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☆ Opinion | Tucker Carlson, ‘White Men’ and the Lynch Mob Mentality
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

How did the people in these mobs — made up mostly of white men in the American accounts I’ve read — rev themselves up to peak barbarity? I have stared at the pictures of glassy-eyed men and boys (and sometimes women) standing beneath dangling bodies or standing above charred ones. I have read the histories of communities consumed by the desire to not only kill, but to mutilate. In 1893, Henry Smith, a Black man accused of killing a white girl, was lynched in Paris, Texas, before a crowd estimated at 10,000 people. His body was burned with “red-hot” irons “inch by inch until they were thrust against the face.” His eyes were burned out and the hot irons shoved down his throat.

☆ As cost of living crisis bites, some Brits are questioning spending money on glitzy coronation As cost of living crisis bites, some Brits are questioning spending money on glitzy coronation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

The church operates the cafe alongside a food bank which offers free food, clothes, household items and other necessities to locals who are struggling. When it first opened before the pandemic, the food bank was serving mostly homeless people. Liz Coopey, left, a volunteer at the Given Freely Freely Given food bank in Doncaster, helps local resident Angela Davis with her shopping bags. The Given Freely Freely Given food bank in Doncaster offers its clients other items than just food, including household goods and clothing. Liz Coopey, one of the volunteers there, said she understands the idea of having to rely on a food bank might be scary to many.

The case is the latest bid asking the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to rein in the authority of federal agencies. The companies are asking the Supreme Court to overturn its own decades-old precedent calling for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws, a doctrine called "Chevron deference." The New England herring fishing regulations were issued by the fisheries service, part of the U.S. Commerce Department. The Biden administration said in court papers that the monitoring program will be suspended for the fishing year starting in April due to insufficient federal funding. The Supreme Court is due to hear the case in its next term, which begins in October.

☆ The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision was a pain in the neck for Democrats. Now, it could be used to their advantage in the Disney v. DeSantis feud.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Democrats have criticized the ruling since 2010 but may now benefit from its power against the GOP governor. When the Supreme Court in 2010 handed down its ruling on Citizens United v. FEC, Democrats were scandalized. Liberals remain scandalized (albeit for different reasons) but now seek the protections the Citizens United ruling offers. A political reversalAs recently as 2020, a decade after the Citizens United decision, President Joe Biden lambasted the ruling: "It's not enough to just end Citizens United — we have to eliminate all private dollars from our federal elections." "Nor do I think, if DeSantis is about to launch a presidential campaign, will he likely want to settle," Dorf told Insider.

CNN —Thousands of foreign nationals have been evacuated from Sudan as clashes between two rival military factions vying for control of the country continue despite a supposed truce. Another eyewitness told CNN that Rapid Support Forces had moved in to the Wad Al-Bashir area, west of Omdurman (a major city just northwest of the capital Khartoum). Residents on the ground have told CNN that markets and shops have been heavily targeted by looters in the past few days. China, meanwhile, said it had evacuated 940 Chinese citizens and 231 foreign personnel from Sudan to Saudi Arabia between Wednesday and Saturday. “In order to protect the lives and property of Chinese citizens in Sudan, the Chinese military has been ordered to evacuate Chinese personnel in Sudan,” said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei.

☆ Mount Vesuvius park closes access to volcano after Napoli fans plan to fake an eruption after potential title victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Vesuvius national park authority in Naples, Italy, has announced it will be closing access to the live volcano on Saturday, ahead of Napoli’s potential title-winning game on Sunday. Should Lazio drop points against Inter Milan in an earlier kickoff on Sunday, the Italian side could win its first Italian league title in 33 years with victory against Salernitana. Authorities became concerned after reports emerged of plans to use blue smoke bombs and industrial strength fireworks inside the crater, which has been described as a “fragile and intrinsically dangerous place.”The volcano overlooks the city. Supporters burn flares next to a mock grave for a coffin in Naples adorned with the scarves of rival teams Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan. “Vesuvius crater is a fragile and intrinsically dangerous place.”The press release went on to say the Vesuvius police municipalities and the Carabinieri military police would provide a “massive garrison” to protect the entrances and access.

☆ South Carolina and Nebraska lawmakers voted down abortion bans, exposing a chasm on the issue for Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

— Abortion bans in deeply conservative Nebraska and South Carolina both fell short of advancing in close legislative votes amid heated debates among Republicans, yet another sign that abortion is becoming a difficult issue for the GOP. In South Carolina, lawmakers voted 22-21 to shelve a near-total abortion ban for the rest of the year. Katie Glenn, the state policy director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, characterized the failure of both proposed abortion bans as disappointing. The failure to advance abortion restrictions has confounded conservatives who dominate both Nebraska and South Carolina and exposed a chasm on the issue of abortion within the GOP. Riepe and some Republicans across the country have noted evidence pointing to abortion bans as unpopular with a majority of Americans.

☆ ‘Best Friends’ Australia and New Zealand Patch Up a Major Difference
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hundreds of New Zealanders were about to take an oath to become Australian citizens, and cheering them on in their pursuit of dual citizenship was the head of the New Zealand government. Australia was about to reverse a two-decade-old policy and restore rights for the almost 700,000 New Zealanders living in Australia to easily gain citizenship, putting them on par with Australian migrants across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand. Australia and New Zealand often describe each other as their closest international partners. The new center-left government in Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has taken steps to address these issues. At the citizenship ceremony on Sunday in Brisbane, Australia, Chris Hipkins, the prime minister of New Zealand, said his presence was a sign of the “bonds that bind us all together.” That sentiment was later echoed by Clare O’Neil, Australia’s home affairs minister: “Our Kiwi cousins are our very best friends in the world.”

☆ Macron Honors Haitian Revolutionary, but Leaves Much Unsaid
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Constant Méheut | Catherine Porter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The president of France on Thursday stepped into the cold mountain prison where Toussaint Louverture, a famed leader of the Haitian Revolution, died 220 years ago after being tricked, kidnapped and secreted across an ocean and into the French hinterland. Standing in the armory, not far from the cell where Louverture spent his last days, President Emmanuel Macron called the man who took on France after being freed from slavery a hero who embodied the true values of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. “Toussaint Louverture strove to give life to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” Mr. Macron said in a speech delivered on the 175th anniversary of France’s abolition of slavery. “That which offered freedom, equality, fraternity to all.”It was the first time a French leader paid official tribute to Louverture at the prison where he died, a powerful gesture from a president determined to reconcile the France of today with the shadows of its past.

☆ China’s Search Engines Have More Than 66,000 Rules Controlling Content, Report Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Steven Lee Myers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China’s internet censorship is well known, but a report has quantified the extent of it, uncovering more than 66,000 rules controlling the content that is available to people using search engines. The most diligent censor, by at least one measure, is Microsoft’s search engine Bing, the only foreign search engine operating in the country, according to the report, which was released on Wednesday by the Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research group at the University of Toronto. The findings suggested that China’s censorship apparatus had become not only more pervasive, but also more subtle. The search engines, including Bing, have created algorithms to “hard censor” searches deemed to be politically sensitive by providing no results or by limiting the results to selected sources, which are usually government agencies or state news organizations that follow the Communist Party’s line. “You’re getting results only from certain pre-authorized websites.”

Britain's National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC), part of its GCHQ eavesdropping spy agency, said in a report published on Wednesday that the mercenary hacking market was offering products that were on par with government hacking groups. On Tuesday, Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab published a report which said that NSO had been caught using newly-discovered hacking tools to break into iPhones belonging to Mexican human rights defenders in 2022. At least some in the spyware industry see regulation coming down the pipe and are taking steps to try to shape it. NSO has long touted its human rights policy despite repeated allegations that its software has been used abusively, including to spy on victims of human rights violations. NSO did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the Citizen Lab report or its communications with the American Bar Association.

☆ DeSantis’s Gamble on Abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ron DeSantis ’s decision to sign a new Florida law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy is a political gamble that Democrats are eager to attack. The Governor’s obligation now is to explain and defend it if he wants to win the White House. Though Democrats will never admit it, the current abortion debate vindicates Justice Samuel Alito ’s majority opinion in Dobbs last year overruling Roe v. Wade. “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” he wrote. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

☆ Kenya's President Ruto asks opposition to give talks a chance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Monicah MwangiNAIROBI, April 16 (Reuters) - Kenya's President William Ruto asked the opposition on Sunday to give talks with the government a chance while his main opponent urged his followers to protest again over electoral reforms and the high cost of living. The protests partly stem from accusations of fraud in August's presidential election in which Ruto narrowly beat Raila Odinga. Odinga's Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) Alliance and Ruto's Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) alliance disagree about the content of the talks and who should steer them. Kenya Kwanza wants the talks to involve only lawmakers and discuss only the selection of electoral officials. "If we don't hear from Ruto next week, when Ramadan ends, we are going back to the streets," he said.

☆ 5 things the Supreme Court will take into account in medication abortion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —As the Supreme Court prepares for yet another controversial abortion case to come its way, the justices will pore over District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling last week to block the government’s approval of the key medication abortion drug at issue. “There are serious questions on whether the Supreme Court is willing to endorse the district’s court’s very broad approach to those questions,” he said. As he often does, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately last June to explain his thinking in voting to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court might also take issue with the relief that Kacsmaryk ordered. None other than the liberals on the Supreme Court who dissented in Dobbs.

☆ Moldova outdoor assembly to confirm pro-European orientation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Alexander Tanas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries wedged between Ukraine and Romania, has been buffeted by Russia's war in Ukraine which President Maia Sandu has repeatedly denounced. Moldova and its population of 2.5 million, Sandu said, stood at a crossroads, with collective action needed for its future. Big decisions are taken by people during Great National Assemblies," she said. ... We are Europeans and at the Great National Assembly on 21st May, we will show that this is the path we have chosen." Moldova, like Ukraine, has formally sought to become a member of the European Union, a process which normally takes several years.

☆ Top Iranian, Saudi envoys meet in China, discuss diplomatic ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A man in Tehran holds a local newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties on March, 11 2023. The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday for the first formal meeting of their top diplomats in more than seven years, after China brokered a deal to restore ties between the regional rivals. After years of hostility that fueled conflicts across the Middle East, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to end their diplomatic rift and re-open embassies in a major deal facilitated by China last month. In brief footage broadcast on Iranian state TV, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, greeted each other before sitting down side by side. In March, China's President Xi Jinping helped broker the surprise deal between the rivals to end a seven-year rift and restore diplomatic ties - a display of China's growing influence in the region.

☆ Israel approves 'national guard' sought by far-right security minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It was not immediately clear who would have direct authority over the national guard. Having moderated some of his positions, he wields an expanded law-and-order portfolio in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's religious-nationalist governing coalition. Ben Gvir has described the planned national guard in media interviews as an update of the previous government's initiative. "Why does the State of Israel - which has an army, police, military intelligence, the Shin Bet, Mossad, National Security Council, Prisons Service, riot police, a SWAT team - need another national guard?" He said that the national guard would take months to get off the ground and that he was trying to fill police posts in parallel.

☆ Netanyahu sees Israel joining U.S. Visa Waiver Programme in September
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, March 29 (Reuters) - Israel expects to join the U.S. Visa Waiver Programme in September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, after Israeli legislation of measures required by Washington. The embassy said on Jan. 30 that Israel met its requirement of being below the 3% non-immigrant refusal rate - a reference to the number of applicants turned away due to faulty paperwork. Before Netanyahu's announcement, his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said on Twitter that parliament was due to ratify the last of four bills "that will advance us toward getting the U.S. visa waiver for the citizens of Israel". It was not immediately clear whether Israel met another U.S. condition for the visa waiver - free passage for Palestinian-Americans at its airports and into the occupied West Bank. Netanyahu's statement said Israel would in the coming months address outstanding requirements, which it did not detail.

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☆ Tennessee lawmakers worked to loosen gun laws in the weeks before a shooter killed 3 adults and 3 children at Covenant school in Nashville
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In the weeks before the Covenant school shooting, Tennessee lawmakers tried to loosen gun laws. Legislation moving through committees would lower the minimum age for carrying guns from 21 to 18. Tennessee's gun laws are already lax, allowing open carry of loaded handguns without a permit. Nashville Mayor John Cooper, speaking on MSNBC Tuesday, said he hopes this is a moment in which the state can get back to "common sense" gun laws, particularly with regard to assault-style weapons. Tennessee's gun laws are already considered lax.

"Stop this judicial process before it is too late," Arnon Bar-David, Israel's Histadrut union leader, said in a televised speech, addressing Netanyahu directly. Protests have taken place across Israel for the last four months, sparked by anger at controversial judicial reforms pushed by Netanyahu's government, the most right-wing in Israel's history. The planned overhaul would significantly weaken the country's judiciary and make it harder to remove Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, from power. On Sunday, Netanyahu's office announced the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had opposed the motion, escalating protests. "We must all stand up strongly against refusals," Netanyahu said on Twitter around the time of the announcement, without directly referencing Gallant.

☆ U.S. warns China's promises often empty as Honduras wavers on Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The flags of Taiwan and Honduras flutter in the wind outside the Taiwan Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras March 15, 2023. At stake is China's growing footprint in Central America, once a steadfast base for Taiwan and where the United States is worried about Beijing's expanding influence in its backyard. The American Institute in Taiwan said that while Honduras' possible severing of ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing was a sovereign decision, China does not always follow through on its promises. The Honduras drama is happening ahead of a high-profile visit by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to the United States and Central America next week. The United States also has no official ties with Taiwan but is the island's most important international backer and arms supplier.

☆ Mexican state seeks to punish Pemex for emissions from refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, March 19 (Reuters) - Mexico's northern state Nuevo Leon on Sunday warned that it would seek penalties for state oil company Pemex after a dramatic increase in visible emissions from its Cadereyta refinery earlier in the day. Pemex (PEMX.UL) said in a statement that it had "safely halted" operations in one of the plants at the Cadereyta refinery in the afternoon; the company added there was no risk to the population and the emissions were under control. Nuevo Leon's environment ministry, however, said in a statement that it had repeatedly detected "intensified" emissions from the refinery, particularly at night, and that the refinery was responsible for 90% of sulfur dioxide emissions in the metropolitan area of Monterrey city, the state's capital. The ministry said that state environmental law gave it the right, if necessary, to halt operations at the refinery. Reporting by Jackie Botts; Editing by Stefanie EschenbacherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ New Russian law would strip acquired citizenship for discrediting Ukraine operation
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 15 (Reuters) - Proposed amendments to Russia's citizenship law would allow for the stripping of acquired citizenship for treason and discrediting the military operation in Ukraine, Russian media reported on Wednesday. Soon after sending its army into Ukraine just over a year ago Russia introduced sweeping wartime laws to silence dissenting voices. Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special military operation," while Ukraine and its allies say that is a euphemism for a full blown aggression to grab land. The amendments on stripping the citizenship of those who have acquired it relate to "treason, discrediting the special military operation," the RIA news agency quoted Konstantin Zatulin, first deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) affairs. In 2022, based on data from Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs, more than 691,000 people received Russian citizenship, with nearly half coming from CIS countries.

☆ Israel president says judicial compromise 'closer' as protests escalate
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) - Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday said a compromise in the government's judicial overhaul plan could be imminent even as protests against the reform continued to spread. In a statement late on Monday, Netanyahu criticised the threats to refuse military service, which he said endangered Israel's existence. "There is room for protest, there is room for disagreements, for expressing opinions, but there is no room for refusal." Herzog last month floated a compromise plan to spare the country what he described as a "constitutional collapse". The judicial overhaul plan, which has already received initial parliamentary approval, would give the government greater sway on selecting judges and limit the power of the Supreme Court to strike down legislation.

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