Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te visits soldiers and air force personnel in Hualien, Taiwan May 28, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Democracy is not a crime and autocracy is the real “evil”, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Monday after China threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of Lai, who took office last month, saying he is a “separatist”, and staged war games shortly after his inauguration.
On Friday, China ramped up its pressure on Taiwan by issuing new legal guidelines to punish those it says support the island’s formal independence, though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.
Asked about China’s move at a news conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Lai first reiterated his sympathy for recent flooding in southern China before responding.
“I want to stress: democracy is not a crime; it’s autocracy that is the real evil. China has absolutely no right to sanction Taiwan’s people just because of the positions they hold. What’s more, China has no right to go after Taiwan people’s rights across borders,” he said.
According China, anyone who does not uphold “reunification” is therefore a Taiwan independence supporter, Lai added.
“I also want to call on China to face up to the existence of the Republic of China and have exchanges and dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected, legitimate government,” he said, using Taiwan’s formal name. “If this is not done, relations between Taiwan and China will only become more and more estranged.”
Taiwan said that since Thursday, there has been a sharp increase in Chinese military flights as Beijing carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island.
Between Thursday and Sunday, Taiwan says it detected 115 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby, getting as close at 31 nautical miles (57 km) from the southern tip of the island.
Taiwan has said that for the past four years China has carried out regular military activity around the island as part of a “grey zone” pressure campaign.
The Hungary forward went down in the second half after an apparent clash with Scotland’s goalkeeper Angus Gunn following a free kick.
A sheet is put up by stewards as Hungary’s Barnabas Varga is stretchered off after an injury against Scotland at Euro 2024. Pic: Reuters
Hungary player Barnabas Varga is stable in hospital after he was stretchered off the pitch in the country’s Euro 2024 match against Scotland.
The Hungary forward went down in the second half after an apparent clash with Scotland’s goalkeeper Angus Gunn following a free kick.
Hungary players quickly signalled Varga was in trouble and were incensed by the time the medical teams were taking to get over to help treat the player.
Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, the Hungarian captain, was in tears as medical staff responded to his teammate, according to TV commentary of the game.
The Hungary team formed a shield around Varga while he received treatment and TV cameras panned away.
The game was held up as Varga required lengthy treatment.
After several minutes, Varga was eventually taken away on a stretcher as both sets of fans applauded.
He has since been taken to hospital, where he is said to be stable.
A statement from the Hungarian Football Federation read: “Barnabas Varga’s condition is stable. The Ferencvaros player is currently in one of the hospitals in Stuttgart. We will inform you immediately if there is any news about his status.”
Hungary head coach Marco Rossi later added Varga would be “okay” but may need an operation on his cheekbone.
More than 100 million people across the U.S. were under heat warnings on Sunday, with cities on the East Coast bracing for record-breaking temperatures as the heat dome causing the dangerous conditions expands to the West Coast.
Baltimore and Philadelphia are forecast to touch records near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) on Sunday, while temperatures rise into the 90s F in states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, as much as 15 degrees above normal for this time of year. The extreme heat will then shift to Nebraska and Kansas on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
Officials are warning of dangerous conditions in the Philadelphia region where high humidity could drive heat indices above 105 F (41 C), making it feel even hotter than the actual temperature.
“It likely means we’ll be seeing periodic periods of excessive heat across a decent part of the country into July,” NWS meteorologist Marc Chenard said. “Not continuous at any one spot, but the overall pattern will continue to favor these above normal temperatures.”
Temperatures have cooled in the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and New England regions, but excessive heat in the 90s F continues to stretch from Virginia to New York.
Climate change is driving dangerous heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere this week and will continue to deliver dangerous weather for decades to come, research shows.
New York City, June 23, 2024. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon Purchase Licensing Rights
Extreme heat is suspected of causing hundreds of deaths across Asia and Europe as it has taken over cities on four continents. More than 1,000 have died during Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, amid sweltering temperatures this year, according to a Reuters tally.
In New Mexico, officials are responding to multiple weather events, including a dust storm, flooding and two wildfires.
The Biden administration last week declared an emergency over the wildfires, which have been blamed for two deaths and more than 1,400 destroyed structures.
The FBI has offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest of anyone responsible for the fires. The blazes have scorched 25,000 acres (10,117 hectares) around the village of Ruidoso, according to the government wildfire tracking website Inciweb.
An Israeli soldier gestures while in a military vehicle, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 23, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen Purchase Licensing Rights
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was coming to an end but that the war would not end until the Islamist group no longer controls the Palestinian enclave.
Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to deploy more forces along the northern border with Lebanon, where fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah has escalated .
“After the intense phase is finished, we will have the possibility to move part of the forces north. And we will do this. First and foremost for defensive purposes. And secondly, to bring our (evacuated) residents home,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.
“If we can we will do this diplomatically. If not, we will do it another way. But we will bring (the residents) home,” he said.
Many Israeli towns near the border with Lebanon have been evacuated during the fighting.
Asked when the phase of intense fighting against Hamas will come to an end, Netanyahu answered: “Very soon.”
But the military will still operate in Gaza.
“I am not willing to end the war and leave Hamas as it is,” he said.
Netanyahu also reiterated his rejection to the idea that the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority run Gaza in place of Hamas.
Record border crossings are a major issue in November’s US presidential election, with more migrants coming from around the world. Inside two new routes that take Indians and Africans via Central America.
When a Legend Airlines Airbus A 340 landed at San Salvador airport on July 15 after an 18-hour flight from the United Arab Emirates, its crew quickly realized something was wrong.
Salvadoran officials refused to connect the jet bridge to allow the roughly 300 passengers, all Indian nationals, to disembark, according to three former crew members on the flight who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Several passengers told the cabin crew they planned to travel onward to Mexico and cross the border there illegally into the U.S., one crew member said. Others said they were going on vacation to the Mexican border city of Tijuana, another crew member said.
Aviation data shows Romanian-registered Legend Airlines flew three charter flights from the United Arab Emirates to El Salvador in mid-2023. Sources: Flightradar24, Natural Earth
Salvadorean officials were already on high alert when the flight landed. Several months earlier, U.S. and Salvadoran authorities had noticed an unusual pattern of charter aircraft landing in El Salvador carrying primarily Indian nationals.
The planes were arriving full and leaving empty, a U.S. official said.
And some passengers claiming to be tourists brought only a backpack for weeks-long trips. U.S. authorities later discovered that nearly all of the charter passengers disembarking in San Salvador had crossed the border into the U.S., the official said.
Such charter flights represent a new phase of illegal immigration to the U.S., five U.S. officials said in interviews with Reuters. Increasingly, they said, migrants from outside Latin America are paying smuggling networks hefty fees for travel packages that can include airline tickets – on charter and commercial airlines – to fly to Central America and then bus rides and hotel stays en route to the U.S.-Mexico border.
“You have certain charter transportation companies charging extortion-level prices to prey on and profit from vulnerable migrants.”
“You have certain charter transportation companies charging extortion-level prices to prey on and profit from vulnerable migrants and facilitating irregular migration to the United States,” Eric Jacobstein, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere, told Reuters.
Jacobstein declined to comment on Legend or identify specific companies.
Liliana Bakayoko, a Paris-based attorney representing Legend since December, said the Romanian charter airline has not been accused of wrongdoing by any authorities. She added that she was unaware of the July flight and said the airline was basically like a “taxi driver.”
The record number of migrant arrests at the southwest U.S. border, which topped more than 2 million last fiscal year, has emerged as a major vulnerability for Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s presidential elections, with opinion polls showing more Americans trust Republican former President Donald Trump’s hardline approach to immigration.
On June 4, Biden – trailing in the polls in key battleground states – announced executive actions to deny access to asylum and quickly deport migrants or turn them back to Mexico if crossings surpass a certain threshold. It remains unclear how the policy will work in practice for migrants from faraway countries, which account for a growing share of illegal migration.
About 9% of irregular crossings at the U.S. border in the 2023 fiscal year involved migrants from outside Latin America, or about 188,000 people, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data. A decade ago, people from outside the Americas accounted for barely 1% of irregular arrivals.
The Biden administration attributes the historic levels of migration to global economic and political instability. Trump has blamed the high border crossings on Biden’s policies.
Indian nationals were the largest single group from outside the Americas encountered at the border last year, comprising about 42,000 arrivals. Migrants from 15 West African countries accounted for another 39,700, with most from Senegal and Mauritania.
The Biden administration has been working with some regional governments as well as travel companies to curb the flow of migrants.
In March, it began revoking U.S. visas for owners and executives of charter airlines and other companies thought to be facilitating smuggling. The State Department’s Jacobstein declined to name individuals or companies affected or how many had faced restrictions. Reuters was unable to independently establish which companies had been targeted.
In May, the administration warned commercial airlines to be on the lookout for passengers who might be intending to migrate illegally to the U.S. Apprehensions on the border in April fell 48% from December, U.S. government data show, which U.S. officials attribute in part to tougher enforcement by Mexico.
El Salvador’s Vice President Felix Ulloa said in an interview that his government has “permanent, constant, and effective” collaboration with the U.S. to fight irregular migration. The introduction of visa requirements and $1,000 transit fees on citizens of India and many African nations last October has “drastically reduced” the number of migrants transiting through San Salvador, he said.
But as some routes for illegal migration get squeezed, others open up.
Reuters and Columbia Journalism Investigations, the university’s postgraduate reporting program, traced two new intercontinental migrant smuggling routes. The reporting for this story draws from previously unreported aviation data, border figures obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, and close to 100 interviews with government officials, police, airline employees, smugglers, travel agents and migrants in nine countries.
One route starts in West Africa, with migrants paying up to $10,000 for multi-stop commercial flights to Nicaragua, before continuing by land to the U.S.
The second, serving migrants from India, offers charter flights to Central America and overland transfers to the U.S. border for between 6 million ($72,000) and 8 million rupees ($96,000) per person – in many instances with full payment due after arrival in the U.S, according to Indian court documents and K.T. Kamariya, a deputy superintendent of police in the western Indian state of Gujarat investigating illegal migration.
The new routes via Central America avoid the visa requirements for migrants flying directly into Mexico. They also skip the dangerous northward trek across the jungle region between Colombia and Panama, known as the Darien Gap, that migrants face after arriving in some countries in South America with lax visa regimes.
Blas Nuñez-Neto, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, singled out Nicaragua as the new entry point for many migrants. President Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla and Cold War adversary of the United States, has been called out by Washington for authoritarianism following crackdowns on internal protests and opposition groups.
“Nicaragua has really, I think, unfortunately been weaponizing these flows,” Nuñez-Neto said in an interview. “It’s difficult when you have a government in the region that has essentially thrown its doors open and allows anybody from anywhere in the world to fly directly in exchange for a cash payment.”
Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, who manages communications for the government, did not respond to requests for comment.
The future king was also spotted shaking his arms to Shake It Off as he celebrated his 42nd birthday alongside his children Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Pic: princeandprincessofwales/Instagram
The Prince of Wales has thanked Taylor Swift for a “great concert” as he shared a photo of the pop superstar taking a selfie with him and his children George and Charlotte.
Watching the US singer perform at Wembley Stadium, the future king was also spotted shaking his arms to Shake It Off as he celebrated his 42nd birthday.
“Thank you Taylor Swift for a great evening,” Prince William wrote on Instagram.
Swift posted her selfie with William, George and Charlotte alongside her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce.
“Happy Bday M8,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “London shows are off to a splendid start.”
William’s cousin Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall were among the star-studded crowd, which reportedly included Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan and model Cara Delevingne.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was also present as he took time off from the campaign trail to attend the first night of the London leg of Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour.
The eight-year-old Pekingese named Wild Thang has competed in the contest five times, coming second three times before finally taking the top prize his year.
A dog in the US has been crowned the ugliest in the world.
The eight-year-old Pekingese called Wild Thang won the 2024 World’s Ugliest Dog contest in California on Friday.
The animal has competed in the contest five times, coming second three times before finally taking the top prize this year.
Wild Thang and his owner Ann Lewis. Pic: Sumiko Moots / NBC News
Wild Thang contracted the viral disease canine distemper as a puppy, according to his biography.
“He survived, but not without permanent damage,” it says.
“His teeth did not grow in, causing his tongue to stay out and his right front leg paddles 24/7.”
Apart from the physical issues, he is “a healthy, happy Glugly (glamorous/ugly) guy”.
He and his owner Ann Lewis took home a cheque for $5,000 (£4,000).
The World’s Ugliest Dog competition has been held for nearly 50 years and “celebrates the imperfections that make all dogs special and unique,” according to the event’s website.
The event “is not about making fun of ‘ugly dogs’,” the site says, “but having fun with some wonderful characters and showing the world that these dogs are really beautiful.”
Kharkiv, Ukraine June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian guided bombs shattered an apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city on Saturday, killing three people, injuring 52 and prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to call for more help to deal with the growing threat of such weapons.
Pictures posted online showed parts of the five-storey apartment building in ruins, with windows smashed, balconies wrecked and rubble strewn about a crater on the ground.
Prosecutors in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region put the casualty toll at three dead and 52 injured in the mid-afternoon attack, including three injured children. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said four of those hurt were in serious condition.
“This Russian terror through guided bombs must be stopped and can be stopped,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
“We need strong decisions from our partners to enable us to stop the Russian terrorists and Russian military aviation right where they are.”
Later, in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Russian forces had used more than 2,400 guided bombs on Ukrainian targets in June alone, with about 700 aimed at Kharkiv.
He said after U.S. Congress gave delayed approval of a big aid package in April, Ukraine’s replenished arms supplies had reduced the devastation and frequency of missile attacks and the same had to be done now to fend off these bombs.
“The significant reduction in Russian missile terror against Kharkiv and the region proves it is entirely possible to secure our cities and communities from Russian bombs,” he said.
Ukraine, he said, needed promised military aid packages “without delay so that the agreements we reached with (U.S.) President Biden can be realised.”
Ukraine and the U.S. signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement this month aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defense against Russia and getting Ukraine closer to NATO membership.
Tom Cruise was all smiles at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show in London Saturday night after skipping daughter Suri’s high school graduation in NYC just hours prior.
The “Top Gun” star looked gleeful at Wembley Stadium as he traded friendship bracelets with fans ahead of the singer’s second of three sold-out performances in England’s capital city.
The 61-year-old actor — who rocked dark wash jeans, a white T-shirt and a black jacket — sat among A-list attendees including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Grant and “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig.
Tom Cruise attended Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour show in London on Saturday night after skipping daughter Suri’s high school graduation the night prior. X/@tswifterastourMila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher and Hugh Grant also attended night two of three sold-out concerts. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Cruise appeared to be having the time of his life as he — much like Prince William the night prior — danced along to the Grammy winner’s hit song “Shake it Off” with his famous peers in the VIP tent.
Swift’s beau, Travis Kelce, was also among stars as he attended his second London concert in a row with his brother and sister-in-law, Jason and Kylie.
Meanwhile in the US, Cruise’s estranged 18-year-old daughter graduated from LaGuardia High School the day prior.
The mother-daughter duo took pictures together after the ceremony. BrosNYC / BACKGRID
A beaming Suri was photographed greeting friends outside the venue shortly after they received their diplomas.
She also eagerly took pictures with mom Katie Holmes, who proudly stood by her daughter’s side on the special day.
The teenager dressed for the heat in a white sundress and heels adorned with a flower.
Cruise has been estranged from Suri for years. He and Holmes divorced in 2012. AP
She completed her summery ensemble with a red graduation robe and white sash.
The 45-year-old “Dawson’s Creek” alum, for her part, looked cheerful in beige pleated trousers and a matching collared shirt.
Cruise’s choice to opt out of the graduation does not come as a surprise, as he has been estranged from the teen for years.
Suri even dropped the “Risky Business” actor’s last name in her school’s official graduation pamphlet, opting instead to go by her first and middle names, “Suri Noelle.”
Cruise confirmed in a 2012 deposition that Holmes divorced him “in part to protect Suri from Scientology.”
Followers of the controversial religion are not allowed to associate with nonbelievers.
Donald Trump rallied on the Temple University campus Saturday night, and the former president wasted no time attacking President Joe Biden’s record on issues from migrants to inflation.
“Less than four years ago, we were a great nation,” Trump told an enthusiastic crowd at Liacouras Center, the North Philly home of Temple’s basketball teams. “And we will soon be a great nation again.”
Trump forcefully ravaged the incumbent on the ongoing US-Mexico border crisis, which has seen a record number of illegal border crossings in recent years.
He vowed to take strong executive action on the crisis, including a massive deportation effort involving increased immunity for federal law enforcement.
Donald Trump said the ongoing migrant crisis was a result of the “unsafest border in the history of the world.” AP
“Under Crooked Joe, the City of Brotherly Love is being ravaged by bloodshed and crime,” Trump said, linking Philadelphia’s trend of violence and skyrocketing retail theft rates to illegal immigration and dubbing it “Biden migrant crime.”
“We had the safest border in the history of our country. Now we have the unsafest border in the history of the world,” he said.
Trump used both “Crooked Joe” and his more common nickname “Sleepy Joe” when referring to Biden — at one point even asking the crowd which name they preferred.
Though cheers were noticeably louder for “Sleepy Joe,” the former president said he preferred the former and stuck with “Crooked Joe” for the remainder of the rally.
Trump vowed to fix America’s ongoing economic problems, arguing that inflation was “practically nothing” when he left office in January 2021.
“Inflation is a country-buster,” Trump said. “On Day 1 of my [new] administration, we will throw out Bidenomics and replace it with MAGAnomincs!”
The former president also floated other ideas, such as returning Department of Education authority to the states, eliminating tax on tipped income and constructing an Israeli-inspired “Iron Dome” defense system for America.
His calls to cut all federal funding for any school pushing COVID-era mandates or “transgender insanity” drew raucous applause.
Before Trump spoke at 7 p.m., a flurry of Pennsylvania leaders preceded him onstage, including GOP Rep. Dan Meuser and Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
Mihai Kogalniceanu (MK) is turning into the biggest Nato airbase in Europe
Six RAF Eurofighter Typhoons sit on the taxiway, engines roaring on two, as the ground staff hurry about, adding the finishing touches before take-off.
In the distance, a cloud of dust rises in the summer haze over the construction site of the second runway, 3.5km (2 miles) long, beside the first. The hot northerly wind buffets the new hangars and the old.
Mihai Kogalniceanu (MK) airbase takes its name from the village nearby, itself named after a 19th Century liberal politician.
Now, it is the unlikely setting for what is turning into the biggest Nato base in Europe, bigger even than Ramstein in Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his war in Ukraine on the grounds that Nato is encroaching on Russia’s European flank. In response to his invasion, more pieces have moved forward on the Nato chessboard.
Bordering Ukraine, Romania now finds itself right next to a war zone
The MK base will soon have a squadron of Romanian F-16s – recently bought from Norway – as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones, and a military city through which Nato army, air force and naval personnel from 32 countries will rotate.
The latest arrivals are the Finns. Just 20km (12 miles) from the Black Sea coast, the base is 300km from Odesa, as the fighter flies, and 400km from Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.
This is RAF pilot Flt Lt Charlie Tagg’s third and final tour of duty here.
“There’s a much bigger US presence here, a lot more infrastructure, accommodation, people and equipment.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed both the areas he flies over, he says, and the strategic posture of the mission. In 2021, on his last tour, Nato fighter pilots flew far out over international waters in the Black Sea. But now they stick to the 12 nautical mile zone above Romanian and Bulgarian territorial waters, “to avoid misunderstandings, escalatory situations with the Russians”.
“Previously we were here as a deterrence to any Russian aggression. Now it’s more as a reassurance to other Nato countries, such as Romania, that we are here, and we’re willing to defend.”
There has been no call to intercept a Russian plane since he arrived, he says, though there were on previous missions, over the Baltic.
“They will just be blundering through – it’s not against any international law, they are entitled to do that. But we’ll put an aircraft next to that adversary aircraft. From a posturing point of view, it shows the Russians… that we are active. We’re flying with armed jets, so it sends a clear message.
“And it also provides valuable intelligence for us, we’re recording serial numbers of aircraft, and the weapons that those aircraft are carrying, so it feeds into the whole intelligence picture as well.”
The Russell’s viper has returned to Bangladesh (file photo)
All health centres and hospitals in Bangladesh have been ordered to stock anti-venom after reports of a surge in snake bites across the country.
Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen also urged the public to bring snake bite victims to hospitals as soon as possible.
Hospitals in rural Bangladesh have reported an increase in people being bitten by snakes, especially by the Russell’s viper, which is found in South Asia.
The incidents have been a major topic on Bangladeshi social media in recent weeks.
As it feeds on rodents, the Russell’s viper is often found near human settlements, and in farmland particularly during harvest season.
A 2023 study said about 7,000 people die in Bangladesh every year from snake bites. Most victims survive if treated with anti-venom quickly.
The Russell’s viper was declared extinct in Bangladesh in 2002 but the species has now returned.
Asked if she supported the controversial climate action campaign group, the actress replied: “I think I support anyone who fights this extraordinary battle.”
Dame Emma Thompson has backed Just Stop Oil, just days after the climate action group attacked Stonehenge with orange paint.
The actress led thousands of people on a Restore Nature Now march in London on Saturday, aimed at persuading politicians to put nature and climate first.
Asked if she supported Just Stop Oil, whose supporters have also targeted private jets, the Magna Carta and the Duke of Westminster’s wedding this year, she said: “I think I support anyone who fights this extraordinary battle.”
Dame Emma added: “We cannot take any more oil out of the ground. I mean, there’s much argument about it. And I know there’s a lot of very complicated economic arguments about it.
“We have to leave all the resources in the ground, we cannot bring them out of the ground.”
Emma Thompson led the march in London on Saturday
More than 350 charities, businesses and direct action groups joined Dame Emma on the protest, along with renewable energy tycoon and Labour donor, Dale Vince, and naturalists Chris Packham and Steve Backshall.
Mr Packham said it was the first time organisations across the entire spectrum of campaigning and conservation have united, from the National Trust to Just Stop Oil.
Reflecting on the long campaign to achieve action on climate change, Dame Emma called it “extraordinary”, as “we have known about this for decades and government after government have completely ignored the advice”.
“All the scientists are saying we are in deep, deep trouble,” she added.
The UK, she said, is “one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world”.
She added: “But we are also one of the most rich, so this is not good for anybody.
“Anyone who has ever written about our country [has written] about the beauty of these islands and they are being despoiled, polluted and destroyed at an unprecedented rate.
“We have to take action now. There is not enough discussion about this. It has to come to the forefront of our politics at every level.”
Protesters marched from Hyde Park to Parliament Square, staying in a line, led by Dame Emma and Mr Packham who held a banner reading Restore Nature Now.
Other banners carried different messages, including There’s No Life Without Wildlife and There Isn’t A Reset Button.
According to Bloomberg, the billionaire allegedly welcomed his third child with top Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis earlier this year, bringing his brood to 12.
The baby’s name and sex are not yet clear.
Zilis declined to comment and Musk didn’t get back to the outlet.
Elon Musk has reportedly welcomed a third child with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis. / SplashNews.comThe pair previously welcomed twins Strider and Azure in November 2021. @WalterIsaacson / Twitter
Similarly, Reps for the X CEO did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The 52-year-old Tesla mogul previously welcomed twins Strider and Azure with Zilis, 38, in November 2021.
The tots’ arrival came just one month before the birth of daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, aka Y, whom he and then-partner Grimes welcomed via surrogate.
The insiders told the outlet the new addition joined the pair earlier this year. @shivon/X
When Page Six congratulated him on the arrival of the twins in July 2022, Musk replied, “Bravo to big families.
He then told he us wants “as many [kids] as I am able to spend time with and be a good father.”
Musk repeated the sentiment in 2022 when he tweeted, “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces, by far.”
Militia violence in the country is linked to long-running competition for influence and the region’s rich mineral resources.
A street view of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Pic: Rex Features
An armed group using machetes and guns has killed 23 people in attacks on villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent days, authorities in the country have said.
The killings took place in the Ituri province, part of the Djugu territory, on Thursday and Friday.
They were carried out by the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, (CODECO), Reuters said, quoting two local community leaders.
CODECO is one of many militias operating in the conflict-ridden east of the country.
Vital Tungulo, president of Djugu’s Nyali-Kilo community, said: “Most of the victims were killed with machetes, but those who tried to flee were shot. In all these villages, people’s belongings were taken, houses were burnt down.”
The motive for the attacks was not clear but militia violence in Congo is linked to long-running competition for influence and the region’s rich mineral resources.
The human rights situation in Ituri has deteriorated since the beginning of the year as CODECO carries out more attacks,
the UN peacekeeping mission said in a report in March.
CODECO and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), another militia, are responsible for most civilian killings in eastern DRC, the study said.
Five men were convicted by a federal jury in Las Vegas this week for their part in operating Jetflicks, which officials say was one of the largest illegal streaming services in the U.S.
Jetflicks, which charged $9.99 per month for the streaming service, generated millions of dollars in subscription revenue and caused “substantial harm to television program copyright owners,” the Justice Department said Thursday.
At one point, Jetflicks claimed to host more than 183,200 TV episodes — a lineup larger than the combined catalogs of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime Video, according to prosecutors.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, beginning as early as 2007, the five men — Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi and Peter Huber — operated the Jetflicks streaming service. The group used “sophisticated computer scripts” and software to scour piracy services (including the Pirate Bay and Torrentz) for illegal copies of TV episodes, which they then downloaded and hosted on Jetflicks’ servers, according to federal prosecutors. The men were charged in 2019 with conspiring to violate federal criminal copyright law.
The jury convicted the five men of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. In addition, the jury convicted Dallmann of two counts of money laundering by concealment and three counts of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement. Dallmann faces a maximum penalty of 48 years in prison, while Courson, Garcia, Jaurequi and Huber each face a maximum of five years in prison, according to the Justice Department. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to federal prosecutors, when complaints from copyright owners and issues with payment service providers threatened to bring down the illegal outfit, the defendants “tried to disguise Jetflicks as an aviation entertainment company.”
“The defendants operated Jetflicks, an illicit streaming service they used to distribute hundreds of thousands of stolen television episodes,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a June 20 statement. “Their scheme generated millions of dollars in criminal profits, while causing copyright owners to lose out. These convictions underscore the Criminal Division’s commitment to protecting intellectual property rights by prosecuting digital piracy schemes and bringing offenders to justice.”
At least 42 people were killed in Israeli attacks on districts of Gaza City in the north of the Palestinian enclave on Saturday, the director of the Hamas-run government media office said.
One Israeli strike on houses in Al-Shati, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed 24 people, Ismail Al-Thawabta told Reuters. Another 18 Palestinians were killed in a strike on houses in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood.
The Israeli military released a brief statement saying: “A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck two Hamas military infrastructure sites in the area of Gaza City.”
It said more details would be released soon.
Hamas did not comment on the Israeli claim to have hit its military infrastructure. It said in a statement the attacks targeted the civilian population and vowed in a statement “the occupation and its Nazi leaders will pay the price for their violations against our people.”
Footage obtained by Reuters showed dozens of Palestinians rushing out to search for victims amid the destroyed houses. The footage showed wrecked homes, blasted walls, and debris and dust filling the street in Shati refugee camp.
Al Shati refugee camp, June 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ayman Al Hassi Purchase Licensing Rights
Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, of whom 101 were killed in the past 24 hours, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population homeless and destitute.
More than eight months into the war, Israel’s advance is now focused on the two last areas its forces had yet to seize: Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre.
Residents said Israeli tanks deepened their incursion into western and northern Rafah areas in recent days. On Saturday Israeli forces bombed several areas from air and the ground, forcing many families living in areas described as humanitarian-designated zones to leave northwards.
The Israeli military said forces continued “precise, intelligence-based” targeted operations in Rafah, killing many Palestinian gunmen and dismantling military infrastructure.
Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Adrian Portugal/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink on Saturday said the situation in the South China Sea is deeply concerning, and said China’s recent actions in the disputed waterway were “deeply destabilising”.
Kritenbrink made the comments during a visit to Hanoi, amid rising tension between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, where Vietnam is also a claimant.
“We think that China’s actions, particularly its recent actions, around the Second Thomas Shoal, vis-à-vis the Philippines have been irresponsible, aggressive, dangerous, deeply destabilising,” Kritenbrink said at a briefing for selected media in Hanoi, a recording of which was reviewed by Reuters.
“We’re going to continue to stand with our Filipino allies,” Kritenbrink said, adding that Washington had made it clear, both publicly and privately, to Beijing that the mutual defence treaty obligations it has with the Philippines were “ironclad”.
On Friday, Philippine officials said they did not consider invoking the mutual defence treaty with the U.S. after accusing China of aggressively disrupting a resupply mission in the disputed South China Sea earlier this month.
China’s foreign ministry disputed the Philippines’ account, with a spokesperson saying on Thursday that the necessary measures taken were lawful, professional and beyond reproach.
“We think every country in the region, including China, needs to respect international law and needs to behave responsibly in the maritime domain,” Kritenbrink said.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected.
A Palestinian child walks with a toy bear recovered from the rubble of a destroyed building following Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. (Photo: AFP/Eyad BABA)
Israel bombed the Gaza Strip where one hospital reported at least 30 dead Friday (Jun 21) and as exchanges of fire and threats over the Lebanon border raised fears of an even wider war.
After further cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah movement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the clashes must not turn Lebanon into “another Gaza”.
Increased “bellicose rhetoric” from both sides risked triggering a catastrophe “beyond imagination”, he said.
In Gaza the director of Gaza City’s Al-Ahli hospital was quoted by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry as reporting 30 dead on Friday in intensified Israeli bombardment.
“It has been a difficult and brutal day in Gaza City. So far, around 30 martyrs have arrived at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital,” Dr Fadel Naeem was quoted as saying.
Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal said five municipal workers died when a garage in the city was bombed.
Israel’s military reported military operations on Friday “north and south of the Central Gaza Strip Corridor”.
AFPTV captured an overnight strike on Khan Yunis city, showing a ball of fire and sparks erupting in a residential district.
Just before midnight Thursday, Israel’s army said it had “successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon”.
Early Friday, Lebanese official media reported new Israeli strikes in the south.
They came after Hezbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets at a barracks in northern Israel on Thursday in retaliation for a deadly air strike in south Lebanon.
Israel said a Hezbollah operative was killed in that strike.
It said jets struck Hezbollah sites and used artillery “to remove threats in multiple areas in southern Lebanon”.
Hezbollah claimed a number of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border on Friday, including two using drones.
Experts are divided on the prospect of a wider war, almost nine months into Israel’s campaign to eradicate Iran-backed Hezbollah’s ally Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.
A man washes his face at a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of southern Gaza – more than one million people have been forced from nearby Rafah since Israeli military operations began there in May 2024, the UN says. (Photo: AFP/Bashar TALEB)
Exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel have escalated, and Israel’s military said on Tuesday plans for an offensive in Lebanon “were approved and validated”.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said “no place” in Israel would “be spared our rockets” in a wider war, and also threatened nearby European Union member Cyprus.
Israel’s ally the United States has appealed for de-escalation.
TWO SOLDIERS KILLED
The violence on the Lebanon border began after the Oct 7 attack by Hamas militants from Gaza into southern Israel. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 41 are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,431 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Months of negotiations towards a truce and a hostage release have failed to make headway, but mediator Qatar insisted Friday it was still working to “bridge the gap” between Israel and Hamas.
The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure and left residents short of food, fuel and other essentials.
On Jun 16 the army said it would implement a daily “tactical pause of military activity” in a southern Gaza corridor to facilitate aid delivery.
But on Friday Richard Peeperkorn of the World Health Organization said “we did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in”.
Hisham Salem in Jabalia camp told AFP: “The markets… used to be full, but now there is nothing left. I go around the entire market and I can’t find a kilo of onions, and if I do … it costs 140 shekels (US$37).”
Dr Thanos Gargavanis, a WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer, said the UN in Gaza was trying to “operate in an unworkable environment”.
According to the WHO, only 17 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are operational, but only partially.
It said that as of May 17, just 750 people remained in Rafah city where previously 1.4 million people had been sheltering.
Israel’s military on Friday identified two more soldiers killed in Gaza, bringing to at least 312 killed since ground operations began.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges which he denies, faces regular street protests accusing him of prolonging the war, and demanding an agreement to free the hostages.
A man affected by the scorching heat is helped by another Muslim pilgrim and police officer the site of the symbolic ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual during the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mina on Jun 16, 2024. (File photo: AFP/Fadel Senna)
A senior Saudi official defended the Gulf kingdom’s management of the Haj pilgrimage on Friday (Jun 21) after various countries reported more than 1,100 deaths, many attributed to high heat.
“The state did not fail, but there was a misjudgement on the part of people who did not appreciate the risks,” the official told AFP in the government’s first comments on the deaths.
An AFP tally on Friday, compiling official statements and reports from diplomats involved in the response, put the toll at 1,126, more than half of them from Egypt.
The senior Saudi official said the Saudi government had confirmed 577 deaths for the two busiest days of Haj: Saturday, when pilgrims gathered for hours of prayers in the blazing sun on Mount Arafat, and Sunday, when they participated in the “stoning of the devil” ritual in Mina.
Muslim pilgrims use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun as they arrive at the base of Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma or Mount of Mercy, during the annual Haj pilgrimage on Jun 15, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Fadel Senna)
“This happened amid difficult weather conditions and a very harsh temperature,” the official said while acknowledging that the 577 figure was partial and did not cover all of Haj, which formally ended on Wednesday.
The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once before they die.
Saudi officials had earlier said 1.8 million pilgrims took part this year, a similar total to last year, and that 1.6 million came from abroad.
PERMIT-LESS PILGRIMS
Haj permits are allocated to countries on a quota system and distributed to individuals via a lottery.
Even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs spur many pilgrims to attempt the Haj without a permit, though they risk arrest and deportation if caught by Saudi security forces.
The irregular route, which can save pilgrims thousands of dollars, has become increasingly popular since 2019 when Saudi Arabia introduced a general tourism visa, making it easier to enter the Gulf kingdom.
Before this year’s Haj, Saudi officials said they had cleared more than 300,000 would-be pilgrims from Mecca who did not have Haj permits.
But later, the senior Saudi official said on Friday, “an order came from above that we allow people who arrived at the gates of the holy places” to participate.
“We can estimate the number of the unregistered pilgrims at around 400,000,” the official said.
“Almost all of them from one nationality,” the official added, an apparent reference to Egypt.
Arab diplomats told AFP earlier this week that Egyptians accounted for 658 deaths, 630 of them unregistered pilgrims.
A US State Department spokesman said on Friday that “multiple” US citizens died in the Haj.
For Indian passport holders struggling with Schengen visa delays this summer, Georgia is a comparatively easier holiday destination. You need an e-visa to enter this country situated at the confluence of Europe and Asia.
14th Century Tsminda Sameba Church or Holy Trinity Church, Gergeti, at 2200 m above Kazbegi, in dawn light against frozen Mount Kazbek, Georgia. Photo: Getty Images
It is not quite Europe. It has one foot on that continent and one firmly in Asia. The pre-Soviet country of Georgia is at once a revelation and a mystery for travellers seeking to peek beyond the usual choices of mainland Europe or Southeast Asia.
For one, getting a visa to Georgia is ostensibly easy, but we will get to that in a bit. Then there’s the ease of flying. A direct flight from Delhi to Tbilisi takes only five hours, and before you know it, you have landed in Georgia.
Georgia straddles two continents, Europe and Asia. Photo: Getty Images
So, when we planned a family trip to this little country a few months ago, the pros outnumbered the cons. I had a valid Schengen and Japan visa; both of which allow Indian passport holders to enter Georgia visa-free. For people who don’t, Georgia needs an e-visa that you can get on their immigration portal.
The visa conundrum
Now, while the process looks pretty simple on the face of it, here’s the deal: you need to be really patient – and I mean really – while applying for an e-visa on their portal. The payment gateway is terrible. You get errors every time you click on the final step.
The trick is simple: choose an ungodly hour to sit with the e-visa application. The portal isn’t quite equipped to deal with a lot of traffic at once; so, logging on late at night is advised.
Once you manage to do this part, the rest is comparatively easy. The problem is in the result of the visa. All your documents can be in order, but you might still get a rejection (the battle was personal, yk). The rejection rate of Georgian visas is quite high: 72%.
If you are indeed planning a vacation to this Caucasian country, keep ample time in hand. You get a revert on your application within 5 working days. If your application is rejected, you can start a fresh one within 10 days from the result. If not, thank your luck and board that flight.
A low-cost flight
Indigo flies Delhi-Tbilisi-Delhi direct thrice a week. True to its low-cost-carrier promise, there’s no complimentary food or entertainment on the plane (thank you, Airbus A321). However, you sure can get your instant poha by paying a bomb on the flight. You do get drinking water in paper cups though.
Anyway.
Landing in Tbilisi was uneventful, and we headed to immigration. I will confess: I was pretty rattled by the numerous disturbing tales of Georgia deporting Indian passengers left, right, and centre without no rime or reason. So, while we did have a holiday booked, there was that slight consternation about making it past passport control.
My exchange with the official at the counter was brief:
“Show me visa?”
“There’s a Schengen and a Japan visa there.”
“Ok.”
Passport stamped.
For the rest of my family members too, it was quite a smooth exit out of passport control, even though two of them were on e-visas.
In and around Tbilisi
All doubts laid to rest, we finally headed to the conveyor belt and out of the Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport, into the crisp Tbilisi air. The temperature on my phone-from-the-forty-degree-hell-called-Delhi said 8 degrees Celsius. Single digit. Eight. There was a biting wind blowing. It was half past one in the night and our destination lay just twenty minutes from the airport.
The city centre of Tbilisi is a stone’s throw from the airport, unlike other, bigger cities. The city is hilly. It has a perfectly preserved old town where tourists stroll along all night. You can cover the concentrated historic old town on foot in just a few hours.
The more upscale centre of Tbilisi is the Freedom or Liberation Square. Shota Rustaveli Avenue is the artery of the city. The Parliament, the National Museum, the souvenir-shopping district, the café quarter are all in this area.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that makes it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to have guns, handing a victory to President Joe Biden’s administration as the justices opted not to further widen firearms rights after a major expansion in 2022.
The 8-1 ruling, authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned a lower court’s decision striking down the 1994 law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.” The law was challenged by a Texas man who was subject to a restraining order for assaulting his girlfriend in a parking lot and later threatening to shoot her.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had concluded that the measure failed the Supreme Court’s stringent test set in 2022 that required gun laws to be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” to comply with the Second Amendment.
But Roberts wrote that since the nation’s founding, firearm laws have targeted people who threaten physical harm to others.
“When a restraining order contains a finding that an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that individual may – consistent with the Second Amendment – be banned from possessing firearms while the order is in effect,” Roberts wrote.
Biden’s administration defended the law as critical to protect public safety and abuse victims, who often are women.
“No one who has been abused should have to worry about their abuser getting a gun,” Biden said, touting his record on gun control. “As a result of (Friday’s) ruling, survivors of domestic violence and their families will still be able to count on critical protections, just as they have for the past three decades.”
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the 2022 ruling in a case called New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, was the lone dissenter.
“Not a single historical regulation justifies the statute at issue,” Thomas wrote, adding that “in the interest of ensuring the government can regulate one subset of society, (Friday’s) decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more.”
The case involved Zackey Rahimi, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to illegally possessing guns in violation of this law while subject to a restraining order. Police found a pistol and rifle while searching Rahimi’s residence in connection with at least five shootings, including using an assault-type rifle to fire at the home of a man to whom he had sold drugs.
A federal judge had rejected Rahimi’s Second Amendment challenge and sentenced him to more than six years in prison before the case went to the 5th Circuit. Violating this law was punishable by up to 10 years in prison at the time of Rahimi’s indictment but has since been raised to 15 years.
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, holds up a sign after U.S. justices rejected a Second Amendment challenge to a federal law that makes it a crime for people subject to domestic violence restraining orders to possess a gun, outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2024. REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades Purchase Licensing Rights
‘A SIGH OF RELIEF’
Gun control advocates welcomed Friday’s ruling.
“As millions of domestic violence victims breathe a sigh of relief, it’s worth remembering who put them in jeopardy: extreme Trump-appointed judges on the 5th Circuit who sided with an abuser who wanted to keep his guns,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, referring to Republican former President Donald Trump.
Rahimi’s lawyer declined to comment.
In a nation bitterly divided over how to address firearms violence including frequent mass shootings, the Supreme Court often has taken an expansive view of the Second Amendment. It broadened gun rights in landmark rulings in 2008 and 2010 before the 2022 Bruen decision, which recognized a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self defense and struck down New York state’s limits on carrying concealed handguns.
In Friday’s ruling, Roberts made clear that the history and tradition test set in Bruen for gun regulations is not as inflexible as the 5th Circuit’s ruling and Thomas’s dissent suggested.
Tourists and residents drink on a street in Gracia neighbourhood during a heatwave of the summer, in Barcelona, Spain August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Bruna Casas/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Barcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, announced on Friday that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.
The city’s leftist mayor, Jaume Collboni, said that by November 2028, Barcelona will scrap the licences of the 10,101 apartments currently approved as short-term rentals.
“We are confronting what we believe is Barcelona’s largest problem,” Collboni told a city government event.
The boom in short-term rentals in Barcelona, Spain’s most visited city by foreign tourists, means some residents cannot afford an apartment after rents rose 68% in the past 10 years and the cost of buying a house rose by 38%, Collboni said. Access to housing has become a driver of inequality, particularly for young people, he added.
National governments relish the economic benefits of tourism – Spain ranks among the top-three most visited countries in the world – but with local residents priced out in some places, gentrification and owner preference for lucrative tourist rentals are increasingly a hot topic across Europe.
Local governments have announced restrictions on short-term rentals in places such as Spain’s Canary Islands, Lisbon and Berlin in the past decade.
Spain’s Socialist housing minister, Isabel Rodriguez, said she supported Barcelona’s decision.
“It’s about making all the necessary efforts to guarantee access to affordable housing,” she posted on X.
Vacation rentals platform Airbnb , which hosts a significant number of Barcelona listings, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Collboni is making a mistake that will lead to (higher) poverty and unemployment,” Barcelona’s tourist apartments association APARTUR said in a statement, adding the ban would trigger a rise in illegal tourist apartments.
Emergency vehicles are seen at the scene of a shooting incident in Fordyce, Arkansas, U.S. June 21, 2024, in this screen grab obtained from social media video. South Arkansas Reckoning/Suzy Parker/via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
A shooter opened fire at an Arkansas supermarket on Friday, killing three civilians and wounding 10 other people, including two police officers, Arkansas State Police said.
The suspect was also wounded in a shootout with police, Arkansas State Police Director Mike Hagar told reporters.
The shooting occurred at the Mad Butcher grocery in Fordyce, a town of 3,200 people about 70 miles (112 km) south of Little Rock.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm that 11 innocent civilians were shot, and three of those are deceased. Two law enforcement officers were injured in the exchange of gunfire. The suspect was also shot and taken into custody,” Hagar said. He did not explain the circumstances of the shooting or take questions.
The wounded police officers and the suspect were expected to survive, he said.
Civilian injuries ranged from non-life-threatening to extremely critical, he said.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on social media platform X that she was briefed on the incident.
“I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this horrific incident,” she said.
The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, June 22, 2024. Song Kyung-Seok/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
A nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, arrived in South Korea’s port city of Busan on Saturday for joint military exercises this month with the host nation and Japan, South Korea’s navy said.
The leaders of the three nations agreed at a Camp David summit in August 2023 to hold annual military training drills as they condemned China’s “dangerous and aggressive behaviour” in the disputed waterway of the South China Sea.
Referee Diana Guandinango, left, explains the rules ahead of a “handball with anaco” match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, Friday, June 14, 2024. One year ago, a group of women decided to create a new version of soccer: handball with anaco, an ancient skirt worn by Indigenous women. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In the Indigenous community of Turucu, near the active Cotacachi volcano in northern Ecuador, soccer had always been a man’s thing.
The only gleaming green field belongs to them, especially on weekends. But things changed a year ago when a group of women decided to create a new version of the sport: handball with anaco, an ancient skirt worn by Indigenous women. It is a game only for women.
The match, consisting of two 25-minute halves, begins when the ball is thrown into the air. Screams and laughter erupt almost immediately, even more so when one of the players takes possession of the ball and begins to run to the opposite side of the field to score in a small arc.
The women run behind whomever is carrying the ball, some of them are trying to defend the attack, and others asking for a pass that allows them to continue advancing. If someone stumbles and falls, the laughter almost makes it impossible to continue the game. This variant of soccer is the simplest and most playful version of what a real game is, the perfect synonym for fun.
Handball with anaco was created by a group of entrepreneurial women from Turucu, located 67 kilometers (41.63 miles) north of the capital, a picturesque indigenous Quichua community surrounded by small agricultural plots and humble houses, near Cotacachi, one of the great attractions of northern Ecuador.
The rules are few and very simple: the uniform is the same traditional Indigenous clothing, blue or black anaco, and impeccable white blouses embroidered with brightly colored flowers, emulating those that grow freely in the nearby fields, the playing field is almost half of the regulations of a regular soccer pitch.
You cannot push rivals or take them by the arms and you cannot kick the ball, which will always be moved with both hands. If there is a strong foul, it is sanctioned with a penalty kick that is taken 10 meters away from the goal, which is 90 centimeters wide and 80 high, propelling the ball with the hands. Anyone can be a forward or a defender. There are no goalkeepers.
Sissa de la Cruz sets the limits of the field ahead of a “handball with anaco” match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)Indigenous women fight for the ball during a “handball with anaco” match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
“Since we were kids they have told us that soccer is a man’s thing,” Zoila Quinchiguango, one of the members of the Women Entrepreneurs team, told The Associated Press.
By going out to play with the anaco, she added, “we wanted to show that women are not only made for staying in the house raising children or taking care of the animals because we can also have fun on the field.”
The women are far from the only ones who enjoy handball with anaco. Their families watch the games and shout instructions that no one seems to hear.
Around this area of Ecuador, no one knows that the Copa América is going to be played in the United States, they hardly know or have heard about the young Ecuadorian soccer sensation Kendry Páez, a 17-year-old player who was named the most outstanding player in LigaPro.
Sissa de la Cruz, left, and Sisa Guandinango, fight for the ball during a “handball with anaco” match in the Indigenous community of Turucu, Ecuador, Friday, June 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Some of the older women now say that they have heard about Pelé or Diego Armando Maradona, but they all love handball with anaco.
“This sport is about uniting us as women, uniting the older generations and the younger ones, who only want to go out to the big cities, where we are discriminated against. It is something that we enjoy among women, purely for fun,” said the 33-year-old Sissa de la Cruz.
The oldest one is 58-year-old Dolores Guandinango, who plays often but prefers to stay back and defend near the goal. A year ago her husband was hit by a bus and she is struggling to pay her bills.
“When I play soccer with anaco I forget about the sorrows, even if it’s just for a little while and I laugh with my teammates, it’s only for a little while that the sorrows go away, while we’re on the field,” she added.
A strange monolith found jutting out of the rocks in a remote mountain range near Las Vegas has been taken down by authorities.
A strange monolith has been found jutting out of a remote mountain peak near Las Vegas. But after a three-day desert trek, an Associated Press reporter couldn’t find it.
How it got there is still unsolved.
“It remains unknown how the item got to its location or who might be responsible,” Las Vegas police said Friday in a series of posts on X announcing the removal of the glimmering, 6-foot-4 prism.
Its discovery over the weekend, and quick removal because of public safety and environmental concerns, revived a pandemic-era mystery that captured the public’s imagination when shiny monoliths evoking the object that appears in the Stanley Kubrick movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” began to appear around the globe.
Members of the Las Vegas police search and rescue team found the object near Gass Peak, part of the vast Desert National Wildlife Refuge where bighorn sheep and desert tortoises can be found roaming.
It was the latest discovery in a series of mysterious columns that have popped up since at least 2020.
In November of that year, a similar metal monolith was found deep in the Mars-like landscape of Utah’s red-rock desert. Then came sightings in Romania, central California, New Mexico and on the famed Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.
All of them disappeared as quickly as they popped up, adding to the lore.
“This thing is not from another world,” Lt. Nick Street of Utah’s Department of Public Safety said at the time.
The Utah monolith, believed to be the first in the series, had been embedded in the rock in an area so remote that officials didn’t immediately reveal its location for fear of people getting lost or stranded while trying to find it. But internet sleuths quickly found the coordinates, and hordes of curious tourists eager to see and touch the otherworldly object arrived, flattening plants with their cars and leaving behind human waste in the bathroom-free backcountry.
Authorities said the same concerns led them to tear down the latest monolith on Thursday.
It was illegally installed on federal land established to protect bighorn sheep and is home to rare plants and desert tortoises. The Desert National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the largest wildlife refuge outside of Alaska and can cover the state of Rhode Island twice.
Christa Weise, acting manager of the wildlife refuge, confirmed Friday that the monolith had been removed but said she couldn’t comment on whether federal authorities have opened a criminal investigation.
A man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in the attack against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was convicted Friday by a San Francisco jury of aggravated kidnapping. San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
A man sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in the attack against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was convicted Friday by a San Francisco jury of aggravated kidnapping, a conviction that mandates life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
A San Francisco jury found David DePape also guilty of first-degree burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a family member of a public official and dissuading a witness.
The convictions on the additional charges come weeks after a federal judge sentenced DePape for the 2022 attack against Paul Pelosi.
A San Francisco jury found David DePape also guilty of first-degree burglary, false imprisonment of an elder, threatening a family member of a public official and dissuading a witness. AP
“Speaker Pelosi and her family remain in awe of their Pop’s bravery, which shone through again on the witness stand in this trial just as it did when he saved his own life on the night of the attack,” Pelosi’s office wrote in an emailed statement Friday.
“For nearly 20 grueling months, Mr. Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery.”
DePape’s public defender Adam Lipson said he was disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal it.
He called the prosecutors’ decision to file a kidnapping for ransom charge “vindictive.”
“It’s really unfortunate that it was charged this way. It was sort of a textbook vindictive prosecution,” Lipson said.
“As soon as they found that the attempted murder charge was going to be dismissed, they added this charge.”
Lipson earlier argued that the state trial represents double jeopardy following the federal conviction.
Even though the criminal counts are not the same, the two cases stem from the same act, he told the judge.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman agreed and dismissed the state charges of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Another judge upheld the decision on appeal.
Lipson said that the verdict means that after DePape serves 30 years in federal prison, he will be transferred to California “to spend the rest of his life in a California prison.”
Previously, a federal jury convicted DePape of assaulting a federal official’s family member and attempting to kidnap a federal official.
On May 28, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison during an unusual resentencing hearing that resulted from judicial error.
Lipson focused his closing arguments on explaining to the jury that prosecutors did not prove DePape kidnapped Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, with the intent “to exact from another person money or something valuable,” which is integral to the charge.
Once aid arrives in Gaza it can mount up for days waiting to be collected
Lying in the sun, on the Israel-Gaza border, just miles from starving Palestinian families, there are hundreds of pallets of food – from packets of rice to bunches of bananas.
Although for the past week Israel’s military has been observing a daytime pause in fighting on a key stretch of road just beyond the main Kerem Shalom crossing point, humanitarian agencies say they are still struggling to get vital aid into southern Gaza.
They blame growing lawlessness for making it too dangerous to pick up and move goods.
“The looting has become quite profound,” says Georgios Petropoulos, head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza. He estimates that last Tuesday, three-quarters of the goods on board lorries entering from the crossing were stolen.
UN officials say the vehicles are systematically attacked and stopped by armed gangs, particularly those smuggling cigarettes, which are sold on the black market in Gaza for exorbitant amounts. Lorries bringing fuel into Gaza have also recently been targeted.
As Israel’s military offensive has removed Gaza’s Hamas government, there is no plan for how to fill the power vacuum. There are few police officers left working in the Palestinian territory. It is not clear if organised crime cartels are affiliated to Hamas or Gazan clans.
“Meaningful decisions now have to be taken about what we will do for civil order in Gaza and who will take care of delivering that,” Mr Petropoulos says.
On a media tour of Kerem Shalom, the Israeli military body responsible for operating the crossings, Cogat, told journalists it placed no limit on the amount of aid that could go into Gaza. We were shown what was said to be a backlog of more than 1,000 lorryloads of aid which had undergone security checks and were awaiting collection from the Gaza side.
“This is largely due to the fact that international organisations have not taken sufficient steps to improve their distribution capacity,” said Cogat spokesman Shimon Freedman.
He accused the UN – which is the main supplier of aid in Gaza – of having insufficient lorries, as well as needing “to increase manpower, to extend working hours, to increase storage” and take other “logistical and organisational steps”.
Cogat spokesman Shimon Freedman says aid agencies need to improve their distribution capacity
During the war, Israel has stepped up its criticism of aid agencies as the International Court of Justice has twice issued provisional measures, ordering it to enable humanitarian assistance to Gaza. These came about as a result of South Africa’s case alleging that Israel was violating the Genocide Convention of 1948, an accusation it strongly denies.
The UN and relief groups rebut claims that they are understaffed or inefficient, pointing to the difficulties of operating in an active war zone. They say Israeli bombings have damaged their infrastructure and reduced their capacity.
“We’ve recruited scores of new staff and hundreds of volunteers to distribute aid. We’ve delivered 28 million meals and six million medical treatments – so [clearly] we can get manpower together,” Sean Carroll, president of American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) tells me.
But he says increased workers do not help when “the war makes the pickup of goods too dangerous, or roads are impassable. When there isn’t enough fuel and there aren’t enough trucks or parts inside Gaza.”
Anera welcomed a commitment it said Cogat had made this week to allow more lorries to be imported to Gaza, saying it was now campaigning to buy these urgently.
However, Mr Carroll says an ongoing problem remains “the arbitrariness of the rules and procedures, which change constantly” when it comes to moving goods around.
Aid groups stress how the overloaded relief system in Gaza broke down in May when Israel began its military ground invasion in the crowded southern city of Rafah, saying it was targeting remaining battalions of Hamas fighters there.
About a million Palestinians, most of them already displaced by the fighting, were forced to flee, deepening the humanitarian crisis. At the same time, aid organisations lost access to important storage and distribution centres.
Ever since Israeli forces took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, Egypt has prohibited its use, saying it is no longer safe for humanitarian work. Aid and fuel are now being rerouted to Kerem Shalom.
According to UN figures, in May a daily average of 97 aid lorries entered Gaza – a 42% drop on the previous month. In the first two weeks of June, the number had fallen again to 89 lorries.
The claimant said she and her then partner had entered into a verbal contract in which he agreed to drop her off at the airport, then stay in her home while she was away and look after her dogs.
File pic: iStock
A woman in New Zealand has sued her ex-boyfriend after he failed to take her to the airport.
The woman, known as CL in a tribunal document, said she and her then partner – HG – had entered into a verbal contract in which he agreed to drop her off at the unnamed airport, then stay in her home while she was away and look after her two dogs.
CL, who had planned to attend a concert with friends during her time away, messaged the man the day before her flight with instructions to pick her up between 10am and 10.15am, according to the legal papers.
But he did not arrive, causing her to miss her flight.
She told the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal, which deals with small claims, that she was seeking compensation from him for the cost of taking an alternative flight the next day, getting a shuttle service to the airport and putting her dogs in a kennel.
CL said HG “enjoyed staying at her house” and had looked after her dogs in the past, according to the claim.
The couple, who were in a relationship for six and a half years until the dispute arose, had previously lived together but were now in different homes since the man’s son had come back to live with him.
CL also sought reimbursement for the cost of a ferry ticket she had bought for the man as part of a holiday planned for December 2023 to visit her sons.
What was the tribunal’s decision?
The tribunal looked at whether the man had entered into a contract to take her to the airport and look after her dogs.
It also looked into whether the pair had entered into a contract in which the ex-boyfriend had said he would incur the cost of the ferry trip.
In the end, the tribunal dismissed the woman’s claim, saying the man’s promise fell short of being a contract.
Tribunal referee Krysia Cowie said that for an agreement to be enforceable, there needs to be an intention “to create a legally binding relationship”.
“Partners, friends and colleagues make social arrangements, but it is unlikely they can be legally enforced unless the parties perform some act that demonstrates an intention that they will be bound by their promises,” she added.
“When friends fail to keep their promises, the other person may suffer a financial consequence but it may be that they cannot be compensated for that loss.”
The Reform UK leader said that he “disliked” the Russian president – but had admired his abilities as a statesman.
Nigel Farage has reiterated that he blames the West and NATO for the Russian invasion of Ukraine – as he confirmed that he previously said he “admired” Vladimir Putin as a statesman.
Speaking to the BBC, the Reform UK leader was asked about his previous comments on Russia and Ukraine.
Asked about Russia’s 2022 invasion, Mr Farage told Nick Robinson that he had been saying since the fall of the Berlin Wall that there would be a war in Ukraine due to the “ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union”.
He said this was giving Mr Putin a reason to tell the Russian people “they’re coming for us again” and go to war.
The Reform leader confirmed his belief the West “provoked” the conflict – but said it was “of course” the Russian president’s “fault”.
Mr Farage was asked about the war in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
Previous comments Mr Farage made about Mr Putin were also put to him.
He was asked about comments he made in 2014 stating that Mr Putin was the statesman he most admired.
Mr Farage said he disliked the Russian leader – but “I admired him as a political operator because he’s managed to take control” of running the country.
“This is the nonsense, you know, you can pick any figure, current or historical, and say, you know, did they have good aspects?” he added.
“And if you said, ‘well, they were very talented in one area,’ then suddenly you’re the biggest supporter.”
Conservative candidates – who may be feeling the threat of a Reform surge in the polls – were quick to condemn the Reform leader.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said Mr Farage was “echoing Putin’s vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine”.
Deputy Conservative chair Jonathan Gullis added that Putin is “certainly not someone who should be admired” – adding that he “unleashed chemical warfare on the streets of our country to commit murder, which endangered further innocent British lives”.
Labour’s shadow defence secretary, John Healey, said: “These are disgraceful comments, which reveal the true face of Nigel Farage: a Putin apologist who should never be trusted with our nation’s security.
“Up until now, there has been a united front amongst Britain’s political leaders in supporting the people of Ukraine against the unprovoked and unjustifiable assault they have suffered at the hands of Vladimir Putin.
“Nigel Farage has put himself outside that united position, and shown that he would rather lick Vladimir Putin’s boots than stand up for the people of Ukraine. That makes him unfit for any political office in our country, let alone leading a serious party in parliament.”
Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, were, however, cleared by a court in Switzerland of more serious charges of human trafficking linked to their servants.
Ajay Hinduja and his wife Namrata arrive at court in Geneva. Pic: Rex/Salvatore di Nolfi/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Four members of Britain’s richest family have received jail sentences after being found guilty of exploiting their vulnerable domestic workers and providing unauthorised employment.
Indian-born tycoon Prakash Hinduja and his wife Kamal, along with their son Ajay and his wife Namrata, were, however, cleared by a Swiss criminal court of more serious charges of human trafficking linked to their servants.
The court ruled the servants, who were mostly illiterate Indians and worked at their lakeside villa in Geneva, knew what they were getting into.
The four family members were sentenced to between four and four-and-a-half years in prison.
The lawyers representing the defendants said they would appeal.
In their defence, the Hinduja family’s legal team stated the staff were treated respectfully and provided with accommodation.
The four were accused of seizing workers’ passports, paying them in rupees – not Swiss francs – barring them from leaving the villa and forcing them to work very long hours for a pittance in Switzerland, among other things.
Sentences
Prakash and Kamal each received jail sentences of four-and-a-half years, while Ajay and his wife Namrata were sentenced to four years each.
The defendants were not in court in Geneva though a fifth defendant – Najib Ziazi, the family’s business manager – was there on Friday. He received an 18-month suspended sentence.
Prakash and Kamal, aged 78 and 75 respectively, reportedly did not attend the trial due to health reasons.
It emerged last week in criminal court the family – which has roots in India – had reached an undisclosed settlement with the plaintiffs. Geneva prosecutors opened the case for alleged illegal activity including exploitation, human trafficking and violation of Swiss labour laws.
What did the prosecution allege?
The prosecution said the workers – who were in jobs such as cooks or house help – were sometimes forced to work up to 18 hours a day with little or no holiday time off.
And their pay was less than one-tenth of the comparable amount required under Swiss law, it was alleged.
Employees worked even later hours for receptions and slept in the basement of the villa in the upmarket Cologny area – sometimes on a mattress on the floor, said prosecutors, who described a “climate of fear” brought by Kamal Hinduja.
Some workers allegedly spoke only Hindi and were paid their wages in Indian rupees in banks back home that they could not access.
Swiss authorities have already seized jewellery including diamonds, rubies, a platinum necklace, as well as other assets, from the family in anticipation they could be used to pay for legal fees and possible penalties.
Firefighters work at a site of a household item shopping mall hit by a Russian air strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 25, 2024. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Russia sees a pressing need for security talks with the United States but they must be “comprehensive” and include the subject of Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday.
“It is impossible to rip out any individual segments from the general complex of accumulated problems, and we will not do this,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Moscow was ready to talk to Washington about nuclear risks.
“So we are open to dialogue, but to a broad comprehensive dialogue that covers all dimensions, including the current dimension related to the conflict around Ukraine, related to the direct involvement of the USA in this conflict,” Peskov told reporters.
The United States rejects Russia’s contention that by arming Ukraine it has become a direct protagonist in a war aimed at inflicting a crushing “strategic defeat” on Moscow. The U.S. says any negotiations over the war are a matter for Ukraine.
The Russian stance, as outlined by Peskov, is not new. But he told reporters that the list of topics that Russia and the United States needed to discuss was growing.
“Overall, this dialogue is very much required,” Peskov said. “It is needed because problems are piling up, and there are a lot of problems associated with the global security architecture.”
From Washington’s point of view, it is Putin who, in the third year of the war in Ukraine, is adding to the list of security concerns.
This week he visited nuclear-armed North Korea, signed a mutual defence agreement with its leader Kim Jong Un and said he might supply Russian weapons to North Korea in response to the Western arming of Ukraine.
Putin also reiterated on Thursday that he was considering reviewing Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons. The last remaining arms control treaty that limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads that Russia and the United States can deploy is due to expire in 2026.
Footage released by the Philippine military appeared to show the chaotic face off at the Second Thomas Shoal, with Chinese personnel brandishing machetes, axes and sticks while surrounding two Philippine navy supply boats.
Filipino soldiers used their “bare hands” to fight off armed Chinese coastguard in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine military chief has said.
General Romeo Brawner Jr, head of the Philippine armed forces, accused Chinese personnel of boarding more than eight motorboats and repeatedly ramming, then boarding, two inflatable vessels on Monday.
Comparing the act to piracy, he said the Chinese had bladed weapons and tried to prevent the transfer of food, firearms and other supplies to a Philippine territorial outpost in the disputed area of the Second Thomas Shoal.
Hostilities between the two countries have escalated in and around the shoal – where the Philippines grounded the BRP Sierra Madre ship in 1999 to create the outpost – which is also claimed by Beijing.
Sirens blared constantly as both sides could be heard yelling at each other in video footage. Pic: Armed forces of the PhilippinesDamage allegedly caused by the Chinese coastguard. Pic: Armed forces of the Philippines
Footage released by the Philippine military on Wednesday showed the dispute, with Chinese personnel brandishing what appeared to be machetes, knives, axes, hammers and sticks while surrounding two supply boats.
Sirens blared constantly as both sides could be heard yelling at each other. The Chinese appeared to smash the Philippine navy boat with a pole and images showed its side floaters slashed and deflated, and another boat with its windshields and navigational screens shattered.
One Filipino solider lost his right thumb and a number of others were injured as M4 rifles, navigation equipment and other supplies were seized, two Philippine security officials said.
“Only pirates do this. Only pirates board, steal, and destroy ships, equipment, and belongings,” Gen Brawner said.
He demanded the Chinese return all firearms and equipment and “pay for the damage they caused”.
The Philippines has demanded China pays for the alleged damage. Pic: Armed forces of the Philippines
China blamed the Philippines for the confrontation, saying Filipino personnel “trespassed” into the shoal, ignoring its warnings.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the Chinese coastguard took “professional law-enforcement measures”, accusing the Philippines of illegally supplying its vessels.
“No direct measures were taken against the Philippine personnel,” he added.
The incident prompted the US to renew a warning that it is obligated to defend the Philippines, a treaty ally.
In addition to China and the Philippines – Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have conflicting territorial claims in the waterway.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea – a claim invalidated by an international tribunal in 2016.
Jensen Huang, the Taiwan-born founder of semiconductor giant Nvidia, brings a quiet determination to a Silicon Valley known for hype and bluster, says IMD Business School’s Howard Yu.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at an event ahead of the COMPUTEX forum, in Taipei, Taiwan Jun 2, 2024. (File photo: Reuters/Ann Wang)
At 61, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is not your usual Silicon Valley tech rockstar. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg achieved stardom before age 30, as did Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. This week, Nvidia overtook Microsoft and Apple to become the world’s most valuable company, at about US$3.34 trillion.
It’s not like Nvidia builds products that consumers can easily relate to: Unlike iPhones or Facebook, most of us never directly buy or even see Nvidia’s graphics cards or artificial intelligence chips.
Yet, fans mobbed Mr Huang at the Computex tech trade show in Taiwan earlier this month and flocked to the restaurants and night market stalls he patronised. “Jensanity” has swept the island and the tech world.
So how did Mr Huang become the “Taylor Swift of tech”, as coined by Mr Zuckerberg?
NAVIGATING US-CHINA GEOPOLITICAL RISKS
For one, Taiwan-born Mr Huang has arguably become the face of the AI semiconductor boom, at a time when chips have become the next front in the rivalry between China and the United States.
One of the deepest fault lines lies in Taiwan which is at the heart of everything technological that powers Silicon Valley to Shenzhen. It holds the key to the world’s digital future.
“Taiwan is the unsung hero, a steadfast pillar of the world,” Mr Huang said onstage at Computex, pointing to a chart that showed 100 Taiwanese companies, such as TSMC. The semiconductor foundry manufactures most of the world’s advanced chipsets, including Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips.
Foxconn, Quanta, Pegatron and Wistron assemble Apple, Dell and HP products. Delta Electronics enables the power and thermal management of electric vehicles and data centres. ASUS is known for its high-performance personal computers and components.
Washington wants to contain China. Beijing wants to achieve self-sufficiency. And Taiwanese companies, knowing both sides need them, play cute.
Make friends with everyone. Take orders from Apple’s Tim Cook, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Xiaomi’s Lei Jun. Why choose? Hedge your risks. Only the paranoid survive.
THINK WORKHORSE, NOT UNICORN
Looking at its success today, it is easy to forget that it took Nvidia wandering in the wild for 30 years before striking gold. It’s no overnight unicorn.
Its first chip was a massive flop. Its second was doomed to fail: Japan’s Sega had contracted Nvidia to develop a new game console using an unconventional 3D rendering approach. Microsoft subsequently announced a competing standard, which ultimately was adopted by the rest of the industry. Nvidia instead pivoted to build a compatible Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) that accelerated the performance under the emerging Windows standard.
Then, in 2006, Nvidia discovered that its graphics cards could do more than make pictures and videos. They could accelerate other fast, repetitive tasks – ideal for areas like machine learning. To tap this potential, the company released CUDA.
Programming GPUs directly is complex. CUDA made it much easier by providing a set of tools that anyone could use to write code and use GPUs. Nvidia then poured at least US$10 billion into CUDA, according to their numbers from back in 2017.
CUDA was already a game changer and here’s the kicker: CUDA was free. In one fell swoop, anyone with programming skills could experiment.
And everyone did – from Tesla to Sony and Amazon, from students at Berkeley to MIT. Machine learning, artificial intelligence and scientific computing were big winners from widespread experimentation. That’s how OpenAI and Meta became Nvidia’s biggest customers.
It was a huge and risky leap at the time into what Mr Huang now calls a “zero billion dollar” AI market. He understood that Nvidia needed to be more significant in the age of AI to develop new applications around machine learning.
British teenager Jay Slater had been on holiday in Tenerife but has been missing since Monday after telling a friend he would be setting off on an 11-hour walk to get home. At a service of hope held Thursday members of his local village wore blue ribbons and left messages to him.
Jay Slater and his mother, Debbie Duncan. Pic: Lucy Law
As the search continues for missing Jay Slater, members of the local community rallied at a church event as his friends hoped for the return of the British teen they described as the “life and soul of the party”.
The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn in Lancashire, was on holiday in Tenerife with friends when he went missing on Monday.
He vanished after he told a friend he would be setting off on an 11-hour walk to get home, after he missed his bus, and new photographs show the property where he was last seen.
At a church in his home town, locals used blue ribbons to mark a service of hope as they left messages to the missing teen.
Two friends, speaking to Sky News, also shared stories of the teen they hoped would soon be found.
One friend of Mr Slater’s said: “We’ve known him for a long time. We’re always out with him. He’s the life and soul of the party.
“Everywhere you see him he’s just constantly got a smile on his face. He’s always just a happy chap.”
“He’s just one of a kind really,” they added.
They continued: “I don’t think you could walk through any street [in Oswaldtwistle] and someone would say they don’t know him. He’s just constantly happy wherever you see him, no matter what.
“He’s just always got a smile on his face. Hopefully, someone somewhere knows something and hopefully he can get found.”
A second friend told Sky News: “I can’t hope enough, I literally can’t. It’s been on my mind since Monday morning.
“I just can’t seem to understand why this has happened to him and why no-one has heard anything. It’s crazy, I’m lost for words.”
The friend continued: “We feel like we can’t do anything about it because we’re over here and he’s over there. If we could get a flight tomorrow we would do.”
Court filings show that the short video app and its Chinese owner are bidding to strike down a new national security law on several grounds, including the apparent singling out of its US interests and 170 million users.
Pic: AP
TikTok has launched a long-awaited legal fight to stop its Chinese owner being forced to sell the short video platform’s US operations, arguing it violates Americans’ rights to free speech.
TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance were told in April they had until January next year to divest TikTok in the US or face the prospect of the app being banned in the country.
Legislation, signed by President Joe Biden, gives the US government the power to demand such sales on national security grounds.
The concern in this case centres on perceived risks that data on TikTok’s 170 million American users could be harvested by Beijing and that TikTok could be compelled by the Chinese authorities to spy on them.
It has insisted this is not about trying to ban TikTok but Thursday’s filing contested that was the inevitable conclusion if the new law was to stand.
ByteDance said a sale was “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally”.
The filings also argued the law violates Americans’ rights to free speech under the constitution and revealed a spend of $2bn on efforts to protect US user data.
Under a document released at the same time, the pair committed to giving the US government power – described as a “kill switch” to suspend TikTok in the country if it failed to adhere to a series of national security and data commitments.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear arguments on lawsuits filed by TikTok, ByteDance
and TikTok users on 16 September.
“This law is a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet, and sets a dangerous
precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavoured speech platform and force it to sell or be shut down,” ByteDance and TikTok said in their application.
“This administration has determined that it prefers to try to shut down TikTok in the United States and eliminate a
platform of speech for 170 million Americans, rather than continue to work on a practical, feasible, and effective
solution to protect US users through an enforceable agreement,” TikTok lawyers said.
North Korea is building sections of what appears to be a wall in several places near its border with South Korea, new satellite images reveal.
Images analysed by BBC Verify also show that land inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) has been cleared, which experts say could be a violation of the long-standing truce with South Korea.
The DMZ is a 4km (2.5 miles) wide buffer zone between North and South Korea, who are still technically at war having never signed a peace treaty. The DMZ is split in two, with each side controlled by the respective nations.
This recent activity is “unusual”, according to experts, and comes at a time of rising tensions between the two countries.
“At this point we can only speculate that North Korea is looking to strengthen its military presence and fortifications along the border,” says Shreyas Reddy, a correspondent at the specialist site NK News, based in Seoul.
BBC Verify commissioned high-resolution satellite imagery of a 7km stretch of the border as part of a project to look at changes North Korea was making to the area.
These images appear to show at least three sections where barriers have been erected near the DMZ, covering a total of about 1km close to the eastern end of the border.
It’s possible that there has been further barrier construction along other stretches of the border.
The exact date construction began is unclear due to a lack of previous high-resolution imagery in the area. However, these structures were not visible in an image captured in November 2023.
“My personal assessment is that this is the first time they’ve ever built a barrier in the sense of separating places from each other,” Dr Uk Yang, a military and defence expert at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies told the BBC.
“Back in the 1990s, North Korea had set up the anti-tank walls to deter the advance of tanks in case war broke out. But recently, North Korea has been setting up walls 2-3m high, and they don’t look like the anti-tank walls,” Dr Yang says.
“The shape of the walls suggests that they are not just obstacles [for tanks], but are intended to divide an area,” adds Dr Yang, who reviewed the satellite images.
There is also evidence of land clearance within the North Korean side of the DMZ.
The latest satellite imagery of the eastern end of the boundary shows what appears to be a newly created access road.
In drawing the precise northern boundary of the DMZ in the map above, we have adopted the BBC’s research on border mapping. This is because there are slight variations in the available maps of the boundary. However, all the versions we’ve located show the land clearance taking place within the DMZ.
An official from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a recent briefing interview that the military had identified ongoing activity related to the “reinforcement of tactical roads, the laying of mines and the clearing of wasteland”.
“The land clearing could be intended for both military and non-military aspects”, says Prof Kil Joo Ban, professor of international security at Korea University.
“It allows observatory posts to be easily established,” he says “for North Korea to monitor military activities in South Korea” and to spot “defectors who attempt to cross the border to South Korea.”
The Israeli military said Sunday that it was establishing a new safe corridor to deliver aid into southern Gaza. But days later, this self-declared “tactical pause” has brought little relief to desperate Palestinians.
The United Nations and international aid organizations say a breakdown in law and order has made the aid route unusable.
With thousands of truckloads of aid piled up, groups of armed men are regularly blocking convoys, holding drivers at gunpoint and rifling through their cargo, according to a U.N. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media on the issue.
The lawlessness is a major obstacle to aid distribution to southern and central Gaza — where an estimated 1.3 million Palestinians displaced from Rafah, or more than half of Gaza’s entire population, are now sheltering in tent camps and cramped apartments without adequate food, water, or medical supplies.
Here is a closer look at the security challenges facing the U.N. and aid organizations.
Israel’s ‘tactical pause’ stymied
Israel said Sunday it would observe daily pauses in combat along a route stretching from Kerem Shalom — the strip’s only operational aid crossing in the south — to the nearby city of Khan Younis. Before the pause, aid organizations had reported that the need to coordinate trucks’ movement with the Israelis in an active combat zone was slowing aid distribution.
The head of the U.N.’s World Food Program said Thursday that the pause has made “no difference at all” in aid distribution efforts. “We haven’t been able to get in,” said Cindy McCain in an interview with Al-Monitor. “We’ve had to reroute some of our trucks. They’ve been looted. As you know, we’ve been shot at and we’ve been rocketed.”
The U.N. official familiar with the aid effort said that there has been no sign of Israeli activity along the route. The U.N. tried to send a convoy of 60 trucks down the road Tuesday to pick up aid at Kerem Shalom. But 35 of the trucks were intercepted by armed men, the official said.
In recent days, the groups have moved closer to the crossing and set up roadblocks to halt trucks loaded with supplies, the U.N. official said. They have searched the pallets for smuggled cigarettes, a rare luxury in a territory where a single smoke can go for $25.
The surge in lawlessness is a result of growing desperation in Gaza and the power vacuum left by Hamas’s waning power over the territory, said Mkhaimar Abusada, an associate professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza who is now in Cairo.
With the enclave’s police force targeted by Israel, he said, crime has reemerged as an untreated issue in Gaza.
“After Hamas came to power, one of the things that they brought under their control was the lawlessness of the so-called big clans,” said Abusada. “Now, that’s left for the Palestinians on their own to deal with it. So once again, we are seeing shootings between families, there are thefts, all the bad things are happening.”
UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, used to deploy local Palestinian police to escort aid convoys, but many refused to continue serving after airstrikes killed at least eight police officers in Rafah, the agency said.
Israel says the police are legitimate targets because they are controlled by Hamas.
Is any aid still getting into Gaza?
The situation has largely paralyzed aid distribution to the south — particularly since Gaza’s nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt was closed when Israel invaded the city early last month.
The U.N. official said that 25 trucks of flour used the route Tuesday. Some private commercial trucks also got through — many of which used armed security to deter groups seeking to seize their cargo. An AP reporter stationed along the road Monday saw at least eight trucks pass by, armed security guards riding on top.
Before Israel’s offensive into the city of Rafah, hundreds of fuel trucks routinely entered the area.
The U.N. has now begun rerouting some fuel trucks through northern Gaza. Farhan Haq, a U.N. spokesman, said five fuel trucks entered Gaza Wednesday. The U.N. humanitarian office reported that these were the first fuel deliveries since early June and supplies remain scarce.
Aid groups say only a ceasefire and a reopening of the Rafah crossing could significantly increase aid flow to the area.
The military body in charge of coordinating humanitarian aid efforts, COGAT, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Security concerns also afflict aid from U.S. pier project
The U.S. installed a pier off Gaza’s coast last month, aiming to provide an additional route for aid to enter Gaza. But the ambitious project has suffered repeated logistical and security setbacks.
Cyprus and US officials said the pier was up and running again Thursday after being detached for a second time last week because of rough seas. COGAT said Thursday there were “hundreds of aid pallets awaiting collection and distribution by the U.N. aid agencies.”
Washington and Beijing are talking more regularly to avoid a conflict in the South China Sea despite their “contentious and competitive” relationship, the United States ambassador to China has told the BBC.
“Our militaries are operating in very close proximity to one another in the South China Sea and in the Taiwan Strait. You don’t want to send the wrong signal,” Nicholas Burns said in an interview in Beijing earlier this week.
The South China Sea has become a dangerous flashpoint, where Beijing’s claims are ratcheting up tensions with Taiwan and Philippines, as well as their most powerful ally, the US.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have been playing a dicey cat-and-mouse game in the contested waters in recent months – the latest altercation this week allegedly involved Chinese coastguard personnel boarding a Philippine boat and attacking soldiers with swords and knives.
The US, which has stitched together military alliances from Manila to Tokyo, has repeatedly vowed to defend its allies’ rights in the South China Sea.
This has further strained ties with China – the relationship was already reeling from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chinese claims over self-governed Taiwan and a trade war.
Chinese and Philippine boats have come very close to one another in the South China Sea
Mr Burns said these were flashpoints that still “completely divided” the two sides, but it was important to try to “get people together” where possible.
“The Chinese have agreed to increase our military-to-military communications and that’s really critical for us. You want to have communication because the last thing we want is an accident, a misunderstanding that leads to conflict,” said the 68-year-old diplomat.
While tensions have eased, the upcoming US presidential election has the potential to disrupt the relationship again.
“We’ve warned the Chinese not to involve themselves in our election in any way, shape or form,” Mr Burns said, adding that the US was “very concerned” about the possibility.
Earlier this year FBI officials said China would likely continue its efforts to sow divisions and could help spread disinformation online.
The ambassador said the FBI also had evidence of “cyber aggression by Chinese authorities” against the US. Beijing has always denied accusations of state-sponsored cyber warfare and says it too is a victim of this type of crime.
Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are vying to be tough on Beijing, a strategy they see as a vote-winner. In May, President Biden announced a raft of new tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, solar panels and other goods. Few electric cars reach US shores, but Ambassador Burns denied that domestic politics had played a part in this decision.
He said this was an “economic move” designed to safeguard American jobs. Meanwhile, China has warned it may retaliate with tariffs of its own.
But there are some bright spots despite the rivalry.
Before sitting down for our interview, Mr Burns had a meeting with China’s climate envoy as the world’s two biggest polluters try to find ways to reduce harmful emissions.
Washington and Beijing are also holding what are described as “high-level talks” to prevent the drug fentanyl reaching US shores, which Mr Burns described as “critical”.
Nicholas Burns (left, with Xi Jinping) has been the US ambassador in Beijing since 2022
Most of his meetings are at a ministerial level and audiences with President Xi are reserved for when senior US officials, such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visit.
Both sides have also vowed to work towards more “people-to-people” exchanges. This comes as the number of US students studying in China has fallen from around 15,000 in 2011 to 800.
Mr Xi hopes to open the door for 50,000 American students to come to China in the next five years. He said on a visit to San Francisco last November that it was the “ultimate wish of our two peoples for exchanges and cooperation”.
But Ambassador Burns accused parts of the Chinese government of not taking these warm words seriously: “Since the San Francisco summit, there have been 61 separate incidents when the security forces or a government ministry have prevented Chinese citizens from participating in public diplomacy programmes at this house, at our embassy or they have prevented people from travelling to the US to participate in joint trips – so it has been very difficult for us to bring people together.”
On the other side, Chinese students and academics have reported being unfairly targeted by US border officials. Beijing’s embassy in Washington lodged a formal protest and accused US authorities of “unwarrantedly” interrogating, harassing, cancelling the visas of and even deporting several students from China with valid travel permits upon their arrival in the US.
Washington has also placed a “level 3” travel advisory on China urging visitors to “reconsider” their travel. Mr Burns denied this alert was contradictory to a US plea to “bring people together,” but was rather a precaution.
“There are Americans imprisoned here who we believe are wrongfully detained, wrongfully prosecuted, I’ve been visiting these prisoners and we want them released.” He said several Americans had been subjected to “exit bans” by China and had their passports taken at the airport and could not leave.
China, in turn, has left the US off a list of countries that are exempt from visas for up to 15 days of travel – Australia is on the list after Beijing recently mended ties with Canberra.
That “people-to-people” contact – a relatively easy goal in an otherwise thorny relationship – is proving to be so difficult is perhaps a sign of the continuing lack of trust on both sides.
But the biggest fault line for now may well be the war in Ukraine.
The US seems to believe China could hold the key to halting Russia’s progress on the battlefield. And Ambassador Burns reiterated Washington’s message that Beijing’s support for Moscow’s invasion will not be tolerated.
“China is not neutral in this war,” he said. “China is showing its true colours. It’s supporting Russia, supporting Putin as he unleashes this barbaric war on Ukrainian civilians. We know what is being shipped by Chinese companies and we know the impact it is having on Russia’s ability to conduct this war.”
He said there were “tens of thousands” of Chinese companies supporting Moscow. “We have sanctioned a great number and we are prepared to do more if the government here does not pull back.”
The driver who hit and decapitated an elderly pedestrian in Brooklyn appeared inconsolable in a new video taken of the gruesome scene.
The man was on his knees and at times hunched over in grief on a Brooklyn street as cops and a bystander tried to comfort him, according to a video that emerged on the social media account NYC Scoop.
The heartbreaking scene played out last week after the elderly man was fatally struck and decapitated. NYC Scoop/X
The unidentified driver, who was wearing a bright yellow vest, was behind the wheel of a city Department of Transportation truck when he allegedly mowed down the 86-year-old man, whom sources identified as Antonio Conigliaro.
The octogenarian lived a few-minute walk from where the crash happened in Bay Ridge, cops said.
The sickening footage also showed the victim’s head several yards away from the rest of his body, which was crumbled in the crosswalk.
“Oh my God, this is a bad day,” a woman can be heard saying on the video.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Vietnam’s President To Lam pose for photos during an official visit at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam on Jun 20, 2024. (Photo: Kremlin via REUTERS/Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsyna)
The US responded to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Vietnam on Thursday (Jun 20) by saying Washington would stay focused on deepening ties with Hanoi, with which it has sought strong relations to counter rivalry with China.
A day after signing a mutual defence agreement with North Korea, Putin received a 21-gun salute at a military ceremony in Vietnam and said in Hanoi he wanted to build a “reliable security architecture” in the region.
Hours later, Washington announced that its top diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, would visit Vietnam on Friday and Saturday to stress Washington’s commitment to working with Hanoi to ensure a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region.
Putin’s two-nation trip to Asia has been seen as a show of defiance to the West, and Vietnam’s hosting him had been sharply criticised by Washington, which said the Russian leader should not be given a stage on which to defend the war in Ukraine.
The White House national security spokesperson John Kirby was asked at a regular briefing if the US believed Putin would seek support for the Ukraine war from Vietnam and said Washington expected Hanoi would continue to adhere to UN principles on respect for territorial integrity.
Kirby stressed the US upgrade of relations with Vietnam last year, and added: “We’re going to stay focused on continuing to deepen it, broaden it, improve it for own mutual benefits to each other and to the region.”
The US is now Vietnam’s top export market and the US State Department said in announcing Kritenbrink’s visit that he would “reaffirm the United States’ support for a strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous Vietnam” and “underscore the strong US commitment to implementing the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”.
Russia and Vietnam signed agreements on issues including energy, underlining Moscow’s pivot to Asia after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict.
Despite US concern over Vietnam hosting Putin, some analysts believe Hanoi may have calculated it will not suffer material consequences, given that Washington relies on good relations with Vietnam to counter its rivalry with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
However, Hanoi is awaiting an important US decision due by Jul 26, on whether to elevate Vietnam to market-economy status, and Alexander Vuving, a Vietnam and Asia expert at Hawaii’s Daniel K Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, said hosting Putin could affect this.
Smoke plumes billow over Gaza’s Rafah, more than eight months into the Israel-Hamas war. (File Photo: AFP/Bashar Taleb)
Israeli forces pounded areas in the central Gaza Strip overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens of others, according to medics, while tanks deepened their invasion into Rafah in the south, residents said.
Israeli planes struck a house in Al-Nuseirat camp, killing two people and wounding 12 others, while tanks shelled areas in Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij camps, wounding many other people, health officials said. Nuseirat, Maghazi, and Bureij are three of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps.
An aerial view of tent camps where displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, shelter in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Dec 9, 2023. (File Photo: REUTERS/Mustafa Thraya)
The Israeli military said on Wednesday (Jun 19) that forces were continuing their operations across the enclave targeting militants and military infrastructure in what it described as “precise, intelligence-based” activities.
More than eight months into the war in Gaza, Israel’s advance is now focused on the two last areas its forces had yet to storm: Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre. The operations have forced more than a million people to flee since May, the vast majority already displaced from other parts of the enclave.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks stationed deep in the western and central areas of the city stepped up bombardment, forcing more families living in the far coastal areas to flee northward. Some residents said the pace of the raid has been accelerated in the past two days.
“The tanks took control of most of the areas in Rafah. People living by the beach have also started to leave toward Khan Younis and central areas in fear because of the continued bombardment,” said Abu Wasim, a resident from Rafah’s Al-Shaboura neighbourhood, who quit his home over a week ago before tanks rolled in reaching the heart of the city.
Rafah housed over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people until May 7 when Israeli forces began the ground offensive into the city. Fewer than 100,000 are now believed to be left behind.
There has been no sign of let-up in the fighting as efforts by international mediators, backed by the United States, have failed to persuade Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire.
The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said fighters battled Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, and have in some areas detonated pre-planted explosive devices against army units.
Federal authorities raided a home belonging to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao early Thursday as part of a California investigation that included a search of at least two other houses, officials said.
FBI agents carried boxes out of 80 Maiden Lane, a four-bedroom home that property records link to the first-term mayor, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Thao’s spokesperson Francis Zamora referred inquiries to the FBI.
“The FBI conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane in Oakland this morning. We are unable to provide additional information at this time,” a bureau statement said.
Agents also carried out searches about three miles to the south at two homes owned by members of the politically influential Duong family that owns the recycling company Cal Waste Solutions, the Chronicle said. The firm has been investigated over campaign contributions to Thao and other elected city officials, the local news outlet Oaklandside reported in 2020.
One of the properties is owned by Andy Duong and the other is connected to David and Linda Duong, according to records cited by the Chronicle.
Phone messages and emails seeking comment on the raid from Cal Waste Solutions officials were not immediately returned. Personal phone numbers for members of the Duong family could not be found.
Thao, 38, is facing a recall election less than two years into her term as mayor. The city clerk’s office last week notified leaders behind the recall effort that they had gathered enough verified signatures to qualify for the ballot in November.
Increased crime and budgetary problems have challenged Thao since she assumed office in January 2023 after a stint on the Oakland City Council.
FILE – American Airlines President Robert Isom speaks at a news conference about the company’s new partnership with Alaska Airlines, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020, in Seattle. On Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, American CEO Isom defended his airline’s partnership with JetBlue, saying there is no other way for American to grow fast enough to compete with Delta and United in the Northeast. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
American Airlines put an unspecified number of employees on leave for their involvement in an incident in which several Black passengers were removed from a flight in Phoenix, allegedly over a complaint about body odor.
American CEO Robert Isom wrote in a note to staff that the incident was unacceptable.
“I am incredibly disappointed by what happened on that flight and the breakdown of our procedures,” Isom said in the note this week. “It contradicts our values. … We fell short of our commitments and failed our customers in this incident.”
Three Black passengers sued the airline last month, charging that they were removed from the January flight because of racial discrimination. They said they were told that a white male flight attendant had complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor.
The men said they did not know each other and were seated separately while waiting for the plane to depart for New York. The three said they were among eight passengers – all the Black men on the flight, they said – who were told to leave the plane.
The men said they demanded an explanation for their removal during a confrontation with airline personnel in the jet bridge. At least one of the men recorded the discussion, capturing an airline employee seeming to agree that the men were discriminated against, according to their lawsuit.
After a delay of about an hour, they were allowed back on the plane.
American did not say how many employees were put on leave or describe their job titles. A spokesperson for the airline said, “We are holding those involved accountable, including removing team members from service.”
Isom said American would form an advisory group to focus on the experience of Black customers, to promote the reporting of discrimination allegations, and to improve diversity training to “focus on real-world situations to help recognize and address bias and discrimination.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a California woman who said she did not know about a stash of methamphetamine hidden inside her car.
In a ruling that crossed the court’s ideological lines, the 6-3 majority opinion dismissed arguments that an expert witness for the prosecution had gone too far in describing the woman’s mindset when he said that most larger scale drug couriers are aware of what they are transporting.
“An opinion about most couriers is not an opinion about all couriers,” said Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the decision. He was joined by fellow conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett as well as liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In a sharp dissent, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the ruling gives the government a “powerful new tool in its pocket.”
“Prosecutors can now put an expert on the stand — someone who apparently has the convenient ability to read minds — and let him hold forth on what ‘most’ people like the defendant think when they commit a legally proscribed act. Then, the government need do no more than urge the jury to find that the defendant is like ‘most’ people and convict,” he wrote. Joining him were the court’s other liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The opinion came in the case of Delilah Guadalupe Diaz. She was sentenced to seven years in prison after on drug charges after Border Patrol agents discovered methamphetamine worth nearly $370,000 stashed inside the car door panel as she crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
Diaz contended the car belonged to a boyfriend and that she did not know the drugs were inside. Defense lawyers argued that she was a “blind mule,” a term for people used by cartels to smuggle drugs without their knowledge.
Prosecutors disagreed. The Justice Department called as an expert witness a Homeland Security agent who testified that drug cartels do not usually send large quantities of drugs with people who are unaware of the contraband, though the agent acknowledged that has happened.
One of Vladimir Putin’s aides said earlier on Wednesday that the Russian leader had presented Kim Jong Un with a Russian-built Aurus limousine as a gift.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a deal that included a mutual defence pledge. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took turns to drive each other around in a Russian-built Aurus limousine on Wednesday after the Kremlin said Putin had gifted one of the luxury vehicles to Kim.
In a carefully staged public relations opportunity held amid tight security, the two leaders used the moment to show how close their working relationship has become during what was a pomp-filled visit to Pyongyang by Putin, his first in nearly a quarter of a century.
🇷🇺 🇰🇵 President Vladimir Putin driving North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in a brand new Aurus Russian luxury car. pic.twitter.com/N4ceb2ZWvV
Their jaunt took place after the two leaders had signed a deal that included a mutual defence pledge, one of Russia’s most significant moves in Asia for years that Kim said amounted to an “alliance”.
Video released by Russian state TV showed Putin jumping behind the wheel of the black armoured Aurus, which is his official presidential car back in Russia, with Kim getting in the passenger seat.
The car is then shown driving on a road which weaves its way through a carefully manicured park area before coming to a halt. A Korean man in a suit wearing white gloves is seen opening the door for Kim before rushing round to hold Putin’s door.
Putin and Kim are then shown walking side by side and chatting on a path in a wooded area with two men, presumably translators, walking behind them.
Kim, who is believed to be a keen automobile enthusiast, is then shown driving Putin back.
One of Putin’s aides said earlier on Wednesday that the Russian leader had presented Kim with a Russian-built Aurus limousine as a gift.
Putin gave Kim a first Aurus limousine in February this year, both countries said at the time, meaning he now has at least two of the vehicles.
The Aurus Senat, retro-styled after the Soviet-era ZIL limousine, is the official Russian presidential car and Putin rode in one to his most recent Kremlin inauguration ceremony in May.
When Kim visited eastern Russia in September last year, Putin showed him one of the vehicles. Kim sat beside Putin in the car and appeared to enjoy it.
Kim has a large collection of luxury foreign vehicles which have probably been smuggled in, as UN Security Council resolutions ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea.
He has been spotted in a Maybach limousine, several Mercedes, a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Lexus sports utility vehicle.
The Vietnamese president praised Putin for his peace contributions, while the US criticised Hanoi for inviting the Russian leader.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin makes a speech during an event with Vietnam’s President To Lam attended by the Vietnam Friendship Association and generations of Vietnamese alumni who studied in Russia at the Hanoi Opera House in Hanoi on Jun 20, 2024. (Photo: Reuters: MANAN VATSYAYANA/Pool)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to build a “reliable security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region during a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday (Jun 20), part of a trip to Asia seen as show of defiance to the West.
A day after signing a mutual defence agreement with North Korea, Putin received a 21-gun salute at a military ceremony in Vietnam, was embraced by two of its Communist leaders and lavishly praised by one of them.
Putin had contributed to “peace, stability and development” in the world, Vietnam’s president said.
Putin’s visit has drawn criticism from the United States and its allies, who treat the Russian leader as a pariah and have protested that he should not be given a stage on which to defend Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia and Vietnam signed agreements on issues including energy, underlining Moscow’s pivot to Asia after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.
“We are firmly committed to deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam, which remains among the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy,” Putin was quoted as saying by Russian media.
He was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying the two countries shared an interest in “developing a reliable security architecture” in the region based on not using force and peacefully settling disputes with no room for “closed military-political blocs”.
At a news conference to wrap up his trip, Putin accused the NATO military alliance of creating a security threat for Russia in Asia, TASS reported.
The 11 pacts signed in Hanoi were not on the same level as the landmark mutual defence agreement in North Korea.
But Putin’s warm welcome was a public relations achievement for the Russian leader, who has an outstanding International Criminal Court arrest warrant against him over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, charges he denies.
Neither Russia nor Vietnam is a member of the ICC.
“Putin’s triumphal reception in Hanoi will mark a counter-point to Russia’s recent setbacks,” said Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy, listing the recent Ukraine conference in Switzerland and new European Union sanctions on Russia.
They were the latest Western sanctions imposed on Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
Putin’s public relations blitz has been helped by the fact that Vietnam, unlike North Korea, has friendly relations with the United States and its allies, Zachary Abuza, a professor at the US National War College, said.
“Although there was a lot less of the fanfare and performative aspects than in North Korea, this visit was still important for Putin because Vietnam is actually an important actor in the global economy, not some comically evil pariah state,” Abuza said.
SHARED HISTORY
The military ceremony put on to greet Putin, who was embraced by both Vietnamese President To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, was the kind reserved for the highest heads of state and rolled out when US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam last year.
The two presidents witnessed the exchange of 11 agreements and memorandums of understanding, including deals on oil and gas, nuclear science and education.
At another event, Lam said Putin continued to lead Russia “overcoming all difficulties and challenges, at the same time contributing to the peace, stability and development in the region and the world”.
Abuza underlined Vietnam and Russia’s shared Communist history, with tens of thousands of Vietnamese cadres – including current members of the Politburo – having trained in the former Soviet Union.
US, EU CRITICISM
Vietnam’s hosting of Putin was criticised by the EU and by the United States, now an important partner which upgraded diplomatic relations with Hanoi last year and is Vietnam’s top export market.
The US State Department said a top US diplomat will visit Vietnam this week to stress Washington’s commitment to working with it to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink “will also reaffirm the United States’ support for a strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous Vietnam” during his visit, it said.
As the population of the United Kingdom gets older, the issue of social care is of ever-growing prominence and it continues to weigh heavily on an already struggling NHS.
The architect of the government’s delayed reforms to social care has told Sky News politicians need to “grow up” and tackle the crisis in the sector.
Amid a bitter election row over public spending, Sir Andrew Dilnot said he believed the two main parties were reluctant to discuss care reform for fear of being accused of plotting future tax hikes.
Sir Andrew – whose 2011 report laid out several key measures adopted by the government – described social care as the “biggest risk that isn’t managed” that the country faces.
He said: “Four out of five people are going to need social care before they die, we should grow up and face it.
“I think politicians are reluctant to talk about it firstly because they’re worried about anything that means an increase in public spending and therefore possible taxation,” he said.
Sir Andrew Dilnot
The implementation of a cap on care costs, unveiled by Boris Johnson, was delayed in 2022 until October next year.
The policy promised to limit the amount anyone in England will spend on personal care over their life to £86,000.
Speaking to Sky News on the campaign trail, Rishi Sunak said those charging reforms were still “on track”.
Labour has not explicitly committed to the cap in its manifesto, but a party source confirmed that it would also bring in the reforms as planned.
While the Liberal Democrats have made social care a key part of its policy offering, the sector has barely featured in the campaigns of the main two parties.
The idea of a cap was first suggested by the Dilnot Commission and put into legislation in 2014.
However its planned implementation in 2016 was delayed by the David Cameron government on cost grounds.
An attempt to reform the sector during the 2017 election was widely seen as the reason for Theresa May losing her Commons majority.
In his first speech as prime minister in 2019, Boris Johnson said he had a “clear plan” to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.
Reforms were announced in 2021 alongside an increase in National Insurance to fund the wider sector.
However this tax rise was reversed under Liz Truss before the broader changes were delayed under Rishi Sunak.
It means that many people requiring care are still potentially liable for costs that can stretch to thousands of pounds per month.
Sir Andrew said the lack of suitable social care was also having a “knock on effect” on the NHS as older people ended up stuck in hospitals.
“Lots of elective procedures rely on being able to have a bed and if you’ve got one older person… in hospital for twenty days more than is needed, that could easily mean ten hip replacements not being able to happen because there isn’t the bed space,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on the second stop of an East Asian tour.
Vladimir Putin begins a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday
The trip, which comes on the heels of his lavish visit to North Korea, is being interpreted as a demonstration of the diplomatic support Russia still enjoys in this region.
The United States has criticised the visit for giving a platform for President Putin to promote his war of aggression in Ukraine.
Vietnam still values the historic ties it has with Russia even as it works to improve its relationship with Europe and the US.
Looming over a small park in Ba Dinh, Hanoi’s political quarter, a five-meter high statue of Lenin depicts the Russian revolutionary in heroic pose. On his birthday every year a delegation of senior Vietnamese officials solemnly lay flowers and bow their heads before the statue, a gift from Russia when it was still the Soviet Union.
Vietnam’s ties to Russia are close and go back many decades, to the vital military, economic and diplomatic support given by the Soviet Union to the new communist state in North Vietnam in the 1950s.
Vietnam has described their relationship as “filled with loyalty and gratitude”. After Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978 to throw out the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, it was isolated and sanctioned by China and the West, and depended heavily on Soviet assistance. Many older Vietnamese, including the powerful communist party secretary-general Nguyen Phu Trong, studied in Russia and learned the language.
Today Vietnam’s economy has been transformed by its integration into global markets. Russia has fallen far behind China, Asia, the US and Europe as a trading partner. But Vietnam still uses mainly Russian-made military equipment, and relies on partnerships with Russian oil companies for oil exploration in the South China Sea.
There is a statue of Lenin in central Hanoi
The invasion of Ukraine presented Vietnam with a diplomatic challenge, but one it has so far managed to meet. It has chosen to abstain on the various resolutions at the United Nations condemning Russia’s actions, yet maintained good relations with Ukraine and even sent some aid to Kyiv. They also share a legacy from the Soviet era; thousands of Vietnamese have worked and studied in Ukraine.
This is all in keeping with Vietnam’s long-held foreign policy principles of being friends with everyone but avoiding all formal alliances – what the communist party leadership now calls ‘bamboo diplomacy’, bending with the buffeting winds of great power rivalry without being forced to take sides.
It is why Vietnam has so readily upgraded its relations with the US, a country against which its older leaders fought a long and destructive war, in the interests of seeking lucrative markets for Vietnamese exports and balancing its close ties with its giant neighbour China.
The US has objected to President Putin’s official visit to Vietnam on the grounds that it undermines international efforts to isolate him, but it can hardly be surprised. Aside from the special historical links with Russia, public sentiment in Vietnam on the war in Ukraine is more ambivalent than in Europe.
There is some admiration for Putin as a strongman who defies the West, and scepticism, fuelled partly by social media commentary, of the US and European claims to be upholding international law.
CANNES — The Hotel Barrière Le Majestic has long been a destination for celebrities who come to Cannes, France, for its glitzy events and suave celebrations.
Amid the business of the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival — which has drawn a starry crowd, including the likes of Queen Latifah, Paris Hilton, Elon Musk and Travis Kelce, among others — Majestic staffers chatted exclusively with Page Six to reveal how they cater to visiting A-listers.
Gilles Bastoni, who took over his father’s position as head concierge in 2006, tells us that every VIP’s demands are met — “unless it’s illegal,” he jokes.
“Basically, my job is to satisfy all the requests of the guests. As long as they’re legal, for sure,” he says.
“But it can be from just reservations for a restaurant up to [something that’s a] skies-the-limit [request]. Renting a yacht, finding a ticket for an event, helicopters, car with drivers, getting a dress for a special event… no limit.”
Bastoni says the wealthy — who pay upwards of $4,000 per night for a suite in the hotel — make wild requests at times, but those of Hollywood’s elite typically come with “a bit more spice.”
Such was the case about a decade ago when actress Marion Cotillard encountered a fashion emergency prior to attending the Cannes Film Festival and the hotel was tasked with retrieving a forgotten dress from Paris, which is a nine hour car ride from the lodge.
“Getting a dress from Paris for a celebrity when it was forgotten and it’s the day she is going to go up the [Palais] stairs,” Bastoni recalls.
“She really wanted this one and in the end I’m not even sure she knew it was forgotten in Paris,” the hospitality pro elaborates. “Basically, she needed it at a certain time in her room to get dressed and the company panicked a bit and we had to find a solution and we sent someone to Paris to pick it up.”
The actress forgot her dress in Paris, a nine-hour drive from Cannes. FilmMagic
Though his job seems stressful, Bastoni asserts that he enjoys the “adrenaline rush” that accompanies it — and appreciates seeing the approving smile of a star, signaling a job well done.
“We did a big event for the wife of Pierce Bronson [Keely Shaye Smith] a few years ago… and it’s always something when you know who the guy is. He’s a big celebrity; he was James Bond, you know?” Bastoni adds, recalling another memorable mission.
“And you always try to push it a bit more to make them even more happy, let’s say.”
Executive pastry chef Nicolas Maugard loves the thrill of appeasing famous faces, too.
“I remember for Jean Dujardin, a French comedian, it was last year at the movie festival he was in the hotel and he asked me to do a cooking class for him,” the dessert guru shares.
“And, first we went to the food market, we bought different things, and after we came back to do pastries and I remember we did strawberry panna cotta with peach-and-lime something, yeah.”
Indian worker Satnam Singh’s arm was cut off on Monday while he was working on a farm. Instead of receiving help, he was left by the road near his house.
Latina is a rural area south of Rome where thousands of Indian migrant workers are living. (File/AFP)
An Indian farm labourer working in Italy’s Latina died on Wednesday after being left by the road following an accident that severed his arm, a minister said, condemning an “act of barbarity”. Satnam Singh was injured on Monday while working on a farm in Latina, a rural area south of Rome that is home to tens of thousands of Indian migrant workers, news agency AFP reported.
“The Indian agricultural worker who suffered a serious accident in the countryside of Latina and was abandoned in very serious conditions… has died,” labour minister Marina Calderone told Parliament.
The Indian embassy in Italy said it was working with local authorities and trying to reach the family to offer consular help.
The Flai CGIL trade union said Satnam Singh’s arm was cut off while he was working on a farm. Instead of receiving help, he was left by the road near his house.
Latina is a rural area south of Rome where thousands of Indian migrant workers are living.
“The Embassy is aware of the very unfortunate demise of an Indian national in Latina, Italy. We are in contact with local authorities. Efforts are underway to contact the family and provide consular assistance,” the Indian embassy said, in a statement, on X.
The Flai CGIL trade union news agency ANI that instead of getting help from his employer, “Satnam Singh was dumped like a bag of rubbish near his home.”
Marina Calderone said authorities were investigating and hoped those responsible would be punished.
AFP reported that Satnam Singh was working without proper legal papers. Police told the news agency that they were alerted by Singh’s wife and friends, and an air ambulance was dispatched.
The centre-left Democratic Party condemned the treatment of Singh in a region known for worker exploitation, calling it a “defeat for civilization”.
Lisa Barlow and her brands Vida Tequila and Lux Marketing are facing a new lawsuit from former friend and business partner Bart Carlson.
Carlson filed a lawsuit against the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star on Wednesday claiming he loaned Barlow, Vida and Luxe a total of $410,842.36 between May 2010 and February 2018, per TMZ.
He also said when Barlow first came to him for financial assistance, he willingly lent her the money but the pair never agreed on a repayment schedule due to their close relationship.
Lisa Barlow is facing a lawsuit from her former business partner and friend Bart Carlson. Getty Images for IMDbCarlson claims he loaned Barlow and her companies over $400,000 over the course of eight years. NBC Universal
Over the years, he said he’s asked for the money back but the Bravolebrity reportedly told him neither she nor either one of her companies can afford to repay him.
The 49-year-old reality TV personality responded to the suit on Wednesday saying that she’s “deeply saddened” over their legal situation.
“Bart Carlson was once a business partner in a restaurant in Park City and, I thought, a friend. I am deeply saddened that he has decided nine years after our restaurant business ceased to claim that I owe him money,” she said in a statement to Page Six.
Over the years, he claims he’s asked for his money back but was told by the Bravolebrity that she couldn’t afford to pay him back. Instagram/lisabarlow14
“To be very clear, the claim that I owe Bart or his company money is untrue. I pay my bills and obligations and I always have. I look forward to the truth coming out and I intend to hold Bart fully accountable for any damage this personal attack may cause me or my businesses,” she continued.
The forthcoming new season of “RHOSLC” is shaping up to be a dramatic one for the mother of two.
Two months prior to this lawsuit reveal, t was reported that Barlow’s fellow “RHOSLC” castmate Mary Cosby allegedly called Barlow’s 12-year-old son, Henry, the R-word during a “crazy fight” between the women.
California Governor Gavin Newsom attends an event with fellow governors in the East Room of the White House on February 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
California Governor Gavin Newsom has pledged to “get smartphones out of schools.”
“I look forward to working with the Legislature to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day. When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies — not their screens,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Newsom plans to work with the California legislature to pass those restrictions by August, Politico first reported. That would put California in line with other states that already have strict limits on smartphone use in schools. The move could also be particularly meaningful in California, the nation’s most populous state and home to Silicon Valley.
Momentum is growing across the nation to protect kids from potential harms associated with smartphones and social media — from cyber bullying to body image issues. Schools have been battlegrounds for the issue, with concerns rising over distracted students using their phones during class.
In 2019, Newsom signed legislation that authorizes school districts to limit or completely prohibit students from using smartphones while in school. Newsom aims to go further with new legislation that would establish statewide limits.
Newsom also signed a law in 2022 that pushes social media companies to increase protections for underage users, including limiting how much data from young people they collect and sell. Last year, he wrote a letter to urging the tech industry to drop a lawsuit challenging that legislation. “It is time for the tech industry to stop standing in the way of important protections for our kids and teens, and to start working with us to keep our kids safe,” he wrote.
The governor’s new call to action on Tuesday follows the US Surgeon General’s plea to Congress on Monday to institute warning labels on social media platforms. “It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” Vivek H. Murthy wrote in a guest essay in The New York Times.
Germany has toughened its migration laws, with speedier deportations and tougher rules for asylum applications. Sky News meets the people affected – who shed light on why the changes could see more migrants heading for the UK.
Ahmed is on the move.
From a sun-bleached phone screen, he explains he’s running from Germany after being threatened with deportation.
His target destination: the UK.
“I want to go to the UK because I’m afraid of the deportation in Germany. Already they try to deport me and that’s why I left,” he says in a video message.
It’s hurriedly recorded somewhere on the coast of northern France.
In a few hours, he expects to get the signal from smugglers that they will try to cross the channel in a dinghy.
It’s his second attempt in just a few days.
Ahmed speaks via video call
His first attempt failed after French police caught the group trying to pick up more passengers and slashed their dinghy.
Ahmed is one of a number of Iraqi Kurds Sky News teams have met recently who’ve paid smugglers to get to the UK after Germany toughened its deportation rules.
Rishi Sunak’s Illegal Migration Act, which created powers to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, hasn’t put them off.
“I’m not afraid about Rwanda or even about crossing the water because I’m looking for a better place to live,” Ahmed says. “I’m very sure if the deportation doesn’t stop in Germany, all the refugees in Germany will cross the border to UK.”
Asylum applications in Germany rocketed to their highest rate since 2016 last year as more the 351,000 people arrived – around four times the amount coming to the UK.
In an attempt to reduce illegal migration, the German government announced tougher laws.
The new measures include faster decisions on asylum applications, restricted benefits and speedier deportations.
Authorities also have more powers when conducting searches and can hold people for up to 28 days ahead of return flights.
Deportations are up around a third on the same period last year with more than 6,300 people deported between January and April, according to official statistics.
Outside the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, we meet a group of protestors who say they’re already feeling the effects of the new laws.
Many have lived in Germany for years, some given temporary leave to remain, but have recently been told Iraq is safe to return to and it’s time to leave.
“Some of my friends have been deported. The police raided the house at two or three in the morning,” Goran tells me.
He says he’s noticed a rise in people having their asylum claims rejected.
“I’m scared and can’t sleep in my own home,” he says.
He shows me a card which registers him as severely disabled with the Germany authorities.
Both his legs have been amputated and he says he can’t live in Iraq.
I ask if he thinks people will flee to other countries such as France and the UK if deportations keep on rising.
“For sure, smuggling will increase,” he replies. “People who feel their lives are politically threatened back in Iraq will try any way possible to reach another country.”
Another lady shows us the medicine she relies on, which she says is hard to get in Iraq.
“They know that my country is not safe,” she says. “I own videos of the killings, robbery and kidnapping of women.”
The group holds up pictures of people they say are victims of deportation – a man injured as he tried to flee, and another they claim died at sea on a smuggler’s boat.
The German government says the deportations are in line with international law.
A spokesperson from the interior ministry said in a statement: “The Act to Improve Repatriation, which came into force on 27 February 2024, contains numerous and extensive improvements in order to be able to enforce an obligation to leave the country even more effectively in future.
“Co-operation with Iraq takes place in a so-called non-contractual procedure in accordance with the principle of international law, according to which every state is obliged to take back its own citizens informally if they have no right of residence in the host country.”
In a kitchen in southern Germany, we listen as our phone call to Kurdistan rings.
A young man answers.
Hama, not his real name, tells us he was deported to Iraq at the end of April.
He explains there were 25 immigrants on his deportation flight and 90 officers guarding them.
Trucks from the Las Bambas mine circulate along the mining corridor between Sayhua and Ccapacmarca, near Ccapacmarca, Peru, January 19, 2022. Picture taken January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda Purchase Licensing Rights
Surging copper prices this year have brought startling growth in the number of trucks carrying copper from illegal mines in Peru, jamming roads, causing accidents and creating hazardous conditions especially after dark along the Andean country’s key “mining corridor” highway, industry sources told Reuters.
With copper demand soaring as the world rapidly moves toward electric vehicles and clean energy, illegal mining has been booming. Trucks linked to artisan and illegal mining operations have been crowding vehicles from mines like Chinese-controlled MMG Ltd’s (1208.HK), opens new tab Las Bambas, Hudbay’s (HBM.TO), opens new tab Constancia and Glencore’s (GLEN.L), opens new tab Antapaccay.
Mining sources told Reuters about alarming growth in delays and stoppages on the 482-kilometer highway, a partially paved road that is essential for trucks of copper concentrate getting to the coast.
“There are as many (trucks) or even more than ours,” said a source close to Las Bambas in Peru’s southern Apurimac region, the country’s fifth largest copper producer last year. “It complicates life for all the mines using the corridor.”
Informal mining trucks were involved in at least 11 accidents in May along the highway, according to a document shared with Reuters by a source at Canada’s Hudbay, which included images showing damage to the roadway.
Burgeoning stand-offs between big mines and artisan miners have complicated government efforts to spur investment and production to bolster the economy after Peru’s long-held position as the No. 2 global copper producer was snatched away by rival Congo. Chile is No. 1, and Peru remains second for shipments.
The Hudbay source said there were around 120 trucks daily from artisan mining operations, some of which operate with permits and others illegally. The trucks were damaging the roadway, causing accidents and pollution.
“While we’ve seen this problem for some years, the increase in truck numbers in 2024 is startling,” the source added, saying the mine had formally sought government intervention to strengthen inspection and controls on the road.
Nearly 2 million Muslims will reach the end of the haj pilgrimage this week, but extreme heat has proved fatal for hundreds who began the journey last Friday to the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
At least 562 people have died during the haj, according to a Reuters tally based on foreign ministry statements and sources.
Egypt alone has registered 307 deaths and another 118 missing, medical and security sources told Reuters, as temperatures at times soared past 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit).
“It was so harsh and the people cannot bear that type of heat,” said Wilayet Mustafa, a Pakistani pilgrim.
A witness said bodies lay on the side of the road near Mina, just outside Mecca, covered with the white Ihram cloth – a simple garb worn by pilgrims – until medical vehicles arrived.
Climate scientists say such deaths offer a glimpse of what is to come for the tens of millions of Muslims expected in coming decades to undertake the haj.
“The haj has been conducted in a certain way for more than 1,000 years now, and it’s always been a hot climate,” said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, a scientific advisor at German institute Climate Analytics. “But … the climate crisis is adding to the severity of the climate conditions”.
During the haj to the Kaaba, a cube-shaped stone structure at the Grand Mosque, pilgrims perform religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago.
Integral parts of the haj, Schleussner said, such as the ritual climb of Mount Arafat, have become “incredibly dangerous to human health.” SITUATION WILL WORSEN
The timing of the haj is determined by the lunar year, which sees the pilgrimage move back by 10 days annually. While the haj is now moving towards winter, by the 2040s it will coincide with the peak of summer in Saudi Arabia.
“It is going to be very fatal,” said Fahad Saeed, a climate scientist at Climate Analytics based in Pakistan.
Heat-related deaths along the haj are not new, and have been recorded back to the 1400s.
A lack of acclimatization to higher temperature, intense physical exertion, exposed spaces, and an older population makes pilgrims vulnerable.
Muslim pilgrims holding umbrellas walk on the third day of the Satan stoning ritual, amid extremely hot weather, during the annual haj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia, June 18, 2024. REUTERS/Saleh Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
Last year, more than 2,000 people suffered from heat stress, according to Saudi officials.
The situation will get much worse as the world warms, scientists said.
Saeed and Schleussner published a 2021 study, opens new tab in the journal Environmental Research Letters which found that if the world warms by 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial levels, heat stroke risk for pilgrims on the haj will be five times greater.
The world is on track to reach 1.5 C of warming in the 2030s.
“People are very religiously motivated. For some of them, it is a once in a lifetime affair,” Saeed said, as each country receives a limited number of slots. “If they get a chance, they go for it.”
COOL INTERVENTIONS
In 2016, Saudi Arabia published a heat strategy that included constructing shaded areas, establishing drinking water points every 500 metres, and improving healthcare capacity.
Saudi health authorities warned pilgrims to stay hydrated and avoid being outdoors between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. during this haj.
Pakistani pilgrim Mustafa said he had to push his 75-year-old mother in a wheelchair. When they tried to rest, they were told by police to keep moving, he said.
“I was amazed to see that there were no efforts made by the Saudi government to provide any shelter or any water,” Mustafa said.
Saudi Arabia’s government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Biden is leading former President Donald Trump by a razor-thin margin in the 2024 White House race, according to a new poll.
The Fox News survey, released Wednesday, shows the incumbent leading the ex-commander in chief 50%-48% in a head-to-head rematch of the 2020 election.
Biden, 81, maintains his edge over Trump, 78, in a hypothetical five-way race as well, leading by a 1-point margin, 43% to 42%.
Biden saw a surge in support from independent voters in June, the Fox News survey found. Getty Images
The results mark a 3-point shift in support for Biden from last month’s head-to-head poll, when Trump was ahead by 1 point, according to the Fox News survey.
With third-party candidates included, the president benefited from a 4-point swing from May, when Trump topped him by 3 points.
Biden’s uptick in the polls coincides with positive views of the economy hitting record-high marks under his presidency.
Thirty-two percent of registered voters said the economy is in “excellent” or “good” shape, topping last month’s previous Biden-era high of 30%.
The new national poll shows Trump’s marks on immigration and the economy slipping from last month. REUTERS
However, the majority of Americans (68%) felt the economy is doing “not so good” or “poor” under Biden.
The president also saw a surge in support from independent voters, who favor him over Trump by 9 points.
In May, the presumptive Republican nominee for president held a 2-point advantage over Biden with independents.
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Trump’s advantage over Biden on two top issues – immigration and the economy – fell sharply from last month.
On immigration, voters trust Trump more than Biden by 9 points, but the former president enjoyed a 15-point trust advantage in May.
On the economy, Trump holds a 5-point edge over Biden, which is down from his 13-point lead last month.
“There is not a lot of movement in this poll since May, but it is enough to make this a welcome poll for Biden,” Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts Fox News surveys with Republican pollster Daron Shaw, said in a statement.
Music legend Billy Joel cautioned outsiders from casting aspersions about Justin Timerblake following the pop star’s arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated on Long Island this week.
“Judge not lest ye be judged,” Joel, 75, told PIX11 News on Tuesday afternoon – just hours after Timberlake, 43, was pulled over in Sag Harbor.
The “Piano Man” singer spoke to the outlet while he was eating at the American Hotel, where Timberlake was spotted partying before he was nabbed by cops.
Music legend Billy Joel cautioned outsiders from casting aspersions about Justin Timberlake following the pop star’s arrest for allegedly driving while intoxicated on Long Island this week. AP
The swanky spot is also a short walk from Joel’s home on Bay Street.
A prolonged walkout could invite increasingly severe public criticism towards both the government and striking doctors, said analysts.
Doctors stage a rally against the government’s medical policy in Seoul, South Korea, on Mar 3, 2024. (File photo: AP/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korea’s healthcare crisis deepened this week as senior doctors and medical professors joined a protracted strike to protest increasing medical school admissions.
Since February, more than 12,000 junior and trainee doctors have walked out on hospitals over the government’s reform plans aimed at addressing a shortage of physicians in the nation.
The Korean Medical Association (KMA) on Tuesday (Jun 18) led a protest in Seoul with thousands of doctors. They included private practitioners who participated in a one-day solidarity strike.
This came a day after more than 500 medical professors at Seoul National University public hospitals walked off their jobs on an indefinite strike.
Some medical students have also either delayed their enrolment or boycotted classes, saying the government’s plan will affect their careers as doctors once they graduate.
The months-long strike has led to unprecedented disruptions in the nation’s healthcare system as both sides refuse to budge.
Public anger has been simmering as overwhelmed hospitals are forced to turn away patients amid the doctor shortage.
Observers urged all sides to negotiate amicably, saying a prolonged walkout could invite increasingly severe public criticism towards both the government and striking doctors.
THE POLICY REFORM
South Korea has among the fewest doctors per capita in developed countries. Its rapidly ageing population is expected to exacerbate the scarcity.
Authorities have forecast an acute shortage of doctors in the nation in the next decade.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration wants to grow the number of doctors by sharply raising the annual medical school enrollment quota by 2,000.
Doctors have argued this will not solve the fundamental problems facing the healthcare system, and that the quality of the nation’s healthcare services would suffer.
“Their stance is that the shortage of doctors is not an issue at the present time and instead, they need changes to their working hours, which are considerably longer than average,” said Mr Rob York, director of regional affairs at foreign policy research institute Pacific Forum.
South Korean doctors often work more than 100 hours a week, compared with their counterparts in the United States who average about 60 hours, according to the Korean Intern Resident Association.
Alberto, the first named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, expected to make landfall in north Mexico on Thursday.
Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, As much as five inches (13cm) to 10 inches (25cm) of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast [File: Lynne Sladky/AP Photo]Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has formed over the Western Gulf of Mexico, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has said.
The storm was located about 185 miles (300 kilometres) east of Tampico, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 40mph (65km/h), the Miami-based forecaster said on Wednesday.
Alberto, which is bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall and some flooding along the coasts of Texas and Mexico, is expected to make landfall in northern Mexico on Thursday.
“The heavy rainfall and the water, as usual, is the biggest story in tropical storms,” said Michael Brennan, director of the NHC.
Brennan said that winds could get up to 45mph (72km/h) to 50mph (80km/h) before the storm makes landfall.
As much as five inches (13 centimetres) to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain was expected in some areas along the Texas coast, with even higher isolated totals possible, Brennan said.
He said some higher locations in Mexico could see as much as 20 inches (50cm) of rain, which could result in mudslides and flash flooding, especially in the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon.
The storm was moving west at nine miles per hour (15km/h). Tropical storm warnings were in effect from the Texas coast at San Luis Pass southward to the mouth of the Rio Grande and from the northeastern coast of Mexico south of the mouth of the Rio Grande to Tecolutla.
“Rapid weakening is expected once the centre moves inland, and Alberto is likely to dissipate over Mexico” on Thursday, the NHC said.
The US National Weather Service (NWS) said the main hazard for southern coastal Texas is flooding from excess rain. On Wednesday, the NWS said, there is “a high probability” of flash flooding in southern coastal Texas. Tornadoes or waterspouts are possible.
Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. (AP produced by Javier Arciga)
Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor.
The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses” who got the commandments from God, Landry said.
Opponents questioned the law’s constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.”
The posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph “context statement” describing how the Ten Commandments “were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries,” must be in place in classrooms by the start of 2025.
Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for through donations.
The law also “authorizes” but does not require the display of other items in K-12 public schools, including: The Mayflower Compact, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and is often referred to as America’s “First Constitution”; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory — in the present day Midwest — and created a pathway for admitting new states to the Union.
Not long after the governor signed the bill into law at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette on Wednesday, civil rights groups and organizations that want to keep religion out of government promised to file a lawsuit challenging it.
The law prevents students from getting an equal education and will keep children who have different beliefs from feeling safe at school, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said in a joint statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the particular text that they adhere to can differ by religious denomination or tradition. The government should not be taking sides in this theological debate,” the groups said.
The controversial law, in a state ensconced in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards in January. The GOP holds a supermajority in the Legislature, and Republicans hold every statewide elected position, paving the way for lawmakers to push through a conservative agenda.
Hassan Nasrallah says invading northern Israel is a ‘standing’ possibility if a serious conflict is imposed on Lebanon.
Members of Hezbollah attend the funeral of Taleb Abdallah, a senior field commander of the group who was killed in an Israeli attack, June 12, 2024 [Mohamed Azakir/Reuters]Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has issued a stern warning to Israel, threatening a war with “no restraint and no rules and no ceilings” in case of a major Israeli offensive against Lebanon.
Nasrallah’s remarks on Wednesday come amid soaring tensions at the Lebanon-Israel border after Israeli officials reiterated that the country is ready for an all-out war against Hezbollah.
“All what the enemy says and the threats and warnings the mediators bring – and what is being said in the Israeli media – about a war in Lebanon does not scare us,” Nasrallah said in a speech via video feed.
He said Israel is the party that should be “scared”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Tuesday raised the prospect of a serious conflict with the Lebanese group after Hezbollah released surveillance drone footage showing important infrastructure and military sites in northern Israel.
“We are very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit,” Katz wrote in a social media post.
“The State of Israel will pay a price on the front and home fronts, but with a strong and united nation, and the full power of the [Israeli military], we will restore security to the residents of the north.”
On Wednesday, Nasrallah underscored Hezbollah’s military capabilities, saying the group has acquired new weapons and has an abundance of drones that it manufactures locally.
“The enemy knows well that we have prepared ourselves for the most difficult days,” he said. “The enemy knows well what awaits it, and that’s why it has been deterred so far. And it knows that there will be no place in the [country] that would be spared our rockets and drones. And it won’t be indiscriminate bombing: every rocket – a target.”
Nasrallah also suggested that Hezbollah may send ground forces into Israeli territory.
“There is a lot of fear from the enemy that the resistance would invade northern Israel, and this is a standing possibility that remains present in the context of any war imposed on Lebanon,” he said.
The Iran-aligned Lebanese organisation started attacking military bases in northern Israel the day after the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7 in what it says is a “support front” to back Palestinian groups.
Nasrallah stressed that the Lebanese front is making a difference in the broader confrontation against Israel and drawing Israeli military resources away from Gaza.
Threat to Cyprus
Nasrallah also issued a warning to Cyprus, a European Union member that sits in the eastern Mediterranean west of the Lebanese and Israeli coasts. He said the group has information that Israel is conducting military exercises in Cyprus in similar terrains to south Lebanon.
Nasrallah added that Israel plans to use airports and bases in Cyprus for military purposes if its military infrastructure is attacked during a serious war.
“Opening Cypriot airports and bases for the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon means the Cypriot government has become part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war,” he said without elaborating.
Nasrallah also warned that the group would open a naval front against Israel in the Mediterranean.
He added that Hezbollah will continue its attacks against Israeli targets, saying the solution to the crisis is “clear”: ending the Israeli war on Gaza.
As the sun rises over the Usumacinta River between Guatemala and Mexico, the silence is broken by the sounds of people awaking after another night camping on the riverbanks.
Soon the ferrymen who pilot a flotilla of makeshift rafts constructed of planks strapped to very large inner tyre tubes, begin their never-ending trade of moving fruit and vegetables, construction equipment, crates of beer and liquor, motorcycles and bicycles, but above all – people.
This is where thousands of migrants heading to the United States begin what they hope to be the last leg of their often epic journeys to the northern border with the US.
1600 miles through Mexico is all that separates them from their dreams of a new life.
I’ve been here many times to report over many years and I am never less than amazed at the number of people who attempt this journey, and the sheer number of small children.
But this time I’ve noticed some things have changed.
Whereas a few years ago the migrants were almost entirely from Southern and Central America, now they’re from all over the world.
On this trip we have met young men and women from China, Egypt, Jordan, Somalia, Mauritania, Kazakhstan, Haiti, and Gambia, to name a few.
Another major change seems to be the attitude of the Mexican authorities.
Migrants bathe in the riverA migrant sleeps near the river
In the past, the passage of the migrants north, while not easy, wasn’t noticeably hindered by the Mexicans.
Now though, with the issue of migration on its southern border a political hot potato in a United States election year, the Mexican authorities have got the message from the United States that thousands of migrants on the border fence is not a good look.
What we have witnessed is a system that doesn’t actually stop the migrants moving north, but makes it bureaucratic, confusing and often contradictory enough that the migrants don’t know what to do.
The US has a problem with the numbers, so people travelling through Mexico are shifted from one location to another and left, and then shifted again – never really making any progress.
Legally, migrants and asylum seekers cannot be stopped, but they can be asked to follow rules (or have their paperwork torn up), and if the rules keep changing, there is nothing they can do about.
After crossing the Usumacinta River from Guatemala, the migrants rest in the city of Hidalgo, before forming into groups known as “caravans” to begin their journey north.
They travel together for safety from gangs and criminals who prey on the migrants.
We joined a pop-up caravan shortly before dawn; they move at that time to take advantage of the cooler temperatures.
This caravan is led by a young Brazilian man named Davyde who is with his wife and sister-in-law.
“Brazil is not good, I can’t make enough money to pay the rent, America would be great,” he told me when I wondered why he’d made the journey from Brazil.
As we walk with the group of 200 plus people, the sun rises and the temperature soars.
Whole families, very young and old, travel along the sides of busy motorways, heading north – always north.
Walking with the group, we meet Mayra Ferrerr from Acarigua in Venezuela.
The 40-year-old is travelling with her two sons and some fellow Venezuelans.
They’ve all become friends along the way. Mayra has breast cancer, and she’s trying to get to her family in the US.
Vladimir Putin is in Hanoi for his first visit to Vietnam since 2017. Earlier, he agreed a security deal with North Korea that holds both countries would provide military aid if the other faces ‘armed aggression’.
Vladimir Putin is greeted by Vietnamese officials on his arrival in Hanoi Pic: AP
Vladimir Putin hit out at what he called “Western isolation” and heaped praise on Vietnam, as Russia’s president continues his tour of Asia.
In an opinion piece, published to coincide with his arrival in Hanoi, Putin praised Vietnam for its “balanced” stance on the war in Ukraine.
Writing in Vietnam’s Communist Party newspaper Nhan Dan, he said the country’s neutral foreign policy shows “a pragmatic way to solve the crisis”.
He will hold talks with Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and new president To Lam on Thursday.
The US embassy in Hanoi condemned the visit and said: “No country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities.”
It was the Russian president’s second state visit on his tour of Asia following his stay in North Korea where he and Kim Jong Un agreed on a “comprehensive strategic partnership pact”.
The agreement is said to cover investment, strengthening cultural ties and cooperating on health, medical education and science, but also contains a mutual defence clause.
North Korea’s KCNA news agency clarified the clause later on Tuesday and said the countries agreed to provide all available military assistance if the other side faces “armed aggression”.
Putin called it a “breakthrough document,” while Kim noted North Korea and Russia’s “fiery friendship” and said the pact was their “strongest ever treaty”. He then vowed full support to Moscow against Ukraine.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken regarded Putin’s visit as one made “in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations with countries that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started against Ukraine”.
Hamas ‘preserves’ fighting force in Rafah, does not see battle as ‘decisive’: Monitors
Hamas fighters are avoiding decisive battles with the Israeli military in Gaza’s southern Rafah city, where Israeli forces have found few of the Palestinian group’s units above ground, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report.
Hamas fighters are remaining in combat tunnel networks in Rafah, while remotely detonating buildings in the city that were “rigged to explode prior to the arrival of Israeli forces”, the US-based think tanks report in their latest battlefield update.
“The use of prepared explosively rigged buildings and tunnels suggests that Hamas’ units in Rafah prepared to preserve their strength by avoiding direct engagements,” the ISW/CTP say in their joint report.
Hamas fighters also launched an attack drone towards an Israeli town near the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, and rockets were fired from Gaza targeting Israel’s Askhelon and another town bordering the north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the report.
NEW | Hamas is preserving its forces in Rafah rather than engaging the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), likely because Hamas does not believe Israel’s Rafah operation will be decisive. pic.twitter.com/nZJdb09j3c
The Haj, one of the world’s biggest religious gatherings, is increasingly affected by climate change. (File Photo: AFP/Fadel Senna)
Diplomats on Tuesday (Jun 18) said at least 550 pilgrims died during the Haj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.
At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP.
“All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat” except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca.
At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman.
The new deaths bring the total reported so far by multiple countries to 577, according to an AFP tally.
The diplomats said the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.
The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once.
The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade.
Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi national meteorology centre said.
HEAT STRESS
Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt’s foreign ministry said Cairo was collaborating with Saudi authorities on search operations for Egyptians who had gone missing during the Haj.
While a ministry statement said “a certain number of deaths” had occurred, it did not specify whether Egyptians were among them.
Saudi authorities have reported treating more than 2,000 pilgrims suffering from heat stress but have not updated that figure since Sunday and have not provided information on fatalities.
At least 240 pilgrims were reported dead by various countries last year, most of them Indonesians.
AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca, on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads as volunteers handed out cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to help them keep cool.
Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.
But many of the Haj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime.
CHINA’S menacing military submarine designed for carrying nuclear warheads has been seen surfacing in the Taiwan Strait.
The 11,000 ton humpback sub appeared alongside several other warships as Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to ramp up his nuclear arsenal at a blistering pace.
China’s menacing military humpback submarine armed with nuclear warheads has been seen surfacing in the Taiwan StraitCredit: XThe subs are part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ever expanding nuclear arsenalCredit: Getty
The Chinese People’s Liberation Navy sub was said to have surfaced near a group of fishermen in a popular fishing district at around 5am on Thursday morning.
The huge “Jin class” vessel was seen along the median line of the Taiwan Strait with reports from Taiwanese media saying it looked in “distress”.
The Type 094 nuclear sub slowly came up to the surface where it sat still on the water for several minutes, claim the locals.
A second Chinese ship swiftly arrived as it appeared to help the sub as they both drifted off moments later towards mainland China.
More military vessels were later seen completing the journey around the humpback sub, it has been reported.
It is unclear what the issue with the powerful sub was or if it was armed at the time.
Pictures show a mammoth submarine floating partly on the surface of the Taiwan Strait.
The giant vessel is said to cost a whopping $750million (£590m) and comes in at a length of 135metres.
Only six of the quiet and stealthy vessels exist, according to China.
They are dubbed humpback subs for their distinctly designed hull which can store up to 12 nuclear missiles.
President Xi has been overseeing a rapid rise in China’s nuclear arsenal in recent months.
Fears are increasing over what China is stockpiling the terrifying weapons for with them set to have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the US and Russia by 2030.
China is expanding its nuclear arsenal
Hans M. KristensenChina Expert
Beijing has produced almost 100 nuclear warheads in the past 12 months with them now having over 500 in their surging arsenal, say Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Associate senior fellow at SIPRI, Hans M. Kristensen, said: “China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country.”
The SIPRI report gives a rare insight into Beijing’s war prowess as Xi continues to stay quiet on his nuclear capabilities.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg responded to the worrying rise in China’s military rise by announcing the alliance is in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons in the coming years.
Mr Stoltenberg also voiced his continued concerns over Putin’s Russia and North Korea.
He revealed to the Telegraph that Nato members had been speaking on the potential of taking missiles out of storage and putting them on standby as a last resort.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing at Nato, for instance at meetings in Nato, a nuclear planning group as we had during the defence ministerial meeting this [last] week.
“Nato’s aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and Nato does not, is a more dangerous world.”
CHINA VS TAIWAN
President Xi has also told the world his fearless People’s Liberation Army will become a world-class military by 2049.
One of his first shows of power could be to dominate and reclaim Taiwan by force in as little as three years time.
China has lurked around Taiwan for decades with threats of an invasion ramping up in recent months.
Beijing considers the self-governing island its own domain and has vowed to take Taiwan if they refuse to cooperate.
A chilling message was sent to Taiwan’s government in May saying they were heading towards “a perilous situation of war and danger”
At the end of May, Beijing launched worrying military drills surrounding Taiwan’s isolated territory.
Dozens of warplanes filled the skies above Taiwan as an armada stormed towards its shores in a WW3-style mock invasion.
The unprecedented move was viewed as “a strong punishment for separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces”.
The threatening advancements continued for over 24 hours with another 27 warships and 62 warplanes seen completely blockading the island deep into Friday.
Thailand’s Senate passed the final reading of a marriage equality law on Tuesday, paving the way for it to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex couples.
The bill, the culmination of more than two decades of effort by activists, was supported by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the upper house.
The law, which needs royal approval, will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette, meaning the first same sex weddings could take place later this year.
“Today we celebrate another significant milestone in the journey of our Equal Marriage Bill,” Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said in a post on X.
“We will continue our fight for social rights for all people regardless of their status.”
LGBT advocates called the move a “monumental step forward,” as Thailand would be the first nation in Southeast Asia to enact marriage equality legislation and the third in Asia, after Nepal and Taiwan.
“We are very proud to make history,” said Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, member of a parliamentary committee on same-sex marriage.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community react as they arrive ahead of the passing of the marriage equality bill in its second and third readings by the Senate, which will effectively make Thailand Asia’s third territory to legalise same-sex unions, in Bangkok, Thailand, June 18, 2024. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa Purchase Licensing Rights
“Today love triumphed prejudice … after fighting for more than 20 years, today we can say that this country has marriage equality.”
Lawmakers and activists were seen celebrating in Thailand’s parliament, waving rainbow flags and smiling, with some raising their fists in solidarity with the LGBT community.
In Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province, human rights activist Matcha Phornin, her wife Veerawan Wanna and their adopted daughter were glued to their television screen as they watched the senate proceedings.
“We have support from the parliament, from the senators who passed this law. That means we are protected by law,” said Matcha, after they cheered and hugged each other when the bill passed.
“And she will be legally adopted after this,” Matcha said, referring to their daughter.
Thailand, one of Asia’s most popular tourist destinations, is already known for its vibrant LGBT culture and tolerance.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a new effort to provide a path to citizenship to hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. illegally who are married to U.S. citizens, an election-year move that contrasts sharply with Republican rival Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportations.
At a White House event, Biden criticized Trump for separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border and using incendiary language about immigrants in the U.S. illegally, including comments that they were “poisoning the blood of our country.”
“It’s hard to believe it’s being said, but he’s actually saying these things out loud. And it’s outrageous,” Biden said. “I’m not interested in playing politics with the border or immigration. I’m interested in fixing it.”
The new Biden program will be open to an estimated 500,000 spouses who have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years as of June 17, officials said on Tuesday. Some 50,000 children under age 21 with a U.S.-citizen parent also will be eligible.
Biden, a Democrat seeking a second term in the Nov. 5 presidential election, took office vowing to reverse many of Trump’s restrictive immigration policies. But faced with record levels of migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden has toughened his approach.
Earlier this month, Biden barred most migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border from requesting asylum, a policy that mirrored a similar Trump-era asylum ban and drew criticism from immigration advocates and some Democrats.
Biden’s planned legalization program for spouses of U.S. citizens could reinforce his campaign message that he supports a more humane immigration system and show how he differs from Trump, who has long had a hardline stance on both legal and illegal immigration.
“The Statue of Liberty is not some relic of American history,” Biden said. “It still stands for who we are.”
The program will almost certainly face legal challenges and a future president could attempt to end it. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican whose state has battled Biden in court over immigration policy, said in a statement that the new effort was “blatantly illegal” and “pandering for votes.”
The U.S. already provides a path to citizenship for immigrants who are married to Americans and entered the country legally on a visa. But in most cases, those who enter illegally must first leave the U.S. for years before being allowed to return legally.
The new program will allow the spouses and their children to apply for permanent residence without traveling abroad, removing a potentially lengthy process and family separation. The administration aims to launch the program in coming months and it remains unclear how long it would take for spouses to obtain permanent residence.
If they are granted permanent residence, they could eventually apply for U.S. citizenship. People who are considered public security threats or who have disqualifying criminal history would not be eligible.
The implementation will roll out in coming months and the majority of likely beneficiaries would be Mexicans, Biden officials said on a call with reporters.
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday said the decision to regularize Mexican families’ migratory status in the United States is “very good news”, celebrating Biden’s announcement during a press conference.
Biden’s White House remarks were tied to the anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Former President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Biden launched the DACA program in 2012, another major legalization effort that currently grants deportation relief and work permits to 528,000 people brought to the U.S. as children.
Protesters rally at Legislative Plaza near the Tennessee State Capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee, April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Seth Herald Purchase Licensing Rights
The Biden administration also announced guidance to make it easier for DACA recipients to obtain skilled-work visas.
DACA enrollee Javier Quiroz Castro joined Biden at the White House and said the program allowed him to work legally as a nurse in Houston, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It allowed me to live and work and build a family in the only country I have ever known and loved,” he said. MIXED POLLS
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called Biden’s new program “amnesty” that would create “another invitation for illegal immigration.” Trump has highlighted crimes committed by immigrants and has repeatedly pledged to deport millions of people if elected.
A little more than half of U.S. voters back deporting all or most immigrants in the U.S. illegally, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows.
At the same time, separate polling by the advocacy group Immigration Hub found, opens new tab 71% of voters in seven election battleground states backed allowing spouses in the U.S. illegally for more than five years to remain.
Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, said focus groups conducted by her organization with independent and Republican voters found they supported legal status for spouses.
“It boosts turnout in terms of Latino and base voters, but it also has support with the middle and the right,” she said on a call with reporters on Monday, adding that most people thought the spouses could already legalize. LIVING IN FEAR
One couple who could potentially benefit from the action was eagerly awaiting more details.
Megan, a social worker from the election battleground state of Wisconsin, met her husband, Juan, two decades ago when she worked with his cousin and uncle at a restaurant during her college summer break.
Juan’s family, from the Mexican state of Michoacan, had come to the U.S. for generations as seasonal workers, with his grandfather participating in a U.S. program for farmworkers. Juan was in the country illegally, but she never thought it would be an issue.
Nijjar was killed in a targeted shooting in Canada’s Surrey, outside British Columbia’s Gurudwara.
Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Canada’s Parliament marked the one-year anniversary of the Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death by holding a moment of silence in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Nijjar, the chief of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was killed in a targeted shooting in Canada’s Surrey, outside British Columbia’s Gurudwara, on June 18 last year. His name was on the list released by the Indian government with 40 other ‘designated terrorists’.
Four Indian nationals, including Karan Brar, Amandeep Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karanpreet Singh, are accused of killing Nijjar.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder, in which Canada claimed the Indian government’s role, has been a thorn in bilateral ties.
However, earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy. Speaking about the meeting, Trudeau said that he sees an “opportunity” to engage with the new government, including economic ties, and national security.
WHO WAS HARDEEP SINGH NIJJAR?
After moving to Canada in 1997 under a fake passport, Nijjar’s refugee claim was rejected, following which he married a woman who sponsored him for immigration, which too was rejected, the Global reported.
However, soon after his death, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called him a Canadian national in Parliament.
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his visit to Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Jun 19, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/KCNA)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is concerned about support Russia could provide for North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, the alliance’s head said on Tuesday (Jun 18), as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the reclusive nuclear-armed country for the first time in 24 years.
Putin vowed on Tuesday to deepen trade and security ties with North Korea and to support it against the United States. His state visit comes amid US accusations that North Korea has supplied “dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 containers of munitions to Russia” for use in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a joint press conference after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Russia’s war in Ukraine was being propped up by China, North Korea and Iran, who all wanted to see the Western alliance fail.
“We are of course also concerned about the potential support that Russia provides to North Korea when it comes to supporting their missile and nuclear programs,” Stoltenberg said.
Last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Washington was concerned by what Russia would give North Korea in return for the weapons Pyongyang has supplied.
“Hard currency? Is it energy? Is it capabilities that allow them to advance their nuclear or missile products? We don’t know. But we’re concerned by that and watching carefully,” he said.
The top US arms control official, Under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins, has said she believes North Korea is keen to acquire fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment or materials, and other advanced technologies from Russia.
He said this and China’s support for Russia’s war economy showed how security challenges in Europe were linked to Asia and added that next month’s NATO summit in Washington would see a further strengthening of the alliance’s partnerships with Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.
Stoltenberg said there needed to be “consequences” at some stage for China.
“They cannot continue to have normal trade relationships with countries in Europe and at the same time fuel the biggest war we have seen in Europe since the Second World War,” he said.
FILE – A McDonald’s restaurant is seen, Feb. 14, 2018, in Ridgeland, Miss. McDonald’s confirmed, Tuesday, June 18, 2024, that it’s decided to end a global partnership with IBM, which has been testing an artifical intelligence technology at select McDonald’s drive thrus since 2021.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Ever get your McDonald’s order mixed up at an AI-powered drive-thru? The experiment behind the fast food giant’s current automated order taker will soon be coming to a close.
McDonald’s confirmed Monday that it decided to end a global partnership with IBM, which has been testing this artificial intelligence technology at select McDonald’s drive-thrus since 2021.
That doesn’t mean you’ll never encounter some sort of chatbot while picking up fries on your car ride home again. While the IBM partnership for McDonald’s current automated order taker test is winding down, the Chicago-based company suggested that it wasn’t ruling out other potential AI drive-thru plans down the road — pointing to “an opportunity to explore voice ordering solutions more broadly.”
“Our work with IBM has given us the confidence that a voice ordering solution for drive-thru will be part of our restaurants’ future,” McDonald’s said in a prepared statement this week, adding that it would continue evaluations to “make an informed decision on a future voice ordering solution by the end of the year.”
Numerous fast food chains have begun exploring the implementation of AI across operations over recent years, with many pointing to possibilities of maximizing speed and cutting costs.
In the U.S., Wendy’s partnered with Google Cloud to develop “Wendy’s FreshAI” chatbot. White Castle teamed up with SoundHound AI with a goal of bringing voice-powered AI technology to more than 100 restaurants by the end of 2024. And a handful of Panera, Arby’s and Popeyes locations have brought OpenCity’s “Tori” voice assistant to their order lanes.
Beyond America, Popeyes U.K. also launched its first AI-powered drive-thru (dubbed “Al”) last month, after the company said a pilot program reported 97% accuracy.
Success for AI-powered drive-thrus has been mixed. McDonald’s automated order taker with IBM received scores of complaints in recent years, for example — with many taking to social media to document the chatbot misunderstanding their orders.
One 2023 TikTok, appears to show the drive-thru assistant place order after order of McDonald’s chicken nuggets on one car’s tab, despite the customers asking it to stop while laughing. Additional posts show an array of other mishaps — such as it adding strange extras, like ice cream with ketchup and butter, or picking up orders from other nearby cars.
Unnamed sources familiar with the technology told CNBC that the technology has had difficulty interpreting different accents and dialects, among other challenges affecting order accuracy.
McDonald’s declined to comment about the automated order taker’s accuracy. In an initial statement, IBM said that “this technology is proven to have some of the most comprehensive capabilities in the industry, fast and accurate in some of the most demanding conditions,” but did not immediately respond to a request for further comment about specifics of potential challenges.
The Armonk, New York-based tech company also said that it is currently “in discussions and pilots” with several other quick-serve restaurant clients interested in the automated order taker.
The sighting follows a series of instances of mysterious shiny columns popping up around the world since 2020.
Pic: X/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
A mysterious monolith has baffled police officers in Las Vegas after it was spotted glimmering in a remote mountain range near the neon-lit city.
Las Vegas police said members of a volunteer search and rescue unit encountered the mirrored object near Gass Peak in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada.
Officers have no idea where the monolith came from and have said they expect social media users will try to solve the mystery.
Sharing an image of the discovery on the X social media platform, Las Vegas police said: “We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water… but check this out! Over the weekend, (LV Search and Rescue) spotted this mysterious monolith near Gass Peak north of the valley.
The sighting follows a series of instances of mysterious shiny columns popping up around the world since at least 2020.
In November of that year, a roughly 12ft metal monolith similar to the one seen in Las Vegas was discovered deep in the desert in Utah.
San Francisco, California, was declared to be the “worst run” city in the U.S. according to a report by WalletHub.
The annual study measured the “effectiveness of local leadership” by comparing the quality of city services matched against the city’s total budget to determine its operating efficiency.
The report measured the 148 largest cities in the country and ranked them through a “Quality of Services” score made up of 36 metrics in six service categories compared to each of the cities’ per-capita budgets.
Despite ranking 24th in quality of services, San Francisco placed dead last at 148 in its total budget per-capita rank, along with having the highest amount of long-term debt outstanding.
San Francisco, California, was named the “worst run” city in the U.S. based on city service efficiency (iStock)
In a comment to Fox News Digital, however, Parisa Safarzadeh, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, derided the list.
“WalletHub does this every year and every year, it’s misleading and inaccurate, because this study compares San Francisco’s budget (City AND County) with other cities (City only budgets),” Safarzadeh said.
In response to the city’s claims, WalletHub communications manager Diana Polk insisted that the report does not stray from the Fiscally Standardized Cities (FiSC) database regarding its findings.
“I would like to clarify that WalletHub relies on the FiSC dataset as it provides a reliable source for making accurate, apples-to-apples comparisons at city level between different municipalities. We do not alter the data provided by FiSC in any way to ensure an unbiased comparison,” Polk told Fox News Digital.
The Office of the San Francisco Mayor claimed the WalletHub study was “misleading.”
San Francisco was dubbed the “worst run” city by WalletHub in 2023 and ranked second-to-last in 2022.
In the 2024 report, WalletHub dubbed Nampa, Idaho, as the “best run” city. According to mayor Debbie King, this is the eighth year in a row that Nampa has won the title.
“It’s interesting. I don’t consider us a wealthy city, but the key is using the funds that we have wisely. And I would say that stewardship is a very important core value in our city. Because we are spending the taxpayers’ dollars. So we’re always mindful of how we best utilize the tax dollars that we’ve been entrusted with,” King told Fox News Digital.
JUSTIN Timberlake has been released without bail after being arrested for driving while intoxicated in the Hamptons.
Police arrested the singer on Monday night in Sag Harbor, New York, and he later appeared in court on Tuesday morning.
Justin Timberlake was arrested for driving while intoxicated on Monday night in Sag Harbor, New YorkCredit: Matt Agudo/Instar ImagesJustin Timberlake’s mugshotCredit: SplashThe NSYNC frontman appeared in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court at 9:30 am and was released without bail on his own recognizanceCredit: Matt Agudo/Instar Images
Justin, 43, was seen leaving the police station in the Hamptons with his lawyer after being held overnight for morning arraignment.
He kept his head down while wearing a hat and sunglasses, along with a casual outfit consisting of jeans, a graphic tee, and a black overshirt.
The Suffolk County DA confirmed to The U.S. Sun that Justin was arraigned in Sag Harbor Village Justice Court this morning at 9:30 am.
Justin was ultimately released without bail on his own recognizance and was charged with one count of DWI.
His criminal defense lawyer, Ed Burke, said Justin was charged with a single count because he refused to take a breathalyzer test.
He was also cited for running a stop sign and failing to keep in his own lane while operating a 2025, gray BMW UT with Florida registrations.
The singer was pulled over while traveling southbound on Madison Street, a public highway in the village of Sag Harbor.
Cops smelled alcohol on Justin’s breath and noted that he had glassy eyes, slow speech, was unsteady on his feet, and performed poorly on all standardized build-to-variety tests.
Justin was also quoted as telling officers that he had only one martini and “followed his friends home.”
However, one witness told The New York Post that Justin was “wasted.”
“He was wasted. At one point, just before closing, somebody got up to go to the bathroom and left his drink on the table,’’ one source at the American Hotel said.
“When [the man] came back, [Timberlake] was drinking his drink,” they added. “The guy goes, ‘Justin, that’s my drink!'”
Justin will next appear in court on July 26, the same day he has a tour stop in Kraków, Poland.
JUSTIN’S ARREST
On Monday night, Justin met up with friends for dinner at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor.
At around 12:30 am, the NSYNC frontman got into his car and drove back to where he was staying, but was pulled over shortly after taking off.
“Justin was out to dinner with friends and there were cop cars stationed outside the restaurant, like there are most nights,” an insider told DailyMail.
“They look for people who are leaving after midnight who might have been drinking.
“Justin left at 12:30 am and was pulled over as soon as he left. Nobody was hurt and there was no drama at the scene,” they added.
Sources told TMZ that cops started following Justin after he blew the stop sign and then pulled him over after noticing his car swerving on the road.
They also said a few of the singer’s friends arrived on the scene and tried to convince the cops to let him go but were unsuccessful, as he was then handcuffed and arrested.
CURRENT EVENTS
The pop star, who is currently on his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, last performed in Miami on June 15.
The arrest comes as Justin is set to perform two concerts in Chicago this week and two in New York next week.
It also comes just one day after Justin’s wife of 12 years, Jessica Biel, wished him a Happy Father’s Day on social media.
The 7th Heaven actress shared a photo of him kissing the side of her head, along with others next to his sons Silas, 9, and Phineas, 3.
Star batter Kane Williamson decided to step down as the captain of New Zealand’s white-ball teams and also rejected an offer from the country’s cricket board for a central contract for the 2024-25 season.
Williamson has quit as skipper of the white-ball teams (Courtesy: Reuters)
Kane Williamson has stepped down as the skipper of the New Zealand white-ball teams and has also declined a central contract from the board for the 2024-25 season on June 19, Wednesday. The New Zealand cricket board announced the decision made by Williamson on their official website and claimed that the star batter made the call to prolong his international career.
The decision from Williamson comes after the Blackcaps’ disastrous campaign at the T20 World Cup 2024, where they exited the competition in the group stages after suffering losses to the West Indies and Afghanistan. New Zealand play very little cricket at home during the 2024/25 season, especially during the January window.
“Kane Williamson has re-emphasised his long-term commitment to the BLACKCAPS in all three formats – despite declining a central contract for the 2024-25 year.”
“The veteran of over 350 internationals will forgo a central contract and the captaincy of the BLACKCAPS white ball teams in a move he hopes will extend his international career.”
“The 33-year-old has opted to take advantage of a particular set of circumstances this summer in which very little international cricket is being played in New Zealand during the January window,” read the statement from New Zealand cricket.
What did Williamson day about the call?
Williamson said that his decision shouldn’t be interpreted as him losing interest in international cricket and claimed that he is ready to accept a central contract in the future.
“Helping push the team forward across the formats is something I’m very passionate about and something I want to keep contributing towards,” he said.
“However, pursuing an overseas opportunity during the New Zealand summer means I’m unable to accept a central contract offer.”
The inflation figures for May are released tomorrow morning – in what will be a key moment in the election campaign.
The bulk of the couples’ wealth derives from shares in the IT company co-founded by Akshata Murty’s father. Pic: AP
Rishi Sunak’s “soaring” personal wealth has come under fresh attack ahead of crucial inflation figures coming out tomorrow.
In what will be a key moment in the election campaign, the rate of inflation is expected to ease back to the Bank of England’s target of 2% for the first time since spring 2021.
The figures could provide a much needed boost for the embattled prime minister, whose key offering to voters is that the economy has “turned a corner” under his leadership and they should not risk change with Labour.
But the Labour Party says this claim is “rubbished” by data showing more than half of Brits think the cost of living crisis has become worse in the last month.
The party says that Mr Sunak’s wealth increased by £122m in the last year, while data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows millions of people continue to struggle.
Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the treasury, told Sky News: “No wonder Rishi Sunak doesn’t have a clue what working people are going through. He is entirely insulated from the cost of living crisis and totally out of touch.
“Under the Tories, taxes on working people have risen to a 70-year high and this week Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that their manifesto is unfunded.
“We need a change, we need a government that understands working people, we need a Labour government.”
Darren Jones, shadow chief secretary to the treasury
ONS data released earlier this month showed 54% of people believed the cost of living has increased compared to one month ago – while just 3% of people believed it had decreased.
The biggest way people are feeling the pinch is at the supermarket – with 91% of respondents saying the price of their food shop has shot up.
The data also showed 45% of people’s rent or mortgage has increased in the last six months, while a third of people say they are unable to save anything in the year ahead.
This is despite the fact inflation is nearing normal levels, after reaching record highs in recent times and at one stage hitting a peak not seen for 40 years.
With households still feeling the squeeze, all parties are facing pressure to do more to tackle the cost of living.
The Tories are promising tax cuts, with the prime minister on Tuesday night saying prioritising this was his “moral mission” now that inflation is back “under control”.
Meanwhile, Labour is vowing to cut energy bills through the creation of a publicly owned clean energy company, saying this could save families £300 a year.
Labour has sought to use Mr Sunak’s vast personal fortune as a dividing line during the election – saying he can’t relate to the pressures facing the rest of the country.
The personal wealth of Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty rose by £122m last year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
The couple’s fortune was estimated at £651m in the latest list, published in May, up from £529m in 2023.
This means they are richer than the King, according to the annual list of the UK’s most wealthy people.
Mr Sunak was a hedge fund manager before entering politics, while his wife is a businesswoman and the daughter of an Indian billionaire.
Self-driving cars are generally safer than cars driven by humans, according to a new study released on Tuesday. However, the cars were found to be more accident-prone in certain scenarios.
File pic: iStock
Self-driving cars are safer than those driven by humans, except when it is dusk, dawn, or the vehicle is turning, according to a new study.
Autonomous vehicles are involved in fewer accidents than cars driven by humans, researchers from the University of Central Florida have found.
However, although the research generally showed self-driving cars to be safer, it did discover they seem more prone to accidents in specific situations.
During low-light conditions at dawn or dusk, they were more than five times more likely to have an accident than a human-driven car.
While turning, self-driving cars were nearly two times more likely to have an accident.
There have been a number of high profile crashes of self-driving cars and just last week, a car in self-driving mode crashed into a police car in California while officers were responding to a deadly collision.
Self-driving cars could be on UK roads by 2026, after a new law passed in May.
The law is intended to create jobs as well as improve road safety by “reducing human error, which contributes to 88% of road collisions”, according to the Department for Transport.
Last year, a UK study by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers suggested seven out of ten people would be uncomfortable travelling in an autonomous vehicle with no human control.
Nearly a third (29%) of people worried about how the car would deal with accidents.
Days after his first interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Italy amidst the chill in bilateral ties, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that there is an ”alignment” on several ”big issues” with India and he sees an ”opportunity” to engage with the new Indian government including on economic ties and ”around national security”.
Prime Minister Modi posted an image on social media of the two leaders shaking hands on Friday, with a one-liner saying “met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G7 Summit”.
The meeting which took place on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Apulia, southern Italy, was the first amid strained diplomatic relations over pro-Khalistani extremism after Trudeau alleged in September last year of ”potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated Sikh terrorist.
Back in Ottawa, Trudeau told CBC News that one of the really good things about the Summit is that ”you get an opportunity to engage directly with a huge range of different leaders with whom there are various issues and certainly with India, there are massive people to people ties, they’re really important economic ties.”
”There’s alignment on a number of big issues that we need to work on as, as democracies as a global community. But now that he (Modi) is through his election, I think there is an opportunity for us to engage, including on some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law that we will be engaging.” When asked if he has seen improvement in cooperation from India on the Canadian probe into the murder of Nijjar in Surrey in British Columbia, Trudeau said, ”There is work ongoing very much.” Trudeau’s allegations from last year were strongly rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as “absurd and motivated”.
India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.
Nvidia’s startling ascent in the stock market reached another milestone Tuesday as the chipmaker rose to become the most valuable company in the S&P 500. Investors now say the company is worth over $3.3 trillion.
Nvidia’s stock price has more than doubled this year after more than tripling in 2023 and it’s now the third most valuable company in the S&P 500. AP explains how it rose to AI prominence
Nvidia has seen soaring demand for its semiconductors, which are used to power artificial intelligence applications. Revenue more than tripled in the latest quarter from the same period a year earlier.
The company’s journey to be one of the most prominent players in AI has produced some eye-popping numbers. Here’s a look:
$3.334 Trillion
Nvidia’s total market value as of the close Tuesday. It edged past Microsoft ($3.317 trillion). Apple is the third most-valuable company ($3.286 trillion). One year ago, the company had just crossed the $1 trillion threshold.
$113 billion
The one-day increase in Nvidia’s market value on Tuesday.
$135.58
Nvidia’s closing stock price Tuesday. Two weeks ago the stock traded at more than $1,200, but the company completed a 10-for-1 stock split after trading closed on June 7. That gave each investor nine additional shares for every share they already owned. Companies with a high stock price often conduct stock splits to make the stock more affordable for investors.
$119.9 billion
Analysts’ estimate for Nvidia’s revenue for the fiscal year that ends in January 2025. That would be about double its revenue for fiscal 2024 and more than four times its receipts the year before that.
53.4%
Nvidia’s estimated net margin, or the percentage of revenue that gets turned into profit. Looked at another way, about 53 cents of every $1 in revenue Nvidia took in last year went to its bottom line. By comparison, Apple’s net margin was 26.3% in its most recent quarter and Microsoft’s was 36.4%. Both those companies have significantly higher revenue than Nvidia, however.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began official events on Wednesday at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, Russian media said, as the two leaders pledged to develop their nations’ ties.
Kim embraced Putin on his arrival at Pyongyang’s airport for a rare visit in the early hours of Wednesday and shared “pent-up inmost thoughts” as the leaders shared a ride to the state guest house in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin embraces North Korean leader Kim Jong Un upon his arrival at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this image released by the Korean Central News Agency June 19, 2024. KCNA via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian media photographs showed soldiers and a large crowd of civilians gathered at the square by the Taedong River running through the capital, including children holding balloons and giant portraits of the two leaders, with national flags adorning the Grand People’s Study Hall.
Putin, who arrived before dawn, is on his first trip to the North Korean capital in 24 years, a visit likely to reshape decades of Russia-North Korea relations at a time when both countries face international isolation.
The countries’ partnership is an “engine for accelerating the building of a new multi-polar world” and Putin’s visit demonstrates the invincibility and durability of their friendship and unity, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA said.
Russia has used its warming ties with North Korea to needle Washington, while heavily sanctioned North Korea has won political backing and promises of economic support and trade from Moscow.
The United States and its allies say they fear Russia could provide aid for North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions, and have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine.
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons transfers.
Kim greeted Putin, shaking hands, embracing and talking beside the Russian leader’s plane. The pair then rode in Putin’s Russian-made Aurus limousine to the Kumsusan State Guest House.
Likely given the hour, the welcome was a relatively subdued affair, with Kim greeting the Russian leader on the red carpet without the grand ceremony the North put on for Chinese President Xi Jinping on his 2019 visit.
“Passing through charmingly lit streets of Pyongyang at night, the top leaders exchanged their pent-up inmost thoughts and opened their minds to more surely develop the DPRK-Russia relations,” KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea’s official name.
State media photos showed streets of Pyongyang lined with portraits of Putin and the facade of the unfinished and vacant 101-story pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel brightly lit with a giant message “Welcome Putin.” ‘ALTERNATE TRADE MECHANISM’
Wednesday’s agenda includes one-on-one discussions between the two leaders, as well as a gala concert, state reception, honour guards, document signings and a statement to the media, Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as saying.
In a signal that Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, is reassessing its approach to North Korea, Putin praised Pyongyang ahead of his arrival for resisting what he said was U.S. economic pressure, blackmail and threats.
In an article on the front page of North Korea’s main ruling party newspaper, he promised to “develop alternative trade and mutual settlement mechanisms not controlled by the West” and “build an equal and indivisible security architecture in Eurasia.”
Putin’s article implies that there is an opportunity for North Korea’s economic growth within an anti-West economic bloc led by Russia, which is a message that is likely appealing to Kim Jong Un, wrote Rachel Minyoung Lee, an analyst with the 38 North programme in Washington.
Sir Ian McKellen was taken to the hospital after falling off the stage during a show in London on Monday, Page Six can confirm.
The 85-year-old actor was mid-way through his performance in “Player Kings” at the Noël Coward theatre when he lost his footing.
The beloved English actor, who plays John Falstaff in the show, was doing a fight scene when he fell off the front of the stage and cried out in pain, according to the BBC, who was first to report the news.
Sir Ian McKellen was hospitalized on Monday after falling during a performance. Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Wolseley Hospitality GroupHe was in the midst of a battle scene when he lost his footing, per the BBC. Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images
As crew members rushed to help, the house lights came up and the audience was evacuated from the theater, per the outlet.
Although the scene was “very shocking,” one audience member told the BBC that McKellen was “conscious” after the fall.
“I really hope that he is going to be alright,” Sandro Trapani said.
Meanwhile, other audience members took to X to wish the “Lord of the Rings” star well after witnessing the “terrible fall.”
“Audience shocked by Sir Ian McKellen’s fall off stage tonight at Noel Coward Theatre. Staff working hard to help him. Thoughts with him, cast and crew,” Paul Nero, a writer and broadcaster, wrote on X.
Someone else responded to his tweet, saying McKellen “sounded in a bad way.”
In a statement shared with Page Six, reps for McKellen thanked the “audience and the general public for their well wishes” and assured fans that he is on the mend.
“Following a scan, the brilliant NHS team have assured us that he will make a speedy and full recovery and Ian is in good spirits,” the statement read.
They also thanked two doctors who were in the audience and sprung into action.
However, prodcuers “made the decision to cancel the performance on Tuesday 18 June so Ian can rest.”
“Player Kings” — a three-hour-plus adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I and Part II — started its 12-week run in April 2024.
As of now, the play is expected to run until Saturday in the West End before going on tour throughout the United Kingdom until the end of July.
Usher revealed his daily diet and exercise regimen to maintain his fit physique, which includes fasting on Wednesdays, cayenne pepper drinks and meditation.
“Typically I wake up and drink celery juice. I’ve been doing this concoction of lemon, ginger, water and cayenne pepper. I drink it hot,” he told the Wall Street Journal in a new interview published Monday.
Usher revealed how he keeps his fit physique. Getty Images“Typically I wake up and drink celery juice. I’ve been doing this concoction of lemon, ginger, water and cayenne pepper. I drink it hot,” he told the Wall Street Journal. Getty Images
“I try to wake up early enough to have a moment of reflection. Some days I may grab a book and read to stimulate my mind. I may sit quietly and meditate. One thing that is a frequent practice is yoga. It really does help to activate my organs and get my mind moving in the right direction.”
For breakfast, the “U Got It Bad” singer, 45, said he sometimes likes to eat “eggs scrambled with cheese” but he mostly likes his eggs “poached or over easy.”
However, Usher shared that he doesn’t like to eat breakfast before he’s “worked out or done something physical,” like “taking a walk, stretching or doing yoga, sitting in the sun and raising my body’s natural heat levels.”
The eight-time Grammy winner also said he fasts in the middle of the week because it’s something his “grandmother practiced.”
“I fast on Wednesdays. I typically try to start around 11 p.m. the previous day, then go the entire day on Wednesday just drinking water,” he told the outlet.
As for what Usher’s fitness regime involves, the pop star usually starts with “walking or certain knee activations.”
“I’ve had minor surgeries on my knee, I had a torn meniscus. Other than that, swimming is a really good thing to get me going and bike riding. Weight lifting, don’t do a lot of that,” he explained.
In February, Usher headlined the 2024 Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
Two of 51 people rescued between Libya and Lampedusa were unconscious and had to be “cut free with an axe”, a German aid group says.
A yacht capsized off Calabria. Pic: Italian coast guard
At least 17 people have died and about 60 are missing – including many children – after two ships were wrecked off the coast of southern Italy.
A rescue ship run by a German aid group picked up 51 people thought to be migrants from a sinking wooden vessel in the first of two shipwrecks.
RESQSHIP said two of the 51 were unconscious and had to be “cut free with an axe”.
Ten bodies were found trapped on the wooden ship’s flooded lower deck near the Italian island of Lampedusa, the organisation added. No one is believed to be missing.
“Our thoughts are with their families. We are angry and sad,” RESQSHIP wrote on X.
Those on board came from Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Organisation for Migration and UNICEF said in a joint statement.
The survivors were handed over to the Italian coastguard and taken ashore, RESQSHIP said.
Its own ship, the Nadir, towed the wooden boat containing the bodies of the deceased to Lampedusa.
Entire families presumed dead in second wreck
The second shipwreck took place about 125 miles east of the Italian region of Calabria, after a yacht that had set off from Turkey eight days earlier caught fire and overturned, UN agencies said.
Twelve migrants, including a pregnant woman and two children, were picked up, the Italian coastguard said.
A woman among them, who is thought to have fallen into the water, died immediately after landing.
Six bodies were later found off Calabria by the Italian Coast Guard, Sky News understands.
The others are in a serious condition, Vittorio Zito, mayor of the town of Roccella, said.
Survivors reported that 66 people were missing, including 26 children, “some of them very young”, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – the Doctors Without Borders charity – told Sky News in Roccella.
Shakilla Mohammadi, an MSF staffer, added: “Entire families from Afghanistan are presumed dead.”
The yacht may have been taking on water for three or four days, while those on board were not wearing life jackets, MSF also said.
Some passing vessels did not stop to help, survivors said.
Migrants involved in the shipwreck off Calabria came from Iran, Iraq and Syria, agencies added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for supporting his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will cooperate closely to overcome U.S.-led sanctions as he headed to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Putin’s comments appeared in an op-ed piece in North Korean state media hours before he was expected to arrive in the North for a two-day visit as the countries deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.
Putin, who will be making his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, said he highly appreciates its firm support of his invasion of Ukraine. He said the countries would continue to “resolutely oppose” what he described as Western ambitions to “to hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice.”
Putin also said Russia and North Korea will develop unspecified trade and payment systems “that are not controlled by the West” and jointly oppose sanctions against the countries, which he described as “unilateral and illegal restrictive measures.”
North Korea is under heavy U.N. Security Council economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also grappling with sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.
Putin said the countries will also expand cooperation in tourism, culture and education.
Putin’s visit comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Putin’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.
Military, economic and other exchanges between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited the Russian Far East in September for a meeting with Putin, their first since 2019.
U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong its fighting in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations about North Korean weapons transfers, which would violate multiple U.N. Security Council sanctions Russia previously endorsed.
Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh U.N. sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.
In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Putin sent Kim a high-end Aurus Senat limousine, which he had shown to the North Korean leader when they met for a summit in September. Observers said the shipment violated a U.N. resolution banning the supply of luxury items to North Korea.
President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy Tuesday that would lift the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats.
Biden will announce the new program at a White House event to celebrate the Obama-era “dreamers” directive that offered deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants, according to three people briefed on the White House plans.
The policy will allow roughly 490,000 spouses of U.S. citizens an opportunity to apply for a “parole in place” program, which would shield them from deportations and offer them work permits if they have lived in the country for at least 10 years, according to two of the people briefed. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.
The White House on Monday declined to comment on the announcement.
The announcement will be a significant marker for Biden. He opened his presidency with promises to fight for widespread relief for the millions of immigrants who live in the country without permanent legal status. But as the number of migrants reached historic levels and he prepares for a reelection contest against Donald Trump, Biden earlier this month enacted a border clampdown that critics say is similar to those pursued by his predecessor.
The White House’s decision earlier this month to implement a restrictive proposal that essentially halted asylum processing at the U.S.-Mexico border angered many of Biden’s political allies.
However, Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., who chairs a Democratic group of lawmakers called the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said she expected the policy announcement Tuesday would cause “tears of joy paired with some sighs of relief” from the families of those who stand to benefit.
Families who would potentially benefit from Biden’s actions were expected to attend the White House event Tuesday afternoon.
For some time, administration officials have been deliberating various options to offer protections for immigrants who lack legal status in the U.S. but have longstanding ties. The authority Biden is invoking not only gives deportation protections and work permits, but removes a legal barrier to allow qualifying immigrants to apply for permanent residency and, eventually, U.S. citizenship. It’s a power that’s already been used for other categories of immigrants, such as members of the U.S. military or their family members who lack legal status.
“Today, I have spoken about what we need to do to secure the border,” Biden said at a June 4 event at the White House, when he rolled out his order to suspend asylum processing for many migrants arriving now to the U.S. “In the weeks ahead — and I mean the weeks ahead — I will speak to how we can make our immigration system more fair and more just.”
Biden was also expected to announce a policy of making recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program eligible for visas, rather than the temporary work authorization they currently receive, according to two of the people briefed.
The UK’s main stock market retook its crown as Europe’s most valuable for the first time in nearly two years, data shows.
The total value of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) hit $3.18tn on Monday, overtaking the $3.13tn total value of companies listed in Paris, according to Bloomberg data.
Both valuations have shifted since and remain close, but analysts describe it as a milestone.
They say the French market has slumped because of the uncertainty around its election, while the UK market is recovering after several years of underperformance.
The LSE had been Europe’s largest stock market for many years before November 2022 when it was overtaken.
Analysts at the time blamed LSE’s performance on the fallout from former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ mini-Budget, a weak pound, recession fears and Brexit.
The LSE was worth about $1.4tn more than its Parisian rival in 2016.
Analysts say that market investors generally dislike uncertainty – and there are many questions about what the French snap election called by the president will mean.
President Emmanuel Macron called the snap election earlier this month, following a victory for his rival Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally in European elections.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s money and markets head Susannah Streeter suggested though that Le Pen’s manifesto contains “unfunded spending”.
“They are not so focused about winning over the market,” said Ms Streeter.
Financial markets often react badly when they do not know where the money for a government’s pledges will come from.
This is because it affects the value of bonds, which is money investors loan the government at a rate agreed by the market.
If investors believe that a government or potential government’s policies don’t add up, the interest rate on bonds, known as the yield, tends to rise.
This then hurts the value of listed companies, because if the bond yield is very high then investors can often make more money lending to the government than investing in a company’s shares.
Looking towards the UK, Ms Street added that the Labour party, which is currently leading in the polls in the run-up to the UK general election, has been trying to reassure investors and the City that it is a “safe pair of hands”.
The Conservative party has also been trying to convince investors of its approach.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt told the Wall Street Journal chief executives’ council summit last month: “I think London’s stock market demise is massively overstated.”
“We do have challenges, and we’re addressing those challenges.”
One of the biggest challenges facing the LSE over the last decade has been pitching to investors and companies tempted by American exchanges.
A number of big firms, including ones based in the UK, have chosen to list in the US rather than the UK.
This has driven up the value of American stocks, which then encourages even more companies to list there.
The S&P All-Share index, which tracks the value of every listed company in the US, has soared over 85% over the last five years.
The jet plunged at a maximum descent rate of about 4,400ft per minute off the coast of Hawaii before climbing back up to safety. It comes after a series of concerns over the safety of Boeing MAX aircraft.
A file pic of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, belonging to Southwest Airlines. Pic: AP
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines flight came within 400ft of the ocean following an aborted landing attempt.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged at a maximum descent rate of about 4,400ft per minute off the coast of Hawaii before climbing back up to safety on 11 April.
The plane had been flying between cities from Honolulu to Lihue airport in Kauai, but bad weather conditions prompted pilots to bypass a landing attempt.
During the go-around – when a plane flies back up in the air after deciding not to land – the first officer “inadvertently pushed forward on the control column while following thrust lever movement commanded by the autothrottle”, according to a memo sent to pilots and seen by the Reuters news agency.
The action sent the aircraft dangerously close to hitting the Pacific Ocean.
Safety data confirmed the crew received a “DON’T SINK oral warning” followed by a “PULL UP oral warning”, the memo said, but the first officer later said the crew did not hear the warnings.
There were no reports of injuries.
It comes as a separate Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 suffered damage to its infrastructure after it experienced what is known as a “Dutch roll” during a flight from Phoenix to Oakland in California on 25 May.
A “Dutch roll” refers to a combination of the aircraft tail swaying from side to side (yawing) and the plane rocking in a way that causes the wings to go up and down.
Pilots regained control and landed safety, but damage to the unit that controls backup power to the rudder was described as “substantial”. The incident is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
‘Emotional event’
In a post-incident debrief concerning the Hawaii flight, the pilots reportedly said seeing the severity of the flight’s movements through an animated recreation “was a significant, emotional event,” the Southwest memo said.
The memo added that the crew participated in comprehensive corrective actions and the airline is reviewing data and trends related to its procedures, training, standards, and performance.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attend a meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, September 13, 2023 in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time in 24 years, the two countries said, underscoring Moscow’s burgeoning partnership with the nuclear-armed state since the invasion of Ukraine.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un extended an invitation to Putin during a visit to Russia’s Far East last September. Putin last visited Pyongyang in July 2000.
In Washington, the White House said it was troubled by the deepening relationship between Russia and North Korea, and the U.S. State Department said it was “quite certain” Putin would be seeking arms to support his war in Ukraine.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Russia and North Korea may sign a partnership agreement during the visit that would include security issues.
He said the deal would not be directed against any other country, but would “outline prospects for further cooperation, and will be signed taking into account what has happened between our countries in recent years – in the field of international politics, in the field of economics … including, of course, taking into account security issues.”
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s point man for energy, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, will be part of the delegation.
After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20, the Kremlin said. Both visits had been expected, although the dates had not previously been announced.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicise the renaissance of its relationship with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, causing alarm among the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia.
Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin’s point man for energy, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, will be part of the delegation.
After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam on June 19-20, the Kremlin said. Both visits had been expected, although the dates had not previously been announced.
Russia has gone out of its way to publicise the renaissance of its relationship with North Korea since the start of the war in Ukraine, causing alarm among the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia.
“So I’m quite certain that that is what he’s up to,” Miller said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said last week Washington was concerned by what Russia would give North Korea in return.
“Hard currency? Is it energy? Is it capabilities that allow them to advance their nuclear or missile products? We don’t know. But we’re concerned by that and watching carefully,” he said.
For Putin, who says Russia is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies.
United Nations monitors concluded that at least one ballistic missile fired from Russia in Ukraine in January was made in North Korea. Ukrainian officials say they have counted about 50 such missiles delivered to Russia by North Korea.
“The list of countries willing to welcome Putin is shorter than ever, but for Kim Jong Un, this visit is a victory,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul’s Ewha University.
“Not only does the summit upgrade North Korea’s status among countries standing against the U.S.-led international order, it also helps bolster Kim’s domestic legitimacy.”
South Korea’s vice foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, discussed Putin’s Pyongyang visit in an emergency phone call with Campbell on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
The ministry expressed concern that the visit would result in more military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, which it said violates U.N. resolutions.
Russia says it will cooperate with North Korea and develop relations in the manner it chooses and not be told what to do by any country, least of all the United States.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is in custody on espionage charges, waves behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, April 23, 2024. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Russia’s espionage trial of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the U.S. CIA, will be held behind closed doors, the trial court said on Monday.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, 1,400 km (900 miles) east of Moscow, on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.
The first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War more than three decades ago, Gershkovich has denied the charges. The Journal says Gershkovich was doing his job and denies he is a spy.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Gershkovich was trying to collect secrets about Uralvagonzavod, a Russian defence enterprise that is one of the world’s biggest battle tank producers, for the CIA.
“The process will take place behind closed doors,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg said.
“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment.”
The first hearing is scheduled for June 26, the court said.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters the U.S. was concerned that the trial was to be held behind closed doors.
“We have a concern about that. We are going to attempt to attend the trial – don’t know if that will be possible,” he said.
The White House has called the charges “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has said Gershkovich’s detention is “totally illegal”.
Russia said Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”. President Vladimir Putin has said there has been contact with Washington about potentially swapping Gershkovich but that such negotiations should be held away from the media.
The Journal said Gershkovich was on a reporting assignment when detained and that his fate illustrates the threats journalists face trying to report on the front lines of major global stories. It has demanded his release.
“This latest development means a sham trial is imminent. We expect that all parties will work to bring Evan home now. Time is of the essence,” the Journal said.
“The Russian regime’s smearing of Evan is repugnant and based on calculated and transparent lies. Journalism is not a crime, and Evan’s case is an assault on free press.” SWAP FUND?
Gershkovich’s arrest illustrated how far relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated over the Ukraine war since hopes of friendship were raised after the Cold War ended with the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.
There are now almost no U.S. reporters in Russia. U.S. diplomats say that Gershkovich was not a spy and was detained by Russia’s FSB to build up a store of arrested U.S. citizens who could later be swapped for Russians detained in the West.
Among the detained Americans is Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on spying charges in 2020.
Putin suggested in February that Gershkovich could be swapped for Vadim Krasikov, convicted of the 2019 murder of a Chechen dissident in Berlin, although he did not mention Krasikov by name.
Putin said in March he had agreed the idea of potentially swapping Alexei Navalny a few days before the opposition leader died in unexplained circumstances at a Russian prison on Feb. 16.
An aerial view shows the BRP Sierra Madre on the contested Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, in the South China Sea, March 9, 2023/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
China and the Philippines traded accusations over a collision in the South China Sea on Monday, with Manila saying its armed forces would resist Beijing’s actions in the disputed waters, the latest in an increasingly testy series of confrontations.
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson condemned China’s “aggressive, dangerous” manoeuvres in a post on X, saying the collision had “caused bodily injury.”
The U.S. State Department condemned what it called “escalatory and irresponsible” actions by China and reaffirmed that its mutual defence treaty with the Philippines applied to any armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, vessels, or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea.
In the latest incident on Monday, China’s coastguard said a Philippine supply ship “deliberately and dangerously” approached a Chinese ship resulting in a slight collision after the Philippine ship “illegally intruded” into waters near Second Thomas Shoal, a charge that Manila rejected as “deceptive and misleading”.
The U.S. State Department called the incident the latest in a series of Chinese “provocations” to impede supplies from reaching Philippines personnel stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine vessel grounded at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, site of repeated confrontations with China this past year.
“PRC vessels’ dangerous and deliberate use of water cannons, ramming, blocking manoeuvres, and towing damaged Philippine vessels, endangered the lives of Philippine service members, is reckless, and threatens regional peace and stability,” a State Department statement said.
China and the Philippines have traded barbs for months over dangerous manoeuvres at the Second Thomas Shoal, an atoll within Manila’s 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea. China claims the area as its own.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the six-member war cabinet, an Israeli official said on Monday, in a widely expected move following the departure from government of centrist former general Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu is now expected to hold consultations about the Gaza war with a small group of ministers, including Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer who had been in the war cabinet.
The move was announced as U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein visited Jerusalem, seeking to calm the situation on the disputed border with Lebanon, where Israel said tensions with the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia were bringing the region close to a wider conflict.
The Israeli military said on Monday it had killed a senior operative in one of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile sections in the area of Selaa in southern Lebanon.
The military also said its operations were continuing in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip, where its forces have been battling Hamas fighters in the Tel Sultan area of western Rafah, as well as in central areas of the enclave.
Hochstein’s visit follows weeks of increasing exchanges of fire across the line between Israel and Lebanon, where Israeli forces have for months been engaged in a simmering conflict with Hezbollah that has continued alongside the war in Gaza.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes on both sides of the so-called Blue Line that divides the two countries, leaving eerily deserted areas of abandoned villages and farms hit by near-daily bombardment.
“The current state of affairs is not a sustainable reality,” government spokesperson David Mencer told a briefing.
Netanyahu had faced demands from the nationalist-religious partners in his coalition, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, to be included in the war cabinet. Such a move would have intensified strains with international partners including the United States.
The forum was formed after Gantz joined Netanyahu in a national unity government at the start of the Gaza war in October. It also included Gantz’s political partner Gadi Eisenkot and Aryeh Deri, head of the religious party Shas, as observers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024. GIL COHEN-MAGEN/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Gantz and Eisenkot both left the government last week, over what they said was Netanyahu’s failure to form a strategy for the Gaza war.
PROTESTS
An agreement to halt the fighting in Gaza still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel led by Hamas fighters that triggered Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian enclave.
The Oct. 7 attack killed some 1,200 people and about 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.
Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government’s aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages still being held in Gaza and against Netanyahu’s handling of the war.
Protesters calling for new elections clashed with police in Jerusalem on Monday. By sundown, a crowd of thousands had gathered outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, before marching to Netanyahu’s private home.
Some protesters tried to break through barriers set up by the police, who pushed them back. At one point a bonfire was lit in the street, and police used a water cannon to disperse the demonstration.
The northern border was relatively quiet on Monday, the second day of the Muslim Eid celebration, compared with previous days, when rocket fire set off widespread brush fires in heatwave conditions.
A survey for the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank, found 36% of respondents favouring an immediate strike against Hezbollah, up from 26% a month earlier.
German police seized £2.19bn worth of cocaine from Hamburg, Rotterdam and Colombia, with seven people from a range of countries arrested in recent weeks over the alleged importing of the drug from Latin America to Europe in 2023.
German investigators have seized 35.5 tonnes of cocaine. Pic: Public Prosecution Dusseldorf
German investigators have confiscated 35.5 tonnes of cocaine in what authorities say is the biggest bust of the class A drug Europe has ever seen.
Prosecutors in the western city of Duesseldorf said they confiscated the cocaine, which they valued at €2.6bn (£2.19bn), last year after receiving a tip from Colombian authorities.
A total of 25 tonnes of cocaine was found in the port of the northern city of Hamburg as part of Operation Plexus, another eight in the Dutch port of Rotterdam and almost three in Colombia. The drugs were hidden among vegetables and fruit, prosecutors said.
Seven people aged between 30 and 54 were arrested in recent weeks and include German, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian, Moroccan, Turkish and Ukrainian nationals.
Their identities have not been disclosed, in line with German privacy law.
They are accused of importing the large amounts of cocaine from Latin America to Europe between April and September 2023. The defendants are believed to have had yet unknown accomplices allegedly living in Turkey.
Dr Benjamin Limbach, minister for justice in North Rhine-Westphalia, praised authorities for having “pulled off a coup here” as he hailed the teamwork which resulted in “the largest cocaine find on European soil to virtually go up in flames”.
A crowd-control gate was installed halfway up Japan’s Mount Fuji on Monday ahead of the July 1 start of this year’s climbing season, but the governor of Yamanashi, one of the two prefectures that are home to the mountain, said additional measures are needed to control overcrowding on its lower slopes.
The gate was completed as part of a new set of rules that Yamanashi is introducing this year to address growing safety, environmental and overcrowding problems on the mountain.
The newly installed gate will be closed between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. to lock out those who have not booked an overnight stay at a hut along the Yoshida trail, which is used by most climbers, mainly to stop “bullet climbing,” or rushing to the summit without adequate rest, considered a major safety risk. A maximum of 4,000 climbers will be allowed to enter the trail per day.
“The restrictions that will take effect this year are measures to address the problems that are putting climbers’ lives at risk,” Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki said at a news conference in Tokyo. He said the number of climbers on the trail this year is expected to surpass last year’s 137,236.
“Overcrowding near the summit could lead to a major disaster, like people falling in a domino effect,” he said.
Under the new system, climbers must make reservations and choose between a day hike or an overnight stay at one of several huts along the trail. There is a mandatory hiking fee of 2,000 yen (about $12.70) and an optional donation of 1,000 yen (about $6.35) for conservation.
A QR code is sent to climbers’ smartphones to be scanned at the gate, which is halfway up the mountain in an area known as the fifth station, where the Yoshida trail begins. There are 10 stations on the mountain.
Nagasaki said he is confident that the new measures will ease overcrowding on the upper reaches of Mount Fuji, but that problems remain lower down.
He pledged to ease over-tourism on the lower levels and their surroundings, possibly by introducing a mountain railway to the fifth station, which currently can be reached by cars and buses, while promoting traditional climbing routes from the mountain’s foot.
Shizuoka prefecture, which also contains part of the mountain, currently imposes no mandatory hiking restrictions. On June 10, it began an online registration system in which climbers fill in their hiking plans and are encouraged not to climb after 4 p.m.
Mount Fuji, long a symbol of Japan, was once a place for pilgrimages. Today, it attracts tens of thousands of people who hike to the summit to watch the sunrise. But the tons of trash left behind, including plastic bottles and food, have become a major concern.
Recently, the town of Fujikawaguchiko in Yamanashi erected a large black screen along a sidewalk to block the view of Mount Fuji after tourists began crowding the area to take photos of the mountain appearing to sit on the roof of a convenience store, a social media trend known as “Mount Fuji Lawson” that disrupted businesses, traffic and local life.
Overtourism has also become a growing problem for other popular tourist destinations like Kyoto as foreign visitors flock to Japan, in part because of the weaker yen.
President Joe Biden walks to his limousine as he arrives on Air Force One, Saturday, June 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. Biden will attend a campaign event Saturday night. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A U.S. Secret Service agent was robbed at gunpoint as President Joe Biden was visiting Los Angeles for a fundraising event over the weekend, officials said.
The agent was returning from work Saturday night when he was accosted in a residential community in Tustin, about an hour’s drive southeast of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
Someone called the Tustin Police Department shortly after 9:30 p.m. to report the robbery. Police said the agent had his bag stolen at gunpoint. The agent, who was not injured, fired his gun during the confrontation, police said. The Secret Service said they did not know if anyone was shot.
Tustin Police said Monday they had not found a suspect. Officers did find some of the agent’s stolen belongings in the area. Police reported a silver Infiniti FX35 was seen leaving the scene.
Biden and former President Barack Obama held a star-studded fundraising event in Los Angeles on Sunday that brought in more than $30 million for Biden’s reelection campaign.
The head of Nato has told the BBC that China should face consequences for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine, if it does not change its ways.
Jens Stoltenberg said Beijing was “trying to get it both ways” by supporting Russia’s war effort, while also trying to maintain relationships with European allies.
“This cannot work in the long run,” Mr Stoltenberg told BBC News during a visit to Washington.
In the wide ranging interview, Mr Stoltenberg also addressed nuclear weapons and defence spending.
His comments come as Russia shows no sign of easing its war against Ukraine.
A peace summit held in Switzerland at the weekend saw dozens of nations commit to supporting Kyiv, but Russia called it a waste of time and said it would only agree to peace talks if Ukraine essentially surrendered.
When pressed on what Nato members might do about China’s support of Russia, Mr Stoltenberg said there was an “ongoing conversation” about possible sanctions.
He said China was “sharing a lot of technologies, [like] micro-electronics, which are key for Russia to build missiles, weapons they use against Ukraine”.
He added that “at some stage, we should consider some kind of economic cost if China doesn’t change their behaviour”.
Beijing is already under some sanctions for its support of Russia – last month, the US announced restrictions that would target about 20 firms based in China and Hong Kong.
China has defended its business with Moscow, saying it is not selling lethal arms and “prudently handles the export of dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations”.
Russia’s full-scale invasion has devastated Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin has clearly said he has no intention of pulling back
Mr Stoltenberg’s visit to Washington came as the Kremlin confirmed that Vladimir Putin will travel to North Korea on Tuesday.
It follows his visit to China last month.
Russia has become increasingly isolated on the world stage since it launched its full-scale war with Ukraine in 2022. Mr Putin has repeatedly said that the West’s balance of power is shifting, and he has worked to strengthen ties with like-minded leaders.
“Russia right now is aligning more and more with authoritarian leaders,” Mr Stoltenberg told the BBC, listing Iran, Beijing and North Korea.
He said that the North has sent artillery shells to Russia, and in return Russia had given advanced technology for North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.
“So North Korea is helping Russia to conduct a war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Congenital melanocytic naevus syndrome is physically and mentally challenging for children – but a breakthrough by researchers could cause mole cells to self-destruct, and reduce the risk of cancer developing in later life.
Children with CMN are born with up to 80% of their body covered in giant moles. Pics: @mrelbank and @caringmattersnow
A new genetic therapy has been developed that could reverse giant, debilitating moles that accompany a rare skin condition.
Congenital melanocytic naevus syndrome, or CMN for short, sees children born with up to 80% of their body covered in big, painful or itchy moles.
They are caused by genetic mutations acquired in the womb – and in some cases, these moles can develop into melanoma.
Pic: @mrelbank and @caringmattersnow
During trials in mice with CMNS, researchers silenced a gene called NRAS, which triggered the mole cells to self-destruct.
The treatment could one day be used to reverse the giant moles seen in CMN patients, and potentially more common types of moles.
Veronica Kinsler, who led the research, said: “CMN is physically and mentally challenging for children and adults living with this condition and for their families.
“These results are very exciting, as not only does the genetic therapy trigger self-destruction of the mole cells in the lab, but we have managed to deliver it into the skin in mice.”
She cautioned that more testing is required before the therapy can be given to patients – but it is hoped clinical trials involving people will begin soon.
The study was carried out by researchers from the Francis Crick Institute, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health, and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
It was partly funded by Caring Matters Now, a charity devoted to supporting people with CMN – and its CEO has described the results as a breakthrough that could transform lives.
Jodi Whitehouse said: “Speaking as someone who was born with CMN covering 70% of my body and having undergone more than 30 operations in my childhood to try and remove the CMN because of the fear of melanoma, with no success, this news is awe inspiring and exciting. It brings real hope to the lives of those living with CMN.”
Hope for families
Skin cells from children born with CMN were used in the study after being donated by their parents.
One of them is Hanna, a seven-year-old born with a dark lesion covering her back, stomach and thighs.
It leaves her skin itchy and dry, with large lumpy nodules that make sleeping at night difficult and everyday life challenging.
The first widespread heat wave of the year is about to unfold over the eastern and central United States with the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures occasionally approaching the 100-degree mark.
A dangerous, widespread heat wave is predicted to unfold for millions across the Northeast, Midwest and parts of Canada this week with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures even eclipsing the 100-degree Fahrenheit mark in some cities.
“The increased demand for cooling is going to be a problem here. This could have some impacts on the power grid,” AccuWeather Chief Video Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.
In the Midwest and Northeast, a heat wave is considered to be at least three days with a high temperature of at least 90 degrees, and for some areas, the mercury will exceed that benchmark for most or all of the week.
New York City to face first heat wave of the year
The impending heat wave in Chicago is predicted to be “strong,” on par with the only heat wave in 2022, which lasted from June 14-16.
Hot conditions will start to build in Chicago on Sunday before the heat wave entrenches itself over the region with highs in the low to mid-90s through at least Friday. Dry weather will accompany the hot spell with no appreciable rain in the forecast.
Philadelphia heat wave could last 8 days
Philadelphia had an early taste of summertime heat with the mercury topping out at 90 degrees back on April 29, but the impending heat wave will be significantly hotter and last much longer. The temperature will climb into the mid-90s several days in a row, with the hottest conditions expected during the second half of the week.
Rayno added that the streak of 90-degree days in the city could extend an entire week.
There won’t be much relief from the heat after the sun sets either, as overnight lows will only fall into the mid-70s.
Over 135 million face 90-degree temperatures
According to AccuWeather figures, at least 135 million people across the eastern United States and parts of eastern Canada will experience a heat wave this week.
The peak of the heat wave for most of this zone is expected around the same time as the start of astronomical summer, which takes place on Thursday, June 20, at 4:50 p.m. EDT.
Scooter ultimately cashed in Taylors masters for a cool $300 million
Scooter Braun’s announcement that he’s bowing out of music management has fans of Taylor Swift abuzz on social media.
Previously handling the careers of pop behemoths like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, Scooter has faced a stark decline in his brand’s allure, as stars disbanded from his roster one by one. He is also infamous among the Swifties for snagging Taylor Swift’s early works in a contentious 2018 deal, sparking Swift’s decision to re-record her classic albums.
Scooter ultimately cashed in Taylors masters for a cool $300 million (around £236 million), but with news breaking of his pivot away from the music scene to prioritize family and take up the reins as CEO of HYBE American branch of the South Korean company. And it’s safe to say that Swift’s loyal legions are celebrating.
Scooter has stepped down from music managementTaylor is currently touring in the UK ( Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)
Reacting to the reports of Braun’s shift in career, one fan remarked online: “What going against Taylor cost you……all the other tayrtriers, take note! ” Another added their voice to the victorious choir: “That tayvoodoo.”
Taylor’s virtual fan army wasn’t far behind in joining the frenzy, with tweets flying such as: “And nothing but loud cheers were heard across the world.”
A lyrical reference flew in from a second, citing The Tortured Poets Department track: “And I’ll say, ‘Good riddance’.”
Chimes of Taylor Swift Midnights, Track 11, rang out a clear nod to the aptly-named song Karma, while another devotee brought actual lyrics into play, quoting: “Karma’s a relaxing thought.”
Another fan quoted lyrics from the song Karma, writing: “Ask me what I learned from all those years / Ask me what I earned from all those tears / Ask me why so many fade, but I’m still here.”
In his lengthy statement, Scooter said for his “entire adult life” he was a music manager, starting when he was 19-years-old, in Atlanta, Georgia. “I think I have wanted this for a while, but I was truly afraid to answer the question, ‘Who would I be without them?'” he said. “It’s all I had known.”
About his family, Scooter added: “As my children got older, and my personal Iife took some hits, I came to the realization that my kids were 3 superstars I wasn’t willing to lose. The sacrifices I was once willing to make I could no longer justify.”
Scooter shares three children with his ex-wife Yael Cohen – a son born in 2015, another son born in 2016, and a daughter born in 2018. He and Yael were married from 2014 to 2021.
