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Gov. Hochul, New York lawmakers agree on criminal charge for wearing mask while committing crime

Gov. Hochul, New York lawmakers agree on criminal charge for wearing mask while committing crime

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced a $254 billion budget deal on Monday that includes an agreement with state lawmakers to add an extra charge for people who wear masks while committing crimes. The additional charge could only be applied if a suspect is charged with a class A misdemeanor or more serious charges, Hochul said. Lawmakers agreed to reduce the mask penalty to a class B misdemeanor when prosecutors charge separate crimes, Politico reported. The governor initially wanted stricter legislation to combat mask-wearing suspects, raising the issue last summer as politicians across the country addressed widespread protests against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. NEW YORK’S NASSAU COUNTY SEEKS TO BAN STANDING WITHIN 15 FEET OF COPS UNDER BILL PANNED AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL “It’s really trying to concentrate on people who wear a mask in regards to hiding their identity while they commit another crime,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters, according to Gothamist. The extra charge also applies to people fleeing from the scene of a crime. Hochul had wanted to create an extra penalty if someone was covering their face while threatening or harassing a group of people, a proposal that was softened ahead of the agreed bill being added to the state budget this week following concerns from Democrat lawmakers and civil liberty advocates. The annual budget, which will not take effect until lawmakers resolve several spending decisions, would also allow hospitals to involuntarily commit mentally ill New Yorkers if patients cannot meet their basic needs, which lowers the previous standard that only allowed a person to be involuntarily committed when they posed a physical threat to themselves or others. Other proposals in the budget include a stronger state discovery law in an effort to address recidivism and banning students’ cell phone use during the school day. NEW YORK PROPOSAL WOULD BAN POLICE FROM MAKING TRAFFIC STOPS FOR MINOR VIOLATIONS TO PURSUE ‘RACIAL EQUITY’ While Hochul announced a deal for the budget on Monday, lawmakers still need to hash out spending decisions on some issues, including the funding formula for public schools and Medicaid, according to Politico. The governor’s spending plan is set to be the highest in state history and $100 billion more than the state budget a decade ago, the outlet reported. An uptick in prison costs as well as additional health care, child care and education spending ballooned the size of the budget to $2 billion more than what she proposed in January.

How Donald Trump tried to court the Atlantic – and why the liberal magazine landed an interview

How Donald Trump tried to court the Atlantic – and why the liberal magazine landed an interview

Hell hath frozen over: At the White House the other day, Donald Trump “was launching a charm offensive, directed mainly at Goldberg,” as in Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief. “There was none of the name-calling or hostility he regularly levels at our magazine.” That’s according to Atlantic reporters Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, who wrote the magazine’s cover story, which was posted yesterday. For all the insights gleaned from the interview, nothing is more fascinating than how it came about. They called the president on his cell phone. (Wha? Who do I have to court to get that? The reporters ain’t saying.) Trump says he did the initial phone interview to see if the liberal magazine could be fair. PRESIDENT TRUMP TELLS THE ATLANTIC HE RUNS THE COUNTRY ‘AND THE WORLD’ So I’m here to pronounce that the entire, seemingly endless piece is fair. The president hasn’t taken a shot at it on Truth Social, at least so far. He has, however, ripped new polls from the “Failing New York Times” and “ABC/Washington Post” as “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS,” saying they should be “investigated for ELECTION FRAUD, and add in the Fox News Pollster while you’re at it.” His lowest approval rating, in the Post-ABC survey, was 39 percent. Meanwhile, we may now look back on Trump’s 2024 victory as inevitable, but after Jan. 6 it was anything but. On the cell call, “The president seemed exhilarated by everything he had managed to do in the first two months of his second term.” And then came the transaction: “As ever, Trump was on the hunt for a deal. If he liked the story we wrote, he said, he might even speak with us again.” Goldberg describes the session: “What I found in this particular meeting was a Trump who was low-key, attentive, and eager to convince us that he is good at his job and good for the country. It isn’t easy to escape the tractor beam of his charisma, but somehow we managed, and we asked him what needed to be asked.  “But squaring Trump the Charmer with the Orcish Trump we more frequently see is difficult…Trump posted on the social-media platform he owns that Ashley is a ‘Radical Left Lunatic’ (she is not) and that Michael ‘has never written a fair story about me, only negative, and virtually always LIES’ (also false). It is our task at the Atlantic not to be bullied by these sorts of attacks.” STATE OF WAR: HOW TRUMP IS FIGHTING A 9-FRONT BATTLE The most interesting Trump sound bite is his comparison of the two terms: “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys. And the second time, I run the country and the world.” Parker and Scherer did many other interviews, such as with Steve Bannon. “Our reality is that we won,” and he cited the conspiracy theory that the FBI had incited the crowd on Jan. 6. The reporters said that was simply untrue.  “Now, here’s the interesting thing,” Bannon said. “Who’s won that argument? I think we have… “This time it’s ‘Hey, f**k you, Greenland’s ours…When you’ve come back from such long odds, you clearly feel, ‘I can do anything.’ ” What about the four criminal investigations, including the conviction on the weakest one – Alvin Bragg’s hush money case? Trump says his numbers kept going up. INTERVIEWING DONALD TRUMP: A LAST-MINUTE BLITZ AND NEW CLOSING MESSAGE “Shockingly, yes,” Trump said. “Normally, it would knock you out. You wouldn’t even live for the next day. You know, you’d announce your resignation, and you’d go back and ‘fight for your name,’ like everybody says—you know, ‘fight for your name, go back to your family.’ …Yeah, it made me stronger, made me a lot stronger.” He also said in the phone interview: “I got indicted five different times by five different scumbags, and they’re all looking for jobs now, so it’s one of those things. Who would have thought, right? It’s been pretty amazing.” After the 2016 election, Trump told oil executives at Mar-a-Lago: If I’m not president, you’re f***ed. Look at your profit-and-loss statements. You realize what would have happened to you if she was president? What’s wrong with you?”) She was Kamala Harris, of course. One turning point: When he went to East Palestine, Ohio after the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals, while Joe Biden didn’t do squat. On the Kennedy Center: “I didn’t really get to go the first time, because I was always getting impeached or some bulls**t, and I could never enjoy a show.” So he fired the Democrats and made himself chairman. All right, enough quotes. Wait, one more that captures the tone of the piece: “I got 38 percent of the male Black vote. Nobody knew that was possible. That’s a lot. I got 56 percent of Hispanics. How about that one? Every county along the Texas border is Hispanic. I won every one of them.” Though every single number he cited was wrong, the general thrust of his observation was correct.” The reporters chronicled how things have gone south for the president, especially on tariffs and the economy, and how he pressured Hill Republicans into backing his nominees with primary threats.  SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES After the March phone interview, the reporters tried Trump’s cellphone again. Just got voice mail. But at 1:38 am, he tried them back. No message. Trump believes he can win over even his worst enemies. In 2015 or 2016, I watched him make a beeline in the New York green room for Karl Rove, who was very rough on him. At worst, he thinks, he can neutralize the person. Or soften him or her up for the next time. He enjoys the challenge. The mainstream media almost uniformly can’t stand Donald Trump. He does invite some of his own negative headlines, while providing unprecedented access, but

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 14, hits second-fastest IPL century, breaks T20 record

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 14, hits second-fastest IPL century, breaks T20 record

Rajasthan Royals’ schoolboy prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi becomes youngest T20 centurion after scoring a stunning 35-ball 100 against Gujarat Titans in the IPL. Fourteen-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest centurion in men’s Twenty20 cricket as he guided Rajasthan Royals to an eight-wicket victory over the Gujarat Titans in an Indian Premier League match in Jaipur. Suryavanshi doled out severe punishment to Gujarat’s bowling attack on Monday, hitting 11 sixes and seven fours in his 101 off 38 balls, as the hosts chased down a 209-run target in 15.5 overs. The left-hander reached his 100 in 35 balls to register the second-fastest century in IPL history, while combining with Yashasvi Jaiswal in a 166-run opening partnership. “It is a very good feeling. It’s my first hundred in the IPL and it’s my third innings. The result has shown here after the practice before the tournament,” the player of the match, Suryavanshi, said. “I just see the ball and play. It has been a dream to get a 100 in the IPL, and today, it materialised. There is no fear. I don’t think much, I just focus on playing.” Suryavanshi’s century was also the quickest by an Indian in the IPL, bettering Yusuf Pathan’s 37-ball effort for Rajasthan against the Mumbai Indians in 2010. Advertisement “Many congratulations to young Vaibhav Suryavanshi for breaking my record of the fastest IPL hundred by an Indian,” Pathan wrote on social media. “Even more special to see it happen while playing for Rajasthan Royals, just like I did.” Suryavanshi grabbed headlines when he became the youngest player to earn a contract in the lucrative IPL at the age of 13, before making his debut this month and announcing himself in style with a six off the first ball he faced. He played in the domestic Ranji Trophy red-ball competition aged 12 last year and has represented India’s Under-19 side against Australia, scoring a 58-ball century. Suryavanshi also made a triple hundred in a local tournament in his home state of Bihar. Rajasthan are eighth in the IPL standings, with the win over Gujarat snapping a five-game losing run for the 2008 champions. The Rajasthan Royals’ Vaibhav Suryavanshi in action against the Gujarat Titans at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, India on April 28, 2025 [Abhijit Addya/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)

Canada’s Liberal Party wins election dominated by Trump’s trade war

Canada’s Liberal Party wins election dominated by Trump’s trade war

BREAKINGBREAKING, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on course to form next government, projections show. Canada’s governing Liberal Party has won national elections dominated by United States President Donald Trump’s trade war and annexation threats. Prime Minister Mark Carney will keep the top job after projections showed his Liberals on course to win the most seats in the 343-member parliament, national broadcaster CBC and CTV News reported late on Monday. It was not clear if Carney, a career economist who cast himself as a champion for Canada in the face of Trump’s threats, would be able to form a majority government or need to rely on the support of a smaller party. Adblock test (Why?)

‘Traitors’: Hate-filled songs target Indian Muslims after Kashmir attack

‘Traitors’: Hate-filled songs target Indian Muslims after Kashmir attack

Mumbai, India – Less than 24 hours after news broke of the April 22 attack, in which gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local pony rider in the Indian-administered Kashmir region, a new song surfaced on Indian YouTube. Its message was unmistakable: We made a mistake by allowing you to stay on, You got your own country, why didn’t you leave then? They call us Hindus “kaffirs”, Their hearts are full of conspiracies against us. The song, titled “Pehle Dharam Pocha” (They Asked About Religion First) targeted Indian Muslims, insisted they were conspiring against Hindus and asked them to leave India. In less than a week, the song has garnered more than 140,000 views on YouTube. And it is not the only song. The killings in the picturesque resort town of Pahalgam marked the worst attack against tourists in Kashmir in a quarter of a century. But even as New Delhi hits back against Pakistan, which it accuses of links to the attack – a charge Islamabad denies – a wave of incendiary music tracks, crafted and circulated within hours, has set off an anti-Muslim backlash in India. Set to pulsing beats and catchy rhymes, these songs, part of a genre that has come to be known as Hindutva Pop, are calling for violent retribution for the attack. From songs that label Indian Muslims as “traitors” to songs that advocate their boycott, the country’s smartphones are buzzing. Hindutva is the Hindu majoritarian political ideology of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. Advertisement Al Jazeera found at least 20 songs that carried and amplified such Islamophobic themes at a time when Indians were anxiously scrolling through their digital feeds for more information on the aftermath of the attack. These songs have a chillingly consistent narrative: Since the attackers are believed to have singled out Hindu tourists, Indian Muslims can no longer be trusted – never mind that a Muslim Kashmiri pony rider who tried to stop the gunmen was also killed. Apart from these, a glut of other hyper-nationalist songs has also emerged in the past week, pushing warmongering rhetoric deeper into Indian digital veins. There are songs that call for Pakistan to be nuked or for the Indian government to “wipe Pakistan off the map”, and others that advocate for “Pakistani blood” in exchange for the deaths, These songs have become a part of a broader digital push by Hindutva groups, who are using social media and encrypted platforms like WhatsApp to stoke fear, hatred, and division among Indians – all at a time when tensions with neighbouring Pakistan are ratcheting up. This campaign is mirroring real-world violence, across multiple Indian states. In Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand, Muslims have faced brutal attacks and threats. Kashmiri Muslims have been evicted from their homes, street vendors assaulted, and in chilling acts of retribution, Muslim patients have been denied medical care by Hindu doctors. On Friday, a Muslim man was shot dead, with a Hindu supremacist in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, claiming responsibility for the shooting and saying it was retribution for the Pahalgam attack. Advertisement Concerted campaign All the 20 songs that Al Jazeera analysed saw a common theme being pushed: a reiteration of the assertion that tourists were killed for their Hindu identities, and therefore, Hindus across the country must now feel threatened in living around Muslims. Multiple witness and survivor accounts of the Pahalgam attack suggest that the gunmen asked the tourists to recite the Kalimas (sacred Islamic verses) and the men who could not do so were shot. The song Pehle Dharm Poocha (They Asked About Religion First) was released on April 23, the day after the attack. Singer Kavi Singh insists that letting Muslims stay on in India after the country’s partition in 1947 was “a mistake”, and asks them to go to Pakistan. Another song, Ab Ek Nahi Huye Toh Kat Jaaoge (If You Don’t Unite Now You Will be Slaughtered), by singer Chandan Deewana, is addressed entirely to Hindus, asking them to rise up and “save our religion”. The song insists that Hindus, not Indians, are under threat and warns that they will be “slaughtered” if they do not unite. It has garnered more than 60,000 views on YouTube in just two days. Jaago Hindu Jaago (Wake Up, Hindus) is a song that asks Hindus to identify “traitors within the country”, a coded reference to Muslims. The song’s video on YouTube contains an AI-re-enactment of the Pahalgam attack and has more than 128,000 views so far. Another song, Modi Ji Ab Maha Yudh Ho Jaane Do (Modi ji, Let The Great War Begin), refers to Muslims as “snakes” living in India. Another song calls the events in the country a “religious war”, and yet another asks for Hindus in India to be allowed to carry arms. Advertisement These songs provide a background score for social media posts that bear similar themes. From AI-generated videos and memes recreating the attack to Ghibli images, social media timelines have seen a flood of content emerging from the attack. Much of it carries similar undertones: to paint the attack as an assault on Hindus and the Hindu religion, while exhorting Hindus to “unite” against the threat of Muslims. Some posts liken the Pahalgam killings to the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and exhort the Indian government to “take revenge the Israel way”. Israel launched a war on the Gaza Strip that has, since October 2023, killed more than 52,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 117,000 others. Raqib Hameed Naik, the executive director of the Washington, DC-based Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), which tracks hate speech in India, said the centre has observed “a sharp spike” in anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media since the Kashmir attack. “The [Muslim] community is frequently portrayed as an existential threat through memes, AI-generated images, videos and misinformation, systematically designed to inflame passions and justify exclusionary rhetoric,” Naik said.