Week in pictures: From Putin visiting North Korea to International Yoga Day
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A roundup of some of last week’s events.
Albania says player banned for two Euro 2024 games for ‘nationalist’ chants
The ban comes after the Albania forward apologised for leading fans in derogatory chants against Croatia at Euro 2024. The Albanian football federation said UEFA has banned its player Mirlind Daku for two games at the European Championships after he led fans in nationalist chants. Daku took a megaphone after Albania’s 2-2 draw with Croatia on Wednesday in Hamburg and joined in chanting slogans against Serbia and North Macedonia. The Albanian federation also said on Sunday that UEFA imposed fines totaling 47,250 euros ($50,500) for incidents at the game, where its fans joined Croatian fans in chanting an anti-Serb slogan. The Serbian football federation said it would leave the tournament if UEFA did not punish the incidents. Albania plays a decisive group-stage game on Monday against Spain. Daku later apologised for his actions in a social media posting, as UEFA appointed an in-house investigator to study his “alleged inappropriate behavior”. The 26-year-old forward began playing for Albania last year having used his right under FIFA rules to change his eligibility from Kosovo, the ethnic-Albanian former province of Serbia that declared independence 16 years ago, after a war that killed 10,000 civilians, the vast majority Kosovar Albanians. Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo’s statehood, considering it part of Serbia, and tensions persist. UEFA also announced charges against its Albanian and Croatian member federations for “potential racist and/or discriminatory conduct” by fans on Wednesday, who were reportedly chanting “Kill the Serbs” in Serbian. Croatia was formerly part of the Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, declaring independence in 1991 that led to a four-year-war, part of the wider conflict brought on by the breakup of Yugoslavia. The Albanian football federation, or FSHF, called on the fans to be “accountable and avoid incidents and riots”. “The FSHF invites fans and football lovers to support to the end the Albanian national team in this magical and historic path in Euro 2024 by showing citizenry and accountability through correct behavior and by respecting the rules and the opponents,” said a statement. Albania has impressed at Euro 2024 in an opening 2-1 loss against Italy and then the 2-2 draw with Croatia. The team likely needs to beat Spain to advance. Adblock test (Why?)
Kenya’s Ruto agrees ‘for conversation’ with protesters over tax hikes
The weeklong protests have caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies. Kenya’s President William Ruto has said he was ready for “a conversation” with thousands of “peaceful” young protesters who held nationwide demonstrations this week to oppose proposed tax increases. The protesters, who began their demonstrations on Tuesday, say the administration of President William Ruto has gone back on its pledge to reduce taxes and lower the cost of living. Organised on social media and led largely by young Kenyans who livestreamed the demonstrations, the protests caught Ruto’s government off-guard, as discontent mounts over his economic policies. “I am very proud of our young people… they have stepped forward peaceful[ly] and I want to tell them we are going to engage them,” Ruto said in his first public comments on the protests on Sunday. “We are going to have a conversation so that together we can build a greater nation,” he added during a church service in the Rift Valley town of Nyahururu. In response, however, one protest leader said Ruto had to “respond publically”. “If he truly wants dialogue, he must respond publically to our demand letter,” said Hanifa Adan. Protesters have called for a national strike on June 25. The weeklong demonstrations have mostly been peaceful, but five groups, including Amnesty International, noted late on Thursday in a joint statement that at least 105 protesters had been arrested in a violent crackdown by riot police that included the use of tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. A Kenya Human Rights Commission official told the AFP news agency on Saturday that 21-year-old Evans Kiratu was “hit by a tear gas canister” during the protests and died in hospital. On Friday, a police watchdog said it was investigating allegations that a 29-year-old man was shot by officers in Nairobi after the demonstrations. Impact of tax hikes Following smaller-scale demonstrations in Nairobi on Tuesday, the cash-strapped government agreed to roll back several tax hikes laid out in a new bill. But, after the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership as well as financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a 200-billion-shilling ($1.5bn) shortfall. The government has now targeted an increase in fuel prices and export taxes to fill the void left by the changes, a move critics say will make life more expensive in a country already saddled with high inflation. Kenya has a vast debt mountain, and servicing costs have ballooned due to a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, leaving Ruto with few options. The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans, with many already struggling as the cost of living surges and well-paid jobs remain out of reach for young people. Ruto added on Sunday that the annual budget included measures to tackle youth unemployment and improve access to higher education. “What I want to assure [the protesters]… is that we are concerned about their issues,” he said. “We are going to make sure that every child has access to higher education.” Adblock test (Why?)
NEET-UG 2024 exam: Nearly 50% of students skipped re-test today, says NTA
NTA had earlier debarred 63 candidates for adopting unfair means in the exam.
Netanyahu doubles down on claim that Biden admin is reducing weapons shipments to Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this weekend repeated his claim that the U.S. is sending less and less military aid to Israel. Netanyahu described a “dramatic drop” over the past four months in comments to his cabinet this weekend. He said he spent weeks pleading unsuccessfully with U.S. officials in private, leading to the public video he published last week calling out the drop in U.S. support. “I greatly appreciate the support of President Biden and the American administration for Israel. Since the start of the war, the U.S. has given us support in spirit and in material – defensive and offensive means,” Netanyahu began. “But four months ago, there was a dramatic decrease in the munitions coming to Israel from the US. For long weeks, we turned to our American friends and requested that the shipments be expedited. We did this time and again. We did so at the highest levels, and at all levels, and I want to emphasize – we did so behind closed doors. We received all sorts of explanations, but one thing we did not receive; the basic situation did not change. Certain items arrived sporadically, but the munitions at large remained behind,” he said. US PARK POLICE INVESTIGATING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, but they did not immediately respond. President Biden’s administration had previously denied that there was any drop in aid after Netanyahu raised the issue publicly. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was “perplexed” by Netanyahu’s claims. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We generally do not know what he’s talking about.” RIOTER VANDALISM TARGETED AFTER PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS Netanyahu’s video referenced a conversation he had with Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his trip to Israel last week. He said he had expressed his “deep appreciation” for U.S. support but tacked on heavy criticism as well. “I also said something else, I said it’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” Netanyahu said. His remarks came hours after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant traveled to Washington for meetings with senior officials. A statement from Gallant’s office said he would discuss “maintaining Israel’s qualitative edge in the region,” but made no mention of the weapons issue. ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTERS TRAP CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS, TAKE OVER AND VANDALIZE CAMPUS BUILDING The spat is only the latest indicator of a growing rift between Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration. The White House has grown increasingly critical of his leadership over the past months as the death toll in Gaza has risen. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CM Arvind Kejriwal moves SC after Delhi HC imposes stay on his release
The lawyers representing Arvind Kejriwal have requested a hearing on Monday morning, according to the Aam Aadmi Party.
Pro-life lawyer who worked on case that overturned Roe reflects on Dobbs decision ahead of its 2nd anniversary
EXCLUSIVE: A pro-life lawyer who helped work on the case before the Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade said “all life is valuable, no matter how small,” as she reflected on the ruling on its second anniversary. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Erin Hawley said the Supreme Court reaffirmed on June 24, 2022, that the states and their people “have the ability, finally, to protect life” and that the court was “very clear that there simply was no fundamental right to abortion enshrined in the Constitution.” The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which two years ago overturned the 1973 ruling Roe. v. Wade and the 1992 ruling Planned Parenthood v. Casey, allowed states to make their own laws regarding abortion. The Dobbs case was sparked by a Mississippi law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. “In fact, at the time the 14th Amendment was enacted in 1868, nearly every state criminalized abortion at every stage,” Hawley told Fox News Digital. “So the court really explained that in no time had the Constitution had this fundamental right to abortion, and that Roe errored by imposing this through judicial fiat. And finally, the people of the states could choose to protect life.” SUPREME COURT RULES IN ABORTION MEDICATION CASE, FINDS GROUP LACKED STANDING TO CHALLENGE FDA APPROVAL “Dobbs was clear there is no constitutional right to abortion in the Constitution, it never existed,” Hawley added. “It was illegitimate from the start, and that means that people can and do protect life, and we’re seeing these debates happen all over the country.” Hawley, who serves as senior counsel and vice president of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice at Alliance Defending Freedom, said there have been “some great advances” since the Dobbs case was decided two years ago. A total of 41 states have enacted abortion bans, although many have exceptions for rape, incest and risk to the health of the mother, and every state with abortion restrictions includes exceptions for risk to the life of the mother. There are 14 states with near total abortion bans and 27 with bans based on gestational duration, including three states with six-week bans. States that have abortion bans in effect also have laws that support new mothers during and after pregnancy. “A number of states have moved to protect life,” said Hawley, also the wife of GOP Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. “In addition, those states that do protect life with their laws have really expanded empowerment opportunities for women. In fact, every state that has laws on the books protecting life has expanded support for pregnant and new moms, some to the tune of tens of millions of dollars annually, and I think this is just such a powerful example of how pro-life states are serving women and children, not only during pregnancy, but also beyond.” Pro-life activists made their way to Washington, D.C., and other cities across the country over the weekend ahead of the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision to advocate for abortion restrictions because, despite no abortion protections at the federal level, Democratic-led states still allow women to obtain abortions and some states have even passed laws, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, that further protect abortion access for women in their state and those traveling from other states to undergo the procedure. The national March for Life is also held in January of each year around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which was decided by the Supreme Court on Jan. 22, 1973. Hawley said the March for Life continues to be important, as is any state advocacy or effort to inform the American public of the “value of life.” She said science shows that life begins at conception and that she and her colleagues at Alliance Defending Freedom believe “life is valuable no matter how small or no matter how vulnerable,” adding that “the value of the human life doesn’t depend on its size.” “After the Dobbs decision, the American people finally have an opportunity to embrace the reality that every life matters again, no matter how small,” she said. Now, Americans have a chance through ballot measures to vote on their convictions regarding abortion. Voters in several states the past two years have voted on these ballot measures, and other states have ballot initiatives for this November’s election in which voters will have the opportunity to decide the fate of abortion access in their states. DEMOCRATS EYE TAKE DOWN OF FEDERAL PROVISION COULD AFFECT ABORTION BY MAIL Hawley stressed the importance of “changing hearts and minds” on the subject of abortion restrictions, noting that she believes the pro-life movement should “continue to support women and to show them that there are other choices and that those choices can empower both them and their unborn child.” A #WeCount survey released last month found that, despite states’ abortion bans, the number of abortions has not been reduced, as women receive abortion pills in the mail from states that have laws protecting prescribers. And a new study by the Guttmacher Institute found that women in states with abortion bans are traveling to other states for the procedure. “The pro-life movement really does need to work on convincing the American public that all life is valuable, no matter how small,” she said, adding that surveys showed before the Dobbs decision that most people thought Roe went too far, believing that “babies were deserving of protection earlier in pregnancy than what Roe allowed.” Last year, a Texas woman made an unsuccessful legal challenge attempting to receive a court exception to the state’s abortion ban to abort her fetus, which had a condition with low survival rates, citing concerns that carrying out the pregnancy could impact her health and her ability to have more children. The woman, Katie Cox, ultimately left the state to have an abortion. There have been other legal challenges against state abortion bans claiming there is a lack of clarity
Nevada judge dismisses Trump ‘fake electors’ case months after attack in viral courtroom video
The same Las Vegas-area juge attacked by a violent offender who hurled himself over the bench in a viral courtroom video has made headlines again for dismissing the “fake electors” case related to the 2020 presidential election. Clark County, Nevada, District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus on Friday threw out the battleground state’s indictment against six Republicans prosecutors say illegally submitted certificates to Congress certifying Trump as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. In doing so, Holthus said the office of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, chose the wrong venue for the case. Clark County, where Holthus presides, is Nevada’s largest and contains Las Vegas, the state’s most Democratic-leaning city. Richard Wright, an attorney for one of the defendants, state GOP chairman Michael McDonald, accused Ford of bringing the case before a grand jury in Las Vegas instead of Carson City or Reno, northern Nevada cities in a more Republican region where the defendants allegedly signed and submitted fraudulent documents in a scheme to overturn President Biden’s victory. NEVADA MAN SEEN ATTACKING CLARK COUNTY JUDGE IN VIRAL VIDEO SENTENCED TO UP TO 4 YEARS Court filings by the defendants argue the six Republicans met in Carson City, the capital of Nevada, located in a different county. “What exactly occurred here to give us jurisdiction?” Holthus said during Friday’s hearing, according to the New York Times. “I mean, let’s face it, the majority of this happened elsewhere, the way I read it.” The judge called off the trial, which had been scheduled for January, for defendants also including Clark County Republican Party chairman Jesse Law; national party committee member Jim DeGraffenreid; national and Douglas County committee member Shawn Meehan; Storey County clerk Jim Hindle; and Eileen Rice, a party member from the Lake Tahoe area. Each was accused of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument — felonies carrying a penalty of up to four or five years in prison. Defense attorneys bluntly declared the case dead, saying that to bring it now before another grand jury in another venue would violate a three-year statute of limitations that expired last December. The judge decided that even though McDonald and Law live in Las Vegas, “everything took place up north.” “Forum shopping? Absolutely,” Monti Jordana Levy, a lawyer for Rice, said, according to the Times. A spokesperson for Ford said the state attorney general’s office disagreed with the judge’s decision and “will be appealing immediately.” This is not the first time a case involving Judge Holthus drew national attention. While presiding over an unrelated case months ago, Holthus was gearing up to inform defendant Deobra Redden of his punishment inside a Clark County District courtroom on Jan. 3, before the scene descended into chaos when Redden was denied bond. Redden was being sentenced on a battery charge stemming from a baseball bat attack last year. In a video obtained by Fox News Digital, Redden’s attorney requested the judge give his client probation. “I think it’s time he got a taste of something else,” Holthus responded. NATHAN WADE’S MEDIA TOUR ANNOYS FANI WILLIS ALLIES IN GEORGIA: ‘UNNECESSARY DISTRACTION’ Video showed Redden then flying in the air over the bench with his arms and legs wide open, before landing on the judge. The defendant, who had grabbed the judge’s hair, had to be wrestled off her by her clerk, Michael Lasso, and several court and jail officers, some of whom threw punches. Lasso was treated for cuts on his hands and a marshal was hospitalized for a dislocated shoulder and a gash on his forehead. Holthus suffered some injuries but was back to work the next day. Five days after the attack, Redden, with his hands bound and netting over his face, was hauled back into court where Holthus completed sentencing on the battery charge, sending him to prison for up to four years. A grand jury on Feb. 8 indicted Redden on nine charges in connection to the courtroom attack, including attempted murder, battery on a protected person, and extortion by threat, KVVU reported. His attorney, Carl Arnold, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on behalf of his client, arguing that Redden was off his medication and in a “delusional state” at the time of the attack. In late March, the start of the trial against Redden was delayed from April until at least September. Nevada is one of seven presidential battleground states where prosecutors brought “fake elector” cases related to Trump’s 2020 campaign. Others are Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. None of those cases are scheduled to go to trial before the 2024 presidential election. Friday’s decision comes after a similar case was delayed indefinitely in Georgia amid an investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ relationship with a prosecutor she hired. A federal case from Washington, D.C., has also been delayed until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s immunity claims. Nevada’s case, filed last December, focused on the actions of six defendants. Criminal cases in three other states focus on many more — 16 in Michigan, 19 in Georgia and 18 in Arizona. Meehan is the only defendant in Nevada not to have been named by the state party as a delegate to the 2024 Republican National Convention next month in Milwaukee. Fox News’ Greg Norman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
J-K: 40 foreign terrorists active in Poonch-Rajouri sectors, security tightened
It is emerging that there are around 35-40 foreign terrorists active in the area and operating in small teams, with two-three in each one of them.
Left wing fact checker admits Trump never called Charlottesville neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’ in blow to Biden
The left-leaning fact checking website Snopes acknowledged Saturday that former President Trump never called neo-Nazis “very fine people” during his press conference following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. Critics of Trump have claimed for years that he equated neo-Nazis with counterprotesters following the event. President Biden was chief among those critics, citing the supposed incident as a main reason for launching his 2020 campaign. “While Trump did say that there were ‘very fine people on both sides,’ he also specifically noted that he was not talking about neo-Nazis and white supremacists and said they should be ‘condemned totally.’ Therefore, we have rated this claim ‘False,’” Snopes wrote. The Snopes fact check now aligns with years of arguments from Trump’s camp, who long stated, backed by transcript and video, that his comments were taken out of context. The fact-checker notes that the false claim about Trump’s comments “spread like wildfire” on the left, eventually being cited as a cornerstone of Biden’s election campaign. LOUISIANA GOVERNOR DEFENDS 10 COMMANDMENTS IN SCHOOLS MANDATE: ‘THE US IS FOUNDED ON JUDEO-CHRISTIAN VALUES’ When Biden released his 2020 campaign announcement video, the first words he said in it were “Charlottesville, Virginia.” WHITE HOUSE ‘CHEAP FAKES’ RESPONSE TO BIDEN VIDEOS PART OF PUSH FOR SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP: EXPERT “The President of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden claimed in the video. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.” Snopes’ ruling removes key ammunition from Biden’s arsenal just days before he and Trump are scheduled to meet in their first debate this week. KARINE JEAN-PIERRE DOUBLES DOWN ON ‘CHEAP FAKE’ BIDEN VIDEOS: ‘SO MUCH MISINFORMATION’ The pair will clash in Atlanta in a televised debate hosted by CNN on Thursday. Biden has secluded himself at Camp David for the weekend to prepare for the debate. Meanwhile, Trump is staying on the campaign trail before heading to Atlanta later this week.