Category: World

Argentina has sought a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the country’s economy minister said Thursday, as the government struggles to hold on to foreign reserves while propping up an ailing currency.

In addition to the $20 billion IMF request, Luis Caputo said Argentina — the IMF’s biggest debtor by far — was negotiating an additional package with other organizations such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

President Javier Milei’s government announced the preliminary figure amid a run on the peso, prompted by fears of a possible devaluation, that drained reserves by more than $1.2 billion last week.

The proposal must be approved by the board of the IMF, whose spokeswoman Julie Kozack said Thursday that discussions with Argentina, including for a “sizable financing package,” were “very advanced.”

She did not provide a figure for the size of the package.

Caputo said the IMF loan would “not be used to finance expenses” but to recapitalize the Argentine central bank.

Argentina has been a serial defaulter in recent decades, and the IMF has bailed out South America’s second-biggest economy 22 times in the past.

Self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Milei came to office in December pledging to cut spending, tame inflation and fix a steep fiscal deficit.

In the last six months, the peso has fallen about ten percent to the US dollar.

The new loan will add to the existing $44 billion Argentina already owes the IMF under a deal signed in 2018 for the bank’s biggest-ever loan.

Argentina has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, but under Milei it has fallen from 211 percent year-on-year at the end of 2023 to 84.5 percent in January.

The president has said a new IMF deal will help ensure that “inflation is only a bad memory.”

Keeping inflation at bay is Milei’s main political capital as the mid-term legislative campaign approaches with his party — lacking a majority in Congress — seeking to increase its seats.

Kozack said Thursday that Argentina has “embarked on a truly impressive stabilization program” and “reforms are starting to bear fruit.”

Caputo said the recent run on the peso was the result of “an attempt to destabilize the government of President Javier Milei,” which he blamed on “the opposition.”

The government has faced weekly protests by pensioners, recently also joined by football fans, unions and social organizations, that this month erupted into violent clashes with police.

Source : https://www.ibtimes.com/argentina-seeking-20-billion-imf-loan-3767913

Lauren Sánchez’s older brother Paul is “thrilled beyond belief” to see his sister, 55, get married in what he’s already predicting will be like Princess Diana’s “wedding of the century.”

“I think it’s going to be like a Princess Di- thing,” Paul told TMZ on Thursday, explaining that he predicts the event will be “huge and fun.”

While he admitted that he didn’t know the exact location of the ceremony, Paul doubled down on his expectation that the big wedding will be “an amazing event.”

He also added that the couple will be asking guests to “make a donation” to their favorite charity in lieu of wedding gifts.

A local report, which was shared by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, shared some of the pair’s Italian wedding plans, claiming the event “will take place aboard their $500 million megayacht, Koru, anchored in the Venetian Lagoon.”

Koru, which is allegedly capable of fitting 18 people in nine cabins, is considered the largest masted yacht ever built, measuring more than 415 feet in length.

However, another source described by the outlet as a “perfectly placed friend” promises that “the wedding is not on the boat” due to Venice’s regulations that would obstruct the party from taking place in the more beautiful parts of the romantic city.

The outlet also noted that two of the city’s finest and popular hotels, the Gritti Palace and Aman Venice, are completely booked from June 26 to June 29.

Both hotels’ rooms are reportedly priced starting at $3,200 a night and those prices can skyrocket to nearly ten times that amount, depending on the suite and the season.

“In preparation for the event, Venice is bracing for the arrival of VIPs. The city’s top luxury hotels have already been booked, and reports say the entire fleet of water taxis will be made available to shuttle guests across the canals. The logistics point to a highly exclusive, tightly coordinated celebration,” a local news site reported, per the Daily Mail.

The Amazon founder’s, 61, nuptials will almost certainly be a high-profile event as the couple has sent out invites to some of Hollywood’s biggest names.

As we previously reported this week, those who received invitations include media personalities Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, as well as actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Eva Longoria, and Orlando Bloom, who scored an invite with his fiancée, pop star Katy Perry.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/03/27/celebrity-news/jeff-bezos-and-lauren-sanchezs-luxe-celeb-packed-nuptials-will-be-like-princess-dianas-wedding-of-the-century-her-brother-insists/

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US has revoked at least 300 foreign students’ visas as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to clamp down on pro-Palestinian protesters on university campuses.

“Maybe more than 300 at this point,” he said while speaking to reporters on a visit to Guyana. “We do it every day, every time I find one of these lunatics.”

Rubio was asked to confirm how many student visas the administration had revoked in its crackdown on rhetoric at universities that it considers anti-Israeli.

The remarks follow immigration officials detention of a doctoral Turkish student attending Tufts University – an arrest the secretary defended.

A video of the student, Rumeysa Ozturk, being taken away by masked, plain-clothes officers to an unmarked car outside Boston, Massachusetts, has gone viral and sparked protests online.

Ms Ozturk is a Fullbright Scholar on an F-1 student visa and is in a doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development at Tufts.

Rubio was asked on Thursday why the Turkish student’s visa was revoked.

“Here’s why: I’ve said it everywhere, and I’ll say it again,” Rubio said. “If you apply for a student visa to come to the United States and you say you’re coming not just to study, but to participate in movements that vandalize universities, harass students, take over buildings, and cause chaos, we’re not giving you that visa.”

It is currently unclear whether Ms Ozturk has been charged with anything.

Rubio did not provide any of the specific allegations against the 30-year-old, who has participated in pro-Palestinian protests. The Tufts student also co-wrote an opinion piece in the student newspaper last year that called for her university to divest from companies with ties to Israel and acknowledge “Palestinian genocide”.

“Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appears to have played a role in her detention,” Mahsa Khanbabai, Ms Ozturk’s lawyer, told Reuters.

This arrest is the latest in a string of actions taken against international students in the US who have expressed support for Palestinians.

Trump officials have said they are making use of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the State Department to deport non-citizens who are “adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the US.

The arrests are a part of Trump’s pledge to combat what the administration has classified as antisemitism, which was written into an executive order in January.

Since then, the White House has also revoked $400m (£308m) in Columbia funding over allegations the university failed to combat antisemitism on its campus, and threatened to do the same to other universities.

One of the highest profile arrests involves Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent Palestinian activist, who remains in a Louisiana detention facility without charges.

Ms Ozturk was also taken to a detention centre in Louisiana. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered that Ms Ozturk be detained in Massachusetts, but federal records show she is still being held in Louisiana.

The government has been ordered to provide more information on Ms Ozturk’s arrest by Friday.

US Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this week that Ms Ozturk “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans”.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, called the arrest “the latest in an alarming pattern to stifle civil liberties”.

“The Trump administration is targeting students with legal status and ripping people out of their communities without due process. This is an attack on our Constitution and basic freedoms – and we will push back,” she said in a statement.

On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to deport and arrest another student, Yunseo Chung of Columbia University. The 21-year-old is a legal permanent resident who moved to the US from South Korea as a child.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75720q9d7lo

Firefighters in South Korea are racing to save lives and ancient artefacts from the largest wildfire in the country’s history.

At least 27 people have been killed so far, according to the country’s interior ministry – making the blaze also South Korea’s deadliest. A further 32 people have been injured, some seriously.

Most of those killed were in their 60s and 70s, local officials say.

It is thought the wildfires, which first broke out in south-eastern Sancheong county nearly a week ago, were started accidentally by local human activities.

Fuelled by strong and dry winds, the fires have spread to several neighbouring counties, including Uiseong – where the largest of all the blazes currently is.

The authorities believe this fire broke out while visitors were tending to a family grave in the hills. Video footage from the gravesite shows a lighter on the ground.

Other fires are presumed to have been started from a welding spark, or burning of rubbish.

The fires have burned though more than 35,810 hectares (88,500 acres) so far – about half the size of New York City. As they continue to spread, artefacts including wooden printing blocks and paintings, have been moved from major temples.

The authorities are keeping a close eye on potential damage to two Unesco-listed sites: Hahoe Village and Byeongsan Seowon in Andong City.

The fires have already destroyed the Gounsa temple, which was built in 618 AD and was one of the largest temples in the province.

A Buddhist architectural structure deemed a national treasure from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) was also destroyed, forestry authorities confirmed.

Tens of thousands of people have so far been ordered to evacuate because of the fires.

Kwon Young-chang, 35, told the BBC that the smoke filled his neighbourhood in Andong, forcing him to head north to Yecheon.

“The damage in Andong is devastating, and our neighbours, who have suffered great losses, are in deep despair,” he said.

Mr Kwon said the official information he had received had been confusing, and that he had been getting updates from local authorities’ social media pages. He feared that older people would not have access to these.

Another Andong resident, who asked not to be named, told BBC Korean that her house, which her family had lived in for more than 30 years, was “completely burnt down” within just a few hours.

“There’s nothing left. You can’t even tell where the house used to be,” she said. “It’s difficult to see the village like this.”

Jang Jung-suk, who lives in Cheongsong County, says her beekeeping site was completely destroyed by the fire.

“We saw really strong winds the day the fire spread to our village. It was hard to even stand still,” Jang said.

After briefly evacuating, she and her husband returned to find their home damaged and their business, which they had been building for five years and were just starting to reach a point of stability with, gone. Jang says her husband couldn’t hold back tears when he saw the damage.

“I’m at a loss. I need to figure out how to start over,” she said.

While the weather rarely causes wildfires on its own, it can give conditions that help wildfires to take hold and spread.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y214x9lw1o

Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy’s bodies are still unclaimed — more than a month after their tragic deaths, TMZ has learned.

TMZ reached out to the Office of the Medical Investigator in New Mexico, and they confirmed the list of unclaimed decedents is updated online every Monday. Gene and Betsy’s names appeared on the list on March 24, and they’re still there as of today.

Officials tell us it’s not unusual for bodies to remain unclaimed for a month after dying. It’s unclear why Gene and Betsy’s bodies remain unclaimed … but it’s possible the family is still making funeral arrangements or finalizing plans.

Gene has 3 kids — a son, Christopher, and two daughters, Leslie and Elizabeth. The sisters had spoken out in the press after the death of their dad — who left all of his Hollywood fortune to Betsy.

Hackman had spoken about his tough relationship with his kids, admitting over the years he wasn’t around much when Chris was growing up, but he did get closer to them in his later years.

Gene and Betsy’s bodies were discovered at their Santa Fe home on February 26 … one of their dogs was also found dead nearby.

Source : https://www.tmz.com/2025/03/27/gene-hackman-betsy-arakawa-bodies-still-unclaimed/

Diego Maradona was in “agony” in the hours before his death, a court has heard.

The 1986 World Cup winner, one of football’s greatest-ever players, died in a house outside Buenos Aires in November 2020 following a cardiac arrest.

He was 60.

Seven healthcare professionals, including a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist and medical staffers, have gone on trial for manslaughter after being accused of failing to provide Maradona with adequate medical care.

One of the experts who performed a post-mortem examination on Maradona spoke in front of the court on Thursday.

He said the Argentinian suffered agony for at least 12 hours before death and added “any doctor” should have noticed his symptoms days earlier.

Carlos Cassinelli, director of forensic medicine at the Scientific Police Superintendency, on Thursday provided details of the post-mortem performed on the day of Maradona’s death.

“The heart was completely covered in fat and blood clots, which indicate agony,” he said.

Mr Cassinelli added: “This is a patient who had been collecting water over the days; that’s not acute.

“This was something that was foreseeable.

“Any doctor examining a patient would find this.”

The post-mortem concluded that Maradona died from acute pulmonary edema secondary to congestive heart failure.

The trial could last up to four months, with three hearings held a week.

If found guilty, the defendants, who all deny the allegations against them, could be jailed for 25 years.

Among the accused are Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s personal physician for the last four years of his life, and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who prescribed medication that Maradona took until the time of his death.

Along with them, psychologist Carlos Diaz, coordinator of the medical company hired to care for him during his hospitalisation, Nancy Forlini, representative of the company that rendered nursing service, Mariano Perroni, Dr Pedro Di Spagna, who monitored his treatment, and nurse Ricardo Almiron are also standing trial.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/diego-maradona-was-in-agony-in-the-hours-before-his-death-13337040

It turns out there are consequences for mistakenly leaking information about sensitive government operations to journalists.

A longtime Department of Homeland Security employee was placed on administrative leave after accidentally sending unclassified details of an immigration operation to a journalist in late January, according to current and former DHS officials who spoke to NBC News. The staffer was also reportedly told last week that the agency plans to revoke her security clearance.

The DHS employee, who declined to speak to NBC, told colleagues that she mistakenly added a reporter from a conservative media outlet to an email thread detailing information about a forthcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Denver.

DHS officials said the information in the email was not classified but considered law enforcement sensitive because it included details about when the operation was going to take place and possible locations of targets.

When the employee realized her mistake, she called the reporter, who agreed not to disclose the information, officials said. The ICE operation was carried out without a hitch.

But it was too late. Another person on the email thread flagged the error to DHS leadership just as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was making employees take lie detector tests to weed out leakers. Border czar Tom Homan earlier blamed media leaks for fewer-than-expected arrests in an operation targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The DHS employee was placed on leave pending an investigation and asked to take a polygraph test, officials said. She was reportedly notified that the agency intended to revoke her security clearance, which could lock her out of future homeland security jobs. She has 30 days to appeal.

It’s a far cry from the Trump administration’s response to a massive intelligence leak involving top national security officials who were discussing a military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen without knowing that The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg got inadvertently added to the group chat.

None of the officials in the group chat—including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Vice President JD Vance—have faced repercussions over the leak. President Donald Trump has assigned Waltz to probe his own mistake of adding Goldberg to the group chat.

Former ICE chief of staff Jason Houser told NBC that the DHS employee was known for being “mission-focused” and “apolitical.” He called it a “staggering hypocrisy” that national security officials did not face the same consequences.

“Targeting a career official who dedicated her service to protecting public safety and enforcing the law while excusing political appointees who leaked sensitive war plans shows this administration punishes integrity and protects recklessness,” he said. “This isn’t just a double standard—it’s reckless and dangerous.”

Mary McCord, a national security analyst who used to work in the Justice Department, told NBC that the DHS and group chat incidents should be handled the same way.

Source : https://www.thedailybeast.com/dhs-official-placed-on-leave-after-adding-reporter-to-sensitive-email-chain/

FIVE people including two American tourists were stabbed during the horrific Amsterdam knife rampage, cops have said.

Horrified witnesses revealed they heard piercing screams in Thursday’s frenzied attack that took place near Dam Square, which is at the heart of the Dutch capital.

The victims include a 67-year-old American woman and a 69-year-old American man, a 26-year-old Polish man, a 73-year-old woman from Belgium and a 19-year-old woman from Amsterdam.

A trauma team was deployed via helicopter, which landed directly on the iconic Dam Square — prompting a large-scale cordon around the area.

The Amsterdam police department said that one suspect has since been arrested after a hero bystander overpowered him.

They added that he was taken to the hospital as his leg was injured.

According to a worker at the local De 3 Fleschjes bar, diners witnessed an older woman and a young girl being stabbed in the back before falling to the ground.

One shopkeeper told local newspaper Parool: “I heard a knock and then I saw a girl had been stabbed in the back and a boy ran off.”

Another witness told De Telegraaf they suddenly heard an “icy scream” before panic broke out.

A third person added she heard a lot of shouting and screaming as people were seen running on the streets.

Cops said in a statement: “A suspect was overpowered with the help of a citizen. As his leg was injured, he was taken to a hospital.”

However, they are yet to confirm the motive behind the attack.

Emergency services rushed to the scene shortly after 3.20pm local time, following reports of a knife attack.

Two ambulances were initially dispatched, with a further three called just ten minutes later as the situation escalated.

The Amsterdam Police Unit said in a statement: “We are present at the Sint Nicolaasstraat near the Dam after a report of a stabbing incident with injuries.

“There is therefore a cordon, also on the Dam. More information will follow.”

A meeting at Amsterdam’s Stopera building was interrupted, and mayor Femke Halsema was pulled out of a council meeting when news of the attack broke.

Police have sealed off the area as they continue their investigation, urging anyone with footage of the incident to come forward and upload it on their website.

It comes after a Syrian asylum seeker was charged with murder after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a knife rampage in Austria.

Officials say the 23-year-old was motivated by “Islamic terrorism” before his alleged role in the bloodbath attack that left five others injured.

Three of the people caught up in the frenzied assault in the town of Villach were rushed to hospital in a critical condition last month.

All five survivors are aged between 15 and 36 with one being Turkish and the others Austrian citizens, police spokesman Rainer Dionisio said at the time.

Terrified witnesses reported hearing the alleged knifeman shout “Allahu Akbar” before lunging at his first victim.

Investigators also discovered an IS flag inside the suspect’s apartment, according to state police chief Michaela Kohlweiss.

She confirmed that cops also believe the man swore allegiance to the terror regime.

In Munich, a mum and her child tragically died from serious injuries after a suspected Islamist terrorist rammed his Mini Cooper into a crowd.

The woman, 37, and her two-year-old daughter were among the 39 injured in the “shocking attack” said to be carried out by a rejected Afghan asylum seeker.

The Mini Cooper is said to have “sped up” and ploughed into the back of around 1,500 Verdi demonstrators – a Berlin-based German trade union – on Seidlstrasse in Munich.

The suspected attack came just hours before the Munich Security Conference that started last month, with US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arriving at the summit to speak.

Police said the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who, the region’s interior minister added, was known to cops in relation to drug and theft incidents.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13883051/amsterdam-knife-rampage-dam-square/

Just Stop Oil announced on Thursday that they are ending their campaign of climate protests.

“So, it is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge, and slow marching in the streets,” the environmental activist group said in a statement.

Despite its controversial tactics, the group said it was “one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history.”

The group said its decision came after the British government made ending new gas and oil projects official policy.

High-profile protests

Founded in February 2022 in the United Kingdom, Just Stop Oil gained prominence through disruptive protests, including blocking roads, halting sports and theater events, and vandalizing art.

In the last few months, its activists have poured liquid latex over a robot at a Tesla store, sprayed orange powder on Stonehenge, and painted over the grave of British naturalist Charles Darwin at London’s Westminster Abbey.

Critics have condemned their sometimes-illegal activism methods, which have led to the imprisonment of some activists.

“Just Stop Oil will continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners, and call out the UK’s oppressive anti-protest laws,” the group said.

The group plans one final Just Stop Oil action in Parliament Square next to the British Parliament in April.

After that, they say they will continue their “civil resistance” in a different way.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/just-stop-oil-to-end-disruptive-climate-protests/a-72057363

THIS is the moment hundreds of gang members inside El Salvador’s infamous megaprison desperately stare at Donald Trump’s glamorous Home Secretary.

The inked-up skinheads – booted out of the US due to The Don’s deportation scheme – gazed at Kristi Noem as she toured the notoriously nightmarish Terrorism Confinement Center known as CECOT.

Noem, 53, arrived at the hellish cells on Wednesday where 250 suspected Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gang members have been locked up after being kicked out by Trump.

They joined around 15,000 inmates already behind bars at the infamous slammer.

The jail is known for its inhumane conditions – which serve as a deterrent against El Salvador’s rife gang violence in recent years.

The Homeland Secretary viewed rows of inmates who gazed back obediently.

She was flanked by a brigade of security personnel carrying heavy assault rifles – who focused at keeping the prisoners in line.

El Salvador’s security and justice minister Gustavo Villatoro led Noem on a tour through the overcrowded and sultry prisoner quarters.

Several of the inmates behind bars were the suspected gangbangers President Trump shipped south.

Noem is also known as ICE Barbie due to her role as the glam but ruthless home security head – with ICE being a reference to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The brunette security boss stunned prisoners with her tight long-sleeve, baseball cap and flowing hair.

She met with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shortly after the tour to discuss increasing the amount of US deportees bound for the infamous cell.

Her visit to the Central American nation is the first stop in a three-day tour of Latin American countries in order to hold talks on organized crime flowing into the US.

She will travel to Colombia next and then Mexico and meet with each nation’s respective president.

Noem warned criminals who are thinking of coming to the US on Monday.

She said: “We are in several other countries around the world with a message right now that’s saying if you are thinking of coming to America illegally, don’t do it. You are not welcome.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bukele struck a deal to house Tren de Aragua deportees at CECOT in February

Rubio said that El Salvador is charging the US a “relatively low” fee for the brutal barracks, but the exact cost has not been disclosed.

CECOT is located 47 miles south of El Salvador’s capital city San Salvador.

It was opened in 2023 as Bukele launched a huge offensive against a surging wave of organized crime in his country.

Inmates are known to spend 23 and a half hours a day in stuffy cells that hold up to 70 people.

In the same overcrowded rooms they eat, bathe and go to the bathroom.

Typical meals usually consist of beans and pasta, and the inmates share one communal basin for drinking, and another one for bathing.

Their metal bunks have no sheets, mattresses or pillows and pile four levels high.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13879371/trump-noem-el-salvador-prison-tour/

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Cabinet on Thursday (Mar 27) approved a draft law for casinos and entertainment complexes, as the government looks to attract more tourists and build a major gaming industry.

Gambling is mostly banned in Thailand apart from state-controlled horse racing, the lottery and on some sports but successive governments have pressed the case for allowing casinos to draw in more foreign visitors and create more jobs and state revenue.

But the latest draft approved by the Cabinet will significantly limit how many Thai punters can go to casinos, with an entry fee of 5,000 baht (US$150) and proof of at least 50 million baht in bank deposits, effectively blocking large swathes of the population, where per capita gross domestic product is about US$7,300.

A deputy finance minister had earlier this month said the assets requirement for Thai nationals would be dropped because it would exclude too many people.

Another restriction is that the casino area may only occupy up to 10 per cent of the entire space of an entertainment complex, according to a government statement.

The draft law will be sent to Parliament, and if passed, will also need approval from the Senate and the king.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters the details of the law were not final as Parliament would have the final say.

A Citi report late last year estimated that about half of people aged 20 and more in Thailand could be casino players, providing a base for the country to potentially become the world’s third-largest gambling destination.

The government, led by the populist Pheu Thai party, hopes to attract at least 100 billion baht in new investment in casinos and entertainment complexes and see an annual boost to foreign arrivals of 5 per cent to 10 per cent, while generating revenue of more than 12 billion baht a year.

Despite most betting and gambling being outlawed in Thailand, illicit operations have operated for years.

A January opinion poll in Thailand indicated there was opposition to the plan, however, and some political parties have argued that building a gambling industry would worsen social problems.

Several countries in Southeast Asia have legalised casinos, but only a few like wealthy Singapore has been successful in drawing global giants such as Las Vegas Sands on the back of robust regulations.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-casino-draft-law-local-gamblers-tourism-5027271

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to remove “improper ideology” from the famed Smithsonian Museums — and the National Zoo — expanding his conservative clampdown on cultural institutions.

Trump, who has sought to root out what he called “woke” culture since returning to power in January, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender.

His order puts hardline Vice President JD Vance in charge of efforts to carry out the order at the Smithsonian’s museums, educations and research centers.

Trump said this should include a drive to “remove improper ideology from such properties.”

The Smithsonian operates 21 internationally renowned museums and galleries, mainly in and around Washington, dedicated to art, science, space and American history.

They include the National Zoo in the US capital, which recently welcomed two giant pandas from China, debuting them to the public just days after Trump’s inauguration for a second term.

The presidential order — titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” — targeted a number of examples of what it also called “corrosive ideology.”

It said the National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of the newest Smithsonian additions, had described hard work and the nuclear family as “aspects of ‘White Culture.'”

Trump also targeted what he said was a plan by the as-yet-unopened American Women’s history museum for “celebrating the exploits of male athletes participating in women’s sports.”

There was no immediate reaction from the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian Institute was founded in the mid-19th century with a donation from a deceased and childless British chemist, James Smithson, who asked in his will for his wealth to be used to create an educational institution in the then-young United States — a country he had never set foot in.

Trump’s wide-ranging 21st century effort to reshape the US government has increasingly extended to cultural issues, where he is seeking to stamp his conservative mark.

The 78-year-old Republican recently took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center in Washington, a famed arts venue, after complaining that it was too liberal.

The president has also eyed reforms in governance of the US capital city, which he has repeatedly complained of having high crime and unsightly nuisances such as graffiti.

In a separate order on Thursday titled “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” Trump directed the creation of an inter-agency task force to increase immigration enforcement and other law enforcement priorities.

It also calls for the development of a “coordinated beautification plan” for the city.

“We will take over our horribly run Washington, DC, and clean up, renovate, and rebuild our capital so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” Trump said on the campaign trail last year — a message reposted Thursday on X by the White House.

Washington’s approximately 700,000 residents are overwhelmingly Democrats, with the party’s candidate Kamala Harris winning over 90 percent of the vote last November.

The city has a unique status in the country as it is not a part of any state. It has no voting representation in Congress — despite having a population larger than two states.

Source : https://www.ibtimes.com/trump-order-targets-improper-ideology-famed-us-museums-3767965

As the global auto world reeled from the potential fallout of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new auto tariffs, one name stood out as less affected than others – electric-vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA.O).

Shares of the Texas-based company were the rare automaker to trade in the green in U.S. action on Thursday, as analysts said the EV maker’s supply chain and financial performance may not be as affected by the wide-ranging levies that will impact global shipments of both cars and car parts to the United States. This is mainly due to the company’s largely domestic production and supply chain.

Still, that relief in the United States, where Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become one of Trump’s primary advisers, may not improve the brand’s reputation worldwide. The billionaire CEO, who heads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has been tasked with swiftly cutting federal spending.
Tesla shares have plunged more than 40% since peaking in mid-December as a protest movement against the EV company has erupted in the U.S. and around the world as DOGE has drawn heavy criticism for going after federal workers. Tesla’s models are relatively old and competition has been increasing. The stock closed 0.4% higher on Thursday, as shares of General Motors (GM.N),  lost 7.4%, Ford Motor (F.N) closed down nearly 4% and Stellantis shares lost 1.3% in U.S. trading.

Automakers’ shares generally fell on expectations that the 25% tariffs will disrupt the global automotive industry, raise the cost of vehicles in the United States and pinch earnings.
While Tesla does import some parts from around the world, it is less dependent on foreign components than other automakers selling in the United States. All of Tesla’s U.S.-sold vehicles are made in the United States, whereas Toyota (7203.T), imports 55% of vehicles sold in the United States, and GM imports 48% of vehicles for its U.S. sales, according to research from Bernstein. Many of the imports are from Canada and Mexico.

A Bernstein analysis published on Thursday estimated that 61% of Tesla’s U.S.-sold vehicle content comes from the United States, with 22% coming from Mexico, 7% from Canada and 3% from China. It described Tesla as the industry outlier on tariff impacts.
“With near-total U.S. sourcing, the company not only avoids pain but stands to gain margin as competitors raise prices,” Bernstein analysts wrote.
Trump said the duties announced on Wednesday could be net neutral or even good for Tesla, adding that Musk did not advise him regarding auto tariffs.
Several administration officials have defended Tesla in public comments in recent days, ranging from urging people to buy its stock to opening investigations into vandalism at Tesla dealerships.
Still, Musk late on Wednesday said, “To be clear, this will affect the price of parts in Tesla cars that come from other countries. The cost impact is not trivial.”

Tesla imports lithium-ion batteries from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (300750.SZ), and other automotive parts from countries such as South Korea, Japan and Mexico, according to import filing data through the end of February provided to Reuters by ImportYeti.

Car prices could rise by $5,000 to $15,000 if a 25% tariff on imported cars is maintained, according to Goldman Sachs.
“Tesla is a relative beneficiary given 100% U.S. production footprint, substantial U.S. sourcing and with Model Y competing in a midsize crossover segment where close to ~50% of vehicles could be subject to tariffs,” TD Cowen analysts said in a note.
Still, the automaker faces mounting challenges in Europe and Canada, where political sentiment and reduced electric-vehicle incentives are eroding its competitive position.
In Britain and the European Union, Tesla is grappling with policy headwinds and shrinking subsidies that threaten to dampen demand and slow its growth trajectory. Canada has frozen a rebate program for Teslas.
Wall Street on average expects Tesla to report a 3% rise in first-quarter deliveries next week, based on 20 analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/trumps-auto-tariffs-will-hit-many-companies-elon-musks-tesla-less-so-2025-03-27/

The King has cancelled today’s engagements due to “temporary side effects” from his cancer treatment.

Buckingham Palace said after “scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer” on Thursday , the King “experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital”.

“His Majesty’s afternoon engagements were therefore postponed,” the statement added.

The palace said the 76-year-old was now back at Clarence House but “as a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice” Friday’s diary programme would “also be rescheduled”.

“His Majesty would like to send his apologies to all those who may be inconvenienced or disappointed as a result,” the palace said.

Sky’s royal correspondent Laura Bundock said we are being “advised this isn’t a major problem in terms of his ongoing recovery”. A source also described it as a “most minor bump in a road that is very much heading in the right direction”.

For a right-wing figure on the make, Washington’s hottest real estate these days is in the White House briefing room, where press secretary Karoline Leavitt has created a “new media seat” so she can take questions from a cast of mostly conservative personalities.

But one figure whose relationship with the president has waxed and waned hasn’t been invited yet. Despite traveling on Trump Force One with Trump briefly during the campaign, and constantly churning out stories that are friendly to the Trump agenda, Laura Loomer says she’s still waiting for her White House invite.

Loomer, a well known conspiracist, concedes there may be a long list of applicants for the new media seat. But she also says she has a string of scoops—including a story about Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail that led to it being pulled—that merits a White House pass.

“I’m certainly more high-profile than a lot of the other people who have applied,” Loomer told me.

Loomer has also taken her attempts to get into the briefing room to X.

“I applied the day the application opened!” she wrote on March 18, tagging Leavitt. “I really hope to get one so I can keep exposing corrupt judges and abuse of taxpayer funds.”

Loomer has also privately pressed her case. She told us she had asked Leavitt and White House communications director Steven Cheung directly to get her into the briefing. Leavitt and Cheung didn’t respond to my requests for comment.

Loomer is not a universally well-regarded figure within Trump’s orbit, which may explain why she has not scored a briefing invite. Not everyone was pleased when she started showing up with Trump on the trail last year. For one, Loomer has said 9/11 was an “inside job,” which made it awkward when she joined Trump’s entourage at a 9/11 memorial.

Loomer has also been willing to attack other Republicans and even administration officials—to a degree that is uncommon for traditional Trump sycophants.

Case in point: As the administration grappled with Signal-ghazi on Wednesday, she posted a thread on X that quickly took off, alleging that national security advisor Michael Waltz’s chief deputy, Alex Wong, was to blame for the fiasco.

Loomer’s evidence was thin, and consisted mostly of the fact that Wong’s wife worked as an assistant federal prosecutor in the Biden administration. The rest of her “proof” was that both Wong and his wife are Asian-American. Loomer raised the prospect that whoever invited the Atlantic’s editor in chief to the Signal chat was working to “embarrass the Trump administration on behalf of China.”

“Alex Wong should be removed from his position, and both he and his wife should be investigated by the FBI,” she wrote.

That’s the kind of loose-cannon behavior that would likely be unwelcome in the “new media seat.”

As for whether she’d qualify for the seat absent that behavior, Loomer is building out an operation that meets the low bar for a right-wing media organization. She hosts a show on the Rumble streaming platform, aptly named Loomer Unleashed. On Tuesday, one of her associates was peppering Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) with questions when Crockett grabbed the man’s camera. It was the kind of viral moment that Loomer has specialized in producing—and one that Trump world has traditionally loved.

For now, however, it’s not enough to earn Loomer a seat.

“Perhaps there’s just a backlog, but it would be an honor,” Loomer said.

Pendragon Watch

Andrew Tate, who returned to the U.S. last month while under indictment on sex trafficking charges in Romania, has been accused by his girlfriend and choking and beating her.

According to a report published by TMZ on Wednesday, Tate’s girlfriend Bri Stern said Tate attacked her during sex on March 11 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. TMZ outlet stated:

She’s told police Tate began choking her while they were having sex, but it got too rough, and although she begged him to stop, he kept going. Bri says the more she struggled, the more violent he got … and she felt everything getting fuzzy, like she was fading into unconsciousness.

Bri says the violence only stopped when Tate was done having sex, and once he fell asleep … she went to the bathroom to document her injuries. TMZ has obtained pics showing bruising on her face. Bri says she went to an emergency room in NYC — where she’d flown for work — a couple days later, and documents show she was diagnosed as “post-concussive.”

Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, who have dual U.S.-U.K. citizenship, are under indictment in Romania for allegedly sex trafficking women and forming an organization to sexually assault women. They deny wrongdoing. This week, they returned to Romania to check in with authorities as required by law.

The Tates arrived in Florida last month after the Trump administration reportedly intervened on their behalf. Special Envoy Ric Grenell allegedly raised the issue with Romania’s foreign minister at last month’s Munich Security Conference. Soon after, the Tates returned to the U.S.

The TMZ report contains purported text messages between Stern and Andrew Tate, who tells her, “You need to be hit.”

“…I want to beat the fuck out of you,” Tate allegedly texted Stern, per screenshots obtained by TMZ. “What’s the point in having you if i dont beat and impregnate you[?]” He also reportedly warned Stern not to “betray” him or “you will regret it.”

Sources told TMZ that Tate and Stern met in June in Romania, where she was doing a modeling gig.

Since returning, Tate received a warm welcome from Trump ally and UFC president Dana White.

Source : https://www.mediaite.com/crime/andrew-tate-accused-of-choking-woman-two-weeks-after-trump-administration-reportedly-helped-him-return-to-the-u-s/

Sudan’s army chief has declared Khartoum is “free” and that his forces have retaken the capital after nearly two years of fighting.

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have been battling to oust the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from a last foothold in the city, although the war looks far from over.

In videos on social media, General Abdel Fattah al Burhan is seen walking with troops through the presidential palace, which was seized last week​​​​​​ in an important symbolic advance.

“Khartoum is now free. It’s over. Khartoum is free. Free. Free,” he can be heard telling soldiers.

The Sudanese Armed Forces said they had also seized a key RSF base and recaptured the capital’s airport after consolidating gains in Khartoum in recent days.

The general kissed the ground and raised his fist after landing at the airport in a helicopter on Wednesday.

The army also released drone footage of people walking across a dam, which it claimed showed RSF forces retreating across the Nile.

The war began in April 2023 as the country was attempting a democratic transition and has split the nation into rival zones of control.

It’s estimated at least 28,000 people have been killed during the conflict, though the number is likely far higher.

The fighting has also caused what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

While the SAF has made recent gains in central Sudan, the RSF remains deeply embedded in western Sudan.

When fighting broke out, Sudan’s army had better resources, including air power, but the RSF was more deeply embedded in Khartoum and was able to hold much of the capital in an initial, devastating burst of warfare.

Famine and disease is blighting several areas of Sudan and UN data suggests 12.8 million people have been displaced, more than a fifth of the population.

Five million of those displaced are children, according to UNICEF.

However, the army’s control of the airport in Khartoum could now allow aid groups to fly in more supplies.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/khartoum-is-free-sudanese-army-retakes-capital-says-general-13336219

Brazil’s supreme court has decided to put former president Jair Bolsonaro on trial over an alleged coup plot.

All five judges accepted the charges against him, related to an effort to cling to power after his election defeat in 2022.

Brazil’s prosecutor general Paulo Gonet charged Mr Bolsonaro and 33 others last month.

The plans allegedly included poisoning his successor, current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and killing a Supreme Court judge.

The former army captain, who was president from January 2019 to December 2022, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and says he is being persecuted.

Writing on X, he called it a “political trial” and an attempt to stop him standing in the 2026 general election.

Mr Bolsonaro, 70, claimed the process was “conducted in a partial, biased, and openly unfair manner by a completely compromised and suspicious rapporteur, whose objective is to take revenge, arresting me and removing me from the ballot box”.

Coup charges carry a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. Combined with other potential crimes, he could face decades in prison.

The judges said seven of Mr Bolsonaro’s close allies should also stand trial on multiple counts.

These are: Trying to stage a coup, participating in an armed criminal gang, attempted violent abolition of the rule of law, damage characterised by violence, and a serious threat against the state’s assets.

Casting his vote to accept the charges, Justice Flavio Dino said “coups kill… It doesn’t matter if it happens today, the following month, or a few years later”.

The prosecutor general said on Tuesday that those facing charges wanted to keep the ex-president in power “at all costs” and accelerated plans once Mr Bolsonaro lost the election.

Mr Gonet said the coup did not go ahead at the eleventh hour as Mr Bolsonaro failed to gain the support of the army’s commander.

He said: “Frustration overwhelmed the members of the criminal organisation who, however, did not give up on the violent seizure of power, not even after the elected president of the republic was sworn in.”

He was alluding to a riot by the far-right politician’s supporters on 8 January 2023 – a week after President Lula took power – in which the presidential palace, the supreme court, and congress were broken into and damaged.

In court, Justice de Moraes played the other judges a video from that day.

He said: “We had a very violent coup attempt. A savage violence, in total incivility, with the request for military intervention in the coup d’etat.”

The court will also vote on claims against Mr Bolsonaro’s former running mate, ex-justice minister and others.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/former-brazil-president-to-be-tried-over-coup-plot-that-included-poisoning-13336189

Surgeons have carried out the world’s first liver transplant from a pig into a human recipient.

The operation, carried out in China, used a liver from a pig that had been genetically modified to reduce the chance of the organ being rejected by a human immune system.

The organ successfully produced bile and essential proteins in a patient who was brain-dead, but still alive.

Relatives asked for the experiment to be stopped after 10 days, but the researchers say the organ could have functioned for longer.

They hailed the transplant as a “great achievement”, and European experts have called it a significant milestone that could save lives in future.

The surgical team, from Xijing Hospital in Xi’an, took the liver from a Bama miniature pig that had six key genes modified to improve compatibility of an organ when transplanted into a human.

According to results published in the science journal Nature, the liver functioned normally, with good blood flow and no signs of rejection.

Professor Lin Wang, who led the research team, said the transplant was carried out with full ethical approval from medical authorities and consent from the patient’s family.

“Surgery was really successful,” he told a news conference.

“The liver from the pig functioned very well in the human body. So it’s a great achievement.”

Hearts and kidneys from genetically modified pigs have already been transplanted into a handful of living patients. Most died within weeks of the operation, but two people who had pig kidneys are understood to have survived in the United States.

Professor Wang said a liver transplant from a pig is far more complicated.

“A heart is just a pump, the kidney only produces urine,” he said.

“But the liver has many functions, so this is a huge obstacle for us to solve.”

Several research groups are experimenting with pigs raised in super-clean facilities for organ donation.

Pigs are used because their organs are similar in size and structure to those in a human. But key genes need to be modified to reduce the risk of them being attacked by a patient’s immune system after transplantation.

The Chinese researchers propose using pig organs as a temporary support, either to take the pressure off a patient’s liver so it can regenerate, or to give more time to find a permanent organ from a suitable human donor.

There are currently more than 600 patients on the waiting list for a liver transplant in the UK. The average wait for an organ from a deceased donor is three to four months.

Ivan Fernandez Vega, professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Oviedo in Spain, described the experiment as an important “milestone”.

“The clinical implications are highly relevant, as optimising this approach could expand the pool of available organs and save lives in liver emergencies,” he said.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/surgeons-carry-out-worlds-first-pig-to-human-liver-transplant-13336159

Hillary Clinton isn’t done ripping Trump officials over the Signal chat leak scandal after they spent years hounding her over her use of a private email server. “The hypocrisy is staggering, but worse, the arrogance and incompetence puts the lives of our military men and women in danger,” the former secretary of state told Glamour on Wednesday. In a 2016 Fox News broadcast, then-host Pete Hegseth decried Hillary had been “reckless” with information and “any security professional, military, government or otherwise, would be fired on the spot for this type of conduct and criminally prosecuted,” reported AP. Newly released messages reveal that Hegseth sent the exact timings of when Navy fighter pilots would attack before bombings began on March 15, jeopardizing the operation. Clinton was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing over her email server use, but she maintains that it was a “determining factor” in her loss 2016 election loss to Trump. She previously reacted to The Atlantic‘s bombshell report in an X post Monday. “You have got to be kidding me,” she wrote alongside a side-eye emoji.

Source : https://www.thedailybeast.com/american-tall-spring-coats-pants-and-more-are-made-for-tall-men-and-women/

VLADIMIR Putin “will die soon” vowed a raging Zelensky amid rumours of the Russian’s ill-health and intensifying blitzes on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader pleaded alongside Macron for the US to “stay strong” in the face of Russian skulduggery while Putin is still around.

Zelensky and Macron sat down on Wednesday to talk peace, following a shaky Black Sea ceasefire brokered by the US on Tuesday.

Presenting a united front, the men called for Russia to toe the line and for the EU hold together – ahead of a critical summit of leaders on Thursday.

Zelensky said that Putin is trying to “hit the European Union from within” – citing Hungary, which sides with Russia.

But he also vowed: “He [Putin] will die soon, and that’s a fact, and it will come to an end.”

Rumours about Putin’s poor health have gathered steam.

He is often seen with a puffy face, tremors and a twitching legs, fuelling speculation he is on the way out.

The embattled leader said he has faith that “America will […] lead Putin to accept an unconditional ceasefire”, despite continued devastating strikes on Ukraine – including 117 on Tuesday night.

Macron vented at Putin repeatedly choosing to “reinterpret” ceasefire after leaving the table.

He said: “While saying it wants peace, Russia continues to strike intensely the Ukrainian territory, including civilian targets.

“Russia cannot dictate conditions of lasting peace for Ukraine.”

Thursday’s meeting of EU leaders will see them once again seek a consensus on how to support Ukraine in the event of a permanent ceasefire deal.

One option is to deploy troops from willing EU nations to keep peace on the ground.

But Macron warned on this could lead EU soldiers into direct conflict with Russia.

If Putin attacked Ukrainian soil, this would constitute an attack on the peacekeepers too, he said.

It would fall to the troops from countries such as the UK and France to hit back against Russia.

Macron also committed to $2bn more in military aid for Ukraine, emphasising that now is a “decisive phase to put an end to the war of aggression”.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nato chief Mark Rutte warned Russia that an attack on Poland, or any alliance member, would trigger a “devastating” military response.

He also had a message for member nations: “This is not the time to go it alone.”

He insisted there is “no alternative” to Nato when it comes to keeping Europe safe, and that “nothing can replace America’s nuclear umbrella, the ultimate guarantor of our security”.

EU bureaucrats also urged every household in the 27-nation bloc to prepare a war-survival kit.

The Black Sea ceasefire deal agreed on Tuesday reads like it was dictated by Russia, according to experts.

Military analysts told The Sun that it benefits Putin far more than Zelensky, who is trying to salvage a permanent peace deal for his war-torn nation.

After a marathon of negotiations, the White House confirmed it had got both sides to agree to halt strikes in the Black Sea region and on energy infrastructure.

Despite the apparent progress, Macron said Russia is still exhibiting a “desire for war”.

The warmongering superpower has set out demands for peace, which the White House said it would examine.

Macron continued: “Ukraine has clearly expressed to the United States its agreement to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, even though it is the victim of the aggression.

“We expect the same commitment from Russia.”

Zelensky said he anticipated “strong decisions” from Thursday’s meeting, which will include the likes of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Keir Starmer.

He said: “Now is definitely not the time to reduce pressure on Russia or weaken our unity for the sake of peace.”

The Ukrainian leader agreed that Russia is spinning out the peace process to prolong the war.

He said: “Russia wants this war to continue. It is dragging it out. We need to put pressure on Russia so that the war ends indeed.”

Macron is expecting 31 representatives around the table on Thursday morning at the presidential Elysee Palace.

Notably, Donald Trump will not be among them.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13878528/zelensky-putin-die-soon-macron/

The United States on Tuesday added 80 companies to its export blacklist, with more than 50 from China, as part of its ongoing efforts to limit Beijing’s advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing technologies.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security placed these 80 companies on an “entity list,” which prohibits U.S. companies from supplying them without special government approval.

Many of the blacklisted firms are linked to China’s push to develop supercomputing, AI, and quantum technologies—critical areas for military and defense applications, CNBC reported.

While more than 50 of the companies are based in China, others are located in Taiwan, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

The list includes 27 Chinese entities for obtaining U.S.-made goods to aid China’s military modernization and seven companies for contributing to the development of China’s quantum technology. Also included on the “entity list” were six subsidiaries of the Chinese cloud-computing company Inspur Group, which was sanctioned by the Biden administration in 2023.

Security Concerns At The Core Of Restrictions

Jeffrey I. Kessler, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, stressed that the Trump administration’s objective is to prevent U.S. technologies from being used in ways that could threaten national security. He stated that the latest restrictions send a clear message to stop U.S. technology from being misused in military systems such as hypersonic missiles, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), and military aircraft training.

The Department of Commerce pointed out that many of the companies on the list are connected to China’s military advancements, including progress in AI, supercomputing, and high-performance AI chips.

Two companies were specifically accused of supplying parts to Chinese entities already under U.S. sanctions, such as Huawei and its affiliated chipmaker HiSilicon.

“We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.

The new measures are designed to limit China’s access to exascale computing technology, which processes vast amounts of data at high speeds, and quantum technologies critical for advanced military and defense systems. The inclusion of companies such as Nettrix Information Industry, Suma Technology, and Suma-USI Electronics on the list highlights concerns about their involvement in advancing the exascale supercomputing capabilities, according to Reuters.

This latest move builds on previous actions against Chinese firms, such as the blacklisting of Sugon (Dawning Information Industry Co.), a major Chinese computer server manufacturer, in 2019. These companies are accused of using U.S. technologies for military applications, including supercomputers that support China’s defense systems, Commerce Department stated.

Rising Tensions Between U.S. And China

The new measures also address concerns that Chinese companies have been using third parties to gain access to U.S. technologies, circumventing restrictions, which has led to Chinese firms acquiring strategic dual-use technologies despite existing export controls.

The export restrictions come as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate. The Trump administration has already imposed tariffs on China, and now, with these additional controls, aims to stifle the country’s technological advancements in areas crucial to military power.

In particular, the rapid growth of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has been driving the adoption of low-cost AI models in China, has also put pressure on U.S. companies that rely on more expensive, proprietary models.

China’s Response To U.S. Actions

In response, the Chinese embassy in Washington condemned the U.S. actions, calling them “politically motivated.” The embassy demanded that the U.S. stop using military-related issues as a pretext to politicize trade and technology matters, labeling the move as an attempt to weaponize economic relations.

Aside from targeting Chinese firms, the U.S. has also sought to disrupt other countries’ efforts to procure defense technologies. For example, the U.S. is working to prevent Iran from acquiring drones and related defense equipment, as well as from advancing its ballistic missile program and nuclear activities.

Source : https://www.ibtimes.com/us-expands-export-blacklist-adds-over-50-chinese-companies-curb-ai-tech-advances-3767643

Joe Rogan is team Justin Baldoni in the ongoing legal battle between the actor-director and his “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively. Speaking on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” with guest Brendan Schaub, Rogan said Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds “fucked up” in trying to bring “sweet, nice guy” Baldoni down.

“They were trying to take over the movie and the franchise,” Rogan claimed of Lively and Reynolds. “The whole thing is crazy. [Baldoni] is suing The New York Times. He has a great case there, too… She told him to come into the dressing room while she was breast feeding and then part of her complaint was that he came into the dressing room while she was breast feeding. They have text exchanges going back and forth. They just thought no one was going to come out with the receipts. Everyone is scared of them. Ryan and Blake are A-list.”

As previously reported by Variety, Lively filed a letter in December with the California Civil Rights Department in which she claimed that Baldoni sexually harassed her during the production of “It Ends With Us.” The letter also included allegations of Baldoni waging a 2024 smear campaign against Lively in the lead up to and during the movie’s theatrical release. Lively’s allegations became the basis of a New York Times report, which kicked off a legal back and forth between the director and his star.

On New Year’s Eve, Baldoni and nine other plaintiffs, including his crisis publicist Melissa Nathan, sued the New York Times for $250 million for libel over their initial story about Lively’s allegations. Lively then sued Baldoni and the group for violating federal and California state law “by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns.” The director then sued Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million for civil extortion, defamation and other actions.

Reynolds asked the court earlier this month to dismiss Baldoni‘s legal claims against him, saying the actor cannot sue him over “hurt feelings.” Reynolds was accused in the lawsuit of mocking and bullying Baldoni by using the character of Nicepool in “Deadpool & Wolverine” to satirize Baldoni’s “woke feminist” image. In a motion to dismiss the suit, Reynolds’ lawyers did not dispute that Nicepool is based on Baldoni but said that Baldoni had shown “thin-skinned outrage” by complaining about it.

Source : https://variety.com/2025/film/news/joe-rogan-justin-baldoni-blake-lively-ryan-reynolds-1236348695/

South Korean governments committed numerous human rights violations over decades in a controversial programme that sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, a landmark inquiry has found.

It said the government’s lack of oversight enabled the “mass exportation of children” by private agencies that were driven by profit, and found examples of fraud, falsified records and coercion.

Since the 1950s, South Korea has sent more children abroad for adoption than any other country, with most sent to Western countries.

South Korea has sinced moved to tighten its adoption processes, but some adoptees and their biological parents say they are still haunted by what they went through. The BBC spoke to one woman who claimed her adoptive parents “took better care of the dog than they ever did of me”.

“This is a shameful part of our history,” said Park Sun-young, the chairperson of the commission, at a press briefing.

“While many adoptees were fortunate to grow up in loving families, others suffered great hardship and trauma due to flawed adoption processes. Even today, many continue to face challenges.”

The report was released on Wednesday by the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission following an investigation that began in 2022.

Since then, 367 adoptees – all of which were sent overseas between 1964 and 1999 – had filed petitions alleging fradulent practices in their adoption process.

Some 100 petitions have been analysed so far, of whom 56 adoptees were recognised as victims of human rights violations. The commission is still investigating other cases, with the inquiry set to end in May.

In the aftermath of the Korean war, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world and few families were keen on adopting children.

South Korea’s government then began a transnational adoption programme handled by private agencies, which were given significant powers through special adoption laws.

But there was a “systemic failure in oversight and management”, which led to numerous lapses committed by these agencies, according to the report.

The report noted that foreign agencies had demanded a set number of children every month and Korean agencies complied, “facilitating large-scale intercountry adoptions with minimal procedural oversight”.

With no government regulation on fees, the Korean agencies charged large amounts and demanded “donations”, which turned adoptions into “a profit-driven industry”, according to the report.

Other lapses include adoptions conducted without proper consent from birth mothers and inadequate screening of adoptive parents.

The agencies also fabricated reports that made children appear as if they were abandoned and put up for adoption; and intentionally gave children wrong identities.

Because many adoptees had false identities listed in their paperwork, they now struggle to obtain information about their birth families and are left with inadequate legal protection, the report noted.

The commission has recommended the government deliver an official apology, and to comply with international standards on transnational adoptions.

JEFF Bezos is all set to splash his billions and marry bombshell supermodel Lauren Sanchez in what is being dubbed the “wedding of the century”.

The world’s eyes are now on the Bezos, who is reportedly planning to book lavish $32,000 suites to accomodate guests from across the world and use his $500million superyacht as a taxi.

Expected guests include President Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian and Bill Gates.

The second richest man in the world has been engaged to bombshell supermodel Lauren Sanchez for two years – and their wedding has finally been confirmed for this summer in Venice, Italy.

After five years of dating, 61-year-old Bezos popped the question to Sanchez over a $2.5million 20-carat ring May 2023,

The couple hosted a decadent engagement party on their megayacht in Positano, Italy, in August 2023.

That same year Sanchez, 55, a former US TV journalist and helicopter pilot, told Vogue that she “blacked out a bit” during their proposal after seeing her multimillion-dollar ring.

Bezos, whose estimated net worth is $212billion, reportedly placed the ring under her pillow before Sanchez found and opened the box.

Local media have report that the wedding may take place at Gritti Palace and the seven-star Aman Hotel.

The Aman, a luxurious boutique 16th century palazzo, is where Hollywood legend George Clooney and his wife exchanged vows in a “private, symbolic” ceremony.

Rooms at both hotels start from $3,200 a night, but can cost up to ten times that amount depending on season and suite size.

One source told MailOnline that Bezos may use his lavish superyacht to taxi his guests and take them out during the fesitivities.

As a pre-wedding gift, Sanchez will fly up to space on her billionaire fiance’s rocket in May.

The New Shepard spaceship will fly up for an 11-minute sub-orbital flight with an all-female crew – including pop star Katy Perry.

The bride-to-be has also revealed that she’s already chosen her dress, believed to be from Oscar de la Renta, and will be styled by Vogue boss Anna Wintour.

Sanchez has previously said that her fiance inspires her.

She said: “He’s so happy, he inspires me every day.

“He makes me a better person every day. He’s the most loving human I know.”

Meanwhile, Bezos has told reporters: “Lauren is the most generous, most big-hearted person that you would ever meet… She never misses a birthday.

“The network of people that she gives birthday presents to is gigantic.

“And that’s just a small example.”

The pair began dating in 2019, but avoided being seen together until finalising their respective divorces.

Bezos and his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, finalized their divorce in April 2019, after more than 25 years of marriage.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13871330/bezos-wedding-superyacht-hotels/

THE EU is ready to order all of its citizens to prepare survival kits with 72-hours worth of supplies in the face of a looming WW3 threat.

And it comes as Nato chief Mark Rutte warned Russia it faces a “devastating” revenge strike if they attack any part of Europe.

European Union bureaucrats are pushing for every household in the 27-nation bloc to prepare the kit for war and natural disasters.

It is expected that will be part of a union’s broader “preparedness strategy” amid the threat from Russia.

Key items they will ask the bloc’s 450 million citizens to gather includes water, energy bars and a flashlight.

And meanwhile, Nato boss Rutte issued one of his strongest rebukes to Putin yet as he vowed a “fierce” response to any attack on Europe.

Speaking in Warsaw, Poland, the ex-Dutch Prime Minister warned of any settlement to end the war in Ukraine that would be “favourable” to Putin.

He said: “[Eastern Europe] fear such an outcome would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to rebuild his country’s forces and threaten other countries in the region in the coming year.”

Rutte went on: “If anyone were to miscalculate and think they can get away with an attack on Poland or on any other ally, they will be met with the full force of this fierce alliance.

“Our reaction will be devastating.

“This has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and anyone else who wants to attack us.”

Rutte’s comments come as Europe has been put on notice by the White House – with new US President Donald Trump determined to find a quick end to the war in Ukraine and putting Europe on notice.

Trump is calling on Britain and the EU to up their military spending so they no longer have to “rely” on the US for protection.

Elsewhere, in a chilling show of force, the Kremlin fired the cruise missiles from its Ufa attack sub in the Sea of Japan.

Russian state media boasted claims that the missiles hit a land target over 620 miles away in the Khabarovsk region, as well as a naval target.

And after the agreement yesterday of a ceasefire in the Black Sea, both Russia and Ukraine accused the other of breaching the deal.

President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “manipulations and threats” and warning: “We don’t believe them. The world really doesn’t believe Russia.”

Zelensky added: “Unfortunately, even now, even today, on the very day of negotiations, we see how the Russians have already begun to manipulate.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13853765/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-talks-saudi-arabia-riyadh/

Over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed “for most things” in the world, says Bill Gates.

That’s what the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist told comedian Jimmy Fallon during an interview on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in February. At the moment, expertise remains “rare,” Gates explained, pointing to human specialists we still rely on in many fields, including “a great doctor” or “a great teacher.”

But “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.

In other words, the world is entering a new era of what Gates called “free intelligence” in an interview last month with Harvard University professor and happiness expert Arthur Brooks. The result will be rapid advances in AI-powered technologies that are accessible and touch nearly every aspect of our lives, Gates has said, from improved medicines and diagnoses to widely available AI tutors and virtual assistants.

“It’s very profound and even a little bit scary — because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound,” Gates told Brooks.

The debate over how, exactly, most humans will fit into this AI-powered future is ongoing. Some experts say AI will help humans work more efficiently — rather than replacing them altogether — and spur economic growth that leads to more jobs being created.

Others, like Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, counter that continued technological advancements over the next several years will change what most jobs look like across nearly every industry, and have a “hugely destabilizing” impact on the workforce.

“These tools will only temporarily augment human intelligence,” Suleyman wrote in his book “The Coming Wave,” which was published in 2023. “They will make us smarter and more efficient for a time, and will unlock enormous amounts of economic growth, but they are fundamentally labor replacing.”

AI is both concerning and a ‘fantastic opportunity’

Bill Gates had a rather bleak prediction for the future as AI continues to change the way the world works.

In case you somehow have missed the latest technological advancements, the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence has gotten some workers feeling a bit nervous.

And while it might not exactly be like the dystopian futures seen in popular sci-fi films, it could still be a less than ideal situation for us mere mortals as AI advances, at least, according to billionaire Bill Gates.

The tech mogul has reportedly warned that many jobs will simply become obsolete as the technology becomes more ingrained in society.

But Gates has been pretty confident that there are three jobs which AI will keep its hands off.

Wonderful for them, but at least there are interesting reasons as to why their jobs aren’t under threat like the rest of us.

Coders

CHILDREN as young as 14 years old could be working overnight shifts under a new plan to roll back child labor laws.

The proposal seeks to remove limits on how late teens can be at work and the number of hours they can clock each week.

In Florida, 16- and 17-year-olds are currently prohibited from working before 6:30 am and after 11 pm on school days.

They are also barred from working more than 30 hours a week during the school year.

A new proposal would remove all of those restrictions – including the requirement that teens get a meal break, the Miami Herald reported.

Governor Ron DeSantis supports the measure and argues it’s a way to address what he calls “dirt cheap” labor from illegal immigrants.

“Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when teenagers used to work at these resorts? College students should be able to do this stuff,” DeSantis said.

In addition to allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work past 11 pm on school nights, it would also remove restrictions for 14- and 15-year-olds who are home-schooled or attend virtual school.

Under the new bill, teens could work without limits on hours except in hazardous jobs like meatpacking and roofing.

Supporters of the proposal, including the conservative group Foundation for Government Accountability, argue working part-time jobs helps teens learn important life skills.

But the plan has also sparked concern about the teens’ safety and well-being.

Experts worry longer working hours could hurt their education with some saying it’s more about cheap labor than helping kids.

Nina Mast, an analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, said the bill risks pushing low-income teens and those without legal status into unsafe working conditions.

Florida’s child labor laws already go beyond federal standards but the new bill would bring the state closer to those national guidelines.

The proposal also aims to ease employment regulations for younger teens if they have graduated high school, hold a GED, or are home-schooled.

In recent years, violations of child labor laws in Florida have been on the rise.

In 2023, there were 209 violations, a significant jump from a few years earlier.

Despite existing labor laws, companies across the US have employed migrant children in hazardous jobs.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would impose 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States.”

Trump said there is “absolutely no tariff” for cars that are built in the U.S.

The new tariffs were codified in a presidential proclamation that Trump signed in the Oval Office. They will go into effect April 2, and “we start collecting April 3,” he said.

Trump White House aide Will Scharf said the new tariffs apply to “foreign-made cars and light trucks.” He clarified that they come in addition to duties that are already in place.

Scharf said the tariffs will result in “over $100 billion of new annual revenue” to the U.S.

Specifics about the proclamation were not immediately clear. Most vehicles are assembled from thousands of parts that may originate from dozens of different countries.

Trump said there will be “very strong policing” on which parts of a car are hit with tariffs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen quickly criticized the new U.S. tariffs and vowed that the European Union “will continue to seek negotiated solutions, while safeguarding its economic interests.”

“Tariffs are taxes — bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union,” she said in a statement.

Auto stocks fell in after-hours trading following Trump’s announcement. Shares of General Motors, Stellantis and Ford Motor all lost roughly 5% in extended trading.

Trump on March 5 gave those automakers, known as the “Big Three,” a one-month exemption from his 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for vehicles that comply with an existing North American trade deal known as the USMCA.

Trump had previously hinted that new auto tariffs could arrive before April 2, the day his sweeping “reciprocal tariff” plan is set to begin.

“We’ll be announcing that fairly soon over the next few days, probably, and then April 2 comes, that’ll be reciprocal tariffs,” he said at a Cabinet meeting Monday.

Trump has long signaled his plans to impose heavy tariffs on foreign trading partners. But his unpredictable and frequently shifting policy rollouts have stirred turmoil in the stock market and left business leaders uncertain about how to plan for the future.

Trump has hyped April 2 as “liberation day” and “the big one.” His plan, as originally described, would slap reciprocal tariffs on all countries that have their own import duties on U.S. goods, while also imposing tariffs in response to other disfavored trade policies, such as the use of value-added taxes.

But Trump and his officials have recently suggested that the tariffs coming April 2 could end up being softer than they first appeared.

Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/trump-could-sign-new-auto-tariffs-as-soon-as-wednesday-white-house-says.html

Kingdom Holding Company and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will maintain their stake in Twitter after Musk took control of the social media company.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has had a long-running stake in Twitter [File: Amr Nabil/AP Photo]Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), along with the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will continue their ownership of Twitter shares valued at $1.89bn after Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company, making them jointly the second largest investors, according to a statement released by the Saudi prince.

Bin Talal, who shared the statement on his Twitter account on Friday, and made reference to Musk as “Chief Twit”, stated that the deal was in line with the long-term strategy of KHC.

The company was founded by bin Talal, and is 16.9 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund.

As of January 2022, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 34.8 million, had the eighth most Twitter users of any country in the world, with more than 12 million users.

Musk, the richest person in the world, announced on Thursday that he had completed a $44bn acquisition.

“The bird is freed,” Musk tweeted, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.

However, the CEO of the electric car maker Tesla Inc, and self-described free speech absolutist, has also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Agrawal and Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out, the sources added.

Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, plans to become Twitter’s interim CEO, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/28/saudis-kingdom-holding-company-to-maintain-twitter-stake

The world in 2024 had more autocracies – meaning governments with at the very least “insufficient” levels of democratic freedoms, such as freedom of expression and association and free and fair elections – than democracies for the first time in more than two decades, according to a recent report from the Sweden-based V-Dem Institute. In total, 45 countries were “autocratizing” last year – an increase from 42 that were moving away from more democracy in 2023. That amounts to more than 3 billion people, or 40% of the world’s population.

Data used in V-Dem’s analysis – which relies upon thousands of experts and more than 600 indicators assessing concepts such as government censorship, media bias and autonomy for opposition parties – only covers events until the end of 2024. But its researchers still included a whole section dedicated to the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has tested the limits of executive branch authority over the course of his first two months back in office.

In fact, if trends described by the authors continue throughout 2025, the United States’ government regime would “definitely” be reclassified in next year’s annual “Democracy Report,” says Staffan Lindberg, an author and editor of the report, founding director of the V-Dem Institute and a professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

“Normally, these things – over the past 25 years – play out over up to 10 years before democracy is sort of done away with,” Lindberg says. “The Trump administration was just unleashing all of it at the same time, more or less.”

Lindberg spoke with U.S. about the institute’s latest findings and his concerns about Trump 2.0’s actions. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I spoke with some experts last year who told me that the world was in the midst of a ‘democratic recession.’ Is that still the case after 2024?
“It’s even more the case. I think ‘democratic recession’ may even be misleading. We talk about a wave of ‘autocratization’ that is more, I think, telling of what is happening in the world.

“That means you have democracies less democratic, yes, but a vast majority of them, over the past 25 years, descend into what we label as ‘electoral autocracy.’ It’s having some trappings of democracy: You may hold multiparty elections, you may have freedom of expression on the books, you may have freedom for parties on paper. But these rights and freedoms are undermined to the extent that we can’t talk about democracy anymore. Multiparty elections – (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is still holding them in Russia, right? That doesn’t make you a democracy.

“At the end of 2024, this is worse than the 1930s for the world. It’s never been this great a share of countries in the world in autocratization at the same time, and the number of these electoral autocracies – but also these closed, really bad dictatorships – are going up, and the number of liberal democracies are just going down. So, it’s bad.”

Are there any examples of autocratization in 2024 that concern you the most?
“Georgia, for example, where the incoming government really screwed up the elections and it was very contentious with lots of protests, and the government is taking the country towards being aligned with Putin’s Russia instead of European democracies, where a large portion of the population wants it to go.

“Armenia is also another country that had bad developments. But in Europe, the situation in Hungary continues to get worse and it’s no longer a democracy. Greece has a number of far-right extremist parties.

“In Latin America, you have a continuation of the autocratization going on in Mexico, but also in Argentina under (President Javier) Milei, with attacks and undermining of freedom of expression, media, civil society, organizations, and threats and intimidation of the courts.”

This report doesn’t cover 2025 but your team does mention the U.S. and President Trump, and has a whole section dedicated to his administration’s early moves. Why did you all decide to include that and what concerns you about what you’re seeing in the U.S. under Donald Trump?
“We had our eyes on the U.S. I’m on the record in American media … back in 2020 saying that American democracy may not survive another term with Trump. I repeated that in the fall. We saw that he ran a very authoritarian campaign. That’s meaning a lot of the rhetoric used by Trump and the MAGA movement, that the Republican Party has turned into, is worse than the rhetoric that we have recorded for other leaders and parties around the world over the past 25 years – that when they come into power, they do away with democracy. All the red lights were blinking in terms of the early warnings.

“As we were starting to write the democracy report, the Trump administration went ahead at some record speed … undermining all kinds of institutions that could exercise accountability, from inspectors general to encroaching on the powers of Congress, questioning the courts, threatening media … and attacking universities.

“That’s extremely worrying. It seems like a lot of this is done in complete disregard of rule of law, existing legislation and even the Constitution. I mean, take one of the first actions of him to do away with birthright citizenship. It’s saying, ‘I don’t care what the Constitution says.’

“So from my perspective as a professor studying autocratization for so long across the world, it’s happening suddenly at rapid speed in this country.”

If these trends that you describe continue, could you see the U.S. getting a different classification in your report next year?
“Definitely yes. At the pace at which it is happening, if this continues, I would say that before the end of the summer, you no longer qualify as a democracy in the United States. Doesn’t mean you become North Korea – it’s a long way to go there – but it would mean that the rule of law, the constraints of the executive, critically, that they would be gone to such an extent that we can no longer talk about even a constitutional republic.

“That was the whole point of a constitutional republic from the Founding Fathers and onwards, to constrain the use of executive power, especially constrained against your opponents, whether they are in the opposition political party or they’re at the universities, or they are in the media, or they are in the civil society, or even if they have a difference of mind.

“The whole idea of the constitutional republic is to allow for that and not have a person in power that can silence all of those.”

What’s one hopeful example of democratization that you saw in 2024?
“I think both Brazil and Poland are two cases that are really encouraging at the moment. We could talk about the star democratizer of the last 15, 20 years: Seychelles, a little island there in the Indian Ocean.

“But for the world, Poland and Brazil are huge turnarounds. They were in episodes of autocratization. In Brazil’s case, under (former President Jair) Bolsonaro for four years. In the case of Poland, (under the Law and Justice party-led government) for more than double that time. They both managed to unite the pro-democratic forces in the political sphere.”

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2025-03-25/democracy-expert-raises-alarm-about-u-s-trends-under-trump

Rep. Jimmy Gomez’s (D-Calif.) questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s drinking habits sparked fury from intelligence leaders at a House committee hearing Wednesday.

The House Intelligence Committee’s annual worldwide threats assessment hearing had been scheduled long before The Atlantic reported top Trump national security officials used a Signal group chat to discuss forthcoming strikes on the Houthis in Yemen earlier this month — and mistakenly included a reporter in the group.

But the breach was a central topic throughout the hearing.

“A lot of questions were brought up regarding his drinking habits at his confirmation hearing. To your knowledge, do you know whether Pete Hegseth had been drinking before he leaked classified information?” Gomez asked.

“I don’t have any knowledge of Secretary Hegseth’s personal habits,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said when asked about Hegseth’s drinking habits.

“No, you know, no. I’m not going to answer that. I think that’s an offensive line of question. The answer is, no,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe responded when asked the same question.

“I have huge respect for the CIA, huge respect for men and women in uniform. But this was a question that’s on the top of minds of every American, right? He stood in front of the podium in Europe holding a drink. So, of course we want to know if his performance is compromised,” Gomez said.

Ratcliffe said he was annoyed by the focus on the Signal chat instead of other threats that would typically be reviewed in the annual worldwide threats hearing.

“We’re getting questions about whether or not someone has drinking habits. And, you know, I just wish in an annual threats hearing, where the American people want to hear about threats, that that’s what we would be talking about,” he said.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also defended Hegseth.

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5215202-democrat-hegseth-drinking-ratcliffe/

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of suicide drones with artificial intelligence (AI) technology and said unmanned control and AI capability must be the top priorities in modern arms development, state media reported on Thursday.
Kim inspected new upgraded reconnaissance drones that are capable of detecting various tactical targets and enemy activities on land and at sea, KCNA state news agency said.

“The field of unmanned equipment and artificial intelligence should be top-prioritized and developed in modernizing the armed forces,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
The nuclear-armed North also officially unveiled an airborne early-warning aircraft for the first time, a capability that could improve its aging air defence systems.
Photographs published by state media showed Kim climbing steps toward the door of a large aircraft with four engines and a radar dome mounted on the fuselage, and viewing the aircraft on a low fly-by.

Using commercial satellite imagery, analysts have previously reported that North Korea was converting the Russian-made Il-76 cargo aircraft for an early-warning role.
Such an aircraft would help augment the North’s existing land-based radar systems, which are sometimes limited by the peninsula’s mountainous terrain, London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report in September.
“The ability of an AEW aircraft to look down mitigates some of the challenges of the terrain and ground-clutter returns to track low-flying aircraft and cruise missiles,” the report said.
One AEW aircraft would not be enough, however, and North Korea would risk canabilising the rest of its cargo fleet to build more, the report said.

South Korea’s military said the aircraft’s operational capability is not yet clear but its appearance indicated it is “large and heavy and probably susceptible to interception.”
While the aircraft was refurbished from the existing fleet, “Russia may have had something to do the internal system and parts,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung-jun told a briefing, when asked about possible Russian assistance.
Russia has provided North Korea with anti-air missiles and unspecified air defence equipment, in return for Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to help with the Ukraine war, South Korea’s national security adviser Shin Won-sik said in November.
Kim separately inspected newly developed equipment for reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, electronic jamming and attack systems, KCNA said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-supervises-test-ai-suicide-drones-kcna-says-2025-03-26/

Canada has frozen all rebate payments for Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and banned the electric-vehicle maker from future EV rebate programs, Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday.
No rebate payments will be made until each claim is individually investigated and determined to be valid, Freeland said in an emailed statement shared by her office.

Freeland also directed the transport department to revise eligibility requirements for future iZEV programs to ensure that Tesla vehicles are not eligible as long as the “illegitimate and illegal U.S. tariffs are imposed against Canada.”

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a slew of new tariffs, with the bulk due in early April, in the form of steep 25% taxes on most goods from Canada and Mexico.
Trump on Monday said automobile tariffs are coming soon, although not all of his threatened levies would be enforced on April 2.
Canada has frozen C$43 million ($30.11 million) of rebate payments for Tesla. The order to stop the payments came before Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a general election on April 28, according to the Toronto Star, which reported the news earlier.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday urged 23andMe (ME.O), opens new tab customers to secure their data in light of rising privacy concerns after the DNA testing firm filed for bankruptcy amid declining demand for its services.

Uncertainty surrounding the company’s future and worries about potential data management by a new owner drove users to delete their accounts as a privacy safeguard, with many sharing detailed instructions on social media.

Shares of 23andMe, which filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, closed 11% lower at 65 cents. The stock declined 59% on Monday.
“Our website experienced some issues and delays due to increased traffic yesterday. As of today (Tuesday), those issues have been resolved. If anyone has any issues in regards to accessing their account or deleting their data, they can go to our customer care site for support,” a 23andMe spokesperson said.
The company’s saliva-based tests provide information on a user’s ancestry and whether they might be at genetic risk for certain diseases.

23andMe has made at least 30 deals with companies including British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L), allowing them to access its database. Most of its agreements remain undisclosed.
“Genetic data isn’t just a bit of personal information — it is a blueprint of your entire biological profile. When a company goes under, this personal data is an asset to be sold with potentially far-reaching consequences,” NordVPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven said.
With more than 15 million customers, 23andMe’s genetic database was a “digital goldmine”, Warmenhoven said.
The company has said the bankruptcy process will not affect how it stores, manages or protects customer data.

If 23andMe changes ownership, its data will remain protected under its current privacy policy “unless and until you are presented with materially new terms, with appropriate advanced notice to review those material changes as required by law”, the company’s website said.

The law is not clear on whether a new buyer would need to give consumers a chance to opt out, according to I. Glenn Cohen, director of Harvard Law School’s Petrie-Flom Center.
“I assume that users will be filing lawsuits against the company to seek protection of all such data… outcomes of such suits (are) not yet clear,” said Robert Klitzman, director of the Masters of Bioethics program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies.
It was reported last year that 23andMe would pay $30 million and provide three years of security monitoring to settle a lawsuit accusing it of failing to protect the privacy of 6.9 million customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach.
However, 23andMe said in January that the settlement was not unconditionally approved by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Withdrawing data from the company’s website does not fully protect information since 23andMe’s business has been to sell its database, with user data, to other biotech and pharmaceutical companies for several million dollars, according to Klitzman.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/new-york-attorney-general-urges-23andme-users-delete-their-data-2025-03-25/

Sailing the Whitsunday islands. Surfing an iconic Gold Coast break. Rowing in a crocodile-inhabited river in Rockhampton.

Extra tourism-focused venues and a new 60,000-seat Olympic stadium to be built in inner-city parkland have been unveiled as part of a major overhaul of planning for the 2032 Brisbane Games.

David Crisafulli, the third premier of Queensland state in the almost four years since the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2032 Games to the capital of Queensland state, announced the latest plans on a rainy Tuesday.

He said it’s not going to be like last year’s Paris Olympics or the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, promising instead it’ll be uniquely-Queensland.

It’s been more than 1,340 days since that IOC decision in 2021, and local organizers still haven’t started the Olympic venue construction program.

“The time has come to just get on with it — get on with it, and build,” Crisafulli said, marking his 150th day in office. “We are going to start immediately. We’ve got seven years to make it work — and make it work we will.”

A 25,000-seat aquatics center has also been proposed in an Olympic precinct that includes the new main stadium at Victoria Park, a former golf course near downtown Brisbane.

The 11 years that Brisbane had to prepare is now down to seven, and leaders at federal, state and local levels agree it’s time to stop squabbling over venues and start building them.

Newly elected IOC president Kirsty Coventry, who oversaw the initial planning stages as head of the IOC’s coordination commission, has been updated on the changes by Andrew Liveris, chairman of the 2032 organizing committee.

“The stage matters,” Liveris said. “We’ve still got 7½ years to go, and we have a plan. This is a go-get-it-done plan.”

Brisbane was the first Summer Games host picked in a new process to put a preferred candidate into exclusive, fast-track talks without facing a rival bidder in a vote. With it, the IOC aimed to cut the cost of campaigning and building venues.

A croc, or not?
Domestic media earlier this week raised concerns about crocodiles at the Olympic rowing venue when it emerged that events would be staged on the Fitzroy River.

Crisafulli confirmed the Fitzroy River venue at Rockhampton, on the central Queensland coast, and said a “multitude” of events had been staged there — including Australia’s pre-Olympic rowing camps. He said local kids swam and paddled in the river and crocodiles wouldn’t be a problem.

Sarah Cook, the head of Rowing Australia, said the crocodile concerns were overblown in the media. But she raised some issues about the river current and its suitability for Olympic competition.

Liveris, who said World Rowing would visit the venue in May, also wasn’t worried about crocs.

“There are sharks in the ocean and we still do surfing … this is can do, not can’t do, please flip the mindset here,” he said. “Creatures below the water .. that’s a bit kind of Hollywood-ish.”

False starts
It’s been a year since local organizers scrapped initial plans to demolish and rebuild the Gabba, an iconic cricket ground, as the Games centerpiece when a previous review panel appointed in 2023 recommended a new stadium in city parkland.

The costs soared and the concept lost the support of the Australian Olympic Committee.

The premier at the time, Steven Miles, rejected the recommendations of that review led by former Brisbane Mayor Graham Quirk. Miles instead planned to use a rugby stadium to host the ceremonies, and to renovate the aging facility built to host the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

Crisafulli went to a state election late last year promising no new stadiums, but then instituted another independent review quickly after taking power for the Liberal-National coalition. His cabinet went through the recommendations of the 100-day review and approved new plans Monday.

Opposition
A group of protesters gathered outside the riverside location where Crisafulli confirmed the revised venue plan. Dozens more protestors converged on Victoria Park, holding up “Hands OFF Victoria Park” signs and shouting “shame” while listening to news of the announcement.

The Save Victoria Park community group is fundraising for a legal challenge in a bid to prevent the stadium being built in the hilly, 64-hectare (158-acre) park.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/olympics-brisbane-2032-venues-9e31187ef83f6809b9be3e3fb1be2c44

The roar of the Zambezi is deafening as millions of gallons of water crash over rocks and tumble down rapids.

But there’s another sound cutting through the trees of the Zambian bush – the unmistakable high-pitched whine of a bitcoin mine.

“It’s the sound of money!” says a smiling Philip Walton as he surveys the shipping container with 120 computers busily crunching through complex calculations that verify bitcoin transactions.

In exchange they are automatically rewarded bitcoin by the network.

We’re in the far north-western tip of Zambia near the border with the DRC, and of all the bitcoin mines I’ve visited – this one is the strangest.

Water and electronic equipment don’t usually mix well but it’s precisely the proximity to the river that’s drawn bitcoiners here.

Philip’s mine is plugged directly into a hydro-electric power plant that channels some of the Zambezi’s torrent through enormous turbines to generate continuous, clean electricity.

More importantly for bitcoin mining – it’s cheap.

So cheap it made business sense for Philip’s Kenya-based company Gridless to drag its shipping container full of delicate bitcoin mining computers across bumpy narrow roads 14 hours from the nearest major city to set up here.

Each machine makes about $5 (£3.90) a day. More if the price of coins is high, less if it drops.

Occasionally Philip glances down at his smart watch – the home screen showing the ever-changing squiggly line of bitcoin’s dollar value.

At the moment it’s around $80,000 a coin, but Philip says they can make a profit even when the value of the bitcoin goes low thanks to the cheap electricity on the site and the partnership they have with the energy company.

“We recognised that in order to get better mining economics we needed to partner with the power company here and give them a revenue share. And so the reason we’re willing to come out here somewhere so remote is it allows us to effectively get cheaper power,” he says.

Zengamina hydro-power plant is huge but technically it’s a mini grid – a standalone island of power for the local community.

It was built in the early 2000s thanks to $3m raised from charity donations.

British-Zambian Daniel Rea runs the site after his missionary family led the building project, primarily to power the local hospital.

Now it provides power for around 15,000 people in the local area but the project hasn’t been able to make ends meet because of slow take-up from the community.

Allowing the bitcoiners to set up shop here has been transformational to the business.

“Every day we were wasting over half of the energy we could generate which also meant we’re not earning from that to meet our operating expenses. We needed a major user of power in the area and that’s where the game-changing partnership with Gridless came in,” Daniel says.

The bitcoin mine now accounts for around 30% of the plant’s revenue allowing them to keep the prices down for the local town.

Bitcoin and its economics are of course far from the minds of the people in Zengamina.

The town itself is a few miles from the plant and comprises not much more than a few dozen shed-like buildings peppering a cross roads.

Only one shop has a fridge and a dozen kids crowd around a communal computer taking turns to choose a song to blare out, causing adults to wince as they go about their day.

Although the hydro-electric plant came online in 2007, it took a few more years to connect it to the local town, and then more time to connect individual homes and businesses.

So, some people like barber Damian are still enjoying the novelty of getting wired up only a year and a half ago.

“Until I got power I had nothing and couldn’t do anything. When I got power I bought everything at the same time.”

He’s not joking. At night his tiny barber shop is a beacon of power with a TV playing music videos, strings of Christmas lights and the buzz of his hair clipper. Like moths, young people hang out in his barber shop like a youth hostel.

“Getting power has changed my life,” he smiles. “The money I’m earning now from the barbershop is helping me pay for school fees again.”

Embracing electricity is very much a business decision for Damian. At home he shares one light bulb between the two rooms that make up the small house.

Elsewhere in the town sisters Tumba and Lucy Machayi sit on the crossroads watching the world go by.

Like many young people, they’re glued to their phones.

“Before the town got power, it was basically just the bush,” says Lucy.

The little electricity they had used to come from small solar panels, they say.

“No fridge, no TV, no mobile phone network,” says Tumba.

“Electricity completely changed the lives of people here,” Lucy adds.

“We can charge our phones, we have network. We can communicate with each other.”

Not many people here know or care about the bitcoin mine that’s played a part in helping the hydro-plant keep things going.

But soon they’ll watch as that container once again rattles its way through the town on its way to another location.

Zengamina Hydro has secured a large investment to help them expand to more villages and join up to the national grid.

Soon the excess energy the mine was harvesting will be sold back to the national grid and mining bitcoin will no longer be profitable at Zengamina.

Phillip and team are sanguine about this and insist this is good news. They will have had a successful few years here and ultimately they are happy to have helped Zengamina. And made a tidy profit in bitcoin of course.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly4xe373p4o

Millions of tyres being sent from the UK to India for recycling are actually being “cooked” in makeshift furnaces causing serious health problems and huge environmental damage, the BBC has discovered.

The majority of the UK’s exported waste tyres are sold into the Indian black market, and this is well known within the industry, BBC File on 4 Investigates has been told.

“I don’t imagine there’s anybody in the industry that doesn’t know it’s happening,” says Elliot Mason, owner of one of the biggest tyre recycling plants in the UK.

Campaigners and many of those in the industry – including the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) – say the government knows the UK is one of the worst offenders for exporting waste tyres for use in this way.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told us it has strict controls on exporting waste tyres, including unlimited fines and jail time.

When drivers get their tyres changed, garages charge a small recycling fee – it can vary, but it is normally about £3-6 for each end-of-life tyre.

This should guarantee that they are recycled – either in the UK or abroad – at facilities like Elliot Mason’s Rubber World, in Rushden, Northampton.

His facility has repurposed tyres into tiny rubber crumbs since 1996. Rubber crumb is often used as flooring for equestrian centres and children’s playgrounds.

The UK ends up with about 50 million waste tyres (nearly 700,000 tonnes) in need of recycling every year and around half of those are exported to India – according to official figures – where they should end up in recycling plants.

Before tyres leave the UK they are compressed into huge rubber cubes known as “bales”.

“The pretence is that baled tyres are being sent to India and then shredded and granulated in a factory very similar to ours,” explains Mr Mason.

However, some 70% of tyres imported by India from the UK and the rest of the world end up in makeshift industrial plants, where they are subjected to what amounts to an extreme form of cooking, the TRA estimates.

In an oxygen-free environment, in temperatures of about 500C, a process known as pyrolysis takes place. Steel and small amounts of oil are extracted, as well as carbon black – a powder or pellet that can be used in various industries.

The pyrolysis plants – often in rural backwaters – are akin to homemade pressure cookers and produce dangerous gases and chemicals.

UK tyres are ending up in these Indian pyrolysis plants, despite legitimate official paperwork stating they are headed for legal Indian recycling centres.

Together with SourceMaterial – a non-profit journalism group – we wanted to follow the long journey UK tyres make. Trackers were hidden in shipments of tyres to India by an industry insider.

The shipments went on an eight-week journey and eventually arrived in an Indian port, before being driven 800 miles cross-country, to a cluster of soot-covered compounds beside a small village.

Drone footage, taken in India and shared with the BBC, showed the tyres reaching a compound – where thousands were waiting to be thrown into huge furnaces to undergo pyrolysis.

BBC File on 4 Investigates approached one of the companies operating in the compound. It confirmed it was processing some imported tyres but said what it was doing wasn’t dangerous or illegal.

There are up to 2,000 pyrolysis plants in India, an environmental lawyer in India told the BBC. Some are licensed by the authorities but around half are unlicensed and therefore illegal, he said.

At a different cluster of makeshift plants in Wada, just outside Mumbai, a team from BBC Indian Languages saw soot, dying vegetation and polluted waterways around the sites. Villagers complained of persistent coughs and eye problems.

“We want these companies moved from our village,” one witness told us, “otherwise we will not be able to breathe freely.”

Scientists at Imperial College London told the BBC plant workers continually exposed to the atmospheric pollutants produced by pyrolysis, were at risk of respiratory, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and certain types of cancer.

At the site the BBC visited in Wada, two women and two children were killed in January when there was an explosion at one of the plants. It had been processing European-sourced tyres.

The BBC approached the owners of the plant where the explosion happened but they haven’t responded.

Following the blast, a public meeting was held and a minister for the district of Wada promised that the local government would take action. Seven pyrolysis plants have since been shut down by the authorities.

The Indian government has also been approached for comment.

Many UK businesses will bale tyres and send them to India because it is more profitable and investing in shredding machinery is expensive, according to Mr Mason.

But he says he isn’t prepared to do this himself because he has a duty of care to make sure his company’s waste is going to the right place – and it is very difficult to track where tyre bales end up.

Bigger businesses, like Rubber World, have tightly regulated environmental permits and are inspected regularly. But smaller operators can apply for an exemption and trade and lawfully export more easily.

This is called a T8 exemption and allows these businesses to store and process up to 40 tonnes of car tyres a week.

But many traders told the BBC that they exported volumes of tyres in excess of the permitted limit, meaning they would have been exporting more tyres than they should.

‘I’m not a health minister’
The BBC was tipped off about several of these companies and teamed up with an industry insider who posed as a broker with a contract to sell waste tyres to India.

Four of the six dealers we contacted said they processed large numbers of waste tyres.

One told us he had exported 10 shipping containers that week – about 250 tonnes of tyres, more than five times his permitted limit.

Another dealer first showed us paperwork which suggested his tyres were baled and sent to India for recycling which would have been allowed – but he then admitted he knew they were going to India for pyrolysis. The Indian government has made it illegal for imported tyres to be used for pyrolysis.

“There are plenty of companies [that do it]… 90% of English people [are] doing this business,” he told us, adding that he cannot control what happens when tyres arrive in India.

When we asked if he had concerns about the health of those people living and working near the pyrolysis plants he responded: “These issues are international. Brother, we can’t do anything… I’m not a health minister.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14jy2dd8jeo

Papua New Guinea has blocked access to Facebook in what authorities call a “test” to limit hate speech, misinformation and pornography.

The sudden ban, which started on Monday, has drawn criticism from opposition MPs and political critics, who called it a violation of human rights.

Defending the move, Police Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jr said the government is not trying to suppress free speech, but that it has the “responsibility to protect citizens from harmful content”.

Facebook is the most popular social media platform in Papua New Guinea, with an estimated 1.3 million users – including many small businesses that rely on it for sales.

Social media has also been key in facilitating public discourse amid declining press freedom in the country.

Neville Choi, president of Papua New Guinea’s media council, said the move “borders on political autocracy, and an abuse of human rights”.

More concerning was the fact that at least two government agencies that oversee communication and technology said they were unaware of the government’s plans, Mr Choi pointed out, despite the police saying its “test” was done in partnership with these agencies.

“We are now heading into dangerous territory and everyone is powerless to stop this tyranny,” opposition MP Allan Bird wrote on Facebook.

Monday’s ban comes months after the passing of new counter-terrorism laws, which gives the government powers to monitor and restrict online communications, , among other things.

“It is draconian law designed to take away our freedoms,” Bird wrote, adding that the blocking of Facebook was “just step one”.

Despite the ban, many users have still been able to access Facebook using virtual private networks, or VPNs.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj92kxlkx4mo

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea in separate deals with the US, after three days of peace talks in Saudi Arabia.

Washington said all parties would continue working toward a “durable and lasting peace” in statements announcing the agreements, which would reopen an important trade route.

They have also committed to “develop measures” to implement a previously agreed ban on attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, the White House said.

But Russia said the naval ceasefire would only come into force after a number of sanctions against its food and fertiliser trade were lifted.

US officials have been separately meeting negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv in Riyadh with the aim of brokering a truce between the two sides. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations have not met directly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deal to halt strikes in the Black Sea was a step in the right direction.

“It is too early to say that it will work, but these were the right meetings, the right decisions, the right steps,” he told a press conference in Kyiv.

“No-one can accuse Ukraine of not moving towards sustainable peace after this,” he added, after US President Donald Trump had previously accused him of blocking a peace deal.

But shortly after Washington’s announcement, the Kremlin said the Black Sea ceasefire would not take effect until sanctions were lifted from Russian banks, producers and exporters involved in the international food and fertiliser trades.

The measures demanded by Russia include reconnecting the banks concerned to the SwiftPay payment system, lifting restrictions on servicing ships under the Russian flag involved in the food trade, and on the supply of agricultural machinery and other goods needed for the production of food.

It was unclear from the White House’s statement when the agreement is meant to come into force.

When asked about lifting the sanctions, Trump told reporters: “We’re thinking about all of them right now. We’re looking at them.”

Washington’s statement on the US-Russia talks does say the US will “help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports”.

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky described this as a “weakening of positions”.

He also said Ukraine would push for further sanctions on Russia and more military support from the US if Moscow reneged on its commitments.

Later, in his nightly address to Ukrainians, Zelensky accused the Kremlin of lying when it said the Black Sea ceasefire depended on sanctions being lifted.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said “third countries” could oversee parts of the deal.

But he warned that the movement of Russian warships beyond the “eastern part of the Black Sea” would be treated as a violation of the agreement and a “threat to the national security of Ukraine”.

“In this case Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence,” he added.

A previous arrangement allowing safe passage of commercial ships in the Black Sea was agreed in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

Both Ukraine and Russia are major grain exporters, and prices rocketed after the start of the war.

The “Black Sea grain deal” was put in place to allow cargo ships travelling to and from Ukraine to safely navigate without being attacked by Russia.

The deal facilitated the movement of grain, sunflower oil and other products required for food production, such as fertiliser, through the Black Sea.

It was initially in place for a period of 120 days but, after multiple extensions, Russia pulled out in July 2023, claiming key parts of the agreement had not been implemented.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y2nvezdnwo

The president called the situation “the only glitch in two months.”

President Donald Trump defended National Security Adviser Mike Waltz after a journalist was mistakenly added to an encrypted group chat where high-ranking officials discussed military strikes in Yemen, dismissing the incident as “not serious.”

Trump stood by Waltz, attributing the mistake to a staffer and downplaying concerns about national security risks. The President referenced the situation in an interview with NBC News as “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”

The controversy erupted when The Atlantic reported that its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat where members of Trump’s national security team discussed a planned military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Goldberg initially questioned the chat’s authenticity but became convinced when the discussed attacks took place in real-time. The revelation raised alarms in Washington, with Democratic lawmakers demanding answers and national security experts warning of a serious breach of protocol.

“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump told the outlet.

The administration insists no classified information was shared and claims the group chat was merely part of routine policy discussions.

However, the White House’s shifting narrative—first acknowledging the authenticity of the messages, then denying sensitive details were discussed—has fueled criticism.

Source: https://www.latintimes.com/trump-dismisses-war-texts-leak-not-serious-defense-top-officials-mike-waltz-learned-lesson-579196

An AFP journalist was one of 7 detained journalists charged with participating in “illegal rallies and marches.” Over 1,000 people have been arrested during the crackdown on anti-government protests.

Protesters took to the streets for another night as anger grows following the arrest of opposition leader ImamogluImage: Francisco Seco/AP/picture allianceTurkish protesters took to the streets for a sixth straight day on Tuesday, as 7 journalists were detained, swept up in a large crackdown against dissent.

The civil unrest in Turkey erupted after Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a main political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested on corruption charges last week.

Imamoglu’s detention sparked protests, which were followed by a crackdown that has seen more than 1,400 people arrested.

What else do we know about the journalists’ arrest?
Among the journalists taken into custody was AFP photographer Yasin Akgul. The journalists were charged with “taking part in illegal rallies and marches,” though AFP said Akgul was “not part of the protest” but only covering it as a journalist.

“His imprisonment is unacceptable. This is why I am asking you to intervene as quickly as possible to obtain the rapid release of our journalist,” AFP’s CEO and chairman Fabrice Fries said in a letter to the Turkish presidency, in a sharp rebuke from the Paris-based news agency.

Thousands marched through the Sisli district of Istanbul on Tuesday, heading for the district’s municipal headquarters, demanding that the government resign.

Protesters waved flags and banners with slogans reading “Tayyip resign!” while people in apartments above banged on pots and pans in support.

Erdogan says protests will hit ‘a dead end’
In regards to Imamoglu’s arrest, the Turkish government has rejected claims of political influence and maintains that the country’s judiciary is independent.

Erdogan has accused the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of provoking citizens, vowing that they will feel ashamed for the “evil” done to the country once their “show” fades away.

Speaking to a group of young people in a Ramadan fast-breaking meal on Tuesday, the Turkish president urged patience and common sense amid what he described as “very sensitive days”.

“Those who terrorize our streets and want to turn this country into a place of chaos have nowhere to go. The path they have taken is a dead end,” Erdogan said.

Opposition calls for major demonstration
CHP leader Ozgur Ozel visited Imamoglu at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul. Ozel told reporters that he was “ashamed on behalf of those who govern Turkey of the atmosphere I am in and the situation that Turkey is being put through.”

Ozel said Imamoglu and two other jailed CHP district mayors were “three lions inside, standing tall, with their heads held high, proud of themselves, their families, their colleagues, not afraid.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-jails-journalists-as-protesters-defy-crackdown/a-72038167

The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg on Tuesday threatened to release more texts exchanged in a group chat of high-ranking U.S. national security officials—a group he was inadvertently added to earlier this month.

In the 24 hours since his bombshell essay about the jaw-dropping security fiasco, Donald Trump and his administration have downplayed the massive leak and attacked Goldberg’s credibility, as well as the credibility of the 168-year-old publication.

Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to get their hands on the thread and investigate any potential leak of classified information.

In an interview with The Bulwark on Tuesday, Goldberg said the messages sent in a top-secret Signal group chat about a military strike in Yemen included “sensitive” and “technical” information.

“Maybe in the coming days, I’ll be able to let you know that, ‘Okay, I have a plan to have this material vetted publicly,’ but I’m not going to say that now because there’s a lot of conversations that have to happen about that to [have it] make sense,” he said.

Though Goldberg published parts of the text thread, including messages from Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, he blurred out portions that he said contained operational details of a strike on the Houthi militant group in Yemen.

“Just because they’re irresponsible with material doesn’t mean that I’m going to be irresponsible with this material,” he said. “My obligation, I feel, is to the idea that we take national security information seriously.”

Hegseth, for his part, threw a veritable tantrum Monday after reporters asked him about the leak, blasting Goldberg as a “highly discredited” journalist who “peddles in garbage.” He also insisted that “nobody was texting war plans.”

Goldberg said on CNN that this was “a lie,” as the texts detailed a specific time for the attack, human targets, weapon systems, and even weather reports. The strike was carried out on March 15, killing 53 people.

“I have pretty clear standards in my own behavior of what I consider information that’s in the public interest and information that’s not in the public interest,” Goldberg said. “And I’m sticking to my principles here.”

But it might not be entirely up to Goldberg whether or not those texts get released.

Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/atlantic-editor-jeffrey-goldberg-threatens-to-release-more-texts-from-trump-officials-war-plan-group-chat/

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, says the governing body feels the mandatory tests for athletes are “a really important way of providing confidence”.

World Athletics will introduce mandatory testing for anyone entering female competitions to verify their biological sex, insisting it is necessary to protect women’s sport.

It is the latest move overseen by Sebastian Coe – as president of the governing body – to address the gender eligibility issue, two years after banning anyone assigned male at birth from female events.

Lord Coe said after a World Athletics Council meeting today that they could adopt non-invasive cheek swab tests or dry blood tests that only have to be carried out once on an athlete.

“This we feel is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition,” he said.

The tests would seek to verify if someone has transitioned to a female after going through male puberty or if they had differences of sex development that provided testosterone advantages.

Testing providers are now being sought.

Lord Coe said: “The pre-clearance testing will be for athletes to be able to compete in the female category.

“The process is very straightforward frankly, very clear and it’s an important one and we will work on the timelines.

“Neither of these are invasive. They are necessary and they will be done to absolute medical standards.”

It follows US President Donald Trump, ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, saying there are only two sexes – male and female – while calling on sports to ban transgender women from women’s events.

The International Olympic Committee has previously called a return to sex testing a “bad idea”, but incoming IOC President Kirsty Coventry is not ruling it out, having also talked about protecting the female category.

“This is a conversation that’s happened and the international federations have taken a far greater lead in this conversation,” she told Sky News after her election last week.

“What I was proposing is to bring a group together with the international federations and really understand each sport is slightly different.

“We know in equestrian, sex is really not an issue, but in other sports it is.

“So what I’d like to do again is bring the international federations together and sit down and try and come up with a collective way forward for all of us to move.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/world-athletics-to-introduce-mandatory-sex-testing-for-female-competitions-13335486

If you were wondering how far the creators of Screamboat would take their “Steamboat Willie” horror satire, the answer is: Pretty far.

A new trailer for Screamboat finds a maniacal mouse played by David Howard Thornton — Art the Clown in the Terrifier films — stalking “five feareless friends.” The trailer takes care to share their names in a whimsical font reminiscent of Disney’s, and Cindi, Bella, Jazzy, Arianna and Rory just might remind you of Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast‘s Belle, Aladdin‘s Jasmine, the Little Mermaid‘s Ariel and the titular character of Rapunzel.

The film seems carefully designed to set off as many alarms as possible, without drawing the wrath of Disney’s crack legal team. It even features an announcer whose voice sounds suspiciously like that of the announcer for Disney’s ’90s releases.

“A scream is a wish your heart makes!,” goes the tagline, parodying “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” a song from 1950’s Cinderella.

Its official description reads, “Be our guest on a New York City ferry ride that turns into a hilarious nightmare when a mischievous mouse named Steamboat Willie becomes a monstrous reality. As passengers set sail, their trip turns deadly when the tiny terror unleashes murder and mayhem. Packed with big kills, big laughs, and a miniature menace, Screamboat is a cinematic thrill ride that reimagines ‘Steamboat Willie’ like never before!”

Background on Screamboat
Screamboat exists because “Steamboat Willie,” which introduced the world to Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain this year, alongside other works first released in 1928. Directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, it was is one of the first cartoons to use synchronized sound, and was a major hit in its time that has endured in the near century since: You can still watch it on Disney+.

Though “Steamboat Willie” marked the public debut of Mickey Mouse — and Minnie Mouse — both had appeared a few months before in a test screening if the cartoon “Plane Crazy.”

Screamboat follows in the proud public domain tradition of 2023’s Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a slasher film inspired by the gentle children’s stories of A.A. Milne. The original Pooh stories entered the public domain in 2022.

Screamboat is written and directed by Steven LaMorte, who previously made the Grinch Who Stole Christmas-inspired horror film The Mean One, released in 2022.

Source: https://www.moviemaker.com/screamboat-disney-princesses/

A court in Japan has ordered the disbandment of the controversial Unification Church, which came under scrutiny after the shock killing of former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

The alleged assassin had confessed that he held a grievance against Abe because of the ex-leader’s ties with the church – he blamed the church for bankrupting his family.

Japan’s education and culture ministry sought the church’s dissolution and accused it of manipulating followers into making huge donations and other financial sacrifices.

But the church, more popularly known as the “Moonies”, argued that the donations were part of legitimate religious activities. It can appeal to overturn Tuesday’s ruling.

The order handed down by a Tokyo district court will strip the church of its tax-exempt status and require it to liquidate its assets, but it will still be allowed to operate in Japan.

During their investigation, authorities found that the church coerced followers into buying expensive items by exploiting fears about their spiritual well-being.

They interviewed nearly 200 people who said they were victimised by the church.

The Unification Church, which was started in South Korea, has established a presence in Japan since the 1960s. The name “Moonies” was derived from the name of its founder, Sun Myung Moon.

It has drawn controversy even before Abe’s assassination for teaching that marriage is central to spiritual salvation. It is known for holding mass wedding ceremonies involving thousands of couples.

Since 2023, some 200 former believers who said they were forced to donate to the group have demanded compensations amounting to 5.7 billion yen ($38.5m) in total, according their lawyers.

Investigations following Abe’s assassination revealed close ties between the secretive sect and many conservative ruling-party lawmakers, leading to the resignation of four ministers.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge1lr7225yo

On Aug. 12, 2024, three days after Rachel Zegler hit the stage at Disney’s D23 fan event to introduce the first official trailer of “Snow White,” she thanked supporters effusively in an X post for driving the teaser to 120 million views in 24 hours. One minute later, she added an afterthought in the same thread: “and always remember, free palestine.”

That addendum, which amassed 8.8 million views, nearly four times the number for the initial post, quickly made the rounds, with many inside the studio expressing shock that the “Snow White” star would commingle the promotion of its $270 million tentpole with any kind of political statement. A Disney executive raised the studio’s concerns with Zegler’s team, while the film’s producer Marc Platt flew to New York to speak directly with her. But the actress, whose relationship with the studio began to unravel in 2022 during a contentious “West Side Story” awards season campaign and continued as she trashed the beloved original “Snow White,” stood her ground, and the post remained. Behind the scenes, death threats toward Zegler’s co-star Gal Gadot, who is Israeli, spiked, and Disney had to pay for additional security for the mother of four.

“She didn’t understand the repercussions of her actions as far as what that meant for the film, for Gal, for anyone,” says one insider.

Three months later, following the presidential election, Zegler posted “Fuck Donald Trump” and “May Trump supporters … never know peace” on Instagram. Disney had had enough, given that the star was signaling to half the potential audience of an already troubled film plagued by costly reshoots to stay home. Platt made the case again to Zegler. After a back and forth, she began working with a social media guru paid for by Disney to vet any posts before the film’s March 21 bow. Disney declined comment. Zegler did not respond to a request for comment.

Now that the film’s dismal opening weekend — $87 million worldwide — is in the rearview mirror, Burbank brass are evaluating what went wrong. To put “Snow White’s” global box office haul into perspective, it’s about $34 million less than Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” in October but with a bigger budget by $70 million.

“You can’t say that a live-action remake of the most iconic film in the vault that cost [$270] million and has been reshot multiple times opening to $50 million is OK. The math does not work. That movie should be a billion-dollar movie,” said an executive at a rival studio when the film was tracking for a $45 million-$55 million domestic opening. (It ended up at below even the low-end figure, at $43 million.)

The Disney-Zegler standoffs underscore the challenge Hollywood studios face as they attempt to rein in stars who court controversy on social media. For her part, Gadot kept her comments on geopolitics limited to offering support for the civilian hostages taken during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and did not mix that message with the promotion of the film. Zegler had already strained nerves at both the studio and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners when she complained on social media that she wasn’t invited to the 2022 Oscars as the star of best picture nominee “West Side Story,” a film distributed by Disney. Sources say she had just begun production on “Snow White” in London and Sean Bailey, then-president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, declined to cut her loose for the telecast. After Zegler aired her grievances publicly, the Academy provided her with a ticket even though she wasn’t nominated. (Bailey was gone from the job by February 2024.)

Months later at D23, she criticized the original 1937 “Snow White,” noting that the prince “literally stalks” the heroine. One top agent says that was the moment that Disney allowed Zegler to control the narrative: “The first time she shoots her mouth off, you nip it in the bud.” Instead, the studio said nothing, and purists began to revolt. And as time went on, Disney became increasingly loath to weigh in on anyone’s speech considering that the studio was sued in 2024 by actress Gina Carano, who claims she was fired from “The Mandalorian” for voicing her opinions on hot-button issues.

“They say all press is good press, but in ‘Snow White’s’ case, they were unabashedly wrong,” says box office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “Too much negative controversy surrounded this film for years, and it didn’t help that the reviews were subpar, likely rendering this latest live-action adventure to D+ for many potential ticket buyers. A possible saving grace? A feeble marketplace where ‘Snow White’ could stay awhile — as many family films have — despite the lackluster debut.”

Many additional factors contributed to the film’s woes, including a COVID-related production delay and a fire on set, while the actors strike scuttled some reshoots. Meanwhile, Disney’s live-action movies, which were once reliable box office draws, have looked shakier in recent years, with the likes of “Dumbo” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” bombing and “Peter Pan & Wendy” getting shipped to Disney+.

Still, there was no bad blood between the two “Snow White” leads despite press reports to the contrary. Sources say the actresses got along well during production, and things only got awkward during the run-up to release. Case in point: Zegler referred to Gadot as “a professional pageant queen” in one Instagram reply that followed their joint appearance as presenters at the Oscars this month, considered a dismissive way to describe a fellow actress.

Source: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/snow-white-death-threats-zegler-social-media-guru-1236347433/

Lisa Sólrun Christiansen gets up at 4 a.m. most days and gets to work knitting thick wool sweaters coveted by buyers around the world for their warmth and colorful patterns celebrating Greenland’s traditional Inuit culture.
Her morning routine includes a quick check of the news, but these days the ritual shatters her peace because of all the stories about U.S. President Donald Trump’s designs on her homeland.
“I get overwhelmed,’’ Christiansen said earlier this month as she looked out to sea, where impossibly blue icebergs floated just offshore.

The daughter of Inuit and Danish parents, Christiansen, 57, cherishes Greenland. It is a source of immense family pride that her father, an artist and teacher, designed the red-and-white Greenlandic flag.

“On his deathbed he talked a lot about the flag, and he said that the flag is not his, it’s the people’s,” she said. “And there’s one sentence I keep thinking about. He said, ‘I hope the flag will unite the Greenlandic people.’’’

Island of anxiety
Greenlanders are increasingly worried that their homeland, a self-governing region of Denmark, has become a pawn in the competition between the U.S., Russia and China as global warming opens up access to the Arctic. They fear Trump’s aim to take control of Greenland, which holds rich mineral deposits and straddles strategic air and sea routes, may block their path toward independence.

Those fears were heightened Sunday when second lady Usha Vance announced she would visit Greenland later this week to attend the national dogsled race. Separately, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a U.S. military base in northern Greenland.

The Trump administration’s push got even heavier on Tuesday when U.S. Vice President JD Vance shared a video saying he would join his wife Friday at the military base in Greenland.

“We’re going to check out how things are going there,” Vance said. “Speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world.”

The announcements inflamed tensions sparked earlier this month when Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland just two days after Greenlanders elected a new parliament opposed to becoming part of the U.S. Trump even made a veiled reference to the possibility of military pressure, noting the U.S. bases in Greenland and musing that “maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there.”

News of the visit drew an immediate backlash from local politicians, who described it as a display of U.S. power at a time they are trying to form a government.

“It must also be stated in bold that our integrity and democracy must be respected without any external interference,’’ outgoing Prime Minister Múte Boroup Egede said.

Greenland, part of Denmark since 1721, has been moving toward independence for decades. It’s a goal most Greenlanders support, though they differ on when and how that should happen. They don’t want to trade Denmark for an American overlord.

The question is whether Greenland will be allowed to control its own destiny at a time of rising international tensions when Trump sees the island as key to U.S. national security.

David vs. Goliath
While Greenland has limited leverage against the world’s greatest superpower, Trump made a strategic mistake by triggering a dispute with Greenland and Denmark rather than working with its NATO allies in Nuuk and Copenhagen, said Otto Svendsen, an Arctic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Trump’s actions, he says, have united Greenlanders and fostered a greater sense of national identity.

“You have this feeling of pride and of self-determination in Greenland that the Greenlanders are not, you know, cowed by this pressure coming from Washington,” Svendsen said. “And they’re doing everything in their power to make their voices heard.”

Denmark recognized Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing under the 2009 Greenland Self-Government Act, which was approved by local voters and ratified by the Danish parliament. The right to self-determination is also enshrined in the United Nations charter, approved by the U.S. in 1945.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/greenland-future-trump-arctic-independence-denmark-minerals-4711a83c4490de99638db32029b668c9

The head of the United Nations program on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, said on Monday that over 6 million additional deaths from the disease are expected after the US slashed its funding.

UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said the sudden cuts from the US, which had been the biggest donor to the program, had been “devastating.”

“You’re talking of losing the gains that we have made over the last 25 years. It is very serious,” she told reporters in Geneva.

Over 6 million additional AIDS deaths

“If US Assistance is not restored and not replaced by other funding — and we have not heard of other governments pledging to fill the gap — there would be an additional 6.3 million more AIDS-related deaths — in the next 4 years,” Byanyima said.

She pointed out that some 600,000 AIDS-related deaths were recorded globally at the last count in 2023.

Byanyima also said “an additional 8.7 million new infections” were expected.

Beyond the short-term, the UNAIDS chief said that without the funding gap being filled, the AIDS pandemic could return to levels not seen since the 1990s.

“Not just in the countries where now it has become concentrated, in low-income countries of Africa, but also growing amongst what we call key populations in Eastern Europe, in Latin America,” she said.

“We will see a… real surge in this disease. We’ll see it come back, and we’ll see people die the way we saw them in the ’90s and in the 2000s.”

UNAIDS chief calls on US to reconsider sudden cuts

US President Donald Trump, and his close ally billionaire Elon Musk, have overseen massive cuts in federal spending, including to US foreign aid.

The decision to cut funding for the fight against AIDS has sparked protests both at home and abroad.

Byanyima struck an understanding tone, while calling on the White House to reconsider its decision.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-millions-more-will-die-from-aids-after-us-cuts/a-72021064

Meghan Markle was convinced she landed the cover of Vanity Fair, not for her relationship with Prince Harry, but for her charity work, former editor Graydon Carter exclusively tells Page Six.

The journalist, who started working as the magazine’s editor in 1992, recalled booking Markle for one of his final cover stories before stepping down from his role in 2017.

“Jane Sarkin, who booked our covers, came in and said, ‘We should do a cover on Meghan Markle,’” he told us.

“I said, ‘I have no idea what that is, why should we do a story on her?’” Carter said of Markle, who had already risen to fame for her role in “Suits.”

“So she said, ‘Because she’s going to marry Prince Harry.’”

The 75-year-old also recalled how Markle, now 43, challenged the reporter interviewing her once they booked her.

According to Carter, the future Duchess of Sussex told the reporter, “Excuse me, Is this going to all be about Prince Harry? Because I thought we were going to be talking about my charities and my philanthropy.”

“This woman is slightly adrift on the facts and reality,” Carter added of the As Ever founder.

The feature was notably headlined “Meghan Markle, Wild About Harry!”

Harry, 40, and Markle started dating in 2016 before getting engaged in 2017, the same year as her Vanity Fair interview. They ultimately tied the knot a year later.

The Air Mail co-founder also theorized how Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana, would feel about the renegade royal’s estrangement from his family members since he and Markle resigned from their royal duties in 2020.

“I would think she would feel great sorrow for her son to have been pulled away from his family like this, especially his brother but also his father,” he said. “Anytime someone comes between siblings that’s a disaster, horrible for a family.”

Carter then gave some insight into his experiences with Diana, whom he knew quite well and crossed paths with at several functions over the years before she died in 1997 at the age of 36.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/03/24/royal-family/meghan-markle-thought-she-landed-vanity-fair-cover-for-charity-work-not-prince-harry-relationship-ex-editor-says/

Canada’s spy service on Monday said India and China are likely to try to interfere in its upcoming general election, a charge that came amid its worsening relations with the two countries.

Addressing a press conference on the April 28 snap election, Vanessa Lloyd, the deputy director of operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said that “hostile state actors” were increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to meddle in the polls, which were announced by the new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, on Sunday.

“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) is highly likely to use AI-enabled tools to attempt to interfere with Canada’s democratic process in this current election,” she said.

China is also “highly likely” to use social media to promote narratives favourable to its interests – and to specifically target Chinese ethnic, cultural and religious communities in Canada using “clandestine and deceptive” means, Ms Lloyd said.

“We have also seen that the government of India has the intent and capability to interfere in Canadian communities and democratic processes to assert its geopolitical influence,” she added.

The two countries, which have denied previous allegations of interference, have so far not responded to new charges.

In January, India rejected “insinuations” levelled by a Canadian commission report of interference in Ottawa’s elections by certain foreign governments.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also hit back at Canada’s interference in India’s internal affairs.

“We reject the report’s insinuations on India and expect that the support system enabling illegal migration will not be further countenanced,” the statement read.

Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail had alleged that New Delhi used proxy agents to provide “clandestine financial support” to candidates from three political parties in a federal election.

Canada Warns Of Poll Interference By Russia, Pak

Ms Lloyd also said Russia and Pakistan could interfere in the Canadian general election.

Russia has tried to build “dissemination networks” across social media and news websites that “amplify Kremlin talking points,” she told reporters.

“It is possible that Russia will use these online networks to opportunistically conduct foreign information manipulation and interference operations directed at Canadians,” she said.

She also said that Islamabad could conduct foreign interference activities against Canada “in line with its strategic aims” to promote political, security and economic stability in Pakistan and “to counter India’s growing global influence”.

Canada-India Ties

Tensions between India and Canada have simmered since former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 allegation of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India dismissed the accusation as “absurd.”

The row deepened when India expelled six Canadian diplomats and recalled its envoy to Ottawa after Canada attempted to question Indian officials as “persons of interest” in the Nijjar case.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/canada-elections-2025-ottawa-alleges-india-china-pakistan-russia-intent-capability-to-interfere-in-its-polls-8004085

Top Trump administration officials mistakenly disclosed war plans in a messaging group that included a journalist shortly before the U.S. attacked Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, the White House said on Monday, following a first-hand account by The Atlantic.
Democratic lawmakers swiftly blasted the misstep, saying it was a breach of U.S. national security and a violation of law that must be investigated by Congress.

The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a report on Monday that he was unexpectedly invited on March 13 to an encrypted chat group on the Signal messaging app called the “Houthi PC small group.” In the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz tasked his deputy Alex Wong with setting up a “tiger team” to coordinate U.S. action against the Houthis.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the chat group appeared to be authentic.
U.S. President Donald Trump launched an ongoing campaign of large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Houthis on March 15 over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, and he warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group.

Hours before those attacks started, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details about the plan in the messaging group, “including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg said. His report omitted the details but Goldberg termed it a “shockingly reckless” use of a Signal chat.
Accounts that appeared to represent Vice President JD Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials were assembled in the chat group, Goldberg wrote.
Joe Kent, Trump’s nominee for National Counterterrorism Center director, was apparently on the Signal chain despite not yet being Senate-confirmed.

Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unaware of the incident. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,” Trump said. A White House official said later that an investigation was under way and Trump had been briefed on it.
The NSC’s Hughes said in a statement: “At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”
Hegseth denied sharing war plans in the group chat.
“Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” he told reporters while on an official trip to Hawaii on Monday.
Goldberg responded to Hegseth’s denial in an interview on CNN late on Monday by saying, “No, that’s a lie. He was texting war plans.”

‘EUROPEAN FREE-LOADING’

According to screenshots of the chat reported by The Atlantic, officials in the group debated whether the U.S. should carry out the strikes, and at one point Vance appeared to question whether U.S. allies in Europe, more exposed to shipping disruption in the region, deserved U.S. help.

“@PeteHegseth if you think we should do it let’s go,” a person identified as Vance wrote. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” the person wrote, adding: “Let’s just make sure our messaging is tight here.”
A person identified as Hegseth replied: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
The Atlantic reported that the person identified as Vance also raised concerns about the timing of the strikes, and said there was a strong argument in favor of delaying them by a month.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices,” the account wrote, before saying he was willing to support the group’s consensus.
Yemen, Houthi-ally Iran and the European Union’s diplomatic service did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Under U.S. law, it can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether those provisions might have been breached in this case. Messages that The Atlantic report said were set by Waltz to disappear from the Signal app after a period of time also raise questions about possible violations of federal record-keeping laws.
As part of a Trump administration effort to chase down leaks by officials to journalists unrelated to the Signal group, Gabbard posted on X on March 14 that any “unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such.”
On Tuesday, Gabbard is due to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats to the United States.
Created by the entrepreneur Moxie Marlinspike, Signal has gone from an exotic messaging app used by privacy-conscious dissidents to the unofficial whisper network of Washington officialdom. Signal does not use U.S. government encryption and is not hosted on government servers.
Democratic lawmakers called the use of the Signal group illegal and demanded an investigation.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, adding that he would ask Majority Leader John Thune to investigate.
“We’re just finding out about it. But obviously, we’ve got to run it to ground and figure out what went on there. We’ll have a plan,” said Thune, a Republican from South Dakota.
There was no immediate suggestion from the White House that the breach would lead to any staffing changes.
“President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including national security adviser Mike Waltz,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Reuters.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on X the use of Signal to discuss highly sensitive national security issues was “blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/top-trump-officials-mistakenly-divulged-military-plans-journalist-2025-03-24/

Nikki Glaser said she is thinking twice about performing political jokes, including those about President Donald Trump, over fears of getting death threats or being detained.

The comedian was at the gala for the 26th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to celebrate honoree Conan O’Brien.

The mood took a more serious turn when she opened up on the red carpet about her concerns with using political humor, according to Deadline.

“Like, you just are scared that you’re gonna get doxxed and death threats or who knows where this leads, like, detained. Honestly that’s not even like a joke,” Glaser told reporters.

“It’s like a real fear. So it’s unfortunate that that’s true, but I’m not gonna lie and say I don’t think about that sometimes. … I can be up on the gallows and say, ‘I was just joking. I’m a comedian.’ I hope that that’s a defense.”

Glaser told The Hill on Sunday that she misses being open about her point of view and formerly “felt safe speaking to that.”

“I went from being like ‘I don’t want to talk about politics because I don’t want to alienate anyone’ to like, ‘I want to talk about it but now I’m scared to.’ And that’s just that’s a s—ty place to be,” she added.

Trump announced in February that he would be appointing himself chairman of the Washington-based performing arts center, firing multiple members of the board of trustees.

O’Brien told reporters that he has no control over what his colleagues would say during the night, according to Deadline.

“Well, I don’t have any say of what any of my friends are doing,” he said.

Following Glaser’s remarks on the carpet, some fellow comedians took the opportunity to mock the new administration. Sarah Silverman included a jab in her speech addressed to O’Brien, saying, “I just really miss the days when you were America’s only orange a–hole,” according to Yahoo Entertainment.

Source : https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/nikki-glaser-says-fears-getting-death-threats-detained-political-humor-rcna197855

Chinese carmaker BYD saw a surge in revenue last year, a stock filing showed Monday, surpassing the $100 billion mark and beating rival Tesla as the electric vehicle giant accelerates its overseas expansion.

The Shenzhen-based firm has emerged in recent years as the clear leader in China’s highly competitive EV market, which is the largest in the world.

It is also increasingly seeking new growth channels abroad, vowing to conquer the European market with a new compact electric model and super-fast charging capabilities to rival continental brands.

BYD recorded 777.1 billion yuan ($107.2 billion) in revenue for 2024, a statement published Monday evening at the Shenzhen stock exchange showed.

That figure eclipsed the $97.7 billion in revenue last year announced previously by Tesla.

The Chinese juggernaut’s push into Europe comes at a challenging juncture for Tesla, whose sales in the continent have dropped following CEO Elon Musk’s support for far-right political groups there.

BYD’s revenue results represent a 29 percent increase from the previous year and outperformed a Bloomberg forecast of 766 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, BYD’s net profit last year amounted to 40.3 billion yuan, up 34 percent from 2023 and reaching a record high.

In a further promising sign, the company’s net profit in the final quarter of the year reached a record amount of 15 billion yuan, the stock filing showed.

BYD — which adopts the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — has enjoyed a giddy few months of surging sales disclosures and soaring stock prices.

It said in January that it sold nearly 4.3 million vehicles last year, up more than 40 percent from the previous year.

Monthly sales also jumped 161 percent in February to 318,000 units, easily outpacing a steep decline at Tesla over the same period.

– Charging ahead –

This month, BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose to a record high after the firm unveiled new battery technology it says can charge a vehicle in the same time it takes to fill up a petrol car.

The “Super e-Platform” battery and charging system boasts peak speeds of 1,000 kilowatts and allows cars to travel up to 470 kilometres (292 miles) after a five-minute charge, according to the company.

Tesla’s Superchargers, by contrast, currently offer charging speeds of 500 kilowatts.

BYD Vice-President Stella Li said last week that “registration numbers will jump” in Europe during March and April.

The group has launched major advertising campaigns including sponsorship of last year’s European Championships in football and has opened numerous new showrooms across the continent.

However, geopolitical and trade tensions between Beijing and Western capitals threaten to cast a shadow over the company’s global ambitions.

BYD is a key player in a new generation of Chinese automotive giants to have benefited from generous support by Beijing, which has poured vast state funds into the sector.

The approach has given domestic firms a critical edge in the race to provide cheaper, more fuel-efficient EVs over leading US automakers, which have not always enjoyed such state largesse.

EU authorities are reportedly investigating whether the Chinese government provided unfair subsidies for BYD’s first European factory, in Hungary, where electric car production is scheduled to start late this year.

Li told AFP last week that the company would be “very transparent” and was willing to cooperate with any investigation.

Source : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-ev-giant-byd-surpasses-133522080.html

Donald Trump has demanded the removal of a ‘purposefully distorted’ presidential portrait hung in the Colorado State Capitol.

The 78-year-old is seething at his predecessor Barack Obama looking better than him on a wall of portraits of US presidents.

‘He looks wonderful’, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform last night. ‘But the one on me is truly the worst.’

For the first two-and-a-half years of Trump’s last term in office, his face was noticeably absent from the gallery.

Portraits are funded by private donations, not public funds, and none had been forthcoming.

That was until a portrait of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin appeared in front of Trump’s spot in July 2018, courtesy of an activist from ProgressNow Colorado, who snuck in.

Suddenly, fuelled by anger, the money flowed. Within 32 hours, the $10,000 target had been reached.

‘It’s only fitting that a populist, such as the president, would have the first crowd-funded campaign for a presidential portrait’, former state senate president Kevin Grantham, who led the fundraising, said.

Commissioned to paint it was Sarah A. Boardman, a British-born artist , now based in Colorado Springs, who painted the Obama portrait during his time in office.

She had stepped up to the job after Lawrence Williams, who painted the previous 43, died in 2003.

At the time, her portrait of Trump seemed to go down well when it was unveiled in August 2019.

Boardman said: ‘My portrait of President Trump has been called thoughtful, non-confrontational, not angry, not happy, not tweeting,

‘In five, 10, 15, 20 years, he will be another President on the wall who is only historical background, and he needs to look neutral.’

For his allies, like state representative Kevin Van Winkle, it was ‘a great day to be an American’.

Almost six years on, Trump appears to have decided he doesn’t agree, accusing the portrait of being ‘purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before’.

‘Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves’, he wrote on social media.

‘The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older.

‘In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain.

‘In fact, they are actually angry about it! I am speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on Crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, which practically took over Aurora (Don’t worry, we saved it!), to take it down.

Source : https://metro.co.uk/2025/03/24/donald-trump-hates-distorted-portrait-demands-taken-22777267/#

Greenland’s Prime Minister has blasted the idea of Usha Vance, lawyer and wife of US Vice-President JD Vance, visiting the country – saying it is causing a “big mess” and warned “American aggression” was increasing. Greenlandic leader Múte Bourup Egede slammed the three-day trip by Ms Vance and her son, which is scheduled to last from Thursday to Saturday, as part of a cultural tour and to see the country’s annual dogsled race.

Ms Vance will also be accompanied by the Trump administration’s national security adviser and energy secretary, prompting fears the US is forging ahead with President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of the nation, which at present is administered by NATO ally Denmark. On Sunday, Vice-President JD Vance blasted Denmark for “not doing its job” and “not being a good ally” during an appearance on the Trump-friendly TV network Fox News.

He said: “So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security? If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us.”

Greenland straddles strategic air and sea routes in the North Atlantic and is home to the US Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile warning and space surveillance operations.

The world’s biggest island, with a population of 56,000, people there are mostly from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds. It also has large deposits of the rare-earth minerals needed to make everything from mobile phones to renewable energy.

Greenland is also in the process of political transition. The pro-business Demokraatit party, which favours a slow path to independence, won a surprise victory in the recent elections, outpacing the two left-leaning parties that formed the last government.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede, who remains in the post until a new government is formed, acknowledged in a Facebook post on Sunday that there is worry on the island about US intentions.

The visit of “the wife of the United States vice president and the United States president’s highest security adviser cannot be seen only as a private visit,” he said. “We can already see now, how big a mess it’s caused.”

Egede said there would be no official meetings with the US visitors because a new government has yet to be formed.

The likely next Greenlandic leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Demokraatit, sought to calm nerves and said he was working on building a new coalition government “with the clear goal of creating security for our country and our people.”

He said in a statement “When foreign dignitaries travel to our country on what are called private visits, it rightly causes concern. There is no reason to panic. But there is good reason to stand together and to demand respect. I do. And I will continue to do so.”

President Trump had mused during his first term about ‘buying’ Greenland, even as Denmark insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland have also firmly rejected Mr Trump’s plans.

Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2031784/greenland-pm-explodes-jd-vance-wife-donald-trump

Researchers are developing an injection that creates a contraceptive implant in the body using an approach that could herald a new way of delivering drugs over long periods of time.

Current contraceptive implants last for years, meaning women do not have to take a pill every day, but the devices must be fitted by a trained professional via a small surgical procedure. Contraceptive injections are already available but they have limitations, including that they last for only three months.

Now scientists say they have completed proof-of-concept experiments for a new type of long-lasting implant that self-assembles in the body.

While not yet tested in humans, the researchers behind the work say the approach could bring benefits beyond the field of birth control, offering a simple way to administer long-acting drug delivery systems without the need for invasive procedures – an appealing prospect for parts of the world with poor medical infrastructure.

“It’s suitable for any poorly soluble hydrophobic drug, especially where long-acting delivery is needed. This includes treatments for HIV, TB, schizophrenia, chronic pain, or metabolic disease​,” said Dr Giovanni Traverso, a co-author of the study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s hospital in the US.

The approach involves injecting micro-crystals of a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone contained in a solvent that does not mix well with water.

Once in the body, the solvent exchanges with bodily fluid. However, the micro-crystals prefer to clump together than interact with this water-rich environment. This, together with the formation of further crystals as the solvents exchange, results in the development of a solid implant, capable of releasing the drug slowly over time.

The team, whose study was published in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering, tested the approach in rats, allowing them to refine the choice of solvent in the injection. The drug release in rats was sustained for at least 97 days, although Traverso said there was potential for longer durations depending on formulation adjustments​.

“The dosing and volumes of drug are compatible with multi-year dosing,” he said, adding that the formation of a solid implant means it can be removed if required, while the approach is also compatible with the use of small needles.

However, the research is still in its early stages, with the efficacy of the approach yet to be tested. “It lays the groundwork for future human studies which we hope will start in the next three to five years,” Traverso said.

Dr Janet Barter, the president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, said the approach could be an exciting advancement.

Source : https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/24/scientists-develop-injection-for-long-lasting-contraceptive-implant

THE world’s oldest cat has just celebrated her 30th birthday, as her owner shares the bizarre secret to her long life.

Leslie Greenhough, 70, believes his tortoiseshell moggy, Millie, who was born in 1995, is currently the oldest living feline.

Leslie said the cat’s long life is down to “lots of treats” including “cuddles on the sofa” and Buxton water.

The moggy was first owned by Leslie’s late wife, Paula, 55, who first got Millie in 1995 – when the kitten was three months old.

To celebrate three decades, Leslie decided to a get a cake made with her face on complete with 30 candles.

A big fan of attention, Millie starts her day “messing” about with Leslie before jumping up onto his knee and on the back of the sofa in the sun.

Leslie, a former storekeeper from Stockport, said: “It was a fantastic day, it is such an achievement that she has turned 30.

“I had a birthday cake made with her face on. It was such a hot day she was licking all the cream off.

“My life ambition is to get her in the Guinness Book of records, but I can’t prove her age.

“The only person who can do that is my late wife who sadly died five years ago.”

Leslie met his wife on the dating site Plenty Of Fish in 2012, and he was introduced to Millie after he over heard her ‘meowing’ in the background of the calls.

The couple got engaged in 2013 on Valentine’s Day and married two years later in 2014.

Leslie had owned a cat once before as a child, named Blackie, but hadn’t had a pet in several decades, until meeting Millie.

He said: “Blackie used to follow me everywhere, she was born in a paper mill and such a sweet thing.

“Millie was such a sweet cat when I first met her.

“Over the years Millie was bullied by other cats the her neighbourhood, so she stopped going out and became more of an indoor cat.

A United Airlines 787 flying from Los Angeles to China had to turn around this weekend after it was discovered one of the pilots had taken off without their passport, the airline told CNN in a statement.

Flight 198 departed LAX at 2 p.m. Saturday with 257 passengers and 13 crew onboard and headed northwest over the Pacific Ocean, bound for Shanghai.

Two hours later, the plane turned around and headed for San Francisco, where it landed around 5 p.m., according to the website FlightAware.

“The pilot did not have their passport onboard,” United said in a statement. “We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.”

Source : https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/24/travel/plane-turns-around-pilot-forgets-passport/index.html

Thailand’s opposition on Monday grilled Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on the first day of a parliamentary no-confidence motion, accusing her of being unqualified and of allowing her powerful father to wield influence over her administration.
The opposition People’s Party said Paetongtarn was taking direction from her father, divisive political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire former premier who is banned from holding office over a conviction for conflicts of interest and abuse of power that kept him in self-exile for 15 years.

“We have a leader outside of the system… directing government policies without any accountability,” People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut told parliament.
“Thailand is at a double loss: one person works without accountability, another who holds state power lacks qualifications,” he said.
Despite lukewarm ratings in opinion polls, Paetongtarn enters the two-day debate in a firm position, with no signs of turmoil in a ruling coalition that commands a parliamentary majority, making it unlikely the motion will prosper when it goes to a vote on Wednesday.

Paetongtarn, 38, the fourth member of the Shinawatra family to hold the top post, did not respond to Natthaphong’s allegations. She previously insisted her government is not under anyone’s influence, while Thaksin, 75, has said he is retired and only offers advice.
Thaksin, Thailand’s most influential and polarising politician, has loomed large over Thai politics for the past 24 years. He returned home in 2023 and spent six months in detention in hospital under a government led by the Pheu Thai Party he founded, before being released on parole.
He has spoken openly and frequently about policies that include legalising gambling and adopting cryptocurrency and championed a $14 billion handout scheme to stimulate the economy, all of which the Pheu Thai-led government has pursued.

‘NOT TRUE’

Ukrainian and U.S. delegations discussed on Sunday proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s defence minister said, part of a diplomatic push by U.S. President Donald Trump to end three years of war.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia, which precedes talks on Monday between the U.S. and Russian delegations, came as U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about the chances for ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

“I feel that (Russian President Vladimir Putin) wants peace,” Witkoff told Fox News on Sunday.
“I think that you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that, you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country’s delegation to Sunday’s talks was working in “a completely constructive manner”, adding: “The conversation is quite useful, the work of the delegations is continuing.

“But no matter what we say to our partners today, we need to get Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes,” Zelenskiy said in a televised statement.
Ukraine’s delegation was headed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who said the aim of such contacts was helping to “bring a just peace closer and to strengthen security”, though Zelenskiy also said Sunday’s talks were essentially “technical”.
Putin agreed last week to Trump’s proposal for Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days, but that narrowly defined ceasefire was soon cast into doubt, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
A large-scale Russian drone attack on Kyiv overnight killed at least three people, including a 5-year-old child, causing fires in high-rise apartment buildings and damage throughout the capital, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

Meanwhile Russian authorities said on Sunday that their air defences had destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones targeting the country’s southwestern regions, adding that the strikes had killed one person in Rostov.

‘SOMEWHAT UNDER CONTROL’

South Korea’s Constitutional Court reinstated Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to the post of acting president on Monday, striking down his impeachment as he pledged to focus on steering Asia’s fourth-biggest economy through a U.S. “trade war”.
The ruling, which comes amid months of political turmoil in the country, returns Han to power immediately. He took over as acting leader from President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over his imposition of martial law in December.

“I believe the people are making it very clear, in one voice, that the extreme confrontation in politics must stop,” said Han, who thanked the court for its “wise decision” and the cabinet for their hard work while he was suspended.
“As acting president, I will do my best to maintain stable state administration, and devote all wisdom and capabilities to safeguard national interests in the trade war,” Han said in televised comments.
South Korea, one of the world’s top exporters, has been bracing for the potential impact of a range of threatened tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump.

South Korea has already seen U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium and has been seeking an exemption from reciprocal U.S tariffs next month. Earlier this month, Trump singled out South Korea for applying high tariffs on U.S. exports.
Yoon’s martial law declaration plunged the key U.S. military ally into its greatest political crisis in decades, and sparked a leadership vacuum amid spiralling impeachments, resignations, and criminal indictments for a range of top officials.
Han had initially lasted less than two weeks in the post and was impeached and suspended on December 27 after clashing with the opposition-led parliament by refusing to appoint three more justices to the Constitutional Court.
The justices on the court ruled on Monday seven to one to strike down the impeachment.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok had assumed the position of acting president while the cases of Yoon and Han were before the Constitutional Court.

Han, 75, had served in leadership positions for more than three decades under five presidents, both conservative and liberal.
In a country sharply divided by partisan rhetoric, Han is a rare example of an official whose varied career transcended party lines.
Still, the opposition-led parliament accused him of not doing enough to thwart Yoon’s decision to declare martial law, an accusation he denied.
Lee Jae-myung, head of the opposition Democratic Party, urged the Constitutional Court to swiftly make a decision on President Yoon’s impeachment.
The court is expected to rule within days. Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of leading an insurrection by declaring martial law.
If Yoon is removed, a new presidential election will be held within 60 days.
“The court’s continued delay in ruling is fueling concern and conflict,” said Lee, who opinion polls suggest would win an election if Yoon is removed.
South Korea has seen huge, mostly peaceful, rallies both in support of Yoon and calling for his removal in recent months.
Lim Ji-bong, a law professor at Sogang University, said he expects the court to remove Yoon. The justices will want to show they can be “united to make a bold decision to stop deepening national divisions,” he said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-constitutional-court-strikes-down-impeachment-pm-han-duck-soo-2025-03-24/

A recent geological survey has revealed the presence of gold reserves in as many as eighteen locations across Odisha. The gold deposits have been identified in several districts, many of which are tribal-dominated and economically backward. These include Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Boudh, and Angul.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI), in collaboration with the State Geological Department, conducted an extensive study to map these resources. Notably, high-grade platinum deposits have also been detected in the mineral-rich Keonjhar district, adding to the state’s vast mineral wealth.

The survey has identified significant gold deposits in multiple locations, with the highest concentrations found in Aradangi, Dimirmuda, Telkoi, Gopura, Gajaipur, Saleikana, Singpur, and Kusakala within Keonjhar district. In addition, notable gold reserves have been detected in Suleipat, Suruda, Jashipur, and Suriaguda areas of Mayurbhanj district.

The first aerial survey to assess gold reserves in Odisha was conducted in 2007. Since then, interest in mining these deposits has grown considerably. As many as eighteen private companies have submitted applications seeking permission to explore and extract these mineral resources. However, despite the interest from private enterprises, the state government has yet to grant any formal approval for mining operations.

Meanwhile, the search for diamond reserves in Odisha has also yielded promising results. The world’s leading diamond producer, De Beers, carried out a survey in January 2010 to assess the potential for diamond deposits in the state.

The study led to the discovery of Kimberlite and Lamproite formations—geological structures known for hosting diamonds—in the districts of Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, and Bolangir. Kimberlite and Lamproite are varieties of micaceous peridotite, a rock type that is rich in magnesium and low in silica, and is commonly associated with diamond deposits.

Despite these significant findings, there has been little progress in initiating diamond mining activities in the state. The exploration efforts have so far remained at the survey stage, with no substantial steps taken towards the extraction and commercial utilization of the discovered diamond reserves.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/gold-reserves-discovered-in-18-locations-across-odisha

Don’t phub up your relationships.

You’ve likely heard of “snubbing,” which is basically ignoring or failing to acknowledge someone’s existence. In different types of relationships, it can feel particularly painful to be on the receiving end of this behavior.

However, there’s another term for snubbing—thanks to the internet, of course—that involves ignoring someone for the sake of spending time on your phone. This is called “phubbing.”

According to a study published in the journal Heliyon, “The practice of phubbing has become an emerging phenomenon of worldwide interest to researchers. The cause is due to the fact that smartphones are ubiquitous and are often used in co-present interactions. This behavior is generally considered inappropriate and is called ‘phubbing.’”

If you’ve ever been on a date where the other person is constantly checking or scrolling on their phone while you’re trying to have a conversation, you’ve been a victim of phubbing. Honestly, I think we all have.

Many relationships face this common issue. When you go out to dinner, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll see someone paying more attention to their phone than to their person or people they’re with.

And while we all do it from time to time, considering the addictive nature of technology, phubbing can negatively impact your relationship. If you are constantly paying attention to your phone and ignoring your partner or vice versa, this can naturally lead to feelings of neglect or disconnect.

Here’s a pretty decent summary of phubbing and its impact on other people, provided by Dr. Justin D’Arienzo, a Relationship, Forensic, Business, and Board Certified Clinical Psychologist.

Source : https://www.vice.com/en/article/is-your-partner-phubbing-you/

Investor Guy Spier is a self-described “disciple” of multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world’s most famous money-makers. That places him among hundreds of thousands of Buffett acolytes — nothing so unusual there — but he’s one of the few to have spent quality time with the legend. In 2007, Spier, along with friend and fellow investor Mohnish Pabrai, won lunch with Buffett in a charity auction, paying $650,000 between them. The knowledge he picked up, as he reveals below, was priceless.

Spier started the Aquamarine Fund in 1997 — now worth $450 million — using Buffett’s “value investor” strategy of buying stocks at a price below their intrinsic value and holding them for a long time. Spier’s book, The Education of a Value Investor: My Transformative Quest for Wealth, Wisdom and Enlightenment, details the ups and downs of his career, and covers his early ambitions to become the king of Wall Street, and his move to Zurich, where he now lives and works.

Big Think caught up with him for a chat about that Buffett “buffet,” his Charlie Munger sculptures, the true usefulness of AI, and more.

Big Think: What did you learn over lunch with Warren Buffett?

Spier: I was so nervous: I was afraid he wouldn’t like me. I’d not been in a room with a guy who was a billionaire approximately 70 times over. Every time he looked at me, I wanted to kind of jump or pinch myself. He’s a very particular personality, and he was totally focused on making the lunch worthwhile for us.

I think he has a pretty big ego himself. But smart people who have a big ego — who understand that it’s not good to have a big ego — have ways of master[ing] that and, in part, they mask it. But he was extraordinarily good at bringing attention to what our concerns were. The power of empathy — the power of being willing to set aside your agenda and just listen — blew me away.

It was around dessert when I realized that this guy was not trying to be the best investor of his generation. This guy was trying to live his happiest life, and it so happened that his happiest life was spent reading annual reports and 10-Ks and 10-Qs.

It was a kind of psychotherapy for me, because it really allowed me to give something up — which I didn’t want to give up — the dream of being better than Warren Buffett. I realized in that moment that he wasn’t trying to be the best investor. He was trying to be the best version of Warren Buffett.

Big Think: You have a couple of (sculptural) busts of Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s late vice chair. Why?

Spier: Mohnish Pabrai has a charity called Dakshana and he named a building after Charlie Munger. And then Mohnish decided to have busts made of Charlie Munger. Warren’s getting enough attention in the world and Charlie’s not an egomaniac, but he wouldn’t mind getting a little more attention. I agreed to take six busts out of 12. I gave a number away and I kept a few for myself. I started to understand that all these [ancient] busts that you see if you go to the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, they were not just decoration, they were not just art. They were inspiration. I have [the Charlier Munger bust] in my home office in Zurich, along with a figurine of Marcus Aurelius.

Big Think: Your LinkedIn profile has a list of things you are “confused about,” including AI, cyber security, and venture capital. Can you expand a little?

Spier: I’d read some other bio that had “confused about,” and I thought that’s really good, so I updated my bio. I really am confused about those things. Without providing any extra insight or wisdom or content, people get excited because, look, “Guy’s being so honest.” So, by setting people’s expectations of me low and being humble, somehow I’ve developed a following of people who like that about me.

All of this generative [AI] — write me a poem or make me a photograph — I’m not interested. But to interrogate the existing base of knowledge [it can be useful]. I have an ongoing conversation with multiple different AIs about things I’m interested in. I use Perplexity, which is kind of like a research assistant. Any question that I have, it can come back to me in five minutes with the best answers. And what I like so much about Perplexity is that it’s sourced.

Big Think: You’re very honest in your book about your early career and what you learned from your mistakes. Can you talk about that?

You are living through an extraordinary moment in history. The year 2025 stands a good chance of being seen by those in the future as the exact juncture between two very different historical eras. We are finally seeing the end of the long 20th century and starting to see the new 21st-century world emerging, too.

Look backward through a political lens, and watch how American President Donald Trump and his new administration are dismantling the bureaucratic welfare state that has reigned supreme for the last 80 years. And how he and other right-wing populist allies in the West are rolling back the Pax Americana that has structured geopolitics since the end of World War II.

Look forward through a technological lens, and watch the astonishing breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, the latest and probably greatest general-purpose technology that humans have ever developed. In the two years since generative AI burst onto the scene, we have begun to more fully understand how fundamentally the world could change in the age of intelligent machines that has now arrived.

The best way to get oriented to the apparent chaos and expanding trauma of this world-historic transition is to study the image just below this section and recognize that “You Are Here.”

You are at the very auspicious historic moment when the old systems that defined the 20th century and worked well for the last 80 years, for four successive generations, for anyone alive today, are rapidly breaking down and now failing us.

Those systems don’t just include the governmental systems that Trump, Elon Musk and people on the political right are trying to tear down. They also include the 20th-century systems of carbon energy and industrial production that have caused increasingly catastrophic climate change and that those on the political left are trying to dismantle.

You are also at the very exciting moment when the new systems that will define the entire 21st century are just being born.

Those new systems are not just about AI. They include other transformative technologies that have gone from dreams 15 years ago to world-changing, general-purpose technologies today. Clean energy technologies, such as solar energy and electric vehicles, have crossed the tipping point into mainstream commodities that are rapidly scaling and getting cheaper every year.

Breakthroughs in gene-editing technology, such as CRISPR, have brought us bioengineering, the ability to engineer all living things, and are opening up the possibilities of a much more sustainable world more in sync with nature. With these new technologies, among others, we actually have a shot at turning the corner on climate change and solving many of our most daunting challenges.

You are here, at this exact historic moment, whether you like it or not. I am here to help you more fully understand what we are all going through, and most importantly, where we all could be heading.

The Great Progression new Substack series and overarching worldview

The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 is a new Substack series of essays, interviews of remarkable thought leaders, and gatherings of innovators from throughout the Substack ecosystem who want to figure out how to make the most of this historic juncture. All of this will culminate in a new book.

I’m Peter Leyden, a longtime tech expert and thought leader on AI, transformative technologies, and the future, and I will be writing all this and hosting these events. I came to San Francisco to work with the founders of WIRED magazine at the dawn of The Digital Age when the internet first opened up, and I have followed the front edge of technological change in the region ever since, including the recent explosion of all things AI.

I’ve done many things throughout my career that are relevant to this ambitious new book project, including writing two influential books on new technologies and the future. (I will explain more about my background in the next essay, but for now you can check out my website.)

I originally started The Great Progression Substack series a couple years ago as a way to spread what we were learning in a physical event series that I hosted in San Francisco. That event series gathered many of the leading innovators in the tech world to try to answer the key questions surrounding the emergence of generative AI. I wrote essays on what we learned in the key events, and I shared videos of many of the short talks given by the world-class experts who attended. You can still find all that content in the archive, and many of you reading this initially subscribed for that material.

I am now relaunching this Substack series as The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 with a different mission because what the world needs now is changing. This new series will attempt to do several things at the same time throughout the year:

First off, I will tell the epic story of our times for what it is: a rare moment in American history and, really, with the biggest lens, in world history. This means writing about what is happening around us with a big-picture, long-term perspective that tries to focus on what will prove to be important over time. That means ignoring much of the craziness of the day-to-day news cycle that most of the mainstream media and social media outlets seem fixated on and that mostly confuses everyone who tries to keep up. How would a historian in 50 or 100 years talk about what’s taking place around us today? That’s the essential story I want to tell.

I am going to help create a new grand narrative of what’s possible in the near-term future, the next 25 years. I will venture out into this relatively virgin turf to help everyone see what’s now possible if we in America and the world make the most of the new wave of transformative technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, but also clean energy tech and bioengineering. These are world-historic, general-purpose technologies that are giving humans a step change in our capabilities. Almost no one is thinking big enough about the kind of economy, society, and, ultimately, even civilization that we could build off these world-changing tools.

I’m going to focus on the positive potential of these new technologies and the new systems that could be built with them. I acknowledge that there are legitimate concerns about what could be done with these technologies, but there are more than enough people and organizations focusing on the risks and potential negative consequences of AI and the like. Almost no one is breathing life into understanding the awesome opportunity opening up to harness these new technologies to drive progress, reinvent America, and make a much better world.

When you take all these perspectives together, you get a positive reframe of what’s actually happening in America and the world right now. To me, this positive, can-do perspective is the missing piece that more people need to see. This is particularly true for those in Blue America, the half of America who voted Democrat or who call themselves progressives. They are having a difficult time right now watching an ascendent Trump with Musk and those on the Tech Right tearing down old systems at a frantic pace. I know since I have been based in San Francisco for the last 30 years and come from that world.

At a historic juncture like this, you do not want to defend the old systems of the status quo at all costs but look to what much better systems could now be built going forward. I think the best thing that could happen to America, the West, and the world is for those on the left and the right in politics, conservatives and progressives alike, to look ahead and start to compete in building a fully 21st-century world.

A reorientation like that is exactly what happened the last time the world went through a comparable historic juncture coming off the tumultuous 1930s and World War II to build the new systems of the 20th century that we largely are still working within today. Eighty years ago we started building the Post-War world that was dramatically different than the world that came before. Back then, the next 25 years from 1945 to 1970 brought an extraordinary explosion of bipartisan progress, a reinvention of America, and created a much better world.

Here we go again.

The practical aspects of this ambitious new series and what to expect

Now more about the practical aspects of this new series and what you can expect going forward from The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050.

For the first several months of the series, I will be writing an essay like this one each week. These initial pieces will lay the foundation for understanding the overarching story and introduce the key elements of the grand narrative of what’s now possible that I will continue to fill in more thoroughly throughout the year. The pace of essays may slow down as this book project evolves, but it will never be less than one a month.

Each month I also will write up what I learned from a deep dive interview with a remarkable thought leader who will lay out the awesome opportunity in his or her field of expertise that is now possible to achieve in the next 25 years. This interview will not be a traditional podcast that lays out the entire conversation but will focus on the insights that help fill out our understanding of the potential of The Great Progression, backed up by extended quotes from the transcript.

I would like to keep all my written pieces outlined above available for free to anyone. I want to encourage everyone to widely share these ideas because we need many more people understanding the awesome opportunity opening up before us. But to sustain this ambitious project, I am relying on building a network through two kinds of gatherings.

Each month I will host a virtual gathering over video for those in the burgeoning ecosystem of Substack who want to talk more about the ideas laid out that month and discuss what they are seeing from their perspective. I expect to invite various guests to those gatherings, and I have built up a pretty amazing network of top technologists and entrepreneurs, academics and intellectuals, creatives and innovators of all sorts over my 30 years working in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

These virtual gatherings will be limited to those who sign up to be Members for $10 a month, the cost of buying me a beer for my efforts that month, though I am open to comping those who need help. Members will also be the only ones able to keep the discussion going on a weekly basis in the Chat.

Each quarter I will host a physical gathering in my base in San Francisco, which is ground zero for the development of artificial intelligence as well as many of the other transformative technologies we will be exploring. These invite-only events will be open to Founding Members who will pay the equivalent of $20 a month and will be held at the hip club Shack15 in the Ferry Building overlooking the bay. The Shack15 club (seen in the photo of me above) is where I hosted my previous event series, “The AI Age Begins,” in the first two years after the surprise arrival of generative AI.

This next stage of The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050 is being done in partnership with Freethink Media, the creators of Freethink and Big Think, among other products. They will be syndicating my essays and interviews through their vast ecosystem of email lists and social media beyond Substack, as well as within their world in Substack. They will co-host the physical events and be videoing those presentations and conversations for wider distribution in their YouTube world, too.

Freethink deserves some of the credit for getting this big idea of The Great Progression off the ground. In 2022 they commissioned me to write a long magazine piece that would act like a sequel to a famous cover story I wrote for WIRED magazine in the mid-1990s. The WIRED piece projected how the digital revolution could play out over the next 25 years — and it mostly did. (I will explain more about that project, which evolved into my first book, in my next essay.)

The result was a 10,000 word article called The Great Progression, 2025-2050 that came out just two months before ChatGPT burst on the scene. This first pass on that big idea proved quite popular, and since that time, I have probably given 40 keynote talks throughout America and some in Europe that kept iterating the concept — including this one last fall to 1,300 senior leaders from 17 countries building data centers around the world that can be watched in full.

When I first wrote that magazine piece three years ago, I was speculating that by 2025 events on the ground would have evolved to the point that growing numbers of people would understand that the world was going through a fundamental change and that they would be open to the possibility that those changes might be for the better.

I speculated that the year 2025 would be year one of a growing recognition that we are living through a world historic moment and better do everything we can to make the next 25 years ones of great progress.

Here we are, folks. Time to get started. We’re just beginning year one of The Great Progression: 2025 to 2050.

A last word on the technological forces about to propel us forward

To end this essay, let’s circle back to the chart we previously presented and particularly zoom into the key years from 2010 to 2025 where the thick black line starts out very slowly before it ultimately ramps up.

That line is meant to represent the technology adoption curve that is commonly understood by those of us in the tech world in Silicon Valley. Every successful new technology goes through a very similar slow build in the early days as innovators and early adopters figure out how the new technology works and how best to use it.

There comes a time when enough people can see the usefulness of the new tool that the technology hits a tipping point and moves into a phase of exponential growth in adoption. This explosive takeoff often surprises those outside the tech world who have not been playing close attention to the incremental progress of those early phases. This can be a very jarring realization that catches almost everyone by surprise.

We happen to be hitting the tipping points of all three of our world-historic general-purpose technologies: AI, clean energy technologies, and bioengineering. Things are starting to move very fast in all three fields. All three of them had huge breakthroughs about 15 years ago and have been gathering momentum ever since.

In 2012, we had the AlexNet breakthrough: A new kind of computer system that essentially taught itself using neural networks trained on vast amounts of data dramatically outperformed traditional computer systems hand-coded by humans in an annual competition to accurately identify images.

This surprise breakthrough sparked the deep learning revolution that led to what today we know as generative AI in ChatGPT and the like. Geoffrey Hinton, one of the key players behind that initial breakthrough, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024 for his contribution.

In that same year of 2012, we saw the arrival of the breakthrough gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 that gave biologists a cheap and easy way to edit the genes of all living things. That kicked off the whole new industry of what we now call synthetic biology that is just coming of age now, albeit slightly behind AI. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, the scientists who pioneered the technique, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.

And in the early years of that same decade, from 2010 to 2015, the prices of solar panels fell dramatically, driven by China’s mass production and improvements in solar cell efficiency. Over the course of the 2010s, the price of solar modules dropped by 80% and the scaling took off. Today solar energy is cheaper than coal, and soon it will be cheaper than any carbon energy.

The point is that we are now on the verge of explosive growth in all three of these game-changing technologies. Most people outside of these tech fields have not been watching the maturation process and so have not been preparing for the game to change.

Source :https://www.freethink.com/artificial-intelligence/great-progression-2025-2050

Grimes revealed she was diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

The “Genesis” songstress shared the update via X Friday, saying she likely has dyslexia too, which might be why she “can’t spell at all without spellcheck [sic].”

“I feel like, had we known this when I was a child I would have worked so much less hard [and] been on drugs.”

Grimes, 37, also argued that her “weird obsessions and motivations” would likely have been viewed as “pathological” had she received an earlier diagnosis.

“I could have written off certain things that were very hard for me but I’m glad I over came [sic] them,” she wrote.

The Canadian-born singer-songwriter also admitted her ADHD symptoms “were infinitely worse when [she] wasn’t an avid reader.”

Grimes also said she believes that a “huge percentage” of ADHD is related to “screen addiction and dopaminergic burn out.”

She also called out “uninformed social media mental health subculture,” describing certain accounts as “anti civilizational and geared towards making people worse.”

In response to a fan, the musician added in the comments, “I just think unsupervised medical advice and proliferation of info about symptoms is a very tricky thing.”

Grimes got candid about her mental health weeks after airing her grievances with ex Elon Musk on the social media platform.

In February, the “Oblivion” singer spoke out about the Tesla CEO, 53, bringing their 4-year-old son, X AE A-XII, to a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office.

All eyes were on the toddler as he made faces at photographers and sat on his father’s shoulders.

“He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me,” Grimes posted after being made aware of the photos circulating online.

“But I’m glad he was polite. Sigh.”

That same month, she doubled down on her stance, telling Time that fame is something “you should consent to.”

Grimes later told an X user in March that she has “begged” Musk to keep their three kids “offline” and even “tried legal recourse.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/03/23/celebrity-news/grimes-reveals-she-was-diagnosed-with-autism-adhd/

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken part in demonstrations across Turkey after the main rival to the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was formally arrested and charged with corruption.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, was due to be selected as the Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) 2028 presidential nominee in a vote on Sunday.

In response to his arrest, Sunday night saw a ramping up of the worst unrest the country has seen in more than a decade – with protesters fired upon with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Imamoglu said the allegations against him are politically motivated. “I will never bow,” he wrote on X before he was remanded in custody.

Erdogan has condemned the demonstrations and accused the CHP of trying to “disturb the peace and polarise our people”.

Crowds amassed near Istanbul’s city hall by early evening on Sunday for a fifth night, and could be seen waving Turkish flags and chanting in front of a row of riot police.

Officers were seen firing water cannons at some protesters and using pepper spray.

Imamoglu’s wife Dilek Kaya Imamoglu addressed the large crowds outside the city hall, telling demonstrators that the “injustice” her husband has faced has “struck a chord with every conscience”.

The demonstrations in response to Imamoglu’s arrest are the largest the country has seen since the Gezi protests of 2013, which began in Istanbul over the demolition of a local park.

In total, rallies took place in at least 55 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, or more than two-thirds of the country, according to a tally by French news agency AFP.

Imamoglu was one of more than 100 people, including other politicians, journalists and businessmen, detained as part of an investigation on Wednesday.

He was formally arrested on Sunday and charged with “establishing and managing a criminal organisation, taking bribes, extortion, unlawfully recording personal data and rigging a tender”.

He was remanded in custody pending trial. AFP and local media reported he had been taken to a prison in Silivri.

Imamoglu has also been suspended from his post as mayor, Turkey’s interior ministry said in a statement.

In social media posts, Imamoglu criticised his arrest as a “black stain on our democracy”, and said judicial procedure was not being followed.

He urged people across the country to join protests and take part in Sunday’s vote.

In a message shared on X through his lawyers late on Sunday, Imamoglu sent his greetings to those protesting and said that voters had showed Turkey had “enough” of Erdogan.

Imamoglu was the only person running in the CHP’s presidential candidate selection.

The arrest does not prevent Imamoglu’s candidacy and election as president, but if he is convicted of any of the charges against him, he will not be able to run.

Imamoglu’s CHP party said nearly 15 million people cast a ballot on Sunday.

The CHP said some 1.6 million votes came from its members, while the rest were cast by non-members at separate ballot boxes for those who wished to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

The BBC cannot independently verify these figures.

Waiting to cast her ballot, 38-year-old Aslihan told AFP: “We won’t give in to despair”.

In a post on X, Imamoglu’s wife shared pictures of herself casting her vote and urged the country to vote for “democracy, justice and the future”.

The jailed politician is seen as one of the most formidable rivals of Erdogan, who has held office in Turkey for 22 years as both prime minister and president.

However, due to term limits, Erdogan cannot run for office again in 2028 unless he changes the constitution.

The Ministry of Justice has criticised those connecting Erdogan to the arrests, and insist on its judicial independence.

On Sunday, X’s Global Government Affairs department said it objected to “multiple court orders” from Turkey’s communications regulator to block over 700 accounts on the platform, including those of Turkish political figures and journalists.

X said the move was “not only unlawful, it hinders millions of Turkish users from news and political discourse in their country”.

Meanwhile, Istanbul University announced on Tuesday it was revoking Imamoglu’s degree due to alleged irregularities.

If upheld, this would put his ability to run as president into doubt, since the Turkish constitution says presidents must have completed higher education to hold office.

Imamoglu’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision to revoke his degree to the Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

The Supreme Election Council will decide whether Imamoglu is qualified to be a candidate.

Prosecutors also want to charge Imamoglu with “aiding an armed terrorist organisation”, but the Turkish court said it was not currently necessary.

The CHP had a de facto alliance with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in connection with last year’s local elections.

DEM has been accused of being affiliated with the PKK – or Kurdistan Workers’ Party – which it denies.

The PKK declared a ceasefire early this month, after waging an insurgency against Turkey for more than 40 years. It is proscribed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0egjvj8vdro

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Novak Djokovic apparently share a passion for tennis along with their beliefs about vaccines.

Kennedy, the nation’s top health official, posted a photo on X on Sunday of himself and Djokovic standing on a tennis court holding tennis rackets.

“Novak Djokovic. First in tennis. First in integrity. First in courage. Guess who won this match?” Kennedy captioned the post.

Djokovic is in Florida playing in the Miami Open tennis tournament. It was unclear when the photo was taken.

Kennedy, the secretary of Health and Human Services, rejected an “anti-vaccine” label earlier this year during his senate confirmation hearings but has since repeated his skeptical views of vaccines in interviews and other public statements.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/djokovic-rfk-jr-robert-kennedy-vaccines-a6e2489400b3acc7778cca8d2c7f3cc8

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has suspended several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey amid widespread civil unrest in the country.

Musk, a self-proclaimed protector of free speech, said he acquired X to restore free speech on the platform.

The suspensions come after extensive demonstrations were sparked by the arrest earlier this week of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. İmamoğlu was arrested just hours before he was nominated to be the presidential candidate for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The opposition protests have spread despite the government banning gatherings for four days.

Much of the opposition activity has centered around universities, and many of those connected to the demonstrations are now finding their X accounts suspended, observers report.

The majority of the suspended accounts were “university-associated activist accounts, basically sharing protest information, locations for students to go,” Yusuf Can, coordinator and analyst at the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program, told POLITICO. Many of these accounts are “grassroots activists” with their followings in the low tens of thousands, said Can.

Some accounts appear to be suspended only in Turkey and not in the rest of the world. Activist Ömer Faruk Aslan created a second account to avoid censorship. “Yesterday, my account was blocked by a court order because the tweets exceeded 6 million views,” he posted.

Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that authorities have found 326 social media accounts that are inciting hatred, 72 of which were abroad. A coordinated action between cyber and security authorities led to the arrest of 54 suspects related to the social media accounts, said Yerlikaya.

Yerlikaya on Saturday said 343 people were arrested overnight in a third night of protests against İmamoğlu’s arrest. Arrests were made in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Konya and several others, according to media reports.

The account suspensions are likely legal, as Turkish law allows such actions should the government request them. A 2022 social media law gives the government vast and vague power to suppress content.

It’s not the first time that X has restricted access to content in the country. In 2023, when Erdoğan was up for reelection, X restricted content “to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey,” according to its global government affairs account.

Musk himself said that “the choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets.” He said X would publicly post the Turkish government’s requests.

In parallel, access to social media like X, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube has been restricted in Turkey, according to internet watchdog Netblocks.

Source : https://www.politico.eu/article/musks-x-suspends-opposition-accounts-turkey-protest-civil-unrest-erdogan-imamoglu-istanbul-mayor/

A frail Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after a five-week hospitalization for life-threatening double pneumonia, and he made a surprise stop at his favorite basilica on the way home before beginning two months of prescribed rest and recovery.

The 88-year-old pope sat in the front passenger seat of his white Fiat 500L wearing nasal tubes to give him supplemental oxygen as he entered the Perugino gate of Vatican City, where his return brought relief after fears that his illness could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation.

Francis’ motorcade from Gemelli hospital overshot the Vatican initially and took a detour across town to stop at St. Mary Major basilica, where the pope’s favorite icon of the Madonna is located and where he always goes to pray after a foreign visit.

He didn’t get out of the car but gave a bouquet of flowers to the basilica’s cardinal to place in front of the Salus populi Romani icon. The Byzantine-style painting on wood is revered by Romans and is so important to Francis that he has chosen to be buried in the basilica to be near it.

The tour through Rome’s historic center came after Francis made his first appearance in five weeks to give a thumbs-up and brief blessing from a hospital balcony. Hundreds of people had gathered on a brilliant spring Sunday morning to say goodbye and catch a first glimpse of Francis, who seemed to be gasping for air.

“I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!” a bloated-looking Francis said in a breathless voice. He gave a weak sign of the cross before being wheeled back inside.

Chants of “Viva il papa!” and “Papa Francesco” erupted from the crowd, which included patients who had been wheeled outside just to catch his brief appearance.

Resting at home

Doctors say Francis needs two months of rest and convalescence at the Vatican, during which he should refrain from meeting with big groups of people or exerting himself. But they said he should be able to resume all his normal activities eventually.

His return home, after the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy and the second-longest in recent papal history, brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful who have been anxiously following 38 days of medical ups and downs and wondering if Francis would make it.

“Today I feel a great joy,” said Dr. Rossella Russomando, who was at Gemelli on Sunday but did not treat Francis. “It is the demonstration that all our prayers, all the rosary prayers from all over the world, brought this grace.”

The Rev. Enzo Fortunato, who heads a papal committee dedicated to children, said it was clear that Francis was happy to return home and would surely improve, especially after receiving so many get-well cards from children from around the world.

“If the first medicine was the affection of the children, the second medicine is definitely (going) home,” Fortunato said. “It will certainly speed up his recovery.”

Pope is to receive 24-hour care

At the Vatican, where a Holy Year is under way, pilgrims cheered and applauded when Francis’ greeting from Gemelli was broadcast live on giant TV screens in St. Peter’s Square.

“For me it was an important emotional experience to see him, because many people were waiting for this moment,” said Sister Luisa Jimènez, a nun from Francis’ native Argentina.

Another nun from the same order, Colombian Sister Angel Bernal Amparo, expressed concern, given his bloating and inability to speak much.

“He didn’t look well,” she said. “He couldn’t (talk) and I realized it was because of his breathing and, well, he left right there. But I was glad to have seen him.”

No special arrangements have been made at the Domus Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel where Francis lives in a two-room suite on the second floor next to the basilica. He will have supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed, although his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said he hoped Francis would progressively need less and less assistance breathing as his lungs recover.

Two life-threatening crises

The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.

The most serious setbacks began Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring the use of a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises a few days later, which required doctors to manually aspirate “copious” amounts of mucus from his lungs, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

He was never intubated and at no point lost consciousness. Doctors reported he always remained alert and cooperative, although they say he has probably lost a bit of weight given a natural loss of appetite.

“Unfortunately yes, there was a moment when many were saying that he might not make it. And it was painful for us,” said Mario Balsamo, the owner of coffee shop in front of Gemelli. “Instead, today with the discharge, we are very happy that he is well and we hope he will recover soon and will recover his strength.”

‘I’m still alive!’

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the medical and surgical chief at Gemelli who coordinated Francis’ medical team, stressed that not all patients who develop such a severe cases of double pneumonia survive, much less are released from the hospital. He said Francis’ life was at risk twice, during the two acute respiratory crises, and that the pope at the time understandably lost his typical good sense of humor.

“But one morning we went to listen to his lungs and we asked him how he was doing. When he replied, ‘I’m still alive,’ we knew he was OK and had gotten his good humor back,” he told a news conference late Saturday.

Alfieri confirmed that Francis was still having trouble speaking due to the damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles. But he said such problems were normal, especially in older patients, and predicted his voice would eventually return. Francis is also continuing to take medication to treat a more minor respiratory infection.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-first-public-appearance-hospital-pneumonia-cacf6c5cb7d5c09595973aeb8f51e44f

New Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has called a snap election against the backdrop of a trade war with the US and threats from Donald Trump to make Canada part of America.

Mr Carney, who is the former governor of the Bank of England, announced on Sunday that there will be a five-week general election campaign before a vote on 28 April.

His governing Liberals had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Mr Trump declared a trade war.

The US leader has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st state of the US and has also placed tariffs on exports to his country.

His repeated attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have infuriated Canadians and led to a surge in support for the Liberals.

“We’re facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump’s unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty,” Mr Carney said after asking Canada’s governor-general to dissolve parliament.

“Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada.

“President Trump claims that Canada isn’t a real country. He wants to break us, so America can own us.

“We will not let that happen. We’re over the shock of the betrayal but we should never forget the lessons.

“We have to look out for ourselves. We have to look out for each other.”

Mr Carney was the head of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis. In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England, and helped to manage the impact of Brexit.

He replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister earlier this month. Mr Trudeau, who announced he was resigning in January, had come under pressure after losing support before Mr Trump came to power.

The election campaign for 343 seats or districts in the House of Commons will last 37 days. While other parties are running, the Liberals and the Conservatives are the only two that have a chance to form a government.

The Conservatives had hoped to focus on Mr Trudeau, whose popularity had declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

Now, the vote in Canada could come down to who is best equipped to take on Mr Trump.

The US president has put 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminium and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products – as well as all of America’s trading partners.

Until his trade and annexation threats, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, 45, had been expected to claim a huge victory at the country’s next election.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/canadian-pm-vows-donald-trump-will-not-break-us-as-he-calls-snap-election-13334521

It’s safe to assume that Ocean’s Eleven is probably not on President Donald Trump’s watch list.

In a Truth Social post Sunday, the president laid bare his thoughts on a 60 Minutes segment with George Clooney Sunday night, and criticized the actor yet again for his political views.

“Why would the now highly discredited 60 Minutes be doing a total ‘puff piece’ on George Clooney, a second rate movie ‘star,’ and failed political pundit,” Trump wrote. “He fought hard for Sleepy Joe’s election and then, right after the Debate, dumped him like a dog. Later, I assume under orders from the Obama camp, pushed all out for ‘Kamala,’ only to soon realize that that was not going to work out too well.”

“60 Minutes even fraudulently inserted Fake answers into her disastrous interview, aired just before Election Day, in one of the most embarrassing and dishonest events in broadcast history…And now George Clooney again? His press agent should be making a fortune!!!”

Aired Sunday, Clooney’s interview dove into his Broadway debut as part of the production and cast for the play Good Night, and Good Luck—a drama chronicling journalist Edward R. Murrow’s pursuit of truth in a turbulent media and political landscape.

In Clooney’s eyes, the parallels between the play and current realities are lucidly pointed, with the actor explicitly referring to Trump’s settlement with ABC News and ongoing lawsuit with CBS as examples.

“When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate has to succeed,” Clooney said. “ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration. And CBS News is in the process … We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine or use corporations—to make journalists smaller.”

“Governments don’t like the freedom of the press. They never have,” the actor continued. “And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you’re on. They don’t like the press.”

The Oscar winner also addressed an explosive op-ed he wrote last summer for The New York Times calling on former President Joe Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential ticket.

“I’ll make it kind of easy. I was raised to tell the truth,” Clooney explained on 60 Minutes. “I had seen the president up close for this fundraiser, and I was surprised. And so I feel as if there was a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that,” the actor, a lifelong Democrat, added.

“And I was not proud of that. And I also believed I had to tell the truth.”

In his op-ed, Clooney repeatedly mentioned Biden’s age as a cause for concern and wrote that the “fight against time” was “one battle” Biden couldn’t win.

“None of us can,” he continued. “It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

Source : https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-brutally-mocks-george-clooneys-60-minutes-appearance/

WHEN Spring Breakers invade the beaches, there’s no shortage of things that can go wrong.

Too much partying and too much sun often lead to plenty of problems for local authorities and law enforcement.

For the thousands heading to Florida’s Atlantic coast, however, lifeguards face an entirely different set of challenges every single day— ones that have them constantly on edge.

The U.S. Sun witnessed a chaotic scene in Daytona Beach, where police were forced to usher revelers off the sand as a curfew loomed.

Just hours later, two 19-year-olds were shot.

Both survived, but the incident underscored the dangers that can arise during Spring Break.

Thirty minutes south of Daytona, in New Smyrna Beach, Captain Stephen Canfield, a veteran lifeguard with over 30 years of experience, shed light on two terrifying issues his team confronts daily.

New Smyrna Beach is infamously known as the “Shark Bite Capital of the World,” with over 300 recorded bites since the 1880s.

In 2023, they reported eight shark bites, which was half of Florida’s total that year.

Four bites were reported in just one week in July 2024.

To put this into perspective, Australia recorded 15 in 2023, four of which were fatal.

The US has a lower fatality rate due to smaller, less aggressive sharks.

Down Under, however, the deadly Great Whites appear closer to shore in search of seals.

However with shark monitoring improving, thanks to partnerships with institutions like the University of Florida, there is more data than ever to track habits to keep people even safer in the future.

“They conducts their studies through us. We now do actual DNA swabs at the patient’s allowance,” said the Captain.

Introduced a couple of years ago, the swabs give details about the identity of the sharks, which helps researchers all over the world track certain species.

Despite its reputation, Captain Canfield assured that shark bites in New Smyrna Beach are rarely life-threatening.

Volusia County is largely home to blacktip sharks and occasionally spinners who are constantly on the look out for bait fish.

Trouble occurs when a swimmer or surfers leg is mistaken for food.

“When a swimmer is bitten, it feels more like a quick punch to the leg, and then it’s over. It happens so fast that people don’t even realize it until they look down and see the laceration,” he said.

“The worst cases I’ve seen involve tendon damage, but those are rare.”

While shark bites make headlines, rip currents are a far greater threat to beachgoers.

The area near Ponce Inlet, just two miles from New Smyrna, is particularly hazardous.

The inlet’s dredge, about 40-feet deep, creates a strong water flow that brings in nutrients and attracts fish like mullets and menhadens, as well as sharks.

This, in turn, draws fishermen and surfers to the area.

“It’s almost like a vector system,” Captain Canfield explained.

“The water rotates in that corridor, trapping nutrients and bait fish. Fishermen cast their lines for all sorts of species, and surfers flock there because the water reflecting off the jetty adds an extra foot to the surf.”

But this nutrient-rich area also creates treacherous rip currents.

While speaking to The U.S. Sun overlooking the ocean, Captain Canfield pointed out two girls playing in the water.

Though they were still close to shore, danger was brewing.

“You can go hip-deep and start to get into serious trouble,” he warned.

“The pull starts, and a wave will come in. It lifts you up just slightly, and before you know it, you’re much farther out than you realize.”

This year alone, there have been around 60 rescues — and it’s only March.

Captain Canfield offered crucial advice for anyone caught in a rip current: “You just need to get out of the rip current by swimming parallel to the shore. Don’t try to swim backward or forward against it, and most importantly, don’t panic.”

The highly experienced lifeguard also recalled some rescue missions where his trusted colleagues would create a daisy chain to in particularly strong and wild currents.

“We will use all of our energy to go save somebody’s life,” he said while also stressing the importance of swimming near a staffed lifeguard tower because if the waves take hold of someone, “having lifeguards nearby can mean the difference between life and death.”

His warning comes just weeks after an American Spring Breaker went missing in the Dominican Republic, amid fears she was caught in a bad current and drowned.

University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki was last seen on March 6 after going for a swim with friends after a night out.

Surveillance footage captured Konanki and the last person to see her alive, fellow US tourist Joshua Riibe, heading toward the beach at 4:15am that morning.

Riibe was seen leaving the beach alone at around 9am.

He claims that the pair were knocked over by a wave after sharing a kiss in the sea.

He initially helped Konanki out of the water but swallowed a lot of sea water and was vomiting.

Riibe claims he then passed out on the beach after seeing Konanki still standing in waist-deep water.

The student’s family initially claimed she could have been a victim of human trafficking but have now said they believe she died of accidental drowning, according to Loudoun County, Va., law enforcement.

“Sudiksha’s family has expressed their belief that she drowned,” said a statement on Tuesday.

“While a final decision to make such a declaration rests with authorities in the Dominican Republic, we will support the Konanki family in every way possible as we continue to review the evidence and information made available to us in the course of this investigation.”

New Smyrna Beach remains a popular destination for Spring Breakers, attracting tourists from all over the country and beyond.

There’s plenty of responsible fun to be had, providing all the warning are taken on board. Information about the currents are readily available at the beach, either on the lifeguard tower or online.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/13833295/shark-bite-capital-danger-florida-danger-currents-ocean/

GWYNETH Paltrow has been accused of mocking Meghan Markle again in an Instagram video as the “war to be US lifestyle queen” raged on.

The Goop founder, 52, posted a clip of herself making scones, bacon and eggs in her own kitchen to her social media account on Saturday.

It comes after With Love, Meghan recently hit Netflix with the Duchess of Sussex hiring out a kitchen to cook and entertain guests.

And unlike Meghan, the 52-year-old went make-up free in her stripy PJ’s for her video.

But she used the soundtrack of This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) by Natalie Cole, which also features in Meghan’s project.

Elsewhere Gwyneth flaunted a monogramed mug similar to the one the Duchess used in her show.

Other elements of the video mirrored Meghan’s series, including the actress showing off her jam and the clip featuring her pet dog.

She captioned her video: “My cleaner take on a classic breakfast: gluten-free buttermilk biscuits, not-so-perfectly cooked over-easy eggs, and crispy bacon #boyfriendbreakfast.”

Fans swiftly jumped to the comment section to share their thoughts.

One person said: “Love this. No fake house, fake kitchen, fake hair extensions, fake friends just your beautiful true self. Such a breath of fresh air to see.”

But another fan fought back: “Meghan does not want to be compared, nor does GP.

“They’re about unity for all women. And guess what? Gwen has never done this casual before, and Meghan has actually given a 2025 boost to goop.”

Meanwhile a third wrote: “Lol isn’t it this the song they keep using in the Meghan Markle promo?”

To which a fan replied: “yep, love it .. Gwyneth is so genuine what a breath of fresh air compared to Markle.”

Another user said: “Markle is a copy cat ……same town as well.”

The pair have recently been accused of being at war over becoming the US lifestyle queen.

Second Lady Usha Vance, the wife of the United States Vice President JD Vance, is due to visit the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland this week, the White House said Sunday.

Vance will be accompanied by one of her three children as part of a US delegation that will also include President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

During the three-day trip, which begins Thursday, Vance will view historical sites, learn about Greenland’s heritage, and watch the Avannaata Qimussersu, the Arctic territory’s national dogsled race, the White House said in a statement.

“Ms. Vance and the delegation are excited to witness this monumental race and celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity,” the statement said.

A US official said that Waltz and Wright were expected to visit a US military base in Greenland during the trip.

Why does Trump want to take control of Greenland?

The visit comes as Trump eyes seizing control of the mineral-rich territory, which is strategically located in the Arctic Ocean between Europe and North America.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly said that he wants the US to take over Greenland for national security reasons, refusing to rule out using force to do so.

The territory is part of Denmark, a US ally and fellow member of NATO.

In an interview Sunday with Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the US delegation’s visit “cannot be seen independently of the public statements” Trump has made.

“We want to work with the Americans,” Frederiksen told Sermitsiaq. “But it must and shall be a cooperation based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and respect between countries and peoples. This is something we take seriously,” she added.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-second-lady-usha-vance-to-visit-greenland/a-72013993

Israeli artillery and airstrikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, killing at least eight people and endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
That conflict marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, and a blistering Israeli offensive after months of cross-border exchanges of fire wiped out Hezbollah’s top commanders, many of its fighters and much of its arsenal.

Hezbollah denied responsibility for Saturday’s strikes, saying it had “no link” to the rocket launches and that it remained committed to the ceasefire. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
An Israeli official said the identity of the group which fired the rockets had not been confirmed. Six rockets were fired, the official said, three of which crossed into Israel and were intercepted.
Two waves of Israeli strikes killed three people in Bint Jbeil and Touline, as well as five in the port city of Tyre, all in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s state news agency, which cited health authorities.

Saturday’s exchanges were the first since Israel in effect abandoned a separate ceasefire in Gaza with Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, both backed by Israel’s arch-foe Iran.
Later in the day, the Israeli military announced a second round of strikes on what it said were Hezbollah targets.
“We expect Lebanon to take care of its part of the agreement,” Ophir Falk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.
“The IDF will do whatever it takes to enforce the ceasefire and to make sure that our civilians can get back home safely and securely,” Falk said.
Israel’s military said early on Saturday it had intercepted three rockets launched from a Lebanese district about six km (four miles) north of the border towards the Israeli town of Metula, the second cross-border launch since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November ended fighting.

In retaliation, Netanyahu ordered the military to “act forcefully against dozens of terror targets in Lebanon”.
Israel’s military said it had struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command centre from which the group’s militants had been operating, in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon’s state news agency reported Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages in the country’s south, including border towns and hilltops around eight km inside Lebanese territory.

There were no reports of casualties in Israel.
In Gaza, health authorities said five Palestinians had been killed by Israeli fire, including a child, in incidents in Beit Lahiya and Gaza City in the north of the enclave.
The Israeli military said a number of militants in a vehicle were identified approaching its troops in northern Gaza who “posed a threat to them” and the military struck them.
An Israeli airstrike on the city of Rafah, which abuts Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, killed two Palestinians, Gazan medics said. Israel’s military said it had struck militants in the area.
UN ALARMED BY BORDER VIOLENCE
Under the November ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to have no weapons in southern Lebanon, Israeli ground troops were to withdraw and Lebanese army troops were to deploy into the area.
The agreement specifies that Lebanon’s government is responsible for dismantling all military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and confiscating all unauthorised arms.
President Joseph Aoun ordered the Lebanese army to secure “any violation” that could threaten stability in Lebanon. The army said it had found and dismantled three “primitive rocket launchers” in the south.
Netanyahu said Israel was holding Lebanon’s government responsible for “everything taking place within its territory” and that Israel would not allow any harm to its citizens and sovereignty.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it was alarmed by the “volatile” situation and that any further escalation could have “serious consequences for the region.”
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned of a renewal of military operations in the south of Lebanon, adding: “All security and military measures must be taken to show that Lebanon decides on matters of war and peace.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-lebanon-response-cross-border-launch-2025-03-22/

Venezuela has reached an agreement with the United States to resume repatriation flights of migrants, President Nicolas Maduro announced in a televised address on Saturday.
Maduro said the flights would commence on Sunday.

“Tomorrow, thanks to the government’s perseverance, we’ll resume flights to continue rescuing and freeing migrants from prisons in the United States,” Maduro said.
The move comes amid a diplomatic spat between the United States and Venezuela over the recent deportation flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador.

The White House did not reply to a request for comment.
As part of President Donald Trump’s rapid U.S. deportation program, hundreds of Venezuelan migrants were sent to a prison in El Salvador.
“To Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s President, we say that you’re responsible,” Maduro said, adding that migrants hadn’t committed crimes in the U.S. or El Salvador.
“You have to guarantee their health and sooner rather than later, you have to free them and hand them over,” Maduro said.
El Salvador’s government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Maduro’s speech came after Venezuela’s Parliament President Jorge Rodriguez released a statement earlier in the day announcing the deal to resume flights.
“Migrating isn’t a crime, and we won’t rest until everyone who wants to return is back and we rescue our kidnapped brothers in El Salvador,” the statement said.
The families and lawyers have been seeking news about relatives and clients whom they could no longer reach, and demanding their return to Venezuela.
The United States said the deportees sent to El Salvador were members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, a claim that Venezuela’s interior minister denied.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/venezuela-reaches-agreement-with-us-resume-repatriation-flights-migrants-2025-03-22/

Heathrow is back to being “fully operational” following a major fire at a nearby electricity substation, which led to the airport’s shutdown and caused chaos in global air travel, leaving 250,000 passengers stranded.

By Saturday morning, the airport had regained power, and the terminals were lively, with flights taking off and landing. Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, resumed operations more quickly than expected following the abrupt shutdown on Friday.

British Airways canceled nearly 80 flights on Saturday, following the grounding of almost its entire schedule on Friday.

Sean Doyle, CEO of British Airways, the largest operator at Heathrow, warned that the “incident will have a major impact on both our airline and our customers for several days,” with travel disruptions expected to continue. He referred to the situation as “unprecedented.”

The backlog of flight disruptions may take several days to fully resolve, as airlines continue to manage the aftermath. They are working to adjust schedules, reconfigure flights, and accommodate affected passengers. Delays and cancellations are likely to persist as airlines make efforts to restore normal service, and it will take time for the operations to get back on track.

The airline announced that it expects roughly 85% of its scheduled flights for Saturday to operate as planned. However, this still means that around 90 flights could face cancellations or severe delays, depending on how the situation unfolds throughout the day.

The airport reopened faster than anticipated, going against its earlier predictions of an extended closure. Heathrow had initially announced it would remain closed until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, with disruptions possibly extending for several days. However, by Friday evening, the airport had already resumed some flights.

Willie Walsh, the head of the global airlines body IATA and former British Airways CEO, criticized the airport, calling it a “clear planning failure.” Walsh, who has been a long-time critic of Heathrow’s congestion, expressed frustration over the situation, pointing to the airport’s lack of preparedness.

Source: https://www.ibtimes.com/heathrow-airport-restarts-operations-delays-expected-days-3767287

Don’t mess with Ivanka Trump.

The first daughter, 43, has taken up martial arts and flaunted her impressive skills on social media Friday.

Trump practiced the combat sport on a blue mat in a video posted by the Valente Brothers, a trio of siblings — including Gisele Bündchen’s boyfriend, Joaquim Valente — who co-own a jiu-jitsu studio.

In the clip, President Trump’s daughter wore a white robe and a blue belt, which means she has reached a significant level in her teachings, as it typically requires a minimum of two years of consistent training.

Ivanka Trump trains jiu-jitsu. Instagram/@valentebrothers

“Jiu-Jitsu is more than a martial art,” the Valente Brothers wrote in their caption.

“Rooted in ancient tradition and refined over generations, it offers a path to physical confidence, mental clarity, and emotional balance.”

They added that what makes the jiu-jitsu journey even more “meaningful” is “sharing it with those we respect and value,” concluding, “As families, training together gives us the rare gift of growing side by side, on the mat and in life. @ivankatrump.”

Ivanka faced off against Gui Valente in most of the video, but Joaquim was seen bowing at the end alongside his brothers.

The Valente Brothers’ studio is based in Southern Florida, which is where both Ivanka, 43, and Bündchen, 44, reside. It’s unclear if the two women have crossed paths, but Ivanka follows Bündchen on Instagram.

The supermodel recently gave birth to her first son with Joaquim. She also has two older children — Benjamin, 15, and Vivian, 12 — with ex-husband Tom Brady, whom she divorced in October 2022.

Bündchen and Joaquim met in 2021, when Benjamin began taking classes at the Valente Brothers.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/03/22/celebrity-news/ivanka-trump-trains-jiu-jitsu-with-gisele-bundchens-boyfriend-joaquim-valente/

A woman allegedly murdered her 11-year-old son after a three-day vacation to Disneyland and then consumed pills to kill herself in New York, US. Saritha Ramaraju, an Indian-origin woman, allegedly killed her son by slitting his throat.
Ramaraju, 48, has been charged with one felony count of murder for slitting her son’s throat, killing the boy after they went on a vacation to Disneyland during a custody visit.
Ramaraju, who moved out of California after divorcing the boy’s father in 2018, was in the city for a custody visit. She along with her son were staying at a motel in Santa Ana. During the visit, she bought three-day passes to Disneyland for herself and her son.

After the visit, they were scheduled to check out of the motel on March 19 and return the boy to his father. However, she called 911 at 9.12 am to report that she had killed her son and taken pills to kill herself.

Santa Ana police arrived at the motel and found the young boy dead on the bed in a room among Disneyland souvenirs. It appeared the boy had been dead for several hours before his mother called 911, the statement said.
A large kitchen knife was found inside the motel room which was purchased the day before. Ramaraju was released from the hospital on Thursday after ingesting the unknown substance and arrested on suspicion of stabbing the boy to death.
“The life of a child should not hang in the balance between two parents whose anger for each other outweighs their love for their child,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said, as quoted by PTI.
“Anger makes you forget who you love and what you are responsible for doing. The safest place for a child should be in their parents’ arms. Instead of wrapping her arms around their son in love, she slit his throat and in the cruelest twist of fate removed him from the very world she brought him into,” Spitzer added.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/crime/indian-origin-woman-kills-11-year-old-son-after-disneyland-visit-then-consumes-pills-to-kill-self-new-york-article-119362984

Gupta’s family has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister’s office insisting that he is innocent and has been falsely accused of data theft. They are also demanding his urgent release.

However, the exact charges against Amit remain undisclosed.

The Indian embassy in Qatar is well aware of Amit Gupta’s detention by Qatari authorities, linked to an ongoing investigation, the people said on condition of anonymity.

Gupta’s family has sought the intervention of the Prime Minister’s office insisting that he is innocent and has been falsely accused of data theft. They are also demanding his urgent release.

“Our embassy continues to provide all possible assistance in the matter and is closely following the case,” one of the people said, without giving details of the case or the charges against Gupta.

Amit Gupta’s mother travelled to Qatar, where she met with the Indian ambassador. According to her, the ambassador expressed concern that, so far, there has been no positive progress in Gupta’s case.

BJP MP Hemang Joshi told the media that Gupta had been working for Tech Mahindra in Qatar for the past 10 years. He was detained by Qatari security personnel and taken into custody.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/gujarat-engineer-detained-in-qatar-for-over-3-months-india-extends-support-9271500.html

Invitations have gone out for Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos’ wedding nearly two years after getting engaged, Page Six has confirmed.

The wedding is set to take place in Venice, Italy, sometime over the summer, we’re told.

Reporter Dylan Byers was first to report the news on X Saturday.

Reps for the couple did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

Earlier this year, Page Six exclusively revealed there was buzz the couple would wed in June on their $500 million yacht, Koru, off the coast of Italy.

The Amazon founder, 61, proposed to Sánchez in May 2023 after five years of dating.

At the time, the couple had been hitting the party circuit at the Cannes Film Festival while staying staying on his $500 million yacht, where he popped the question.

Rumors of their engagement were swirling as she was seen with a massive diamond ring on her finger.

Bezos and Sánchez had an engagement party on their megayacht in Positano, Italy, in August 2023 with guests including Bill Gates, Ari Emanuel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, Queen of Jordan Rania Al Abdullah and Kris Jenner.

In November that year, Sánchez, 55, detailed Bezos’ proposal, telling Vogue that she “blacked out a bit” when he opened the box.

“We’re still thinking about the wedding, what it’s going to be. Is it going to be big? Is it going to be overseas? We don’t know yet. We’ve only been engaged five months,” she said at the time.

Experts told Page Six that the 20-carat sparkler, which he placed under her pillow, is estimated to be worth a whopping $2.5 million.

Earlier this year, the couple may have hinted at their impending nuptials when they looked wedding-ready at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party 2025.

Sánchez hit the red carpet wearing a white strapless mermaid gown by Oscar de la Renta with feather detailing while the billionaire entrepreneur wore a black tuxedo with a white bow tie.

The pair began dating in 2019, however, they avoided being seen together until after their respective divorces were finalized.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/03/22/celebrity-news/lauren-sanchez-and-jeff-bezos-set-to-wed-in-italy-over-the-summer/

No laughing matter.

Former “Impractical Jokers” star Joe Gatto is shutting down a TikTok user’s claims that he sexually assaulted her when she was 19 years old — but admits he didn’t make good decisions.

“I have used poor judgment and as a result have violated the trust of the people I love most,” the comedian tells Page Six exclusively on Saturday.

“But anyone who knows me at all knows full well that I wouldn’t assault anyone.”

Gatto, 48, added, “Working on myself is an ongoing process, and I am now going to take some time away from the public eye to focus my energies where I need to.”

The woman, who goes by joozyb on TikTok, began to go viral due to her allegations on Thursday.

“I got sexually assaulted by Joe Gatto, the ‘Impractical Joker,’” she claimed in a video posted on the social media platform.

She then claimed in a second video that the incident took place in a hotel after she met up with the comic at one of his shows in Milwaukee in September 2023 — when he just “got back together with his wife.”

The TikTok user did not go into great detail about what allegedly occurred between her and Gatto during the alleged assault. She claimed, however, that “some stuff happened.”

As evidence of them meeting, the woman provided screenshots of a DM exchange in which the “Misery Index” alum allegedly said he left “two meet and greet passes” for her and complimented her appearance.

They had run into each other earlier in the day at brunch, where the woman admitted she was “fangirling” over Gatto. She claimed they continued exchanging messages on Instagram throughout the day, leading up to his standup show and after the event.

“I was drunk, whatever, and he was texting me all this stuff. And, like, it was starting to get a little weird, you know,” the TikTok user alleged. She also provided a picture of them posing together as more proof.

She claimed that, at one point, Gatto put their DMs on vanish mode, which conceals their messages, and he then provided her with information on where he was spending the night.

The woman concluded, “I’ve been wanting to tell people this for so long.

“I’ve like, tried in different ways, but it’s hard with somebody this big. [I’ve] come to the realization that if I do say something, that I’m really saying something.”

Page Six has reached out to her for more information but did not immediately hear back.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/03/22/celebrity-news/impractical-jokers-alum-joe-gatto-denies-tiktok-users-sexual-assault-allegations/

Kanye West is terrifying his ex, Kim Kardashian, and their children as he sinks into an abyss of mental illness, a close source tells Page Six.

It’s been another week of chaos for the troubled star, resulting in Kim, 44, calling for an emergency custody hearing after learning misogynist brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate would be present during Kanye’s visit with their eldest daughter, 11-year-old North West.

She has also been upset Kanye released a single featuring North alongside jailed Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is awaiting trial on sex crime charges, and she is poised to apply for sole custody of their four children.

“North loves him,” said the source who knows Kanye well, “I can’t speak for the other kids, but North is definitely Ye’s girl. But it must be scary for Kim.”

Kim and Kanye — who were married from 2014 to 2022 — also have son Saint, 9, daughter Chicago, 7, and son Psalm, 5.

Their split came amid one of Kanye’s earlier mental health crises. Since then they agreed to share custody, but Kim says she’s pretty much a single mom, telling iHeartRadio in September, “No matter what kind of help I have, [I’m] basically raising four kids by myself.”

Rapper turned designer Kanye, 47, has remarried Bianca Censori, spent six months of 2024 outside of the US touring the world and has been living on and off in Japan for the past few years. Multiple sources told Page Six he has not spent much time with his kids, making his recent litany of online messages about the children all the more bizarre.

Indeed, he has spent the past few days raging against “the Kardashian mob” on X and baselessly accusing Kim of being a “sex trafficker” alongside blaming Disney and Hulu for restricting his parenting.

In another rant, he accused Kim of being an “old white lady” controlling his “black children”.

Kanye – who previously changed his name to “Ye” – has previously said he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and autism, and is not properly treating his mental illness, the source confirmed, adding, “He’s obviously not taking his meds, if he was we wouldn’t be here.

“It’s not getting any better, he’s not a well person, he’s sinking further down and he’s not acting rationally. There’s so much negativity – I don’t think he can come out of this.” As Page Six previously reported, Kanye’s erratic behavior has also worsened since he landed back in Los Angeles in January, due to his use of nitrous oxide, known as ‘laughing gas’.

Kanye and Censori have spent the past few months living in hotels, we’re told, and it’s still unclear what the state of their marriage is following Censori’s various naked stunts and reports of them splitting – which sources have claimed were overhyped.

Censori, 30, has always got on well with the children, especially North, according to sources.

Last summer, insiders told us Kanye – dropped by Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga in 2022 and shunned from polite society over his still-continuing antisemitic tirades – had come up with a plan to open 100 of his own Yeezy stores globally in 30 days.

He rented a 30,000 square foot warehouse on Beverly Boulevard in LA which he planned to turn into a store, but the plan never came to fruition.

One insider familiar with Kanye’s antics told us, “Ye destroyed it – like every place he rents or owns. He painted the windows on the ceiling black so no natural light could come through, now it feels like a haunted house.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/03/22/celebrity-news/kim-kardashian-and-kids-terrified-of-kanye/

Orlando police have recovered two sets of earrings worth a combined $769,500 (£597,000) after an alleged thief swallowed them more than two weeks ago.

Jaythan Gilder, 32, swallowed the Tiffany & Co. diamond earrings around the time he was taken into custody on 26 February, police said.

Mr Gilder was monitored by detectives at an Orlando hospital for “more than a dozen days” before the earrings were expelled from his system, according to the Orlando Police Department.

Mr Gilder faces charges of robbery with a mask and grand theft in the first degree.

Tiffany’s has since cleaned the earrings.

Police allege Mr Gilder posed as an assistant to an NBA player so he could be shown “very high-end jewellery” in a VIP room at a Tiffany & Co. store in Orlando, Florida on 26 February.

Mr Gilder allegedly distracted store employees, then ran from the store with two pairs of earrings. The suspect apparently also dropped a diamond ring valued at $587,000 as he fled the store.

When officers caught up with him later that day, they saw Mr Gilder “swallowing several objects believed to be the stolen earrings,” police said.

Officials transporting Mr Gilder to jail allegedly heard him say, “I should have thrown them out the window,” CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported.

At the jail, Mr Gilder allegedly asked staff, “Am I going to be charged with what’s in my stomach?”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrdvy4pvpeo