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Dahomey doc on Europe’s looted African art wins Berlin film festival

Dahomey, a documentary by Franco-Senegalese director Mati Diop probing the thorny issues surrounding Europe’s return of looted antiquities to Africa, has won the Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize. Kenyan-Mexican Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o announced the seven-member panel’s choice for the Golden Bear award at a gala ceremony in the German capital Saturday. Diop said the prize “not only honours me but the entire visible and invisible community that the film represents”. Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said the documentary “confronts an issue that has been the forefront of many people’s minds, not just in the film world but also across Europe. “DDahomeyconcentrates on the Benin bronzes and the struggle to return those bronzes. The whole principle of restitution, that is what the director Mati Diop referred to in accepting the prize, the Golden Bear at this festival,” Kane said. South Korean arthouse favourite Hong Sang-soo captured the runner-up Grand Jury Prize for, A Traveller’s Needs, his third collaboration with French screen legend Isabelle Huppert. Mati Diop celebrates with Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, right, and Head of Programming Mark Peranson backstage during the awards ceremony in Berlin [Nadja Wohlleben/Pool/AFP] Hong, a frequent guest at the festival, thanked the jury, joking, “I don’t know what you saw in this film.” French auteur Bruno Dumont accepted the third-place Jury Prize for, The Empire, an intergalactic battle of good and evil set in a French fishing village. Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias won best director for, Pepe, his enigmatic docudrama conjuring the ghost of a hippopotamus owned by the late Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar. Marvel movie star Sebastian Stan picked up the best performance Silver Bear for his appearance in the US satire, A Different Man. Stan plays an actor with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease causing disfiguring tumours, who is cured with a groundbreaking medical treatment. The Romanian American star called it “a story that’s not only about acceptance, identity and self-truth but about disfigurement and disability – a subject matter that’s been long overlooked by our own bias”. ‘Collusion’ The United Kingdom’s Emily Watson clinched the best supporting performance Silver Bear for her turn as a cruel mother superior in, Small Things Like These. The film, starring Cillian Murphy, is about one of modern Ireland’s biggest scandals: the Magdalene laundries network of Roman Catholic penitentiary workhouses for “fallen women”. She paid tribute to the “thousands and thousands of young women whose lives were devastated by the collusion between the Catholic church and the state in Ireland”. German writer-director Matthias Glasner took the Silver Bear for best screenplay for his semi-autobiographical tragicomedy, Dying. The three-hour tour de force features some of the country’s top actors depicting a dysfunctional family. The Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution went to cinematographer Martin Gschlacht for the chilling Austrian historical horror movie, The Devil’s Bath. It tells the tale of depressed women in the 18th century who murdered in order to be executed. A separate Berlinale Documentary Award went to a Palestinian-Israeli activist collective for, No Other Land, about Palestinians displaced by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank. “In accepting the prize, the two men most involved in this film – one Israeli, one Palestinian – both spoke about the need for a ceasefire immediately, and that is a thought picked up by many other people – some recipients of awards, [and] some people presenting awards,” Kane said. Cu Li Never Cries, by Vietnamese filmmaker Pham Ngoc Lan won the best first feature prize. The film tells the story of a woman who returns to Vietnam from Germany with the ashes of her estranged husband. Best short film went to, An Odd Turn, by Argentina’s Francisco Lezama about a museum security guard who predicts a surge in the dollar’s value with a pendulum. The Berlinale, as the festival is known, ranks with Cannes and Venice among Europe’s top cinema showcases. Last year, another documentary took home the Golden Bear, France’s, On the Adamant, about a floating day-care centre for people with psychiatric problems. Adblock test (Why?)

WATCH: Trump rallygoers reveal who they want as vice president

Supporters of former President Donald Trump attending his final rally ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina Republican presidential primary shared who they’d like to see as his vice presidential running mate in the November general election. Fox News Digital spoke with just a few of the nearly 6,000 supporters who showed up to Winthrop University’s campus in Rock Hill, South Carolina on Friday, waiting for hours in line to see and hear the former president bash President Biden, as well as his Republican rival Nikki Haley, a name not uttered once by those listing a number of others they said would make a good second-in-command. “I like Kari Lake a lot. I think she’d be great,” one supporter told Fox, referencing the conservative firebrand and likely Republican nominee in the race to flip Arizona’s Senate seat.  KRISTI NOEM OFFERS 5 REQUIREMENTS TO SERVE AS TRUMP’S VP A number of others suggested Lake, as well as former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom are strong backers of Trump’s bid to retake the White House. “I think Vivek … I like what he’s said,” one supporter told Fox, citing Ramaswamy’s “refusal” to bash Trump in the earlier days of the primaries, unlike the other candidates previously vying for the nomination. “He’s also a minority, so it’s not like it’s just another White person who supports him, so I think that’s a big thing.” Some suggested Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, neurosurgeon and former Trump official Ben Carson and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., but one name stood out more than all the others: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. NIKKI HALEY SAYS NO CHANCE OF BEING TRUMP VP, SAYS SHE ‘WOULD’VE GOTTEN OUT ALREADY’ “I like his Christian values, the way he stands for Trump, the way he loves Trump, and I believe he’s good support from Trump,” one supporter said of Scott, while another praised his record as a conservative senator. Trump revealed at least a few names on his shortlist for a running mate while participating in a Fox News town hall earlier this week. The list included Scott, DeSantis, Noem, Ramaswamy, Donalds and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned independent who became nationally known after her run for the presidency in 2020, as well as for her sharp criticism of Biden. Haley, who many considered a potential choice for Trump’s vice president earlier in the campaign cycle, acknowledged to Fox this week there was zero chance she would be selected as his running mate, a view likely solidified by her refusal to leave the race despite being a heavy underdog with little chance of becoming the Republican nominee. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “I wouldn’t be doing this if I was worried about a political future,” she said. “I would’ve gotten out already. I’m doing this trying to wake up our country.” After providing the names on his shortlist, Trump also ruled out any suggestion Haley would end up his running mate. Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub

GOP lawmakers slam Biden admin in reaction to college murder suspect’s immigration status: ‘Close the border!’

Congressional Republicans are slamming the Biden Administration’s border policies after a Venezuelan immigrant who crossed the border illegally was charged with the murder of a Georgia nursing student.  26-year-old Jose Antonio Ibarra, the suspect charged in the murder of nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus, is a Venezuelan national who crossed illegally into El Paso, Texas, in September 2022 and was released into the U.S. via parole, three ICE & DHS sources told Fox News.  House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., shared his condolences with Riley’s family and friends while also reemphasizing Republicans’ efforts to pass border legislation.  GEORGIA STUDENT MURDER SUSPECT CONFIRMED TO BE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT “The brutal murderer who took the life of Laken was one of the millions of illegal aliens that the Biden Administration simply released and unleashed upon our country,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “For Laken, and the countless many others lost to this border catastrophe, House Republicans will continue to fight tooth and nail for a return to law and order. Mr. President, use your existing statutory authority and CLOSE THE BORDER!” Georgia Republicans Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., called out President Biden on X, saying that he has “blood” on his hands following Riley’s death.  “Laken Riley, 22 year old UGA nursing student, was murdered by an illegal alien from Venezuela that the Biden admin released in our country,” Greene wrote. “Joe Biden, Mayorkas, and the Democrats have blood on their hands. Praying for her family.” “Laken Riley, the 22-year old nursing student found dead on the UGA campus, was murdered by an illegal alien,” Clyde posted on X. “The Venezuelan migrant, Jose Antonio Ibarra, illegally crossed the border and was released on parole in September 2022. Joe Biden has blood on his hands.” LAKEN RILEY CASE: GEORGIA AUTHORITIES IDENTIFY MURDER SUSPECT IN CUSTODY IN NURSING STUDENT’S SLAYING Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., of Arizona echoed Greene and Clyde’s sentiments, writing, “These are the tragic consequences of open border policies. The Biden Administration has blood on its hands.” Senator J.D. Vance, R-Ohio., called the situation enraging, saying that Ibarra should never have been in the country.  “Enraging. He shouldn’t have been in our country. And now an innocent American is dead,” Vance wrote. The White House insisted on Friday that House Republicans stand in the way of a solution to what Biden has called a “broken” immigration system.  “For the past several months, we worked with Republican senators and also Democrats in the Senate to try to come up with a fair and tough piece of legislation that would deal with border security,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily White House press briefing.  UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA POLICE QUESTIONING ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’ IN LAKEN RILEY HOMICIDE She noted that a bipartisan deal reached last month had been endorsed by the Border Patrol union before Johnson declared it “dead on arrival.”  “Speaker Johnson has gotten in the way of this,” Jean-Pierre added. “We did our job. The Senate did their job in a bipartisan way.  BROTHER OF UGA MURDER SUSPECT CHARGED WITH GREEN CARD FRAUD Ibarra was taken into custody by UGA police Friday and has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call and concealing the death of another, UGA Police Chief Jeffrey L. Clark said during a news briefing Friday evening.   Riley, an Augusta University nursing student, was found dead Thursday after previously attending UGA before entering a nursing program at the University of Augusta’s Athens campus.  According to an incident report obtained by Fox News Digital, multiple officers began searching for Riley near the Intramural Fields around 12:07 p.m. At 12:38, a UGA police officer spotted her on the ground.  “I called out to Riley, and I did not get a response,” the officer wrote. She had visible injuries, and police could not locate a pulse. They began CPR anyway. A sergeant arrived with a defibrillator minutes later and unsuccessfully attempted to revive the victim. Autopsy results remained pending Friday, but authorities said they were investigating her death as a homicide. Clark said it appeared as though she had been killed by blunt-force trauma. Fox News’ Michael Ruiz, Chris Pandolfo and Bill Melugin contributed to this report. 

Uttarakhand: Key accused in Haldwani violence arrested from Delhi

Malik allegedly built an ‘illegal’ madrasa in the Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani. Its demolition led to the violence in Banbhoolpura area of Haldwani on February 8.

Melania ‘going to be out a lot’ on campaign trail, Trump says

Former President Donald Trump claims that his wife Melania is expected to make more regular public appearances on the campaign trail. Trump made the remarks during his interview at a Fox News townhall earlier this week with host Laura Ingraham.  “It’s funny, she was a very successful model, very, very successful, and yet she was a private person. She’s going to be out a lot. Not because she likes doing it, but she likes the results,” he said Tuesday. “She wants to see this country really succeed. She loves the country.” TRUMP SAYS IT’S ‘CRAZY’ HOW CHRISTIANS, PEOPLE OF FAITH CAN VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS “You know, a lot of first ladies would go out — they want to be everywhere. They get angry at their husband because he’s not introducing them,” Trump continued. “If I didn’t introduce Melania, she’d be very happy about it. She’s just a different kind of a person.” Melania has been largely absent from her husband’s 2024 presidential bid thus far, making few public appearances and staying out of the media. TRUMP REVEALS VP SHORTLIST INCLUDES DESANTIS, SCOTT, RAMASWAMY, NOEM, DONALDS, GABBARD Her absence, until recently, has been explained by the passing of her mother, Amalija Knavs, earlier this year. But as the campaign season becomes more intense, political commentators have questioned whether she will step back into efforts supporting Trump. Trump also expressed appreciation that Melania has been dedicated to raising their son, Barron Trump. “Her life revolves around that boy. It’s so important to her,” Trump said. “At the same time, it also revolves around our country and the success of our country. She’s raised a lot of money for charity. She’s a private person.” “And she loves the country,” Trump added. “She’s going to be out a lot, but she does it for the good of the country, not for her. She’s somebody with a lot of confidence. She doesn’t need that.” Trump’s Fox News town hall came four days before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, which commences Saturday.  The latest public opinion polls indicate that he maintains a very large double-digit lead over former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his last major rival for the GOP nomination.

Tim Scott rips ‘two-tiered standard’ between treatment of Trump, Biden on border executive action: video

FIRST ON FOX — Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott slammed what he called a “two-tiered standard” concerning President Biden mulling executive action to handle the border crisis, and how former President Trump was treated during his presidency when he attempted to do the same thing. “Well, there’s no question that there’s a two-tiered standard in our national media. The way they cover President Trump versus the way that they use kid gloves to cover Joe Biden. There’s no question about that,” Scott said during a Thursday interview with Fox News Digital when asked about reports that Biden is weighing executive action to crack down on asylum-seeking. “More important, however, is that when we had President Trump in office, we actually had a basically sealed southern border. Crossings were around a thousand a day. Under President Biden in December, we had 10,000 crossings on average per day,” he added. “That contrast should be what the media is covering.” TRUMP VP AUDITIONS: SCOTT RAMASWAMY HIT TRAIL IN SOUTH CAROLINA ON BEHALF OF FORMER PRESIDENT An administration source told Fox earlier this week that Biden is considering executive action to restrict the ability of migrants to claim asylum amid historic numbers of border crossings facing the country, but that it’s one of “several” plans being looked at. An administration official also stressed that there have been no final decisions on what actions, if any, could be taken and that exploring policy options does not mean they will come to pass. One of the options reportedly on the table is use of 212(f) of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the president to restrict certain categories of foreigners who are deemed “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” Trump attempted to use it but was blocked by a federal court, a ruling later upheld by the Supreme Court. HISPANIC HOUSE DEMS ACCUSE BIDEN OF LEAVING THEM IN DARK ON POSSIBLE EXECUTIVE ACTION AT BORDER The former president also faced sharp criticism from Democrats and members of the liberal media for attempting to use executive action on immigration, including being called “xenophobic” and “racist.” Biden has yet to face the same widespread level of criticism, although some of the more progressive Democrats have lashed out at the idea of Biden reverting to the previous administration’s approach. “Democrats CANNOT solve immigration problems by adopting Trump-like policies,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote in a post on X, while Rep. Jesús García, D-Ill., claimed, “President Biden would be making a grave mistake if he moves forward with this policy.” DEMOCRAT IN CRUCIAL SENATE RACE UNDER FIRE FOR PAST AMNESTY, SANCTUARY CITY ‘SUPPORT’ AS BORDER CRISIS SPIRALS The possible executive action by Biden comes just under two weeks after the House of Representatives narrowly voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis. During a gaggle with reporters after casting his vote in the South Carolina primary earlier in the day, Scott told Fox that he “certainly” supported Mayorkas’ impeachment, and he praised the House for having the “courage” to take such action. However, he admitted the task likely wouldn’t go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate. “The best way to eliminate Mayorkas being the secretary is to actually fire Joe Biden,” he said. “If we really want to change the trajectory of the country as it relates to immigration — illegal immigration — we have to do so by having someone, a commander-in-chief, who respects our borders, who wants to close our borders.” Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Nikki Haley commits 7-figure ad-buy to underscore fight for Super Tuesday: ‘Get our country back on track’

Nikki Haley’s team has given its strongest indication yet that the former ambassador plans to stay in the race for the Republican nomination through Super Tuesday by announcing a seven-figure ad-buy in various states.  “We know that the math is challenging, but this has never just been about who can win a Republican primary,” Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney said Friday on a call with reporters, according to NPR. “This battle is about who can win in November, defeat the Democrats and finally get our country back on track.” Former President Donald Trump continues to lead as voters head to the polls in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, with Haley trying to prove her viability with a competitive finish. Polling ahead of the primary indicated Trump has commanding double-digit lead.  Haley made clear in the days ahead of the primary that she planned to stay in no matter the outcome of Saturday’s primary, saying she would “refuse to quit” and that “on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere.” NIKKI HALEY SAYS NO CHANCE OF BEING TRUMP VP, SAYS SHE ‘WOULD’VE GOTTEN OUT ALREADY’ In a separate interview this week with NPR, Haley once again raised her concerns about Trump as president, arguing that Trump brought “chaos” and “division.” She made clear that she has “even more concerns about Joe Biden being president.”  Her fight has brought her significant financial backing, with her campaign managing to pull around 5,200 donors who had backed President Biden in the 2020 election, including over 1,600 donors who gave more than $500,000 to Biden, according to Politico. HALEY COURTS INDEPENDENTS, DEMOCRATS AS SHE AIMS TO AVOID A BLOWOUT TO TRUMP ON HER HOME TURF Haley’s campaign highlighted the “large dollar” donations of $200 or more from over 55,000 individuals in January alone as proof of her backing. She also siphoned more than 10,000 donors who had supported Trump in 2020.  Haley’s refusal to back down has infuriated the Trump campaign: A memo from the campaign argued that Haley would face an “a—kicking in the making in South Carolina” and predicted “the end is near” for her campaign. HALEY ACCUSES TRUMP OF SIDING WITH A ‘DICTATOR AND A TYRANT’ AS SHE BLASTS HIM OVER LACK OF PUTIN CRITICISM Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to former President Trump, blasted Haley in an interview with Fox News Digital for staying in despite “obvious” proof that Haley has “no path.”  “Why stay in the race? Why fight against the Republican nominee, the person who is leading the party?” Lara Trump said. She also suggested that Haley might bank on Trump’s legal struggles to hinder his ability to run.  “I will say that any person who is not standing up and fighting back in the face of that, calling it out for exactly what it is – election interference – should not be running for President of the United States,” Lara Trump said.  Nikki Haley’s campaign team did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by time of publication.  Fox News Digital Remy Numa and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

Nikki Haley says no chance of being Trump VP, says she ‘would’ve gotten out already’

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says there is zero chance of her becoming the vice presidential nominee alongside former President Donald Trump. Speaking with Fox News’s Bret Baier in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, during the final days of her campaigning in the state. “We’re gonna see what happens tomorrow,” Haley told Baier. “But look, the problem when people say, ‘Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that?’ At first, they were like, ‘She’s doing this because she wants to be vice president.’ I think ’we’ve pretty much settled that. I’ve said it for months, it’s done.”  TRUMP REVEALS VP SHORTLIST INCLUDES DESANTIS, SCOTT, RAMASWAMY, NOEM, DONALDS, GABBARD “I wouldn’t be doing this if I was worried about a political future,” she added. “I would’ve gotten out already. I’m doing this trying to wake up our country.” Trump previously acknowledged during a Fox News townhall that Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kristi Noem, Bryon Donalds and Tulsi Gabbard are on his running mate shortlist.  Trump has many times reiterated that he has ruled out Haley as his running mate, despite some Republicans who had hoped for a combined ticket. TRUMP EXPECTED TO MOVE CLOSER TO CLINCHING GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION WITH LIKELY BIG WIN OVER HALEY IN SC Asked on Friday if she would be willing to drop out of the Republican primary in order to team up with Democratic candidate Rep. Dean Phillips on a unity ticket, Haley said no. “I’m running as a Republican. I’m running trying to wake people up that, if they nominate Donald Trump in this primary, we will lose a general election,” Haley said. The Trump campaign predicted an “a**-kicking in the making in South Carolina” for Haley, and that “the end is near” for her presidential run due to “a very serious math problem” she has in the race to lock up enough delegates to win the 2024 GOP nomination. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP South Carolina is Haley’s home state, where she previously served as governor. Haley has already lost the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to Trump, but has said she has no plans to get out of the race.  Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

Ted Cruz probes left-wing group over effort training federal judges for climate cases

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is probing the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Law Institute (ELI) over its efforts to provide first-of-its-kind, climate-related education to federal judges nationwide. Cruz on Friday sent a letter to ELI President Jordan Diamond, demanding information about the group’s Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) and its work with former senior Biden administration official Ann Carlson. In the letter, he noted Carlson’s involvement in the development of the CJP and that the group shares funding streams with a law firm pursuing high-profile climate litigation on behalf of states and cities nationwide. “Although ELI claims that it gives ‘neutral, objective information to the judiciary about the science of climate change,’ [CJP] is meant to be a direct complement to the wave of climate change litigation initiated by the Carlson-connected law firm Sher Edling,” wrote Cruz, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee. “Indeed, ELI knows the impact this litigation could have on the fossil fuel industry.” “The Project’s funding and ties to plaintiffs in climate change cases further belie ELI’s claim of neutrality,” he continued. TOP REPUBLICANS LAUNCH PROBE INTO LEONARDO DICAPRIO-FUNDED BLUE STATE LAWSUITS AGAINST BIG OIL While Carlson — who served in the Biden administration between early 2021 and January, crafting regulations targeting gas-powered cars at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — served on the group’s board of advisers, ELI established the CJP in 2018 to give “neutral, objective information” about climate change litigation and creating a curriculum specifically designed for federal judges, according to their website. Overall, since it was founded more than five years ago, the project has crafted 13 curriculum modules and hosted 42 events, while more than 1,700 judges have participated in its activities, Fox News Digital previously reported. And multiple judges serve as advisers at CJP, potentially having an impact on its curriculum and modules. CONSUMER GROUP REVEALS LEFT-WING GROUPS INCREASINGLY USING COURTS TO PUSH GREEN NEW DEAL For example, Ronald Robie, an associate justice for the Third District of the California Courts of Appeal; Judge Michael Simon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon; and David Tatel, the recently retired former senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, have all acted as advisers for the project. A review of an ELI policy brief summarizing past events indicates CJP has reached judges from across the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th federal circuits, some of which are based in New York City, Boston and Puerto Rico. The group further boasts that it hosted a plenary session with approximately 100 judges in attendance at the annual mid-winter meeting of the Ninth Federal Circuit in 2019. BILLIONAIRE-FUELED ROCKEFELLER FUND COORDINATED CLIMATE LAWSUITS WITH DEM STATE AG: INTERNAL DOCUMENTS “More specifically, ELI states that ‘climate change litigation’ can ‘control, order, or influence the behavior of others in relation to climate governance,’” Cruz’s letter stated. “Therefore, the ‘highest goal’ of ELI’s Project is ‘to help the judiciary as [it] build[s] a body of law that appropriately addresses climate change’ through climate change litigation. In other words, ELI intends to accomplish via the courts what it cannot get enacted into law: a radical environmental agenda.” “While ELI claims the Project is ‘neutral’ and ‘objective,’ the Curriculum reads like a playbook for judges to find in favor of plaintiffs in artificial climate change cases against traditional energy companies,” Cruz continued. The Texas Republican further noted CJP courses “show how climate science is built on long-established scientific disciplines” and “explore the human-caused component of [global] warming,” such as the “causal connections between emissions” and “changes in the climate.” BIDEN OFFICIAL DOGGED BY ETHICS PROBE FACES KEY SENATE VOTE OVER TAXPAYER-FUNDED SALARY: ‘SERIOUS SCANDAL’ He also highlighted how CJP and Sher Edling — the California-based law firm pursuing climate litigation against major oil companies on behalf of states and cities including Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Minnesota, New York City, San Francisco, Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, D.C. — have shared some of the same staff. While serving on ELI’s board of directors, Carlson also provided pro bono consulting for Sher Edling on litigation against oil companies, financial disclosures showed. Sher Edling counsel Michael Burger has also participated in multiple ELI events, and former Sher Edling lawyer Meredith Wilensky was previously an ELI Public Interest Law Fellow. And Sher Edling has received funding from left-wing groups like the MacArthur Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which have both funded ELI. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the ELI said it is reviewing Cruz’s letter, but reiterated that the group is nonpartisan and only seeks to provide “unbiased, objective information” to judges. “The Environmental Law Institute is an internationally recognized non-partisan research, publishing, and education organization that has been operating for over 50 years,” ELI spokesperson Nick Collins told Fox News Digital in a statement.  “The Climate Judiciary Project provides unbiased, objective information to judges about climate science and the law,” Collins said. “We are currently reviewing Senator Cruz’s letter and will determine the appropriate response.” Fox News Digital has reached out to Carlson and Sher Edling for comment on Cruz’s letter.

‘Our bodies know the pain’: Why Norway’s reindeer herders want Gaza peace

Fosen Peninsula, Norway – A herd of reindeer running through thick, white snow sounds a bit like thunder. It is a spectacle that has been replayed for at least the past 10,000 years on eastern Norway’s Fosen Peninsula and one that Maja Kristine Jama, who comes from a family of reindeer herders, is deeply familiar with. Like most Sami reindeer herders, Jama knows every inch of this terrain without any need for a map. Instead of going to kindergarten like most other children in Norway, she was raised living outdoors alongside the migrating reindeer. Reindeer husbandry in Norway is a sustainable activity that is carried out in accordance with the traditional practices of Sami culture. Reindeer also play an important role in the Arctic’s ecosystem and have long been a symbol of the region “Reindeer herding defines me,” Jama says. “We are so connected to nature, we have respect for it. We say that you don’t live off the land, you live within it. But we see our lands being destroyed.” Europe’s oldest and last remaining Indigenous people are under grave threat as a result of borders, land seizures, construction projects dedicated to the extraction of natural resources and systematic discrimination. Yet, that creeping sense of suffocation has made the Sami reach out to another set of Indigenous people nearly 4,000km (2,500 miles) away, whose fight for survival they identify with: the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Their own struggle for Indigenous rights and self-determination has turned the Sami into vocal advocates for the Palestinian cause. “There is an instant urge to stand up for people who are being displaced from their homes,” Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen, a Sami activist and artist widely known for her singing, tells Al Jazeera. ‘We say you don’t live off the land, you live within it,’ reindeer herder Maja Kristine Jama says [Courtesy of Norske Samers Riksforbund/Anne Henriette Nilut] Isaksen had just finished taking part in several months of demonstrations in Oslo for the rights of her own people when Israel launched its war on Gaza in October. As the death toll mounted, anger about Gaza quickly spread through Norway generally and the Sami community in particular. Scores of Norwegians posted images of themselves holding “Stop bombing Palestine” placards on social media while mass demonstrations called for an immediate ceasefire after Nordic countries, with the exception of Norway, abstained from a United Nations General Assembly ceasefire vote on October 27. For the Sami, it was a pivotal moment of two causes tangling into one. The community launched a series of regular protests in Oslo against the war in Gaza, and those rallies continue to take place. In front of the Norwegian Parliament on a cold October day, surrounded by hundreds of Palestinian and Sami flags, Isaksen held a mic and performed the “joik”, a traditional Sami song performed without instruments. Her lilting sounds brought the noisy demonstrators to a standstill, carrying a prayer that she hoped would somehow reach the besieged children of Gaza. “I’m physically so far away from them, but I just want to grab them, hold them and take them out of this nightmare,” Isaksen says. “Without trying to compare situations, Indigenous peoples all over the world have stood up for the Palestinian people because our bodies know the pain of being displaced from our homes and forced out of our own lands,” Isaksen says. Ella Marie Isaksen at Sami demonstrations in Oslo in October 2023 [Courtesy of Rasmus Berg] A long struggle For more than 9,000 years, the Sami lived a free, nomadic existence spanning modern-day Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. That began to change in the ninth century when outsiders from Southern Scandinavia encroached into Sapmi, the name given to the broad, untamed lands of the Sami. Christian invaders established a church in the 13th century in Finnmark in northern Sapmi territory in what is now northern Norway. Sweden’s break from Denmark, which had also ruled Norway, in 1542 launched an era of land disputes, conflict and coercion of the Sami that lingers today. A Swedish census that has been preserved from 1591 notes how one Sami community, moving across borders that hadn’t existed for their ancestors, simultaneously paid taxes to Sweden, Denmark and Russia. The creation of Europe’s longest unbroken border in 1751 – between Norway and Sweden – was particularly disastrous for the Sami, restricting them permanently within one country, splitting families apart and forcing their reindeer away from migratory routes. As has been the case for the Palestinians, the imposition of such borders has had a direct impact on the Sami’s fragile existence, says Aslat Holmberg, president of the Sami Council, a nongovernmental organisation promoting the rights of the Sami people across the Nordics and western Russia. He comes from an area on the border between Finland and Norway. “I don’t like to divide the Sami with borders, but we are people now living in four countries,” Holmberg says. Although Sami groups maintain a bond, they believe the borders imposed on them were one of many colonial acts that tore them apart. A ban on speaking their own language under forced assimilation policies, which officially ended in the 1960s in Norway, almost erased their cultural ties. Holmberg warns that Sami languages are now “endangered”. A Sami woman on a Sami farm in Solheim, Troms og Finnmark in Norway [File: Jorge Castellanos/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images] He isn’t exaggerating. There are no historical records showing population figures for the Sami through history. Today, however, they are estimated at 80,000. About half that number live in Norway, where just three Sami languages remain in use. There are only 20 remaining speakers of one of them – the Ume language used in Sweden and Norway. In all, there are nine surviving Sami languages, which are related to languages such as Estonian and Finnish. Preservation of these languages is fraught with difficulties. In Finland, 80 percent of Sami youth live outside traditional Sami territory, where