Voters elect Columbia County commissioner to fill Georgia House vacancy
Voters in a Georgia state House district near Augusta have chosen a county commissioner to fill a vacancy created when the former representative stepped down to become a judge. In state House District 125, Columbia County Commissioner Gary Richardson of Evans beat conservative commentator C.J. Pearson of Grovetown on Tuesday, with Richardson winning about 60% of the vote with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. Richardson and Pearson were vying to replace Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, who resigned to become a superior court judge. They advanced to a runoff after finishing first and second in February, besting Republican and farmer James Steed of Grovetown, Democrat and cosmetologist Kay Turner of Grovetown and Libertarian and software developer John Turpish of Grovetown. SENATE REPUBLICANS INTRODUCE LAKEN RILEY ACT, URGE IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION OF ‘COMMONSENSE’ BILL Pearson and Richardson will face off again in the May Republican primary, seeking a full two-year term. The district covers parts of Columbia and McDuffie counties. GEORGIA HOUSE APPROVES ‘SWATTING’ CRACKDOWN FOLLOWING ATTACKS ON LT. GOV., REP. GREENE Richardson, a car wash owner who can’t run again for county commission because of term limits, touted his experience in public service. Pearson overcame a residency challenge while winning endorsements from hard-right conservatives and campaigning on a Trump aligned-platform. The 21-year-old Pearson has been opposed by Gov. Brian Kemp’s political organization after Pearson helped manage the primary campaign of Kemp challenger Vernon Jones in 2022.
NYPD group slams Biden judicial nominee with ties to 9/11 hijacker sympathizers: ‘Despicable’
A New York Police Department group is “strenuously” objecting to one of President Biden’s judicial nominees for his alleged connection to organizations that “glamorize” individuals that “distort” facts about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., expressing concerns about Biden’s nomination of Adeel Abdullah Mangi to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. “While Mr. Mangi does not have any prior judicial experience that would recommend him to an appellate court position, he does have a long resume working with organizations that, among other things, glamorize individuals convicted of brutally murdering police officers and distort the truth about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” the association wrote. “Over the years, Mr. Mangi has worked for, with, and contributed to groups that sought to ‘defund the police,’ and have celebrated individuals responsible for brutally murdering police officers,” the group wrote. JUDICIAL GROUP TARGETS ‘ANTISEMITE’ BIDEN NOMINEE WITH ALLEGED TIES TO TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS “While this should be sufficient to disqualify Mr. Mangi from serving on a federal court one step below the U.S. Supreme Court, the SBA takes particular exception to his ostensible support for recharacterizing 9/11 as something other than the deadliest foreign terrorist attack on U.S. soil in our nation’s history,” they continued. The group noted that while Mangi was on its board, the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights held an event on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and featured speakers “with ties to terrorist organizations and which sought to blame the U.S. for the attacks.” On Sept. 11, 2021, the center sponsored Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001, billed as an event to challenge the “exceptionalization” of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. “Confirming Adeel Mangi gives credence to these false, irresponsible, and dangerous conspiracy theories and amounts to an endorsement of them,” the sergeants wrote. BIDEN JUDICIAL NOMINEE APPEARS STUMPED BY BASIC LEGAL TERMS: ‘I’M NOT SURE’ “SBA members were at the World Trade Center on 9/11. We know what happened. We know that terrorists were responsible, not the United States government. We feel the losses every day. And we continue to watch too many of this nation’s first responders succumb to the long-term health effects of 9/11,” they wrote. The group added that “the criminal justice system functions best when all parties — law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are rational actors who base their decisions on objective facts, follow the rule of law, and are unbiased against any party.” WHO ARE SOME OF THE BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGES THE SENATE JUST CONFIRMED? “At a time when communities around our nation are struggling to recover from a declining respect for the rule of law that has fueled rising crime and lawlessness in cities across America, it sends the wrong message to appoint someone like Mr. Mangi, who has fed lies and distortions that encourage such despicable and irresponsible behavior,” they wrote. Mangi advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on an 11-10 party-line vote. His nomination has yet to be scheduled for a full Senate vote. Mangi, a New Jersey resident and partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, has been praised by Democrats for possibly being the nation’s first Muslim American federal appellate judge. “Mangi is a standout figure in New Jersey’s legal landscape. It speaks volumes that his exceptional legal abilities are only exceeded by his character and unwavering commitment to fairness in the administration of justice,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in a statement. By contrast, the Coalition of the Underrepresented Law Enforcement Associations, which includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Muslim American Law Enforcement Association and the New Jersey LGBTQ Law Enforcement Liason, sent a letter to the Senate in support of Mangi’s nomination, saying “[h]is record, both in his personal and professional capacities, demonstrates his respect for the rule of law and the role of law enforcement in promoting public safety.” “As law enforcement professionals, it is our collective belief that Mr. Mangi will help ensure equity in the administration of justice in all communities,” the coalition wrote. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP White House spokesperson Andrew Bates previously told Fox News Digital “President Biden is deeply proud” to have nominated Mangi, calling him “an indisputably qualified and experienced attorney who has lived the American dream and is devoted to our Constitution and the rule of law.” McConnell, in a post on X Tuesday, said, “Law enforcement and Jewish groups nationwide are sounding the alarm on @POTUS’ attempt to give life tenure on the federal bench to a nominee with ties to terrorist sympathizers and cop-killers. The Senate must reject Adeel Mangi’s nomination.”
One person killed and several injured in China restaurant explosion
NewsFeed Dashcam video captured the moment a huge explosion at a restaurant in China caused flying debris to hit people passing in the street. At least one person was killed in the blast, which was caused by a suspected gas leak. Published On 13 Mar 202413 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Remembering El Rayes Zakaria, Egypt’s folk music revolutionary giant
The ancient-looking PA system was not meant to handle the immensity of sound produced by famed Nile Delta folk music ensemble El Tanbura as they warmed up for a show on the streets of Ismailia on a warm summer night in 2019 – one of several shows in the Suez Canal’s major towns marking 30 years since El Tanbura’s founding. The volume and distortion made for a mash-up of the traditional music of the Delta with the signature sonic footprint of mahraganat, the contemporary urban youth music that rose from outdoor weddings in working-class neighbourhoods to take Egypt and much of the Middle East by storm during the last decade. Overseeing the warmup with his characteristic smile was legendary musician Zakaria Ibrahim – El Rayes (a ship captain or a boss in general), the “godfather of popular art”, the “Pyramid of popular culture” – who passed away in Cairo on February 12 at the age of 72. Zakaria founded El Tanbura in 1988 after struggling for nearly a decade to find players of the simsimiyya, one of the world’s oldest instruments. Sometimes called a box lyre, the simsimiyya is the smaller cousin of the tanbura, a five-stringed lap harp with roots stretching from ancient Egypt – it appears on art going back to the Middle Kingdom, about 2000 BCE – to India. Zakaria and El Tanbura on stage [Courtesy of Mastaba] Rayes Zakaria’s work to revive interest in ancient instruments made him a giant of Egyptian, African and world music. He was also a revolutionary artist – centring his life and art around using music to encourage if not enable change in Egyptian society and to support the people after the revolutionary moment inevitably ends. He cared deeply about his songs, and about the history and culture behind each one, to the point where he was known to lose track of time and space. But that was precisely the point of most of the music he helped create as the founder and singular force behind the El Mastaba Center for the Preservation of Egyptian Folk Music, Egypt’s – and likely the Arab world’s – most important institution dedicated to traditional music. Zakaria Ibrahim’s musical roots Zakaria was born in Port Said in 1952, the same year as the Egyptian revolution, and came of age in an atmosphere of resistance and patriotism between the 1956 war against Israel, the United Kingdom and France and the 1967 war. During this time, the shaabi (popular, working class) music of Port Said and the Canal became famed across Egypt and the Arab World as the music of resistance, the lyrics and propulsive rhythms matching the spirit of resistance against British and then Israeli invasion and colonialism. The characteristic dancing style of the Canal zone was a big part of El Tanbura’s performances [Courtesy of Mastaba] Port Said was in the thrall of dama during this time – a combination of party music and transcendental experience that combined popular love songs and Sufi music from different traditions in the Nile Delta and Canal zone and used the simsimiyya to produce the sound that captivated Port Said. In the three years following 1967, Egypt fought the War of Attrition with Israel and the songs of the simsimiyya travelled across Egypt, taken there by the people displaced from the Canal zone by the war to serve as a reminder of their hometowns. Zakaria moved to Cairo in the early 1970s to attend university, just as Egypt moved from the Arab nationalist politics of President Gamal Abdel Nasser to the more neoliberal and pro-Western policies of his successor, Anwar Sadat. He became deeply involved in the left-wing student movement, ultimately serving a short stint in prison because of his activities. At the same time, the music of the simsimiyya, which had been so deeply ingrained in the culture of Port Said and the broader Delta, became increasingly commercialised. “Instead of being the way we were before, singing and gathering in the streets all together then leaving together, now, there is a situation where the one who is coming to attend has to pay the one who sings,” Zakaria once lamented, criticising what he saw as the commodification of the music of the people. El Tanbura, shown here in 2020, and their music are closely tied to the sea and the mystical cultures of Egypt [Courtesy of Mastaba] Meanwhile, the music of the zar, and particularly the rango, had all but become extinct except as a tourist curiosity. When he returned home at the turn of the 1980s, Zakaria found his mission: not only to salvage or even conserve the music he loved but to bring together as many of the old practitioners as he could find to revive it and, with it, the spirit of the community, as well as resistance. “Zakaria was an African Alan Lomax,” Moroccan-Italian musician and filmmaker Reda Zine said, referring to the famed ethnomusicologist who did so much to preserve traditional music. “He was trying to redraw the ancient caravan routes, to highlight the healing, just like the Gnawa in Morocco,” Zine explained, referring to the North African country’s Sufi music. To be sure, from the first moment Zakaria listened to Gnawa at El Mastaba, he could hear the similarities in mood, in the strings and songs from one end of North Africa to the other. “Zakaria saw the connections between the healing power of Sufi music… the way others looked at tarab [virtuosic art music],” Zine explained. “And he saw how the Moroccan government had finally come to support Gnawa and its culture, and he wanted to achieve the same for the spiritually grounded folk music in Egypt.” El Rayes dedicated his life’s work to bringing ancient instruments and musical feel to people [Courtesy of Mastaba] The simsimiyya, the tanbura and the “rango” – a small wooden xylophone that together with the tanbura has long been the primary instrument of various types of ritual gatherings known as zar ceremonies – have a spiritual
Israeli forces launch deadly raids in occupied West Bank
Casualties mounting, with at least four Palestinians – including two minors – killed and dozens wounded. Israeli forces have killed at least four people, including two minors, in raids on multiple locations in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials reported on Wednesday. Israeli forces shot dead a 13-year-old boy, identified as Rami al-Halhuli, in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. The Israeli Border Police said he had fired fireworks at them. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed support for Israeli soldiers amid outrage over the killing. “I salute the fighter who killed the terrorist,” Ben-Gvir posted on X. However, witnesses say the slain Palestinian teen had shot the fireworks upwards into the air, not at the Israeli forces, Al Jazeera’s Laura Khan reported from occupied East Jerusalem. “Witness accounts have corroborated two videos that we’ve seen. One is of the boy shooting the fireworks up in the air, not in the vicinity of the Israeli soldiers. And the other is of him shot, lying on the ground, and his mother is seen devastated,” Khan said. “The mosque there has said they are going to declare a day of mourning tomorrow and a strike where all businesses will be closed in order for people to mourn his death.” The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated five others wounded by Israeli fire. لحظة تفجير عبوة ناسفة بآلية إسرائيلية في جنين#حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/61XIK2U1fs — الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 13, 2024 Translation: The moment an explosive device was detonated by an Israeli vehicle in Jenin. Overnight Israeli raids were also reported in the town of Anabta, east of Tulkarem, where shots were fired, and in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, where Israeli forces attacked a vehicle wounding a 35-year-old man and his three-month-old child. The Israeli police claimed they shot five men near the town of al-Jib, northwest of Jerusalem, as they were throwing Molotov cocktails. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 23-year-old Zaid Ward Shukri Khalifa and 16-year-old Abdullah Mamoun Hassan Assaf were killed, according to the Wafa news agency. The three other men shot are being treated at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah. “Border Guard fighters noticed 5 terrorists who had ignited Molotov cocktails and intended to throw them at drivers, endangering their lives. They opened fire on them, then arrested them and referred them for medical treatment,” the Israeli police posted on its Arabic account on X. Israeli forces also stormed the grounds of the Jenin Government Hospital, shooting one Palestinian man dead and wounding five others, Wafa reported. The victim, Rabie al-Noursi, was in his 20s, the agency said. A Wafa correspondent reported that Israeli forces stormed the hospital’s yard and opened fire at a group of civilians who were standing in front of the emergency department. The killing followed multiple raids across the city of Jenin and the Jenin refugee camp. Dozens of Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers, supported by drones and an undercover special unit, took part in the raid in the early hours of Wednesday, Wafa said. Adblock test (Why?)
With 32% surge in AI jobs, B.Tech in AI & Data Science is a rising choice among students
This field provides numerous career prospects, including roles like Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, AI Researchers, Data Engineers, and AI Consultants. Opting for a Btech in AI and Data Science Engineering further strengthens one’s path toward a career in AI.
Ayodhya Ram Temple: Check new guidelines for entry rules, aarti timing, facilities and other updated details
Due to the massive footfall, the temple trust has issued fresh guidelines for the pilgrims. These include the timing of darshan, process of entry and exit, timings of aartis and need for an entry pass.
Top mistakes Indians make when applying for USA visas
To have the best chance of approval, understand the US visa application process and learn from common errors.
Senate Republicans introduce Laken Riley Act, urge immediate consideration of ‘commonsense’ bill
FIRST ON FOX: Two Senate Republicans introduced the Laken Riley Act, a measure requiring federal immigration authorities to arrest and detain illegal immigrants charged with local theft or burglary, in the upper chamber Tuesday evening. Introduced by senators Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., the bill serves as the Senate companion to H.R. 7511, originally introduced in the House by Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins. The measure would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest illegal immigrants who commit theft, burglary, larceny or shoplifting offenses and mandate that those who commit such crimes are detained until they are removed from the United States, so they cannot break the same law or commit further crimes. Additionally, the bill would ensure that states have standing to bring civil actions against federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration law or who violate the law. HOUSE PASSES LAKEN RILEY ACT REQUIRING ICE TO DETAIN MIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR THEFT The measure is named after 22-year-old Laken Riley, a college nursing student recently killed on the campus of the University of Georgia. Jose Antonio Ibarra, the illegal immigrant from Venezuela charged in the murder, was arrested in New York prior to the murder but was not detained by ICE. Before being charged with felony murder, Ibarra was once arrested in New York for endangering a child, and he was cited in Georgia for misdemeanor shoplifting in October 2023 along with his brother, Diego Ibarra, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Make no mistake, Laken Riley’s heartbreaking murder was a direct, preventable consequence of willful open border policies by President Biden and his administration. This commonsense legislation would ensure ICE detains and deports criminal illegal aliens, so more innocent American families do not have to face this kind of unimaginable tragedy,” Britt told Fox News Digital. “I am grateful for Rep. Collins’ strong leadership and for Sen. Budd’s partnership in introducing this Senate companion bill. Sen. Schumer should bring this bill to the Senate floor immediately.” JOHNSON CHASTISES BIDEN FOR ‘REGRET’ ON CALLING LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT ‘ILLEGAL’: ‘WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT’ “States should be able to protect their citizens from the Biden administration’s lawless, open border policies by seeking relief in federal court,” Budd told Fox. “That’s why I am joining Sen. Britt to introduce the Senate version of the Laken Riley Act. “We simply cannot tolerate any more senseless tragedies like this one. What happened to Laken Riley should never happen to any American citizen.” Collins, who has urged the Senate to take up the legislation immediately to “ensure justice for Laken and give ICE more tools to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens before they commit more serious crimes,” said in a statement shared with Fox he’s “grateful” the “vital” legislation has been introduced in the Senate. TRUMP MET WITH LAKEN RILEY’S FAMILY BACKSTAGE BEFORE GEORGIA RALLY: ‘PROFOUNDLY HONORED’ “The Laken Riley Act passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly and on a bipartisan basis,” Collins said. “I am grateful to Sen. Britt for taking the lead on getting this vital legislation through the Senate, so we can put Laken Riley’s name on Joe Biden’s desk and take a step toward preventing this from happening to another American.” Collins’ measure was passed by a 251-170 vote last week by the House. All 170 no votes were Democrats. However, 37 Democrats joined Republicans to advance the bill. Collins, who represents Georgia’s 10th Congressional District of Athens, where the fatal attack happened Feb. 22, said the murder of Riley is a “wake-up call” for America and that the measure seeks to combat the “illegal crime wave” that he attributes to the ongoing border crisis. In the days following Riley’s death, President Biden faced scrutiny for his comments on the subject. At the urging of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Biden, during an off-script moment in his State of the Union address last week, decried Riley’s killing by “an illegal.” The president later backtracked during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, saying he should have instead used the word “undocumented” to describe Ibarra. “I shouldn’t have used illegal, I should’ve … it’s undocumented,” Biden told Capehart. “And, look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about on the border was his — the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do. I’m not going to treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country.” The White House said Monday Biden “did not apologize.” “First of all, I want to be really clear about something: The president absolutely did not apologize. There was no apology anywhere in that conversation,” principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard Air Force One. “He did not apologize. He used a different word.” The companion measure in the Senate included more than 30 original GOP co-sponsors, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Fox News’ Greg Norman, Aubrie Spady, Thomas Phippen, and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
US senators call on Biden to condition Israel aid on humanitarian access
Eight United States senators have sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to offer Israel an ultimatum: expand aid to Gaza or lose US military assistance. The letter, released on Tuesday, is the latest effort by US legislators to question ongoing US support for Israel amid its war in Gaza. It also comes as Biden himself has shown more willingness to openly criticise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both former presidential candidates, were among the senators who signed the letter. Other signatories include Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, Maryland’s Chris Van Hollen and Oregon’s Jeff Merkley. They called on Biden to comply with Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars aid to countries that restrict access to humanitarian assistance. “According to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law,” the eight senators said in the letter. “Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing US law.” Israel has denied blocking humanitarian assistance for Gaza, but international workers have accused Israeli authorities of making aid delivery difficult, through ongoing violence, closed border crossings and other impediments. In February, for instance, United Nations workers accused Israel’s navy of firing on a convoy carrying food into northern Gaza. The Palestinian enclave has been under siege since October 7, with limited access to food, water and other basic supplies. More than 31,180 Palestinians have died in Israel’s military campaign, and more are at risk of starvation and malnutrition, according to experts. “The United States should not provide military assistance to any country that interferes with US humanitarian assistance,” the senators said in their letter. “Federal law is clear, and given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address US concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change in policy by his government.” The UN has said regular ground deliveries equalling about 300 trucks a day are needed to meet the needs of Gaza’s population. Currently, a maximum of 150 are reaching the territory each day. The Biden administration announced last week that it would set up a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to deliver more aid by sea, although construction is expected to take several weeks. The US also recently began airdropping aid into the enclave. Biden, meanwhile, has made contradictory statements about how he intends to approach the mounting concerns over Israel’s military actions. On Saturday, for instance, he said that an invasion of the southern city of Rafah would be a “red line” for Israel not to cross. Still, he said he would never “leave Israel” nor “cut off all weapons” for the country. Israel receives $3.8bn in military financing and missile defence assistance from the US every year, and the country enjoys widespread bipartisan support in the US Congress. Still, a growing number of lawmakers, particularly on the left, have been willing to lodge criticism against the “ironclad” US ally. Progressive legislators in the US House of Representatives, including Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib, were among the first Congress members to call for a ceasefire in October last year. Those calls have since been reflected in the Senate. In January, Senator Sanders introduced a resolution that called on the US State Department to produce a report within 30 days examining whether Israel has committed human rights violations in its campaign in Gaza. The resolution, however, failed to pass the chamber, with a vote of 72 to 11 against it. Still, pressure has been building to premise ongoing US aid to Israel on the condition that humanitarian law is complied with. In February, Biden’s White House released a national security memorandum requiring countries that receive US weapons to provide written statements that they are acting within international law. But that measure has fallen short of the leverage critics hope the US will exercise over Israel. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has circumvented Congress to approve emergency arms transfers to Israel. It also continues to pursue more than $14bn in supplemental aid for the country. In an interview on Al Jazeera’s Bottom Line programme on Saturday, Senator Van Hollen said it was time for the Biden administration to send a message to Israel: “If you continue to ignore us, there will be consequences.” Adblock test (Why?)