had to show up: show up for my meals, track my macros, drink my water, go on walks, do my workouts everything that I already teach and believe in. 'It just helped me regain a sense of control, and its something that I dont want to be ashamed of.' The confessional clip that initially ignited criticism was in response to a social media user who asked flat-out, 'Are you Ozempic or Mounjaro?' On Instagram, one person said, 'Wish you would have been honest from day 1. You were repping for the non GLP-1 girlies. Dang, girl' Someone else called the scandal 'disappointing' 'You're only saying something because people keep asking. That's not the same as being honest,' another person reprimanded There was also a social media who took issue with the wording of the blonde mom's apology A fellow nurse weighed in, 'As an RN and having struggled with post menopause weight, I am disappointed in you regardless of your title(s) or excuses' Before coming clean, the San Diego-based nurse prefaced, 'If youve been following me for a while, you know Ive tried it all keto, macros, workouts, lifestyle shifts and I have always shared whats worked and what hasnt. 'Lately, Ive been getting a lot of questions about how Im feeling, whats new, whats changed, and I dont want to avoid it. So here it goes: Yes, over the last year I have decided to make some new choices in my health.' She explained that since beginning the GLP-1 meds, she's scaled back to a microdose. 'After a few months, I had lost the stubborn 10 to 15 pounds. I was happy. I switched to microdosing for maintenance, and I would maybe do a microdose once a month. I also paired those new lifestyle changes with something that was a real game-changer for me: I started seeing a therapist regularly,' Janelle opened up. Her fans didn't hold back as they left critical comments across her various social platforms. On Instagram, one person said, 'Wish you would have been honest from day 1. You were repping for the non GLP-1 girlies. Dang, girl.' In summer 2023 Janelle documented her body transformation in side-by-side photos Someone else called the scandal 'disappointing,' while declaring, 'Another health influencer down.' 'You're only saying something because people keep asking. That's not the same as being honest,' another person reprimanded. There was also a social media who took issue with the wording of the blonde mom's apology, writing, '"If people felt deceived, I'm sorry" versus "I'm sorry I deceived people." One contains ownership; one doesn't.' And a fellow nurse weighed in, 'As an RN and having struggled with post menopause weight, I am disappointed in you regardless of your title(s) or excuses.' Janelle offered to give refunds to anyone who felt misled: 'I still wholeheartedly believe in tracking macros and the workouts that I do and my classes. I did not take a GLP-1 because I dont believe in my classes and macros wasnt working. 'I did it for other personal and health reasons to use as a tool to hit mygoals. And if people felt deceived by that, I really truly am sorry. And I am willing to do a refund for anybody who bought a class in the last 11 months.' In conclusion, she listed, 'Heres the facts: I track macros. I work out a lot. I believe in high protein. I believe in moving your body. And I also use a micro dose of GLP1 maybe once a month. And I am in therapy. And I take an anti-anxiety, anti-depressant medication, which has also helped me lose weight. So theres the facts. If you want to stay here and follow my journey and support me, I love you.' Advertisement Terri Irwin has revealed what she really thinks of her son Robert's new found sex symbol status following his steamy Bonds and Stellar photoshoots in recent years. The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star, 21, has sent hearts soaring since 2022 when he began posing for fashion shoots, and then again more recently when he stripped down for an underwear campaign. However, the Australia Zoo matriarch, 60, has her reservations about the attention her youngest child has started to attract, saying in the latest issue of Stellar she is happy for Robert but 'it's a lot'. 'Steve used to say to me, "It wasn't until I started filming and became the Crocodile Hunter that girls looked at me twice,"' Terri recalled. 'He was 30, by the way, when we got married. So he goes, "Where were they?" So, on one hand, cool for Robert to have flattering attention, and on the other hand, it's a lot. 'And Steve used to say to me, "I'm glad we met before I was the Crocodile Hunter, because I know 100 per cent for sure that you just love me."' Terri Irwin, 61, has revealed what she really thinks of her son Robert's, 21, new found sex symbol status following his steamy Bonds and Stellar photoshoots in recent years, saying in the latest issue of Stellar she is happy for Robert but 'it's a lot' It comes after Terri weighed in on Robert's internet-breaking photoshoot, in which he posed half naked with various animals to promote the Aussie underwear brand Bonds in the US. A source close to Terri allegedly said the matriarch was 'a little surprised' by her son's decision to strip off for the shoot, reported New Idea last week. They claimed Terri 'voiced her concerns' over the sultry snaps as they did not align with the Irwin family's carefully curated family friendly brand. The source added Robert's success alongside Julia Morris on I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! had given him more leeway to make decisions about the direction of his career. 'Terri couldn't be prouder of the success Robert's made of his co-hosting role on I'm A Celebrity, so that's given Robert some clout when it comes to branching out in another direction on his own,' the source said. They added Terri eventually came around, after Robert explained that linking two well-known Aussie brands such as Bonds and the Irwins was a 'no-brainer'. 'He felt that linking two iconic Australian namesBonds and the Irwinswas a no-brainer and so, Terri's gone with it.' While the Irwins' tight-knit bond has been celebrated for years, friends close to Robert believe it's time for him to assert his independence and focus on creating a life of his own. The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star has sent hearts soaring since 2022 when he began posing for fashion shoots, and then again more recently when he stripped down for an underwear campaign 'The Irwin clan live under the same roof... It's not healthy for Robert to live under the same roof as his entire family,' an insider told Daily Mail Australia in January. Robert is rumoured to be dating Charlotte Briggs, a former staff member of Australia Zoo, since November 2024. Sources tell Daily Mail Australia the television star is waiting for his mum to approve of his new 'squeeze' before going public with the relationship. 'Terri wants Robert to focus on his career and she isn't ready to have him tied up in a family like Bindi.' Ben Affleck's latest movie, The Accountant 2, was released on April 25. It's a follow-up to the 2016 original, which starred Anna Kendrick, 39, opposite the 52-year-old Boston native. It centered around zany mathematician Christian Wolff (Affleck), a freelance accountant for criminal organizations. Kendrick, who played Christian's love interest Dana Cummings, is noticeably absent from the sequel, and director Gavin O'Connor recently explained why. He revealed to The Direct that the Pitch Perfect star's nonappearance 'was always the intention for the second movie.' O'Connor, along with screenwriter Bill Dubuque had always planned for the second installment to hone in on Christian and his estranged brother Brax (Jon Bernthal) as they resolve their issues. Ben Affleck's latest movie, The Accountant 2, was released on April 25. It's a follow-up to the 2016 original, which starred Anna Kendrick, 39, opposite the 52-year-old Boston native Kendrick, who played Christian's love interest Dana Cummings, is noticeably absent from the sequel, and director Gavin O'Connor recently explained why; pictured April 15 The Accountant 2 picks up nine years after the original, highlighting treasury agent Marybeth Medina played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson who enlists Christian to solve a murder mystery. Christian takes on the task with the help of his estranged brother Brax (Jon Bernthal), with the siblings setting out to uncover the truth. Ben, Cynthia, Jon and J.K. Simmons have all reprised their roles. Anna could possibly return for a third iteration of the franchise. 'Don't be surprised if Dana, [Kendrick] shows up in the third film,' O'Connor teased, adding that the silver screen siren is 'a hundred percent in if we want.' Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes about the film in October 2016, Anna said, 'One of the things that intrigued me most about the script was the levels and layers of this puzzle.' The Hollywood vet continued: 'I had to read it twice to even follow a lot of the mystery as it gets unveiled. I think those kinds of movies where there's so much going on that you can pick up more and more if you watch it a few times are really exciting.' She added, 'It has that feeling of a '90s thriller. Obviously, Ben and Gavin were [also] hugely exciting to me.' He revealed to The Direct that the Pitch Perfect star's nonappearance 'was always the intention for the second movie.' However, Anna could possibly return for a third iteration of the franchise The Accountant centered around zany mathematician Christian Wolff (Affleck), a freelance accountant for criminal organizations The first trailer for The Accountant 2 came out in February. Ben produced, along with lifelong friend and collaborator Matt Damon, Lynette Howell Taylor, and Mark Williams. Fans were delighted to learn about the second movie, taking to social media to express their excitement. 'Captain America, The Accountant 2, Mission Impossible, John Wick, Superman. It's gonna be a great year for movies,' one person wrote in anticipation. Someone else shared, 'I'm already in line and it hasn't even gone on sale yet. I'll take this over any Marvel movie in 2025.' Advertisement Madeline Holtznagel spared no expense on Saturday as she hosted a lavish baby shower ahead of the birth of her first child with billionaire pub baron Justin Hemmes. The expecting mother, 28, decked out the $100million Vaucluse mansion she shares with the hospitality entrepreneur, 52, as she entertained a Who's Who guest list of Sydney socialites. While Madeline has kept quiet on her socials about the affair so far, the likes of her sister Simone and 'nude artist' Dina Broadhurst, as well as other friends, have given a sneak peek into the extravagant event on Instagram. The model looked every inch the proud mother-to-be as she stepped out in a white designer chiffon maxi dress with a plunging necklineworth $620 from Arcina Ori. She cradled her growing baby bump as she let her blonde tresses fall in loose waves and opted for a very minimal makeup look. Guests enjoyed an unobstructed view of Sydney Harbour up close, with blue and white balloons strewn around the Victorian rustic gothic style estate. Madeline Holtznagel, 28, spared no expense on Saturday as she hosted a lavish baby shower ahead of the birth of her first child with billionaire pub baron Justin Hemmes, 52. Both pictured Delicious bespoke hors d'oeuvres were circulated around the shower, including bumps of caviar, seared salmon and cream filled donuts. At one point, Madeline could be seen grinning from ear-to-ear as she cut into a three-tier gourmet chocolate cake in her huge kitchen. Simone, 31, put on a leggy display in a beige mini dress as she arrived at the home, hiding her eyes behind a pair of dark designer sunglasses at one point. Meanwhile, Dina, 48, showed off her bust in a $560 baby blue mini dress from SIR. Marcus Brodie, who is the Head of Guest Relations at Justin's company Merivale, shared a collage of instant pictures he snapped of the occasion. There appeared to be a theme of white dresses among some of the female guests, with Marcus also taking a picture of a toy car meant as a gift for Madeline's newborn, who sister Simone has dubbed 'Baby H'. The Design Director at Merivale, Nasim Koerting, was also in attendance. She shared a slew of images of Madeline posing with her friends, as well as a close up of the huge cake and delicious food, all made by Head Chef Tal Buchnik and Executive Chef Mike Eggert of Merivale. The expecting mother decked out the $100million Vaucluse mansion she shares with the hospitality entrepreneur as she entertained a Who's Who guest list of Sydney socialites Madeline cradled her growing baby bump as she let her blonde tresses fall in loose waves and opted for a very minimal makeup look Madeline could be seen snapping pictures of her catered spread Montana Cox, also a model, followed with her own photo of Madeline posing against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour as she threw her head back while friends snapped pictures of her Delicious bespoke hors d'oeuvres were circulated around the shower, including bumps of caviar, seared salmon and cream filled donuts Marcus Brodie, who is the Head of Guest Relations at Justin's company Merivale, shared a collage of instant pictures he snapped of the occasion Model Julia Cavanagh also shared several images of the behind-the-scenes, revealing a table packed to bursting with gifts from loved ones, and a clothes line decoration with several baby clothes pegged to it. Montana Cox, also a model, followed with her own photo of Madeline posing against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour as she threw her head back while friends snapped pictures of her. The Hermitage was originally built in 1831 and snapped up by Justin's parents John and Merivale Hemmes for $500,000 in the 1970s. Justin grew up in the gothic-style mansion, which is now worth an eye-watering $100million, and moved back into the property in 2011 to complete an extensive renovation on the heritage-listed home. Inside, baby shower guests took in the Carrara marble, copper fittings, natural stone and European oak joinery of the luxury mansion, which is now set to become Justin and Madeline's family home. The soon-to-be trio will spend their days languishing in an outdoor angular swimming pool complete with pool-side bar and lounge area which make the most of spectacular harbour views. In November an insider confirmed the exciting news of Madeline's pregnancy to Daily Mail Australia and revealed a friend of Justin's recently moved out of his Vaucluse mansion to make room for their growing family. Justin, who has a net worth of $1.39billion, already has daughters Alexa and Saachi with his ex-girlfriend Kate Fowler, from whom he separated in 2018. Model Julia Cavanagh also shared several images of the behind-the-scenes, revealing a table packed to bursting with gifts from loved ones, and a clothes line decoration with several baby clothes pegged to it The delicious food was prepared by top chefs working for Justin at Merivale Balloons decorated the property that overlooks the magnificent Sydney Harbour At one point, Madeline could be seen grinning from ear-to-ear as she cut into a three-tier gourmet chocolate cake in her huge kitchen The Design Director at Merivale, Nasim Koerting, shared a slew of images of Madeline posing with her friends, as well as a close up of the huge cake and delicious food, all made by Head Chef Tal Buchnik and Executive Chef Mike Eggert of Merivale The business mogul then began dating Madeline the following year, when the model was 22 and he was 47. Though they generally keep their romance under wraps, the couple are often seen disembarking from his sea plane after enjoying luxurious family holidays with his two daughters. The couple have gone from strength-to-strength since going public and even sparked engagement rumours in June 2023. Eagle-eyed fans noticed Madeline was wearing a ring on her wedding finger as they questioned whether Justin had popped the question. A picture showed her sporting the jewellery as she cuddled up to Justin while enjoying a bowl of Udon noodles together at a restaurant in Japan. But the bling appeared to be an emerald and diamond promise ring, and another photograph showed her wearing a different ring on the same finger as she posed for a selfie. In August, Madeline also made a rare public post about Justin as she took to Instagram to mark his 52nd birthday. She shared a series of romantic selfies of them both and gushed over her partner in the caption. In one picture, Madeline flashed a huge smile as she sat on Justin's lap while he lovingly gazed at her. Justin is considered Australia's hospitality king, with more than 80 venues and billions in assets with names like the Ivy, Queen Chow and Establishment under his purview as CEO of Merivale. He is the only son of Merivale Group founder and nightclub mogul John Hemmes and Justin took over the business after his father's death in 2015. Madeline is the younger sister of fellow Aussie model Simone Holtznagel, who welcomed her first child, a daughter called Gia, in March last year, with her now-ex-boyfriend Jono Castano. Will Arnett was spotted arriving at Gigi Hadid's 30th birthday party alongside a leggy brunette this Friday night in New York City. The 54-year-old actor is known to have been dating 38-year-old fashion entrepreneur Alessandra Brawn since 2019, and they share a son called Denny, four. Alessandra did not appear to be at Will's side Friday, when he was seen reaching the entrance of Gigi's fete next to the birthday girl's influencer pal Leah McCarthy, 30. Leah strolled up the sidewalk right beside Will as they both swung by Le Chalet in Midtown Manhattan for the star-studded fete. The party was a font of conjecture, with GIgi wearing a ring on her wedding finger while celebrating with her public boyfriend Bradley Cooper, 50. Bradley is directing an upcoming comedy movie called Is This Thing On?, in which he will also co-star with Will as well as Laura Dern. DailyMail.com has contacted Will's representatives for comment. Will Arnett was spotted arriving at Gigi Hadid 's 30th birthday party alongside a leggy brunette this Friday night in New York City Leah sizzled up a storm at Gigi's party, flaunting her cloven-in-marble midriff and ample cleavage in a plunging black crop top. Slipping on a thin black jacket to ward off the lingering chill, she showcased her statuesque legs in a sparkly miniskirt and black hose. Jazzing up the ensemble with a sumptuous set of jeweled necklaces, she sharpened her features with makeup and balanced expertly on stilettos. Meanwhile Will cut a more casual figure in a partly tucked-in shirt with jeans, leaving his top few buttons beguilingly undone over his bronzed chest. Leah enjoys a following of more than 150,000 on Instagram, with celebrity friends including Gigi and Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski. Will's sighting at Gigi's party comes just over a week after he wrapped production on Bradley's latest directorial effort Is This Thing On?, via Variety. The comedy stars Will and Laura as a divorcing couple trying to navigate the new dynamic of co-parenting their children and sharing their friends. Will himself is known to have been dating Alessandra Brawn, who works in the fashion industry, since 2019, welcoming their son Denny the following year. Leah strolled up the sidewalk right beside Will as they both swung by Le Chalet in Midtown Manhattan for the star-studded fete Leah sizzled up a storm at Gigi's party, flaunting her cloven-in-marble midriff and ample cleavage in a plunging black crop top The party was a font of conjecture, with GIgi wearing a ring on her wedding finger while celebrating with her public boyfriend Bradley Cooper, 50 The 54-year-old actor is known to have been dating 38-year-old fashion entrepreneur Alessandra Brawn since 2019; pictured at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2024 Will used to be married to fellow sitcom star Amy Poehler, with whom he formed a beloved comedy power couple when they tied the knot in 2003; pictured in 2012, the year they split Although they have largely kept their relationship out of the public eye, they did pose together at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 2024. Will used to be married to fellow sitcom star Amy Poehler, with whom he formed a beloved comedy power couple when they tied the knot in 2003. They separated in 2012 and finalized their divorce in 2016, but retained an amicable equation as they bring up their sons Archie, 16, and Abel, 14. Amy and Will have refrained from publicly airing out the details of their breakup, though they have been candid about its emotional difficulties. Will described the split as 'brutal, brutal, brutal,' sharing: 'I was driving to the set one day and I pulled over to the side of the road and cried for an hour,' to The Guardian. In her memoir Yes, Please, published in 2014, Amy wrote: 'I don't want to talk about my divorce because it is too sad and too personal.' The Parks And Recreation star noted that she prefers to maintain a degree of privacy, explaining that 'I also don't like people knowing my s**t.' A few weeks after their divorce was finalized, Will, then 48, was linked to interior designer Elizabeth Law, then 30, whom he was involved with until at least March 2019 when they were glimpsed passionately kissing out in Los Angeles. Rosie O'Donnell opened up about her friendship with imprisoned killer Lyle Menendez. The 63-year-old comedian struck up an unexpected friendship with one of the two Menendez brothers who were convicted for the murder of their parents. She admitted that she talks to the convicted murderer 'about two to three times a week,' according to Page Six. O'Donnell said that they bonded over dogs, and this comes after she confessed that the infamous killer is the first straight man she has ever trusted and loved. He and his younger brother Erik Menendez are still serving life sentences without parole for the murders of their parents in 1989. O'Donnell previously revealed she reached out to Menendez in 2022 after watching a documentary about their harrowing story. Rosie O'Donnell opened up about her friendship with imprisoned killer Lyle Menendez; pictured October 2024 in Los Angeles The 63-year-old comedian struck up an unexpected friendship with one of the two Menendez brothers who were convicted for the murder of their parents This comes as the Menendez brothers are seeking resentencing and potentially earlier release due to newly emerged evidence alleging childhood sexual abuse by their brother. O'Donnell is hopeful that they could receive a retrial and potentially be released in the near future. 'I'm sure of it in my mind,' she told the outlet. 'I have to be.' She added: I think it's the only way that you can love and care for someone who's serving life without parole, is to have endless hope and believe in their ability to get out of this really inhumane sentence.' In addition to their frequent phone calls, O'Donnell also visits Menendez whenever she has the chance. She revealed that during one particular visit, she learned about a service dog program at the prison. She recalled Menendez explaining to her that the dogs were being trained by incarcerated men to help children with autism. He also suggested that O'Donnell get a dog for her youngest child Clay, who is on the spectrum. She admitted that she talks to the convicted murderer 'about two to three times a week'; pictured October 2024 in Los Angeles He and his younger brother Erik Menendez are still serving life sentences without parole for the murders of their parents in 1989. O'Donnell previously revealed she reached out to Menendez in 2022 after watching a documentary about their harrowing story; pictured December 1992 in Los Angeles In addition to their frequent phone calls, O'Donnell also visits Menendez whenever she has the chance. She revealed that during one particular visit, she learned about a service dog program at the prison She recalled Menendez explaining to her that the dogs were being trained by incarcerated men to help children with autism. He also suggested that O'Donnell get a dog for her youngest child Clay, who is on the spectrum O'Donnell said the following year, 12-year-old Clay, who goes by they/them pronouns, matched with and brought home a black Labrador mix named Kuma. The actress said that since then, she has seen Clay's life change O'Donnell said the following year, 12-year-old Clay, who goes by they/them pronouns, matched with and brought home a black Labrador mix named Kuma. The actress said that since then, she has seen Clay's life change. 'The drawings of people with bloody hands and knives have all stopped,' O'Donnell shared. 'The laughter has come back, the brightness in their eyes, the ability to go out to restaurants, the ability to stay present and not disappear into themselves, usually because Kuma is coming over and nudging them.' O'Donnell, who recently moved to Ireland with Clay, has since produced a documentary about the service dog program. Unleashing Hope: The Power of Service Dogs for Children with Autism is now available to stream on Hulu. Naga Munchetty has opened up about her life long battle with adenomyosis after years of dealing with excruciating pain and no answers to solve it. The BBC presenter, 50, lived with painful heavy bleeding, vomiting, fainting and severe aching every two and a half weeks for 32 years before a private doctor finally gave her a diagnosis in 2022. Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb (uterus) starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb. It can affect one in 10 women, as per the NHS. She told The Sunday Times: 'It makes you angry. If you are second-guessing that you are not strong enough to be a woman, that you are weaker than all the other women because youre told its all normal, everyones going through it, you second-guess other parts of your life.' 'Ive never been suicidal but definitely, because there were no answers, I just thought, I cant go through this in another two and a half weeks. It just needs to stop', she added. Before she was diagnosed, in 2019 Naga opted to get sterilised in an attempt to stop her symptoms because she thought it was her 'only option'. Naga Munchetty, 50, has opened up about her life long battle with adenomyosis after years of dealing with excruciating pain and no answers to solve it The BBC presenter lived with painful heavy bleeding, vomiting, fainting and severe aching every two and a half weeks for 32 years before a private doctor finally gave her a diagnosis in 2022 (pictured with co-star Charlie Stayt) Female sterilisation is a permanent type of contraception, which requires keyhole surgery, where the fallopian tubes are blocked or cut to stop sperm meeting an egg. For Naga, she said the procedure wasn't a tough decision as she and her husband James Haggar, 52, were certain they didn't want children. She said: 'I knew I didnt want children and I didnt want to be reliant on hormones or the regimen of the pill because it didnt fit with my lifestyle. It felt like it was my only option.' Naga completely ruled out a hysterectomy because she didn't believe it would eradicate her pain. Today, Naga takes the hormonal contraceptive pill to prevent periods and is on HRT for the perimenopause. Naga said she still lives with adenomyosis to this day. 'Two ultrasounds and an MRI later, there is still no solution', says Naga but says she remains hopeful more funding is available for research into women's health. In 2023, she told how she suffered a flare-up of her adenomyosis, which got so bad that her husband called an ambulance for her. What is Adenomyosis? Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb (uterus) starts growing into the muscle in the wall of the womb. It can affect one in 10 women. There are treatments that can help with any symptoms. Adenomyosis is more commonly diagnosed in women over the age of 30. It can affect anyone who has periods. Advertisement What is Sterilisation? Female sterilisation is a permanent type of contraception, where the fallopian tubes are blocked or cut to stop sperm meeting an egg. Fallopian tubes connect the ovaries with the womb. This is sometimes called tubal ligation or getting your tubes tied. Sterilisation is more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy. It does not affect your hormones and youll still have periods. Advertisement Before she was diagnosed, in 2019 Naga opted to get sterilised in an attempt to stop her symptoms because she thought it was her 'only option' For Naga, she said the procedure wasn't a tough decision as she and her husband James Haggar, 52, were certain they didn't want children (pictured together in 2017) The presenter said on BBC Radio 5 Live: 'The pain was so terrible I couldn't move, turn over, sit up. I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes. 'And then it happened again in the middle of the night and we had to call an ambulance because I couldn't be moved. And I was just screaming. 'All I remember saying is 'if the ambulance comes', which it didn't. 'Do not let them, give me a full hysterectomy' because that is the only cure to get rid of it.' 'It was like something was exploding inside of me constantly. It was all around my pelvic area, down my thigh, and my lower back - to the point I couldn't turn over.' Speaking to the Independent she also discussed a time she nearly passed out on BBC Breakfast due to the sever pain. She recalled: 'I just said, 'I have to leave'. And I went to the loo and I thought I was going to pass out, but I threw up and then just came back.' The broadcaster has had a long wait for answers and treatment from doctors and revealed she's in pain even as she works. She said on the radio: 'Right now as I sit here talking to you: I am in pain. Constant, nagging pain. 'In my uterus. Around my pelvis. Sometimes it runs down my thighs. 'And I'll have some level of pain for the entire show and for the rest of the day until I go to sleep.' Advertisement Madeline Holtznagel is positively glowing as she prepares to welcome her first child with billionaire pub baron Justin Hemmes. The model mum-to-be, 28, was spotted on Sunday arriving back at the couple's sprawling $100million Vaucluse mansion after a scenic seaplane flight on Sunday after hosting a lavish baby shower for Sydney's elite. Dressed comfortably yet stylishly for the occasion, Madeline showcased her blossoming bump in a knitted brown co-ord set consisting of a loose-fitting, split-side top and matching shorts. She completed her relaxed, chic look with chunky white slides, a small black designer handbag slung over one shoulder and oversized sunglasses shielding her makeup-free complexion. Her blonde locks were slicked back into a neat up-do secured with a claw clip, and she kept her accessories minimal, opting for simple gold hoops. The model looked relaxed and radiant as she carefully disembarked from the seaplane, with a smiling helper offering a hand as she navigated the shallow water and sandy shoreline. Madeline Holtznagel (pictured) is positively glowing as she prepares to welcome her first child with billionaire pub baron Justin Hemmes The model mum-to-be, 28, was spotted on Sunday arriving back at the couple's sprawling $100million Vaucluse mansion after a scenic seaplane flight on Sunday after hosting a lavish baby shower for Sydney's elite. Pictured with Justin Hemmes Madeline cradled her bump protectively as she made her way up the stone path towards the couple's historic estate, looking every inch the glowing expectant mother. The model broke her silence on her pregnancy this weekend, as she showed off her baby bump in Stellar Magazine and revealed she is having a baby boy. The mum-to-be said that she has kept the process to herself but was now ready to share her journey. 'I keep a lot of my life private and I don't share a lot online anyway, so [being pregnant] wasn't really something that I was going to share online' she said. 'I haven't posted about it and it's been nice to have some quiet time off Instagram. 'But obviously because I am in the public eye and we do get photographed quite a lot, I think now I'm at this point in my pregnancy where it's nice for me to be able to share some nice photos'. Madeline also revealed that she has sought advice from her older sisters Anna and fellow model Simone, who both have had children. 'I call them and ask all those little questions that you have and they gave me a list of things to get and what things you don't need' she said. Dressed comfortably yet stylishly for the occasion, Madeline showcased her blossoming bump in a knitted brown co-ord set consisting of a loose-fitting, split-side top and matching shorts She completed her relaxed, chic look with chunky white slides, a small black designer handbag slung over one shoulder and oversized sunglasses shielding her makeup-free complexion Her blonde locks were slicked back into a neat up-do secured with a claw clip, and she kept her accessories minimal, opting for simple gold hoops 'Honestly, what do people do if you don't have sisters or friends to ask? You grow up with your siblings your whole life and then you go into this whole new parent journey together, it's beautiful' she continued. 'It's been so nice having them to just call and ask and I know that the phone calls aren't going to stop'. On Saturday, Madeline pulled out all the stops to host a luxurious baby shower at the harbourside mansion, with a guest list boasting some of Sydney's most recognisable socialites. Among those in attendance were her sister Simone Holtznagel, 'nude artist' Dina Broadhurst and Merivale's own Nasim Koerting. The glamorous event featured sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, bespoke hors d'oeuvres including bumps of caviar, seared salmon and cream-filled donuts, and a stunning three-tier gourmet chocolate cake made by Merivale's top chefs. Inside the estate - originally built in 1831 and now worth a staggering $100million - guests marvelled at the luxurious interiors, including Carrara marble, copper fittings and European oak joinery. Madeline, who has kept her pregnancy relatively low-key on social media, has reportedly been revelling in her final weeks before motherhood, with friends sharing glimpses of the baby shower celebrations online. Delicious bespoke hors d'oeuvres were circulated around the shower, including bumps of caviar, seared salmon and cream filled donuts. The model looked relaxed and radiant as she carefully disembarked from the seaplane, with a smiling helper offering a hand as she navigated the shallow water and sandy shoreline Madeline cradled her bump protectively as she made her way up the stone path towards the couple's historic estate, looking every inch the glowing expectant mother The model broke her silence on her pregnancy this weekend, as she showed off her baby bump in Stellar Magazine (pictured) and revealed she is having a baby boy. The mum-to-be said that she has kept the process to herself but was now ready to share her journey At one point, Madeline could be seen grinning from ear-to-ear as she cut into a three-tier gourmet chocolate cake in her huge kitchen. Simone, 31, put on a leggy display in a beige mini dress as she arrived at the home, hiding her eyes behind a pair of dark designer sunglasses at one point. Meanwhile, Dina, 48, showed off her bust in a $560 baby blue mini dress from SIR. Marcus Brodie, who is the Head of Guest Relations at Justin's company Merivale, shared a collage of instant pictures he snapped of the occasion. There appeared to be a theme of white dresses among some of the female guests, with Marcus also taking a picture of a toy car meant as a gift for Madeline's newborn, who sister Simone has dubbed 'Baby H'. Model Julia Cavanagh also shared several images of the behind-the-scenes, revealing a table packed to bursting with gifts from loved ones, and a clothes line decoration with several baby clothes pegged to it. Montana Cox, also a model, followed with her own photo of Madeline posing against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour as she threw her head back while friends snapped pictures of her. On Saturday, Madeline pulled out all the stops to host a luxurious baby shower at the harbourside mansion, with a guest list boasting some of Sydney's most recognisable socialites Madeline cradled her growing baby bump as she let her blonde tresses fall in loose waves and opted for a very minimal makeup look Madeline could be seen snapping pictures of her catered spread Montana Cox, also a model, followed with her own photo of Madeline posing against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbour as she threw her head back while friends snapped pictures of her Delicious bespoke hors d'oeuvres were circulated around the shower, including bumps of caviar, seared salmon and cream filled donuts Marcus Brodie, who is the Head of Guest Relations at Justin's company Merivale, shared a collage of instant pictures he snapped of the occasion Justin grew up in the gothic-style mansion, which is now worth an eye-watering $100million, and moved back into the property in 2011 to complete an extensive renovation on the heritage-listed home. Inside, baby shower guests took in the Carrara marble, copper fittings, natural stone and European oak joinery of the luxury mansion, which is now set to become Justin and Madeline's family home. The soon-to-be trio will spend their days languishing in an outdoor angular swimming pool complete with pool-side bar and lounge area which make the most of spectacular harbour views. In November an insider confirmed the exciting news of Madeline's pregnancy to Daily Mail Australia and revealed a friend of Justin's recently moved out of his Vaucluse mansion to make room for their growing family. Justin, who has a net worth of $1.39billion, already has daughters Alexa and Saachi with his ex-girlfriend Kate Fowler, from whom he separated in 2018. The business mogul then began dating Madeline the following year, when the model was 22 and he was 47. Though they generally keep their romance under wraps, the couple are often seen disembarking from his sea plane after enjoying luxurious family holidays with his two daughters. Model Julia Cavanagh also shared several images of the behind-the-scenes, revealing a table packed to bursting with gifts from loved ones, and a clothes line decoration with several baby clothes pegged to it The delicious food was prepared by top chefs working for Justin at Merivale Balloons decorated the property that overlooks the magnificent Sydney Harbour At one point, Madeline could be seen grinning from ear-to-ear as she cut into a three-tier gourmet chocolate cake in her huge kitchen The Design Director at Merivale, Nasim Koerting, shared a slew of images of Madeline posing with her friends, as well as a close up of the huge cake and delicious food, all made by Head Chef Tal Buchnik and Executive Chef Mike Eggert of Merivale The couple have gone from strength-to-strength since going public and even sparked engagement rumours in June 2023. Eagle-eyed fans noticed Madeline was wearing a ring on her wedding finger as they questioned whether Justin had popped the question. A picture showed her sporting the jewellery as she cuddled up to Justin while enjoying a bowl of Udon noodles together at a restaurant in Japan. But the bling appeared to be an emerald and diamond promise ring, and another photograph showed her wearing a different ring on the same finger as she posed for a selfie. In August, Madeline also made a rare public post about Justin as she took to Instagram to mark his 52nd birthday. She shared a series of romantic selfies of them both and gushed over her partner in the caption. In one picture, Madeline flashed a huge smile as she sat on Justin's lap while he lovingly gazed at her. Justin is considered Australia's hospitality king, with more than 80 venues and billions in assets with names like the Ivy, Queen Chow and Establishment under his purview as CEO of Merivale. He is the only son of Merivale Group founder and nightclub mogul John Hemmes and Justin took over the business after his father's death in 2015. Madeline is the younger sister of fellow Aussie model Simone Holtznagel, who welcomed her first child, a daughter called Gia, in March last year, with her now-ex-boyfriend Jono Castano. Advertisement Married At First Sight Australia groom Tony Mojanovski has been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a heart attack. The 53-year-old council worker, who starred on the most recent season of the Channel Nine dating show, was admitted to Wollongong Hospital on Thursday morning after experiencing ongoing chest pains. Tony underwent emergency surgery later that day, with doctors performing a coronary artery bypass graft to treat the blockage and save his life. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia from his hospital bed, Tony said he was now in a stable condition and feeling much better after the terrifying ordeal. 'Luckily I went straight to the doctors,' he explained. 'During the week I wasn't feeling well. It has been happening for a long time - I was just feeling not right, like something was on my chest every now and then, giving me heartburn and stuff like that.' Tony said the persistent symptoms eventually became too much to ignore. Married At First Sight Australia groom Tony Mojanovski has been rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a heart attack The 53-year-old council worker, who starred on the most recent season of the Channel Nine dating show, was admitted to Wollongong Hospital on Thursday morning after experiencing ongoing chest pains. (Pictured with co-star Ryan Donnelly) 'I felt a bit off too. That's why I thought, you know what, I'm going to take it easy this week because it was just too much,' he said. Reflecting on the health scare, Tony admitted it was 'pretty scary' and revealed there could be a family link to heart issues. 'My mum passed away from an aneurysm,' he said, adding that smoking, stress and partying may have contributed to his health decline. 'I was smoking, the cigarettes, the stress, being on the boat, partying - just too many things. It caught up with me, mate,' he admitted. Tony said he now plans to slow down and prioritise his health moving forward. 'I just need some time without the partying,' he added. Despite undergoing major surgery, Tony appeared in good spirits when his MAFS co-star Ryan Donnelly paid him a surprise visit at hospital. Ryan shared a heartwarming photo to Instagram showing him leaning over Tony's hospital bed, the pair laughing and clutching each other's hands. Tony underwent emergency surgery later that day, with doctors performing a coronary artery bypass graft to treat the blockage and save his life Ryan shared a heartwarming photo to Instagram showing him leaning over Tony's hospital bed, the pair laughing and clutching each other's hands Tony wore a white T-shirt and grey shorts as he lay comfortably in bed, flashing a big smile, while Ryan sported a black short-sleeve shirt and beige pants as he leaned in for a hug. 'Tony Time had a brief intermission dropped by to see my best mate and he was literally on the phone with Adrian [Araouzou]. Can't keep a good Macedonian man down, he'll be back to his best in no time!' Ryan captioned the post. Tony was paired with DJ and wedding MC Morena Farina, 57, on this year's season of Married At First Sight, where he quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his laid-back attitude and old-school charm. Terri Irwin has revealed that she is still single - and happy to be. The 60-year-old confirmed to this week's issue of Stellar Magazine that she has never seen the need to date another man after tragically losing her husband Steve Irwin in 2006. 'I'm sure there are a lot of lovely people out there in the world, but I did find my happily-ever-after, and I think I still have a lot of love in my life' she said. 'So I'm lonely for Steve, but I'm not lonely. I never mourn being on my own and not being in a relationship' Terri continued. 'I think we need to say that. I think women are still amazing, fulfilled, incredible people even if you never marry, if you have four kids, or two kids, or no kids. 'There are no rules'. Terri Irwin has revealed that she is still single - and happy to be. The 60-year-old confirmed to this week's issue of Stellar Magazine that she has never seen the need to date another man after tragically losing her husband Steve Irwin in 2006. Pictured in Stellar Terri previously insisted she has no plans to get back into the dating market. 'I totally got my happily ever after,' the American-Australian conservationist told Us Weekly before attending the Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas. She said no man could measure up to the late Crocodile Hunter, who died in Queensland at the age of 44 after a stingray lodged its barb in his chest. 'While there are a lot of wonderful men in the world, can you see another Steve Irwin? I just can't,' Terri said. 'I'd be like, 'I love that you're a librarian and the Dewey Decimal System is cool, but I got to go jump a crocodile and do that.' Forget that,' she added. Terri was married to zookeeper Steve for 14 years before his tragic death in September 2006 and they share two kids, daughter Bindi, 26, and son Robert, 21. Steve was killed when he was barbed by a stingray on September 4, 2006, at Batt Reef near Port Douglas in far north Queensland. The mother-of-two hasn't dated anyone publicly since her late husband tragically died. 'I'm lonely for Steve, but I'm not lonely. I never mourn being on my own and not being in a relationship' Terri said. Pictured with Steve and their children Last year, Terri broke her silence on long-standing rumours that she dated actor Russell Crowe. She made a surprise appearance on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show during son Robert Irwin's press tour for I'm A Celebrity. Sitting behind the microphone, matriarch Terri addressed the decades-long 'romance'. 'Have we been linked? I can't remember,' she joked. Radio host Kyle Sandilands cut to the chase by asking: 'Who are you having sex with?' 'I have a lot of quiet evenings with a nice, big, juicy pizza,' Terri answered. Crowe is currently engaged to Britney Theriot. It comes after Kyle and co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson pressed Robert, 21, about his mother's romantic life. 'Mum has been linked to something like 30 people,' he revealed. Last year, Terri broke her silence on long-standing rumours that she dated actor Russell Crowe - which she has always denied. Crowe is currently engaged to Britney Theriot. Pictured together in 2007 'I mean, it was King Charles, it was Russell, it was everyone.' The Oscar-winner is a long-time supporter of Australia Zoo and friend of the Irwins, with his friendship Terri sparking decades worth of romance rumours which she has ardently denied. In 2021, Terri denied she dated Russell saying she was 'very very single'. She told Access Hollywood in 2017: 'In all honesty, he (Russell) and Steve became friends many years ago, and after Steve passed, you find out who your true friends are. And Russell has been very loyal as a great friend.' Despite continual denials the pair were an item, Russell has also gushed over Terri in the past as well. 'Terri is one of the greatest women I've ever met in my life, without there being implication of intimacy or whatever,' he said. 'You know I do love Terri Irwin, I love her kids and I love how she's kept the memory of Steve alive, and respected the work that the two of them had begun and she's an absolute champion.' Jacki Weaver made a surprise appearance at Christian Wilkins' 30th birthday bash in Los Angeles on Saturday night - and she stole the spotlight. The two-time Academy Award nominee, 77, looked thrilled to join the festivities, posing alongside a slew of partygoers who had all donned matching long blonde wigs in honour of the birthday boy, who is famous for his flowing locks. Beaming from ear to ear, Jacki slipped into a glamorous black sequinned dress with a satin bomber jacket, her signature platinum blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, blending right in with the wig-wearing revellers. The celebration, held at a trendy venue in LA, was anything but low-key, with friends and family gathering to toast Christian's milestone birthday in style. Christian, the son of Australian television icon Richard Wilkins, looked every inch the star of the night, flaunting his toned physique in a sparkling chainmail-style halter top that showcased his muscular arms and bronzed complexion. In footage shared to Instagram, the socialite was seen blowing out candles on not one but two birthday cakes - first at an intimate dinner and later on the dancefloor, surrounded by flashing cameras and cheers from his guests. Jacki Weaver made a surprise appearance at Christian Wilkins' 30th birthday bash in Los Angeles on Saturday night - and she stole the spotlight. (Jacki pictured left, with Christian, bottom right) The two-time Academy Award nominee, 77, looked thrilled to join the festivities, posing alongside a slew of partygoers who had all donned matching long blonde wigs in honour of the birthday boy, who is famous for his flowing locks The night was packed with laughter, dancing and heartfelt moments, with Christian describing it as 'the best 30th birthday I ever could have dreamed of' in an emotional post. 'Because blondes have more fun,' he captioned a series of snaps from the evening, adding, 'Love you guys.' Fans flooded the comments section, stunned to see Jacki Weaver among the crowd. 'Ok tell me that's not Jacki Weaver,' one user wrote, while another added, 'She looks so young!' Others gushed over the 'iconic' nature of the gathering, with one declaring, 'Only Christian could pull off a party like this!' In true Hollywood style, the party oozed glamour, with guests sipping cocktails, posing for selfies, and embracing the 'blonde ambition' theme with gusto. It comes after his famous dad Richard lashed out at critics who have branded his son Christian a 'nepo baby' after the budding actor topped the list of the Australia's most privileged offspring. The term 'nepo baby' refers to a person who benefits from their family connections or privileged background. Christian, the son of Australian television icon Richard Wilkins , looked every inch the star of the night, flaunting his toned physique in a sparkling chainmail-style halter top that showcased his muscular arms and bronzed complexion In footage shared to Instagram, the socialite was seen blowing out candles on not one but two birthday cakes - first at an intimate dinner and later on the dancefloor, surrounded by flashing cameras and cheers from his guests Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Richard said the label irritated him because his son shouldn't be criticised for having parents who are merely trying to support their child. 'I get a little irritated because you look at any law firm or panel beaters and they all embrace their families and give their kids jobs and help them with their lives,' he vented. 'Why wouldn't you do that? That's what being a parent is, helping your child. Yes, you might open a door, but he has to walk through.' Meanwhile, Christian, who recently moved to the US to pursue an acting career, laughed off the label. He said his famous family name has made no difference to his success overseas. 'I feel very grateful to be my dad's son and if that's what being a nepo baby is, then whatever,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'And I can tell you this much though. The Wilkins name unfortunately doesn't carry the same weight in Los Angeles, so I don't necessarily feel like a nepo baby over there.' In fact, Christian has been making waves all on his own in Hollywood. It comes after the actor's famous dad Richard (right) lashed out at critics who have branded his son Christian a 'nepo baby' after the budding actor topped the list of the Australia's most privileged offspring 'It's great. I love living over there. I've already filmed a couple short films this year. I just got cast in an online TV series playing the lead,' he revealed. 'It's very exciting. I feel very grateful to be able to come back here and have a safe landing place and a place that's so beautiful that I get to call home. 'I've always been a big believer that you should chase the fear and it's definitely scary, but so far it's paying off and I love it.' Richard added, 'His timing last year wasn't ideal, he moved there a week before the writer's strike, so there wasn't much going on, but this year he's back and things are rolling, it's great.' Meanwhile, Christian also addressed the criticism surrounding his bold red carpet looks. The social media star often likes to express himself at events in dramatic frocks, corset, skirts and high heels. 'It honestly does not really bother me at all,' he said. 'People will say whatever they want to say. And there are far more people saying nice things than there are saying negative things. Meanwhile, Christian also addressed the backlash surrounding his bold red carpet looks 'I've always been a very big believer that if you have an opportunity to create visibility for minorities, that you should take that opportunity. And I think any potential positives that I'm doing greatly outweigh any negatives.' The father-son duo have been working together on their new podcast, The Apple & The Tree. Christian had the idea to collaborate with his father, hoping to blend their professional skills and family bond. 'It was an idea that I had. Basically, I love working with Dad, and he is such an incredible professional. He's so passionate about what he gets to do in it,' he gushed. 'I've always loved getting to watch him and absorb everything that he knows through osmosis and kind of thought wouldn't it be amazing if we got to work together and share some time together and share what we both know, and it's come to fruition which makes us both very proud.' Meanwhile, Richard reflected on the journey to bring the podcast to life. 'It's taken about two years to get to this point. We stop, go, stop, go, and Christian moved to the US, but it's a really nice feeling to see those wacky photos that we had done come to life and the podcast be produced and put together' he said. 'We're happy, proud, and thrilled.' Stream Richard and Christian's The Apple & The Tree podcast, out now Rosie Huntington-Whiteley has revealed why she decided to move her family to London after living in Los Angeles for a decade. The model, 38, who grew up in Devon, returned to the UK in 2020 and explained that it was always 'the plan' to raise her children in the UK. Rosie shares two young children with her husband Jason Statham, 57 - Jack Oscar Statham, seven, and Isabella James Statham, three. She told The Times: 'We love the schools, the education. Theyre growing up British with their little British accents, which was important for us, and we have a great support system here. 'Jays parents live up the road and see the kids most days, my family come to visit every six or eight weeks.' Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 38, who grew up in Devon, returned to the UK in 2020 and explained that it was always 'the plan' to raise her children in the UK Rose admitted that Jason's job was a huge part of their relocation decision, as he would have been apart from his family for long periods of time while filming had they stay in LA While the model admitted missed California's sunshine and 'eternal optimism', she said she has grown to love living in London again Rosie also said her kids are having a childhood not dissimilar to her own, even spending large amounts of time in Devon where she grew up. The mum, who only shares the occasional snap of her children online, added: 'In the summer we go down to Devon and our children have the same experiences running around on the farm that I had growing up, and its very special.' However, she admits that it did take some time to get used to being in the UK again after so long stateside. She said she missed California's sunshine and 'eternal optimism' in particular but has grown to love living in London again. The mum admitted that her actor husband's job was a huge part of their relocation decision, as he would have been apart from his family for long periods of time while filming. Rose said that Jason is a very 'hands-on' dad and described him as being like a 'human playground' with their children. She also admits that his ability to be at home with his children all of the time is a great privilege in his line of work. Discussing their parenting style, she said that they have no set rules and are both keen to get stuck into raising their youngsters. Rosie and Jason Statham are pictured here arriving for the Men's Singles Final Day at Wimbledon 2022, having thrown themselves back into the London social calendar Rosie also said that her kids are having a childhood not dissimilar to her own, even spending large amounts of time in Devon where she grew up However, while the couple are loving their new life in the UK, their return to London has not been without controversy and last week they upset their neighbours by taking several helicopter trips from a local field. An unidentified neighbour, 35, said that the famous couple sent horses into a panic with their preferred mode of transport. She told The Sun: 'After landing, the pilot ran across the field to say sorry. It looked like he was really apologetic and made an effort to make sure everyone was OK. 'But if a horse bolts with a six-year-old on it, it wont be pretty.' Another local added: 'Theres a reason we chose to live far out from Heathrow or City airports. Its not great, especially with people working from home and elderly people living here.' MailOnline has contacted representatives for the couple for comment. They invested an eye-watering 15 million in three luxury homes in the capital, including seven-bedroom mansion and a 7.5 million three-bedroom townhouse in Chelsea. Married At First Sight's Ryan Donnelly has broken his silence on his ill-fated hookup with Scarlett Cooper, accusing the former TV bride of betrayal and clout-chasing. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 37-year-old said he was 'disgusted' and 'dumbfounded' after former bride Scarlett unleashed a savage public attack just days after they met at the Australia's Most Influential People Party 2025. The drama unfolded after Ryan and Scarlett crossed paths at the star-studded Sydney event earlier this month, where they hit it off and later spent the night together. In a series of lengthy Instagram Stories, Scarlett, 31, alleged that Ryan became 'abusive' and 'scary' after their night together, accusing him of ghosting her and slamming his behaviour as 'embarrassing' and 'harmful' to his ongoing legal case with Jacqui Burfoot. Scarlett claimed Ryan initially charmed her, describing him as 'hot,' 'intelligent,' and 'good in bed,' but said he later ignored her messages, prompting her to side with Jacqui in their bitter court battle. 'I'm actually team Jacqui,' Scarlett declared online. 'He's embarrassing himself and she's going to take him down.' Married At First Sight's Ryan Donnelly (pictured) has broken his silence on his ill-fated hookup with Scarlett Cooper, accusing the former TV bride of betrayal, clout-chasing and using social media to weaponise emotions for attention Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the 37-year-old said he was 'disgusted' and 'dumbfounded' after former bride Scarlett unleashed a savage public attack just days after they met at the Australia's Most Influential People Party 2025. (Scarlett pictured at event with Ryan and co-star Tony Mojanovski) Scarlett also accused Ryan of harassing her with text messages, and claimed he was 'living it up' partying at clubs despite alleging he was a victim of domestic violence. In a shocking breach of privacy, Scarlett shared Ryan's private phone number on social media, which was later re-shared by Jacqui to her followers. But Ryan has now hit back - revealing a very different version of events. 'I'm still dumbfounded as to how it's reached this extent,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I'm tired of people weaponising their emotions and trying to bandwagon on domestic violence and MAFS just for their own clout.' Ryan said he and Scarlett met through mutual friends and connected later in the evening, deciding to spend the night together after what he described as a 'fun and light-hearted vibe.' 'We literally hung out for half a day. We became intimate - but straight after, I started getting a concerning energy from her,' he explained. Ryan said Scarlett quickly became possessive and pressured him emotionally. 'She started saying things like, "You better not ghost me" and "You better not hurt me." I already felt pressure to manage her emotions, and we had only just met.' Despite their brief connection, Ryan revealed Scarlett was initially highly supportive of him, offering advice for his upcoming court case against Jacqui Burfoot. In a series of lengthy Instagram Stories, Scarlett, 31, alleged that Ryan became 'abusive' and 'scary' after their night together, accusing him of ghosting her and slamming his behaviour as 'embarrassing' and 'harmful' to his ongoing legal case with Jacqui Burfoot Scarlett claimed Ryan initially charmed her, describing him as 'hot,' 'intelligent,' and 'good in bed,' but said he later ignored her messages, prompting her to side with Jacqui in their bitter court battle 'She was giving me advice on what to say to undermine Jacqui in court. She said she believed in me, that Jacqui was crazy. She even suggested we send photos to Woman's Day and make money off it.' Ryan insisted he did not ghost Scarlett, but admitted he was slower to respond to messages because he was focused on preparing for his legal hearing. 'She knew I was tied up with my solicitor and court prep. She said, 'Let's just keep texting.' I agreed and told her we'd catch up again.' However, just 48 hours after they met, Ryan said he was blindsided when Scarlett began publicly attacking him online. 'I was at the gym when a friend told me to look at her stories. I had a panic attack. She was ranting about me not responding fast enough, claiming she was used' he said. Ryan said he tried to call Scarlett to resolve the situation privately, but she ignored his calls. 'I trusted her. I confided in her about very personal things. And she betrayed that trust so publicly. I was genuinely hurt' he explained. Ryan also accused Scarlett of threatening to 'undermine' his court case by leaking private messages to Jacqui. In a shocking breach of privacy, Scarlett shared Ryan's private phone number on social media, which was later reshared by bride Jacqui Burfoot (right) to her followers Despite their brief connection, Ryan revealed Scarlett was initially highly supportive of him, offering advice for his upcoming court case against Jacqui. (Ryan pictured arriving at Campbelltown Local Court on April 23) 'She said she was going to send everything to Jacqui to destroy me. She knew how fragile my case was.' Ryan's solicitor has since issued Scarlett a cease and desist notice for harassment and the unlawful sharing of private information. 'She shared my phone number online, which is illegal. I went to my solicitor and the police,' he said. 'Despite the cease and desist, she continued posting.' Ryan said Jacqui also reshared Scarlett's illegal posts to her 86,000 followers - prompting a second legal warning. 'At the end of the day, Scarlett and Jacqui have only given me more evidence to support my case,' Ryan said. Despite the ordeal, Ryan said he remains confident he has done nothing wrong. 'I didn't reject Scarlett. I didn't ghost her. I was focusing on a serious legal matter - and she knew that,' he said. 'I would've happily caught up with her for a coffee and kept things respectful, but she didn't give me that chance. She decided to blow it up online for clout.' Ryan said the entire experience has been deeply stressful and emotionally draining. 'This whole situation could have seriously hurt my legal case. It's disturbing how quickly some people will flip and weaponise your vulnerability for attention,' he said. He added: 'I trusted the wrong person for six hours - and I'll never make that mistake again.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Scarlett Cooper for further comment. Khloe Kardashian has opened up about one of her most uncomfortable experiences as a reality TV star. The Kardashians star, 40, spoke about being forced to speak about her father's death on an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in season one. Khloe's father, Robert Kardashian, died of esophageal cancer in September 2003, two months after receiving the diagnosis. He was 59. Khloe was only 19 when her dad passed away and when KUWTK launched in 2007 one of the first episodes was focused on memories of the attorney who successfully defended O.J. Simpson against charges he had killed his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. In episode number five then then 24-year-old Khloe was still having a difficult time processing it. She became teary and walked out of the confessional. The entrepreneur discussed that episode on her podcast Khloe in Wonderland with grief expert David Kessler. Khloe Kardashian, 40, has opened up about one of her most uncomfortable experiences as a reality TV star In her conversation with the Grief.com founder, Khloe spoke about her anger surrounding her father's death. 'For about three years, I was incredibly angry,' the Good American founder explained. 'I was filming my show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and in season one, I remember one of my producers was making me do an interview about my dad cause I wouldnt talk about my dad,' she said. 'At that time, if I spoke about him, I would just break down,' Khloe said of her grief at the time, adding she was annoyed she was being required to visit a topic she didn't want to talk about. Looking back, she described the relief at being able to let some of those feelings go. 'It was as if a house got lifted off of me after that conversation,' she said. 'I was kicking and screaming while doing it, but as soon as I had that conversation, that was the last time that I cried when talking about my dad, in a bad way.' Khloe said she is now 'at peace' with her father's death. In the latest episode of her Khloe in Wonderland podcast, she spoke about being forced to speak about her father Robert Kardashian's death in an early episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians Khloe was only 19 when her dad died in 2003, and still found it difficult to speak about when the show launched in 2007. She said she was forced by a producer to talk about her feelings in a confessional In her conversation with the Grief.com founder, Khloe spoke about her anger surrounding her father's death and being forced to talk about her dad's death 'I let go of all of this guilt and anger. Now I can talk about my dad with smiles and happiness and admiration and understanding,' she explained, especially now that she is a parent herself. Kessler told Khloe facing such a diagnosis was 'brutal' it must have been difficult for for her dad to think about having to 'say goodbye'. He also guessed Robert he may not have told them his diagnosis was was terminal because he couldn't face or, or was hoping to beat the disease. 'It's the best he could do,' he explained. 'It's how society taught him.' Regarding the producer's alleged actions, he said, 'I say people need to do this in their own time, in their own way, so I wish you would have had more choice in that,' adding, 'somehow the camera, the audience, became a safe place for you to talk.' Sarah Cawood has admitted that she 'needs to stop drinking' as she confessed her gruelling health issues in and Instagram post on Sunday following her cancer battle. Sarah Cawood has admitted that she 'needs to stop drinking' as she confessed her gruelling health issues in and Instagram post on Sunday. The TV presenter, 52, was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in September 2022 after doctors discovered a lump during a routine mammogram. Sarah underwent a lumpectomy with sentinel node removal followed by radiotherapy and long-term hormone treatment. And now she has explained that she need to stop drinking 'completely' as it causes her to 'fall off the wagon so quickly' and leaves her with further health issues. She penned in a clip posted to the social media: 'I need to stop drinking. Like stop completely. 'I don't drink loads but l increasingly feel like I lose time when I do and it's (I think) making my arthritis worse (and there's a multitude of other issues that go along with it that we can delve into another time) Sarah Cawood, 52, has admitted that she 'needs to stop drinking' as she confessed her gruelling health issues in and Instagram post on Sunday following her cancer battle The TV presenter, 52, was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in September 2022 after doctors discovered a lump during a routine mammogram 'The thing is: 1 FIND IT REALLY HARD NOT TO DRINK. I fall off the wagon so quickly. I HATE when people make me feel bad about not drinking: I'm a people-pleasing drinker. 'I also get bored when everyone else gets boozy and I feel the FOMO and like l'm missing out on the drunken bonding. But l've had cancer FFS! What am I even doing drinking? 'So l'm putting it out here for advice and encouragement. And to show you that no matter how much it looks like someone you follow has their shit together, they probably don't behind closed doors. Onwards.' Sarah as also opened up over daily fears that her cancer has returned in an Instagram video earlier this year detailing the 'thoughts of a cancer survivor'. Sarah revealed the cancer was gone in six weeks, yet understandably, her worries continue to linger and she detailed her concerns in a short video of her driving her car as text popped up on the screen reading: 'Daily thoughts of a cancer survivor. 'I feel tired... Maybe it's back. What's that odd lump? Maybe it's back. I have a scan soon... What if it's back?' A caption below the clip said: 'This is the reality of anyone who has had any kind of cancer. I never struggled with health anxiety before but post-breast cancer it's all consuming and it wears me out a bit tbh. 'I have been feeling tired since the new year began and although it's probably life just life-ing, there's always a niggling worry that It's Back. And now she has explained that she need to stop drinking 'completely' as it causes her to 'fall off the wagon so quickly' and leaves her with further health issues Sarah as also opened up over daily fears that her cancer has returned in an Instagram video earlier this year detailing the 'thoughts of a cancer survivor' 'All I can do is carry on doing healthy things, moving my body, practicing mindfulness and living each day with gratitude that I got to breathe again this morning. 'So on we go! Batting away those intrusive thoughts and Getting On With It. To anyone either going through a cancer diagnosis or anyone who has recovered from cancer and feels like this: I've got you, and my inbox is always open. 'And remember, anything that doesn't feel right: get it checked out. Early detection is key.' The heart-wrenching video has not been the first time Sarah had concerns over the return of the grueling diagnosis as broke down in tears on Instagram in May as she revealed she was 'anxious' because, she feared 'her breast cancer may have returned. Sharing a video crying in bed next to her sleeping son Hunter, 13, Sarah said she had an appointment booked for that week after having a recent mammogram and she hoped she was 'overreacting'. She wrote: 'I got a text today telling me I have an appointment on Tuesday I had a mammogram two weeks ago, but I also told the breast care nurses I was concerned about some marks on my other boob, so I don't know whether this appointment is about that (which has already disappeared) or my mammogram. 'I'm sure it's the latter, but the fact it's a bank holiday weekend and the appointment is so soon has me all kinds of anxious. 'It never leaves you. The fear that It's Back.' Sarah said she was 'happier than she has ever been' as she admits the 'shadow' of cancer 'never really leaves you'. She continued: 'I'm sure it's nothing to worry about but here's the thing: I'm happier than I've ever been. 'My life is wonderful and I don't want it to end anytime soon, and this stupid f***ing thing that I had, it's always there, like a shadow on a sunny day, threatening to ruin this amazing life I'm leading. Despite the improved situation, Sarah's worries continue to linger and she detailed her concerns in a short video of her driving her car also adding an emotional caption 'I hope I'm overreacting, and I'm sure I am, but I'm posting this because this is the reality of having cancer: it never ever really leaves you. 'The disease does, but the anxiety is with you for the rest of your life. Here's hoping it's a long and healthy one. 'To all my pink sisters: I've got you, I feel you, I am you.' Two days later Sarah revealed she had received a follow-up call saying the appointment was concerning a rash on her other breast and was nothing to worry about. Tom Cruise has been declared an 'honorary Brit' as the BFI prepares to honour him after a whopping four decades of making movies in the UK. The American actors, 62, who is believed to own in a property in the swanky Biggin Hill area of London, first made the move across the pond in 2020 for back-to-back Mission: Impossible films. He's now a regular in the UK, with former co-star sir Kenneth Branagh, 64, revealing the Hollywood A-lister boasts impressive cockney rhyming skills and loves a trip to a country pub. Speaking about the BFI Award, Cruise gushed: 'I'm truly honoured, I've been making films in the UK for over 40 years and have no plans to stop'. Branagh, who starred alongside Cruise in 2008's Valkyrie and have remained friends, told The Times: 'He's an honorary Brit now, with a handy line in Cockney rhyming slang, I've been to the pub with him a few times. 'He finds a quiet corner, enjoys the atmosphere and is always gracious when he gets spotted. He's a natural giggler and just enjoys what he does so much and that's infectious'. Tom Cruise, 62, has been declared an 'honorary Brit' as the BFI prepares to honour him after a whopping four decades of making movies in the UK The American actor first made the move across the pond in 2020 for back-to-back Mission: Impossible films (pictured with Prince William, R, in 2024) Former co-star sir Kenneth Branagh (R), revealing the Hollywood A-lister (L) boasts impressive cockney rhyming skills and loves a trip to a country pub (pictured 2008 movie Valkyrie) He has been spotted at Wimbledon, Victoria Beckham's 50th, was apart of the King's Coronation, Late Queen's Platinum Jubilee with British friends including The Beckham's, Gordon Ramsay and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Over the year Cruise has filmed some of his biggest films in in Pinewood, Leavesden and Shepperton studios, from 1985's Legend to 1994's Interview With A Vampire and Edge of Tomorrow in 2014. Speaking about his love of Blightly, he told The Mirror in 2022:'I guess I am an Anglophile. I spend a lot of time in Britain and that's not just for work reasons. I just love being here. 'It's a fantastic blend of old and new. I love seeing the sights, the Tower of London, Nelson's Column, Buckingham Palace and all those fantastic places which are just full of history. 'Britain is trendy, too, and has a lot that other countries then copy. I also love the British countryside. The actor's connection to the UK is made even stronger than to make-up artist daughter Isabella, 32, who lives in Croydon with her her British husband Max Parker. A source who worked with the actor, previously told MailOnline: '[Tom has] fallen in love with everything about the UK, his daughter lives here, he enjoys a good cuppa and he loves the fact he can be himself'. Before adding: The biggest thing is he's developed a proper circle of friends. He's the happiest I've ever seen him.' He has been spotted at Wimbledon (pictured) Victoria Beckham 's 50th, was apart of the King's Coronation , Late Queen's Platinum Jubilee The actor's connection to the UK is made even stronger than to make-up artist daughter Isabella , 32, who lives in Croydon with her her British husband Max Parker (pictured 2022) British friends including The Beckham's, Gordon Ramsay and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Pictured with David Beckham in 2008) Last year Cruise twinned with William in tuxedos at the London Air Ambulance Charity gaga and beamed in a snap posted on the Prince and Princess of Wales's X/Twitter account, with the caption: 'Fancy seeing you here!' He has known to rub shoulders with the Prince and Princess of Wales, Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Diana - and has even said King Charles can be his 'wingman'. The royal even made a nod to Cruise, who has donated millions to the charity, in his speech. 'Here in London, the current aircraft have served magnificently. But our capital city needs a new fleet. 'And we are Up Against Time. The clue really is in the Appeal's name. By September, we need the two new red birds - decked with the latest kit such as night vision - in our skies. 'I should also take this opportunity to give a mention to my - our - fellow pilot, Tom Cruise. Tom, huge thanks for supporting us tonight. 'And if you wouldn't mind not borrowing either of the new helicopters for the next Mission : Impossible, it would be appreciated. 'We have all seen on our screens that - how can I put it - you seem to have a different take on 'normal wear and tear' to the rest of us. 'It's not the kind that buffs out, that's for sure.' Cruise has continued to bond with members of the royal family with a love of flying over the years - not least, Her late Majesty the Queen. Over the year Cruise has filmed some of his biggest films in in Pinewood, Leavesden and Shepperton studios, from 1985's Legend and Edge of Tomorrow (pictured) in 2014 The movie star famously took the Princess of Wales's hand as he led her up the stairs at the Top Gun: Maverick premiere back in 2022 Cruise met Princess Dian several times during the 1990s - including in 1992 at the charity premiere of Far and Away In the late monarch's final weeks at Windsor Castle before travelling to Balmoral where she died, she invited Cruise for tea at the royal residence. She was said to have been disappointed that she had not met the star during her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which had taken place earlier that summer. Despite not seeing the Queen during the week of celebrations, Cruise appeared in a segment of the at the Jubilee, and said of her: 'She's a woman I greatly admire. She has tremendous dignity and I admire her devotion. What she has accomplished has been historic.' Insiders said the pair 'really hit it off' during their meeting and the late Queen 'loved seeing him' - and she even allowed him to land his helicopter on the lawn of the Castle. Cruise was even invited back for lunch - but the Queen sadly passed away before he could return. The Hollywood star: 'She's just a woman that I greatly admire. I think she is someone who has tremendous dignity and I admire her devotion. 'What she has accomplished has been historic. I just remember always as a kid seeing photos of her.' Pete Davidson has opened up about his famous confidence, admitting it's all an act. 'If you guys think I have confidence, I have been fooling everyone,' Davidson, 31, said. 'It's so difficult to say anything in print and not be afraid to come across the wrong way,' he continued. 'But I had a really sh**ty childhood and like the worst thing that ever could have happened to me, happened to me when I was seven.' The SNL alum was only seven when his dad, Scott Davidson, a New York City firefighter lost his life during the September 11 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in 2001. And ever since, Pete has been 'I've kind of just been like, "F**k it. Like who the cares?" You know? And like, F**k everyone,' he said. Pete Davidson has opened up about his famous confidence, admitting it's all an act. Seen here on SNL on May 21.2022 Pete said he's 'obviously fallen into traps' in the past, before then going on to list a few examples. 'Trying to be of service to others and not take care of myself, and like just try people please," he shared with People. It took time, but eventually Davidson learned what is really important to him in his life. 'At the end of the day, it's like your family matters and your two or three friends that you have matter,' he said. 'Everybody else can go f**k themselves,' he said, adding, 'And you don't have to put all this pressure on yourself.' He then talked about his approach to public perception saying, 'This is sort of newer for me. But I think it kind of shows if you see me now... it's a little different because I went through something pretty tough. 'I just think who cares what people you don't even know think?' he said. 'Like who the f**k cares You don't know them.' Pete also talked about some advice a friend gave him that really helped. If you guys think I have confidence, I have been fooling everyone,' Davidson, 31, said. Seen here in 2025 'It's so difficult to say anything in print and not be afraid to come across the wrong way,' he continued. Seen here on October 14, 2023 'But I had a really sh**ty childhood and like the worst thing that ever could have happened to me, happened to me when I was seven.' Seen here on February 26, 2025 Hollywood's seriel dater is now dating model Elsie Hewitt, 29. Seen here on April 6, 2025 After dating a slew of celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, Kaia Gerber and Kate Beckinsale, Pete has found love with his girlfriend Elsie Hewitt, 29. Hollywood's serial dater was recently reported to have a new lady in his life with whom he was said to be 'very happy', following his split with Outer Banks actress Madelyn Cline last year. Notorious for his high-profile romances with A-list stars, the comedian was previously seen packing on the PDA with the glamorous brunette on the beach in March, in images exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com. Now the relationship has become even more public, with Elsie posting a heartwarming video of one of the couple's private moments. In the clip, she was watching an episode of Rugrats at night when Pete entered the room in his bathrobe, beaming at her and affectionately spreading his arms wide. They were later seen spending the afternoon at a luxury beachfront hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, where they were seen swimming, lounging in the sun and passionately in the ocean. Photos show the couple locking lips during a steamy make-out session amid the waves, seemingly undaunted by onlookers. The new couple also traveled to Scotland for rocker Dave Navarro's wedding. The SNL alum was only seven when his dad, Scott Davidson, a New York City firefighter lost his life during the September 11 terrorist attacked at the World Trade Center in 2001. Seen here in 2020 And ever since, Pete has been 'I've kind of just been like, "F**k it. Like who the cares?" You know? And like, F**k everyone,' he said. Seen here in 2010 Pete is the face of Axe Body Spray's new campaign aimed at helping younger guys embrace their self-confidence and feel comfortable in their own skin. 'As far as young dudes, I'm having a tough time in today's society and I can't imagine growing up with a device, a phone or a computer that just makes you miserable all day and tricks you into thinking you have to go on it all day,' he said. Davidson believes 'a lot of innocence is taken away' and 'a lot of anxiety is provided' as a result. 'I just think social media and the internet in general is the devil and I just think there's going to be new studies in the next five, 10, 20 years of how it ruined, you know, the future of humans.' Davidson said he knows is can be scary and uncomfortable to put your phone down and actually talk to people, 'I promise you it's so worth it to talk to a human and see that there is goodness in the world,' he concluded. She instantly became a pop culture icon after bursting into the public eye as loudmouthed Page 3 girl, Jordan. Having tried her hand at modelling, singing, presenting, campaigning and reality TV, the glamour model quickly became a household name in Britain. Yet while Katie Price's moniker will ring a bell for both young and old, you would be forgiven for not recognising the star on sight alone, with Katie famously undergoing numerous cosmetic procedures over the years. After two decades in the spotlight, Katie is almost unrecognisable from the naturally pretty teenager who burst on to the modelling scene at the age of 16, with her natural curls and fresh-faced beauty winning her an army of fans. Katie, now 46, has undergone an array of procedures over the years, including rhinoplasty, a silhouette facelift, 3D, veneers, lip fillers and Botox, culminating in her first facelift in 2017. Now, after two decades under the surgeon's scalpel, MailOnline takes a look at the many faces of Katie Price. The many faces of Katie Price: MailOnline takes a look at the star's changing look after two decades of boob jobs, Botox and face lifts 1995 - Barefaced beauty At the age of 17, Katie Price was a fresh-faced natural beauty looking to make it into the world of glamour modelling. At a friend's suggestion, the teenager had professional photographs taken and was quickly snapped up by a modelling agency who landed her a Page 3 slot in The Sun newspaper the following year, sparking the creation of her glamour model alter ego, Jordan. Speaking last year, Katie revealed she was glad that she wasn't exposed to social media at the time as she had 'no idea what Botox was or fillers', otherwise she may have started her tweaks and enhancements at an even earlier age. 1995: At the age of 17, Katie Price was a fresh-faced natural beauty looking to make it into the world of glamour modelling 1998 - First boob job Having just turned 20, the rising glamour model experienced her first taste of cosmetic surgery, boosting her 32B cup breasts to a 32C. The procedure cost 4,500 and it's thought her mum Amy and stepdad Paul helped pay for her to have the procedure. Katie has since spoken out about her decision to go under the knife, admitting she was 'too young' and that she feels sorry for young girls growing up these days in a world of social media and filters. 1998: Having just turned 20, Katie experienced her first taste of cosmetic surgery, boosting her 32B cup breasts to a 32C 1999 - Second and third boob job Despite having only just increased her breast size, Katie opted to have two more procedures the following year at the age of 21. Katie boosted her bust from a C cup to a D cup and just a few months later went up again to a F cup. Katie has previously claimed that she has only paid for two of her boob jobs over the course of her career - it is not known if these were the ones. 1999: Despite having only just increased her breast size, Katie opted to have two more procedures at the age of 21 2001 - Lip fillers At the age of 21, Katie had her first cosmetic procedure on her face, opting for lip fillers. While the glamour model did not confirm the rumours at the time, she was seen sporting a noticeably fuller pout while out enjoying the party scene. Her overall look had also started drastically transforming, with the model sporting dramatic false lashes, bright lipstick and pale hair extensions. 2001: At the age of 21, Katie had her first cosmetic procedure on her face, opting for lip fillers 2004 - Botox Aged 26, Katie began to experiment with Botox injections that relax the muscles in your face to smooth out lines and wrinkles. She made no secret of her love of the procedure, announcing at the time: 'I get my forehead and around my eyes Botoxed every six months and I love it. You can't beat it. It just freezes all the wrinkles and that's what you want.' At the time, Katie insisted she would never take things further and have a facelift, explaining: 'I'd never have a full facelift. I've seen what they can do to people and I don't want to go through that.' 2004: Aged 26, Katie began to experiment with Botox injections that relax the muscles in your face to smooth out lines 2006 - Fourth boob job Katie went under the knife yet again to take her F cup breasts up to a G cup. The glamour model also played around with her overall look and embraced her dark side with a new brunette hairstyle. She also continued to dabble with fillers and Botox. 2006: Katie went under the knife yet again to take her F cup breasts up to a G cup 2007 - First nose job and veneers At the age of 29, Katie took her love of surgery to the next level, undergoing rhinoplasty, a chemical peel and treating herself to a 25,000 set of new veneers. 'Oh my God, it burned like hell!' she said at the time. 'The next day I had this hideous red rash on my chin but two days later there wasn't a single spot left.' Speaking about her nose job at the time, she admitted to liking her original nose, explaining: 'I liked my nose before and now. If I had a cupboard with both noses, I would alternate between them!' 2007:Katie took her love of surgery to the next level, undergoing rhinoplasty, a chemical peel and a 25,000 set of veneers 2008 - Fifth boob job Despite gradually increasingly her bust size over the year, Katie fancied a change on her 30th and brought her bra size back down from an F cup to a C cup. The procedure meant that Katie had returned to the size of her first boob job 10 years prior. Katie's changing shape also coincided with the launch of her first clothing line - an equestrian range. 2008: Despite gradually increasingly her bust size, Katie fancied a change and brought her bra size back down to a C cup 2011 - Sixth boob job Katie's smaller chest didn't last long, and at age 33 she went back under the knife again to boost her bust to an F cup. Katie also underwent body-contouring treatment and cheek and lip fillers. The Loose Women panelist admitted that she loved having her cheeks filled to give her a 'plumper, more youthful look'. 2011: Katie's smaller chest didn't last long, and at age 33 she went back under the knife again to boost her bust to an F cup 2015 - Seventh and eighth boob job Just before appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, the reality star had a botched boob reduction that left her with a hole in her breast and an implant protruding from her flesh. Katie told her shocked housemates: 'Ive got no tits anymore. Theyve gone. Theres not even anything there. If you saw what Im like underneath. The scars gone septic. My whole implant was hanging out on New Years Day.' Shortly after leaving the Big Brother house she underwent corrective surgery and had her implants swapped for a D-cup. 2015: Just before Celebrity Big Brother, the star had a botched boob reduction that left her with a hole in her breast 2016 - Ninth boob job and tattooed makeup Despite her surgery horror the year before, Katie was undeterred and flew to a Brussels clinic to go under the knife yet again, this time settling on a 32GG bust. The reality star also had her eyebrows and lips tattooed, also known as 'permanent make-up', explaining that she prefers to go make-up free on a day-to-day basis. Additionally the star has regular facial treatments, last year sharing a bloodied selfie after having a dermal roller micro-needling treatment, which sees a dermaroller with many tiny needles rolled across into the skin - designed to stimulate cells into regeneration. 2016: Despite her surgery horror the year before, Katie flew to a Brussels clinic to get another boob job, this time a 32GG cup 2017 - First face lift, new veneers and 10th boob job Despite insisting she would never have a face lift and could rely on Botox, Katie went back on her word undergoing a 'Silhouette' face lift. The procedure is designed to lift a sagging cheeks and blurred jawline, using 'sutures' implanted under the skin to sculpt features. However, Katie was soon spotted with puffy features, revealing that she suffered an allergic reaction to anesthetic penicillin after having further work on her veneers. She also had her breast implants reduced from 1000ml implants to 795ml. 2017: Despite insisting she would never have a face lift and could rely on Botox, Katie went back on her word 2018 - Second face lift Katie claimed her first face lift had been a botched job and went back under the knife the following year aged 40 to correct it. She said at the time 'I need to get my face re-corrected after surgeon has totally f**ked my face up', admitting it had He agent added: 'She had the thread and it really quite distorted her look. She got a lot of backlash, a lot of negative press, a lot of trolling, everyone saying shed taken it too far, when actually it was a job that had not gone to plan.' 2018: Katie claimed her first face lift had been a botched job and went back under the knife the following year aged 40 2019 - Third face lift, boob job first Brazilian bum lift and 11th boob job Katie jetted to Turkey to overhaul her entire look with a full body transformation. The reality star opted for a face, eye and eyelid lift, Brazilian bum lift along with a tummy tuck. Just three months later she returned to the clinic and opted for another boob job, going back down to a D cup. 2019: Katie jetted to Turkey to overhaul her look with a face, eye and eyelid lift, Brazilian bum lift along with a tummy tuck 2020 - 12th boob job and another set of veneers Katie returned to Turkey to have another set of veneers and revealed her real teeth had been reduced to stubs as she flashed a smile on her YouTube channel. The mother-of-five then jetted to Belgium to correct botched surgery on her breasts, saying her surgeon was utterly shocked by the 'awful' previous procedure. Katie said: 'They looked deformed, they were absolutely awful. That's the first time I've gone to a different surgeon. I had to go back to Frank with my head down, ashamed that I'd been to another clinic.' 2020: Katie returned to Turkey to have another set of veneers then jetted to Belgium to correct a botched boob job 2021 - Liposuction, eye and lid lifts and 13th boob job Amid the Covid pandemic, Katie jetted off to then red-list Turkey for a complete cosmetic surgery overhaul, undergoing full body liposuction, eye and lip lifts, liposuction under her chin, and fat injected into her bum. The reality star also visited Belgium to have her 13th boob job as well as full body liposuction with bum fat removal. The plastic surgery - performed by Dr Frank Plovier - came just five days ahead of the glamour model's sentencing for her shocking drink-drive crash. 2021: Katie jetted to Turkey for a complete cosmetic surgery overhaul, undergoing full body liposuction, eye and lip lifts 2022 - Another brow and eye lift Katie secretly jetted back to Belgium at the beginning of 2022 for an eye and brow lift and had been concealing her new look with her head in a bandage. Dr Judy Todd, an aesthetic doctor at Clinica Medica in Glasgow, said: 'It appears like she's had a face lift, temporal brow lift, and possibly an upper blepharoplasty.' It was reported last month that Katie plans to travel to Turkey imminently for yet more plastic surgery, amid claims she wanted to get some tweaks in after being unhappy with her latest work. Sian Dellar, Brow Specialist and Founder of Sian Dellar Permanent Makeup Clinic, added: 'Katie's eyebrows, like the rest of her, have changed lots over the years! 'Back in the 90s she had a very thin over plucked brow which was the fashion at the time, and today she has an extremely thick and unnatural looking brow. 'Currently it seems the face or eye lift that shes had have pulled her brows outward which looks unnatural and makes the brows appear almost stretched. 'Of course, as with any enhancement, its personal preference but we recommend not going too many shades darker, and keeping the shape as natural looking as possible and work to create or enhance brows to frame the face. 'Katies choice to have them so thick and dark and in that unusual positioning means they dominate her face and are the first thing the eye is drawn to. I would love to see Katie take her brows back to 2015/2016 when the fuller brow became a big trend. She got it right then and they framed her face well.' 2022: Katie secretly jetted back to Belgium for an eye and brow lift and is planning to to travel to Turkey for more surgery 2023 - 16th and 'biggest ever' boob job It's not clear if Katie lost track of the number of breast augmentations or opted to keep some of her surgery private but by 2023 it emerged she'd undergone her 16th boob job, two years after claiming to be on her 13th. The star went under the knife in a bid to have the 'biggest in Britain' and was subsequently pictured being wheeled into surgery at the Be Clinic in Belgium. She is said to have wanted even bigger breasts, opting for 2120 CC implants in a bid to boost her already large bust size. Katie told OK! magazine of her boobs: 'I love them. They healed really quickly and they didn't hurt at all. That probably doesn't help. Because I heal quickly, it doesn't put me off and I have more. 'I would go bigger as well and I will eventually. I just love having big boobs and a small body. I've always loved that look. In my eyes, if I'm having a boob job, I want them to look fake, I don't want them to look natural. I don't like the natural look. 'I just like that old-school American Playboy pin-up look. When I have surgery, that is what I'm striving for. If I could look like my airbrushed pictures, that would be amazing. But that's impossible to achieve.' 2023: It's not clear if Katie lost track of the number of breast augmentations or opted to keep some of her surgery private but by 2023 it emerged she'd undergone her 16th boob job, two years after claiming to be on her 13th 2024 - MORE facial surgery In July 2024 Katie confirmed she is travelling to Turkey for facial surgery, to be filmed for a new documentary, after failing to attend a bankruptcy hearing. The former glamour model was absent at a scheduled 760,000 bankruptcy court hearing having flown overseas for her latest cosmetic procedure. A warrant was subsequently issued, with Katie admitting she's 'doing the best she can' to rectify her financial issues after receiving 'very clear warnings' that she needed to attend court. Jackie 'O' Henderson jetted back into Sydney early on Monday morning after enjoying a lavish Easter escape with her daughter Kitty in Italy. And just moments after landing in Australia, the radio star revealed her 14-year-old daughter, who she shares with her ex Lee Henderson, was heading straight back to school. The 50-year-old called into her KIIS FM radio show around 7am as she made her way from the airport to the studio after her flight was delayed by one day. She confirmed she was heading straight to work and Kitty was going to school. 'If she is really struggling she can have the day off but I prefer it if she just pushes through,' Jackie O told her co-host Kyle Sandilands. She also explained that Kitty 'loves' school, does really well and 'gives it her all'. Jackie 'O' Henderson forced her daughter Kitty to go back to school just hours after landing from their 24-hour overseas flight on Monday morning. Both pictured Jackie eventually arrived to the studio before 7.30am while her daughter made her way to school. The pair enjoyed strict mother-daughter time as they travelled for the holiday, which was taken for the Easter and Anzac Day break. They stayed at the postcard-perfect five-star Passalacqua hotel in Bellagio, Lake Como. They also visited the village of Moltrasio on Lake Como at Passalacqua, which was voted the world's best hotel in 2023 and 2024. The structure was rebuilt in 1787 for Count Andrea Lucini-Passalacqua from an original property whose previous owners included Pope Innocent XI and composer Vincenzo Bellini. Last year, Jackie was called out for taking her daughter Kitty out of school to attend Australian Fashion Week. The radio host left her KIIS FM show early back in May to head off to her good pal Pip Edwards' P.E Nation show with Kitty. The mother-daughter duo already attended the first day of AFW at Sydney's Carriageworks for Carla Zampatti's opening night runway show. Jackie called into her KIIS FM radio show around 7am as she made her way from the airport to the studio after her flight was delayed by one day. She confirmed she was heading straight to work and Kitty was going straight to school Last year Jackie was called out for taking her daughter Kitty from school to attend Australian Fashion Week As Jackie left the radio studio early for the second event, her co-host Kyle called her out. He pointed out they frequently promote a government scheme urging parents not to take their children out of school as he commented on Kitty's absence. The radio shock jock said: 'Why isn't she at school? Aren't we reading ads saying don't take your kids out of school? There's an ad here saying keep your kids at school, we're both reading it!' Kitty then briefly appeared on the radio to say hello to listeners, while Jackie insisted that attending AFW was great experience for Kitty, who wants to work in fashion. 'Listen, it's great experience for her because she loves fashion and wants to get into that field, don't you?' Jackie shared. Jackie and Kitty were later seen posing outside Pip Edwards' PE Nation runway show, the first at AFW since the exit of co-founder Claire Greaves. A food blogger has revealed her jaw-dropping experience of America's largest buffet - where prices start at just $13.99 and diners can stuff themselves for hours with no time limit. Instagram influencer Amorray Marcano documented her visit to the enormous Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania. The establishment spans a whopping 100,000 square feet and has reportedly served up to 10,000 hungry customers in a single day. 'We had three hours to try the largest buffet in America, and it was shocking how much food they have for the price,' Marcano shared with her followers in a recent viral post. The massive eatery, which has become something of a legend among foodies and bargain hunters, offers all-you-can-eat feasts with prices that vary by meal. For example, breakfast starts at just $13.99, lunch at $19.99, and dinner at $23.99, not including a 12 percent service fee. Despite the enormous size of the place, Marcano still had to reportedly wait about 30 minutes for a table during her dinner visit. But in her opinion, the experience was well worth it. A food blogger has revealed the jaw-dropping experience of America's largest buffet - where prices start at just $13.99 and diners can stuff themselves for hours with no time limit Instagram influencer Amorray Marcano documented her visit to the enormous Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania The establishment spans a whopping 100,000 square feet and has reportedly served up to 10,000 hungry customers in a single day 'The amount of options is insane,' she revealed in her video review. 'They have multiple self-serve stations offering coconut shrimp, fried chicken, meatballs, shrimp and grits, mac and cheese and healthier options like vegetables and salads.' They also offer made-to-order stations which provide freshly prepared options including grilled fish, steak, and carved brisket. She mentioned trying the catfish, which she said was 'actually pretty good'. The drink selection was also impressive, with 'a wide variety of juices, sodas, coffee, and even milkshakes'. But of course, no buffet experience would be complete without dessert, and Shady Maple doesn't disappoint in that area either. Marcano described the sweet options as 'endless,' highlighting traditional Amish specialties like shoofly pie, which she found 'super rich and sweet'. After the lavish meal, she said her dinner, which cost approximately $27 including the service fee, represented excellent value. 'I think it's a great deal, especially because there's no time limit,' she said, before challenging her followers: 'But would you try it?' Marcano tucks into pizzaduring her three-hour visit to the mega buffet The Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, Pennsylvania, was named the best buffet restaurant in the US earlier this year The massive eatery, which has become something of a legend among food enthusiasts and bargain hunters, offers all-you-can-eat feasts with prices that vary by meal But of course, no buffet experience would be complete without dessert, and Shady Maple doesn't disappoint in that area either The restaurant, located at 1324 Main Street in East Earl, recommends visitors check their website before arriving to take advantage of potential discounts and view current menus. The Shady Maple Smorgasbord is situated in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, an area known for its large Amish population and traditional cuisine. Many users were enthused by the idea of trying the lavish buffet. 'I love a good buffet!! This looks awesome - so many options!' one user commented. One user humorously commented: Omg I went here! I got lost and couldn't find my way back to the table.' Others did not find the idea too appealing. 'Pass,' one user wrote next to a laughing emoji. Another emphasized the downsides of too many options: 'Too much food overwhelming!' Marcano described the sweet options as 'endless,' highlighting traditional Amish specialties like shoofly pie, which she found 'super rich and sweet' The drink selection was also impressive, with 'a wide variety of juices, sodas, coffee, and even milkshakes' After the lavish meal, she said her dinner, which cost approximately $27 including the service fee, represented excellent value The buffet's number one spot was decided by experts and USA Today readers for its annual list earlier this year. 'The food is excellent here at Shady Maple... The atmosphere at Shady Maple is wonderful,' customer Don Mann told FOX 43 last July. The Shady Maple Smorgasbord was founded by Marvin and Miriam Weaver in 1985 with the concept of 'all you can eat for one price.' The then-new restaurant building had over 300 seats, and a one to two-hour wait was not uncommon, according to its website. Following a building remodel, the buffet had over 500 seats available for customers. However, after the buffet's kitchen became crowded, the restaurant's operators decided to build an entirely new building. Since the Weavers' retirement, their sons Phil and Lin Weaver took over as president and CEO of Shady Maple. According to Shady Maple President Phil Weaver, the business already had the land, and after five years of planning, the 110,000-square-foot building was opened in 2000. The restaurant was founded by Marvin and Miriam Weaver in 1985 with the concept of 'all you can eat for one price' The restaurant is famous for its 'deliciously authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking,' according to its website Food quality manager Sumer Smith insisted that Shady Maple Smorgasbord is 'not like your average restaurant' Not only is the eatery famous for its long buffet, it's also known for its 'deliciously authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cooking,' according to its website. 'It is a high-paced restaurant. It's not like your average restaurant. But I always say it's the biggest, smallest kitchen in the world,' food quality manager Sumer Smith told FOX 43. Smith discussed some of the food selections with Localish and revealed one of the restaurant's most popular dishes is beef brisket. However, she also gave shoutouts to the restaurants mashed potatoes, potato cakes, fried chicken, and corn fritters. 'One of our sayings is that "Every bite matters" - like every single piece of food that goes out of the buffet is important and must be to our standards of excellence,' Shady Maple CEO Lin Weaver said. 'It's just the kind of food Lancaster County is known for.' Costco customers are blasting the chain's new diapers as 'cheap' and 'really upsetting.' Shoppers have been igniting debates over the unsatisfactory products that recently switched manufacturers. Longtime supplier Kimberly-Clark, maker of Huggies, ended its partnership with Costco last year to focus on its own premium products. In January, Costco began stocking Kirkland diapers made by First Quality instead and shoppers say the difference is obvious. On TikTok, user @lifewithh_mel compared the new diaper to the old version, calling it 'paper thin' and claiming her kids would likely soak through them. The video sparked widespread complaints across TikTok and Reddit. Customers are so annoyed they are canceling their Costco memberships. 'I have no kids and know nothing about diapers and my jaw dropped when you showed the side view of both,' a shopper wrote. The manufacturer switch is one of many talked-about Costco changes. Others include its Pepsi and Coca-Cola food court swap and so-called 'woody' chicken breasts. Costco shoppers on TikTok slammed the new Kirkland diapers following a manufacturer switch Multiple Reddit users also had experiences with the new diapers after purchasing a box at Costco. 'My babe got a rash lasting weeks. We did everything including anti-fungal/bacteria from the dr., but it wouldn't go away 100 percent,' a Reddit user wrote. 'Used them on my LO and she got a terrible rash and the blowout was horrible,' a shopper commented. 'We were gifted a bunch of boxes at her baby shower and I will never use them again.' A few customers claimed the diaper situation was not Costco's fault and shouldn't be penalized for the problematic items. The diaper mayhem began after the Kimberly-Clark Corporation ended its partnership with Costco to focus on high-priced items under its own brand last year. The First Quality-manufactured diapers debuted at Costco last January. One of the diaper brands Kimberly-Clark Corporation still works with is Huggies, which shoppers claimed they would use instead of Kirkland. Social media users have been unhappy with the new diapers, many claiming they gave their children rashes Following the diaper change, Costco confirmed it would stop offering Pepsi beverages in its food courts. The company now only serves Coca-Cola drinks, a hit-or-miss move in shoppers' eyes. 'Oh f*** that Coca-Cola!!,' an angry Costco shopper wrote on Instagram. Chicken was also an issue despite 'woody' meat being a common item at retailers. 'It's from meat chickens being bred to grow too big too fast causing abnormal muscle and fiber development,' a Reddit user explained. 'It's still edible. though not very palatable or visually appealing.' Customers claimed Costco's sweet treats have also been an issue even though the chain sells high-quality bakery specialties. Following a new cookie variety and muffin size change, angry shoppers claimed they would boycott the store and accused the chain of shrinkflation. Costco shoppers have rolled out multiple changes, including a food court beverage swap and a new cookie variety While shoppers' anger remains intact, Costco has been in the process of opening 29 new stores. One store residents weren't happy to see open is located in Stuart, Florida, over potential traffic increases and environmental degradation. With all these changes implemented, Costco still has over 130 million members and makes $86 million yearly revenue. China is unlikely to get directly involved in the ainstabilitya between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, due to the current geopolitical scenario and tariff-related acomplexitiesa, a former Indian Army commander has said. He, however, also underscored that Chinaas friendship with Pakistan is a known fact. aPost the Galwan 2020 incident, after a lot of consultations and deliberations between the two countries, the stand-off at the last of the friction points has been resolved,a former Eastern Command chief Lt Gen (retd) Rana Pratap Kalita said. A aprocess of normalisationa has taken place after resolution of the last areas of conflict and bilateral mechanism has picked up, including talks to start direct flights and resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, he said. Kalita also pointed out that both countries face hiked trade tariffs imposed by the US, which also impacts the global economy. With India and China being manufacturing countries as well as major consumption markets, the impact of change in tariffs is bound to be felt more, he said. aSeeing these complexities and geopolitical developments as well, whether there will be any direct manifestation of the Chinese towards the instability caused by the Pahalgam incident is difficult to predict at the moment. But as of now, I donat see them getting directly involved,a the former army commander said. aThe vulnerability of the sea link with Pakistan is known. The importance of access to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan for China is also a known fact,a Kalita added. On vulnerability along the Bangladesh border, he said it remains and amore so after the change of government in Bangladesha. aAfter the Sheikh Hasina government was deposed, we have seen that there is a rising anti-India feeling in Bangladesh, which is being fueled by religious fundamentalists,a he said. The release of leaders of terror groups like Ansarul Bangla from jail after the caretaker government came into power in Bangladesh has also acollectively added to the rise of the anti-India feelinga, he said. The visit by senior Pakistan military officers, aincluding the DG of the ISI who met various people there adds to the vulnerabilitya, the former army commander said. Migration from Bangladesh and infiltration to aspread Islamic fundamentalism within the northeasta because of the existing vulnerability borne by the demographic pattern, particularly in Assam and Tripura where it is sensitive and balanced, are areas of concern, he said. Kalita said the narrow Siliguri corridor is also an area of vulnerability for India, as it provides strategic connectivity to the northeast. Authorities in Singapore, which goes to the polls next week, have directed Meta to disable user access to several Facebook posts intended to influence voters by foreigners a one a former Singaporean detainee-turned-Australian linked to the Islamic State and two Malaysian politicians. The posts criticised, among others, the Singapore governmentas handling of sensitive religious issues and urged Singaporeans to vote along religious lines. The city state goes to the polls on May 3. The Infocomm Media Development Authority, as the assistant returning officer, has issued corrective directions to Meta to disable Singaporean usersa access to several posts published on Facebook, according to a joint statement on Friday from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Elections Department Singapore (ELD). The posts were by aZai Nala, identified as Islamic State-linked Zulfikar bin Mohamad Shariff, an Australian citizen who renounced his Singaporean citizenship in 2020 after having been detained for promoting terrorism in the city state, and leading Malaysian politician Iskandar Abdul Samad, national treasurer of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). Zulfikar had been detained under the Internal Security Act of Singapore for his apromotion of terrorisma and glorification of the Islamic State online, according to the joint statement. The MHA-ELD added that his actions acontributed to the radicalisation of at least two other Singaporeansa. In his post, Zulfikar accused several Malay-Muslim members of Parliament of failing to represent the interests of the Singaporean Muslim community and said the local Muslim community did not need another Malay MP who did not represent their views, the MHA-ELD said in the statement. Zulfikaras post was reposted by Mohamed Sukri Omar, the PAS youth chief in Selangor state in neighbouring Malaysia. The posts, which can no longer be viewed by users in Singapore, expressed support for certain opposition candidates and criticised decisions made by the ruling government, according to a Channel News Asia report. Stressing the importance of not mixing religion and politics, the MHA-ELD said it had identified a anumber of foreignersa attempting to influence the elections. aWe must not mix religion and politics. Singapore is a secular state,a the MHA-ELD said. aBringing religion into politics will undermine social cohesion and harmony, as we have seen in other countries with race- or religion-based politics,a it added. The posts have been targeted at Singaporeans, according to the statement. aThey interfere with our domestic politics, which are reserved for our citizens. They also urge Singaporeans to vote on racial and religious lines, and have led to more social media postings of a similar nature.a All this has the potential to fracture the multi-racial and multi-religious harmony that is the bedrock of Singapore as a nation, according to the statement. aWe recognise that public policy may sometimes involve matters of religious concern,a the MHA-ELD noted but assured the government would continue to engage widely, including with religious groups, to hear their views and ensure they were taken into account. The MHA-ELD also urged all political parties and their candidates, as well as religious organisations, leaders and members of the public to do aour part to safeguard the precious harmony we have in Singapore todaya. Foreigners must not direct, fund or in any way influence Singaporeas elections. It is an offence under the Parliamentary Elections Act for foreigners to participate in elections activity or publish online election advertising, according to the statement. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act, online election advertising is defined as any material published online that can reasonably be regarded as intended to promote or prejudice the electoral success or standing of a political party or candidate. Gurmit Singh, president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, said religion had to be kept out of politics afor the common gooda. aIn Singapore, we have witnessed the dangers of racial and religious conflicts in the past,a Singh said in a statement posted on Facebook by the organisationas honorary secretary Lawrence Chong. aThis can come about when religion is mixed with politics, as witnessed in parts of the world,a Channel News Asia quoted Singh as saying. A total 27,58,846 (27.58 lakh) people are registered to vote in the May 3 elections. Among the voters, 75 per cent are of Chinese origin, 15 per cent Malays who mostly practise Islam, and more than seven per cent people of Indian origin. At 4,534 meters above sea level, they help monitor world climate change 08:13, April 27, 2025 By Lyu Qiuping, Li Linhai and Wang Jinjin ( Xinhua XINING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- In the early morning, Shi Kaihao struggles to run against the wind. The sharp breeze cuts through his clothes, but he is focused on his task: dragging a two-meter-diameter hydrogen balloon to the sky. Twice a day, with the help of his colleagues, he fills the balloon with hydrogen, hangs sensors that measure temperature, humidity, wind speed and other meteorological data at the bottom of the balloon, and releases it into the air. Shi, 28, works at the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station at an altitude of 4,534 meters, located at the source of the Yangtze River in the city of Golmud, northwest China's Qinghai Province. This photo taken with a mobile phone shows a staff member inflating a weather balloon at the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station in northwest China's Qinghai Province, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Linhai) Since its establishment in 1956, meteorologists have been stationed there, obtaining precious meteorological data and contributing to the climate observation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as "the roof of the world." Releasing balloons in this high-altitude area is no easy feat, considering the oxygen content in the air is less than 60 percent of that at sea level and the maximum wind speed reaches 17 meters per second. Even in spring, temperatures remain far below freezing, and the thin air makes every movement exhausting. "Sometimes, some of our slighter colleagues get dragged by the wind while running to release the balloon, ending up thrown hard to the ground," said Shi. In addition to upper-air meteorological observations, he and his colleagues carry out fieldwork including permafrost monitoring, temperature measurements and ecological surveys. This photo taken with a mobile phone shows a staff member adjusting a meteorological observation device at the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station in northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 30, 2024. (Golmud's meteorological bureau/Handout via Xinhua) Miao Peilin, head of the station, said the upper-air detection measurements contribute to global meteorological data exchange, providing a vital reference for studying worldwide weather patterns and climate change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. "Despite various hardships, we know that our meteorological observation data is of great significance," said Miao, 36. The station now has nine workers. Miao not only works with the team on daily weather monitoring tasks but also takes care of his colleagues, aged between 25 and 30. He said many young people struggle to adapt here, spending years in solitude. "After working here for a while, even traffic in the city feels scary," he said. A staff member operates a meteorological observation device at the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station in northwest China's Qinghai Province, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Qi Zhiyue) The station keeps a cat and this lively little companion brings joy to their otherwise quiet and routine-filled days. Over the decades, the station has witnessed enormous changes. Wang Shengcang, the observation center director of Golmud's meteorological bureau, used to work in the station for 12 years, starting in 1993. Back then, before the railway line had been built, he and his colleagues had to hitch a lift on trucks to get to the station from the city proper. The trip took up to two days if it was snowy. Supplies were scarce, often little more than potatoes and cabbage. "A monthly letter from home became my meager comfort," said Wang, now 54. The working conditions there have greatly improved, with makeshift facilities transformed into brick-and-mortar houses and dormitories with an oxygen supply. Staff members pose for a group photo at the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station in northwest China's Qinghai Province, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Qi Zhiyue) Equipment upgrades have also enhanced meteorological data automation and accuracy. In 2023, the new BeiDou satellite-based navigation sounding system became operational, enabling real-time acquisition of second-level atmospheric data during the ascent, float and descent stages of weather balloons. This significantly enhances vertical atmospheric sounding capabilities and greatly improves meteorological support for disaster prevention and mitigation. Data from the Tuotuohe Meteorological Station shows that over the past 30 years, the average annual temperature in the area has risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius, annual precipitation has increased by 13.8 percent, and the number of sandstorm days has decreased from an average of 11.1 days per year to 5 days compared with the 1971-2000 period. Zhang Chengxiang, head of Golmud's meteorological bureau, said that rising temperatures and increased precipitation confirmed the warming and humidification trend of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At the same time, the decrease in sandstorms and strong winds is attributed to ecological conservation efforts such as desert control and grassland restoration in nearby regions like the Sanjiangyuan, an area that contains the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. "The data serves as strong evidence of climate change on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and provides important references for permafrost research and ecological management on the plateau," he said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) On Thursday, May 1, Friels Bar and Restaurant in Swatragh will host a poignant evening of history, remembrance, and community as renowned historian Una Walsh presents the harrowing story of the Hannah shipwreck, one of the most tragic maritime disasters of An Gorta Mor (the Great Irish Famine). The Hannah set sail from Newry on April 3 1849, carrying approximately 180 passengers, mainly agricultural labourers and their families from Warrenpoint and Newry to Quebec City, in search of a new life amidst the devastation of the famine. In the icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, disaster struck when the ship collided with an iceberg in the early hours of April 29 1849. The hull was breached, and chaos ensued as passengers, many still in their nightclothes, scrambled to escape the sinking vessel. Tragically, the ships captain and two officers abandoned the passengers, fleeing in the only lifeboat and leaving the rest to fend for themselves. Survivors endured freezing conditions on ice floes until they were rescued by Captain William Marshall of the Nicaragua, who risked his own life and crew to save them. In total, 49 lives were lost, and the survivors carried the scars of that night for the rest of their lives. At the heart of Gorta Swatraghs Famine Story is Kieran Tuohys stunning sculpture, a haunting tribute to the Hannah lying at the oceans depths, a silent witness to its tragic end. Kieran Tuohys evocative work ensures this chapter of local and national history is preserved with dignity and reverence. Visitors are also invited to explore the Gorta Famine Story Visitor Centre, which houses famine-era artifacts, including an original soup kitchen pot used by Dr. Mooney to save countless lives during An Gorta Mor. Friels Bar itself, established in 1835, served as a soup kitchen during the famine and stands today as a testament to the resilience and heritage of the Swatragh community. This event offers a rare opportunity to connect with Irelands past through art, storytelling, and community remembrance. Una Walshs expertise and deep local knowledge promise an evening that will resonate with all who attend. Admission is free, but spaces are limitedbook your place today to ensure you dont miss this powerful commemoration of courage, loss, and hope. Bookings can be made by calling 028 7940 1206 or email bookings@friels.ie Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. A chef, whose former Chinese restaurant was turned into a cannabis growhouse, hid in a bin when gardai raided the property, a court has heard. Gardai seized 35 cannabis plants at various stages of growth with a total value of 137,906 at 8 Clare Street, Limerick city. Limerick Circuit Criminal Court heard that a registered electrician had put in place a sophisticated wiring system to bypass the meter. It was described as a counter forensic measure to avoid paying for ESB as growhouses use a significant amount of power and ESB flag suspicious usage with authorities. Yuen Chan, aged 64, of 8 Clare Street pleaded guilty to a number of drugs offences including cultivation, possession of cannabis for sale or supply and permitting certain activities to take place on land contrary to Misuse of Drugs Act. Prosecuting barrister John OSullivan, instructed by State solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the evidence with the assistance of Detective Garda Mike OGrady. Mr OSullivan said gardai executed a search warrant at 8 Clare Street, Limerick city, after receiving confidential information. He said the three-storey terraced property was formerly home to a Chinese restaurant and takeaway. Three men fled the scene on foot with Mr Chan hiding inside a rubbish bin. Det Garda OGrady said gardai were in position at the rear of the property and the three men were quickly apprehended. The detective said there was additional lighting, fans, extraction system, water tanks, heaters and sheets of tin foil on the walls to keep the heat in. Strings were attached to the ceiling to aid the growth process. A leaf trimming machine was used to assist harvesting buds. We interrupted the harvesting process that morning, said Det Garda OGrady, who added that there were seedlings in-situ for the next crop. A significant amount of money to set it (growhouse) up. This was going to be a continuous venture, said Det Garda OGrady. READ MORE: Food delivery rider arrested after being found with various illicit drugs worth thousands Mr OSullivan said Mr Chan is originally from Hong Kong and came to Ireland over 20 years ago. He worked as a chef in restaurants then purchased the restaurant in Clare Street. He has five children and resides in a rented property in Castleconnell, said Mr OSullivan. The prosecuting barrister outlined Mr Chans interviews with gardai in which he said he was contacted by a number of men to rent the former restaurant. Mr Chan said when he discovered it was being used as a growhouse some time later, he was threatened by the men who said they knew where he lived. Mr Chan told gardai he needed the money, was promised payment once the plants were sold and he helped to feed and water cannabis plants. The court heard he did not receive any money. Det Garda OGrady said it is their belief Mr Chan had a higher involvement. Mark Nicholas SC, who represented Mr Chan, put it to the detective that his client has no trappings of wealth and was in considerable debt. Det Garda OGrady agreed. In mitigation on behalf of his client, Mr Nicholas said Mr Chan has pleaded guilty, is aged 64 and his only previous interaction with gardai was when he was a victim of an armed robbery. He has lived in the Chinese community in Ireland - both linguistically and culturally. He was diagnosed with kidney disease. He was in financial difficulty with 90,000 outstanding. He maintains he leased out the building and assisted to make a few euros, said Mr Nicholas, who asked Judge Daly to be fair and lenient due to Mr Chans age and health. Financial hardship brought him into this. There are no trappings of wealth. Incarceration will be hard for him, said Mr Nicholas. Judge Daly adjourned sentencing Mr Chan until April 30. Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been charged with harassment and criminal damage, it has been revealed. The Irish comedy writer, 56, wrote on social media that the allegations were related to an incident at the 'Battle of Ideas' conference in London in October. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed Linehan has been charged with both harassment without violence and criminal damage. He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on May 12, a CPS spokesperson said. READ MORE: Gardai take away 137,000 worth of cannabis from former Chinese restaurant in Limerick The Bafta-winning writer, who also came up with TV sitcoms The IT Crowd and Black Books, has become a vocal critic of the trans rights movement in recent years. In a post on X on Saturday, he claimed that the charge related to a complaint from a trans activist. In 2023, he recalled in his book titled 'Tough Crowd: How I Made And Lost A Career In Comedy', that he lost his comedy career after he championed an unfashionable cause. Linehan created Father Ted in the 1990s with fellow Irish writer Arthur Mathews. The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment. In a shocking revelation, figures released by the HSE through request by the Freedom of Information Act 2014 show that over half a million of outpatient appointments were not attended last year at hospitals throughout the country. Louth was among the counties which saw significant numbers of missed appointments. The report detailed the figures of missed appointments, or DNAs (Did Not Attend), at each hospital in the country in 2024 and contained a breakdown by region. In total, there were over 525,320 appointments not attended last year. Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda also recorded high figures of over 10,316. Additionally, Louth County Hospital had a total of 2,685 missed appointments. In total, Louth had 13,001 DNAs in 2024. To put this in perspective, the number of missed appointments in Louth County Hospital last year were in fact greater than the current figure of those on waiting lists for outpatient services at the hospital. As it stands, 2,361 people are on waiting lists at the hospital. The waiting list for Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, however, is much higher with over 18,888 currently on it. At the top of the list for the most DNAs in 2024 was the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital with 48,007. St. James's Hospital followed with 40,000 and then Beaumont with 39,398.Outside of the Dublin area, University Hospital Limerick also recorded high numbers of missed appointments with a total of 24,659 as well as University Hospital Waterford with 26,522. Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Temple Street, Tallaght and Connolly all recorded a combined total of 17,419 unattended appointments last year also. Such staggering figures perhaps hold most significance when compared to the number of people currently on waiting lists for often critical and life-saving health services across Ireland. According to the latest figures from the HSE, there are over 575,716 people on outpatient waiting lists nationally. Of these, 500,637 are adults and 75,079 are children. READ NEXT: Plans underway for 44 new homes in north Louth When the total number of missed outpatient appointments are put side by side with the total number of those still enduring the never-ending waiting lists, the figures are not worlds apart. Had even the majority of these appointments been attended, then perhaps there would have been a considerable dent made in these enormous waiting lists. To place this into further context, the Mater Hospital's number of missed appointments last year at 48,007 is almost 10,000 greater than their outpatient waiting list which currently stands at 38,254. Even worse, St James's figures from 2024 were almost double their current waiting lists of 23,950. When asked to comment on the figures, the Mater pointed out that with a total of 291,495 patients attending the hospital last year, it is one of the busiest hospitals in the country. Additionally, they said: "It is worth noting that the community where the Mater Hospital is situated is recognised as an area of deprivation and many of the patients cared for have multiple morbidities and other social issues to contend with." The hospital said they continue to encourage patient compliance with appointment attendance through a range of measures including sending appointment letters, text message reminders and validation of waiting lists to remove patients who no longer need appointments. A spokesperson for St James's Hospital explained that the high figures in the report are indicative of the volume of patients they see and the complexity of patient cases. However, in a statement from the hospital, they said they will "continue to evaluate and examine future measures that can potentially reduce the number of missed outpatient appointments." For those faced with limbo on these waiting lists, these figures can seem like a slap in the face. However, it is important to not shift the blame simply on the patients but to instead ask how can the system be allowing such vast numbers of missed appointments without raising concern and what is being done about it? It cannot be expected that 100% of appointments be kept to: people's schedules change, things can happen, we can't always anticipate what comes next. We all accept that. However, over half a million appointments missed in one year is an extraordinary figure especially when it is held against our already extraordinary figure on waiting lists. So what is happening? When asked to comment on the figures released by the HSE and the current situation with waiting lists in the country, the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill's office released a statement to say: "It is acknowledged that many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments." The statement continued: "The Minister for Health is conscious of the burden that this places on patients and their families." The Minister's office pointed out the Waiting List Action Plan (WLAP) for 2025 was published in February which is designed to reduce the waiting times for patients and improve access to hospital care. So far, over 420 million has been allocated to the initiative. Part of this plan aims to address the issue of unattended appointments. Some of these initiatives designed to target DNAs include two-way messaging systems. The Health Minister's office also added: "enabling and facilitating scheduled care reforms, through the use of technologies and tools, including in relation to SMS messaging re appointments, referral processes, robotic process automation, application of insights from behavioural science, and further roll out of the HSE patient application." A spokesperson for the Mid-West Hospital Campaign, Marie McMahon, has described the current situation in the region as "absolutely frightening." Seven years ago this month, Maries husband died on a hospital trolley in UHL. When discussing the dire figures from the HSE, Marie emphasised the real people behind those numbers, saying "a lot of families have had horrific experiences." For Marie, the writing is on the wall: "Obviously, the system is failing." She acknowledged the complex reasons as to why the number of DNAs could be so high, however, as she points out: "There needs to be some understanding as to why this is. Why are they not investigating? How much is that costing? There has to be a huge cost." She also pointed out that the current system of sending out letters and telling people theyll be removed from the waiting lists if they dont respond within a short timeframe is not suitable as not everyone has someone who can advocate for them, if they are not in the position to do so for themselves. Then theres also the issue of transport for vulnerable and rural people. Marie said: "If you dont have access to transport and you dont have someone to take you there, how are you going to get there? What are the provisions? Thats fine if you are urban based where there is a good transport network. But if you are rurally based, and a lot of Irish people are, then how do people get to their hospital appointment?" Ultimately, in Maries opinion, these figures further demonstrate that "the system is broken." As Marie expressed, these latest figures are just one further example of a failure by the HSE in the broader picture of mismanagement of resources and treatment of patients wherein there will be "no accountability." Louth County Councils Civic Offices on Fair Street, Drogheda, have received national recognition at two of Irelands leading industry awards events: the 2025 Irish Building and Design Awards (IBDA) and the Building and Architect of the Year Awards (BAYA). Designed and delivered by Building Design Partnership Ltd (BDP) in September 2024, the Drogheda Civic Offices project revitalised two historically significant, but previously vacant, protected structures. These buildings are now sensitively restored and unified through a striking contemporary intervention. Located within the Architectural Conservation Area of Fair Street, the new civic complex includes Louth County Councils administrative offices, a restored council chamber, public service counters, meeting spaces, and a large multipurpose exhibition area. The development also incorporates a rejuvenated public plaza, offering an accessible and welcoming green space for the community in the heart of Drogheda town centre. BDPs ambitious project received three major accolades, winning Building Refurbishment for a Single Building or Development at the BAYA and also securing the Retrofit/Renovation Project of the Year and Heritage & Conservation Project of the Year awards at the IBDA. Incidentally, another Louth County Council project, the Obelisk Bridge Rehabilitation, which was delivered by O'Connor Sutton Cronin & Associates, was also nominated in the Heritage & Conservation Project of the Year category. David Conway, Chief Executive of Louth County Council, commented: The recognition for the Drogheda Civic Offices from both IBDA and BAYA affirms the value of thoughtful collaboration and sustainable design. We are immensely proud to have collaborated with BDP to see these beautiful buildings brought back to life, and we are proud to see them now serving as a vibrant hub for local government and civic engagement in the heart of Drogheda. Read Next: North Louth community urged to help shape Cooley Peninsulas flood plan Elliott Ballam, Associate at BDP, said: Winning these prestigious awards is an incredibly proud moment for our multidisciplinary team at BDP. The Drogheda Civic Offices project sensitively restores two protected structures, now linked by a contemporary building and an enhanced public realm. Significant embodied energy and carbon benefits were achieved. This is not just a win for design - its a win for Drogheda, as the project revitalises the civic heart of the town. Michael Mullen, BDP Principal & Head of Dublin Studio, added: The Drogheda Civic Offices project showcases our commitment as a practice to sustainability and our ability to design and implement innovative approaches to deliver exemplary adaptive re-use projects. This project is a true reflection of the collaborative effort between our multidisciplinary design team and Louth County Council, whose vision for sustainable, adaptive reuse has been key to its success. We believe this project sets a new benchmark for how heritage buildings can be thoughtfully reimagined for the future, and we are truly honoured to receive this validation for the thought leadership displayed by our client, partners and our incredible design team! National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) returns on Wednesday, 30th April for its second year, with events taking place nationally to help eligible voters in Louth to get registered. Through the collaboration of community leaders, groups, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders the initiative hopes to improve voter registration. People in Louth are being encouraged to visit the NVRD website to verify their eligibility to vote, check the register, and learn more about their voting rights. The primary goals of this campaign are to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote is registered to vote, inform underrepresented groups, disadvantaged communities, and young people across Ireland of their right to vote and how to register to vote and promote the importance of active citizenship and participating in the democratic process. Committee members, Liliana Fernandez, Leadership Officer at National Womens Council (NWC), Leon Diop, CEO of Black and Irish, Brian Hearne, Policy and Communications Manager at the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS), Zoe OReilly, Political Support Worker at National Traveller Women's Forum (NTWF) and Fionnaigh Connaughton, Voter Education Coordinator at Dublin Adult Learning Centre (DALC), say that their main focus for National Voter Registration Day is to increase greater political participation among minority groups and young people at a national level. Every election cycle, many people find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, do not update their registration, or are not aware of how to register to vote. Speaking ahead of National Voter Registration Day, Liliana Fernandez, said: Although things are slowly improving there is still a lack of knowledge about voter rights among many people in Ireland and Louth. This has an impact on civic engagement and representation in Irish politics. This year we are continuing to collaborate with the Electoral Commission (An Coimisiun Toghchain), Local Authorities, PPNs, Civil Society Organisations and community leaders across the country to inform minorities and young people of their political rights, educate them on the roles of the President of Ireland, TDs and local councillors, the functions of our political institutions, and how to register to vote." Brian Hearne said We are engaging with a wide range of groups and organisations and gathering support around the country for this years National Voter Registration Day. We're working to get every eligible voter registered, especially young people and underrepresented groups who are often unaware of their rights at the ballot box. For example, many migrants who have been recently naturalised, need to be aware of updating their citizenship status at checktheregister.ie to be able to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. Read Next: Louth Men's Shed group receives 500 donation from O'Connor Roofing Supplies "Also, other migrants who do not have Irish citizenship are unaware that they can vote in local elections. We recognise marginalised communities rights to participate in political life in Ireland. We aim to create broad awareness of voter registration opportunities. By increasing engagement in the democratic processes and voter registration, we can ensure that every eligible voter has the opportunity and is motivated to vote. The National Voter Registration Day initiative aims to spark year-round conversations about democracy, fostering greater participation beyond just election periods. To date, the initiative has connected with over 60 organisations, spreading awareness of National Voter Registration Day among diverse communities and all public representatives. On National Voter Registration Day, participating organisations will set up tables to assist people with registering or updating their voter details, and to answer questions about Irelands democratic system, including voting eligibility and procedures. A district court judge said that the alleged robbery of a man of his 3,000 hearing aid and 400 cash in Cork city was too serious to be dealt with at that court. Judge Brian OShea refused to accept jurisdiction for the case at Cork District Court. It will now have to be sent back to the Director of Public Prosecutions for the matter to be dealt with by indictment. 40-year-old Mark Costello, of no fixed address, is charged with robbery arising out of the alleged incident on March 11. Sergeant John Dineen outlined the allegations in the case at the judges request: A male reported at the public office that he was tackled to the ground by two males at Bowling Green St. He reported that the two males took his wallet and hearing aid and that he found his wallet 200 yards from where the incident occurred. 400 cash was taken from the wallet. All other items were left in the wallet. His hearing aid was stolen the value of it was 3,000. The injured party did not require medical attention. This case has now been adjourned until May 7, with the accused man remanded in custody. Mark Costello also faces a charge of being in possession of a knife on April 3 at Castle St, Cork. There is an older charge against the accused, which was adjourned until May 21. That count relates to the alleged theft of a tip jar at Massey Town deli on Paul St, Cork, back on April 15, 2023. A 45-year-old man was arrested and charged with carrying out a sexual assault on a three-year-old girl at her home more than two years ago. Garda Martina Felle told Judge Brian OShea at Cork District Court that the Director of Public Prosecutions directed that the case could be dealt with at District Court level only on a plea of guilty. After hearing an outline of the allegations in the case, Judge OShea said: I would be minded to accept jurisdiction if there is a plea. However, he said that if another District Court judge was dealing with the matter on a later occasion jurisdiction could be refused. A woman was babysitting for her niece on January 14, 2023, when the childs father came home with two other men after being in the pub, and it was alleged that one of the two men with him was later observed placing his hand inside the pyjama pants of the three-year-old. Barrister Carmel Goggin appeared in court for the accused. The case was adjourned so that prosecution statements could be sent to the defence to consider the issue of whether or not a plea of guilty would be forthcoming. Judge OShea made an order imposing reporting restrictions on anything that might identify parties to the case. Sergeant John Dineen applied for a bail condition that required the accused to stay away from the complainant in the case. Judge OShea made that order and explained to the defendant the necessity not to have any contact. The defendant said: There is no chance of that I dont know these people. The annual Glanmire May Sunday Procession will take place on Sunday May 4. The procession has been held on the first Sunday of May for more than 75 years, since the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in Glanmire was blessed and opened on May 1, 1949. It will start at St Josephs Church, Glanmire at 3pm and finish with singing led by St Josephs Church Choir, reflection and benediction at the grotto at about 3.45pm. The parish priest of Sacred Heart parish on Western Road, Fr Con Doherty, will preach the homily. Fr Con joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in 1983, and has worked in St Albans Parish, England, ministered to catholic communities in Russia and ministered in Cuan Mhuire, Limerick. At the conclusion of the ceremony, traditionally people take flowers from the grotto altar for their homes and the graves of their loved ones. The organisers thanked everyone in the community who has helped maintain the grotto. 4chan, the infamous forum known for its anonymous user base posting unhinged material, has made its comeback. A post on the websites official blog, titled Still Standing, detailed the timeline of events that led to 4chans shutdown earlier this month. According to the sites own status checker, the boards and front page are up, but posting and images are still down. The 4chan blog post explains that moderators shut down the servers on April 14 to prevent any more damage after a serious database attack where hackers gained access to the sites source code. The blog post labeled the incident catastrophic since it breached a ton of 4chans databases along with its most important server. The hack even vandalized the website and revealed personal information of the 4chan moderation team and many of its users. The blog post attributed the hack to the sites inability to update the code and infrastructure due to a lack of skilled man-hours. Unsurprisingly, the site was starved for money to address these concerns since its hard for 4chan to find willing financial backers. Advertisers and payment providers willing to work with 4chan are rare, and are quickly pressured by activists into cancelling their services, the blog post read. Putting together the money for new equipment took nearly a decade. Now that the website is back, there will be some crucial changes. According to the blog post, the /f/ board will stay shut down since the 4chan team cant prevent exploits related to the commonly-posted .swf file format. For similar reasons, the resurrected 4chan will also disable PDF uploads for now, but will reintroduce them in the near future. Moving forward, 4chan says it is bringing on volunteers to keep up with the workload of putting the website back together. The moderation team apparently isnt going to let 4chan die easily the blog post read no matter how hard it is, we are not giving up. Still, it feels inevitable that 4chan will run into a similar problem in the future, considering it hasnt solved the root issue of securing money to keep its servers up-to-date. Washington, D.C., April 26, 2025 In a vibrant display of culture and unity, the wife of the Angolan Ambassador to the United States, Mrs. Camia Van-Dunem, hosted a cultural celebration in collaboration with the Angolan Embassy, highlighting the traditions and heritage of southern Angola's ethnic communities with special focus on the Himba, Muila, and Cuanhama peoples. The event, held at the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., gathered wives of African ambassadors accredited to the United States, along with African and Afro-descendant women from various professional sectors. The gathering celebrated African identity and diversity, while underscoring the crucial role of women as cultural custodians, social change agents, and promoters of unity across the continent. A major feature of the afternoon was an immersive exhibition portraying the daily lives, rites of passage, and customs of the honored communities. The cultural richness on display was further amplified by a traditional parade led by Miss Africa America, who wore a traditional Himba costume. Her graceful presence symbolized the strength, beauty, and authenticity of Angolan culture. The program also included two interactive panel discussions, where African and Afro-descendant women shared personal narratives, community initiatives, and impactful development projects across the African continent. These dialogues emphasized the power of cultural exchange and the significance of African heritage in the diaspora. Speaking at the event, Mrs. Van-Dunem highlighted the initiative's goal of fostering unity among African peoples and celebrating Angola's cultural wealth, particularly from the southern region. "This event is a tribute to our roots and a call for solidarity and pride in who we are," she said. The Afternoon concluded with a communal celebration, offering a space for connection, reflection, and the reaffirmation of African cultural identity. Press Contact: Nadine Gualdino, Angola Embassy ngualdino@yahoo.com, 703-309-1260 If your parents are starting to show signs of decline, finding quality long-term care services can feel overwhelming. If you're noticing your parents beginning to decline, finding quality long-term care services can seem overwhelming. Learn the steps to recognize when help is needed, how to choose care options, fund care, and why this moment should inspire your own long-term care planning. Watching Your Parents Age: A Wake-Up Call for Action One day your parents are independent and vibrant; the next, you notice missed appointments, a dented car, or an unkempt kitchen. Matt McCann, CLTC, a leading expert in long-term care planning, says it often catches families off guard. "It's a wake-up call. Not just for their needs today, but for your future too." Finding quality long-term care services for your parents doesn't have to be overwhelming. Knowing the right steps and having a plan makes all the difference. When Do You Know Your Parents Need Help? Many adult children miss early signs that parents are struggling. Spotting changes in behavior, health, or living conditions before a crisis is critical. Common signs your parents may need care include: Frequent falls or trouble walking Poor hygiene or wearing dirty clothes Expired food or a messy home Forgetting medications or appointments Unopened bills or financial confusion Isolation or withdrawal Weight loss or malnutrition If you notice one or more of these signs, it's time for a conversation and an evaluation of their care needs. "Families who plan ahead tend to avoid the emotional and financial chaos of a long-term care crisis," says McCann. Home or Facility? How to Decide the Best Care Setting The next big question is whether your parent can safely stay at home or needs to move to assisted living, memory care, or a nursing home. Factors to consider: Level of care required: Occasional help vs. 24/7 supervision Home safety: Can bathrooms be modified? Are there stairs? Support system: Are family caregivers available? Cognitive ability: Are memory problems putting them at risk? McCann notes that if your parent owns a Long-Term Care Insurance policy, many companies offer care coordination services to help families make these decisions. Moving to a facility might be the safest and best choice if their health needs are too great. "Finding quality care is vital to maintaining a good quality of life," says McCann. Use the LTC News Caregiver Directory to find vetted home care providers, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes near you. McCann says LTC News, in cooperation with Amada Senior Care, will help a family complete the paperwork to file a claim for any LTC Insurance policy at no cost or obligation - Filing a Long-Term Care Insurance Claim. What If One Parent Needs Care and the Other Doesn't? This situation is increasingly common: one parent remains independent, the other needs substantial help. Options include: Hiring in-home caregivers so the healthy spouse can maintain independence Moving together into an assisted living community, allowing both partners to stay together How Do You Pay for Long-Term Care? Here's the reality: Health insurance and Medicare do not cover custodial long-term care. Medicaid may help but only after assets are spent down . Personal savings and income often fund care unless Long-Term Care Insurance is in place. If your parents have a Long-Term Care Insurance policy, review it now to understand the available benefits. Policies typically cover: Home care Assisted living Memory care Skilled nursing facilities Knowing the benefit amounts and covered services helps you plan more effectively. How Does Long-Term Care Insurance Work and When to Use It? Triggering benefits from a Tax-Qualified Long-Term Care Insurance policy is straightforward. Two Triggers for Benefits: 1. Inability to Perform Two or More Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): Bathing Dressing Eating Transferring Toileting Continence Certified by a licensed health care practitioner, your parent must require substantial help to complete at least two ADLs for at least 90 days. 2. Severe Cognitive Impairment: Conditions like Alzheimer's or dementia require substantial supervision to protect health and safety even if ADLs can still be performed. Next Steps After Qualification: File a claim : Submit medical verification and a plan of care. Plan of care : Developed by a healthcare provider in consultation with family. Wait out the elimination period : Most policies have a 90-day waiting period. Benefits are paid : Payments for approved services begin, usually made directly to providers. Need help? Use the LTC News Claims Assistance Service. Why Your Parents' Decline Should Motivate You to Plan Now Watching your parents age is not just emotional it's a wake-up call. Aging and health decline are inevitable. Whether you have a plan or not will make all the difference for you and your family. "Long-Term Care Insurance isn't about fear. It's about ensuring your future dignity, independence, and peace of mind," McCann says. Start thinking now: How will you fund care without draining assets or burdening your children? Will you be able to stay at home? What quality of life do you want to protect? The LTC News Cost of Care Calculator shows you the rising costs of care and can help you plan properly with the assistance of a qualified LTC Insurance specialist. Bottom Line: Planning Means Empowerment Finding quality long-term care for your parents is possible. It starts with recognizing the signs, understanding your options, knowing how to fund care, and using the right resources. And it should inspire you to plan for yourself while you're young enough to secure affordable options. Most people acquire Long-Term Care Insurance between ages 47 and 67. Your good health today gives you the best opportunity to plan. LTC Insurance is affordable especially when you are younger and healthier. How Much Does Long-Term Care Insurance Cost at My Age? Get Professional Planning Help Now Matt McCann, CLTC, is licensed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, representing top-rated insurance companies. Through an innovative, no-pressure process, McCann allows clients to consult by phone while viewing his computer screen ensuring a simple, convenient, and transparent experience. You can get free and accurate quotes from all the top companies plus professional recommendations by visiting Free and Accurate LTC Insurance Quotes. Media Availability Matt McCann is available for radio, TV, and podcast interviews. He also speaks to groups and organizations worldwide about aging, caregiving, health, and long-term care issues. Contact Matt McCann for interview opportunities or speaking engagements. Haiti is on the precipitous of "total chaos", a total collapse and a potential point of no return from gang violence and the anarchy that has ruled over the impoverished Caribbean island since 2021. United Nations Special Representative Maria Isabel Salvador told the Security Council Monday that criminal gangs are waging deliberate and coordinated campaigns to expand territorial control and paralyze the capital, Port-au-Prince. Commercial flights into the Haitian capital have been suspended, some roads are blocked, 39 hospitals and medical facilities have closed and more than 900 schools have closed due to ongoing violence. Cholera outbreaks are spreading, and sexual and gender-based violence is on the rise especially in displacement sites where shelter, sanitation and protection are severely lacking, the UN said in an announcement. Gang violence and assaults on women have extended to other areas of the country and there have been large prison breaks. The magnitude of the violence has sown panic among the population, Salvador said. According to the UN, in February and March, more than 1,000 people were killed, nearly 400 injured and 60,000 have been displaced from their homes. Rapes and killings have been commonplace since Haiti sunk into anarchy after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise by foreign mercenaries The country needs us more than ever, Salvador said. She called for more international security and humanitarian support. A Kenya-led international security force has struggled to stem gang and vigilant violence. The Trump administrations pullback on U.S. foreign aid is also a challenge. The UNs ability to stay operational hinges on continued access, predictable funding and support to logistical lifelines like the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), Salvador said, warning that any further reduction in aid capacity could have dire consequences. The Trump administration is also trying to end a Haitian refugee program as part of its hardline immigration push. That action is being challenged in court. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea said corruption, sexual violence and the recruitment of children into gangs are major concerns and called for more international financial contributions to help Haiti and pressed for the need for other countries to step up. "America cannot continue shouldering such a significant financial burden," she said. Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nation argued the U.S. has been part of past instability in Haiti and criticized the Trump administration for its 10% "Liberation Day" tariffs on Haiti 'While the U.S. defied world opinion by imposing tariffs on all trade partners, it also extended its so-called baseline tariff to Haiti, one of the world's least developed countries," he said during a UN hearing. "This is not only cruel and absurd, but also profoundly heartbreaking." The U.S. occupied Haiti, a former French colony, from 1915 to 1934. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has a population of 11.64 million. Its capital city Port-au-Prince has a metropolitan population of 2.6 million people. The violence and chaos have also made work in Haiti dangerous for relief workers, journalists and Christian missionaries. We are approaching a point of no return, Salvador said of the current situation. Without timely and decisive international support, the violence will continue to escalate, and Haiti could face total collapse. Arla has confirmed it will press ahead with its proposal to close its Settle creamery, despite widespread opposition to the move. As a result of its new Lockerbie investment proposal, Arla said it wanted to close down its Settle site and a consultation was launched earlier this year. Following this, the co-op has decided to close down the factory, a move which has been called a "devastating blow" to 130 skilled jobs, as well as the wider rural community. GMB Union and other stakeholders had presented options to save the site, including a move to a greenfield location, product diversification, and shared production use of the Settle facility. However, at a consultation meeting held on Friday 25 April, senior Arla executives confirmed production would be relocated to Lockerbie. Deanne Ferguson, GMB organiser, said that the union would now move to ballot its members on potential strike action. We are extremely disappointed Arla has chosen not to take forward any of the alternative business cases put forward through a genuine and collaborative effort with key stakeholders. "Our commitment to the workers at Settle remains absolute and we will not let the town lose 130 skilled jobs without a fight. "We urge Arla to keep the door open for further dialogue and GMB remains ready to work constructively with management." Arla said the move formed part of a wider plan to consolidate operations and invest in its facilities in Scotland. The dairy co-operative stated that relocating production would help future-proof its UK manufacturing network. "We remain committed to being a major employer in the Yorkshire region," a spokesperson said. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for China dropped by 0.3 per cent in March 2025 to 149.6 (2016=100), marking its second consecutive monthly decline. The index also dropped by 0.3 per cent in February. Over the six-month period from September 2024 to March 2025, the LEI contracted by 1.4 per cent, slightly outpacing the 1.3 per cent decline recorded in the preceding six months. The China LEI continued to decline in March. As in previous months, the decline was driven by three components: depressed consumer expectations, a weak logistics prosperity index and low new export orders in manufacturing. Only profitability increased while the remaining components were unchanged. The six-month and annual growth rates were still negative, but they stabilized at a similar level as in February and March 2025 and continued to suggest softer economic conditions ahead, said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board. In contrast, the Coincident Economic Index (CEI) for China posted a significant increase of 1.7 per cent in March to reach 153.4, following a flat reading in February. However, despite the sharp monthly rise, the CEIs six-month growth slowed to 1.9 per cent compared to 2.5 per cent in the previous half-year span, as per TCB. So far in 2025, activity has remained robust as suggested by the high CEI reading in March and GDP growth at 5.4 per cent YoY in Q1, the same pace as in Q4 of 2024. The Conference Board currently forecasts annual real GDP growth at between 4.5 per cent to 5.0 per cent in 2025 as the Chinese government is committed to support the economy to offset the negative effects of the trade war with the United States, said Justyna. China's LEI fell 0.3 per cent in March 2025, marking its second monthly drop and a 1.4 per cent decline over six months. Key drags were weak consumer outlook, logistics, and exports. In contrast, the CEI jumped 1.7 per cent, showing robust activity, with Q1 GDP up 5.4 per cent YoY. The 2025 growth forecast remains at 4.55.0 per cent, aided by government support. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU) The business sentiment among companies in Germany has improved slightly, with the ifo Business Climate Index rising in April to 86.9 points, up from 86.7 points in March. Companies were more positive about their current situation. However, expectations were gloomier. Uncertainty among the companies has increased. The German economy is preparing for turbulence. In manufacturing, the index fell again after a strong increase in the previous month. This was due to noticeably more pessimistic expectations. Uncertainty among manufacturing companies grew especially strongly. By contrast, the current business situation was assessed as somewhat better. The order backlog is no longer declining, according to the ifo Institute for Economic Research. In trade, the index fell. Expectations were pessimistic again. The trading companies assessed their current business situation as somewhat worse. The negative development was driven primarily by the wholesale sector. Germany's ifo Business Climate Index inched up to 86.9 in April from 86.7 in March, indicating slightly improved sentiment. While companies viewed their current situation more positively, expectations worsened, and uncertainty grew. In manufacturing, optimism faded after a prior rise, with rising uncertainty and weaker expectations. Trade sentiment also declined. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR) Passenger traffic increased 10.6% in Puerto Rico and 6.4% in Colombia; and decreased 4.8% in Mexico MEXICO CITY, April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: ASR; BMV: ASUR) (ASUR), a leading international airport group with operations in Mexico, the United States, and Colombia, today announced its results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2025. 1Q25 Highlights1 Total passenger traffic increased 0.2% YoY ("YoY"). By country of operations, passenger traffic showed the following YoY variations: M exico: decreased 4.8%, reflecting decreases of 7.5% in international traffic and 0.7% in domestic traffic. Puerto Rico (Aerostar): increased 10.6%, driven by increases of 10.6% and 9.9% in international and domestic traffic, respectively. Colombia (Airplan): increased 6.4%, reflecting an increase of 15.1% and 3.9% in international and domestic traffic, respectively. Revenues increased 18.2% YoY to Ps.8,787.5 million. Excluding construction services, revenues increased 13.9% YoY. Commercial revenue per passenger increased 17.5% YoY to Ps.146.8. Consolidated EBITDA increased 11.7% YoY to Ps.5,724.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin (excluding IFRIC 12 effect) declined to 70.0% from 71.4% in 1Q24. Cash position of Ps. 22,681.2 million at March 31, 2025, with Debt to LTM Adjusted EBITDA at negative 0.5x. On April 10, 2025, ASUR published its 2024 Sustainability Report, filed its 2024 Annual Report in Form 20-F with the US S.E.C and the Circular Unica 2024 with the Mexican Stock Exchange and regulator. Table 1: Financial and Operating Highlights 1 First Quarter % Chg. 2024 2025 Financial Highlights Total Revenue 7,434,907 8,787,475 18.2 Mexico 5,646,112 6,472,205 14.6 San Juan 1,033,582 1,321,701 27.9 Colombia 755,213 993,569 31.6 Commercial Revenues per PAX 124.9 146.8 17.5 Mexico 145.3 169.4 16.6 San Juan 141.8 174.0 22.7 Colombia 50.2 64.2 27.9 EBITDA 5,122,940 5,724,836 11.7 Net Income 3,186,754 3,638,219 14.2 Majority Net Income 3,082,091 3,515,784 14.1 Earnings per Share (in pesos) 10.2736 11.7193 14.1 Earnings per ADS (in US$) 5.0267 5.7341 14.1 Capex 182,584 645,357 253.5 Cash & Cash Equivalents 16,822,986 22,681,245 34.8 Net Debt (5,073,921) (9,758,042) 92.3 Net Debt/ LTM EBITDA (0.3) (0.5) 66.0 Operational Highlights Passenger Traffic Mexico 11,496,410 10,945,137 (4.8) San Juan 3,261,896 3,608,582 10.6 Colombia 3,804,232 4,046,354 6.4 For a full version of ASUR's First Quarter of 2025 Earnings Release, please visit: https://www.asur.com.mx/informacion-financiera-page-0 " 1Q25 Earnings Call Day: Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET; 8:00 AM Mexico City time Dial-in: +1 877 407 4018 (U.S. Toll-Free); +1 201 689 8471 (International) Access Code: 13753196. Please dial in 10 minutes before the scheduled start time. Replay: Wednesday, April 23, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET, ending at 11:59 PM ET on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Dial-in: +1 844 512 2921 (U.S. Toll-Free); +1 412 317 6671 (International). Access Code: 13753196 1 Unless otherwise stated, all financial figures are unaudited and prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). All figures in this report are expressed in Mexican pesos, unless otherwise noted. Tables state figures in thousands of Mexican pesos, unless otherwise noted. Passenger figures for Mexico and Colombia exclude transit and general aviation passengers, unless otherwise noted. Commercial revenues include revenues from non-permanent ground transportation and parking lots. U.S. dollar figures are calculated at an exchange rate of US$1.00 = Ps.20.4380 (source: Diario Oficial de la Federacion de Mexico) while Colombian peso figures are calculated at an exchange rate of COP 203.3400 = Ps.1.00 (source: Investing). Definitions for EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Majority Net Income can be found on page 17 of this report. Definitions Concession Services Agreements (IFRIC 12 interpretation). In Mexico and Puerto Rico, ASUR is required by IFRIC 12 to include in its income statement an income line, "Construction Revenues," reflecting the revenue from construction of, or improvements to concessioned assets made during the relevant period. The same amount is recognized under the expense line "Construction Costs" because ASUR hires third parties to provide construction services. Because equal amounts of Construction Revenues and Construction Costs have been included in ASUR's income statement as a result of the application of IFRIC 12, the amount of Construction Revenues does not have an impact on EBITDA, but it does have an impact on EBITDA Margin. In Colombia, "Construction Revenues" include the recognition of the revenue to which the concessionaire is entitled for carrying out the infrastructure works in the development of the concession, while "Construction Costs" represents the actual costs incurred in the execution of such additions or improvements to the concessioned assets. Majority Net Income reflects ASUR's equity interests in each of its subsidiaries and therefore excludes the 40% interest in Aerostar that is owned by other shareholders. Other than Aerostar, ASUR owns (directly or indirectly) 100% of its subsidiaries. EBITDA means net income before provision for taxes, deferred taxes, profit sharing, non-ordinary items, participation in the results of associates, comprehensive financing cost, and depreciation and amortization. EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to net income, as an indicator of our operating performance, as an alternative to cash flow or as an indicator of liquidity. Our management believes that EBITDA provides a useful measure that is widely used by investors and analysts to evaluate our performance and compare it with other companies. EBITDA is not defined under U.S. GAAP or IFRS and may be calculated differently by different companies. Adjusted EBITDA Margin is calculated by dividing EBITDA by total revenues excluding construction services revenues for Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Colombia and excludes the effect of IFRIC 12 with respect to the construction of, or improvements to concessioned assets. ASUR is required by IFRIC 12 to include in its income statement an income line reflecting the revenue from construction of, or improvements to concessioned assets made during the relevant period. The same amount is recognized under the expense line "Construction Costs" because ASUR hires third parties to provide construction services. In Mexico and Puerto Rico, because equal amounts of Construction Revenues and Construction Costs have been included in ASUR's income statement as a result of the application of IFRIC 12, the amount of Construction Revenues does not have an impact on EBITDA, but it does have an impact on EBITDA Margin, as the increase in revenues that relates to Construction Revenues does not result in a corresponding increase in EBITDA. In Colombia, construction revenues do have an impact on EBITDA, as construction revenues include a reasonable margin over the actual cost of construction. Like EBITDA Margin, Adjusted EBITDA Margin should not be considered as an indicator of our operating performance, as an alternative to cash flow or as an indicator of liquidity and is not defined under U.S. GAAP or IFRS and may be calculated differently by different companies. About ASUR Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V. (ASUR) is a leading international airport operator with a portfolio of concessions to operate, maintain, and develop 16 airports in the Americas. These comprise nine airports in southeast Mexico, including Cancun Airport, the most important tourist destination in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and six airports in northern Colombia, including Jose Maria Cordova International Airport (Rionegro), the second busiest airport in Colombia. ASUR is also a 60% JV partner in Aerostar Airport Holdings, LLC, operator of the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport serving the capital of Puerto Rico, San Juan. San Juan's Airport is the island's primary gateway for international and mainland-US destinations and was the first and currently the only major airport in the US to have successfully completed a public-private partnership under the FAA Pilot Program. Headquartered in Mexico, ASUR is listed both on the Mexican Bolsa, where it trades under the symbol ASUR, and on the NYSE in the U.S., where it trades under the symbol ASR. One ADS represents ten (10) series B shares. For more information, visit www.asur.com.mx Analyst Coverage In accordance with Article 4.033.01 of the Mexican Stock Exchange Internal Rules, ASUR reports that the stock is covered by the following broker-dealers: Actinver, Banorte, Barclays, BBVA, BofA Merrill Lynch, Bradesco, BTG Pactual, Citi Global Markets, GBM Grupo Bursatil, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Securities, Insight Investment Research, Itau BBA Securities, Jefferies, JP Morgan, Punto Research, Santander, Scotiabank, UBS Casa de Bolsa and Vector. Please note that any opinions, estimates or forecasts with respect to the performance of ASUR issued by these analysts reflect their own views, and therefore do not represent the opinions, estimates or forecasts of ASUR or its management. Although ASUR may refer to or distribute such statements, this does not imply that ASUR agrees with or endorses any information, conclusions or recommendations included therein. Forward Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this press release discuss future expectations or state other forward-looking information. Those statements are subject to risks identified in this press release and in ASUR's filings with the SEC. Actual developments could differ significantly from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information is based on various factors and was derived using numerous assumptions. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, except as may be required by applicable law, we do not have an obligation to update or revise them, whether as a result of new information, future or otherwise. SOURCE Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S.A.B. de C.V. The Company is rapidly accelerating its global expansion with the goal of becoming a world-class automobile brand. CHONGQING, China, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ChangAn Automobile ("ChangAn" or "the Company"), an intelligent low-carbon mobility technology company, recently hosted the 2025 Overseas Partner Conference in Chongqing under the theme "Vast Ocean Plan: United Towards The Peak." The event brought together more than 500 partners from over 70 countries discuss the Company's global achievements and share its future roadmap. During the conference, ChangAn unveiled its "2030 Vision," pledging over $10 billion in global investment. The Company aims to reach 5 million in global vehicle sales by 2030. ChangAn also set its sights on becoming one of the world's top 10 automobile brands. ChangAn's global business strategy continues to advance with an expected 5 million vehicles worldwide and 1.2 million overseas by 2030 In his keynote at the 2025 conference, Zhu Huarong, Chairman of ChangAn Automobile, highlighted the Company's progress over five years in new energy, intelligence, and global business. Global sales rose 34.2% to 2.684 million vehicles in 2024, with 735,000 new energy vehicles and 536,000 sold internationally. "From product exports to brand globalisation, we are strengthening global competitiveness with the dual drive of 'long-termism plus localized operations,'" Mr. Zhu said. Over the next five years, ChangAn will target five key overseas markets and expand localised production, branding, and customer service. ChangAn's overseas sales ranked among the top 3 in China's automobile exports in 2024 At the conference, Li Mingcai, Executive Vice President of ChangAn Automobile, highlighted key global milestones. The Company launched its first international NEV manufacturing base in Thailand and developed eight overseas production partnerships, reaching a capacity of 580,000 units. In 2024, ChangAn ranked among China's top three auto exporters, with over 500,000 vehicles sold internationally and revenue surpassing $11 billion. The brand expanded into 20 new countries, entering over 100 globally, and now operates 1,150 sales channels. CHANG-AN, DEEPAL, and AVATR gained international recognition, with ChangAn joining the "BrandZ Top 50 Chinese Global Brands" just 14 months after launching the Vast Ocean Plan. "In the wave of anti-globalization, ChangAn Automobile has confirmed the strength of China's smart manufacturing with nine consecutive years of export growth," Mr. Li said. The 2025 "dual-track" development plan will see 20 new cars launched internationally Technological innovation remains at the core of ChangAn's global strategy, said Executive Vice President Wang Xiaofei. The Company has invested over 114.8 billion yuan in R&D and established an international team of 18,000, including 5,000 software and AI specialists. Its 2025 plan includes a dual-track fuel and new energy strategy. Fossil-fuel vehicles will target markets in Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa, and Eurasia, while new energy vehicles will focus on Asia Pacific and Europe. ChangAn is building a unified global brand structure through CHANG-AN, DEEPAL, and AVATR, executing a "1+N" brand strategy - one global IP and multiple localised campaigns annually. Product-wise, 20 new global models (10 fuel, 10 NEVs) will be launched, including the CS75PLUS, DEEPAL S05, AVATR 07, and CHANG-AN Q07. ChangAn remains confident and committed to future growth. Moving forward, the Company will focus on building a "competitiveness plus high quality" strategy, leveraging its core strengths and technology innovation to expand its footprint globally and further elevate its international influence. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2674025/image.jpg Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2674026/photo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/changan-outlines-2030-vision-at-vast-ocean-plan-united-towards-the-peak-themed-overseas-partner-conference-in-chongqing-302439046.html $135M Capital Raise, Comprised of Private Placement and In-Kind Contributions, Aims at Increasing iMENA's Shareholding in Existing Businesses Company completes restructuring into a Saudi company, iMENA Holding Transformation part of evolution into regional digital powerhouse. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- iMENA Group ("iMENA"), a regional leader in digital platforms in the MENA region, has raised $135 million from Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned company by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), FJ Labs, a global venture capital firm known for backing category-leading marketplace and network-effect platforms, and Saygin Yalcin, the founder and CEO of SellAnyCar, and a number of other leading Saudi investors. The capital raise is compromised of a private placement and in-kind contributions and is the first tranche of a pre-IPO funding round. The new funding round will be used to increase iMENA's shareholding in its three high-performing businesses: OpenSooq, SellAnyCar, and Jeeny; to drive vertical and geographic expansion; and to improve synergies across its platforms. iMENA confirmed that it has now restructured into a Saudi Closed Joint Stock Company (CJSC) under the name of iMENA Holding. This transformation marks a major milestone in the company's evolution into a regional digital powerhouse, ahead of a potential public listing. Furthermore Saygin Yalcin will also join iMENA's Board of Directors and management committee to help drive strategic direction for the company. Nasir Alsharif, Chairman of iMENA Holding said: "This transaction marks an important inflection point for iMENA in its journey to IPO-readiness by taking advantage of the great opportunities provided by the Kingdom's Vision (2030) and in cooperation with the largest investment entities. We are shaping the future of the region's digital economy as a platform of internet marketplaces driving innovation at pace and at scale. The high growth and profitability of our businesses, in sectors and markets within which we have high conviction, provides material value creation opportunities and an exciting pathway for us to accelerate forward." A spokesperson at Sanabil Investments added: "We are excited to invest in iMENA Holding, a digital platform with proven scalability and profitability. Leveraging our own experience in internet marketplaces, we understand their unique strategy and are committed to bringing our expertise to support their growth and future IPO aspirations on the Saudi Exchange." Acting as financial advisor to iMENA Holding on the private placement, Hossam AlBasrawi, CEO of Al Rajhi Capital commented "Al Rajhi Capital is proud to support iMENA's transformation and potential IPO journey. The group's integrated model and strategic vision make it a standout in the region's digital landscape". Closing of the capital raise remains subject to standard closing conditions and the approval of the authorities in Saudi Arabia. iMENA Holding's new Board of Directors will comprise the following regional leaders and sector veterans: Nasir Alsharif, Chairman of iMENA, Board Member at AWJ Holding Company and Executive Chairman of Sackville Capital Khaldoon Tabaza, Co-founder & Managing Director of iMENA Adey Salamin, Co-founder of iMENA and CEO of OpenSooq Saygin Yalcin, Founder & CEO of SellAnyCar Mazin AlDawood, CEO of Osool & Bakheet Investment Usman Sikandar, Head of Investment Banking at Al Rajhi Capital Marco Somalvico, Vice President M&A of E& Sanabil Investments will also appoint a member to the Board of Directors of iMENA Holding in due course. iMENA's businesses, OpenSooq, SellAnyCar, and Jeeny, are regional leaders in horizontal and vertical marketplaces across the largest sectors in the region, including real estate, automotive, and mobility, with operations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Oman, Kuwait, and the broader Middle East region. iMENA's businesses are profitable and growing rapidly, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 55%. Almost 40% of the aggregate revenues of iMENA's businesses come from Saudi Arabia, with another 40% from the UAE, making them iMENA's two core strategic markets. iMENA's businesses aim to serve as a compelling proxy for the digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa region, giving investors direct exposure to the region's fastest-growing online sectors. About iMENA Holding: iMENA was founded in 2012, and has evolved into a regional internet champion, building and scaling high-growth internet businesses across the Middle East and North Africa region. The company was co-founded by Nasir Alsharif, Khaldoon Tabaza, and Adey Salamin, joined as part of this restructuring by Saygin Yalcin, plan to leverage their expertise in technology and investment to continue building and operating digital marketplaces. Over the years, iMENA has launched, acquired, scaled, and successfully exited from a number of successful regional platforms, thereby becoming a strategic consolidator in the digital economy. Nasir Alsharif , iMENA's Chairman, is an experienced investor and builder of investment businesses across venture capital, technology and broader private markets, with current roles including Board Member at AWJ Holding Company and Executive Chairman of Sackville Capital. , iMENA's Chairman, is an experienced investor and builder of investment businesses across venture capital, technology and broader private markets, with current roles including Board Member at AWJ Holding Company and Executive Chairman of Sackville Capital. Khaldoon Tabaza , Managing Director of iMENA Holding and Chairman of Opensooq, is a pioneer in the region's technology and venture capital ecosystem with more than 30 years of experience in building and investing in digital ventures across MENA, including founding the first venture-backed online business in the MENA region more than 25 years ago. , Managing Director of iMENA Holding and Chairman of Opensooq, is a pioneer in the region's technology and venture capital ecosystem with more than 30 years of experience in building and investing in digital ventures across MENA, including founding the first venture-backed online business in the MENA region more than 25 years ago. Adey Salamin is a marketplace expert and the CEO of OpenSooq, known for scaling the platform into one of the region's most visited websites and mobile applications. Adey has over 20 years of experience as a founder, operator, investor, and advisor of growth businesses. is a marketplace expert and the CEO of OpenSooq, known for scaling the platform into one of the region's most visited websites and mobile applications. Adey has over 20 years of experience as a founder, operator, investor, and advisor of growth businesses. Saygin Yalcin is a serial entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of SellAnyCar, one of the most prominent digital automotive brands in the Middle East. Previously, he was Founder and CEO of Sukar.com and Vice President of Souq.com following a merger forming the Middle East's largest E-commerce group that was later acquired by Amazon. For more information on OpenSooq, please visit: www.opensooq.com For more information on SellAnyCar, please visit: www.sellanycar.com For more information on Jeeny, please visit: www.jeeny.me Contact: info@imena.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2673526/iMENA_Holding_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/imena-restructures-as-saudi-cjsc-and-announces-first-tranche-of-pre-ipo-capital-increase-302438930.html The demise of Pope Francis has set in motion the process of electing a new one in what is known as a conclave. This event will have terms such as Habemus Papam and Nomen mentioned. But do you know what they mean? We have you covered on the need-to-know terms to help make sense of the news read more A photo of Pope Francis is seen during a Mass officiated by Geoffroy Kouadio Kouakou, priest and rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, following the death of Pope Francis, in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast. Reuters Pope Francis has breathed his last, marking the end of his 12-year tenure as head of the Roman Catholic Church. The 88-year-old pontiffs funeral was held outdoors in front of St Peters Basilica, with the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, leading the service on Saturday (April 26). But even as the world mourns the loss of Pope Francis, attention has turned to the conclave, which comes from the Latin words cum (with) and clavis (key), and meaning a room that can be locked, this is the closed-door meeting in which cardinals elect the pope. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This event is likely to take place with the next few days and will only be completed when a new pope is chosen, which will be signified through white smoke emanating from a chimney at the Sistine Chapel. Ahead of this momentous event, heres a guide of the key terms, which shall be used. Camerlengo Between the death of a pope and the election of his successor, the camerlengo takes over the every day running of the Vatican. He is also charged with the funeral preparations as well as those for the conclave. Currently, Irish-born American Kevin Farrell is the camerlengo, a position that Pope Francis had appointed him in 2019. Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, checks the sealed apartment of Pope Francis, at the Vatican. Reuters College of Cardinals The next pope will be selected by the College of Cardinals, the Catholic churchs most senior figures appointed by the pontiff. There are more than 250 cardinals from more than 90 countries, but only about 135 are cardinal electors (those over the age of 80 are excluded). Interestingly, this time around, the vast majority of the electors, 108 of them, were made cardinals by Pope Francis. That means 80 per cent of votes will be cast by cardinals who owe their position to Francis. Dean The conclave is traditionally presided over by the dean of the College of Cardinals, a position currently held by the Italian Giovanni Battista Re. But as he is over 80 years old, the task falls to Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. He is also the one who asks the new pope when chosen if he accepts the role and what name he wants to be called. Extra Omnes This Latin phrase meaning everyone out is used by the master of liturgical ceremonies to order all those not taking part in the conclave to leave the Sistine Chapel. Fishermans Ring Once a new pope is chosen, he is given a ring, known as the Fishermans Ring. It is named so because Jesus told St Peter, the first pope, that he would be a fisher of men. After the election, the camerlengo places a new one on the new popes finger. Meanwhile, when a pope dies, its annulled meaning it cant be used in any which way. Pope John Paul II waving to faithful during a beatification ceremony in St. Peters square. Each pope gets the fishermans ring at the Mass marking the beginning of his pontificate. File image/Reuters Habemus Papam This phrase, meaning we have a pope is used by the Church to tell the world it has a new leader. Holy Spirit Catholics believe that the pick of a new pope comes from the Holy Spirit, invoked by the cardinals as they enter the Sistine Chapel. Infirmarii These are the three cardinals, chosen by a random drawing from the electors, who are charged with gathering the ballots of any electors who are ill during the conclave. Nomen The name the newly elected pope chooses for himself, often in homage to a previous pontiff to whom he feels a close affinity. Jorge Bergolio picked the name Francis as a tribute to St Francis of Assisi. Oath of secrecy The vow taken by the cardinal electors, as well as by those who serve them during the conclave. Protodeacon Hes the cardinal who announces the name of the new pope from the loggia of St Peters Basilica. The current protodeacon is French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti. A man shuts the door of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. File image/Reuters Room of Tears Once a new pope is elected, he shuts himself in this tiny room adjoining the Sistine Chapel, where he can give free rein to his emotions. Revisers These are the three cardinals, chosen by random from the electors, who are charged with reviewing the ballots during the conclave. Scrutineers Three cardinals chosen randomly to review, announce, and tally the votes during the conclave. They are also tasked with burning the votes. Sistine Chapel The 15th-century chapel decorated with Michelangelos frescoes is where the conclave is held. Santa Marta guest house This where Pope Francis chose to live rather than the papal apartments, and where cardinals stay during the conclave. White smoke is seen billowing out from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and announcing that a new pope has been elected. File image/AP Smoke Cardinals vote using ballot papers, which are counted before being burned in a stove. If no one wins the necessary two-thirds majority of votes, a chemical is added to blacken the smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney. Once a new pope is chosen, a different chemical is added to turn the smoke white, announcing the election to the crowds waiting in St Peters Square below. Universi Dominici Gregis The Vatican constitution governing the process from the popes death until a new one is elected, issued by St. John Paul II in 1996 and amended by Pope Benedict XVI. With inputs from AFP North Koreas Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un took a bold step on April 27, 2018 and crossed over to South Korea for a historic summit. This was the first time a North Korean leader had entered the South since the Korean War armistice. According to German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, the universe was created on this day in 4977 BC read more Could you imagine North Koreas supreme leader Kim Jong Un crossing over to the South? Its not a faraway dream because Kim did the unimaginable for many and crossed over to the South on April 27, 2018. He created history and became the first North Korean leader to cross the border, one of the worlds most heavily armed borders. If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers ongoing series, History Today will be your one-stop destination to explore key events. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On this day in 4977 BC, the universe was created according to astronomer Johannes Kepler, a founder of modern science. Here is all that took place on this day across the world. Kim Jong Un made history by crossing over to South Imagine the most heavily armed border in the world, defended by soldiers who have all sorts of weapons at their disposal to protect their respective countries. Now, imagine crossing such a border. While it may be difficult for you to imagine such a situation, North Koreas Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un did it on this day in 2018. Creating history, he became the first leader to cross the border and enter South since the Korean War armistice in 1953. This symbolic moment took place in the truce village of Panmunjom within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a heavily fortified area that has long separated the two nations. As soon as South Korean President Moon Jae-in saw Kim come out, he walked to meet his counterpart at the border so that their handshake would be at the most symbolic of locations, each leader standing on his side of the military demarcation line that separates North from South, reported IndiaTV News. South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone. File image/Reuters Surrounded by bodyguards and other members of his delegation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un emerged right on cue from a large building on the northern side of the border in the truce village of Panmunjom, walked down a wide flight of stairs and strolled confidently toward South Korean President Moon Jae-in to begin the historic meeting. Smiling broadly and exchanging greetings, the two shook hands for a long time, exchanging greetings and looking from outward appearances like old friends. The historic meeting was part of a broader thaw in inter-Korean relations following months of rising tensions and missile tests from Pyongyang. The summit aimed to ease military tensions, foster reconciliation, and discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In an unscripted and highly symbolic gesture, Moon then crossed into the North with Kim before they returned to South Korean territory to begin the summit. The universe was created, according to Kepler On this day in 4977 BC the universe was created, as per German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler. On April 27, 1595, Kepler noted in his personal records this momentous belief that the universe was created by aligning a cosmic and divine order. He based this idea on a blend of astronomical observations and theological reasoning. Kepler lived during a time when science and religion were not seen as mutually exclusive. He believed that Gods design of the universe could be understood through mathematics and geometry. His work laid the foundations for modern celestial mechanics, but he also sought to harmonize scientific discovery with biblical narratives. In his attempts to calculate the creation of the cosmos, Kepler used planetary alignments and biblical chronology, ultimately arriving at April 27, 4977 BC, as the universes birthday. He based this on a complex combination of scriptural interpretation and astronomical data particularly planetary conjunctions and models of the heavens. Though modern science places the age of the universe at around 13.8 billion years based on the Big Bang theory, Keplers date of April 27 holds historical importance. It highlights the fusion of scientific thought and theological interpretation that characterised the Renaissance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This Day, That Year On this day in 2014, Pope John Paul II was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI. In 1992, British politician Betty Boothroyd became the first woman to be elected speaker of the House of Commons. Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has passed away and been laid to rest. His demise has triggered speculations about who the next pontiff will be. We explore this and more in our weekly wrap read more People pray next to a picture of Pope Francis at the Basilica of San Jose de Flores, after his death was announced by the Vatican, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, April 21, 2025. Reuters The world went into mourning after the Peoples Pope, Francis, passed away at the age of 88. Tributes poured from all corners as the news of his demise came to light. Tensions have escalated between India and Pakistan after the terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people, including a foreigner. After New Delhi put a halt to the Indus Waters Treaty, Islamabad retaliated by suspending the 1972 Simla Agreement with India. As ties between the neighbours further take a plunge, it is not good news for Pakistans economy. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseths job could be at risk. After he was left red-faced over Yemen chat leaks, there are now reports that Hegseth shared sensitive military information with his family members via the Signal messaging group. Heres all this and more in our weekly roundup of stories from around the world. 1. Pope Francis has been laid to rest outside the Vatican, as per his wishes. The head of the Roman Catholic Church died on Easter Monday after a stroke. His last public appearance was a day before, when he blessed thousands of people in St. Peters Square from his open-air popemobile on Easter. One of the last foreign leaders to meet him was US Vice President JD Vance on Sunday in the Vatican. People queued to pay their last respects to the pope while he was lying in state at St. Peters Basilica. Faithful queue to enter St. Peters Basilica to pay respects as Pope Francis lies in state, as seen from Rome, Italy, April 25, 2025. Reuters With Francis funeral complete, there are high speculations about who will be his successor. The College of Cardinals will hold a conclave a secret meeting to elect a new pope in early May. Several names are doing the rounds about who could be the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church. We take a look at the contenders here. 2. Pakistan has responded to Indias actions against it in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam. The Shehbaz Sharif government announced various steps to retaliate, including putting the 1972 Simla Agreement with India in abeyance. The pact was signed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistan President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on July 2, 1972, in Himachal Pradeshs Simla (now Shimla) to formally mark an end to hostilities after the 1971 war between the two nations that led to the creation of Bangladesh. Under the accord, India and Pakistan decided to resolve disputes peacefully and bilaterally. Read here why the Simla Agreement is significant. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 3. Pakistan, which has announced tit-for-tat measures against India, has said that it will consider any attempt to divert the flow of water that belongs to it under the Indus Water Treaty as an act of war. Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power. Its statement comes as the South Asian country faces a crippling economy and billions in debt. As tensions escalate between the two sides, does Pakistan, struggling with an economic crisis, afford to fight a war with India? We explain in this report. 4. The Pahalgam terror attack in south Kashmir has sent shockwaves across India. At least 26 people, mostly tourists, who were enjoying the beauty of the Baisaran meadow in south Kashmirs Pahalgam were killed by a group of terrorists. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Reports say the gunmen, dressed in army fatigues, surrounded the valley and started killing the tourists after asking their identities in an attack that lasted for more than 15 minutes. The cruelty of the attack has led some people, including former US Pentagon official Michael Rubin, to compare it to Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. But why are they drawing parallels and why is the Palestinian outfit being linked to Pakistan? We explain in this report. 5. Terrorists, including Pakistani nationals, emerged from the dense forest and opened fire on a group of unsuspecting tourists in the picturesque Baisaran meadow in one of the worst terror attacks in India in recent years. Preliminary probe suggests the Pahalgam attackers had body cameras on them and were armed with AK-47s and America-made M4 carbines. According to security experts, Pakistan-based terrorists have used US-made arms in previous attacks in the Valley as well. But how are they getting their hands on America-made firearms? The answer is the Taliban in Afghanistan. We explain in this report. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 6. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth remains in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Amid calls for his resignation, reports have come to light that the Pentagon chief shared the details on American airstrikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in March with his family members over unsecure Signal group chats. This comes after a US journalist was added to a group chat on Signal created by top members of the Trump administration to discuss plans for military strikes on Yemen. As pressure builds on Hegseth to step down, will he lose his job? Read our story to find out. 7. Is Pakistan scared of India? The Pahalgam attack has put the spotlight on the fragile security in South Asia. As India and Pakistans relations deteriorate further, a recently declassified 1993 report by Americas CIA reveals Pakistans fear of Indias military superiority. The report also points out that Islamabad views its nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against India. This stems from Pakistans perception of military inferiority, which comes from its previous defeats and belief that another conventional war would threaten the countrys very existence. Read our story here. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 8. Remote work seems to be becoming a thing of the past. Post-COVID, several companies are making it mandatory for their employees to return to the office. However, some continue to back a hybrid model where employees are called to the office a few days a week. 9. Google is the latest company to ask its employees to turn up at the office for work. Many Google units, including remote employees in Google Technical Services and People Operations, have been informed. But will those who refuse to return to office be sacked? Read our report to find out. P.S: If you want to catch the most heartbreaking images from the Popes funeral, you can see them here. This is all we have for this week. If you like how we explain news, you can bookmark this page. In 48 hours, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have demolished nine houses of terrorists or those linked to them following the Pahalgam attack. read more Debris of the house of Lashkar-e-Toiba ultra Jameel Ahmad Shergojri, that was demolished amid a crackdown on the terror network in J&K. PTI In 48 hours, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have demolished nine houses of terrorists or those linked to them following the Pahalgam attack. On Sunday, officials confirmed that they demolished three more houses of active terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Bandipora, Pulwama and Shopian districts. The authorities have been cracking down on terror networks in the region after terrorists infiltrated the Pahalgam district, killing 26 civilians. According to PTI, on Sunday, the house of Adnan Shafi, who joined terrorist ranks last year, was razed in Wandina, Shopian district. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, another house belonging to Amir Nazir, an active terrorist, was destroyed in the Pulwama district. In the Bandipora district, authorities destroyed the house of Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Jameel Ahmad Shergojri, who has been allegedly involved in terrorism since 2016. 60 police raids as security tightens in the region Earlier on Saturday, officials destroyed the homes of four suspected terrorists in Southern Kashmir. In Shopians Chotipora village, they destroyed the house of Shahid Ahmed Kuttey, and in Kulgam, the house of militant Zakir was also demolished. The house of Ahsan ul Haq Sheikh in Pulwama was razed. It is pertinent to note that Sheikh, who had travelled to Pakistan in 2018, recently infiltrated the Valley. Security forces also destroyed the home of Farooq Teewda in Kalaroos, Kupwara. Teewda went to Pakistan in the early 1990s and never returned. Overall, since the Pahalgam attack, a total of nine homes linked to terrorists and their associates have been demolished. The authorities noted that around 16 and 18 local terrorists remain active in the region, affiliated with various terror groups. Apart from this, authorities have carried out more than 60 places in Srinagar on Saturday, a Jammu and Kashmir Police spokesperson told PTI. In Anantnag, mobile vehicle checkpoints have been put up across the district to monitor any suspicious movement. The search operation for terrorists who conducted the attack in Pahalgam is underway. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from ANI/PTI. The Indian Navy on Sunday (April 27) shared several visuals on social media showing Indian warships firing BrahMos anti-ship and anti-surface cruise missiles read more Amid increased tensions with arch-rival Pakistan, Indian warships have conducted multiple anti-ship firings in the Arabian Sea. The Indian Navy on Sunday (April 27) shared several visuals on social media showing Indian warships firing BrahMos anti-ship and anti-surface cruise missiles. According to reports, warships that participated in the exercise included Kolkata-class destroyers, and Nilgiri and Krivak-class frigates. Indian Navy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems, and crew for long-range precision offensive strike. Indian Navy stands combat-ready, credible, and future-ready in safeguarding the nations maritime interests Anytime Anywhere Anyhow, the Indian Navy wrote in an online post. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #IndianNavy Ships undertook successful multiple anti-ship firings to revalidate and demonstrate readiness of platforms, systems and crew for long range precision offensive strike.#IndianNavy stands #CombatReady #Credible and #FutureReady in safeguarding the nations maritime pic.twitter.com/NWwSITBzKK SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) April 27, 2025 The naval exercise comes as a military action by Indian forces against Pakistan is being speculated in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack. Following the killing of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, India has ordered Pakistanis to return home and suspended the crucial Indus Water Treaty. In response, Pakistan has suspended all bilateral agreements with India. There have also been repeated ceasefire violations from Pakistan along the Line of Control, but the Indian Army said it retaliated effectively. No casualties were reported. The Pahalgam massacre was the deadliest terror attack since the removal of Article 370. Indian PM Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the terrorists to the ends of the Earth. In a statement issued earlier on Sunday, the PM said the attack was a desperate attempt by terrorists to derail the progress and tourism industry of the Kashmir region. In his Mann Ki Baat radio address, he said the entire country feels the pain of those who lost their loved ones. Peace was returning to Kashmir, but the enemies of the country, of Jammu and Kashmir, did not like this, he added. The PM promised that terrorism would not go unpunished and India would do everything to deliver justice for the innocent lives lost. He said the punishment would be so harsh that the terrorists could not even imagine it. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Earlier on Saturday, Indian Army had also posted a similar video message on social media, highlighting its combat readiness. Shashi Tharoor compared Indias situation after the terror attack to Israels situation after Hamas attacked a music festival on October 7, 2023 read more Shashi Tharoor, a top lawmaker from Indias Opposition Congress party, Sunday (April 27) appeared to defend the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst allegations of intelligence failure regarding the deadly Kashmir terror attack. Tharoor said no country had foolproof intelligence, citing the deadly October 7 Hamas attack in which more than a thousand Israelis were killed. Tharoor further said successful operations carried out by intelligence services never go public but we only get to know about situations when the agencies fail to thwart such attacks. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD No country can ever have a foolproof 100 per cent intelligence. We will never know about the various terror attacks that were successfully thwarted. We only get to know about the ones that we failed to thwart. This is normal in any nation. There were failures, I agree, but that should not be our main focus right now, news agency ANI quoted Tharoor as saying. Terrorists killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists, in the Baisaran meadow near Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam district on April 22, sparking outrage and heightening tensions between India and Pakistan. Shashi Tharoor compared Indias situation after the terror attack to Israels situation after Hamas attacked a music festival on October 7, 2023. We have got the example of Israel, the worlds best intelligence services according to everybody, which were taken by surprise on October 7, just two years ago. It seems to me, just as Israel is waiting till the end of the war before they demand accountability, similarly, I think we too should see the present crisis through and then demand accountability from the government, said the Congress leader. Government hints at intelligence failure in Pahalgam Earlier on Thursday (April 24), the government of India hinted at a security lapse in view of the Kashmir attack. At the all-party meet, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said there were lapses that the government has to find out. If nothing had gone wrong, why would we be sitting here? There have been lapses somewhere that we have to find out, Shah reportedly told the Opposition leaders during the meeting. The government reportedly stated that local authorities failed to inform security agencies before opening the Baisaran area in Anantnag district. This area is usually kept off-limits until the Amarnath Yatra begins in June. Another major impact of Pakistans decision is that some flights will now have to stop midway for refuelling, which were otherwise non-stop read more Several Indian airlines, including Air India, have released travel advisories for their passengers. X/@airindia Over 800 Indian flights are expected to be affected by Pakistans decision to block its airspace for Indian airlines. The initial impact has already become visible as flights to West Asia, the Caucasus, Europe, the UK, and North Americas eastern region from northern Indian airports begin taking longer routes to avoid Pakistani airspace. These adjustments have added extra time, ranging from 15 minutes to a few hours, to the journey. Which airlines are most affected? All major Indian airlines operate international flights to the west of India, and many of these flights regularly flew over Pakistan. Air India flies to West Asia, Europe, the UK, and North America. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD IndiGo flies to West Asia, Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet mainly fly west to destinations in West Asia. Most of the flights affected originate from four Indian airports: Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Lucknow. Over 800 flights affected According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, over 400 flights fly weekly from these four airports towards the West. Since these flights also have return legs, the total number of flights goes up to 800. Of these 800, 640 are linked to Delhis Indira Gandhi International airport, Indias largest. Another major impact of Pakistans decision is that some flights will now have to stop midway for refuelling, which were otherwise non-stop. Flight tracking data shows that some of Air Indias ultra-long flights to and from North America had to stop for refueling or crew changes at European airports like Copenhagen and Vienna on Friday (April 25). Meanwhile, the Delhi-Washington and Delhi-New York flights stopped in Vienna. Flights like Delhi-Chicago, Delhi-Toronto, Delhi-Newark, Mumbai-New York, and Vancouver-Delhi made stops in Copenhagen. Past experiences This is not the first time that Pakistan has shut its airspace for Indian flights. Pakistan last closed its airspace in February 2019 for several months, following the Indian Air Forces air strikes in Balakot in retaliation for the Pulwama terror attack. During this period, Indian airlines experienced losses of approximately Rs 700 crore due to increased fuel costs and the operational challenges associated with longer flight routes. Air India was the most affected carrier, as it operated more west-bound international flights than other airlines, according to The Indian Express. Ticket cost to go up by 8-12% Analysts have predicted an eight to 12 per cent hike in ticket prices for the affected flights. A senior travel industry executive told PTI that airfares for international flights with Indian carriers could rise by 812 per cent due to the airspace closure. If the situation continues, fares could increase even further. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Earlier this week, PM Modi said India will pursue the attackers to the ends of the Earth while delivering a speech in Bihar read more "There is a deep agony in my heart. The April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam has left every citizen heartbroken. Every Indian feels deep sympathy for the families of the victims," said the Prime Minister. Source: PTI Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday (April 27) condemned the Kashmir terrorist attack, saying it was a desperate attempt by terrorists to derail the regions economic progress. Speaking during his Mann Ki Baat monthly radio show, the PM said the Jammu and Kashmir region, whose autonomous status was stripped by New Delhi in 2019, saw unprecedented economic growth and tourism boom in recent years. He said several colleges, universities were built over the past year in the region, presenting various opportunities to the youth. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD At a time when peace was returning to Kashmir, there was vibrancy in schools and colleges, the democracy was getting strengthened, there was a rise in tourism and new opportunities were getting generated for the youth, but the enemies of Jammu and Kashmir and the country did not like this. Terrorists want to destroy Kashmir once again, the PM said. Global leaders stand behind India PM Modi then mentioned how global leaders lined up to call him and express solidarity with India soon after the Pahalgam attack, which left 26 people dead. Global leaders have called me, written letters, sent messages. Everyone has strongly condemned this heinous terrorist attackThe entire world stands with the 1.4 billion Indians in our fight against terrorism, PM Modi said. He also reiterated that the victims and their families will receive justice, vowing that the masterminds and perpetrators of the attack would be met with the toughest possible action. This is Modis second public reaction to the incident. At the time of the attack, the PM was in Saudi Arabia for bilateral talks. He had to cut his visit short and fly back home. Earlier this week, PM Modi said India will pursue the attackers to the ends of the Earth while delivering a speech in Bihar. Today, on the soil of Bihar, I say to the whole world, India will identify, trace and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth. Indias spirit will never be broken by terrorism, PM Modi said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Prime Minister Modi promised that terrorism will not go unpunished and India will do everything to deliver justice for the innocent lives lost. He said the punishment would be so harsh that the terrorists could not even imagine it. India has already responded by taking a slew of punitive measures against Pakistan, with intelligence agencies hinting at Islamabads direct or indirect role in the attack. India has held in abeyance the Indus Water Treaty, a key water-sharing pact. A 45-year-old social activist was left injured after being shot by suspected terrorists in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district. The incident took place at a time of heightened security following the Pahalgam attack read more Indian Army soldiers inspect the site in Pahalgam where terrorists indiscriminately opened fire at tourists on April 23, 2025. Representative Image / AP A 45-year-old social activist was injured after being shot by a suspected terrorist in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district. The officials investigating the matter said that the incident took place on Saturday. The terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas, PTI reported. The terrorists fired at Ghulam Rasool Magray inside his residence at Kandi Khas late on Saturday, the officials said in a statement released on Sunday morning. Magray was then rushed to a hospital and is currently being monitored. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, the motive behind the attack on the activist remains unclear. The matter is currently under investigation. Tensions in J&K following the Pahalgam attacks Soon after the Pahalgam attack, authorities launched a sweeping crackdown on terrorists and their sympathisers suspected of operating in the region. 26 people were shot dead after terrorists infiltrated a tourist destination in Pahalgam, Kashmir, sending shockwaves across India. The authorities in the region are demolishing homes, raiding hideouts, and detaining hundreds of overground workers for questioning, officials said Saturday. According to PTI, in the last 48 hours, six houses allegedly belonging to terrorists and their associates have been razed, with officials warning similar actions will be taken against more people. As per the report, the demolished homes belonged to known militants and their associates, including Ahsan ul Haq from Pulwama, who trained in Pakistan in 2018 and recently infiltrated into the Valley; Shahid Ahmad Kuttay, a senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander from Shopian involved in years of anti-national activities; and Zakir Ahmad Ganie from Kulgam, under surveillance since 2023 for alleged terror links. The fourth house, which was demolished by the authorities, is located in Kupwaras Kalaroos area and belonged to Farooq Ahmad Tedwa and Miskeen Ahmad Tedwa, both currently operating from Pakistan, officials added. With inputs from PTI. For several years, India had been looking to renegotiate the Indus Waters Treaty. Now, the suspension of the treaty serves the dual purposes of escalating the cost for terrorism that Pakistan funds and exports, now admitted by its defence minister, and as a part of Indias long game to reshape a deal that had been deemed unfair for years. read more The graphic shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indus river system. The Modi government has decided to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. Following the Cabinet Committee on Securitys (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, Indias Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced a slew of punitive measures directed at Pakistan but one stood out from the rest: holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism, said Misri in a media briefing. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Even as the Narendra Modi government has not released finer details about what the decision entails, Pakistan has reacted by declaring the Indus Waters Treaty action as an act of war. By holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, India has seized a moment that it had been looking for and is now addressing the shortcomings of the treaty as well as mounting a response to the Pahalgam attack, says Prof Medha Bisht of the Department of International Relations, South Asia University (SAU), Delhi. Since the onset, it has been clear that the Modi government would not respond to the Pahalgam attack with a singular military action and any military action would be part of a much broader response that includes military, economic, and diplomatic moves similar to how India responded to Chinese aggression in 2020 that resulted in the standoff at the border that has still not been resolved completely. That decision, by the way, set a precedent for a global patter of responses to Chinas belligerence in various forms. ALSO READ: There ought to be a response to terrorists & Pakistan too: Indias security grid mulls countermeasure In an immediate future, despite Pakistans dire reaction, the taps in the country are not going to run dry. With the Indus treaty on hold, India is playing a long game to corner Pakistan. However, Pakistans framing of the treatys practical suspension is more about rallying people around the flag instead of addressing the long game that anyway Pakistan can do little about the nation is held hostage by its geography. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan uses Indus treaty to rally people Following the CCS meeting in India, Pakistans National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the Indus treaty decision an act of war apparently yet another indication of how badly Pakistan is itching for war. The NSC decided to put all bilateral agreements with India, including the Simla Agreement of 1972, in abeyance. The Simla Agreement had been the basis of the adherence of the Line of Control (LoC) as the de facto border and ceasefire agreements of 2003 and 2021. Separately, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a former foreign minister of Pakistan and a key coalition partner of Sharif, said, Either our [Pakistans] water would flow in this river or their [Indias] blood. We are the heirs of this river. While there are genuine concerns in Pakistan about the suspension of the Indus treaty, such reactions have to do with reinforcing India as a common enemy and rally people around the flag one of the main drivers of the Pakistan-sponsored attack in Pahalgam. With the Pahalgam attack, the Pakistani Army appears to be triggering an external confrontation to save itself from domestic troubles, says Aishwaria Sonavane, a Pakistan researcher at the Takshashila Institution. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It looks like an attempt by the Pakistani Army to reassert control after a dip in public perception and recent internal security lapses involving the Baloch insurgency and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). A hyper-nationalist pivot also works as a distraction narrative, says Sonavane. If Pakistans taps wont run dry, whats India aiming at? To be sure, India cannot stop water from flowing into Pakistan, says Prof Bisht of SAU, Delhi, a scholar of water governance and transboundary issues in the subcontinent. Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India is allowed unrestricted use of all the waters of Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas rivers, and Pakistan has control of the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum rivers. India does not have the infrastructure to store water that flows into Pakistan or divert water away from Pakistan elsewhere into India. So, the narrative that India can create a severe water shortage is not true. But there are ways in which India can flex power as an upstream state that can affect Pakistans agriculture, says Bisht. Around four-fifths of Pakistans agriculture and one-third of its hydropower depend on the Indus river system. Agriculture accounts for one-fourths of the countrys economy. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Fishermen on boat casting a net in the Indus River, in Hyderabad, Pakistan, March 15, 2025. (Photo: Reuters) ALSO READ: As India vows response to Pahalgam, why is Pakistan itching for war? Bisht tells Firstpost that while India cannot stop water from flowing into Pakistan, it can tamper with the flow that can affect the availability of water for agriculture, hydropower generation, and other purposes at times of high requirement, such as in summers. Under the Indus treaty, India had been sharing information related to the river with Pakistan in advance, including the flow of water and any major release or withholding of water, so that Pakistan could make appropriate arrangements. With the treaty in abeyance, such information-sharing has stopped. Essentially, India now has a definite leverage of weaponising water as an upstream state. To an extent, India now has the ability to induce water-scarcity or minor floods in Pakistan with the tampering of water flow and withholding of water-related information. A sudden release of water or reduction in the flow of water can create some problems in Pakistan, says Bisht. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD An example of which was seen on Saturday, April 26, when India didnt inform Pakistan about the release the Jhelum water, sparking panic in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where residents reportedly fled homes to a safer place and authorities were confused about how to deal with the situation. ALSO READ: Pahalgam: Panic in PoK after India releases Jhelum water Critics of such weaponisation have said that while Pakistan gets its water from India, India gets its water from China-occupied Tibet, and China can very well come to Pakistans rescue by similarly weaponising water against India. Bisht says that would be not a concern. Essentially, there has never been any information-sharing between India and China. As for the weaponisation of water, there is nothing that China has not already been doing with rivers flowing into India for a long time, says Bisht. Indias long game with Indus waters Indias long game with the Indus treatys suspension appears to be three-fold. First, India has seized an opportunity to renegotiate the treaty that had been deemed unfavourable for years. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Last year, India had sent Pakistan a notice to seek modifications in the treaty. Previously, the two sides had been in dispute about the method of dispute resolution. Practically, the treaty had been in suspension for years. Now, it has been suspended formally. Now, India can push for renegotiations to reach a deal it deems favourable. The treaty can be a leverage in the broader India-Pakistan negotiations as well. The new Indus treaty, which India had been wanting for years, would likely address the issues that have emerged since the original treaty was reached, such as climate change, focussing on quality and not just quantity of water, and biodiversity, says Bisht, the scholar of water governance at SAU, Delhi. Credit: PTI Second, India is ramping up the fuller utilisation of eastern rivers of the Indus system and its allocated quota in the western rivers. Currently, India utilises around just 20 per cent of the waters from the Indus river system because of limited infrastructure, according to estimates. Over the past decades, new projects have been put in motion to maximise the utilisation and retention of the water thats rightfully Indias share as per the treaty Third, India has medium- and long-term plans to gradually reduce the volume of water flowing into Pakistan and divert it into farmlands in north and northwest India. Union Water Minister CR Patil has said that the government has prepared a plan to not let even a drop of water into Pakistan. He did not give any timeline about the implementation of the plan. Patil said, A roadmap was prepared in the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Three options were discussed in the meeting. The government is working on short-term, medium-term, and long-term measures so that not even a drop of water goes to Pakistan. Soon, desilting of rivers will be done to stop the water and divert it. In the medium- to long-term, the government has decided to ramp up infrastructure to retain, divert, and repurpose water that currently flows into Pakistan, according to sources. They say that the government has decided to ramp up desilting of existing dams and fast-tracking of under-construction hydropower plants and reservoirs and look at redirection of rivers to maximise retention of water inside India and minimise the flow of water into Pakistan. With the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, India can take these steps without any diplomatic-ethical issues and without requiring to defend these steps at various dispute resolution forums where Pakistan may otherwise challenge them. Reports further say that the government is working on a legal strategy to address legal challenges that Pakistan or World Bank, which is also party to the treaty, may mount at international forums. Indias dharmic genes have made it more generous towards Pakistan without any receprocity, history cant be rewritten, but one should perhaps learn from it read more It has been argued in this publication that Bharat has become a victim of its own innate dharmic nature and, of course, democratic laws. This is a historical fact. The Simla Agreement of 1972, repudiated by Pakistan after Delhi denounced the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, provided for the return of Pakistani prisoners of war. Unfortunately, Indias dharmic genes accepted to release more than 90,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, against very little compensation. The Indian leadership probably thought that it was unethical (or adharmic) to keep so many Pakistani nationals in custody. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There are many more examples of the dharmic nature of the Indian leadership. We shall mention three here; if India had listened to saner elements, the situation would have been different on the borders today. It can, of course, be argued that it was plain stupidity, not dharma, which guided the Delhi establishment at that time. Take Lahore Lt Gen Nathu Singh Rathore was one of the most remarkable officers of the Indian Army post-independence. When offered the post of first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, he refused and told the defence minister that Gen KM Cariappa would do a better job than him. But Gen Nathu always spoke frankly, sometimes too frankly for the politicians in Delhi. At the end of 1947, he thought of taking Lahore to force the raiders and their Pakistani supporters to leave Kashmir and return to their bases. The general decided to speak to Nehru; his biographer wrote: When he reached the prime ministers house, he found him sitting on the lawn, talking to some ministers and civilian officials. Presently, Nehru got up and went inside. The others present there asked Nathu Singh for his views on the best way to deal with the crisis in Kashmir. Nathu Singh replied that if he had his way, he would use the minimum troops to hold the passes and, with maximum force, attack and capture Lahore. This would force Pakistan to withdraw and vacate all occupied territory in Jammu and Kashmir. The biographer continues: The civilians were impressed by the logic of this argument, and when Nehru returned, they told him that the general had a good plan to throw out the invaders. When Nehru asked him to repeat what he had said, Nathu Singh demurred, saying that he would rather not, since he knew it would not find favour. But Nehru insisted, and Nathu repeated what he had told the others. But Nehru was horrified and became angry: How can a responsible senior officer think of such a foolhardy scheme? It could cause an international crisis. Incidentally, in 1965, a similar plan was approved by Lal Bahadur Shastri, then Prime Minister, and the threat to Lahore probably saved Kashmir. After the Pahalgam massacre, it is worth remembering this. Had the Indian Army advanced on Lahore in 1947, there would be no Kashmir issue today. But would the British have allowed it? This is another question. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Occupy Chumbi Valley In October 1950, after the Chinese had captured Chamdo, the capital of Eastern Tibet, and were ready to advance towards Lhasa, Harishwar Dayal, an extremely bright ICS officer posted as Political Officer (PO) in Sikkim (looking after Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan), wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi about the Chinese advances on the Tibetan plateau. Dayal quoted from a letter from Hugh Richardson, the Indian Head of the Mission in Lhasa dated June 15, 1949, who had then suggested that India might consider occupying Chumbi Valley up to Phari in an extreme emergency (meaning if China threatened to invade Tibet). More than a year later, Dayal brought back the idea: This suggestion was NOT favoured by the Government of India at the time. It was, however, proposed as a purely defensive measure and with NO aggressive intention. An attack on Sikkim or Bhutan would call for defensive military operations by the Government of India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Chinas PLA planners today call this active defence. Dayal explained his reasoning: In such a situation, occupation of the Chumbi Valley might be a vital factor in defence. In former times it formed part of the territories of the rulers of Sikkim, from whom it was wrested by the Tibetans by force. It is now a thin wedge between Sikkim and Bhutan, and through it lie important routes to both these territories. Control of this region means control of both the Jelep La and Nathu La routes between Sikkim and Tibet as well as of the easiest routes into Western Bhutan, both from our side and from the Tibetan side. Dayal expressed his strategic views further: It is a trough with high mountains to both east and west and thus offers good defensive possibilities. I would therefore suggest that the possibility of occupying the Chumbi Valley be included in any defensive military plans, though this step would NOT, of course, be taken unless we became involved in military operations in defence of our borders. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Dayal had probably not realised that China was friend (or brother) of the leadership in Delhi; a few days earlier, the prime minister had already severely reprimanded the PO and Sumul Sinha, who had replaced Richardson in Lhasa, for not understanding that China was Indias friend. What prompted Dayal to write this letter was probably his meeting with some of the members of the Himmat Singhji Committee, who would have asked him to put his views in writing in order to bring some pressure on the pacifists in South Block, who could only see the wider perspectives. One can only wishfully dream of the implications an Indian advance in Chumbi would have had (no Siliguri Corridor, etc). 1971: Why not take Baltistan? Another case: in August 1971, as the clouds were gathering over the Indo-Pakistan border, a young Ladakhi officer , Chewang Rinchen, joined again his old regiment, the Ladakh Scouts; he was asked to report with Colonel Udai Singh, his commanding officer, to his beloved Nubra Valley. Rinchen had already been awarded a Maha Vir Chakra in 1947 at the age of 17. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Rinchen confidently told his GOC that the Ladakhi Scouts and the Nubra Guards (known as the Nunnus were later integrated into the Scouts) would do the job and repel the Pakistani forces. The army base for the sector was located at Partapur in the Valley, and since 1960 an airfield had been opened at Thoise (still today the base camp for the operations on the Siachen Glacier). The Nunnu was a good tactician; he always sought the cooperation of the local people, whether they were Buddhist, Muslim or Christian. He knew that most of the time, the troops had to depend upon local vegetables, meat and other supplies to survive. While most of the commanders favoured a riverbed-side approach, Rinchen decided to cross over the mountains with his Dhal Force and follow the ridge. He argued that the enemy must be waiting with mines and machine gun nests near the river; he chose to capture Pt 18,402, the highest Pakistan-occupied post, and then roll down to Chulunkha, the Pakistani base. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Soon after, on December 8, from the top of Pt 18,402, Rinchen could see the entire valley from Turtok and Chulunkha in the East to the Indian Army headquarters at Partapur and the airfield at Thoise in the west. Rinchens tactics had paid off. He told his men, Enjoy the Pakistani blankets and food. On December 9, advancing along the ridges, Rinchen and his men descended towards the Chulunkha defence complex, trying not to be seen by the enemy. Soon, Rinchen got a wireless message from Maj Thapa informing him that Thapas team had managed to enter the enemy bunkers and a few Pakistani soldiers had been killed and a JCO captured. On December 14 morning, soon after shelling started to destroy the roadblocks near the Turtok axis, the Dhal Force began its advance again. At 10 pm, shelling was stopped, and the troops entered the Turtok village. Surprisingly, the village was absolutely silent. The next phase of the operations was Tyakshi village, 6 km from Turtok. It was concluded on December 14 in the evening. A few Pakistani soldiers were captured with arms and ammunition. On December 17, Rinchen ordered his troops to get ready to launch an attack against Prahnu and Piun in Baltistan (Khapalu, the first large town in Baltistan, is located 28 miles away); it was never to happen. In the afternoon, the Pakistani government agreed to a ceasefire. The Dhal Force was ordered to cease fire, greatly disappointing Chewang Rinchens men; they knew that in a few days they could liberate the entire Baltistan. Rinchen could not disobey orders from Delhi. Had this been done, Pakistan would have lost its base for the Siachen Glacier operations, which were to start 13 years later. Many such stories could be recounted, but history cant be rewritten; but one should perhaps learn from history. 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. If there is one lesson from the horrific massacre in Pahalgam, it should be calling out and acting against Islamist terrorism along with its varied manifestations without any compromises read more The massacre of 26 people on April 22, 2025, by Pakistan-sponsored Islamist terrorists at the Baisaran meadow in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam has shaken Indias soul. It is the most horrifying terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) since the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed. The killing of civilians 25 Hindus and one Muslim was carried out by The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been spearheading terror activities in J&K since 2019. Though the group later backtracked on the responsibility for the attack, it appears more as an escape from the aftermath. Also, 17 people were injured in the attack. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In the wake of the Pahalgam attack, India has initiated diplomatic retaliation against Pakistan, including suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. While counter-terror operations in J&K continue, here are the five questions that must be asked. First, how was such a ghastly attack at a popular tourist spot executed by terrorists without intelligence agencies getting a whiff of it? The attack in Pahalgam would have required meticulous planning, including logistics and reconnaissance. Given that the two terrorists (out of four involved in the incident) reportedly are Pakistani, they must have infiltrated J&K months ago and remained hidden for quite some time. It poses a question mark on the effectiveness of the Unified Command, the apex decision-making body responsible for the overall security of J&K. It has to be investigated how and when infiltration took place when at the same time the Indian government claims that infiltration is at its lowest levels in recent years. Moreover, the lack of security at the meadow is baffling. Second, how is Pakistan able to successfully execute terrorist attacks in J&K? If the people of Kashmir have no love lost for Pakistan or Islamist terrorism, why do such incidents keep happening? The unstated fact is that Pakistan sponsoring terrorism in J&K is just half the story. The other half is about support from certain sections of the Muslim populace in J&K, which is delineated through Pakistan se rishta kya, La ilaha illa Allah. It has been established a gazillion times that many Kashmiri Muslims have been directly involved in insurgency and terrorism since 1989, either as terrorists or overground workers. In the case of the Pahalgam attack, two Kashmiri Muslims are directly involved as terrorists. Additionally, the authorities have identified 15 Kashmiri Muslims who facilitated the attack in Pahalgam. As per reports, over 200 overground workers have been detained since the incident. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Third, why is Islamic radicalisation in Kashmiri society swept under the carpet? Islamic radicalisation has permeated society over the last several decades, resulting in the othering of non-Muslims (Hindus) time and again. There are concerted efforts to show Kashmir as a pluralistic society even when the facts tell us otherwise (the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Kashmiri Pandits in 1989-90). There are numerous examples of anti-Hindu hatred prevalent in Kashmir. Two examples from the year 2024 come to mind: A Muslim kid made a video in which he objected to Diwali celebrations in Srinagar by saying that Kashmir isnt progressing because of such acts; a Muslim man told a YouTuber that a temple, if constructed in his village, will be burnt to the ground. Later, the kid apologised for his awful remarks in another video. In the second instance, many Muslims went after the YouTuber by saying that she was trying to vitiate the environment in Kashmir instead of taking cognisance of the anti-Hindu hatred. Importantly, if there is a public backlash, especially on social media, we are often told that individuals offering such toxic takes are either misguided or mentally unstable. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Fourth, why is Islamist terrorism not called out in the strongest possible terms? Saying that terrorism has no religion essentially obscures the problem, even when Hindus are clearly targeted for their faith be it 1989-90 or 2020-25. Terrorists confirmed the Hindu identity of people before killing them in Pahalgam. Quick condemnation of terrorist attacks without calling out Islamist terrorism is the forte of Kashmiri politicians as well as the society at large. It is the reason why jihad continues unabated in J&K. Is communal harmony strengthened by building Kashmiriyat over the dead bodies of Hindus? Dont forget that a Hindu is killed by Islamist terrorists primarily because of his/her faith, whereas the killing of a Muslim isnt because he/she is a Muslim. Therein lies the crux of Islamist terrorism. Fifth, is there normalcy in Kashmir when terrorist incidents are happening sporadically? The absence of street violence and booming tourism in Kashmir do not imply the diminution of terrorism in Kashmir. The terrorist attacks on minority Hindus and migrant workers in Kashmir in the recent past were factored out to claim normalcy. Terrorist attacks in Jammu (one of them was in Rajouris Dhangri village in January 2023, in which seven Hindus were killed) didnt figure in the definition either. Remember the killing of Satpal Nischal, a jeweller in Srinagars Hari Singh High Street, by terrorists on December 31, 2020? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The uncomfortable questions must be asked and discussed at societal and political levels within and outside J&K. It is in asking blunt questions we will find answers and course-correct, which is absolutely essential for J&K. After all, terrorism in J&K has ruined thousands of families Hindus and Muslims alike over the Islamist idea of azadi. If there is one lesson from the horrific massacre in Pahalgam, it should be calling out and acting against Islamist terrorism along with its varied manifestations without any compromises. The more there is any compromise with Islamist terrorism, the more it will come back to bite us. The author is a writer and political commentator. He is the co-editor of a book on Kashmirs ethnic minority community titled A Long Dream of Home: The Persecution, Exodus and Exile of Kashmiri Pandits. He tweets @VaradSharma. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth wants the US military to be more lethal as he guts civilian casualty programmes. Theres a high probability that datasets fed into the new AI systems for military operational and theatre-level planning are biased towards more lethality read more Hegseth has started gutting or cutting down offices and programmes established to prevent civilian casualties caused by the lethal US military. Image: REUTERS A day after his Senate confirmation on January 24, Pete Hegseth had a message for the Department of Defence (DoD): rebuild the US military into the most lethal force that will put America first. We will rebuild our military by matching threats to capabilities. We will remain the strongest and most lethal force in the world, he said in a press release. The 2025 Global Fire Power (GFP) index ranks the US number one, with a score of 0.0744 (a score of 0.0000 is considered perfect), of the 145 world powers. The GPF considers 60 factors to determine a nations power index, including defence technology, financial resources, logistics, geography and strategic position. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the 2023 US defence budget was $880 billion, more than the next eight countries, including China and Russia, combined. The massive defence outlay allows the US to acquire the most advanced weapons and cutting-edge tech, sustain a massive and well-trained military and maintain around 750 military bases in more than 80 countries. Hegseths message never mentioned a word about how he intends to make the worlds most lethal military more lethal. However, the Pentagons two recent perilous decisions show the path to adding more lethality. First, the Donald Trump administration has decided to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military from hunting down terrorists and interacting with commanders to operational and theatre-level planning. Second, Hegseth has started gutting or cutting down offices and programmes established to prevent civilian casualties caused by the lethal US military. Whats more worrying is that both decisions are interconnected. Advanced AI-military integration In 2011, a stealth ISR RQ-170 drone, aka the Beast of Kandahar, took off from Afghanistan, flew undetected in the Pakistani airspace, monitored Osama bin Ladens Abbottabad compound for months and provided live video to the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Simultaneously, Palantir Gotham, the defence and intelligence software of Palantir Technologiesspecialising in software platforms for big data analyticsintegrated and analysed the data, other surveillance and reconnaissance reports and intel on bin Laden and identified patterns and connections within them. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Finally, JSOCs SEAL Team Six eliminated the 9/11 mastermind on May 2, 2011. Palantir made it easy for JSCO operators to connect the dots within the data trove. Still, it took months from monitoring to killing bin LadenAI hadnt entered combat by then. Six years later, a new era dawned in AI-military integration on April 26, 2017. Project Maven, officially known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, was established by then-deputy defence secretary Robert O Work with a memo. Funded by the DoD, the project involved AIs integration with the US militarys kill chainfind the target, fix it, track it, select the weapon of choice and destroy it. Maven could quickly harvest and analyse an enormous amount of data gathered by drones and satellites via machine learning systems and identify an array of targets, including humans and military facilities and weapons. Such a task was manually impossible and time-consuming, as analysts would have to spend days sifting through satellite and drone images/videos and surveillance data by relying on their eyes. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Maven initially collaborated with Google in data fusion and later switched to Palantir, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Maxar Technologies, and others. In eight months, the Maven Smart System interface was using special algorithms to identify objects in a video feed sent via a ScanEagle drone in an undisclosed location in West Asia. Yellow-outlined boxes on the interface meant potential targets, and blue-outlined boxes indicated civilian-inhabited places or friendly forces. Soon, Maven was used to hunt down Islamic State (IS) members in Syria and Iraq. In 2020, the interface was used to evacuate American military personnel from Afghanistan; in 2022, to help Ukrainian troops locate and target Russian soldiers; and in 2024, to destroy Houthi rocket launchers and vessels. In February of the same year, Maven helped the Pentagon identify targets for more than 85 airstrikes in the Middle East. Guess it performed as well as Google's Gemini AI? The US military has ramped up its use of artificial intelligence tools based on Google's Project Maven to identify targets for more than 85 air strikes in the Middle East this month. US bombers and fighter aircraft carried out pic.twitter.com/LfVTt7mGS5 StarBoySAR (@StarboySAR) February 28, 2024 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In the Pentagons own words, AI is used to speed up killing. We obviously are increasing the ways in which we can speed up the execution of the kill chain, Radha Plumb, the outgoing chief digital and AI officer in the DoD, told TechCrunch in a January interview. The Joe Biden administration went further by using generative AI in the military. The Pentagons Defence Intelligence Unit (DIU), or Unit X, ensures that the US military gets access to emerging technology in Silicon Valley. Last December, the Pentagon established the AI Rapid Capabilities Cell (AIRCC) to expedite the adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) and other forms of generative AI. AIRCC, with $100 million in funding, will implement the recommendations of Task Force Lima, set up in August 2023. The task force aimed to utilise generative AI models in warfighting and other fields, like health and finance, and leverage partnerships across the Pentagon, the intelligence community and other federal agencies to reduce redundancy and risk. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Generative AI was used during the annual South Korea-US Freedom Shield exercise last year when a chatbot interface like ChatGPT scoured open-source intelligence like articles, reports, images and videos; translated and summarised foreign news sources; and wrote daily intelligence reports for US commanders. Defence-tech company Vannevar Labs, which designed the interface and received a $99 million production contract from the DIU last November, uses LLMs, including from OpenAI and Microsoft. Since 2021, it has been collecting terabytes of open-source intelligence in 80 languages in 180 countries. Subsequently, Vannevar constructs AI models to translate data and detect threats using its ChatGPT-like interface. According to Leigh Madden, vice president of the National Security Group at Microsoft, generative AI can process intelligence, signals and reconnaissance data in real time, enhancing decision-makers situational awareness. In a SIGNAL Media Executive Video Series episode, Madden said that generative AI training scenarios incorporate terrains, weather conditions, and enemy tactics and behaviour. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Now, Trump and Hegseth want to use AI for military operational and theatre-level planning. This is the third phase of military AI. Agentic AI is a revolutionary technology in which the system can decide and plan action per the human creators need while adapting to changing circumstancesa degree of autonomy that traditional AI models lack. Agentic AI quickly and comprehensively synthesises a broad scope of traditional and non-traditional planning factors than humans alone to help produce more thorough, objective courses of action (COA), according to Richard Farnell and Kira Coffey. In an article written for the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs, Farnell, a 2024 National Security Fellow at Harvard Kennedy Schools Belfer Centre, and Coffey, a 2024 Air Force National Defence Fellow and International Security Program Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy Schools Belfer Centre, explain Agentic AIs potential. Once a COA is selected, Agentic AI also has the potential to help rapidly publish downstream directives and orders, flattening communication and saving hundreds of man-hours in each planning cycle. Agentic AI can help solve large-scale, complex problems independently amid changing battlespace conditions. Creating multiple dilemmas for a near-peer adversary requires continuous integration of capabilities across all instruments of power and all domains, including the electromagnetic spectrum and the information environment, they write. The Pentagon has awarded a contract to data annotation company Scale AI, whose Thunderforge system will accelerate decision-making, allowing planners to more rapidly synthesise vast amounts of information, generate multiple courses of action, and conduct AI-powered wargaming to anticipate and respond to evolving threats. Thunderforge will be deployed initially with the US Indo-Pacific Command and the US European Command. It brings AI-powered analysis and automation to operational and strategic planning, allowing decision-makers to operate at the pace required for emerging conflicts, according to Bryce Goodman, DIU Thunderforge lead and contractor. Scale AIs customers include OpenAI, Microsoft, Cisco, Meta and TIME. Thunderforge will also include Andurils Lattice software platform and Microsoft-enabled state-of-the-art LLMs. Scale AI explains the massive gap between current warfare and agentic warfare. Current warfare deploys people with decades of single-domain knowledge who connect workflows and decide in days. On the other hand, agentic warfare has AI models with around 4,000 years of all-domain knowledge; AI agents automatically connect workflows with human oversight and decide in minutes. The DIU press release said the new AI marks a decisive shift in how the Pentagon plans to fight wars. Thunderforge marks a decisive shift toward AI-powered, data-driven warfare, ensuring that US forces can anticipate and respond to threats with speed and precision. Following its initial deployment, Thunderforge will be scaled across combatant commands, the agency explained. Pentagon guts civilian casualty programmes At least 4.5-4.7 million civilians have been killed in post-9/11 wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia. According to a 2023 report by Rhode Island-based Brown Universitys Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, an estimated 408,000 civilians out of the toll died directly from war violence. In the first 20 years of the war on terror, America killed around 48,308 civilians in more than 91,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, a 2021 analysis by UK-based airstrike monitoring group Airwars shows. The US has been facing stinging international criticism for years for killing civilians in war zones. Damning probes by the media, NGOs and think tanks have revealed the merciless killing of civilians by the US military since 9/11. In 2022, the Biden administration established the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP) to develop and implement strategies to prevent, mitigate and respond to civilian harm in military operations in a better way. The plan also aimed to increase accountability for civilian casualties, improve transparency in Pentagon practices related to civilian protection, and ensure a swift and effective response to civilian casualties. The CHMR-AP also established a Civilian Protection Centre of Excellence (CPCE) to guide the DoDs understanding of the capabilities and practices that support civilian harm mitigation and response. It was the hub and facilitator of department-wide analysis, learning and strategic approaches and was to help institutionalise good practices for civilian harm mitigation and response during operations. Biden also instructed the military and CIA drone operators to obtain permission before targeting a suspected militant outside a conventional war zone. In October 2022, he ordered drone operators to be certain of no civilian injuries before a strike. Except for Iraq and Syria, where the IS still operates, presidential permission is compulsory for drone strikes in Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and FATA, Pakistan. Trump has not only removed the restrictions but also decided to do away with CHMR-AP and CPCE. The US has launched several strikes in Iraq, Syria and Somalia. Since the March 15 airstrikes in Yemen, more than 200 people have been killed, with the most recent attack on the Ras Isa oil port killing around 80 people. Now, Hegseth has decided to terminate CHMR and CPCE staff across all US commands despite the Pentagon policy requiring that possible dangers to civilians be considered in combat planning and operations. Thats Hegseths idea of rebuilding the US military into a more lethal force. Ive thought very deeply about the balance between legality and lethality, ensuring that the men and women on the frontlines have the opportunity to destroy the enemy and that lawyers arent the ones getting in the way, Hegseth said at his Senate confirmation hearing. Hegseth also said that laws like the Geneva Convention existed above reality. We follow rules. But we dont need burdensome rules of engagement [that] make it impossible for us to win these wars. Hegseth also feels that lawyers hinder military effectiveness. On February 21, he sacked the judge advocate generals (JAGs) of the Army and Air Force, and the Navys JAG suddenly retired in December. Lethal concoction in the making The character of warfare is rapidly changing. The traditional military doctrine of the three-domain land, sea and air approach will be junked. Though none of the global powers have allowed AI to take over their militaries with humans still in control, machines turning autonomous in combat is inevitable. China has already created an AI commander at the Joint Operations College of the National Defence University in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, similar to a human counterpart with his experience, strengths and flaws. In a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese-language journal Common Control & Simulation in May 2024, senior engineer Jia Chenxing writes: The highest-level commander is the sole core decision-making entity for the overall operation with ultimate decision-making responsibilities and authority. Deciding in less time and with more speed on the battlefield when the data is voluminous tempts the human mind, especially when the adversary is also using AI. Decisions taken in a fraction of a second decide the course of the war and the outcome. However, even agentic AI isnt immune to algorithmic biases. Any AI system is trained on datasets with inherent biases that could lead to disastrous consequences. An AI system in war trained on a dataset with prejudices against a particular community, race, ethnicity or even gender will pick targets accordingly. The consequences can be more severe in the case of agentic AI, as commanders plan operations at the theatre level, which is much more complex than merely picking and eliminating targets. A scenario where machines in a war turn autonomous would be frightening. As the Pentagon axes programmes aimed at ensuring minimum collateral damage, or civilian deaths, accountability will be the main casualty if the AI system makes an error resulting in the death of non-combatants. Who will be responsible for the collateral damage? The Pentagon cant blame the machines, but it wont take the blame either. A prime example is Israels use of generative AI programmes like Lavender, Wheres Daddy? and The Gospel to eliminate Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), resulting in massive civilian casualties. Lavender, developed by Israels elite and clandestine counterintelligence and cyberwarfare division, Unit 8200, was designed to make kill lists of suspected Hamas and PIJ junior operatives in the initial months of the war. According to a joint investigation by +972 Magazine and Hebrew news website Local Call, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) trusted Lavender, which selected 37,000 Palestinians and their homes as targets, as if it were a human, and bombed Gaza accordingly. Wheres Daddy? tracked the suspected militants as they entered their houses, and The Gospel identified structures and buildings as targets. The IDF was so reliant on Lavender that it spent merely 20 seconds on each target before bombing itthe main criterion was that it should be a man. Israel is using AI systems "Lavender" and "Where's Daddy?" to kill Palestinians in Gaza, an investigative report by +972 Magazine has revealed pic.twitter.com/9HXHScKeRN TRT World (@trtworld) April 5, 2024 Despite Lavender being 10 per cent inaccuratemeaning, 10 out of 100 targets identified werent terroriststhe IDF didnt review the systems assessment. The mistaken targets could have been the police, civil defence workers, relatives of Hamas or PIJ members or Gazans having a name and nickname similar to that of an operative. As Wheres Daddy? signalled to the IDF about a target entering his house, the residence was targeted with an unguided bomb to save expensive armaments for high-value targets. Consequently, the whole house was blown away, killing the target and his entire family. "When they reach their homes, daddy's home, and then the entire house, and everybody in it, could be blown up." How the Israel army's 'Lavender' and 'Where's Daddy?' artificial intelligence systems operate in Gaza. #GazaCrimes #AI pic.twitter.com/Fm7lLBnYqb Al Jazeera Investigations (@AJIunit) October 19, 2024 Around 16-18 houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp were blown to smithereens and 300 civilians killed on October 17 as Lavender failed to pinpoint a top Hamas commanders location. Axing the CHMR and CPCE and using agentic AI will pave the way for more civilian casualties. Neither will machines prevent, mitigate or respond to civilian harm, nor will they be trained to stop collateral damage. Hegseth wants the US military to be more lethal, not legal. Therefore, theres a high probability that datasets fed into AI systems are biased towards more lethality at the cost of civilian casualties. AI systems need constant monitoring, oversight and review. Thats the reason China has restricted the AI commander to a laboratory despite it possessing sound mental faculties, a poised and steadfast character, capable of analysing and judging situations with calmness, devoid of emotional or impulsive decisions, and swift in devising practical plans by recalling similar decision-making scenarios from memory. The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Pakistani minister Hanif Abbasi threatened India with nuclear retaliation amid a diplomatic row between the two nations, saying Pakistans nuclear warheads have been kept only for India read more Amid the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack, Pakistani Minister Hanif Abbasi made an explosive remark threatening New Delhi with nuclear retaliation. Abbasi on Saturday said that if India halts its water supply to Pakistan, the country wont shy from using Ghori, Shaheen, and Ghaznavi missiles along with 130 nuclear warheads, which he claimed at kept only for India. The remarks from the Pakistani minister came days after India put the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance and introduced other security measures following the terror attack that led to the death of 26 tourists in Kashmir. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While speaking to the reporters on the matter, Abbasi said that Pakistan is ready for a full-scale war and that its nuclear weapons are not for display; they are ready to strike if provoked. Pakistani Minister Warns: '130 Nukes Ready for India' Hanif Abbasis Bold Threat! In a chilling statement, Pakistans Federal Minister Hanif Abbasi declared, "We have kept Ghori, Shaheen, Ghaznavi, and 130 nuclear weapons only for India." pic.twitter.com/Pa9fDjP6SG Militant Tracker (@MilitantTracker) April 26, 2025 If they stop the water supply to us, then they should be ready for a war. The military equipment we have, the missiles we have, theyre not for display. Nobody knows where we have placed our nuclear weapons across the country. I say it again, these ballistic missiles, all of them are targeted at you, he told local reporters on Sunday. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Abbasi claims airlines in India would go bankrupt In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan decided to close its airspace for Indian airlines and announced that all the bilateral treaties with New Delhi are put on hold. While commenting on Islamabads decision, Abbasi claimed that India is already facing the brunt of Pakistans decision. If things were to continue like this for another 10 days, the airlines in India would go bankrupt," Abbasi said, mocking India for its decision to suspend the Treaty and blaming Pakistan for the attack. Pakistani minister also claimed that the country was already prepared to counter any economic actions taken against it. Interestingly, the PML-N leader who boasted about Pakistan might have a controversial past. Back in 2018, Pakistans Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court handed him life imprisonment after he was found guilty of selling 500kg of ephedrine illegally to narcotics smugglers. He also was handed a PKR 1 million fine for the crime at that time, Dawn reported. However, the problematic politician was soon released following the change in the political landscape of the country. With inputs from agencies. The bomb, of unknown origin, happened at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, which transports one-fifth of global oil output read more A helicopter flies above the smoke following an explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port dock southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. AFP A big explosion ripped through Irans main commercial port on Saturday, causing a catastrophic fire that has killed 14 people and wounded 750 more. The bomb, of unknown origin, happened at Shahid Rajaee Port in southern Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, which transports one-fifth of global oil output. With stifling smoke spreading over the area, all schools and workplaces in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan provinces capital, were ordered closed on Sunday, according to state TV, so that officials could focus on the emergency response. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, there were 14 dead and 750 injured so far in the explosion on Telegram early Sunday. Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the ports customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. The intensity of the fire in Shahid Rajaee Port has increased and it is possible that the fire could spread to other areas and containers, state TV said late Saturday. Strong winds were complicating efforts to extinguish the flames, a reporter for the broadcaster said. Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran, is Irans most advanced container port, according to the official IRNA news agency. Images from IRNA showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast. Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers. Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres, while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He said Momeni would go to the area to look into the incident. Speaking later at the scene, Momeni told state TV: All resources from other cities and Tehran have been dispatched and we hope to be able to extinguish the fire in the coming hours. In a video posted to social media, which AFP was not able to verify, a man filming the disaster said my truck was completely destroyed and my friend died. A dead body can be seen on the ground. Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with employees. Three Chinese nationals were lightly injured, Chinas state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate. Containers exploded Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of the provinces crisis management authority, told state TV that the cause of this incident was the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area. The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged, Tasnim news agency reported. The United Arab Emirates expressed solidarity with Iran over the explosion and Saudi Arabia sent condolences. The state-owned National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company said in a statement carried by local media that the explosion has no connection to refineries, fuel tanks, distribution complexes or oil pipelines. It added that Bandar Abbas oil facilities are currently operating without interruption. The explosion comes several months after one of Irans deadliest work accidents in years. The coal mine blast in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people at Tabas in the east of the country. Saturdays explosion also came as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehrans nuclear programme. Both sides reported progress. FBI Director Kash Patel condemned the Pahalgam attack, extending full support to the Indian government. He called the attack a stark reminder of the persistent global threat of terrorism read more The USs Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director condemned the devastating Pahalgam attack, assuring full support to India during the turbulent time. On April 22, terrorists infiltrated tourist spots in Pahalgam, Kashmir, killing 26 people and sending shockwaves across India. While giving his take on the matter, Patel called the attack a stark reminder of the global threat of terrorism. The remarks from the Indian-origin FBI director came in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. In his post, Patel also extended condolences to the families of the victims of the attack. He said that his department would fully support the Indian government. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government, Patel said in the post on Saturday. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. Thank you to the men and women of law enforcement who answer the call in moments like these, he added. The FBI sends our condolences to all the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir and will continue offering our full support to the Indian government. This is a reminder of the constant threats our world faces from the evils of terrorism. Pray for those affected. FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) April 26, 2025 US support to India The United States has been outright critical of the Pahalgam terror attack and has extended support to India on numerous occasions. While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump called the attack a bad one. However, he was hesitant to pick sides. I am very close to India and Im very close to Pakistan, as you know, and theyve had that fight for a thousand years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for a thousand years, probably longer than that, and it (terrorist attack) was a bad one yesterday, that (terrorist attack) was a bad one, over 30 people, he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #WATCH | On #PahalgamTerroristAttack, US President Donald Trump says, "I am very close to India and I'm very close to Pakistan, and they've had that fight for a thousand years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for a thousand years, probably longer than that. That was a bad pic.twitter.com/R4Bc25Ar6h ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2025 When asked further about the conflict, Trump went on to inaccurately claim that the Kashmir issue is 1,500 years old. Tensions on that border for 1,500 years. So, you know, its been the same, but I am sure theyll get it figured out one way or the other. I know both leaders, theres great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been, he added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Shortly before this assertion, Trump made a phone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condemning the terror attack. He expressed full support to India to bring the perpetrators of the heinous attack to justice. Meanwhile, the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs made its stand clear after it shared a post in which it corrected an NYT article, which referred to the gunmen as militants and not terrorists. With inputs from agencies. Members of the Indian diaspora staged protests across several countries on Sunday, condemning the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir that killed at least 26 people, including foreign tourists and left several others injured. read more Indian diaspora members held protests across the world on Sunday to condemn Tuesdays horrific terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam which left at least 26 people dead including foreign tourists and injured several others. Demonstrations took place in cities such as Paris, Zurich, Helsinki, Melbourne, and parts of Spain, where community members paid tribute to the victims and strongly denounced terrorism. Indian community protests in Spain Earlier on Friday, more than 500 British Hindus staged a protest outside the Pakistan Embassy in London. Waving Indian flags and carrying banners and placards, they raised slogans against terrorism and accused Pakistan of sheltering groups responsible for such violence. The protesters also demanded justice for the victims. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Indian community protests in Melbourne, Australia against the Pahalgam attack. Tensions escalated during the protests when a senior Pakistan Army officer, Colonel Taimur Rahat, who serves as the Army and Air Advisor at the Pakistan High Commission in London was caught on camera making a throat-slitting gesture at Indian protestors. Footage of the incident quickly went viral. Indian community protests in Finland On April 22, terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba ambushed a group of tourists in Pahalgam, killing at least 26 people and injuring many others. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar proxy, claimed responsibility for the deadly assault, marking one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in recent times. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday for the complete dismantling of Irans nuclear programme, insisting that any deal with Tehran must also address its ballistic missile capabilities. read more Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday demanded the total dismantling of Irans nuclear programme, emphasising that any future agreement must also curb Tehrans ballistic missile capabilities. Speaking in Jerusalem, Netanyahu stressed that Iran must be stripped of its ability to enrich uranium and insisted that missile restrictions be an integral part of any deal. You have to dismantle their nuclear infrastructure and that means they will not have the capacity to enrich uranium, he said in a speech in Jerusalem, adding that any deal should also bring in the prevention of ballistic missiles. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israel has not ruled out an attack on Irans nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Netanyahu that the US was for now unwilling to support such a move, an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter told Reuters last week. Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program. With inputs from agencies Jaishankar and Lammy held a phone conversation amid increasing tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 civilians. read more External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday conveyed to his British counterpart David Lammy Indias policy of zero tolerance for terrorism while discussing the cross-border links to the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam. Jaishankar and Lammy held a phone conversation amid increasing tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 civilians. Spoke to Foreign Secretary @DavidLammy of UK today. Discussed the cross-border terrorist attack at Pahalgam. Underlined the importance of zero tolerance for terrorism, the external affairs minister said in a social media post. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Spoke to Foreign Secretary @DavidLammy of UK today. Discussed the cross-border terrorist attack at Pahalgam. Underlined the importance of zero tolerance for terrorism. Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 27, 2025 Recently, 26 tourists have been killed and several injured after a group of terrorists linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) opened fire at a popular tourist destination in Baisaran valley in southern Kashmirs Pahalgam. With inputs from agencies Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the raging fire through the night into Sunday morning at the Shahid Rajaei port. The explosion occurred just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program read more In this photo provided by Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, men carry an injured man after a massive explosion near the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Iran. AP A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran, purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant, killing 18 people and injuring around 750 others. Helicopters and aircraft dumped water from the air on the raging fire through the night into Sunday morning at the Shahid Rajaei port. The explosion occurred just as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehrans rapidly advancing nuclear program. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD No one in Iran outright suggested that the explosion came from an attack. However, even Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the talks, on Wednesday acknowledged that our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response. State media offered the casualty figures. But there were few details on what sparked the blaze just outside of Bandar Abbas, causing other containers to reportedly explode. Security firm says port received chemical for missile fuel The port took in a shipment of the missile fuel chemical in March, the private security firm Ambrey said. The fuel is part of a shipment of ammonium perchlorate from China by two vessels to Iran first reported in January by the Financial Times. The chemical used to make solid propellant for rockets was going to be used to replenish Irans missile stocks, which had been depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The fire was reportedly the result of improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles, Ambrey said. Ship-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press put one of the vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity in March, as Ambrey said. Iran hasnt acknowledged taking the shipment. The Iranian mission to the United Nations didnt respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Its unclear why Iran wouldnt have moved the chemicals from the port, particularly after the Beirut port blast in 2020. That explosion, caused by the ignition of hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6,000 others. However, Israel did target Iranian missile sites where Tehran uses industrial mixers to create solid fuel. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggests a chemical compound being involved in the blast like in the Beirut explosion. Get back get back! Tell the gas (truck) to go! a man in one video shouted just before the blast. Tell him to go, its going to blow up! Oh God, this is blowing up! Everybody evacuate! Get back! Get back! On Saturday night, the state-run IRNA news agency said that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area for the blast, without elaborating. An aerial shot released by Iranian media after the blast showed fires burning at multiple locations in the port, with authorities later warning about air pollution from chemicals such as ammonia, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air. Schools and offices in Bandar Abbas will be closed Sunday as well. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Port a major destination for Iranian cargo Shahid Rajaei has been a target before. A 2020 cyberattack attributed to Israel targeted the port. It came after Israel said that it thwarted a cyberattack targeting its water infrastructure, which it attributed to Iran. Israeli officials didnt respond to requests for comment regarding Saturdays explosion. Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers, or miles, away from the epicenter of the explosion. State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as medics rushed one person by on a stretcher. Hasanzadeh, the provincial disaster management official, earlier told state television that the blast came from containers at Shahid Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State television also reported that there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though no further details were offered. The Interior Ministry said that it launched an investigation into the blast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also offered his condolences for those affected in the blast. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Shahid Rajaei port in Hormozgan province is about 1,050 kilometers (650 miles) southeast of Irans capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes. Tharoor pointed out that India retaliated after the 2016 Uri attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attacks, and suggested that this time Pakistan could face an even stricter response read more Indian Opposition lawmaker Shashi Tharoor of Congress party has said people in India are demanding military action against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, and a visible military response now appears unavoidable. His statement comes as tensions between the two countries are running high following the massacre of 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir. Calling it a long pattern witnessed over the last quarter-century, the former diplomat said Pakistan consistently denies responsibility for terror attacks in India, despite training and arming terrorists across the border. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I think its very clear that there is a pattern. People are encouraged, trained, armed, and often guided from across the border. Then Pakistan denies all responsibility. Eventually, responsibility is established and proven, including by foreign intelligence agencies, he told the news agency ANI. Tharoor pointed out that India retaliated after the 2016 Uri attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attacks, and suggested that this time Pakistan could face an even stricter response. After Uri, the government did a surgical strike across the border, and after Pulwama, there was the Balakot air strike. Today, I think we are going to see more than that. It is clear that while we have a range of options - diplomatic, economic, intelligence sharing, covert, and overt action. Some sort of visible military response is unavoidable," said the MP from Thiruvananthapuram. The nation is demanding it and expecting it. No one knows what it will be, where it will be, or when it will be. But I am convinced there will be some response, he added. He also responded sharply to Pakistan Peoples Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardaris blood will flow remark after India suspended the Indus Water Treaty. This is just inflammatory rhetoric. Pakistanis must understand they simply cannot kill Indians with impunity. We dont want to do anything to Pakistanis. But if they do something to us, then be prepared for a response. If blood is going to flow, it will flow possibly more on their side than ours, said Mr Tharoor. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Tuesdays terror attack in the scenic meadows of Pahalgam, often called Mini Switzerland, was the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir since the scrapping of Article 370 in 2019. The role of a terror group linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has emerged after the attack. India and Pakistans relations have worsened significantly, with both countries resorting to retaliatory measures, including the cancellation of visas. DRC has offered US access to its vast mineral wealth as part of a broader plan to end violence in the countrys east, where fighting has intensified this year after the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized strategic cities read more Excavators and drillers at work in an open pit at Tenke Fungurume, a copper and cobalt mine 110 km (68 miles) northwest of Lubumbashi in Congo's copper-producing south. File image/Reuters Talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the United States over a proposed minerals-for-security pact could threaten Chinas long-standing dominance in the central African nations mining industry, though analysts warn the path ahead is fraught with complexity. Kinshasa has offered Washington access to its vast mineral wealth as part of a broader plan to end violence in the countrys east, where fighting has intensified this year after the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized strategic cities. In return, the DRC is seeking security guarantees and military support, with hopes that a closer partnership with the US will also encourage American investment and lessen its economic reliance on China. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Under the proposal, the US would deploy diplomatic and economic levers to help broker peace, while gaining access to critical minerals a move that could reshape competition with China, which currently dominates mining operations across the DRC, South China Morning Post reported. President [Felix] Tshisekedi and I discussed a minerals deal and charted a path forward, Massad Boulos, Donald Trumps adviser for Africa, said at a recent briefing about his trip to Kinshasa. Experts suggest the arrangement may mirror Chinas own minerals-for-infrastructure deal struck with the DRC in 2007, in which Chinese firms agreed to develop infrastructure in exchange for access to key resources like copper and cobalt. Joseph Cihunda, a law lecturer at the University of Kinshasa and project officer at Southern Africa Resource Watch, described the emerging US-DRC agreement as a minerals-for-security deal involving the transfer of military industries, equipment and training. However, Cihunda cautioned that it will be difficult to assess what needs to be exchanged to ensure a balance between the two partners. The US appears set to leverage infrastructure projects such as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to rebuild railway links between the DRC, Angola, and Zambias copper belt. By enhancing transport links, Washington hopes to diversify supply chains away from Chinese control and open up mineral flows towards American and allied markets. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Yet forging a sustainable US-DRC deal comes with major hurdles. American firms have traditionally been reluctant to invest in the DRC, citing high risks and insecurity. As Wei Shen, a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in Britain, pointed out: American companies had been hesitant to invest in the DRC and American banks dont support entrepreneurs here. So, if Trump can ask American companies to invest and then ask Wall Street to support these deals, its OK, he said. Even then, he added, all the minerals they dig up will be shipped back to China for processing under existing global arrangements. So even if we remove all the Chinese companies, I dont think any Western companies can take up their role. The stakes are high. The DRC accounts for roughly 70 per cent of global cobalt production a mineral vital for batteries in smartphones and electric vehicles and is also a major supplier of copper, tin, gold, lithium, and tantalum. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Chinese companies, through a series of acquisitions and contracts, have come to dominate the sector. Chief among these was the $6 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal signed in 2007 under then-president Joseph Kabila, involving state-owned enterprises such as China Railway Group, Sinohydro Corporation, and private players like Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. This barter deal an example of resource-backed loans was renegotiated in 2023 following Congolese grievances that it disproportionately favoured Chinese interests. The revised agreement was scaled up to a $7 billion infrastructure package, aiming for greater equity. Chris Berry, head of the US-based commodities advisory firm House Mountain Partners, suggested that the Trump administrations approach appeared to be purely transactional. I assume the administration would help keep the peace and, in exchange, gain access to mine critical minerals, he said. Some signs of change have emerged. Following the visit by the US envoy, Alphamin Resources a US-based company announced earlier this month that it would initiate a phased resumption of operations at its Bisie tin mine in the conflict-prone Walikale district. The announcement came after M23 forces withdrew from the site following discussions with parties involved in the conflict. Rwanda has denied any links to the M23 rebels. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to Cihunda, the DRCs mining sector remains underdeveloped, offering ample room for new entrants. Theres plenty of room for investors in both exploration and mining, he said. The major challenge is to improve the business climate. Whether the US-DRC deal can overcome these hurdles remains uncertain but the strategic battle over Africas minerals is clearly entering a new phase. A driver killed nine people as he plowed through a crowd at a Filipino cultural celebration in Vancouver, police said Sunday, ruling out terrorism as motive for the incident in the western Canadian city. read more Vancouver police investigate a crime scene after a man drove into pedestrians at the annual Lapu Lapu festival celebrating Filipino culture, at East 43rd Avenue and Fraser, in the south of Vancouver on April 26, 2025. AFP Photo At least 11 people were killed and several others injured when a vehicle drove into a crowd at a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver on Saturday. The incident occurred around 8:14 pm during the Lapu Lapu Day festival in the Sunset on Fraser neighborhood. The ramming shocked the country a day before a general election dominated by US President Donald Trumps tariffs on Canadian products and his threat to annex his northern neighbor, long a key ally and trading partner. The police confirmed that the suspect, who has a history of mental health issues has been arrested. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Filipino community had gathered in Vancouvers Sunset on Fraser neighborhood on Saturday evening when festivalgoers were hit. We can confirm nine people have died after a man drove through a crowd at last nights Lapu Lapu Festival, Vancouver police said on X. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canadas election on Monday. Canada PM calls deadly Vancouver incident a car-ramming attack Canadas Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday described the incident in Vancouver that killed nine people at a Filipino street festival as a car-ramming attack, adding that more than 20 people were injured. Police have ruled out terrorism as a motive and Carney, speaking a day before a national election, said that while the investigation is ongoing there is no indication of an active threat to Canadians, following the attack perpetrated a male driver, who has been arrested. Suspect was detained by bystanders before the police arrived A 30-year-old Vancouver man was arrested at the scene and the departments Major Crime Section is overseeing the investigation, police said. At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism, the police department posted early Sunday. Interim Vancouver Police Chief Steve Rai told a news conference that the man was arrested after initially being apprehended by bystanders. Video circulating on social media shows a young man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, alongside a security guard and surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Im sorry, the man says, holding his hand to his head. Rai declined to comment on the video, but said the person in custody was a lone male who was known to police in certain circumstances. Carney said authorities do not believe there is any active threat to Canadians. Last night families lost a sister, a brother, a mother, father, son or a daughter. Those families are living every familys nightmare, Carney said, fighting back tears. And to them and to the many others who were injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver, I would like to offer my deepest condolences. In 2018, a man used a van to kill 10 pedestrians in Toronto. Eight women and two men died. Alek Minassian, who was found guilty, told police that he belonged to an online community of sexually frustrated men, some of whom have plotted attacks on people who have sex. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies The action heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, with Pakistani officials criticising it as a breach of international standards and the Indus Waters Treaty read more An unexpected spike in the Jhelum rivers water level has thrown Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into pandemonium, after India, according to local officials, released water from the Uri Dam without notice on Saturday. The unexpected release sparked a water emergency in PoKs Hattian Bala area, causing inhabitants along the riverbanks to leave for safety. The action heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, with Pakistani officials criticising it as a breach of international standards and the Indus Waters Treaty. On April 23, India stopped the IWT, blaming a terrorist incident in Pahalgam that killed 26 people. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Local officials in Muzaffarabad, PoKs capital, and Chakoti blasted sirens over loudspeakers, encouraging residents to flee as water levels rose swiftly. We had no warning. The water came rushing in, and were struggling to protect lives and property," said Muhammad Asif, a resident of Dumel, a community on the riverside in PoK. A district administration official in Muzaffarabad released a brief statement recommending that locals to avoid sites near the Jhelum River. Due to India releasing more water than usual into the Jhelum river, there is moderate flooding, according to a spokeswoman. Moderate flooding has been recorded in the low-lying areas of Kohala and Dhalkot, with unverified claims of animal loss and agricultural damage. The PoK government has accused India of premeditated water terrorism, citing the absence of previous notification as a violation of the IWT, a 1960 agreement mediated by the World Bank to control shared river supplies. The pact requires both countries to disclose information on water releases to avoid downstream damage. Officials in PoK stated that the immediate emphasis remains on protecting citizens. The Hattian Bala government has established temporary shelters and deployed rescue personnel. Were doing all we can, but the scale of this crisis is overwhelming, said district commissioner Bilal Ahmed. Authorities have also asked locals to stay away from riverbanks and not to fish or graze their animals close to the water. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Across the border, Indian officials have been tight-lipped, neither confirming nor denying the release. Some Indian media sites, however, suggest that the discharge was a normal dam operation caused by heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a recent interview with a Russia-based news agency, said Beijing and Moscow could form an international team of investigators read more Pakistan has sought the involvement of China and Russia in the Kashmir terror attack investigation amidst increasing tensions with India, news agency PTI reported Sunday (April 27). On Tuesday (April 22), terrorists opened fire in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people, mostly tourists. It was the deadliest attack since Pulwama in 2019. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), initially claimed responsibility for the attack but it walked back four days later, claiming one of its digital accounts may have been hacked by Indian authorities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Pakistan urges China, Russia to play positive role Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a recent interview with a Russia-based news agency, said Beijing and Moscow could form an international team of investigators to find out the truth. I believe that Russia, China, or even Western countries could play a very positive role in this crisis. They could form an international investigation team to determine whether India or Modi is lying or telling the truth. Let an international team find out, Asif told RIA Novosti news agency. He highlighted that Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif also supported such an international investigation. We need to identify the culprit of this incident in India, in Kashmir. Empty statements have no impact; there must be substantial evidence proving Pakistans involvement or that these individuals were supported by Pakistan. These are merely unfounded statements, Khawaja Asif was quoted as saying by the news agency. While Indian intelligence agencies hint at Pakistans direct or indirect involvement in the attack, Islamabad maintains that it might very well be a false flag operation by New Delhi. Some analysts in Pakistan have also peddled separatism theory, claiming the attack may have been carried out by freedom fighters. Pakistan has also dismissed TRFs association with the attacks, with Khawaja Asif telling BBC News that such terror organisations have long gone defunct in Pakistan. China backs Pakistans stance Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has reportedly backed Pakistans call for impartial investigation. During a phone call with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Sunday, Wang Yi supported the prompt initiation of an impartial investigation, hoping both sides will exercise restraint, move toward each other, and work to de-escalate tensions, reported Global Times, the communist partys official mouthpiece. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Combating terrorism constitutes a shared responsibility of all nations, and China consistently supports Pakistans firm counter-terrorism actions, Wang said, according to Global Times. China has a notorious past of backing Islamabad at UN on the issue of terrorism and extremism. Even in the case of the latest Kashmir attack, there are reports that Pakistan worked with China to water down the statement released by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The Leave India notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. read more Pakistani nationals arrive at the Integrated Check Post at the Attari-Wagah border to move to their country. (Courtesy: PTI photo) Pakistan nationals in India who fail to leave by the deadlines set by the Indian government will face arrest, prosecution and potentially up to three years in jail or a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh or both. The Leave India notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline is April 29. The 12 categories of visas whose holders have to leave India by Sunday are visa on arrival, business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrim. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the Immigration and Foreigners Act 2025, which came into effect on April 4, overstaying, violating visa conditions, or trespassing in restricted areas could lead to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 3 lakh. Whoever,(a) being a foreigner, remains in any area in India for a period exceeding the period for which the visa was issued to him or stays in India without a valid passport or other valid travel document in contravention of provisions of Section 3 or does any act in violation of the conditions of the valid visa issued to him for his entry and stay in India or any part thereunder; (b) contravenes any other provisions of this Act, other than sections 17 and 19, or of any rule or order made thereunder or any direction or instruction given in pursuance of this Act or such order or direction or instruction for which, no specific punishment is provided under this Act, shall be punishable with an imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to three lakh rupees or with both, the Act says. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday instructed all state chief ministers to ensure that no Pakistani nationals remain in India beyond the set deadline. Following Shahs instructions, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan conducted a video conference with state chief secretaries, urging them to ensure compliance. The move comes after escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, especially following the Pahalgam terror attack, which led to retaliatory actions by both nations, including the revocation of visas and other measures. With inputs from agencies Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise bombardment on March 18, and has been carrying out daily waves of strikes since then. Ground forces have expanded a buffer zone and encircled the southern city of Rafah, and now control around 50% of the territory. read more A Palestinian girl mourns a relative, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. AFP Photo Qatars Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani confirmed on Sunday that there had been some progress in the ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas conflict. The discussions followed a Thursday meeting between Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea and the Qatari prime minister. Speaking at a news conference, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani reported a bit of progress, in response to questions about reports of a Thursday meeting in Doha Between Israels Mossad spy agency chief David Barnea and the Qatari prime minster. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In the Gaza Strip, hospitals received the remains of 51 Palestinians over the past 24 hours, with the total death toll now reaching 52,243. The Ministry of Health reported that nearly 700 bodies had recently been processed and included in the updated count, many recovered from the rubble of previous strikes. The death toll has been mounting since Israel resumed its bombardment on March 18, ending a brief ceasefire. Israels airstrikes have intensified, and ground forces have expanded their control, particularly around the southern city of Rafah, now securing around 50% of Gazas territory. Israel has also sealed off the territorys 2 million Palestinians from all imports, including food and medicine, for nearly 60 days. Aid groups say supplies will soon run out and that thousands of children are malnourished. Israeli authorities say the renewed offensive and tightened blockade are aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is destroyed or disarmed, and all the hostages are returned. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining 59 hostages 24 of whom are believed to be alive in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the now-defunct ceasefire reached in January. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and took 251 people hostage. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gazas Health Ministry says women and children make up most of the Palestinian deaths, but does not say how many were militants or civilians. It says another 117,600 people have been wounded in the war. The overall tally includes 2,151 dead and 5,598 wounded since Israel resumed the war last month. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and it blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in densely populated areas. Israels offensive has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings. With inputs from agencies Russias latest barrage involved 149 explosive drones and decoys, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said 57 of the drones were intercepted and another 67 jammed electronically read more A Ukrainian rescuer works at the site of a drone strike at a warehouse building in the Boryspil district of Kyiv region on December 20, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. File image/AFP Russia launched a sweeping drone assault across Ukraine overnight into Sunday (April 27), striking multiple regions. One person was killed and a 14-year-old girl injured in Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which was targeted for the third consecutive night, regional governor Serhii Lysak said. The attacks came just hours after Moscow claimed to have retaken full control of parts of the Kursk region, seized by Ukrainian forces during a surprise incursion last August. Ukrainian officials, however, insisted that fighting in the area was still ongoing. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Russias drone attack Russias latest barrage involved 149 explosive drones and decoys, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said 57 of the drones were intercepted and another 67 jammed electronically. Further casualties were reported across Ukraine. One person was wounded in the Odesa region, while another was injured in the city of Zhitomir, local officials said. Meanwhile, Russias Defence Ministry said its air defenses had shot down five Ukrainian drones over the border region of Bryansk, as well as three more over the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. In the partially occupied Donetsk region, five people were wounded after Ukrainian forces shelled the city of Horlivka, according to Ivan Prikhodko, the Russian-installed mayor. Trump hints at fresh Russia sanctions Tensions are continuing to escalate following renewed skepticism from US President Donald Trump over Russian President Vladimir Putins willingness to end the war. In a shift from earlier comments suggesting a peace deal was close, Trump on Saturday (April 28) expressed doubt that Putin wanted to end the conflict, which has now stretched beyond three years. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days, Trump wrote on social media as he flew back to the United States after attending Pope Franciss funeral at the Vatican, where he also held a brief meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump hinted at the possibility of new sanctions against Russia. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The encounter between Trump and Zelenskyy marked their first face-to-face meeting since a tense Oval Office exchange in late February, where the two leaders had clashed over US aid to Kyiv. With inputs from agencies Moskalik was assassinated in the hamlet of Balashikha, east of Moscow, only hours before US President Donald Trumps envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin read more According to Russian media, a car exploded in the Moscow suburbs, killing Major General Yaroslav Moskalik. Image/X Russias FSB security service claimed on Saturday that it had captured a suspect in the vehicle bombing that killed a senior Russian military commander on Friday. The Kremlin accused Ukraine for the death of 59-year-old Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. There was no official statement from Kyiv on Moskaliks death. The FSB identified the suspect as Ignat Kuzin, claiming he was an agent of the Ukrainian special services. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Moskalik was assassinated in the hamlet of Balashikha, east of Moscow, only hours before US President Donald Trumps envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian war bloggers described Moskalik as a rising star. He had participated in several high-level Russian delegations that had met Western officials to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine. He also dealt with Syria, presenting a report on military-technical cooperation in Africa and the Middle East at a security forum in Moscow in 2021. Rybar, a Russian war blogger with over 1.2 million subscribers on Telegram, said he was viewed as one of the most intelligent and demanding officers in his directorate. The blogger said Moskalik was being considered to serve as head of the National Defence Management Centre, the supreme command and control centre of the Russian Armed Forces, due to his systematic approach and thoughtfulness. At least 9 killed and several others were injured after a car rammed into a crowd during the Lapu Lapu Festival in Canadas Vancouver, police said. The driver is in custody read more At least 9 people were killed and several others were injured after a driver rammed into a crowd during the Lapu Lapu Festival in Canadas Vancouver. The incident took place on Saturday night. Vancouver police told reporters that a driver drove into the crowd at East 41st Avenue and Fraser Street just after 8 pm (local time), Global News reported. The police also notified that the driver involved in the incident is in custody. They are yet to reveal the identity of the perpetrator. In a statement, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said he is shocked and saddened by the horrific incident at the Lapu Lapu Day event. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD We will work to provide more information as soon as we can, but at this time, Vancouver police have confirmed that there are several fatalities and multiple injuries, Sim said. We will work to provide more information as soon as we can, but at this time, Vancouver police have confirmed that there are several fatalities and multiple injuries, the mayor added. Canadian leaders issue statements In a statement, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said that he was horrified to learn about the recent turn of events. According to Global News, Singh was at the festival earlier in the evening. I am horrified to learn of an incident at Vancouvers Lapu Lapu Day celebrations that injured and killed innocent people, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. I am horrified to learn of an incident at Vancouvers Lapu Lapu Day celebrations that injured and killed innocent people. As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) April 27, 2025 As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families and Vancouvers Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience, he added. The leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, also took to X to express his shock over the incident. I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight. My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more. Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 27, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I am shocked by the horrific news emerging from Vancouvers Lapu Lapu Day Festival tonight. My thoughts are with the Filipino community and all the victims targeted by this senseless attack. Thank you to the first responders who are at the scene as we wait to hear more, he said in the post. Democratic party politician Lee, who earlier lost to Yoon by just 0.73 percentage points, has spoken about how his family often survived by scavenging rotten fruit discarded by vendors read more Lee Jae-myung, who once toiled in factories as an underage worker to help his struggling family, has been formally chosen as the presidential candidate of South Koreas Democratic Party (DP), setting the stage for an extraordinary political comeback just weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeols dramatic ouster. With the presidential election slated for June 3 now just 37 days away recent polls suggest Lee holds a strong lead, in contrast to his narrow defeat in 2022, when he lost to Yoon by a margin of just 0.73 percentage points. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lees life of struggle Born in 1964 to a poor family in the southeastern city of Andong, Lees early years were shaped by grinding poverty. His mother eked out a living cleaning public toilets and selling toilet paper at a local market in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, while a young Lee worked in factories to help put food on the table, according to Yonhap News Agency. He has described his childhood as horrific, recalling in his memoir how his family often survived by scavenging rotten fruit discarded by vendors. Despite these brutal circumstances, Lee managed to carve out a path forward passing his high school and college qualification exams while labouring during the day, and later studying law at Chung-Ang University on a scholarship. He went on to pass the bar exam in 1986. Its the classic underdog narrative. But that is not what Lee is trying to be known for anymore. An image change Interestingly, despite his working-class roots, Lee has recently distanced himself from the DPs traditional pro-labour platform, in an attempt to broaden his appeal to conservative and centrist voters. Known for his sharp tongue and aggressive style during his tenure as mayor of Seongnam and later as Gyeonggi Province governor, Lee has in recent months sought to soften his image, branding himself a pragmatic leader focused on economic growth. His political stock within the Democratic Party has also risen markedly. Unlike the last presidential race, Lee now commands a firm grip over the party apparatus, bolstered by his visible leadership during the National Assemblys dramatic rejection of Yoons attempted martial law declaration. Lee livestreamed his role in the late-night vote, helping galvanise public opposition to what was widely seen as an attack on South Koreas hard-won democracy. Trump has for months been calling for the United States to take control of the Panama Canal but his social media post also shifted focus onto the vital Suez route read more US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged free transit for American commercial and military ships through the Panama and Suez canals, tasking his secretary of state with making progress immediately. Trump has for months been calling for the United States to take control of the Panama Canal but his social media post also shifted focus onto the vital Suez route. American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals! he wrote on his Truth Social platform. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He claimed both routes would not exist without the United States and said he had asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of the situation. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, without directly referencing Trump, said Saturday that toll fees for the Panama Canal are regulated by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), an autonomous governing body that oversees the trade route. There is no agreement to the contrary, he said in a post on X. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said during a visit to Panama City earlier this month that the United States was seeking an agreement under which its warships could pass through the canal first, and free. The United States and China are two of the top users of the Panama Canal. Egypts Suez Canal, a key waterway linking Europe and Asia, accounted for about 10 percent of global maritime trade before attacks by Yemens Huthi rebels on shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The Iran-backed rebels began targeting vessels after the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, forcing ships to take a long and costly detour around the southern tip of Africa. Egypt said last year its canal revenues had plunged 60 percent, a loss of $7 billion. The US military has been attacking Huthi positions since January 2024, but those assaults have intensified under Trump, with almost daily strikes in the past month. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump has vowed that military action would continue until the Huthis are no longer a threat to shipping. None of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans from Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin held in-person public events. read more A girls colours an electoral map of the United States in either red or blue ahead of the US general election in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. The 2024 US presidential election will take place on Tuesday, November 5. File Image/Reuters Many days over the past two weeks, no one answered the phone at any of U.S. Rep. Scott Perrys four offices. Perrys team did not share details about the Republican congressmans public appearances until after they were over. Even supporters in Perrys central Pennsylvania district said they could not remember the last time he hosted an in-person town hall. The US House is ending a 17-day recess typically known as a district work period. Vulnerable Republicans, including Perry, have limited public appearances to avoid potential backlash from President Donald Trumps early months back in office. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD None of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans from Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin held in-person public events. Some favored invitation-only meetings announced only after they ended. Theyre publicly elected officials. They ought to be accessible to the public, said Robert Barton, a 57-year-old Republican civil engineer in Mechanicsburg. Perrys team did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye defended more controlled appearances. And thats smart for any politician, he said. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it encourages public engagement but warns against settings that could derail a members message. We tell everyone, go out and meet people. You have to be in front of your constituents, spokesman Mike Marinella said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., recently said that some meeting attendees do this as a profession, theyre professional protesters, and urged the use of tele-town halls instead. Democrats faced similar pressures during the 2010 debate over the Affordable Care Act and later lost the House. Republicans faced similar accusations of ducking town halls before their 2018 loss. Now, Democrats are organising Peoples Town Halls and Good Trouble events in districts where Republicans have limited access, hoping to flip the House in 2026. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley emphasized the stakes at an Iowa event, warning, This midterm election cycle is going to determine whether we have a four-year presidency or a two-year presidency. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, who won by just 799 votes, avoided public town halls during the recess, instead holding small events that were mostly publicized after the fact. Perry, a former House Freedom Caucus chair who won reelection by 5,000 votes, is seen as vulnerable. Democrat Janelle Stelson, whom Perry defeated last fall, is expected to challenge him again. The title of the job is representative. Its not actually about you, its about what the people you talk to care about and want you to accomplish for them, Stelson said. And I dont understand how he can possibly know what that is when hes never out among us. Some voters are frustrated. Mechanicsburg resident Tim Shollenberger struggled to get his questions answered during Perrys April 2 tele-town hall. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If you really care about the views of your constituents, get in a room and face them, Shollenberger said. While both Washington and Manila have denied that the exercises are aimed at any specific country, the messaging and the locations chosen appear to leave little doubt. Chinas government has fiercely condemned the drills, accusing the US of provocation in the region read more The United States military has, for the first time, deployed a sophisticated anti-ship missile launcher to Batan Island in the Philippines in a high-profile show of force just across the sea from Taiwan and amid rising tensions with China. The backdrop to these drills is one of intensifying military manoeuvres across East Asia. Earlier this month, China staged large-scale exercises encircling Taiwan, featuring naval, air, ground, and rocket forces, in what Beijing said was a warning against any moves towards formal independence by the islands democratically elected government. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Messaging via military exercise Marines airlifted the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) to the remote northern tip of the Philippine archipelago on Saturday (April 26), as US and Filipino forces separately conducted live-fire exercises in Zambales province, targeting mock hostile drones in drills facing the contested South China Sea. The activities form part of the annual Balikatan military exercises, which this year have been marked by a striking escalation in scale and realism. About 9,000 US troops, 5,000 Filipino personnel, and contingents from Australia, Japan, and other countries are taking part. The exercises are being held across multiple locations, several of them near strategic flashpoints that have become increasingly contested between China and the United States. Speaking to a small group of journalists invited to witness the deployment, US Marine Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm stressed the defensive nature of the operations. Were not here practising a war plan, Cederholm said. Were practicing for the defence of the Philippines. Cederholm was careful not to specify whether the anti-ship missile system would be withdrawn after the conclusion of Balikatan on May 9, noting only: We dont broadcast when were going in, when were coming out and how long things are going to stayAll Ill say is were here at the invitation and with the support of the Philippine government. China on alert While both Washington and Manila have denied that the exercises are aimed at any specific country, the messaging and the locations chosen appear to leave little doubt. Chinas government has fiercely condemned the drills, accusing the US of provocation in the region. Over the weekend, an aircraft carrier group belonging to Chinas Peoples Liberation Army Navy was spotted passing near Batanes, just days after the US landed its NMESIS battery there, strategically positioned near the Bashi Channel, a critical maritime corridor south of Taiwan vital for global trade and military operations. The ambiguity over the duration of the deployment of anti-ship missiles is likely to further aggravate Beijing, which had already reacted sharply to the US Armys earlier deployment of a mid-range missile system in the Philippines last year. That battery, capable of firing Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and Standard Missile-6 interceptors, was quietly repositioned earlier this year from Laoag City Airport to a coastal location facing the Scarborough Shoal an area where tensions between China and the Philippines have escalated in recent months. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies Katharhynn Heidelberg/ Montrsoe Daily Press The United Methodist Church on Jan. 29. The church has been picking up citations alleging zoning and other violations for camping it is allowing in its back courtyard. The church is allowing unhoused people to sleep there, if they clear the churchs application process. Dennis received bachelor's degrees in communication and political science with a TAG degree in Spanish from The University of Akron in Ohio. He grew up in Ohio with two sisters and two brothers, one being his fraternal twin. He and his wife have two dogs: Bacio, and Cal. Dennis currently covers natural resource and environmental issues for The Daily Sentinel Estonia Opened Its First Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Training Center Republic of Estonia - Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI) 25.04.2025 Today, representatives of the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI) and the Estonian Defence League opened Estonia's first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) training center in Nurmsi. The center will support the training of the Defence League, the Defence Forces, and allied units. "We're pleased to open Estonia's first training center for unmanned aerial vehicles, located at the Koigi grass airfield. This center expands training opportunities for units and strengthens cooperation with our allies. The experience from the war in Ukraine has shown how crucial UAV training is for developing our capabilities," said Peeter Karja, Southern Portfolio Manager at the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI). "The war in Ukraine has demonstrated that drones and unmanned systems are key in modern warfare. Drones are also important for the development of Estonia's defense capabilities. This field is evolving rapidly, and we must advance our drone training as well. I am glad Estonia now has its own dedicated UAV training center," said Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur. The new training center, located on the grounds of Koigi airfield, will support the activities of the Defence League, the Defence Forces, and allied units during field exercises. "The Nurmsi drone center will become a hub for technological development in this field, and it's no exaggeration to say that the Defence League is leading the way in how drones can be used for Estonia's defense," said Major General Ilmar Tamm, Commander of the Estonian Defence League. "The newly opened center enables us to integrate lessons learned from Ukraine and NATO allies into our national defense, while also offering excellent infrastructure to our partners from the Defence Forces and the defense industry." The three-story building has 1,300 square meters of space, including classrooms, storage and maintenance areas for equipment, as well as accommodation, sanitation, and leisure facilities. The most striking feature of the building is a glass tower that offers a 360-degree view. According to Jaanus Lohu, board member of Paide MEK AS, a company from Jarva County, the biggest challenge was constructing a building of this size without a permanent power supply - from start to finish. "We gained valuable experience from this project. It's undoubtedly an important object for the development of defense capabilities, and we could use more such facilities in Jarva County," Lohu added. The development of the UAV training center was fully funded by the government of Luxembourg and cost approximately 5 million euros. The initial cooperation agreement between the defense ministries of Luxembourg and Estonia for developing the training center was signed in April 2021. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Deputy Secretary Landau's Meeting with Mexican Finance Minister Amador US Department of State Readout Office of the Spokesperson April 25, 2025 The below is attributable to Spokesperson Tammy Bruce: Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met with Mexican Secretary of Finance and Public Credit Edgar Amador Zamora today to discuss opportunities for collaboration between the United States and Mexico on shared commercial and economic interests. Deputy Secretary Landau and Finance Minister Amador reaffirmed their commitment to combatting illicit finance and organized crime. The two also discussed the importance of a strong, fair and predictable investment climate that safeguards shared national security interests. Building on recent U.S.-Mexico meetings to address the transboundary wastewater issue affecting the public health and welfare of San Diego communities, the Deputy Secretary and Finance Minister discussed the need to finance wastewater reduction efforts on the Tijuana River. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address April 26, 2025 Release Readout of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Meeting With NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell provided the following readout: On April 24, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Pentagon. The leaders discussed upcoming NATO engagements. Secretary Hegseth reiterated the U.S. commitment to NATO and said the Alliance must return to prioritizing warfighting, lethality, and deterrence. The Secretary underscored that European and Canadian allies must increase their defense spending to five percent of GDP and that European allies must take primary responsibility for Europe's conventional deterrence and defense. Both leaders discussed ways to accelerate the transition to primary European leadership within NATO. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4166980/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas says Netanyahu is using starvation as a weapon in Gaza IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Apr 26, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet are using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Hamas cited a recent report by the World Food Program (WFP) about food reserves in Gaza running out, noting that the besieged Palestinian territory is facing a humanitarian disaster. It warned that continued bombardments and a ban on humanitarian supplies, such as water, food, medicine, and fuel, have endangered the lives of more than two million people in the enclave. Israel's use of starvation as a weapon and its intentional targeting of water facilities and food distribution centers are among the most brutal violations of international law and humanitarian norms, Hamas said. The Palestinian group urged the international community to take effective measures to punish the perpetrators of these crimes. Hamas also called on the Arab and Islamic nations to fulfill their historical duty in breaking the siege of Gaza and sending the necessary supplies into the territory. 9341**4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran pres. stresses collective, effective fight against terrorism in phone calls with Indian, Pakistani PMs Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 10:04 PM President Masoud Pezeshkian has reiterated Iran's strong condemnation of a recent deadly terror attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, stressing the need for joint effective fight against terrorism. In a telephone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, Masoud Pezeshkian expressed deep sorrow over the attack in the city of Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of at least 26 people. The Islamic Republic vehemently denounces such "terrorist and inhumane acts," the president stated, extending heartfelt condolences to the people and government of India. Highlighting the alarming rise of terrorist activities across the region, Pezeshkian stressed the urgency of collective action, saying, "These tragic events double the collective responsibility of all regional countries." "They compel us to eradicate the roots of terrorism through solidarity, empathy, and close cooperation, thereby ensuring lasting peace and tranquility for our nations." On a separate note, the president hailed India's long-standing heritage of promoting peace through figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Toward the end of the conversation, he formally invited Prime Minister Modi to visit Tehran, emphasizing Iran's eagerness to "explore and pursue avenues for deepening and expanding comprehensive cooperation between our two countries in a friendly and constructive atmosphere." For his part, Modi thanked the Iranian president over the expression of solidarity with India. "Your expression of sympathy is deeply valued and encouraging for the government and people of India," he said. Modi: Iran, India see eye to eye on fight against terrorism Acknowledging Iran's "painful history with terrorism," the Indian premier added that in light of the tragic experience, the Islamic Republic "understands better than anyone the feelings and suffering of the Indian people." He, meanwhile, declared, "We fully agree with your view that fighting terrorism requires the unity and comprehensive cooperation of all countries in the region." Modi also praised Iran's constructive role in fostering global peace and security, reaffirming New Delhi's commitment to strengthening the bilateral ties. In conclusion, the Indian premier extended warm regards to the Iranian president, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian people. Also on Saturday, Pezeshkian held a separate phone call with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during which he expressed deep concern over the rising tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Kashmir attack. "Unfortunately, these acts of terrorism, which continue to claim the lives of people across the region, not only result in the tragic loss of innocent lives, but also fuel new tensions and divisions among neighboring countries," the former warned. As in the case of the phone call with Modi, Pezeshkian called for urgent regional anti-terror cooperation, emphasizing the need to "combat the scourge of terrorism and dismantle the financial and military infrastructures of terrorist groups." He stressed that consolidating peace, security, and stability had to be the shared objective of all regional states. In response, Sharif expressed his appreciation for Iran's attention to regional issues. The conversations came amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the deadly assault. The attack prompted cross-border exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani forces, besides being followed by the countries' facing each other with a number of tit-for-tat moves and military threats. The United Nations has urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address MSF: 70% of burn victims in Gaza are children, little chance of recovery Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 3:44 PM Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reports a growing number of burn victims in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing Israeli genocidal war amid poor health care under the total siege on the territory. The MSF warned that 70 percent of the victims have been children. "Since May 2024, MSF teams working in Nasser Hospital have provided over 1,000 surgical operations to burn patients, 70 percent of which have been children, most under the age of five," the Geneva-based aid organization said in a statement on Friday. "Many people have extensive burns covering large portions of their bodies - some people have as much as 40 percent of their total body surface burned," due to "bomb explosions and improvised cooking methods." "As the Israeli authorities maintain the siege on Gaza, blocking access to basic aid, medical and life-saving supplies, many patients are left to endure excruciating pain with limited or no relief," it added. MSF noted that its "teams have seen an increase in the number of patients with burn injuries - most of them children," since Israeli forces resumed their bloody onslaught in mid-March. MSF warned that "severe burns require complex and long-term care, including multiple surgeries, daily wound dressing changes, physiotherapy, pain management, psychological support, and a sterile environment to prevent infection. However, after 50 days of no supplies entering Gaza due to the blockade, MSF teams are running low on even basic painkillers, leaving patients without adequate pain relief. "At the same time, since the beginning of the war, only very few surgeons in Gaza have the ability to manage complex burn care plastic surgery." Commenting on the tight Israeli blockade and denial of aid into Gaza, the international NGO said that "while burn patients require a high level of healthcare, they also need over double the number of daily calories to heal properly. With no food entering Gaza, patients are surviving on insufficient amounts of food, jeopardizing their recovery." It noted that MSF teams working in their Gaza City clinic, field hospital in Deir al-Balah, as well as Nasser Hospital, have provided over 6,518 burn dressings since December 2024. However, nearly half of the patients have not returned for follow-up care due to the collapse of services, and it is almost impossible to reach the health centers. MSF, citing the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that "over half of the functioning health facilities in Gaza are located in areas under evacuation orders, making healthcare almost inaccessible." The Israeli military launched a surprise aerial campaign on the Gaza Strip on March 18, killing at least 2,111 Palestinians, injuring 5,483 others, and shattering the ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian group Hamas and the deal on the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners. At least 51,495 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 117,524 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023. Hamas has emphasized that it is "approaching any proposals positively if they guarantee a permanent ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, an end to the suffering of our Palestinian people, and a serious prisoner exchange deal." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas: No partial truce, only comprehensive deal with war-ending guarantees acceptable Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 11:32 AM Ahead of the forthcoming Egyptian-mediated ceasefire negotiations, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has emphasized the necessity of a comprehensive agreement with the Israeli regime, as opposed to a partial one, ensuring the termination of the genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi made the remarks on Saturday as a delegation from the group is slated to meet Egyptian mediators in the capital Cairo to negotiate a long-term truce deal with Tel Aviv. "The mediators and the American administration now understand our position, which is a comprehensive deal without fragmentation," Mardawi said. "We will offer sufficient flexibility to reach a comprehensive exchange deal that ends the war, ensures the complete withdrawal of the occupation, provides relief to the people, and enables reconstruction." The Hamas official underlined the resistance movement's demands and said a comprehensive deal would deter the occupying regime from resuming its genocidal war against Gaza. "We will insist on guarantees regarding the end of the war. The occupation can resume fighting after any partial deal but cannot do so under a comprehensive deal backed by international guarantees. We will demand that these guarantees be included in any agreement," Mardawi said. "Negotiations are ongoing regarding the details of the comprehensive deal. We will not accept handing over a soldier from here and a body from there in exchange for just a few days of calm," he added. Taher al-Nono, another senior Hamas official, confirmed that the group's negotiating delegation would head to Cairo on Saturday to meet with Egyptian officials. Pointing to the group's disarmament ahead of the talks, the Hamas official said, "The resistance's weapons are not up for negotiation and will remain in our hands as long as the occupation continues." Palestine's resistance news network quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying, "Hamas is responding positively to any proposal that leads to a definitive end to the war, and not to partial deals that let the Israeli occupation achieve its goal of easing internal pressure by releasing a handful of Israeli captives." Another Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was cited by AFP as saying that Hamas is open to an agreement to end the Gaza war that would include the one-time release of all remaining captives and abductees as well as a five-year cessation of hostilities. "Hamas is ready for an exchange of prisoners in a single batch and a truce for five years," the official told AFP. The Israeli regime was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with Hamas in January, 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 first 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 subsequent stages of the agreement. The ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7, 2023, has so far resulted in at least 51,355 documented Palestinian fatalities, with over 117,248 others injured. Thousands of victims are feared trapped under rubble, inaccessible to emergency and civil defense teams due to Israel's unrelenting onslaught. The regime's merciless attacks continue unabated despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemeni forces target Israeli Nevatim Airbase with hypersonic ballistic missile Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 11:25 AM Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out a retaliatory operation against a strategic Israeli military position north of the Negev Desert, as part of their unflinching support for Palestinians plagued by the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for the Yemeni military, announced in a statement that the Arab nation's missile units targeted Nevatim Airbase, located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) southeast of Beershea, on Saturday, using a homegrown Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile. He added that the missile strike could successfully achieve its desired objectives, and the Israeli military's anti-air missile systems failed to intercept the projectile. Saree underscored that the Yemeni forces will continue to confront the US acts of aggression against their homeland, will not cease developing their military capabilities, will put up more steadfastness, and will offer greater support to the oppressed Palestinian nation. The senior Yemeni military official stated that the Yemeni Armed Forces will not stop their operations until Israel's ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end, and the total siege is completely lifted. In reaction to the atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza and the aggression of the US and UK against Yemen, the Yemeni Armed Forces have initiated a series of strikes aimed at Israeli, American, and British interests in the Red Sea and adjacent regions. As the genocidal war on Gaza escalated, the Yemenis enacted a strategic blockade on essential maritime routes, intending to obstruct the delivery of military supplies to Israel and urge the international community to take action regarding the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Gaza. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pakistan says ready to 'defend sovereignty' amid rising tensions with India Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 10:54 AM Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that he is ready to defend the country following a deadly attack in Indian-run Kashmir that New Delhi blames on Islamabad. "Our valiant armed forces remain fully capable and prepared to defend the country's sovereignty," Sharif said at a military ceremony on Saturday in Abbottabad. He also called for a "neutral investigation," after India accused Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism" following an armed attack on civilians in Muslim-majority Kashmir. Tensions between India and Pakistan have skyrocketed following a deadly assault in Indian-administered Kashmir that left 26 tourists dead on Tuesday. India has accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack, alleging "cross-border" connectionsa claim Pakistan firmly rejects. Overnight Thursday, Indian and Pakistani forces clashed along Kashmir's Line of Control (LoC), escalating tensions further after the Pahalgam shooting. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that his country would "track and punish every terrorist and their backer," vowing, "We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth." Pakistan's Senate passed a resolution on Friday slamming a "campaign by the Indian government to malign the Pakistan government." Pakistan countered that India has not provided credible proof of its government's role in the attack. Islamabad also cautioned that any move by India to scrap the Indus Waters Treaty would prompt a forceful response. The UN has called for both nations to show "maximum restraint." However, the standoff has raised fears of potential military conflict, as both sides have not ruled out further escalation. Kashmir has been a contested region since 1947, with India and Pakistan each asserting full control over the Muslim-majority territory, parts of which are also claimed by China. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yemeni ballistic missile triggers sirens across Israeli-occupied territories Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 5:44 AM Air raid sirens echoed throughout numerous regions of the Israeli-occupied territories following the launch of a ballistic missile by the Yemeni Armed Forces targeting the occupying Zionist entity. According to Israeli media outlets, the fresh Yemeni missile attack set off sirens in towns and cities south of the occupied territories, including Beersheba and the surrounding area, on Saturday morning. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The retaliatory strike came in response to the Israeli regime's relentless genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, where close to 51,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children have been killed so far. The Israeli military claimed in a statement that its anti-air missile systems had intercepted the projectile, and shot it down before crossing into the skies over the occupied territories. The overnight attack came a few hours after the United States conducted new acts of aggression against Yemen by launching a wave of airstrikes across multiple regions in the Arab country. Five airstrikes hit the Nihm district in the capital province of Sana'a, while the Bani Matar district in the same province was also bombed. No immediate reports of casualties have emerged. American warplanes also carried out seven airstrikes on the Medghal district in the central province of Ma'rib. No immediate casualty reports or damage assessments were available from the strikes, according to local media. Yemen's official Saba news agency, citing a local source speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that a woman was killed and another civilian sustained injuries when a US air raid struck a residential building in the Sahar district of the northwestern Sa'ada province. In the western province of al-Mahwit, US fighter jets bombed the At Tawilah district, while the Ras Isa fuel terminal in the strategic coastal province of Hudaydah was targeted with four attacks. In response to the atrocities perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and the US and UK aggression against Yemen, the Yemeni Armed Forces have launched a series of retaliatory strikes targeting Israeli, American, and British interests in the Red Sea and surrounding areas. As the genocidal war in Gaza intensified, the Yemeni forces implemented a strategic blockade of vital maritime routes to obstruct the supply of military resources to Israel. This move aimed to urge the international community to address the dire humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza. The Yemeni Armed Forces have vowed to sustain their attacks until Israel halts its ground and aerial assaults in Gaza. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran offers mediation as India-Pakistan tensions escalate Iran Press TV Saturday, 26 April 2025 12:40 AM Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has voiced Tehran's readiness to help ease tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad during a phone call with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar. The two officials spoke on Friday evening, exchanging views on the latest developments in Pakistan's bilateral relations with India. Highlighting Iran's friendly relations with both Pakistan and India, Araghchi said the Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to offer its "readiness to help de-escalate tensions and strengthen regional stability." He emphasized the importance of "patience and restraint by both sides" in managing the situation. During the conversation, Ishaq Dar briefed Araghchi on recent developments between Islamabad and New Delhi and expressed appreciation for Iran's "constructive and responsible approach" toward the tensions between the two countries. He also expressed hope for the success of the next round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, scheduled to take place in Muscat on April 26. Earlier in the day, Araghchi took to X (formerly Twitter), describing India and Pakistan as "brotherly neighbors of Iran, enjoying relations rooted in centuries-old cultural and civilizational ties." "Tehran stands ready to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to forge greater understanding at this difficult time," he wrote. Tensions between India and Pakistan have sharply escalated after an attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday killed 26 tourists. The Indian government said that the attack had "cross-border" links to Pakistan, a charge Islamabad strongly denies. On Thursday night, Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed region of Kashmir, marking a dangerous deterioration in ties between the two neighbors following the deadly shooting in Pahalgam. The United Nations has urged both sides to exercise restraint. Meanwhile, Islamabad accused New Delhi of failing to provide sufficient evidence linking Pakistan's government to the attack. It also warned that any attempt by India to suspend the landmark water-sharing treaty between the two countries would be met with "full force." Both sides have hinted that the ongoing tensions could escalate into military confrontation. Since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, Kashmir has remained a flashpoint between India and Pakistan, with both nations claiming full sovereignty over the Muslim-majority region, which is also partly disputed with China. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Indian, Pakistani Troops Exchange Fire In Kashmir Amid Mounting Tensions By RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal April 26, 2025 Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire across the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir, officials said on April 25 as tensions between the two neighbors continued to increase following the killing of 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a government official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said troops exchanged gunfire overnight along the Line of Control separating the two countries. There were no reports of casualties and no "firing on the civilian population," Gilani was quoted by AFP as saying. Indian military officers quoted by the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said that Pakistani troops had opened fire on an Indian military post. The officials, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said Indian troops returned fire. They also said there were no reports of casualties in the incident. India has called the killing of 26 people by gunmen at a Himalayan tourist attraction in Pahalgam a terrorist attack and accused Pakistan of supporting terrorists. Twenty-five of those killed were Indian nationals. A little-known militant group called The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the on April 22 attack. Indian police say the gunmen in the attack are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization. They offered a 2 million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man's arrest. Hundreds of security forces have been deployed to Pahlavi Valley and tight security measures have been put in place. A day after the attack, New Delhi suspended a 6-decade-old water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of the main land border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew visas for Pakistanis. Pakistan has denied any involvement and responded with countermeasures of its own on April 24, suspending visas for some Indian nationals and expelling certain Indian diplomats and defense officials from the country. The Pakistani Senate on April 25 unanimously passed a resolution "against linking the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan." US President Donald Trump on April 25 commented about the situation for the first time publicly. "There have been tensions on that border for 1,500 years so, you know, it's the same as it has been. But they'll get it figured out, one way or another." Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full while governing separate portions of it. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for a "credible investigation" into the attack and said "India must resist the temptation to exploit such tragic incidents to its advantage." Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif was quoted on April 25 as saying Pakistan is "ready to cooperate" with "any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors." Asif told The New York Times in an interview that India had used the aftermath of the attack as a pretext to suspend the water treaty and for domestic political purposes. India is taking steps to punish Pakistan "without any proof, without any investigation," he added. "We do not want this war to flare up, because flaring up of this war can cause disaster for this region," Asif told the newspaper. With reporting by Reuters and AP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pakistan-india-kashmir- border-troops-shooting-pahalgam/33397351.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Conducts Secret Test Launch in Florida Sputnik News 20250426 A missile launch was spotted by observers at Cape Canaveral, which was later confirmed as a test launch by a DoD spokesperson. Media reports indicate that the launch occurred around 7 a.m. (11:00 GMT), during which the vehicle separated into two distinct sections. One section appeared to tumble away, while the other continued to move forward until it vanished into the sky. "A combined team of government, academic, and industry partners conducted a test on behalf of the Department of Defense from a test site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. We are currently evaluating the results of the test," the official said in a statement when asked to confirm the launch of the long-range hypersonic weapon. On Thursday, the Pentagon officially announced that it has named its long-range hypersonic weapon "Dark Eagle," following the system's successful testing in December, though its relation to today's launch is uncertain. Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James J. Mingus said during a Senate hearing in March that the US military's long-range hypersonic weapon is expected to become operational by the end of this year. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India And Pakistan Are On The Brink Of Conflict. Here's Why. By Reid Standish and Daud Khattak April 27, 2025 Take two nuclear-armed rivals. Mix in a history of war and a disputed region that's been the site of a decadeslong rebellion. Now add a deadly militant attack against civilians that risks boiling those tensions over. That's where things stand between India and Pakistan after an April 22 attack that killed mostly Indian nationals in Jammu and Kashmir sent tensions between the two countries skyrocketing. India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, but the Pakistani government denies it was behind the attack that killed 26 civilians. New Delhi and Islamabad have since carried out tit-for-tat punishments following the incident, including downgrading diplomatic and trade ties, closing the main border crossing, and revoking visas for each other's nationals. The Pakistani government later said it would consider it "an act of war" if India followed through on a threat to block the flow of crucial rivers as punishment for the deadly incident. On April 26, Pakistan called for a "neutral" investigation into the killings, saying it "remains committed to peace" ad that it was willing to cooperate with any probe. Indian and Pakistani forces on April 25 exchanged gunfire for the second straight day along the Line of Control (LOC) separating the two countries in disputed Kashmir, which is split between them, claimed by both in its entirety, and was at the center of two of the three wars that New Delhi and Islamabad have fought against each other. With tensions simmering, the episode has governments worried that India and Pakistan are once again on the brink of conflict. Here's what you need to know as relations between them plunge to their lowest level in years. What Happened At The Pahalgam Attack In Kashmir? On April 22, gunmen carried out the worst attack on civilians in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir for a quarter-century. New Delhi immediately linked Pakistan to the attack near the picturesque town of Pahalgam in the Himalayas, although it did not publicly produce any evidence. This was followed by punitive measures against Pakistan, which Islamabad later responded to with countermeasures of its own. An obscure group calling itself the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack. Indian officials say it is a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. Islamabad denied involvement, accusing India of failing to provide proof. A manhunt is under way for three suspects involved in the attack -- one Indian national and two Pakistanis -- and the Indian Army says it launched "search and destroy" operations to find them across the Kashmir Valley. How Does The Attack Risk Escalating Tensions Between India And Pakistan? India and Pakistan have each laid claim to Kashmir since war broke out following the British partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Border skirmishes have long created instability in South Asia. The two archrivals have also fought three wars over Kashmir, where armed insurgents have resisted Indian rule for decades, with many Muslim Kashmiris supporting the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India has accused Pakistan of fomenting violence there over the decades, a charge denied by Islamabad. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels, and government forces have been killed in the conflict over the years. The last major militant assault in the Indian part of Kashmir took place in 2019, when dozens of Indian security personnel were killed. After that attack, India launched an air battle that stopped just short of all-out war. Following the Pahalgam attack, commentary in Indian media, which is largely aligned with the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and talk among the country's political leadership has leaned toward launching a military strike on Pakistan. "We will not only reach out to those who have carried out this incident. We will also reach out to those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to commit such nefarious acts on the soil of India," Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said on April 23. India also began large-scale air and naval drills on April 24, which analysts say could pave the way for military action. "There are many imponderables Modi must deal with, including the significant capabilities of the Pakistan Army," Indian political analyst C. Raja Mohan wrote in the Indian Express. "But given the horrific nature of the attack and the outrage that has convulsed the nation -- the victims came from 15 states across India -- the PM may have no option but to explore some major risks." Himayat Ullah, a political scientist at Quaid-e Azam University in Islamabad, told RFE/RL he believes both New Delhi and Islamabad are aware of the risks of further escalation and will aim to avoid "a full-fledged war" but that "to show its people, India and the Modi government may go for some limited actions." Why Is India Suspending The Water Treaty Significant? The day after the attack, India announced the suspension of the six-decade old Indus Waters Treaty, which shares water between the two countries and could be a flashpoint as tensions continue to boil. In response, Pakistan warned any Indian attempt to stop or divert the flow of water between them would be considered an "act of war." The Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allows for sharing the waters of a river system that is a lifeline for both countries. Pakistan described it as a "vital national interest" and the treaty is essential for supporting agriculture and hydropower in the country of 240 million people. The treaty has survived two wars between the countries, in 1965 and 1971, and a major border skirmish in 1999. Its potential unraveling now marks a rupture with huge symbolic and strategic weight. Islamabad, meanwhile, warned it could suspend the Simla Agreement, a significant peace treaty signed after the 1971 India-Pakistan war that ended in Bangladesh splitting from Pakistan and becoming an independent nation. Under that agreement, India and Pakistan established the LOC, previously called the Cease-fire Line, a highly militarized de-facto border that divides Kashmir between them. What Happens Next? Governments and analysts are closely watching the unpredictable situation between the nuclear-armed neighbors. Following the exchange of small-arms fire in Kashmir, the United Nations called for "maximum restraint" between the two countries. "We very much appeal to both the governments...to exercise maximum restraint, and to ensure that the situation and the developments we've seen do not deteriorate any further," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on April 24. On the diplomatic front, Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri briefed envoys from 25 countries, including key G20 partners, Gulf states, and also China, who is a close partner of Pakistan's and has had strained ties with New Delhi in recent years. The broader outreach, as well as Beijing's inclusion, is seen as a move to build global consensus toward India's side as it weighs its response. Another factor is that diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan were already weak before the latest measures and countermeasures announced following the attack. Pakistan expelled India's envoy and has not posted its own ambassador in New Delhi since India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir in 2019. Khalid Sultan, a professor at the University of Islamabad, told RFE/RL that the risks of escalation are real and the tense situation means things could also spiral inadvertently. But he adds that "international pressure" has helped avert outright war between India and Pakistan in the past and New Delhi's active diplomacy points toward a more limited Indian response. Praveen Swami, the national-security editor at the Indian daily newspaper The Print, told RFE/RL New Delhi's response will be determined on the evidence and proof it is able to share with other governments and the public. "If India finds proof about the involvement of Lashkar-e-Taiba, then there will be some reaction. But without that, even a strike or a limited war remains unlikely." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/india-pakistan-war- nuclear-kashmir-modi-water-treaty/33396913.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Trump Demands Free Passage For US Vessels Through Panama, Suez Canals By RFE/RL April 27, 2025 President Donald Trump on April 26 said US commercial and military vessels should be able to travel without charge through the Panama and Suez Canals, two of the world's most important waterway shortcuts. "American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America. I've asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation!" The remarks are the latest by the US leader regarding greater access -- or ownership -- of key global assets. Earlier, he spoke of making Canada the 51st US state, annexing Greenland, controlling the Gaza Strip, and gaining ownership of Ukraine's rare-earth minerals. The Panama Canal was built by the United States from 1904-14, costing the lives of thousands of local workers. The waterway greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The canal and surrounding Canal Zone remained under US control until they were handed back to Panama in 1999 following a treaty signed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Trump recently won a major concession from Panama as he demanded more US influence over the canal -- including allowing the US military to station troops around the waterway, alongside Panamanian forces, to help protect its sovereignty. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to "take back" the canal, which he claims is being controlled by China. Prior to taking office in January, Trump told reporters he would not rule out using economic or military pressure to regain control. While he has often spoken of his interest in the Panama Canal, his latest remarks on the Suez Cana appear to be a new focus for the US president. Egypt controls the canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. it accounted for some 10 percent of global maritime trade before Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels began attacking shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The canal has been operational since 1869, built under French control. With reporting by AP, AFP, dpa, and Reuters Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/trump-panama-suez- canal-china-greenland-canada/33398019.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 26 April 2025 - Day 1158 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 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 since the beginning of the day, there have been 162 combat clashes, the Russian enemy launched one missile and 82 airstrikes at Ukrainian troops and settlements, using one missile and 141 guided airstrikes, 919 kamikaze drones strikes, almost 5,000 artillery shells. In the Kupyans komu direction, the Russian opponent four times tried to push Ukrainian units out of occupied positions near Nova Kruglyakivka and Zagrizovy, currently one confrontation is ongoing. Twenty-two times, Russian forces attacked in the Lyman direction, trying to advance near the settlements of Nadia, Grekivka, Nove, Novomikhailivka and in the direction of Serebryanka. Ukrainian defenders repelled 21 attack opponent, ongoing one battle. In the Siver direction, Ukrainian warriors successfully stopped three attacks in the areas of the settlements of Bilogorivka and Verkhnyokamianske. In the Kramators komu direction, the Defense Forces stopped 10 Russian attempts to advance near the Time Yar, Kurdumivka, Stupocok, Predtecinogo and White Mountain. Russian forces tried 27 times to infiltrate Ukrainian defense in the Toretsky direction in the areas of Friendship, Leonidivka, Crimea and Toretsk. Intensely attacks the Russian enemy of Ukrainian defenders in the Pokrovsky direction. Here, during the day, the Russian aggressor committed 59 assault and offensive actions. High activity of Russian occupiers in the settlements of Suha Balka, Elizabethtivka, Novotoretske, Ray, Lisivka, Dachenske, Udachne, Uspenivka, Preobrazhenka, Kotlyarivka and Andriyivka. Eight clashes are underway. According to preliminary calculations, for today Ukrainian soldiers in this direction have damaged 330 Russian invaders, 185 of them - irrevocably. Also, Ukrainian defenders destroyed seven vehicles, 34 motorcycles, one self-propelled artillery rig, 14 BPLAs and BPLA control antenna, in addition, significantly damaged 10 vehicles, the self-proposed artillery rig and the enemy's cannon. In the Novopavlovsk direction, Ukrainian defenders stopped 13 attacks in the areas of the settlements Privilne, Dniproenergiy and Rozliv. Four clashes took place in the Orihivsky direction, Russian forces tried to advance in the areas of the settlements of Mali Sherbaki and Stepovo, at the moment one confrontation is ongoing. In the pridniprovsk direction, Ukrainian defenders have successfully stopped one enemy attack. Sixteen fighting clashes took place today on the Kursk direction, two of which are still ongoing. During the day, Russian forces carried out 264 artillery shells, including 14 from reactive salvo systems, launching 14 air strikes and dropping 24 controlled bombs. In Kharkiv and Gulyaipils komu directions today, the Russian enemy did not carry out offensive actions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China puts forward five points of proposal for deepening China-Central Asia cooperation Global Times China's countermeasures safeguard its interests, international rules and justice amid rising unilateralism: FM By Fan Anqi Published: Apr 26, 2025 08:26 PM Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, put forward five points of proposal for deepening China-Central Asia cooperation while attending the Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday. During the meeting, he stressed that amid rising unilateralism and trade protectionism that are disrupting global free trade, China, as the world's second largest economy and a responsible major country, will remain unwavering in advancing high-standard opening-up regardless of how the international situation evolves and pursue shared development with its neighbors and share opportunities with the world. Joined by counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the meeting served as comprehensive political preparation for the second China-Central Asia Summit to be held within this year, while facilitating in-depth discussions on advancing all-dimensional cooperation between China and Central Asia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Noting that unilateralism and trade protectionism are rapidly rising, while the "deglobalization" trend is severely impacting the free trade system, Wang said that the US, in wilful disregard of international norms, has arbitrarily imposed tariffs on over 180 countries, infringing upon their legitimate rights and interests, violating WTO rules, damaging the rules-based multilateral trading system, and destabilizing the global economy. China's necessary countermeasures serve not only to safeguard its lawful interests, but also to uphold international rules, world order, and global fairness and justice, Wang noted. As the world's second largest economy and a responsible major country, China will remain unwavering in advancing high-standard opening-up regardless of how the international situation evolves, Wang said. The Chinese top diplomat also put forward five points of proposal for deepening China-Central Asia cooperation - upholding friendly and harmonious relations featuring mutual trust, boosting mutually beneficial cooperation, enhancing institutional development, pursuing fairness and justice, and aiming for everlasting friendship. In particular, Wang said China stands ready to import more quality green agricultural products from Central Asia, implement more high-quality cooperation projects, expand cooperation in emerging fields, and foster new productive forces through collaboration. Meanwhile, the two sides will increase infrastructure investment to build a multi-dimensional and diversified regional connectivity network. According to the statement, participants at the meeting spoke highly of the high-level solidarity and mutual trust with China, as well as the important role of the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism. They also expressed support for China's proposal to build a community with a shared future with neighboring countries. The Central Asian countries will strengthen alignment between their national development strategies and China's Belt and Road Initiative. They will also deepen cooperation in areas including trade facilitation, industrial investment, infrastructure connectivity, green mining, agricultural modernization, and people-to-people exchanges. The countries are also committed to jointly combating the "three evil forces" - terrorism, extremism and separatism, as well as transnational crime, to maintain regional peace and stability. Participants at the meeting recognized China as a stabilizing force in this turbulent world, serving as a model for multilateralism. They reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and agreed to enhance dialogue within frameworks such as the UN, while rejecting unilateral protectionist practices. The frequent interactions at both the head-of-state and ministerial levels demonstrate that China and Central Asian countries regard each other as important strategic partners, and this sustained positive atmosphere stems from the multi-tiered network of cooperation that two sides have established over the years. This multi-tiered, wide-ranging partnership has created a strong stability unshaken by external changes, Zhu Yongbiao, Executive Director of the Belt and Road Research Center at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times on Saturday. Li Yongquan, director of the Eurasian Social Development Research at the Development Research Center of the State Council, added that while Central Asia has established various kinds of cooperation mechanisms with different parts of the world, its relations with China are distinctive due to their immediate neighborhood - which means interlinked infrastructure, forming an integral part of each other's development environment. "More importantly, China's cooperation with Central Asia doesn't represent geopolitical games, but rather a joint exploration of development strategies," Li told the Global Times on Saturday. With Central Asian nations engaged in pursuing their respective reform agendas, their enthusiasm for regional integration has markedly increased, Li noted. Therefore, they hold strong expectations for China's participation in their economic development, with particular demand for Chinese expertise in renewable energy and agricultural technologies. Translating these complementary advantages into concrete cooperation projects carries significant strategic value for all parties involved, Li said. Chinese experts noted that during this trip, Wang has elaborated on China's firm stance on US tariff policies on various occasions in meeting with his counterparts from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on Friday, and at the Sixth China-Central Asia Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Saturday. "China's repeated assertion on its stance toward the issue not only serves to convey a message to the US, but also demonstrates Beijing's coordination with its strategic partners, showcasing its determination and confidence in defending both national interests and a fair international order," Zhu noted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US tariffs severely undermine rules-based multilateral governance system: China central bank governor Global Times By Global Times Published: Apr 26, 2025 12:26 PM The US' recent arbitrary imposition of tariffs has seriously infringed upon the legitimate rights and interests of other countries and severely undermined the rules-based multilateral governance system, said Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, during his speech at the 51st meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a statement published on the central bank's website on Saturday. The meeting was held on Thursday and Friday in Washington, DC, where participants discussed global economic and financial conditions as well as the IMF's ongoing work. During the speech, Pan noted that the current momentum for global economic growth remains weak, with significant downside risks. He said the US' recent tariff measures have dealt a serious blow to the global economic order, jeopardizing the long-term stability and growth of the world economy and triggering sharp fluctuations in global financial markets, particularly in advanced economies. The Chinese central bank governor said these tariff actions threaten global financial stability and pose major challenges for emerging market economies and developing countries. He stressed the urgent need for countries to enhance coordination on macroeconomic policies, support the multilateral trading system, and steer globalization toward a more open, inclusive, beneficial, and balanced direction in order to jointly promote global economic and financial stability. China remains committed to true multilateralism, advocates for economic globalization and trade liberalization, firmly supports and defends the World Trade Organization, actively participates in global economic governance, and is dedicated to building an open world economy, Pan reiterated, noting that China is also willing to further deepen cooperation with the IMF and support the organization in safeguarding global economic and financial stability. Participants at the meeting acknowledged that the world economy is at a critical turning point. They noted that rising trade tensions have heightened uncertainty and market volatility, posing risks to economic growth and financial stability. The meeting reaffirmed support for a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF at the core of the global financial safety net. It called on countries to swiftly complete the domestic approval processes required for the 16th General Review of Quotas. The meeting also emphasized that quota adjustments should better reflect members' relative positions in the global economy while protecting the voice of the poorest countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address